R_. C_.,
Shaughnessy,
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| Maybe Newsweek has it garbled, as it often does? Or perhaps this is the TX-16 "Emergency" cryogenic bomb that was never test detonated, and the 40 megaton yield is a post BRAVO revised yield estimate. Or someone at Lawrence Livermore (oh, who am I kidding, it's Teller) is talking up their first designs, "highly innovative" devices that fizzled. Anyway, 40 megatons! |
Canada
Dear Father:
As some have predicted, the Comet has fallen, this time, think, for good. I have no idea how long it will take for everyone to accept that it was too flimsy to fly, but it is all embarrassing enough that it may take a while, and no-one is going to want a Comet 2 or 3 until it is all settled. Whether anyone will want a Comet 3 at all is another question. No doubt champagne corks are popping at Weybridge right now!
Spring is coming to our fair city, and I have to say that James-James has the legs of a trooper. I have conceived a notion of seeing this city, and he seems willing to walk as far as my own legs will go! He is a very charming young man, too! I hope that that continues into adulthood and he does not become another engineer with his head in the clouds!
Or a cloud of radioactive ash, as seems to be he fashion of the day.
Your Loving Daughter,
Ronnie
Letters
The Periscope reports the thin gruel the McCarthy camp has turned up on the investigators' side ahead of the Army hearings; two members asked for favours for constituents and friends from the Selective Service Board during the war (but neither of them were the respective senator's boyfriends) and the attorney who will probably lead the hearings might challenge Kefauver in '56, making him the natural enemy of all right-thinking Democrats. He's also a two-faced "Taft Republican" who went for Ike, and speaking of which, Ike is going to stay above the fray, unlike various members of his Cabinet. "Experts on Red propaganda" noticed that Pravda didn't exactly offer to come to China's aid if fighting broke out in Southeast Asia. Dulles wants everyone to know that he promised not to leak word of his upcoming visit to France to twist French arms ahead of Geneva, so he was
The Periscope Washington Trends reports that the Army-McCarthy Hearings are shaping up to be nothing much, although obviously the Democrats will try to fan the flames ahead of the elections. We can count on our allies to come in on Indo-China in the end, even if they drag their feet. Democrats are expected to run against the Eisenhower Administration's hard money preference in the fall, while the AEC is thinking about handing out atomic plants to supportive members of Congress.
National Affairs gets into the US position ahead of Geneva a bit more, notices the sudden death of Dwight Palmer Griswold, which doesn't unbalance the Senate, because the Governor of Nebraska is a Republican. We get a longer introduction to Ray Jenkins, already introduced in The Periscope, hear about a scandal at the Federal Housing Administration, get some insight into Herbert "the problem with Himmler was that he was too soft" Brownell's approach to fighting communism (which we shouldn't worry about, because the FBI has it well in hand), that now that Charles Lindbergy is not a Nazi, he's in charge of choosing where the Air Force Academy goes, that Duke University insulted Richard Nixon by not giving him an honorary doctorate, and the drought in the Southwest is shaping up to cut the wheat harvest by 18%, which seems like a good thing considering the size of the surplus from last year! Secretary Wilson promises that the new radar fence in the north will stop Red H-bombers cold, and will be ready soon. Ticking It Off reports that the Senate's internal security committee believes that the UNO Secretariat is practically a giant Red fifth column, that custody of the Rosenberg boys and the trust fund for them established by well-wishers has been granted to their paternal grandmother. Ernest K. Lindell's Washington Tides explains "Dulles's Diplomacy," which is sure to get the Allies on side and the Reds in a concessionary mood by sheer force of will combined with the brilliant Navarre plan to break the Viet Minh and turn the war in Indo-China over to Viet Namese troops by fighting the Viet Minh really, really hard this year.
"Fortress in Asia: The Show-Down" Unless Dien Bien Phu falls. Which seems likely, with plans even being laid for the garrison to break out towards Laos.
