MeasureFor the men and women of Hewlett-Packard/FEBRUARY 1975

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They're nuts and boltsabout airplanes...

D To almost everyone except a pilot, themention of amateur airplane buildersbrings to mind hobbyists who assembletiny model planes and fly them in the parksor their back yards. Challenging as thatmay be, it doesn't compare with buildingreal aircraft-and although homebuildingplanes will never surpass stamp-collect­ing in popularity, it's a hobby that attractsa surprising number of people, includingHP employees. You don't need a degree inaeronautical engineering, they say-justthe time and interest, some mechanicalskills, a little money and a great deal ofpatience.

They work in a variety of jobs at HP.Their airplanes are different sizes andshapes, starting out as complete kits or assets of blueprints. For some their firstairplanes will be the ones they build them­selves; others have already owned one ormore aircraft. Their reasons for buildingtheir own also vary. Some do it becausethey want an airplane that performs betteror is more economical to operate than anyon the market. For some it's a way of de­veloping their skills so they can becomelicensed airframe and powerplant mechan­ics-or they may want a plane they canlegally maintain themselves without an"A and P" license, as they can with ahomebuilt. And many build airplanes sim­ply because they enjoy it, like Earl Heldtof Stanford Park Division. "I like to staybusy. If I weren't working on an airplane,

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The BO-5, a single-place kit airplane withretractable landing gear and a "pusher" proplooks a bit like a rocket plane somehow mislaidon a suburban street as Jim Hergert fits oneof the wings. He's building the tiny aircraftin his one-car garage-and still has roomfor the car!

With blueprints spread out in the garage of his home, Tom Piperponders a problem in the construction of his Pazmany PL-1, about 40

percent complete after seven years. The engine alone for a small plane'Can cost three to four thousand dollars, but Tom estimates he'll spend

no more than that on his entire project. He acquired a surplusAir Force engine to overhaul.

I'd probably be building a boat or some­thing~'

But these builders have several thingsin common too. First, almost all are al­ready licensed private pilots and wouldreally rather be flying than riveting. Andin the U.S., practically every builder is amember of the Experimental AircraftAssociation (EAA), a nationwide organi­zation with an informative monthlymagazine, an annual "fly-in" at Oshkosh,Wisconsin, and local chapters of buildersjust about everywhere. Incidentally, theterm "experimental aircraft"-aIthough itmay invoke visions of rocket planes anddaredevil pilots-is a term the Federal Avi­ation Agency applies to all homebuilts,even though many planes of the same de­sign may have already proven airworthy.

It is a hobby that requires skills insheet metal work, welding and machining,electrical wiring, upholstering, sometimeswoodworking and plastics molding. "Evenwith a kit it's not just a matter of bolting

parts together;' explains Gary Bullen, anelectronics technician at Data Systems Di­vision. "The kit only contains the plansand raw materials:'

Bullen was the first in Northern Cali­fornia to complete a four-seater airplanecalled a BD-4, a now-popular model in acomplete line of kits from designer JimBede. Gary completed his in a year anda half, which is practically record time forany homebuilt. He and his family havebeen flying all over the West in it for thepast two years.

On the other hand, Earl Heldt has beenworking on his nearly-completed PazmanyPL-2 for nine years. It's not built from akit, so nearly every part of the airframehas been handcrafted. According to Earl,to build an airplane this way you haveto be good at "scrounging" many of theneeded materials.

Airplane builders are a close fra­ternity. They exchange ideas and informa­

(continued)

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Gary Wey, a product design engineer at Santa Rosa Division,turned his hobby into a part-time business rebuilding wrecks,like this Cessna Turbo Centurion. He started by buildinga kit airplane, then rebuilt and sold an American Yankee fromparts of two that had crashed.

airplanes...

Jim Haynes of HP Labs, ready to install canopy slide rails onhis Sidewinder, checks for alignment by using a piece of string.Jim, like most builders, doesn't have a big investment inequipment, but he has bought and refurbished somesecond-hand machine tools. By equipping his 125-horsepowerengine with a constant-speed propeller, Jim expectsa cruise speed of 170 miles per hour.

Waltham's John Allen is putting the finishing touches on hisThorpe T-18, a high-performance two-seater that he plans touse for aerobatic flying. He also owns a restored Fairchildbuilt in 1946.

tion at EAA meetings, help one anotherover difficult hurdles, swap parts and tools,and are usually willing to let other buildersget some "stick time" in their creations.Colin Powers, an engineering group man­ager at HP's McMinnville Division, builtone of the first BD-4's in Oregon. Hisproject was well along when he met GaryBullen on a business trip to the Bay Areaand got a ride in Gary's plane. Later hesought Gary's advice in solving an enginecooling problem.

