Sunday, August 18, 2024

Postblogging Technology, April 1954, II: Lewis Strauss's Boom

 



R_. C_.,

Shaughnessy,

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! 
Vancouver,

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

Three correspondents write in to point out that if the vandals who wrecked that school in New York were looking for "publicity," as they said, it was probably a mistake to write them up in the newspaper! Other correspondents are mistakenly certain that the photo of Emmett Kelly carrying a fire bucket at the 1944 Hartford circus fire was faked, with William West of Corcoran, California, adding that whatever the status of the photo, articles about him list three different places of birth. Jerome Namias of the Weather Bureau is upset that Newsweek chose to publish one of their "bad" forecast maps instead of one of the majority of good ones. Thomas Vecchio of Grand Rapids points out that opera is sung in translation in Italy, so why not here? LeRoy Brunette points out that Republicans might talk a good game about abolishing the Roosevelt dime, but they're not going to be able to pull it off, because that's not how the Mint works. Several men are upset at the photo of two women having fun in a convertible on the New Jersey Turnpike.
Don Bishop of NBC adds photo credits for NBC's own Sydney Smith and Eve Hunter. Pierre Mendes-France  writes to point out that French socialists do not, in fact, intend to bring down western civilisation and introduce a thousand year reign of barbarity made worse by the lights of a perverted science. (Specifically, France can't go on fighting in Indo-China. Mendes-France accepts responsibility for the misunderstanding for France, but emphasises that the Geneva talks must lead to an end to the conflict.) For Your Information explains the latest reader survey.

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

betrayed when it came up in the Assembly. Everyone in Washington wants to unleash Chiang. Things are heating up for the French in Morocco and Algeria. Those American groundcrews are in Indo-China for the duration, and will soon be followed by a carrier task force for more air power, which will harass Red supply lines and knock out the AA guns covering Dien Bien Phu. Atom bombs are bad for you, engineers are working on an "instantaneous communication link" between Washington, London, and Paris, auto sales are getting more competitive and more gimmicky, with automatic, built-in tire jacks and push-button rear door opening the latest thing. A  British Canberra has flown at 63,000ft, raising the prospect of high altitude atom bombing, never once before thought of except in the specifications for the Vulcan and Victor, while the Reds have an 11,000lb jet engine (the "Lulikov") to keep them abreast of the West. 

The NFL is thinking about replacing its playoff bowl game with a three game series,which, I'm sorry, I might not know anything about football but I know some football players, and that is the kind of crazy thing you read in The Periscope, Kirk Douglas is to play an Italian car racer, Helen Traubel is going to be in the pictures, starting with Deep in My Heart, Tyrone Power is going to play St. Francis of Assisi and Jason of the Argonauts in two upcoming biopics. Tyrone Power. As St. Francis. Hello? Said the nightclub comic, "Is this thing on?" Rudy Vallee is going to have a variety show set in Rome, Imogene Coca might get a sitcom from NBC. Where Are They Now reports that Mrs. Josephine Peary is living quietly in Portland, Maine, and is recovering from an operation, while Peary's companion, Matthew Henson, is living in a walkup in Harlem on his $133/month navy pension and is keeping busy just being out and about.

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. 

International

"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. 

Products: What's New reports a collapsible back yard pool which can be inflated by a vacuumm cleaner, by Bilnor of New York, a flourescent, infrared lamp from GE for cooking, and a cattle gate that can be pushed over by a car and which will spring back up again in moments, by Clint Youle Enterprises of Batavia, Illinois. 

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

Last week, which we didn't cover, was a fascinating story about ongoing attempts to discover whether there is vegetation on Mars, with a brief explainer about  how we might get a rocket there. (It's slower, but cheaper, if you lead Mars instead of just blasting right there, but you can only do that at certain points in the orbit.) This week we hear about the White House groundskeeper, who is scientific because of his patent grass seed mix. Also, a Japanese physicist named Tsunezaburo Asada set scientific circles alight with talk of a Russian "nitrogen bomb," which would work by fusing nitrogen and cause a runaway reaction as all the nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere fused. By week's end, everyone agreed that first, the Russians aren't crazy, and, second, you probably can't blow off a nitrogen bomb, anyway. Speaking of distorting the story, Newsweek makes a complete hash of reporting on Michael Ventris' successful deciphering of Linear B, one of the two "Linear" scripts on clay tablets found in Evans' Cretan digs at Knossos and elsewhere. They turn out to be Greek, with deadly results for some of Evans' much publicised conclusions, but Newsweek thinks that the salience is that it proves that the Minoans had a written language. Because, well, no, the fact that they wrote things down proves they had a written language! The question is which language it is! )There's still hope for the larger Evans thesis, because Linear A isn't translatable by Ventris's methods.)