"Is Indo-China a New Korea? Dulles Answers 'No:' And Here's the US Plan to Avoid It" Indo China won't turn into another politically contentious, ongoing, dragging war, because first we'll hit China very hard, in a way to be determined later. General De Gaulle has shown up in public to suggest that France should stand up to the US at Geneva and develop its own atomic bomb. Russian Communist youth are turning into juvenile delinquents, just like Americans. Winston Churchill can't form a sentence, enunciate words, or stand up unassisted. Maybe it is time he retired? The Labour-led town council of Coventry says that civil defence is pointless because of H-bombs. Newsweek is appalled. The Japanese are just so silly with their reaction to the atom bombing of the Lucky Dragon. Why, they won't even let American doctors treat the victims, keeping them in a Japanese hospital. Like those funny little Asiatics can run a hospital! Ticking It Off reports that the British are giving up on amnesty for Mau Maus and are going to hit them hard. Israelis are also talking about hitting the Arabs hard, but the Iranians are happy and complacent now that they aren't burdened by an anti-Western government.
In Canada, a TCA North Star has been lost with 37 people killed in the air and on the ground, after being rammed by an RCAF Harvard trainer, and the Canadian federal budget for '54 is balanced.
Business
The Periscope Business Trends The recession that wasn't going to happen and then wasn't going to be that bad is getting better. It doesn't hurt that the Feds have a major highway building programme coming through Congress for public works to balance demand just like Keynes (who?) said should be done. Postal rates up, probably, Seaway through Congress, no change to Taft-Hartley, probably.
The lead stories go into a bit more detail about how all signs point to the recession being almost over. The New York Central takeover is the worst thing ever. The winner in the Mobilgas Economy Run this year is a Studebaker Land Cruiser that got 28.10 miles to the gallon. Pierre Du Point has died, and now the Du Ponts have to find another Du Pont to run Du Pont.
"Tragic Tale of the Comet" The latest Comet crash, on 8 April, makes it clear to everyone that there is something seriously wrong with the Comet. Americans really hope that it is the "buried" engine, as this would give the 707 a huge leg up with its podded engine, but Sir Miles Thomas is zeroing in on the cabin pressurisation, since three of the four crashes occurred immediately the plane reached full altitude at full power.
This week in Business Tides, Henry Hazlitt apologises for the recession caused by his preferred hard money policy. I'm sorry, no, he points out that the Canadian and British budgets are balanced because parliamentary government works, and certainly not because the Canadians and British didn't drive their economies into recession with idiotic financial policy.
Science, Medicine
Not in Science, but an adjacent story, is the Special Report on the uranium boom out west. But we've heard about it from Fortune, and I'm not going to repeat myself for the sake of telling some more stories about how Charles A. Steen is wasting his money. There is a new angle, though, as the AEC and the International Minerals and Chemical Corporation are trialling a scheme to get at the uranium byproduct of phosphate production.
"The Case for Tobacco" The "billion-dollar tobacco industry" has rounded up some doctors, notably including the President-elect of the AMA, who say that tobacco probably doesn't cause very much lung cancer at all.
"What the Heart Does" Dr. Robert Rushmer is the latest doctor to do horrible things to test animals to find out just what, exactly, the heart does. Or he will, as soon as the dogs he has inserted with instruments produce some results worth reporting in Newsweek.
TV-Radio, Art, Press, Newsmakers
Various worthies have Peabodies, Chet Huntley is an up-and-coming TV journalist, the President is looking more relaxed in his recent TV appearances because the director lets him sit on the corner of his desk and read from a few cue cards instead of the Tele-Prompter.
Prince Henry of Hesse gets his own show at the Carstairs Galley, because he paints and he's the nephew of the King of Italy and the Emperor of Germany.
"Art for Children's Sake" Dr. Viktor Lowenfeld has Your Child and His Art out from MacMillan. It argues that parents should pay attention to the art their children makes, because it might tell them something. I guess you have to pay the full $6.50 to learn what! (I do like his theory that children may draw the sky yellow because they like yellow, which is definitely my experience!)
"The Negro in Print" The "Negro press" exists, is a good market to advertise in, and like all proper business, likes Ike.
Rosalind Russell, Governor Frank Lausche of Ohio, Jackie Gleason, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Dr. Herbert Putnam, Adlai Stevenson, and J. Edgar Hoover are in the column for the usual reasons. Constantin Georgescu and his brother are in it because they've been released by Romania after a spy scandal. Caterpillar operator
The New Films
United Artists' Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is pretty but not profound. Also from UA is the Barbara Stanwyck vehicle, Witness to Murder, which would be a better movie if the villain were more three dimensional. Fox finally brings Prince Valiant from the comic pages to the silver screen. It's fine.
