New World Of Machines Research Discovery

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S E C O T H I S T he b ut the G y eff ort ment s ’ overn C py o ri g M W P RI N T I N G A RT I M B O mplete dom an anufac t ured By D H ous e of i n the H . W esi gned K to ly h lm il mp co wi t t o c ons erve es senti a l C Unit ol fi , by M d ar an mul taneou sl H O d has b een made ht, 1 945 , b y si E a nd unab ri d g e co reques t P ub l i s hed R is D A I S t ex t ever N N St yi da ed St ew f e an Y anc hes ter Ca nad a b y n a na ater a s Li mit f ates o ork l S a ter d e Am i er c a TO L AE T IT IA , STEPHEN A N D SU SAN ON TEN TS P refa ce P xi ART C H A P T E T wo T hree F our P ART C H A P T T O N E T H E M I G HT Y E L E C T R O N S PIES W I TH G LASS E YE S T HE M AGI C C RYS TA L THEY CAL L IT F LUO RES CEN CE Motors S ix S even N ine T en P ART THRE E E leven T welve T hirteen F ourteen F ifteen 66 Miles O . E ight 27 R T HE P T d an C T A N E R E VO L U T I O N T HE RISE O F DIESE L PO W E R D R M O SS A N D HIS TU RB O SU PE RC HARGE R — E A N W P RI M E M O VE R T HE GAS T URB IN E — AE RIAL AC RO BAT T HE HE LI CO PTE R PO W E R F O R TOMO RRO W F ive C H A ming the S p ec trum R T W O E a E N ew Materials , N ew 89 1 09 1 29 143 158 1 74 Methods R ARTIF I C IA L RUBB E R P AR AD E O F P L A S T I C S S TAM PE D F RO M M E TA L DUS T C L IM ATE A LA CARTE T HE FARM O N 1 93 213 24 1 255 2 76 B i bl iog raphy 3 03 Ind ex 30 9 l l ST 0 F ILLUS T RA T IO N S fa c ing p g T he l r t it of P or a e 1 54 m i cros cop e e ec t on ra br Girl . homo s ap i ens , s l i ght b k ea s ea - an d av i n l e ec g . tr i t on c to t urn on th A ri al ph ot ogr aphs g ui de our fi ght ers e wa tr m h e - l rays fr om or d i nary d re a ca ll y i g l t i y na s n mot or . e Infra t m ti b u es a u o e ec tr i c an d rep ort res ul ts fl atirons . . t inu u trip f n m y t rr i n 2 00 m il l ng p h ot ogr ph d wi th th w h utt l m r n w u d in l l w th tr b y A m ri fl y i ng p i Con o ne “ “ er ess c a s D a yl i ght i h mi C s o s s e ca tub n u A m gr a m of i i D i l l tri l es e - e ec er c a s turb c o o es a se ar a ea are a es ’ e ca s ees great b n ew p er ch ar g er os u m ot ives oc o tt ry a e of “ r c a t c ac kers . . pp are s u l ti an t m ng s ea I A a meri ca s Rub ’ b r fr e fas tn m oi l o . ” . the e s a es s ” . o - “ e ” b l i g in g heli cop t er hov r l i ke a humm i ngb ir d wh i l e rop e l dd er and t kes a p as s ng er b oar d T he e es . ’ D e ” e ne of e e a l r bb r tr O a e ew e j et - ll we dr i ven r t s , c ea e a fig di ht ing n p ‘ . p l d a ne nee s no great s t eel t owers ll r p r op e an d t e s. va s . i l t dr o ps o a d A i j n ec F S oz en ti on l ib l ex bi Ca e tyr on m ol d i n g t ub ing Mach ine p art s it dr D so e n o a T l ti as o of S aran p h li e y a n g a m hin ac e ea is hi h p i w c c s p oons are i kl y f u c q rm ed o in on e p i ec e by . . m p owdered m et al o wou d b ri - ii d fr e s n eez e 6 2 p oun as pt er ruck farm trans p l ant ing r v l ti co t mp - , m eas uring a re s a fl uff t ugh c . fr ame of war n P ow p n g l d bl f or n ow c k d ow a h it eav wa e so yh b y m hi ac as ne m an y c o oki es een . m i aut omat i c all y one s e s an d a l ik hus kS - r c o n. . d pres se an . d b ked a P R E F A C E TH E MA K IN G O F M AN Y MA CHI N ES has l ong been a proclivity of E arth s major primate Year by year thes e machines have b ecome more in n ou s and complicated and man has regarded with increasing awe i e g the giants which he has set i n motion Because he frequently mi s under stands their potentialities these mindless behemoths sometimes knock him do wn trap him in their gear wheels and even appear to compete with him for bread A nd because of their cumulative complexity they tend to dwarf and shrivel th eir creator who sometimes forgets that they are his servants and endows them wi th wil l an d i ntention which they do not possess “ ” If the machine age has brought i ts prob l ems i n the past i t wi ll bring more and greater ones in the immediate future The machines of yesterday are crude and simple compared to those which are now entering service and which wi ll soon play an amazing role in doing the work of the world We are on the thr eshold of the greatest techno l ogica l advance since the development of the internal combustion engine A flood of di s c overi es and inventions first dammed up by the world depression then devoted mainly to war uses will be released as soon as the arts of peace are resumed and man must prepare himself for i ts impact upon all the conditions of his life Vastly i mproved methods of communication an d transportation have already des troyed our notions of distance and will shatter what may be left of the old comfortable feeling of inaccessibility Today no S pot on earth need be more than sixty hours away and this time ’ . , . , - , , . , , , . , . , . . , , , , . . , , xi i REFACE P barrier W ill soon be l owered A little glass tube d evised forty years ago has at last made pos s ible the extension of our S ight and hearing to the world s r emo t est place Chemists have alter ed the mol ecules of an earth liquid once wasted to produce a new miracle of power F rom earth air and water they have s ynthesiz ed a useful and pleasing vari ety of structural materials and fabrics E ngin eers have invented new motors to carry man s loads and still further reduce his labor on factory and farm They have cl ev erly appli ed this power to a thousand tasks s o that one man s useful output is tremendously increased Meanwhil e our dependence upon these fabulous new tools and proc esses which may nurture us or destroy us according to th eir employment increases in inverse ratio to our compr eh ension of them These things will s et the pace for the lives of all the people and they will be paid for from the incom es Of all the p eople It is the clear duty o f all the people to ac quaint themselves with the machines which must inevitably affect th eir future and that of their children It is the purpose of this book to promote to some small degree such an acquaintance The author owes a heavy debt to many persons and organizations who have assist ed him with information or encouragement F irst of all he thanks the editors of T he Rea der s D ig es t Ha rp er s Ma ga zine and T he A tlant ic Monthly f or the i r ea rly interest in his articles dealing with technica l matters an d for perm i ss i on to use materia l from those articles in preparing this book F or similar permission he thanks the editors of S c ience N ews L etter U S Ca mera T he T oronto S ta r W eekly F orbes Ma gaz ine and A merican F ores ts F or many peripatetic lectures in factories and l aboratories and for assistance with printed information the author is ind ebted to officials pub l icists research men and engineers of the following firms : The G eneral E lectric Company Westinghouse E lectric and Manufacturing Company Bel l Telephone L aboratories Inc Sylvania E lectric Products Inc Radio Corporation of A merica The P olaroid Corpora tion T he E astma n Kodak Company Bausch and L omb O ptical Com . ’ . , , . , . ’ . ’ . , , , , . , . . , . , . ’ , ’ , , . , . . , , . , , , , , , . , . , , , , P REFACE xii i pany The Ethyl Corporat ion T he Standard O il Company (N J The S hell O i l Company U nii ers a l O i l P roducts Company The G eneral Motors Corporation The Chrysler Corporation E I du Pont de N emours and Company The Dow Chemical Company The Monsanto Chemical Company The B F G oodrich Company The G oodyear Tire and Rubber Company The F irestone Tire and Rubber Company T he U nited S tat es Rubber Company The Cummins E ngine Company F airbanks Mors e and Company T he Carrier Corporation The York Corporation The International Harvester Company The Wright A eronautical Corpora t ion Greyhound S kyways Inc Bell A ircraft Corporation S iko rsky A ircraft and E astern A i r L ines G enerous help has also be en received from the U S A rmy A i r Corps Maté riel Division Wright F ield ; Research and Development Branch ! uart ermaster Corps U S A rmy ; the O ffice of Rubber Dirc o tor ; the U S Department of A griculture ; the U S Bureau of Mines ; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ; the Carn egie Institute of Technology ; and the S tevens Institute of Technology The author thanks Mr Joseph F Skelly for his h elp in writing of coa l and p etrol eum d evelopm ents and Miss Ruth Whit e for her valu ab l e assistance in research an d the preparation of the manuscript H M , . , t , , . , , . , , . , . , , , , , , , , , , . , . , , , . , . , , , . . . . . . . . . , . . . P A R T O E T AM IN G T H E SPE CT RUM C H T E A P R O N E T H E MI GH T Y E LE CT RO N N IG HT O F NO VE M B E R it was b l ack as pitch in the S olomon Islands and the rain was pelting down with tropical gener os i ty A n M erican warship rode Off G uadalcanal In an insulated sound proofed compartment super heated with electrical equipment two men fiddled with controls L ookout men aloft could hardly s ee their hands before th eir faces but these men ha d magic eyes They — made a sudden discovery no matter exactly how They phoned the bridge g un s were elevated and a salvo rocked the ship With the s ec ond salvo a Japanese battleship eight miles away through the black ness S huddered from a blow to her Vitals and began the slow angular glid e to Oblivion Radar the war s greatest new weapon had done its work This was the incr edible device which defeated Goering s bombers in the Battle of Britain Had the RA F been unable to foresee each blow of the then — L mighty uftwaffe had they been forced to disperse their fighter planes to meet attacks from any direction instead of holding them in a cen — tral position to repel each assault the swastika might now fly over L ondon — A t the heart of radar is a group of electronic tubes light bulbs with university degrees They are members of a growing family of more than 7 0 0 tubes which in a few S hort years have been harnessed to an amazing variety of tasks In the Battle Of the Mediterranean for example an aerial observer spotted enemy troops in the act of pre paring an ambush He swiftly sketched the position on a map and put the she et in a facsimile transmitter—another e l ectronic device A few O N T HE 1 4 , 1 94 2 , . . , - - , , . . , . , . , , , , , . ’ , . , ’ . , . . . , , . . TAMING 4 THE SPECTRUM minutes later at an A merican base hundreds of mil es away an o fficer pull ed a duplicate of the map O ff a r eceiving machine and the field commander was promptly warned of the trap A few electronic tubes saved an entire company This versatile tube which has no moving parts and do es its work invisibly is easily the gr eat est technical marvel of the twentieth cen tury It ranks in importance with F araday s discoveries in el ectricity or the d evelopment of the int ernal combustion engine In a few S hort years it has become an indispensable too l in communications amus e ment transportation industry and medicine It is the cornerston e of radio and television ; it is the voice of motion pictures and without it the mod ern telephone network would collapse A S the X ray it sav es lives by the million and swiftly probes machine parts for flaws that the human eye cannot s ee ; as the electron microscope it has extended our VI S I on into the infinitesimal and may soon make a public exhibit of the elusive molecule A S the electric eye it Op ens doors catches thi eves detects fires sorts beans and counts automobiles In industry it speeds production saving man hours and costs and insures greater “ ” precision and higher quality It tempers metals bonds plyw ood s ews Sheet aluminum and plastics d ehydrates food sterilizes air A nd this is only the beginning In the laboratory it has broadcast power through the air to light electric lamps and has baked a loaf of bread in three minutes These tubes vary in size all the way from a thimble to a hogshea d S ome are as S imple and symmetrical as the one in your midget radio ; others have sprouted weird futuristic protuberances and have innards cluttered with multiple gadgets which shape them for specialized jobs S ome are sold for fifty cents ; others cost hundreds of dollars Whatever the size or shape all electronic t ubes depend upon the s ame basic principle : when metal is heated or when light falls upon it it spits out electrons A nd whether the tube closes a door sees a plane many miles away or converts a great stream of electrical power into a , , , . . , , ’ . . , , . , , , - . , . , , . , , , - , , . , , , . , . , , . . , , . . , , , . , , TAMING THE SPECTRUM v simpl est of the many jobs the phototube has be en taught to p erform T he b eam of light which com es from an ordinary light bulb falls upon the photo t ube and this light sensitive cell tra n slat es the interruption of the beam into el ectrical en ergy which wh en amplifi ed starts a motor which does the work Young Heinrich Hertz had no such id ea in mind in 1 887 wh en he stumbl ed upon this r evolutionary principl e Hi s discovery O f the ” “ photo electric effect a phras e which may be more S imply stat ed as ” “ was only an un expected incid ent the eff ect of light upo n electricity of his experiments with wir el ess wav es He was watching a devic e con taining two spark gaps and Observed a tiny discharge of energy across one of the gaps which all his exp eri ence told him had no business there “ I had no intention of allowing this ph enomenon to distract my at ” “ tention from the main object I had in vi ew he wrote but it occurred in such a definite and perplexing way that I could not altog ether ” negl ect it In s earching for the caus e of this discharge Hertz finally rul ed out everyt hing but the invisible ultra viol et light which came from the other spark gap of his apparatus He was forc ed to the conclusion that the light had knock ed a little str eam of energy out of the zinc con ductor Why this happened he did not know and with som e r elief he record ed the r esul ts O f his d etour and r eturned to his real work It do es n t ma tter that Hertz us ed zinc or that the light was ultra violet What he had accidentally encounter ed was the fact that when light falls upon metals it mak es th em emit electrons We may say that “ ” — — light or heat as E dison discov er ed boils electrons out of metal — But Hertz had never heard of an el ectron no one had in 1 887 B e fore anyone could find out what really happ ened that day in Hertz — laboratory the old conc eption of the atom that it was the fin al in — divisible building block of all matter had to be demolish ed It took daring physicists like S ir J J Thomson to demonstrate that the atom is a kind O f little solar system ; that it has an electrically po s itive . , , - , , , , . . , , . , . , , . , - . . , . ’ , . . , . , . ’ , , . . . TH E MI GHTY E LE CTRON I nucleus in the middle and that around this nucleus swims a school of negatively charged particl es called electrons which dash around their orbits with the S p eed of light and are loosely held to the parent atom by the attraction of the positive nucleus Hertz light falling upon the pi ece of zinc had broken the el ectrica l bonds which h eld the el ectrons in place and had knocked a procession of them out of th e ir orbits Th ey had to go somewhere and sinc e they were n egatively charg ed th ey were attracted by the positive conductor of H ertz apparatus Th ey l eaped across the gap an d s et up the littl e str eam of en ergy which he obse rved Wi thin a few years after Hertz discovery oth er men built its principles into the photo H w th p h t t b w k el ectric c ell which has not changed ess en — light f lling n m t l ti all y S inc e that time S imply d e scribed it is m k i t mit n g t i n wh i h t l t a glass bulb which looks like a light bulb t t d by p i t i l part of which i s lined inside with potassium t d tt ng p u nt C y n l E l t i u t G ( a S ilver colored material A wire conn ects C) this l ining with a batt ery and another wir e from the battery is conn ect ed with an upright terminal in the middle o f the bulb Thus we hav e a circl e broken by the gap betwe en the silver colored lining and the positive electrode The potassium is very s ensi tive to light P ut this bulb in a dark room and nothing happens The negatively charg ed electrons in the atoms of potassium swim con tentedly in their orbits But if you turn a flashlight on the bulb the elec trons leave home in droves L ured by the positive terminal in the middle they jump madly across the gap completing the circuit If you connect a meter to one of the wires outsid e the bulb it will Show you that a tiny current is flowing T he stronger your light the stronger the current will be Cup your hand over the light and the current will stop instantly F lash the light in some sort O f code and the m eter Shows you that the current is copying it , , . ’ , , , . , , ’ . . ’ , o o o u e or s e , o a . a , es e a e e ec ro s, e a re c ve a a , , ro se e, o r es - ve os rac e u i e c era e ec rre ec r c . o . , . . . . . , . , . , , . . , , . , . . T AMING THE SP E CTRUM 8 Described in terms of practical use the photoelectric cell is a gadget that will enable light impulses to govern mechanical operations and that will translate light variations into corresponding variations of energy—all this with speed and accuracy which tax human powers 0 f comprehension , , ! . Ha rnes s ing the electric eye hese practica l uses were retar d e d for many years for the cell was suitable onl y for delicate l aboratory tasks S cientists had penetrate d the da rk wilderness of the atom and r eturned with a r evolutionary tool but they could not harness it to workaday jobs The curr ent was too weak Its strength was only about one ten millionth of what it takes to light an ordinary household bulb The first electronic tube soon hoisted itself by its own bootstraps A proc ession of distinguished experimenters including F leming De F orest L angmuir and A rmstrong using E dison s discovery of boiling out the electrons by heat introduced new parts in the bulb and made it into an amplifying tube that would suppl ement the phototube by building its weak current up to working size The first commercial j ob of the phototube was in 1 92 4 when Bell Telephone L aboratori es reached a goal toward which inventors had — been plodding for half a century the transm ission of pictures over a wire It was Dr Herbert E ugene Ives the firm s director of electro optical research who negotiated the wedding between the two tubes multiplying the phototub e s current a few million times so that it was strong enough to perform a useful function The union bore issue in June that y ear when news photographs taken at the Republican convention at Cleveland were sent over the wire to N ew Y ork The picture to be transmitted was wrapped around a cylinder which r evolved in a lightproof metal case A carriage hear i ng the phototube and a thin pencil of light S lowly traveled the length of T , . , . - . . . , , ’ , , , , . , ’ . . , , , ’ . , . , . THE MI GHTY E LE CT RO N 9 ol d- of cylinder l ike the ne edle an fashioned phonograph record The l ight beam thus performed a long tight spiral around the cylinder The phototube scanne d the narrow illuminated band of the photo graph and its sensitive electronic current varied in strength with the l ights and Shades of the picture Bolstere d by the amplifying tubes this varying current went over the wire to the N ew Y ork office It could actually be heard by those present in the form of a hoarse vibra ting scream In the receiving machine the current hit a metal ribbon which conceal ed a l ight beam The impact of the curr ent made the ribbon S himmy fr om S ide to side emi tting a varying stream of light which copied faithfully the degrees of light and S hade seen by the photo tube in Cleveland The p encil of light fell upon a photographic film wrapped around a revolving cylinder and thus built up l ine by l ine a reproduction of the original photograph The pictures were coarse grained and the backgrounds were bl urred but the next morn ing newspaper readers gazed upon an indub itable representa tion of a group Of po li tical ladies posing with elephants in front “ ” of Coolidge headquarters S oon the word te l ephoto entered the l anguage O nce the fir st practical phototub e wa s developed engineers and manufacturers were quick to perceive the many uses to which it could be adapted U sed in conjunction with other electronic tubes it was taught to simulate seeing hearing ta lking feeling and even smelling S ince it reacts to its stimulus of light within a thousandth Of a second and detects variations of light and color far b eyond the power of the human eye it has replaced men in hundreds of delicate tasks and has set new standards of swiftness and accuracy Rigging up the phototube to open a door wa s a simple matter for engineers but they soon found that with a little ingenuity i t could be utilized to solve far more complicate d trafli c problems It was installe d in elevator floors to insure precise leveling off at landings L ight from a small bulb set in the edge of each floor fell upon the phototube which the , . . , , , , . . , . , . , . , , . , - , , . . , . , , , . , , , . , . . , TAMING THE SPECTRUM 10 actuated the braking mechanism at the correct moment A no ther tube kept the elevator door from closing on last second entrants Mounted before the vehicl e door of a p ub lic garage where pedes tri ans sometimes break the light b eam accidentally the tub e will Open the door for automobil es but not for people F or this job there are t wo beams several fe et apart and both must b e intercepted or the tube wi ll not respond If a car emerges from the garag e and breaks the beams in the r everse direction the d evice doesn t Open the door again behind — i t i t knows the di ff er ence T he phototube has be en adapted to all mann er O f obs in the meas ur ing and r egulation of tra fli c Installed b eside a highway at t ach ed to a recording machine it can b e adjusted to count cars going in one d irc c tion or both and will also record th eir spe eds This is done by placing two invisible b eams across the road some distance apart with the tub es g eared to ignore the bri ef interruption of a passing pedestrian The S peed O f a car is calculated automatically and sometimes such a tra p is conn ected with an electric S ign which flashes a warning to the spe ed ing mo t orist S uch devic es are also valuable in securing accurate data on tra ffic volume to d etermine the need for new highways O ne of the most striking exampl es of the electronic regulation of tra ffic is the elaborat e system used on the Bay Bridge which carries commuters trains between S an Francisco and O akland By means of electric relays phototubes report approaching trains give S ignals for the automatic setting of track switches and Operate controls which establish car speeds Phototubes also stand guard before vehi cu lar tunnels with the light beam as high as the tunnel s roof If a truck comes along with too high a load the beam is int ercepted a warning bell ri ngs and complications are avoid ed O ne of the phototube s most s ensational rol es is that of night watch man i n warehouses factories stor es and museums F or this purpose “ ” beams O f infra red or black light are used S ince the phototube re acts to the i nvisible rays at either end Of the spectrum T he black light . - . , , . , . ’ , . . , , . , , . , . . ’ . , , . ’ . , , , . , ’ , . , , - , , . ELECTRON THE MIGHTY 11 from an inconspicuous source near the baseboard Of a room may be l reflected at a right angle by a mirror on the Opposite wall to a photo tube in another part of the room The room can be crisscrossed with the i nvisible rays S O that no intruder even if he crawls on his belly can enter w ithout breaking one Of the beams and setting off an alarm A concealed cam era with a fl a shbulb is sometim es add ed to snap the intrud er for identification Phototub e c 1 rcu itS have also been installed to watch over S leepwalkers and mental patients S ignaling a nurs e if the pati ent leaves his bed A t first th ese photo electric devic es would operate effi ciently only over short distances and indoors but now th er e are phototubes which react to a dim distant light signal and hundreds O f factory yards as w ell as approach es to piers a re protect ed by invisible intangible bar ri ers a thousand yards or more in l ength N othing S hort of complete blocking by a solid Obj ect will br eak the b eam You can even drap e an “ ” overcoat over the phototub e and enough of the black light gets through to k eep the circuit in Op eration The phototube is indiffer ent to all light exc ept that Of the special beam to which it is attun ed for in fro nt of the light which sends the beam th ere is a small revolving disk “ ” which chops up the outgoing beam into s l ices s o thin that the human eye cannot d etect th em The phototube p erhaps half a mile away is adjust ed to r ec eive a S ignal Of the sam e vibration a s that Served up by the revolving shutter — Ther e s eems to be no d efinite limit except that impos ed by the “ — curvature of the glob e to the possible length Of th ese invisible ” fences Maxwell H A L indsay an engineer of the A m erican District Telegraph Company a p i oneer I n this field s et up a beam two mil es long betwe en t wo N ew York rooftops The l ight source consisted of two ordinary 2 0 watt bulbs with a filter which barred all rays except the invisible infra red He obtained perfect results even on stormy days when the human eye could not span the distance If this seems amazing we have only to recall that Chicago s Century of P rogress . , , . . , . , , , , , , . . , . , ' . , , . . . . , , , . - , - . , . ’ , TAMING THE SPECTRUM 12 E xposition was op ened by the li g ht Of the star A rcturus 2 2 0 million million miles away which fell upon a photo el ectric cell and cau s ed it to turn on the lights Turning on lights i s another of the s ensitive phototube s chor es It can be adapted to r espond to any desired intensity of daylight and for this r eason has b een installed in schools O ffices stre ets and airports to turn on lamps wh en natural illumination falls below the needed level U tility compani es use it to warn them of the added load wh en storms blot out the s un and millions of householders turn on th eir lights Mounted on the roof it surveys the S ky and advises plant engineers well in advance of the rush , , . ’ . , , , . . , , . In ind us try nly a few years ago electronic tub es were unkn own in A merican industry but now they are doing bread winning jobs ev erywhere In any plant where there i s a conveyor moving along with a line O f Objects the phototube is in its element In the automobile factories it counts painted fenders as they move along an overhead track The light doesn t mar the finish and it do esn t make mistakes When packaged goods move down the lin e it counts the sheep and tosses out the goats The beam can be adjusted to weed out damag ed or imperfectly s ealed car tons Put the light beam over a scale bar where packages are fill ed automatically and it will stop the flow of material when the proper weight is reach ed thereby dispensing wi th a human inspector N O man or m echanical contrivance can count as fast as the photo tube and this proficiency has led to many industrial uses F or instance when a width Of finished cloth zips along between rollers sometimes “ ” Sk ew is not cor one side starts cre eping up on the other and if the rected ruined or inferior material results If a phototube is mounted over each edge of the fabric with a light bulb beneath it will count the crosswise threads as th ey sp eed by and if the totals b egin to vary it O , - . , , . , ’ . ’ . , . , . , . , . , , , , . , , , , , THE TAMING 14 SPECTRUM the finished part S everal machin es can b e mad e to take ord ers S imul taneous ly from the sam e mas t er drawing displaci ng a numb er Of cra ftsm en A nd the end is not yet Thes e are a few of the jobs to which the light s ensitive phototube has been adapted Whi le it is the most versatil e tube O f the lot it is only one of some 7 5 0 tubes in the prolific el ectronic family and it would be — — of littl e us e except in sci entific laboratorie s without the assistance of som e of i t s more complex relatives which fre e electrons b y means of heat In 1 883 E dison b ecame an unwi tt i ng pioneer in el ectronics because the life of his early carbon fil ament light bulb was shortened by blackening He found that particles of the carbon wer e b eing carried over in som e way to foul the inside Of the bulb and that these specks appear ed to b e negativ ely charged so he sealed an extra piece of wire into the bulb and hook ed the outsid e end to the positive terminal O f the batt ery hO n that it would collect flying par t icl s This dust i t h e e p g trap did not work but he found that the hot filament did give O ff elec tri ca l energy which crossed the gap and s et up a current in the extra W ire “ A S I was ov erworked at the t im e in conn ection wi t h the i ntrodu c tion of my electric light syst em I did not have time to continu e the ” experim ent he said later The following year howev er he pat ent ed a similar bulb His observation aroused gr eat curiosity among other experimenters and in 1 90 4 John A mbros e F l eming of E ngland built this principle into a th ermionic (heat actuated ) el ectronic tube With a metal plate in the bulb to capture the fugitive el ectrons this roughly paralleled the light stimulated phototube The value of F leming s tube became appar ent at once S ince the tube was a one way str eet it would take alternating — e curr nt and chang e it into direct curr ent a knack which is now saving millions O f dollars and untold man hours in our war production plants A n d it would take radio waves whos e frequ ency is too high to produce . , . . - , . , , . - . , , . , , . , . , , . , - . , ’ . - . , - , - . THE MIGHTY ELECTRON 15 audible sound and change them into the original low frequency sounds that wer e fed into the trhns mitter thus enabling them to vibrate the diaphragms of rece i ver h eadphones But it would not amplify the broadcast waves for it could not regimen t the l eap i ng electrons - , , . , E nter D e . F ores t Then came L ee De F orest with one of the truly great hunches of all time He conceived the idea of controlling the flow of electrons during th eir passage through the space from the hot filament to the rec eiving “ ” plate Between these two parts he introduced a grid This has been compared to a Venetian blind with the controlling cords outside the tube By Opening and closing such a blind at your window you can alter the sunlight pattern on the floor and you could even work out a clumsy communication code in this manner De F orest s electronic blind worked a million times as fast and was far more delicate in its control of the stream of electrons Without this invention radio as we know it could not exist for this is the amplifying t ube which is an essential part Of every modern re c eivi ng s et T he lead from the aerial is connected to the grid and by “ ” operating this Venetian blind to increase or diminish the flow O f electrons the tiny amount of energy which actually comes through the air from the radio station impresses its pattern upon the much greater current which flows through the tube from your baseboard light socket Vastly more powerfu l than the original stimulus but reshaped by the grid in its sound carrying mold the current can now operat e your loud S peaker By hooking up several tub es in a series any amount of ampli fi cati on can be obtained In a small portable radio four tub es the size Of your littl e finger multiply the power of an incoming radio signa l twenty five bi l lion tim es between the aerial and the loud sp eaker G eared to a phototube the amplifier behaves in much the same way Wh en the bea m i s broken the phototube sends a feeble impulse to the . . . , . , , ’ . , . , , , , . , , . , - , . , . , - - , . . , T AM ING THE SP E C TRUM 16 HO W RK TUBES WO T H E RA D I O k ing f th mplifying tub —n — l t n i t b w h i h i i n i d h t p n f f T b g i n wi th m ny th l t ni d i nd t di bl t y ( A ) wh n th t ng t n fil m nt i n th tub i h t d by l t i i ty l n g ti ly t n b il t f i t T h n ( B ) th f d l t n wh i h h gd p i t i l t d i n th tub tt t d by th d l p tt ing up u nt ( C) T h th i d l m nt i n th t b th g p n b th g id m y b ughly mp d t V n ti n bl i nd wh i h nd W h n i t i p n d nd l d th u nd f ti m pn l t n b n p th ugh f ly ; wh n i t i l d m t f th m d W n n w i n th i ing t di ( D ) wh t th mpl ifying t ub d T h t iny m unt f d i n gy gh t by th i l p t th blind t h u i mp ing i t p tt n up n th m h g t u nt wh i h fl w th ugh th t ub f m th b b d light k t V tly m p w ful t h n th igin l tim lu th l t ni lly mplifi d u nt n n w op t th l ud p k B y h k ing up l f th t b i n i ny m unt f mpl ifi t i n n b bt i n d ( S k t h by u t y f th G n l E l t i C mp ny ) T h es e s o e s sa k t h h lp t p l in th imp l t f th g t f mily e c ro s ar c a re , a c ros s o e e ca o o sa ro ree a o a o res s s ro s e e e or a era e a era o e a o o s a ea o s c os e o e s, er. ca o a . as e r e e a uc e oa r o \ ca oo s evera e o a e o . a . a re an o e c , e e ec ro s c u se es . ” e , o c rre e . “ ore as o s er o ca a s er es , c o r es es u e, ca a rre rre es e ea o rec e v era es e ve e e e e ec a e e ra e , e e, e rea er c s oc a re s o e e e c e a er a e e ec ro ca e e oes ca u er c e e os o e ec r c s, . , e er u a ec r c o e ro s o a e a ra ea e s s c ev c es . e ec ro es a s ec o e es c s . a re s o u o e ve e ec ro e os co e ro c e ree rre a c s ee e e se c os e a as s , e e e a er e ec ro e ra c e a s o e ec ro e e . o o a a s e wor e a o o a o a , ca a a e r e ou a rea e u e o e o our ra e o ex e es o e es o e grid The blinds are yanked Open electrons pour through and the power Operates a magnet which pulls a switch shut which starts a smal l motor which Opens a door or does whatever task i t is given . , , , , . THE MI GHTY ELE CT RO N P a rad e f 0 17 a nts i g The addition of De F orest s grid raise d the curtain on a panorama of staggering electron i c possibilities and the advances of recent yea rs a re only an indication O f what the future is bound to bring A galaxy O f brilliant sci entists and engineers including E instein Millikan A rm strong L angmuir Hull Z woryki n A lexanderson and the Varian brothers have charted the electron s behavior and have built up the little glass tube into a series of Goldbergian metal giants which have everything but a conscience More hurdles were placed in the tube to guide the acrobatic electrons in var i e d jobs both del icate and power ’ , . , , , , , , ’ , . Due chiefly to the classicists of the G eneral E lectric Company which has played a large part in the development the new t ubes have names as imposing as their functions Man s d es tiny is now shaped by i gnitrons thyratrons kenotrons p l iotrons phanatrons i conoscopes and klystrons to mention a few There is a group of high frequency radio waves which induce heat when they are concentrated instead of being b roadcast and this fact has O pened a who l e new field i n therapeut i c and industria l electronics S everal years ago Dr Willis R W h itney then director of the G enera l E lectric Company s research laboratori es exposed a cockroach to these short waves and roasted it to a t urn L ater it was found that men who worked with such waves were runn ing temperatures This led to the “ ” fever machine used to induce heat inside the human body in the treatm ent of disease For years scientific demonstrators have been using the t ube to pop corn and roast hot dogs with amazing S peed U n l ike ordinary heat waves which bore from without the radio waves penetrate the whole obj ect instantly and the heating time is cut to a fraction N ow this tube the pliotron I S us ed to surface harden metals in a tenth O f the time once neede d A irp l ane parts of laminated p l a stic , , ’ . , , , , , . , - , , . . , . , ’ , . . , . , . , , , - . , , . T AMING THE SPE CTRUM l8 plywood (composed of alternate layers of wood and synthetic resin ) once had to be baked in an oven for hours With its penetrating heat producing waves the pliotron do es the job in minut es and the finished part is stronger U sing the same principle RCA S thr eadless needle less el ect ronic sewing machine stitch es synth etic raincoats together by f using the s eams with radio waves T he k enotron does other new tricks It will detect weak spots in the insulation of cabl es buried und erground In the P recipitron the new Westinghouse air filter it charges dust n eg atively s o that it is attracte d to positively charged plates thus cleansing the incoming air Of particles too small to be removed by other air cleaning devices This is of great value in plants where the manufacture of Op t ical and high pr ecision instruments have s et new standards O f air cl eanliness and it has even mad e possible the u s e O f white curtains in a P ittsburgh home By a similar method the kenotron operates a new electronic spray gun for painting automobile bodies The negatively charged paint flies with out waste to the positively charged surface of the bod y In the manu facture Of sandpaper it shoots the abrasive particles to the adhesive paper with the sharp ends up The liberated el ectron has come to the rescue of our hard pressed war industries in ways too num erous to catalogue F or instance we could not have achieved our pr es ent air supremacy over the A xis if our aluminum plants had not increas ed production seven fold Gr eat quantities Of direct current are used in the electrolyt ic process by which aluminum is mad e P ower i s usually delivered in A C form and has to be converted to D C to do this work There are mechanical con verters for the purpos e but they use steel and copper badly needed elsewhere S O an electronic tube called the ignitron took their place converting the current much more efficiently with a great saving in — materials The ignitron is not only a superb pinch h itter it has come to stay . , , ’ . , , . . . , , , - . - , . , . . , . - . , - . . . . . . , . , , . , - . . THE MI GHTY E LE C T RO N 19 In the la boratory While mountains are being move d by the use of the new el ectronic tools they may make th eir greatest contribution to man s well being in the laboratory P eering through the new electron microscope which is 1 0 0 times more powerful than the strongest light microscope ever built ” “ scientists have seen for the first time in history photographic stills of the actual battle bet ween disease bacteria and the fri endly bacterio phage S ome indicati on of the significance of the new instrument in fighting disease was shown early in 1 94 4 when Dr G regory S chwartz man of Mt S inai Hospital using it to examine the blood Of a heart disease victim observed virus like organisms never before encoun tered in the human blood stream The viruses of i nfluenz a and meningi tis have been photographed for the first time and new facts have been learned about the structure of metals synthetic r ubber and texti l es The best Optical instrument can magnify objects only about diameters and is l imited by its inab i l ity to revea l particl es whose diameter is shorter than wave l engths of light When infin itesimal el ec trons are used instead of light waves this limitation is overcome In a big upright meta l cylinder with peepholes around the bottom for severa l observers a heate d tube emits el ectrons which bombard the Obj ect to be examined and instead of the glass l enses which contro l l ight rays there are electromagnetic coils to contro l the e l ectronic stream The el ectrons penetrate the O bj ect and record its likeness on the fluorescent viewing screen or the photographic plate This microscope was invente d in G ermany in 1 931 Introduced i n this country by the Radio Corporation of A merica less than four years ag o i t is alrea d y i n use in some fifty un iversi ty an d i ndustrial l aboratories Dr Vl adimir Z worykin of RCA who p l ayed a leading part in its development fore s ees improvements which may i ncrease its power to times that O f — the l ight microscope This would bring atoms and molecules the uni versa l building blocks whose structur e scientists can only hopefu ll y ’ - , . , , . . , . , - , . , . , , . . , , , , , , , . . . , . , . , . TAMING THE SPECTRUM 20 — diagrams wi thin approximate with s y mbolic the actual range of human vision If the new science of electronics had brought forth noth ing but this i n strument its effect upon man s future woul d sti ll be i n calculable . ’ , . Revol ution in X N ra ys - developments in the X ray tube another el ectronic device have come s o fast in recent years that experim enters have not yet had time to discover all their potentialiti es in industry and in the diagnosis and treatment Of disease These penetrating electromagnetic waves “ ” named X because they baffled their d iscoverers are produced in the tube by fre eing el ectrons from heated meta l and causing them to bo mbard a posi tively charg ed metal targ et The col i l s i on rel eases X the rays from the l t on t iking High p d tm m t l t m m k th atoms Of the target The high er the vol gi fl p n t t ing X y ( C u d rI ve the electrons across tage used to ti C ) t y G n ml E l the gap the greater is their speed and the shorter and more penetrating the X rays The longer wav es that “ ” are easily absorb ed are called soft X rays while the shorter rays “ ” are called hard vol t tub es which O nly a few y ears ago X rays produced by are about a millionth of a millionth Of a centimeter in length were the hardest rays in common use Today more than fifty war plants are equipp ed with million volt X rays S O hard that they will penetrate eight inches of steel and reveal hidden defects L ate in 1 94 4 these units were dwarfed by the appearance of an industrial X ray unit of vol s s o powerful that it would reveal a tiny bubble or defect through twelve inches of steel armor plate A nd Professor Donal d W Kerst of the U niversity of Illinois has d evelop ed a method w e - , , . , , . - s e a a o ve o es e ec r ee - e e a s. os e e e ra - ra s. a o s . o r o ec r c e s r s, . , - . - , . - - , , , . - - , . , - , . . TAMING THE SPECTRUM 22 ards or wheth er they will be requir ed to postpone their sales campaign until the great wartim e advances in electronics can be utilized to pro vide vastly improved t el evision Whichever side wins out in this con trovers y som e idea of the potential importance Of the new industry “ ” may be gain ed from the fact that the bird in the hand faction believe they can sell three quarters of a million s ets in the first eighteen month s after materials are released and that some eighty applications to c on s truct new tel ev1 s 1 0 n stations after the war have b een fil ed with the F ederal Communications Commission In television the fre ed el ectron p erforms acrobatics so complicated that it makes a phototube look lik e a r elic from the Ston e A g e T he phototube like a single tiny rod of the human r etina detects the variations of only one S pot of light but the l CO D O S CO p%the seeing eye — of television s ees life whole by means of thousands of small light sensitive cells which approximate the entire system of rods and cone s of the human r etina Y et with all its complexity in practice the basic principle Of tele vision is S imple A nyone can transmit a picture to a friend by electrical energy without l eaving his desk You S imply rule Off the picture into small squares phone your friend and ask him to prepare a ruled paper of the same S ize Then you begin at the u pp er left corner Of your “ picture while he follows you with his p encil and announce : Black ” white gray black etc reporting the light intensity of the squares l ine by line until you r each the bottom By filling in the squares he can create an approximation of your pict ure If you want movies you have only to take the next picture in a motion s equence and repeat the Operation and s o on By binding the sh eets together and flipping them your friend can make the figures appear to move If you both hav e patience fortitude strength and determination and live to b e a thou sand years old you can approximate the effect of tel evision For that is exactly what tel evision does It r eads off squar es of light and dark row after row in the pictur e and translates them to a radio , . , - , . , . , , , , . , . . , , . , , , , . , , , , . , , . , , . , . , , , . , . , , , THE M I GHTY E LE CT RO N 23 message which it sends o yer the air The intensities of light like those , . ' sound can b e turned ihto radio impuls es and later rec onverted into “ ” the original medium The receiving s et like your friend hears the i mpulses bit by bit like the telephoned directions and paints each little square in s equence with the sam e light int ensity as the original picture But the darting elect rons do all this with infinitely gr eat er pre “ ” frames are c i s i on and fidelity and s o fast that at l east six complete completed before a human b eing could even touch pencil to paper This basic principle Of television was sugg ested S ixty years ago but no equipment existed to impl ement the plan In the late twenties tele vision experimen s were made in which rotating disks s et wi th mirrors or perforated W i t h a spiral row of holes picked up light impuls e s which ” “ were read by phototubes and translat ed into radio impulses But as i n a hundred other fields the electronic tube which has no moving parts makes no noise and is faster and more accurat e quickly sup planted the mechanica l devices The iconoscope the invention of Dr Z worykin which is now used in most television cameras is a big tube which contains what may b e called a scre en and a pointer T he scene to be televised is focused by the camera lens U pon the screen which is compos ed of many thousands of light s ensitive particles E ach particle stor es up voltage propor ti ona l to the intensity of the light falling upon it from the corresponding bit in the scene The pointer is a stream of liberated electrons which is guided back and forth across the screen by magnetic coils thousands of times a second The pointer releases each tiny charge in succ ession “ ” and the pictur e takes to the air at the rate of thirty snapshots a second In the receiving s et a similar pointer composed of magnetically di rected el ectrons transmits the picture m e ssag e s to a s ensitive scre en faster than the eye can follow P resent television has hampering limitations Its d epth of field is not adequat e for showing a group of actors on a stage with the C larity of detail which a movie going public has learned to expect and there of , . , , , , , . , . , . , t , , . , , , , , . . , , , . , - . . , . , . , - . . - , T AM ING TH E SP E CTRU M 24 is a tendency for a tel evision entertainm ent to resolve itself into a proc ession of individual performers A r ecent invention call ed the orthicon an improved televi sion camera eye d eveloped by RCA may “ ” do much to correct this failing Its S ponsors claim that it can s ee any image visible to the human eye and that it will even make possible the t elevising of sports ev ents on cloudy days A s the t elevision controversy now stands s everal leading maker s Of eqq ment wish to go into production immediately after the war with home receiving sets based on today s standards which they plan to sell for about $2 0 0 The other faction headed by Columbia Broad casting System claims that such sets wo ul d soon b e obsol ete and that their wide sale would slow up the full commercial d evelopment of the new medium They believe that by waiting to take advantage Of wartime research which wil l make possible the use of Shorter waves in the tel evision sp ectrum than have been employed before we can have television twice as good as the b est of today To test its contention CB S has placed an ord er for an experimental station to b e install ed in the tower of the Chrysler B ui ld ing as soon as materials can be O h . , , . , . , ’ , . , , . , . ta i ned T he , . c rys ta l ba ll S ince one or more el ectronic tubes can be ma d e to d o almost any task the human mind is capabl e of imagining no one can go far wrong in brave new world prophecies and without romancing one may foresee expansion in numerous directions Recent growth has been impressive In 1 94 3 more than kilowatt hours or about ten per cent of all the electri cal energy generated in the U nited S tates by any source of power passed through electronic d evices The dollar volume Of sales of electronic goods in 1 94 1 was about and the best estimates for 1 94 4 run in the neighb orhood of an increase of per cent Much of this increase i s due to the de , - - , . . - , , . , . TH E MI GHTY E LE CTRO N 25 mand for war communication devi ces many of which may not be need ed in peac e time but the add ed plant capacity doubtless s ti mu lates a fervent desire amo ng manufacturers to increase the list of electronic devices S purr ed by wartim e inventions which are now secret radio tele vision and a ll other forms of electrical communication should tele scop e the normal advances O f a decade into less than five years Travel by plane ship railway or automobile should be safer E yes will pierce fog at s ea ; planes will lan d surely in storm or darkness and will s ee mountains a hundred mi les ahead Trains will not collide Radio tra ffi c S ignals at intersections on high S peed highways may advis e drivers in time to save tires brak es an d lives and it is possible to mount photo tubes on cowls to enforce automatic reciprocal dimming of headlights Telegrams are alr eady s ent by fa c simile in the handwriting of the sender and tomorrow we may have automatic slot machines in co m er drug stores which wi ll receive and transmit written messag es in fac simile This method wil l be O f great value as a bridg e between l an guages Today if a Chinese in the U nited States wishes to cable his hom e the message is dispatched in a numera l code in which the most commonly used Chinese characters are represented Western U nion s Tel efax units which transmit any black and white design in facsimile are now being installed in China s telegraph system to speed up military communications Eventually telegrams will be sent any where in any alphabet wi thout the costl y nuisance Of coding or trans lating N ewspaper pages blueprints fingerprints and formulas can be sent by the same metho d which is many times faster than telephoto Tel evision i n color has been thoroughly teste d an d three d imen s i o ua l televi sion already achieved experimentally will come when the demand justifies it E ngineers know how to make el ectronic kitchen ranges which wil l cook a roast i n a few minutes regardless of si z e wi thout heating the roasting pan N o l ess an authority than Dr Irving L angmuir states that it S hould be possible to build an e l ectronic ma , , . , , , . , . , , . . - , , . , , . . , , . ’ - - , ’ , . . , , , . , - , , , . , , . . TAMING THE 26 SPECTRU M chine to scan fruit tr ees locate the rip e fruit and direct mechanical arms to pick it from the branch es Dr O restes H Caldwell el ectronics expert for es ees FM radio stations which will broadcast both programs and el ectric power O r if this is slow in coming electronic tubes may easily make practical the transmission of power over wir es for a thousand miles Carri ed to its conclusion this would mean for instance that P ennsylvania coal converted into electric power at the mineheads could light every bulb and turn every factory wh eel in the E astern U nited S tates with the virtual elimination O f coal haulage and city smok estacks and c ons e quent improvement in public health and reduction Of clean ers bills These are only samples of the glittering array Of r evolutionary machines and gadgets which have b een propos ed The on es which are most useful or which app eal most to buyers and which can be sold at a price people can pay will soon make their bows Whatever the future O f electronics may be it is great and it is unpredictable , , . . . , , . , . , , , , , , ’ . . , . , , . C H A P T E R T O W S PI E S W I T H GLAS S E Y E S WH E N A LL IE D I N T E LL I G E N C E M E N i ntervi ewe d G erman an d Ita l ian prisoners after the whirlwind fina l e of the Tun isian campaign in the S pring of 1 94 3 they were puzzled by the belief of capture d artillery men that the A mericans had used some sort of secret weapon to knock out their gun emplacements F iring at night the A mericans ha d spo tted their guns with pin point accuracy mi s s I ng none of them by more than a few yards They could not understand how their positions had b een discovered since the guns had been moved only a few days before ” “ The same secret weapon ba ffled the Japanese at G ua d a l canal at Kula G ulf at Truk and many other spots in the P acific It enabled British and A merican planes to blot out G erman robot plane instal l ati ons on the French coast and by its aid A llied bombardiers have been plucking essential N azi factories from surrounding structures as cleanly as a dentist takes a tooth from a gum The weapon hardly secret but one of the most important in the A llied arsena l is the modern spy the camera l ens The Mata Haris doubtless did very well in their day but in World War II they are victims of technological unemployment G eneral staffs no longer wait — — i f they ever did for scented hetairas of O ppenheim i lk to wheed l e plans O f fortifications and offensives from bemused enemy dupes They send over a L ightning or a S pitfire fitt ed out with the newest photographic equipment and secure reliable documentary evidence in less time than Mata need ed to dress for an embassy r eception While the methods of ol d fashioned esp i onage have not been comp l etely , . , - , . , . , . , , - , . , , . , , . . , . - THE TAMING 28 SPECTRUM abandon ed it is estimated that eighty per c ent of the intelligence in formation behind any given military op eration is now Obtained by the flying cam era What happen ed in Tunisia has since been reported by Col James G Hall of the A rmy A i r F orces T o begin with the attack was post — poned because of bad weath er weath er that would not have ham pered ground forc es but which grounded reconnaissance planes the the fast high flying eyes of the A rmy Wh en the weath er cl eared planes went over and took hundreds of photographs of the enemy po s iti ons P rints w ere quickly made and past ed up into a great mosaic r eproduction of the entire enemy area Trained interpreters using a b att ery of new appliances high lighted guns troop concentrations natural elevations and other pertinent featur es and turned over their data to artillery commanders Instead of training their guns by maps in the traditional way they Chos e th is time to u s e the interpreted photo graphs A s a result the A xis guns were knocked out r esistance was completely crushed and Tunis fel l i n twenty four hours with few c asualties , . . . . , , , . - , , . . , - , , , . , . , , - , . T he s ecrets T f o k ru Truk the great Japanese nava l base i n the Carolines was pretty much of a myst ery befor e two L iberators carrying Marine Corps c amera men pried the lid off i ts s ecr ets F ew white men had been a l lowed at the base S ince the Japanese occupied the islands in 1 9 1 4 E ven if our N avy had Obtain ed complete plans of the base there was no way of knowing on the morning of F ebruary 4 1 94 4 how many warships the harbor held how many planes were on duty at the air fi elds or what recent installations had been made The Marines bom bers carrying no block busters but bristling with glass eyes flew mi l es that day to make a careful photographic inventory of the crowded s hipping the air fields and the p alatial livin g qu art ers E very line , , . . , , , , ’ . , - , , , , . TAMING THE 30 SPECTRUM for information by field commanders whil e in the latter category systematic flights are made over larg e areas to s ecure data for a erial mapping as an aid to plann ing an entire campaign N aturally th ere is consid erabl e overlapping of th es e functions and pictures snapped for eith er purpose may fill both needs A s an example of quick action in an emergency a field commander “ ” may radio an Observation plan e already aloft to fly to point X and snap a highway junction which is a bottl eneck for enemy r ein forcements Reaching the S pot may take only a few minutes in a recO n naissance plane stripped for speed The Observer may snap his picture wi th a long focal length cam era from feet or high er While the plane is dashing for home he qu ickly develops the film in a non spill processing tank which is electrically heated to the desired temperature and makes his print by touch with one hand inside a light proof bag on waterproof paper which S heds moisture and ne eds no drying The print is S lipped into a metal cylinder equipp ed with s hock absorbers and dropped to the ground at a pr earranged spot where a man in a jeep rushes it to headquarters U nder certain c on d iti ons it is Often possible to drop the finished print to the courier wi thin five minutes aft er the click of the shutter With a magnifying glass the photographic interpreter can count trucks and identify guns and mobile equipment from pictures taken five miles aloft and artil lery can shell the junction while the enemy force is still concentrated , , . , , . , , , . . - - . , - , , - , . . . , . F ly ing da rk - S ome ms roo of the bombers used on photographic missions carry fully e quipped tent dark rooms which can either be set up and us ed in the plane or packed in a b ox the S ize of a small blanket ch est for delivery to ground forces It can be s et up in the field in fifteen minutes Tele scoped meta l tubes serve as poles for a small gambrel roofed light proof tent with a zippered door A sma ll air conditioning unit provides - , . . - , . - SP IES W ITH GLASS EYES 31 the right temperature for, any climate The container b ox becomes a water tank and wat er for processing films is dropped in t ough pliabl e plastic bags O ne picture may be enough to revea l a temporary enemy con een trati on but changes in shipyards factories and fortifications are often followed by a s eries of photographs mad e over a long period If the enemy is building an airplane plant it is better to l et him finish the job before bombing it thus cancelling more material and labor with the same weight of explosives Rep eated pictures Of the same r egion r eveal to int erpr eters new geometric designs which they have learned to associate with c erta in types of factory and wheel tracks on a peace ful meadow caught by the camera in the early morning may betray camouflaged gun locations O bservation planes on strategic mI S S I O ns may spend months con tributing bit by bit to a composite picture of a large area E arly in A pril 1 94 4 it was reported that more than photographs “ ” Of Western E urope covering every inch Of the invasion coast from Denmark to the S panish border had been made by British and A meri can reconnaissance planes F ew details O f the G erman defense system escaped th ese flying cameras In addition to high altitude photographs profile sho ts Of many parts of the terrain had been taken by ground Skimming planes to provide landing barge views of coastal areas O ur flying photographers had good pre war experience in aerial mapping in such projects as the air surveys Of the Dust Bowl and the T VA and Boulder Dam proj ects L umber companies commission air maps of forest areas to estimate their timber yield ; oil firms use them in their constant search for ground formations which suggest petro l eum deposits and the D epartment Of A griculture has employed the method to estimate planted acr eages Of various crops In Canada aerial mappers have discovered lakes u nk nown to surface bound explorers and the A merican G eographic S ociety s rec ently — completed giant map of S outh A merica the most detailed continental . - , , . , , . , , . - a , , , . , . , , , , , . - . , - . - . , . , ’ , T AMING THE SP E CTRUM 32 — map in existenc ould not have been drawn without the use e c housands Of aerial photographs t of . P ioneer F a irchi ld host of fliers and engineers have contributed to the new art O f aerial mapping O ne of the ablest and most confident of the pioneers in the field was Sherman Mills F a irchild who twenty years ago formed an aerial survey firm using a mapping camera Of his own design — F airchild was an unusual combination a n inventor who could afford to lose money F rom childhood a confirmed gadgeteer he began to study a erial photography when he was taken from college and sent to A rizona for his health during the first World War F lying photographers of that vintage were leaning from the cockpits with hand cam eras and eff orts to make successive photographs through a hole in the cabin floor were rather crude F airchild went to the War Department in 1 9 1 8 with plans for an effi cient automatic aerial camera in