PLAN No. 957. OPPORTUNITIES FOR EMPLOYMENT IN THE JEWELRY TRADE

Acknowledgments.

This monograph was prepared by Miss Eleanor Adler, under direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Research Division of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings, of the Research Division, for editorial assistance.

The disabled soldier, sailor, or marine during the days of waiting in the hospital will naturally ask himself, “What is the best way for me to earn a living with my handicap?”

He may find one of the many answers to that question in some of the opportunities of the jewelry trade. If he has two good hands and good eyesight, and if he has any mechanical bent, he may become in this trade the equal of any worker in it. One artificial leg or even two constitutes no serious handicap in this line of work. If, in addition to mechanical aptitude, he has any artistic creative capacity, he can become very expert and earn an assured income permanently.

Jewelry making is an old trade with a pedigree reaching back into medieval and ancient times. In those days it was more an art than an industry. Its master craftsmen were known by name and were famous for their particular skills. In recent times the installation of machinery has made it possible to produce some standardized articles by the gross instead of by the piece, thus greatly cheapening output. Fine-grade factories working chiefly in platinum still use hand processes and make their necklaces, brooches, and other pieces from individual designs and patterns. Cheaper-grade factories work more in gold and make many of their articles, such as cuff links, bracelets, and rings, of a standard pattern, which is stamped out by machines, the articles being turned out by the gross or dozen.

PLAN No. 958. WORKING IN PLATINUM

Processes in the platinum jewelry trade—the hammering, drawing, and soldering of the precious metal—require skilled craftsmanship.

The designer first makes the original picture or pattern of the brooch, necklace, or other piece, and if the details of the design and general character are approved he then makes an accurate pen-and-ink line drawing. He is paid from $35 to $75, possibly $100 a week.

The modeler makes a model in wax in the same way that the designer makes the picture. His wages are the same as the designer’s. Designers who are also modelers are much in demand.

The sketch or wax model then goes to the engraver, who transfers the design from the picture or wax to a flat piece of metal, engraving it lightly, in order to make a permanent record of the design. Engravers have to be very skilled and are paid from $40 to $60 per week.

The metal next goes to the jeweler, who “makes the piece”—that is, takes the flat piece of metal and hammers and models it—“using a soft lead block, upon which he rests his platinum plate, face downward, and modeling from the reverse side with various-sized blunt-nosed punches and a mallet whose head is made of rawhide.”[17] He then cuts out the design by following the engraved outline with a saw about the thickness of a coarse thread. All the leaf and so-called demelle decoration and other piercings are made in this way. The work is skilled and requires a steady hand and long practice, but can be developed from any good mechanic. It is paid by the hour, 75 cents to $1.25.[18]

Next the piece goes to the polisher, who polishes the back and attaches it to a frame or catch. Polishers in platinum factories are usually girls and are paid from $20 to $25 per week.

The stone setter then puts the piece into a bed of shellac to hold it firmly and mounts the diamonds, working up platinum beads out of the flat metal to hold the stones in place. Setting a row of diamonds so that they seem an uninterrupted line of brilliancy is called “pave work” and requires great skill. Stone setters are paid by the piece and make $40 to $125 per week.[19]

The metal is then taken off the shellac, goes once more to the polisher, and then to the finisher, who is merely a jeweler doing the particularly skilled work of final inspection and adjustment.

The number of processes in a platinum factory varies. In some cases they are so combined that one man performs several different processes. One expert may even make a whole piece from beginning to end. The tendency in this line is in fact back to the old Guild conditions at a time when the value of a jewel setting lay in its uniqueness. Very beautiful work is sometimes done in the homes of workmen. The material is called for, and the article is designed, wrought, and returned completely finished.

In cheaper-grade factories, on the other hand, processes are more subdivided, machine work being substituted for handwork. For instance, the engraver may be eliminated by stamping work out by dies instead of engraving it by hand. In this way platinum jewelry can be turned out faster, and in larger quantities than when engraved in single pieces, and of course the same skill is not required. The average wage is $25 per week. Cheaper grade factories all subdivide their processes more in this way, use more machines, and turn out work by the dozen in platinum and by the gross in gold, instead of by the piece.

PLAN No. 959. WORKING IN GOLD

A factory that works with gold employs designers in the same way as does the platinum factory.

The metal itself first goes to a melter and roller, who puts it into crucibles, then into the furnace, and then rolls it into ingots. The work is heavy, and necessitates standing and the use of both arms and feet. Wages are $25 per week.

In the cheaper-grade factories the gold, instead of going to the engraver for piecework, goes directly to the press and stamping room, where it is pierced by machines, stamped and pressed into patterns by the gross. Conditions of work are the same as in the first department, except the presswork, which is fairly light, but necessitates the use of one leg. Wages range from $18 to $25 per week.

The article then goes to the jeweler, who assembles the parts, solders them in the center, and shapes them by the aid of small machines and blowpipes, according to samples shown him. Wages are from $18 to $40 per week.