Books is a special edition on books for religious people, which I will skip, and Raymond Moley's column manages to find a way to make protectionism into fair trade.
Aviation Week, 19 April 1954
News Digest reports that the turboprop Convairliner (YC-131C) is nearing flight status. TWA is worried about the DC-7's speed advantage over the Super Constellation that TWA flies. SNCASE is having wind tunnel tests done on its Caravelle at Cornell. The RCAF received a record 146 jet aircraft during March.
Industry Observer reports that Allison is delivering its first T43s, while Douglas is halfway through the 10 A2D Skyshark left in the contract after last year's cuts, which were due to delays in the T40 drivetrain development. Grumman's lightweight fighter for the Navy, the F9F-9 is scheduled to fly soon. Sikorsky is delivering its third S-55 to Okanagan Helicopters, which will be leasing it to the Canadian Fisheries Department to replace several patrol boats in Newfoundland. The USAF is working on all-weather fighters again, because of the importance of intercepting H-bombers before they drop their bombs. Lear is trying to improve the 340's aerodynamics. American Machine and Foundry is trying to interest the Air Force in a reverse thruster design. Aviation Week reports the existence of the new British 30mm gun. Douglas has delivered its first production F4D, and is working on rotortip turbojet engines, while North American's $10 million atomic power plant is making good progress.
Washington Roundup is credited to "Washington staff" this week. They report on the buildup in Indo-China, the latest word from the USAF that this time the H-bomb makes the Navy obsolete for sure, that Stuart Symington is going to rake the Administration over the coals for air power budget cuts, that the Administration is also cutting spending on airports to put more money in highways, that there are more leaks about the top-secret (not any more) Arctic radar defence line.
Katherine Johnsen reports for Aviation News that "Key Senators Balk at Civil Air Programme" Specifically, John Bricker, Pat McCarran and Styles Bridges. I have mixed feelings for the Civil Air Programme. They're horrible people, but they're fighting for airport funding, which is good.
"Turboprop B-47" This idea will never go away. Boeing (and others) have lots of turboprop conversions under development, but only Lockheed's C-130 was designed as such.
"Comet Gloom" The latest Comet crash means cancellation of its airworthiness certificate until the source of the problem is found. The headline promises that "altitude turbulence, sabotage" are the leading explanations, but they both sound to me like excuses. Encountering high angle turbulence at a bad angle of attack would lead to heavy structural loads, but doesn't explain why the accidents happened at the same point in the flight. (James says that it is some kind of total structural failure because of "typical De Havilland carelessness.")
Boeing reports for Aeronautical Engineering that its jet thrust reverser (just a baffle stuck in the thrust) is "Safe, Practical." There are some statistics and some evaluations of alternative designs, but it looks like the clamshell is the most practical. As part of the study Boeing also looks at the safety factors for various thrust-related failures involving jets and props, and comes to the conclusion that jets are surprisingly safe, especially compared with prop reversals at takeoff. In other engineering news, ARDC has a new weapons lab at Andrews Air Fore Base, Charles Dempsey of the Wright Air Development Centre has spent 56 hours cooped up in a (ground) cockpit to see how long a man can take it, (with electrodes and instruments hooked up to him so that the torture would be scientific). He says that it wasn't that bad, and that he just wants to watch TV and go to bed. The Italians are experimenting with fog dispersal with giant flamethrowers at Rome, which at least is a more exciting place to do trial flights at than Arcata. Northrop swears that the new fuel tanks for the F-89 are really, actually inert this time. Martin is speeding up deliveries of the B-57.
George L. Christian reports for Equipment that National Aeronautical is putting a DME set into production. Compared with the company's existing line of omnirange sets, the new DME is "gold plated," with reliable, ruggedised tubes, crystal tuning, and an emphasis on serviceability. Parker Aircraft now has a "systems" approach to airborne equipment, testing the complete aircraft system all at once, while Pan Am has a machine that rebores engine valve ports with more accuracy than ever and Grumman has a power sweeper for airport runways. New Aviation Products reports that McDonnell is putting the best resin paint on the F2H-1 Banshee, which is 50% lighter than existing paints and doesn't peel as quickly (peeling having been noticed in as few as 57 hours of operation on the Banshee.) Di-Aero's hand-held press is useful for all sorts of stuff. Benchmaster's Tele-Trol is a small electric time perfect for re-cycling jobs. Paraplex has the best new fibreglas on the market. Vickers has a very pretty model of the V1000 transport out.
