Scientific American 1929-12: Vol 141 Iss 6

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CIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 '35¢ a Copy Science Restores the Cave Man

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LET ENGINEERING FACTS DECIDE YOUR TRUCK CHOICE! Drive one, too, if you wish—any You need never drive a Dodge Truck to prove how good it is. You need never see it, in fact. You can determine the soundness of its de- sign, its advanced construction and its fitness for your needs on the basis of engineering facts alone. Check the specifications of a Dodge Truck. Give special heed to the motor refinements—those features that so obviously contribute to its economy, smoothness, power, speed, ruggedness and long life. Consider the axles in terms of metal, bearings and design. Check well the specifications on cooling system, universal joints, transmission and steering gear. After making a part-by-part anal- ysis of a Dodge Truck you will conclude—as thousands of other me- chanically-minded truck buyers have concluded—that there is no need to seek additional proof. The facts disclosed by engineering details tell the true story about Dodge Trucks. time, any type. Either way your selection will be a wise one— your investment a profitable one. %-TON—109” wheelbase (4-cyl.). . $ 595 34-TON—124” wheelbase (4-cyl.). . . 675 3/4-TON—124” wheelbase (6-cyl.). . . 775 1-TON—133” wheelbase (4-cyl.). . . 745 1-TON—133” wheelbase (6-cyl.). . . 845 1-TON—140” wheelbase (6-cyl.) Heavy Duty . . .. . 1065 114-TON—150” wheelbase (6-cyl.). . . 1345 11%-TON—165” wheelbase (6-cyl.). . . 1415 2-TON—150” wheelbase (6-cyl.). . . 1515 2-TON—165” wheelbase (6-cyl.). . . 1585 3-TON—135” wheelbase (6-cyl.). . . 1745 3-TON—165” wheelbase (6-cyl.). . . 1775 3-TON—185” wheelbase (6-cyl.). . . 1845 Chassis prices f. o. b. Detroit DODGE TRUCKS CHRYSLER MOTORS PRODUCT |

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— any y your one— 2 one. , $ 595 _ - 6 _« . - 745 - 845 , » 1065 . » 1345 - 1415 - 1515 , ie , «1745 , 1715 - 1845 uct | December 1929 Fo m SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN GOOD PERFORMANCE demands “The Highest Priced Bearing in the World” - 143 machine tool manu- . facturers use SKF Anti-Friction Bearings HAT?’S the thing upon which to base your choice of a bearing..... PERFORMANCE..... nothing else in all the world counts..... least of all PRICE! For there’s many a man who has bought a cheap bearing at a bargain. But try and find the man who ever got a bargain out of USING one. It costs more to produce SSF Anti-Friction Bear- ings...more for the special steels that go into them... more for the precision manufacturing that produces them. But it costs less—FAR less—to use them. SKF INDUSTRIES, INC., 40 East 34th St., New York, N. Y. Giant Vertical Borin& and Turning Mill built by Wiiliam Sellers & Co. of Philadelphia, Pa. ...equipped with EXDSF Anti-Friction Bearings. At top: A small tool grinder that isalsoSjuGiF -equipped. The Highest Priced Bearing in the World

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466 \ 1929, The Timken Roller Bearing Company SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN What puzzles Industry most is Waste. The moment ‘‘Timken Bearing Equipped’’ is placed into the picture. . . the bearing prob- lem is solved. Timken fits into modern production plans as only Timken can. For Timken is the one bearing that does all t’ “ags wel. Let the load be all radial, or all thrust, or both in com- bination . . . let the burden be heavy. . . the pace killing . Timken compact, self-con- tained carrying ability will suit itself to the situation and carry on. Waste meets its Waterloo; friction loses its grip; lubricant becomes a matter of little or no consequence; machinery stays young; costs catapult downward; profits soar skyward. THE TIMKEN ROLLER BEARING Tapered Roller 4 . Industry has placed Timken Bearings on jobs thought impossible. Timken has made them profitable. So today old methods give way before Timken, replacing obsolete machines with machines that are ““Timken Bearing Equipped’... meeting and mastering the mighty march of modern Industry. The Timken tapered construction, Timken POSITIVELY ALIGNED ROLLS and Timken- . . &érq0- made steel is summed up in Timken exclusive Timken combination of Bearing Equipped’’—universal symbol for buying machinery that serves, saves and endures wherever wheels and shafts turn. designing and COMPANY, CANTON, OHIO December 1929

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r 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 24 WEST 40th STREET NEW YORK CITY December 1929 Edited by ORSON D. MUNN Eighty-fifth Year IN THIS ISS UE Fine pee sg Telly Se 236 Spiral Approach to Bridge ( Illustra- = ; , = ras ; tion) i 527 Looking Ahead With the Editor etre -«« 469 itinwatinnsl Stacet Cav "597 ' . . Light Uses Third of Electricity 527 Among Our Contributors...... ae nee oe .. 469 Chemistry Helped Graf Zeppelin 527 a ia : * - Golf Ball Murders Fish 543 Back of Frontispiece—C. Leonard Woolley isis «+ 9 3urn Aluminum Dust for Intense Flame . 643 Frontispiece—Mousterian Man, Woman, and Child Sass a evateca: aaa Cave Man’s Brain comme 544 *rehistoric Indian Denti 544 A Scuttled Fleet Is Salvaged—-By David Masters . 473 I seat * = roe A Man Without Salvage Experience Raises the German Fleet earning to Use Our Wings 528 — = pores = Radio Altimeter : . 628 Our Point of View Editorials . ATER ree a Instruction in Fog Flying 528 Lindbergh: Scientist; Fatal Accidents; “White Airway Marking . 528 Pants’’ Workers; Fur-Farming Misconceptions Slots and Interceptors 529 : : : ae Selling the Light Airplane... . 529 When Reindeer Roamed the Pyrenees—By Ida Treat, Ph.D. . 478 L ) : France, “Capital of the Prehistoric World,”’ In Cave Man Days Chemistry In Industry . 530 ~ . . Synthetic Resin for Lacquers 53¢ ” » Scrap- : Science 482 : . sae r I ‘om the Scrap book of Science ; : .. 482 Powdered Fuels for Engines...... 530 Camera Shots of Scientific Subjects Industrial Stills of Glass. . 530 " ed F " i . Standardized Weighting Practice.. 530 An Office Building of the New Era By Stratford Corbett... . 484 Everything for Medicine Chest (II- Science Contributes to Efficiency, Comfort, and Convenience lustrations) area 532 - hanolamine Soap Uses 534 Television’s Progress—By A. P. Peck Jinan Se ‘arbon Dioxide Gas for ens What Has Been Done and What We May Expect in the F uture Fires 534 Fish Fussy About Salt. . 534 Giant Airplanes—By Reginald M. Cleveland ere . 488 Making Citric Acid. . .. 545 In Which Is Foreseen a New Era in Heavier-than-Air Flying Rust Used in New Paint Base 545 Binding Fixed Nitrogen . 546 Award of the Scientific American Medal re 491 Thickness of Electro-plating. . 546 An Awakened Interest in Sea Safety Has Brought Results . Ferric Chloride, Cheap Coagulant 546 ‘ Lignite Absorbs Sulfur Gases 547 Behind the Scenes in Modern Arc heology- By Horace H. F. Jayne 492 New Material for Crucibles - 547 Restoration for Exhibition of Field Discoveries The Month in Medical Science 536 Timing the Schneider Cup Races... .. 0... i occ nc canes 495 Liver and Iron in Anemia : 536 Recording the Speed of Planes Racing at Over 300 Miles Per Hour Eye Examinations for Children 536 Ringworm of the Feet ; ... 536 The Puzzles of the Comets—II—By Henry Norris Russell, Ph.D.. 496 Nervous Baldness. er 37 The Sun Picked Up Its Family of Comets Only Recently Garage Deaths..... : dof Radio in 1939—By Howard T. Cervantes............... 498 Current Bulletin Briefs 538 The Final Test of a Set Is Its Tone Quality iat ze The Final Test of a Set aS Se Seo The Amateur Astronomer..... 540 Largest Electrified Metal Mine He ee! ee 501 The Heavens in December “Strip’’ Copper Mine Adds Electric Locomotives Commercial Property News From the Archeologist’s Note Book Eee ee jes) See Seythian Bronzes; Primitive Art and Food; ‘False Pyramid”’; 7 Reward Awaits Inventor Early Man in North Arabia; Marble Sculptures and U-V Ray Cleaning Neon Tubes Patent Protection Effective Insuring Safety on Airlines—By Lester D. Seymour............ 504 Word Writing Machine Perfected | Misplaced Copyright Notice. Behind the Pilot Is a Far-reaching Organization Copyright for Photographs Method for Improving Celery The Art of Pliocene Man—By J. Reid Moir cae «6B ; ( . SPUR SE PS Caan ON sini " Insulating Material Patented New Discoveries Indicate That Ancient Man Was Highly Inte llige nt Trademarks for Grapes Invaiid Esthetic Engineering—By C. W. Geiger and Ruth Sabichi... . 610 Patents Recently Issued 553 Jeautiful Boulevard Is Built by Anchoring Shifting Sands Pare te : : : Index to Volume 141.......... 557 When the Dining-Car Staff Goes to School eae see See Personal Instruction of Waiters and Cooks Is Necessary COVER American Passenger Air Transport—III— By Prof. Alexander Klemin seesecee O14 Our cover picture this month repre- Further Pertinent Facts Concerning Engines, Pilots, Et Cetera sents the scientific restoration of a Wires and Cables for a Great Bridge—By A. E. Cripps. . Kessito ec > Neandertal man and his family, as described on page 472. The painting, Manufacture of Wires for the Cables of the Hudson River Bridge , by our artist Howard V. Brown, was Rebuilding a Broken Business—By Milton Wright... .......... 521 made from a copyrighted photograph A Huge Candy Industry Developed Through Research of the group in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, which Scientific American Digest.... 524 ae a bg rel ag gies: 525 was recently placed on exhibition. The r1e¢ oO omac New, ape a. ee . i‘ Mammoth’s Deformed Tooth 524 Ane wile Wesneder Pp “ie ‘ 525 colors are not vivid but as far as pres- Mechanical Respirator 524 Semi-automatic Army Rifles ent knowledge is concerned, they are Snow-shed Fire Fighters 524 (Illustration)... . ...... 626 — scientifically accurate.

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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 for EXECUTIVES who use manpower ERE is a book that will strengthen your control—and double the efficiency of each man working under you. One idea in this book cost an executive $4,679 and solved a problem which saved his firm over $55,000 a year thereafter. The book is crammed full of ideas just as valuable. Human nature is the most unstandardized thing known. The possible variations in human make-up stagger the imagina- tion. No two men in this wide world can be alike in abil- itv. To get the most out of each man, therefore, is a vital problem which only psychology can solve. Donald A. Laird, director of the Colgate Psycholog- ical Laboratory, and one of the highest paid Consult- ing Psychologists in America, has gathered into book form the fruit of his many years of intensive re- search and experiment in laboratories of human engineering—and in PSYCHOLOGY and PROF- ITS he applies psychology to business and makes at earn more dividends. The ideas in this volume as first used to solve the intricate problems of Dr. Laird’s business clients cost them thousands of dollars. Now you have an opportunity to get this accu- mulated wisdom in permanent form for 5 days free examination merely by tearing and returning this coupon. DO YOU KNOW THAT— —most old - fashioned Price S ; $3.90 ~S Free Examination for 5 Days —hard work is the sign of a misfit? The right job is “craftsmen” were just lazy dabblers? —the slow worker is not the accurate worker? the best years for learning always easy? sour people have poor memories? a mental age of twelve is needed for driving a car safely? —there is an area on your desk that is most efec- —most of your workers are in fact only one-armed? —private offices should not be placed at the rear of a genera! office? —industry is handicapped by tive for working? are from sixteen to twenty- The Bishops’ Error? —each long service man under you is really a new five? —Germany excels us in man- man? ultra-violet light does not power engineering? benefit factory production? sleeping with one’s problems George M. Cohan has a good helps bring solutions? reason for carrying his office in —rubber heels are unwise for his hat? the man who lacks confidence? enforced idleness can be used to —you have to hire a family to hatch new ideas? fill one job? —while Police Commissioner in New York Theodore Roosevelt made a_ psychological discovery that led him to discover Gen eral Pershing? ; most executives have a “‘vellow streak”’ that costs business millions each year? Psychology |" and @ i I want to read “Psychology and Profits.” After five days I will return it to ro its | you, or remit $3.50. Please send me the book. by DonaidA Laird CSRS SUT TSE EE SENG) CE SE RES PS EE BA ee At Your Bookstore or on Five-Day Approval from B. C. FORBES PUBLISHING COMPANY. 120 Fifth Avenue, New York City, Department S. A. NAME.... I 7) )) OL ee Scientific American, December, 1929, Vol. 141, No. 6, entered at the New York, N. Y., Post Office as Second Class Matter June 28th, 1879, under the Act of March 3rd, 1879; additional entry at Dunellen, N. J. Published Monthly by Scientific American Publishing Co., 24 West 40th Street, New York City. Copyright 1929 by Scientific American Publishing Co, Great Britain Rights Reserved. Subscription Price $4.00 per year.

