By C.J. Carnacchio
Leader Editor
A recently discovered 81-year-old telegram from a company founded by the Wright brothers indicated an Oxford manufacturer played a small role in making aviation history.
Dated May 22, 1927, the yellowed Western Union telegram sent to the M.D. Hubbard Spring Co. describes how a part it made was used inside the Ryan NYP ‘Spirit of St. Louis,? the famous airplane Charles A. Lindbergh piloted during the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight.
The telegram stated ? ‘Welch expansion plugs made by your company were used in the Wright Whirlwind engine with which Captain Charles A. Lindbergh flew from New York to Paris Period We know you will be glad to learn that you have done your part in contributing to his safety and success ? Wright Aeronautical Corpn.?
When Charles Hubbard, president of M.D. Hubbard Spring Co. located at 595 S. Lapeer Rd., was informed of the telegram’s existence by a member of the Pontiac-based Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society, he was very surprised to say the least.
‘I didn’t know it existed or anything about it,? he said. ‘I knew we made stuff used in World War II, but I didn’t know we were involved in the Spirit of St. Louis.?
Guy Duffield, a part-time librarian with the historical society, ran across the telegram while thumbing through a scrapbook about the Welch Motor Car Co., which used to be located in Pontiac and was later bought by General Motors.
The message peaked his interest.
‘I didn’t know if the Hubbard Spring Co. was still in business, so I looked through the phone book and I found it in Oxford,? said Duffield, of Waterford. ‘I was pretty thrilled to find out they were still around after all of these years. I thought they’d be pretty interested in that telegram.?
For most of its 102-year history, Hubbard Spring manufactured its standard and custom metal parts in Pontiac. The company moved to Oxford Township in 1973.
The Welch expansion plug mentioned in the telegram was first manufactured by Hubbard Spring in 1913. The company still makes them today in the widest range of sizes anywhere.
Expansion plugs are an inexpensive, efficient, permanent method of closing/sealing manufactured holes in casting and other processes.
‘It’s a piece of metal that’s slightly cupped as if you’d sliced a piece off a baseball,? Hubbard explained. ‘You put it in a hole and hit it. As it goes flat, it expands and seals the hole up.?
The plug was developed by the brothers who owned the Welch Motor Car Co. with the help of Hubbard Spring’s founder Martin Hubbard. The two companies were once located next door to each other in Pontiac.
When the plug was patented, Hubbard Spring was licensed as the sole manufacturer for the life of the patent, which expired in 1930.
Wright Aeronautical Corp., founded by airplane inventors Wilbur and Orville Wright, used Welch expansion plugs in its 223-horsepower Wright Whirlwind J-5C engine, which powered Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis on its 3,610-mile flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
Lindbergh landed in Paris on May 21, 1927 ? 33 hours, 30 minutes after he left New York.
Wright Aeronautical, which used to be located in Paterson, New Jersey, sent Hubbard Spring the telegram the very next day. And the rest is history . . .