Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

engineering' background, its experi- enced engineering talent, and man- ufacturing "know-how" attracted a large volume of Government con- tracts for the development and manufacture of the most difficult and complex types of radio-elec- tronic equipment. As a consequence, some of the most thrilling chapters in our Company's history has been written in our engineering labora- tories and on our production lines. Almost overnight, and far ahead of most others in the radio indus- try, RCA began the enormous task of converting virtually all of its manufacturing facilities from civil- ian to war production. Whole de- partments and factory floor areas had to be dismantled. Machinery and other equipment had to be re- located in our 4% million square feet of factory space, in numerous multi-storied buildings. Not the least important problem of war conversion was the success- ful training of an army of people to do \\x)rk which was far different from that required in our normal opei-ations. Many of the workers were new and inexperienced and had to receive extensive training. For example, hourly workers, alone, now on our payrolls number about 23,700. an increase of about 77% over January 1, 1941. Near the end of 1941, RCA Victor actiuired an additional tract of land adjoining our Indianapolis plant. On it were a number of old, low- cost homes and other structures. Our country's need for types of equipment that RCA was able to build was grave and urgent. The story of how this new tract of land was converted into a modern war plant is a dramatic one of speed, ingenuity and resourcefulness. Bulldozers literally swept the old structures off the land to accommo- date the building of three addi- tional factory units, each measur- ing 250' wide by 500' long. These three factory units literally rose out of the ground at 90 day inter- vals. Even as the roof of one fac- tory unit was being finished, pro- duction machinery was moved in; and before construction on the next factory unit had begun, production was already coming off the line in the first one. Since this war has been called both a radio war and a war of movement, in which communica- tions and electronic apparatus play a vital role, it was inevitable that the requirements for electron tubes by the U. S. armed services and our Allies, would far exceed the produc- tive capacity of the entire industry. As the leaders in the field of elec- tron tube manufacture, it was to be expected that RCA would receive a large part of the responsibility of producing electron tubes in every category. One of the first steps taken at our Harrison plant as well as in Camden and elsewhere, was to rent large warehouse space into which we could move virtually everything that was not actually needed in the production of vitally needed war goods. In Camden, a large structure was erected for this purpose. Tube Factory Built However, the Government's needs for cathode ray, power, and special purpose tubes were so great that it was found necessary to provide additional manufacturing space of a kind never before available. Plans for a new factory were drawn up, and with funds provided by the U. S. Navy, a tract of land was pur- chased just outside of Lancaster, Pa. Within less than six months the most modern tube manufactur- ing plant in the world had begun the task of producing power and special purpose tubes in quantities that had never before been envi- sioned. There are no more critical devices than the electron tubes made at our Lancaster plant, and they are being made not only for our requirements to fit into radar and electronic apparatus, but for virtually all manufacturers of such equipment. Prior to the war, because of the small volume of special purpose tubes that were needed for peace- time purposes, many of the opera- tions were made with hand tools. Urgent war needs stimulated RCA engineers into bringing about a re- markable mechanization of many of these processes. They developed many new types of extremely in- genious machines. Many new production techniques had to be developed at all of our PRODUCTION LINES OF THE RCA VICTOR DIVISION TODAY ARE TURNING OUT VAST AMOUNTS OF RADIO-ELECTRONIC EQUIP- MENT FOR THE ARMED FORCES. plants to make possible the manu- facture of greater quantities of special apparatus. An example of the ingenuity and skill of RCA Vic- tor factory engineers is in the mak- ing of diamond dies. Before the war, diamond dies used in drawing extremely fine wires were made in Germany. Under the stimulus of the war emergency, however, RCA engineers soon developed fine dia- mond drills that operate at much higher speeds and with far greater accuracy than those of German manufacture. Some of them draw wire as fine as a human hair while revolving at a speed better than 200,000 revolutions per minute. Almost from the very beginning of the war production program, certain metals became extremely scarce. Here, too, RCA Victor's manufacturing organization dis- played great resourcefulness. A substitution program was inaugu- rated to determine what other ma- terials could be used in place of the scarcer items. [RADIO AGE 25]