Fig. 1— Greenlee automatic transfer machine lines are em
ployed at several points. This 150-foot machine drills, reams, countersinks and taps all holes in a Cyclone cylinder head at rate of one part every 50 seconds. Savings over standard ma
chines are astounding: 3768 square fe e t of floor space; one ma
chine instead of 42; $6234 in cost; 15 handling operations; 99 m en and 789.7 production hours per 3-shift day; machining tim e cut from 59 to only 8 m an minutes. H ere inspector examines
a part on th e conveyor built into th e machine
/ T E E L
HERE are pictured a few of the many special-purpose high-production machine tools now in operation in various plants of the Wright Aeronautical Corp. More than any other factor, this equipm ent has been responsible for the trem endous in
crease in the production of W right air
craft engines.
While the first cost of these machines is naturally high, calculations m ade prior to the purchase clearly showed that in al
most every case this was lower than the cost of the large num ber of standard m a
chines which would have been required to give an equal work output. In the few cases where this does not apply, the difference in cost will be m ade u p in a few months by lowered production costs.
Of much greater importance than cost, however, is the enormous saving effected in manpower and production hours. For example, the Greenlee autom atic transfer machine used for the m anufacture of cylinder heads takes th e place of 42 stand
ard machines which w ould require the employment of 107 skilled and semi
skilled workers per day.
Only eight operators per day, working
only one shift, are needed for the Green
lee, and since their work consists merely of loading and unloading the machine, these are usually women who have been given only a few days’ training. One set
up man is the only skilled labor needed to keep the m achine running. A direct saving of 99 persons is thus effected.
Similar figures are given under the pic
tures of other machines shown. All are based on a monthly production of 1000 engines, using a 720-hour month with 20 per cent allowance far contingencies, scrap, and setup time.
Still further savings in manpower are effected in the construction of these tools.
In many cases it takes b u t very little longer to build the special machine than to build one standard m achine, and with the saving in machines shown, this amounts to a formidable num ber of man hours thus m ade available for other purposes.
T he current scarcity of skilled labor has been taken into account in the de
signing of these special machines, and has been offset by building th e skill into the machine itself, leaving the operator little
Fig. 3— Automatic conveyors ca n y supercharger sections and other parts through paint spray booths. W ith o u t additional handling, work goes through baking ovens, tw o finishing spray
booths and final baking ovens
Fig. 4— Closeup of 6-way horizontal and angular 14-station au
tomatic indexing machine for rough and semifinish boring, facing and drilling radial holes in supercharger front housing.
Savings from this and similar machine handling finish machin
ing operations: 278 square fe e t of floor area; 5 machines; 5 handling operations; 17 m en and 121 production hours per 3- shift day. W hile tw o special automatics cost $25,400 above standard machines, savings in production tim e m ake up this
difference in 2 months of peak production
Fig. 5—A 4-way tapping and reaming machine features out- hoard supports for m axim um rigidity of tools in reaming, coun
tersinking and tapping the 20 holes in each of 14 cylinder pads on the steel crankcase, a total of 280 holes. Part is turned over for machining upper row of holes. Savings: 1428 square fe e t of
floor space; 9 machines; $33,600 over cost of standard machines and fixtures; 2 handling operations; 28 m en and 214 production
hours per 3-shift day
Fig. 6— Dual track roller conveyors carry cylinder barrels along double row of Bullard automatics. Individual hoists and jib cranes at each machine do th e heavy work, enable w om en to
handle these operations without undue fatigue
Fig. 7— Overall view of 6-way automatic which drills and back counterbores 20 holes in each of 14 cylinder deck pads on the steel crankcases. Tooling of similar machine shown in Fig. 5. Savings here: 662 square feet of floor area; 4 machines; §32,000 in cost of machines; 2 handling operations; 12 men and 85 production hours per 3-shifl day Fig. 8— Special horizontal Baker drill with manual index and hydraulic feed drills, reams and countersinks 15 holes in governor pad of nose section. Costing $1600 more than stand- radial drill, it saves this amount every few weeks by cutting production hours from to only 4.66 per 3-shift day. Note fixture Fig. 9— Power driven oscillating fixture on this Mattison grinder causes the articulated to rock back and forth under the concave edge of the grinding wheel; method elimin
ates burning of the metal, reduces scrap, im
proves quality of parts, produces more uin
form results. Final polishing time cut 11 minutes per rod. Savings: 133 square feet of floor space; 3 machines, 8 men and 123 hours per 3-shift day. Although costing $14,300 more than standard ma- th e automatics make up this differ- every 6 iveeks through time saved Fig. 10— Instead of using an 8-foot wrench to tighten crankshaft clamping bolts till they stretch 0.009-inch, this Scandia torque ma
chine does the job m uch faster, assures exact torque wanted, requires little effort Fig. 11— Operator loading cylinder onto arbor of uniquely designed special Snyder machine. N ote arbor tip carries two hy
dra ulically fe d cutters for chamfering and spherical back spotfacing spark plug hush- that have been assembled into the cylinder. Savings: 385 square feet of floor area; 4 machines; $27,500 in cost of ma
chines; 1handling operation; 12men and 94
production hours per 3-shift day Fig. 12— Special 5-position Baker drill for drilling, reaming and countersinking 20 hold-down screw holes in flange of cylinder assemblies saves 585 square feet of floor area; 4 machines; $54,000 in cost of ma
chines; 1 handling operation; 12 men and 85 production hours per 3-shift day
else to do than to press the appropriate buttons. Equipment of this type is prov
ing particularly useful w here women must be employed, since it does away with much of the mechanical knowledge and trained craftsmanship formerly needed.
One of the main objections to women has been the lack of physical strength lor the lifting of heavy parts into and out of machines. This has been overcome, however, through the installation of mechanical lifting devices such as hand or electric hoists at each machine, or by the use of overhead traveling cranes.
These not only eliminate the “brute force”
formerly demanded b u t reduce the chances of injury, and also avoid damage
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Fig. 13— Special H am mond polishing chine with six automatically operated spindles polishes reduction gear pinions. Although costing $5000 more than standard polishing iaclc, difference is made up every m onth by wiring 42 production hours per 3-shift day Fig. 14— Double spindle indexing Ex-Cell-O diamond boring machine finish bores 24 holes io flange of propeller shaft. W ork is clamped onto indexing plate. Great accuracy and
perfect alignment are assured Fig. 15—Closeup of 2-way Greenlee machine which faces, bores and chamfers the 14 cyl
inder deck pads. Right hand head operates on upper row of seven holes, lower row ing handled on left hand head. Indexing operation entirely automatic. Savings on two machines, one for roughing operations, other lor finishing: 3872 square fe et of floor area;
5 machines; $113,000 in cost of machines;
2 handling operations; 17 m en and 207 pro
duction hours per 3-shift day Fig. 16— Special Barnes drill mills 28 scal
lops around perimeter of crankcase flange, using 7 cutters, 4-position indexing table.
Savings: 171 square feet of floor space; 1 machine; $6500 in cost of machines; 4 men
and 35 production hours per 3-shift