Grantville Gazette VI Read online

  Suomela, On the possibilities of growing Taraxacum kok-saghyz in Finland on basis of the investigations conducted in the years 1943-1948 (1950).

  IPNI entry for Taraxacum kok-saghyz, available through quotes Acta Instituti Botanici Academicae Scientiarum URSS 1: 137 (1933), "Hab. In montibus Tian-schan, in valle flum. Kegen, 19.X.1931, leg. L. Rodin." Remark 99288.

  Plants for a Future Database entry for Taraxacum kok-sahgyz, available through

  See also Vanderbilt (under Goldenrod)

  Miscellaneous References

  USDA Plant Profiles

  Schwarcz, That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles: 62 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life (2002)

  "Signal Telegraph of the Civil War and the Wire Used,"

  Finnish Defense Forces, Quartermaster Depot,

  Boschert, Nancy, "Thermoplastic Vulcanizates in Medical Applications," Medical Plastics and Biomaterials (January 1997), online at

  Gabriel and Metz, Chap. 6, "Lethality and Casualties," A Short History of War,

  (RSR) "Rubber in Steam Railways,"

  Rubber consumption figures are from Schidrowitz 332-36, U.S. population from the World Almanac, British population from , car ownership in the US from .

  Geopolitics of Rubber

  Braudel, Wheels of Commerce, Vol. 2 of Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century (U. California Press: 1992).

  Perez-Brignoli, A Brief History of Central America (U. California Press: 1989)

  Smith, Explorers of the Amazon (U. Chicago Press: 1994)

  Hemming, The Search for El Dorado (Phoenix: 2001)

  Solana, "Dutch Trade with the Spanish West Indies and the Flemish Community in Cadiz in the Eighteenth Century: A Community of Shared Interests?"

  Ramerini, '"Dutch Portuguese Colonial History"

  and many satellite web pages.

  "Colonial Expansion: the V.O.C. ((Dutch) United East India Company) 1602-1798"

  "Routes of the Silk Road"

  Burns, Alan, History of the British West Indies (George Allen & Unwin: rev. 2d ed., 1965).

  "International Commerce and Colonial Spanish America,"

  Van der Kraan, "The Dutch in Siam: Jeremias van Vliet and the 1636 Incident at Ayutthaya,"

  and "At the Court of King Prasat-Thong: An Early seventeenth Century Account by Jeremias Van Vliet,"

  Polenghi, "The Japanese in Ayudhya in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century,"

  Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "The Beginning of Relations with European Nations and Japan,"

  "Dutch Portuguese Colonial History,"

  Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (19 )

  Naipaul, The Loss of El Dorado (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.: 1969)

  Bannon, Bolton and the Spanish Borderlands (Univ. Olahoma Press: 1964)

  Appendix 1: Grantville Resources

  Public and School Library Holdings

  "Composites," "Plant," "Rubber," "Dandelion," "Guayule," "Castilla Rubber Tree," "Rubber Plant," Encyclopedia Americana [in Public Library, per search of Mannington Public Library catalog]

  "Industries, Chemical Process—Rubber" and "Angiosperms," Encyclopedia Britannica [in Public Library]

  "Rubber," "Amazon," "Ceara," "Fortaleza," "Para," "Para (Belem)," Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. (1911), online at

  [two copies in Grantville, one donated post-RoF to Public Library, per email from Virginia DeMarce]

  "India Rubber," Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th ed. (1875-1889) [in Round Barn]

  "Rubber," Collier's Encyclopedia [in Junior High School library, per Rick Boatright]

  "Rubber," World Book Encyclopedia [in Senior High School library, per Rick Boatright]

  Probable Personal Library Holdings

  Hammond Citation Atlas (and other atlases)

  "Rubber," Microsoft Encarta CD [per Rick Boatright]

  National Geographic magazines, back to the 1950s at least. [ditto]

  Personal Knowledge

  While there are no botanists in Grantville, the Up-timer Grid version 6r reports that Susan Lisa Beattie was a horticulture major in college. We don't know where she went to school, but the West Virginia University horticulture program requires 45 hours of agriculture courses. Since she only attended for three years, I would expect that she has taken perhaps two-thirds of that course requirement.

  Alden Williams, Sr., Gene Caldwell, Linda Jane Colburn, Fran Genucci, Delia Higgins, Rose Harris (d. 1635), Dora Mobley, Jessica Booth, Deann Whitney, and Vera Hudson are either already master gardeners, or are in the apprenticeship program for that honor. West Virginia Master Gardeners "receive a minimum of 30 hours of instruction. Along with an orientation, volunteers are given core training in plant science, plant propagation, soil science, plant pathology, entomology, communication skills, and integrated pest management." See

  And then there are the members of the Garden Club, and, of course, farmers.

  While their knowledge is not going to help you find rubber trees or tap them, these people do know how to test soils, plant seeds, use twentieth-century garden and farm equipment, control plant pests, and so forth.

