Springfield Trade High School - Beaver Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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This pattern be made. for a drill press must Mr. Alfred Magee be proficient in their use.

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SHEET METAL DEPARTMENT The art of metal craft, one of the offshoots of this trade, is considered a fine art. Although some work of this type is produced, the boys in this shop learn, under Mr. Mario Pellegrini, to be first-class sheet metal workers. Students who graduate from this department may procure jobs from a variety of employers, because of the number of situations in industry where sheet metal workers are needed. Factories, construction and roofing companies, heating and plumbing contractors all employ men in this trade. The course at Trade High School embodies all the necessary operations, shearing, seaming, forming, riveting, turning, pinching, drilling and soldering. Under Mr. Frank Vyska the boys learn the specialized math and drawing which is needed so that they are able to lay out their patterns correctly. Projects completed here vary considerably in size, from small cages for hamsters to the large metal overhead doors in the Auto Body Department. School spirit runs high in this shop, and small wonder, because for two successive years the Senior Class President has been elected from this department, and in addition, this year there is also the Junior Class Treasurer, the Captain of the Traffic Squad and the Captain of the Basketball Team.

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PATTERN MAKING Of all the various fields of work comprising the metal trades, pattern making is one of the most important but is often the least understood by the average person. Patterns are used only as a means toward the making of a metal casting. Metal is melted by heat to a liquid state and poured into molds made of sand, where it is allowed to cool. These sand molds, having been made from the original pattern, cause the metal to assume the shape of that pattern. Pattern making is a clean, interesting occupation that offers a wide variety of problems, thereby exercising the skill and ingenuity of the worker. The wages are among the highest paid to the skilled trades and placement has been very successful. Among the larger jobs completed this year were the complete patterns for the casting of a drill press for the Marlboro Vocational School. Also turned out were all the necessary patterns to make a lathe for the State Department of Vocational Education. Locally, one may see a bronze commemorative plaque for the Alice Corson playground for the West Springfield School Department. The original pattern for the bronze casting was made in this department. Model making i s one of the ramifications of this trade and one may generally find a model of some variety in progress in this department. It may be for the School Department in the form of a model of a proposed school building, the Barney Mausoleum for the Park Department, which was used in the Flower Show, or it may be a layout for a playground. The construction taking place at Memorial Bridge to relieve traffic congestion was first worked out in model form and made by these students in this shop. Under the guidance of Mr. Alfred Magee, the boys selecting this trade are assured of an interesting and profitable means of earning a livelihood. Model making is one of the interesting aspects of this trade.