Tom Piper is a photo-mask maker inStanford Park's thin-film technology pro­gram. Since he's also building a Pazmany,he and Earl Heldt consult with each otherfrom time to time. "Earl has a good engi­neering background for this;' Tom says. "I

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don't, although I've learned a lot since I'vebeen working on the projece' One of hisadmitted weaknesses is machining, so hebegan swapping fiberglass parts he madehimself for machined parts that weremade by a builder in the East. They learnedof each other's skills through a newsletterthat keeps all Pazmany builders andowners up-to-date.

Things do not always go according toplan, of course. Some HP builders are as­sembling a tiny 200-mile-per-hour single­place kit airplane called the BD-5-amongthem Jim Hergert of Palo Alto's Manu­facturing Division, and Fred Staats, JimRea and Wally Wahlen at Loveland, Colo­rado. The BD-5 was designed for a par­ticular engine which is no longer being

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manufactured. What now? Hergert feelshe has the answer in a turbo-charged four­cylinder Honda engine, and he is stretch­ing the plane's fuselage by five inches forbetter visibility and to compensate for theengine's weight and size. Like all home­builts, the plane will be inspected severaltimes by the FAA during and after con­struction to insure that it's well built andaerodynamically safe.

The energy crisis, and the possibilityof fuel rationing, is a cause for concernamong all private pilots. But the greaterfuel economy is one of the attractive as­pects of flying a homebuilt. According toTom Piper, only a small percentage of thenation's fuel supply is used for privateflying. "If general aviation is treated fairly,

Now nearing completion after nine years, Earl Heldt's Pazmanyrepresents a considerable investment of money as well asman-hours, but Earl doesn't know how many thousands of dollarshe has put into it. "I have all the bills and receipts," he toldMEASURE, "but I'm afraid to add them up." Earl owned aCessna 140 until he and his two sons had all gotten theirflying licenses, then sold it.

For Gary Bullen and his wife Linda, building a plane was ameans to an end. It's now a busy travel machine that has takenthem throughout the western states, to Mexico and Alaska.They also enjoy skiing, and the BO-4's collapsible wingsprovide a convenient place to carry skis and poles- inside thetubular wing spars! As you might suspect, they drawcurious onlookers when they load and unload.

In the yard of his Colorado home, Wally Austin of HP's Lovelandfacility exercises the engine of his Pitts aerobatic biplane-the second one he has built. Wally is president of the newLoveland chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

rationing shouldn't hurt too badly. But ifI could have foreseen a fuel crisis yearsago, I would have reconsidered building

an airplane:'Not everyone who starts a project fin­

ishes. Partially completed experimentalairplanes are constantly being bought, soldand swapped. Jim Haynes of HP Labs

started his Sidewinder by buying twopartially completed projects. Al Griswoldof HP's Medical Electronics Division in

Waltham, Massachusetts, was building a"Volksplane;' designed for a VW engine,until he became impatient to fly. He soldhis kit and bought a factory-built PiperTripacer, descendant of the famous "Cub"that brought pleasure flying within thereach of millions.

Ralph Korngold, shown here in thecockpit of the Whitman Tailwind hebuilt, is one of the few HP employeeswho actually earns a living working onaircraft-as a maintenance technicianin HP's aviation department at SanJose Municipal Airport. When he's notworking on HP's airplanes or flying hisTailwind, Ralph can usually be foundworking on a racing plane he startedbuilding three years ago.

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The South Hill mob...

PUSH OFrF,r 0. $IAr

o It was O. K.-really good clean fun-aslong as the kids of South Hill Elementary

School in Vancouver, British Columbia,confined their computer programming

activities to such concepts as-

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Then, it seems, they felt the tug ofambition leading them on into strange newprogramming paths. Under the guise ofan organization called PlatypusProductions, the youngsters set out toBeat The System. Here's the secret planthey prepared-

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While one may tremble at the possible fate of the young geniuses responsible for thissimple but brilliant scheme, one is also both pleased and saddened that an HP computersystem (complete with BASIC language and instructional materials) was involved in theplot. With the help of the Hewlett-Packard (computer) Users Group EducationalNewsletter, which tipped us off in the first place, we promise to keep readers informedof any relevant news that may come to us from South Hill and environs. 0

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The LIFE and TIMES of an HP JOURNA

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To communicate the technical story of HP products toour customers, who could speak with more authority thanthe people who develop those products? Via the HP Journal,they've been doing that for more than 25 years...