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er 1929 in be by ol to 469 Looking Ahead With the Editor January—Automobile Number _ HAT car shall 1 buy this year?” is a question that begins to disturb the thoughts of many people about the first of each year. Others whe do not wish or do not need a new car but who are progressive and keep abreast of the times, who watch every trend and development in industry, begin wondering what the next year’s cars will be like. To satisfy both these groups, we shal] present in our January issue a survey of the automobile industry—as completely as possible in limited space—giving information as to new models and outstanding developments of a large number of the best known cars. Also a detailed article on the Cord front-drive car, another which explains what has been learned by engineers at the annual races at Indianapolis, an article full of human interest concerning the grueling tests on an automobile prov- ing ground, and still another dealing with the gasoline research laboratories which are doing their utmost to help the motorist, will be included in the issue. Besides these, there will be many short items on independent developments and the usual variety of science articles. Element 91—At Last ROTACTINIU M-—radioactive and possibly a fu- ture substitute for radium, rarer in ores but rela- tively plentiful in wastes from radium extraction plants, and with a life 20 times that of radium—has been studied in oxide form. An article ready for release gives some illuminating information on this metal. Wire Webwork Fee half enough wire to reach from the earth to the moon will go into the Hudson River Bridge cables. How that wire—which can sustain a weight of 7600 pounds—is spun into cables by means of “‘spinning’’ wheels which move back and forth across the river on a tramway cable like monster spiders or slow shuttles on a loom, will be told in a coming article. Air - ITIZENS in about half the United States are forced by law to live in air that is harmful.” Forced by law! This statement from a forthcoming article seems rather rash but the author is an authority and cites facts to prove what he says. He continues with a discussion of air which disproves a number of old ‘‘scientific’’ theories regarding the air we breathe. Every Issue Fully Illustrated Men are known by the magazines they read. What easier road to distinction could there be than read- ing the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN—at four dollars a year? Among Our Contributors Lester D. Seymour URING the World War, Captain Sey- mour served as Air- craft Maintenance Officer of the 85th Aero Squad- ron in France. After the Armistice, he took a course in aeronautical engineering in the Ecole Superieure d’Aeronau- tique in Paris. Resigning his commission in 1919, he became consulting engineer in the office of the Chief of the Army Air Corps. He became affiliated with the N. A. T. shortly after its organization and since has held sev- eral positions and is now General Manager. Horace H. F. Jayne DUCATED at Harvard, Mr. Jayne was a member of the first and second Chinese expeditions of Fogg Museum, Har- vard College. Since 1923 he has been Cura- tor of Oriental Art at the Pennsylvania Museum of Art. He has been Director of the Museum of the U. of P. since May, 1929. Ida Treat ISS Treat, an American born in Cleveland, was educated at Western Reserve University. Later she taught the Romance languages for some time. She went to the Sorbonne to take her doctorate in Romance languages and there married a French artist who was afterwards elected a deputy to parliament from Ariégé, They spent their summers at Foix, the caves of which were already known to Miss Treat’s husband. In consequence of this, she became interested and began the study of physical anthropology and of osteology. David Masters NE of the select few writers who can pre- sent his subject in a style at the same time lucid, technically correct, and pos- sessive of a popular appeal, Mr. Masters is an English writer of several books which have been well received in England. One in particular, ‘“‘The Wonders of Salvage,’’ has been acclaimed the best on the sub- ject. Having written this, Mr. Masters took a special interest in the job of sal- vaging the German fleet and has written interestingly of this huge undertaking and of his own visits to the scene of operations.

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470 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 Features of Ford Plane All-metal (corrugated aluminum alloys)——for strength, uniform. ity of material, durability, economy of maintenance, and structural safety. Tri-motored (Wright or Pratt & Whitney air-cooled en taling from 900 to 12 power) — reserve power for safety. 75 horse- Speed range—55 to 135 m. p.h. 2 z radius, 580-650 miles. Disposable load—3670 to 5600 pounds, High wing monoplane (si stream-lined, cantilever —for strength, speed stability, visibility, clean design. . . . 17 capacity (including pilot's dual-control cabin) — Buffet, toilet, running water, electric lights, ete. Durability — Uniform all-metal construction is insurance against deterioration. Price, $42,000 to $55,000 (stand- ard equipped at Dearborn) — Exceptionally low because of multiple-unit on-line produc- tion methods, il Passenger transports should take no chances! ... The S-A-F-E uses three- motored Fords to insure a wide margin of safety ma SoutHwest of St. Louis and Kansas City is a great region that probably expresses American modernism more accurately than any other. It is rich. It is decidedly virile. It is one of the most alert regions in the world. It is logical, therefore, that this region should be the scene of one of the most pronounced and success- ful developments of commercial transport aviation. ... Colonel Halliburton, who established the Southwest Air Fast Express, has already in operation a fleet of nine tri-motored, 14-passenger, all-metal Ford planes. The S-A-F-E is right up to the minute in every phase of modern transport. Company limou- sines and five special aerocars transport passengers direct to and from downtown districts and the transport planes. Scheduled connections are made with all important trains. St. Louis ... Springfield ... Tulsa... Kansas City .. . Coffey- ville ... Oklahoma City ... Fort Worth ... Dallas .. . Wichita Falls . . . Sweetwater! All these are connected by schedules de- signed to work in conjunction with the railroads ... so that far distant sections of the country are brought within twenty-four hours’ plane-train ride of each other. The safety factor, as much as anything else, determined Col. Halliburton in the choice of Ford tri-motored transports . . . since three engines provide the necessary margin of safety in carrying passengers. From the inauguration of service on April 2nd, over 2500 miles have been flown daily. With di b versed d points of ri FORD MOTOR COMPANY tiveness to be visited . .. the Southwest is ideal for air transportation Visitors are always welcome at the Ford Airport

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er 1929 SOE ————— C. Leonard Woolley OR the last eight years leader of the Joint Expedition of the University of Penn- sylvania Museum and the British Museum at Ur of the Chaldees, Mr. Woolley is recog- nized as one of the world’s most famous archeologists. He is a graduate of Oxford University and for over 20 years was di- rector of excavations in Nubia, Italy, and England. The joint work of the two muse- ums named above has proceeded at Ur dur- ing a number of years. These have been most profitable years, for an immense num- ber of highly valuable objects and evidences have been unearthed from the windblown and other desert deposits which had sealed them from the elements and from the un- scientific searcher down through the cen- turies since the days of the Sumerians 5000 years ago. One of the most notable and striking pieces of work accomplished was the excavation of the great mound at Ur revealing it as the ancient ‘“‘Ziggurat,” a solid pyramidal mass of brickwork 200 feet by 150 feet in extent and 50 feet in height. According to Mr. Woolley ‘‘The Sumerians, the authors of the Ziggurats, came into Mesopotamia from a mountainous country. When they moved down the plains they built artificial mountains of brick where God might have his seat as of old on the holy hills.” An article putting forth some of Mr. Woolley’s work appears on page 492.

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Mousterian Man, Woman, and Infant—a Race That Became Extinct F you could rub Aladdin’s lamp and be transported miraculously to the southern part of Europe as it was 50,000 years ago, you would soon get a glimpse of the Mousterian cave man, or Neandertal man. Perhaps you might stumble on him near the caves whose mouths supplied his habitation. How would he look? Of this we have no direct information. There are no authentic illustrations of Mousterian man, and he left no drawings of his race on the rock wails of his caves. In reconstructing his physical form, anthropologists have studied more than 20 skeletons, some of them in excellent condition. From these it is possible to derive his posture with accuracy. The bent knees and short thick necks, the large forward inclined heads and chunky bodies, are as scientific as a fact in physics or chemistry, for the shape and angle of the contact sur- faces at the joints provide the data, and similar meas- urable data is provided by other skeletal details. When, however, we come to supplying the superficial features, we find greater difficulty, because there are no fossils of the fleshy parts. Some anthropologists have given him a fierce, wild aspect. Others have made him appear stupid. There is considerable reason to doubt whether in the main he was either. The evi- dences of his workmanship in flint show us he was a savage, but not all savages are fierce. These evidences also show that he possessed a fair intelligence; let the reader attempt to fashion even as crude weapons as Mousterian man made and used, and his respect for the “rude cave man”’ will undergo a rapid rise. In these two photographsof life-sized reconstructions now on exhibit at the Field Museum of Natural His- tory, in Chicago, and in the cover picture redrawn by our artist from photographs of the same exhibits, we see a new reconstruction of Mousterian man—and woman—made by scientists at that Museum, with the co-operation of several of the world’s ablest anthro- pologists, Sir Arthur Keith and Professor Elliot Smith of London, Professor Boule of Paris and the Abbé Breuil, noted expert. The designer and sculptor was Frederick Blaschke, an American, and the scene is at le Moustier in south-western France. Anthropologists feel that a closer approximation to the real outward ap- pearance of the cave man has here been created than in any previous attempt. Science applauds the effort.

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December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 473 IN DOCK UPSIDE DOWN The German cruiser Moltke at Rosyth, Scotland, ready to be cut up. After a year of grappling, this ship was finally raised from where it rested upside down in the seabed ~ A Scuttled Fleet Is Salvaged The Romance of the Difficult Job of Raising the German Fleet From the Bottom of Scapa Flow F all marine salvage feats, none will compare in magnitude with the raising of the German fleet from the bottom of Scapa Flow. It is the biggest wreck- raising job the world has ever seen, and the most wonderful thing about it is that it is being achieved by a man who, before he went to that lonely lair in the Orkneys, had never raised a ship in his life. When the Germans sank their fleet, Mr. E. H. Cox knew nothing about salvage. He was busy dealing in metal, and his business acumen had brought him a snug fortune. The world was crying to turn the weapons of war into plowshares, so Mr. Cox bought the obsolete British battle- ship Orion and cut her and her giant guns to pieces in order to throw them into the melting pot. Then he looked round for other scrap, and a big German submarine testing dock passed into his possession. He was about to cut up this dock, when his mind was directed to the mass of metal represented by the sunken German fleet. Could it be raised? thought not. They were not keen to The experts, By DAVID MASTERS tackle the task. Cox pondered the matter. He owned a German floating dock that could lift a couple of thou- sand tons so he decided to try raising the scuttled ships. This man who had never raised a ship, bought 27 of the wrecks. They consisted of 25 torpedo boats and destroyers, the flagship Hindenburg, which was resting upright on the bottom and seemed a reason- able proposition, and the Seydlitz which lay with her side above the sur- face like a stranded whale and which did not seem so promising. OX towed his floating dock to Seapa Flow and embarked on his sea of difficulties. The experts waited for the trouble to begin. They had not long to wait. Cox cut his floating dock in halves and rigged a series of winches on the edges. He proposed to moor each half of the dock with a destroyer lying between, place hooks through the port holes of a sunken ship, and set men winding her up from the bottom. An American concern had previously proposed to lift ships by placing hooks through the portholes, and I had al- ready prophesied in my book ‘‘The Wonders of Salvage’’ that the hooks would tear through the plates of the vessel. Cox himself tried one hook and learned his first lesson.. It tore through the plating. So he fell back on the proved plan of placing slings right under the keel of the ship and lifting her as in a cradle. The salvage expert puts his faith in wire ropes. He knows their worth. Cox, however, had the giant anchor chains of the Orion in his yard, and he thought that if they were strong enough to hold a battleship they must cer- tainly be strong enough to pick up a little torpedo boat without breaking. Two men may take the ends of a stick and pull for a life-time without pulling the stick apart, whereas one man could take the same stick in his hands and, by putting his knee in the center, break it easily. Something like this happened to the links of that mighty chain, links so large and heavy that I could barely move one. A pulley wheel acted like a man’s knee, and soon links were flying about like shrapnel. Men _ shouted, threw themselves face down where they stood, others rushed to the workshops for safety.