which exposur es would be synchronized with the speed of the plane He received orders for a number of cameras which he built at a loss too late for use in the war The camera was a success but the first aerial mosaic maps were far from accurate O bjects at the edges of the pictures were distorted l ike the man at the end in a ban quet photo graph and if the plane were not held on ah even keel the tilt created other distortions F airchild wrestled with th ese problems S ince then his survey firm has mapped enormous areas in the U nited States and elsewhere and his military aerial camera s have been adopted by the U nited S tates and many other countries The aerial mapper flies back and forth over the section to be photo graphed much as a farmer mows a field and the more territory he can get in one shot the wider his strip and the sooner he wi ll finish the j ob This is of particular importance i n wartime with ground gunners and interceptor planes on the alert to destroy pictures that A . , . , . , . , . . , , . , . , , , . . , . , , , . , SP IES ITH G LASS EY ES W 33 ma y be Of more value than an army division Wide eyed lenses have been developed to speed the job Bausch and L omb s Metrog on lens now being use d by the A i r F orces has a range Of over nin ety d egrees and wi th one snap of the shutt er thr ee mil es up it can take an area of twenty eight square mil es s o sharply that motorcycle troops can be co unt ed throughout the entire area O ne A rmy camera recently photo graphed a n area of square miles in about an hour from f eet In many O bservation planes three Metrog on lensed cameras are mounted one pointed straight down the other two fixed at forty five degr ee angles at the sides E ven at a l ow elevation they bla nk et the country from horizon to horizon with l arge overlapping areas A eria l mapping means a great deal more than taking contiguous pictures of the terrain and piecing the prints together A erial maps are made which give military l eaders not onl y a detailed flat picture of the countryside but a t hr ee dimensional effect with means O f deter mining within a few feet the depth Of valleys and the height of hi lls and buildings This tec hnique has revolutioniz ed the making of con tour maps In less than five days flying time airmen snapped the entire state of Massachusetts securing data for a map which it would have taken ground surveyors years to collect To secure the three dim ensional effects which the strategists use in planning military movements the aerial mapper actually tak es two pictures from different vantage points of all the terrain he covers When he begins his work he considers the speed of his plane and adjusts a small control on his instrument panel which s ets the time interval at which the big automatic camera will snap His pictures must overlap sixty per cent longitudinally and perhaps thi rty five per c ent laterally to provide two S hots of everything with a safe margin If he flies over a bridge for instance the camera may make one shot of the north S ide and another s l ightly to the south The distance b e tween the shots may b e a mi l e or s o d epending on the height of the plane - . ’ . , , , - . - . , - , , . . , . - , , . ’ . , . - , , , . . - , , , , , . , . . TAMING THE SPECTRUM 34 G ia nt ’ s eye vi ew If you can imagine a giant S O huge that his eyeballs are a mile apart you can get an id ea of what the camera is doing We s ee nearby obj ects ” “ in the round not as flat planes because the angle at which our two eyes focus tells us how far away the di fferent Objects a re But when we obs erve things at a distance they tend to merge into a single plane This i s because the base of the isosceles triangle (the distance between the eyeballs ) is so short compared to the two l ong l egs of the triangle that the difference in angle is too sma ll to serve as a guide By greatly increasing the l ength of the triangle s base the mapping cam era pro “ ” vides giant eyes enabling the strategist to gauge contours and eleva tions from twin pictures taken five miles aloft as clearly a s we can in looking at a child s sand castle at our feet Research men have spent years perfecting the equipment which bridges the gap between the mapping camera and the amazingly vivid contour projectio ns which A rmy interpreters and engineers finally see on the screen or viewing table When the films from the mapping cam era are developed some of them are true vertical shots some are askew because of a momentary tilt O f the plane and others are O b l ique Shots Of terrain two miles or so to either side Of the plane By means of complicated rectifying printers all the pictures are transformed into matching vertical views which appear to have been taken directly above the scene A number of devices S i mple and complex are used to Obtain visua l perspective in viewing the twin pictures The most elaborate and effec tive of these is the Multiplex P rojector When positive transparencies are made from these photographs and placed in the overhead proj ec tors a three dimensiona l picture showing many square mil es of terri tory is spread out on a smooth metal topped viewing table By wearing special glasses you can gaze d own a dizzy precipice or almost prick your finger on a church spire Trees sprea d the i r foliage i n sharp , . , , . . , . ’ , , ’ . . , , , . , . , , . . - , - . , , . SP IES W ITH G LASS EY E S 35 relief against the s od beneath an d the comparative heights of hills and buildings are O bviO Iis at a glance O ne method use d to get this eff ect is the same employed from time to time in special motion picture shows when eyeglasses with one red and one green l ens are distributed an d wild beasts and l ocomotives appear to charge from the scr een The proj ectors which throw the scene — there may be from h i mto a d ozen of them are on the vie wi ng table a lternately covered with red and green filte rs S O that there are actu ally two complete images O f the area one to be seen by each eye Without the specia l glasses the scene is a hazy jumble of red and green “ ” l ines like an O ff register color printing j ob only worse With the glasses one eye sees red the other g reen and the jumbled l i nes fuse into a single C lear three dimensiona l image In effect the Observer s ” “ eyes are now a mile apart and he has a giant view perspective Military interpreters need not rely entirely on visua l judgment in computing ground elevations S uppose an invasion or raid is planned an d the Corps of E ngineers has to select the best S pot for throwing a pontoon bridge across a river They are looking for a place where the banks mpe g ently and the surrounding terrain presents no serious Obstacles to motorized equipment They take a small viewing stand a few inches in diameter which outwardly resembles a table microscope and move it about on the projected river system The device throws a pin point O f l ight on the picture T he O bserver raises or l owers the s tand wi th a finely calibrated turnscrew unti l the dot Of light app ears to rest on the surface of the water He takes a reading turns the screw until the dot ha s been elevated to a hill top brings it to rest and takes another reading The differ ence on the scale tells him the height of the hi ll l S O accurate is this method that from pictures taken at feet the height of a mountain can b e calculated with a margin Of error of only a few feet Contour maps of the S ite for the planned river crossing Showing elevations suitable for gun emplacements may be quickly turned out , . - , — . , . , , - - . , , , , , ’ - , . , , - . , , . . . , , . - . - . , , , . . , , TAMING THE SP ECTRUM 3b from the proj ected photographs A ttach ed to the movable stand th ere is a fixed p encil The map mak er slips b eneath the stand a S heet of drawing pap er which th en becomes the screen upon which the pro e t h e picture app ars By moving stand about as keep the t e o c d e s o t j dot of light resting on the surface of the illusory ground he draws an irregular line such as may b e s een in printed maps which passes through all points wh ere the ground is of the same elevation A series of such lin es cr eat es an accurate contour map which may be rapidly duplicat ed and s ent to fi eld commanders In determining absolute al t itudes for these maps kn own values lik e that of s ea l evel are us ed for control purpos es In the peacetim e mapping of inland tracts where th ere are few known alti t ude refer ence poin t s aerial photographers sometimes do their work first and ground surveyors later establish a few altitude points for the guidance of the map mak ers A similar three dimensiona l effect is Obtained without the u s e of colored filters by the use O f light polarizing films an d sp ec t acles which is one application of a fascinating new optical development to be d escrib ed in the following chapter These table projectors are portabl e but bulky and th ere are a num ber Of small st ereoscopic devices some of them pocket S ize which enable men in the field to l ook at paired aer i al photographs thre e dimensionally just as our grandparents did wi th their parlor st ereo scopes A nd by diligent practice many photographic interpreters have learn ed to see twin photographs in reli ef without Optical aids They do this by spreading the axes Of the eyes S O that each eye sees only one photograph and is focus ed upon a building or oth er point which appears in both pictures A fter a litt le the images fuse and the natural contours of the ground become apparent Many other typ es of camera have b een developed to perform the varied tasks pre s ented by the war O ne of the newest develop ed by Col G eorg e W G oddard chief of aerial photographic r esearch for . . , . , , , . , o . , , . , , , . - - , , . , - , , , . , . , . , . . . . , , TAMING THE SPECTRUM 38 using a special film s ensitive to infra red or heat waves and a couple “ ” Of el ectric fl atirons in place of photofl oods to light the subject Phenomenally clear pictures at gr eat distanc es are possibl e with infra red equipm ent Major S tevens of the A rmy A ir Corps took good pictures of Mt Shasta from a distance of 30 0 mil es and a detailed photograph of the N ew York skyline was made recently from a plane hovering over Philadelphia Physicists explain that the long infra red waves swe ep through the haze particles unimped ed just as the l ong swell O f the ocean swe eps through a line of pil es Short wav es in ei ther case S plash against the Obstacl es and are di ffus ed F li ers make the sensational long shots by covering the lens with a dark red filter which bars out the confusion of the S plashing short waves and passes only the long ones which have k ept th eir form The sp ecia l cam era film tr eated with dyes sensitive to the long rays completes the process The infra red technique has not only pushed the photographer s ceiling beyond the range of effective ground fi re it has turned the whole art of camouflag e upsid e down L eaves and grass come out a snowy white in the picture S ince their surface green is transparent to infra red rays and the lighter tissues of the plants are captured by the l ens Green paints and oth er artificial coloring matter used to disguise batteries and plane hangars are not transpar ent to the rays and Oft en b etray the position of enemy structur es by their conspicuous darkness in the picture This has made the work of the camofl eur more di fficult and complicated - , , . - . , . - . , . . - . — - . ’ . , - , . , . . Color p ict ures whil e you wa it Color photography is one of the newest and most promising tech niqu es in the art of aerial S pying G ood color photographs have been tak en from the air for som e y ears but since the films had to be s ent to the manufactur er to be d evelop ed the process was of little use in a military way N ow color films can be dev elop ed in a portable dark . , , . SP IES ITH GLASS EYES W 39 room at the front or anywhere e l s e an i mprovement which will be of great interest to postwar amateurs Col G oddard was the A rmy s pioneer in this field as he has been in many other innovations In transforming color photography from an amateur s delight to a practical reconnaissance weapon he took hundreds of aerial shots of cities factories and rugged mountain ter ra i n trying out new equipment and methods and pushing the eff ective altitude higher and higher To check the accuracy of color reproduction l ong strips of felt dyed in tested colors were S pread on the flying fi eld and photo graphed from various altitud es When he made pictures from the dizzy heights where fliers wear oxygen masks Col G oddard found his films overlaid with dul l blue from the perpetual layer of haze which occurs at feet or S O S ince the infra red technique could not be used with color film S pecia l filters w ere devised to penetrate this haze Today A rmy and N avy planes using standard aerial cameras are making amazingly clear detailed color shots from high altitudes P ictures in natural color are of great value in identifying enemy installations and penetrating the vei l of camouflage In black and white photographs grays greens and browns Often l ook alike In a color picture a yellowish patch of freshly dug earth leaps to the eye Foliage wilted by gunfire reveal s a battery emplacement even though the gun itself has been carefully camouflaged Synthetic rubber fac tori es are identified by a yellowish tinge in the smoke A nd by its vivid contrasts color giv es a three dimensional effect which is absent in ordinary black and white ‘ - , . ’ . , . ’ , , , . , , , . . , - . , . , , , . , - . , . , . , , . . - , . G odda rd O ’ s a sh fl bomb of the most valuable gadgets of Wor ld War II is a fast brilliant — — flash bomb the invention Of Col G oddard which enables planes to take clear pictures in the dark withou t being s een themselves N ight ne , . . T AM ING TH E SP E CTRUM 40 photography has become increasingly important In the early days of the war daylight casualties among Bri t ish aerial observers some tim es ran as high as S ixty per c ent a we ek A nd night pictures are often more revealing S ince troops and guns are moved to new positions und er the cover of darkness F oreseeing a wartime need Col G oddard began experimenting in the middl e twenties with the a erial flash bombs O nce he went aloft towing a glider fu ll of magnesium and a timing device and cut it loose to furnish light for his picture O nce a big flash bomb explode d in his plane blowing out the entire floor and the crew of seven had to cling to the struts until the plane l anded A f ter many tests made in cooperation with the E a s tman Kodak Company he at last perfected the pr es ent bomb which provid es light intense enough to make a clear picture from a fast plane at altitudes well over feet The G oddard bomb is a masterpiece of timing P revious devices made it necessary to l eave the camera shutter open for four or five — seconds with the result familiar to newspaper read ers that the n egative was cluttered up with extraneous fireworks and dots of light r epr esenting burning buildings became streaks due to the S peed Of the plane Col Goddard s problem was to produce a bomb which woul d crowd light of tremendous intensity into a small S plit second O f time T o test his flashes he attached a sensitive photographic film to a disk record and enclosed the phonograph in a light proof b ox with a pin hole in the li d Wi th the turn table revolving at a kno wn speed the light from the flash bomb took the place O f the needle leaving on the film a record of its duration and brilliance This is only one example of the new methods Col G oddard devised to perfect his invention The result i s a bomb which crowds all its light into a fraction of a second with a fast photoelectric cell to Operate the camera within the — slender margin Of time The elec tric eye the same device which opens — doors when a light beam is broken is mounted in the tail of the plane . , . , . , . . , . , , . , , . . - , , , ’ . . - . , - , - . , , . . . , . SP IES W ITH GLASS EYES 41 overlooking the scene to b e photographe d Ignoring al l l esser l ights from below it is sensitiveonly to the peak of the terrific glare of the light bomb S uch a device has the eff ect Of freezing motion so that even if the plane is traveling at 2 50 miles an hour or more at a l ow altitude points on the ground are not dragged into streaks in the photograph This ingenious fl a sh bomb device may be used by bombers as a means Of securing absolute evidence Of their marksmanship and by observation planes in securing data Of damage done by bombing The timing Of the flash bombs is so precise that when dropped from five miles or so above the earth they can be made to explode within 5 00 feet Of the alti t ud e d esired The flash is S O blinding that gro und observers cannot possibly s ee the plane the bomb came from yet it explodes far enough to the rear s o that its glare does not overexpose the film Many Of these night photographs can hardly be distinguished from shots taken in full daylight N ight photography for many purposes is made possible by this flash bomb A erial mosaic maps can be taken at night the only limit to the S ize of the map being the number Of flash bombs the plane can carry A nd night color photographs have already been taken with excellent results The war s new battery of cameras includes many entries F ighter planes have sixteen millimeter motion picture cameras concealed b ehind small apertures in their wings which go into action automati ca l ly when the guns are fired and furnish a record of damage done to enemy planes Many of the air battle sequences seen nowadays in Hollywood war dramas are the real thing borrowed from the film records of encounters with G erman and Japanese fighters These gu n cameras are of great help in teaching marksmanship “ ” In the early stages of practice pilots shoot at Opposing planes with cameras and by means of the film record instructors detect and ana lyze their errors W h en pilots finish their practice by S hooting real . , , . , , . - , . , . , . . . , . . ’ . - - , , , . , . . , , , . TAMING THE SPECTRUM 42 ” “ bullets at sleeves towed by oth er planes the camera often shows the reasons for misses A rmy engineers have also developed a photographic method for testing new planes O nce the test pilot jotted down performance notes on a pad strapped to his knee but the increase in the number of instruments mad e this practice difficult and hazard ous N ow there is a camera which takes a picture of all dial readings from a duplicate instrument panel Meanwhile on the ground another camera with a stop watch in its field of vision follows the plane as it takes off and lands providing an accurate time and distance record of its ground performanc e , . . , . . , - , - - , . T hroug h a a s l h t l l s i g g y A noth er achievement of wartime optica l research is the seemingly “ ” paradoxical transparent glass We have always thought of window glass S pectacles and cam era lenses as transparent because we have had nothing better to compare them with A ctually considerable light is lost by reflection and glass covered objects like framed pictures clock faces and instrument dials have always been obscured by glare when se en from certain angles This reflection has cut down the light transmission of camera lenses and motion picture projectors F or nearly half a century experiment ers have been trying to climi nate this glare in order to produce glass which is practically invisible There have been t wo methods of approach : first to etch the surface of the glass slightly with an acid and secondly to coat the glass with an invisible glare reducing film Many firms and individuals have played a part in this work The motion picture G one with the W ind was shown on a much larger screen than usual without loss of brightness because glare free projection l enses were used N ow aerial camera lenses admit more light because they hav e been “ ” glare proofed This means sharper vision at gr eater heights and . , . , - , , , - , . - . , . , , - , . , . , - - , . . , SPIES ITH GLASS EYES W particular value in night photography when the fi l m needs all the light it can get Methods now exist for glare proofing glass areas of any S ize and when swords are beaten into plowshares the pub l ic “ ” will discover how invisible glass can really be S trategists of all nations have pasted in their hats the words of “ G ermany s G enera l Werner von F ritsch : The military organi za t i on ” with the best aerial reconnaissance will win the war The G eneral might have added that the country with the most al ert group of photo graphic research men would have a distinct advantage The best talent of A merican production firms and universities has been pooled to meet that chall enge an d the A rmy and N avy c o ordinating their efforts have quickly utilized their best ideas and devices O ther improvements are on the way T he flying camera will see still farther faster and cl earer and postwar photography both aloft an d on the surface will present many surprises is of , . - . , , . ’ . . - , , . , . , , , , . C H T A P T H R E R E E T H E MA GI C CRY S T A L RN IN G in the S pring of 1 934 a d ark ha i red young man of O twenty five who looked as though he might be int er ested in tennis and dancing approached the desk of a Boston hotel His o nl y visible lug gage was a bowl of goldfish and he asked for a room on the sunny side of the hous e A fter the bellboy had l eft he plac ed the bowl on the window sill wh ere it would catch the s un stood back inspected it th en moved it s o that the reflected glare became more intens e Then he paced nervously and waited for a knock on the door A S soon as his visitor an Official Of the A merican O ptical Company arrived he led him to the window and asked him to look into the bowl “ ” ! Do you s ee any fish he said The man squinted and S hook his h ead T he r efl ection from the wat er was too dazzling ” “ L ook again said the young man holdi ng b efore the bowl what app ear ed to b e a S heet of smoky cellophane The glare was gone as if by magic and every d etail of the idling fish could b e clearly seen The visitor was convinc ed He wa s familiar with every kind Of s un glass on the market but he had n ever s een anyt hing like this When he left a contract was as good as signed S O E dwin H L and picked up his goldfish bowl and r eturned to his di ngy laboratory in a S outh E nd basement which was obviously no place to invite an important business man O ne of the most important optical developm ents of the t wentieth century then got under way T he E astman Kodak Company had a l N E MO - , - , . , , . , , , , . . , , , . . . . , , . . , . . , . , . , . . . T AMING TH E SP E CTRUM 46 quinine and Obtained the crysta l s which attracted Herapath s atten tion Herapath obs erved that some layers of the crystals appeared to be Opaque transmitting no light at all while others were perfectly transparent Further Observation indicated to him that all the crystals were transparent but that th ey b ecame opaque when one c rystal lay crosswise over another The value of this behavior will become cl ear a little later Herapath had discovered how to make an inexpensive artificia l polariz er but he couldn t make a crystal large enough to be Of any use He l abored long in an attempt to make an iodo quinine crysta l — one eighth of an inch in diamet er big enough to use as a filter f or his microscope He fail ed completely and for some seventy years s o “ ” did everyone else N ot only would the crystals refuse to grow but they were so fragile that they would fly apart if barely touched with a piece of blotting paper A S soo n as young L and read about Herapath and his crysta l s the problem became a kind of Chinese puzzle which dogged him con ti nual ly demanding a solution La nd finally found the answer The solution was S O simple that he was amazed that no one had stumbled upon it before He thought of “ the years he had spent in the qu est and asked himself W h y does it ” ! take s o long to learn s o little Here was his answer : instead of trying to make the crystals larger as Hera path tried to do make them smaller make them by the thou sand align them all in the same direction so that they will become a kind of huge composite crystal and imprison them in a transparent binder that will hold them that way But how was he to take vast numb ers of rod like iodo quinine crys — ta l s s o sma ll that they could not even be seen in a high powered ! microscope and point them all in the same direction He tried all manner of methods without success Then he got a new idea He took a thin sheet of rubber held it in a horizontal position and pl ace d a ’ , . , , . . . ’ , - . - . , , . , . , . , . . , , , , , , , , , . - — - - . , . MAGIC CRYSTAL T HE 47 pencil on it at an angle A s he stretche d the rubber the penci l slowly turned and pointed in the direction of the stretch It seemed reasonable that if the tiny crystals swimming in a solution were applied to a thin S heet of transparent plastic and the plastic S heet were stretched the crystals would have to behave like the pencil and align themselves parallel to one anoth er in the direction of the stretch A fter this the ” “ plastic could be frozen S O that it could not snap back and cemented between protective l ayers of cellophane like mat erial The plan work ed and this was the sheet which cut the sun s glaro and s ub s e quent ly enabled his visitor to s ee the goldfish L and went to Harvard and s at l ong after cl asses discussing his polarizer with his physics l aboratory instructor G eorge W h eelwright The problem was a s contagious as a popular tune and soon he had Wheelwright brooding about it College became unimportant to them both They both had some money S O teacher and student deserted the ivied halls rented a basement and got to work The polarizer was one of a number of proj ects they had in mind but i t soon stole all their attention S ince that time L and and his associates have made many i mprovements in light regimentation but his Polaroid Corporation is base d squarely upon the invention just described It is one thing to invent a revolutionary new product ; to convince business men that th ey should buy it i s quite another matter L and found that his excitement over the discovery was not easily communi cable A fter all this was a new idea to everyone but a s mhll group of physicists and the product itself looked like a sheet of smoky cello phane It could be un d erstood onl y i n terms of what it wo ul d do . , . , , , , , , . , , , - . ’ ‘ , . , . , , . . , , . , , . , - , . . . , , . La nd ’ s . e i k c t p f ence dra matic presentation was neede d and L an d who has a flair for S howmanship as well as boundless enthusiasm f or his prod uot was equal to the task He used a rope trick based on an Old dia S imple , , , . , , TAMING THE SP ECTRUM 48 gram used by teachers to Show what his invention did to light His stage prop erties were three sections of picket fence a l ong thin rope and a post N obody knows he explained in his preamble exactly how a wave of light b ehaves when it travels unimpeded through the air but there is a working theory that it vibrates in every direction at right angles to its line of march something like a F ourth of July sparkler S ince this helps to explain the behavior of polarizers as well as other optica l contrivances we may as well accept it until some scientist comes along with experimental proof to the contra ry . , , , . , , , . , , . p e t i k h ow b h vio of l igh t p ing th ugh p l iz V ti l p i k t top id wi vi b ti n ; h iz ont l b t p t i l i b ti n C d b i t p ll l ight ( C u t y P l id C p ) “ Ro o ar or ” r c ers . s er a t ers s o s a rs a e a ca c s o ver e s v o r es . s s ca ro as s r ra e o s o aro . o s ra se ar ros s e or . The new film takes thes e helter sk elter light waves and polari z es — them that is if the S heet is h eld S O that the fixed invisible crystals are vertical it knocks out the S idewi se vibrations and passes only the waves that vibrate up and down A nd if you tu rn the she et s o that the “ ” slots are horizontal it cuts out the vertical waves and passes the sidewise ones Then L and went into his act He held one end of the rope and the other was tied to the post It pass ed through the thr ee fence sections The first t wo sections wer e upright orthodo x picket fences and the third rested on its S ide so that the pick ets were horizontal L and Shook the rope at random S O that assort ed waves of all kinds traveled down the lin e t o the first fence section This r epr esented natural unpolari z ed - , , , , . , . . . . , . . , THE MAGIC CRYSTAL 49 l ight When the waves passed through the first fence its upright para l l el pickets barred out the sidewise vibrations and passed along o nl y the v ertica l ones That is what L and s polarizer (when it is held in a vertical position ) do es to light The action of the first picket also illus trates the fact that many of the original vibrations of the rope are l ost in the combing out process This loss of energy in the rope trick illus trates the loss of intensity when light passes through the polarizing sheet S ince the sidewise vibrations are barred the she et cuts out about half the light N ow we come to the second picket fence also upright The vertica l waves in the rope pass through in the same S hape N oth ing happens and there is no loss of energy This S hows that there is no further loss of intensity if the light passes through two polarized Sheets “ ” whose microscopic S lots are parall el to each other But when the S imulated light waves hit the third fence its horizontal pickets stop the vibrations in their tracks and from there to the post the rope remai ns level and undisturbed In other words no light gets through at all L and says that l ike a ll simple analogies used to illustrate scientific “ theories this one is onl y a stab at an explanation but that it gives a ” sense of co mfort an d un d ersta n di ng It a ls o works out well i n practi ce . , , ’ . . - . . , . . , . . . , , . , . , , . . W ind ows that c ontrol l ig ht In the swank obs ervation l ounge car of the U nion P acific stream l iner the City of L os A ng eles one can s ee how the picket fence analogy “ ” applies This car has twenty nine circular variable densi ty win dows which need no shades E ach has two panes of glass The outer one is fix ed in the position which eliminates reflected glare light ; the inner one can be rotate d by turning a control knob E ach pane contains “ one of the P olaro i d picket fences sandwiched between l ayers of g l ass S it before the window an d you wil l observe that wh en the rotat ing pane is set at a certa i n po int a maximum of l ight i s admitted Thi s - , , - . . . . ’9 , . , . T AMIN G THE SPE CTRUM 50 means that the two polarizing sheets are arrang ed in parallel like the first two fenc es in the rop e trick The glass looks slightly dark because it absorbs some of the light passing through it Even when fully “ ” Open this window cuts out the reflected glare of the landscape Turn “ ” the knob slightly and rotate the inner pan e and as the pickets cross each other at a slight angl e the overall brightn ess of the sky is reduced no l onger glare struck bec ome much a nd details of the scenery , . , . . , , , , - , , PO L A RI Z I N G A XE S RA RA L L E L L IG HT E XT IN G U IS HED UN L A R I Z ED L I G HT PO P O L A RI Z I N G C RO S S W i th d f one o l p n p n ou b e- the a o es p l iz ing wind w lum id C p ) (C u t y P l ed o ar o o r es . o a ro s , vo or f e o E A X S ED l ight is gul t re d by a e ig rota t n . clearer Ke ep on turning the knob until the pickets are at right angles to each other and just as the horizontal fence in the demonstration kills all the movem ent of the rope the two panes now bar all light — waves in other words the window turns black “ ” Thus Herapath s blackout experim ent with the two small crystals of iodo quinine is duplicated comm ercially with polarizing sheets which cover a large ar ea S imilar light regulating windows are a f ea ture of the bluep rint s for a giant airliner to be built by the Consoli . , , . , ’ - . - THE MAGIC CRY STAL 51 dated Vul tee A ircraft Corporation after the war This device off ers a quick solution wherever easy manua l contro l over the intensity of light is desired For instance it has been used experimentally over the lenses Of motion picture cameras to provide smooth fadeouts This is one of the simpler of the many uses of the film which r egi ments light It is also us ed to O ff set the uncomfortable eff ects of light which is naturally polariz ed For N ature often produces polarized light although we do not recognize it as such When reflected light from a highway is s o intense that drivers cann ot see the road markers the glare is caused by light from the sun or the s ky striking the pave ment at an angle s o that much of it is horizontally polarized as though “ ” the impact has flattened out the symmetrical rods of light radiation into narrow ribbons which boun ce O ff horizontally and dazzle the eyes S o nature has provided one s et of optical S lots and if the driver wears glasses with vertically polarizing lenses these rays (like the rope waves or the light outside the blacked out lounge car window ) “ ” cannot get through But since there is only one picket fence between the driver an d the road his vision i s not obscured The polarizing “ ” “ ” lenses bar out the glare light and transmit the useful diffuse light and he sees details of the highway clearly and in comfort The difference between these lenses and those of ordinary s un — gla sses i s that the latter darken the entire view both the rays that glare and those that illuminat e while polarizing l enses kill most of the r eflections and very l i ttl e of the diffuse light by which the driver sees the road Glasses with vertically polarizing l enses b ehave in the same way when used by fish ermen yachtsmen and the N avy to cut the glare on the surface of water Just as the goldfish could be seen beneath the surface i n L and s origina l d emonstration fishermen can s ee their quarry rising to the bait an d shoals just beneath the surface become visible when the blinding glare is gone The newest development in polarizing glasses particu l arly useful for peering into the s un to spot . . , - . . . . , , , , , . , , - - , . . , , . - . , . ’ , , . , T AM ING TH E SP E CTRUM 52 a descending divebomber are the doubl e l ens ed adjustable ones which Op erate like the loung e car windows By turning a knob at the bridge of the nose the wearer Obtains any desired degr ee of light intensity Vertically polarizing filters for camera lenses mak e it possible to obtain Clear pictures of water surfaces while shooting in the direction of the s un and there are other filters for binoculars telescopes gun range finders and periscopes Dermatologists and beauty spe - , - . . , , , - , . P O L A RO I D S P EC T A C L E S ‘ UN T O A B S O RB G LA R L I G HT E LA R IZ E D S U N L I G HT PO - UN P O L A RI Z ED D IF F U S E L I G HT LA RIZ E D C L A R E L IG HT PO - R E F L EC T I N G S U R FA C E P l izi ng p t l d f fl t d gl r High w y nl i ght i t p l iz h iz nt l d wh i h d zz l th y b th i gl t y P l id V t i lly p l iz d l n (C C p) MA T o ar o ar er or l i s ts s ec a c es n o es s u ca re o ar e e uc e re ec e or s es o a ar “ ro s a e. s ” a re. c a our es a s ur ace e e e es . o aro . also use light polarizing viewing d evices to strip the glare from skin surfaces and reveal subsurface defects and it is proposed that surgeons use them in operations to protect their eyes against light refl ecti ons from wet tissue With polarizing instruments oculists can look directly into patients eyes with no confusing glare and polariz ing screens have greatly increased the efli ciency of fish inspection The inspector sees only the fish which has ceas ed to be a middleman for cia - , . , ’ , . , TAMING THE SP ECTRUM 54 Movies “ in the d roun ” an introduction to one of the most dramatic wartime uses of “ ” — — L and s polarizers S O called three dimensional vision we will go back a f ew years to a scene in an oculist s o ffice The patient was a woman who had b een involved in an accident and was suing for to compensate her for the loss of sight O f one eye The glasses which the doctor gave her for the test had a l eft lens which polarized vertically while the right lens polarized horizontally He projected the usual l etter chart on the scr een and filtered the rays first horizon tally then vertically When the vertical filter was used the letters could — b e seen only through the vertical lens they w ere invisible to the other eye S ince the light would not pass through two crossed polarizers It took only a few changes of the filters to discover that the alleged blind eye was normal and the claim was a fake This leads us to the fact that by mea ns of p ola riz ing lens es the two A S ’ - - ’ . , . . , - , , . , , . , . , be ma d e to s ee d ifferent ima g es p rep a red es p ec ia lly for them, a nd ea ch l ens wi l l ba r o ut the i ma g e intend ed for the other This is eyes ca n . S imply an elaboration of the pick et fenc e analo gy A d evice of this sort is all that is n eed ed to create the illusion of depth in motion pictur es or stills A S explained in a pr evious Chapt er we s ee obj ects in the round b ecause we have two eyes which observe them at di fferent angles and automatically compar e notes The first P olaroid motion picture to attract wide attention was Shown at the Chrysler exhibit at the N ew York World s F air and the illusion was s o compelling that more than one spectator tried to walk around the automobile on the S creen to examine it more closely The picture — was taken on two separate fihn s one for each eye by means of a double camera with l enses about thr ee inches apart The films were rojected synchronously hrough dual lenses one of which polarizes t p vertica l ly for the left eye the other horizontally for the right eye W ithout special glasses the picture on the screen was an ill egible - . . , . ’ , — . . , , , . THE MAGIC CRYSTAL 55 jumble but with the cardboard framed viewi ng glasses each eye saw the picture that was meant for it and the optical nerve center received the impr ession Obtained when the eyes are focused on a so l id object This development made three dimensional pictures in the movie theatres entirely possibl e from an engineering point of View but since dual proj ectors would be needed it would cost exhibitors hundreds - , , , . - , , N O N SCR DEPO EE N P O L A RO I D S P E C TA C L E S L A RI Z I N G - ED PO L A RIZ L IG HT TW IN By p ting igh t nd l ft y im g nd ln p t l gi ill i di n und id C p ) t y P l (C s e ara e s es a ” ro . r s a e e e ve a u ec a c es our es - o aro or e a ce es , as P R O J E C TO i n na f us on o tu l i i n ing p i t ra s ee v s o , R p l iz ing o ar c ures “ the in . of mi llions of dollars to adapt their equipment E dwin L and working with Joseph Mahler s et to work to simplify the process and emerged “ ” with what is known as the vectograph a complet ely new d evice by which both right and left eye imag es are contained in a composite film which may be shown through a single standard projector Three dimensional vectographs went to war b efore their peac et ime possibilities could be explored fully and they are now widely used both in the field and in training courses A 3 D vectograph film is made by taking a pair of st ereoscopic n egatives (two shots Of the same object taken from different angles ) and printin g them on the same kind of . , , , , - . - , . - TAMING THE SP ECTRUM 56 film used for making color prints so that the pictures appear in relief on the gelatine surfaces with the gelatine thin where the pictur e is to be light and thick in the dark areas These relief films are hi nged at the top and soaked in a polarizing solution the final vectograph film is slipped between them and the sandwich is put through a clothes wringer and squeezed until a picture image is transferred to each sid e of the final film with each picture a partial polarizer to correspond with one lens of the viewing glasses While the process i s complicated in theory it is S i mple in practice It takes about half an hour to make the first print and succeeding copies take only a minute ea ch A s many a s two thousand vectographs can be made from the same s et of relief films “ Thus the classical idea of three dimensional photography is ” achieved writes R ichard Kriebel i n T he Comp lete P hotog rapher “ two pictures in the same place at the same time one for each eye for ” the brain to fuse into a single thr ee dimensional impression These vectograph films can be b a cked with aluminum paint and used as durable prints or as proj ection slides they can be thrown on a screen and observed by a large group For either use glasses with appropriate polariz i ng lenses are needed In examining one of the backed vectograph pictures one gets the impression of looking into a deep glass topped case at a wonderfully accurate scale model of houses trees and hills It is easy to believe that a Naval commander off Munda using one of thes e films was able to gauge the height of a b ill s o closely that he c ould aim his g uns to knock out a J a panese empl a cement , , . , , , , , . . , , . . - , , , , - . , . , . , - , . , , , . A n a id to t ea ching The ed u cational value of vectogr a phs p rojecte d upon a screen and seen by an entire class equipped with the viewing glasses is obvious P rof John T Rule of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology a . . . , THE MAG IC CRYSTAL 57 pioneer in this teaching techn i que has developed a method for using three dimensional pictures of models of the heavens and the earth to train navigation students A projected image of the earth is so real i sti c that if a n i nstructor walks into the beam of light he appe a rs act ually to be wa lking into the center of the earth When students look at the simulated night s ky the relative position s of the stars and earth are immediately apparent Before thi s technique was i ntroduced i nstructors tried to teach students to read depth into chalk drawings on a blackboard and s ome students who were otherwise s ma rt could never get the knack of it “ The celes tial vectographs says P rof Rule teach students easily ” t o s ee and thi nk three dimensionally He has used the method with success in teaching solid geometry and it lends itself readily to oth er subjects The molecule for instance is customarily represented i n textbooks by means of a two dimensional drawing and many casual students leave school with the hazy idea that this all important build i ng block i s fl at like a ribbon Vectographs of molecular models projected on a screen would quickly dispel this illusion by showing the atomic a rrangement i n d epth By now it should be clear that Mr L and s invention has a vast reper toire of neat tricks Here is another : T wo entirely different pictures ca n be printed on a vectograph film and one c a n be faded into the o ther simply by rotating a polarizer i n front of it or by wh i rling a field “ ” of p olarized light behind it Before and after treatment i s indicated Slum s ections before and after redemption could thus be shown or wounded men before and after plastic surgery And advertisers will doubtless seize upon this new wa y of demonstr a ting the asto unding v i rtues of a pill or ha i rwas h The future of three dimensional motion pictures i n the big enter t a inment houses belongs in the field of postwar speculation The war halted plans for production of vectograph movie film s o we may expec t it when peace comes O ne may presume that if home television , - . , . , . , , . . , - , , , . , . , , - , - . , , , . ’ . . , . . , , , . . - . , . TAMING 53 T HE SP ECTRUM threatens t o empty the thea tr es Hollywood will seek new lures and one of them may be the i llusion of the actual physical presence of current favorites However vectographs probably will first be used in — travel industrial and educational pictures all subj ects in which depth of view will serve a functional purpose Another fair prophecy i s the home vectogr a ph a lbum with the usual “ ” family and vacation snapshots in the round There is a simple device containing mirrors which can be attached to the lens of any small “ ” camera to split the be a m so that the two pictu res necessary f or mak ing a vectograph can be taken on a single film , . , , , . , . . Color without p ig ments If you rip the cellophane from a pack of cigarettes pl a ce i t between two polarizers and hold them before a light the cellophane blossoms vividly i n a ll the colors of the rainbow Turn one of the pol a rizers in a quarter c i rcle and the colors change to their complement a ry hues Give it another quarter turn and they change b a ck again These are spectacular colors like the ones you s ee in soap bubbles or the ones made by a n oil slick on water For among the other properties of L and s magic sheet i s the ability to break white light which is a “ combination of a ll colors into the subtle hues of the interference ” — spectrum not to be confused with the raw colors of the simple spectrum This ability has not gone unused Before P earl Harbor halted the manufacture of frivolities a number of girls with scientifi c training s at in a New York drafting room cutting and sticking together pieces of colorless Scotch tape The design was not much to look at by i tself but when placed between circular polarized sheets and i lluminated it was transformed into a gaudy peacock P ropelled by a small electric motor one disk slowly revolved and the bird s plumage changed color four times with e a ch revolut i on Mounted a s decora tive panels i n , , . - . , - . , , , . ’ , , . . , . , , . ’ , , . , , THE MAGIC CRYSTAL 59 j uke boxes these devices spurred the j itterbugs and gave many an idea to impres ar ios of theatres and night clubs E arl Carroll for instance h a d an idea of dressing showgirls in cellophane and then shining polarized light on them but never got around to it O f more i nterest to the scientist a nd the artist are the magnificent and phantasmagoric arrangements that may be seen by placing various chemical crystals between the illuminated polarized sheets and mak i ng microphotographs of them on color film Colorless by themselves the crystals are transformed into dazzling vi stas suggestive of some un earthly jungle or the dreamland of a mad artist Designers search ing for new motifs would do well to explore this polarized wonder land This color making property has also been turned to many workaday jobs If there are strains in transparent materials like glass and cer tain plast i cs the strained areas appear colored when seen by polarized light So manufacturers u s e polariscopes designed for the purpose to test bottles and other glass objects for the strains which show defective annealing The builders of Boulder D am had miniature models of the gates made from transparent bakelite and were able to det erm i ne the exact distribution of stress by observing the behavior of the wavy colored lines which appeared beneath the polariscope as the load was built up When a tool manufacturing firm had tro ub le with failure of saw teeth th ey made a bakelite model of the s aw subj ected the teeth to the ty pe of pressure which saw teeth must withstand , and discovered by the telltale colored lines where the load was greatest The same method i s used in designing naval vessels By determining what parts need to be strongest weight and materials are saved i n other pa rts of the s h i p With the adoption during the late 30 s of all these uses of L and s sheets of imbedded quinine crystals the Cambridge manufacturer soon found himself one of the largest non medical buyers of the Java fever drug As early a s 1 93 1 when the Japanese invaded Manchuri a - , , , . , . , . , . , . - . , . . , , - . - , , - . . , . ’ ’ , - . , TAMING THE SP ECTRUM 60 a nd beg a n to cast covetous eyes southwa rd L and warned his associates that our supply of quinine was by no means a ssured and started experimenting with new light polarizers i n which the crystals from cinchona bark would not be needed He found that a micro crystal made from another chemical would do the job but this did not satisfy him entirely He finally produced a completely new type of light polarizer in which the molecul es of polyvinyl alcohol ( from which a transparent plastic is made ) i n combination with iodine form long “ ” parallel chains or polarizing pickets which take the place of the needle shaped crystals of iodo quinine In the process of manufacture the plastic sheet is heated and stretched until it is three to eight times i ts original length Th i s aligns the molecules in the direction of the stretch The basic materi al s of this non crystalline molecular type of polarizer are coke l i me air water and i odine a ll p lentiful com , , - . , . , , , , , - - . , . - . , moditi es , , , . B y p roduct : s ynthetic quinine - a direct result of this fresh i nvent i on La nd w a s completely i nde pendent of the cinchon a groves when the Japanese took over Java As a n indirect re s ul t of his c ampaign to fr ee his product from the domi nat i on of quinine there occurred i n the spring of 1 94 4 a chemica l miracle which may eventu a lly r a nk with the discovery of sulfa drugs a nd pen i cillin in its value t o the human race In considering substitutes for natural quinine i t was inevitable that L and should weigh the possibility of synthesizing the drug For some ninety years scientists have been trying without success to reach this goal which had become a kind of Holy Grail for aspiring chemists In 1 85 6 the eighteen year old William P erkin spent his Ea ster vaca t i on i n h i s attic laboratory in L ondon trying to duplicate in a test tube the qu inine that comes from tree bark Before the vacation was over he ha d discovered the first coal tar dye and founded the organic A s , . , . , . , . , - - , . - , TAMING 62 T HE \ SP E CT RU M a related drug now very scarce which is i ndispensable in the treat ment of certain heart ailments And in the course of their work they discovered more than a dozen new alkaloid drugs of untested medical value one of which may turn out to be superior to quinine in the treatment of malaria It will be years before this discovery can be finally evaluated It is not yet kno wn whether man made quinine can be produced at a cost which will make it available to malaria sufferers Meanwhile this scientific triumph serves as a good example of the possible by products of enlightened industrial research , , . , , . . - . , - . Gla rel es s nig ht driving To return to L and s new molecular polar izer it has brought closer to realization a boon which automotive engineers and highway safety — experts have been brooding a bout for a quarter of a century relief from headlight glare in night driving The incre a se in highway speeds in spite of improved brakes has greatly leng thened the distanc e needed f or stopping after the brakes are applied This in turn has necess i tated stronger he a dlights to increase the driver s range of vision This would be fine if all cars traveled i n the same direction but one of the greatest modern traffi c hazards is that paralyzing moment when two blinded drivers steer by dead reckoning and consign their souls to God T he u se of a light polarizing material is the only known w a y to curb this ant i so c ia l men a ce “ ” What far sighted physicists have long appreciated writes L and “ wa s that if the headlight lenses and W indshields could be made of ‘ Optical picket fences with the pickets parallel to each other and at for example forty five degrees to the road the headlight problem would be solved F or it i s apparent that each driver would see his own light as it illuminated the road because the rays reflected by objects illuminated by his headlights would pass through his windshield ; ’ , . , , . , , ’ . , - . - . - , , ’ , - , , . , , THE MAGIC CRYSTAL 63 whereas his windshield wpuld have its optical slots crossed with those ” of an approaching headl ight When L and as a boy first heard of Herapath s fragile little crystals he began to specul ate a bout the elimination of headlight glare and soon found that oth ers were thinking along the same lines O nce a research scientist of an automobile firm thought of it and ask ed P rof R obe rt W Wood the leading American authority on physical “ optics the non committal question : Can you prepare an extensive “ ” ! area of Herap a thite Wood replied tersely : I am extremely sorry to ” i nform you that I do not know how to make a polarizing windshield . ’ , , , , . , . . , - , . He adlig ht g lare c a n be el i mi na te d by p la c i ng p ola rizi ng s hee ts lamp s a nd wi nd s hi e l ds ( Co urt es y P o la ro i d Corp ) . o ver . Soon a fter World War 1 Lewis Warrington Chub b now head of the Westinghouse R esearch Laboratories and Lt Frank Short of the U S Army applied separately for patents on polarizing methods for dim ming headlights La ter they combined and since L and had gone farther than they sold out to him F or many years L and has been perfect i ng his method in c o operation wi th automobile research men and today all the engineering tangle s are being smoothed out Tests have gone far beyond the laboratory ” “ stage Night after night cars equipped with the slotted lamps and windshield visors have met and passed a t high speeds on lonely roads When seen by the driver through the crossed polarizers opposing head , , . . , . , . , . , - , . . , . , TAMING THE SP ECTRUM 64 lights appear as dull bluish spheres Details of the bumper and hood of the oncoming car are clearly seen and it is even possible to read the license number O f equal importance the dangerous pocket of black to the right of the car has disappeared and a pedestrian stalled vehicle or highway obstruction in this blind spot is now visible While this does not in itself solve the glare problem for the pedestrian or the filling station worker he can obtain the same relief by wearing spec ta cl es with diagonal optical slots like those of the W indshields Before L and invented the new molecular polarizer he suc ceeded a fter overcoming a number of difficulties in producing quinine crystal sheets which would kill headlight glare But there were drawbacks “ ” The reader will recall that the picket fence combs out half the light vibrations The qu i n i ne crystal sheets combed out and absorbed even more That meant that the headlight bulbs wo ul d have to be more than twice as powerful to provide the same degree of illumination which would necessitate a larger electric power pl a nt Some automobile people estimated that a nti glare equipment would add perhaps five dollars to the cos t of manufacture and wi th the customary write up the refinement would cost the buyer several times that amount Auto mobile manufacturing costs are figured to a fraction of a cent and sales prices are closely geared to the income of the average driver s o “ many pre war automobile men shook their heads and said that price ” wise the anti glare equipment was not feasible Another deficiency of theearly polarizing sheet was its lack of resistance to long exposure to sunlight In most uses this did not matter but in a headlight lens or W indshield visor it was something to consider The new molecular sheet does much to meet these objections It does not deteriorate under sunlight it is less smoky in appearance and it transmits one third more light than i ts predecessors Many a gaudy prospectus has been printed of the highway ple a sure “ ” dome of tomorrow Some of the suggested features may be useful ; others are only advertisers loose promises of p i e in the sky for those . , , . , , , . , . , , - , . . - . . , . - - , , . , , - - . . , . . , , - . . ’ THE MAGIC CRYSTAL 65 who suffer the privations of war But here is a device which i f univer sally adopted and added to automobile equipment at a reasonable price would not only contribute to genuine comfort and save eyesight but would w ipe out one important cause of America s stupidest crime —highway s laughter This when it comes will outweigh in the sca le of s ocial value all other uses of the sheet that r egiments light . , , , ’ . , , . C H A P T E R F O U R T HE Y CA LL IT FLUO RE SCE N CE MAN Y YE A R S A G O there lived i n Bologna Italy a cobbler named Vin cenzo Ca s c a ri olo who pursued the interesting hobby of alchemy O ne day on an expedition to Mt P esara he found a heavy rock which sparkled beneath the s un with an unearthly brilliance Greatly excited he lugged it home and heated it in his furnace hO ping that it would enable him to produce gold It did not Three hundred and forty two years later in the spring of 1 94 4 the writer tal ked with a man in Bloomfield N J a scientist not an — alchemist who had brought another rock back from the mountains Beneath ordinary light it was a drab gray stone which no one would look at twice But in the darkness under ultra violet light i t burst into a mass of exuberant red flecked with S pots of vivid green In the last few years dozens of men like him have been bringing home rocks natural and synthetic grinding them up causing them to emit weird hues and doing all manner of things with them that the old cobbler never dreamed of And where Ca s ca ri ol o failed they have succeeded producing wealth that would have made the old man dizzy ” “ They call this peculiar behavior fluorescence a word that will do a s well as any other The name was first used because fluor spar is one of the long list of substances which emit light of various specific colors when stimulated by certain wav elengths from a part of the spectrum which m a n does n ot ordinarily use The cobbler s curious find sparkled as it did because the ultra violet part of the sun s rays evoked its fl uo res c enc e ; had he possessed the equipment of our modern laboratories he would have been even more astonished by its brilliance , , , . . , . , , . . - , , - , . , . - . , , . , , , , , , . , , . , . - ’ . ’ - . THEY CALL IT FLUORESCENC E 67 Armed with invisible ultra v i olet light and varieties of materials which fl uores c e physicists and illumination eng i neers are playing a fascinating game these days From an array of bottles they pour little — mounds of powder on a bench powders which are all white under “ ” daylight or ordinary lamplight When the black light is turned on in the dark laboratory each mound glows with its own characteristic fluorescence color and the experimenter is confronted with a dazzling rainbow spectacle of pastel blues greens and yellows For the familiar color of an b bj ect whi ch happens to possess fluorescence has no relation to its hue when stimulated by ultra violet We call a fresh egg W hite or brown because i t looks that way un der ordinary light Under ultr a violet of the right wave length it has a reddish glow And the difference does not stop there The light which comes from an object under day light is only a reflection but a fluorescent object activated by ultra violet becomes an extraordinarily efficient converter or middleman of light on its own account Because of this property the black m a gic of 1 60 2 is a mode rn tool which within a sing l e decade has b e co me indispensable in industry commerce and scientific analysis “ ” Fluorescence which yesterday was an obscure and poorly con ceived word used only by physicists is now on everyone s tongue and there is hardly a street in A merica where its effect is not visible - , . . , , . , - . . . . , , . , , , . , ’ , , . W orl d s ’ F a ir toy When the big fa i rs of New York and San Francisco opened their gates i n 1 939 with their bright prophecies of a brave new world one of the first things that i mpressed the visitors was a glass wand which gave out a new kind of light At the Flushing spectacle more than ten miles of these tubes produced a soft di ffused yet powerful illumina tion unlike anything tha t h a d been seen before Glowing in many colors they flooded the streets and exhibits with hues un rivaled i n , . , , . , T AM IN G TH E SP E C TRUM 68 purity and brilliance and played a major part i n creating the atmos h of a futuristic wonderland er e p What people s aw was the public unveiling of fluorescent light the first radical departure in illumination since E dison s invention of the filament electric bulb Dazzled by the glittering parade of novel ties spectators dismissed the luminous tube as only another new toy for the decoration of fairs and ca rnivals In this opinion they were no t alone Even many lighting experts who recognized the revolution a ry nature of the new light believed that i t would be used only for adver ti s i ng and display like the neon sign All doubters were caught off balance for since that time fluorescent lighting has swept the country in a boom of amazing proportions In war factories offices shops de rtment stores drug stores restaurants and fighting planes the lamps a p are being installed as fast a s they can be made And this is only one phase of the fluorescent boom The active