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

James Anton of Jenner, California, because he was attacked by an "8ft octopus" while bulldozing near the sea, and had to kill it with his bare hands[!!!]. The Army's new uniform is in the column because it looks swell. Suzan Ball is married, William Oates and Shirley Temple Black have had babies, Ethel Paine Moors Raven (which is a real name!), Saburo Kurusu, Joseph Tumulty, and Hamilton Wright have died. 

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.") 

Admiral Soucek of BuAer says that the Navy is going to work harder on its business partnerships, Pratt and Whitney will operate the Air Force's experimental atomic engine facility, the combined service spending on new aircraft in 1954 will be $536 million out of a total $8.1 billion budget, and the aviation industry may lose its priority for titanium to the chemical industry. The supply continues to be scarce, and newly refined titanium is of uncertain quality. The Air Force Secretary says that the Air Force has reached its strength goal and is now working on bringing up its quality. Frank O'Shea has a full page headline story about the postal helicopter airlines getting higher rates so that maybe somehow their business plan will start making sense, but even the Senate says that its patience is limited. 

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. 

Philip Klass reports for Avionics that "Study Points The Way to Tube Improvement" That is, Aeronautical Radio, Inc., has done a study, and Klass will now read it for us so we don't have to! There is an interesting discussion of how the study was done, breaking the tubes 'under surveillance" down to ones under constant observation at the lab, at one extreme, to ones recalled at the end of their service life. I think that they are using the first group as benchmarks for the last, to get a larger sample? Just under a third of the tubes in the study suffered electrical faults, a fifth mechanical, and  a third were fine at the end of the study period. The most common problem is that heaters couldn't stand the manufacturer's specified highest continuous safe load. Many other forms of failure are found for specific tube models, however. The article ends with a single paragraph, which even with a side ad and Filter Centre at the bottom, is a bit much, so we cram in some advertorials about small resistors, capacitors, and small "devices" that make everything more miniature and better, but especially servos. Speaking of Filter Centre, it reports that Westinghouse has been hit by cutbacks in Navy funding related to its interceptor fire control system not working. BuAer won't disburse more money until Westinghouse gets the computer in the system working. NWA has a new radio station at Cold Harbour, Alaska, Honeywell is demonstrating its lightweight E-10 autopilot at Wright Air Development Centre, the IRE is  having an avionics conference at Dayton in May.


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. 

Captain Robson's Cockpit Viewpoint profiles his good friend, Colonel Francis J. Taylor, the new head of the ANDB, and celebrates the revocation of CAB Oder 40, which allowed pilots to substitute synthetic trainer time set for a particular airport for the old requirement of making a round trip to a new airport before landing commercial planes there. CAB says that the paperwork was impossible, but Robson thinks that it is just common sense. Robert J. Woods; Editorial explains new developments in the regulation and operation of charter airlines. 

 


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 Periscope Washington Trends reports that the Administration is talking tough over Indo-China because whatever happens, we won't have to do anything until after the monsoon in four months. Ike isn't keen on it, and doesn't think the Russians are ready for war. Meanwhile, the President's legislative programme is off track, Senator Knowland is a terrible majority leader, and the Illinois primary, in which Ike supporters were beaten by the ultraconservative candidate, Joseph T. Meek, are depressing his inner circle.

National Affairs reports that the Administration is at its wit's end over Indo-China. Nixon says he doesn't want to send GIs there but they will if they have to, while Dulles says that it is "highly unlikely." The French want to know why it isn't okay for them to make a deal when the UN made a deal in Korea; the Administration's position is that Vietnam and Korea are different because it's the French who are fighting in .. no, scratch that, because there's no South Vietnam to keep from the Viet Minh. A deal  to create one would be temporary, and its fall would be the first "domino" leading to the fall of all Southeast Asia. So Nixon's speech was a way of telling the Kremlin that if it kept pushing towards world domination, it would end up just getting an atom bombing. Also, it is meant to buck up the allies, and particularly the French, who are seen as being unwilling to go with the EDC as long as all their officer corps is in Vietnam, leaving the Germans to run a European army. Texas is going to outlaw the Communist Party as soon as the Governor, House and Senate agree on penalties for membership, which might run as high as 20 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. US officers are upset because they let the French buy Belleau Wood for a steal to help support the war effort in Vietnam, but instead the French are using it to ferry the Ouragons they sold to India. Ahead of the Army-McCarthy hearings, America newspaper editors are divided as to whether McCarthy is an irresponsible and self-interested liar requiring constant fact-checking, or a heroic anti-communist. Follows a two page spread catching us up with the loyalty board review charged with establishing whether Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance should be revoked, and the Federal Housing Administration scandal. Ticking It Off reports that poker parlours have been banned in two more LA suburbs, that Albert Anastasia's citizenship has been revoked, and that the tolls on the Florida Keys highway have been removed.



