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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1091.PDF
68o FLIGHT MORE THAN MEETS the EYE Knowledge and Craftsmanship in the Specialized Production of Aircraft-tubing Assemblies IN our contacts with what, for want of a better term, isoften known as "the ancillary aircraft-industry" we nevercease to marvel at the vast store of specialized knowledge and skill that lies behind the manufacture of the average material or component, whether it be a complicated or a relatively simple one. Though the same might be said of almost any branch of industry, its truth in application to aircraft manufacture is particularly obvious to anyone who knows anything of the subject. The aircraft constructor designs his product and then calls upon the ancillary industry for the materials and bits and pieces from which to fashion it. Sometimes his requirements are simple; more often they are difficult; occasionally they verge on the im- possible. But whatever he wants there are people who can provide it, and it is a measure of his long-established confidence in such specialists that he is almost always happy to "leave it to them": provided its performance meets the required standards, official or otherwise, then he is content. Whereas from long business association he is apt to take this blbkground of know-how for granted, to the detached observer—such as ourselves—it is, as we have said, a constant source of wonder. Such thoughts passed through our minds during a recent visit to the Tyseley, Birmingham, works of the Reynolds Tube Co., Ltd. As most readers associated with the industry will be aware, this old-established concern is a member of the Tube Investments Ltd., group. Until 1947, its aircraft products included both steel-tube work and light-alloy tubing and extru- sions; then the light-alloy side of the business was taken under the control of the light-alloy division of the T.I. Group and Reynolds were left to specialize in steel, though a modicum of alloy manipulation is still performed. Engine mountings are the principal aircraft product, though, as will presently appear, there are a number of other items, not all of which (except in quality) are in a directly comparable cate- gory. Mountings recently delivered and/or in current production include the five varied types listed at the top of the next column, designed for in-line and radial engines and for turboprops:— Respective examples of "batch" and "one off" production of aircraft components by Reynolds: (Right) Spray grid for ice tests on Mambas installed in Lancaster flying test-bed* Below) Vampire air-intake guard; the outer frame is padded to prevent damage to the leading edge. An exacting job: Dynafocal mounting for Centaurus i Rolls-Royce Merlin 35 taounting for Boulton Paul Balliol 2.Bristol Centaurus Dynafocal ring for Airspeed Ambassador. Various Bristol Hercules rings.Armstrong Siddeley Mamba mounting for Armstrong Whit- worth Apollo. Mamba-Dakota experimental-installation mounting. In addition, Merlin mountings for the Lincoln are still inproduction. The seamless steel tubing from which these assemblies arefabricated is manufactured "on the premises" from hollows or blooms; the various stages in the process—cold drawing, annealing,pickling and so forth—are rather grimly spectacular and quite fascinating to watch. Actual fabrication begins with cutting tolength and then bending—a process which, in view of the com- plex nature of the finished assembly, and the close limits specified,calls for considerable craftsmanship. Though power-operated forming-rolls are used they are in no sense automatic, and theprecision of the job is largely dependent upon the operator. Cerrobend and similar-type fillers are used to prevent kinking. Personal skill is again very evident in the second stage offabrication, that of welding. Though elaborate jigs—built in the works—are used for this purpose, the risk of distortion occurringbetween closely adjacent welds has to be constantly kept in mind. Fabrication of the 31- 36in-diameter Dynafocal mounting, with its18 accurately ground faces radially disposed round the rectangular- cross-section (3in x 2in) ring, is particularly satisfying to watch.Typical limits on this job are cochin for hole-centre locations and 0.0005m for hole diameters. Calling for less precision was another item which we saw goingthrough in fairly large batches—an air-intake guard, assembled from steel tube and wire mesh, for the D.H. Vampire. Nobody needs reminding that aircraft research and develop-ment frequently call for special apparatus, often of complex design. Frequently it is made in the aircraft factory or experimen-tal establishment itself; but sometimes—and especially if it is to
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