prin c i pl e of the lamp has been adapted to a score of important uses It has given pathologists a valuable new weapon in the study of disease ; i t saves the crops of potato farmers detects mo ul d and adulteration in “ foodstuffs and has a multitude of c omb a t us es where seeing in the ” dark may save lives The new lamp uses a completely new method for converting elec tri c ity into light It has no filament like the ordinary light bulb Mer cury vapor in the tube gives off ultra violet light when the current passes through it and the ultra violet striking a chalklike chemical coating with which the tube is lined is converted into light suitable for illumination It is pleas a nter cooler easier on the eyes and vastl y more e fficient than any other light ever invented for gener a l use In offices stores and restaurants the quali ty of the new light i s quickly noticeable for every co rner of the room appears to be flooded with soft evenly distributed light O verhead in clusters or perhaps fixed vertically on the walls are the gleaming tubular fluorescent bars sometimes bare sometimes partially shielded with grids made of glass , . , ’ . , . . . , , . , , , , , , . . . , , . . . , - - , , , . , , , . , , , . , , , , , T 7o AMI NG TH E SP E C TRUM stant improvement the incandescent bulb has stepped up the efficiency of illumination twelve to sixteen fold since the days of the g a s mantle that it is fifty times more efficient than the kerosene lamp and gives better than a hundred times more light for the energy consumed th a n the candle - - , , . LUME N S CA N D LE ( 6 B T U P E R MIN ) . . ID D W A T ! A Z I - 100 W A T T T l 7 - T he e . MA Z D A MA Z D A fluores ce nt c a nd l . FLUO RE S CE N T LA MP e l a mp g i v t i mes a s muc h , IN CA N D E S CE N T LA MP 334 s as the t i mes as b es t muc h l ig ht for the en filament b ul b ( Court sy W e . e gy u d th e ting h e ) r s se as ous e . The early carbon filament bulb developed by E dison produced about three lumens per watt (amount of illumination per unit of elec tric power ) and the lamp blackened rapidly due to the evaporation of the carbon The introduction of the tungsten filament more than doubled the light output but the filaments were brittle and fragile Then William D Coolidge found a way of making ductile tungsten which could be drawn into fine tough wires There was also trouble due to the eva p ora tion of the tungs ten and Irving L angmuir after long , , , , . . , . . , , , THEY CALL IT FLUORESCENCE m 71 a nd complicated experi ents solved the problem by filling the bulb with a suitable gas This a dvance introduced in 1 9 1 3 redoubl ed the bulb s efficiency Since then the inside of the bulb has been coated to reduce glare and produce more even i llumination but the drive to improve effi — the melting c i ency has hit an apparently unsurmountable barrier point of tungsten With each advance the filament has become hotter Tungsten melts at 6 1 2 0 F twice the temperature of molten steel and the temperature of the filament in today s bulb is as close to that point as it can safely be pushed In some bulbs like the photo fl ood lamp used in photography the filament is much hotter but the intense heat shortens i ts life To make a more efficient lamp for general purposes laboratory men had to start all over again on an entirely different tack They found the solution i n the fluorescent tube in which no such barrier exists Its superior effi ciency can easily be shown The tube now on the market y i elds about forty two lumens per watt as against about sixteen for the 1 0 0 watt bulb In the laboratory its efficiency has been stepped up to sixty and better and further progress is expected Some engineers predict that fluorescent tubes will be made which will yield eight times as much light for the power used as today s light bulb To make this tube possible able and curious men did a great deal o f work bet ween the days of the Italian alchemist and F a i rma s ter “ ” Whalen The cobbler s discovery of the Bologna stone as it was called created a sensation and it quickly became the fashion among “ ” experimenters of the day to collect s o called natural phosphors and test their behavior under light Word came from China of an artist who painted a picture of a bull which glowed furiously with a light of its own Confusion arose which has not yet been entirely dispelled b e tween phosphorescent substances which in effect store up light in the daytime and give it out at night and fluorescent materials which glo w immediately upon excitation and lose their glow when the exciting , , , . ’ . , , . , . ° . , , ’ - . , , , , . . , . . - , - . , . , ’ . , ’ . , , , - . . , , , , , , , TAMING THE SP ECTRUM 72 light i s removed It is the latter phenomenon with which we are now concerned In 1 833 Sir David Brewster condensing a beam of sunlight with a lens and playing it upon a test tube full of vegetable coloring matter found that the light made a blood red path through the green solution He thought it might be due to red particles held in suspension in the “ ” liquid and s o coined the short lived label internal dispersion . . , , - . - , . , S tokes the d is coverer Then ninety odd years ag o the em i nent physicist Sir G G Stokes picked up the loose threads and tied them together for all time by means of a simple experiment Using a piece of quartz to break up the rays of the s un into its various wave lengths he took a test tub e — filled wi th a solution of quinine s ul ph a te which was known to behave — strangely under daylight and moved it slowly down the rainb ow spectrum When he reached the ultra violet range a ghostlike gleam of blue light shot across the tube He had found that the curious light changing quali ty of the chemical was attuned to ultra violet ; that it had the ability of absorbing light of one wave length ( or color ) and pouring it out in another and longer wave length He christened this ” “ ” “ ability fluorescence a rid summed up his findings i n Stokes s law which is the scientific foundation of all uses of fluorescence ; L ike many other pioneer scientists Stokes had no idea that his dis c overy was of any practical use After he pointed the way there wa s still a great deal to do before fluorescence could be used for anything except a subj ect for scientific papers Investigators in Germany France E ngland and the United States compiled long lists of fl uores cent minerals and plant substances and experimented with light to find out what wave lengths were most effective in exciting them O ne of the first uses of fluorescence for illumination came i n 1 90 3 when P eter Cooper Hewitt grandson of P eter Cooper the famous New - . . , , . , - . , . - . ’ . , . , , . , , . , , , 73 T H E Y CA L L I T F L U O R E S C E N C E York inventor and philanthropist used i t to tone down the ghastly “ greenish light which ca me from the mercury arc in his Cooper Hewitt ” lamp He placed a reflector above the lamp coated w ith a chemical which gave off a red glow when exc i ted by the ultra v i olet in the arc The result was illumination simil a r to daylight Finally someone hit upon the i de a of caging ultr a v i olet light and a fluorescent material inside a glass tube and thus making a new kind of lamp M a ny people h a d a finger i n the pie The first fluorescent tubes were seen i n Holland in the mid thirties but they were high voltage lamps unsuitable for general use — E ngineers of three firms General E lectr i c Westinghouse and Sylvan ia E lectric P roducts Inc working in laboratori es at Cleveland — Bloomfield N J and Salem Mass were responsible for the Ameri can development of the fluorescent lamp and these firms now m ake ninety nine per cent of all the tubes produced i n the United St a te s O ne of the first fluorescent mater i als to i nterest these experimenters was willemite a speckled rock found i n abundance i n many parts of the co untry which blazes with greenish white light under ul tra vi olet — In hi s laboratory at Nela P ark Cleveland the General E lectric “ ” Company s University of L ight George Inman who had much to do with making the new lamp ground his willemite to powder and picked out the useless black spots by hand He and his fellow workers mixed the white powder with an adhesive and sprayed a th i n coating on the i nside of a glass tube E lectr i c terminal s were p laced i n the ends of the tube and it was filled with mercury vapo r which a cted a s a conductor a nd closed the c i rcuit when the current was t urned on Th i s p rovided a rich source of ultra vi olet It was transformed by the ex cited willem ite i nto a wave length suitable for i llum i n a tion a nd soft fluorescent light p oured fo rth from the tube It was a crude a ff a ir but g a ve prom i se Meanwhile i n Salem James L Cox a young Cornell graduate turned from h i s experiment s i n electron i c s to the delica t e problem of , - . - . . - . . - - , . , . , . , , , . , , - . , - - . , — , ’ , , . , . , , . - . , . , . , . , , T AMING THE SP ECTRUM 74 making fluorescent powders with which coat the tubes These coat ings which are sprayed inside the tubes in liquid form and then dried are composed of millions of tiny particles interspersed with chinks to let the light out Co x fo und a way of arranging the particles so that they formed a firm coating and yet left plenty of chinks And Westing house engineers worked on other aspects of the new lamp These beginnings are s o obfuscated by lit i gation that it is hard to s ay where most credit is due but what is of chief interest to the con sumer the lamps were built and have been steadily improved Rocks are no longer ground up to make the powder O ther methods have been found to produce purer materials and scores of fluorescent powders have been developed which will react under ultra violet to produce whatever color of light is desired L ight of various colors can be oh ta ined simply by mi x mg the fluorescent powders P owders that fluo res c e pink buff and blue will yield a white light and by altering the “ ” recipe you can get a daylight which consumes only one third of the current used by an incandescent daylight bulb To the scientist there is one outstanding reason for the remarkable Di fferent fluorescent materials are e conomy of the fluorescent lamp fastidious about the exact wave lengths of light to which they will best respond but those which give the most light are attuned to that line in “ ” the spectrum labeled 2 5 37 Angstrom units And by a fortunate coin c i denc e the lamp can generate ultra v i olet o f 2 5 37A more efficiently than any other wave length When E instein visited the Westinghouse l aboratories he wanted to know how much of the ul tra violet light generated in the tube was 2 5 37 The a nswer was eighty five per cent That wa s the only question he asked That figure told the story Before these new lamps were invented colored light was produced by staining the bulb or using a colored screen and as much as ninety per cent of the light wa s lost in the process Fluorescent colored light is — colored to begin with the wasteful middleman has been fired This was one reason for the immediate popularity of the lamp in display to . , , . . . , . , . , - . . , , - . , . , . - . , . - , - . . . . , , . . THEY CALL IT FLUORESCEN CE 75 lighting Another reason Mas the so f t pleasing quality of the pastel shades contrasted with the sharp er gl a re of colored light produced by other methods L ike all new products the early fluorescent tubes had their imper ” “ f ecti ons O ne was s trob O S CO p i c effect which sometimes created the illusion of making moving objects stand still The light in the tube actually goes out 1 2 0 times a second owing to the rapid alternation of the current and if a revolving wheel is synchronized with this e ffect the wheel may appe a r to stand still This effect is seldom noticeable except in the presence of machinery and when the tubes are installed i n groups of two or more as they usually are in plants it is easily “ ” taken care of by having the lamp currents out of step with one a n other The early lamp was slow to light up and when in its old age it began to blink and blacken it took an unconscionable time dying N ow these hesitant habits are much less noticeable Meanwhile the average life of the tube has been increased to hours and better compared with ratings Of 7 5 0 to hours for i ncandescent bulbs The longer the tube glows undisturbed the longer its life and some tubes which have been allowed to burn day and night for testing purposes have lasted mor e than a year T he i nfa nt invent i on was hardly out of its diapers when it was snatched from the laboratory and set to work In the summer of 1 937 Bassett Jones lighting director of New York s projected World of T O “ morrow went to Nela P ark Cleveland and asked What s new in ” ! lighting He s aw the glowing tubes and nothing else would do O rders were quickly placed with all firms which were making the tub es and research men put on overalls a nd worked overtime to turn them out E very fluorescent light which spectators s aw at the Opening of the fair was a laboratory product By degrees the industry moved i nto the factory and great new plants with specially designed production machinery went into operation to meet the tremendous demand Since , . . , , . . , , , . , , , . , . , . , , . , , . l . , ’ , ’ , , , , , . , . . , . T AMING THE SP ECTRUM 76 their introductio n five years ago well over tubes have been produced in the United States fluorescent , B etter l ig ht f or . workers The new lamp came along just in time to light the new war factories where it provi des the best illumination ever discovered for close mechanical work Workers in scores of the vast aircraft and munition plants are speeding p roduction and saving their eyes under its soft powerful glow When the country launched the big armament drive i t was commo n knowledge that most factories were too dimly lighted for fast accu rate work The average illumin a tion was a bout five foot candles which is hardly one hundredth of the light you get when you sit under a tree reading on a bright day F or many years authorities had been cru sading for better light but the heavy cost of wiring for more power as well as the prospect of higher light bills had blocked their efforts Now the government ca lled for thirty five to sixty foot candles of light i n plants which i t financed The fluorescent lamp giving more than do uble the amount of light for the power made this possible To the machine operator it is like bringing a piece of the noonday sky indoors Big textile plants in New E ngland and the South are rapidly chang ing to fluorescent lighting In one typical factory the plant engineer had added all the bulbs which the wiring would take a nd the light was still s o dim tha t eye trouble was an occupational ailment among the machine Operators Fluorescent lights were i nstalled which doubled the amount Of illumination without i ncreasing the load on the W i r ing The light bill remained the same a nd the cost of the ch a nge w a s about one third what the factory would have paid f or rewiring These a re a few Of the rea sons why the new lamp is rapidly be coming sta ndard equipment in large America n plants The lamp s a uxi li a ry devices m a ke fluorescent lighti ng more expensive to i nstall , . . , . , , - . , . , , . , - - . , . , . . , , . . , - . ‘ ’ . T A M I N G T H E S P E C T R UM 73 This unaccustomed distortion has both advantages and d i sa dvan tages Navy blue is quickly distinguished from black under fluorescent light while under the filament bulb they look much the same The yellowish filament light tends to conceal scorching caused by ironing while the new light throws it into prominent relief The yellow of butter takes on a faintly greenish tinge un der fluorescent light and coffee with cream may look a little muddy The industry i s meeting this prob lem in t wo ways After careful experiments with fluorescence fabrics “ ” and foods they have produced a soft whi te fluorescent tube in which a little cadmium borate which glows pink helps to corre ct the dis torti on and they a re waiting for people to get accustomed to the color changes A fter several meals under fluorescent light few people notice the differen c e Because they a re slenderer than filament bulbs the tubes are more practical for built in lighting They are s o cool that they can be safely installed behind the tops of window draperies and a number of people are using them i n this manner especially in modern interiors Their use i n period interiors is another matter Most American rooms still under the infl uence O f the tallow candle are designed for circular “ ” spot lighting and it would take a callous wretch to install the linear tubes i n a Colon i al living room But the tubes do not have to be straight In laborato ri es they have already been bent into a circle and soon after the war circular fluorescent t ub es sui table for sh a ded table lam p s and floor lamps will be placed on the market Some production men are not too keen about this development because O f the increased difficulties of manufacture and shipping but one of them dourly remarks that if customers demand fluorescent tubes shaped like pretzels or tied in bow knots the industry can supply them All the lamps are now straight and sizes run from cylinders seven or eight feet long to tubes of s i x inches no thicker than your finger These pigmies are being used to light the instrument panels Of war planes and operate so mewhat di fferently from the large tubes The . , . , . , . . , , , , , , . , . , - . , . , . , , , . . , , . , - . , , . , . THEY CALL IT FLUORESCENCE 79 fluorescent material is not inside the tube ; i t is painted on the indic a tors and numerals of the dials which are made legible by a beam of i nvisible ultra violet coming from the masked tube The reduced gl a re inside the cockpit helps the p ilo t s v i sion in night operation s , , - . ’ . F un or a ll f Since the fluorescent coating need not be confined in a glass tube but will glow under the stimulation O f an invisible ultra violet light source many feet away and since it can be mi x ed with paints lacquers and dyes without losing this special sensitivity and can itself be made invisible under ordinary light there is hardly any limit to the number of fascinating tricks it will do E xperimenters have had more fun with it than a boy with his first meccano s et and many of the tricks have turned out to be useful A research scientist was show i ng me some fluorescent chemicals under invisible light in his laboratory when I noticed that across his “ ” white shirt front B 1 5 was stamped in large blue symbols When we left the laboratory i t was gone He explained that his laundry marked garments with a fluorescent dye since many people dislike i ndelible i nk markings The man who makes up the packages sorts the garments under i nvisible light A Chicago hospital after a lawsuit in which it was charged that babies had been shuffled took to marking them with a harmless fl uores cent dye and can now settle any dispute with ultra violet Many years ago Dr R obert W Wood noted for his brilliant con tri buti ons to the knowledge of fluorescence as well a s for his scientific p ranks brought fo rth the spectacular stage effect by which a line of chorus girls can be suddenly transformed i nto dancing skeletons or a row of bodiless shoes gloves and hats This i s done by painting the costumes with fluorescent material which cannot be seen under the ord i nary theatre l ight s When the lights a re turned out and the sta ge , - , , , , . , . - . . . , , . . , , - , . . , , . , . . T AM IN G TH E SP E CTRU M 80 flooded wi th i nvisible ultr a violet only the fluorescent markings are visible Advertising billboards have used the same techniqu e to make the same space carry a double message a t night when lit altern a tely “ ” with ordinary bulbs and black light Night clubs use it At the turn of a switch walls which are ordinarily blank blossom forth with rom a nt ic tropical vistas A numb er of theatres have fluorescent aisle carpets made to glow by concealed black light sources for the guid a nce Of those who enter in the dark O ther suggested decor a t ive uses such as fluorescent wall a nd rug patterns a ctivated by black light to provi de a theatrical setting for home movies and television may not be socially successful Natural teeth glow brightly under ultr a violet while store teeth are black and dyed hair may look green O bviously fluorescence i s a useful accessory i n the game of cops and robbers A dry cleaner s fluorescent mark glowing under bl a ck light identified a murdered woman i n Illinois although the killer had removed all visible i dentifying marks and the fluorescence of incon s p i cu ou s blood spots on the murderer s clothes helped to convict him In several c a ses the color of an a utomobile which has struck a p edes trian has been discovered by means of the fluorescence of minute p aint p a rticle s which stuck to the vi ctim s clothes The fact that di ff erent i nks a nd glues fl uores ce di fferently under the invisible light pro vides a new weapon for the detection of forgery alteration of do cuments a nd t a mper i ng with the mail If a letter is pried Open a nd glued up a ga i n the new a dhesive betra ys i tself un mista kably Fluorescence used i n gasoline ration stamps and the plastic ration tokens helps inspectors with a black light lamp to detect counterfeiting Invi s i ble fluorescent watermarks on bank notes blank checks a nd o ther forms of commercial documents are putting forgers on their mettle Before the war restr i cted sales a Cleveland firm was — advertising an inexpensive fluorescence kit a package O f powder a nd “ ” a sma ll invisible lamp — for the detection of petty thieves or sabo teurs If cash or merchandise has been disappearing or if machines - , . . . , . , - , , . , , . , . , , ’ . , , , , ’ . , ’ . , . , , . - . , . . , , THEY CALL IT FLUO RESC ENCE 81 a re be i ng damaged you dust them w i th the i nconspicuous powder N O matter how long the gui ltj person scrub s his hands beneath the light they will blaze with a telltale green Since the fluorescence colors Of many materials used i n painting s culpture a nd ceramic art change with long exposure to air and day light the ultra violet lamp Often gives insta nt proof that a reproduc t ion i s being p a ssed O ff as an orig i nal and the expert may detect repairs or a lter a tions because of the conspicuous fluorescence colors Of new glues paints and varni shes Some commercial a rtists are using fluorescent water colors i nstead Of ordinary pigment s claiming that when they are photographed under black light for four color process printing plates the color s ep ar a ti ons a re more p rec ise a nd the reproduction more faithful . , r , . , - , , . , , ‘ - , . P ota toes d honey an Fluore s c ence h a s m a ny uses i n agr i culture a nd i n det erm i n i ng the c ontents a nd the freshness Of foods Butter a nd margarine may look a like unde r d a yl ight but m a rg a r i ne gl ows with a str ong blue under invisible ultra violet Fresh eggs have a reddish fluorescence but as they a ge the color begins to chang ethrough reddish brown to blue E ggs that have been dipped in preservative are easily spotted by their changed fluorescence color T he lilac fluorescence of fresh walnuts changes to yellow as they age Fluorescence betrays the presence of chicory in coffee horse fat in lard and refined oil in supposedly virgin olive Oil P ut honey beneath ultra violet light and with a little training you can tell by the n ature of the fluorescence wh a t flower the bees fed , . , - . , . . . , , - . on , . Fungus infect i ons a nd other plant diseases are now dete ct ed at gov ernment experiment sta tions by their fluorescence R ing rot has long been a serious problem Of the potato fa rmer When he cut up his seed potatoes for pl a nti ng the occasional infected spot was hard to see . . , , TAMING THE SP ECTRUM 82 a nd sometimes his entire crop was blighted beca use b e spread the in fecti on with his knife P rof R B Harvey of the University of Minne sota Observed that the fluorescence color of ring rot is bright gr een and worked out a technique which many farmers have used with suc cess When they do their cutting beneath ultra violet it is easy to throw out the diseased spud and dip the knife in a disinfectant In war produ ction and on the fighting fronts fluorescent materials have their ingenious uses Manufacturers O f airplane engine parts immerse them in oil which i s fluorescent wipe them clean and inspect them under the black lamp for tiny cracks or flaws into which the oil has seeped A Texas prospector has devised a new method of locating Oil by placing surface samples of soil beneath black light P etroleum gases are fl u ores cent and if they have been seeping upward from Oil deposits the light will show it In the R ocky Mo un tains prosp ectors are prowling at night with ultra violet flashlights to locate deposits of scheelite from which strategic tungsten is obtained Streaks of s cheelite i n the rock outcroppings fl uores c e blue Three tenths of the energy in sunlight is in the ultra violet band Of the spectrum a nd many fluorescent materials like the Italian cobbler s magic stone react to these wave length s which are much longer than those used in commercial illumination This has led to military uses of fluorescent materials which glow vividly in daylight The equipment of a n inflatable life raft contains a packa ge of fluorescent powder Thrown into the s ea it stains the water bright green over a large are a to attract the attention of rescue planes And fluorescent fabrics are made by which ground detachments m a y signal more easily to fliers . . . . , - . , . , . , , , . . ’ , . , , - . , . - - ’ , , , , . . - . , . . F or tra pp ing ba cter ia In recent years fluorescence has become a n important implement in the fields of medical research and surgery The fluorescence micro sco p e which Col Max Ha iting er of the University of Vienna appears , . , . THEY CALL IT FLUORESCENCE 83 have invented in about 1 91 1 has now been perfected by American experimenters and is widel y used in the identificati on of bacteria and the study O f cell structure Since E hrlich s time pathologists have stained sections of tissue with dyes to make them vis ible under the microscope While Ehrlich s technique brought about an epochal a dvance scientists have always had to make allowance for changes in a ppearance caused by the chemical action of the dyes With the new microscope the specimen is flooded with ultra violet and its fl uores cence colors Often create a more vivid clear cut picture than research men have ever seen before D r Hans P opper of Cook County Hospital Chicago former asso ciate of Ha iting er and one of the pioneers in the use of the fluorescence microscope in this country has been experimenting with Vitamin A which i s important in the prevention of night blindness He fe eds the vitamin to rats and studies specimens from their livers beneath the new microscope The vitamin s green fluorescence color enables him to trace its course and reveals facts about its behavior which are of value i n treatment The fluorescence color of Vitamin A also enables the Canadian Fisheries R esearch Board to determine which part Of the fish is richest in the much needed chemical and thu s helps to speed its production It has been found that many species O f bacteria have characteristic fluorescence c olors The tuberculosis germ glows in yellowish rose ; “ “ ” ” the A type typ hoid germ in violet tinged yellow and the B type in greenish yellow Cancerous tissue fl u ores c es with a purplish pearly hue in contrast with healthy tissue which appears almost black “ ” The new searchl ight is being used at the Cancer Institute at Buenos Aires to identify skin cancer and at the Memorial Hospita l in New York to identify unknown chemicals in removed cancerous tissue When the bacteria or tissue does not have a natural fluorescence color vivid enough for easy i dentifica tion it may be stained to induce a secondary fluorescence This method is now used in many clinics in to , ( ’ , . ’ . , . - , , - , . . , , , , . , ’ . , . - , . . - - - , - . , . , , . , . T AM IN G TH E SP E C TRU M 84 analyzing the sputum Of tuberculosis suspects Under ultra violet the stained bacilli sta nd out sharply against a black background Bact eria which once had a chance of escaping detec tion a re now trapped by thei r fluorescence and the time needed for identification is cut by about one third Working a long d ifferent line s D rs Kurt La nge and L inn J Boyd “ ” of New York are using fl uorescence a s a speedometer of blood cir cul a tion and a s a mea ns of d i agnosing gangrene and circulatory ail ments Wi th the p a tient lying under an ultra violet lamp a solution Of fl uores cein a harmless fluorescent chemical is injected in his a rm a nd a s the dyed blood circulates through the system the skin glows golden gr een wherever i t penetrates If the color cannot be seen in an injured leg i t is evidence that circul ation has failed gangrene has set i n and the l eg mu s t be am p ut a ted The line Of demar c ation i s s o sharp tha t i t tells the surgeon exactly where the a mputation must be made The s a me method is used to determine whether the circulation is still sound in a hernia s o that it can safely be pushed back in place or whether the blood s trea m no l onger re aches i t and s urgery is neces sary - . , . , , I - . , . . - . , , , , . , , , . . , . In p las tic s urg ery This technique i s of p a rt i cular value i n wa rt i me plastic surgery When a tubular flap of skin possibly from the abdomen i s grafted to a n injured part of the body it is supplied with blood from its original source until such time as c i rculation from its new bed is well estab l i shed By tying the flap temporarily to cut off the original blood supply and injecting fl uores cein in a vein the surgeon c a n tell in a few seconds — — from the greenish glow or the lack of it whether he ca n s a fely sever the fl a p By me a ns of a more elaborate method D r L ange a nd his colleagues a re a ble to mea sure the speed of the blood stream and the volume sup . , , , . , . , . P A R T T MD T D RS W O AN D MILE S MO 90 TORS AND MI LES new fuel and engine des igners scrapped all their plans in order to build new motors which the super fuel had made possible The rise of high octane gasoline since that time is a miracle of pro duction In 1 94 4 American refineries turned out more than gallons Of the new fuel every day It has given Allied planes priceless advantages in speed short take offs steep rates of climb high flying ceilings and size of bomb loads Without 1 0 0 Octane fuel states Geoffrey Lloyd British petroleum secretary the Battle of Britain would have been lost Without it the Fortresses and L iberators would labor and falter at feet It drives America s long range fighter the Mustang at a cruising speed of 3 7 8 miles an hour and it sent the giant new forty ton transport Constellation from Burbank California to Washington in s ix hours fifty eight minutes After World War I “ L ord Curzon remarked that the Allies floated to victory upon a flood ” of oil Today they are flying to victory upon the rarefied quintessence of that O i l “ The campaign of petroleum Chemists to increase the octane num ” ber of gasoline was by no means new in 1 934 P rogress in gasoline propulsion for the last twenty five years has depended upon the neck and neck race between motors and motor fuels Gasoline can be im proved in many ways but the added power symbolized by octane number has been achieved by two methods : by adding a few drops of \ something to the fuel and by rebuilding and blending the gasoline itself Before 1 934 the former method was largely responsible for major advances Then it becam e clear that further i mprovements in motor design were waiting upon completely new fuels which could “ ” not be produced by shaking in seasoning Complete new recipes on which the petroleum chefs spent years of labor and which cost fortunes ” “ to put i n practice a re responsible for the fighting gas which in a few short years has revolutionized the i nternal combustion engine The seasoning is still valuable but the fuel itself is something new under the s un If you filled the tank Of a Thunderbolt or a Mustang with the , - . - . . - , , , - . , , , . , ’ - . , , , - , , o - . , , . . . - - . , , . , . , . . , . THE O CTANE REVOLUTION 91 best fuel of ten years ago the motor would liter a lly burst i n piece s before the plane got off the ground “ ” O ctane has become a magic word but it still remains something of a myst ic word By definition the octa ne ra t ing of a g a s ol ine ex , . . , . , the fuel to be mp res s ed without d etona t ing f Since chemists labored for years laying the scientific groundwork for that pat phrase and still have plenty to learn about the matter it is no t surprising that there has been much popular confusion about the mystery of the fabulo us octane T o trace the word to its lair we must return to the great pioneer in the field the late Dr Thomas Midgley J r the discoverer of the gaso line additive tetra ethyl lead At a meeting of the American Chemical Society a few years ago Dr Midgley who was recovering from a n att ack of infantile paralysis wa s pushed forward in a wheelchair to — receive the greatest honor which the Society can bestow the P riestley medal Instead O f making an acceptance speech Dr Midgley turned to a small one cylinder gasoline engine at his side It had two glass fuel — tanks mounted in plain sight O ne held a water white gasoline the other a reddish mixture The mixture contained an eye dropper qu a n tity of tetra ethyl lead a chemical made by subjecting metallic lead to the action Of a gas It is a liquid which looks like water and the mixture was colored only for the purpose Of identification The engine was started on the colorless fuel and soon the audi “ ” torium rang with a sh a rp ping ping ping so distressing that many of his hearers fought an urge to reach for the gear shift Then a lever was turned and the gayly tinted liquid was fed to the complaining motor It s cr i e s of a nguish subsided and it purred like a kitten fu ll of cream The applause was prolonged for Dr Midgley had demonstrated his — greatest accompl i shment the use of tetra ethyl lead to keep an engine happy The silencing of that knock a ffects everyone who drives a car for the modern a utomobile is what mode rn fuel has made it Not only res s es p the ca pa c it y o co . , , . , . , . , - , . , . , , , . . , - . , - . , - . - , . , . , . - - , - . , . , . , . - . , . M O T O R S A N D M I LE S 92 the fast getaway the surplus horsepower the swift glide up hills and the greater mileage per gallon but the stronger safer steel body and other weight adding refinements like radios and heating systems have all been made possible by the creation O f gasolines that motors will swallow without gagging and by the radical new engine designs which these fuels have brought about When Dr Midgley solved the mystery O f engine knock in 1 92 2 the best cars on the road were feeble coughing gas buggies compared with the compact responsive mechanism that modem drivers take for granted Since that day engine performance has been boosted by fifty r cent and miles per gallon by en per cent and the amount e t w t O f y p petroleum normally needed to m a ke A mer i c a s p ea c et i me motor fuel has been cut in half , , , , , , - , , . - . , - , , . , , ’ . T he g rea t d etona t i on mys tery The knock i ng of a n eng i ne under str ai n was a great mystery when young Tom Midgley a mechanical engineer a few years out of Cornell t o a job wi t h Charles F Kettering during the early days o the World f g War Some engineers blamed the carburetor some the battery and some the new self starter which Kettering had developed There were a dozen mechanical theories all Of them wrong N0 one suspected that the fuel was the villain and l east Of all did anyone perceive that the entir eprogress of transportation was marking time until someone mas ” “ t ered that irritating p i ng ping ping Kettering wa s having knocking trouble when Midgley came to work for him at Dayton His small D elco engines which drove farm lighting units ran on kerosene and under full load they knocked badly He asked Midgley to see what he coul d do a bout i t Midgley noted tha t whengasoline was used as a fuel the kn ocking ceased He installed a special recording device to enable the two fuels to wr i te their own diaries s o t o speak Their record cards convinced him that engine , , . . , , - . . , , ‘ - - . . , . , , . , , . . MOTO RS AN D MI LES 94 fortune that there had not been a single Oil soluble dye in the store room He would have tried it and abandoned his idea and years might have passed before any experimenter discovered the secret - . , . E xp eri ment Midgley had made the exciting discovery that a few drops of m a teri al added to motor fuel would control knock but that was only the beginning Iodine was too expens ive for commercial use and other wise inadvisable Tra i ned a s a mechanical engineer Midgley learned chemistry on the run Installed in an old dwelling house wi th a dozen helpers he plunged into a n orgy of scientific detection for he never doubted that if iodine would stop knocking o ther chemicals existed that would do the same thing It has been estimated that Midgley per formed experiments i n his search for a cheap eff ective anti knock substance Some of them took a few seconds ; some several weeks For a time tellurium looked promising but it had a violent garlic Odor that clung to everything and for s ix months Midgley and his men were social outcasts Tellurium was abandoned which was probably just as well W h en they started the test engine for the 1 5 0 00th time they knew they had fo un d the answer The fuel contained a few drops of the compound called tetra ethyl lead It was the best anti knock agent they had found and its ingredients were abundant and low in price P erfecting this fluid meant more work and before the job was over Midgley left hi s laboratory and took up the quest at sea He found that while the fluid stopped knocks the lead oxide which remained after it burned was bad for the engine A nother chemical had to be found which would counteract this effect Bromine worked out well but the supply from br i ne wells was only a fraction Of what would be needed — o f E veryone knew Of an i nexhaustible source bromine the se a It had never been done before but the Midgley for ces were determined , . . , . , , , . , . . , , , . , . , . , - . , . , . , . . , . . , TH E O C TANE REVO LUTI ON 95 to ta p this rich reservoir Boarding a ship christened E thyl they S pent a month experimenting O ff Wilmington North Carolina As a result they teamed up with the D ow Chemical Company to build a big plant at Wilmington for mining the s ea Bromine is also Obtained at the plant built recently on the Texas coast for the recovery Of magnesium from sea water Bromine production has pyramided since that time and nine tenths O f it is used i n Mi dgley s anti knock discovery With the addition Of bromine to the fluid Midgley finally reached his goal Before the war it was estimated that about eighty per cent of all the gasoline sold in A mer i can filling stations was treated with tetra ethyl lead When the word went around that Ketter i ng and Midgley had spent to stop a noise Oil refiners and automobile m akers p ricked up their ears but few of them foresaw the impact Of the discovery upon the whole transportation business They s aw demonstrators spri nk le a few drops Of Mi dg ley s fluid on their neckties and wave them before the i ntakes of knocking engines When the very breath of the new fluid sti lled the knocking their eyes popped in amazement but they were inclined to dismiss it as littl e more than a parlor trick So Kettering a master publicist Midgley his colleague T A Boyd a nd others set out to explain just why the stopping of the noise produced more power from the fuel and thus prepared the way for more effic ient engines more speed heavier loads and faster accelerat i on . . , , . , . ’ - - . . , , - . , , . ’ . , , . , . , . , , , . , S lowing down , mbus tion co By this time they had more i nformat i on a bout engine knocking Under the aegis of General Motors which had taken over the work they h a d built larger windows in the S ides Of engine combustion cham bers and with fast motion picture cameras had photographed the burning behavior of all manner of fuels Slowing down these films to s ee what really went on inside the chamber they found that the flame . , , - , . , M OTO RS AN D MI LES 96 touched off by the spark traveled thr ough the compressed vaporized fuel like a forest fire and that when an engine knocked it was bec a use “ ” the part of the fuel farthest from the sp a rk plug got excited under pressure and exploded spontaneously before the flame reached it If in pushing Open a swinging door you give i t a sh a rp blow with your fist instead of a firm slow shove you will get a rough idea of what knock does in an eng i ne It makes the engine fight itself and this means wasted power and o verheating The addition of the lead mi xture slowed down the spread of the flame s o th a t the fuel burned evenly a nd sent the piston down with a unified push that had every thing behind it Mi dgley s discovery was first Offered to the public on Februa ry 2 1 3 at Dayton 1 9 3 O h m l ce s e w — K n ck i ng th b ur ni ng f th p o iz ed “ fu l ig ni t ed by p rk t l eft i d i tur be d station If a motorist wanted anti by p e m t e e p l o i o n t r ig ht ( Co ur n a O knock S h e the attendant g t y G e ne l M t or Corp ) t urned a pet cock and drops of tetra ethyl lead flowed into the fuel as it was pumped into his tank In many engines this additive deferred the knocking point under load that is many drivers could climb steeper hills without shifting But the results were by no means uniform Improved engines were needed to match the possibilities of the new fuel mixture A common complaint of drivers of the early twenties was the congestion at street crossings where c a rs crawled painfully from gear to gear before they could develop normal speed O n the “ ” h i ghways long funeral processions accumulated behind slowpokes b ec au s e eng ines could not furnish the quick spurt n ecessary to pass safely A n d shift i ng on hills made for more congestion snail like travel and ruined tem p ers The whole future of motor travel depended on faster acceleration , , , . , , . , . , . ’ o e s , a ur r x o ra es e va o e a a s , a s r ’ s 9 : : . . s a . - ’ - . , , . . . , . , ' - . , . , . MOTO RS AN D MI LES 98 fuel to match There were bound to be a few di fficulties of a djustment but all signs pointed ahead so the Chrysler Corporation stepped out “ and led the procession They brought out the high compression R ed ” Head as an Optional motor and stamped on the cap of the gas tank ” “ U s e E thyl Gas . , , - . , . E nt er the octa ne s ca le More tests of new motors and fuels were made by the E thyl Gaso line Corporation whichwas formed by General Motors and Standard O il of New Jersey to manufacture and market the anti knock fluid Since some fuels were much more susceptible than others to i m provement by adding tetra ethyl lead there was great confusion not only among drivers but among the experts It was im ra t i to formulate some sort of e v e p standard for measuring the anti Hig h c t ne fuel bu n mo e lo wly nd e enly g i m e po we p g ll n knoc k quah ty Of g a S O h neS S O te y G n l M t r C rp ) (C Graham E dgar Of the E thyl Cor ” “ ra ti on worked out what he called the o octane scale The least p knocking fuel then known was the rare iso octane or 2 2 4 trimethyl n e n t e as chemists call it while the poorest performance was given by a p norma l hep ta ne which knocks worse than kerosene E dgar gave the for mer the perfect mark of 1 0 0 and pegged the latter at zero So that if for instance you make a mixture composed Of seventy per cent Of the for mer and thirty per cent of the latter the octane number will be seventy This enabled chemists to Compile racks of labeled bottles containing fuels Of known octane numbers A single cylinder test engine like the one which Midgley demonstrated at the meeting of chemi s ts was univer sally adopted as a means Of grading the anti knock value of any gasoline , - . ' - , , , . - o v ves , our r a s e s or a s r o o s era r er o a o . . . - , , , , , , . . , , , . , . - , , - . THE O CTANE REVO LUTION 99 As a result the rese a rch men were a ble to select the a ppropr iate fuel for the most advanced motors They bought a new Chrysler stepped up the compression ratio to a new high level filled the tank with a high octane gasoline and arranged a contest at Dayton against a standard car Of that year Carl Breer led a C hrysler delegation from Detroit and listened while they explained that the altered engine would give a twenty per cent better performance than the regular one “ ” “ All right said Br eer who had to be shown i f that figure mean s anything it must me a n that if you add twenty per cent to the total load ” of this car and race the t wo up a hill they ll come out even E arl Bartholomew of E thyl had not expected this challenge but he was game Breer Jack Macauley of the Chrysler Corporation and an other solid citizen weighed i n at a total of 660 pounds and piled into the back seat of the test model The two cars roared up the hill with their throttles jammed to the floorboards reaching the top in a photo finish “ Breer Shook his head in a mazement I never s aw mathematics work ” li ke that before he said It wa s in fact something of a m i r a cle because no m a tter what the octane r a t i ng of a gasoline may be its performance may vary not only in cars of different makes of any one year and in cars of the same make of different years bu t a lso i n new cars of the same make of the s a me year For this reason the a verage driver h a s never been a ble to deter mine with any close degree of a ccuracy the precise octane r a ting of fuel which his car requires But dr ivers have been sharply aware of generally improved performance a nd that no t the m a them a t i c a l c o in c i dence was what interested the motor makers R oad performance like this was bett er proof than a page of figures a nd soon after the Dayton test 1 5 0 of these experimental cars were built and distr i buted among the gasoline companies to demons tr a te “ ” the advantages of what was soon to be called high octa ne fuel E thyl , . , , - , . . , , , , ’ . , , , . , , , . , . . . , , , , , , , . . , , . , , , - . MOTO RS A N D MI LES 1 00 ” “ tr a v el i ng men drove the mystery c a rs to automobile salesrooms and took the dealers riding over hills “ ” Walter Chrysler was jubilant These ca rs have wings he said “ This i s the way to put the ide a over P eople will ride i n them and tell ” “ ” their friends K T Keller then president of Dodge and Dutch Bower then chief engineer Of Buick decided that they had been miss i ng a bet They brought out engines with higher compression ratios but to a void penalizing the driver who didn t want to buy premium gas they provided extra cylinder head gaskets with each car Any driver who found that his customary fuel was not a dapted to the new motor could have the gaskets inserted to return the engine to its former statu s Soon the race between better fuel and engines built to utilize i t swung i nto high gear and drivers reaped the benefit of this twin development every time they stepped on the throttle It has made it possible to get more a nd more power out Of an engine without increasing its S ize and weight or i ncreasing the cost of the car The r a ce between fuel and engine presented many complications Some cars have a ppeared with appetites too finicky for most roadside gasoline a nd some cars have lagged behind the procession E ngine fuel combinations which were satisfactory i n the flat Midwest caused i ntolerable knocking on New E ngland hills O ctane ratings determined by bench tests were no sure guide to road performance So a test road was selected in Uniontown P ennsylvania and there under the auspices of the Cooperative Fuel R esearch Commi ttee all makes Of cars were j ammed up a hill with wid e Open thr ottles and accurate records were made of speed knock intensity engine heat and s o on These findings a pplied to the standard laboratory test engine helped to bridge the ga p between the chemist and the driver Then in the mid thirties tetra ethyl lead which had been sold only i n premium fuel began to be introduced in reg ular grade s of gasoline and by the time we entered the war four out of every five gallons con ta i ned it This made it possible for refineries to bring many gasolines . . , . . . . . , , , , . , ’ , - . . , . . , . . , . . , , , - , , . , , , - , . - - , , , , , . MOTORS AN D MI LES 1 02 Four 0 0 s of lea d to the gallon are considered allowable in airplane motors but the requirements of warplanes are S O exacting that serious harm would be done by much higher concentrations of lead When war clouds gathered it became apparent that control O f the a i r would g o to the planes which flew faster higher and farther and carried the greater bomb loads P lanes are built around engines and engines are built a round fuel In the see s aw development engines had gone as far as they could go and were pressing against the limitations imposed by the properties of available fuels ’ , . , . , - . , , . B uild ers f o new fuels In this atmosphere the petroleum chemists came i nt o the i r own F or many years they had been reconstructing the molecules of crude Oil to produce gasolines of greater power a t the same time greatly in creasing the gasol i ne obtainable from a barrel Of crude These hydro carbon molecules naturally occur i n an infinite variety of S izes and shapes a nd the behavior Of a fuel in a motor depends upon the exact structure Of its molecules as selected by the refining process Far from being a standard uniform substance petroleum is a little universe We may think Of it as a column ranging from a thick a sphaltic sludge a t the bottom composed of great molecules too big for gasoline to volatile gases at the top whose molecules a re too small From this vast range of molecular building blocks chemists can produce an evening gown an automobile tire a plastic ashtray TNT i nsecticides potable alcohol and a thousand other products “ ” P r a ctical Oil men once looked upon the research worker as a long h a ired v i sion a ry but the gre a t strides m a de by petroleum chemists in the last dec a de constitute one of the most remarkable achievements of i ndustr ia l sc i ence Many methods h a ve been found for remodeling hydroc a rbon molecules a nd plants b a sed upon these methods have sprouted so fa st that some of them have become obsolete in a few years . , , . , . . , , , , . , , , , , , . , . , . THE O CT ANE REVO LUTI ON 1 03 the chemist the meth ods are vastly di fferent but they can all be generally described as ways of resh uffling the atoms O f carbon and hydrogen It was found for instance that when the carbon atoms in a molecule of motor fuel are a rranged in a straight line like a file of soldiers the fuel will knock badly Bunch the atoms together and perch them on one another s shoulders like a troupe of acrobats and the knocking stops and more power is obtained from the fuel And this “ ” bunching cannot be haphazard The exact position of each atom is important in the final result R esearch men have diagramed and tested hundreds of these patterns a nd there are literally millions of com b inati ons waiting to be catalogued In the early days Of the a utomobile the refiner simply distilled the crude O i l and the more volatile part which vaporized and trickled down through the cooling coils was gasoline of very poor grade accord ing to present standards O nly a narrow band of the petroleum column was converted into gasoline by this method and much of the residual crude became a drug on the market Then refiners found that by means of increased heat and pressure “ ” they could literally crack many Of the larger heavy molecules into building blocks of gasoline size There is a legend that this method was first discovered accidentally in 1 86 1 when a stillman in Newark N J left his still for four ho urs when he should have returned in one hour to remove the residue after the normal amount of gasoline had vaporized and run O ff The temperature became s o high during his absence according to the story that some of the residue was cracked into additional gasoline William B urton introduced the first success “ ” ful thermal cracking process as it is called in 1 9 1 3 Then in 1 91 9 twenty one r efiners gathered behind a high board fence in Inde n n P Kansas to an oil chemist named Carbon etroleum e d e ce s ee p Dubbs demonstrate the cracking process which his father had devel Oped and he had improved upon This new thermal process for con verting residual Oil into gasoline became immensely successful T O , , . , , . , . , ’ , . . . , . , , , . , . , , . , , . , . , , . , , . , - , , . . M O T O R S AN D MI LE S 1 04 Controlled by Universa l O il P ro du cts i t was soon used under license by scores of American refiners Thermally cracked gasoline played an i mportant part in raising the octane rating O f automobile fuel and thus enabling Detroit to develop more e fficient engines but it is not suitable as a base for 1 0 0 octane aviation gasoline For this purpose natural gasoline of an especially high grade was used but the supply was limited , . , . , , Cra cking with ca ta . lys ts ” “ Then came the cat crackers By using a catalyst ( a substance which produces a chemical change without itself undergoing change in the process ) refiners achieved new triumphs in the conversion of low grade oils into high octane gasoline While thermal cracking changes the big molecules with terrific heat and pressure the cat crackers take them apart and rearrange them more gently swiftly and effi ciently a nd give the refiners more exact control of the products The first large scale catalytic cr a cking method was the invention of a Frenchman named E ugene Houdry He arrived in the United States i n 1 930 with a crate Of app a r a tus and s ome clay p ellets made of fuller s ea rth a nd sh a ped something like elbow macaroni The clay pellets were used as catalysts — i n his miniature refinery when vaporized oil was passed through them i ts molecular structure was altered and a fuel of high anti knock value came dripping out He had made several gallons of this fuel and tested i t in his automobile Clay pellets were no novelt y to petroleum chemists who had used them for years in various shapes and sizes The fact that they fouled and became useless in a few hours limited their effectiveness in an industry geared to continuous operation But Houdry had found a way to cleanse them quickly and had solved other difficulties that stood i n the way Of large scale prod uction He j oined forces with the Sun O il Company which was recept i ve to any process by which high octane automobile fuel co ul d be produced without add . - . , , , - . ‘ . ’ . - , , . . . , . , - , - . MOTO RS AN D MI LES 1 06 rating In meeting the war program refiners have often faced the d i lemma Of a chain co ffee drinker who at one moment hasn t enough s ugar for his coffee and later hasn t enough co ffee for his sugar Step by step the program has been brought into balance and in 1 94 4 the powerful aviation fuel was being produced at the rate of s ix billion gallons a year which is about one quarter of the total motor fuel con sumption in the United States before the war “ ” Aviation gasoline is still loosely described as 1 00 Octane but the fuel now used in our warplanes is in terms O f mot or performance “ ” “ far above the perfect 1 00 mark Of yesterday O ne hears talk of 1 30 ” octane fuel and better but these are only estimates In grading flying fuel the octane scale is now obsolete and completely new measuring methods have been devised as a result of discoveries concerning fuel performance in fast planes O ne of the newest methods Of bettering the performance Of an air plane fuel and thus getting a momentary burst of extra power from the engine is by injecting plain ordinary water By a method developed by the P ratt and Whitney Aircraft Company the pilot who is in a tight spot turns a control and sends a tiny jet of water into the fuel mixture This cools the motor and temporarily increases the octane rating Of the fuel mixture The result is a burst of speed which has s aved many lives . , ’ ’ , . , - - , . - , , , . . , , . . , , . . . S up er f uels to c ome Chemists have discovered a number Of molecular keys which are unlocking still more hidden reserves of power in petroleum M a ny of these development s a re secret O ne new fuel called triptane has a higher anti knock value than any o ther hydrocarbon compound eve r produced a ccording to widely published reports O nly a few years a go tript a ne was produced in small laboratory quantities at a cost of a gallon Now due to the work of Dr Vladimir Ipati eff Russian born research director of Universal O il P roducts and Dr . . , , - . , , . , . , - , . THE O CTANE REVO LUTION 1 07 Vladimir Haens el of the s a me firm it is being made commercially to sell for less than $ 1 a g allbn There i s no motor in existence which ca n utilize this mighty fuel by itself but when used in a blend it will greatly enhance the performance of present day a ircraft motors and it will doubtless help pave the way for the development of future engines of even greater power and effi ciency S up erg a s ol ines developed for war use will inevitably improve the performance Of postwar automobiles and experts are predicting gaso line in the neighborho od of 1 00 octane for the cars of the future with engines designed to us e it Tests conducted in Detroit a few years ago gave some idea O f what this would mean to the automobile driver E ngineers took a standard new car increased the engine compression changed the a xle ratio a nd filled the tank with ninety five octane fuel They S purted up steep pitches that stalled the regular model got a higher speed and used twenty five per cent less g a soline per mile A n other test car using 1 0 0 octa ne fuel used forty per cent less gasoline while traveling at forty miles an hour When they tested a rare numberless fuel somewhere above the known octane scale miles per gallon at the same speed were i ncreased by si xty five per cent and acceleration was also improved That is if your car is giving you eighteen miles to a gallon this super fuel would boost the mileage to almost thirty with somewha t better hill performa nce and pickup thrown in for good measure Such tests should be taken only as guide posts to the future Of auto mobile travel No one can predi c t what tomorrow s car will be like without also considering var i ous mecha ni cal improvements which are under way and such possibilities as the increased use of light metals Some engineers after weighing all these factors suggest that a f ew years after the war the average automobile may yield twice the mileage per gallon we were getting when P earl Harbor i nterrupted progress i n non military transportation The price of aviation gasoline in mid 1 94 4 wa s s ix cents a gallon higher than the price of automobile fuel but , . , - , . , , . . , , , - - . , , - . . , , - . , , , , . - ’ . , . , , - . - , M OTO RS AN D MI LES 1 08 even if the difl erenti al should remain the same the net cost of auto mobile transportation would be reduced O f far greater i mportance is the saving in our dwindling petroleum r eserves which may be effected in two ways : by getting more fuel out of the crude a nd by getting more mileage out of the fuel For more than t wo decades there has been steady progress in the former economy : c r a cking methods have reduced by more than fifty per cent the amount of petroleum needed to yield a ga ll on of gasoline Wi th the newer refini ng methods more progres s is inevita ble in this direction and Oil chemists optimistically predict that nearly all the crude c an be converted i nto motor fuel if such a course seems desirable O n the other hand the constantly increased power in automobile fuel has been spent mostly on higher speeds faster acceleration and smoother riding There was great need for i mprovement along these lines but now that we are about to become an Oil importing country it — is only a matter of time before American drivers will choose or will — be forc ed to accep t more miles per gallon i nstead of still greater speed and p ickup Before 0 11 1 petroleum wells run dry other prime movers may s up p lant the gasoline burning i nternal combustion engine In the mean time the boundaries O f petroleum resea rch are practically u nl imited Technical men have stated that in every gallon of gasoline there is a theoretical 2 5 0 miles or more O f travel Their accomplishments are i mpressive but they have only made a start in tapping this