news and jottings for WOMEN

Lake County Mail, Issue 20, 8 October 1947, Page 9

news and jottings for WOMEN

by "Beatrice”

All correspondence connected with this column should be addressed to •‘Beatrice,” Box 434, Dunedin.

Stream-Lined Gadgets Being Produced For American Housewives American designers are planning additions to post-war living which will make the life of the American housewife, used as she is to her washing machines and labour-saving devices, even easier. They are time-saving, trouble-saving and lovely to look at. What washing the housewife will do in her streamlined world will be simplified to the nth degree by a new laundry unit which works like a production belt. Washer, drier and ironer are matched pieces lined up in order to turn out the day’s wash with speed and ultra-efficiency. One unit may be washing while the second is drying and the housewife is ironing at the third. The whole arrangement is a neat counter-like unit -only 80 inches long and very, very modern in appearance. Fire-proof Ironing Board Further pampering of the homemaker appears in the form of a fireproof cover for her iroA'yg board. Now an absent-minded person can leave her iron flat on the board while she talks over the back fence and come back to. find her cloth cool as the proverbial cucumber. It’s done with an asbestos fibre originally developed for use in fire-fighting suits worn during the Avar by the army and navy. And for occasions Avhen the heat is wanted there is an electric blanket that is set by themostat to exactly the degree of warmth desired. The makers of Plexiglass, extensively used in gun-turrets, have used this transparent material in beautiful functional bedroom and other furniture. The material is used for shelves and even doorways as well. Your silver will not tarnish if you use a ■ specially patented fluffy cream. All one does is to take the lid off the container, set it in the silver drawer or cabinet, and it is guaranteed to absorb all tarnish-producing gases in the surrounding air and keep the silver as bright as the day it was new. Wall Radio An even brighter idea is a ucav radio set. This is ready-built into a steel panel that is sunk into the Avail (only 44 inches) so that it is absolutely flush and practically unnoticeable. It saA r es space, aA’oids the business of trailing cords and dust-catching and looks as trim as trim. The answer to a "busy mother's prayer is a water-repelling and soilresisting treatment.which can easily be given to children’s play clothes, slip covers, aprons, draperies and everything that’s Avashable and subjected to dampness and dirt. It comes in a big jar and all you do is scoop out a bit of the emulsion and add to the rinsing water. It leaves the fabric looking smooth and crisp as though it had just had a light starching. What’s more, it stays that Avay till the next washing Avhich is postponed by many days.

Supervisor of Design For Airlines Had Only Art Experience Some Avomcn are up in the air part of the time, but Mrs Caroline Sommers, though she spends much of her time figuring how to make the interior of airplanes attractive and comfortable, keeps both feet —at least hypothetically—solidly on the ground. Although noAv supervisor of industrial design for American Airlines, Mrs Sommers thought she was really going to find herself up in the air at the outbreak of the war. Her husband, avlio is a Wall Street broker, Avas in the draft, and she knew she would have to find a job Avhilc he Avas aAvay. She had no practical ideas about Avorking or earning a liA’ing. The most serious work she had done in her life was to study art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. However, starting from where she was, using the abilities and talents she had —and encouraged by her father, avlio is a civil engineer, Mrs Sommers decided to go back to Pratt and take up the study of drafting. This led to her first job—that of a draftsman in the engineering department of American Airlines. To-day, as an accomplished industrial designer and engineer, she has designed the interiors of five different types of America’s Flagships, including the giant DC-6, Avhich has just gone info operation, the Boeing Stratacruiscr, and the Consolidated 240, among others. Each is unrivalled in its class as far as luxury and service is concerned. Mv« Sommers, too, is thus far believed to be unrivalled as the only woman working in this particular field of design. Work Expanded “ My Avork expanded gradually,” Mrs Sommers said. “I often helped out with problems of dolour and paint. Soon we became deeply in the problems of the inside of the airplanes. During the Avar interior decoration of ]danes Avas not of much importance. After the Avar, both comfort and beauty Avere to be considered. “At home my father and husband helped me build several small 1/5 scale model airplanes, and I tried my hand at certain interior colour schemes and fabrics. We Avere limited as to paint colours for curtains and rugs. Weights and types of fabrics Avere all important. They had to Avithstand constant wear and be pleasing, but every ounce counted. When my models Avere finished the company liked many of the ideas they incorporated, but strikes and various national difficulties kept them from being put into production. When the time came that there was a definite need for this kind of Avork, the company asked me to head the group.” Fabrics and textile finishes haA’e become an engrossing preoccupation Avith Airs Sommers, in consequence. “ Often avc arc called upon to compromise between the Aveight alloAved by the airplane manufacturer and the Avear avc anticipate any given part Avill receive,” Mrs Sommers said. “ Special lightweight fabrics have to be Avorked out. Even the blanket manufacturers avlio make our lap robes are confined to specific Aveight requirements, and so it goes with linens, silver and even pillows. Airs Sommers has just been appointed one of a committee of four to control and advise styling for the entire American Airlines system, not only planes, but all the equipment and property of the company. This includes airports, ticket offices, and mobile equipment, as avcll as offices and the interiors and exteriors of aircraft.