The Fairey “Benfold” Forming Machine

THE “Benfold”, which has been produced by The Fairey Aviation Co., of Hayes, Middlesex, is basically a machine which produces curved drawn sections. Members so produced may be used in main component assemblies without further manipulation. Where previously the draw‐bench was used to make a straight length of section and followed up by hand or press forming to obtain the required profile, these operations are now combined in one. A member produced in this way may have a profile of either a constant or varying radius: typical components which can be manufactured are main rib booms, nose rib booms; fore and aft wing stiffeners, bulkhead flanges, formers for monocoques and ribs for floats—in fact, all such items of constant width which up to now have been either drawn and then formed by hand, or press folded. The edges of components produced on this machine are completely free from wrinkles.