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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 0066.PDF
FLIGHT, JANUARY 18, 1934 AIRCRAFT FURNITURE ESIGNERS of civil aircraft are hard people toplease ; they wish the passengers in their machines to be perfectly comfortable, but can devote verylittle weight to the cabin furniture., The firm of L. A. Rumbold & Co., of Kingsgate Place, Kilburn,N.W.6, is the answer to a designer's prayer. Rumbold chairs, tables and other items of cabin furniture areincredibly light, yet they lose nothing in comfort and efficiency against the older and heavier equipment. Manyof our finest civil aircraft are using Rumbold furniture. The Vickers " Viastra " belonging to H.R.H. the Princeof Wales, for example, is fitted with Rumbold chairs, the a standard Irvin seat pack type parachute, has beenspecially developed for Mr. Leslie Irvin, of the Irving Air- chute Co. The amount of " knocking about " received by chairsin passenger aircraft is quite amazing. When a machine is at rest on the ground and the cabin floor is at anangle, passengers who wish to get to the forward seats instinctively hold on to the chairs to help themselves upthe incline. Such treatment day in and day out demands very strong furniture. For machines in which provision ismade for safety belts, the Rumbold chairs are tested to stand a belt strain of 1,100 lb., and all this for a weight SOME RUMBOLD CHAIRS and A. V. Roe & Co., Ltd. : Left, a new chair weighing 6\ lb. standardised by the de Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd.,Centre, the back seats of a De Luxe " Dragon." Right, a chair for the " Viastra " belonging to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. backs of which are adjustable to any angle. These chairscan be made to face either fore or aft and can be used as beds as occasion requires. The Percival " Gull " belonging to Sir Philip Sassoonis fitted with a particularly comfortable Rumbold chair for the personal use of Sir Philip. It is not so much in the machines of private owners,however, as in passenger aircraft in regular service that Rumbold products prove their worth. A.W. " Atalantas,"Saxo " Clouds," Airspeed " Ferries " and " Couriers," Avro 10's and 642's, and the two new Boulton & Paulmachines for Imperial Airways are but a few of the types in which Rumbold equipment has been or is being,installed. During the past year several foreign countries, including America, Holland, France and Poland haveshown interest hi Rumbold products. Up to the present most of the articles of furniture supplied by the firm havebeen designed and built to order. Not long ago a well- known aircraft firm asked for a type of Rumbold chair toreplace the seat of their own design and construction already fitted in a small cabin machine. The Rumboldchair proved less than half as heavy and certainly lost nothing in comfort. Again, an additional seat was requiredfor the Ford 5 A.T. belonging to B.A.N.C.O. A Rumbold chair was produced to exactly the same design as theAmerican chairs already in the Ford, but was 9 Ib. lighter. We inspected several very interesting types of chairs atthe Rumbold works recently, ranging from those intended for service in private machines to real luxury equipmentfor their employers. The " folding bed " type chairs are becoming popular for long-distance nights. K.L.M., whichuses this type of chair on the machines operating their Amsterdam-Batavia route, is showing great interest in theRumbold chairs. Another chair, which will accommodate of about half that of the ordinary cane chairs! The wholelayout, decorating, fireproofing and soundproofing of cabins is carried out by Rumbold. For soundproofing " Seapak "is used. This is an American product and is usually incor- porated in the upholstery between a layer of cloth and alayer of leather. The owner of a certain fast cabin machine was unable to hear himself speak, but after his machinehad been treated by Rumbold and Co., conversation could be carried out by raising the voice but slightly. Besidesthe chairs and tables, the Rumbold firm specialise in the manufacture of such items as ash-trays of the " fumeless "variety and cocktail cabinets. Several types of cabin aircraft may be used for thetransport of passengers or freight. The latest Rumbold idea for use in such machines is an " eye " which, screwsinto the socket in the floor normally used by a chair, and which can be, used for lashing down the cargo. Light weight is obtained in Rumbold chairs and tablesby the use of Electron tubing, sheeting and bar supplied by James Booth & Co., of Birmingham, and M.G.7. Thecomposition of Electron, which originated in Germany, is 95 per cent, magnesium and 5 per cent, silicon manganeseand zinc. At first the company had difficulty in welding the metal, owing to the lack of a suitable flux, but theprocess now presents no difficulties whatever. Rumbold chairs and tables are chromated and finished off withenamel, and for use in sea-going aircraft an extra bath of chromate is usually given as an anti-corrosion measure.Experimental work is being carried out with new kinds of alloys and something interesting may be expected in thefuture. We have just received news that the machines gainingthe highest marks for comfort in the Egyptian Aviation Meeting were all upholstered by Rumbolds. An airscrew acquisition screws. The hood, which was introduced by the GustavTHE Airscrew Co., Ltd., of Weybridge, has acquired Schwarz Propellerwerke, of Berlin, is also constructed in the licence rights to produce a new hood for wooden air- Japan by the Kawasaki Company. 66
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