8

• author

o In June 1969, MEASURE carried a storyheadlined "Everybody reads the HP Jour­nal-almosC'

It's time to say it all over again: TheHP Journal is received and read by a tre­mendous number of people; worldwidecirculation presently is 150,000. On theother hand-and here's where the "almost"comes in again-a great many HP peoplehave never heard of the HP Journal, letalone read it.

The reason for this is simple: TheJournal's basic mission is to tell the tech­nical story behind our products and ourtechnological accomplishments to an audi­ence of customers able to understand andappreciate those developments.

To receive the HP Journal a customermust send a written request and also in­dicate some professional interest in HPproduct technology. The magazine is alsowell read in HP's product developmentlabs which receive bulk quantities. Ofcourse, the lab people really are custo­mers, too-the best, in fact, considering theextensive use they make of each other'sproduct developments.

Why is the Journal so well received?Why would many readers even be willingto subscribe to it if they had to?

Without any question, the basic strengthof the Journal lies in the fact that itsauthors are the very HP engineers andscientists who develop the products andtechnology that are the chief editorial fareof the magazine. Their articles, therefore,

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In its February 1975 issue, the Hewlett-Packard Journal presented three majortechnical features variously authored by six HP lab engineers-a fairly typical issue.Shown are Santa Clara's Dave Snyder (above) who wrote an article on improvingcomputer performance, and YHP's Kunihisi Osada and Jun-ichi Suehiro,authors of "Digital High-Capacitance Measurements to One Farad~' The coverillustrates a feature on high-sensitivity X-Y recorders by San Diego'sDon Huff, Dan Johnson and John Wade.

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HPJOURNAL

Engineer-author Dave Snyder at rightreviews final art work prepared for his article

with the Journal's managing editor, DickDolan, himself an engineer with extensivepostgraduate studies in engineering. The

Journal represents an opportunity tointroduce new HP products and technology

to hundreds of thousands of readersin a broad range of industry,

science, and business.

reflect the latest and best technical infor­mation available on the subject of meas­urement techniques.

Authorship in the Journal, in fact, islooked on as part of the responsibility alab leader has on successfully completinga major project-the responsibility to com­municate the thinking that went into the'project.

That kind of first-hand authorship-orauthority-has been a Journal hallmarksince its first issue was published in Sep­tember 1949. In that four-page issue, au­thor Norm Schrock wrote about "A NewAmplifier For MiIIi-Microsecond Pulses;'the then-new 460A wide band amplifier.His approach set a standard that is stillfollowed by almost all Journal articles: Ageneral opening statement that helps es­tablish the need and purpose of the project,

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followed by material-including any nec­essary circuit diagrams, charts, graphs,mathematics, and supporting photographs-that describes how the product works.This approach was maintained all throughthe tenure of the Journal's first editor,Frank Burkhard, and established as awritten objective by his successor, RossSnyder.

Norm's article also established whatappears to be another characteristic ofJournal authorship-subsequent long serv­ice with HP. He joined HP in 1942 andnow is quality assurance manager at Colo­rado Springs Division. Others still withthe company who authored articles duringthe Journal's first five years include BruceWholey, Art Fong, AI Bagley, Jack Petrak,Bob Brunner, Ray Demere, Ed Hilton,Barney Oliver, Bob Grimm, Bill Girdner

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and Dexter Hartke. Still others such asBrunton Bauer and the late Horace Over­acker remained with HP until retirement.

Actually, becoming a Journal authordoes not mean long hours laboring over ascript. Editorial director Howard Robertsand managing editor Dick Dolan are quiteaccustomed to projects that start out asrough raw data.

According to Howard, "We don't ex­pect to receive a polished script. We wouldrather see the engineers get on with theirengineering and let us worry about theprose. After all, they've already done thehard work in creating the product. Ourjob is simply to reflect their ideas in termsthat will be most useful to the readers:'

How they and their associates on theJournal go about that task is portrayed inthe accompanying photographs:

Anne LoPresti works onthe Journal's phototypesetting system thatit shares with otherpublications of CorporateMarketing Communica­tions. The highly technicaltypographic requirementsof the Journal are readilyseen on almost anyof its pages.

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Editorial director Howard Roberts tunes into taped interview made during a visit to oneof the international divisions. From thisinterview Howard will prepare a draft of theproposed article, in this way accommodatingthe would-be writer who lacked confidencein his usage of the English language.Because of the many new HP productscoming out of the laboratories and onto themarket in 1975, Journal space is inhigh demand this year.

