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from our president's desk
AS WE COME AGAIN to the Christmas Season, it is in successfully effecting the transition frOIl! independent sales
.n. appropriate that we pause from the rush of our daily representatives to a strong corporate marketing arm. And
activities to give thanks for the blessings we have en- together we have added financial strength to our company
joyed in our company affairs and our personal lives during in substantial measure during the year.
1963. It has been a good year for us, not because it has been
While there is much yet to be accomplished, we can all
without difficulties and problems but because we have been
take pride in a job well done in 1963. I am particularly
reasonably successful in surmounting the difficulties and
proud of the fact that all our people throughout the company
problems we have encountered.
responded exceedingly well to these new challenges and by
During the past few years we have grown very rapidly their individual efforts increased our over-all strength and
from a small company with a relatively limited range of stature.
affairs to what may be described as a large company with a
Some years ago, when we were a much smaller company,
world-wide scope of operations. This growth has generated
those of us charged with top management responsibility
a number of problems with which we have had no previous
could properly feel that our efforts were of significant in-
experience. While we have not by any means solved all of
fluence on the course of our company affairs. Today our
these problems, we have made, what I would consider, ex-
efforts have relatively little effect in comparison to the day-
cellent progress on every front.
to-day accomplishments of each of our six thousand people.
To me, the most encouraging aspect of 1963 has been
We are grateful to have such a wonderful group of men
the enthusiasm and capability which each of you has applied
and women, and we thank each of you for your contribution
to the. challenges we have faced. You who are involved in
to our progress during the past year.
the technical areas of our activity have made some highly
important contributions to the fast moving, highly competi- Bill joins me in the wish that you all have a most enjoy-
tive field of scientific measurement. You who are in manu- able Christmas Season with your families and friends. We
facturing have greatly enhanced the quality and craftsman- hope, too, that you enjoy the full sense of accomplishment
ship of our products while at the same time achieving a which you so richly deserve and which assures our company
marked improvement in our manufacturing efficiency. You additional strength, security, and opportunity for the years
who are in marketing have accomplished a monumental job ahead.
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Another in a Series of Reports
on Interesting Tools and
Processes Utilized by Hewlett-Packard
Precision Lapping:
Ay, There's the Rub
T HE LAPIDARY cuts, grinds, and rubs precious stones.
In somewhat similar fashion, a group of men in HP's
Palo Alto machine shop utilize tools akin to those of
the lapidary, although their mission is vastly different. The
materials used may not be so precious as gems, but they are
"worked" with considerably greater care to provide mated,
ultra-precision parts for the most sensitive of instruments.
HP's ten lapping machines, including one at Dymec.
were designed some years ago by Larry LaBarre, tool engi-
neer, Special Machines, Palo Alto. In spite of the fact that
they vary in size and certain features, they all consist essen-
tially of a large, thick, cast-iron wheel called a turn-table,
which is motor-driven to revolve like your phonograph. Tem-
plates, riding above the wheel as it turns, hold the parts
being lapped. The wheel's surface is continuously washed
with a solution of kerosene, fine oil, and optical grinding
powder. The templates revolve slowly so that the parts to be
machined will be ground uniformly. Slowly, but inevitably.
the wheel itself also wears down at the rate of about l/s inch Lapping Specialist Nino Bandino of the Stanford plant's waveguide
per year from constant contact with the parts being ground. machine shop is seen at the monochromatic light projector where wheel
What makes this turn-table wear either to a concave or surface readings are taken with an optical flat. A lapping machine,
convex shape, or maintain the high degree of flatness loaded with waveguide assemblies. is partially shown at right. Flanges
can be ground to accuracies of eleven millionths of an inch.
desired?
To assure that this is controlled, LaBarre designed an at-
tachment called a conditioning ring which rests upon the
turn-table. The turning of the turn-table causes this condition- Turntable grinding surface of each lapping machine is checked fre-
ing ring to turn in the opposite direction and they wear upon quently for accuracy. Metal specimen is machined on wheel in same
one another. The control of this wear is the key to obtaining way as a production part. Then a quartz measuring device. known as
flatness. Adding weight to this conditioning ring toward an optical flat, is placed on surface of specimen. When a mono-
chromatic light beam is directed at the quartz, lines appear which tell
the center of the turn-table tends to make the table concave.
the tester the condition of the wheel's surface. The number of lines
and weight applied toward its outside makes the table con- and degree of curvature reveal how concave or convex the wheel is.
vex, and, of course, by adjusting these weights, the condi-
tioning ring will provide the desired degree of flatness of the
turn-table surface.
According to Jerry Heigl, waveguide fabrication manager.
it is of particular significance that the surfaces of the wave-
guide flanges be lapped slightly convex, more slight than the
eye can see. Then when two mating flanges are joined and
their flanges bolted together, extreme metal-to-metal flange
pressure is exerted at the waveguide opening toward the
center of the flanges.
The accuracy of this lap is but a few millionths of an inch
in the width of a 3-inch waveguide flange, and in comparison
with the Stanford linear accelerator where they tolerate
only lfs-inch error in its entire two-mile length_ our error
would be comparable.
There must be no microwave power leakage where the
lapped surfaces of these waveguide flanges are fastened to-
gether. The precision machining provided by HP's lapping
machines-with their astonishing accuracy of eleven mil-
lionths of an inch over a 3-inch span-give positive as-
surance against such leakage.
3
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New cart puts units
where you need them
El G ABLE TO MOVE test instruments around shop,
B lab, or factory can be a problem. Sometimes there's not
enough bench space, or the operation being tested re-
quires frequent shifting of the instruments, or, assuming you
can find a place to set the instrument down, it's not always
in a position for easy viewing.
All such difficulties are solved with HP's new Testmobile,
a general purpose test cart which can accept any Hewlett