Yup! That WAS the cutting edge tech in those days. Tesla got old Westinghouse going and then got shoved out. 
I have spent years in dust-filled woodshops with MDF (formaldehyde!) dust being shoveled literally through a fan in the wall to be blown outside. I’ve made thousands of parts on manual lathes. Been in a shop that painted with solvent-based and isocyanate-catalysed finishes.
My hearing is going b/c of the high-pitched CNC routers I ran and programmed.
It was a joy to watch us get that bloody shop pounded into shape over a decade or two and it’s now (another decade later) a model of Lean and Toyota Production System approaches.
And, yes, I too wondered how many guys got their teeth knocked out from those inside-to-outside swings!
In 20 years the bots will be doing the manual stuff, and people will either be poking computers on salary or rioting at the factory gates on whatever welfare there is…
