FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1669.PDF
788 FLIGHT, 18 November 1955 THE INDUSTRY Towards Instrumental Perfection SHOWN in the heading illustration is the interior of a newbuilding recently added by R. B. Pullin and Co., Ltd., to their works on the Great West Road, at Brentford, Middlesex.It has been designed to provide conditions which are, as nearly as humanly possible, ideal for the assembly and test of gyroscopicand other precision instruments. Certain other processes demand- ing a very high degree of cleanliness, e.g., lens blooming, willalso be conducted in the new department. In order to prevent the entry of dust, the building is air-conditioned, pressure-controlled and fitted with air locks. Filtered air enters the working space through ducts in the roof, and iswithdrawn through vents at floor level. Ten changes of air are circulated every hour, and any desired proportion of volume canbe filtered and re-circulated. When work is not in progress, the air conditioning systemcan be shut down and an even temperature of 65 deg F main- tained by a hot-water radiator system. In order to reduce heat losses and condensation, a system ofair-spaced double roofing is employed, supported by welded-steel portal frames. The floor of the working area is covered withRoflex latex compound, which will stand up to the hard con- ditions of use and provide a resilient yet dust-free surface. A high and even intensity of shadowless illumination is con-ferred by the daylight admitted through "pavement lights" mounted in the ceiling, and by a particularly neat installation ofcontinuous-trough fluorescent lighting fittings. Power supplies at four different D.C. voltages and several A.C.voltages at five frequencies are distributed via an underfloor system, and access to any supply can be obtained anywhere inthe building by removing the nearest floor cover. In order to avoid risk of dust and lint from clothing, nyloncoats are provided for the use of employees and visitors. Special precautions are also taken to prevent danger of corrosion ofinstrument components. In this connection, experiments are being made in the wearing of nylon gloves. New Plessey Company TPHE Plessey Group announce the formation of a company to-•• control the establishment and development of a number of new enterprises in Great Britain; it is to be called the PlesseyDevelopment Co., Ltd. In recent years the group has been playing an increasinglyactive part in the field of Anglo-American trade. The new com- pany, which is being staffed with a number of senior engineeringand production personnel specially engaged for the purpose, is to be an administrative unit designed "to provide and blend Ameri-can abilities in design and production with the Plessey Group's extensive production capacity."The directors of the new company are Mr. A. G. Clark (chairman and managing director), and Messrs. E. J. Earnshawand A. E. Underwood. Faithful to Engines IT is announced by Air Engine Services (U.S.-U.K.), Ltd., of*• Blindley Heath, Lingfield, Surrey, that Mr. G. A. Hummer- stone, engineering manager of the B.O.A.C. repair factories atTreforest until his retirement last March, has joined the company'sBoard. During his 40 years in aviation—he is now 61—Mr.Hummerstone has dealt with some 70 different models of 35types of engine, both British and American, ranging from 80 h.p.to 3,500 h.p. He first worked for the Westinghouse Brake andSignal Co., Ltd., and joined the R.F.C. as a fitter in 1915. Hewent to the Aircraft Manufac- turing Co. in 1919 and laterbecame foreman in charge of engine overhaul and repair forAircraft Transport and Travel, Ltd. He subsequently workedfor Instone Airlines, and then for Imperial Airways. At theoutbreak of war he played an important part in the establishment of B.O.A.C.'s engine-overhaul works at Treforest. A section of the new R. B. Pullin building (see Col. 1). Chloride Developments ' I 'WO new types of Exide cell have recently been evolved by•*• Chloride Batteries, Ltd., of Clifton Junction, Swinton, Man- chester. The first is a two-volt cell of unusual design, primarilyfor use with the vibrator power packs of portable radio equip- ment for the Armed Services; it can also be used for other similarapplications and where high-rate discharges with relatively high terminal voltages are required. The cell is assembled in a robustcontainer moulded in polystyrene, and the lid, of the same material, is cemented in position by a technique which produces areliable leak-proof joint. Within the cell, the nine positive and ten negative pasted plates are separated by sheets of Poryic andresin-bonded glass wool, the latter positioned directly against the surfaces of the positives. Filled and bench charged, the Exidetype ZVP19 cell weighs 3 lb and measures 3 fin long by 2sin wide by 4|in high. The charging rate is 2 amp. The second development, the Exide Z2H11, is a new cellclaimed to operate efficiently without electrolyte spillage at the greatly reduced atmospheric pressures encountered in strato-spheric flight. Of lightweight design, it will be used in batteries of three to provide about 6.7 5v to power the metering and tele-communication equipment of the radar-sonde Mk III meteoro- logical balloon. The basic construction of the cell element issimilar to that of the normal lead-acid battery, and is assembled in a polystyrene container. A cell weighs approximately 9£ oz dryand 13i oz primed, and each is 1 3/32in wide by 3fin long by 4 3/16in high (approx.). IN BRIEF Mr. G. A. Hummerstone. Mr. L. G. Carpenter has recently been appointed managingdirector of Integral, Ltd., the well known Wolverhampton manu- facturers of aircraft hydraulic and other equipment. He spent18 years with the Gloster Aircraft Co., Ltd., and has been general manager of Integral, Ltd., for the past eight years. We regret to record the death, at the eariy age of 56, ofMr. R. L. Potter, who had been on the staff of Elliott Brothers (London), Ltd., for 22 years. He worked in the test room until1930 and then joined the heat control division, later becoming service engineer of that division and then service manager. Atthe time of his death he was divisional sales manager. A new research and development establishment has beenopened at the Bracknell, Berks, aircraft equipment department of Ferranti, Ltd. It will primarily be concerned with the develop-ment of systems and components for aircraft electrical equipment and instrumentation, with particular reference to gyroscopic andassociated navigation systems. The chief engineer is Mr. W. A. Mallinson, and the chief research engineer Mr. J. W.Barnes, late of the R.A.E., Farnborough. ".-..-- By the end of 1957, the two largest electric furnaces for steelsmelting in Britain will be housed side-by-side in the Stocksbridge works of Samuel Fox and Co., Ltd., associates of the United SteelCompanies, Ltd. The first furnace—now tapping 70 tons—was installed last November and is stated to have proved to be an out-standing success. The new furnace, which will be of similar capacity, forms the central feature of a £2,845,000 developmentscheme on which work is just beginning. It will result in a sub- stantial addition to the tonnage of special and alloy steels availableeach year for use for the aircraft, motor and other industries.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
