Government procurement continues to struggle with delays and cost overruns being regularly reported in the national press. It is great to come across procurement successes from days gone by. The story of the Liberty engine design and procurement of 1917 is remarkable.
The USA declared war on Germany on April 6th 1917. They rapidly realised that they needed a powerful aircraft engine and called meetings with France and the UK between May 25th and June 1st. Rather than waiting for a potential design to be shipped from Europe, the USA set out to design a family of engines themselves.
Two chief engineers were identified: Jesse Vincent of Packard Co from Detroit and E.J. Hall of Hall Scot Co. from Berkley. They met for the first time on the June 3rd at the Willard Hotel in Washington. Within five days of being ‘locked’ in the hotel, the basic design work was completed. With the help of some 200 draughtsmen, the detailed drawings were produced AND a prototype 8-cylinder engine built by 3rd July. The engine parts were manufactured by 12 separate companies around the USA, using the drawings as they were produced The lower power 8-cylinder model was dropped in favour of a 12-cylinder model which was built and went on to complete its 50 hour test run by August 25th.
In the autumn of 1917, the US government ordered production of 22,500 Liberty engines.
It is important to realise that mass production was in its early days. The Model T Ford started mass production with interchangeable parts in 1908. The official write up of the project emphasises the importance of ‘standardisation’ of the parts being manufactured.
It makes you feel that we have lost our way…