  Down-Time Knowledge

  The up-time texts are not our only source of information as to where these rubber trees may be found. Down-time scholars may well be aware of texts such as Pietro Martire d'Anghiera's De Orbo Novo Petri Martyris Anglerii Decades Octo (1530; translated into English in 1612) which says that trees whose "milky juice . . . congeals to form a sort of pitch-like resin" can be found in the "Valley of Chiribichi."

  On the Design, Construction and Maintenance of Wooden Aircraft

  by Jerry Hollombe,

  Private Pilot (ASEL),

  Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic

  Introduction

  This essay started out to be about what it takes to build an airplane using wood, wire, dope and fabric. It's still about that, but it's also about why there shouldn't be a down-time aerospace industry, nor much of an air force, in the first decade or so post Ring of Fire. I say "shouldn't" because what actually happens is up to the fiction authors and, in my experience, when works of fiction are created, plot and drama trump the details of reality every time. Still, if you're going to break the rules, you should at least know what they are.

  I earned my private pilot's license in 1966. At the time, it required a minimum of forty hours flight time. I qualified for my Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanic's license in 1970—one of the very last groups of students to be formally trained in maintaining wooden aircraft. To earn my A&P license I went to school eight hours a day, five days a week, for fourteen months, then passed long and rigorous written and practical exams. Nearly all of what I learned in that time is orthogonal to what a pilot learns. The idea that J. Random Pilot from the twenty-first century would know anything about building and maintaining wooden aircraft is laughable. There were no A&P mechanics in the Ring of Fire—let alone any of my era—so most of what I'm going to talk about below is unknown in Grantville.

  Further, as a mechanic I know how to maintain and repair aircraft using mostly off-the-shelf parts and materials. I don't know how to design one. For that you need an aerospace engineer and there is only one in the Ring of Fire, Hal Smith. (Mike Spehar managed to grandfather him in before the Grid became so rigid.) I don't know how to make the precursor chemicals for dope. For that you need a chemist. I don't know how to make the high quality steel to make the wires, nuts, bolts, etc., you need to hold an aircraft together. For that you need a metallurgist. Except in the most general terms, I don't even know how to make a propeller, let alone design one. Trial and error will have to serve.

  The following description of the building and maintenance of fabric-covered, wood-framed aircraft is going to include a lot of fiddly details and requirements. Some of them are going to be difficult to implement in the seventeenth century. Whether they are implemented or not is up to the fiction authors, but they should be aware of this: A lot of airplanes crashed and a lot of people d
ied to put those details and standards in place. None of them are entirely frivolous. If you want your airplanes to be credibly able to fly from Peetle to Pootle without crashing six times along the way and want your pilots and passengers to be anything but suicidal daredevils, you'll leave them in place. Also note that even modern private aircraft are inspected annually, commercial aircraft are also inspected every 100 hours of flight and military aircraft are inspected daily, so problems can be detected and repaired early. Finally, when feasible, every pilot does a walk-around inspection of his aircraft before taking it up.

  It's been suggested to me that outside of Jesse Wood's air force, down-time pilots will be daredevils. Even if you aren't concerned about their safety, consider the safety of your precious engines, instruments and even rubber tires. You can't afford to build airplanes that crash and burn at every pause in the conversation.

  So, let's begin.

  Tools

  First is a list of the minimum woodworking tools required to maintain a wood framed aircraft. Most of them should be available or makeable in the seventeenth century. Space limits prevent me from describing each one and its use. Mechanics learn about them in the practical shop part of their training.

  Backsaw (14 to 18 teeth per inch)

  Small bucking bar

  Auger bits

  Brace

  C-clamps

  Parallel wood clamps (Jorgenson)

  Scribe compass (10 inch, thumbscrew lock)

  Hand drill

  Twist drills (1/16 to 1/4 inch)

  Flashlight

  Hammer

  Magnetic tack hammer

  Pocket knife

  Block plane

  Jack plane

  Diagonal cutting pliers

  Coarse wood rasp (half round)

  Fine wood rasp (half round)

  Dovetail saw

  Crosscut hand saw (10 to 14 teeth per inch)

  Keyhole saw

  Rip saw (5 to 6 teeth per inch)

  Screwdrivers

  Combination square

  Straightedge (36 to 48 inches)

  The wooden frame is covered with fabric and the tools for working with that are the same as those used by a tailor or upholsterer. They include assorted needles, scissors, pinking shears, sewing machines and irons. The fabric, in turn, is covered with dope, which I'll talk more about under the materials heading. Dope is applied like paint, with brushes or, if available, a paint sprayer.

  Even wooden airplanes have metal parts and fittings and for them you need the usual wrenches and screwdrivers and drills (oh my!). To fabricate the parts from raw stock, you'll need the resources of a machine shop or a blacksmith.

  In addition to these mostly generic tools, there are specialty tools needed for doing things that only airplanes need done, like tensioning the wires and cables that hold the wings up (and down). I'll mention them as they come up in context.