The work next goes to the polisher, either a man or a girl, who does the polishing seated at a buffing wheel. The polisher earns from $18 to $35 per week.

If the article is to be dipped in a solution to change its color, it then goes to the colorer, who is often also a polisher, and earns the same wages.

When fine work is done by an engraver, his work is much the same as in a platinum factory. Very expert work is paid from $40 to $60 per week. The same statement applies to the stone setter, who is paid by the piece, and often makes from $70 to $100 per week.

The article lastly goes to the finisher, who is here again merely an ordinary jeweler who inspects the completed work.

The toolmaker has charge of making the stamping dies, at 75 cents an hour.

Advantages of The Jewelry Trade

The advantages of the jewelry trade for men with disabled legs are many. First of all the work is seated and requires little physical strength. Most of the processes are carried on at long tables near windows, with articles laid on a sort of easel in front of the men and manipulated with small instruments. The trade itself is such as to insure good working conditions—good light, sanitary workrooms, fair precautions against fire (the sprinkler system is in many factories) and space sufficient to avoid overcrowding. There are no unpleasant odors or unsanitary by-products such as are found in many industries, and there is little noise. Hours have been shortened in the past 10 years from 55 to 44 per week in New York City and Newark and to 48 throughout the rest of the country. Employment is stable, and the fairly skilled mechanic finds work all the year round. The busy season is in summer and fall; but the spring, which is light, is utilized for developing new ideas for quality production later and stock taking for the holiday season.

As an old stone setter put it, “Training in jewelry work is a good investment, and never leaves a man with a trade on his hands and no value in the market for it.”

Another important advantage of the jewelry trade is its demand for man labor. The industry is a steady, probably a developing one, with possibilities of extended export trade. It can probably absorb a large number of men. Jewelers find it hard to get apprentice boys, chiefly because the apprenticeship is long and poorly paid, but that difficulty is done away with for soldiers, who are paid by the Government while in training. Platinum factories employ on an average 70 to 80 men, gold factories from 400 to 500. There are nearly 150 factories in Newark and about 300 in New York, who assert that they need labor and will pay good prices to get it. Employees start at some such process as soldering, at $10 to $15 per week, and can work up to $20 to $30, and in the better class work later to $60 and $75, or even $125.

PLAN No. 960. AREA OF EMPLOYMENT

The area of employment in the trade is largely in the East, about 75 per cent in New York, Newark, and the cheaper-grade factories in New England. There are some jewelry factories in Chicago and other large cities in the West.

Tools and Machines Used

The tools and machines used in the trade are chiefly the following:

Drop hammer up to 200 pounds to a large degree power lifted.

Punch and cutter presses.

Lathes, machine and speed.

Power, plate, and wire rolls.

Power drawbenches.

Welding and soldering outfits.

Polishing lathes, lapping lathes (to polish metal.)

Blowers (to supply air in connection with soldering.)

Melting furnaces of various sizes.

Annealing furnaces.

Hand tools, such as workbenches, files, saws, hammers, drills, alcohol, ammonia, emery paper, various shellacs and acids.

Unions

Local unions are fairly strong in New York City, but are not officially recognized by manufacturers. They have, however, enforced competitive bidding, which has driven prices up very high, and has made conditions practically those of the closed shop. They claim a membership in New York City of 3,500. In Newark they are not so strongly organized.

Bonuses

There is no recognized system of benefit funds. A few factories have individual associations for sick benefits, which are rather discouraged by the unions. Some distribute bonuses on the 1st of January.

Training

There are at present no adequate courses of training for the jewelry trade. A jeweler is put at the bench and starts in with the simpler processes. He is usually broken in at so-called jewelry work, chiefly at soldering processes. If he is quick, he can be promoted in time to the more expert departments. There is a fixed system of apprenticeship in each factory, covering one, two, or even three years, with a bonus at the end of the period, and limiting the number of apprentices allowed by the unions to 1 apprentice to every 10 employees. The jewelers have for some time been considering starting training classes in New York or Newark, similar to a small professional class recently successfully started by a manufacturing jeweler in Chicago. They are also taking up the question of training classes in their own factories. According to their suggestion, courses ought to last anywhere from six months to two or three years, according to the ability of the worker “to catch on.”

Educational Requirements

There are no essential educational requirements, though a good school education helps and a knowledge of mechanical drawing is “a leg up,” and puts a worker immediately at the more expert and highly paid processes. Any man who has had experience at delicate work of any kind, who has perhaps liked the finer handwork in occupational therapy at the hospitals, who has two good hands and good eyesight, and is not too disabled to reach the shop, will find no handicap in this trade. If he has a mechanical bent and flexible fingers he can become an efficient jeweler. If, in addition, he has any artistic, creative capacity, he can develop into a stone setter, engraver, or designer. His work then becomes of a personal nature, commands a comfortable salary, and can bring him, despite disablement, to the top in the industry.