The Boeing Co. celebrates its 100 birthday July 15. We had more material than we could fit in The Daily Herald’s special section, the Boeing Century. So, we’re putting some of the most interesting leftovers online. Enjoy! And check out our special section this Friday.
In 1917, a roller-skate maker knew more about ball bearings than the Boeing Airplane Co.
The company wrote to the Union Hardware Co. in Torrington, Connecticut, asking about “the system of ball bearings wheels used by you in the manufacture of roller skates.”
That’s right — roller skates.
Boeing asked Union Hardware for a quote on 1,000 ball bearing sheaves “for use on government airplanes.” While it doesn’t specify which plane, the letter is almost certainly talking about Boeing’s Model C seaplane trainer. The U.S. Navy wanted to buy 50 of the airplanes — the company’s first big order.
The company had to scale up production — and fast. America was going to war and needed to train a wave of new military pilots.
The airplane was at the bleeding edge of science and engineering in 1917, but its technological sophistication was low. Any tinkerer or mechanically-inclined person could quickly get up to speed. Boeing’s first test pilot, Herb Munter later called it a time “when you used to whittle out your own airplane.” The materials, machinery and equipment largely came from other industries.
So, why not ask a roller-skate maker about ball bearings?
Union Hardware had decades of experience making roller skates by 1917. Roller skating became a big rage in America after the modern roller skate’s invention in the 1860s. Union Hardware got in on the action early on.
“We make all styles,” a company ad declared in 1907. The ad showed a drawing of the company’s No. 15 Men’s Ball Bearing Rink Skate.
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
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