This week's Special Report, by Ralph de Toledano, looks at how the new US Communist Party is actually a bunch of fifth columnists just waiting to overthrow America at a signal from Moscow. Ernest K. Lindley concludes that we should throw the book at Oppenheimer, even though it's a puzzler, in Washington Tides. 


Away down south, the British are scheduling an election for British Honduras, which does not appear to have any Communists, so it should be fine.  

International

"Geneva: We Meet Red China Face to Face" This might be the first and only time the diplomats of the West meet with the mysterious leadership of Red China before a general war breaks out between the West and Asiatic Communism. With Red troops coming into to Dienbienphu from China by truck and coolie, and making one desperate assault after another to take the fortress before the talks open, Eden, Bidault, Dulles and all those people from the SEATO countries are talking about stuff. South Korea has promised to send delegates to Geneva, too. At the front lines, the final Viet Minh assault is expected any day now. The French still hold five of the original eight strongpoints of the fortress, but the enemy is within a thousand yards of the centre of the position, air resupply is possible only by parachute drop by 50 C-47 and C-119 sorties daily, the French are parachuting in volunteers who have never jumped before, and the only possible route for a breakout is down the Nam Hou to Luang Prabang in Laos, but the 2000 walking wounded could not make that trip, and the rainy season, which will shut down campaigning, is at hand. In a separate, boxed interview, General Chennault recommends an American blockade of Red China, continued support for French Union forces, and predicts that MiG-15s will appear in the theatre next year. EDC talks continue, with the French demanding that 6 American divisions remain in Europe for 50 years to guarantee the alliance. In Germany, the notoriously poisonous pesticide, E 605, has now been implicated in a mass murderer's attempt to protect her secret lesbian affair. Scandal! In Egypt, Naguib and Nasser are still fighting, bulletins will continue until actual events that require reporting intervene. Aneurin Bevan has resigned from the Labour shadow cabinet because they were mean to  him. Japan and the Philippines have signed a peace treaty, and a Russian spy scandal has erupted in Australia.

Business 

The Periscope Business Trends reports that the recession that wasn't going to happen and which wasn't that bad is definitely almost over again. The lead story reports that this might be the third best auto year ever, and the New York Central takeover is still a story just like last week. 


"For Handymen Only" The "do-it-yourself" movement has never been bigger, with relevant expenditures (however they're measured) up from $60 per household in 1952 to $77 in 1954, which is lots of money and a quick pace of growth, so get your complete line of paint, flooring, tiles and insulation into the stores now! Some fellow in the Lehigh Valley is doing something about the area's permanent depression by promoting business there; Bill Brown's "health farm" is, and I repeat the exact previous note (seriously, it is trying to get away from its reputation as a place for a dry-out to be more of a resort-like experience, and since New York journalists know all about drying-out places around West Point, maybe it will work!

Notes: Week in Business reports that five utilities in the Northwest are forming a joint corporation to coordinate; the City National Bank in Alaska has been admitted to the Federal Reserve, which is historic because Alaska is an overseas territory right now; several textiles manufacturers are cutting back on synthetics production; the first electronic computer service company in the South has been opened by Georgia Tech; The NYSE is turning its street-level windows into advertising billboards; the American Woollen/Bathurst Woollen is still on a "will they, won't they" basis; The Federal Reserve has cut the discount rate to increase the money supply; Lustron Corporation has been ordered to repay the RFC $2 million, bankruptcy or no bankruptcy. 

"Flight for the Monster?" Workmen are going over the Spruce Goose. Howard Hughes is talking about taking it up for a test flight. Products: What's New reports that the Chemical Development Corporation has a mix that is 80% steel powder and 20% plastic, which can be pressed and used as a steel substitute in many applications. It becomes hard about an hour after a hardener is added to the mix. Radio Industries of New York offers a "radar-like" detection system that operates by sound, even above the water, for a tenth of the cost of radar. Sue Ann Food Products offers icing bag tips with shapes. Henry Hazlitt's photo disappears from Business Tides as it turns into a full boxed "story" attempting to prove that high income tax brackets don't raise that much revenue and that cutting the top rates would increase tax revenues, presumably because high income earners would contrive to earn more money. (Statistically, income taxed at high rates has increased less quickly than income taxed at lower rates, and incentives are one of many possible reasons for that.) 