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Letters
Norris Chapman of Denver writes to explain why sending American troops to Southeast Asia is actually a good idea. Masashi Tanaka writes from Tokyo to explain why the Japanese deem runaway H-bomb tests alarming. Leonard Sei de Man explains from Paris that the Eiffel Tower is cognac brown, not caramel brown. Jay Scott of NYC thinks that the Empire State Building is worth a visit, while Dee Day points out that most American tourists in Germany are not, in fact, "taking the cure." They're just being tourists! Mrs. John Pendleton writes from Monterrey to raise questions about the Army's abrupt removal of all Russian-language books from the Presidio for disposal, on the grounds that they were there for Russian literature students, and, anyway, isn't this inappropriate at some level? James O'Brien" asks whether it is Dienbienphu or Dien Bien Phu. The answer is, in English, Dienbienphu. Glad to have that cleared up! For Your Information introduces us to the new London bureau chief, Wellington Long and plumps for the American Cancer Society.
The Periscope reports that McCarthy will be going after "Assistant Defence Secretary H. Struve Hensel" at the Army hearings, probably because the name sounds Jewish. No-one expects much of a report from the Hearings, the President is sending General Van Fleet to Korea to see what's going on with the peace negotiations, scientists around the country are outraged at Oppenheimer's suspension from the AEC, the White House announced investigations at the FHA because a bunch of Democratic Senators were about to step in. Sources close to Bill Donovan say that Bill Donovan has been instrumental in keeping Thailand from going Red. Canada is removing Igor Gouzenko's RCMP detachment because he is such a pain in the polite French word. The Army is testing a "New Look" organisation of highly mobile "battle groups" based around helicopters and convertiplanes. The Army is upset that General Eisenhower is intervening in personnel matters, the Czechs are upset at instructions from Moscow to focus on consumer goods, the East Germans have a school for saboteurs, the Japanese are still talking about a new Red atom bomb based on some anomalous fallout they have recovered. Atomic research will continue to make atom bombs smaller and more powerful, and to sort out "new phenomena" which have shown up in testing. The White House and Pentagon insiders are having a good laugh at how easy it is to fool Russian spies with made up secret projects. Bruno Pontecorvo is said to be recruiting Soviet scientists for their H-bomb project. US agents in Athens are upset that the Greeks aren't taking this alleged Red spy then found, seriously. The weather wizards at Oppenheimer's lab at Princeton are using electronic brains to forecast the weather better. Secretary Wilson points out that we're spending more on guided missiles than on atom bombs.
Helen Hayes and Tallulah Bankhead will have TV shows soon. A Star is Born is the most expensive movie Warner has ever made, because Judy Garland is such a pain in the polite French word. Fredric March will be back on Broadway soon after helming a smash hit in London. Where Are They Now catches up with "Elizabeth Hapsburg Windisch-Graetz Petznek," the socialist Habsburg princess who is a medical recluse in Vienna, "living in poverty in a ramshackle flat on the outskirts of Vienna."
"The News Will Out" The spectacular leak of the Oppenheimer story leads Newsweek to do a retrospective on big Washington "leak" stories going back to the "leak" of the Armistice agreement in 1918, with the 1942 Chicago Tribune leak of word that the Americans had broken the Japanese codes probably the most outrageous. Gurney Williams is going from Colliers to Look, which is a story if you're buddies with somebody at Newsweek.
John Anthony gets a profile, while a University of Connecticut study finds that children watch lots of television, and some of it is just about the most violent stuff on air. I mean, I'm a mother so maybe I'm speaking out of turn, but has anyone met children? They're violent! If they weren't so small and cute it would be frightening! As it is, the worst thing about it is that they make you watch Howdy-Doody.
There's an Art section this week with no art. I'm not going to complain about the issue that spared me the sight of Henry Hazlitt's self-absorbed, complacent mug, but all I can do is mention Julian Hoke Harris and Maria Montoya Martinez, who got big awards from the American Institute of Architects, which for some reason gives them out for "arts other than architecture" at their annual convention. I think they come with cheques? They should! Architects are loaded, except when they're not!