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at Cl dt ee A ey or LP Fn i ¢7 WATER IS PUMPED OUT In an attempt to raise the Hindenburg, water was pumped out of her for days. Cox finally let The flying metal made reports like gunfire, and the destroyer, which had been peeping above the surface, sank quietly down again. Fortunately, by a miracle, not one man was touched by the flying metal. Then Cox tackled the job in real earnest with wire lifting ropes. His first wreck was raised and beached near his depot in six weeks from the time he started. He set himself to do the work faster. With a wage bill of 2500 dollars a week, each day meant money. Where other experts had taken per- haps a day to pass one cable under a ship, he originated a plan whereby he passed cables under in the record time of 40 minutes. By slipping a cable under the stern of a ship and winding her up so that only her bow rested on the bottom, he left a gap between her keel and the sea-bed and so made it possible to manipulate the cables in place from the floating dock without sending divers down. oo cut down the time taken to raise his second ship to 12 days; his third ship he raised and brought home in six days. On occasions he has started work, wound up his ship, and towed her home in three days. This is his record. In the early days when I first went up to inspect the work he had expended over 200,000 dollars on his salvage plant, and all he had got in return were three torpedo boats. He has since raised 25. If troubles assailed him while he was lifting the torpedo boats, they were as nothing to the difficulties he faced SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN | over the Hindenburg. He spent a fortune of 150,000 dollars preparing to lift her. For months the divers were busy patching and making her watertight, stopping the portholes and rips with a special cement that hard- ened in 24 hours, and cut- ting through pipes and driving plugs into them. There were 250 patches in the Hindenburg when pumping operations began. Day after day the pumps drove out the water and the ship began to stir in her bed. As she began to rise, she showed a tendency to list. To counteract this, Cox drove an old destroyer full of cement hard ashore and sank her. From the masts of the battleship he fixed six-inch steel cables and made them fast to the destroyer ashore, hoping this would prevent the ship from heeling. His hopes were in vain. As she rose and exerted her her sink pull on the cables, she snapped them like cotton threads. She heeled more and more, but he pumped on, hoping against hope to get her. She was all but afloat, heel- ing so badly that every moment those around expected her to overturn. Had Cox sent down a diver to see what was wrong, he might have got his ship. But he was afraid she might overturn while the man was under her, and he would not risk a diver’s life. He decided at last to let her fill and sink again. She still rests on the bottom (at the time of writing) waiting to come to grips with the man who swears he will get her. The disappointment of the Hindenburg, which car- ried to the bottom all Cox had spent on her, would have finished most men. But Cox set his teeth and determined to try to raise the Moltke, which was lying quite submerged and prac- tically upside down. A few years ago the greatest experts would have _ pro- nounced the feat to be impossible. Cox grappled with the Moltke for a year or more and got her in the end. Then he tackled the Seydlitz, and got her, too, after a titanic struggle. In November, 1928, he turned his atten- tion to the overturned battle-ship Kaiser, and I rushed north to be in at the death. The tender brought me to the tugs which were ceaselessly pump- ing air into the upturned battle-ship. A TURBINE ROOM UPSIDE DOWN Flashlight photograph of workmen in the turbine room of an upside-down ship. December 1929 Above the surface the air-locks leading into the interior of the wreck stood up like towers. “Would you care to go inside her?” Cox asked. “It will be all right if your heart is sound.” Where other men went to work, I decided to go to watch. I climbed the iron ladder up the side of the air-lock. Mr. Cox struck four heavy blows to tell those within to close the inner door of the lock so that we might enter. A few minutes later the com- pressed air began to shriek from a valve as it escaped and lowered the pressure inside the lock until it was equal to the pressure of the outer atmosphere. HE heavy iron door on top of the lock dropped inwards and | went down the ladder. No man could open that door when the lock was full of compressed air. A man swung it upwards into place. A valve was turned, and it seemed that all the locomotives in the world were letting off steam at once, as the com- pressed air began to shriek its way through the tap into the air-lock. “Let me know if you feel ill, we will go out,’’ Mr. Cox said. I swallowed continually to adjust the pressure inside my ear-drums with the increasing pressure of the air in the lock. Once or twice I felt though my head were about to burst, but at the proper moment I managed to click open the tubes leading to my ears and adjust the pressures and all was well again. I swallowed hard. [| held my nostrils tightly and blew and as down them to force open the tubes and adjust the pressure on my ear I watched the air pressure drums. = A turbine hangs overhead dial swing ’round until the whistling and shrieking died away and I knew that the pressure in the lock had been raised to the same pressure as that in the ship. The door in the center of the lock dropped down to disclose a hole lead- ing into the murky depths of the

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ng in ok ve ll December 1929 overturned monster. Lighted by elec- tricity there was a fluid black as ink, moving with an oily motion, far be- low. A little iron ladder tucked out of sight beneath the metal floor was pointed out and I swung on to it and between the inner bottoms of the ship. Everywhere was red rust and oil fuel and coal dust. The mess was appall- ing. To the touch, everything was filth. Down one ladder after another I climbed, through holes that had been cut in the plating, and into the stoke- hold. The furnaces were upside down in front of me, full of red ash that was spilling through the grating on which I stood; a German shovel was wedged upside down in a corner beside a slice and rake; everything upside down. MADE my way to the engine room, the floor over my head, the ceiling under my feet. Looking down I saw the lamps which once illumi- nated the ship. They stood up on what was now the floor. I wrenched one away to serve me as a desk-lamp and a souvenir. Although it had been 10 years at the bottom of the sea, it had only a little water in it, and the electric bulb still lights as though it were right out of the factory. At the end of an alleyway I saw some oily water and thought that if it were only a foot or so deep, I might wade farther on to explore things. Luckily a question concerning the depth was asked. “Only 40 feet,’? came the reply, and I was glad I had not stepped over. Feeling my way in utter darkness down a passaze, I worked along inch by inch with my feet. Detecting a gap ahead, I stretched out farther and found a ledge on which I walked and so came to the refrigerating chamber which was dimly lighted through a small aperture. When a portable lamp was brought, I marvelled how I had made that journey along the passage without slipping into water up to my middle, for I had walked on a couple of small pipes all the way, and the gap was full of water. So does Fate take care of fools. At an offer to stir up the refrigerating chamber for me, I shook my head. I remembered SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN tire. But since the hull of a battle-ship is built to keep out the sea, it follows that if the ship be upside down on the seabed and all apertures in the hull be stopped, any air pumped into it will be automatically trapped. As it can- not break through the strong steel sides, the air will collect in pockets that will gradually press the water inside the ship downward until, if enough air be pumped in, the ship will become so buoyant that she will float to the surface like an empty bottle. The grave problem is that of balanc- ing her. Her weights are not evenly distributed; she is heavier aft, where all the machinery is located, than she is forward. If her bow rises, all the air aft will tend to run forward, letting her stern down and pushing her bow still higher. And if the bow rises too high, apertures which have been be- yond the reach of the workmen may let the air gush out and you may lose in 10 minutes as much air as you have been able to pump into her in three or four days. & is therefore necessary to make all the bulkheads inside the ship quite tight so that air cannot leak out of one compartment into another. Then by regulating the pressure in the various compartments it is possible to balance the ship evenly, bring her to the surface, and tow her home. It sounds easy, but in actual prac- tice it is most difficult. Battle-ships are a mass of pipes and tubes leading all over the place. One undiscovered pipe leading into another compart- ment may upset the work of days, for the air may gush through it into a place where it is not wanted and the 475 leading from one part to another. The bow of the ship is made into one compartment by a cross bulkhead. Two bulkheads running lengthwise divide the middle of the vessel into three compartments, while another -—————_--——_-- | } —- | NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE Mr. E. H. Cox standing on the hull of the upturned Kaiser, his foot on a patch cross bulkhead makes another com- partment of the stern. Three days before I arrived, the last bulkhead had been made good and an attempt was being made to correct the list of the ship. Some of her top hamper had buckled under her as she turned over in sinking, and she lay with the list of 814 degrees. All day long the compressed air shrieked its way through the valve on the higher side of the ship. Cox was allowing the air to escape so that the dead weight of the ship would depress’ that side, while air was being pumped into the lower side of the ship to raise it and thus correct the list. OR hour after hour, Cox stood alone watching the plumb line hanging from one of the air-locks. Chalk marks made periodically on the visible portion of the bottom of the ship immediately below the plumb-bob told him that she was slowly righting. Once the ship lurched vio- that men would not work in the refrigerating chamber of a ship which overturned in New York harbor because of the stench. The workman laughed. want a gas mask,” he added. It seems incredible that this over- turned battle-ship of 25,000 tons, sunk in the middle of Scapa Flow, could be controlled and floated by pumping air into her as though she were a pneumatic “You’d A unique view of the battle-ship Seydlitz, upside down. What appear to be guns are propeller shaft housings work will have to be started all over again. Unfortunately, Cox had no plan of the Kaiser, so his men had to explore and gradually feel their way. For months divers with 30 or 40 men have been working away in the interior of the ship trying to stop all openings lently during the operations. “Tt’s all right,’’ he said, as men came up from the air-locks in her interior. ‘She has just slipped off the corner of her conning tower, which was stopping her from coming over.” A diver went down. ‘“She’s a foot off all the marks I made this morning,”’ he reported. “Tomorrow,” said Mr. Cox, and the notables of Stromness were with

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476 me on the tender when we came to the wreck the next day. The compressors were driven at full speed. Air poured into the after-end of the ship. The bow was already slightly above the surface. Towards afternoon I began to see air spilling badly from the port side and from the three propeller shaft housings. I guessed she was losing air as fast as it was being pumped in. Down went a diver and found that one of the torpedo tubes had not been made quite tight, so the attempt was suspended and the men fought to stop the leaks. It was a difficult job, but was finally completed so that when air was once more pumped into her, the Kaiser came up from her bed of mud. The salvage of the huge Seydlitz tried Cox sorely. She lay, as I have remarked, on her side, and he de- termined to lift her in that position. He first stripped from her upper side the belt of about 1800 tons of armor plate. Pumping air into her, he found she was rather unstable. This was not surprising, for as the ship showed a tendency to rise, the turrets and guns resting with their sides on the bottom naturally sought to swing under, turning the ship completely upside down. OX used his powerful lifting docks to pull in the opposite direction and prevent her from going over; he even fixed half a torpedo boat filled with cement to one side of the ship and used it as a weight to press that side down. He tried other means to stop her, but he could not control the monster. She became so buoyant that one afternoon she swung upside down, snapping the huge nine-inch steel cables along one side of the dock as though they were silk and pulling 12-inch steel bollards out of the side of the dock as though they were tacks. The snapping cables would have cut men in two as easily as a wire cuts | | \ AT WORK ON THE “KAISER” : The craft to the right busily pump air into her while divers patch any leaks that appear The bow cf the Kaiser showing her list. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN cheese, but once more the workers escaped death and injury. New air- locks were then fitted to the bottom of the Seydlitz, which was now upper- most, and eventually she was raised and towed to Lyness, where I found her being kept afloat by compressed air. I underwent the ordeal of going through the air-lock in order to climb | all COMING UP Bow first, a great battle-ship rises to the surface after being filled with air down inside the turret practically to the seabed. There was the same infernal shrieking as the pressure was raised, the same efforts on my part to equalize the pressures, and then I went down ladder after ladder and came at last to the turret which had been cut through all the way around. The ship was actually floating about six inches above the turret from which it had been severed by oxy-acetylene torches. That job had taken six weeks and the resultant fumes had been so dense that the workers had to don gas masks; otherwise they would have been overcome. I crept into the 15-inch space be- tween the outer turret and the inner shell, and washed the filth from my hands and rubber boots in the clear green sea. The seabed was about six The Kaiser afloat, Taising, standing on her bottom. Note size of people amidships December 1929 feet below me, the surface nearly 50 feet above, yet I could dabble my hands in open water. There were no strong steel plates or plate glass win- dows to keep it from gushing through that gap. The invisible wall which held it back was just air, the air we breathe, highly compressed. To the sea, the air inside the ship formed an impassable barrier. The salvage wiz- ard had pumped this great ship up from the bottom with air as if she were a balloon instead of a 24,500-ton battle-ship. The Seydlitz inside was a topsy- turvy nightmare. I explored the depths of her down to the turbine room, where the mighty turbines hung above my head supported by a few bolts, and I cou:d not help wondering whether any of the bolts would break away while I stood beneath. In the next compartment the big condenser, from which the tubes had been stolen while she lay on her side, hung under a labyrinth of pipes that twisted and snaked their way higher and higher into the dim recesses above. What the ultimate cost of salving the Kaiser will work out at remains to be seen, for at the time of writing she still has to make the passage to Lyness, before she can be made ready for the long tow around to the Firth of Forth. And before she can make the passage to Lyness, many obstruc- tions that would foul the bottom of the channel have to be cut away from underneath her. Anyway, I suppose as scrap she must be worth about 350,000 dollars, so she is a prize worth picking up. Whenever in future I hear that a thing can’t be done, I shall remember Mr. Cox who tackled the biggest salvage job in the world without any experience at all. He might have been living in comfort enjoying a large income, but instead he chose to go to the solitudes of Scapa Flow to do a man’s job that will become a classic in the history of marine salvage. ——— _ — - os READY TO BE TOWED AWAY showing airlocks, which made possible her