tremen dou s r e s ervo i r Of energy , 4 . , . . , , . , , . - , , . ‘ , - . . , . , . M O T O RS A N D M I L E S 1 10 once undre a med of Back in 1 939 the manufacturers celebrated a boom year They had turned out a total of Diesel horsepower which represented an increase of about 5 00 per cent in a decade Last year this t r i umph was dwarfed a s their o utput rea ched a n estimated horsepower Most of these motors were for the Na vy the A r my the Maritime Commission and Lend L ease and peace will bring a n epidemic of order cancellat i ons yet i t is expected that events since P earl H a rbor will bring about increasingly wide use of the oil burning mo tor New factors introduced by the war a re likely to hasten the a lready growing trend Major i mprovements m a ny of them secret h a ve been made in the motor in the l a s t four year s E ven better per formance can be expected a fter the war as well as lighter smaller engines of the same horsepower A n other factor is the impending petroleum shortage for the war has speeded the exhaustion of our i rreplaceable Oil capital Before many years have passed fuel econ omy long ignored in the United States will become a highly i m p ortant virtue i n an engine a nd in this field the Diesel stands in a class by i tself Behind the motor which bears his name looms the almost legendary figure of Rudolph Di esel one of the most brilliant mechanical geniuses eteenth century The engine was his life work and its su of the ni n perior efli ci ency is the direct and planned result of his long arduous years of almost consecrated labor It all began when Diesel then a boy in his teens sat i n a classroom Of the Mun ich Technical Insti tute listened t o a lecture a nd s aw a small gadget that looked like a popgun Diesel was a P aris born Bavar i an O ffspring of a long line of German artisans whose stern fath er began drilling him in mechanical principles a s soon a s he could t a lk A misfit among his P arisian contemporaries he spent his time going to t echn i cal museums and absorbing wisdom from his elders When the Franco German W ar broke out i n 1 870 the family fled to L ondon Almost destitute they sent the boy to a cousin . . , . . , - , , , - . . , , . , , . , . , , , , . , . , , . , , , , . - , , . , - . , . , THE RISE OF D IESEL P OWER 111 in Germany a martinet professor of m a them at i cs Rudolph dashed meteorically through trad eschool and industr i al school then won a scholarship at Munich When he graduated at the age Of twenty he had broken every academic record in the Insti tute and the astounded faculty met him in a body and shook hands with him The lecture which inspired him was given by his favorite teacher Dr Carl L inde who was famous for his pioneer work in artificial t e frig erati on He spoke of the wastefulness of the steam engine He pointed O ut that when you burned fuel in a furnace produced steam a nd conducted the steam through pipes to develo p power i n the cyl in der of an engine energy was lost all along the line and that most steam engines then in use wasted ninety per cent Of the energy in the coal Then he told of the Carnot cycle a method existing only in theory by which an engine could function most economically Diesel listened with growing excitement and scribbled furiously in a notebook which has been preserved He wrote : . , , , . , . , . , . . , , , , , . , , . , . “ Mecha nica l theory tea ches ca n now f t ion o ut i l ized be s tea m , i l t es t b i i s u s o s s y gg p out a ’ oes n t kind its elf f the heat in the uel it - , f o n rgy to n t h e e e u t t i g p med iator B ut how ca n this a ctua lly . Hint from a f rt o a p follow from this tha t the ut il iza ! T he of g o between is fa ls e in p rinc ip le D or a ny us tha t only a ! be done work d irectly, with T ha t is the p roblem ” . C i g a r- l ig ht er The popgun like gadget which Diesel saw at Munich was a cigar “ lighter used i n the Far E ast It is sometimes called a P olynesian fire ” syringe The a i r i n the cylinder heated by the compression of a plunger ignites a bit Of combustible material providing a flame This ” “ g a ve Diesel a hint as to how he could put energy to work directly From that time on the problem he set for himself in his notebook was a lways with him but fifteen years were to pass before he found an a nswer that suited him - . . , , , . . , , . MO T O R S A N D M I L E S 1 12 When D i es el left schoo l P ro fessor Linde who manufactured ice machines made him his P aris agent Within a year he was a director of the company A fter long days at the plant he went home to work with slide rule and comp a ss formulating and scrapping plan after plan for the new efficient engine of his dream It was uphill work When he was thirty he said he felt like an O l d man and rebuked himself for having accomplished s o little He had turned out other i nventions but they had come to little He had made a machine for freezing ice in cubes but a cold w i nter brought a glut of na t ur a l i ce and i t failed to ca tch on L ater he was transferred to L inde s Berli n Office T he pile of blue p rints a nd p ages Of figures kept mounting on his desk and the time came one night when he decided that he had his t eeth in something ” “ He didn t leap up and yell E ureka ! He was a scientist and things had to be proved but this was his plan : The popgun gadget had reminded him tha t the more you compress a ir the hotter i t becomes P ut your hand on the rubber tube of a bicycle pump in action and you get the idea N ow why not build an engine in which the piston pulls i n nothing but pure air i n its loading stroke and then drives back toward the cylinder head compressing the air to about one sixteenth of its former volume Then b e computed the air wo ul d be about degrees Fahrenh eit about the tempera ture of red hot i ron and much hotter tha nthe combustion point of Oil At that point a drop of Oil would be injected into the cylinder The hot air would ignite the Oil and i ts combustion would drive the cylin der down Then he compared his theoretical motor with the gasoline engine With his plan there would be no ignition system S i nce his engine would do its own igniting in the cylinder Confident that at last he had hit upon the solution Diesel redoubled his energies Many men would have gone into the machine Shop at that point and proceeded by the trial and error method but that was not , , . , . , , . , . , . , , . ’ . , . ’ , , . , . , , - . , , , - , . . , . . , . , . , M O T O R S AN D M I LE S 1 14 barded the room Barely missed by death Diesel leaped to his feet with a Shout Of triumph “ “ ” That s what I wanted to know he said It proves I m on the right ” track ! uickly he drew up plans for a second engine in which the cylinder ! was water cooled and the fuel was inj ected by means of compressed air This engine developed power enough to turn over the flywheel but it r an for only one minute A third model came nearer the mark bu t it was not until the fourth engine had been turned out a lmost four years after he had s et to work in the Augsburg shop that his concept was practically demonstrated The world s most famous engineers flocked to Augsburg to see the “ ” twenty horsepower Dieselmotor as Mrs Diesel had christened it They made careful tests and the results amazed them E ven the best steam engines of the day did not convert into power more than fifteen per cent of the heat value of the fuel used but here was a new engine which a t once showed an efficiency Of more tha n thirty per cent Among the pilgrims who went to Augsburg was Col D C Meier New York engineer Adolphus Busch of the St L ouis brewing firm wa s in P aris on the point of sailing for home When he heard that Meier wa s i n Augsburg he cancelled his passage and asked Meier to meet him in P aris Meier told him that what he had heard about the new engine was true and Busch jumped on the next train wiring Dies el to meet him half way They met at Cologne and came to a rapid fire agreement giving Busch the sole right to manufacture the new engine in the United States Busch took his bo a t and wi thin a year a s ix horse power two cylinder Diesel wa s set to work in St L ouis In 1 9 1 2 Dr Diesel then at the crest Of his triumph was feted in the United States and made a prophetic speech before the American Society Of Mechanical Engineers i n New York “ ” “ Nowhere in the world he said are the possibilities of this prime ” mover so great as in the United States Yet it might be years before this . , . ’ ’ . , , - . , . , , , . ’ - . , . . , , . . . . . , . . , , . , - . , - , . - . , , . . , , , . , , . THE RISE OF D IESEL P OWER 1 15 development took place he expla i ned for A mer i can i ndustrialists were less i nterested in long term efficiency than in huge profits With fuel cheap and plentiful they wanted low price engines regardless of operating cost and the Diesel he said was a comparatively expensive engine and always would be E urope was far ahead of America in the use O f the Diesel he said because fuel costs were higher abroad and industrial competition was keener But he foresaw a time when America would be forced to turn to more economical operation Then his engine would come into its own For Dr Diesel regarded his engine not as an isolated piece O f machinery but as an instrument for human develop ment , , , - . - , , , , , . , , , . . . . , , . Mys tery s tory Within a year Dr Diesel mysteriously disappeared He was crossing the Channel at night to confer with the English Admiralty about the use of his motor which had been adopted in submarines The boat arrived at Harwich without him Because war broke out soon after ward there were rumors of conspiracy and foul play and the mystery has taken a place in popular lore along with that of the derelict Ma rie Celes te R umors that Dr Diesel has been seen are heard now and then and mysterylovers like to believe that he is now living in seclusion at the age of eighty seven But the plain tru th judging by a recent biog ra phy written by his s on E ugen is that he had been speculating wisely to secure funds for the further promotion of his engine and had chosen suicide instead of the disgrace Of bankruptcy S O Diesel the man was soon lost in the cobwebbed files of Obscurity and Diesel the engine went on to fulfill its mission O ne Of the chief missions of his invention Dr Diesel had said was to place the small power user on an equal footing with the big i ndus trialist The coal supply was already limited in E urope and the engine was rapidly adopted by small factories which had not been able to . . . , . , , . . , - - . , , , , . , . , . . , , MOTO RS AN D MI LES 1 16 produce c o a l ste a m power as econom i cally as the big plants Its use ¥ S pread to the United States s low1y because fuels have always been cheaper here and i t was adapted for marine use The Diesel became standard for the subm a rine because its fuel took up less room than an equivalent amount of gasoline and was less of a fire risk O ne reason why the Diesel is more efficient than the gasoline engine lies in the difference in compression ratios The Diesel ratio is sixteen to one while the gasoline engine ratio is only s ix to one or seven to one in some of the newer engines designed to use high octane fuel That is the Diesel piston travels fifteen sixteenths of the distance to the cylinder head before combustion drives it downward and the gasoline engine piston travels only five s ixths of the distance If we thi nk O f the contents Of the cylinder during the compression stroke ( in the Diesel engine pure a ir ; in the gasoline engine a mixture of air and gasoline ) as a steel spring it is Obviou s that the greater the compression the greater the power of the spring s recoil when it is released L ik e most analogies this does not give the complete story for in the motor the work requ ired for each added bit of compression yields a four fold dividend in power For other and more complicated reasons the Diesel wa stes less heat throug h the cooling jacket than the gasoline engine a pplying a higher percentage of the heat generated in combustion to the business of creating horsepower Today top Diesel effi ciency is about thirtyseven per cent compared with perhaps twenty five per cent for the gasoline engine and twenty nine per cent for some of the newest steam turbine units while many steam locomotives still in service do no better than ten per cent After a glance at these figures the non technical reader is probably wondering why steam and gasoline engines have not gone the way Of the dodo The answer is that operating efficiency is only one factor to be considered in the purchase of a motor or any other machine or gadget First cost is Of equal importance and this factor fights its battle with efficiency in every i ndustri a l dr a ft i ng r oom T he O lder and mo r e sta ble a civiliza - . — , . . . - , , - . - , , ~ . , , , , ’ . , , , - . , , . - , , - - , . - , . . , , . MOTORS AN D MI LES 1 18 hood was filled with madcap esca pades with home made g a s buggies motorcycles and power bo ats and he remained alive by sheer luck He was a Tom Sawy er with a monkey wrench World War I found him driving the car Of William G Irwin prominent industrialist and lead ing citizen of Columbus When the family went away for vacation he passed the time making hubs for government wagons and they returned to find that the family garage was a factory running in three eight hour Shifts Irwin responded by setting his driver up in business and Cummins began to experiment with Diesel engines After years O f work he brought out a satisfactory light weight Di esel marine engine suitable for yachts but wi th the stock market crash of 1 92 9 yachts went out of style O n a gray December morning that year Cummins went to his idle factory picked up a trade magazine containing a survey O f Diesel developments and found that his name was not mentioned He was annoyed He went to a used car lot bought an aged P ackard limousine and trundled it to his shop For three weeks he and his bro ther labored day and night and on Christmas morning he drove the car to Irwin s house and took him for a ride After a few miles he stopped the car and Opened the hood His partner stared in amazement T he engine was a four cylinder marine Diesel made in their plant With that battered Old hulk Cles s i e Cummins launched a new epoch i n A merican highway transportation He did not try to lock horns with Detroit i n making passenger cars His goal was a highway Diesel that would compete with the gasoline engine in trucks Meanwhile news paper headlines wouldn t do any harm and Cummins was ready with the steam calliope and the trapeze acts The annual automobile Show was about to open in New York and Cummins announced that he was coming to the show in his Diesel R eporters g athered a t the s tarti ng post in Indian a polis Offi cials sealed his fuel tank a nd he was O ff in the untested car on an 800 mile gambol over the winter ro a ds In spite of a number of mishaps he arrived on - - , , . . . , . , - . , . - , - , , . , , . , - . , . ’ , . . . - . . . . , ’ , . , . , - , . , THE RI SE OF D IESEL P OWER 1 19 schedule The trip became asensation and peopl e talked about Diesels who had never heard the word before Cummins had averaged thirty five miles to a gallon Of oil and his fuel cost for the trip was More stunts followed He mounted the same eng i ne i n a racing body and did 1 00 miles an hour on Daytona Beach Florida and on the Indianapolis Speedway he dro ve it 5 00 miles without stopping or re fueling The clima x came when he drove a Diesel powered A uburn coup é from New York to Los Angeles in an economy test at a fuel cost The cost of g asoline would have been between $35 and $4 0 of The entire world heard about this trip and Cummins toured E urope demonstrating his car on race tracks , . . , . , , - . , , . , , . Fl irt ing with d ea th Many people who heard of these triumphs a ssumed that a Diesel a utomobile was just aro un d the corner but Cummins explained that the purpose Of the tests was simply to S how what a Diesel would do on wheels and that the motor he was designing as a result of the trials wa s too expensive and longlived to install in low priced mass produc ed p a ssenger cars He was setting his cap for Operators Of heavy duty commercial vehicles which ran up high annual mileages for they were i n the best position to profit by the engine s fuel economy Next came a series of truck tests which added gray to his hair There was a trans con tinental run i n which his brakes gave out on a long hill with a railway crossing at the bottom where a S low freight was passing He missed the caboose by a few feet and lived to report a fuel cost of He took the truck to the Indianapolis Speedway and put a cot in the rear and he and a relief driver circled the track fourteen days a nd nights to establish a non stop record of miles They refuel ed only once during the ordeal from an Oil truck which traveled alongside This greatly impressed the big trucking firms for time spent in filling sta tions adds substantially to their annual Operating costs , , - - , - . , ’ . . . , , - . . , . MOTO RS AN D MI LES 1 20 The s e t est s were no m ere p ublicity stunts Back in the plant Cummins tore do wn the engine and photographed every part acquiring new data for its improvem ent Soon trucks d riven by Cummins engines began to appear on Western roads The truck manufacturing firms hesitated to a dopt the motors but Cummins persuaded trucker s to turn in their gasoline engines and i nsta ll his Diesels California fleet owners bought heavily and reported a net saving of eighteen per cent over gasoline truck Operation They were particul arly enthusiastic about the Diesel s performance on hill s Cummins sold his first truck engines with fear and trembling lest an i nexperienced driver make a mista ke and his engine get the bl a me R oadside garage men knew nothing about Diesels and whenever there was engine trouble the trucking firm wired the maker In the summer of 1 933 a truck broke down i n the desert with a perishable cargo of meat Cumm i ns knew that the driver had clogged the engine with poor fuel Oil but he paid for the meat and the gesture brought rich divi dends Cummins soon proved his point His production curve soared a nd since then he has built numerous additions to his plant He still ranks a s a small manufacturer T h ere are more than thirty well known makers of Diesel engines in the United States and he i s not among the leaders i n volume producti on Other makers of light weight Diesels have profited by his enter prise Someone had tO risk his shirt to prove the merits of the highway Diesel and the resourceful effervescent Hoosier had wh a t was needed The tractor i s another machine which has gone Diesel It happened i n a roundabout way In the twenties the Caterpillar Company biggest line driven tractors found its export market A merican makers Of gas o men a ced by the competition of foreign made Diesel machines So i n 1 931 Caterpillar s engineers developed an i mproved tractor Diesel ” “ A merican customers dem a nded them The Oil burning cats became famous all the way fro mjungle to i ce fiel d and now they are serving wi th the troop s O ther A m erican manufacturers fnotably Hercules a nd . , , ’ . . , . , . , ’ . , . , . , , . , , . . , . - . , - . . , , . . , . - , - . ’ . - . - , . M OTO RS AN D MI LE S 1 22 Chicago World s Fair in 1 933 the railroads showed sudden i nterest Here was an internal combustion engine small enough to fit the space requirements O f a locomotive and powe rful enough to compete with steam Chicago Burlington and ! uincy and Union P acific led the rush In the fall of 1 934 the U P s streamlined tra i n M arrived in New York with a transcontinental speed record and the news that it had spent only $83 on fuel for the mile dash There are now more than sixty Diesel electric strea ml iners in servi ce They are re markable for swift j erkl es s acceleration and they are easier on road; beds than the steam locomotive Diesel freight engines are also making big inroads in steam They cost twice as much to buy but half as much to Operate and make fewer trips to the repair shop T he Santa Fe line repo rts that one new freight Diesel replaces nine O l d steam l ocomo ’ . - . , ’ . , . . - . - . , , . . , . , t ives . The Diesel invaded the passenger bus field in 1 937 when P ublic Service Coordinated Transport of Newark N J put twenty seven of the oil burning busses in service on a city suburban line R esults were so good that P ublic Service added more than 300 to its fleet and a few years later Diesel busses were running in New York Chicago Boston and other cities Greyhound L ines became interested and had Diesels in service when \the war put a stop to civilian orders Compar i sons show that these busses a re getting about fifty per cent more mil es to the gallon than similar gasoline burning vehicles Diesel makers are preparing for a big postwar expansion in thi s field , . . - , - - . , , , , . . - . . T he “ n ca a p ” e k D i es el 9 General Motors i s also responsible for a r evolutionary new light weight Diesel which has been manufactured i n large numbers to drive submarine ch a sers It origin ated in a rough penCil drawing which the versatile Charles F Kettering showed to R ear A dmir a l H G Bowen director of the U S Nava l R esearch L aboratory in the summer O f . ' . . . . , . , THE RISE OF D IESEL OWER P 1 23 It was something new in Diesels The sketch called for sixteen " horizontal cylinders to be grouped around a vertical crankshaft in banks of four cylinders each Admiral Bowen was s o impressed that he of translating the government to put up for the work o t g Kettering s scrap of paper into an engine ” “ P roduction of the pancake Diesel s o ca lled because engineers saw a resemblance to a sta ck of cakes began in 1 94 2 This engine is only one third the size of the best previous Diesels O f thesame horsepower a nd it is said to be the l ightest weight ocean duty Diesel in the world O n s ub Chasers the saving in space mak es room for more fuel and increases range while the saving in weight a llows heavier armament or other a dditional cargo Since both these savings are equally i m “ ” portant in locomotives and trucks the pancake may be a dapted for land use after the war General Motors i s definitely preparing for a great pos twar Diesel expansion and this motor may be one of its leaders This is only one evidence of the recent Dieselization of the U S Navy A t the end of World War I the only Navy Diesels were on sub marines N ow many millions of horsepower are in us e on craft ranging from the ton I owa to the sma ll est tug 1 937 . . . : ’ . ‘ - , . , - , - - . - , , . , . , . . . . . , - Chea p er p ower a nd . l ight Meanwhile; Rudolph Diesel s prediction that his engine would serve “ ” as a yardstick of stationary power has come true in the utility field and there are apartment houses hotels and communities all over the country which own and operate their own Diesel electric plants In New York Ci ty more than a hundred big electrici ty consumers living in the shadow of one Of the world s greatest utility corporations make substantial savings in this manner Among the establishm ents which use Diesels to produce either a part or all Of their power a re the P ublic L ibrary Columbia Universi ty the Hotel New Yorker the A mer i c a n ’ , , - . , ’ , . , , , MOTO RS AN D MI LES 1 24 Telephone and Telegraph Company Mt Sinai Hospital Macy s Altman s and the Namm Store of Brooklyn The Namm Store has become Exhibit A for makers of the engine “ ” Mayor La Guardi a called its private plant a footstick when he d edi cated it i n 1 936 and it has more than lived up to expectations Its Di esel made electricity runs the lights and the elevators the jacket water from the engines helps to heat the building water passed through the exhaust is heated for dishwashing and cleaning and the surplus kilowatts furnish light for small neighboring shops The complete cost of the plant was and the store has reported a saving of a year Because of proved savings like these Diesel manufacturers are able to Offer easy terms to other establishments which wish to divorce them selves from utility networks The success of these plants depends on a number of things among them the local utility rates and the compe t ence of the engineer who runs them for Diesel plants do not run themselves Many plants have paid f or themselves in s ix years and some Diesel firms have i nstalled the equipment for a nominal down payment the balance to be paid out of savings in the electricity bill Utility c orporat i ons do not twiddle their thumbs while competitors go after their markets and some O f them have spent larg e sums buying up private Diesel plants for their nuisance value and junking the engines Such transactions by the Consolidated E dison Company Of New York brought about an inquiry by the State P ublic Service Com “ mission which found that E dison had been buying Diesel plants at ” prices greatly in excess of the reasonable value thereof and that they had originally charged these acquisitions to Operating expenses The inducements O ffered to Diesel users to return to the fold were held by the Commission to be illegal and the practice was stopped E fforts Of utility corporations to suppress the Oil burning rival have led to some a musing results When the Diesel menace first raised its head corporations lured back many customers with attractive power ’ , . , , ’ . . , . - , , , . . , . , , . , . , , . , , . - . , - . , MOTOR S AN D MI LES 1 26 to the clatter but of more importance i s the fact that the necessary weight which makes the engine noisier also helps to make it more ex pensive Cummins truck motors are guaranteed for miles Such longevity would be superfluous in a passenger car and there ap pears to be no way to make an inexpensive sho rt lived Dies el motor Before the advent Of wartime gasoline rationing American drivers showed little interest in fuel economy and comparatively few bought expensive cars which would yield S low dividends over a long period If the major firms had placed Diesels in light cars their price would have been lifted beyond the reach of the average driver and the whole carefully planned automobile distribution structure would have been demolished Any worthwhile consideration Of a popular Diesel automobile would require knowledge of secret wartime improvements in the engine and speculation on such matters as the probable pos t war per capita in come the future prices of gasoline and fuel Oil further progress in making high octane gasoline postwar policy i n levying fuel taxes to finance highway construction and the future of the airplane All we c a n s ay with confidence is that engineers can make good Diesel driven automobiles if there i s a demand for them They would be better than gasoline cars in some ways and less sa t i s factory i n O ther s but motorists wo uld get used to them , ’ . . , - . , , , . , , . , , , - , . , - . , . D ies el a ircra ft The Diesel powered plane i s a l ikel i er prospec t than the passenger car although it arouses he a ted disagreements among experts A s long ago a s World War I the government worked a t putting wings on the engine The late Captain L M Woolson of the P a ckard Motor Car Company designed an aircraft Diesel engine in the early thirties and half a dozen of the motors were su ccessfully tested i n flight The Ger man Junkers firm was making Diesel aircraft motors before the p r esent - . , . . . , . THE RISE OF D IESEL P OWER 1 27 war and the Lufthansa had fifty of them in service on long r a nge trans port planes which they us ed over the South Atlantic line The chief engineering problem was to reduce the weight of the engine and Junkers met i t with a double action motor i n which the combustion propels two pistons a t once i n Opposite directions It was reported that this motor weighed one a nd fo ur tenths pounds per horsepower The better gasoline aircraft motors of the day tipped the scale at one and three tenths Since Dies el fuel goes farther this weight was low enough cl a imed Junkers so that the combined weight of engine and fuel made for greatly incre a sed flying ranges L ittle has been heard O f Diesel aircraft in the present war In 1 94 2 it wa s reported by the A ssociated P ress that the Germans were using Junkers bombers with supercharg ed Diesels a t high altitudes over E ngl a nd but if sin ce that time a ny co untry has used Diesels in mili tary planes it has been kept a dark secret A n air cooled radial Diesel aircraft engine may be seen in the Museum of Science and Industry at Rockefeller Center in New York and this type O f motor has been re c entl y improved by the G u ib ers on Diesel E ngine Company of Dallas Texas Among the flying Diesel s shortcomings is lack of surplus power for a quick take O ff but a number O f methods are being tested to supply this kick Whether the motor takes to the air or sticks to land and s ea its graph is headed upward Great progress has been made in improving other prime movers in the last half century but with one exception none of them has matched the e fficiency of the Diesel The mercury vapor tur bine used in conjunction with the steam turbine i s reported to produc e as much power from the fuel as the Diesel in the few installations which have been made but its range of use i s limited The Diesel can within its economic limitations do anyt hing any other motor can do do it on less fuel and do it on cheaper fuel Sooner than we like to thi nk fuel economy may be the controlling factor in the choice of engines fed by oil wells And when the O il wells - , . , , - , . - - . . , , , . . , - . , , - , ’ . - , . , . , , - . , , . , , , , . , . MOTOR S AN D MI LES 1 28 go dry the Diesel wi ll keep on runn ing The inventor thought of this and tested many fuels The engine can be made to run on a l most any thing Diesel used castor oil fish oil cottonseed Oil and peanut Oil Alaskan cannery boats have used whale Oil in a pinch and in the cur r ent war the Germans have used rectified palm oi l as a Diesel fuel The inventor also suggested the use of powdered coal as a fuel and his chief draftsman P awlikowski was still working on the plan in the thirties And although the motor will probably never be reduced to a dairy diet a New York engineer ha s actually run a Diesel on rancid butter Increased power output and reliability are expected from the Diesel a s a result of wartime developments O nce there was occasional tro ub le from the highly precise inj ector which forces the fuel into the cylinder head ; now i t almos t never fails For many year s Diesels have been supercharged (s ee next chapter ) to increase power output by packing more air i nto the cylinder The newest superchargers increase the power of the motor by as much as fifty per cent with little addition Of weight And there are adaptable Diesels which will burn either fuel Oil or na tural gas A mong the factors which have retarded Diesel development is a shortage of Diesel repair men and a general lack of public information about the motor s advantages Since P earl Harbor the Government has tr ained great numbers of Diesel mechan i cs and hundreds Of thou s a nds of machine minded A mericans who grew up with gasoline engines have been living with Dies els all over the world These men will play an impo rtant pa rt in the i nevit a ble desti ny of the world s most efficient p rime mover . , , . . , , . , , . , , , . , . . . . . . ’ . , - . ’ . MOTORS AN D MI LES 1 30 which i n June 1 94 4 first sailed from a distant base to s hatter Japan s industrial plants The exhaust gases O f each of its four horsepower motors drive twin turbosuperchargers packing air i nto the carburetors to send the new giants higher and faster The news of these bombings was eagerly received by a whimsical — bearded inventor now in his seventies Dr Sanford A Moss the in v entor of the turbosupercharger For twenty O dd years Dr Moss an e ngineer of the General E lectric Company vainly preached its merits Inventor engineer and press agent in one he had hammered away at h i s idea with fanatical enthusiasm but during a long period O f avia tion d evelopment he was a voice crying in the wilderness The Brest attack was not the first occasion on which his invention “ ” roved i ts merit In the early twenties General Billy Mitchell used p a plane equipped with it in his famous bombing demonstration of O bs o l ete ships O ff the Virginia capes Authorities who shut their eyes at Mitchell s grim lesson had no trouble overlooking a small device which helped make it possible So in 1 938 Dr Moss was retired with theusual farewell banquet He was expected to content himself with his hobbies a nd oratory a d heart would enealogy and a rcheology the little while longer a b g let him live Then the war came and the aviation world caught up with With a virtually unanimous rush of insight his former critics hi a cclaimed his invention Both i nventor and gadget were taken Off the shelf and millions were spent on new plants to manufacture the device R ecent improvements made i n airplane construction are legion but the turbosupercharger is considered one Of the gre a test single a eronau t ical inventions to be a dopted since P e a rl Harbor f ortress B 29, - , , ’ . - , . , . . , - . . , . , , , , . , . , . ’ . . , , . , m . . , . . , , . W hen motors g as p Anyone who has ever climbed a h i gh mounta i n i s i n a p os it i on to understand the nature of its job He will remember how his pace slowed . DR MOSS AN D HIS TURB OSUP ERCHARGER 1 31 . down as he gasped to fill his lungs with the rarefied a i r The internal comb ustion engine of an a irplane begins to be similarly distressed when the plane ascends a bove feet or s o The power of the down stroke of the piston depends upon the weight of the ch a rge of air and vaporized fuel which enters the cylinder before each combus tion The higher the plane goes the lighter this charge becomes and the more languid the punch of the down driving piston At feet for instance the unaided motor develops only about fo rty four per cent O f the power which it delivers at s ea level The turbosupercharger restores this lost vitality As its name indi cates the device is composed of two parts a tu rbine and a supercharger For a rough diagram of an explanation thi nk of these parts as two elec tric fans mounted side by side on the same shaft e a ch enclosed in a separate compartment Think of the exhaust gases of the motor striking the blades Of one fan with force enough to keep it spinning thus creating power which the other fan uses to blow air through a tube into the carburetor Although this illustrati on is little more than a symbol for an ela borate mech a nism it shows how the power of the engine exhaus t which usually goes to waste is used to increase the weight of the charge i n the cylinder thus giving the struggling motor a new lease of life Dr Moss likes to remember the expr ession of a tes t “ pilot : that the turbosupercharger kids the engine into thinking it s ” at s ea level It was during World War I that Dr Moss actually began work on his turbosupercharger but his entire working life had been spent in mastering the principles of its component parts His father was a West Coast mining engineer and as a boy who read Jules Verne and took apart the family alarm clock Moss naturally became curious about the machines used in his father s business O ne of these was an air compressor used to drive rock drills and at the age of sixteen he apprenticed himself to a manufacturer who made them He tried to improve the compressors then in use but found that he didn t know . . - . , , - . , - , - . . . , , , , . , . , , , , . . ’ . . , . , , ’ . , . ’ , MOTORS AN D MILES 1 32 enough about engineering methods College was indicated He had no money but at the U niversity of California they gave him a job as janitor of the machine shop After he had swept the floor finished his stint working on a delivery wagon tutored a blind student and pre pared his lessons for the n ext day he went to the shO p a nd plotted inventions . . , . , , , . S tud ent inventor — — a jun i or that wa s i n 1 895 h W h en he was e brought forth an i n “ venti on that was to S hape his whole c a reer It was a gas turbine Col ” lege juniors usually invented gas turbines he s a ys The thing looked very simple The internal combustion engine is a good way to get power S O is the steam turbine and its rota ry action is more effic i ent than the reciprocal motion of the gasoline engine S O why not apply the power produced by burning fuel to a rotary device and get a more ! efficient gasoline engine He built a model in which the power generated by the combustion of the fuel spun the blades of a circular turbine instead of driving a piston as it does in the ordinary g a soline engine He finished the motor a nd puffed up with pride as i t actually ran All was well until he tried to make the engine do some work Then it coughed dismally and died After some thought he discovered the t rouble To make the engine run compressed a ir had to be forced into the combustion chamber The engine gener a ted enough power to run its own air compressor but nothing was left over That of course was a serious s et back but all wa s not lost Moss des cr i bed his experiments in a thesis and won his Master Of Ar ts degree It was not until years later that he found that John Barber O f E ngl a nd had taken out a patent for a gas turbine in “ “ ” I was convinced he s ays that B a rber had stolen my inven 1 7 91 ” tion E ven an a dmirer of Jules Verne had no i dea a t that t i me Of the needs . . . , . . , . , , . . . . , . . - , - . , . . . . , , , , , MO TO RS AN D MI LES 1 34 life had been directed by the goddess Of aviation whoever she may be the lady couldn t have improved the unconscious shaping of his career During the anxious periods of testing new compressors when the ma chines ran for forty eight hours at a stretch the designer watched over them like a mother over a sick child These bladed wheels when in rotation vibrate on a definite musical note and Dr Moss could follow their performance by the slightest change in pitch His ear became so sensitive to the shrill voice of the machine he had created that he could even go home and snatch some sleep By putting his head out of his bed room window a mile from the plant he could instantly detect a note of complaint It was logical that Dr Moss should be put to work on the steam — — tu rbine a mechanical first cousin of his compressors which during his working life has revolut ionized stationary and marine steam power In testing a new turbine for the first time it is necessary to know ex a c tly what happens to the flow of air created since a small stream of air flowing in the wrong direction may mean lowered efficiency Impatient with other testing methods Dr Moss once p i cked up a bucket O f white wash and threw its contents at the exposed whirling blades P lastered from head to toe he pointed excitedly at a tiny white stream which b e tray ed the presence Of an air current which h a dn t been detected before His associates still like to rib him about it but his whitewash method adapted to protect the experimenter is now a standard procedure in testing stream lines L ater Dr Moss wa s largely responsible for putting the steam tur bine into mass production Before this there were as many as different ways of making a turbine and each unit was a custom job Dr Moss st a ndardized the p a rts so that they could be combined in dif f erent ways to m a ke turbines Of all sizes at a gre a t saving in machine tools Hi s work was invaluable to the rapid manufacture Of marine turbines but what is more important to our theme his methods are now speeding the production of the turbosupercharger , , ’ . , - , . , , . , . . , , . . . , , . , . . , ’ . , , , - , . . . , . , . , . , , . DR MOSS AN D HIS TURBOSUP ERCHARGER 1 35 . It was late in 1 91 7 when plants were r unn i ng w i th fr a nti c speed and new ideas for war equipment were at a premium th a t Dr Moss s et to work on his first turbosupercharger A German named Schmidt had onc e planned a similar device and more recently a French engineer named August R ateau had tested a supercharger based on the same principles The Army A i r Corps heard of it and came to General E lec tri o and by Thanksgiving Day Dr Moss and a few helpers were busy in a little shed the o nl y building that could be spared “ ” The supercharger minus the turbo was by no means new In Diesel engines and racing cars gear driven compressors operated by the engines themselves have been used to pack a greater charge of air into the cylinder th a n is normally pu lled through the intake at s ea level These devices are satisfactory for automotive vehicles and with certain li mitations for airplanes but they cannot compete with the exhaust driven device in driving a plane to a high ceiling Another way of giving an engine more air is to increase the size O f the cylinder but the addition of weight is a barrier to really high flying S o the gas turbine of Dr Moss s student days was drafted at last and it wa s improved by all that he had learned through years Of design i ng bladed wheels for other purposes The spurting exhaust gases of a L iberty motor turned its blades The turbine drove a high speed cen tri fug a l air compressor and the engine power leaped to new high levels By February the government had placed an order and in May the fir st turbosupercharger was ta ken to McCook Field at Dayton O hio for a n o ffi cia l test , . , . , . . , . , . , , - , , , . , , , . , . ’ . , ' . - . - , . , , . , F irs t t es t at D a yton ” “ Huddled behind a barrier to ward O ff flying parts if the stepped up engine should explode a li ttle group of Army aviation experts wa tched as Dr Moss cautiously Opened the throttle T o the 35 0 horsepower L iberty there was attached a fat circular metal contraption so light - , . . , - M OTO RS AN D MI LES 1 36 th a t a m a n could c a rry it Running a t low throttle the engine delivered s o much added power that its probable performance at the high alti tudes for which it was built was clear to everyone A S many fliers have discovered since then if you cut wide open with a supercharged engine at s ea level the tremendous power is likely to tear the engine apart A control device has been installed to prevent such accidents Convinced that Dr Moss was on the right track Army authorities arranged a test on the foot crest of P ikes P eak where the thin air would duplicate the atmosphere of what was then high altitude “ ” flying In those days there were no stratosphere chambers in which various altitudes could be simul a ted for test purpose s The super ch a rged motor with gauges to test its performance was mounted on a truck and driven t o the summit It was August but the peak was bitterly c old Beating their hands and ducking their heads against the sharp driven snow they got the engine started F or the first time the engine was going through the ordeal of behaving in the upper air as though it were at sea level Because of the difference in air pressure i nside and outside parts that had seemed strong enough wouldn t stand up New parts were made and the test resumed Intent upon the performance Dr Moss forgot all about the whirl i ng propeller and his colleagues insist to this day that they had to tie him to a tree to keep him out of danger After the party had gone thro u gh a great deal Of agony the turbosuperch ar ger behaved exactly as Dr Moss had predicted Without it the high altitude had reduced the engine s 35 0 horsepower to a bare 2 30 With the new device attached i ts power was stepped up at once to 356 This meant even greater speed at high a ltitudes than the figures indicated for thin air Offers less resistance . , . , . , . . , - , - . . , , . , . , . , , . ’ . , . . , , . . , ’ . , . , . . , S chroeder s p l ung e ’ Soon after the mountain top demonstration actual fly ing tests got under way E quipped with Dr Moss s invention L ieut John A Mc - , ’ . . , . . MOTO RS AN D MI LES 138 He expl a ined that his device was not merely a war weapon that it would a ffect the whole future of aviation His he a rers listen ed politely —a nd turned to other matters Dr Moss has a policy about matching coins which may help to ex p lain his optimism and tenacity He always carries a pocketful of quarters and never misses a chance to risk a few of them It i Sn t gambling he is careful to explain it can be shown mathematically that the Odds always even up in the long run His definition Of a super s ti ti ous man is one who cannot bring himself to act upon the belief that no matter how the quarters have been falling what has gone before has nothing whatever to do with the next pitch And no matter how many executives and generals looked at their watches when he explained the merits Of his pet contrivance he never doubted that the Odds would eventually swing in his favor Although other research problems claimed his attention Dr Moss found t ime to make constant improvements in his device T he failure of turbine blades which are under a terrific strain in operation had always been a problem Driven by exh aust gases which may have a temper a ture as high as degrees the tips Of the small turbine blades a re red hot and gl ow in the dark but the inner portion of the revolu bl a des do not get a s hot With the turb i ne revolving at t i ons per minute each Of the blades weighing less than one fi fth Of an o un c e is subjected to a n outward pull of a bou t 7 00 pound s , . . . . , — ’ . , . , . , . . , . , , . , - , . - , , . , S r e up meta l develop ed It takes a super metal to absorb th i s pun i shment Such a metal must be capable O f being softened with heat in order to fabricate the blade yet the blade must not soften or change i n shape when its parts are subjected to varying high temperatures by the exhaust gases Fortu nately the art of metallurgy has gone a long W a y in recent years ; otherwi se we would have no turbosupercharger R esearch men found - . , . , . DR MOSS AND HIS TURB OSUP ERCHARGER 1 39 . th a t an a lloy called Vi ta llium which was used to fill teeth retained its str ength when superhe a ted This a lloy which contains chromium c obalt a nd molybdenum now s a ti sfie s the stiff requ i re ents of the tur bine blade , , . m , , , . T he g ea r driven - s up erc ha rg er A viation soon a ccepted supercharging but somewhat ironically i t wa s the gear driven supercharger to which Dr Moss also made i m porta nt contributions which first stole the show The idea of using power from the motor s crankshaft to run a compressor to pack more a ir into the motor to develop still more power may seem like lifting one s self by the bootstraps But we have seen in the discussion Of high octane fuel that additional cylinder compression yields far more power than is needed to force the piston up and gear driven super charging also pays Off handsomely In its simpler form the gear driven device will restore full s ea level power up to feet or s o and it was followed in the early thirties by a two speed supercharger which enabled the pilot to shift gears in his upward flight and thus increase the speed of the compressor to compensate for the increasing thinness of the air This type Of supercharger i s widely used in fight ing planes and has played an importa nt part in boosting their effective ceilings But the device works most efficiently only at the altitudes for ” “ which it is set while the fle xible turbosupercharger automatically regulates itself to the altitude keeping the air pressure i n the i ntake chamber and therefore the engine power the same as that a t s ea level R ec ent progress in this field has not been announced but at the t i me of the bombing Of Brest planes with turbosuperchargers delivered s ea feet and while power fell off thereafter they l evel power at were able to operate as high as feet This performance was not generally foreseen i n the late thirties Some engineers had not outgro wn an Old p rejudice against dev i ces , , - . , . , ’ ’ . - - , . , - , - , . . , , , . , , , , , . ’ . M O TO R S AN D M I LE S 14 0 which revolved at high speeds a nd others thought that the turbos uper charger s hot blades were a fire menace So Dr Moss was retired his invention still unutilized Then bombs started falling and suddenly the most important thing in life was to make planes which would go faster and higher and carry greater loads The gadget born in a shed soon filled acres of factory space Today there are eight turbosuperchargers in every S uperfortress four in every Fortress two in every L ightning and one in every Thun d erb olt In addition to giving s ea level engine performance at high alti tudes the device has saved many a pilot from death When at a lower level a pilot finds an enemy fighter on his tail he can a djust the device to increase the flow O f air and thus Obtain a sudden burst of speed to carry him out of danger , ’ . . , . , . . , , - . . , , . S up ercha rg ed ca bins The importance of the turbosuperch a rger i n mil i tary flying where the top dog ha s the advantage i s Obvious but high flying is also des tined for an important role in ci vil aviation E xperts look forward to a day not far distant when airliners with supercharged engines will zip a cross the continent in the stratosphere in six hours or less Higher S peeds will be reached because O f lowered air resistance and high altitudes will be safer for the planes will fly far above the storm clouds and mountain peaks Use of the upper a i r will pay o ff in flights which are long enough to justify the expenditure Of fuel and time needed to “ ” climb upstairs and down again But before stratosphere traffic can be established engineers must turn from the engine whose breathing needs they have cared for and consider the human being who has been left behind in the aircraft s perpendicular progress P ro i b to about feet the oxygen t ank and mask will supercharge the lungs but above that level various distressing and sometimes fatal symptoms s et in because of decreased , , , . - . , , ‘ . . , , , ’ , . , , , MOTO RS AN D MI LES 142 T begin with the cigar like fuselage was so designed because a cyl in der Offers greater resistance to internal air pressure than any othe r suitable shape During an early test a waist gunner leaned against a “ ” blister and i t blew out Driven by the compressed air rushing to escape from the hole the gunner followed and managed to land safely th ousands Of feet below So the blisters were reinforced The pressure can be i ncreased to counteract the deflating eff ect Of small bullet holes and the cabin is equipped with special pads for plugging up larger openings Minus the features born of war s necessities the pressurized Superfortress offers a fascinating pre view of the upper level flying Of tomorrow A nd the heart Of the whole system is the turb os uper charger whi ch pours the breath of life into both motors and men O - ~ , . , . , , . . , ‘ ’ . , - - . , . C H A P T E R E I G H T — PRIME MO VE R T H E A N EW O AS T URBI N E LA ST TH REE YE A R S civilians in certain parts of England and the United States have been occasionally startled by aerial apparitions which streak through the Sky with comet like speed Glimpses of these ghostly phenomena have always been from the rear for there i s no noise like that of the conventional airplane throb to herald their ap p roach As they pass overhead and fade into the distance a curious so und is heard Some describe it as a whistle whil eothers liken it to a boiling teakettle Meanwhile planes have been seen on the ground with open maws and no propellers and a number of aviation fans had come to certain conclusio ns long before the Army announced last year — that an airplane driven by jet propulsion an i dea long filed in the — same pigeo nh ole with moon bound rockets was at last an a ccom i l s h e d fact p The j et propelled plane is the most dramatic application Of a new prime mover which now rises to challenge older sources of power the gas turbine which according to Dr Sanford A Moss college juniors have been inventing since time immemorial without being able to make it work Some form of the gas turbine has existed on paper longer than the Christian era and patents relating to the principle run into unco un ted thousands Now at last the thrill Of life has animated its fabulous innards It works and like all other prime movers it has potentialities O f power which may a ff ect not only the world O f ma chines but may like the steam turbine and the recipro c ating internal combustion engine br i ng about profound changes in the life and habits of man FO R T HE , - . , . . , . , , - . - , . , . , , . , . . , , , . , , , MOTO RS AN D MI LES 144 Great claims a re made for this prime mover as a motive power for ships factories locomotives and electric generating stations and some of America s largest and most competent manufacturers are pushing these plans toward fruition E ngineering opinion of the motor ranges from boundless enthusiasm to sober skepticism but one thing is sure : the gas turbine is no longer an inventor s will O the wisp It is in pro duction and will eventually be on every job for which it seems suited and we will soon have a fair i dea Of where it belongs in the hierarchy of power We alrea dy know wh a t i t c a n do in the air O n a diet of kerosene it — can drive airplanes between 5 0 0 and 6 0 0 miles an hour about 1 00 mph faster than they have ever gone before It has little noise and no ' vibration It uses no propellers no cooling system no pistons or cra nk shafts and has only a few lubricating points , , , ’ . , ’ ’ - - - . , . . , . . , , . , B ea utif ul s imp l i c ity The gas turbine is an engine of beautiful and incredible S implicity The details of the aircraft motor now being produced are unknown but the princ i ples Of such a motor are common knowledge and many types h a ve been desi gned and public i zed in Germany Italy Sweden E ng land a nd Switzerland They differ widely in appearance and appur tenanc es but a re a ll a like i n th a t they b ea a ir by bur ning a fuel a nd t utilize the power of the released expanding a ir to drive the plane In i ts simplest form a gas turbine j et propulsion motor may be roughly described as a big tube with a large opening in front and a small one in back It has only two moving parts In front i s a rotating air co ni pressor and behind it mounted on the same shaft there is a turbine A i r dra wn in through the front is compressed then released in a com bus ti on chamber to supply o xygen for bu rning the fuel which i s i n into the chamber The hot expanding gas seeking an outlet e t c e d j spins the bl a des of the turbine thus givi ng up a large p a rt of its power . , , , , , . , , . , - - , , . . , , , . , . , , , , 14 6 . M OTO RS AN D MI LES that the propeller is becoming a limiting factor in airplane speed A s engine power has been boosted propeller blades have been made larger and longer to absorb the added power and heavy long legged undercarriages are needed to keep th e blades clear Of the ground O ne “ ” attempted solution is to mount two props rotating in Opposite di rec tions on the same shaft But no matter what devices are used turhu lence s et up by the propeller tips as they approach the speed of so und 0 5 7 mph defeats the motor and change s v a lues w i c h p revail a t h ( ) lower speeds ‘ . , ‘ , - , . , . , , . “ Vis iona ry ” F ra nk W hittle E leven years before his first jet propelled plane took to the air a young E nglishman named Frank Whittle set forth in a patent his own i deas Of a propellerl es s craft W hittle the s on of a n inventor had been building model planes since he was a boy The slide rule is his bible a nd with its aid he had checked every conceivable fact about his pro posed plane Since he was o nl y twenty two manufacturers who turned “ ” him down called him a young vi sionary Had he been older they would have called him an ol d visionary Nothing was done about his plan and Whittle joined the RA F rising through the ranks to the position of Group Captain In 1 933 b e i nterrupted his military career to study mechanical science at Cambridge where he won fi rst class honors He also discussed his ide a wi th other young airmen who had open minds Two of them caught his enthusiasm and ra i sed funds to b u ild the first kn own gas turbine jet propelled plane to emerge from the blueprint stage The work was done in a vacant foundry near Gloucester Curious natives listening to the noises that emanated from the locked doors of the factory concluded that Whittle and hi s men were making sausage machines In 1 937 his first engine passed a successful bench test and the government immediately put him on special duty for further resea rch The fi rst successful flight of the revolutionary - , . , , . , - . , . . , , . - , . . - - . . , , . , . A NEW R I M E M O V E R —T H E G A S T U R B I N E P 14 7 plane took place in May 1 94 1 The weird monster furnished plenty of s urprises P olicemen who were told to guard it overnight made the a wful discovery next morning that the propeller was missi ng and they had thrown a dra gnet over the countryside before they learned that this plane had no propeller When the plane was taken by truck to the a ir field a false nose with dummy propeller was used to conceal the secret from onl ookers When the plane was being warmed up a pilot ventured too near the air intake and was pulled into the duct and held there until the motor was stopped W h en an important Official wa lked by the spurt ing e xh a ust jet his coat was torn from his back and his hat was blown two miles away But the secret was s o well hidden that prev i ous to the public a nnouncement in January 1 944 not even Captain Whi ttle s wife and children knew wha t he was working on The United States A rmy Air Forces were given full detai ls early in the engine s development a nd soon after the Whittle plane made i ts first flight mysterious p ackages began to arrive at the Lynn Mass plant of the General E lectric Company They contained parts of a j et engine They were soon followed by Captain Whi ttle who called him “ ” self Whitely and concealed his identity from everyone but a few engineers while he assisted in the design and construction of the Ameri can j et p lane While the motor was being built the Bell Aircraft Com pany with equal secrecy constructed a plane to house it The American plane has two jet motors one on each side Of the fuselage while the E nglish plane has only one The first American et propelled flight took place on O ctober 1 1 94 2 a nd since that time hundreds of routine flights have proved beyond doubt the plane s reliability The Army s Opinion of it may be gathered from the fact that last year General E lec tr ic devoted a plant Of more than s quare feet of floor space to the production Of jet motors N O complet e descript i on of Capta in Whittle s pl a ne has been re leased at the time of wr i t i ng but certa i n general facts about perform a nce a re clear The j et propelled pla ne c a n use a lmost any form Of . , . , . , . , . . ’ , , . ’ , , , . . . , . , , . , , , - . , , , ’ ’ . ’ . ’ , . - , MO TORS AN D MI LES 14 8 cheap O i l fuel but i t uses a much greater weight of fuel per horsepower than the conventional aircraft motor with its high octane gasoline fuel As compensation for the added fuel load the Army Air Forces report that it will carry more weight for the same amount of wing space th a n the conventional plane The faster the j et plane goes the greater its propulsive effi ciency It reaches its maximum efficiency when the for ward speed of the pl a ne is equal to the backward spurt of the expanding — gas which drives it a nd this Optimum speed better than 7 00 mph would leave a c onventional plane standing still We have seen that the propeller driven plane falls Off i n power as i t gains in altitude and that superchargers are needed to help restore the lost vitality But the j et propelled plane is more efficient at high altitudes than in the denser atmosphere of s ea level In the thin upper air expansion of the g a s through th e nozzle is facilitated because of lower outside resistance so the speed of the plane is increased Yet Whittle s j et propelled plane will always be limited to altitudes within the earth s atmospheric blanket since it draws in oxygen to support combustion Of fuel O nly the rocket plane which does not exist except i n theory can go higher This much heralded sky vehicle has been frequently confused with the gas turbine j et propelled plane While both are driven by the reaction of expanding gases the rocket plane as Dr R H Goddard and others have conceived it carries its own oxygen and therefore needs no air compressor or turbine and is at — — home theoretically in interplanetary waste spaces beyond the earth s atmosphere The et planes now flying are not rocket planes and “ ” the attention of headline writers is directed to the fact that j et is a shorter as well a s a more accurate word ” “ Germany s secret weapon Of 1 94 4 the pilotless bomb carrying craft with which s he bombarded L ondon is not a rocket plane but b e longs in the j et propelled category since it requires atmospheric oxygen for the combustion of its fuel Although popularly called a ” “ bomb this device is really a throw away j et propulsion airplane , - . , . , . , . - , . - . , , . ’ - ’ , . , , - . - - . , . , . . , , ’ . , . , ’ - , , , - , , . - , - , M O TO RS AN D M I LE S 1 50 fir n a celles tail and all other protuberances have been submerged i n a single thick wing With crew passengers and cargo as well as power uni ts all concealed in one smooth unbrok en wing greater speed or more miles to the gallon of fuel are assured report aviation experts G Geo ffrey Smith i n his recent book Gas T urbines a nd J et P rop uls i on for A ircraft makes the following suggestion : “ ‘ Thus if it be a ccepted that progr ess with the a ll wing design h a s been such that it is now as stable and maneuverable as conventiona l a ircraft the equally modern power plant of compact circular shape with few excrescences as represented by the turbine compressor com b i n a tion would suggest i tself as an ideal form of power unit for devel opment with an aircraft of this character It has been estimated tha t a flying wing has from th i rty three a nd one third per cent to fifty per cent less total drag than a normal type which implies that considerably less horsepower is needed to atta in the same speed Since a jet propul sion unit is considerably lighter in weight th a n an equ ivalent recipro cating engine with i ts many auxiliaries a double advantage is s ug gested on paper by marrying the flying wing to the gas turbine It seems ” a logical development with attractive possibilities The great speed of the jet plane makes it conspicuously eligible for military use but civil airlines the world over are exploring its poss i b i l iti es for high level transoceanic passenger service and the British A i r Ministry has approved a design for postwar trans Atl a ntic use Meanwhile many engineers are working to improve the gas turbine a nd the first machine to profit by an increase in its efficiency will be the j et propelled plane While the new plane demonstrates one of the most spectacular uses of the newly perfected gas turbine firms like Westinghouse General E lectric E lliott D eL aval and Allis Ch a lmers are inves ting quantities of money and work on the earth bound future of the motor In the air the only purpose of the turbine is to spin the air compressor and the surplus power in the expanding gas i s ut i l i zed in the forward push i ng , . , , , , . , . , , ’ - , - . - - , ' . , . . , - , , - . , , - . , , , , , - . , - , - A NEW PRIME MO V E R —T H E G A S T U RB INE 151 jet rea ct ion In the ground version of the motor the jet device is el imi nated and the turbine is designed both to take care of the power needs of the compre s sor and to convert the residual energy into power for turning wheels It would be possible to mount such an engine in an — ordinary plane and make the turbine S pin the propeller in fact such — des igns exist but according to th e Whittl e school of thought such an arrangement would add weight reduce mechanical efficiency and be generally superfluous O n the ground the surplus turbine power does the work and it is this type of engine which is now being develope d in varied designs to drive locomotives ships and stationary machinery . , , . , , , . , , , A . nc ient orig ins Notions about gas turbines and jet propulsion rattled around in the minds of inventors long before the gasoline engine was thought of Historians usually trace the origin of these ideas to Hero of Alexan . I S ir ti s aa c f es ca on o d war N e wt n ide p ing t e m w ’ o s f a o s a p pelled v e h i le R upp ed t p u h i ge fo a as s j et- os ro c o s . carr a eac r . dria who about 1 30 B C built a toy altar with a firebox beneath it Hot air passed through a radial system of tubes forced them to rotate and gave the illusion of life to symbolic figures of men and women Hero also built a kind of steam engine which operated by the jet reaction which now drives planes In 1 680 Sir Isaac Newton built a model of a , . . . , , . . MO 1 52 O RS T MI A N D LES j et propelled horseless carriage Steam generated in a spherical boiler escaped through a jet pointed rearward and the reaction was supposed to drive the vehicle T he j et could be turned f or steering purposes— a feature which is now incorporated in some of the jet airplane designs The first working gas turbine of sorts seems to have been the seven “ ” teenth century smokejack A crude turbine mounted in the chimney above a fireplace was turned by the pressure of rising hot air and through a system of gears it rotated a roasting spit Then in 1 791 John Barber of E ngland took out the first patent for a gas turbine It was an approach to the engine of today in that it provided for a compressor a combustion chamber and the turbine So far as we know the motor was never built and little is kn own of its possibilities except that it could not have been practical in view of the limited mechanical devel op ment of the period and the metals then available Since that time a host of engineers have improved th e component parts of today s gas turbine many of them with no thought that they were helping to create a new prime mover Air compressors for in stance have a multitude of industrial uses O nce air was compressed by a pumplike device with a piston which traveled back and forth a method too ineffi cient for high speed devices Man s material progress has depended largely upon the trick of taking a straight line and bend ing it into a circle H e bent the primitive sled runner into the more etfi cient wheel ; he converted the flat bed reciprocating printing press into the rotary press which makes modern newspaper s possible and he took nd made it turn a wheel the linear force exerted by the el ectromagnet a So rotary compressors were built and it is a comparatively new de vel opment in this line the axial fl ow compressor which has broken one of the bottlenecks in gas turbine design and made the long deferred motor a practical tool This funnel like compressor bristling with whirling blades packs air into smaller and smaller volume a s it passes through it ” “ Knowledge gained in building the steam turbine ( another circle - . , . . - . , . , . , . , , . ’ , . , . , , , ’ - . - . - , . , - , , - - . , . , 1 54 MOTORS ll i mM I L E S A has been Operated since 1 94 0 It uses no water and is simple to rep air The following year the world s first gas turbine electric locomotive was put on the tracks by the same firm The compact light weight engine turns in a good performance at eighty miles an hour and is almost twice as efficient as a steam locomot ive The Swiss locomotive may turn out to be a trail blazer Engi nes of this type may pul l trains in the United States after the war The Allis . . ’ - - . - , . - . . — T U RBIN E A —FUE L BURN E R C D E — — O UT P UT E LE CT RIC G E N E RA T O R MO S T A RT IN G TO R th e g tu b ine n wbe ing b u il t f h ip nd l m ti ve A i i d wn in mp e ed b y wh i l i ng mp e w t t p h wn by ( B ) u h e t fu el b u ne ( C) wh e e i t fu ni h e xyg e n fo mb u ti n f il H t exp nding g e tu n tu b ine ( A ) nd e pe th ough ex h u t ft e gi ving up p we T u b ine d i e m u nt ed n me h ft nd wi th e m i ning p we d i e e le t i g n omp e t ( D ) J t pl ne m t i imil i n p in iple ex ep t th t u plu p we i u ed by ele ing g th ugh n le p u h ing p l ne fo w d ( C u t e y A lli C h l me M nuf tu i ng C mp ny ) D ia g ra m of o as s r a rro r r c ra or r a . as ac o r a r ss r co a r s a s s ozz , co r c a s o o o c r ar s . o r r s o s s as r v s s s r v s r . r ra s a r r a r . , o a , , o . r a s r ss or o o s r a ar , s oc o s a r s o sa ro o co , s o or a as or s s ca a o e o r , r s s or, o a r r c r as c r c o s r s a e s rs . Chalmers Company of Milwaukee has drawn up blueprints for a “ ” horsepower gas turbine locomotive equipped with the fluid dr ive used in some automobiles and General E lectric and Westinghouse are plann i ng experl mental gas turbine electric units Such eng mes will take up much less space than steam or Diesel locomotives Ins tead of depending upon cooling systems this engine is actually insulated to keep heat from escaping A motor without a thirst it will save the time - , , - - . . , . , - electron T he s own b y D h r . i m wh i h i k i d J y c rosc ope V K Z wor . . , c n an Court sy a o Corporat on m r a i i w f ti e ee h m ( e R di i o fA e pe ni ng ne n o t s i n i s r ame s Hi ll i e r le ade dev el p e t s o ron , rs n r s arc , ic s . it h vi hi t ak e n at ” f ree e s mot i on of ele c t i c ra or wh os e motor s s e c on d 1 1 6 rev ol ut i on s per s e c ond P o rtra of “ , homo z s ap iens , s a g Court sy st n ous l 1 00 0 00 0 h f i m k i g m e th ( n r . 