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| Cullen328 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons. wikimedia.org/w/index.php?cu rid=45596762a |
In the Pacific Northwest, a rash of mysteriously pitted car windshields might be due fallout, people say, and since the people include Seattle Mayor Alan Pomeroy, who counts as famous, it's in the column. Jack Webb, Charlotte McLeod, Marilyn Monroe, J. Fred Muggs, Shelly Winters, and Estelle Faulkner are in the column for the usual reasons. The University of Manchester is in it for publishing a special Scrabble dictionary. A centenarian is marrying a 69-year-old in Kentucky by way of introducing Frances Farmer's marriage, because it is also weird when a former mental patient gets married. Susan Zanuck was also married last week, but she's 20 and not crazy, so it's normal. Arthur Schlesinger is retiring now that his son is old enough to replace him, as is done at Harvard. Louis Beard, Angus McDonald, and Hubert Scott-Paine have died.
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| Weird. |
The New Films
Books
Another special issue features American regional writers like John Brooks, Shelby Foote, and Will Hayes, then reviews the latest novel from Anne Parrish, Daniel O'Flaherty's biography, General Jo Shelby: Undefeated Rebel, and William Bradford's investigation of how Private Eddie Slovik became the only one of 40,000 American deserters in Europe to get the death penalty, in The Execution of Eddie Slovik. (Nobody liked him, and he was a borderline cripple, so he made a good example.)
Speaking of borderline cripples that nobody likes, Raymond Moley makes a tiny gesture towards redemption by suggesting that the idea of "good" and "bad" nations is a myth, then ruins it by defending Franco and German and Japanese rearmament.
Aviation Week, 26 April 1954
Washington Roundup is credited to "staff" again, and reports that a budget battle is "unlikely," that the atomic aircraft engine project has an improved process, that there is a fight in Congress over the proposed Beechcraft Navy trainer, that ARDC is reorganising to deliver hydrogen bombs sooner, better and faster, that industry is embarrassed that the Navy is quoting much lower times between overhaul for new jets than is claimed in their advertising, that Colorado Springs is the likely site of the Air Force Academy, that the USAAF is now officially announcing 5800 J47s, 1000 J65s, and 2200 R-2800s as cancelled in its economy drive. (Which is also an effective cancellation of the J65, bad news for Wright.)
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| Unguided rocket with 20kt warhead, 15 mile range. Who approves these things? |
G. J. McAlister reports for Aviation Week that "Defence Reveals Scope of Missile Buildup" The Defence Department has spent $4.7 billion on missiles since 1951 and will spend $625 million in 1954. The latest missiles to be revealed are the Army's Corporal and Honest John surface-to-surface missile systems. The Army is defending its Nike system against claims that the Navy's air defence missile programme is better, while the Air Force continues to work on pilotless bombers.
"Atomic Attack" Testifying before Congress, Secretary Wilson said that the Russians don't have atomic bombers, General Twining says that they do. Also, Marquardt is quite proud of its jet thrust reverser, which recovers more power.
Robert Hotz reports for Aeronautical Engineering that "NACA Tunnel Tests Give Answers to VTO Problems" NACA wants us to know that it has been testing a simple VTO model for years now, and that it has been able to tell Lockheed and Convair that the "zoom" method of switching from vertical to horizontal flight mode is not feasible. Dr. Charles Barron, a flight surgeon at Lockheed, assures the Aero Medical Association that sudden pressure loss is nothing to worry about.
What's New is back with a capsule review of Panorama of Flight: Aviation History in Paintings before getting down to what we're really here for, 1 chart book, on 16 minute film, 2 catalogues, four brochures, and two booklets ranging from fasteners to new specifications of Monel metal to Design Considerations of Saturating Servomechanisms, from the Institute of Environmental Equipment Manufacturers. And if you think that that is rudely abrupt, take a gander at the "Publications Received" feature at the bottom of the column! Sorry, History of American Industrial Science by Courtney R. Hall and the latest table of hyperbolic sines and cosines!
