Machine Tools with Individuality: A Possible Line of Thought for a Great British Industrial Development

THE policy we announced at the outbreak of the war of making a speciality of the publication of translations of useful articles appearing in foreign—and more particularly German—technical publications has been amply justified by the endorsement it has received from numbers of readers; and we were particularly interested to hear it mentioned in an address by one of the leading scientists of this country as being probably the most useful service that a technical journal could contribute to the British cause at the present time. Our files show that since last September at least one (and in several months more than one) article from a foreign source has been a feature of each issue of AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING. At a time when it is manifestly difficult to publish up‐to‐date or new information regarding the products or manufacturing methods of the industry in England, which for obvious reasons it is not at present desirable to broadcast, it is clearly of interest to disseminate information regarding developments in other countries. This is, of course, merely an extension of the breadth of outlook on which we of AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING have always prided ourselves. We have never taken the narrow view that it was our metier merely to be a propagandist organ to publicise the quality of British products. We have always welcomed contributions, if of a sufficiently high standard, without regard to the country from which they emanated; believing that in so doing we were best serving the purpose for which we were established—to further the development of aeronautics by spreading the latest knowledge, as it becomes available, among all those working in the common cause. As in time of war individual workers in a belligerent country are of necessity cut off from communication not only with enemy but to a considerable extent with neutral or even allied countries, where there are fortunate ones, like ourselves, whose avocation puts them in an unusually favourable position to obtain information from abroad, it is manifestly their duty to seek out this information and disseminate it to the industry at large.