Evening star., 1942-04-16
BY THOMAS X. HENRY.
Star staff Correspondent.

SAN FRANCISCO. April 16.-A
shipbuilding firm here is building a
1O,50O-ton cargo ship every other
day.
Next month, with news ways now
under construction, it expects to
turn one ship off its titanic assembly
lines every day.
These ships are ready to 60 to
sea, with hunks made up and flowers
on the captains table.
The entire plant is only about a
year old. A 1000, ,0O0-ton mountain
was torn down to make room for it.
Hardened maSs-production experts
gasped at the speed and magnitude
of the job and at developments
which constitute the greatest revo-
luton in the history of shipbuilding
The plant is that of Todd-C Califor-
mia, under the personal direction of
Henry J. Kaiser, whose companies
have been the contractors for some
of the largest engineering operations
ever carried out in this country-in-
cluding the Boulder, Grand Coulee
and Bonneville Dams.
This unexampled speed of produc-
ton, the plant engineers explain, re-
suits from the thorough application
of maSS-production methods for the
first time to shipbuilding.
interchangeable Parts.
The cargo ship now being built
is a modification of the so-called
'Northeaster," long known in Eng
land. Parts, as in an automobile,
will be interchangeable from one
ship to another.
The work is being set up accord
ing to the basic principles of any
mass production industry. The whole
is cut down into as many parts
as possible, each made separately,
placed on production lines and
fitted together as the line moves
so that with the final step the
completed ship is ready to move
out to sea- Special purpose machines
are used, so far as possible, for
every operation.
But an assembly line for a 10000
ton ship hitherto has baff1ed the
imagination of plant engineers. A
vessel has been put together all
in one place. Any other system was
considered impossible. But the
imaginations of Mr. Kaiser and his
associates, conditioned to thinking
in terms of thousands of tons, were
spurred by the desperate need of the
United Nations for more bottoms,
and their progress has been at
breath-t taking pace.
Modified Production Line.
Obviously such heavy structure
as a ship cannot move along an
assembly line in quite the same
fashion as an automobile, however
gigantic the moving cranes. This
can be done, however, with four
or five major parts such as the hull,
the engine room, the deck and deck
house. There is an assembly line
for each.
Each section starts along a roll
ing table where each part is put
in place at appropriate stations.
When it is completed 1t rolls onto
an 85-ton trailer which takes it
to the ways where the ship itself
is being assembled. There a gigantic
crane will pick up such a mammoth
section as a completed deck and
deck house. the latter all furnished,
and sets it in place ready to be
welded into the completed struc-
ture.
Much of the success of this mass
production speed, the engineers ex-
plain. is due to the developments
in electric welding. Formerly
ship of the size and design of the
10 .5o0-ton freighter would have re-
ouired the driving of 500 900 rivets.
With the new welding techniques,
which have been demonstrated su-
perior. the number of rivets has
been cut down to $4,000
Similar developments in economy
and time have been applied to each
of the individual parts. Much of this
welding in the past has been con-
sidered impossible, due to the llkell-
hood of getting a little out of line,
because of such factors as heat ex-
panSion of metals. and hence throw
ing the whole ship askew.
Experimental First.
A great deal of experimentation
was necessary to overcome this
difficulty.
We finally found,' one of the
engineers explained, that it was
much the same proposition as max
ing a bed. Watch the average man
trying to keep wrinkles out of the
sheets. He has to go back and
smooth them down. Then watch a
skilled nurse do the same job. That