So What in the World is a Millwright?

Jay explains, with very slight editing from yours truly:

Lee, I applied for an apprenticeship after flunking out of GMI in the fall of 1970. Had to take a 4 hour test involving math, recognizing shapes that had been folded and then unfolded. Also had to choose three trades so your name went on a list depending on your point total on the test from high to low points. I chose Millwright, Toolmaker, and Electrician. I ended up being offered a Millwright apprenticeship first because my point total landed me higher on that list. Started my apprenticeship on May 3rd, 1971. I didn't take any of my vacation time and finished on Nov. 14, 1974. I tested out of general math, algebra, geometry, trig, and drafting thanks to GMI and good teachers in high school. All apprentices were laid off in Sept. of 1974, but thanks to no vacation time off, I was a journeyman and moved ahead of all of the others who started on the same day I did for seniority purposes. This would later be huge whenever layoffs came. The apprenticeship involved working with a senior journeyman for eight periods of 1800 hours and you had to work so much time on various tasks. Such tasks included welding, fork truck and cranes to move machinery, leveling machines, conveyors, etc. After completing the required number of hours with a journeyman (about four years), you were allowed to work by yourself, although most millwrights usually work in pairs because of safety factors. When your apprenticeship was over, and you could work alone and make your own decisions as to how to perform a job, you quickly realized how little you knew and mistakes came easily. A millwright's job description includes anything to do with conveyors (changing a bad drive motor or gearbox, replacing the rubber or metal conveyor belt, the bearings, drive chain, sprockets,or belts, adjusting drive tension, shortening or lengthening by welding or cutting torch, leveling or moving to another location.) We were responsible for all moving, rearranging, and leveling any and all machinery and office furniture in the plant. We rebricked ovens, heat treat furnaces, foundry drums, and brazing furnaces. I once crawled on my back into a tunnel of a brazing furnace into a hole 24" wide by 15" tall. After scooting with the roof about 2" from my nose for 25 feet, I could roll over and begin bricking the oven chamber. We built metal tables, cabinets, and platforms. A lot of our work involved either climbing or using a hoist to work in the overhead steelwork. We would weld bridge hoists and track of large I-beam and channel iron, hang fan towers, change the large filters on the air filtration for the plant. We maintained all blowers, large and small, large automated parts washers, welded for the electricians, and installed the drainage trenches. After the negotiations in 1985, Millwrights, Sheetmetal tradesmen,and Carpenters were combined into a single trade. Back to school I went to learn about carpentry and how to bend, lay out, and assemble sheetmetal ductwork. Now fabricating, repairing, and removing guards for the other trades became my job. Also replacing any air filters on the plant floor. I was also fortunate enough to teach the sheetmetal tradesmen a class I designed on Structural Steel Welding and Installation. Went to Cleveland and San Jose and passed certification in all welding types and taught welding to the toolmakers for two years. I was so fortunate that for 37 years I never was laid off, was never seriously injured or hurt anyone I worked with, and met so many wonderful people and a few total ***holes!

With that seniority, he was also able to switch to evenings every summer so he could play golf and then switch back to days each winter. FYI for the younger readers, I was the Assistant Superintendent of Schools (two steps above principal) in a school district, and Jay made more money than I did most years. We both worked a lot of hours, but a lot of my overtime was reading and writing in the comfort of home or supervising at a ballgame... not climbing into the steel or into enclosed, dirty ovens. Yet, the millwright gig sure does sound like interesting work despite the dangers!

I'm also quite sure that there would have been casualties if I had been a millwright!