| May.
2008 Monthly News Letter |
 | Internet Issue #16 |
| ONCE
UPON A TIME An Historical letter from Wright Field, in 1956 (author unknown)Edited by Lou Suiit Approximately twenty years ago (1936) some electrical authorities were predicting that future aircraft would be using alternating current electrical systems. It was felt that this would result from efforts to save all possible and space and still handle the greater electrical loads that were expected. Evidence of this trend can be found in the “Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers” in the years 1937 through 1940. During this same period, magazine articles appeared on “Why Tomorrows Aircraft will have Alternating Current Electricity” written by well known Air Corps people such as Colonels Holloman, Thurlo, Fink and Holliday. It was known at this time that it was easy to produce constant frequency AC power by means of an auxiliary-engine -driven AC generator, but only at a considerable penalty of space and weight. In order to have constant frequency AC power from a main-engine-driven AC generator with accompanying savings in space and weight, a drive was needed that would take variable input speeds from idle to cruise of the main engine and give constant output speed (6000 RPM) to drive the the AC generator. Before and during World War II the search went on for such a drive. Pneumatic, mechanical and hydraulic principles were explored under approximately six R&D contracts. However, even though these contracts were placed with such reputable firms as Bendix Aviation, Chrysler Corporation, Acro-Torque Division of Curtis Wright,General Aviation, etc., no workable drive was developed. The Chrysler-Westinghouse drive and AC generators hadf been considered the most promising, and accordingly, had been chosen to support the B-36 aircraft. The Chrysler drive was based upon a mechanical principle known both as an”8-Speed Gear” and also as “A Mechanical Ratcheting Overrunning Clutch Devise”. During World War II, several firms had worked on the development of a cabin supercharger drive. These included such firms as Bendix, Sullivan Machinery, Stratos, Sundstrand and General Electric at West Lynn, Massachusetts. However, the favored cabin supercharger drive had been the Sundstrand drive based upon a hydraulic motor-pump principle. Major Carl Sadler, of Power Plant Laboratory had been Project Engineer on these drives during World War II. In 1945, it was determined that the Chrysler-Westinghouse combination was not going to support the B-36. The Chrysler drive had some undesirable characteristics and was dropped. General Electric and Sundstrand had previously been encouraged to get interested in the problem. General Electric was asked to develop a control and as a result, without General Electric having a contract with the Air Corps, General Electric did give Sundstrand an order fort for three transmissions, which Sundstrand had developed at their own expense. In 1945 when Chrysler-Westinghouse was dropped, General Electric was given a Letter Contract for B-36 support and encouraged to produce the drives on a production basis utilizing Sundstrand as a subcontractor. (Contract AF-14227) There was considerable delay in formalizing this contract. General Electric had difficulty getting a firm quotation from Sundstrand. This was largely due to the fact that Sundstrand hesitated to proceed into production on a mechanism which they still then considered as being in a purely experimental form. The contract was eventually formalized approximately 1948 as a Form IIb Price Redetermination Contract. Sundstrand did receive two facility contracts during the period of 1945 to 1948, to increase production. Sundstrand, at the end of World War II, already held two patents on geared pumps. Another patent was pending on a “Hydraulic Transmission and Control for a Cabin Supercharger Drive”. Patent No. 2,474,706 was issued 28 June 1949 for a “Hydraulic Transmission”. This essentially covers the transition from cabin supercharger applications to the AC Generator application, and covers the basic principle now applicable to all present day AC Generator-Sundstrand Constant Speed Drives. Because of a contract between Sundstrand and an engineer, Mr. Gunner Wahlmark, all the above mentioned patents, when issued, became the property of Mr. Wahlmark. If Sundstrand was asked for foreground or background rights under the original contract (General Electric Constant Speed Drive), or the cabin supercharger contract, and there is every reason to believe they were asked, based on Air Corps policy of those times, it is understandable that Sundstrand had no rights to give due to the agreement with Mr. Wahlmark. It was not until 1951 or 1952 when Mr. Wahlmark decided to leave Sundstrand, and after considerable negotiations that Sundstrand was able to buy the patents for a price, and thus avoid having Mr. Wahlmark establish a new competing company. By 1948, when the General Electric-Sundstrand drive began to show signs that it would support the B-36, the emphasis was undoubtedly more toward pushing the availability of this long sought milestone in aircraft electrical systems than it was toward any concern for fights which were not available to the government anyway. The satisfactory performance of the drives on the B-36 and their acceptance by the Aircraft and Engine industries as a whole, are now a matter of history and more or less general knowledge. Only the pneumatic drives by Thompson, General Electric and Airesearch and the Ball Pump Drive by General Electric have presented any semblance of competition to the Sundstrand hydraulic drives. The Sundstrand Drive is currently scheduled to support approximately twenty military weapon systems. |
Remembrances
| Fred Rick Hansen Rickie Bateman Jane Beardsley Alex Ilyin Helen Marner Betty Ketchum Viola Edwards Nolan Gustafson Marilyn Dohm | Information
on passing of Sundstrand Retirees Should be called into Elsie Lundvall 1721 8th. st. *815-965-4904  For good health avoid these exercises. 1-Carrying grudges 2-Stretching the truth 3-Jumping to conclusions Retirement: When your favorite piece of software is your pillow. In the good old days people quit spending when they ran out of money. Enjoy today, it won't be back. You are getting old when you sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there. If you laugh a lot when you get older your wrinkles will be in the right places. Even perfect people buy pencils with erasers. |
