Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-07-18
OVERLAND FACTORY
LARGEST IN WORLD
Additional Buildings viii Make
Total Of Sixty Acres of
Floor Space

Extensive engagements now in the
course of construction by the WHY'S
Overland Company Toledo, will make
that factory the largest in the world
devoted exclusively to the manufacture
of automobiles. Tue engagements
will add more than million feet of
available working space to the enor-
nous plant.
When completed the factory will
consist of sixty-four buildings, contain
ing an aggregate of mote than sixty
acres of floor space. 1t will be more
than one-fourth again as large as any
other motor car factory in khe world.
The phenomenal increase in\Overland
business has forced a corresponding
growth in the size of the factory. The
! production of $4,000 cars in | single
season crowded the plant to the ut
most A greater amount of spaAe has
been rendered necessary to makeCoom
for the manufacture OF the new AVER
land six-cylinder car, which VIII be
ready for delivery to purchasers inthe
early fall, and by further increIse
in production. \
Since the Toledo factory was pun
chased, in 1909, by John n. Willy
there has never been a time when les,
than half million dollars worth OF
construction was in progress. Among
the new additions is a single building
which has a greater area than that of
the entire original Toledo plant. 1t
is a structure 40 feet wide and 500
feet long, consisting of four stories and
a basement. The building is con-
structed entirely of reinforced con-
crete. erected on foundation of con-
-NN1 Ill 10. H.,
used for storage, while the remainder
Of the space will be used for body
building, upholstering, painting, as
sembling and machine shops. Con-
struction has already been completed
as far as the third floor. The entire
building will be ready for occupancy
in short time.
Another large building. which will
be devoted entirely to building coupes
and open bodies, is 400 feet in length
and 200 feet wide. Its two stories
and basement have been completed
and all the new machinery has been
installed. Like the majority of the
new buildings of the WHY'S Overland
factory, this structure is of reinforced
concrete. with large exterior areas of
glass allowing the maximum amount
of light during the day.
At the rear of the new body plant is
an enormous drying kiln 236 feet long
ana 144 IeeJ W1Qe, WITH a capacity 1Or
handling $500 feet of one-foot lum-
ber in a workday of twenty-four hours.
The ten separate kilns which make up
the unit plant are kept supplied by
means of an ingenious system of tracks
which facilitates the handling of the
lumber.
A new power plant, 162 by 1874 feet,
is being built of structural steel faced
with brick. Power will be furnished
by four McNaul water tube boilers,
each of which is capable of developing
500 horsepower. The huge chimney is
200 feet 3 inches high, measuring 1Sh
feet across the base with a diameter
| of y feet at the feet. The plant will
| heat the new additions to the factory
| and supply steam for the drying kilns
and the powerful hammers of the
drop forge shops.
A two-story addition to the black
smith shop will contain 1000 square
| feet. There is also under construction
tunnel under the railway tracks near
| the shipping platforms which will en-
| able mechanics to take cars to and
| from the testing oval without crossing
! the tracks.
When completed the WHY'S Over
| land factory will contain the very
latest facilities for manufacturing au,
| tomobiles and their parts known to
the mechanical world. Many new ma
chimes and labor-saving devices are
| being designed and erected to handle
the great production of the plant.