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29 Om Ss OIG ~~ FP I \w December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 477 OUR POINT OF VIEW Lindbergh: Scientist LYING over a section of Yucatan, Mexico, which is entirely blank on the maps, Colonel Lindbergh has, according to press reports, discovered from the air and located on the map several hitherto unknown ancient Mayan cities. It is the first time archeological flights have been made in this hemisphere, although Roman ruins have been found in England by the same modern method (See SCIEN- TIFIC AMERICAN, September 1929). While some 1200 archeologically im- portant sites in Mexico are known, it is believed that dozens, perhaps hun- dreds, more are hidden in the densely matted jungle. In the past, gatherers of chicle for chewing gum have acci- dentally discovered some and their paths have helped scientists to pene- trate the jungle in search of others, but 2 deliberate quest for those in inacces- sible regions has been considered rather a hopeless task. An expedition might pass within a few feet of important ruins and be unaware of their exis- tence. From the air, however, the story is different. Columns and ma- sonry stand out clearly and, where O71 ee entirely, temple sites and even paved Mayan pathways may be catiemiad in the coloring or relative growth of trees and plants that cover them. On one flight it is reported that Colonel Lindbergh and his party, which included Dr. A. V. Kidder of the Car- negie Institution, found four ancient city sites and located them on the maps so that ground expeditions can cut their way directly to them. This flight alone is sufficient to prove the value of the airplane as an aid to archeological discovery. Polar ex- ploration from the air started slowly but, in time, led to Captain Wilkins’ antarctic discoveries and to Comman- der Byrd’s great effort; we dare pre- dict a like extensive use of the airplane for exploring the Mayan region. Clean Iron Workers HITE collar’? workers have lamented their lot for years but, from present indications, a new tribe, the ‘“‘white pants’”’ workers, will always sing the praises of the men who tried out a bit of clothes psychology on them. There is an indefinable something about neat, clean clothes that exerts an inspiriting influence on all of us. If one is well-groomed, he feels that he is sitting on top of the world; he feels more ambitious and energetic and his work is benefited accordingly; if he is careless and slovenly about his clothes, his work ... ! Therefore, when a group under one foreman in a plant of the American Rolling Mill Company came to work one fine morning in white trousers and white shirts, other de- partments followed suit. In this plant there is considerable rivalry between departments to keep down Fatal Accidents CCORDING to Dr. Louis I. Dublin, of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the United States has a higher per- centage of fatal accidents than any other country in the world. For each 100,000 in population, this country had 78 fatal acci- dents in 1927 while Scotland had 50, England and Wales 38, Ger- many 36, Sweden 35, and France 29. This deplorable state of af- fairs, instead of being remedied, is growing worse. In 1928, the | number was the highest on rec- | ord. This is partly accounted for by the fact that automobile | accident fatalities, numbering | 27,500 in 1928, top the list; they | are responsible for almost a | third of the total. Serious, non- | fatal automobile injuries during | that year reached the figure ot 950,000—or nearly one percent of the country’s population! And, strangely, the rural districts are experiencing a more rapid in- crease in motor fatalities than are the urban centers. To what factors in our lives may we attribute this alarmingly high rate of death by accident? | Our possession of a_ greater | number of automobiles than any | other country explains, as indi- | cated above, almost one third of | the number but that does not greatly lower our relative per- centage over that of other na- tions. Are we evidencing, in a distressing trait of recklessness, the development of definite ra- cial characteristics? Is it speed- mania—or what? Think it over. “Safety first” as a slogan is out of date. “Safety always” is more to the point. “Take care” that recklessness is not soon labeled with a “made in America” tag! accidents, the one showing the best record winning the plant trophy; and no department was going to let another get ahead of it in anything that might influence that record. The white clothes had the effect of stimu- lating departmental pride. Floors were kept free of oil and dirt as much as possible and there seemed at once a marked improvement in the work per- formed. While the idea is still in the experimental stage, it is felt that it cannot but have a beneficial effect on safety and quality of workmanship. This change is indicative of what is happening in modern steel mills. With the development of the new con- tinuous mills and other innovations, cleanliness has become a reality in an industry that has long been handi- capped by working conditions that it was thought could not be improved. Fur Farming Misconceptions ITH the establishment of com- plete fur farms and of small fur ranches on lands of little value for crops on general farms, the business of raising animals for their pelts is assuming the character of a big industry. Due to the increasing scarcity of certain fur- becring animals in their wild state, the business may prove important eco- nomically in the future. Foxes, fishers, martens, minks, otters, skunks, rac- coons, Opossums, beavers, muskrats, and rabbits have been studied in cap- tivity and it has been shown that fur can be produced profitably by farm- ing some of these animals; indeed it is now being done on a large seale and as a sideline. For years a glamorous picture of fur- farming profits has been painted by unscrupulous dealers in fur-animal breeding stock and many people have been deceived. Interested persons have been led to believe that they can fence in a piece of rugged, perhaps worthless, land, turn loose a few animals as breeding stock, feed them a little, and collect annually a sizeable dividend in the form of pelts from the increase in their stock. These people close their eyes, consciously or unconsciously, to the pitfalls in the path of the beginner. “Successful breeders of fur animals,” says Frank G. Ashbrook in ‘‘Recom- mendations to Beginners in Fur Farm- ing,’’ published by the Department of Agriculture, “either must possess or must acquire a clear conception of the important factors involved in breeding. Persons with no experience would do well to obtain employment on a fur farm and thus familiarize themselves with the principles of the business be- fore attempting it themselves.’”’ The lure held out by the unscrupulous deal- er usually is accompanied by too heavy risks and it is better for the beginner to start with a few pairs of animals and gradually increase the number as knowledge and experience are gained. Like any other business, fur farming can be successful only after much study and more hard work.

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478 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929

The cave man did not live in the caves but at mouths; mere often, however, he chose to make his camp

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LA MADELEINE IN THE VALLEY OF THE VEZERE, DORDOGNE, FRANCE at the foot of overhanging cliffs like these—dry, with a Insert: engraving at La Madeleine When Reindeer Roamed the Pyrenees—I A Glimpse of France, “The Capital of the Prehistoric World,” In the Days of the Cave Man LIMBING the French Pyrenees in August is like climbing _A any mountain: as you mount higher, you step back over the seasons. Down in the valley, the first apples may be ripening. But over- head in the beechwoods, it is still July; the raspberry patches dear to woodeock and bear, show red with fruit. Where the pines begin, you can find wild strawberries. Higher, rho- dodendrons blossom among the rocks; and where the snow lies in hollows, if you look carefully you may even dis- cover a belated daffodil. When you reach the peaks it is winter. Here nothing grows but the hardy réglisse and wiry grass burnt yellow from the ice the August sun has melted. This is the last refuge of living things that love cold—sole sur- vivors of the beasts the cave man hunted in the plain below when Europe lay in the grip of the last glacial period and southern France was a desolate tundra with a climate like that of northern Siberia today. Thousands of years ago the last hairy mammoth disappeared; with him vanished the woolly rhinoceros, the cave-bear, and giant deer. The herds of reindeer followed the retreating ice By SORBONNE) IDA TREAT, Ph.D. Co-author of ‘‘Primitive Hearths in the Pyrenees’ towards the arctic north. Today only the chamois and the ptarmigan or white partridge remain, exiled to the eternal winter of the mountain-top. ROM the top of Mont Valier, the highest peak of the Ariége Pyre- nees, you look down on the fertile basin of the Garonne river and con- clude that la douce France has been rightly named. Behind, to the south, lies Spain—arid, rocky slopes, dusty pine woods, and barren foothills. But before you to the north stretches a soft green country: valleys with glistening torrents, heather-covered foot-hills; and beyond, an undulating plain of vine- yards, grain-fields, and pastures, ex- tends to the horizon. From southeast to northwest, a low range of foot-hills cuts ’the plain obliquely, its green surface broken here and there by patches of gray rock. This is the ridge of the Plantaurel or Little Pyrenees. Deep in its flanks lie many of the great prehistoric caves of France, caves which thousands of years ago served as sanctuary or shel- ter to nomad hunters of the Old Stone Age. The Plantaurel stands at the heart of the cave country, the underground prehistoric world that reaches out on the north to the gray cliffs and rock-shelters of Dordogne just out of sight beyond the horizon. For 50 years, scientists have explored and excavated the region, piecing to- gether the story of Stone Age civiliza- tions whose traces today lie buried beneath tons of earth and rock or hid- den in the deep recesses of the caverns. Seated today at the foot of a stone cross that marks the summit of Mont Valier, you may find it difficult to pic- ture the country below as it looked when the cave man lived there. In fancy you become a spectator of the mighty panorama of the ages. First you imagine the setting of the pan- orama; you look down on an arctic landscape, 50,000 years ago, perhaps even earlier. In the place of vineyard and pasture, a vast stretch of steppe and tundra overgrown in summer with harsh grass and stunted bush, and in winter a snowy plain swept by the blizzard. This is the first tableau: the Pyrenees country just before the cave man came there. The caves of the Plantaurel ridge still shelter their original inhabitants: the wolf, the hyena, the lion, and the great cave- bear. Over the plain wander migrating herds: mammoth, rhinoceros, horse,

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December 1929 deer, and bison—the first “road- breakers,’”’ checked in their westward course by the barrier of the Atlantic and the icy wall of the Pyrenees. Into the picture come men following the trail of the game; Stone Age hunters, from the unknown land of their origin. Perhaps from farther north where other more _ primitive races have dwelt for centuries. These, the first human beings to appear in the Pyrenees country, belong to the race of Neandertal. You see them shuffle bent-kneed across the steppe, burly fellows with long ape-like arms and heads that sag curiously between heavy shoulders. Low-browed and dull-witted, they are _ nevertheless mighty hunters. They drive the sav- age beasts from their dens in the Plantaurel in the caverns of the rock. “THE Neandertals are the first cave men. Seated about the fire at the cave entrance they eat their meals of roast meat, chip crude flint weapons, and scrape and prepare the skins that serve them for clothing. Like the animals that preceded them there they litter the cave-floor with refuse—splintered rem- nants of their feasts, flint chips, char- coal and ashes. In time, the layer of refuse grows thick and compact. Some- times, moving on to other camp- grounds, they leave behind them in the cave one of their own dead. These men know nothing of art. What religion they may have finds its sole expression in a few vague burial cus- toms. They are hunters and on the steppe there is no lack for game. Centuries pass; tens, perhaps hun- dreds, of centuries. The climate is steadily growing colder. Now a new element appears in the picture. Across the horizon come tribes of men on the march towards the west. Perhaps they come from Africa, perhaps from SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 479

the distant plateaux of Mongolia. A new race. Tall and well-built, they stride erect over the snow. They too wear garments of skins, but carefully cut and sewed. On _ breast and arms are ornaments, shells and pierced teeth strung on thongs. They carry fine weapons—darts and dart-shooters of carved bone. Their faces are streaked with paint. These, the men of Cro- Magnon, are the first mod- ern men, modern from a physical point of view, to appear in the Pyrenees region, or in fact in Eu- rope. There is nothing ape-like about them. Their predecessor, the dull-brained man of Ne- andertal, for all his victory over the beasts, is no match for the newcomer. His race, his civilization, are doomed to disappear. The Cro-Magnons drive him from the country, exterminate him everywhere, and in turn take up their abode in the caves he vacated. They too are hunters. They track herds of bison and reindeer in the plain, drive wild horses to suicide over the cliffs, and set traps for rhinoceros and mammoth. Clever craftsmen, they manufacture fine tools of chipped flint and carve weapons of ivory and bone. On the cave floor their kitchen refuse lies in a thick new layer above the old hearths of the Neandertals. But game is no longer so abundant on the steppe, frozen now throughout the year except for a few short months. To secure sufficient food and clothing it no longer suffices to be strong,

prehistoric world.”