Science, Medicine, Education

"One Man Helicopter" Oh will  you look at the time on the clock! It's past 1946, so it's time to talk about tiny helicopters again, specifically American Helicopter's XH-26, which will be the real thing for sure! 

"Clamshell for Jets" Now that we're going to have jet transports in America for sure, the SAE is looking at gadgets for landing them such as thrust reversal like a "clamshell" Boeing design.

"Analyst from Chicago" Newsweek checks in with the Chicago Institute of Psychoanalysis and reports on Dr. Kenneth Cochran of the University of Michigan School of Public Health report to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology on the use of a crude extract from the pennicillium mold against polio.  

College students are going to Florida during "Bal week" and having fun in Fort Lauderdale, the way they used to do it in California in the Twenties during Balboa week. Some people are upset, some people are making money, and some people are enjoying themselves. Possibly all three at the same time!  

The Korean Children's Choir is touring the United States this spring. 


Press, TV-Radio, Art, Newsmakers

"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! 

 Cullen328 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?cu rid=45596762
a


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. 

Weird.

The New Films 

The Cowboy is a documentary about working cowboys from Lippert, and is just the movie you want to make your six-year-old sit through after one too many conversations about Hopalong Cassidy if you are upset with him using all the yellow paint (inside joke!). Fireman Save My Child is an "old fashioned Mack Sennett-style" comedy from Universal-International. Newsweek loved it and loved Buddy Hackett in it. 

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

News Digest reports that the services' aviation jet fuel requirements have soared 3000% since 1948 with no end in sight, has more contract details for the construction of the atomic aircraft engine test facility in Idaho, that Panagra has been authorised to put nose radars in its DC-7s, that Bendix is putting exhaust analysers in the DC-7 fleets of American and National, and a new lab at the Air Force Cambridge Research Centre. Hawker Siddeley is buying the Canadian Steel Improvement Group, which will produce turbine blades for the Orenda, and Flight Refuelling is licensing production to Fiat.

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.) 

Unguided rocket with 20kt warhead, 15 mile range. Who
approves these things?
Industry Observer reports that the J57 costs $250,000 each, that the Cessna T-37 trainer is in low rate production  for the Air Force, that BuAer has managed to reduce the critical alloy component of its turbine blades by 60%, that Boeing is working on a bigger version of the B-57 that can carry a hydrogen bomb, that Douglas is working on a "more advanced" version of the Skyray, the F4D-2, that the Navy has abandoned its Super DC-3 programme because the Convair 340 is a better buy at the latest Douglas numbers, that the Navy is continuing development of the hydro-ski notwithstanding problems with the XF2Y-1, that the French are the latest to go with an all-flying "slab"  tail on the new Dassault fighters, that a Defence Department study of the reliability of electronic components fnuds that 67% of failures are due to design, that North American is working with the USAF to develop a fuel tank gauge using radiation methods, that the first B-27 cost $20 million to build, although others in the testing series came in as low as $`8.7 million. The Canberra is the biggest British jet programme at 400 machines built, compared with only 100 Hunters delivered so far. 

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. 

"Comet Operators Face Replacement Problems" The fifteen grounded Comets are going to be hard to replace, and more Boeing 377 orders might be coming. Orders for Comet 3s have been delayed, and De Havilland is slowing work  on the Comet 2. At least the Hunter is finally joining the RAF! The Army will double aircraft buying in 1955, while the Navy blames the cut in new planes received on engine problems. The Air Coordinating Committee wants to retain 31 of 55 low-frequency air navigation ranges, because people still use them. We get an update on the airport improvement bill fight, and American is going to be allowed to continue its 7h 55 minute nonstop LA-New York DC-7 service in spite of flights averaging 9h 9 minutes westbound due to the unexpected phenomena of "weather." CAA will administer a firm wrist slapping at a later date. 

News Sidelights reports that the 707 is very expensive to build, that North American thinks that North American is leading the nation in the large rocket field, that residents around San Fernando Valley Airport are very cross with Lockheed, that hangars around South Africa's Kruger National Park are lionproof, which is hilarious, that Sikorsky S-55s lifted 6000 Indian troops out of the Korean DMZ at the end of the armistice period in the largest helicopter operation in history, that Canadair is working on guided missiles now, that the Pittsburgh Pirates will be the first professional baseball team to do all their travelling by air in the upcoming season, and that after the cutbacks, Air Force Secretary Talbot sees aircraft production stabilising on the West Coast for the rest of the year. Details of the foreign aid and service budgets and strength for 1955 are out.

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. 

