The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1919-05-23

and varnish, or "dope," for the wings
developing at the very start. Lack
of an adequate supply of linen was
overcome quickly through the assist
ance of the United States bureau of
standards, which evolved a special
cotton fabric with a tensile strength
of 80 pounds to the square inch. Pro-
duction of this material was soon at
the rate of 1,200,o 900 yards a month.
"Cotton proved to be not only an
admirable substitute, but even a bet
ter fabric than the original CLOTH"
the report says, "no matter how
abundant the supply of flax may be,
it is unlikely that linen will ever be
used again in large quantities for air
plane wings"
Search for a varnish to protect air
plane wings resulted in the establish
ment of ten large chemical plants to
produce acetone, the principal ingred-
lent.
"Had the war continued" says the
history, "these new plants would have
taken care of all American and allied
military needs, allowing the produc-
ton of private plants to go exclusively
to fill commercial needs"
Development of aircraft was so rap
id that frequent changes in models and
designs were before the service ex-
perts for consideration. At the time
of the armistice, the whole produc-
ton machinery had been, or was about
to be, turned over to putting out a
new De Haviland, known as ga; the
Lepere. a two scatter built around the
Liberty engine, and the great Handey-
Page machine for bombing work. Ex-
periments also were under way with
the Italian Caproni, to be driven by
three Liberty engines.
"But American invention was able
to bring out a strictly American bomb
ing plane that promised to supercede
all other types in existence" says
the report. "This vas the Martin
plane, with a wing spread of rs feet,
which attained a speed of 118 miles
per hour against 100 for Handley-
Page and Cajroni. Where the for
eigners required 46 minutes to climb
$4,000 feet, the Martin craft took 80
minutes"
One entire chapter Of the history
is given to the evolution and prepar-
ations for the production of the Lib
erty engine. First drawings were
made May 20, 1917, and the first g.
cylinder engine was delivered July
4, 1917. On August rs, the first Lib
erty twelve" successfully passed 9
50-hour test.
GAS an achievement in speed II
the development of a successful new
engine this performance has never
been equalled in the motor history Of
any country" the report declares
quoting a British official statemen'
that more than one year from thu
ception to completion must be allowed
in such cases. The performance wa
possible, it added, because all the IN
v~entive and manufacturing talent O
the country was turned over patriot
ically to the government for use with
out stint, even secret patents and pro
cesses being thrown into the cOmmo;
pool.
, Deliveries started with % motor
in December, 1917. This was increas
! ed to 80 in January, 1918; 70 in Feb
Z ruarv. 1922 in March, Ais in April an
$40 in May. By October the dali
far abduction was 100 machines. Tn
report asserts that as a fair standar
of comparison it could be said tina
the most famous British aviation er
T cine never reached a larger produt
ton than 10 machines a day.
I Liberty motors comprised about ont
half of the aviation horsepower pre-
duced in this country, the remainde
being divided between the Hispan'
Suizas, LIE Rhones, Gnomes, Curtis
e es, Hall Scots and n or two eXpe:
mental types. Disappointing result
g met efforts to produce the BIRTHS
q Rolls-Royce and the French Bugat
engines in this country, this bein
attributed largely to insufficient dat
a obtained from the originators.
= Vivid description is given Of the d
velopment of the various speci
4 equipment for war planes, such as tt
synchronizing device, permitting Il
q aviator to fire through his propelle
+ the special compasses and sights, tt
~ camera "gun" and many types
"a bombs. As an illustration of Il
a~daptability of American factorie
the report cities the case Of a man
facturer of skates who turned O
thousands of demolition bombs dali