—.. + . re ; } i Sow | TETENKE SD i ‘ } | | | } : o No | " ontze, Ses exces } | S pes aeee > | ) } - 4 " “\ ref | | os e | A N Se Loge } “et f S ‘ a ee, ne pte ¥ bs . ty A i if x E : 3 } | 4 & ; PS r s ; we hia oe ye . g | Courtesy The American Museum of Natural History THE TWO MAIN PREHISTORIC REGIONS OF FRANCE The northern area is referred to as “the Dordogne’’; the southern as “the Pyrenees.” The caves, under government control, are open without formality to tourists. There are small inexpensive hotels and a visit to the regions will repay the scientifically minded

ROCK OF LES EYZIES Les Eyzies (see map below) is called “The capital of the It abounds in caves and cave art vigorous, and clever. Nature is hostile to animals and men alike. In his daily struggle with cold and famine, the Cro-Magnon hunter learns to in- voke supernatural aid. He develops a cult of fecundity, essential in an inhospitable land where the absence of game means famine and where the existence of the tribe depends on the vitality of its members. In the dark inner galleries of the caves he performs magic rituals. By the light of a torch he carves on the rock walls the sym- bols of his cult. He resorts to ‘‘sym- pathetic’ magic and traces or cuts on the soft stone the outline of the beast he plans to hunt, marking its flank with the dart or arrow which he hopes on the morrow will bring down the desired game. is born for the first time in man’s history, fully 30,000 years ago. As the years go by, the caves of Dordogne and the Pyre- nees become veritable underground galleries filled with hundreds of animal paintings and engravings, the work of the Cro-Magnon cave man, the world’s first artist. Again centuries pass by tens and hundreds. The splendid race degener- ates, defeated at last by the unfriendly land. The stature of the Cro-Magnons decreases; they become stunted like the dwarf bushes of the steppe. The old religious cult breaks up into a complicated tangle of magic practices. The noble stylization of the first art forms gives way to exaggerated real- ism. But the working of flint and bone attains a rare degree of technical perfection. Again the panorama shifts. ND so art Even

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480 the landseape changes. The glaciers, the snows are melting. All the land runs with water. It grows green; the forest begins to grow. The mammoth has gone; the reindeer is going; deer and wild boar roam the underbrush. In the Plantaurel and in Dordogne the caves are still inhabited—perhaps by a new race that has come from no one knows where. Perhaps too by degenerate peoples of the old Cro- Magnon strain. The present dwellers in the land are Azilians, fisher-folk for the most part, who share none of the cults or rituals of their predecessors. They know nothing of art, beyond tracing geometric signs on pebbles from the river-bed. They are not even clever artisans. The fine tech- nique of working flint and bone has disappeared with their predecessors. The last civilization of the Old Stone Age is drawing to a close. And the curtain drops on the imaginary pano- rama as new tribes stream westward over the horizon—peoples of the New Age of Stone, come to plant the first grain fields in the plain below the . 10,000 years ago. Pyrenees SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Quite apart from the prehistoric underworld there is much to charm and interest the traveler above ground. Wild mountain country, pine and beech-forest, trout-stream and ecas- cade, high lakes like mirrors of steel among the peaks that border Spain and Andorra. Slate-roofed villages cling to the mountain-side, and far below are lyric valleys with poplar- bordered streams, velvety pastures, and low red-tiled farm houses. Perched on a rock above the valley stand walls of medieval castles; manor houses lift their peaked towers behind oak groves and clustered orchards. An arched gate recalls the Moorish in- vasion; a block of sculptured marble reveals the site of a Roman villa or temple. ORDOGNE, originally a part of the old province of Gascony, also has castles and manors in a rich setting of green. It is a mellow land of wine and famous cookery; the hum- blest inn can provide a meal guaran- teed to tickle the most jaded palate. Where the Vézére River glides among fields and gardens through a 1 by Max Begouen _ A DIFFICULT PASSAGE Made easy, however, by a ladder installed in the cave of Tuc d’Audoubert, in Ariége While the Stone Age cave man un- doubtedly chose his rock-dwellings for reasons of convenience rather than seenic beauty, the cave country of Dordogne and the Pyrenees is today one of the most picturesque spots in France. To be sure, the Ariége Pyre- nees affords few hotels for tourists and few convenient methods of communi- eation. The modern traveller has generally to supply his own means of getting about, whether by automo- bile or bicycle; or if not pressed for time he may find it even pleasanter to rely on his own legs. valley bordered by cliffs of gray limestone, you discover with amazement that the trog- lodyte tradition still’ persists among the present inhabitants of the region. All along the | base of the cliff cling modern | houses, houses with only three | walls and half a roof; the natural wall of rock supplying | the missing portions to the | structure. Far overhead, the cliff projects over the valley, | so that not a drop of rain falls | on the roofs beneath. When the cave man lived, thousands of years ago, in huts of branches and hides, on the site of these modern dwel- lings, the top of the cliff must have projected even farther. Great masses of stone have December 1929 PREHISTORIC SCULPTURE Head of mountain sheep, Dordogne. The sculptor had nothing but stone tools fallen; here and there great blocks lie along the valley floor. The thought that other such blocks might again fall does not seem to disturb the present cliff-dwellers in whom long habit may have developed a peculiar sort of fatalism. A series of horizontal grooves in the gray surface of the cliff—scars left by the roof-trees of houses long since disappeared—shows that the population of the Vézére valley has lived in the shelter of the rock for centuries, perhaps without interrup- tion from the days of the prehistoric Cave man. Grouped about the modern town of Les Eyzies, in a series of little valleys that radiate star-fashion from the main thoroughfare of the Vézére River, lie the famous prehistoric sites of Dordogne. Most of these occupy rock-shelters rather than true caves. Some consist of a single chamber open- ing in the face of the cliff; others ex- tend along its base in the meager shelter of a projecting ledge. Where the men of Neandertal built their ENTRANCE TO THE CAVE OF ENTERE, ARIEGE, PYRENEES The caves are in soft limestone and, like those of Kentucky, have been dissolved out by acid ground water. Several noted caves of France start where streams emerge, like this one

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December 1929 camp-fires the excavator finds beneath a surface layer of debris the most ancient prehistoric hearths of the region: stones blackened and split by heat, bones of rhinoceros, horse, and bear, and quantities of flint instru- ments and chips. The refuse heaps left by Cro-Magnon man and his de- scendants hold richer treasure; a great variety of art objects lie in the litter of ashes and animal bones— engravings on stone, bone, and mam- moth ivory; and weapons and tools finely carved in reindeer antler and bone. ARELY a stone’s throw from Les Eyzies, two underground “art galleries’’ pierce the cliff above the Vézére river: the caves of Font de Gaume and Combarelles. The first contains mural paintings of bison, reindeer, and mammoth; the second, an intricate tangle of animal figures cut out by a flint tool on the rock wall. Both caves are shallow, merely a few hundred feet in length, and were known and visited long before scientists real- ized that they contained specimens of the cave man’s art. The proximity of the outer air and the vandalism of early visitors who blackened walls and ceilings with names and dates in candle-smoke have partially obliter- ated the prehistoric paintings. On the whole these are not nearly so well preserved as those of the Pyrenees caverns in which the cave man’s murals are often located a half mile or more from the cave entrance. Nevertheless the animal figures of Font de Gaume and Combarelles rank among the best examples of Old Stone Age art. The Cro-Magnon artist of Dordogne was also a sculptor. In the rock- shelter of Cap Blane, excavators un- covered a frieze of horses carved in high relief along the base of the cliff— SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 481 ee OVERHANGING ROCK SHELTER IN THE DORDOGNE Various races living in such shelters for thousands of years gradually built up the floor several feet thick with stratified debris, animal bones, and lost or discarded flint implements a ROCK SCULPTURES IN RELIEF, FROM ie ah HE CAVES OF FRANCE. The various types of animals portrayed correspond closely with those which are found in the caves in fossil form. Sometimes they are lacking in perspective, but seldom in posture THE ROCK OF LES EYZIES AND PREHISTORIC MUSEUM Les Eyzies is a hamlet amid scenic surroundings. It has two clean little country hotels and the scientific visitor ray to advantage spend a few days there visiting a score of caves horses which for sheer beauty of line and form might well be compared with those from the Athenian parthenon. The vault of another shelter bears several delicately sculptured fish; a third yielded curious human figures in bas-relief—one of the rare occasions when the cave artist, who generally limited his work to the extant forms of animals, for possible reasons already suggested, portrayed the men and women of his day. The prehistoric underworld of Dor- dogne has been more completely ex- cavated than that of the Pyrenees. What excavations are still in progress have been placed under the control of Monsieur Peyrony, Director of the Prehistoric Museum of Les Eyzies, which occupies a partially restored castle that clings to the rock of Les Eyzies, towering high above the little town. (See photograph at the left.) (To Be Concluded)

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482 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 From the Scrap-book of Science

NOT AS DEADLY AS IT LOOKS: A “MOVIE”? MACHINE GUN During recent army maneuvers in which a Blue army anda __ the air fights, this new “gun-camera’”’ was used. It is Red army—composed of Regulars, National Guardsmen, mounted on a machine gun but shoots pictures instead and Reserves—were pitted against each other, a great deal of bullets. When the plane returns to the ground, the of the mimic warfare was staged in the air. In many of pictures are developed and the number of ‘“‘hits’’ recorded The Health Commissioner of Chicago is testing this device which shows effect of ultra-violet rays on the skin. A 12-holed metal plate is attached to the arm and a hole is closed by shutter each five minutes

rae All the resourcefulness of the Bremerton Navy Yard’s staff of engineers was called into play when the first of eight boilers, each weighing 70,000 pounds, was lowered into the partly completed hull of the cruiser Louisville. The yard’s two 40,000-ton cranes did the job but had to be locked to their tracks. Rear Admiral H. J. Ziegemeir, Commandant of the yard, supervised the work

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nber 1929 December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 483 yk AIRSHIP ° TR AV ELERS Possibility of the wider use of blimps as a means of everyday travel is prophesied as a result of the two d successful landings shown here. ne Above: Serator Hiram Bingham, at od Langley Field, was called to Wash- ington. He commandeered the blimp C-41, made the trip in three hours, and landed in the Capitol plaza. At right: the Goodyear blimp Volunteer meets a train and relays J. W. Mapel, President of the Califor- nia Goodyear Company, and Mrs. Mapel to the Goodyear factory “TALKIE”? HEADPHONES » Specially designed acoustic equip- ment, which will enable partially deaf people to hear clearly the speaking and sound effects of talking moving pictures, has been installed in a Brooklyn theater y FIRST RADIAL TYPE? Left to right, the photograph shows Major Bert Hinkler, famous Australian flier; Mr. Leach, of Wakefield, Ltd.; and Mr. Elle- hammer, inventor of what is said to be the first radial type airplane motor—inspecting the famous motor in Copenhagen, Denmark - A GLIDER S/ ALUTES A MONUMENT | | One of the glider contestants in the recent tenth annual glider contest, held by the Rhoen-Rossitten Company, flies over the Aviator Monument on top of the Wasserkuppe, Rhoen. In this contest, prizes were given for all kinds of gliding records, and many prominent aviators took part or were present. The event was marked by many notable flights. New designs of gliders were exhibited C

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484 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 An Office Building of the New Era Science Contributes to Efficiency, Employee Comfort, and Convenience in a New York “Sky-scraper” ROBABLY no block in New York City has been the scene of more notable events or has been visited by more celebrities than that bounded by Madison and Fourth Avenues, 26th and 27th Streets. Once occupied by the depot of the New York and Harlem Railroad, this plot later became the site of Madison Square Garden which has literally been the arena where some of the most colorful spectacles of a generation have been staged. Now, upon this famous site has been erected a new monument to. the art: the home office of the New York Life Insurance Company. As architecture as this builder’s an old- building majestic in world cathedral, new one ; + DESK TUBE STATION Carriers arrive in drawer at left and are dispatched from desk-top inlet at right rises in a series of set-backs and ter- races 34 stories to an_ elaborate pyramidal tower, or spire, the tip of which is some 617 feet above the street level. There are also five stories un- derground. Many critics and writers have commented upon the beauty of this building, and it was only recently that the Fifth Avenue Association awarded it first prize as the finest structure erected last year in the Fifth Avenue district; yet, impressive as is the building’s beauty, still more im- pressive are the mechanical and scientific improvements to be found inside. Here, in this great work-shop where By STRATFORD CORBETT are kept the records of more than 7,000,000,000 dollars of the world’s insurance, have been embodied refinements which enable the company to attain an efficiency of operation and economy of motion that is little short of amazing. The system used in transferring inter- departmental and _ other documents is a good ex- ample in point. It is understood, of course, that the routine of an insurance home office consists largely in passing upon, and producing, a vast quantity of paper forms. There are applica- tions for new insurance, re- quests for loans on policies, affidavits regarding policy claims, dividend ecards, vouchers, correspondence, and papers of an infinite variety, all of which must pass through a series of home- office departments for clerical, or special atten- tion. The New York Life estimates that it has on file at the present time approxi- mately 75,000,000 items of this sort. Naturally, to transfer any number of these im- portant documents from NEW YORK LIFE BUILDING The insurance company building on the site of old Madison Square Garden, as seen from Madison Square one department to another would, un- der ordinary conditions, require a large staff of messengers, and would consume a great deal of time. In their new build- ing, the company has boldly solved this problem by the installation of an elab- orate pneumatic tube system, said to be the largest of its kind in existence. More 4 hes wane” - THREE UNUSUAL MEANS OF COMMUNICATION In the center are teletype machines, used to ‘‘telegraph” typed messages to other depart- ments. At right is a tube station, while at left is a dumb-waiter running to a department above th tu se lik —-_ __ an pe ie ee a eee Ee fh...

