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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 1093.PDF
OCTOBER 18, 1917. ess INSPECTION AND OTHER MATTERS. IN introducing Lieut.-Col. R. K. Bagnall-Wild, the new- President of the Institution of Automobile Engineers, at the ; general meeting on October 10th, Mr. L. A. Legros, the outgoing President, in commenting,on the work of Lieut.-Col. . Bagnall-Wild as Chief Inspector of the Aeronautical Inspec- tion Department, said that in his four years of office he had organised a body of 5,000 inspectors, recruited from every class of trade, including many quaint and odd employments. He had heard of one aeroplane worker who used to make the dots on dominoes, and another who once put the nicks in penknife blades. He had no doubt that inspectors could be found who used to dot the " i's " on tombstones. Only war revealed these curious employments. In the erection of aeroplanes the man who shone best and was most useful was the organ-builder. He stood head and shoulders above everyone else, and Was followed by the pattern-maker; but in propellor work, where the pattern-maker might be expected to be first, the man who came out best was the chair-maker. Lieut.-Col. Bagnall-Wild, on taking the chair, delivered his presidential address, in the course of which, after referring to the continued growth of the Institution and the useful work it had accomplished, he said : " There is a point to which I should like briefly to refer, especially with regard to ' overlapping,' and that is the relation between the Institution and the aeronautical industry. I am personally of the opinion that during the coming year the Institution will have its hands full on What may be termed the motor interests proper, though many of these interests must necessarily overlap those of the aeronautical side. This is essentially so with regard to materials, and as a typiGal example I should like to mention the valuable work done by the Institution during the past year in connection with steels. The Engineering Standards Committee have issued a Report, No. 75, giving specifications for automobile steels covering a wide range. I am justified in saying that this publication was made at the instigation of the Institution. Much Work, however, still remained to be done. These specifications had to be proved and amplified, funds were required to carry out the work, and these were furnished willingly by the Admiralty, the War Office and the society and trade generally. These funds, in themselves, would not have been- sufficient to carry out all the research necessary, but most noble assistance has been rendered by the steel makers themselves, who have not only given us the steel, but they have carried out the forging and rolling into bars free of all cost. This is a big item. " These steels are used not only for automobile construction, but also for aeronautical work, both planes and engines. In my personal opinion, however, there is every indication that all aeronautical matters can safely be left in the hands of the Joint Committee of the Aeronautical Society and the Society of British Aircraft Constructors. Such being the case, I do not see that the Institution need interest itself with problems of flight, neither should it necessarily concern itself with the aero engine. A fact which is not always recognised is that the aero engine is totally unsuited for automobile work; the average horse-power at the present time is in the neigh- bourhood of 200, cost enters less into its contruction than superiority of material and lightness, while durability is looked at from an entirely different point of view. " Having in view the fact that we can only do a certain amount of work in a given time, I consider that during this session we shall have our hands fully occupied with what I should like to term our legitimate sphereT but as I have already stated, we do overlap with other industries. Why should the Institution and the Aeronautical Society be con- sidered as any different from, let us say, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, or any other kindred body ? It might more truly be said that our work on steel is usurping the province of the Iron and Steel Institute ; I think the policy of each institution or society should be to confine itself, primarily, to its legitimate work, and when branches of this work spread into other industries, then invite the co-operation of those concerned." Lieut.-Col. Bagnall-Wild then gave an address on the subject of " Inspection," giving in detail the reasons for inspection and the organisation best fitted, in his opinion, to attain the desired end. In the course of his remarks he referred to French methods as follows : " I recently had an opportunity of studying the French Government system of inspection, and it is interesting to note that it is almost exactly on similar lines to that adopted by me. It is not astonishing to note that the number of the inspection staff is in some cases rather less than that found necessary by" me in England, as this is readily accounted for by the fact that labour is not diluted to anything like the extent it is in England. The following brief resumi if the inspection system in this particular industry in France is, therefore, of interest:— " The fundamental principles of inspection adopted by the French are almost identical with our own, but their method of applying these principles differs in many, details. The labour is almost entirely undiluted and of a very high average skill. At the works visited very few jigs and labour-saving devices were employed, the individual skill of the workmen being trusted to, with apparent success. " Ease of production seems to have been most carefully considered by the designers. Details would appear to be designed, primarily, from a manufacturing point of view. It was particularly noticeable that the woodwork Was often more elaborate than in English designs, while the mental work Was cut down to the minimum. The number of em- ployees relative to the size of the Works appeared to be much higher than in England. " An officer. With a certain number of subordinates, is stationed at the works of each main contractor. It is his dnty to see that only approved material is used and that each detail part, when finished, is viewed, and stamped if approved. Components are again viewed, in many cases several times at various stages to see that the Workmanship is satisfactory and that approved details only have been used. Finally, the assembly of components into a complete machine is inspected at several stages, before the machine is passed. " Material is supplied by approved firms only, at most of whose works there are resident inspectors, more particularly where high tensile steel or tubing is produced. The majority of the mild steel and practically all timber is inspected on arrival at the main contractors' Works. Finished details and accessories, where sub-contracted for, are supplied only by- approved firms and inspected by either resident or visiting examiners. " The practice of returning to a sub-contractor any material which had not been approved before despatch to the main contractor is always strictly adhered to, except in cases of extreme urgency. Timber is usually inspected at the- main contractor's works, but frequently test pieces are taken and sent to headquarters for physical tests. These are, however, considered more in the light of educative information for the timber examiner than as a part of the acceptance procedure. " The process inspection of the various components and-the final inspection of the machine appears to be excellent. " With regard to design it Would appear that far less sub- contracting is done in France, and, therefore, the question of parts made by a sub-contractor fitting a part made by a main contractor hardly arises. " The practice of employing only ' approved ' firms, each of whom has been proved to be capable of making certain parts correctly before being placed on the ' approved ' list, and can, therefore, be trusted to repeat correctly such parts, would seem to have had most excellent results and to be worthy of early adoption to a much greater degree in this country." Conclusion.—Summing up, Lieut.-Col. Bagnall-Wild gave his conclusions as follows : "It is obvious that to obtain increased output we must develop and expand the works of existing contractors. The conditions in this country will, therefore, approximate more and more closely to the conditions in France, in that we shall have to rely upon the contractor for detail examination and concentrate our examiners on process inspection of com- ponents and on assembly. It is, therefore, urged that this expansion of the main contract be very closely coupled with a strict control of the sub-contractor. The sub-contractors who have successfully turned out certain details with a low percentage of rejections should concentrate on these details and be expanded as necessary, new firms only being approved when all other sources of supply fail, and firms with large percentages of rejections removed altogether from the list. It is thought that much more might be done in this country to educate firms who waste material by their high percentage of scrap, or failing that to shut them down and make greater use elsewhere of the labour thus released. " Inspection is essential to obtain efficient output. It is the only method whereby the directors of a company can ascertain the quality of the firm's output: it is their only safeguard that money, time and material is not being wasted in the production of scrap ; it is a check on their purchasing department; it is a check on their design and drawing office, and it is even a check on their chief engineer, to whom the inspection branch is responsible. Facts Will always speak. IO93
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