  Materials

  Wood

  Aircraft spruce is the wood most commonly used for wooden aircraft structures. Properly cured, it is light in weight and has high tensile strength for loads applied parallel to the grain. "Properly cured" means kiln dried to produce uniform strength and reduce moisture content evenly. To promote even curing, pieces to go in the kiln should be as small as feasible, given the parts they are going to be used to make. (Obviously, beams for wing spars and such are going to be pretty long.) If aircraft quality spruce isn't available, certain other woods may be substituted if they are of sufficient quality: Douglas fir, noble fir, Western hemlock and white or Port Orford cedar. Some of these are not available in seventeenth-century Europe.

  In general, the wood should be straight grained and the grain should not deviate more than one inch in fifteen. Wood for spars and other large structural parts should be quarter sawed such that the end grain is nearly perpendicular to the sides of the board. The minimum number of annual rings per inch is six for most woods and eight for Port Orford cedar or Douglas fir. Look for trees growing on the shady side of a hill or in other conditions that lead to slow growth.

  Aircraft wood must be free of decay, shakes and checks (splits) and compression failures. Minor defects like small, solid knots and wavy grain are tolerable if they don't appreciably weaken the part, but should be avoided if at all possible.

  Glue

  Most aircraft construction and repair uses glue to join pieces of wood. A glue joint should be as strong as the surrounding wood. Of the glues available in the seventeenth century, animal and fish glues cannot be used for aircraft work because they are not waterproof. Until synthetic resin glues are reinvented, casein glue will have to do. (The familiar white glue is usually a casein glue. It's made from milk, lime and salt.) It is satisfactory for the purpose as long as it is protected from fungus, usually by chemical additives (zinc borate or formaldehyde may be suitable). All glue left over from a job should be discarded.

  Fabric

  The most common fabric for modern aircraft is grade A mercerized cotton cloth. (Mercerizing is a chemical treatment that shrinks the material.) Unfortunately, long staple cotton isn't readily available in seventeenth-century Europe, so a substitute must be found.

  In the early days of flight, aircraft were covered with Irish linen, which is still acceptable provided it meets quality standards. The main problem with linen is shrinkage. The material must be carefully cut and sewn to allow for that factor or it can tighten up enough to break ribs and damage other aircraft structures.

  The minimum tensile strength for the covering fabric is eighty pounds per inch. I.e., a one-inch wide strip of cloth must support at least eighty pounds weight without breaking. It must have a thread count of eighty to eighty-four threads per inch in both length and width and must weigh four ounces or more per square yard. After weaving, the fabric is calendered (pressed wet between hot and cold rollers) to lay the nap.

  Fabric may be bias cut (cut diagonally across the weave), which allows a small amount of stretch for fitting purposes.

  Surface Tape

  Surface tape is used as a reinforcement over stress areas, such as the leading and trailing edges of wings, over rib lacing and seams and around fittings on doped fabric. It is usually cut from the same fabric used to cover the airplane and has identical physical specifications. The tape usually has a pinked (sawtoothed) edge, which improves adhesion and helps inhibit raveling. It should be used to cover all lacing and stitching, but only after the first coat of dope has been applied.

  Reinforcing Tape

  This is used between the fabric covering a rib and the lacing cord to help distribute load and keep the cord from wearing through the fabric. The material is similar to surface tape, but the warp thread is larger than the fill and it should have a tensile strength of one hundred fifty pounds per half inch. Its width should be matched to the width of the rib it is covering.

  Sewing Thread and Cordage

  Again, since the customary cotton is not available, linen will have to do.

  Machine sewing thread must have a tensile strength of five pounds per strand and weigh about one pound per five thousand yards. It is technically described as white, silk-finish, No. 16 four-cord thread with a left or Z twist.

  Hand sewing thread must have a tensile strength of fourteen pounds per strand and weigh one pound per 1650 yards.

  Lacing cord is used to attach fabric to the structure of the airplane. It should have a minimum tensile strength of forty pounds single or eighty pounds double. Bee's wax should be used to lightly coat the cord before use by drawing the cord across a piece of wax.

  Waxed cord is used to attach leather chafing strips (made of russet strap leather) on parts of the structure that may be subject to rubbing by moving parts such as brace wires and structural tubing. Chafing strips protect against wear and abrasion and the cord holding them in place must be double-twist and waxed.

  Leather

  Russet strap leather is used for reinforcing where structural parts or controls must pass through
the fabric skin. Horsehide, which is thinner, may be substituted in areas of lesser wear.

  Miscellaneous

  Tacks are used during construction to temporarily hold fabric in place, but only rustproof tacks, made of brass, tinned iron or Monel, should be used for permanently attaching fabric to wood.

  Where holes are necessary for drainage, inspection or lacing, grommets are used to reinforce the fabric. Seaplane or marine grommets are shaped to create suction to enhance drainage or ventilation when necessary.