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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1548.PDF
636 FLIGHT, 25 October 1957 The newly opened three-storey building now occupied by the Research Department of Short Brothers and Holland, Ltd., at Belfast. THE new three-storey building in Belfast which now housesthe research department of Short Brothers and Harland,Ltd., was due to be officially opened by the Minister of Supply, Mr. Aubrey Jones, on Wednesday of this week. Themethod of opening was a novel one: it was arranged that the Minister should burn through a metallic tape, symbolicallybarring the entrance, with a 20 Mc/s high-frequency radio device made in the form of a "death-ray gun." Originally inaugurated five years ago, the research departmentserved only the precision engineering division, but it now works for all the company's divisions. At first it was housed in twolaboratories of 1,200 sq ft floor area. Expanding in 1953, it absorbed a 5,000 sq ft wing of the new factory at Castlereagh,then spread to a further 4,000 sq ft of adjacent factory floor space.. Work was balanced between contract and private-venture pro-jects; and one of the most successful of the latter was the analogue computer, originally prepared for the aircraft design offices, butnow widely supplied commercially. During the last three years Shorts have sold some fifty of these devices, about a dozen of themto the R.A.E. In addition, they use eight themselves, and have recently stepped up production from one to two per month.Development continues of further components, both hydraulic and electric, for these computers. The department is not, in fact, interested in airframe, aero-dynamic or propulsion work, and carries out what the Americans would term "systems engineering," though even this term doesnot properly describe the work. From specification to prototype, the department works on automatic control systems for aircraft,missiles and industrial applications; navigational systems and equipment; powered controls; computers and flight simulators;and all the components and techniques that go to make up such equipment. For this purpose, the department is now organizedin four specialist sections, together with a systems group which co-ordinates the work, and a supporting laboratory services sec-tion. The whole is under the direction of the chief research engineer, Mr. E. Lloyd Thomas- The four sections are theanalytical (Mr. M. E. Maxwell), the electro-mechanical (Mr. C. B. Flindt); the mechanical (Mr. I. K. S. Lasbrey), and theelectronics (Mr. M. McFadden). The two chief systems engi- neers in the systems group are Mr. J. V. Roberts and Mr. C.Snowdon; and the laboratory services section is supervised by Mr. R. Gamble. Up to 200 technologists can be accommodated,but the present staff is about 90, of whom 85 per cent are technologists and 75 per cent Ulstermen . Some 60 per centhold degrees and 20 per cent have Higher National Certificate or an equivalent. The value of the test and measuring equip-ment available exceeds £1,500 per engineer; and it would be double this figure if permanent services and facilities wereincluded. The new research building itself occupies about 23,000 sq ftof floor space. Erected on the site of the "ideal farmhouse" built for the 1951 Festival Exhibition, it was completed in the shorttime of 16 months by the Northern Ireland Ministry of Com- merce to the department's requirements. The architects wereFerguson and Mcllveen, and the builders H. Laverty. Arranged in a modular system, all rooms are enclosed bydemountable partitions soundproofed where appropriate. Only the few permanent rooms have solid walls. A central corridorruns the length of the building beneath a locally lowered ceiling housing the main conduit for electrical supplies and other services.The ground floor accommodates the mechanical laboratory and test room with their heavy equipment; workshop; stores; genera-tor room; and some special-purpose laboratories. The instru- RESEARCH and its TOOLS Wide Range of Activities at Short Brothers' New Facility ment and standards rooms on this floor are sealed andair-conditioned; and the former contains a special concrete pillar having its own special foundations 12ft down in the ground, fortesting precision equipment in vibration-free conditions. A 3,000 sq ft electronics laboratory and the administrative offices,conference rooms and library occupy the first floor, while the top floor houses the electro-mechanical section, analytical section andsystems laboratory. A lift serving all floors also gives access to the flat roof on which open-air tests of aerials and similar equip-ment can be carried out. Nine colours are used for interior decoration, including darktones for doors, woodwork and skirtings, medium tones for walls and light tones for ceilings and panels. The corridors have brightand astringent colours designed to isolate one room from another and to stimulate those using them. The glareless fluorescent lighting is specially arranged so that35 foot-candles intensity is maintained at desk height throughout, regardless of the position or re-positioning of partitions. Fromthe generator room, electrical supplies at 400 c/s, 115 V, 3-phase; variable frequency; 100-200 V D.C.; 24 V, 100 amp D.C.; and50 c/s, 230 V and 440 V 3-phase and various stabilized D.C. supplies are led to local control panels in each labora-tory, where they can be selected by push-button and passed by ring main to numerous sockets at each group of work benches.Spare cables are also provided so that separate laboratories can be linked to one another for control or signalling purposes. Other faculties include a fully equipped light mechanical andinstrument prototype workshop; furnaces, ovens, balances, a hydraulic press, vacuum pumps and evaporation chambers; gyrotest tables; high-altitude and humidity chambers; precision measuring equipment; hydraulic pressure rigs up to 6,000 lb/sqin, and 13 gal/min and load rigs; a coil-winding machine; and eight channel pen recorders, three Short analogue computers,special-purpose computers and servo-operated two- and single- axis rocking tables. A goodly number of the research department ventures were onshow during the opening ceremony, including the prototype of the fascinating visual helicopter-flight simulator, already describedin Flight (September 27). Sound, cabin movement and yaw were not connected. Our representative, in this case a strictly fixed-wing operator, flitted erratically for many minutes over the land- The mechanical test laboratory, showing hydraulic pressure rig, the controlled-rate hydraulic hoist, two-axis tilting platform and eight channel pen recorder.
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