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ber 1929 Id ire , un- arge ume uild- this lab- o be [ore SE December 1929 than 43,000 feet of oval-shaped brass tubing, four by seven inches in cross- section, reach upward and outward through the quarters of the company like the nerves of some great giant. Every department in the home office has one or more of the tube sta- tions. From these stations, large leather carriers, each with a capacity of dozens of papers of ordinary business size, are shot at 30 feet per second through independent lines of tubing to a central station in the third base- ment. This basement station is a truly re- narkable place, seeming, with its long rows of twisting tubes, and slides, and chutes, more like a scene from a futuristic ‘“‘movie’’ than an actual reality of the present. A they reach this station, the car- riers drop automatically upon a series of endless belts which carry them immediately to receiving chutes at one end of the room. Here they are sorted by hand and sent by means of another series of belt conveyors to the correct bank of dispatch tubes. At the dis- patch tubes stand operators who send the carriers to their proper destina- tions. The air for the system, incidentally, is supplied by two compressors (lo- cated in a room adjoining the central station) each operated by a 75 horse- power motor, and each having a capacity of 13,000 cubic feet of air per minute at a pressure of three quarters of a pound to the square inch. At present the company has in opera- tion 102 out-stations—54 receiving and 48 dispatching stations. Ultimately there will be in use nearly 140 stations. Some of the out-stations, of course, are more elaborate than others. Thus, in the File Division there are, grouped to- gether, six receiving and three dis- patching stations, arranged so that the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN incoming lines discharge upon a long receiving table, while the dispatching tubes are set in a table especial- ly designed for outgoing papers. The mail room, which receives large quan- tities of outgoing mail each day, is provided with six receiving terminals opening upon a receiving slide, and three dispatching inlets. In addition to the main pneumatic tube system, there are two supplementary lines directly connecting the security vaults of the com- pany with the treasury and mortgage loan departments. SENDING Dispatching and receiving sta- tion of special carrier system used in file division where 8,000,000 applications are kept SECTION OF CENTRAL TUBE STATION The carriers for these lines zre equipped with locks and keys. Altogether, the company dispatches in a normal working day from 7000 to 10,000 carriers, although at practically no place in the building, with the excep- tion of the central station, the out-stations, and one room in the basement, are there to be found any out- werd evidences of the tubes themselves. Not only are the tubes effectively con- cealed, but wherever there is any possibility of hear- ing the passage of the RECEIVING Carrier arriving from station above. The system employed here combines electric hoist, endless belt, and gravity chute carriers, the tubes are also sound- proofed. This sound-proofing treatment of the building is in itself most unusual, and certainly a distinct advance in modern building practice. Imagine, if you can, a large office with typewriters and adding machines clicking away, telephones ringing, filing cabinets be- ing opened and closed, doors shutting, clerks coming and going—but with not a sound above a murmur reaching the ears. Even the sound of the steel worker riveting outside is subdued. Such a condition, which seems almost unbelievable at first, is actually typical of the work rooms of the building, and is made possible only by an extensive installation. of sound-absorbing ma- terials. This treatment, which was adopted for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of office workers, was planned One bank of dispatch tubes in the terminal room of the pneumatic tube system where from : in such a way as to prevent the trans- 7000 to 10,000 carriers a day are received and re-routed to their proper destination

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486 Ea Fae “a VAULT TUBE STATION Clerk opening locked carrier used in tube line connecting with security vault mission of any sounds that originate either outside or inside the building. External noises are overcome by using heavy window glass, set rigidly in heavy frames, and by forced ventila- tion, so that a minimum of open win- dows is necessary at any time. Internal noises are largely overcome by the use of special sound-absorbing material on the ceilings, and by the proper selec- tion and installation of sound-resisting materials. The sound-absorbing element is a heavy layer of felt—-composed of asbes- tos and cattle hair—which is cemented to the plaster or masonry surface with moisture-proof and heat-resisting ce- ment. The exposed surface of the felt is then covered with a fabric selected to suit the location and the work to be done. OR the ceilings of the offices and kitchens, the fabric consists of a perforated oil cloth which, besides giving the maximum sound-absorbing effect, can be painted, washed, and kept in a clean and sanitary condition. The treatment is used in all spaces where excessive noise might originate or where it is desirable or essential that quietness should prevail. In- cluded in the spaces treated are all clerical working rooms where there is a considerable number of typewriters, adding machines, or similar office equipment, the doctors’ examination rooms, laboratories of the employees’ welfare department, and the pneumatic tube station. Sound-absorbing treat- ment has also been installed in the employees’ dining rooms and kitchens, and in adjacent corridors. In addition, all motors and ma- chinery were, of course, placed as far SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN away as possible from spaces where quiet was desirable. All office par- titions were made of heavy metal with the glass rigidly fastened and braced, and careful selection was made of the plumbing, door checks, door fasteners, and other equipment to insure their quiet operation. Although only a few months have elapsed since the opening of the build- ing, the study and precaution taken in eliminating noise have already im- proved working conditions very no- ticeably. Still another aid to the efficiency of employees are a series of teletype ma- chines installed in several departments. These are the same as the machines used by newspeper press associations in transmitting news to their member newspapers. The teletype machine is, in effect, an ordinary typewriter with a telegraphic arrangement by means of which a message typed by an operator on the sending machine is automatically recorded on another machine, located, possibly, several hundred feet away in another floor of the building. APPLIED TO CEILINGS Sound-absorbing material, of cattle hair, asbestos, and perforated oil-cloth covering In the New York Life building, the machines are used to transmit messages to and from the dividend division, the premium collection division, the policy loan division, the surrender value division, and the actuarial division. There is, unfortunately, not space available to tell of the many other remarkable features to be found in this building. Given the space, one might describe the gigantic boilers, five stories underground, which are stoked auto- matically, human hands never touching the coal from the moment it is emptied into a bin at the street level until finally, as ash, it is carried by vacuum suction up to the street and into waiting trucks. Or one might well describe the mechanical ventilating system which carries clean, oil-filtered air throughout the five basement stories, and through- out all the company offices. One might also describe the 100-ton refrigerating plant which supplies cool drinking water on every floor, as well December 1929 as making ice cream and preserving food in storage. The kitchens them- selves and the employees’ dining rooms, decorated with colorful! murals, are worth more than passing comment if only space permitted. Then there igs the security vault of the company, the walls of which are protected by a series of finely strung wires, heavily insulated and so sensitive that the loosening of even one pebble in the wall will instantly set off an alarm. And there is the protective alley leading about the vault, fully lighted at all times, locked off by itself, patrolled by special guards—making it impossi- ble for anyone with criminal intent to come even within striking distance of the walls. HERE are the motors, of which there are more than 4000 horse- power in the building: over 200 motors, with an aggregate capacity of 2500 horsepower are required for building services exclusive of elevators. There is the elaborate vacuum clean- ing system which carries dirt and dust from all floors through concealed pipes to a special tank in the basement. There is the company’s emergency hospitai complete with women’s ward, men’s ward, treatment rooms, sun- ray lamps, and all modern equipment. One could go on, it almost seems, indefinitely. There can be no doubt that here we have a new conception of the business workshop, remarkable in its external beauty and remarkable in its applica- tion of scientific principles to modern business planning. One might say that when buildings such as these be- come common throughout the country there will be no excuse for any em- ployee to shirk his duty. SPECIAL VAULT GUARD View of protective alley extending around outer walls of vault, patrolled by guard — as am @

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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN rer 1929 December 1929 487 eserving Ss them- z rooms, als, are iment if there js iy, the Television’s Progress By A. P. PECK OR years television has struggled to free itself from the confines of the laboratory and enter the home, to provide a welcome addition 1 by a or supplement to the radio telephone receiver. Up to the present heavily time, however, all attempts have been unavailing. Many experi- 1at the mental television receivers are now in use throughout the country, oper- the wall ated by radio amateurs who have made an intensive study of the situation, And but even this may be considered a step in the laboratory process of develop- leading ment, and not ‘“‘public” use in the general sense of the word. at all A year or so ago, enthusiasm for television was at fever heat, and great itrolled possibilities were forecast for radio vision in the home. However, the simple m pOssi- theory of television did not prove so simple in practice, and the few ‘“‘re- _intent ceivers’’ that were offered for sale turned out to be worthless for ordinary istance use. Then came a period of further intensive research during which several television transmitters were erected and placed on regular schedule so that tests of receivers could be conducted under actual working condi- which tions. We show below two views of the transmitting equipment installed horse- at the Jenkins Television Corporation laboratories in Jersey City, New notors, Jersey. This company (See also page 526, June 1929 issue of the SCIENTIFIC l | 2500 AMERICAN for details of its uilding earlier work) has also com- —————— pleted the design of the rela- clean- tively simple televisor illus- d dust trated on this page and, at the _ pipes time of writing, it is said that ‘ment. a visual reproducer will be on gency the market by Christmas of ward, this vear. Simplicity of opera- sun- ment. FE — eems, | re we siness fernal plica- »dern say e be- intry | em- IN THE CABINET The back of the cabinet is here let down to show the —4 chassis bolted to it. Note the large-plate neon tube located within the scanning drum, close to the front THE TELEVISOR *““CHASSIS”’ The motor is placed in a vertical position, with the scanning drum above. At the right is the shutter us ation and compactness are two qualities that are essential in a radiovisor. In the Jenkins unit, the simple scanning drum described before, (See reference above) has been retained, but a large-plate neon tube has been placed within it and the quartz or plated glass rods have been eliminated. The four-plate neon tube has been discarded and with it went the selector switch. In the present model, a slotted rotary shutter allows vision through only one of the holes at a time. Synchronization is accom- plished by the use of synchro- nous motors operating on 60- cycle alternating current: The mechanism is mounted on a chassis, as shown, and placed within a shadow-box. AT THE TELEVISION TRANSMITTER The television pick-up and amplifiers are ‘enclosed in copper- serean cages such as at the left above, to shield the instruments from disturbances. At the right is the transmitter with a possible output of five kilowatts, with the television monitor to the left of it

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488 DORNIER FLYING BOAT This ship, the largest of its type ever assembled and flown in the United States, has accommodations for 30 passengers SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 Giant Airplanes Plans for the Future, and Present Successful Tests, Portend a New Era in Heavier-than-Air Flying By REGINALD M. CLEVELAND RE we entering an era of giant airplanes? Will air transport of the near future be con- ducted in craft of wing-spread, payload, and horsepower far in excess of those now associated with passenger the United States? There now seems to be a basis for an affirma- tive answer to both questions. In Europe, at any rate, there is a very definite trend toward planes of large capacities. The tendency is not confined to isolated instances or to single countries. Germany—with Dr. Dornier’s huge Do. X, the largest of all the big craft to have reached the stage of completion or near completion, and the biggest of the Junkers planes and Rohrbach flying boats—is perhaps in the van of this movement, but Italy presses close and Switzerland, Great Britain, France, and Spain are ali at work on monsters of the air. At least two major contentions lie behind this movement. The propo- nents of big planes hold, first, that in them the factor of safety is increased, and, secondly, that they are economic- ally advantageous since, with increased size, the possible payload increases in higher ratio than does the total weight. Both of these advantages have been claimed for the Do. X which astonished the air-minded world by its excellent performance under test last summer, when its twelve motors of 525 horse- power each lifted its great bulk from the surface of Lake Constance in 30 seconds. The safety factors stressed by its designer include its well-designed flying-boat hull, built to withstand wind currents strong enough to cause, in nautical parlance, a sea of Force 3 or planes in Force 4; its height from the surface of water, which brings the low point of the propellor sweep 22 feet above a smooth sea; and room completely to separate piloting and navigation com- partments from the passenger portion of the ship, leaving the control per- sonnel entirely undisturbed in the per- formance of their duties. With a useful load of 44,000 pounds and a payload of 22,000 pounds, the mighty Do. X should be capable of long-range flights on a profitable basis. It can accommodate a hundred pas- sengers. So convincing have been its demonstration flights that the Luft Hansa has already ordered companion ships while Italy has also placed an order for a counterpart. HIS giant is primarily intended for long-range cruises in Europe. The North Sea and the Mediterranean offer fertile fields for such operation, but it is altogether probable that a North Atlantic crossing will be made, with refueling at the Azores and the West Indies. Flying boats of this and the Rohrbach make, also built on a large scale, are to be put in operation on Germany’s proposed South Atlantic service, where weather conditions pre- sent a more favorable average aspect than over the more northerly ocean. The Do.X is regarded by Dr. Dornier as but a forerunner of still larger and mightier craft and by no means the ultimate in airplane size. It was he who, about two years ago, in an address in England, exploded theories long held that there was an upward limit to the size of heavier-than-air types. He demonstrated that resistance did not increase in proportion to the stepping up of size and that, aerodynamically, planes of enormous wing spread and wing thickness need not be confined to dreams of the visionary but can become practical realities. Furnishing the proof of the pudding, his Do.X, with hull 130 feet long, has wings with the leading edges thicker than the depth of many an airplane fuselage. Through the wings access is had to the motor gondolas with their striking arrangement of motors in tan- dem, combining, with tractor and pusher, to furnish the needed 6300 horsepower. This tandem mounting, reducing as it does head resistance of a given number of motors to a marked degree, seems logical for giant pianes, the size of which may ultimately be re- stricted only by the limitations of available motive power. One of the two largest boats which have flown in America, purchased for passenger service on the lakes between Detroit and Cleveland, has the same motor arrangement. It is also a Dornier, built abroad but assembled at the naval aircraft plant at Philadel- phia. Its four motors develop a total of 1700 horsepower, giving a top speed of 185 miles an hour and a cruising speed of 110 miles. In its test flights over the Delaware River in September it flew with capacity load at 120 miles an hour. It will carry 30 passengers. Its wing spread is 90 feet. Another interesting sign of the big- plane movement in America is the 32-place monoplane launched in Sep- tember by Anthony H. G. Fokker. This big passenger carrier, considered as whole, is the largest land plane yet