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( a ca o s c orn, one d work e H d . y P lan en f eed e er te r l a p . man d oe s as much Court sy n rn nal r r e I te Ct ati o Ha ves te Ct A N E W P R I M E M O V E R —T H E G A S TURBIN E 1 55 now used for taking on water and will be especially adaptabl e to dry areas Manufacturers also h ave their eyes on the marine power field both naval and commercial and a number of the new motors are being built for cargo ships and tankers First to go into operation will be a ton freighter for which the E lliott Company is building a s ea going gas turbine of to horsepower If tests are s ati s fac tory the motor may be used in L iberty ships E limination of boilers condensers and water distilling apparatus would substantially increase cargo space Some of the advant ages of the new motor in comparison with older prime movers have been summed up as follows in the Ind us tria l B ulle t in of Arthur D L ittle Inc : “ The reciprocating steam engine i s a complex inefficient mechanism requiring an auxiliary steam generator plant The more e fficient steam turbine reduces the complexity but retains the steam plant while the gasoline engine and the Diesel with still greater efficiency eliminate steam but greatly increase the mechanical complexi ty the gas turbine can outdo all other prime movers in simplici ty for it eliminates the steam turbine s steam producing and condensing system the gasoline engine s cooling system and the problem of lubricating ” hot sliding surfaces E ach of these features of the new motor constitutes a revolution in power all by itself but it would be a mistake to assume that the gas turbine can be all things to all men All machines no matter how won derful have their shortcomings as well as their advantages The gas turbine l n its present stage of development has two outstanding limi tati ons First it is a medium size motor I t is not suited to a small job like driving an automobile or a task like running a big electric power plant In general suitability and e fficiency it cannot match the gasoline motor for the former use or the steam turbine for the latter Secondly even in its most appropriate chores it is less efficient than other prime . , , . - . . , , - . . . , , - . , , , , ’ - , ’ , . , , . , . , , . , - . , , . , . , , , MOTORS 1 56 — movers that is MI LES A N D it converts l ess of the heat in its fuel into useful work than does the Diesel the steam turbine or the gasoline motor All hea t is theoretically convertible into power and the most c fh ” “ cient heat engine (a phrase which covers all these motors ) is the one which utilizes the greatest amount of the heat obtained in burning fuel for turning a wheel and loses the least heat to the surrounding a n The greater the step down in temperature between the heat of combustion and the heat of the exhaust the more heat units there are available for work S o the hotter the gases are when they hit the turbine blades the more powerful is their force of expansion and the more efficient is the engine , . , , , . , - , , . . F uture p oss i bil iti es — The way to greater e fficiency may seem simple regulate air intake and fuel consumption to make the gases which hit the turbine hotter and hotter But there is a limit to the heat which turbine parts will stand The turbosupercharger for instance was not a practical machine until alloys were found to make turbine blades which would operate while red hot without losing their shape Gas turbines now in operation at temperatures of to F have efficiencies varying from six teen per cent to twenty two per cent which is lower than all heat engines except the reciprocating steam engine But with each small increase in practical Operating temperatures there is a big jump in effi ciency and engineers are working on gas turbines designed to stand a temperature of degrees and to get as much power out of the fuel as mos t auto mobile engines In its more complex forms the new motor has become an elaborate system of heat juggling with each addition designed to cut fuel con sumption and step up the yield of power F or instance if you pipe the compressed air through the hot exhaust gases before it enters the com bus ti on chamber you save some of the heat that otherwise woul d be . . , , - . . - , . , . , - , . , C H A P T E R N I N ‘ E — A E R I A L A CR O BA T W E HE LI CO PT E R O of the average citizen for the Thunderbolt the B 2 9 the jet plane and other darting monsters of the air is tempered with awesome respect He has no desire whatever to s it at their controls There is only one new flying machine which for good or ill gives him a conviction of adequacy and makes him feel that he too can fly through the air with the greatest of ease This is the dumpy ugly slow poke the helicopter whose disarming lack of symmetry and dash helps to allay fears and breed familiarity “ ” The widely publicized tricks performed by this flying windmill complete the impression that the helicopter I S a foolproof aerial kiddy car in which everyone from grandmother to the baby can gambol about with pleasure and profit Here is an air coup é which will rise gently from the backyard perch on a roof hover in the air at any spot desired turn its nose hither and yon like an inquisitive fish nuzz le your hand like a friendly puppy or dash off on a carefree hundred mil e trek with out fear of storm or hurricane The ground is the natural enemy of the conventional airplane which depends upon speed to keep it in the air d a certain altitude to keep it from crashing but the vertically de an scending helicopter is equally at hom e at an altitude of s ix inches or a thousand feet In a fog it can feel its way as cautiously as a blind man with a stick O n a holiday trip it can pause while you speculate about a ca mping spot or while your wife makes up her mind about a roadside restaurant In short if this were the entire story there might be justi fic ati on for the common belief that tomorrow or the day after the heli copter will become the family conveyance that weeds will burgeon nu T H E A D M IRA T I N - , . , . , , , . , , , , . . , , , , - , . , , . , . . , , , , , , A E R I A L A C R O B A T —T H E H E L I C O P T E R 1 59 molested in the highways while whirling fl ivvers by the million spee d Americans upon their multitudinous errands Yes this gaudy vision may be realized We may also bake our bread by radio waves b eat our houses by the s un and outlaw th e common cold In technical matters today s pessimist stands on shakier ground than the unbridled optimist of the nineties Everyone agrees that th e helicopter is a fascinating invention with great possibilities but th e amateur zealots who have been trying to persuade manufacturers to accept their checks and guarantee early postwar d elivery would do well to restrain themselves for a few years until the wave of perfervid pub l i c ity has sub sided and the helicopter s virtues and limitations ha ve been fully determined by operation on a larg e scale . . , , , ’ . , ’ . , ’ , . Hus ky infa nt Meanwhile the helicopter has been develope d s o rapidly that it can not suffer by realistic appraisal L ike the gas turbine and jet propul S l on it is both new and ol d From the point of view of practical perform ance the American helicopter is not yet three years of age for it was in May 1 94 2 that the first Sikorsky machine was delivered un d er its own power to the Army at Wright Field Dayton O hio br eaking a ll records an d furnishing conclusive evidence of future worth O n this epoch making flight C L Morris engineering test pilot for Igor Sikorsky designer and builder of the machine flew it 7 6 1 miles fro m the factory at Stratford Connecticut to Wright Field The trip took five days and sixteen separate hops averaging less than fifty miles each Average speed was no better than fifty miles an hour This performance recalls the trips of the first sputtering gas buggies L ike female preach ing as appraised by Samuel Johnson it was not done well but s pecta to rs were amazed that it was done at all However Morris made the machine perform a number of stunts that no fixed wing aircraft co ul d do An automobile traveled th e route v ia highway keeping pace with , . . , , , , , , , , . ‘ - . , . , , , , . , . , . - . , , . , - . , MOTORS 1 60 MILES A N D the ship Flying ahead Morris W ould hover o v er intersections signal ing the driver when the road was clear Approaching airports he startled control tower Operators out of their boots by stopping in the air before their windows and staring at them When in gliding to the ground he overshot his mark on an airfield he pa used a few feet aloft and backed up to the proper spot before letting the ship down These are only a few tricks from the helicopter s repertoir e which make it suitable for many uses where the conventional airplane cannot favor ably compete This 1 94 2 helicopter Sikorsky s XII 4 carried only enough fuel for a two hour flight In vertical ascent it could climb only about a hundred feet then the pilot had to tilt the rotor forward and gain further altitude in the manner of an airplane In the next two years great things hap pened It was as though a 1 90 5 Ford were suddenly transformed into a vehicle of World War I In March 1 94 4 two men climbed into Sikorsky s X R 6 at the Washington National Airport and flew nonstop 387 air miles to P atterson Field near Dayton Breaking all records th e ship was in the air four hours and fifty five minutes ascended with its two man load to feet and averaged eighty miles an hour That was the beginning of a helicopter year Soon the Bell Aircraft Company of Buffalo American pioneer of the jet propelled plane opened their doors to newsmen and unveiled a rotary wing plane which they had been testing for months The plane was demonstrated in an armory to show how accurately it could be controlled An air cooled Franklin engine mounted vertically behind the pilot s seat spun the two rotor blades wh ich whirled through a horizontal circle thirty three feet in diameter In the tail of the craft a small vertical propeller custo mary on helicopters spun parallel with the ship keeping the working rotor blades from pulling the cabin around with them For the first time in the United States an airplane flew indoors as Test P ilot Floyd Carlson gazing through the plastic windows of the d streamlined cabin lifted the helicopter gently from the ground an . , , . , . , . ’ . ’ - , - , . , . , . . , , ’ - . , - , - . , . - , , - . - . ’ , , - , . , , . , , , MOTORS 1 62 A N D MILES The craft may also be use d for rescue work at sea A helicopter can hover over a life raft lower a ladder or body harness and pull up s tranded pilots or seamen in rough weather wi thout risking descent to the surface By settling perpendicularly to the groun d in a secluded spot it could land sp ecial agents and equipment behind enemy lines without the hazards of parachuting The Navy has conducted tests in which helicopters used space on ships decks as l anding fields and L iberty ships ha ve been redesigned t o provide for helicopter plat forms This craft may be used for the protection of convoys against submarines When it sights an undersea boat it can hover dire ctly above it and drop a depth bomb with an accuracy impossible to a con venti onal plane It would seem to be ideal for liaison work in field maneuvers where the demand is not for fast planes but for planes s o slow that officers can follow the movements of troops I t has been the boast of some manufacturers of small S ports planes that their craft will almost stand still In a helicopter an officer can take up a stationary position aloft for as long as he wish es cri ticiz ing troop movements or correcting artillery fire by radio These are only a few of th e jobs which may or may not be done today by the helicopters of unk nown number now serving in the war . , , . , . ’ , . . , . , , . . , , . . D a Vinc i thoug ht f o it We have sai d th at th e hel icopter is b oth old an d new It i s as old as L eonardo da Vinci the remarkable fif teenth century genius who thought of almost everything It is believed th a t d a Vinci b uilt model helicopters that flew an d it is certain th a t he left sketches b ehin d him showing his interest in the helicopter principle It was inevitable that those who wishe d to emulate the flight of the bir d shoul d think of wings tha t fl apped and that after weighing th e mechanical difficulties of such direct imitation they should hit upon the i d ea of b ir d lik e wi ngs which by rotating provided buoyancy an d fo rward propulsion A n endless . - , . , . , , . A E R I A L A C R O B A T —T H E H E L I C O P T E R 1 63 proces sion of woodshed Icarus Greens tried to build helicopters many of them incorporating foot pedal arrangements in their designs by which the operator was supposed to whirl the lifting rotors by his own muscular power But man was not engineered for such p ersonal a dven tures Someone has figured out that a correctly designed angel woul d have an indelicately gargantuan chest development and weight saving claws instead of legs and it wo ul d seem that the habitual operator of a pedaled helicopter wo ul d have to be conversely c onfigurated Genera tions of breed ing might achieve this end but while we have motors an d fuels such a proj ect would be too undigni fied and uneconomic Y et as recently as 1 938 W F Gerhardt who had once pedaled in the air for a short distance in a tiny fix ed wing airplane built a man powered helicopter at Wayne University Detroit and the wife of a faculty mem ber managed to get it off the ground Many distinguished names occur in the list of early experimenters with the helicopter idea among them Hiram Maxim Thomas E dison P eter Cooper Hewitt E mile Berliner inventor of the microphone and his son Henry In 1 90 7 B regu et of France built a machine with four lifting rotors in which h e flew a distance of sixty four feet But the practical development of rotary wing aircraft did not begin until after World War I and then it was the autogiro not the helicopter which took the lead L ike the helicopter th e autogiro has an upright metal post extend ing from the cabin which i s the axle of long revolving blades But in — flight these blades are not driven by the motor they rotate freely as the airstream strikes them and serve the same purpose as the airplane s “ ” fixed wings by providing lift to keep the craft in th e air The craft is driven by an ordinary aircraft engine which rotates a propeller in the nose like that of a conventional plane but in recent designs there is an arrangement for hooking up the engine with the overhead rotor to give the craft a j ump start lifting it a few feet off the ground after whi ch the conventional propeller takes over and the rotor rotates in the air , - . . - , . , . . , . , - - , , , . , , , , , , . - . , - , , , . , , . , ’ , . , , , MOTORS 164 MI LES A N D stream like a free windmill T h3angle at which the rotor blades bite the air can be regulated When the pilot wishes to take off he S pins the rotor by engine power with the blades almost parallel to the ground After they have reached su fficient speed he suddenly changes their angle they bite into the air and up he goes The autogiro shares some of the advantages of the helicopter The pilot can shut off the power and descend vertically to land on a S pace of pocket handkerchief dimensions and he can fly very S lowly without fear of stalling But this craft lacks the amazing maneuverability of the helicopter Because of its conventional propeller it can go only forward in ordinary flight and it cannot without the assistance of wind hover over a S pot on the ground . . , . , , , . . - , . . , , , . , A utog iro n e r o e i p Several inventors built experimental autogiros after the close of World War I A Spaniard Juan de la Cierva is given credit for the first successful one De la Cierva had been experimenting with aircraft for years Disturbed by the many fatal accidents caused by stalling he brought out his autogiro in 1 91 9 as a safer type of aircraft I t contained a device which was destined to ha v e a profound influence on all “ ” rotary wing ships I t is obvious that as a windmill ship goes forward the rotating blade gives more lift on the S ide which is moving against the wind than it does in the other half of its orbit where it is moving with the wind De la Cierva corrected this by making the blades flexible s o that the y altered their pitch with each half revolution thus balancing the ship and giving equal lift on each side This principle is now used on many helicopters No popular conception of rotary wing flight is complete without a roof landing field on an apartment house or o ffice building Unlike some notions of the coming age of flight this one is perfectly sound and has been proved not only by test but by a long period of daily . , , . . , . - . , . - , . . - . , , MOTORS 1 66 MI LES A N D or may not turn out to be sound 1 8 a roof garage topped by a hor izontal S liding door Travelers would take the elevator to the garage and seat themselves in the aerial bus then an attendant would zip the roof back and the helicopter would take off like a pigeon from a cote P eople who raved about the autogiro were soon to transfer their enthusiasm to the helicopter In 1 938 in the Deutschlander Halle a large auditorium in Berlin the first reliable ship with an engine driven rotor was put through its paces before an admiring audience This was the helicopter of Dr Heinrich Focke L ike the Bell machine in Buff alo last year it rose easily from the floor and was deftly piloted aro und the room settling a g a l n to the floor as softly as a falling leaf , . , . . . . , , - , . . . , . , E nter S ikors ky Igor Sikorsky the noted aircraft designer who create d the clipper transport plane followed fast on F ocke s heels with his first successful machine He had begun experimenting with the novel craft in Russia and in 1 90 9 and 1 9 1 0 had built experimental helicopters with two rotors His second ship rose from the ground by itself but wo ul d not support the weight of a pilot I t was an education rather th an an achievement In intervals between his brilliant work on conventional airplanes Sikorsky pursued his rotary wing goal and thirty years after his first attempt he had completed a practical helicopter In 1 94 0 he took the ship off theground and stayed in the air for fifteen minutes ; the following year he kept the craft in the air for an hour and a half a world endurance record and then in May 1 94 2 occurred the flight of many hO p s to Wright Field an achievement followed by more Army orders and public realization that another of man s pretentious dreams had come true While the whirling skycraft of Sikorsky and Bell have received widest att ention helicopters of other typ es are being manufactured or are in the process of gesta tion In the early twenties the late Dr , ’ , . , . , . . - , , . , , , , , ’ . , . , . A E R I A L A C R O B A T —T H E H E L I C O P T E R 1 67 George de B othezat working with the Army Air Corps built a heli O opter driven by four rotors which stayed in the air briefly on a number of test flights This model was rather cumbersome and was abandoned but the Helicopter Corporation of America is now making a simpler and more efficient flying machine designed by de B othezat This hel icop ter has two rotors mounted on the same vertical mast rotating in Opposite directions Since the contra rotating rotors cancel the tendency seen in other models to pull the ship around there is no need of a small rotor at the rear to keep the craft pointed straight To steer this heli copter the pilot simply changes the pitch of the blades in for instance the rotor which spins clockwise s o that it o ffers less resistance to the airstream and allows the counter clockwise rotor to change the for ward direc tion of the S hip And to steer the ship in any horizontal direction the whole propulsion unit engine rotors and all are tilted in that direction The inventor had tremendous enthusiasm for the craft s future He foresaw giant machines carrying many passengers and he also planned a light and simple one man craft which should sell at a low price and will fascinate the adventurous if it is ever displayed in a shop window “ Another mach ine with contra rotating props ca lled the Hillercop ” ter by its nineteen year old inventor Stanley Hiller J r was success fully demonstrated in San Francisco last year Hiller has designed a new and secret mechanism which controls the pitch and speed of either or both of the t wo rotors He has been c ommi s s 1 oned by the Na vy to build a larger machine on the same lines Another entry in the field is sponsored by Higgins Industries which has been testing a helicopter designed by Enea Bossi with a view to large scale postwar production O nly a few years a g o Bossi an aero nautical designer of long experience built a tiny man powered plane a nd succeeded in getting it off the ground ; now hi s restless contriving mind has spawned another unusual craft Above his two seater cabin there is a rotor with four blades one pair s et above the other but all , , , , . . , - . , . , , , , - . , , , , . ’ . , - . - , - - , . , , . . . , - . , , - , , . , - MOTORS 1 68 A N D MI LES turning in the same direction Thi s rotor has a universal mounting s o that no matter how it is inclined in flight the cabin remains horizontal It ha s a tail propeller which keeps the ship from turning sidewise and also acts as a rudder The inventor claims that the ship is s o stable that the pilot can take his hands off the controls without risk I t has a 1 7 5 horsepower air cooled motor and is said to fly at the same speed as a conventional plane with the same power plant Another wartime indus trial titan Henry J Kaiser has mounted the helicopter bandwagon and is grooming a craft of new design at his Fleetwings Di vision There is also the sturdy looking P latt L eP a ge helicopter which appears from the front to have stubby airplane wings These side ex tensions are really tubular supports for the ship s two rotors Since the “ ” rotors turn in opposite directions there is no torque or tendency to rotate the craft itself s o no tail rotor is needed to insure straight flight L ate in 1 94 3 a single seater machine produced by P V E ngineering Forum Inc of P hiladelphia took to the air in Washington and per formed the unique stunts oi th e helicopter L ike the Bell c raft it is driven by an air cooled Franklin engine a motor which may be in great demand if the whirling wing program lives up to expectations The P V craft has a gross weight of a thousand pounds and a top speed o f ninety to 1 00 miles an hour E ach of these new ships has mechanical features which its makers believe make it superior to its rivals and new ideas are constantly germinating At the time of writing twenty five firms and organizations are either actively building helicopters or planning to build them and at least fifty firms are making or preparing to make component parts for them The flying machine which at the time of P earl Harbor hardly existed as a practical device is now backed by the best money and brains in the country But its warmest friends insist that it is still in its infancy an d are seriously afraid that its prospects may be ruined by a wave of unbuttoned public enthusiasm inspired by grandiose publicity . . , , . . - , . . , , , . - - , . ’ . , , , . - - , . , , , ~ . , - , - . - . , . - , , . , . . MOTORS 1 70 A N D MILES . authority has pointed out this rich variety of possible movements mak es the ship much more difli cult to control than the conventional plane L ast year Col Gregory stated that the Army had less than twenty qualified helicopter pilots and these men were all experience d airmen before they took lessons on the new craft The helicopter pilot must master about as many coordinated movement patterns as a pipe organ player and in a two seater craft if he changes places with his partner he must use his left han d for motions he formerly did with his right and vice versa O f course we are dealing with the ship in its present state The helicopter of the future may be outfitted with a mechanical brain but until that time comes the Skies will not be black with commuters bound for city rooftops or housewives on shopping tours Much has been written about the backyard helicopter landing field but this would not be practical in most backyards The powerful down ward gale from the whirling blades would blow dust and leaves through doors and windows and wives would scuttl e for cover instead of gaily bidding farewell to their helicoptering mates as the y do in pretty pictures of the fu ture Ano ther notion which tickles the imagination is a helicopter tha t will fold its wings and take to the highway like a n automobile and mechanical composers have also written scores for such b i functional airplanes This is not impossible as a stunt just as a poultryman might conceivably breed a turkey that would fly like an obese and arthritic eagle The engineering requirements of land and air loco motion are contradictory and unless someone passes a miracle it is the part of wisdom to read about such fascinating gadgets instead of buying one As for safety it is well known that if th e helicopter s motor dies at a good altitude there is little danger of a crash for th e blades of the rotor turning freely will ease the descent but Col Gregory states that there is an altitude danger zone between thirty and 30 0 feet If the , , . . , . - , , ! . , . , , , . , . , . , - . , . , . ’ , , , , , . . A E R I A L A C R O B A T —T H E H E L I C O P T E R 1 71 engine fails in that altitude zone the occupants may be in for a hard and possibly fatal crash These are some of the li mitations of the helicopter in its pres ent s tat e of d evelop ment In view of the progress of the airplane since Ki tty Hawk it will be remarkable indeed if this three year old flying machine is not vastly improved in the next decade These limitations mean simply tha t any aircraft is an aircraft and that one has to be a qual ified aviator to fly one O nce we dismiss the nonsense we can get a clear view of the many potential uses of the new craft E specia ll y impressive are the plans to “ ” us e helicopter busses on feeder lines to supplement the big air transport systems , . . - - , . , . , . . A i l bus s es er a to c ome ! The Greyhound Corporation whose bus routes exten d over miles of highway has applied to the Civil Aeronautics Board for authority to operate helicopters over routes totalling some miles Greyhound s pu rpose is to coordinate air service with bus “ ” service as well as to furnish feeder air service to many towns where passenger traffic is too light to support commercial airplane service Just as the bus has become indispensable l n s ervmg communities which cannot support rail transportation the helicopter would tie up the small towns with the big a irfields E xisting bus stations would be en larg ed to provide for helicopter take off spaces an d garages an d present waiting rooms repair shops and other facilities woul d serve both ground an d aerial busses According to Greyhound s figures air transportation is now conveniently accessible to of th e country s popul ation who live in 1 60 cities The company proposes to bring convenient air travel to an a dd itional people and is of the Opinion that the fares in such a helicopter bus serv ice wo uld be no hi gher th a n th e cost of private automobile travel , , ’ . . , . , . - , , ’ . , ’ . , . MOTORS 1 72 A N D MI LES If this plan comes to fruition W e may envision tomorrow s summer j aded New Yorker boarding a helicopter at a centrally located bus station and traveling in cool dustless comfort to a town in the Ver “ ” mont hills O r he might hel i cop to L a Gu ard i a Field board a plane for Montreal and change for a flying bus to the L aurentians Greyhound also points out that in many present air trips of 2 5 0 miles and less a d i sprO portionate amount of time is spent in going to and from air fields In going from Chicago to Detroit the air traveler spends fifty per cent of the time on the ground and S ixty two per cent of the time is spent in ground travel in an air trip from New York to P hiladelphia Helicopters taking off from the center of a city would extend air travel by making shorter flights worth while S O far as is kn own no helicopter now exists which will carry more than two people but designers have complete confidence that much larger ones can be built Sikorsky stated at the CAB hear i ng that it would be entirely practical within the immediate future to build a transport helicopter which would carry two crew members fourteen passengers and 4 0 0 pounds of cargo Such a craft b e estimated would need horsepower supplied either by a S ingle motor or a group of smaller ones and at a cruising speed of 1 00 miles an hour would need about 1 0 0 gallons or 6 0 0 pounds of fuel to carry it 1 5 0 miles Sikorsky is not alone in his anticipations Vincent Bendix who recently an nounced the formation of Bendix Helicopter Inc is working on plans for a ten passenger one ton helicopter of 6 0 0 horsepower and a twenty pass enger two ton air bus of horsepower The date of arrival of these craft depends on the war s duration Much of engineering work now being done on milita ry helicopters is directly applicable to the production of a rotary wing air bus states Mr Sikorsky I t is well to reiterate that the practical helicopter is s o new that the gloss is still on it Scores of modificat ions and revolu ti onary changes are being considered O ne of the most arresting of these ideas is a novel use of the newly developed gas turbine to drive the ’ , , , . , . I , . , - , . . , , . , . , , , , , . . , . , - , - - . ’ . - . . . . , C H A P T E R E T ‘ 5 N tm PO W E R ru n o oRRow DE MAN D S S LAC K E N and the tools an d ga d gets of peace once more stream from the factories millions of American families will — rush to gratify their greatest deferred desire the purchase of a new automobile O ther millions will buy busses trucks tractors motor cycles outboard motors auxiliaries for yachts stationary engines both gasoline and Diesel and home furnaces th at burn oil And aircraft — gluttons for fuel since they us e it both for propulsion of all kinds — and to overcome gravity will multiply We may also expect an in crease l n the demand for packaged petroleum gases for househol d cooking and heating and for industrial uses There is the demand new since P earl Harbor for petroleum products to make artificial rubber and in lesser volume increased use of the plastics and other chemi cal products which are fashioned from crude oil Judging by historical trends in American consumption there will be no interruption to the prodigious and constantly increasing deman d for energy in the production of power heat and light The National Resources Committee estimated in 1 939 that our per capita c ons ump tion of energy was fifty per cent higher th an th at of Great Britain more than twice that of Germany more than ten times that of Japan and 1 5 0 times that of China The report stated th at in 1 937 th e total — of energy use d in the Unite d States for purposes all the way from — electric power generation to running the family car represented for each family in the country an equivalent of 1 2 0 horsepower eight hours a day six days a week and that over a period of forty years the total amount of energy used annually increased 6 00 per cent No re A s W AR , . , , , , , , , . , , . . , , , , . , ' , . , , , . - , , , . POWER FOR TOMORROW 1 75 liable estimates are available for the boom war perio d but we may draw conclusions from the fact that production of electric power has increased by one third since the United States entered the war and that production of gasoline and Diesel oi l is straining the capacity of refineries P ower is obtain ed from a numb er of sources but the most convenient way to produce it is by burning irreplaceable deposits of coal gas and oil stored beneath the crust of the earth I n petroleum Nature has pro vi ded a packaged power source most available to man and man to whom the easy thing always seems the most efficient has taken full advantage of the fact S oon he will be scraping the bottom of the barrel Since Colonel E dwin L Drake tapped the first Amer ican oil well in P ennsylvan i a I n 1 85 9 we have consumed 2 7 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 barr els of “ ” the odorous black gold And we have wasted uncounted billions of barrels in the process At first we used only the kerosene and killed the fish in rivers by dumping in them the then useless gasoline O il producers have wasted tremendous riches in natural gas by burning it or allowing it to escape into the atmosphere “ In twelve years in California reports the National Resource s “ Commi ttee the quanti ty of gas known to have been wasted was about one third of that produced for commercial use and in 1 92 9 30 the heating value of gas wasted from the Kettleman Hills field was equiv a l ent to the expected energy output at Boulder Dam during a like ” period There are S imilar reports of waste in Texas O klahoma and elsewhere I n blithely tossing away an empire of energy contained in the wasted g as itself we have also thrown away a priceless tool for the production of petroleum O il is driven from th e ground by gas pressure and when the pressure is gone great subterranean reservoirs remain forever unobtainable In addition many wells have been abandoned because of fluctuating prices leaving great r esidues of oil which have been lost forever , - , . , , . , , , , . . . I , , , . . , . , . ’9 , , - - , , . . , . , . , , . , , . MOTORS 1 76 MI LES A N D There have been similar ineflici enci es in distribution As producer of S ixty per cent of the world s petroleum we ha v e exported great quan tities of oil which we should have left in the ground to provide for military emergencies and to delay the day when we will be dependent upon imports to fill our peacetime needs We have used this admirable source of power for heating houses when coal i s cheaper and we have plenty of it I n short we have made the proverbial drunken sailor look like a Caspar Milquetoast S o in the last eighty six years we have used barrels of petroleum We have thrown away or misplaced many more billion — barrels an d we have only barrels left that we know about We are now using this reserve at the rate of about one and six tenths billion barrels per annum for we are furnishing eighty nine per c ent of the oil used by the Allies to fight the war But we cannot blame the war for this alarming depletion of our petroleum principal for even in the years before P earl Harbor and L end L ease we were using about a billion and a quarter barrels every year and consumption would have proceeded at least as rapidly had there been no war Since everyone wants to ride in his postwar car and in the new planes and helicopters there is little expectation that demand will fall off after the war sharply enough to make any great di ff erence in the prospects s o if you take paper and pencil you may conclude that we will have oil enough at the present rate of consumption to last twelve to fifteen years But there is a flaw in this figuring We cannot get that barrels whenever we want it As wells grow older their rate of flow slows down and hasty production is often wasteful produc tion S o it may take at least seventy five years to get the rest of our oil out of the ground There are of course more oil fields to be discovered Dr Kirtley Mather Harvard geologist has stated that our unknown reserves may run to another barrels But we have skimmed off the cream and new deposits are harder to find New dis c overi es have been running behind consumption for the last eight . ’ , . , . , . - . . - , . , - , . , , , , , . . : , , - . . . , , . , , . , . MO T 1 78 ORS LES MI A N D When the pl ants ha ve died and b ecome a part of the earth s crust these carbohydrate compounds undergo vast and protracted changes in their inner arrangements which after time periods too long to compre hend convert them into the world s familiar fuels Some of these carbohydrates are eaten by animals and fish whose bodies embedded in the plant debris also contribute to the end product During the process of conversion the buried matter loses most of its oxygen and the residue composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen takes the perma nent cheml ca l structure of a hydrocarbon P etroleum is a mixture of assorted hydrocarbons and s o is na tural gas In coal even the hydro gen is partly driven off and the remainder is largely pure carbon During all these conversions the captured solar energy is retained in the molecules and to use this energy we must combine oxygen with the carbon and hydrogen in the process called combustion P etroleum natural g a s shale oi l asphalt anthracite and bitumi nous coa l and cannel coal all represent di fferent stages in the slow c onvers I O n of plant carbohydrates into the hydrocarbons which we burn W h atever their form man seizes them and feeds them into furnaces stoves fireplaces engines lamps and dozens of other devices designed to utilize the bottled up bit of solar energy which long ago dragged the three partners into the carbohydrate formation Thus released from their bonds the atoms once more leap freely into the atmosphere to awa i t the call of the s un to begin another round Bound to the earth by gravity and driven into ranks by the fury of the s un there i s no escape for the fuel making trio And this is one of the keystone facts of human ’ , - , , ’ . , , , . , , , , , . . , , . , , , . , , , , , . , , , , , - . , . , - . The form in which the fuel is made available to man and the eff orts he must make to obtain and utilize this fuel may change with time But some kind of fuel will always be there Just now we are consuming fuel supplies which largely began as carbohydrates in the Carboniferous period ye ars or s o ago in the geologic time scale O f these , . . , . POWER FO R TOMORROW 1 79 forms petroleum o ff ers least resistance to exploiters A few skilled hard working men can drill down through the overlying layers of rock to reach and release enough crude oil to supply the wants of millions ‘ Once the wells are drilled it takes a minimum of maintenance and operating labor to keep them pouring forth their liquid fuel until the pool beneath is exhausted O n the other hand the solid fuels must be arduously chopped and blasted and carried bit by bit to the surface Moreover petroleum and its various liquid and gaseous derivatives are much easier to distribute and consume than solid fuels They will flow through pipes they do not scratch metal parts and they do not disintegrate into wasteful and annoying dust S o man as usual has been eating his white bread first There ha ve been dire prophecies of a black day to come when word wi ll flash from coast to coast th at the gasoline is all gone P atients dying because the doctor can t get there riot and pillage because police cars are immobilized starvatio n because produce trucks are impotent and so on This is a dramatic way of putting things and perhaps any scare story that will jar a S pendthrift nation is justified but the inevitable exhaustion of petroleum will not take place suddenly No P aul Revere “ ” galloped to the clipper ship docks shouting Steam is coming ! There will be a chance to adjust our machine civilization to dry oi l wells if we have the sense to use the time remaining We must recall that petroleum formed itself beneath the ground with no idea whatever that a certain egocentric mammal might find it of value that if there were no petro leum we wo ul d have made out with something else When oil barrels run low our powerful desire for survival will prompt us to fin d a s ub “ ” s titute which we will probably label an improvement We will turn to other forms of fuel in the earth From these altem a tive sources of stored energy we will make aviation gasoline kerosene lubricating oil and all the other fl uids now produced in oil refineries After the adjustment period we wi ll get along about as well The manufacturing methods will be a little more exacting than those now , . , - . , , . , , , . , . , , . , , . . ’ , , , . , , . . , , . , . , . , , . , . MOTORS 1 80 A N D MI LE S applied to petroleum but the end products will be equally satisfactory “ ” A n d aft e r even the stored energy is gone we may employ qu ick aging methods (now partially worked out ) to accomplish in a few hours what was done in the entrails of the earth since the Carboniferous days And at some point in the great procession of improvisations we may learn to take power directly from the sun s rays without the employment of plants as middlemen , . , . , ’ . F uel from ta r s a nds The convers mn of non petro l eum s tore d energy into liquid fuels is a relatively simple chore The carbon sources we will employ are tar shale oi l coal and natural gas Consider first the tar supplies I n North ern Alberta in the watershed of the Athabasca River lie or more square miles containing deposits of sand saturated with the thick asphaltic oil Coming up from the depths to reach the surface at a few points these vast stretches of tar soaked sand contain enough imprisoned solar energy to supply North America for perhaps 1 00 years with the fuel now extracted annually from petroleum However in order to obtain the tar for subsequent refining the tar sand mixture must be extracted from the ground by mining methods The tar unfor tunately will not flow up to the surface under its own power when a well is drilled down to its resting place And once brought to the sur face it must be washed away from the sand with ho t water before re fining operations can begin - . , . , . . , - , . , - , . , , . , . S ha le o i l a wa its A second source of store d sunshine are the shale oil deposits which are S pread across the face of the entire globe Colorado and neighbor ing states have tremendous reservo i rs of oil shale These beds of finely stratifie d clay like rock contain layers of long decomposed plant mat - . . - , - , MOTORS 1 82 making a s much as gallons of A N D MILES gasoline annually by this widely discussed Fischer T rop s ch process is another pillar of T A x is fuel production About thirty years ago the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut fii r Kohlenforschung was placed under the direction of the then young Franz Fischer Fischer began a n intensive study of the properties and composition of coal and the gases which could be made from it Fischer and his co workers prl nc ipally T rops ch perfected processes which employed as a starting material a mixture of the gases carbon monoxide and hydrogen These gases were readily made from “ ” coal in a manner similar to that used in most metropolitan gas works The mixed gases were then passed through catalyst chambers which caused the carbon hydrogen and oxygen (the basic fuel making trio ) to combine into petroleum like liquids By employing various catalysts and by subjecting the liquid products to operations similar to those employed in petroleum refineries the Fischer T rO psch s ynthesis evolved an astonishing variety of vital materials O ut came high octane gasoline premium grade Diesel fuel fi rs t class lubricating oils and waxes essential in making many types of electric insulation The New O rder was quick to recognize this research Within two years after the Reichstag fire the Ruhrchemie A G had placed in operation a large commercial plant for making synthetic gasoline fro m coal by this new method which is another major factor in keeping the German war machine going Aware at last of the handwriting on the wall the United States is now building experimental plants to make synthetic oil as a hedge against th e inevitable future shortage of natural petroleum Dr H H Storch of the Bureau of Mines laboratories at P ittsburgh has played an important part in calling attention to the need for such plants Near his office is a s mall pil ot plant for converting coal into gasoline by adding hydrogen atoms to the carbon molecules as Bergius did Coal goes in and good qu ality motor fuel trickl es out When a delegation of he - . , - . - . , , , . . - , - . - , . - - , , . . . , . , . , . . . . l . , . . POWER FO R T O MO R R O W 1 83 Congressmen concerned about our oil supply visited the laboratory they rode away in cars driven by Dr Storch s home made gasoline Now Congress has passed a bill authorizing the Bureau to spend constructing more demonstration plants This is a triple project for making gasoline from S hale oil by the Bergius direct hydrogenation process and by the indirect F i s cher T ropsch method in which gas is made from coal and motor fuel from the ga s The processes which convert coal into gasoline may also be used with a few modifications to make airplan e and automobile fuel from natural gas and whenever scarcity pushes the cost of American petro leum high enough to warrant the commercial production of synthetic fuel gasoline made in easy fashion from natural gas will receive first consideration in the opinion of able petroleum engineers But it is not likely that any large part of our gasoline will be made in this manner Natural g a s once wasted into the sky but now carefully conserved by law i s in great demand as a household fuel I t is an essential raw mate rial f or making the carbon black which reinforces automobile tires And even at the present rate of consumption our natural gas reserv es are good for only about thirty years , , , ’ - . . . . , - , , . , , , , , . , . , , . , . , . P ower from bottl ed g as Many kinds of gas are used for power For years busses trucks and tractors on the P acific Coast have been driven by propane and butane gases carried in cylindrical tanks and manufacturers have adapted farm vehicles to its use These gases identical with the trade named gaseous fuels which are delivered in cylinders for country cooking ranges are liquid under pressure and expand when released in the cylinder head Dr Gustaf E glo ff noted petroleum authority reports that West Coast motors are being driven by these gases Two hundred busses in the state of Washington are driven by l iquefied gas and the entire b us system of Spokane uses the fuel E ngines require . , , , - . , , , . . , , . , . MOTORS 1 84 MI LES A N D t some adj ustment to burn the gas and 1 t W 1 11 not y1 eld the m i les per gallon of gasoline or perform as well on hills Yet it has become so popular during the war that the government has had to tighten restri c tions on its use For butane is the raw material for butylene which yields components f or aviation gasoline and synthetic rubber O nce it was a wasted by product of petroleum refining but it is now in such demand that it is not likely to fill the role of our dwindling petroleum — There i s however an unrationed source of gaseous fuel sewage Methane gas made from city sewage and other starting materials has b een used extensively in E urope to drive vehicles In Z urich a fleet of forty garbage trucks is driven by methane gas made in the city sewage plant A trailer bus to an amusement park near Springfield Mass has “ ” b een allowed to maintain its non essential schedule because it operates on a gaseous fuel partly derived from sewage Acetylene hydrogen and ammonia gases are also listed by Dr E glo ff as substitute motor fuels The combustible gases used in E urope h e states are estimated to ha v e replaced barrels of gasoline in 1 94 3 and at l atest reports about a quarter of Germany s commercial vehicles were running on gas Many are run on charcoal wood or other fuel which is burned in the vehicle itself Today these fuels are rightly regarded as makeshifts and they would find little use if gasoline were plentiful and cheap The y represent however another reason why cobwebs need not accumulate on steering wheels and like other alternative sources of power they are susceptible to improve ment As the store of natural petroleum and natural gas continues to de cline we will turn to the large scale exploitation of the tar sands and sha l e oils I t seems likely that these will receive attention before we embark on large coal hydrogenation projects Comparative cost will of course play an all important part in determining the progressi v e steps from one source of power to another Gasoline now made in Eng land by coal hydrogenation under government subsidization costs , . . , . - , . , , . . - . . , , - . . , . , , ’ , , , . . , , . , , , , . - , . . - , . , MOTORS 1 86 MI LES A N D s b uilt and ran a coal dust eng i ne of much more elaborate des I gn than Dr Diesel s O ther German engineers have used not o nl y coal dust but of engine parts caused by roun d coffee a s an experimental fuel Wear g the ash residue is the greatest problem to be solved if the coal dust engine is to become practical Alan Chorlton B ritish engineer reports that this damage ha s been greatly reduced by the use of special metals P roduction of a practical coal dust engine would be expensive he says but he believes th at i t woul d be cheaper than converting coa l into , - , ’ , . . . - . , , . - , , oi l . Meanwhile Bituminous Coal Research Inc an organization spon sored by American coal pro d ucers has been investigating the Humphrey pump which is another kind of coal burning internal com b usti on engine I t is proposed for use at hydroelectric station s a s a supplementary source of power when streams are low Mounted at the foot of a da rn it would take the tai l water which has already been through the turbines and with each explosion of coal dust would force a column of water back behind the dam t o do more work This wo ul d be a cheaper way of producing auxiliary power it is held than burning the coal to make steam I t could a l so be used to pump irrigation and city water This work on powdered coal is proceeding on many fronts If the fuel can be made to drive motors directly the effect will be revolu . , , , , - , . . , , . , , . . . , ti onary . L ooking ahead to a d istant time when all the trapped solar energy is exhausted when petroleum gas shale oil tar and coal have been con verted into horsepower man wi ll still find fuels to burn and wa y s to turn the wheels by which he lives Nature took a million centuries to change plant refuse into coal and oil but P rofessor E Berl of the Carnegie Institute of Technology has found a way of duplicating the process in a few hours From the cellulose of potatoes sugar cane saw dust and weeds Dr Berl has made in laboratory quantities goo d syn thetic reproductions of the natural fuels He estimates that about , , , , , , . . , - . . , , , , . POWER F O R TOMORROW 1 87 two per cent of the arable land in th e United S tates wo ul d grow enough plant material to make the motor fuel the country used in 1 94 1 and suggests that in tr0 p ical l ands wh ere plants grow lushly s un power co ul d be converted into motor fuel most efficiently In many countr ies all automobi l e gasoline must contain a per centage of agricultural alcohol distilled from corn or other crops an d c om state leaders have proposed a similar plan for Americans Alcohol may also be made from low grade wood and sawmill leavings W ith gaso l ine cheap and plentiful this supplementary fuel has been too expensive here but it may be adopted as prices increase , - , t . , , - . - . , . , D irect p ower from ! the s un But why u se a vegetable middleman t o utili z e th e power of the sun s ! rays other scientists are asking Why not capture the energy directly L ionel S Marks of Harvard estimates that if all the petroleum in the ea rth s crust were burned its heat of combustion would be about equal to the solar energy arriving at the earth s crust in half a d ay an d that the heat of combustion of all our coa l reserves would hardly m atch the energy delivered by the sun in s ix months Direct use of this energy for limited purposes is already practice d in regions which receive m u ch sunl ight In California and Florida commercially manufactured solar heaters are mounted on the roofs of houses to supply hot water John E ricsson builder of the iron clad Monitor of Civil War fame con “ ” structed and ran seven sun motors Big mirrors concentrated the rays of the s un on cylinders filled with air or water and the heat was made to turn wheels He looked forward to the exhaustion of coal fields and proposed that millions of his engines