January 25, 1918 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



29 



Veneer Panels in Airplanes 



Reasons Why Mahogany Is in Such Great Demand and High Repute 



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T DID NOT TAKE the veneer panel long to prove 

 its superiority over cloth in the construction 

 of airplanes. Originally the planes or vans 

 which sustain the weight of the machine and enable it 

 to sail through the air were covered with cloth. Cotton 

 was one of the first materials, and light tent cloth was 

 considered sufficient. Then, as greater strength was re- 

 quired, linen cloth came into use. Information is not at 

 hand at just what period veneer panels were first tried 

 and found satisfactory as a substitute for cloth, but every- 

 thing is recent in airplane construction, and two or three 

 years count for a great deal. 



During the first year of the European war, that is, in 

 1914 and the first half of 1915, one of the most trouble- 

 some contraband articles to keep out of Germany was 

 linen cloth, w^hich was in great demand for airplanes. It 

 was smuggled into Germany in all sorts of ways. It was 

 printed to make it look like cheap calico or some other 

 innocent material, in hope that it would escape identifi- 

 cation when passing through the blockade. 



This serves to show how rapid and how recent the 

 change in material has been brought about. Perhaps 

 linen cloth is still used as covering for planes of certain 

 kinds, but the principal material is now wood. The 

 planes use veneer panels in place of cloth. These panels 

 are three ply and are made of mahogany in most in- 

 stances. That wood has special qualities which fit it for 

 that service better than any other wood that can be pro- 

 cured. The panels may be of different sizes, but a com- 

 mon size is four inches wide and five feet long. These 

 are joined edge to edge to constitute the plane surface. 

 Skillful devices are in use to fasten the panels edge to 

 edge. The work must be done in a substantial manner, 

 for these panels sustain the weight of the machine and its 

 load, perhaps a thousand pounds. The motor drives 

 the machine forward at amazing speed and the pressure 

 of the air, striking the under surface of the plane, sustains 

 the load. Should a panel break or split, the airplane 

 would plunge to earth; and the importance of having 

 panels reliable in all emergencies is apparent. The air 

 strikes the underside of the plane with an impact equal 

 to that of a wind blowing from 1 00 to 150 miles an hour, 

 and it can be easily understood that no flimsy material 

 will stand that strain. 



Mahogany panels are the preferred wood for battle- 

 planes. It is only moderately heavy, is very strong and 

 hard, and its holding power on glue is so great that a 

 panel of this wood is hard to tear to pieces. It is depend- 

 able, and that is what is wanted, above everything else, 

 in a battleplane. Elvery possible precaution must be 

 taken against breakage. 



Failure under air pressure is not the only danger to be 



guarded against in a battleplane. It is expected to pass 

 through showers of bullets, not only from machine guns, 

 but from guns of larger caliber. Sometimes dozens of 

 projectiles pass through the planes in a single fight. Sup- 

 pose each bullet tore off a splinter in passing through 

 the wood. The panels would be riddled and the ma- 

 chine would collapse. 



That is the reason why mahogany panels are preferred 

 above all other woods. Mahogany does not split and 

 splinter when struck. The bullet cuts a hole through 

 barely large enough for its own passage, and that is the 

 extent of the damage. A large number of bullets must 

 strike a plane before the panels are destroyed, if splin- 

 tering can be guarded against. The panels are three 

 ply, the outer sheets at least of mahogany, and perhaps 

 the inner also. The middle sheet has its grain at right 

 angles to the grain of the outside sheets as an additional 

 precaution against splitting. 



It is of historical interest that wfar vessels for the ocean 

 a century or more ago were built of mahogany, or at least 

 were lined with mahogany planks, as a precaution against 

 flying splinters when cannonballs passed through the ves- 

 sel's sides in battle. In a sea fight when low-power, 

 smooth-bore cannon were used, more damage might be 

 done to a ship's crew by flying splinters and billets of 

 wood torn from the planking than by the cannon balls 

 themselves. The use of mahogany lessened that peril; 

 and now, when airships engag3 in battle, the same non- 

 splintering wood is employed, as of old, to lessen the 

 danger from splinters. In the old days, mahogany tim- 

 bers a foot thick were demanded for the fighting ships; 

 but now it is the three-ply panel about a quarter of an 

 inch thick. It is a wonderful wood and no one can guess 

 to what war use it will be put next. 



The Ahnapee Veneer & Seating Company, Algoma, Wis., dis- 

 tributed about $7,500 among its employes at the beginning of the 

 new year as a bonus upon its 1917 earnings. The payment amounts 

 to 1 2 per cent of wages received during the year. Four years ago 

 the Ahnapee company decided to permit its employes to share in 

 the profits and in that time the dividend rate has grown from six 

 to twelve per cent. 



For the purpose of increasing its operations in Tennessee, the 

 Kentucky Veneer Works of Louisville, Ky., with an authorized 

 capital of $100,000, has applied for a charter licensing it to do 

 business in Tennessee. The incorporators of the company are: 

 If. M. McCracken, F. I. Brown, M. E. Freedman, W. Ceiger and 

 F. C. McCracken. 



At St. Louis, Mo., the Western Veneer Products Company has 

 been incorporated. 



The Talbert-Zoller Lumber & Veneer Company is closing out 

 its business at Cincinnati, O. 



