Lang Propellers was a British company that manufactured

aircraft propeller An aircraft propeller, also called an airscrew,Beaumont, R.A.; ''Aeronautical Engineering'', Odhams, 1942, Chapter 13, "Airscrews". converts rotary motion from an engine or other power source into a swirling slipstream which pushes the propeller ...

s. The company operated independently from 1913 to 1936.

History

In 1909 Arthur Alexander Dashwood Lang became interested in aircraft propeller design and made some propellers in his own name. Lang developed and patented processes covering the tips of propeller blades with copper or fabric. These were used for example on Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2C aircraft. In 1910 he went to work for the

British & Colonial Aeroplane Company The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable a ...

(later the Bristol Aircraft Co.) as manager of the propeller shop. He left in 1912 and set up in partnership with David Garnett at the Riverside Works Weybridge, Surrey.The company was called Lang, Garnett & Co. This enterprise lasted a matter of months before Garnett left the firm. Lang established the Lang Propeller company in 1913 and continued to use the "Riverside Works." These premises were later used by The Airscrew Company to manufacture propellers and associated components. At its peak the company supplied wooden

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

s to nearly every aeroplane company in England. In April 1936 the Aeronautical Corporation of Great Britain, Ltd was incorporated. The new company was formed to acquire the assets of companies involved in the UK production of the

Aeronca Aeronca, contracted from Aeronautical Corporation of America, located in Middletown, Ohio, is a US manufacturer of engine components and airframe structures for commercial aviation and the defense industry, and a former aircraft manufacturer. Fr ...

aircraft, and to acquire from Lang Propellers Ltd., the whole of its assets. These comprised rights under British Patents relating to machines for shaping airscrew blades applied for by Lang. The new company bought a factory at Walton near

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

that had been built during the first world war for

Frederick Sage & Company Frederick Sage & Company was a British shop fitting company based in London with an extensive practice in Europe, South Africa, and South America. During both world wars it built and designed aircraft, and after the Second World War it executed m ...

for aircraft production.

Lang USA

The Lang Propeller Company of America Inc. was established as a

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

corporation with a capital of $45,000, with Lang, L.L. Montant and E.N. Bush as Directors in August 1917. Dashwood Lang had just sold his UK company to the Sopwith Aircraft company and this was a new enterprise. The US Navy contracted Lang to supply them with propellers and paid for the construction of a factory at Whitestone on Long Island. By late 1917 the company name was changed to Lang Products Co. Prior to the factory being completed Lang subcontracted the manufacture of his designs to local US and Canadian producers.

Arthur Alexander Dashwood Lang

Lang formed another company A. D. Lang Ltd. In 1921 it was described as being general manufacturers, buying and selling agents, printers, lithographers, manufacturers of chemicals with offices at 4, Vigo Street, London W1. In addition to his work in developing propellers and associated equipment, Lang found time in 1923 to patent a wheel for vehicles. In 1936 Lang joined the Board of Hordern-Richmond, another British company that was closely involved in the development and production of airscrews and propellers.

References

{{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Defunct aircraft manufacturers of England Manufacturing companies established in 1913 Aerospace companies of England Aircraft propeller manufacturers 1913 establishments in England

History

Lang USA

Arthur Alexander Dashwood Lang

See also

References