There is a hierarchy in production of things like this. A group of very intelligent people will design this and create manufacturing processes. The manufacturing processes will be refined to such a degree, you could get an unskilled worker off the streets to do the assembly of some parts or feed machines to create the parts, almost idiot proof. The unskilled workers don't have to understand what they are doing or how it works, all they have to do is press in bearings or tighten screws. This requires a factory of workers who do very simple tasks to create something complex (and quickly).
@@ryanbonzagni2299 Women worked in defense production throughout the war. For example my mother worked on the PBY Catalina assembly line in Seattle during WWII. Women not only built aircraft in that era but ferried them to Europe and around CONUS.
The production method was used in the automotive industry for at least 15 years before WW2. It was applied to war time production because the volume was just like automotive manufacturing. The gear set is an epicyclic gear train that was used for many applications even then but later in the 1950's it formed the main gear sets for the majority of automatic transmissions and is still used today for that.
When he says made by unskilled workers, maybe he was referring to machine operators who really had just enough training to operate a machine to make one part or process.
more often then not just means they never had anything past basic education, ie. no college/professional trade schooling. Nothing offensive meant by it despite the phrasing, which again given context of this being WW2 manufacturing and how before the war most women were "just wives" it makes perfect sense.
@@charlesangell_bulmtl sometimes yes, but an assembly line machinist is not a real machinist or a skilled laborer. That's part of the issue here in the US. The general population doesn't understand the difference between an operator, a setup person, a programmer, a machinist, a fabricator, or an engineer. The brit is right.
The is the gearbox that was mounted above the electric starter on some Merlins. It provided an alternative, hand start capability. Hand starting was achieved by using the gearbox to spin up a heavy mass to high speed and then use it's inertia to turn the engine over, via a clutch mechanism. The smooth, turned 'knob' on the end of the shaft isn't original. It should have a part with a transverse pin for a removeable handle to attach to. Shame about the blatent mysogyny
The clue to the 'unskilled' comment is that each worker only made one component, on machinery that was set up to produce that one component to the correct size and spec. Therein lies the skill. Personally I find the 'and women at that' comment more offensive. Women were better at these very repetitive jobs than men would have been (had they been available), doing the same task every few moments if not seconds hour after hour, day after day.
Women were a natural fit for production work both skilled and unskilled because they've excellent fine motor coordination (hence their use in both world wars assembling complex mechanical instruments, artillery and bomb fuses etc.
Merlin II electric starter reduction gearset. Someone put it on display and made a nice handle for where the starter motor shaft engages, so it's operable/demonstrable.
It is a hand turning gear used to turn the engine for maintenance setting/ignition timing. The Hurricane used a chain and sprockets to transfer the input to a cross-shaft through the lower cowling which enabled two ground technicians to crank for starting. Using this to start, it may fire, but not likely to run. Later engines had a blanking plate.
Let me say this. I don’t think I could build that or come up with the idea. So I would consider myself unskilled, and I’m a guy. But it is pretty ingenious. Furthermore I have been taught mechanics and have never witnessed anything like it. I guess I have something to learn yet.
Fine piece of engineering. 80:1 reduction gearing in a very small unit and congratulations to the women who made it. So how did it start a Merlin? The spindle looks to small to wrap a pull cord to start a 27 V12 like a lawnmower.
I think the Mosquito had 2 of the same engine that powered the Spitfire. The Spitfire had a port on one side where the ground crew would insert a crank handle to start the engine, as an alternative means to the electric start.
So how did the thing work? Planetary and complex and clever, compact, didn't weigh much, all very impressive. Large reduction ratio ~ 80 or something to one. Now how do you start a 27 litre supercharged engine with that? By 'hand'?
It probably has a Sprague clutch, or similar "one-way" mechanism, otherwise it would be spinning thousands of RPM when the engine was running, and, to prevent the starting handle from killing the mechanic when the engine turned over!!
How on earth can a group of unskilled workers come up with something so complex, but so utterly simple. British engineering at its very best. Unsung heroes of the last century. Thanks so much for showing.
Part is designed by mechanical engineer. Method of production determined by industrial engineer. Parts are cut on a lathe by a machinist who is only trained to make that one component of a larger part. No heroes required.
My late father was a tool setter in a factory full of women operating capstan lathes. Essentially, the whole operation is broken down into simple steps, requiring only low skills from the lathe operators, and a few skilled men, like my father, to set up and occasionally adjust the machine tools for them. This is also the basis of modern mass production, whereby low/unskilled workers are able to produce very complex finished items like computers and smart phones.
