1958 



Canadian Forestry Journal, December, 1918 



Making the Wings 



When the frame of the wing is 

 completed it is trued up and braced 

 by means of steel piano wires of 

 great tensile strength. The wing 

 then has to have the fabric sewn on. 

 The fabric is made in the form of a 

 huge envelop. This must fit the 

 frame perfectly. The frabic is of 

 cotton or linen and is pulled on over 

 the frame. A large number of women 

 are employed in this department. 

 They do the sewing. 



After an inspection the wing goes 

 to the paint shop. Here the fabric 

 is given several coats of dope to 

 preserve it and two coats of varnish. 

 In the case of the flying boat the 

 wings are painted naval grey instead 

 of being varnished. The completed 

 wing then goes to the stockroom. 



One of the most important parts 

 of the aeroplane is the propeller. In 

 Canada the propeller is made of 

 white oak. Birch is being used to 

 some extent but has not yet been 

 generally adopted. In England a 

 great deal of w-alnut is used in making 

 propellers. 



The propellers differ in size accord- 

 ing to the t>T)e of machine for which 

 they are designed. The first step 

 in the construction is to glue together 

 the laminations w^hich are pieces of 

 wood an inch thick and slightb^ long- 

 er than the propeller in order to 

 allow^ for shaping. When the lam- 

 inations are properly glued they are 

 put in a huge press which is then 

 tightly screwed down. They remain 

 until the glue is perfectly dry. They 

 are then put on a lathe and roughly 

 cut to shape. After this they are 

 allow ed to stand for six days in order 

 that all strain due to cutting away 

 portions and gluing, may be lieved. 

 They are then placed upon an up- 

 right frame on which is a model 

 propeller. The operator in charge 

 of this machine runs his cutter over 

 the model and the cutters on the 

 machine follow his guidance. The 

 process is repeated several times, 

 each time cutting over the entire 

 surface of the blade. 



The propeller is sent to the benches 

 where it is accurately clamped to 



metal surface plates, similar to sur- 

 face plates used in tool rooms, rough- 

 ly balanced and after final sandpaper- 

 ing it is finally balanced. Expert 

 workmen hand carve it to exact 

 pitch. At the different points in 

 its construction it undergoes very 

 rigid inspections. At the final in- 

 spection it is tested for pitch, which 

 is the angle of the flat side of the 

 blade upon which the greatest strain 

 is laid. The track is taken, that is 

 to say the set of the blade from the 

 centre of the hub to stations near the 

 end of the blade. It must balance 

 horizontally and vertically. The 

 last step in the construction is the 

 varnishing. After being varnished 

 it undergoes the final inspection and 

 balancing. A drop of varnish would 

 throw it out of balance. 



Once in a while a propeller gets as 

 far as the final inspection only to be 

 rejected for some flaw^ in the wood that 

 cannot be detected from the exterior. 

 The inspector pointed out one that 

 to the inexperienced of the writer 

 looked perfect. There w-as, however, 

 a short dark streak in the wood w^hich 

 the inspector said was rot. This is 

 one example of how^ minutely the 

 parts of an aeroplane are inspected. 



Care with the fusilage. 



In the construction of the fusilage 

 of an aeroplane, the longerons, or the 

 beams which stretch from the head 

 to the tail of the machine, are of white 

 ash. It is impossible to get the wood 

 in sufficient lengths with a straight 

 grain to make the longerons out of 

 one piece of w^ood. On this account 

 they are sphced together. This is 

 done by gluing the pieces together 

 and bolting them, after w^hich the 

 joint is wrapped with cotton. These 

 joints are so arranged that they came 

 at the points in the fusilage where the 

 least strain is brought to bear. The 

 longerons are supported by several 

 struts of w'hite asli, although spruce 

 is used wherever possible as it is much 

 lighter. The fusilage is trued and 

 braced by steel piano wires in the 

 same manner as the wings. It is 

 covered with fabric, doped and varn- 

 ished. 



In the construction of the flving 



