Chinese female stamping machine workers - GIFs

[jdurand]

One job my mom had was filling cans with mothballs. The "cans" were cardboard tubes, crimped metal ends. They came to her station with one end already on, she filled them through the bottom, placed on a lid and crimped in a machine like the stamps. Said if you weren't careful you could lose your hand.

Never saw her dress like the above, just today I was looking at a picture of her from 1929 and she was quite modestly dressed.

She did say it was hard to get a date when your skin smelled of mothballs. No mosquitoes though. That was after her 1st husband disappeared and before she met my pop.