be used in tropical an d semi tropical regions At the Massachusetts I nstitute of Technology there is an experi mental house which is kept comfortable even in the cold New E nglan d winter by a solar heating device on the roof Glass covered troughs trap ’ . , . ’ , ’ , . . , . - , , . , . , . , - . - MOTORS 1 88 MI LES A N D ‘ sunlight which heats the water circulating through thin walled metal tubes The heated water goes to an insulated storage tank in the basement , which irons out the fluctuations in the variable heat of the sun I t would be S imple to make this captured solar heat run a motor but this would not pay as a commercial power source Such power is like the gold in sea water which costs more to extract than it is worth To produce any usable amount of power large areas of heat traps would be needed and the cost of equipment would be prohibitive Still another experimental method of capturing power from the sun has been devised by Dr E ugene Rabinowitch also of M I T Sunlight is focused by a lens on a light sensitive cell and a tiny amount of elec tri c energy is produced and stored This device is of no commercial importance at present but further investigations of solar energy are proceeding under a special g rant both at M l T and Harvard an d no one can s ay what discoveries the future may bring O ne of the most spectacular power proj ects of all time blossomed i n the press in 1 94 0 when Dr Alfred O C Nier t wenty seven year ol d physicist of the University of Minnesota announced that he had iso lated from u ranium (derived from pitchblende ) a sma ll sample of the isotope known as U 2 35 O ne pound of this metal it was reported is equal in power to tons of TNT and has as much energy as pounds of c o a l or pounds of gasoline By an ex plosive chain reaction th is substance will quickly turn water into steam and it w a s state d that a five pound brick of metal would provide enough power to drive an ocean l iner around the world However only a few hundred millionths of a gram of U 2 35 existed at that date and immense di fficulties lay in the way of producing a workable amount These are a few of the motors fuels and schemes to which man may eventually resort for driving his ever increasing array of machines I n addition t o the energy stored in the earth and the direct energy of the sun there is also the gravitational pull of the moon which makes the tides by acting as a brake on the earth Tidal dams may sometime be the - , . . , . . , - , . , . . , . . - , . , , . , . . , . . , . . - - - , , - . , , . , - , . , , . , - . , , . P A R N EW T T H R E E MAT E RIA LS , N EW ME T H O D S N EW M AT E R I A L S N EW M ET H O D S 194 — tons , one fiftibth of what we nee d e d even before we a mere ha d to feed the rubber hungry maws of war machines Then came P earl Harbor The rubber supply which had c ushi one d our national life wa s suddenly cut off an d our very existence a s a — nation lay at the mercy of a dwindling stockpile and the ingenuity of our technical men T o fill the yawning gap in our in d ustria l economy caused by Japan s conquests every possible source of rubber was exploited regardless of cost Wild rubber was rushed from the Amazon p l antati ons still under A ll ie d c ontro l were double tapped scrap was collected an d thousands of acres of latex bearing guayule s hr ubs and cryptostegia v ines were planted in California and L atin America E very p oun d of this vegetable rubber was rushed into the breach b ut it — was clear that only one thing could s a v e us the qu ick creation of a tremendous new industry for th e mass production b y chemical methods of s ome resilient stuff th a t would behave like rubber A s Bernard “ Baruch s Rubber Survey C o mm itte e state d i n its report If w e fail t o secure quickly a large new rubber supply our war effort an d our ” domestic economy both will collapse I n 1 94 1 the larg e scale pr o d ucti o n of th ese substitute s was only a g l ea m in th e eyes of ch emists and engineers A few tires ha d been made o f v arious synthetics mixe d with natur a l rubber and the y stoo d up reasonably well in tests but as for the best ways of making the test tube rub bers h ow best to process them an d fabricate them into tires and — how they would wear when turned out b y the million s these were all mysteries a n d there were about a s m any theories as there were chemists Since then we h ave be e n save d by the skin of our teeth from a nation wide paralysis of v ital transportation and from a sto ppage of transpo rt on b a tt l e fronts which would most certainly have lost us the war A miracle of r ese arch an d production has taken p l ace I n spite o f delaying political wrangles and extremes of flamboyant optimism an d d efeatist gloom the men of our rubber petroleum alcohol a n d - - . . , . ’ , . , - , - , . , . ’ , . - , . , - , , , . , - , . . , , , ARTIFICIA L RUB BER I 9S chemica l in dustries have manage d to cram a program which might normally take a d eca d e into about two years . W e I me throug h ha ve co Today the new rub ber industry a unique accomplishment in the history of production stands co mp l ete In the summer of 1 94 4 Rubber Director Bradley Dewey successor of W i ll iam M J effers in c oord inat ing the eff orts of several hun d re d c ompanies which have contribute d to the vast enterprise o ff ered his resignation The job was done The new r ubbers were be i ng turned out at the rate of tons annually —far more than we have ever consumed in a single year A nd the curve is still ascen d ing I n 1 94 5 Col Dewey estimated manufacture would tota l more than tons T ires from test tubes are not yet perfect and there are still di fficult production problems to be solved but we are now independent of the J apanes e held p l antations We have won the great objective without which all other battles would be lost This triumph of swift conversion has c ost ab o ut three quarters of a billion dollars and it was accomplished during th e worst perio d of material shortages in our history Steel for rubber factories has been obtained in the teeth of other urgent demands P roduction of rubber from petroleum has competed with the aviation gasoline program since the butylene gases obtaine d in the refining pro c ess are nee d ed for both pro d ucts S o a part of the butadiene gas upon which most of the new rubber is base d is now ma d e from alcohol derived from farm products This expedient has been a life saver but butadiene from alcohol costs about five times as much as that made from petroleum an d can be justified only as a wartime stopgap The future of artificial rubber d epen d s largely upon the magic by which a fraction of cru d e oil is chemically crushed cooked tortured an d teased unti l it emerges at the end of the line as sheets of rubber hardly d isting u ish a b l e from the pro d uct of the tree , , . , , . , . , . . . . , , - . , - . . - , . . , . - . , , . , . , N EW MAT ER I A L S N EW METH O D S 1 96 , How buna - s is ma d e Fifty plants many of them performing only one step in the entire program ha v e sprung up in various parts of the country A few of them are integrated plants located near oil fields where petroleum st o re d underground for centuries is d rawn through a series of mon strous an d comp l icate d refining columns reactors and processing ma chines and never sees the light of d a y until it emerges as rubber ready t o ship to the tire factories O ne of the most spectacular of these continuous process plants is l o c ate d on a acre lot on the east bank of the Mississippi near B aton Rouge I t is a part of the great Standard O il of Louisiana re fineri es where high octane a v iation fuel and to l uene for TNT are also pro d uce d Crude oil from three states is pumpe d to the network of grumbling metal towers and broken d own into components from which it i s possible to make anything from an automobile tire to a lady s evening gown F or oi l is c ompose d of an infinite variety of hydrocarbon mo l ecul es “ “ ” ” Chemists will d raw you pictures of them ma d e up of C s an d H s arranged in v arious patterns Some molecules with the carbon and h yd roge n atoms rearranged will make explosives some will make p l astics some will improve an engine s performance and others form the basis of artificial rubber The whole secret of making rubber out of oil is in juggling the “ ” ” “ C s a n d H s so that the right patt ern eventually emerges This may soun d simple but the equipment needed for the rubber program has c ost nearly in the B aton Rouge p l ant alone M any of the initia l steps of converting petroleum into tires are s imilar to or i d entica l with refining methods in making gasoline or other oi l pro d ucts First th e crude oil has to be cracked to yield a s eries of major components which range all the way from hea vy sludge a t the bottom of a 1 5 0 foot steel tower to v aluable light gases at the , , . , , , , . - - . - . ’ . . ’ . ’ , , , ’ , , . ’ ’ . , . , , . , , - BUNA ER PO LYM IZER 3 h i p i to i l h t h w h w b un th e tifi i l u bbe u ed f ti e i m de f m il nd l 1 2 S ty e ne l iqu id i de i v ti v e f o l nd i n f th e hyd b n f mily b ut f nt m le u l d ifl t u tu e th n b ut d i ene 4 B ut d i e ne i mp ed f hyd g e n nd 3 b n It i de iv ed f m u de il g nd p iped f m dj e nt efine y 5 He e b ut d i e ne nd ty e ne mixed— th ee p t f b ut d i ene t n p t f ty ene in lut i n f py w t e In mb ining th ey f m b i l t ex imil t th t f n tu l u bbe 6 A ft e th e p pe m u nt f h e mi l e t i n h t ke n pl e th ughly u ni ting b u t d ie ne nd ty e ne h e mi l i dded t h l t th e u ni ti ng p e T a r a c s c oa r , o ere o s , c ar s r s a ro a r a a -s , o a o s oa r s a a r a as c o os c ac a a so r o a a . . s ar r c a r or s r s, s ro a o . . a ar c s a r r r are o c a e o s o a roca r o a , ro cr o . o ro car a o s . r o . ar s o r co r. a or , a o o a as c a e ar s ar o o a s r o a ra r. ro r . a s r r a , o o a c ca c ca s a r ac o o as a ac , oro a roc ss . a ” “ buta d iene and chemica l salt and pepper an d agitate d by giant egg beaters for sixteen hours or s o while the buta d iene and styrene are encouraged to join han d s in long chains to form the molecules of the ” “ buna s tire rubber otherwise known a s Go vernment Rubber S o r , - - , , “ GR S - ” . “ ” A sma ll part of the mixture always refuses to jell on its first trip through the reactor and is separate d and pipe d ba ck to j oin the supply , L F RO M O I D E L DR IER BOABIILATIIR IPPING SH 9 8 7 III ti x id nt i dded t th e l iqu id l t ex p e e t i e A lut i n f b ine i dded t i ed by t y p ddle T h l t ex gul t e i n m ll l u mp nd i t i i d u dl i ng t l k e e m wh e n hu ned t m k e b utt e S ulp hu i id w h e w y ll t e f p n th ugh fil t e wh i h qu ee e t th e w t e m ll u bbe p t le 8 Th t e ll e m n ng m tu e i n th e t ifi i l u bbe It i n w e dy f b ling 9 D ie e p le v e th e pl nt in hu nk e dy t be p e ed int t i e nd th e t i le 1 0 B un ( C u t e y D y t n Ru bbe M nuf tu i ng C C p y ight 1 94 3) 7 A . n an o a c - o r a r s s a rva ro so . s a a o s a r s s a a z s s c o c oa as r a v a e . r c ac r. s a re ru ar i c r ro a r a r s as a a rr o r c e s . s a , cr a i o s a a ra c ou a s, s o a s oa . r. . r . va rs a -s . ora a a ai r a s o r s oi s i c a ar r o r roc o s r a a c a o . o o s o ss r ac r. r r s a r r a o or r ar a c . s. , ' lines The rest comes out as latex The work of the rubber tree has at last been approximated for this white mi lk y liquid is simi l ar to the stuff that run s into the cup when a p l antation tree is tapped The latex is run into a coagulating vat with a l itt l e brine an d acid and stirred by a paddle an d rubber particles appear in much the same way that butter globules are formed when cream is churne d The new rubber is carried on endless belts through a wr i nger which squeezes out the water and through a hot drier ; then it is pressed and baled for shipment to the tire and rubber goods plants . . , , . , . , - . NEW MAT ER I A L S N EW ME T H O D S 2 00 T ria ls , f o t ire-ma king C omp l icate d as it m a y b e th e making o f cru d e b una s is only half th e battl e It has been no easy task to fabricate it into tires Not that Akron was caught flat footed b y the rubber famine ; for years a number of tire company chemists had kept abreast o f synthetic developments here and abroad L ong before we entered the war a number of tire and chemica l c ompanies experimented with tires containing artificial rubber an d some were p l ace d on the mark et They did well in road tests and provided inva luab l e experience There are rubber men who for years have been using various experimental tir es of this sort on their cars with good results B ut rapi d mass pro d uction was another matter Go to A k ron and talk with a compounder in one of the big plants if you wish to hear of the tria l s of tire making with buna s rubber The compo under is the master chef who brews the mix from which tires are ma d e He is the czar of tire making He sets the specifications an d when he puts his foot d own the vibrations reach plantations and polymeriza tion plants an d changes are made You s ee him in his shirtsleeves cutting off a piece of rubber with his kn ife smelling it biting it and stretching it Then b e either looks satisfied or worried L aboratory tests gi ve him a complete report on the sample but a pro d igious memor y and a sixth sense born of years at hi s j ob often te ll him whether the rubber wi ll make a good tire B una s turne d this man s wor ld upside down I t was d ecepti ve It seemed all right but it had a will of its own Before the war the skilled compounder knew the habits of rubber from every spot on earth an d knew how to blend and trea t it to make it beha v e U sing batteries of chemical tricks invented by research men he had increased tire mileage about 4 0 0 per c ent in two decad es He had begun to think that he knew his job a n d then they give him some stuff that wasn t rubber - , . . - - . , , . . . , . - - - . . . , , . , , , , , . . , . ’ - . . . , . , . ’ , NEW MATER IA L S 2 02 , N E W METH ODS Balance the books and you can safely say that the average passenger car driver can hardly tell the difference between the new tires and th e old The di fference in wear is less than he now notices between his rear right tire and hi s front left one and he has less trouble with ski dd ing The m aking of heavy duty tires for trucks and buses is a more d iffi cu lt problem and the whole industry is working toward a solution B una s builds up more internal heat than tree rubber and the bigger the tire the hotter it gets with greater d anger of fabric failure Thi s heat problem is being partia lly solved by using a special rayon in place of cotton cord to reinforce the tires Rayon is stronger than cotton espe c i a lly when hot By strengthening the tire structu re it reduces the amount of rubber nee d e d thus making thinner walls whi ch carry off the heat faster a dd ing thousands of mi l es to the life of the tire Recent experiments in d icate that nylon cords may make the big tires still lighter and cooler in operation This weight saving is espe c i a lly important in the tires of military planes where every poun d saved increases range or l oa d At present abou t thirty per cent of natura l rubber is being used in heavy duty tires With much of the drain O n our stockpile and imports being relieved by synthetics this compromise will keep the big vehicl es rolling until the war is won or the fast working research men solve the heat problem ” “ The most important goa l of the research efforts wrote Rubber “ Director Dewey in his final report must be so to modify buna s or d evelop a new polymer that ( 1 ) it will evolve less heat (2 ) it will not lose so much of its strength at elevated temperatures and (3 ) wh en compounded for maximum strength it will have such resiliency that it will permit making tires that not only will heat no more than the old ‘ crude rubber tires but will give the vehicle all of the S oft ride ” s ought for in the pre war tire And he states that there is considerable promise tha t this goal will be achieved Rapid as the advance h a s been chemists have barely scratched the su rface in artificial rubber research When war came 30 0 different . . , - , . - , . , . , . , , . , - . , . , - . , , - . , - , , ’ , - . . , . , ARTIFICIAL RUBBER 20 3 rubber substitutes were known t o them Buna s seemed to b e the most l ogica l material for tires and became the bul wark of the government program but thousands of possibi l ities in this one s ynthetic remain to be explored By varying formulas an d processes it c an be m a d e as soft as molasses or as hard as a plank an d a wi d e variation of other quali ties can be built into it Multiply this research program by 300 and bear in mind the limitless opportunities sti ll latent in the hydrocarbon molecules and it is eas y to believe that man made rubber will even tu ally be tailored at will to fill any need - . , , . , , . , - , . T he long ques t There was a big backlog of research to aid the chemists in their work A world in the gr i p of the E ast India rubber monopoly has been seek ing relief for many years and even before this problem arose curious scientists of man y c ountries d isco vere d important facts about the natur e In 1 86 0 Greville Williams of E ngland distilled c ru d e of rubber rubber and isolated its basic material isoprene It was found that chemically rubber an d petro l eum are close relatives I n the tree car bon and hydrogen atoms are arranged in such a pattern that they form the rubber molecule A different arrangement of these atoms beneath the earth results in the hydrocarbon molecules of petroleum Soon Bouchardat of F ranc e took some isoprene and hooked its molecules to gether to change it back into rubber A man named Tilden cracked turpentine in 1 88 2 got something he thought was isoprene and c on verte d it into some rubber like stuff In 1 91 0 Kyri aki des a chemist working for the Hood Rubber Company in Watertown Mass devel oped an artificia l rubber and at about the same time D r Fritz N Hofmann of Germany laid the experimental foundation fo r th e buna type rubbers And there were many others E veryone knew that you cou ld make — r ubber of sorts out of a lmost anything cornstalks sawd ust or an ol d . , . , , . , , . , , . . . , , - . , , . , , . , . . , , , . N EW MAT ER I A LS 2 04 , METHODS N E W straw hat The Germans tri ed potatoes and the Italians tomatoes T he prob l em was to sel ect the most adaptable cheap and pl entiful raw materials and work out a commercial process by which they could be “ ” converted at reasonable cost into a synthetic elastomer which would behave about the same as the natural type During World War 1 Germany trie d out her first tires of buna n In this ers a tz rubber the buta d iene was combined with a cryl o nitrile in place of the styrene later used in buna s The tires were a failure U n less the cars were jacked up overnight they took on the shape of lop si d e d doughnuts When the Nazis launched their program of economic self s uffici ency in preparation for World War II a more successful effort was made to supplant imported natural rubber ( an easy prey of an Allied embargo ) with the home made materia l G ermany paid dearly for the transition placing a 1 00 per cent import d uty on crude rubber and using the proceeds to subsidize buna manufacture The improved tire material buna s was adopted The failure of many of thes e tires is said to have caused tra fli c j ams when the Nazis invaded Austria in 1 938 but their t echnica l men persevered and by 1 94 1 a large part of Germany s rubber requir ements was filled by synthetics Before Germany went to war small amounts of buna s had been im ported by the United States and when the supp ly was c ut off the Standard O il Company of New Jersey by m eans of the much discussed exchange of patents with Germany s I G Farbenindustrie acquired the right to make both bunas The buna s patents have since been turned over to the United States go vernment with the understanding that they are to be a vai l ab l e under free license to American manufacturers v . . , . - . - , - . . , . - , - . , . - , . , , ’ . - , , , - , ’ . . , - . . Virtues f o buna - n we use far more rubber for tires than for any oth er purpose it has a vast number of v ita l uses in all manner of military an d peace time machines and appliances A number of artificial rubbers which W h ile , . N EW M AT ER I A L S N EW METH O D S 206 , a definite program Butyl ti res have been shelved for the duration but if research men keep on improving them they may eventually compete with buna s For Butyl can be made more quickly and cheaply I t i s made directly from isobutylene cracked from petroleum by passing some of the expensive and time consuming steps necessary in making buna s F or this reason some experts are predicting that Butyl may sell cheaply enough to enable it to wage a stiff battle even with rubber from the tr ee , , , - . . - , - - . , , . F a ther N ieuwla nd ’ s nos e The Oldest and in many ways the aristocrat of A merican artificial rubbers is du P ont s neoprene which is ma d e from acetylene obtain ed from coal Neoprene owes its origin to the highly developed ol factory sense of the l ate Father Julius A Nieuwland of N otre Dame University Dr Nieuwland had been experimenting with acetylene gas since his stu d ent d a y s and it was the memory of a peculiar odor smelled twelve years befo re that set him on the trail of a new derivative called divinyl acetylene In 1 92 5 he met a du P ont man at a scientific meeting and told hi m of the method he had develop ed for obtaining the derivative Du P ont chemists had been trying with li ttle success to make a suitab l e r ubber s u bstitute from acetylene and D r N i euwland s discovery gave them the essential first step Combining this with another of his ideas du P ont eventually produced neoprene the fir st commercially suc It was placed on th e market in 1 932 and c es s ful artificial rubber production double d year after year First class tires were made from neoprene years ago but its cost has barred it from this field I t can be made highly resista nt to oi l sunlight age and below zero weather It has many war uses where quality is paramount For example when today s fast acrobatic fighting planes were in the blueprint stage a new float less carburetor was needed to m ak e upside down flying safer The carburetor could not be ma d e , ’ , . . . . , , . , . ’ . , . , , . , . - , . , - . ’ . , , - , - . , ARTIFICIAL RUBBER 207 unti l the designers foun d a material for a gas resistant d iaphragm th at would remain flexible and could be turned out uniformly with a thick ness of a thousan dth of an inch A fabric coate d with neoprene served the purpose a s nothing e l se would And it withstands the fierce sunlight of h igh altitudes so well that it is use d to coat the rubber de icers on airplane wings The war curtailed production of neoprene waterproof garments boots and shoes hot water bottl es tennis ba ll s an d dozens o f o ther peacetime pr o d uct s Tests indicate that neoprene washers for household water faucets will l ast for a generation without a d rip an d this accomplishment by itself shou ld assure a brilliant future - . . - . - , , , . , . Rubb r e l ike p la s t i cs — f new chemical materials stretchable “ There are also a number o ” — plastics they might be called which are easing the shortage by doing many important jobs tree rubber used to d o O ne of these is the Monsanto Chemical Company s S afl ex once use d in safety W indshields and now used to waterproof A rmy raincoats Another is Koroseal developed by D r Waldo S emon of the B F G oodrich Company It is ma d e by another of those mystifying processes in whi ch a formless gas is turne d into a liquid then into a powder and finally emerges as to ugh flexible stuff with some of the properties of rubber E lectrica l insulation is now one of its most impo rtant wartime uses Unlike na t ural rubber Koroseal is not inflammable s o it is widely used in insul ating wires in naval vessels In case of a direct hit fire will not follow the wires P lastics of this so rt are no mere rubber savers They are being groomed for many postwar uses which r u bbe r was never equal to , . ’ , . . . , , . . , . , . , , . , - . . . D r. P a tri ck ’ d ent s a cc i An accidental discovery made by a man who knew what he was a b out ushere d in Thiokol a chemical rubber with invaluable war uses In , . NEW M AT ER I A LS N EW M ETH O D S 2 08 , the twenties Dr Joseph C P atrick of Kansas City a medical man turne d industrial chemist was try ing to mak e an anti freeze solution from ethylene gas then a waste by pro d uct of oil refining O ne of his mixtures thickened when he thought it should not and the result was Thiokol which the Dow Chemical Company is now manufacturing for the Thiokol Corporation Thiokol is inexpensive and gasoline d oes not — r ot i t two facts which have boomed its production S ince 1 94 0 the Navy has built a numb e r of vast underground storage tanks to hold lubricating oil and high octane a viation fuel In anticipation of a steel shortage it was planned to construct the gre at caverns of concrete But aviation fuel d epreciates in octane rating through c ontact with con crete and there is some seepag e through the walls S o the ta nk s were lined with larg e black sheets of Thiokol which were cem ented l ik e wallpaper to walls floors and columns ” “ Now portable gas stations made of Thiokol holding up to gallons of fue l or o il are set up in a few minutes on foreign shores as soon as the troops land Great supporting tubs of canvas reinforc ed with wood slats are staked to the ground and inner bladders of Thioko l hold the fuel No matter how cheap and plentiful tr ee rubber may become in the future it is clear that many of these man made varieties deS I gned for specia l purposes have come to sta y In a few short years they have been adapted to tasks from which natural rubber is barred forever and it i s fair to assume that they will be greatly improve d . , . , - , - - , . , , . . - , . . , . , , , . , , . , . - , . , . T he outlook f or buna s - The futur e of buna S tires in competition with natura l rubber is another matter As a general rule syntheti c pro d ucts b ecome better and cheaper with the years and it is reasonab l e to believe that buna s will fo l low the same tr en d that the tires will do as well or better than those of tree ru bber at a cost that wi ll not be prohibitive I n oth er words - . , - , , . , N EW M A T ER I A L S 210 , METHODS N E W h em sources of fabulous profits Until late in 1 9 1 9 the price of rub b er a veraged well over fifty cents a poun d Mill ions of new cars rolled off the assembly l ines each using u p about five tires a year and war b uy ing was tremen d o u s L ik e A merican wheat farmers the rubber planters over expanded their acreage and were caught b y the postwar depression At the same t i me makers changed over from the old short lived fabric tires to the more durable cord tir e s thus c utting d own the demand Ther e fo llowed a series of crop restriction schemes There was the Stephenson plan put i nto effect in 1 92 2 which taxed all rubber exports over certain s et o u otas This reduce d surplus stocks effectively t hat there was a s q shortage and a panic market with rubber hitting the sensational top in 1 92 5 The plan broke down and was abandoned After a peri o d of chaos an internationa l rubber agreement was adopted embracing all growing areas worth considering except Brazil L iberia and the P hilipp i nes By placing a premium upon e ffi cient manag ement this p l an favored the big plantations of Malaya an d Netherlands India When rubber was selling at about eighteen cents before the war it was estimate d that the averag e estate was making about eighteen per cent net profit while estates with the highest yield were netting as high as thirty three per c ent The days of this bonanza appear to be numbere d A fter the war many hundreds of thousands of tons of natural rubber will invad e the world market if the Japanese have not girdled the trees and judging by predictions it will have to sell at a low \price to compete with man ma d e rubber Mr J eff ers suggested eight to fi fteen cents as a possib l e postwar price for buna s and Col Dewey has mentioned twelve to thirteen cents a pound Since those predictions were made there have been two improve ments in the manufacture of buna s which can hardly fail to reduce its cost O ne is a conti nuous polymerization proces s announced by Good year The buta d iene and styrene molecules have been unite d in reactor t . . , , . - , . , - , . , - . , , . , . . ‘ , , , . , . , , - . . , , , . . - . , . , - . . ARTIFICIAL RUB BER 21 1 tanks by the batch process which means a wa ste of time in fi ll ing and d raining the tanks The new method by which the measured ingre d i ents are routed through the tanks in a continuous stream will increase the output of plants by as much as forty per cent report Goodyear engineers Another time s a v ing method the res ul t of j oint research by the General Tire and Rubber Company the Carnegie I nstitute of Technology and P urdue University is the mixing of carbon b l ack re inforcement with the rub ber in its liquid state in place of the ol d method of grinding it into the solidified rubber in giant mills This new method will cut mi ll ing time by one third it is claimed and the rubber will be better because of the more un iform mix S ti ll many experts believe that the rubber growers can meet buna s pri c es and sti ll make a fair profit an d if the return of tree rubber is not deferr ed too l ong harri e d tire makers wi ll be d e l ighte d to work with their old familiar material An d while t echnica l men feel confi dent th a t buna s tires can be greatly improved it is a matter of definite knowledge that the industry can make far better tires of natural r ubber “ than we have ever seen A s a prominent chemist told the writer If heavy duty tires were no better than passenger car tires there would ” be no trucking industry It is also worth noting that rubber scientists ha v e not limited their work to synthetics they have also been improving the rubber tree Twenty years ag o a yield of 2 30 po un d s of r ubber per acre was con s i dered good ; by 1 94 0 the better p l anta tions were yielding 6 0 0 pounds “ ” and there are acres of prima donnas which are pro d ucing and even pounds a y ear Firestone has constantly increased its plant ings in L iberia getting high yields and cutting the s ea haul age by miles In South and Central Am erica Goodyear the United Fruit Company and the Department o f Agricul ture are c on d ucting experimental p l a ntation s to combat the l eaf disease and pave the way for th e re establishment of the rubber t ree in its original home Inex “ ” pensive equipment has been devised for the family size rubber , . , , , - . , , , , . - , , . - , , , . - , . , - - , . — . , , . , . , , - . - MATERIALS N E W 212 , N E W METH ODS plantati on which woul d giv e the sma ll farm er a supplementary cash income like that of the Vermonter with his maple sugar orchard and would stimulate postwar trad e with our neighbors to the south To s um up no one can state today with any certainty whether the tires of ten years hence wi ll originate with the Hevea braz il iens is of the plantation or the fractionating towers of the oil refinery The race may be close t o the great satisfaction of the consumer A nd rubber uses may increase s o rapidly that both grove and refinery may flourish E ver since Charl es G oodyear learned how to vulcanize rub ber in 1 839 its use has d o ub l e d with every d e c a d e The war has brought a bumper crop of new applications In many war vehicles the t wisting of rubber cylinders mounted near th e axles takes up road shock s up planting metal springs These may be adapted to peacetime automo biles S anitary air foam cu shions used in tanks and planes may make big inroads in the mattres s and upholste ry fie ld Inexpensive rugs and carpets with the nap fixed in a rubber base are waiting only for the victory Conveyors of endless rubberized belts now carry minerals for many miles from mine to factory and even rubber surfaced streets have been proposed Artificial rubbers will be adaptable to many of the new u ses and even if the tire turns again to the tree they will not become orphans I n addition the new industry should serve two vital national purposes : it should estab l ish a price ceiling for natural rub ber to curb the rapaciousness of plantation barons and it shou ld act as a permanent insurance policy if an expansionist power should again a ttempt to stop A merican wheel s from turning , . , . . , . . , . , - , . - . , , . . - , . , , , , . . N EW M AT ER I A L S N EW M E TH O D S 2 14 , perceived the great impl i cations of this class of s ynthetic m ate rials and advertising c opywriters began to glamorize their prophecies The vo lume of plastics then produced was only a small fraction of the tremendous amount now being turned out b y the chemical p l ants When war began plastics were used to supplant scarce metals Then the chemicals used to make p l astics became scarce and a t the same time more vita l uses were found in which plastics were needed b e cause of their own particular properties Soon more th an eighty five r cent of all these chemical building materials were being snappe d e p up by makers of warplanes jeeps gunstocks ba y onet scabbards waterproof clothing canteens helmet liners medical equ ipment an d o ther essential articles Accurate figures are lacking but an es timate that the production of plastics has increased tenfold in the last decade is conservative ” “ Pl asti c castles in the air have long c ast their filmy shadows over the world of tomorrow Just as Charles Goodyear proclaimed in the mid l 800 s that even pianos and walking sticks wo ul d be made from his newly vulcanized rubber enthusiasts have envisioned an all plastic civilization completely forgetting the cheapness avail ab il ityland other d esirab l e qualities of such old standbys as woo d steel cement and glass These zealots have often miscast their industrial pin up girl to “ ” her great harm P lastics d o not constitute a universal material B ut in an increasing array of applications one or more plastics c an be foun d which will d o a job that no other material can do as well or can do at all And the range an d versatili ty of plastics are rapidly increas i ng I n the decorative field they are a dd ing new co l or curv es and sheen to everyday objects In functional uses they are achieving new triumphs not a lw a y s as spectacular as the gau dy dreams of ust as impressive if j ” “ the imag ineers By tracing a few of these plastics from the first s urmise of a chemist through the experimental and development stage to actual use we can get some idea of the phenomenal rise of these new materials The ha d . , . . , , , - . , , , , , , , . , . . ’ - - , , , , , - . , . . , , . , . , . , , . . PARADE OF LAST ICS P 215 window screen mentioned can b e made from a number of synthetic “ compounds but it was first made from saran a new plastic de velO p ed by the Dow Chemical Company It took Dow s chemists about seven years to nurse this plastic from its laboratory birth to industrial maturity ’9 , , ’ . . B orn by a cc i dent The whole thing starte d with a customer s complaint A gallon can of dry cleaning fluid wa s sent back to the plant because it had solidifi ed and co ul d not be used The sales department sent the can of tough rubber like stuff to the laboratory and the research men went to work They tri ed to dissolve the mess but co ul d find no chemical that would break it d own They tried to find out what had solidifie d the liqui d but — co ul d o nl y guess They only knew that some agent possibly heat an d — the solder in the can had accidentally polymerize d it ; that is ha d made big molec ules out of little ones thus changing it to solid form “ ” N o chemist is ever satisfied until an accident like this is explaine d and when an un usual substance is produce d it is second nature for the “ ” men of the big chemical firms to ask W h at can we do with it ! The laboratory men found the answer This was a plastic of great possibili ties It could be molded forged tempered an d in many respects worked like metal It could be made into strong cord or conv erte d into a tough pliable material like tanned leather It was clear that this plastic had a great number of uses Tentative interest ripened into the kind of conviction that prompts corporations to spen d money The project grew steadily until fifty chemists were working on it an d at lengt h prophecies were fully justifie d Saran first appeared on the market in the form of to ugh attracti v e woven belts and suspenders fishing leaders an d seat coverings The seats of some subway cars in New York were covere d with it Colore d an attractive light brown they l oo k l i ke woven cane or straw b ut they ’ . - , . - . , , . , . , . , , , . . , , , , , . , . , . . , . , , . , . , , N EW MAT ERI A L S N EW 216 , ME T H O D S wear literally li k e iron Sp ill whatever you like on them and they will not stain In one of the Dow tests saran fib ers were soaked five — years in a jar of sulphuric acid which will eat through almost any — thing and they emerged from the ordeal only slightly damaged It is as flexibl eas rubber and is tasteless odorless and non toxic The last mentioned quality is important in any plastic which comes into contact with the skin for a few people are allergic to some plastics just as some people get a rash if they eat fish Firms which develop pliable plastics like saran usually make a number of watch straps and ask volunteers in the company to wear them a few months Saran gave no trouble Saran is known to chemists as a vinylidene chloride resin Michigan b rine and petroleum are its basic raw materials The whole Dow indus try was built upon the brine wells near Midland The chemists take the brine apart and experiment with the ingredients to find out how they can be used O ne of the products is chlorine and this was combine d — — with ethylene obtained from petroleum to produce saran in its intermediate liquid phase When chemists first examined the can of solidified solvent they thought they had made a new discovery but other chemists upon in ves ti g ating the literature of synthetic materials found that a French man named Regnault had produced it in 1 838 Regnault himself had “ ” discovered it accidentally by which we mean that he wa s not look ing for a liquid compound which could be changed into a solid Its dis c overy was an unintended and incidental side issue of chemical experimentation leading toward a different goal No true scientist ever ignores an unexpected result and Regnault wrote a paper about his new compound with no idea that it would ever be of any practical use “ ” He noted that this liquid which is called a monomer because it is composed of small and simple molecules became cloudy after it had stood awhile W e now know that this happened because the tiny mole cules were slowly j oining hands in long chains to make the huge . , , , . , . - , . , , , . . . . . . , . , . , , , . , . - . , . , , , . , N EW MAT ER I A L S N EW ME TH O D S 218 , that aroused his curiosity Hepressed some of it in a golf ball mold which happened to be in his laboratory and walked down the corridor bouncing it on the floor and calling for witnesses Since the stuff could not be v ul canized it was obviously unsuitable for golf balls but after years of experimental work Koroseal was perfected in the form of a durable leatherlike flexible plastic which can be made in all colors for a wide variety of uses Its raw materials are coke limestone and salt From them is obtained vinyl chloride a volatile sweet smelling gas This is refrigerated to liquefy it then with the aid of a catalyst the small molecules are linked together into big ones and the result is a “ ” — fine white powder the flour for the dough which by h eat and pressure is converted into the finished plastic material Before the war this plastic was used for a number of jobs like the water proofing of shower curtains and raincoats Tubing is made from it similar to that made from saran Among postwar possibilities are a liqui d preparation “ which can be sprayed on floors to harden like linoleum and the run ” proofing of hosiery This may be done either by coating stockings with the invisible synthetic or by using one thread of it with every two of fabric Heat melts the syn thetic slightly and forms a firm bond where the threads cross By this time it sho ul d be clear that plastics are not usually devised by research chemists who have definite instructions to find a material that will do this or that job Much has b een said by industrial pub “ ” l i c i s ts about man made materials tailored for special tasks but this is putting the cart before the horse at least during the ea rly stages of discovery and development More often a research man who may not be thinking of plastics at all observes a curious chemical behavior makes a hunk of stuff that may have possibilities and reports the matter “ ” Scientists loathe the phrase accidental discovery and they cannot b e blamed It demeans their craft with its implication that anyone could have invented the new machine or material if he had had the luck . . , , , , , . , - . , , . , , , . , - . . , , . , . . . - , , . , , , , , . , . PARADE OF PLASTICS 2 19 stumble upon the secret They correctly stress the fact that only a trained scientist would be likely to understand the significance of an unexpected finding wo ul d know how to repeat the steps which pro duc ed it or would be able to correlate it in its field Yet they must admit that in the field of plastics the approach of the scientist has been oblique to say the least O ften as not the discoverer has been unwittingly duplicating the experiment of a chemist long dead and later finds a record of his work “ ” in the scientific archives Sometimes he finds that his new plastic has been previously patented by another firm here or abroad and a license has to be obtained before manufacture can proceed to . , . , , . , , . , . T he bottle in the s un O ne of the many approaches to the glamorous transparent plastic kn own to chemists as methyl methacrylate and to the public as Lucite or P lexiglas took place in an old laboratory on the bank of the Brandy wine River some years ago when a du P ont chemist was trying to find new commercial outlets for certain b y products of methanol ( synthetic wood alcohol ) manufacture He had a bottle of a colorless liquid com pound similar in appearance to water but deceptively complex in its chemical composition and ancestry It was a methyl methacrylate monomer Methanol played a large part in its creation and every thing in it came originally from coal air water and salt The chemist put the bottle on a s unn y window sill and temporarily forgot about it W h en he finally returned to it the liquid had set to a clear solid This behavior prompted a line of research which resulted in the commercial develop ment of the widely publicized Lucite Instead of waiting for the heat of the s un to link up the little molecules of the liquid monomer into the lo ng chains of a solid chemists use a catalyst which brings about the change more rapidly and controls it more accurately But this wa s not the birth of the famous plastic S o called acrylic , , - . , . . , , . , . . , . , , . . - N EW M AT E R I A L S N EW M ETH O D S 220 , resins of this type were first rfia de in German laboratories decades ago when other curious chemists obtained results which they did not under stand and then found that they had some stuff that would behave like the materials we call plastics More work was done in E ngland The Rohm and Haas Company of P hiladelphia obtai ning as did the du P ont company the right to use the foreign patents brought out P lexi glas which has similar properties Thus the new plastic grew About 1 938 it swam into the public ken on a towering w ave of publicity and since then it has justly occupied a prominent place in the plastics parade Its use in bomber noses and “ ” blisters is one of the best examples of the value of a plastic The t raditional material for a window is glass It is cheap and easy to s et in lace and it is highly unlikely that anything else will be used for ordi p nary windows in the discernible future But suppose you want a curved w indow which will be frequently exposed to bullets Glass is hard to fab ricate in quantity in large curved surfaces and bullets shatter it Here a plastic finds its niche The conical nose pieces of acrylic resin are tough and shatter proof both in the factory and in flight A bullet leaves a clean round hole which is easy to patch And as an additional dividend this plastic is more transparent than even high quality plate — glass an important aid to crewm en In all these ways the plastic is superior for this particular use But no material is perfect N 0 plastic yet made is as scratch proof as glass For this reason abrasion caused by flying particles of sand limits the life of a bomber nose Because of its crystalline structure this acrylic plastic has another “ neat trick Fashioned into curved rods it will bend light around a ” corner The light goes in one end and comes out the other Doctors and dentists use it to obtain a clear V iew of the human interior and it is used in highway reflector buttons throughout the country O ther light transmission uses are being tested experimentally Advanced architects ” “ suggest for instance that rods of the plastic may be used to pipe light throughout a house from a single light source , . . , , , , , . . , . . . , . . , . , - . - . , . , - , . , . - . . , . , . , . . , . . , , . . N EW M A T E R I A L S N EW M E TH O D S 222 , i are cited particularly as ex a n pl es of plastics which do plasti c s and cannot be called substi tutes s p ec 1 al jobs as . , W ha t p la s ti cs a re Before going further we should stop an d consider the questio n ! What is a plastic Strictly speaking it wo ul d be possible to apply the word to any kind of doughy material that can be given permanent shape by heat by pressure or by both By this broad defin ition brick build ings concrete roads glass window panes and even steel knives might be called plastic products But people in the plastics industry do not consider them so While there is no universal agreement on a defini tion most experts take the attitude that a plastic is a chemical pr oduct with all or a part of its ingredients produced by synthetic methods This definition is wide enough to include the important cell ul ose group of plastics which utilizes cotton linters and woo d fiber as raw material to include plastics in which all manner of fillers like woo d flour rags “ ” and paper are introduced and to cover the natural plastics like those obtained from milk soyb eans and coffee Regardless of their origin all plastics are divided into two major types the thermop la s tic and the thermos etting varieties A large group of plastics like saran Koroseal and L ucite belong in the thermoplastic group which means that articles shaped from them by means of pres sure and heat will become soft again if they are heated to a high enough temperature the required temperature varying ith the nature of the plastic This is often an advantage The saran pipes for instance could “ ” not be welded on location by means of a hot plate if saran were not thermoplastic And it may be a disadvantage If you touch a lighted cigarette to the new plastic screen the strands will disintegrate from the heat leaving a clean round hole The other major group of plastics is called thermos etting Such plas tics are soft when heated in the process of fabricati ng articles but when ! , , , . , , , , , . . , , . , , , , . , , . , , , w , . . , , . . , , , . . , PLASTICS HOW MOLDE A RE D I MO LD IN G m u nt of P e i ely me u ed pl ti omp u nd pl ed in h e t ed p l i h ed t eel m ld ( A ) l e mp und ( B ) i A m ld ti ky m ft e ned by h e t t l l p t of mold wh i h fl w t W i th th e m e tti ng p l ti h t u e i n h e t ed m ld will mp u nd p e m ne ntly h de n A C C m ld W i th th e m pl ti e w t ) ( C) efully p l ed i n hilled t h de n m t e i l A ny me t l i n e t ( — m n m n J g e bj e t ( u p t 2 0 l b ) p e i ld i g n m ld wh e n filled Ch i ef d v t g e f n be m de MP RE CO SS O N as o s a re o s , so o or a ar o c o a o o r v s ra a ca co o a a a . s a . r s s cr s, r ss o e c s. os co ar as s c ar s r c as cs , o s r as o or o a a . s o cs , are c a r . . s o s o a s s o a r s o co , s ac s s c os c o a o c c a r as r c s a re ac o c s s. . ‘ ' ‘ 8 A D E 3 H D MO IN J E CT IO N P ow r ‘ LD IN G de ed th e m pl t m ld ng m t e i l i f d ut m ti l ly f m h ppe ( A ) int h e t ing h mbe ( B ) He e h e t t n f m p w d i nto f eely fl wing ne l iqu i d m wh i h i f ed by m ( C) th ugh n le ( D ) int o p g e ( E ) th e n th ough i nle t ( F ) into viti e ( G) wh e e i t old m ld l id ifie i n h pe of mold W h ile n fini h ed p i e e i be ing ej e t ed ( H) n w h g e fl w into h e ti ng h mbe H lf d e n m ll u nd ti le thu p e ed t n e th e n th e nne ting b n h e ut — n n F m d e u ed i i h ed t i le o t e n e e t ed t i t i e m i u t e mu h a n x fi f j f f te th n by omp e i n m ld ing r a a o s er ro oz o s r a as a r , s ro ar c s . c a c ar c s o r ss o r ss s s a re a are o ar c e o c ca s s s co as as s s as r a a , c as s a o so s ra r c c , ozz , o s ar- orc s r a c o c ro s or ra i ca a a a r as s s o o r o as i c a e r . o e o r . r. a c ra c s a a s a re c c s c . E X T RUS IO N h i me th d h be ome imp t nt e e ntly i n m lding nt inu u d tu be nd t ip of lm t ny th i k ne needed G nu le f th e m pl t i m t e i l f d f m h ppe ( A ) i nt th e h e t ed m h ine b dy ( B ) wh e e h e t t n f m m t e i l i nt e mi l iqu id m T h i i th e n f ed by me h ni l e w tufl ( C) th ough d i e of th e de i ed h pe ( D ) nt o n ey l t ( E ) wh i h t efu lly egul t ed peed A th e ex t uded t ip ool nd h den th ey th e n t int pe ified length ( F ) w und int il ( C u t e y M n nt Ch e mi l Comp ny ) T o s a as o r c o s ro s , s a o r ro as o c c a re a ca s cr ra ve s a cu s er car o s r r c o r a s s or s s o sa o s . o ca r a s or o s a r s r o co s. a . o a r a s s c a s orc s o a e r a s s o a re o s r a a os a ra . c as s . a s s r r ac ra co ss c a or c a co a v ar or N EW M ATE R I AL S N EW ME 224 , THODS they cool they har d en permanently and can never be melted again P lastic ashtrays restaurant table tops telephone receivers and elec tri c al connections belong in this class These products are not usually made in final form by the big chemi ca l firms which develop and manufacture the plastics These firms sell ” “ the plastics in the form of molding powders to hundreds of plastic molding firms great and small which use a number of methods to make the finished articles Most thermosett ing plastic articles are molded by comp res s ion That i s a measured amo unt of the plastic material is placed in a heated die of polished steel and stamp ed in the desired shape By the newer method of inj ect ion molding used with thermoplastic materials the melted plastic is forced into a mold and cooled to make it harden And by still another method extrus ion the hot plastic is forced through a die like toothpaste from a tube Con tinu ou s rods tubes and bands of plastic are made in this manner O ther methods are used to create the infinite variety of plastic products but these are the main ones , . , , . . , , . . , . , , . , , . , . , , . E lepha nt t a s ks d bi ll ia rd ba lls an We are now ready to face the fact that plastics are not very new and that hunters armed with elephant guns and indoor sportsmen armed with billiard cues had quite a bit to do with their origin The ivory from which billiard balls are made comes from elephant tusks The elephants were shot off so fast in the middle 1 800 s that the price of ivory went skyrocketing B ill i ard ists felt the pinch and in 1 86 8 the firm of P helan and Collender N ew York makers of equipment for the game o ffered a prize of to anyone who would produce a sub s titute f or ivory John Wesley Hyatt an Albany printer and amateur inventor was among those who heeded the call With the help of his brother Isaiah John Hyatt s et up a crude laboratory and worked nights and Sun d ays , . . ’ . , , , . , , . , , NEW MAT ER I A LS NEW METHO D S 226 , The film which he obtaine d is now used by the entire motion pictur e industry Hyatt s celluloid has found many new uses since those days but it e important disadvantage as the Goodwins discovered has on Based on nitrocellulose it i s inflammable For decades parents warned their children about it and the industry searched for a fire resistant cellu loid type plastic Such a plastic existed but it was not brought into — general use until the late twenties Then Hyatt s old company now the — Celanese Celluloid Corporation the Tennessee E astman Corporation and o ther firms brought out the now famous cellulose acetate plastic — Instead of adding nitric and sulphuric acids items in the perfected — celluloid recipe to the cotton cellulose they used acetic acid and acetic anhydride two chemicals which may be made from coal This plastic does not flare like celluloid at the touch of a flame and it burns no faster than hard wood It was quickly adopted for home movie films Hollywood does not use it because of its higher cost and for certain t echnical reasons but it has made home motion pictures a safe hobby for the amateur O ther versions of the safer cellulose plastic soon fol lowed The D ow Chemical Company and the Hercules P owder Com pany varied the recipe by mixing the cellulose with a chemical made from brine and petroleum thus producing the ethyl cellulose plastic of like behavior The cellulose types now acco unt for a large slice of entire plastic production and it is hard to conjure up a picture of everyd ay life without them O lder women remember when buttons cost three times their present price an d were sold in only a few colors and designs Today they appear in an infinite variety of shapes sizes and colors Automobile steering wheels doorknobs knife handles flashlights compacts jar t 0 ps fountain pens radio kno b s fishing reels costume j ewel ry and a thousand other things are more attractive vari ed an d inexpensive because of John Hyatt and those who have followed in his footsteps - . ’ , . , . , - , - . , ’ . . , . , , . . , . . , . , . . . , , , , , , , , , . , , , PARAD E OF PLASTICS 22 7 Hyatt and Goodwin were not the only experimenters whose eff orts to solve small problems changed the living habits of millions There was Dr Adolph Spitteler a teacher of Hamburg Germany who tried to make a white writingboard a s a substitute for his class room black board He fiddled with many chemical mixtures with no success and then one day he hit upon the idea of mixing sour milk with f ormal de hyde a colorless gas then used chiefly f or fumigation The res ul t was a shiny ho rnlike substance the first casein plastic which is now used as a manufacturing material throughout the world Recent research has made it possible to use soya beans lignin from wood peanuts and various other vegetable products in place of milk Rods and tub es made from this plastic are easily machined into all manner of small ornamental obj ects . . , , , , . . , , , , . , , . . Creator B k e a l i e t f o The greatest pioneer in plastics was the late Dr Leo Hendrick Baekeland who in 1 90 7 combined phenol ( carbolic acid ) with formal d ehyde to make the plastic which now leads all others in co mmer c i a l u s e Dr Baekeland s patents expired in the middle t wenties and his plastic is now manufactured by many firms under many trade names but it is best kno wn by the name its discoverer ga ve to it Bakelite It is almost an axiom that the inventor of a plastic is looking f or something else and Dr Baekeland was no exception His life was an amazing success story A brilliant and penniless yo ung teacher of chemistry in Belgium he came to the United States to make money After a severe struggle complicated by illness he invented a photo graphic paper which co ul d be printed in artificial light Sunlight had previously been used for printing Ge orge E astman of the great photo graphic firm called him to Rochester and anno un ced that he wished to “ ” buy his Velox paper Baekeland would have taken for h is . , ’ . . , , . . , . . . , , . . . . N EW M A T E R I A L S N EW M E TH O D S 22 8 , invention it is reported but E astman opened with an o ff er , , of Baekeland took his million and set to work again in his laboratory He was curious about the manufa c turing process used by a little red bug in India The bug sucks the s ap of fig tr ees and converts it into a protective covering for itself This covering is the source of shellac Dr Baekeland s et out to make a synthetic resin to take the place of shellac After many experiments he produced a tough mes s from phenol and formaldehyde which nothi ng would dissolve into anyt hing like a varnish resin Greatly impressed by the obstinacy of the mate rial he at length abandon ed his attempts to bend it to his wi ll and instead capitalized upon his failure Using heat pressure and a catalyst to assist the reaction he converted the mess into a clear liquid which quickly hardened into an attractive amber substance when he poured it into a mold The hard thermosetting plastic turned out to be very fire resistant and a poor conductor of electricity It soon found a huge market in the manufacture of molded parts for electrical equipment That was only the beginning Dr Baekeland predicted that his new plastic would be used in forty three industries but its development has exceeded his wildest hopes It i s m olded and cast into countless things we s ee all about us and where special strength is desired it is used in the making of laminated — sheets one of the most promising of the many plastic products For this purpose it is prepared in liquid form and sheets of paper or cloth are dipp ed into it repeatedly until several dried layers of the plastic cling to them Then the sheets are molded together under tremendous pressure and heat and there emerges a single panel of material rock h ard and lustrous which may be used for a table top a bar or a deco r a tive wall covering P aper and phenolic resin are also combined to make gearwheels Timing gears of this type have been used for years in automobiles and now there are even factory gearwheels of laminated of oi l for lubrication lastic which use water instead p . . . . . . , . , , . , , . , . . . . . , , , . , . , , - , , . . , , . , N EW M AT ER I A L S N EW ME TH O D S 2 30 , the urea formaldehyde plastic which first appeared in 1 92 8 It will take any color of the rainbow Urea is used in place of phenol in this plastic and the wide use of this white crystalli ne powder is possible because of the enterprise of the du P ont company in estab l i s hing domestic manufacture of the chemical by synthetic methods O nce all the syn thetic urea used in this country was imported from Germany and in 1 92 0 the price went as high as fifty seven cents a pound Du P ont chemists took some by product carbon dioxide treated it with ammonia to make urea and s et up large plants to turn it out in quantity Today all our urea which has a startling variety of new uses including a protein substitute in cattle feed a powder to heal wounds and a starting material for a poison ivy killer and a flame roofin compound is made in this country and sold for less than four p g cents a pound This plastic like all others is now restricted to war uses L ike Dr Baekeland s phenolic variety the urea formaldehyde resin is used to make the light weatherproof bonded plywood used in P T b oats planes and buildings and the plastic has a hundred other wartime uses To the public it is b est known in the form of the vividly colored lightweight “ ” S hatterproof cups and plates which go by the trade name of P la skon ” “ an d B eetleware It is used for radio cabinets and many other every day objects in which bright colors and durability are desired and in its translucent form it is made into reflectors and globes for electric lights l arity of - . . , , . , - , - . , , . , , , - , , . . , , . ’ - , , , . , , , . , . T ra ns muted wood are not always a rival of other materials ; often they supple ment them as in boats an d planes In the newest u s e ofi a urea com poun d wood is treated so that it i s no longer wood at all but a com t o both wood and plastics new material superior in many ways t l e e l y p “ ” ” “ In a tabletop made of this transmuted wood the finish goes all the way through ; spilled coffee or cocktails hot dishes and scratches P lastics , . , , . , , PARADE OF PLASTICS 231 lose their terror Such furniture will survive almost any outrageous treatment Y ou can soak it in water and it won t warp And in spite of its iron constitution it wi l l have a satin like sheen displaying the natural grain of the wood In this