Page 14 - HIWT Spring 2015 World of Welding

The World of Welding

Cover Story:

“The Land that time forgot”

By Janet Piechocki

Six years ago, Todd Parker wanted to expand his
students’ knowledge of plasma arc cutting (PAC)
equipment. Todd teaches welding at Jefferson
County Joint Vocational School in Bloomingdale,
Ohio and the vision he had for his students exceeded
state requirements. “I wanted them to create
something so I decided that we would fabricate a full
scale dinosaur.” Todd felt it would be a great way
to showcase his students’ skills and their welding
program.
Both of Todd’s sons’ were fascinated with dinosaurs
as they were growing up and the dinosaurs were
often the main topic in many bedtime stories. Todd
says, “This gave me an ample supply of resources
to draw ideas from for our project.” A Velociraptor
skeleton was the inspiration for their very first
dinosaur. Todd’s wife unknowingly funded this first The Velociraptor on display
project and was surprised with it at Christmas time.
Soon after, that first dinosaur was displayed at the local library and Bill Cable from Austin Lake Cabins and RV Park located in
made its rounds to the elementary schools. Richmond, OH wanted to make that first sculpture a yearly project.

Dragon on the move

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