Journal art director Arvid Danielson doubles asphotographer. Note the setup as seen on the coverreproduced on page 8. Befitting the products andpeople it represents, the HP Journal is publishedto very high quality standards of design andprinting. To save shipping costs and customs,Europe's 50,000 copies are printed in Holland.

Illustrator Sue Perez is responsible for thepreparation of the many charts, circu itdiagrams and other graphic illustrationsused extensively throughout Journalarticles. Sue is a member of a well­established HP family; not only her husbandTony (microcircuits) but also his parents,Joe and Emma Perez, are HP employees. [l

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12

Handsomenew U.K.

headquarters

D Opening ceremonies for HP's attractivenew UK sales and service headquarters inthe west-of-London village of Winnershon January 24 were highlighted by someexamples of British and American humor.Introduced by Dennis Taylor, managingdirector of HP Ltd., president Bill Hew­lett opened the proceedings by admittingthat at one time he called the Winnershsite the "Fort Knox" of Hewlett-Packardbecause it seemed such an expensive prop­erty to buy.

"However;' he added, ''I'm now tre­mendously impressed with this facility. Itis clearly a wonderful place to work, andwe hope it will serve the community aswell as we feel it will serve our companyin Great Britain:'

Speaking for the community, Air Com­mander Sir Louis Dickens observed that,as chairman of the Workingham DistrictCouncil, "I am delighted in welcoming afirm of this standing-international stand­ing-into our district. After all, we don't

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anticipate any difficulty at all in receivingour rates [taxes] from a firm of thiscaliber:'

Sir Louis recalled that some 25 yearsago "we had the pleasure of hearing therepresentative of this district, a Mrs. Davis,talk about the vaporized fat that used tosettle on surrounding landscape as a re­sult of the operations of a firm then oc­cupying this property.

"We do not anticipate any such prob­lems in the future, and I'm sure the spiritof Mrs. Davis is looking down benignlyand happily on the gathering here today:'

After these formalities, some 70 guestsincluding visiting HP people looked overthe handsome 84,000-square-foot build­ing, and were given demonstrations of theprincipal HP product lines. The Winnershbuilding replaces facilities at Slough thatbecame overcrowded as a result of growththat saw HP annual sales in the UnitedKingdom climb almost thirty-fold from1961 to 1974.

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Mrs. Hewlett (Flora) welcomes Doug Edgar,chairman of the Winnersh Parish Counciland "house master" at the local public school.

Bill Hewlett greets the Honorable Mrs. Peter Samuel,County Councillor for Winnersh and Hurst, now homefor HP's headquarters in the United Kingdom.

H MEETS HP

Dennis Taylor, managing director of HP ltd., andBill Hewlett display plaque noting the date ofthe formal opening of Winnersh building.

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Palo Alto, Feb. 3 - The HP-21 scientific calculator,first of a new generation of Hewlett-Packard pocket

calculators, was introduced today. It is pricedat $125 (domestic U.S.).

The six-ounce HP-21 is the smallest and lowestpriced model in HP's line. It is designed primarily for

scientists, engineers and students. Scientificcalculators like the HP-21 also are finding increasing

use in marine and aircraft navigation, surveying,medicine and education.

The new HP-21 has all of the trigonometric andlogarithmic functions of the HP-35. In addition, the

user can calculate in either degrees or radians;convert from polar to rectangular coordinates and

vice versa; format and round the display in either fixedor scientific notation; and perform register

arithmetic (+, -, x, +) with the contents ofits single addressable memory.

While introducing the HP-21, HP also reduced pricesof the HP-35 and the HP-45 pocket models from

$225 to $195 and $325 to $245, respectively.All are available to HP employees at the

standard employee discount of 30 percent witha limit of one each per lifetime.

News in Brief

Chicago, 10. - Dave Packard has beennamed to receive the 1975 "WashingtonAward" by the Western Society of Engi­neers. The HP chairman will become the52nd recipient of the award which hasbeen given to such notables as HerbertHoover, Henry Ford, Orville Wright andJohn Volpe.

The engineering society, headquarteredin Chicago, selected Packard "for his out­standing contribution in the field of elec­tronics and measurements ... and for hishumanitarian activities~' Named for thefirst U.S. president, George Washington,who was an engineer, the WashingtonAward is conferred for accomplishmentswhich pre-eminently promote the happi­ness, comfort and well-being of humanity.Presentation of the award is planned forFebruary 18 during National Engineer'sWeek.