process the woo d is impregnate d under pressure with a cheap colorless odorless chemical compound known as methylol u rea The impregnating solution is made by dissolving two powders in water in the required proportions O ne powder di methylol urea is made by condensing formaldehyde with urea the other is urea itself The woo d to be treated i s placed in a big steel cylinder and the solu tion is pulled in thro ugh a pipe by pumping the air out of the cylinder The chemical combines with the components of the woo d to form the large chain molecules of a plastic and hardens filling the tissue This f ortified wood is only slightly affected by water ; since the plastic is thermosett ing it cannot be softened by heat and it has hardness fire resistance and possibilities of finish unknown in the untreated woo d To produce a hard smooth finish which will take a high gloss it is com pressed in a heated mold with a mirror like surface N 0 further fini s h ing is needed Since it cannot warp shri nk or swell this wood plastic may end forever the nuisance of the sticking bureau drawer In tests conducted over a period of two years it has broken the heart and jaws of every hungry termite which has been introduced to it And furniture is only one of its many uses It is also easy to give the woo d a permanent dye of any color The d ye is simply added to the chemical solution before it is drawn into the cylinder containing the wood and the color permeates the woo d com . ’ . . - , . , , , , , . - . - , , . , , . . , , , , , . , , - . - . , , . . . . , l e t l e p y . The new material was developed by a group of du P ont chemists headed by Dr J F T Berliner who acknowledges a heavy debt to government scientists at the U S Forest P roducts L aboratory at Madison Wis In a series of experiments which began several years ago the men at Madison found that by sprinkling crystallized urea . . . . , . , , . . N EW M AT E R I A L S N EW M E TH O D S 2 32 , green lumber they could prevent it from checkin g and cracking while it s easoned and they also found that by soaking the green lum ber in a solution of urea they could bend it at will when it was heated To prevent the woo d from softening again under further heat and losing its shape they added formaldehyde to set it This resulted in permanently curved woo d sections of great strength The woo d was given some of the properties of plastics Meanwhile Dr Berliner and his colleagues investigating other compositions of urea and formal d ehyde developed the methylol urea solution and the method of i m reg na ti ng the woo d with it p This discovery comes at a time when the country i s faced with a critical shortage of lumber because of the great demands of the war We are cutting many of our best woods faster than they grow but we are using no more than fifty out of about varieties of wood avail able and we are discarding poorer grades of the usable woods The new chemical treatment will take woods now ranked as inferior b e cause of softness or weakness and transform them into hard and durable materials which will ease the demand on the grade A varieties Soft maple yellow poplar tupelo gum and several varieties of soft pine can be treated to replace hard maple oak walnut and other “ ” expensive cabinet woods This may mean in effect that the discovery has suddenly increased manyfold the forest resources of the country on , . . . . , . , - , . . , , . , - . , , , . , , , , . Vers atile mela mine Another promising new plastic made its bow in 1 94 0 under the S ponsorship of the American Cyanamid Company It is based on mela mine a long neglected chemical Cinderella rescued from the ashes by Cyanamid s big research staff In 1 938 there was only a small quantity o f melamine in existence and if for some o dd reason you wanted a pound of it the price would have been $4 0 Chemists had a hunch that t his laboratory curiosity could be put to work and they procured a . , ’ . , , . , N EW M AT ER I A LS N EW M ETH O D S 234 , Many other new develO pments gare under way in the manufacture of nylon rayon other synthetic fabrics which like fountain pens and bomber noses are made from plastic resins , , , . , P la s t ics i n the A rmy P lastics have played an important wartime role in improving the equ ipment of the individual soldier The old steel helmet for instance had its shortcomings It was s o heavy that men got stiff necks from wearing it as a rain hat in safe areas The rivets which fastened it to the head harness were driven into the skull if hit by flying metal So an inner helmet of fabric reinforced plastic was designed for the soldier to wear in camps and base towns The new rivetless steel helmet fits snugly over the plastic liner and since it now has no head harness it can be used as a wash basin or water bucket or for bailing a boat We entered the war with the aluminum canteen adopted in 1 91 0 but all of the white metal was n eeded for planes A featherweight canteen o f ethyl cellulose plastic was adopted The new canteen is s o strong that a man can jump on it ; it emits no metallic clank to betray the o wner s position and since the plastic is a poor heat conductor it doesn t burn a man s hands when fill ed with hot coffee P lastic bugles wake men up melodiously and need no polishing ; olive drab pla stic uniform buttons also save polishing time and d o not glint in the s un light There are plastic rifl estocks to take the place of scarce walnut and pliable transparent plastic bags of Vinylite film for floating the rifle across a river The waterproof bag is slipped over the rifle or other pi ece of equipment and a kn ot is tied in the end Su fficient air is en trapped to provide buoyancy and the soldier pushes the rifle ahead of him while swimming or wading in deep water If he needs his rifle quickly on the Opposite bank he can shoot through the bag Other plastic bags are sealed around airplane motors to protect them from rust during shipment and chemical pellets inside the bag absorb what . , , . . . - . , , . , , . . ’ , , ’ ’ . - , . . , . , , . , , . PARADE OF PLASTICS 235 ever moisture remains in the enclosed air This takes the place of the coating of grease which m ust be washed away before the motor can be used Then there are the five gallon metal water cans used in the field Soldiers put lemonade in them and got sick A lining of plastic resin made them safe for any beverage The use of color in a plastic is not always for display Before night flights airmen wear red tinted plastic goggles to prepare their eyes for “ fly ” darkness P ilots in training can blind in the dayt ime by wearing thes e red goggles while the windshield and other apertures are covered with green tinted plastic sheets The pilot sees his instruments but cannot see outside the cabin But the instructor who wears no goggles sees through the windshield easily and can warn his charge of danger . - . . . . . - , . , - . , . , , . Mag ic g lue Versatile is the word for plastics and ano ther of their myriad jobs is the sticking of various materials together As mentioned above the bonded plywood boats and planes could not be built without strong wea therproof synthetic resins Now there is a promising new resin which will bond not onl y wood but all manner of materials in an un breakable union It will unite metal to metal or to woo d plastics glass fiber bo ard natural rubber and most synthetics Cycl eweld is the name of this universal glue Its chemical composition has not been revealed It was developed by S Gordon Saunders of the Chr ysler Corporation Mr Saunders an expert on paint and synthetic resins o n o starte the proj ect when someone asked at a technical con t d g ” “ ference What makes paint stick to metal ! It occurre d to him that it would take tremendous power to pull off a single square inch of paint “ ” on the surface of an automobile Here was a super strong one way — an equally powerful adhesive that would work both ways a dhes i c would be of great value Arme d with this rough i d ea Saun d ers worke d for five years finally perfecting his glue . , , . , . , , , , . , . . . . . , , , - . . , , . - N EW M AT ER I A LS N EW M ETH O D S 2 36 , Cycl eweld i s now being used tp supplant rivets in building airplanes Metal wing flaps for a certain fighter plane are glued together in eighteen minutes saving hours of riveting time O nce it took rivets to bold in place the interior supports of the wing flap N ow the synthetic adhesive is applied with a s pray gun and the assembl ed flap is squeezed together in a heated press eliminating 90 0 rivets and cutting the cost by one third New horizons in housing are also in sight because of this process which makes possible the permanent gluing of all manner of building materials Floor panels for prefabricated houses have been made by Cycl eweld ing sheets of corrugated steel within thin layers of plywood Ab out as thick as ordi nary flooring it i s much lighter and s o rigid that o nl y half the normal number of joists are needed The glu e has also b een used experimentally in assembling light weight plywood furni ture eliminating the heavy corner posts necessary to anchor screws When you find a glue that will stick almost anything to anything else th e possibilities are immens e , . . . , l , - . , . . , , . - , . , . G iant t oothp as te t ube Another Chrysler engineer Walter P Cousino has invented a con ti nuou s plastic extruding machine that could turn out a two inch pipe long enough to reach from coast to coast if you gave it enough raw materials and forgot to stop it Six years ago Cousino a farm b oy turned mechanic and amateur inventor decided to investigate plastics Anyone with a little capital can go into theplastics molding business and with $ 1 0 0 Cousino bought spare parts to build his first molding machine He and his wife spent evenings in the basement making plas tic fi s h and deer eyes for taxidermists and with the same machine mold ing rubber tires for miniature automobiles In Cous ino s first extrusion machine he used a piston to force the ” “ hot wet plastic through the shaping d ie of the toothpaste tub e Later . , , - . , , . , , . , . ’ , , . N EW M A T ER I A L S N EW M E TH O D S 238 , quantities of li gnin waste havqb een poured int o streams where they poison the fish Then chemists of the U S Forest P roducts L aboratory at Madison Wis began to investigate uses of l l gnm and concluded that the paper industry was j unking a chemical treasure house After many years of research the Marathon P aper Company of Rothschild Wis began recently to convert the resinous stuff into a number of valuable products among them plastics Molding powders are made from which small obj ects are pressed and lignin plastic resin is used with paper and cloth to make light strong laminated sheets for many purposes S o far reclamation of the constantly flowing lignin waste is only a drop in the bucket Chemists must learn more about lignin Some experts believe that when studies now in progress have been completed reclaimed lignin will double the easily available supply of plastics raw material and will furnish the cheapest general purpose plastic on the market , . . . . , , . , . , , , . , , , . , , . . , , . E nt er “ s il ic ones ” The industry is currently excited by the arrival of a whole new family of plastics based on the element silicon which occurs abun dantly in the earth s surface and is the basis of glass manufacture Most plastics based upon carbon will stand up under the heat they are ” “ likely to be subjected to but the fact that the new silicones as they are called will stand far higher temperatures have made them of i m mediate importance in electric insulation E very new plastic does unexpected things and when Westinghouse engineers redesigned a three horsepower electric motor and used sili cones for insulation the output of the motor increased to ten horse power This result was too good to be typical but tests on other motors indicate that the new plastic s heat resistance will soon lead to lighter and better electric motors Dramatic results in other uses of silicones may be expected The Dow Corning Corporation and the General , ’ . , , , , , , . , - , , . ’ . . PARADE OF PLASTICS 2 39 E lectric Company are making the silicone pr od ucts in both solid and liquid form for many purposes While a nu mber of war uses are still secret it has been revealed that General E lectric is using a rubber like silicone material to make gaskets for B 2 9 turbosuperchargers which Operate at very high temperatures and to support the lenses in large Na vy searchlights which must withstand severe heat from electric carbon arcs At a recent demonstration chunks of General E lectric s rubber like silicone plastic were distributed which are as soft as putty but which bo unce like a lively rubber ball Since this material can be made to hold its shape by vulcanization plans are under way for postw a r golf and squash balls and it has even been suggested that tires may some time be made from it Another promising new development is the co mb ination of a thermo setting resin with fiberglas ( a thin fiber made by directing a jet of air against a stream of molten glass ) to produce light strong structural parts This plastic glass combination is being used to make the cabin framework for the new war helicopter R 6 It is only half as heavy as aluminum and i s strong enough to stand up un der heavy punish ment There i s no doubt that further revolutions will be wrought in many machi nes processes and commodities by plastics now in use or yet to be d eveloped Many of these changes as in the insulation of an electric motor will take place where people cannot see them but can only judge by the results It is extremely unlikely that consumers dreams about cheap mass produced all plastic automobiles planes houses and boats will be realized You can make almost anyt hing out of a l astic if you can pay the rl ce but compared with most common p p structural materials plastics are v ery expensive Wood steel iron brick cement and glass are all dirt cheap compare d with the l east ex pensive plastic and where these materials will d o about as well the use of a plastic would be folly . - , , , , . ’ - , , . , , . , - . - . , . , . , , , ’ . - - , , , . , . , , , , - , , , . N EW M AT E R I A L S N EW M E TH O D S 240 , P lastics will be used only where the i r spec i al qualities will earn back their high initial cost Such practical uses are legion for their virtues are many and varie d The new technical developments of the next deca d e will be a fascinating spectacle an d the performance of plastics will be one of its stellar acts . , . , . N EW M AT ERI A LS N EW METH O D S 24 2 , like a batch of cookies they a rp s o hard you can dash them against a brick wall or jump on them without breaking them In less than half an hour the formless dust s o fine that a hearty sneeze would blow it away has been converted into a solid bearing in the exact dimensions needed ready for the most g ruelling service Thi s is only one example of the great progress of recent years in — metallurgy an art upon which all other mechanical arts depend The history of metal working processes parallels the story of man s mate rial advance Men may invent engines helicopters electron tubes plastics or new fuels but without the talent of the metallurgist all these things would remain sterile concepts condemned forever to the prison of the mind Metals it was stated in the previous chapter may be described broadly speaking as plastic materials By means of pressure heat or both metals in fluid form are converted into simple obj ects for the consumer into tools for making articles from metals or other mate rials and into the millions of variegated machines which take the place of human sinews Most of these products are made by melting the metals and casting them in the shape needed by carving them in various ways from pre formed blocks or by some combination of the two methods There have been tremendous improvements in these older ways of forming metal objects Modern guns motors automobiles and air planes are all built upon these improvements But these methods have their limitations By reducing the raw materials to freely fl owing powder instead of melting them many of these limitations have been overcome and triumphs of fabrication unheard of a few years ago have been achieved P owder metallurgy is not new but its development since the war started is a mechanical miracle There is a complicated unit of an anti aircraft gun mount for instance a part of many facets and angles which once was a machinist s nightmare The part was needed in great , . , , , , . . ’ - . , , , , , , , . , , , . , , , , , , . , - . . , , . - . , , . , . , , , ’ . STAMPED FROM METAL DUST 24 3 quantities and it took two hours of skille d la b or to shape it by con venti ona l methods from a blank piece of metal The Amplex Division of the Ch rysler Corporation in Detroit which is that firm s powdered metals section took over the job and made a die for pressing the part from powder Soon the parts were streaming forth from the sintering furnace at the rate of one every four or five seconds The method was “ ” mount used to produce many other small parts in the gun mount ( a includes everything but the barrel ) with the result that 2 4 0 manhours were saved for every gun made , . ’ , , . . - . B ea ring s tha t ms elves o i l the Time saving is only one reason for stamping objects out of metal powder instead of cutt ing them from solid stock Machine parts that can be produced in no other way are pressed from powder and one of the most spectacular of these is the self lubricating bearing that sucks up oil as a S ponge absorbs water and gradually doles it out during a lifetime that is often longer than that of the machine it serves These bearings are pressed from copper tin and solid lubricants and may be made more porous by adding to the mixture a volatile which evapo rates during the heat treatment This leaves an invisible network of tiny reservoirs which holds oil up to thirty five per cent of the volume of the part If you take one of these small cylinders and squ eeze it slightly in a vise tiny drops of oil exude from its pores Release the pressure and the oil is sucked up again This shows what happens to a self lubrica ting bearing in action when installed in a tank an automobile or another piece of machinery The greater the strain the more generous the lubrication supplied by the bearing and when the strain is over the oi l is reabsorbed by the sponge like cylinder and awaits the next call to work Some of the tank bearings have been run under test for a billion revolutions with no appreciable loss of oil - . , - , . , , . - . . , - . , , . , , , , - . . N EW MATERIA LS N EW METH O D S 244 , “ Self oiling bearings allow g l n crews to forget many lubrication i ” “ points and concentrate on the enemy In sub zero climates where free ” oi l freezes the oil in these bearings is not a ff ected nor do they “ ” bleed their oi l in tropical heat Time is saved not only in factories but on fighting fronts where delay is fatal L ong before the war the self lubricating parts were silently domg their work in automobiles washing machines mechanical refrigera tors and farm machinery E arly in the twenties Moraine P roducts a General Motors subsidiary ; the Bound Brook O il less Bearing Com pany of New Jersey ; and later Amplex and other firms began making self oiling bronze bearings for automobile starters clutches and water pumps Running on bearings which are actually one third oil washers and generators are sealed up and lubrication is forgotten during the life of the machine In cases where the oil in the bearing is likely to be exhausted before the machine wears out additional oil can be installed in a sealed cavity adjacent to the hearing which will absorb it as it is needed Self oiling s queakl ess hing es followed and Chrysler adopted a porous striker plate for automobile door latches which was cheaper and stronger than its pre d ecessor an d ende d the annoyance of oil spots on clothes Virtually all our war machines have been doing a better job b e cause of the pressed powder parts The terrific strain when a plane fl at tens out at the bottom of a power dive has sometimes ruptured the pilot s diaphragm and the strain threatens the machine as well as the man Details are secret but a self lubricating bearing pressed from powder prote cts some of the faster fight ing planes from damage by these instantaneous loads of enormous pressure - - . , , . , , . - , , , . , , - , , - , - . , , . , , - . , , , . - . ’ , - . , . P a tch s ’ ff co o t p ee The porous metals h a ve a number of uses other than lubrication E arl P atch of General Motors who was one of the pioneers in the . , N EW M AT E R I A L S N EW M E TH O D S 24 6 , This was long before the develppment of furnaces suitable for melting iron ore ; furthermore mi croscO p ic examination of the implem ents indicates th at the iron wa s never melted S o it is assumed that the Egyptians heated and compressed particles of sponge iron into slabs and beat them into useful tools while the metal was st ill hot This was the cru d e beginning of powder metallurgy Nothing more was done about it until the early l 800 s when the noted E nglish chemist William Wollaston became interested in plati num The melting point of this precious metal i s F and there were no furnaces hot enough to make it flow Centuries before E cua dorian artisans had used easily melting gold and silver to bind parti cles of platinum in articles of jewelry Wollaston was determined to make platinum workable and he succeeded He kept the process secret during his lifetime and is said to have made a fortune from it In a paper published after his death hi s method was revealed He ha d re d uced the platinum to powder by chemical means and by repeatedly pressing and baking it had converted it into solid form of the shape desired , . , . . ’ , , , . . . , , . . , . , . , , , . B etter el ectri c la mps After this revelation powder metallurgy went to sleep for another century Then came E dison and the incandescent electric lamp The first lamps were shortlived and gave comparatively little illumination for the power used because of the great d ifli culty of finding a suitable material for the filament The early carbon filaments were improved then came the more e ffi cient filaments of hard brittle tantalum But the lamps with tantalum wires were suitable only for direct current circuits When used with alternating current they burned out rapidly because the tantalum crystallized E dison knew that the best material of all would be the even more h ard brittle and unworkable tungsten If only tungsten could be mad e into wire lamps would give far more , . . . , , . . , . . , , STAMPED FROM METAL DUST 24 7 light use less power and last longer In short the new electrical illu mination industry would acquire tremendous impetus Tungsten melts at F N o furnaces existe d hot enough to melt the intractable stuff so that it could be worked like ordinary metals E ven if there had been such furnaces they would not have solved the problem for we now know that when tungsten is melted big crystals are formed which reduce its practical value In its natural state tungs ten does not even stick together in a lump like ordinary metals It exists only as a fine powder or as a mass of partially united particles This was the state of our knowledge of tungsten when word came from Germany that someone had actually made a lamp filament from the exasperating metal Dr Willis Whitney and John W Howell of the General E lectric Company were sent on a sleuthing expedition to Berlin Soon after their arrival they were walking along a street one evening and s aw a shop window lighted by electric lamps of dazzling brilliance After an interview with the shopkeeper they were hot on the trail They found that tungsten filaments had been first made and patented by a penniless Viennese laboratory worker named Dr Alexander Just He and his partner Franz Hanaman had made a sticky paste from powdered tungsten sugar and gum arabic had squirted it through a fine nozzle wound the wet filament on cardboard as it emerged and then subjected it to a treatment involving heat Intense heat was needed but not nearly enough to melt the tungsten This eliminated the temporary adhesive and by a kind of action which is still a subj ect of debate among technical men sintered or joined to gether the tiny particles of tungsten to form a filament The General E lectric Company paid Just and Hanaman for the rights to their patent made deals wi th t wo German inventors who had made counter claims and in 1 90 7 placed the tungsten filament lamp on the market It was an immediate success for it gave twice as much light for the power consumed as the most effi cient lamp previously made But this filament made of specks of tungsten dust glued together , . , . . . , , , . , . . . . . . , . , . . . , , , , , . , . , , , , . , , . , . M AT E RI A LS N EW M E TH O D S N E W 24 8 , was extremely b r ittle and fragile William D Coolidge famous re searche rof the Schenectady fi rin announced his belief that tungsten could be made ductile or capable of being drawn out from a solid bar into a thin wire Coolidge struggled for s ix years with his self appointed problem and finally solved it In a complicated process of many opera tions Coolidge pressed the tungsten dust into a briquette which would disintegrate at the touch of a finger gave it a preliminary baking then ran an electric current through it to give it another sintering treatment just below the melting point of the metal Then he heated it white hot “ ” and put it through a swaging or mechanical hammering machine which hit it times a minute and beat it into a thin rod Finally he drew it through a tiny hole in a diamond to make strong pliable wire one sixth the size of a human hair Dr Coolidge s tungsten filament has since been used in all incandescent lamps Its increased efficiency has saved the world billions of dollars and has contributed immeasurably to the widespread use of electric illumination This was powder metal l urg y s first great triumph . . , ’ , , - . . , , , , - . . , ’ - . . . , . ’ . Cutt ing tools f or wa r Another use the new art has had world shaking results This is the tungsten carbide cutting tool the hardest known machine making in strument which keeps its edge when it is red hot and because it out wears any other metal working tool manyfold increases the rat e of production of guns projectiles and other war essentials The Germans invented this powerful industrial weapon Germany s full employ ment of it is considered an important factor in her rapid preparation for World War II and her ability to continue war production long after ” “ experts had predicte d that s he would have shot her bolt The great military importance of thes e tools was demonstrated when the Ameri can Department of State finally persuaded the Franco government to re duce the export to the Na z is of wolframite the chief tungsten bearing of - . - - , - , , - , . , ’ . , . - , NEW MAT ERI A L S N EW METH O D S 25 0 , out the land will be equipped with tungsten carbide tools bringing about great economies O ther uses are suggested by a tungsten carbide phonograph needle recently put on the market The same hardness that creates superb metal cutting tools enables the needle to play a thousand or more records without dulling its point Dental tools from metal powders are also being perfected - , . - . - . . Ma rriag e of convenience Metals that ordinarily will not work together and cannot be com b ined by any other method join willingly when pressed together in owdered form and routed through the sintering oven This makes it p possible to combine metals which have special virtues and thus create “ ” a pseudo alloy which possesses the best features of each For in sta nce copper is one of the best known conductors of electricity but it melts at a fairly low temperature Tungsten is not a goo d conductor b ut it resists intense heat O bviously a marriage would be highly con veni ent b ut engineers knew that if they tried to merge the two metals wi th heat the copper would completely evaporate before the tungsten reached its melting point When both metals were reduced to powder they were united easily by the new method and now the electrical in dus try has a metal which is an excellent conductor and also withstands the heat of an electric arc when used in a c1 rcuit breaking switch or welding electrode The powder process is also useful in ma nufacturing metal parts so small that they are di fficult and expensive to produce by older methods Millions of tiny magnets for us e in the electrical equipment of air planes have been pressed from powder as fast as so many buttons They are cheaper and quicker to make than cast magnets and because of their fine grain are more resistant to shock Fine copper screening for use as laboratory filters is now made from metal powders The screen , , . - . , , , . . , , . , , - . . . . . STAMPED FROM METAL DUST 25 1 ing is stamped out in a die and hardened in an oven by a metho d much the same a s that used in making gears and bearings This is faster than weaving the screens from wire and since all the joints are welded to gether the screen cannot ravel and the meshes are held to their original dimensions thus assuring greater accuracy These screens are used for example to test the fineness of the part icles in various powdered metals since the size of the dust specks has a great deal to d o with the dura b i l ity of the finished parts Twenty eight different metals are now being pro duce d in powdered form and used in various combinations to produce tens of thousands of different products but experts s ay that this is o nl y a beginning Virtually all metals ca n be powdered and united with others to create new materials for a wide variety of uses Gold platinum and silver f or instance can be powdered and processed with harder metals to mass produce novel and durable ornamental objects which would nee d little or no finishing after they leave the sintering oven Table silver and jewelry have been suggested P owder metallurgy has a brilliant future if we consider only the products which can be made in no other way like self oiling bearings and tungsten carbide tools and complicated parts like gear wheels in which the elimination of costly machining pays big dividends Some engineers look beyond these uses and predict that with lowere d costs of metal powders the process will compete more and more with casting an d forging and that all ma nner of simple metal obj ects will be presse d from powder and baked like cookies . , , . , , , , . - . , . , , , - . . - , - , . , . How the p owd ers a re ma d e Because the raw materials of the process must first be reduced to powder they cost more than solid metals P owdered copper for m stance may cost eight cents a pound more than solid copper A variety of methods are use d to make the powder which is manufacture d by a . , , . , , : N EW M AT ER I A LS N EW METH O D S 2 52 , number of firms and shipped to the fabricators Metals with low melting points like lead tin aluminum and zinc may be made into powder by atomizing a stream of the molten metal with an air j et Copper iron or nickel powders can be made electrolytically By the use of large cur rents they are deposited in a S pongy mass on the electrode and the mass is scraped off and easily pulverized Some powders may be made by chemical methods Iron powder is made directly from ore without smelting It is ground fine in a ball mill reduced to iron oxide in a furnace then treated with hydrogen to produce the pure iron powder Before the war processors depended on high grade iron ore from Sweden Since that supply was cut off methods have been developed to produce the powder from domestic ore and iron and steel scrap at comparable cost There are a number of extra savings which help to o ffset the added c ost of making the powder By other shaping methods fifty to seventy fi ve per cent of the solid metal is often scrapped in the form of chips and shavings W h en parts are pressed from powder nothing is w asted L ess factory space is needed since the forming die does the work of half a dozen bulky machine tools Fewer men are needed and because the process i s largely automatic many of them can be semi skilled The S l z e of the articles which may be pressed from powder has of experience in war manufacture O nly a reatly increased because g few years ago production was limited for the most part to small sym metrical articles weighing only a few ounces Now Amplex is stamping out powdered metal tank bearings weig h ing fifty seven pounds an d ways have been found to make many complicated parts with irregular protuberances Yet the process has its limitations in this respect and probably always will have In making the briquettes the powd er must b e uniformly pressed perpendicularly or hori zontally ; the process will never approach plastics in the variety of shapes obtainable With these l imitations in mind it is still possible as one enthusiast predicted that . , , , , . , , . , , . . . , . , - , . , . . , . , . , . , , - . . , . - , . , . , . , , , N EW MAT ERIA LS NEW METH O D S 25 4 , B etter eng ines from powder ! Every new development in metal fabrication is like the pebble tossed — into the pool the ripples travel far Readers will recall that increase of the e fficiency of the gas turbine depends upon the manufacture of turbine blades which will stand up under hott er and hotter blasts of burning gas But as we have seen in the case of tungsten it is difficult to work metals which will hold their shape under high temperatures Is ! the answer to be found in turbines pressed from powder This possi b i l ity is being investigated and engineers are not unanimous but one may speculate on the possible effects on our everyday life of lighter and more powerful kerosene burning gas turbines perhaps to suppl ant present engines in busses trucks and even passenger cars Long before such a motor is perfected parts pressed from metal dust may greatly improve our internal combustion engines Dr P aul Schwarzkopf Austrian pioneer in the field who is now dir ect or of research for the American E lectro Metal Corporation of Yonke rs fore sees a day when powdered metal will be pressed to make super hard inner j ackets for plane and automobile engines prolong ing their life indefinitely and adding greatly to their power O ther metallurgists are compiling their lists of new uses Many of them predict that powder will revolutionize the metal industry which would mean changes incalculable in the living habits of the mechanized . . , . , , - , . , , . . , , - , . . , C H A P T R E F O U T R E N E CLI MA T E A ! A BA R T E M O TIO N PIC TU RE VE RSIO N of H G Wells ambitious trek into the future T he S ha p e of T hings t o Come all men were noble hand some and healthy creatures whose cities were stately air conditione d domes protected against the brash vicissitudes of natural weather Tales of the ol d squalid days of sneezes and coughs and sweltering heat were told to instruct the young and man relieved of his semi annual burden of adjustment to the sun s declensi on took a hitch in his belt and set out to conquer the universe — L ike most of the visions of Mr Wells who might be called the — patron saint of industrial designers and advertising artists this con cept of freedom from weather s caprices had much of value behind its fantastic fa ga d e Already his prophetic title is beginning to justify itself Since audiences s aw his film in air conditioned comfort that summer of 1 936 indoor weather control has come to occupy an in c rea s i ng ly large place in ou r daily lives Already with ou r quick an d casual acceptance of improvements which scientists and engineers labored half a century to bring to us we are beginning to demand air conditioning as a natural right not only in theatres and auditoriums but in restaurants department stores and hotels and its occasional failure on war burdened passenger coaches is the signal for groans of complaint Yet air conditioning strongly associate d as it is in the public mind with compartments of assembly or travel means far more than human comfort Towns where not a single building has summer cooling are now reaping benefits from controlled weather in the form of fresher IN ’ T HE - . . , , , - , . , , , ’ , . . ’ . - . - , . , , , , , , - . , , . N EW M AT ER I A LS N EW M ETH OD S 25 6 , foods and better manufactured p roducts and more benefits are on the way F or air conditioning has become among other things an indispensable machine tool L ike most machine tools it has been called to the colors and there is hardly a critical operation in war production that is not being d one faster better or cheaper because of it S oon after war production got under way the offi cials of an E astern war plant where certain essential high precision instruments are made for the Navy were greatly disturbed by the number of rej ections The delicate instruments were rigidly inspected before they left the plant and the makers would have sworn that they were in flawless condition But after a few weeks or months tiny specks of corrosion would appear o n their highly polished surfaces This made them useless for the pur po s e intended Naval officers proved to their satisfaction that the valuable equipment had been kept clean and dry and stated as their opinion that the mystifying failures m ust b e blamed on the manu facturer “ ” The saboteur was finally identified If in the process of assembly a damp fingertip s o much as brushed one of the mirror like areas the acid in the perspiration planted the invisible germ of future deteriora — tion P erspiration did not have to run freely the merest trace of bodily moisture did the damage L ooking further into the matter engi neers found that while dampness from healthy persons was bad enough perspiration from workers with colds or other acute disorders were sure poison Machine made weather was the answer Air conditioning equipment to control temperature relative humidity and air circulation was in stalled in the room where the instruments were assembled so that even on broiling summer days the fingers of the workers were dry Rej ec tions fell to almost z ero and ano ther link was forge d in the endless chain of Allied war production Before the smoke from P earl Harbor ha d cleared away plans were , . , , . , , , . , - . , . , . . , . . - , . . , , . - . - , , , , . , . , NEW M AT ERI ALS N EW M ETH O D S , production of the famous Norden bomb sight for instance would be cut drastically during the summer months The highly polished gauge blocks finely divided calipers and other super critical measuring devices used by eve ry production plant to check the accuracy of tools are themselves prey to variations due to contraction an d expansion of their metal with changes of natural weather Experts say that if the temperature of the test room varies by “ as much a s one degree they can detect a di fference in these yard ” sticks Again air conditioning prevents error With test rooms kept constantly at specifi ed tempera ture and relative humidi ty these final arbiters never lie Air which most of us take for granted as a standard substance is not simply air It is cold or hot moist or dry clean or dusty dense or thin odorless or unpleasant quiet or in motion P repared according to various recipes it is doing a thousand new jobs in the production of wartime materials weapons tools foods and medicines Conditioned air is indispensable in the manufacture of synthetic rubber high octane gasoline and plastics chemical processes which demand close temperature control I n the great testing laboratories it can be made to simulate any climate or altitude and of most importance to the factory worker or serviceman it is increasing human comfort and efli ci ency all the way from the war plant to the fighting front The vast dust free windowless plants from which pours the unend ing river of invasion bound war goods would have to shut down tomor row if they were ventilated with air as you find it The greater the technological advances in manufacture the greater the number of machines assembled in a given space Every machine generates heat by friction ; the bulbs and tubes which illuminate the plant add more heat and every worker constantly gives off as much heat as normally comes from a 1 00 watt light bulb I n many of these plants the tempera t ur e woul d b e 1 0 0 d egre es or more i f in dustry h a d to d ep en d upo n natur al atmosphere The vitiated hot air must be continua ll y pumped re, h e p , , . , , - . l , . . , , . , , . , , , , . , , , , . , — , . , , . - , - - - - - . , . , - . . , CLIMATE A LA CARTE out 259 and replaced with an even supply of cooled , fil tered , made to order - - air — More than four billion dollars worth of electronic equipment the — heart of radio radar and other vitally important war devices were scheduled for manufacture in American plants in 1 94 4 This j ob simply could not be done in plants supplied with untreated air E lec troni c tubes like light bulbs are highl y efficient furnaces as you can tell by placing your hand inside your receiving set and if the heated atmosphere were not continuously exchanged for artificially cooled air any room where a large number of these tubes are made tested or use d would quickl y become a Turkish bath Dryness and immaculate cleanliness of air are equally important These facts were not clearly understood when the electronics industry embarked upon its skyrocket expansion with the coming of war and in one plant which relied upon natural air the rejection of faulty tubes ran as high as eighty per cent N ow processed air is a must Without modern air conditioning the war s great deman d s upon th e copper mines coul d hardly have been met O nce when new low levels were opened where temperatures run as high as 1 5 0 d egrees it was standar d practice to blow air through the tunnels for three years or so until they were cool enough to work in Now mechanical refrigeration cools off these sweltering holes in less than a month and in one of the country s most productive copper mines the thermometer is kept at ninety degrees at a level feet underground . ’ , , . . , , , , , , , . . , . , . , ’ . , , , . , ’ . , F ront l ine - mfort co O n the fighting fronts both o n lan d and sea air conditioning follows the heat radiating electronic t ube The communication compartments in which the tubes are used are sometimes sealed chambers thickly walled against gunfire and outside disturbances A supply of cooled filtere d air makes it possible for human beings to live and work in , , - . . , N EW M AT ERI A LS N EW M ETH O D S 2 60 , these chambers The roofs of mi litary radio trucks on the P acific islands and in Africa are often heated by the s un to 1 60 degrees or s o and inside there is often enough warmth from tube radiation to heat a small house No one could exist long under those conditions with out air conditioning For th is use special bu ilt in equipment was designe d “ ” P ackage d wea ther o n wheels has a number of important war uses D uring the fighting in torrid North Africa an air conditioned motor c aravan the first of its kind in existence enabled a flying squadron of e ngineers an d technicians to eat sleep and d o their paper work in cool comfort while the thermometer outside registered about 1 30 degrees The trailer bunkhouse has twenty four built i n cots with room for six hammocks in the aisle and has its own lavatory and shower bath A n other trailer holds an air conditioned kitchen complete with stove utensils and refrigerator in which meals can be prepared for as many as 30 0 men and the third trailer is an ample refrigerator for food S torage E ngineers used the caravan in constructing advance bases for troops By means of similar portable refrigeration units meats and vege tables frozen i n American plants stay frozen all the way to the mess sergeants storehouse o n some obscur e island half way aroun d the world A food packed trailer with its own cooling unit is l oaded o n a trans port as deck cargo and d riven off the dock at the receiving en d There are also self refrigerating storeroom units which are carried in the hold an d delivered full of frozen meat at advance d bases In the march across the stepping stones of the P acific soon after the Seabees arrive a knockdown prefabricate d cold storage hut with heat insulate d walls is qu ickly set up and a portable refrigeration unit which can be run either by its own gasoline engine or by direct or alternating cur rent is backed against an aperture in the wall Since these huts are usually well behind the fighting lines there are other ruggedly built r ef rige rate d trailers which carry foods to the front E ach will h ol d . , . - . , . . - , , , , , . - - , . , - , , , , . . , ’ . - . - . - , - - , , . , , . N EW M AT ER I A L S N EW METH O D S 262 , remarkably low death rate from wounds Many wounded men are also kept com fortable on the way to the hospital in air conditioned P ullman type ambulances . - . How it works Most mechanical air cooling whether it provi d es comfort on a battleship or keeps the foo d fresh in your refrigerator operates upon the simple principle that when a gas is compressed heat can be squeezed out of it and when it expands it re absorbs heat For cooling purposes a gas i s use d which becomes a liquid under pressure C on fined in tubes and coils the gas travels in an endless circle When it is allowed to evaporate from liquid to gas in the compartment to be cooled it pulls the heat from the air and then a compressor driven by a motor squeezes the gas s o it can be liquefied again by remov ing its load of heat and literally throwing it away That is why you feel warm air coming out when you put your hand behind your re , , , - , . , , . . , , , , . f rig erator . Another type of refrigerator ha s no motor or moving parts but is run by the heat of burning gas or in its country version kerosene This is done by a complicated process invented by two Swedish undergrad u a tes The flame b eats a boiler which contains a solution of ammonia in water T he ammonia gas is evaporated from the water and draws h eat from the food compartment as it expands Then the heat laden re ' fri g erant i s re absorbed by the water its heat is thrown away and the cycle begins again Though radically different in operation it depends like all mechanical cooling on the natur al law that an expanding gas uses up heat This behavior of gas has long been known to every schoolboy Any one who has stood in the breeze in a wet bathing suit has felt the cool ing effect of evaporation A liquid cannot change to a gas without using up heat in the process and in this case your normal body heat loss is , . , , . . , - . - , , , , . , . . . , , C LIMATE A LA CARTE 263 accelerated If alcohol which has a lower boiling point an d i s there fore a more e fficient refrigerant is placed on your skin it evaporates more rapidly and makes you much colder The refrigerants used in m echanical air cooling boil at temperatures far below zero so when they evaporate they abs orb the maximum amount of heat for thei r volume Allied sol d iers in N orth Africa us e d an ingenious app l ication of this principle when som eone who remembered his physics slowly poured a cup of gasoline over a superheated bottle of beer and found that the evaporation coole d it If in some way he had reclaimed the gasoline vapor condensed it and used it over again he would have ha d a crude refrigeration cycle something like the system which operates your refrigerator and keeps the Bijou cool in August . , , , . , . . , , . Ca rr i er d it s ta rt e Attempts were made to harness the refrigeration cycle long before the turn of the century but it was not until 1 9 1 1 that manufacturers obtained adequate data for controlling the cycle in cooling things and people This was presented in a chart drawn up by Willis H Carrier “ ” who is known as the father of air conditioning and who is now dean of the corporation which bears his name Mr Carr ier a New York State farm b oy who had gone to Co rnell with and work ed his way to a degree first face d the complexities of air conditioning in 1 90 2 when his employers the Bu ffalo Forge Company sent him as trouble shooter to a Brooklyn lithographing plant in which the firm had in stalled ven tilating machinery There was nothing the matter with this equipment but the air was s o moist in summer that the size of printing paper was a ffected between s ucc es s w e color runs s o that the colors did not register properly Carrier found a way of drying the incoming air by cooling it s mce cool air can hold less moisture than warm air But there was n o reliable guide to the relationship s between temperature , . . , , . . , , , , . , , . , . N EW M AT ER I A LS N EW M ETH O D S 264 , and humidity and after years of figuring and experimentation Carrier per f ected such a guide which is khown as the Rational P sychrometric Formulae Carrier showed how those obstinate beasts temperature and humidity could best be harnessed together to pull the load of air comfort That was the beginning of today s great weather to order in , , , . , , ’ - . dus try - . I n the first two decades of its career this guide to artificial weather enabled the South to simulate the favorable climate of southern New E ngland in new cotton textile mills built near the source of supply This pointed the way to further freedom from local weather in seeking con veni ent sites for industrial plants Air conditioning became a corner stone in the manufacture of rayon a process especially sensitive t o atmosphere and it was widely adopted in printing shops the making of explosives and other Operations in which prescribed temperature humidity and cleanliness paid big dividends This early factory air conditioning was done for the improvement of the product not for the comfort of the workers but the fortunate few who worked in these plants forgot their dread of sultry summer and employers found that they got more work d one S oon motion picture houses which often c losed d own in the hot months found that cooled theatres put their business on a twelve month basis and many a mediocre mime packed the house because of a gadget in the basement A new centrifugal re f ri g erating machine designed by Carrier and a method of cooling and drying only a part of the air in the theatre at a time then mixing it with the unconditioned air helped to make the air conditioning of assembly places safer and cheaper Hotels department stores restaurants and railroads began to follow suit Meanwhile the mechanical refrigerator was rapidly displacing the iceman In this field as in comfort cooling the gases used in the cool i ng cycle were being rapidly brought into more intimate contact with people who di d not understand their dangers as did factory mainte nance men For all the gases which were economical to use were either , - . . , , , , , . , , , . , , - , . , , , . , , . , . , . , N EW M AT ER I A LS N EW M ETH O D S , “ ” Freon turned out to be just the thing for the ins ectic ide bombs us ed on tropica l fronts When released f rom a hand size metal container the harmless gas acts a s a vehicle for the insect poison O n all naval vessels air conditioning is desirable but on a sub marine it is imperative The new gas now makes possible a supply of fresh cool air to overcome the heat from men and machinery a great addition to comfort when a s ub surfaces in the South P acific on a hot day The crews of the new submarines can even smoke a thing unhea rd of in other days when the precious air supply was carefu ll y guarded against fouling The newest development in refrigerants Freon 2 2 has pound for pound forty per cent greater refrigerating eff ect than Midgl ey s orig inal Freon and is especially efficient where extreme cold is needed For example the aluminum rivets used in airplane manufacture are softer and e a sier to head when they are chilled So they are kept in small pushcarts like those of the ice cream vendor in which the new Freon keeps them at the right temperature After they are inserted and headed th e rivets warm to room temperature and expand slightly insuring a perfect fit Controlled cold has also brought about the new ” “ technique of shrink fitting in which a metal part to be insert ed is chilled to ninety below zero in a special chest and then s et in place It expands as it becomes warm and locks firml y in place - . , . , . , , . , . , , , ’ , . , , . - , . , , . - , . . S ky hig h wea ther - O ne of the most d ramatic uses of art ificial weather is in testing air planes and flying equipment in simulated high altitude conditions O nce it was necessary to risk skilled pilots and valuable experimental planes in actual flights to the eerie frigid roof of the world in order to test new equipment Now any condition of temperature win d and air pressure can be obtaine d in big refrigerated chambers at a great saving in time and materia l - . , , . . CLIMATE A CARTE LA 267 A big wind tunnel at Wright Field equipped by the York Corpora tion will subj ect a whole airplane minus wings to a gale of 6 0 0 miles per hour at a simul ated height of feet which means that the temperature is around sixty seven below It takes twenty hours and gallons of brine to chill the tunnel for a one hour test The brine cooled by Freon in refrigeration units passes through coils in the tu nnel at the rate of gallons a minute driving the temperature d own to levels where ordinary lubricating oi l becomes thick mush and “ rubber is as brittle as glass A n d there are stratosphere test cham ” bers where fliers and equipment are whisked from the warm dense air — feet all in the of sea level to the thin bitter atmosphere of twelve minutes or so in which a fast plane will make the same ascent I n a chamber of this type a reservoir of cold is built up for many hours th en the cold is suddenly cut off and the chamber i s quickl y warmed by electric heaters to normal ground temperature The fliers in their heated suits take their places and the c ool mg coils and air pumps turn on the weather of the upper air Through such tests of men and equipment pilots are enabled to fly higher stay longer at high alti t udes and dive faster with advance information about their reactions and those of their planes “ ” O the r weather making chambers will take equipment as high as feet where atmosphere is so rarefied that a man would literally explode from internal pressure and where a motor may actually over heat at seventy below zero because the thin air cannot carry the heat away fast enough In testing the new seventy five millimeter airplane cannon it was actually fired in a stratosphere test chamber at a simu lated altitude of feet which is far above the present combat ceiling An d at the Aircraft E ngine Research L aboratory at Clevelan d is the world s biggest ice box where giant airplane engines of horsepower or better can be tested T o match the cold produced in this chamber the iceman would have to bring every day a cake weighing pounds , , , , , - . - . , , , . , , . , , . , . , , , . - , , - . , , . ’ - , . , . - N EW M AT ER I A LS N EW METH O D S 26 8 , F or drug s , foods Blood plasma d epen d s upon packaged cold to keep it fresh all the way from the donor to the wounded soldier P enicillin the new miracle drug could not be processed without it The special air used in the newest penicillin plants has about as much relation to ordinary air as a surgeon s scalpel has to an axe First it is finely filtered then an elec tri ca l precipitator takes out microscopic dust particles then it is de odorized washed to secure the right moisture content and finally sterilized by ul tra violet lamps before it i s admitted at a specified tem ra ture to the rooms where the mold is incubated and the processing e p and drying take place Controlled temperatures as low as minus 7 6 F are used in producing the great life saver And precisely controlled air conditioning is equally important in the manufacture of sulfa drugs Meanwhile a modern version of the parable of the loaves and fishes is being enacted daily as soldiers take a square of compressed de hydrated potatoes half the size of a pack of cigarettes crumble it in water cook it and get enough for three men O r take an egg block no larger than a single egg and produce scrambled eggs for twelve Man made cold helps to make this possible Sub freezing temperatures used in the dehydration and compression processes prevents fat globules tissues or cells from breaking down thus pres ervmg the flavor and nutritive quality of the food Wartime experience in cold production will affect our future living conditions in many ways O ne of the first changes will probably take place in the kitchen where there will be a quick freezing unit as well as the regular refrigerator or possibly a combination of the two ! uick frozen foods have come to stay Frozen pastries and restaurant special ties as well as uncooked meats vegetables and fruits hold their pristine freshness for months L ast year pounds of food of eighty five di ff erent kinds were quick frozen by American industry Freezing . , , . ’ . , , , , - ° . - . . . , , , . , . - . , , , , . . - , . , . , . , - . N EW M A T E R I A L S N EW M E TH O D S 2 70 , and water is plentiful this method is providing satisfactory low cost I air co nditioning “ ” Buildings wi l l not necessarily be twenty degrees cooler inside for the goal of air conditioning is a reasonable state of comfort not as some theatre managers appear to believe competitive freezing of the customers The paper icicles which hang on theatre marquees are often an invitation to colds and stiff necks because someone has decided that if a little coolness increases ticket sales Siberian cold will pack the house There is no such thi ng as a standard desirable inside tempera ture in summer ; temperature must be regulated with regard to the heat outside When we leave a warm house in the winter we put on our ove r coats to compensate for the abrupt change but we leave sweltering streets for cool theatres with no such protection S o the change must not be too great When the temperature outside is ninety five an inside — temperature of eighty degrees is cool enough s ay the experts keeping in mind the important fact that relative humidi ty and air circulation must also be controlled But this statement does not apply equ ally to all air conditioned spaces I n a hotel room apartment or office where people spend many hours at a time we can better a fford to disregard the outside weather and s et our sights on absolute comfort At the other end of the scale is the drug store or shop where customers spend a few minutes ; there the temperature change should be least of all The air conditioning of passenger automobil es tempting as it may seem is a doubtful matter If the car s motor runs the refrigerating — — compressor the only economical method t he city dweller would get little relief while crawl ing through tra ffic He would get real cooling only at high speeds when he needs it least E ven if this handicap were overcome the cost would probably be too great to include air condi ti oning as standard equ l pment in the average car But in busses with their big pay loads and high mileages summer cooling will probably be universal - , . , , , , . , . . , , . - . , , . - . , , , . . , ’ . , . . , , . , . , CLIMATE T l LA A CARTE 2 71 d weather homes ! a i ore - — future lies And in the future perhaps the distant the goal of weather as you like it in the average home Home air conditioning occupies a prominent place in the advertising romancer s swank pros “ ” pectus of the house of tomorrow but in the minds of engineers manufacturers and informed home o wners it is a large and wistful “ ” if Before the war when such refinements were available the cost of ful l air conditioning for a house of seven or eight rooms wo ul d have been more or less O bviously a rich man s luxur y Mass production of standardized units woul d cut this price radically but a number of obstacles stand in the way of this goal Industry will not embark upon the manufacture of home equipment on a scale big enough to guarantee a low selling price until it feels assured of a mar ket that will justify such a course But in the South where summer air conditioning is most needed the average income is notoriously l ow while in large sections of the North where more home owners can a fford substantial improvements the d ays of oppressive heat usually occur within a calendar period of sixty days or s o with many comfort able days intervening Willis H Carrier cautiously estimates that if industry can find a market for units a year they might be installed at a price of from $ 5 00 to $60 0 E ven if we assume lush post war prosperi ty it is hard to tell how many well to do home owners in the temperate z one woul d prefer a few weeks comfort to a television s et a new car a helicopter or a Canadian fishing trip But the South may not always remain poor There is some reason for believing that the hot Gulf States will retain their wartime industries and that a geographical redistribution