This #WorkerWednesday, we're paying a visit to the staff of the...

This #WorkerWednesday, we're paying a visit to the staff of the furnace and cupola in the Westinghouse Machine Company's Melting Department foundry at the South Philadelphia Works in Essington and Lester, Pennsylvania.

The Westinghouse Machine Company, which became the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945, manufactured gas and steam engines, turbines and mechanical stokers for use in railway systems, fire service pumping stations, the shipping industry, and other large scale industrial purposes. These foundry workers were photographed by company photographer Charles Yessel on May 12, 1920, for the company's newsletter, Machine News.

This image is part of Hagley Library's collection of Westinghouse Electric Corporation Steam Division photographs (Accession 1969.170). A curated selection of items from this collection has been digitized; our Digital Archive offers over 1,000 photographs from this resource dating from 1898 to 1964. These photographs cover a variety of subjects including building construction, turbine manufacturing, research facilities, machinery, executives and employees, and visitors to the facility. To view more material from this collection online now, click here.