Packard Forum Index » General

Something does not sound right here. I can see paying RR a royalty for the non-RAF sales, but to charge us a fee for the engines we made for them does not square. Maybe someone knows more or can verify.

Gerd, thanks for your postings which have generated a great discussion.

(o{}o)

I don't know why we should have even paid a royalty on our use. I do believe we had pretty much funded and supplied the early war effort thru lend-lease and then continued pretty much as the main supply channel thru to the end. Were not a huge amount of "loans" forgiven when all was over?

I think you will find the fed reserve, is involved, a way to print money and pocket it. jp morgan, is the England side of the fed.

JW,

On the P-38, the teardrop looking weight on the elevator assembly was added to keep the elevator from "freezing" during dive. Probably more negligent by powers that be (the War Production Board) was the P-38 was never fitted with newer "paddle blade" propellers, which significantly improved rate of climb, ceiling, and air speed and would have cut down drastically 8AF bomber losses in 43. Also, Allison probably wouldn't supply the engines in large enough quantity to get the full number of a/c needed. Gen HH Arnold wanted to arrest and try Allison's management for impeding the war effort. I recall reading that in Coffey's Arnold bio. Much of GM's upper management was pro-Nazi.

Rolls had a number of restrictions and conditions they wanted put on Packard manufacturing the Merlin. This included RR's belief that women weren't suited to build the engine. I believe Packard revised/automated a number of assembly procedures and patented a number improvements on the engine as RR was hand building the engines. We also ended up paying royalties to Oerlikon after WWII for their 20 mm AA canons used by USN. The British Vickers Co. also paid royalties to Krupp after WW1 for their cannon fuses, which killed German soldiers. No escaping the banksters.

Howard, John, Stephen, Riki,
althought the threat went another way than planned, I'm glad to inspire you to a little Packard chat. Just for the sake of completeness I want to tell you my original intention, which had been to steer the story through some foggy documents (a cover attached), burried in the bottom drawer of Packard history with the idea to extend the public image of Packard as motor car company towards a company that had never been to shy to apply for armaments orders (even as part of the state secret to develop a nuclear driven bomber).

Well, forget my nice plan ...

Attach file:

---

  (23.37 KB)

Size: 86.27 KB; Hits: 61

picture 1
Construction of an aircraft building, September 25, 1940

picture 2
Aircraft building construction site in 1941

picture 3
red : construction volume during war time
blue: contour of the company ground


[picture sources
1,2: Detroit Public Library
3 : documentary movie "Men Bet Their Lives On It"]

Attach file:

---

  (30.31 KB)


  (24.84 KB)


  (21.33 KB)

Assembly of Rolls Royce engines at the Packard motor car company. Photos created 1943 Jan.

picture 1: Checking alignment of the studs

picture 2: Workmen smoking cigarettes in an aisle during a five minute recess

picture 3: Driving cylinder hold down into the upper crank case

Rights Advisory: No known restrictions.


[source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.; digital file from intermediary roll film]

Attach file:

---

  (104.94 KB)


  (112.94 KB)


  (117.03 KB)

Friends

The WWII contracts in the US were cost plus 3%. PMMC, ever patriaotic, billed the government cost plus 1.5%.

Hitler nationalized Opel, with belonged to GM. After the war, GM tried to sue the government for the damage done to the Opel plants done by Allied bombing. I don't know if they succeded.

Charlie Wilson, Eisenhower's Secretaary of Defense, was fomerly the Chairman of GM. During his confirmation hearings, he said "What's good for General Motors is good for the country and vice versa". After his confirmation, Packard lost much of their defense business in the name of national security. At that point defense business was 50% of PMCC"S business and 80% of their profit.

Regards

John Harley

Please find attached as pdf-file:

The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928

Author: Robert B. Meyer

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Attach file:

---

Size: 1,615.00 KB; Hits: 1193

  (22.97 KB)

I've been working on an another article on Packard patents and inventors; it will be my 2nd on the topic and I hope to finish it this year. Based on #s I've gotten from the U.S. Patent Office, if you analyze patents granted to the Packard Motor Car Company, you'll find the following #s granted, by decade:

1900-1910 - 79
1911-1920 - 351
1921-1930 - 437
1931-1940 - 664
1941-1950 - 155
1951-1954 - 50

Of interesting note is that these numbers pretty much parallel the rise and decline of Packard. Of particular interest is that their two most prolific inventors (based on patents granted) were Jesse Vincent with 163 and L. M. Woolson with 148. All of Woolson's were aircraft-related, and the majority of Vincent's, or close to a majority, were aircraft- or marine-related. E. F. Woolson (L. M.s spouse?) added another 29 on aircraft-related inventions. Packard's best engineering talents were often not focused solely on the automobile.