Eclipse-Pioneer reports for Equipment that "New Set-Up to Test Jet Accessories: Eclipse-Pioneer Facility Will Duplicate the Operating Environment of Aircraft and Missile Accessories" Also, Hevi-Duty reports that Hevi-Duty brightness controls for runway lights are great! New Aviation Products reports that F. J. Stokes has a 300t hydraulic press for powder metal parts, that American Research Corporation has a transparent vacuum test jar, that Clary's new long life universal joints have Air Force approval, while a separate feature for advetorials, Off the Line, notices battery-powered luggage tractors and nylon fuel tanks from AiResearch. Also, the Navy has given Lockheed a contract to modify an unspecified number of planes with new submarine detection equipment. The CAB report on the Regina Cargo Airlines crash finds that the pilot of the DC-3 tried to fly visual in IFR conditions because he didn't know how to use complicated gadgets like attitude indicators and suchlike, which is how, "cargo" notwithstanding, two pilots and 19 military personnel were killed by flying into a mountain 19 miles from McCord Air Force Base last September. (He thought he was coming in for a landing.)
Captain Robson's Cockpit Viewpoint is still upset at automatic prop feathering. Aircraft bounce and things break, including "automatic" unlocks. Robert F. Wood's Editorial points out that Aviation Week is highly objective and amazingly willing to point out the industry's dirty littte secrets, because its first obligation is to the public welfare.
The Engineer, 16, 23, 30 April
"Some Recent Swiss Hydro-Electric Schemes" The Mauvoisin and Grand Dixence schemes in the Valais are discussed. Continued on the 23rd. On the 30th we go to Owen Falls for our hydroelectrics, instead.
There's no time to be sad about the closing of the National Physical Institute's Exhibit, because it is off to "The British Industries Fair" for the 30th! It's all big machine tools and forklifts and allied machinery.
"Air Pollution Control" This is the discussion of the James Clayton Lecture to the Inst. Mech. Eng. by Frederick S. Mallette. Respondents bring their special experience with diesel exhaust, grit, coal smoke, sulphur, and other pollutants to bear. A precis of a separate paper on "Air Pollution Control in America" by the same author appears late in the issue for the 30th and understandably takes some time reviewing a century of work over a whole continent.
"Reconstruction of the Steam Ship Duke of York" tells the story of the rebuilding of same, launched in 1935, and put out of service in 1953 by a collision with the Haiti Victory 11 miles off Harwich.
"Heavy Duty Plate Bending and Straightening Machine" Understandably, the author is so excited by this machine, ideal for fabrication shops and magslip controlled, that he or she neglects to identify him or herself, but may well be Brook Motors, Ltd. Even more exciting is a new coal watchery, while one is only to be allowed to read the article about the new locomotive for the Manchester-Sheffield electrification scheme with doctor's permission. This one-and-a-half page article allows room for some advertorials about tools.
"Aeronautical Compound Diesel Engine" Technically, this is an advertorial for the Napier Nomad, but it is very important, and James will bend your ear off about it at the least excuse. It really sounds impressively rugged. It can maintain takeoff compression (6.28 to 1) to almost 8000ft! Magnesium-zirconium alloy is used in the crankcase, and infinitely variable gearing is used. It really is a marvelous piece of machinery. This being a good issue for it, the 30th also has the abstract of a theoretical paper given to the R.Ae. S., E. L. Chatterton's Compound Diesel Engines for Aircraft.
We still need content, so Ed Livesay can't go home to Victoria, and must continue to ride French locomotives around and think of things to say about them for pages on end. Continued on the 23rd.
Aluminum Wire and Cable Company reports on "Aluminum Wire and Cable Factory" It is a rationalisation of work at several plants at Swansea, Wales. Birmingham University, excited by this chance to write for the paper, contributes "Graduate School of Thermodynamics and Related Studies" No, French literature is not included. Alfred Herbert, Ltd.'s exciting story about Alfred Herbert, Ltd's new Copy Turning Lathe is even more exciting, she copied. You put a shaft in a holder, and it makes a new shaft just like it!
Sir Victor Shephard, "Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia" It's called a yacht but it's actually pretty big and expensive. This is mainly a naval architectural paper, coming from the annual dinner meeting, but does discuss the air conditioning that will cool the Royal polite French word. On the 23rd we hear about the machinery, which is steam turbine.
"New Kearney Power Station in New Jersey (by Our American Correspondent)" It's big, it is new, it is on the Hackensack River. Continued on the 23rd.