BULLETIN BOARD & Email List News
Email Dick Aleshire of
any changes, additions or deletions needed. RNaleshire@comcast.net  Bulletin Board: Please email Warren88@aol.com with any interesting story of our days at Sundstrand It will be posted here, on next issue first of next month. From Warren88...... I recently got email from Vic Benson reminding me of some fun we had 40 (FORTY) years ago. I was bragging about the musky I caught and we teased back and forth every time we saw each other. In these days of senior moments and lack of memory, we can recollect that fun like it was yesterday. I am still bragging about the fish.  |
Alex Ilyin ... Memorial story From Gerry Visel Alex was not your classic field service rep, and far from the marketing rep stereotype (to say the least.) But he knew his customers' needs and worked hard to meet them. Way back when when the A-10s of Davis-Monthan AFB at Tucson were having "issues" with their IDGs, Alex escorted Dick LePoidevin and I on base to have a look-see. In his usual style of familiarity with the customer, he drives right up to the front gate, but rather than stopping to sign us all in, he just flashes the guard a business card as he drives right on through, and gets a salute! I thought Dick was going to have a heart attack. However, Alex did know his customers, and did warn us that when we went out to the airplanes, to not EVER step over that cable that was stretched in front of the hangars, or then the guys with the M16s really would have us spread-eagled on the deck! Or when Vicky Saporito was the Service Engineering secretary, and Alex would call in for me. Sometimes I would tell her to tell him that I was in the restroom, (as I didn't have the info he needed just yet.) His response: "Well go in and get him! He's in the third stall, and he has brown shoes!" That was classic Alex. He was special, and I'll miss him. |
SECRETARY’S REPORT Lou Suit started our luncheon
meeting. Elsie Lundvall read a poem and said grace. Lou gave a treasurers report ($211.10 on hand) Dick Aleshire gave a report - he said We have no officers, no money and no programs. If we want programs we must find them. Guest speaker was Dr. James Barrett who showed us slides of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet from his trip there in October, 2002. He also showed us some jewelry and a Prayer Wheel that he obtained on the trip. Very colorful and informative. There were 23 members present. Respectfully submitted Joy Cutsforth, Sectreary. |
ALERT: BREAKING NEWS!!! A recent rumor that a flock of Sundstrand Snowbirds have been seen in Naples, Florida.  Lee Thomas, Ron Vankessel, Phil Mosher, Ron Peterson and mates |
I
NEED YOUR INPUT !!! please email me a mini auto-biography your life that you wish to share with your old friends... I am OUT OF all your input.. PLEASE!!!!! warren88@aol.com If you wish to send me information.. It is very welcome. I have heard many good comments about how much your friends like to hear about you. Future Issues will include the following: Name? |
HS April LUNCH 2008april08lunch
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Gettting to know you... again.
We have created this web site for our communication. Any and all information, data, pictures that you wish to shaare with us please email to warren88@aol.com If you 'bookmark' or put it tis site in your favorite places, you can return to it easily every time you wish to see it, First day of the month, we send the site to Dick Aleshire for mailing to the masses. Be sure to meet this deadline, Or it must wait a month. Use of email will eliminate the need of retyping the information, and digital pictures will work great on a web site. Your input here, can make a wonderful site for others to see what and how we are doing. Any information sent to me will be included in one of the next issues of the web site/newsletter. PRINTING THIS WEB SITE:.Go to 'preview' then "unselect" print all pages, and choose only the pages that interest you. Warren Carlson 969-0082  |
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| Phone
Numbers Monthly Pension 1-800-466-2900 (Opt 2) Unicare 1-800-522-5561 Cigna Health Care 1-800-858-9203 Fidelity Investments 1-800-466-2900 (Opt 1) Mail order/Prescription Drug card PCS 1-800-897-6435 Lou Suit 815-399-0120 Dick Aleshire 815-282-3515 Warren Carlson 815-969-0082 Harriet Brown 815-399-8494 HSA Office Information: Hours: Mon - Wed - Fri 11am -2:30pm Location: Plant 6 - North Lobby Phone: 1-815-226-6973 |
Please Email warren88@aol.com with additions or changes
Print and Pass this on to other Sundstrand retirees that may not have email.
Hamilton SundstrandRetirees Club
Rockford, Illinois
Dear Retiree,
Congratulations: Welcome to the Wonderful World of Retirement
Many of you will be inclined to sit back and watch time go by, while others will engage in their favorite hobby, sport or volunteer project. Some will even look for a part time job to fill their time.
Regardless of the path you choose, one good way to enjoy retirement is to join the “Hamilton Sundstrand Retirees Club.” Our regular meeting is held on the second Wednesday of each month at a location and time as announced in the “Reporter”, our monthly on-line newspaper. This paper also highlights other less formal breakfast and lunches that are held at various times and has pictures of many of the attendees.
To join and make new friends or reacquaint with old friends access the “Reporter” at;
http://warren88.topcities.com/sundstrand/reporter.htm
2008 Dates: Retiree Meetings at Hamilton Sundstrand
To be Held: Second Wednesday of the month
May 14
June 11
July 9
August 13
September 10
October 8
November 12
December 10
and follow the instruction to get on the e-mail distribution. You can also send your e-mail address to RNALESHIRE@comcast.net and receive a monthly notification of each new issue of the newsletter and an updated retiree e-mail listing.
Welcome to the Club.