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r 1929 ping ally, and d to ome ling, has cker lane 3s is heir tan- and 300 ing, of a ked nes, re- of lich for een ime J a 1 at Jel- tal eed ing hts ber iles PTS. ig- the ep- cer. red yet December 1929 built in America. With a span of 99 feet and an over-all length of 69 feet 10 inches, it has a payload of 8700 pounds, which indicates its high effi- ciency, as its total weight is only 22,500 pounds. Driven by four Pratt and Whitney Hornet motors, develop- ing a total of 2100 horsepower and mounted in tandem in nacelles under the wings, it attained a high speed of 160 miles an hour and landed at 47 miles an hour in test flights at Teter- boro. Either the two tractor or the two pusher motors—the latter with three- bladed propellors—served to keep the plane at a cruising speed of 110 miles. The interior arrangement allows for the seating of 30 passengers in addition to the pilots or 16 berths can be made up for night use. Serving pantries, toilets, baggage compartments, et cetera, make it a sort of combined Pullman and club car of the air. F arresting interest also is the Junkers 30-passenger liner which will probably be in flight by the time this issue reaches the public. The thick-wing principle is here employed to the full and the two 800 and two 400 horsepower motors are all housed in nacelles in the leading edge, stream- lined into the wing surfaces. It seems probable that the Junkers oil-burning engine, which has had successful test flights, may be used. A speed of 105 miles an hour is expected. With a wing span of 144 feet, tnis big craft has a fuselage length of 64.5 feet and a height of 17.4 feet. An auxilliary motor is used to control the rudders. The interior of the Junkers plane is arranged in two decks. The upper provides 39 seats for daytime use and 26 berths for night flying. The lower deck will be used as a freight compart- ment. The Swiss engineer, E. Manos, has also been at work on a plane of very large dimensions and with a number of interesting novelties of design. The wing span is given at 197 feet, the length at 120 feet, and the height at 32.8 feet. This particular plane is to have a total of 6000 horsepower but in this case the power is to be derived from only six enormous motors and these will be housed in an engine THE FOKKER F-32 This monoplane, designed to carry 32, was recently launched. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN room and the six propellers operated by gearing. The arrangement is described as such that failure of two or three motors would not stop the revolution of the propellers but would merely slow them down. Flying speeds of from 118 to 155 milés an hour are expected. Beds are to be provided for passengers and the interior plans call for a restaurant and recreation rooms. One of the most consist- ent and enthusiastic advo- cates of the large plane is Gianni Caproni, the Italian designer. The creator of a number of very large bomb- ing types during the war, he has devoted his attention for the last decade to de- signs ona grand scale. This intensive work along a definite pathway is to bear fruit and to bring the excep- tionally large airplane to the American field for, through the participation of American capital in the organization of the Curtiss-Caproni Company, several big passenger planes are being pushed to completion. They were inspected recently by C. M. Keys, who heads many of the Curtiss in- terests, and he expressed his faith in their important role in flying in the United States. IGNOR CAPRONI has evolved three biplanes of progressively in- creasing size and designated them as the 1000, 2000, and 6000 horsepower ships. The first of these types has been constructed in quantity for use by the Italian army. The second has success- fully passed flight tests and the largest is complete save for the installation of the 1000 horsepower motors. In addition, the designer places great faith in a 3000 horsepower monoplane for which he claims an aerodynamic efficiency of from 121% to 13. He be- lieves that it can take off with a fuel load sufficient to give a maximum range of more than 6000 miles, but, very wisely, he does not advocate such a procedure. Instead, for the transatlantic service, It is powered with four Pratt and Whitney Hornets of 525 horsepower each, and is completely equipped for passenger comfort 489 This close-up of the Dornier plane, shown on the op- posite page, gives an idea of the position of the pilots which he predicts will be in operation earlier than most persons expect, he advocates stops for refueling, which would necessitate the Azores-West Indies route until such time, at any rate, as the proposed sea-dromes prove their practicability. For service, say, from New York to the Pacific coast, Signor Caproni de- clares his 3000 horsepower plane could earry five tons of payload at an aver- age speed of 135 miles an hour and re- quire but one stop for refueling at some point about half way along the route. HE largest of his biplanes, the 6000 horsepower craft, has a wing spread of 167 feet. He feels that this is big enough for the present and sees no necessity of exceeding it in size. He has designed a special form of tubing for machines of this type to be used in frame construction, for which advan- tages of hitherto unattained lightness, combined with strength, are claimed. A service from Rome to South America is quite possible with these giant machines. Spurred on by the evidences of the trend to big planes in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, the British Air Ministry is bring- ing to completion a flying boat in the Blackburn works for which, compared with the Do.X,a greater rangewith equal load is claimed. Little has been revealed of the de- tails of the craft, but it is de- signed to have a 1000 mile non-stop range; to carry 50 passengers; and to follow, in general principles of design, the present “‘Nile’”’ type of the constructors. Size has been very greatly increased, how-

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499 ever, over that model, as the sleeping ac- commodations for the passengers are to be in the wings. The ship, it is under- stood, will be powered by three Rolls- Royce engines. The French have also entered the big plane race and the Farman Brothers, ENGINE MOUNTING View of one of the nacelles on the Fokker F-32, showing mounting of the engines whose name must ever be associated with pioneering in aviation, plan two large models at home and in the Ameri- can market. The smaller is to carry 25 passengers and be driven by two motors arranged in tandem, while the larger will be four motored and have a passenger capacity of 50. A company for American production of these types is in the making. > VEN Spain, where airplane pro- ‘4 duction is not large, but interest in aviation is intense, has fallen into line. There a huge passenger craft is under construction by the Aeronautical Con- struction Company. It is a 50-pas- senger type and is to be powered by six motors of 750 horsepower each, mounted above the thick wing, which, as in the case of the Dornier design, gives means of access to the engines. The plane is expected to have a useful load of nine tons and a cruising radius of about 7000 miles. New opportunities for profitable use in long-distance travel are opened up to these gigantic types by the demon- strated success of refueling in the air. It is quite conceivable that airline services of the near future may send up such massive types carrying only cne half or one third of their rated fuel capacity, so as to make possible the transportation of more payload in the form of freight or passengers, and have them met by ‘“‘nursing-bottle”’ planes at points well within the radius of the fuel load carried. If, for any reason, the refueling contact should be difficult or should miscarry, the plane would SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN still have enough fuel in her tanks for a safe power landing. Normally, how- ever, replenishment could take place in the air and the number of landings admittedly the operation of greatest hazard and wear—could be much re- duced. The field for planes of great size seems to lie not only in more profitable service for long water and land routes in Europe and the United States but also in speeding transportation in countries where it is now especially difficult or arduous. The Central and South American fields and those of eastern Russia and Asia are particu- larly attractive in this regard. Rail- road communication in many of these areas is non-existent or very inefficient. The important role of the airplane in such conditions has already been recog- nized by those most closely associated with the export side of the industry in this country. For example, F. B. Rentschler, Presi- dent of the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce, said recently in connection with the formation of an export sub- sidiary of the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, which he also heads, that the airplane might well ob- viate the necessity of ever constructing railroads in lands marked by present lack of transportation facilities or by notably difficult terrain. He was not referring to giant planes, for which he does not see a demand as yet. How- ever, the 50, or 100-passenger plane—with its equivalent freight-car- rying capacity—seems a logical type to employ as a substitute for railroad transport. 25, HE relative cost of establishing an airway, even when using such expensive mammoth types, and of building a railroad is, of course, alto- gether in favor of the airway. When one considers the flexibility of the air service and its advantages of speed, it is not unreasonable to doubt that there will be much more extension of railroad building in lands well suited to the use allie December 1929 of the newer medium of the airways. That big types are to have an oppor- tunity to prove their utility in the long haul coastal service between the United States and her southern neighbors was evidenced recently by the christening by Mrs. Herbert Hoover of the Buenos Aires, first of a fleet of twelve huge Consolidated Commodore flying boats, purchased by the New York, Rio and Buenos Aires Airline for passenger ser- vicetoSouthAmerica. These big mono- planes, with accommodations for 32 passengers, are to follow each other into service at the rate of one a month until the full dozen has been delivered. Advocates of the large plane con- tend that, in addition to its economic and safety advantages, it also makes poss:):le greatly increased comfort for the air traveler. The roominess of the Pullman car, the space in which to move around and “stretch one’s legs,” are lacking even in the largest of our present plane types although the seat- ing is fully as comfortable. But the facilities are equalled or exceeded in the giant types which have been under dis- cussion here, and in them, the air traveler can be as much at his ease as in his office or his home and, at the same time, be eating up the miles at a rate of 120 per hour or better. AILY one sees the predictions of the dreamers of the last century coming to practical realization. The British have a tiny plane for the private flyer, having a wing span of only 25 feet and designed to make 80 miles an hour and do 40 miles on a gallon of petrol. The autogiro came down at the National Air Races in a 20-foot circle in an almost perpendicular land- ing. And now Dr. Dornier and his fel- low designers of aerial titans have shown that planes with wing spans in the neighborhood of 200 feet and with enough horsepower to drive a sizable steamship can take off with scores of passengers, rise, maneuver, and fly ina way to put any but the most skillful of the birds to shame. THE DORNIER FLYING BOAT TAXYING One of the sponsons or stubs on the side of the hull, used in place of wing-tip floats, shows in this photograph, In this ship the engines are mounted in tandem pairs on the wing

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r 1929 ways. ppor- > long nited S was ening “uenos huge Oats, » and r ser- nono- r 32 r into until con- omic rakes ‘t for f the -h to egs,” f our seat- t the n the r dis- 2 alr se as t the at a ns of tury The ivate y 25 >§ an mn of n at -foot and- s fel- have 1s in with able as of ina ul of December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 491 Award of the Scientific American Medal An Awakened Interest in Sea Safety Has Brought Results OR the ninth time the SCIEN- TIFIC AMERICAN medal has been bestowed and this time for out- standing achievement in the field of marine safety. This medal is donated by the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN and is awarded by the American Museum of Safety, a non-commercial organization which was the first in the field of safety in this country. The decision was made by a remark- able committee of experts including naval officers of high rank, captains of the Merchant Marine, naval archi- tects, and editors of professional journals. The Committee met in executive session and after an examination of 80 projects, awarded the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Gold Medal to Professor Reginald A. Fessenden ‘‘for his various inventions for promoting safety at sea,’ as the citation denominates. It should be noted that several inven- tions, all making for sea safety, are involved. We shall go into the subject in greater detail in our next issue, but we Cannot resist mentioning here one of his achievements, the fathometer, by which the ability to obtain accurate and frequent soundings and to compare them with the chart, allows a vessel’s course and position to be constantly known. The Committee considered that several other devices were so good as to warrant the citation of three “Honorable Mentions.”’ The first is a device invented by Mr. J. Lyell Wilson, Assistant Chief Surveyor, American Bureau of Shipping, for a stability meter which not only makes for safety of the ship but also assists in the economical operation of the vessel. The second device to receive honor- able mention is an attachment for life boats to insure their passing over ob- stacles. This is known as a sea ‘“‘skate’”’ PROMOTING SAFETY AT SEA. f AAG ZN by CBG. pear The Committee of Award of the Scientific American yedal for Sefety at Sea met in executive session on october 16th, 1929, at the National arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park, New York, and after an examination of the eighty plans sabmitted decided that the award should be given to; REGINALD A. FBSSENDEN FOR HIS VARIOUS INVENTIONS FOR In witness of this action thé menbers of the Committee have affixed their signatures and the seal of the American Tin 7 Daw wes : ‘i CS ls Sawer SF ae " ao f RAN ehlewie ANeeritany f CITATION GIVING THE AWARD This is the formal citation signed by members of the Committee which was made up of naval officers of high rank, marine architects, and engineers, all men of expert knowledge of the sea PROF. REGINALD A. FESSENDEN, WINNER OF THE COMPETITION This picture shows Professor Fessenden at work at his laboratory near Boston and is a demountable detachment which permits a life boat to be launched even with a 46 degree list. This is the invention of A. P. Schat of Utrecht, Holland. The third device is a folding life raft or net, constructed of balsa wood. This is the invention of Jesse W. Reno of New York City. EAR-ADMIRAL C. McR. WINSLOW, U. S. N. (Ret.), presided at the meeting. He is well known as a naval officer of the highest type. Two other rear-admirals gave their counsel to the Committee, Rear- Admiral W. S. Benson, U.S. N. (Ret.), Chief of Operations during the World War, and Rear-Admiral C. P. Plunkett, U.S. N. (Ret.), who was Commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard until recently. Vice-Ch’m. Captain E. T. Fitzgerald, U. S. N. (Ret.), Board of Transportation, N. Y. City, rendered great assistance in acting as ‘‘Judge- Advocate” in explaining the plans. Captains C. A. McAllister, Pres. American Bureau of Shipping; T. H. Lyon, Port Captain, International Mercantile Marine; H. McConkey, Port Captain, Cunard Steamship Co., Ltd.; and Felix Riesenberg, Martin Motors, Ine., gave wise professional advice. The technical press was represented by Messrs. H. H. Brown, Editor, Marine Engineering and Ship- ping Age, A. B. Newell, Editor, Motor Ship, and A. A. Hopkins, Assoc. Ed. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. Mr. L. Weickum gave valuable assistance on publicity.