@@liarliarliar6495 Capstan/turret lathes are still popular with small shops (which is why I keep getting outbid as a hobbyist!) because they're so easy to set up and can even beat some CNC cycle times. According to the pro machinists who outbid me a used turret lathe easily pays for itself on a single job though new ones of course would not.
I've got a weird ww11 airplane part, USA made that has about a 40-1 ratio, one side has a speedo square type cable maybe and the other a bnc type tube connection. 20+ years back when I got it the internet only showed one thing about it and I haven't looked since then
This narrative was included in the official historical documentarys from then and being repeated so often to praise the ingeniuity of the masterminds behind the planning that everybody soon began to repeat it without noticing the massive insult included. The greatest skill of the workers was their flexibility in any way!
If this was made by an unskilled woman, think what a skilled woman can do. Ww2 victory was possible because of the production capacity of US arms factories. Damn good thing, they were mostly women. Never get a woman pissed. It can come to no good.
Yeah, You're Lucky To Have That! Was It Used As A Backup? For What It's Worth, Women Kept The Lathes Turning While The Men Were Away. Foyle's War - 'Bleak Midwinter' Thank You.
Don't think that starter would turn a 27 litre v-12 rolls Royce merlin engine. Infact I'd say the starter for a merlin engine. I could be wrong obviously
The men and women who made this were skilled and well trained and this is born out in the Spitfires, Hurricanes and the many other World War 2 aircraft that still grace the skies to this day. Strange comment you made as well when you said, 'and Women at that'. Give them the credit and the respect they deserve please, for without them we would have found it very difficult to beat the Luftwaffe in 1940. The very outcome of WWII may even have been different. It is a real shame that this attitude towards the SKILLED female and male workers continues to this day. If you want to educate the younger generation about WWII and the engineering that went into such machines as the Merlin Engine, Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster, Guns, Tanks, Ships, the list is endless, you should at least get these facts correct.
That would not start any engine! That's 80 hand cranks for just 1 turn of the engine! I've just timed myself simulating that and I managed about 22 turns in 5 seconds. So that equates to about 20 seconds for one revolution. Way too slow to start ANY ENGINE!
I don't think the fact that women made that made is it any less functional than if it was made by men. The whole idea of mass production was to make make endless replicas of something of which all parts were interchangeable with the next. Unlike conventional British manufacturing at the time where gears planetary sets were made for a single unit and we're not interchangeable.
"and women, at that..". God, man, I'm an old fart, too, but I'd never say that! Women can do anything that men can do, unless it's a brawn over brain "thing", and certainly did all sorts during WW II !
Yet a skilled woman was able to make this dude who couldn't bring himself to explain how this thing actually started a 27 liter engine!
Women or men whoever built that starting device was not unskilled by any means.
Truely shortribs.
It was a man.
There is a hierarchy in production of things like this. A group of very intelligent people will design this and create manufacturing processes. The manufacturing processes will be refined to such a degree, you could get an unskilled worker off the streets to do the assembly of some parts or feed machines to create the parts, almost idiot proof. The unskilled workers don't have to understand what they are doing or how it works, all they have to do is press in bearings or tighten screws. This requires a factory of workers who do very simple tasks to create something complex (and quickly).
@@ryanbonzagni2299 Pretty unlikely during WWII.
@@ryanbonzagni2299 Women worked in defense production throughout the war. For example my mother worked on the PBY Catalina assembly line in Seattle during WWII. Women not only built aircraft in that era but ferried them to Europe and around CONUS.
Why not explaining how it did work?? I assume that you didn't just turn the knob with two fingers and then the Merlin started? 🤔🤔🤣
I thought I missed that bit. So it's a bunch of gears that look impressive, but no idea how it was employed.
The production method was used in the automotive industry for at least 15 years before WW2. It was applied to war time production because the volume was just like automotive manufacturing. The gear set is an epicyclic gear train that was used for many applications even then but later in the 1950's it formed the main gear sets for the majority of automatic transmissions and is still used today for that.
When he says made by unskilled workers, maybe he was referring to machine operators who really had just enough training to operate a machine to make one part or process.
more often then not just means they never had anything past basic education, ie. no college/professional trade schooling. Nothing offensive meant by it despite the phrasing, which again given context of this being WW2 manufacturing and how before the war most women were "just wives" it makes perfect sense.