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Loveland - HP's Chuck McAfee has beenelected president of Colorado Open SpaceCouncil, the state's largest environmentalaction organization. McAfee is managerof quality and reliability for the LovelandCalculator Division. He is the council'sfirst chief executive from outside the Den­ver area, and one of his stated goals is tobroaden activities throughout the state ofColorado.

Colorado Springs - A club has been formedby people within Colorado Springs Divi­sion to reduce off-the-job accidents amongemployees and their families. Known as"Life is Fragile;' the program aims atbuilding awareness of the fact that 94 per­cent of bodily-injury accidents occur awayfrom work. Headed by Dutch HercWe aspresident, the club will also go outside theHP organization with its safety message.

Meet Febetron 705-

It has been suggested by someone with an overdeveloped sense of melodramathat a spectacular event might be staged in pitting HP's two largest products againstone another gladiator style. Imagine the program: "ESCA vs. FEBETRON 705­heavyweight electron spectroscopy machine against massive X-ray machine:'

While HP's ESCA out of Scientific Instruments Division is certainly bestin its own field, it would be hard pressed in coming up against the size (14 feet inlength), weight (6,700 pounds), and pulsed power of the 705. The latter, a productof the McMinnville Division in Oregon, is clearly the largest device ever producedwithin Hewlett-Packard. Emitting high-intensity pulses of X-rays or electrons,to produce radiographs (X-ray photographs) of extremely fast-moving objects,Febetron 705s are widely used in the study of radiation effects andhigh-speed transient phenomena.

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Is the Green Revolution taking over at HP?Almost in the same mysterious overnight manner that

saw so many men cultivate more and longer hair on theirheads, one now sees great numbers of indoor plantssprouting inside HP buildings. Desks, benches, ceilings andeven test equipment now are adorned with mini-junglesof potted plant life.

How and where did it all start? Of course, somepeople have been at it for years, but certainly some of thesurge is explained by the practice adopted several yearsago at Stanford Park: While experimenting with possiblenew approaches to area design for the new Santa Rosafacility, potted plants were placed around the perimeterof various work areas as a means of defining anddecorating them while also preserving openness.

Visitors to corporate headquarters can see theultimate of this approach in Building 3-Upper. Meanwhile,this pleasant movement is rapidly spreading its rootsinto other divisions and departments.

EDITORGordon Brown

ART DIRECTORTom Martin

ASSOCIATE EDITORDennis Cresswell

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTTeri Ocegueda

BULK RATEU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPALO ALTO. CALIF.

PERMIT 137

22-14293

95006

KENNETH L MACY403 ~EADOW DRIVEBOULDER CREEK, CA.

HEWLETT· PACKARD COMPANY1501 Page Mill RoadPalo Alto. California 94304

MEASURE CO"•• pIUldanll - AMO, KarenLanglord • APD, Chlc;k Alexander' AVON.DALE, Mitt Whittier • BOISE, Gala Hemal­wright • COLORADO SPRINGS, Setty lollon• CUPERTINO, A,dl, Boland' DELeON/eSC,Ed ligen • EASTERN SALES, Bill Dllon •GRENOBLE, Pierrl O'Anthony • HPA, KathyBellon • HP BENELUX, Amsterdam, ConnyKo,dam: Brussela, Yvette Andr•• HP CAN_AOA, BriM Wright • HP FRANCE, O,..y,Jacqulls Bruger. • HP GMBH, BOBblingen,Fritz SchUller; Franklurl, Fred Goedel • HPITALIAN"', TarqUinio Prisco, HP LTD.• SouthQueenalarry, Margl,e' Keirn; Wlnnereh, KenPeck • HP SCANDINAVIA, Sid Menn • HPSINGAPORE, Georga Gaspar' HPSA, JosattaBoulrnlar • INTERCON, Sy Coren.on • LOVE­LAND, Peter Paterson • MANUFACTURING,Dave Curry' McMINNVILLE, Chuck Welker·MIDWEST SALES, Halen_Marle Boa.ctla •NEELY SALES, Bob Read•• NEW JERSEY,Robert LeV)' • SAN DIEGO, M'rsll,lI Hiner.SANTA CLARA, Moille Corya • SANTA ROSA,J'ck Grout • SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS,CII'rioUe R",uell • SOUTHERN SALES, At­lenta, Nanty BaIrd; Teul area, Helan Hob,oll• STANFORD PARK, Joallna Ellgalilardt •WALTHAM, Janet Dala' YHP, Mlaako Herade

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Measure

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