A g ain C le v e la n d C ra n e sc o re s a n o th e r first in c ra n e d e sig n —th e g re a te s t s te p fo rw a rd in c ra n e c o n s tru c tio n sin ce th e a d v e n t of t h e a ll- w e ld e d s t e e l c ra n e also p io n e e re d b y C le v e la n d C ra n e 20 y e a rs ago —a new c a b t h a t is ra d ic a lly d iffe re n t in e v e ry re sp e c t.
M o d e r n , s t r e a m l i n e d in a p p e a ra n c e , th e c y lin d ric a l
s h a p e d c a b p ro v id e s f u ll v is io n f o r t h e o p e r a t o r , c o m f o r t a b l e s it- d o w n c o n t r o l a n d air-c o n d itio n in g . S h a tte r-p ro o f p la stic e n c lo su re p a n e ls e x te n d to th e floor p e r m ittin g m a x im u m vision in e v e ry d ire c tio n
o v e r th e a re a c o v e re d b y th e c ra n e . C o rn e rs o r blin d - vision sp o ts a re e lim in a te d .
C ra n e o p e ra tio n w ith th is c a b is a sim p le e a sy sit-d o w n job. H o is t a n d tro lle y m a s te r sw itc h e s a r e a tta c h e d to th e c h a ir a rm s fo r m a n u a l o p e ra tio n ; b rid g e sw itch a n d h y d ra u lic b ra k e a re s e c u re d to th e floor fo r foot o p e ra tio n . E a c h of th e o p e r a to r ’s lim b s h a s o n e d e fin ite co n tro l jo b —no d o u b le d u ty .
A n a ir-co o led , a ir-c o n d itio n in g u n it e s p e c ia lly d e v e l
o p ed for th is c a b p ro v id e s fre sh c le a n a ir a t a n y n o rm a l te m p e r a tu r e d e s ire d a n d g iv e s p r o t e c t i o n a g a i n s t o b je c tio n a b le gasses, d u s ts a n d fum es.
T h is n ew c a b is a s e l f - c o n t a i n e d u n i t t h a t m a y b e fu rn is h e d w ith a n y n ew c ra n e o r e a s ily a p p lie d to e x ist
ing c ra n e s of a n y m a k e e m p lo y in g m a g n e tic c o n tro l.
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May 7. 1945 127
down th e line on lust 8 positions on the giunt horseshoe
stallation finally was completed, a high degree of efficiency was attained almost immediately. U nder the m anual setup, the first eight airplanes nearest to com
pletion were moved by a tractor with a 2-man crew. The remaining airplanes were moved by hand, seven men to a plane. The entire operation required 6 minutes, as compared with only 2 minutes for the mechanized conveyor.
Apportioning the various operations under the present setup follows a pro
gressive plan. Typical operations for each position include:
1. Splicing nose and tail to center section.
2. Locking down engine controls.
3. Installing aileron cables.
4. Installing rudder cables.
5. Electrical check-out.
6. Hooking up and adjusting cables.
7. Splicing wing and installing en
gines and landing gear.
8-9 Rigging surface controls and bomb bay doors.
10-11-12. Hydraulic operations.
13. Final electrical check-out.
14. Installing soundproofing.
15. Installing engine cowling.
16. Installing nose turret.
17. Installing radio equipment.
W here work is to be advanced to a new position on th e production line, a warning buzzer sounds. W orkmen re
move scaffolding and tools from around each large bomber. The all-clear signal then is sounded. The general foreman, whose headquarters are on an elevated platform a t the open end of the horse
shoe, next presses a button and the whole line, whose w eight in bombers is nearly 225 tons, moves forw ard one position.
Scaffolding is rolled back into place and assembly work continues, the workers at each position concentrating on their specialty. Because of the chain-type conveyor system which was developed specially for this production line, the entire operation, from one station to the next, is com pleted in barely 3 minutes.
Lim ited floor space is utilized to the full
est extent.
W hen the spliced fuselage reaches position No. 6 on tire splicing line, it is picked up with slings by an overhead crane and is moved to the first position on the m echanized horseshoe conveyor (actually station No. 7). H ere wings are spliced on and landing gear and engines are installed. The installation of landing gear a t this point is one of the keys to the entire setup, for the airplane rides on its own landing gear throughout the remaining operations, attached to the con
veyor chain by a nosewheel dolly. This permits use of an extremly narrow gage track, greatly simplifying the problem of negotiating the horseshoe bend.
Fig. 4— Looking
shoe— with the sides of the horseshoe parallel to the splicing line. Backbone of the conveyor is a continuous chain 1320 feet long, m ade up of 1100 solid and 1100 split links, and total weight of TVz tons.
It is driven by a 15-horsepower electric m otor and runs in a channel recessed in the floor and is guided around curves by bronze-bearing steel rollers. The line (Fig. 4) can be stopped a t any time from the main switchboard, located on a raised platform between the open ends of the horseshoe and commanding a full view of the entire operation.
As the three sections comprising the fuselage come from the body division, they are placed on a special splicing fix
ture, shown in Fig. 3, which is at the first position of the splicing line. Splic
ing fixtures are mounted on grooved wheels which ride on V-shaped tracks and are m oved by hand. Fixtures travel
ing on rails, such as the ones shown in Figs. 2 and 3, support die fuselage during splicing operations.
During the period of manual oper
ation while waiting for the chain, it was possible not only to acquaint the em
ployes w ith their new duties but to de
term ine accurately the length of time necessary to perform each operation and to make readjustments and balance still further the work assigned to various stations. Thus, when the conveyor in
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