of income is under way If this should be true the indoor weather makers will be among the first to profit by the trend The price barr i er i s not the only one ; low cost alone will not put air conditioning in eve ry bungalow In your kitchen refrigerator the heat - - - - - . ’ , , - , . , , ’ . . , , . . , , , - , , , . . , . - - , ’ , . , . , . , . . , N EW M AT E R I A LS N EW ME TH O D S 2 72 , from the condens ing coil is carried off by air but in home size cooling equipment water is needed and there is hardly a large city in the coun try wi th a water system that would stand the added load if all itsresi dents decided to air condition their homes The cost of new reservoirs and water mains to support universal home air conditioning would be astronomical but even that would not solve the problem In many parts of the country there would not b e enough water anyway O n Long Island the underground water level has been lowered to a point where industrial plants are no longer permitted to pump water from the soil unless they pump it back again When artesian wells were first dug in Dallas water S purted out under high pressure With the increase in water use wells must now be driven to 800 feet and deeper wells are prohibited because they would bring in s ea water from the Gulf E ngineers foresaw this shortage about ten years ago and the Carrier Corporation has led the industry in developing evaporative condensers which depend to a large extent upon air greatly reducing the amount of water needed This will help but in view of the tremendous predicted increase in industrial and commercial a l r conditioning it can hardly remove this barrier to the general adoption of artificial weather in the home This apparently limiting factor may not bar controlled weather from many thousands of high income homes for shortages in natural re sources are usually felt gradually Cars by the million will continue to roll merrily for some years although we know that the days of cheap fuel from petroleum are numbered Several manufacturers nourish a conviction that mechanical home cooling will be common in another decade or two New technical discoveries now unthought of may make this possible Before finally resigning ourselves to the impertinences of the thermometer we should remember the venerable gentleman who once promise d to eat the boiler of the first steamboat that crosse d the Atlantic Home air condition i ng however is not a matter of all or nothing - , , , . , . , . , . . , , , . , , . , , . - , . , . . . , . , , . NEW MATERI A LS N EW METH O D S , hot air out of the house after the s un has gone d own while cool air from outside replaces it If windows and doors are kept closed the next morning and if awnings are used the cooling effect may last well into “ ” the day I n the Southwest or in any hot dry climate a desert cooler ei ther home made or bo ught is marvelously eff ective in making a room comfortable This is a window cabinet containing a row of wide v ertical wicks kept wet by a water tank A fan outside blows air over the wicks and the evaporation of the moisture absorbs heat from the room L ike grandmother s kitchen window food cooler in which the breeze caused evaporation of moisture from wet cheesecloth this Operates o n the same basic principle ( cooling by evaporation ) a s the most complicated and costly air conditioning machinery It is of real value only in a dry climate since high humidity in the surrounding air reduces the rate of evaporation and therefore the cooling eff ect Sunshades built like Venetian blinds can be mounted outs ide the windows to reflect the sun s heat and prevent window panes from radiating heat into the room This idea which originated many years ago in the fertile mind of the Swiss architect L eCorbus i er was used in the construction of the admirable new Ministry of E ducation and Health at Rio d e J aneiro The entire sunny side of this twenty two story b uilding is protected by the sunshades which can be individually a d juste d from within Thinking along similar lines George Fred Keck a modern architect of Chicago has built houses with protruding hori z ontal pl wood shades above the windows which are fix ed with regard y to the seasonal declension of the s un s o that sunlight is admitte d to the house in winter but barred in summer Similar metho d s for o ut door air conditioning in hot c ities have be en proposed by P rof Albert E P arr director of the American Museum of Natura l History When the s un strikes the typical whitewashed wall of a courtyard garden heat rays are reflected d ownwar d and the court yard becomes a hot box A series of woo d en sunshades set at an angle on the wall would reflect the heat rays Skyward Similar devices could , . , , . , , , , - , . , . , ’ - . , , - . , . ’ . , , , - . , . , , , , . . . , . , - . . , CLIMATE A LA CARTE 2 75 be us ed to protect sidewalks which are too sunny suggests P rof P arr who believes that meteorologists should play a larger part in planning cities to minimize the unpleasant effects of wind fog and smoke as well as summer heat P erhaps in that millennial era when the comfort of the human ani mal l s g l ven priority over real estate profits ideas like thes e will be a d opted They can hardly displace comfort cooling by machinery in buildings where large numbers of people assemble but by reducing the load of heat to be disposed of they can make the problem simpler and cheaper This is a time of wild prophecy but one may safely venture the opinion that people are getting pretty tired of the fickle climates Nature has been dispensing these many centuries and that before they finish with the weather the wraith of Mark Twai n wi ll eat th at gentl e man s celeb rated wor d s a b o ut it . , , . - , . , , . , , ’ . , C H A P T E R I F F T E N E (IN T H E FA R M WH E N H IS T ORIAN S ALL O CAT E C RE D IT S for the Allied victory a larg e share will go to the amazingly swift development by American industry of the new machines materials and techniques which launched and maintained the great procession of weapons These triumphs have been widely publicized But without food for the men who build the war gear and food for the men who use it the B 2 9 the Sherman tank and the bazooka would be impotent Never before has the farmer faced such demands as those imposed on him in the years of World War II Food for our workers and fighters foo d for Britain foo d for Russia and food for the liberated nations — has been grown and shippe d in record breaking quantities and the job has been d one d uring a period of labor scarcity never before known in American agriculture This food growing program could never have been fulfilled were it not for the great surge of inventive ness on the agricultural front in recent years N ew labor saving ma chines and methods now used on millions of farms have been a s important in fighting the war as the electron tube and high octane gasoline This is not the first war in which farm machines have played an i m portant role It has been said that McCormick s reaper was the tool that turned the tide for the North in the Civil War for it released men from the farms to join the fighting forces maintaining the necessary production of wheat for home consumption and for export Taking a long view the National Resources Committee has stated that in the year the Constitution was framed the surplus foo d produced by nineteen farmers was barely enough to fee d o ne city person while in recent , , . . - , , , . . , , - - . - . - . ’ . , , . , , , N EW M AT ER I A L S N EW M ETH O D S 2 78 , sands of work ers But where crops grew in rows the pu ffing monster was helpless There horses still pulled planters and cultivators Then t wo things happened to the tractor I n 1 92 4 the smaller all — purpose tractor appeared a less expensive easily maneuverable machine that would d o the work of the average size dairy or truck farm plowing planting harvesting and by means of its power take off grinding feed sawing wood or chopping silage Then nine years later someone thought of another improvement : why not put pneumatic tires ! o n tractors This was a very simple idea but its effect was greater than that of many far more ingenious inventions This innovation incr eased the tractor s speed softened the jolts on machine and driver and cut d own fuel consumption s o that a man could plow an acre with a gallon of gasoline a saving of ten to twenty per cent over the performance of the steel shod machine The tires also liberated the tractor from its par ent farm and allowed it to ha ul trailers of produce to market over surfaced roads from which its steel wheeled pr edecessor had been barred And most important of all they enabled it to travel to neigh boring farms and thus hastened the trend toward farm consolidation which the first big iron horses had s et in motion The more money a farmer invests in machinery the more work he must get fro m his machines to justify their purchase and the more desirable it becomes to buy the farm of a neighbor who cannot a fford machinery an d there fore cann ot compete with him in the economical growing of crops This trend has been partly co un tered by the appearance of even “ ” smaller tractors There is the s o called midget five horsepower trac tor for the small farmer Introduced shortly before the war these small machines had a rapid sale and they will play a l arge part in working the small and medium sized dairy and truck farms of the future And there is the one half horsepower machine so light that two men can lift it suitable for a two acre gardener The tractor has increased milk production in more ways than one It enabl es the farmer to raise forage with fewer man hours and it d iverts . , . , . . , , , - - - , , , , . , , , . ’ , , , - . - . , . , , . - . - . , , - . - - , . . - , O N FARM T HE 2 79 cows the feed that otherwise would be eaten by horses Wh en tractors displace horses farmers may buy more cows to eat the hay and grain th us saved and the new cows also maintain the supply of domestic fertilizer to . , , . The great importance of the tractor in mechanizi ng the farm lies in the long list of other machines which it has spawned a ll of which d o more per hour because they are pulled by gasoline or Diesel engines The hayfi el d is the scene of one of the greatest recent advances in farm machinery For centuries the jobs of hoisting hay onto a cart with a pitchfork and stowing it in a barn have called for hard hand work B e ” “ cause of the short season and the vagaries of the weather haying help has always been in great demand and wages are high O n thousands of farms new machines now take the place of b rawn and the jobs have been lightened s o that boys and older men have taken the places of men of military age O ne of the newest and most ingenious of these is the pick up hay baler a tractor hauled machine handled by one Operator which takes the hay cleanly from the windrow and packs it in sma ll easily handled bales which take up only one fi fth the barn storage space of loose hay O ne of the main reasons for the familiar big red ba rn is the space nee d e d for hay storage E very summer tons of hay are hoisted and packed beneath its roof and throughout the winter it is pitched d own again at great expense in man power At the rate that farm hay balers are being adopted the barns of tomorrow may be low lying sheds to the great advantage of ev eryon e except artists A number of big manufacturers of farm equipment are making the pick up balers O ne such machine bales the hay in ready sliced por tions like the bread in the grocery stores thus simplifying the winter feeding chores and preventing waste Another makes a cyli ndrica l bale , . . , . , . , , , . - - - , , - , . . , , . - , - , . - - . , . N EW M A T ER I A LS N EW M E TH O D S 280 , in which the hay i s woun d like a roll of paper easy to tear off for fe ed ing Because these new bales aria more porous than the old hea vy compact bale hay may be harvested with a greater percentage of moisture than was once possible This means a shorter wait between mowing and baling which speeds up the harvesting process helps to preserve the nutritive value of the fodder and lessens the likelihood of crop damage by rain S ome California farmers have equipped their balers with electric lights s o that not even nightfall interferes with speedy harvesting when the wea ther is right Once when hay was stacked in the field it had to be loade d on the cart drawn to the stack and unloaded by hand E quipment sold by a number of firms now telescopes these Operations For instance th ere is “ ” the sweep rake a huge S coop twelve feet wide with teeth several feet l ong P ushed by a tractor it collects the hay quickly in big loads and deposits it on the teeth of a power operated stacker which swings it into the air and builds a thirty foot stack in half the time needed by the older methods California with its great ranches and long growing season l eads the worl d in mech anized forage production O n the Gill Brothers ranch at Madera a big covered trailer the size of a freight car is pulled behind a tractor drawn rake The machine picks up the hay from the win d row chops it finely and shoots it into the trailer by means of a blower When it is full an empty trailer is hooked on and a truck rushes the load over the highways to the cattle feeding yard where it is automatically “ ” stacked ready to be processed into beef “ ” Another speedy covered wagon pres erves the substance known as “ ” carotene in alfalfa essential to chicken growth If al falfa is left in the blazing sun longer than an hour after it is cut the carotene content is depleted S o farm machine engineers at Stockton Cal built a special alfalfa harvester which cuts the crop loads it while it is still green shades it from the s un and rushes it to the dehydrator in time to reserve its full value p , . , , . , , , . , . , . , . , , , . - , - . , , . , - . , . , , - , . , . , , - . , , , , . . , N EW M AT E R I A L S N EW M E TH O D S 282 , and pigs to raise more milk and pork but for factory conve rsion into starch oi l and ethyl alcohol fO r explosives textiles and s ynthet ic rubber N ew machines and new plant breeding method s have hel ped the farmer to meet the demand in S pite of the sho rtage of labor O nce corn was cut and sh ocked by hand hauled to the barn and husked by hand in a tedious operation which extended into the winter First the corn harv ester eliminated one hand operation then came the mech cal husker and now the two are c ombined in a machine which takes rows at once picks the corn runs it between two rollers whose talons gently but firmly remove the husk and always on the mo ve carries the load swiftly to the bin This harvester can pick and husk — bushels a day the work of sixteen men By speeding the harv est Opera tion it enables the farmer to t urn quickly to other seasonal chores ; by outracing early snowfalls it prevents crop losses and like all other mechanical crop gatherers it lifts from the farmer s wife the burden of cooking for a hungry crew Dovetailing neatly into the mechanized system are the strains of disease resistant hybrid corn developed in recent years by agricultural research men P lanted in rapidly increasing acreages throughout the corn belt the new corn has not o nl y increased the crop yield in many cases as much as fifty per cent but because of its habit of upright growth and the fact that its ears appear at a uniform height from the ground it is especially adapted to mechanical harvesting , , , , - . . , , . , , , , , , , . . , , , ’ - , . - . , , . , Inventors vs . the s ug a r beet The sugar shortage has acted as a tremendous spur to mechanization of the great sugar beet farms of the Middle and Far West W h en the supply of cane sugar from the P hilippines was cut off the Department sugar beet growers of Agriculture immediately encouraged the to increase their planting by some acres Thinning the plants - . , - . O N FARM T HE 283 and harvesting the crop have always been two of the worst bottlenecks in beet growing N ew machines have been devised to solve both these problems They have not yet been widely adopted because of metal restrictions but they have been thoroughly tested Young beet plants have always required a lot of thinning becaus e the seeds grow in clusters protected by a hard woody covering These b ull s were planted whole with the result that the young plants were too close together for proper growth Then Roy Bainer of the U S Agri cultural E xperiment Station at Davis Cal perfected a device which cracked the b ul ls between a disk and a moving belt s o that the seeds co ul d be planted singly Thousands of acres were planted with the single seeds enabling one man with a thinning hoe to cover as much groun d as three men could cover when the whole h ul l was planted “ ” But there was still a bug in the process The single seeds were not un iform in shape and sometimes the spacing was uneven when they were fed from the hoppers of the mechanical planters Along came another agricultural inventor M J B uschl en technical expert of a midwestern growers and processors group He worke d out a mechani cal method for coating each see d with a harmless plastic material which hardened thus producing uniform white pills which wo ul d flow smoothly from the planting machine S oon after planting moistur e melts the material and frees the seed L ast year hundreds of acres in various parts of the country were planted experimentally with these pills — T o break the other bottleneck {he labor of harvesting the beets mechanical harvesters have been developed by a number of govern ment experiment stations agricultural colleges implement manufa c turers and individual beet growers There are several steps involved in harvesting beets The tops must be cut off the beets must be lifted from the soil and freed of clinging dirt and they must be load ed on trucks for the processing plant Every year this job has required a vast . . . , . , , . . . , , , . , . . , . . , . , ’ ’ . , . , . , . , , - . . , , . . N EW M A T ER I A LS N EW M E TH O D S , ” “ army of stoop labor for by hand methods one man can cover no more than a quarter of an acre a d ay Several new beet combines have been used which perform all these jobs at once and enable thr ee opera tors to harvest an acre of sugar beets in l ess than an hour A new tractor drawn beet harvester developed by the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the University of California tops digs and cleans the beets and loads them by an endless belt device into trucks which travel alongside A Diesel powered harvester invented by the Brothers “ Z uckerman big beet growers of Stockton Cal has a series of sticker ” knives on revolving wheels which stab the beets in the top and carry them out of the l oosene d soil as they rotate In five minutes a five ton truck is loaded ready for a quick trip to the processing plant A num ber of other harvesters have been devised These machines not only save labor they save sugar for with every hour s delay between the ground and the factory there is a falling off of sugar content in the beet The increased beet planting also helps to boom milk and beef pro duction for the tops and the pulp that remains after the sugar is cooked out are used as cattle feed At one processing plant the beet p ul p is loaded onto trains with a power shovel and shipped to ranches for quick conversion into quality beef This may be a preview of a ssembly line food production methods of tomorrow While resumption of imports of cane sugar may ease the demand an d cane sugar also is being produced more and more by machinery this is not likely to halt the trend toward complete mechanization of the sugar beet industry P ower driven machines will produce the sugar all the way from the see d to the bin , . , . , , - - . , . , , - . . , . ’ , , - , . , , . , , . - - . , , - . - , . S p eed up in p la nt ing - The national tomato crop has boome d d uring the war years and here again a new machine has played a leading role For years one of , , . NEW MAT ERIA LS N EW METH O D S 286 , Circumvent ing the weather Research workers are even challenging the stern dominance of tem ra ture and ra i nfall and are perfecting new methods which prevent e p “ crop l osses due to these unpredictables The variable depth cott on ” planter invented by John Randolph of the U S Bureau of Agri cultural Chemistry and E ngineering makes sure that enough s ee d s for a good crop wi ll come up regardless of the weather The planting shoe rises and falls in a wavy line s o that seeds are planted at various depths If a late frost kills the see d s near the surface it spares the deep ones an d if early spring rains drown the deep ones the ones in shallow soi l come up and save the crop Another new device the moisture meter developed at the Michigan State College E xperiment Station is being used on Western irrigated farms as an accurate means of d etermining when crops need more water P ieces of plaster of paris their en d s connected with wires to form a part of an electrical circuit are buried permanently at depths of one two and three feet The porous plaster is always as damp as the soil around it and the damper it is the less the resistance to the cur rent By means of a light portable meter which has a dial and an ear “ ” phone one may listen to the moisture content of the soil and tell when to open the irrigation spigot By this method crops get the exact amount of moisture they nee d and no water is wasted To outwit the late spring frosts which wreak heavy damage upon crops particularly in the truck farming regions of the E astern s ea b oard Doctors Wade and P oole of the U S Vegetable Breeding L abo are producing strains of vegetables which ratory at Charleston S C will survive these untimely cold snaps Using equipment of their own design they test v arious strains for resistance to cold and they treat sensitive plants with progressively lower temperatures to toughen them for colder climates A motor driven bottoml ess refrigerator is suspended from a cra ne at , - . , . . , , . , . , , , . , , , . , , . , , , . , , , . , . , - , . , , . . , . ! . , , . - , FARM T HE O N 2 87 the si d e of a truck T he ice box is l owere d o ver se ed lings in the experi mental field and they are given an artificial frost for half an hour to test their hardiness By this m eans a numb e r of varieties of cold resistant cabbages ha v e been found an d work is under way to produce melons which can be planted and marketed earlier than the usual Southern varieties Using the s l ower metho d of tes ting by natura l frosts Dr Wade has toughened strains of peas so that in some years it h as been possible to plant early enough to raise two crops in o ne season By similar methods Doctors Dickson and Hoppe of the Wisconsin E xperiment Station have developed strains of field corn which wi ll sprout on spring days s o cold that ordinary corn is discouraged - . , . , , , . . . , . F ool is h p ! lowma n E xperimental work in preparing l and for planting has kept pace with the general advance About five years ago soil conservation ex “ ” perts became interested in what has b een ca l led rubbish farming in which the field is not plowe d for planting but s ca ri fied with a disk harrow or a specially d esigne d instrument just enough to receive the seed The blanket of crop residue left from the previous year protects the soil from wind erosion an d also assists in the conservation of moisture A number of tracts in Midwestern states were planted in this manner and the idea drew favorable comment from experts L ast year this plan assumed the status of a crusade against the mol d board plow when the b ook P lowma n s F olly by E dward H Faulk ner attracted national attention As a result of several years of p l ow less experimental growing on his farm near E lyria O hio Mr Fau lkne r concludes that there is no sound reason for plowing that farmers plow because their fathers di d and b ecause plowing is a neat way of d is posing of last year s stubble and rubbish Actually the plow is the worst curse of the land he writes and is the chief cause of w in d an d water erosion and lowere d s oil vitality P lowing destroys the groun d s - . , , , . , . . , ’ , . , . , , , . , ” ’ . , , , ’ . N EW M A T E R I A LS N EW M E TH O D S 288 , system of capi llary attraction by which underground water is drawn up to nourish plants he states A nd i vhen plant residue on the surface i s “ ” plowed un d er it forms a subterranean blotter which sucks up mois ture and prevents it from reaching plant roots I n support of his theories Faulkner tells how he raised a bumper crop of tomatoes by simply layi ng the plants on the surface of the un plowed field and throwing a little soi l over the roots and how he raised five pickings of beans on his unplowed land while his orthodox neighbors raised only one or two Since the moldboard plow has long been regarded as the chief pillar of successful farming and generations of farmers have been “ ” urged to plow deep Mr Faulkner has his critics O ne of them P rof E mil Truog soi l authority of the Wisconsin College of A gri cul ture vigorously attacks Mr Faulkner s claims and tells of controlle d experiments at the Wisconsin station in which p l owe d land y ie ld e d far more corn and wheat than s ca ri fied lan d O ther experts hail Faulkner as a prophet of a new agricultural era It i s too early to predict the “ ” ultimate fate of the plow but it is obvious that if row crops are to be raised on ground covered with vegetable debris many of the time saving machines now use d for planting and culti vation will ha ve to be scrapped or radically altere d . , , . , , . , . , . . , , ’ . , . . , , . W d ing by fire ee Th ere have be en a nu mbe r of new experimental attacks on the wee d “ ” menace O ne of the most interesting is the \ fl ame weeder the inven tion of Captain P rice McL emore cotton planter of Montgomery Ala McL emore an Army Reserve o ffi cer saw a military fl ame thr ower and built a machine which uses the same principle to kill the wee d grass which for years was the bane of his existence Mounte d on a t ractor the flame weeder straddles two cotton rows Tank s of fuel oil feed j ets of flame driven by compressed air which strike the ground ' . , , , - , , . - . , , , . NEW MATERI ALS NEW METHOD S 2 90 , h ouses an d by food processing firms instea d of on the farm itself it is — more food fr om fewer acres a nother step t owar d the common gb a l - , . Reiter s ’ lt revo Another invention wh ich may end an onerous chore and save man hours is the mechanical stone picker Field stones have always been a curse on Nor theastern farms They break p l anting tools and mower knives an d take up room which might accommodate plants or moisture For centuries farmers ha ve strained their backs picking them by hand and hauling them from the field before planting Twenty years ago O tis F Reiter a Maryland farm boy straightened his aching torso and told his brothers he was going to build a machine to d o the job N ow h e has d one it His tractor drawn stone picker which looks l ike a military ta nk has a revolving cyli nder set with stee l fingers which pick u p all surface stones from thumb size to bucket size and toss them into the hO pp er When it is full the two ton load is ha ul ed to a dump and the b ottom falls open like that of a coal car Tests of the machine at P enn s yl v ania S tate College show promise Th ere are many new food processing an d storage meth ods designed to save labor an d prevent S poilage of foo d on the way to the consumer O ne example is the explosive walnut cracker invented at the California College of Agricul ture A rota ry s aw cuts a hole in each nut through which a mixture of acetylene an d oxygen is inj ected then heat acts upon the gas and the shell bursts open dropping the clean nut meats into a ” “ container Another example is a flame metho d for the fast peeling of citrus fruits in plants where the juice is ca nned The oranges or grape fruit p a ss through a g as fed flam e where they are subjected to intense hea t for a few seconds This chars the p e el which is qui ckly remo ve d by a powerful spray of water A n ew method of preserv ing apples an d pears a t normal t emper a tures has been develop ed at Cambridge University a n d tested and a p - . . . , . . , , , . - . - , , - - - . , . . . . , , . . - , . . ON T HE F ARM 2 91 pro ve d by Dr R M Smock of Cornell Dr Smock ex plains that store d apples are living things an d that we can retard their aging by s l owing d o wn their rate of living This is done by giving them less air to breathe ; that is by storing them in an airtigh t bin with the air intake scientifically regulated By this method Dr Smock has kept McIntosh apples in good condition for tw o years witho ut refrigeration . . . . . , . , , . , . . “ A nima l factories ” on tria l There are bo un d to be many changes in future food d eman d s a n d some of them will naturally arouse the bitter enmity of farm groups whose oxen are gore d In the United States as well a s in other coun tries there have always been millions of families whos e incomes have not allowed them a d iet which health auth o rities consider adequate It is a trite but frequently ign o re d fact th a t d iseases flourish lushl y among undernourished people an d quickly menace all the people ; that the bell as Hemingway reminds us tolls for the e It fo ll o ws obviously that in any respectable and intelligent society the nutrition nee d s of a ll the people should be the primary consideration in an organization of food production methods Dairy products and meats are among the items which a l arge seg ment of the American people have never been ab l e to buy in sufficient quantities Wartime shortages have extended this d earth to all the people an d have stimulated the sa l e and experimental development of other foods which are cheaper and more plentiful and of equal nutri tive value The question has naturally arisen : is it necessary to use the c ow an d the steer as factories for the processing of vegetable ra w mate ! rials into nutritive fats and proteins It has been conclusively proved that margarine ma d e by churning a — — i o l pure vegetable usually cottonseed or soybean with skimmed m i lk salt and oth er minor ingredients and fortifying it with Vitamin A is the nutritive equivalent of butter That it can be produced more effi , . , , . , . , , . . , . , , , . , N EW M AT ER I A L S N EW M ETH O D S 2 92 , than butter is demonstrated by the fact that it se ll s for about half the price P ressure brought u pon Congress an d state l egis l atures by da irymen s lobbies has been so effective that margarine has been virtually barred from the shelves of two thirds of the country s grocery stores Efforts by consumers groups and margarin e manufac turers to break down these barriers ha v e not yet succeeded but d uring the war the vegetable table spread has found many new friends M ean whi l e a number of large butter processors have a dd e d margarine to their products an d Midwestern growers of so ybeans are looking to their interests I t seems reasonable to expect that the laws restricting margarine will eventually be stricken from the books an d that it will be available to everyone Many peop l e will still prefer butter But even if as the d air ymen fear margarine cuts into their market the first principle of food production wi ll remain undimmed : the welfare of a ll th e people must b e the first consideration c i ently . ’ ’ - ’ . , . , , . , . , . , , . “ ” S ynthet ic meat M eanwhi l e the meat sh o rtage has aro u se d interest in all manner of , vegetable proteins Anheuser Busch the St L ouis brewing firm caused a sensation two years ago when at a d emonstration meal they serve d a “ ” syntheti c meat loaf made from a special yeast d eve lope d in its laboratories It was appetizing was a rich source of Vitamin B and had twice the protein value of meat an d the cost of the protein was said to be one fifth that of protein contained in meat S oups muffins and other foods were served ma d e from various kinds of y east In 1 94 0 A C Thaysen of E ngland raised a new foo d yeast which the British government has been manufacturing as a supplement to war d iets L ater Dr an d M rs Carl L indegren St L ouis geneticists bre d many new kinds of yeast b y cross fertilization and lai d the foundation for the brewing company s venture A mixture of molasses water ammonia and yeast is poured in a vat and air is d ri ven through it The - . . , . , , , - . , , . , . . . , . . , . , - ’ . , , . N E W M A T E R I A L S N EW M E T HO D S 294 , for so yb ea ns for use in plasti cs paints and insecticides It is a bean of great value Is it economic to roii te it through a bov ine proc es s mg . , . Even if that question i s answere d in the negative our foo d habits are n ot likely to cha ng e o v erni g ht Habit taste an d prejudice are of tre mendous importance in foo d sel ection Few consumers are likely to scorn the time honor ed an d appetizing sirloin steak at the behes t of s cientists no matter how distinguish ed But big corporations are inter es ted in these protein foods and their adv ertisi ng men are doubtless r ea dy with catchy names and an amp l e stabl e of radio cowbo y s an d s uper wiz ards New prot eins have been d ev el ope d to fee d cattle as well as humans If there sho uld be a shortage of pr otein feed synthetic urea an inex ensive powder derived from coa l may be mixed with cattl food t h e e p Feed ing tests at experiment stations in Wisconsin Illinois and Massa c hus etts S how that animals with multiple stomachs like the cow con v ert the urea to protein an d the Association of A merican Feed Control Officials has stated that this chemical can pinch hit for one third of all t he cru d e protein us ed in feed for cattl e and shee p A nd at the Uni versity of New Hamps hire tests have been made in feeding to cattle h east p otein derived from sawdust an d other woo d waste C micals r e y “ ” cooked to convert the cellulos e into a re ad d ed t o the woo d and i t is sugar The sugar fee d s yeast organisms and the result is a brown powd er which animals find pa l atab l e E xperts of the Northeastern Wood U ti l iz ation Council which is interested in the proj ect env ision sma ll wood conversion plants conveniently located t o supply che ap protein feed to New E ngland dairy farmers , . , . - . , , . . , , . , , , , , - - . , . , , . . , , - . F rozen food “ ba nks ” The community frozen food locker plant and the home quick freezer both de velopments scheduled for rapi d gro wt h after the war - , , ON FARM T HE 295 will grea tly in crea s e the self suffic iency of the fa rm family Ma ny year s ag o Clarence Birdseye made a fo rtune b y commercially exploiting the fact that foods quickly frozen at tempera tures of z ero or below re tain their original s tructure flavor and nutritive value Birdseye s frozen foods so ld in r etail stor es thr oughout the land pa ve d th e wa y for the locker plant The l ocke r plant is a l arge building containing from 1 0 0 to compa rtments which are rented to individual cus tomers for the freezing and storing of th eir meats fish vegetables an d fruits Many of the plants wi ll s l a u ghter wr ap in meal size uni ts and qui ck fr eez e an entire animal for a charge of perhaps one an d a half cents a pound an d when the housewife goe s shopping she d raws foo d from her loc ker a s s he would draw m one y fro m th e bank L ockers of six cubic feet ha v e be en renting for abo u t $ 1 0 a year Th ere are about locker plants in the co untry which serv e a s ” “ food ba nk s for mor e than t wo million families S ome of them a re conducted a s a s i d e l in e by big packing firms others b y farm c oo p e ra ti v e stores and there are small village locker plants equipped to s er v e a hundred families or less M an y non farm famili es rent lockers and b u y and store meats fish and fruits in quanti ty at times when there is a market glut and prices are low b ut of c ourse the locker offers greater economies to the family which r a ises the food Because locker p l ants save tin cans an d freight car space some ex n i B a s o n P has been allowed by the during war time but not near ly W p enough to satisfy the d eman d Millions of families a re on the waiting list for lockers and the nu mber of plants is expected to double as soon as construction materials and refrigeration equipment are a vailable - . , ’ . , , , . , , - . , / - , , , . , . . , , - . , , . , , . , . Home freezers The home freezer o ff ers even greater convenience and d uring the y e a rs of rationing it has been a go d sen d to its owners To the farmer who kills a pig an d a steer for home consumption every fall an d ha s , . , NEW M ATE R I A LS N EW M E TH O D S , vegetable gar d en and fruit trees the freezer ma y be a cornu c opia of fresh foo d throughout the! year with nothing out of season It i s the grocery sfore s low temperature ca binet brought into the home from which the housewife can quickly produce a wi d e variety of fres h edibles for un expected gu ests or hired men There will be a stampe d e for home freez ers a s soon as materials are released for their manufacture They woul d be of greatest value in increasing the living standards of farm families of low and me d ium income a n d of families whose breadwinner s hav e non farm jobs an d d epen d upon a few acres t o supplem ent their wages Whether the freezer reaches this stratum of greatest nee d or is restricted to the more prosperous farmers villagers and suburbanites will depend upon its postwar price and the co st of electricity Before the war medium size home freezers were selling for a bout $300 an d the monthly a dd itio n to the electricity bi ll ran from to de pending upon local rates With volume production freezer prices wi ll of course b e reduced b u t the cost of freezing the produce of a bun dred families wi ll always be lower than the c ost of freezing the same amount of food in a h un dred small plants Even after considering the c onvenience of the home supply sour ce most farm families in areas where locker plants are easi ly accessible will d o s om e comparative figuring before making an investment the usual , . , . ’ - , . . - , . , , , . , - , . , , . , . F is h in your bac kya rd “ ” Fish farming is another profitable and promising metho d for raising rura l livi ng stan d ar d s particularly in the South where ice a l most never forms on water E ncouraged by the Soil C onser vation S e rv ic e and the Fish an d Wildlife Service fish ponds are being bui lt in all states of the U nion Farmers b y the thousand in A l abama Georgia and South Carolina have bui lt small S ha ll ow pon d s which a re fed b y streams b y l an d drainag e o r b y the o v er fl ow from art e s i a n , , . , . , , , , N EW M ATE R IA L S N EW M ETH O D S 2 98 , tion indirectly increas es the supply of pro ven de r f or th e fish and the tiny aquati c plants encouraged b yfertilization sha d e the large wee d s an d ca us e s them to d ie Th e wee d s hav e served as a refuge for the sma ll fish a nd when the weeds disappear the carnivorous fi sh are able to re d uce their excessive number A s adde d dividends elimination of wee d s makes for more enjoyable fishing an d b etter mosquito c ontro l The ponds va ry in si ze from on e to thirty acres many of the larger ones being stock ed and maintained b y clubs of sportsmen in the cities and towns Most state laws forbid the marketing of game fish s o fishing — r O o i s strictly a pond to table peration The cost f the fe tilizer the — chief cost once the pon d is bui lt ma y run from to per acre annua lly and with a yiel d of 2 5 0 pounds per year this would mean a fertilizer cost of n o more than eight cents a poun d for the fish With a little figuring one c an s ee that in return for the inv estment a family of four or five might receiv e the equivalent of a fish di nn er a week throughout the year with the sport of fishing thrown in for goo d measure And there is no storage problem The pon d is the icebox and the fish are s o fresh they qui ver on the p l atter , . , , . , . , . , - - . , , , . , , , . , . . Concl us ions All signs in d icate that small scale g eneral purpose farming is ” “ doomed that farming as a wa y of life is going the way of the surrey w ith the fringe on the top S ome small farms like some sma ll factories will continue to Operate because they pick up the cru mbs ignored b y the tita ns but most of them will disappe ar as eff ective economic units Successful farming to d ay requires such a large investment in expensive m achinery and equipment that Operation becomes profitab l e only on l a rge and easily cultivated a rea s O perators of the great farms which a re rea lly streamlined fo od factories c an raise produce of a ll kinds at costs which enab l e them to outse ll their partially mechanized small a creage competitors Summering in a rural N ew E ngland village re - , , . , , . , , . , , . O N FARM T HE 299 the writer walked past a dozen farms to the general store to buy vegetables from California an d cheese from W isconsin This tren d has been evident for years Great numbers of farms rang ing from twenty to a hundred acres ha ve been abandoned or a dd e d to ” “ o ther farms while the food factories co vering a thousand acres or more ha v e rapidly increased in number L abor saving machines and techniques like those described abo ve are bound to a cc e l erate th e mo vement Meanwhile there has been a substantia l in c rease in the number of family owned an d Operated small plots which c ut the living costs of people whose main income is derived from non farm jobs All metho d s by which families may obtain food f or their tables from sma ll plots of l an d with li ttle capital investm ent are bo un d t o be of increasing i m po rtance in the y ears that lie ahea d of us T he ownership of su ch plots b y factory workers has been l ong advocated by l ea d ing industrialists notab ly Henr y Ford The wider distribution of factories thr oughout the co unt ry brought about b y the war has brought a higher percentag e of workers nearer to the land an d many of these n ew plants will continue t o Operate when the war i s over Further decentralization assiste d b y new rural power sourc es such a s those of the TVA may place within reach of millions of families once tota lly dependent on the weekly pay check a much needed hedge against unemployment A s great acreages of farm land unsuita b l e for mecha nize d foo d growing are gradually aban d one d the problem of how b est to utilize these submarginal tracts will arise Many of the s e a reas will be re forested an d many will be turned into summer p l a ygro und s As mechanizat i on in all occupations is intensified the greater wi ll be the nee d of workers for relaxing outd oor vacati o ns M any farms now being worked wo ul d add more to nationa l production if turned into golf courses A s these lands pass out of agricultural use huge new areas shoul d be a dd e d to the public domain to pres erve their attractions for the m any centl y, , . . , - . . - - . . , . , , , . , , . , . . , , . . , . N EW M A T ER I A L S N EW M ETH O D S ' 300 , I n passing it is only fair to warn the rea d er that no t all ma chines which appear to sa v e l abor s uccded in their purpose A fable told by an engineer of a big in d ustria l plant ill ustrates the point A proud owner he said showed a guest through a facto ry where the final goa l — of mechanization had been achieved all human labor had been el imi na ted Raw materials entered at one end and were pounced upon b y a vast array of superhuman machines which automatically stampe d hammered welded assembled and painted turning out the final glit tering product without the u se of human hands But strangely enough the plant was teem ing with workmen They explained the owner wer e m aintenanc e m en Some of the new farm machines as we ll a s so me of the in d ustrial m achines described in this book wi ll be defeated b y their own com i x i l e t es an d men wi ll step in to take t heir places But other engineers p will desi gn better machines Motor power will continue to displace man power As a general r ul e it seems logical to ass um e th at labor saving m achines sa ve labor I ncrease d technological unemployment among farm workers seems inevitable In the report T echnology on the F a rm published by the Department of Agriculture in 1 94 0 it was estimate d that if current trends continued from to farm workers wou ld be displaced i n the next d ec a d e The war has de ferred this displacement but there is more reason than ever to assume that this trend will continue after its c l ose O nce the farm was a cushion which absorbe d much of the shock of industrial unemployment Now the movement has been reversed an d l an dl ess farmers will seek jobs in factories And the newly tooled fac tories will be making more goods with fewer men It is true that the new machines use d in our present industries h a ve created new j obs of manufacture repair an d maintenance but if they created a s m an y jobs as they d estroy they woul d not pay and wou ld not be u se d The o n ly solution is the u s e of displaced man power to further i m pro ve the standar d o f l i ving P aradoxical as it ma y sound if a ll the , . . , , . , , , , , . . , , , , . , , . , . - . , . . , , , . , . . , . . , , . , . , BI BLI O GR A PHY rea d ers who wish fu rther information on the developments dis cussed in this book the following publications are suggested F or . , P A A P rimer R T O N E Don P Caverly Sylvania E l ectric P roducts Inc New York : McGraw Hill Book Company Inc 1 94 3 E lectroni cs March 1 94 3 ( Survey of U s es ) E lectronics in Ind us try P amph l et Ra d i o C orpo ra tion o f America Camden N J 1 94 3 His tory of Rad io to 1 92 6 Gleason L Archer LL D P resident of Suf folk University New York : The American Historical Society I n c roni cs , E t l ec f o . , , - . , . . , , . . , . , , . . , . . , , . 1 938 , . , , . A J E ardley Uni versity of Michigan New York : Harper Brothers 1 94 2 A erophotog ra p hy a nd A eros urveying James W Bagley Lt Col Ret U S Army New York : Mc Graw Hill Book Company Inc 1 94 1 Introd ucti on to P ola riz ed L ig ht a nd Its A pp l ication P amphlet Mar tin Grabau Cambri d ge Mass : The P olaroi d Corporation 1 94 0 “ ” Po l aroi d an d the Headlight P roblem E dwin H L and P resident The P o l aroi d C orporation P hila d elph ia : J ourna l of the F ra nklin Ins titute S eptember 1 937 “ ” Stereoscopic P hotography Richar d T Krieb el Th e P o l ar o i d Cor r n o a t i o r T h e C o m l e r h e I ssues and t e P h o t o a 5 1 4 5 3 1 9 3 p p g p A er ia l P hotog raphs : T heir Us e a nd Interpretation, . . . . . , - . . , , , . . . . , . . . , . , . , , , . , . , , , . , , , . , . , , , . B IB LI O G RAPHY 304 ” “ Depth P erception Simplified Lt Col M E P arks Headquarters Army Air Forces A ir F orc ef O ffici al Service Journal of the U 5 Army Air Forces August 1 94 3 ” “ Man Made ! uinine at Last Harland M anchester S cience N ews L etter June 1 0 1 94 4 C on d T he Rea der s D ig es t July 1 94 4 F luores cence A na lys is in Ultra Violet L ight J A Ra dl ey an d Julius Grant L on d on : Chapman and Hall 1 939 . , . . . , , . . , . . , - , , ’ . . , , - . . , L umines cence f o L iquids d S ol ids an . . , . , , d Its P ra ct i ca l A pp l i cat ions , an P eter P ri ng sheim, Department of Chemistry University of Chi cago an d M arce l Vogel S an Francisco Calif N ew York : I nter scienc e P ublishers Inc 1 94 3 “ ” Vitamin A : The Distribution of Vitamin A in the Body Hans P op per MD New York : J ourna l of the Mount S ina i Hos p ita l Vol VII No 3 Sept O ct 1 94 0 “ ” The D ermofluorometer Kurt L ange M D an d S E Krewer St L ouis : T he J ourna l of La boratory a nd Clinica l Med ic ine Vol 2 8 N o 1 4 No ve mber 1 94 3 , , , . , . , . , , . , . , , . - . . , , . , . . , . . . , . . , , . , . , P A R T T O W Gustav E gloff Universal O il P roducts C ompany Balti more Md : Williams an d Wilkins Company 1 933 N a t iona l P etroleum N ews files O i l a nd G a s J ourna l fi l es J ourna l of the S oc iety 0 f A utomotive E ng ineers files Chemica l a nd Meta llurg ica l E ng ineering files “ ” Trends in Automobile Design Match E volution in Fuels T A Boyd an d W G L ovell General Motors Corp 2 1 s t A nnua l B ulletin of the A mer i ca n P etroleum Ins t itute Vol 2 1 Section III 1 94 0 E h O i l, a rt . , . , . , , , . . . , . , . . . , . , B a ckg round D a ta on 1 00 O cta ne , l eve o p . , . . , , G as ol ine His tory of Its D Ma nufa cture Its P otentia l ities for W York : The Standard O i l Company (N J Its . . , d P ea ce ar a n 1 94 4 . . ment , New B IB LI O G R APHY 306 “ Artificia l C onverter s of Solar E nergy the ” Ho yt C Hottel . , S miths onia n Ins tittit ion, 1 94 1 A nnua l Re . f “ E nter Atomic P ower The Story of a Grea t Scientific Discovery John J O N eill Ha rper s Magaz ine J une 1 94 0 rt o o p ‘ . . ’ . Rubber, A S tory Glory f York : Covici Friede o d T es t T , E R E H owar d an d Ralph Wolf . N ew . T he S tory ubes , H d G reed, an 1 936 - T T R . , , P A rees an , ’ . T ” Charles M orrow Wilson b r u b e R , f o New York : Henry H o lt an d Company 1 94 3 ” “ — American Rubber Industry s Wartime Achievement S i d ney D Kirkpatrick Chemica l a nd Meta llurg ica l E ng ineering November . . , ’ , , . 1 94 3 . , . S peech b y John T Collyer P resident B F G oo d rich Company at a meeting of the Chamber of C ommerce of the State of N ew York June 3 1 94 3 Akron : B F Goo d ri ch Com pany P rog ress Rep orts of th e Office of Rubber Director War P ro d u ction Board Washington D C P la s ti c Horizons B H Weil an d Victor J Anhorn Gulf Research De vel opment C omp a n y L ancaster P ennsylvania : The Jacques Cat tell P ress 1 94 4 P las t i cs Cata log T he E ncyc lop ed ia of P las tics (Annual ) N ew York : P lastics Catalog Corporation “ ” Super Wood Has Arrived Harland M anchester A merica n F ores ts July 1 94 4 C on d T he Rea der s D ig es t August 1 94 4 P owder Meta ll urgy e d b y P rof John Wulff M I T Cleveland : Ameri can S ociety of Metals 1 94 2 “ ” P ow d er Compacts P rof John Wulff T echnolog y Review Decem ber 1 938 Rubber in W d P ea ce ar an . . , , . . , . . . , , . , , . . , . . , . . , , . , . . . - . , , ’ . , . , , . . , . , . . . . , , . , . . , B IB LIOGRAP HY “ 30 7 ” Meta llurgy P rof Gregory J Comstock Stevens Institute of Technology Meta l P rog res s April May June 1 939 ” “ P owder Metallurgy F C Kelley General E lectric Company Ca na d ia n Meta ls a nd Meta ll urg ica l Ind us tries December 1 94 1 of The American S o O fficial publication Refrig erat ing E ng ineerin g c i ety of R efrigerating E ng i neers New York ” “ Tha t R efr i geration Boom F ort une December 1 94 3 Refrig eration a nd A ir Cond itioning in W a r a nd P ea c e Illus pam phlet Washington : A ir Conditioning and R efrigerating Machinery Association Inc Cold Mag ic A nnu a l i llus p a mphlet York Corporation York P enn sylvani a T echnolog y on the F a rm A specia l report by a n i nterb ureau commit tee a nd the Bureau of A gricultural E conom i cs U S Department of A gricul tur e U S Government P rinting Office Washington D C 1 94 0 P owder . , . , , . . . , , , . , . , , . , . . , . . , , . . . . , . . . , , . . . , . . . . . . , , . , Am A lture, 1 899 1 939 : A S t udy O E mp loyment f a nd P rod uct ivity H a rold B a rger and Hans H L andsberg New Y ork : National Bure a u of E conomic R esearch 1 94 2 Ill F a res the Land Carey McW i ll i a ms Boston : L ittle Brown and Com p a ny 1 94 2 P lowma n s F olly E dwar d H Faulkner University of O klahoma P ress 1 94 3 R eprinted New York : Grosset and Dunlap ” “ P lowman s Folly R efut ed E mil Truog Ha rper s Ma g az ine J ul y erica n r c u i g - o utp ut, . . , . , . , , . , ’ . . . , , . , ’ ’ . , 1 944 , , . ” “ Margarine chapter i n B a rriers to Interna l T ra de in F a rm P rod ucts A special report by the Bureau of Agricultural E conomics U S Department of Agr i culture U S Government P r i nting Offi ce Wash i ngton D C 1 939 “ ” Here s Why There s Noth i ng to Spread on Your Brea d Harland M a nchester T he Read er s D ig es t December 1 94 3 . , , . , . . ’ . . , . , ’ , ’ . , , . . . B IB LIO GRAP HY 308 Z ero S torag e in Y our Home Boyden Sparkes New York : Doubl eday D or a n and Company . , , 1 94 4 . Ma nag ement of F a rm F is h P ond s H S Swi ngle and E V Smith Bul 2 5 4 Agricultural E xper i ment Sta tion of the Alabama P oly t e chni c Inst i tute 1 94 2 , . , , . , . . . . . I N D EX 31 0 Vi ncenz Ca erp i ar C o p a ny Ce ane e C e o i d C orpora on C e o i d C o p a ny C a e Fre d C c a o B r in on an d i ncy R C or on A an C ry er C orpora i on xiii A p e x D ivi i on C ry er Wa er C Lewi Wa rri n on C i erva J a n d e C v Aeron a i c Bo ard Co ia Bro a d c a i n Sy e CBS Co ia U n iver i y pee oo p C o ock rof Gre ory J C on o i d a e d E di on C o pa ny of N ew York Ca s cari olo, o 66 t ll m 1 20 l ll ul s ti , 2 26 m 225 ll ul , h s , 93 hi g u l R , 1 22 gt ! u h lt , l , 1 86 h sl t 99, 235 , 236 , , , 98 243, 24 4 ; m l s , 243, 24 4 , 2 5 2 h sl , l t , 97, 1 00 hub b , s , 63 gt u 1a 1 64 , i il ut s 1 71 , 1 72 l umb st st m ( ) , 24 g l umb s t , 1 23 Com l t P h t g ra her T he 5 6 ms t 25 3 , P g s l t s m , , , , . , . , , , , , . 1 24 C on ol i d at s 51 l A ircraft C orp orati o n Vul tee ed , . , s s , , . s , . , s u . . . s u , , o . s s . u , . u , u , , , s , , ss . , 1 61 , , E thyl, 95 th l E y C orp orati on xl i i , , 98, 99 F Fairb a nk Mor e an d Co mp a ny xi Fai rchild S herman Mill 32 F a d ay Mi cha el 4 F rb eni nd tri e I G 1 81 204 Faul kner E d ward H 287 288 Fire tone R bb er an d Late x Co mp any 2 1 7 Fire ton Ti r a n d R bb er Co mp any xiii s s , 11 s, , , us . , . . , , , , u , e u e , , z, , , , s , , . s a , , , e, x a , s , , , , 1 1 7, 1 2 1 , 1 23, , d J et P urbi nes an ro p ul io n for A ir s cr ft 1 50 General E l ec tri c Co mp any , , x1 1 , 1 6 , 1 7, 2 0 , 2 1 , 37, 73, 1 30 , 1 33, 1 35 , 14 7, 1 5 0 , 15 4 , 238 239, 24 7, 24 9 . , Gener al Mo tor C orporati on s , . . 208, 2 15 , , 2 1 6, 2 1 7, 2 26 D ow Corni n g C orporation 238 D rake C ol onel E dw i n L 1 75 D bb C arb on P etrol e m 1 03 D u P on t d e N e mo ur a n d C o mp a ny i ii . u s, 2 1 9, 220, 2 21 , 230, 2 31 , 26 5 , x s, . , 20 6, e r . , , , . ‘ , s, u r , s 95 , 96 , 98, s a , , , x1 1 1 , General Mo tor Re e arch Lab or atori e 97 Gener l Ti re a n d R bb er C o mp any 2 1 1 Gerh ar dt W F 1 63 Gill B o ther 280 Go dd ar d Col G o g e W 36 38 39 4 O Go dd ard D r R H 1 4 8 G ne W i th th W i nd 4 2 Goo d ri ch B F C o mp a ny 207 217 s s, , , 1 2 1 , 1 22 , , , u , , , a - . , 14 , 68, 70 , 1 63, , , , G as T Die e R d ol ph 1 1 4 Do d e Bro er C orpor ati on 1 00 D oeri n g D r William E 6 1 D ooli ttl e J ame 89 D ow Chemi c al C o mp any x iii 95 , , , , 1 28, 1 85 , 186 s l , Mrs u th s g s , , , , . , . s . r , , Di ck on D r J G 287 Di e el E g en 1 1 5 D i e el D r R d o l ph 1 1 0 1 1 5 , , D r Gu ta f 1 83 1 84 E r i c aul 6 1 83 Ei n te i n Alb ert 1 7 74 Elli o tt B rr 289 Elli o tt Co mp a ny 1 50 15 5 Eri ck on C o mma nd er Frank A Eri c on J o hn 1 87 e 210 s , , u , 193, 246 E gl ofl , h l h, P . s , u ava e , . as , s , u s , Fi cher Fr a n 182 1 83 Fi h an d Wil dli fe Servi ce 296 Fl mi ng J o hn Amb ro e 8 14 Focke D r H ei nri ch 1 66 F o b e M g zi n ii Ford Henry 299 Ford Mo tor Co mp any 1 93 Fri t ch General Werner v on 43 , , a , 4 0 , 44 x1 1 , 1 93 , D audt D r H W 265 D ayton R bb er Ma n fa cturin g Co 1 99 D e Fore t Lee 8 15 1 7 D L l S t e a m T r b i ne C 1 50 D ewey R bb er D i rec tor Bradley 1 95 202 , s , , , s s , , - , , , , es s e, s, u , , , e , a , , s ar , , u us , s , x1 1 1 , s , C oo i d g e Will iam D 70 248 C ooper Pe ter 72 C ooper a tiv e F el R e e a rch Co mmit t ee 1 00 Cornell U niv er i ty 73 92 1 33 263 291 C o i no Wal ter P 236 237 C o x J ame L 73 74 C ummi n Cl i 1 1 7 1 21 1 25 126 C mmi n En g i ne Co mp a ny xiii C rz on Lord 90 , Ea te rn Ai r Li ne 1 65 Ea tma n G org e 227 228 E a tma n Ko d ak C o mp any E d g ar Gr h am 98 E d i on Tho m A 5 6 8 o . e , . . . . , , , , , , , , x1 1 1 , , INDE Goo dwi n M Hann ib al 225 226 Goo d wi n Rev eren d Ha nni b al 225 226 227 G o dy e ar Cha rl e 2 1 2 2 1 4 Goo dy e ar T ire a n d Rubb r Co mp any xiii 31 1 X rs , , , . o s, , , , , , , e , , 1 93, 21 0 , 2 1 1 , o , . . . u s, ers o u s ss . K K , d , Hal d ane J B S 1 89 Hall Col J ame C 28 H n m n Fr a nz 24 7 H rper M g z i n x ii Harri Li e ut Harol d 1 4 1 Ha rva d U n iver ity 4 7 6 1 1 76 1 87 1 88 293 Harv ey P rof R B 82 H eli copt er C orporati on of Ameri c a 1 67 H e mi n g w ay Erne t 291 46 50 6 3 4 5 D r Wi ia B i r d m l l h H t p H erc ul e Mo tor Co 1 20 H erc ul e P ow d er C omp any 226 H ert H e i nri ch 5 6 7 H ewi tt P e ter C ooper 72 73 163 Hi g g i n In d u t ri e 1 67 Hill er S ta nl ey J 1 67 H ofmann D r Fri tz N 203 H oo d Rub b er C o mp any 203 H oppe D r P E 287 Ho tel N w Yorker 1 23 H ud y E u g ene 1 04 1 05 H owell J o hn W 24 7 H ul l A W 1 7 Hy att I aiah 224 225 Hy att J o hn We l ey 224 225 226 227 a a ’ a , s . , a . . . , . , , , s, e, a a s , . s r . , , , , . . , , , , , s , a era , , . , s . , , , , s , z, , , , s, s r. , , , . . , , , , , s , , . , . . , e o r , . , . , . , , s , Icke , , s , , , , , , , ai er Henry J 1 68 ai er Wilhelm In titut s , s Illi no i U niv er i ty of s s, , Dr V adi i r Ir i n Wi ia Iv e D r H er er E ene . . . 1 82 Keck Geor g e Fre d 274 Keller K T 1 00 Ker t P rof D on al d W 20 K tteri n g Ch arl e F 92 95 1 22 K ri e b e l R i c h a r d 5 6 Kr pp Fri e d ri ch Al fre d 1 1 3 Kr pp Work 24 9 Luca P tron 203 Ky i k i d , . s . , . , e . s , u . , , , , , 1 23, 265 , , , , u s, s es, r a e , l M ay or 124 La nd E d wi n H 4 4 4 9 5 1 5 3 55 57 64 L an g e D r K rt 84 L an g mui r D r Irvi n g 8 1 7 25 70 L a t J ud g ment T h 189 L e avi tt L 1 69 L C bu i ( Ch ar l e E d o ua r d J e a nne re t ) L a G uardi a, , - . , “ , , e, , , , , s , 9, ou, , e , , . , - - , u . , s er or s 274 L et Be C alm Ab o t th H eli copt L i nd e D r C a rl 1 1 1 1 12 L i nd g n D r C a rl 2 2 C arl 292 L i nd g n M Li nd ay M a xwell H A 1 1 L i ttl e Art hu D In 1 55 Ll oy d Geoffrey 90 L ockhee d A i rcraf t C orporati on 1 4 1 L f than a 1 27 “ ’ u s . , , e re , s er, e ’9 1 69 , , 9 e re . , rs . , . , r , . . , c ., , , , , u s , M ac a l ey J ack 99 M acy R H C o mp a ny 1 24 M ahl er J o eph 5 5 M al Eti enne Lo i 45 M a rathon P a per C mp a ny 238 M i e Ce l e t e 1 1 5 M ark Li onel S 1 87 M a ach ett In ti t te of Techno lo g y x iii 5 6 1 87 1 88 2 5 3 M ather D r Ki rtl ey 1 76 M ax i m Hi ram 1 63 u . , , , . , . , , s , , us , In an Geor e In ern a i on a Ha rv e er Co p any xiii , L 2 0, 293 I nd us tri al B ull eti n, 1 5 5 m , g , 73 l m t t st I owa 1 23 Ip ati efi , m , 1 06 l ll m G , 1 1 8 w , b t ug s, , 8 fur Kohl enfor s s , e rol e um A dmi ni trator H arol d P t 1 77 , 1 81 s, 1 27 , , , , , . , , Haensel D r Vl a i mi r 1 07 Hai ti ng er Col M a x 82 83 , u . , sc h ung , . , K , s , , , u s , . u , s, us , , , - a ers , e , , u J ff Will i m M 1 95 2 1 0 J o hn on S am el 1 5 9 J one B a ett 75 J nker Fl g ze g werke 12 6 J t D r Al e xa n d er 24 7 u Greene M aj or C arl 1 4 1 Gre g ory C l H F 1 69 1 70 l Greyho n d C orporati on 1 22 1 71 1 72 Greyho n d S ky way Inc xii i n D i e e l E n g ine C o mp an y 1 27 G ib , l , u s, o ar , 1 21 s , s, . us ss s . , u s , , , . , , , , , , IN D EX 31 2 M axwell Clerk 273 M C mi k Cyru H ll 276 o M C dy Li e t J o hn A 136 1 37 C ap tai n P ri ce 288 289 ML m Me i er C l D C 1 1 4 Mi chi g an S tat Co lle g e Ex p eri ment S tati on , , c or c rea c u , . , . . , ore, e c a s , o , , , . . . , , e , erk n Wi a e an a n d C o en d er ip o o a ro i d C orpora i on P i , lli m 60 Ph l ll , 2 4 P hill s , 4 5 P l owma n s F lly, 287 P l t , xi l , 4 5 , 4 7, 4 8, 50 , 5 2, 5 5, 63 P l , F 286 P s 83 , P s t, l , 14 1 P tt hi t m t , 1 06 Pu u s t , 21 1 P V i g um, g , 1 68 , ’ oo e D r C opper D r Ha n o Wi ey ra a n d W ney A i rcr af Co p a ny r d e U niver i y En i neer n For Inc . M i d gl y Dr Thoma e . , J s, 91 98, 101 , 2 65 , r. , - 2 66 Mill er C a pt ai n J o hn M 165 M ill i k a n R o b ert And rew 1 7 Mi nne o ta Un iver ity of 82 1 88 M itchell Gener al Billy 1 30 Mi tchell D r H H 293 Mo ni t r 187 Mon anto Ch emi c al C o mp any x iii . , , s, , s s “ , - . . . . , s , , 20 7 , 2 2 1 , 22 3, 233 Morai ne P ro d uc t 244 Morri C L 1 59 1 60 Mo Dr S anfor d A 1 30 14 1 143 Mt S i n ai H o p i t al 1 9 124 M ni ch Techni c al In ti tute 1 10 M e um of S ci ence an d Ind u try 1 27 . , , . . s . , , s s u ’ rs s , s , e, x1 1 , s , , ( RC A ) , , , , us , Ran d o p J o hn 286 R ate au A g u t 1 35 D ig e t T h Re d e Re g n ault H enr i Vi ctor 2 1 6 21 7 R e i ter O ti F 290 Ro hm an d H aa s Co mp any 220 Ro e P rof William C 293 Rubb er S urv ey Co mmittee 1 94 R hrchemi e A G 1 82 Rul e P rof J ohn T 56 57 a , u . , , - , , 1 8, 19, 24 l h, s, . 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