Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-05
IN AN AERopLANE FACTORY.
How a New Seasons Advances Are
Prepared.

Most of Us have seen craft in the air
\ large majority of US, indeed. proba-
lily know the principles underlying
Hight and the means b. which the Az
iator guides his machine through the
atmosphere, how he warps his wings
to maintain his balance from side to
side. twists his vertical rudder 10 steer
his course from right TO left, Just as
one does in Il boat, and lifts or lowers
his elevator. to rise or descend
But an aeroplane factory in tut
blast is novelty with which few are
familiar, and it may be OF interest 10
take stroll through the works and
see now the machine is built up from
the time that its parts come in the
form of raw material from the woods
of Maine. the steel mills of PennsSiya
mia and the weaveries of Massachu-
setts
We go down to Sdaantum and glance
over an aircraft, say Of the Wright
type, and wonder why on earth it is
priced ut six or seven thousand dollars.
It looks simple enough, few sticks 81
wood, some wires. a hundred yards or
50 of fabric and a motor The Man
Who Knows 1t ALL winks an eye and
remarks to rs confidentially that there
is good money" in aeroplane building,
and that the constructors are making
four or five hundred per cent. profit.
This, it is sad to say, is true of Ear too
many mushroom concerns which take
money under false pretences, with Two
eyes on the revenues and none at all
for the airman whise limbs. whose life
itself depend, on the faithfulness and
IN CHI f44f
there are builders who have consci-
ences, and it is of them that we would
speak.
There are not many factories in this
country anyway, and of these the
companies which are doing q legiti-
mate business may be counted on the
fingers of single hand. We have
one of the latter right here in Massa-
ehusetts. in Greater Boston, in fact
This is the Burgess Company and Cur
It's at Marhlehead, whose senior mem
Der, w. Starting Burgess. was once re-
nowned as a yacht designer, but now
devotes his time exclusively to aero
planes Then there are the Wrights at
Dayton, with what is said to be the
finest plant of its kind in the world.
especially built for its purpose, and
Glenn H Curtiss at Hammonsport, \.
Y. whence Americas first internation-
al cup racer came AT each of these
places there are real aeroplane facto-
ries, and that just about makes up the
sum total Tor the Western Hemisphere.
Methods of construction in general
are similar at all of these places, but
the Burgess company is handiest. Be
fore a stick of Wod Is cut or d Wire
bent, the design of each craft must
first be laid out on paper. This is
done in the drafting room. The Bur-
CESS company in this respect is far and
away ahead of all other American con-
Germs, and most of those abroad as
well, q fact which is largely due to
the skill of Mr. Burgess. Here one
may see all manner OF aeropiane plans,
not only those which are being con-
structed in the shop. but those both
native and foreign, which present any
point of distinctive interest, for study
and comparison. Then TOO, there are
the working drawings. the blue
prints. so carefully worked out
that "A mere mechanic can build
un from them the complete ma
chine This, at least, Is one item of
expense of which the layman takes no
account In any new business such as
aviation is today there is ii tremen-
dous amount of WORT, which must be
Gone in the drafting room, some of
which rever shows at al except in the
avoidance of future errors, negative,
in fact. instead Of positive work some
designs Will cost as much as thous-
and dollars before a stick of the aero
~. ,t-bf we
laid in place and others, on which as
much or more have been spent, are
never used at all
Much as these drawings appeal to
the skilled eye, however the shop is
the most interesting place for those of
us who are not technical II We show
q worthy interest the foreman viii take
us over to heap Of lumber, prospect
tive Orders, propeilers, struts and
ribs. At the first glance we see only
a pile of rough planks. but after We
gaze a little while il begins 10 dawn
on us that these are not ordinary
sticks of wood They differ from those
we might find in a timber yard IN
the first place. there isn't knot as
big as a pencil point 10 be seen. And
then the grain is 50 beautifully
straight, each line running as though
marked eff By enc of the long T.
squares UP in the drafting room.
This We may be sure, was the result
Of no accident Our friend the fore
man goes from time to time to the saw
mills down in Maine and picks over
and culls the spruce for days and
days at time until he at last finds
Just what appeals to his practi2ed eye.
lust to show what this means, here
lying close at hand is one timber Of
the tailframe on the Wright machine,
There are four of these spars and they
run out fifteen feet behind. carrying
at their extremity not only the verticle
rudder but the elevator as Welt They
are approximately an inch and half
square up near the body of the craft
and taper off to little more than an