Yup, skilled workers.
Bud, in the US that IS defined as skilled labour...how very 'British' of you 🤨
@@charlesangell_bulmtl sometimes yes, but an assembly line machinist is not a real machinist or a skilled laborer. That's part of the issue here in the US. The general population doesn't understand the difference between an operator, a setup person, a programmer, a machinist, a fabricator, or an engineer. The brit is right.
And women at that - I think they knew much more about this item than he does!
The is the gearbox that was mounted above the electric starter on some Merlins. It provided an alternative, hand start capability. Hand starting was achieved by using the gearbox to spin up a heavy mass to high speed and then use it's inertia to turn the engine over, via a clutch mechanism. The smooth, turned 'knob' on the end of the shaft isn't original. It should have a part with a transverse pin for a removeable handle to attach to.
Shame about the blatent mysogyny
The clue to the 'unskilled' comment is that each worker only made one component, on machinery that was set up to produce that one component to the correct size and spec. Therein lies the skill. Personally I find the 'and women at that' comment more offensive. Women were better at these very repetitive jobs than men would have been (had they been available), doing the same task every few moments if not seconds hour after hour, day after day.
Women were a natural fit for production work both skilled and unskilled because they've excellent fine motor coordination (hence their use in both world wars assembling complex mechanical instruments, artillery and bomb fuses etc.
Merlin II electric starter reduction gearset. Someone put it on display and made a nice handle for where the starter motor shaft engages, so it's operable/demonstrable.
I don't think so. I think it is an Internal Part of exactly what he says it is.
What a unique looking device!
Sounds so much like Photonicinduction...
Thats very cool, That hand starter must make the Rolls Royce Merlin easy to start by hand.
It is a hand turning gear used to turn the engine for maintenance setting/ignition timing. The Hurricane used a chain and sprockets to transfer the input to a cross-shaft through the lower cowling which enabled two ground technicians to crank for starting. Using this to start, it may fire, but not likely to run. Later engines had a blanking plate.
Historic Aero Engines Thank you. That makes a lot more sense than suggesting it could actually fire up the ending.
It made it possible to start the engine without trying to spin the prop.
I can almost hear the long fiber grease hiss as he turned the mechanism.
Grandi,grandi,grandi. Finalmente qualcuno che spiega come si avviano questi motori 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
2:17 Chuck Norris mode begins.
thats amazing ! thank you for sharing your information Sir !
strating a giant piston aero engine by hand....umm imagine that going down today.
Let me say this. I don’t think I could build that or come up with the idea. So I would consider myself unskilled, and I’m a guy. But it is pretty ingenious.
Furthermore I have been taught mechanics and have never witnessed anything like it. I guess I have something to learn yet.
Fine piece of engineering. 80:1 reduction gearing in a very small unit and congratulations to the women who made it.
So how did it start a Merlin? The spindle looks to small to wrap a pull cord to start a 27 V12 like a lawnmower.
I assume a crank goes in the hole he pulled the plug out of.
Excellent video
Would have been beneficial for a simple explanation on what task it is used for.
He explained that, were you asleep?
@@drd6416No, he explained the gearing in isolation, not how it started an aero engine.
Or at least show it in operation.
I think the Mosquito had 2 of the same engine that powered the Spitfire. The Spitfire had a port on one side where the ground crew would insert a crank handle to start the engine, as an alternative means to the electric start.
So how did the thing work? Planetary and complex and clever, compact, didn't weigh much, all very impressive. Large reduction ratio ~ 80 or something to one. Now how do you start a 27 litre supercharged engine with that? By 'hand'?
that "...and women at that" comment gonna get him in trouble now-a-days...
It probably has a Sprague clutch, or similar "one-way" mechanism, otherwise it would be spinning thousands of RPM when the engine was running, and, to prevent the starting handle from killing the mechanic when the engine turned over!!
How on earth can a group of unskilled workers come up with something so complex, but so utterly simple. British engineering at its very best.
Unsung heroes of the last century.
Thanks so much for showing.
Part is designed by mechanical engineer. Method of production determined by industrial engineer. Parts are cut on a lathe by a machinist who is only trained to make that one component of a larger part. No heroes required.
