Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-04-23
THE MAKING OF AN AiRPLANE
The Operation is Wonderfully Tedi'
Gus and Expensive.

20 into the making OF "dTplane are
set forth by Lieutenant Colonel Hiram
BiEs CHAM. signal corps. L. =. ~. in n
communication 10 the National Geo
gra phic society. part Of which is
made public as the following war geo
graphy bulletin:
Let me try to depict by a rough
picture q plane in the making. Sup
pose. for instance, you were set 10
driving 1926 nails and 3,377 screws.
Cndoubtedly that would be quite
task-a total OF 1903 separate opera
ti0ns. Well, when you had reached
the 5000 mark you could truthfully bc
told that you had done less than two
thirds of the work Of this sort rcquir-
ed Tor a single airplane. fThese figures
are for a training plane: for Il French
battle plane $4,000 Screws are said to
be- ne.ded) Somehow "A plane looks so
simple and floats so gracefully through
the air that We los. all thought or tcr
skill that goes into its making.
One of Americas AR Triumphs.
Just recently We have received
some figures OF the material which Is
required for one of the simpler train
ing planrs. For instance. 81 steel
stampIngs must be cut ont. 19S forg-
inrs EAST, and 20 turn buckles, all for
single machine.
Think. then. of the hundreds OF
thuuSa nds OF such pieces needed for
the thousands of planes in the Amcri-
can programme and OF how utterly
helpless the situation would bc II
those parts were not standardized
turned out 10y machinery in tens Of
thousands. and sable IN scores Of di'-
frrcnt factories on any kind OF plane.
'rhc reduction Of aircraft manufacture
to The simplest, standardized, quantity
production basis has been one of
Amrrica's great triumpls in The air
aid an achievement which very soon
will toe making itself felt.
But metal must bc used in an air
plane as little as possible. II is alto
gcthcr too heavy, especially when a
few extra pounds make I'LL the mar
gin in speed between victory and de-
feat. An engine of horsepower Is
in itself enormously heavy TO rise in
to the air; SO that the rest OF the
machine must attain the very acme Of
lightncSs.
THAT very lightncss, however. en-
tails enormous strength and perfect
adjustment. Think of the strain which
Is exerted on every wire and nut. ev-
cry inch OF linen. and every bit OF
wood as this horsepower mechan-
ism rushcs through the air at $50
miles an hour. Cyclones often do not
20 as fast, and we can easily picture
what happens TO strongly built
house when the air strikes il at that
speed.
Tremendous Pressure Wthstood.
"But if the strain is great simply
because OF high speed. what must il |
be when a plane suddenly carccns
downward, taking tremendous pres |
sure off one part and hurling ii upon
another. II is that kind OF sharp. |
sudden, uncvcnly distributed shock |
which allows the slightest tap OF n
knife to crack an egg or the explosion
of n depth bomb to crush in the un-
prepared side of 4 submarine. Obvi- |
ously plane must be built so skillful- |
ly and of such perfect material as TO
Withstand TYii not t. only the pressure of
the cyclone speed. but also the added
shocks of it's sudden evolutions.
'The one material which gives this |
double characteristic of strength with
lightness Is spruce: not the ordinary
spruce. but snpcr-sclcctcd spruce |
from the giant trees OF the Pacific |
coast. Few would believe that this |
would present much of problem
with Americas vast resources: but
when one considers that only small |
fraction of the very best spruce is |
tlsablc at all. and that the war has |
vastly increased the demand for that. |
the difficulty will begin to appear. Let
me explain this in detail.
"The ideal trees for airplane spruce |
are the fine old patriarchs. scarce
enough at best. which have n girth Of
about II feet and run up 1GO feet
without branch. Now when this
splendid wood is cut 81 per cent is
thrown out at oncc-thc part in the
heart where the grain Is too circular
and the part at the circumference"
where the grain is too coarse. About |
10 per cent is culled out for various /
reasons and another 1-2 per cent lost |
to kiln shrinkage. This leaves us less |
than one third of our original wood |
for further selection.
"Of this third. however. only small |
portion is tit for the moro dcli"%tr |
work. Less than per cent OF II has |
the necessary length and strength for |
ailcrons. 2.3 per cent is fit for the
wing beams: 4.6 per cent for the long |
struts. and the same for the leading |
gear. The balance can only be used |
for ribs and the smaller fittings.
Strainins Americas Lumber Resources
These figures show why Americas |
vast lumber resources are being strain |
ed to the limit to build our air fleet. |
They explain also why it has been |
necessary for the United States to
take over the whole spruce output as
agent for the combined Allied pro-
gramme and eliminate the ruinous
competition which had prevailed. be- |
tween the English. French and Italian
governments"
Great Cry and Little Wool.-Thc
special investigating committee Of the
s Aernnnnficul Society of America.