Leaders
Literature
Boniface Rossi's textbook, Welding Engineering is pretty good, while W. J. Gazely's Watch and Colck Making continues to straddle that odd divide between designer, manufacturer and hobbyist that exists in this funny little old industry. The reviewer is probably the last, and can't contain their enthusiasm for the chapter on tools. For the 16th, we have Chi-Teh Wang's Applied Elasticity is always handy around the holidays, or, no, I am sorry, is about solving problems involving stress and strain. Well so are rubberised pants! A. H. Sully's Chromium and G. L. Miller's Zirconium are the first two volumes of the promised Metallurgy of the Rarer Metals series from Butterworths. They obviously differ in that the exploitation of zirconium is newer and there is much to learn about production methods and quality. Edward Attwood and H. S. Pingelly give us Theoretical Naval Architecture, and Kurt Rathke a biography, Wilhelm Maybach, and the Institute of Metals brings us The Control of Quality in the Production of Non-Ferrous Metals and Alloys, I: The Control of Quality in Casting and Melting. On the 30th, A. G. Hotchkiss and H. M. Webber's Protective Atmospheres, and J. O. Brandt's The Manufacture of Iron and Steel are reviewed. Protective atmospheres are the gasses injected into furnaces and like working spaces to protect things from regular atmosphere while they're being worked. (From being oxidised by oxygen, for example.) Brandt's book seems to be mainly a study guide for the Iron and Steel Federation exam.
"Observation and Control of Dust" This is a summary of a special meeting of the Inst. Mech. Eng. focussing on this problem, and specifically discussion of a paper on dust controllers. Also on the 16th, we visit the "Radiochemical Centre, Amersham"
The Physical Society is having an Exhibition. On the 16th, we visit the Mullards, BTH, AWRE, AERE, Elliott, GE and Pye booths. Mullard is quite proud of its new, transitorised curve tracer, while the atomic lads are taken with their new high-speed camera and beryllium detector, and Elliott has a whole selection of computer wares. On the 16th, concluding number, it is time for the Cinema Television and Kelvin and Hughes booths to see an electrolytic recorder for a fish-finding echo sounder and a flying spot microscope.
"The 'Comet' Disaster" The Engineer has no idea what happened.
Our (very busy) American Correspondent reports on "Work of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission" When it isn't purging Oppenheimers, the AEC is mining uranium, designing reactors, and researching subatomic particles. On the 16th OAC finds the time to visit a "Reversing Cold Strip 'Y' Mill" in Pittsburgh.
"Cathodic Protection of the Interior of Cargo Compartments in Oil Tankers"This is the precis of a paper presented to the North East Coast Institute of Shipbuilders and Marine Engineers by E. V. Matthias and W. Godfrey and investigates the use of cathodes to reduce corrosion in the tanks. The results are promising and will reduce the need for tank washing.
Short advertorials for the 16th include locomotives, earth-moving machinery, an electrohydraulic press, and a new process for making the cylinder liners of large diesel engines. On the 23rd we hear about a high voltage line carried on wood poles for BEA out Wales way, a hydraulic press from Finlay Engineering, and a "zirconiated" tungsten electrode for argon arc welding from Murex. The advantage is that zirconium doesn't melt. On the 30th we hear about a mobile asphalt mixing plant, and some heavy electrical engineering equipment (a load breaking switch, a relay.) There's quite a long one, actually, for the 3.2 mV Impulse Generator at the National Physical Laboratory, which is for impressing people rather than for sale, a mobile crane from Unicum for KLM, a portable air compressor and a taper locking pulley round out the advertorials for the month.
African Engineering News makes an appearance on the 16th with a look at a South African gas plant.
Industrial and Labour Notes registers continuing economic expansion, new records of iron and steel production, and more coal. On the 30th we hear that everything is going up, unfortunately including freight rates, and that engineering has new and exciting export industries producing things like valves and fork-lifts.Four Launches and Trial Trips, two tankers, one river passenger vessel, one cargo and passenger vessel, three steam (one triple expansion), one diesel. Coal prices, we hear on the 23rd, are on the way up, while the union representing drafters wants nationalisation of the engineering industry. Three more on the 23rd, two cargo ships and one ore carrier, two steam and one diesel, one built in France. Two on the 30th, an asphalt carrier with triple expansion steam, built in France, and a motor tanker from Britain.
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