My late father was a tool setter in a factory full of women operating capstan lathes. Essentially, the whole operation is broken down into simple steps, requiring only low skills from the lathe operators, and a few skilled men, like my father, to set up and occasionally adjust the machine tools for them. This is also the basis of modern mass production, whereby low/unskilled workers are able to produce very complex finished items like computers and smart phones.
@@liarliarliar6495 Capstan/turret lathes are still popular with small shops (which is why I keep getting outbid as a hobbyist!) because they're so easy to set up and can even beat some CNC cycle times. According to the pro machinists who outbid me a used turret lathe easily pays for itself on a single job though new ones of course would not.
Still have no clue how it was used to start the engine... perhaps like Donald Pleasance in The Great Escape?
I’m assuming it wound up a big clock type spring to start the motor ??
🤔How are the two sets of planetary gear set connected I see they are turning at different rates.
excellent
I want to know more about how it was mounted, cranked and, connected to the engine for starting.
I've got a weird ww11 airplane part, USA made that has about a 40-1 ratio, one side has a speedo square type cable maybe and the other a bnc type tube connection. 20+ years back when I got it the internet only showed one thing about it and I haven't looked since then
How come we never seen them on Spitfires and Mustangs.?????
Why don't you say anything about the mysterious hand starting of the engine?
A plausible con trick to see who falls for it before it is uncovered as a ruse.
Cannot believe the ignorance of this person to belittle the men and women who got there hands dirty to help win the war.
This narrative was included in the official historical documentarys from then and being repeated so often to praise the ingeniuity of the masterminds behind the planning that everybody soon began to repeat it without noticing the massive insult included. The greatest skill of the workers was their flexibility in any way!
If this was made by an unskilled woman, think what a skilled woman can do.
Ww2 victory was possible because of the production capacity of US arms factories. Damn good thing, they were mostly women.
Never get a woman pissed. It can come to no good.
Is that a full sized or a dmall model
Yeah, You're Lucky To Have That! Was It Used As A Backup? For What It's Worth, Women Kept The Lathes Turning While The Men Were Away. Foyle's War - 'Bleak Midwinter' Thank You.
Don't think that starter would turn a 27 litre v-12 rolls Royce merlin engine. Infact I'd say the starter for a merlin engine.
I could be wrong obviously
Not unskilled. They had very specific skills. Maybe a bit limited. How many went on to become fully skilled craftsmen..
Unskilled women? Utter waffle. They were highly trained and took great pride in their work.
1:30 80:1 or 18:1?
The men and women who made this were skilled and well trained and this is born out in the Spitfires, Hurricanes and the many other World War 2 aircraft that still grace the skies to this day.
Strange comment you made as well when you said, 'and Women at that'. Give them the credit and the respect they deserve please, for without them we would have found it very difficult to beat the Luftwaffe in 1940. The very outcome of WWII may even have been different.
It is a real shame that this attitude towards the SKILLED female and male workers continues to this day. If you want to educate the younger generation about WWII and the engineering that went into such machines as the Merlin Engine, Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster, Guns, Tanks, Ships, the list is endless, you should at least get these facts correct.
Planetary gears mess with my head.
I wouldn't say they were unskilled!
That would not start any engine! That's 80 hand cranks for just 1 turn of the engine! I've just timed myself simulating that and I managed about 22 turns in 5 seconds. So that equates to about 20 seconds for one revolution. Way too slow to start ANY ENGINE!
Remember that it took a woman to make you! Geezer
I don't think the fact that women made that made is it any less functional than if it was made by men. The whole idea of mass production was to make make endless replicas of something of which all parts were interchangeable with the next. Unlike conventional British manufacturing at the time where gears planetary sets were made for a single unit and we're not interchangeable.
"And women at that" dude is super based!
"and women, at that..". God, man, I'm an old fart, too, but I'd never say that!
Women can do anything that men can do, unless it's a brawn over brain "thing", and certainly did all sorts during WW II !
“And women at that!” 😂😂😂
"And women at that." Women because they tend to be better at tricky intricate work!
And women at that.
Wow. Suggesting women couldn't have the skill when they clearly did.
Besides his "women" comment, he also obviously doesn't know what 6 inches is.
This narrator puts me to sleep. Absolutely no color or sense of urgency, none.
"And women at that". Ugh! Disliked and won't be subscribed to either.
Omg the slapping of your lips is fucking unbearable
How dumb is that?
...and women at that!! 😂
😅
Remember that it took a woman to make you! Geezer