Evening star., 1942-07-30
Vacated Silk Mills
Now Scene Of Plane
Engine Production
Wright Firm Is Housed
In 5 Plants Scattered
Throughout Paterson
BY BILL BONI,
Wide World.

PATERSON, N. j., July 30.-This
Is an airplane engine. In huge
high ceilinged shed where acrid
fumes bite your nostrils half-naked
giants peer at a row of tempera- :
ture gauges. One reaches rne proper
reading They don goggles, heavy
gloves, strap thick padding across
their shins. Then they slide a long
bar through the handle of heavy
cauldron filed to the brim with
bubbling, ugly molten metal.
Almost casually they pick It Up
and walk it to a row Of moldS.
There. as two men hold the bar,
the third tips che spout toward each
of the molds in turn. Out pours
silvery, wicked looking stuff. 1t is
magnesium. the metal incendlary
bombs are made of. Bits that drip
to the floor Sputter and flare there
Just like fire bomb fragment. Yet
these foundry men handle 1t Almost
as though they were pouring tea.
Pots Must Be Accurate.
Rows on rows Of machines are
set up in what once was a silk mill.
With a precision no human hand
could achieve, they turn out gears,
crankshafts, CONFERENCE.-The, cylln-
ders-parts that must be accurate to
minute fractions of an inch.
Nearby a workman is glanclng
through a newspaper. That's time
wasting in a war production plant,
you think. But no. The four or
five machines this man Is tending
are going about their business.
They're working at top speed. So
long as there's 70 trouble, he can
take time out to read.
Here is another plant. Inside, on
the main floor, are wire-partitioned
cages. At the entrance to each is
a sign: "Restricted-do not enter" "
This is where they assemble the
engines; not all together. but in por-
lions.
In one cage they are doing minor
assemblies, perhaps OF cylinders. In
the next they are putting together
another part of the engine.
Slides to Assembly Line.
As each is completed, it is slid out
through an opening to the assembly
line that runs by the entire low Of
cages. There the various partial
assemblies are put together, until
at the end OF the line off come the
cleaning Wright Cyclones and
Whirlwinds that 60 into bombers
and into huge planes like the Martin
Mars and Boeings new Sea Ranger
But an engine complete is not
an engine finished and ready for
its Job. Out in back of the plant
there is a constant, slightly muff1ed
roar. There are the row upon row
of test cells, giant chambers with
soundproofed walls, with thick
doors barred and chained and bear
ing red-lettered signs saying Dan
ger-engine being tested"
You peer in through little peep
holes next to the door. In the
semidarkness you might think
there was some giant prehistoric
monster Gagged in there, monster
whose roars shake the foundation
and which blows jets of blue vapor
through its nostrils.
This is the home plant of the
Wright Aeronautical Co., split up
into five factories which are scat
tered throughout Paterson-scat-
tered both because of the fact that
in its. expansion Wright took over
whatever floor space was available
in vacated silk mills, and because
1t seemed wise to spread out in case
of enemy air attack. Against the
danger of such attack, the plants
have keen camouf1aged
Picture of Unhurried Haste.
From an afternoons visit to this
establishment, one brings back g
picture of unhurried haste. of mer
and machines working carefully ano
well. Each engine, before it goes out
to the fighting front, gets from foul
to six hours in the test cell. Then il
is taken down completely again and
though each individual part hac
been inspected beforehand, now they
are inspected again.
The engine then is reasSembled
sent into the test cell once more fol
a final five-hour run. Gauges ant
indicators show how the oil feed i
working, how much gasoline it con