Evening star., 1941-06-13

6 Knudsen, director of the Once OF
Production Management, and other
q defense leaders, is the outcome OF
2 the first major project undertaken
by the o. P. M, Mr.. Knudsen said
in an interview today. Dedication
of the plant came a year to the
b. dav after Wright Aeronautical and
O.P. M. officials came to an agree
:, ment in Washington as to the scope
g., of the aircraft engine program re-
ouired for American security and
aid to Britain. Since that time,
actually, the engine program has
been so greatly multiplied that the
equivalent of 10 plants the size OF
this Cincinnati giant will be required
to supply the engines for air defense
of the democracles.
4: The floor space of the single en-
eine factory here IS equivalent 10
. that required for the l6 major
league baseball teams to play elght
F, games simultaneously, with 30,O0O
fans in the stands for each game
and with enough space left over Tor
= q college football game. complete
. with it's own audience of 10000 spec
- tators or more.
-- Every foot of this gigantic space
soon will be brought into production
-crammed to capacity with SAND
nolding facilities, furnaces, casting
rooms, machinery and tools Jammed
together with Just room enough for
workmen
Plant Air Conditioned.
If present plans materlallze,
there will be still another plant OF
about the same size here, In addltlon
to a half-score of other aircraft en-
CINE plants operated by the aviation
and automobile industries in various
parts of the country.
This plant supplements the five
=. Wright engine plants IN the Pat
erson IN. j. area and increases
the companys entire production
area to 4,976,9O0 square feet, or an
expansion of 452 per cent over the
100000 square feet occupied in 1889.
The floor space occupied today by
this single aircraft engine company
Is greater than the total occupied by
the entire American aviation indus
try at the beginning of the present
world emergency.
To counteract expansion and con-
traction of metal during precision
machining operations required In
modern aircraft engine production,
It is necessary to air-condition this
vast factory. To do so requires
employment of five of the largest
refrigerator compressors ever made.
Their combined capacity would pro-
duce 100000 tons of ice every "a
hours. Six wells were drilled on
the site to provide a flow of 5000
gallons of water minute.
Metallic shavings and chips from
the machining operations are pro-
duced in such enormous quantities
that they must be hauled from the
machines on tractor trains, cleaned
of oil by a centrifugal process and
dropped into bins that fill rail-
road CANDIDA car every eight min
utes.
Knudsen Praises Speed.
Once the Cincinnati plant attalllS
peak operations, the total output
of Wright engines will reach nearly
100000 horsepower monthly, or
enough to propel fleet of 500 ocean
liners of 5000 horsepower each.
The Army Air Corps will depend
on the new Cincinnati plant alone
to produce engines to power half
of the medium and light lombard
ment airplanes to be produced by
the entire United States aircrift in
dustry, according to Brig. Gen.
George Kenny, assistant chief Of the
Material Division, Wright Field
Dayton, Ohio. This will include the
production of spares. which must
run as high as 25 per cent for mill
tarv airn1aOes of all tyDeS and as