Ryan Aircraft reports for Production that "Ryan Develops Ceramic-Liner Techniques" Ceramics and cermet make good heatproof liners on things like afterburners, and Ryan is working on methods of applying them and welding through them. Parker Aircraft has a new probe-and-drogue aerial refuelling equipment, and the military has set standards for titanium bolts. 

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! 

Philip Klass reports for Avionics that "Navarho: 50 Stations Can Cover Globe" This is the proposed USAF VOR-type plus DME-type station that can keep track of appropriately-equipped aircraft at such distances that etc. It will supplement the civil VOR-DME network, giving less accurate (although the error is reduced by a very clever beat frequency correction) but longer-range fixes, and the Air Force has taken the "Tacan-vs-DME" fiasco to heart, soliciting industry input to make sure that everyone will work together on this. The article comes up a bit short, so we learn about even smaller capacitors and resistors suitable for transistorised circuits for a page.  Filter Centre reports that transistors are more reliable, and so are Bendix tubes, that the proceedings of the NEC '53 are out, that the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics is looking at remote control airport lights, that Hydroaire has junction-type transistors available, that Sylvania has a "mechanised circuits group" working on stamped and printed circuits, that everyone who was everyone was at the latest GE symposium. Worried that there aren't enough telegraphic advertorials, Aviation Week runs an entire column in miniature type of single-phrase summaries of recent avionics bulletins about exciting developments in trim pots, etc. 

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

(Not the Seven Day-)Journal for the 16th reports that the Institute of Naval Architects are throwing a party (the talks are summarised in the next few issues, but as they're about making things go through water better, which is a fairly specialised interest, I'm not going to be spending much time on them), the NPL is getting some renovations, Rotary Hoes is putting on an interesting demonstration of of soil stabilisation, Manchester University has a new alternate engineering degree course, Lloyd's Annual Register is out. For the 23rd, it is the turn of the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering, and the Diesel Engines Users Association to throw parties, while the Institutes of Seaweed and Water Pollution Research have their respective annual reports out, there is a survey of canals and inland waterways out, and the National Research Development Corporation has resolved to  issue a quarterly bulletin, the first of which is now out. On the 30th it is the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association's turn to have a party, along with the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association and Rolls Royce. The Newcomen Society is giving a prize to commemorate the late Dr. Henry Winram Dickinson, The Royal Agricultural Society is still excited about pneumatic tyres even though it has been fussing with them since 1933, and they have a railway tunnel in New Zealand now.  The Institute of Metals spring meeting somehow misses the Journal for the 30th, and the discussion at the back of the issue includes a very brief summary of the Presidential address, which discusses the use of light metals in shipbuilding and marine engineering, just now being explored. 

"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

For the 16th, we get a fulmination on the wage settlement and the latest burbling about industry and education. For the 23rd, a long and very substantial discussion of the Water Pollution Research Board's annual report, which raises serious issues, such as the noxious effluent in the Thames which is killing fish by cutting the oxygen available at night. A second leader, on the "Shipbuilding and Shipping Outlook," is also serious. Yes, order books are full, but foreign competition is coming on strong and getting stronger. Various improvements in working conditions are suggested. As usual, it is all the unions and the steelmakers' fault, when you get right down to it. Hubert Scott-Paine, the pioneer of going fast in the water, gets a full obituary at the end of the Leaders for the 23rd. On the 30th, we look at the dam at Owen Falls as an example of doing right by the vast potential of the African colonies and protectorates. The Engineer discusses its reading of the report on air pollution. Something has to be done about coal fires, especially since we may be gravely underestimating the health risks of air pollution. The sulphur concentration in the deadly cloud that settled over Donora was far below that deemed permissible, and yet 20 people died.  

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.  

  Letters  are pretty technical for the 16th, with Edward Bruges advancing a new mathematical statement of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which is a rarity in the physical sciences in being a concept first, math second. A. M. Hamilton writes at length about bolted connections in structures, something that we mere mortals desperately hope that engineers can get right. S. C. McKenzie is happy with the article about "Employment of the Elderly," while M. G. Ionides writes, also on the 30th, to point out the overlooked importance of accurate river discharge numbers for assessing water pollution. 

"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. 

On the 16th we start a new series, by J. G. Lee, "Rail Transport Shunting Machines, followed by L. Bagrit of Elliott's supposing that Britain's shortage of labour can be met by "Employment of the Elderly" if suitable work can be found for them. 

"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. 

On the 30th, the Newcomen Society is reported to have heard about two tower windmills in Lincolnshire, built in the last third of the Nineteenth Century and investigated by Mr. Rex Walles, of the local chapter. 

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. 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment