LeTourneau Tech's NOW, Volume 13, Number 1, January 1, 1959 Page: 3
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: LeTourneau University Archives and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the LeTourneau University Margaret Estes Library.
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R. G. Talks Cont'd.
or down somewhat below horizontal.
The man who does the melting has
the control buttons on a drop cord
in his pocket or fastened to his belt
so he can melt away continuously
with one hand while he keeps it
right side up with the other. All he
has to do is drag an aluminum can
along at about the right speed aiming
the snout at the joint while granulat-
ed flux, a steel wire, and an electric
arc come out at the right speed.
To build a Scraper (or we call it
a Digger) Bowl, a large number of
pieces have to be assembled in proper
relation to each other, and to do
this we first build a form (generally
called a jig) so that the setup man
can quickly tack each piece in its
proper relation for welding. Such
a jig can be built right on the afore-
mentioned revolving positioner. The
structure shown in the picture with-
out counting the weight of a setup
jig or frame that holds it weighs
31,000 lbs. Actually this revolving
positioner has a capacity to muscle
straight out 500 ft. tons. In other
words, if a structure was 50 feet
long with the center of gravity 25 ft.
out, it could weigh 20 tons and be
handled with ease with this machine.
Think of a turning lathe with a
spindle strong enough to revolve a
20 ton cylinder 50 ft. long not using
the tail stock.' I am now designing
a bigger revolving positioner that
will be twice the above capacity toTech Studen
To give NOW readers a better pic-
ture of the type of men who attend
LeTourneau Tech, NOW is beginning
with this issue a series of articles
which will give a cross-section of
Tech students, their background, why
they are here and how they are do-
ing here. For our first cross-sectional
view we have picked a Sophomore
student who is married and has two
children.
Milton George Miner, 22, calls
Freeport, Michigan, his h o m e.
George's father is a pharmaceutical
salesman and although a Methodist
for most of George's early years,
now attends ' a United Brethren
church in that area. When he finish-
ed high school four years ago, George
decided to go to college to play
football.
"Football was really my only rea-
son for' going, to college," George
relates, "but I did well in my studiesswing a structure that will scribe a
26 ft. circle over a length of 33 feet
and weigh 40 tons besides the weight
of the frame that holds it in shape
while welding and positioning all
the pieces that go to make up the
structure. And before I get through
with these revolving positioners I
want to set one at each end of a
pretty good sized ship and revolve
the whole ship so I can down hand
melt every joint on it.
At least I'm far enough along the
way to dream about it anyhow. Of
course, the dreamer doesn't always
succeed, but in order to succeed you
have to do a little dreaming. You
may not succeed in climbing a moun-
tain, but you sure won't get there
unless you start climbing.
Yes, there is a lot of climbing to
be done in this Christian life too,
but I know I'll reach the Pearly
Gates because the Lord has promised
a home in Heaven to all those who
love and trust Him. "My sheep hear
my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me: And I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand." John
10:27-28. So although I may seem
insufficient, I'll just keep right on
going, and I take Him at His word on
this my 70th birthday.
A Christian friend of mine who
has passed his 100th birthday says
I'm only a kid, so I'm not making
any plans to slow down yet.ts -- Part One
also until I was injured and couldn't
play any longer. After that I lost
interest in the studies." Dropping
out of school shortly after the injury,
George then went to work in a local
chrome plating factory.
Later that year he married a child-
hood acquaintance, Shirley Mae
Smelker, and the following year saw
the arrival of their first child, Sherry
Lynn. After working for a year in
the chrome plating factory, George
worked for two years in an automo-
tive plant building station wagon
bodies. One day in the Fall of 1956
a friend gave George a copy of NOW
and mentioned the fact that here was
a college where you could work part
time while going to school. Inquiring
around he found many others in his
community who said, "Oh, yes, I get
that little paper NOW, too."
Since his main interests lay in the
outdoors, with hunting as one of hisfavorite sports, George began an ex-
change of letters with the Registrar
concerning the Heavy Equipment
Operating course here at Tech. By
the time he learned that the Heavy
Equipment course was only a side-
line and not a main course of study,
his interest was built up to the point
that he was willing to change his
goal to the mechanical field and still
seriously consider coming on to Tech
the next Fall.
This is when the time of decision
came for George Miner. Should he
pack up his wife and two year old
daughter and wander off to Texas
in search of further education or
should he continue working as he had
been doing and try to get ahead the
best way he could? George weighed
the facts as best he could and then
stepped out on faith and decided that
though there might be hardships
(there were and still are) the prac-
tical college education he would get
at Tech would be worth it.
Arriving at Tech a year ago last
Septemnber, George's part time work
for the first four weeks was sweeping
the floors. Then an opening came in
the boiler house at the school and
he spent the balance of the year
attending boilers while battling his
way through a host of Freshman
courses and emerging with very
respectable grades. Now in his Soph-
omore year, George has hit more
tough subjects such as Analytical
Geometry, Engineering Problems,
Chemistry, and Diesel Mechanics but
so far he is managing to conquer
them. His part time job now, along
with many other Tech students, is
at the local Trailmobile plant where
he installs electrical wiring in the
large trailer vans built there.
George is a born-again Christian
and it is his desire to serve the Lord
in any way he can. At the present
time he is a member of one of the
Gospel Teams singing the lead part
in a quartet and when not out on
team work, is active in the local
Christian and Missionary Alliance
church. He is currently the president
of the Sophomore class on his
schedule and his wife, Shirley, is
also very active on the campus as
president of the Student Wives Club.
George is very much interested in
learning to fly and his life's ambition
at present is to be a consulting
engineer for heavy construction work
and be able to fly his own plane to
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LeTourneau Technical Institute. LeTourneau Tech's NOW, Volume 13, Number 1, January 1, 1959, periodical, January 1, 1959; Longview, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1526917/m1/3/?q=%22~1~1%22~1&rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting LeTourneau University Margaret Estes Library.