FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1939
1939 - 0843.PDF
MARCH 23, 1939 FLIGHT. 303 THE INDUSTRY DEMONSTRATIONS ON THE SPOT : At the Leamington Spa works of Auto motive Products Ltd., there is a showroom, a large section of which is devoted to the equipment made by the Lockheed division of the company. From the pilot's seat in the corner it is possible to control the hydraulically operated retractable undercarriage, flap- and bomb-gear. At the side can be seen two examples of the Avery aircraft wheel." The bomb-release gear suggests possibilities for dealing with unwanted callers. Royal Visit to Rochester A PLANT that is probably unique in its vast capacity for producing both military and civil flying boats was thor oughly inspected by Their Majesties the King and Queen on Tuesday of last week, when they visited the Rochester Works of Short Bros., Ltd. The King and Queen were conducted round the works by Mr. Oswald Short (chairman), Air Marshal Sir Wilfrid Freeman (Air Member for Development and Production), Sir Charles Bruce-Gardner (chairman of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors) and Mr Arthur Gouge (managing director of Short Bros., Ltd.). Their Majesties saw the experimental tank and the shop where models are made, and thence entered the big assembly shop, where they were confronted with the striking spectacle of the hulls of the three 36-ton "G" class boats now under construction. They also made an internal inspection of the Awarua and the Australia, the modified Perseus-engined boats under construction for the Tasman Sea service. They then made a detailed inspection of one of the large number of Sunderlands now in full production. The King showed par ticular interest in the armament of the boat and its spacious quarters for the crew. The Royal visitors next entered the adjacent assembly shops and watched the making of wing-tip floats and the building of Sunderland hulls on jigs. After inspecting the tunnels in the hills behind the works, equipped as air raid shelters for the employees, Their Majesties proceeded to the slipway, where they watched Mr. J. Lankes- ter Parker take off a Sunderland in drizzling rain and demon strate it above the works. Afterwards the King and Queen drove to Rochester Aero drome and made an inspection of the Short landplanes under construction for Imperial Airways. Plastics on Show COME very attractive new showrooms were formally opened *J last week by the British Xylonite Co., Ltd., at 4-7, Chiswell Street, Finsbury Square, London, E.C.i. Prominent among some hundreds of exhibits typical of the products of the Xylonite Co., of its associated concerns, and of customers using its materials is a section featuring the application of Bexoid' cellulose-acetate sheeting to aircraft. Display panels show the Hawker Hurricane, Fairey Battle and Miles Master, and beneath them are displayed various parts in Bexoid, such as conduits, air scoops and fillets. "Bexoid," which is made in both transparent and opaque forms, is claimed to be particularly amenable to moulding and Dot to become unduly brittle at low temperatures. It is also low in weight; the specific gravity figure is 1.3. Another interesting material on exhibition in the new show rooms is " Armourbex," which is a variety of clear " Bexoid " reinforced with a Jia. steel wire mesh—thus making it possible to build, among other things, glasshouses in which any number 01 stones can be thrown without the proverbial effects ! These materials are made by BX Plastics, Ltd., a subsidiary 01 the British Xylonite Co., whose works are at Hale End, London, E.4. Soundproofing, Ltd. SOUNDPROOFING, LTD., is temporarily moving its ^ , offices from Park Royal to more central premises at 25, ^nightsbridge, London, S.W.i (Telephone: Sloane 5695). Security More Secure F OR various reasons cowling fasteners have tended to be a source of trouble to ground engineers and others con cerned. The fact is that they have had to put up with a very great deal of misuse, and by their very nature and position must suffer the effects of considerable vibration; yet if they are not easy and quick in action the point of their fitting is lost. One of the most recent new types of fastener is the Oddie, which is not only extreme] ' ingenious, but simple and virtually mistake-proof. Briefly, it consists of a two-blade spring of closed-U shape, into which the fastener stud is locked by means of slots cut on either side. Consequently, the stud, which has the usual screwdriver or coin slot in the head, has only two positions, and a glance at a series of fasteners on a cowling would show at once whether all were properly home. Between the detachable cowling and the spring unit and mounting bracket is a hard rubber ring, which not only pre vents rattle and keeps the cowling rigid, but also makes the fastener waterproof for use with sea-going machines. One important little point, in cases where time is vital, is that while the fasteners are being undone the studs can be turned round 180 deg. so that the cowling may afterwards be locked home securely merely by pressure. .While the Oddie fastener is being made by Oddie, Bradbury and Cull, of Southampton Airport, another safety device from the same firm is now being made by a new company—Oddie Lock Nuts—of Portland Terrace, Southampton. This device, as the firm's name implies, is a locknut of a simple and inexpensive all-metal type. In this, six tongues, which may be described as upper continuations of the hexagon sides of the nut, bite into the threads of the bolt. Since the tongue- ends are, so to speak, level with one another, the thread of the bolt is tending not only to force some of them out of place, but also to twist them as the nut -is screwed on. The result is that, though the nut can always be moved with the aid of a spanner, it is to all intents and purposes rigid with the bolt. One of the important features of this nut is that the manufacturing processes are extremely simple. The locknut and cowling fastener described above.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
