Gryphon 1957 - Adm.monash.edu.au

as a result hod a short verbal encounterwith a lady ticket collector. (From thethings she said, she was no lady.-Ed.)From Sydney, we shared a plane homewith a party from a Melbourne girl'sschool, who because of len's songs andour appearance, thought us " ve ry wildtypes." As the plane took off fromMascot, and irate fathers from Newcastleto Wollongong breathed again, weall felt extremely grateful to Mr. Kellerfor the time and energy that he putsinto these trips, and we hope for thesake of those following that we haven'tturned him off for life. Our thanks alsogo to Mr. McKinnon for his able supportof Mr. Keller throughout the trip.DICK GOWER.*• 7th Form Geelong ExcursionAt on ungodly hour on the morn ofWednesday, 18th September, manycors, overloaded with 7th formers,bravely faced the dull and overcast skyand set forth from Caulfield and s u r­rounds to meet in for distorit Geelong.Mr. Ford may have been displeasedat the high percentage of "Australia'sawn" which arrived outside his abodeand also the high velocities at whichthese missiles were projected, but hedid not show his displeasure for thegreeting we received befitted a King.While the said welcome was being enacted,in came the only late-comer (incidentally,don't be late, chops).On entering the factory proper, wewere shown the tool room where hugedies were being prepared for body pressings.It was interesting to note the increaseuse of plastics in the constructionof these dies.From here we progressed to watch thedies in action as they stomped out steelpanels for chassis and body construction.These panels were trimmed andset up in jigs; the welders come into thepicture, and so before long a body shellwas produced.Next we saw the motor components32being machined, assembled and the enginegiven its first test start and run.Bock again the body shell, where theengine was installed together withtransmission and suspension and finallytrimmings and upholstery and beholdanother Ford was ready to satisfy a customer.At this juncture we dispersed to partakenourishment. This proved most profitablefor several of Geelong's "milkbars". The botanical gardens werefound to include some delightfully dicyrods and the unusual thing, was that nostudent claimed any girls.International Harvester was the nextgeneral meeting place and here wewere supplied with glasses to protectour eyes from the dust and grit whichabounded in the atmosphere.Firstly we were shown the sand beingprepared for moulds for casting the engineblocks and other components.After watching the blocks beingmachined, we transferred our interestto the assembly line where were able tofollow the engine as it was built into aunit from myriads of small and largeparts.From here the assembly Iine continuedand the chassis of the tractor wasbuilt up to include transmission, axles,steering and finally wheels were applied,and the tractor wheeled off theline to await delivery.Both factories gave us on insight intomodern production methods and it wasinteresting to note the differing techniquesused by the two companies. Fordsmode use of an extensive press showwhile I.H. of necessity hod a largefoundry to produce the heavy duty cast­ings for their agricultural machinery.The result was ports such as cover platesand casings we re cast at I.H., whereasFord pol icy seemed to be to use press­ings for these parts wherever possible.To both Ford and International, sincerethanks are extended for the hospitalityand help they showed us, andand also we thank Mr. McKinnon forthe organization of the day's tours.M.A.