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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1086.PDF
232 FLIGHT, 10 August 1956 THE INDUSTRY Avro Aircraft President THE election of Mr. Fred T. Smye as president and generalmanager of Avro Aircraft, Ltd., Malton, Ontario, Canada, has recently been announced.It will be recalled that in the early days of A. V. Roe Canada, Ltd., when both aircraft and gas turbines were being manufac-tured, a need was felt for separate companies. On January 2 last year, the aircraft and gas turbine divisions accordingly beganoperations as different concerns, the former as Avro Aircraft, Ltd., and the latter as Orenda Engines, Ltd. Mr. Smye, who hadbeen vice-president and general manager of the aircraft division, then became vice-president and general manager of Avro Aircraft,Ltd. Working Platforms ANNOUNCING a new range of platforms for use in maintenance**• or production, Anderston Clyde Engineers, Ltd., of Pitt Street, Glasgow, C.2, say these are "designed to get men more safely andquickly to jobs normally requiring the erection of conventional- type scaffolds or hazardous use of ladders." One of them, called"The Spaceman," is a hydraulically operated platform which gives access to heights up to 40ft. It can be moved easily betweenclosely placed machines, into lifts, and through ordinary doorways. The platform is rotatable, but can be positively locked so that itcannot turn when wrenches or Other high-torque tools are used. Another, the "Spaceman Hywork," is designed primarily foraircraft maintenance and assembly at high positions such as fin and tailplane. Cantilever construction enables it to bridge thefuselage. A third type, the "Spaceman production platform" is a quicklyadjustable device of simple design, with special application to work on jigs and fixtures. Another firm is developing theseplatforms for assembly as complete aircraft docks. End to Fatigues? r ON behalf of the Air Ministry, the Ministry of Works recentlyplaced a contract with Columbus-Dixon, Ltd., of Wembley, Middlesex, for the supply of 1,789 industrial floor cleaning andpolishing machines, to be supplied to R.A.F. stations through- out the United Kingdom. They are to be used in officers',sergeants' and airmen's messes. The models on order include those known as Dixon Seniorand Junior floor machines, Dixon Jett Sprayers and major wax sprayers, and Regent floor drying machines. The Jett Sprayer is used to apply water wax emulsion polishesto composition floors, asphalt and thermoplastic tiles, and other such surfaces. It is estimated that the combination of a Dixonfloor machine and a Jett Sprayer can apply polish and spread it to an area of 5,000 sq ft an hour. The wax sprayer heats andatomizes solvent polishes for use on woodblock and linoleum floors. The floor-drying machine, pushed like a perambulator,is stated to dry floors at the rate of 6,000 sq ft an hour. Delivery of the equipment for the R.A.F. has already begun,and is due to be completed by November 30. Godfrey low-temperature unit Type C.20 Mk 2. Low Temperature Unit CIR George Godfrey and Partners, Ltd., acting on a request from^ Boulton Paul Aircraft for portable refrigeration plant suit- able for low temperature research, have evolved a compact unitwhich operates in conjunction with a cold chamber and employs air cycle equipment, instead of the conventional vapour cycle.Equipment under test is housed in the chamber 3 which itself mayalso be portable. To operate the equipment all that is required is a supply of compressed air, and electric power for operating afan and cooling water. It takes approximately 30 minutes to reduce the temperature of an empty chamber (adequately lagged)with a capacity of 200 cu ft from 20 deg C. to minus 100 deg C. The equipment is suitable for any application where extremelylow temperatures are required in a short period of time. The plant is still in an early stage of development and it isexpected that considerable savings can be made in weight and bulk, where such considerations are important. It is also possiblethat a completely self-contained unit will be made available. Mobile Signals Centre :; '"TO meet a requirement for a mobile signals centre, Airtech*- Limited have designed for the Air Ministry a new mobile teleprinter section and switchboard for use in Tactical Air Forces.It is a complete teleprinter exchange where telegraphic messages can be received, re-directed and monitored. Normal method ofcommunication with the vehicle is by land-line, though provision is made for connection of the teleprinter circuits to adjacentvehicles to function as terminal equipment for radio teleprinter circuits. The vehicle comprises a ten-ton3 drop frame, semi-trailercontaining a 40-line switchboard with monitoring facilities, six Simplex teleprinter positions and "transfer send" and "transferreceive" positions. IN BRIEF An announcement from Vactric (Control Equipment), Ltd., saysthat Sir Leslie Nicholls has joined their Board. This is his first major appointment since he resigned, on February 1, at his own-: "quest, as chairman of Cable and Wireless, Ltd. * * * H. T. Newton and Co., aircraft component suppliers, ofGatwick airport, Surrey, have been appointed sole selling agents to the aircraft industry for the products of Vernon's Fuse Co.,Ltd., of Teddington, Middx. * * * A new self-contained aircraft toilet unit, of stainless steel con- struction throughout and weighing only 42 lb, has been put into production by Delaney Gallay, Ltd., to a B.E.A. design. The new unit, say its manufacturers, "practically eliminates fuselage corrosion" and avoids the necessity for ground servicing equip- ment. * * * To meet requests for information about Plessiflex seamless flexible metal hose, Power Auxiliaries, Ltd., Swindon, Wilts (one of the Plessey Group), have issued a brochure which gives details of its potential applications in aircraft and data about construction and assembly. Its characteristics, claim the makers,render it particularly well fitted to withstand over long periods the high temperatures and pressures associated with gas turbines;afterburner fuel-feeds are cited as an example. * * * The telephone number of Aero Research, Ltd., Duxford,Cambs, has been changed to Sawston 2121. The Telex number is 10-101. * * * Orders for fourteen more air navigation beacons and com- munications transmitters have recently been placed with Redifon, Ltd., by Indonesia's Civil Aviation Department. Over fifty similar Redifon radio installations are already in use in Indonesia. * * * From Wolf Electric Tools, Ltd., comes an announcement ofa new portable power point. It consists of a drum which can accommodate up to 100 yd of three-core T.R.S. cable and ismounted on a stand, with a pair of built-in three-pin insulated and shuttered flush sockets connected to a block in the centre ofthe drum. Two portable electric tools can be operated simul- taneously from the unit, which weighs only 9f lb net.
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