Convairiety, Volume 14, Number 18, Wednesday, August 30, 1961 Page: 2 of 6
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Page 2
CONVAIRIETY
Wednesday, August 30, 1961
Special $7.50 Price Set
On Dynamic America'
“Dynamic America,” story of
General Dynamics Corporation
and its predecessor companies,
will be offered all General Dy-
namics employees next month at
a special discount price.
A limited number of copies of
the 426-page volume will go on
sale at all divisions Sept. 15.
Price to General Dynamics
employees will be $7.50. The book
is being sold regularly at book
stores for $20.
“Dynamic America” profiles
the history of General Dynamics
in terms of how the company’s
products have affected the course
of industrial progress. It con-
tains more than 1,000 illustra-
tions, more than half in color.
Published by Doubleday and
Extensive testing and limited
production is in progress at Gen-
eral Dynamics/Astronautics’ new
hydro-chemical forming facility
of the main plant.
The company-owned installa-
tion includes explosives maga-
zines, a utility building, and a
forming tank with assorted han-
dling equipment. The present
tank installation is 12 feet in
diameter and 10 feet deep, and
will handle parts of approximate-
ly the same dimensions. Larger
facilities are planned for future
additions.
Greatly reduced tooling costs
'are seen as a major advantage of
hydro-chemical forming. Only a
single die is required to form
most parts.
Sheets of metal (the blank) to
be formed are placed over the
die and lowered into the tank. A
vacuum is introduced between
the die and the blank. An ex-
plosive charge suspended just be-
low the surface of the water is
detonated. Shock waves set up
by the explosion force the ma-
terial into the die, shaping a pre-
cision part in a split second.
Representative savings in time,
Company, the book was five years
in preparation.
It was edited by John Niven,
Courtlandt Canby, and Vernon
Welsh. Erik Nitsche, internation-
ally-recognized designer, illus-
trator and art director, was re-
sponsible for the book’s graphic
layout and topography.
Although the special price is
limited to General Dynamics em-
ployees only, there will be no re-
striction on the number of copies
which can be purchased.
Sale will be handled at GD/
Convair, GD/Astro, GD/Fort
Worth, and GD/Pomona through
employee services. Copies will
be on display at off-site facilities
and orders may be forwarded to
main division offices.
tooling and material are reflect-
ed in bell-shaped transducer hous-
ings now in production. The
housing’s complex curves are pre-
cisely shaped, using a single die
and about one-half ounce of ex-
plosive. Formerly, three sepa-
rate dies were needed to shape
by conventional means.
This feature—the ability to
shape parts from a single die
rather than many detailed parts
—is one of the key features.
Utilization of the area falls
jointly to applied manufacturing
research and process develop-
ment (Dept. 290) and sheet metal
(Dept. 732). Walter K. Beyer
and W. C. Wilson are Dept. 290
project engineers. Dept. 732 is
represented by Art Wright, as-
sistant foreman; J. A. Brown,
R. K. Wall, E. E. Raynor and L.
H. Wetherington.
“Thus far we have used stain-
less steel, aluminum and Monel
for forming,” said Beyer. “Shap-
ing more exotic materials and ex-
periments in bonding dissimilar
metals—making a permanent alu-
minum and steel ‘sandwich,’ for
example—will begin in the near
future.”
GD/Astro Man Wins
An Oriental House
The telephone rang at 10:30
p.m. Sunday and a voice in-
formed Harry Erwin of Dept.
535-5 at GD/Astro that he had
won a house!
He was grand prize winner
at a San Diego Home Show.
His prize was a 21 x 24-foot
lodge-type Oriental house
which stood 14 feet high. It
came complete with a closet
and bath.
“I almost flipped,” Erwin
said. “All I could think of was
would it fit in my yard.”
Erwin settled the problem
by simply selling it.
MANAGEMENT CLUBS
TO MEET ON COAST
Representatives from four Gen-
eral Dynamics Management clubs
will hold a two-day conference in
San Diego Sept. 13 and 14.
R. H. Biron, General Dynamics
senior vice president-industrial
relations, is hosting the meet,
aimed at “acquainting each club
president with activities of the
other clubs and to derive solu-
tions to problems common to all.”
Represented will be Manage-
ment Clubs from Fort Worth,
Convair, Astronautics and Po-
mona.
Delegates will be guests at the
September dinner meeting of the
GD/Astronautics Management
Club.
Heller of Pomona
On Navy Committee
E. D. Heller, value control co-
ordinator at General Dynamics/
Pomona, has been appointed a
member of the Value Engineering
Committee to the Bureau of Nav-
al Weapons Industry Material
Reliability Advisory Board.
The appointment, announced
recently by RAdm. F. L. Ash-
worth, Navy assistant chief for
research, development, test and
evaluation, is for a term of two
years.
The Advisory Board operates
under directives of the Depart-
ment of the Navy governing pub-
lic advisory committees.
Astro Hydro-Chemical Facility
Forms Parts in a Split Second
SHAPELY BOOK ENDS —Nancy Hagan, left and Rose McDaniel, both GD/Astronautics, browse
‘‘Dynamic America” copies which will go on special sale to employees middle of September at all
facilities. Profusely illustrated, multi-color volume profiles history of General Dynamics. Sold nation-
ally in book stores at $20, cost to employees is $7.50.
B-58 Flights Will Test
Turbulence Response
A series of subsonic, low-level
flights will be made in Hustler
No. 7 during the next few months
to measure the B-58’s response to
atmospheric turbulence.
Runs will be made from 500 to
1,500 feet above terrain in a cor-
ridor extending from a point four
miles east of Jacksboro north to
eight miles west of Kingfisher,
Okla. Federal Aviation Agency
set down requirements for the
corridor.
“We’re planning to make the
most of the flights during the
middle six or seven hours of the
day,” said Harold Johnson, team
captain.
Val Prahl will be project pilot
during the demonstrations, with
either Paul Brewer or Max Run-
nion in third station.
Second station of No. 7 con-
tains electronics gear, used over
the past few months in a series
of air and gust-load demonstra-
tions. Purpose is to demonstrate
the Hustler’s structural integrity.
The Hustler’s reaction to tur-
bulence will be picked up by
strain gages and accelerometers
placed strategically over the air-
frame.
In addition, a gust probe will
be used to sense pressure changes
and determine gust velocity.
“In effect, we’ll be attempting
to determine characteristics of
the air as well as measure the
B-58’s reaction to it,” Johnson
pointed out.
He said meteorologists are
jiow extensively exploring the
relatively new phenomenon of
“clear air turbulence.”
Information concerning the
flights—including maps of the
corridor area—are being mailed
to airports in Texas and Okla-
homa, Johnson said.
DOUBLE POWER—W. N. Hosmer, (left), at control console of
newly-installed electronic power supply in GD/Convair systems
dynamics lab, regulates test forces for specimen attached to vibra-
tion exciter at right. J. K. Giel, systems dynamics test engineer,
points out part under vibration testing. Power amplifier is in left
background.
New Power Supply Doubles
Vibration Testing Capabilities
New equipment in General Dy-
namics/Convair systems dynam-
ics test laboratories has more
than doubled vibration testing
capabilities.
Accepted this month was an
electronic power supply consist-
ing of a power amplifier with 30
KVA output power and a con-
trol console, both designed and
built by Ling Electronics Divi-
sion of Ling Temco Corp., Ana-
heim, Calif.
M. C. Brady, systems dynamics
lab chief, said that installation
of the improved power supply,
considered one of the most mod-
ern in use, will make possible
accurate testing of components
now in design stages for ad-
vanced projects.
“The Ling power supply will
enable us to test missile or
spacecraft components as if they
were on launch pad, taking high-
level forces of lift-off,” said W.
N. Hosmer, lead engineer. “Under
such extreme stresses, compon-
ents are subjected to two kinds
of vibration simultaneously, vi-
brations within themselves—or
sine wave vibration—and vibra-
tions from the engines which go
throughout the entire structure—
random wave vibration.
“The new power equipment
more than doubles power for sine
wave testing—vibration on a sin-
gle frequency in one given in-
stance—and ten times the poweT"
for random wave tests.”
Vibration testing is done by
test engineers of systems dynam-
ics components group under su-
pervision of Howard Bard.
The electronic power supply
can activate two vibration ex-
citers (or shakers) at one time
to produce a total force of 7,000
lbs. Test specimens are connec-
ted to the exciters and subjected
to controlled vibration forces.
Now in the Bldg. 72 test lab
for initial testing with the re-
cently-installed power equipment
are Atlas engine actuators, parts
which position the engine on the
ICBM. Qualification tests will be
started .goon on the screw jack
of the Convair 990 horizontal
stabilizer.
Three-Day Weekend
Set Over Labor Day
A three-day holiday is in
store for General Dynamics
Corporation folk everywhere
this coming weekend.
With Labor Day falling on
next Monday (Sept. 4), Gen-
eral Dynamics divisions will be
closed that day, with the ex-
ception of essential security and
maintenance personnel. Regu-
lar working hours will be ob-
served the following day, Tues-
day (Sept. 5).
SPECTACULAR—At left, Art Wright holds sheet metal blank for comparison as
W. C. Wilson and W. K. Beyer lift finished shape from die following hydro-
chemical forming at GD/Astro facility. At far right, Wilson and Beyer suspend
half-ounce explosive charge in loaded die. In center, Wilson sets off charge.
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 14, Number 18, Wednesday, August 30, 1961, periodical, August 30, 1961; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth777526/m1/2/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.