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492 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 Behind the Scenes in Modern Archeology The Modern Archeologist Is a Scientist and His Science Contains Keen Interest. At Times It Smacks of Adventure. How He Restores and Exhibits Faded Discoveries Made in the Field By HORACE H. F. JAYNE* Director, The Museum of the University of Pennsylvania HE usual conception of the duties of an_ archeologist involve only wielding a pick and shovel or directing vast groups of men to remove sand dunes lying above hoards of the treasures of antiquity. Few realize that this forms only a really very small part of an archeolo- gist’s responsibilities, and that on the one hand he must have extensive theoretical and practical knowledge be- fore he digs at all, and on the other that he must learn how to preserve and re- store in the best possible manner the objects his excavations yield. A trained archeologist knows full well that he is dealing with priceless docu- ments and the evidence which they may hold must by every means be re- trieved. Itis this that marks the differ- ence between an archeologist and th outlaw ‘‘pot-hunter’ or the treasure seeker, whose sole concern is to fill a museum case with impressive but gen- erally useless and undocumented speci- mens. UCH of the initial work of clean- ing and restoring material is done in the field. An _ ingenious archeologist even recaptures the form of an object that has totally disinte- grated before a spadeful of earth is turned. The substance of a thing may wholly disappear in the course of time and yet leave an imprint of its form in the layer of earth that has carried it. Many readers will remember those easts of human bodies made during the excavations at Pompeii, where plaster was poured into the hollow left after all that was human had dis- appeared. Never was the ghost of death’s agony so vividly materialized: a modern miracle had recaptured the last dreadful moment of a man who perished 1900 years ago. Another illustration of the value of this technique is to be found in the remarkable feat performed by Mr. Woolley, Director of the Joint Expe- dition of the Museum of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania and the British Museum, at Ur of the Chaldees. [See also page 471 of this issue.—The Editor] As little by little his workers +S e ‘Among Our Contributors,” page 469. Mevne THE DELICATE STAGE When fragile objects are being revealed, a camel's hair brush is generally used uncovered the strata of earth above the royal tombs, in the now famous predynastic cemetery, Mr. Woolley noticed a small round hole extending into the earth and a few originally but must have long since decayed and only a mould of its shape remained, of which the plaster filled every crevice. Even the seven fine strings of the harp were recaptured in plaster as the illustration shows, and the metal ornaments, originally fastened to the wood frame, were found adhering in their proper places to the new plaster form of the harp. Had Mr. Woolley been a hasty excavator or possessed of a mind less keen and ingenious, this inestimable piece of archeological evidence would have been lost forever. HESE belong certainly to the more spectacular class of restora- tions made during the course of exca- vating, yet virtually every object, as it is unearthed, is subjected to an equally careful treatment. Where fragile skeletal material is to be re- moved, it is often impregnated with wax to strengthen the weakened struc- ture of the bones. Where the exceva- tor is dealing with anything particu- larly delicate the spade and pick are of course immediately abandoned, even the coarse whisk broom is laid aside and hands alone are used in the work; when even these are too clumsy, although they have become extremely sensitive by many a day of practice, then recourse is had to a fine camel’s hair brush. feet away another hole of [_ the same dimensions and direction. Though una- ware of what these repre- sented, his great archeolo- gical experience told him that here might be a clue to something vitally import- ant. Halting the work he prepared a ‘‘soup”’ of plaster of Paris and poured it meti- culously into the holes un- til they could hold no more. After allowing the solu- tion to set, the earth was carefully cleared away around the newly created plaster form, revealing a perfect reproduction of a harp’s body and uprights. It had been made of wood CAST OF A SUMERIAN HAR Made in position by pouring plaster into the hollow left after the wooden frame had wholly disintegrated

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er 1929 SY ins since shape filled 1 fine tured hows, inally found 0 the Had vator 1 and ce of have » the stora- exCa- Pt, as Oo an Vhere e re- with truc- 2"2Va- ticu- c are yned, laid 1 the msy, mely tice, nel’s vW d December 1929 Further careful work is carried on also at the actual site where scattered fragments of broken vessels are brought together and the whole rebuilt, and where fragile objects are strengthened and made ready for packing so that they may be safely transported to the museums for which they are destined. Because every object is recognized as a document of unpredictable impor- tance, every effort is made to preserve it intact so that not a bit of historical evidence is lost. Restoration and repair for which the facilities at the site are insufficient are further pursued when the object reaches the museum. It may often happen that months of treatment are necessary before an object is ready for displaying in a case for the instruction and enjoyment of the public. Those concerned with archeological finds and their uses as a means for education are becoming more conscious of the necessity of presenting these properly to the public. In the past, curators were content to crowd their cases in- discriminately with the various finds sent back by their expeditions. A pottery vessel badly repaired, a heavily corroded metal object, a handful of mixed beads were all considered good enough for the public. ODAY all this is changed. We have learned that the most casual visitor responds ten times more intelligently to the historical and artis- tic messages of a vessel so cleverly re- paired as to seem almost in its original condition; that he derives more in- struction from a thing of metal if it is cleaned and gleams with its original luster or from beads graded and strung as undoubtedly they had been in the past. With the actual installation, care must be taken to avoid the thea- tric, but every step that leads to a less crowded setting is one in the right direction. In short, it is now the duty of museum curators so to display the finds of the archeologists that the messages they bear are as compre- hensible and interesting to the public as to the specialist. These documents from the past can thus exert the subtle SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SS GOLD AND SILVER GOAT Probably the decoration of a _ harp. Found at Ur and most carefully restored but invaluable educational force of which they are so richly possessed. An outstanding example that illus- trates well this modern tendency in the conduct of our archeological museums can be seen in the case of the recent finds from the Ur excavations of the joint expedition of the British Museum and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. Although on the field all the objects are subjected by Mr. Woolley to the same exacting care we have mentioned in the case of the harp found last season, yet the study and research, the cleaning, repairing, and restoring is carried even further after the objects which fall to the lot of the University Museum arrive in this country. Before these can be installed in the cases of the Museum’s exhibition col- lections, even before they can be handled by scholars and experts, they must undergo many varied treat- ments. In the hands of the expert restorer the pottery vessels must have 493 lacking fragments supplied and colored to harmonize with the original ware; the surface of Babylonian tablets, which are the oldest written documents in existence, must be cleaned with deli- cate brushes and often baked to pre- serve them absolutely intact for future scholars to study; the delicate inlaid plaques, parts of which may have become hoplessly confused, must be reassembled and reset—they are the picture puzzles of 5000 years ago; the treasures of countless beads of lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate, and precious metals must be sorted with the ut- most care. One of the Museum’s staff spent day after day at his work, recreating the delicate headdresses and necklaces, diadems and girdles of the predynastic jewelers. The metal vessels and objects found at Ur have perhaps presented the most difficult problems. To restore them to their original form and luster, the assistance of the most modern knowledge in physics and chemistry has been required. Professor A. K. Graham of the Physics Department of the University of Pennsylvania, was entrusted with this work. The Royal Tombs of Ur yielded an impressive collection of delicate vessels in gold and weapons and ornaments of silver and electrum, as well as scores in the more commonplace bronze. After 5000 years the weight of the earth upon them had often crushed these fragile objects completely out of shape; moisture had oxidized others so com- pletely that they came from the field as mere shapeless masses of corroded metal. Here were problems indeed for the chemist and physicist. HE metallurgists of these early times, as Dr. Graham reports, were not able to refine the precious metals perfectly and many impurities necessarily remained in their composi- tion. Particularly is this true of the silver objects from Ur. Often their shape, their decorative detail, their SILVER OBJECTS BEFORE AND AFTER CLEANING At the left they are shown as they arrived at the University of Pennsylvania Museum; at the right after the processes described in the text had been applied. : Several arts contributed to these restorations antelope head and the other a bracelet. One object is an

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494 quality are completely obscured until they have been subjected to an exact- ing course of chemical treatment. The earlier methods resulting from the investigations of Dr. Alexander Scott of the British Museum and those de- veloped by Dr. Fink of the Metropoli- tan Museum were called into play, but even these had to be modified in the case of each individual object, since no general technique was found to apply to all cases. 7 = tiny silver head of an antelope shown in one of the illustrations, a minute masterpiece of Sumerian sculpture, is a singularly satisfactory example of the course of treatment necessary, and the happy results. It came to the Museum in the form first shown. The parts which later were discovered to be the antlers surrounded a delicate gold vanity box in the form of a shell. For the rest it was a con- glomeration that might yield almost anything. It was subjected first to electrolysis in a bath of weak caustic soda for several days continuously. This was followed by repeated boiling in formie and, little by little, the true shapes began to emerge. What before this treatment had seemed a solid ring fell away from the mass and was re- vealed as a delicately wrought bracelet of several turns of tapered silver wire. The little head itself, after it came from its suceession of baths, was gently brushed and a sharp pick was used under a magnifying glass to re- move the loosened crust from the fine lines of decoration. It was then once CORRODED BOWL Before being treated electrolytically and chemically by Professor A. K. Graham again washed, dried, lacquered, and mounted on a tiny pedestal. Seldom has modern science retrieved so per- fectly from the past an object of such pre-eminent artistic beauty and arche- ological importance. Another illustration of the worth of all this trouble and the uses of chemical research in the restoration of arche- ological remains is found in the silver bowl shown in another pair of illus- trations. This vessel, with its pleas- ing lines, had rested in another silver bowl so that a portion of the outer surface was in almost a perfect state of preservation and thus gave a stand- ard to achieve for the rest of the sur- face which, both inside and out, was SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN heavily covered, as may be seen in the first figure. The actual process in this instance was not difficult. The bowl responded very well to the electrolytic treatment and after subse- quent cleaning and lacquering is in a condition closely approximating, we THE EVIDENCE minute fragment See the text Photomicrograph of from a silver vessel at Ur. may well believe, its original appear- ance. In connection with this bowl an un- expected archcological discovery was also made. On one side of the vessel, to the right of the electrum lug shown in the photograph, a marking came to light after the treatment—a con- ventional bull’s leg engraved below the rim. This we now know was the particular “hall mark,’’ unquestion- ably the earliest yet recorded, of King Meskalam Dug; it has been discovered also on his ceremonial implements and on the gold and silver spear points found with the body-guard buried in his tomb. It is discoveries like these that repay so handsomely the enormous amount of care and research to which the ob- jects are subjected. The contents of the tomb of King Tutankhamen were in a like manner treated with meticu- lous care, so that today they are the most perfect examples of ancient Egyptian artistry preserved, even as they are among the richest finds ever credited to archeological science. HESE metallurgical researches, in ‘connection with the silver vessels found at Ur, were extended even further by Professor Graham, than merely restoring them for exhibition. The very process used in fashioning them was sought by examining the microscopic structure of minute frag- ments of the metal. A photomicro- graph of one of these is reproduced. From this we may safely deduce that a bowl like that shown would have gone through the following stages in its manufacture: After the native silver was refined and properly alloyed it would be cast December 1929 intoaconvenient form. Then by alter- nately heating in a furnace and rolling on a flat surface a sheet of desired thickness would be obtained. Next, the Sumerian silversmith would study the form of the vessel to be produced, cut a flat sheet according to the chosen pattern and hammer it over prepared forms to bring it to the shape desired. During this hammering the vessel would have to be annealed—that is, alternately heated and cooled—about three or four times, to keep the metal soft enough to be worked. Finally the surface was burnished and the com- pleted vessel marked with the insignia of the King. It is the structure of the silver as revealed by the microscope which per- mits us to be so certain of this process. It is plainly the structure of an an- nealed metal and the numerous cases of twinning in the crystalline mass in- dicate a number of previous workings. It is the same method used by the silversmiths of today, the ancestry of whose skill is therefore traced back by these researches at least 5000 years. F we compare the archeology of the past century, concerned only with despoiling the sites of ancient civili- zation of inscribed monuments and works of art; neglecting, even heed- lessly destroying, historical knowledge latent in humble objects of every sort; failing to investigate properly and above all to interpret the objects actu- ally brought back from the field—if we compare this work with that carried on by the archeologists of to- day, we gain an insight of how very great has been the advance of the science. It is no Jonger a dry subject, interesting only learned philologists or antiquarians, to be associated with the dusty corridors of the museums of the past; it is now a very vital study, calling to its service men of adventur- ous natures and long training for the field work, scientists who have special- ized in other fields for solving its prob- lems, experts in virtually every walk of Jife. The findings of archeology, moreover, are today being so exhibited and inter- preted that they have a universal ap- peal and even the most casual museum visitor is thrilled by the pictures and stories they tell about the customs of long vanished civilizations. THE SAME BOWL Virtually a perfect restoration. The bull’s leg referred to in the text shows faintly

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495

1929 December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN alter- oiling Timekeeper in'Me ‘sired noting starting time Next mmm on watches s NEXT, -nised wrth ose tudy used at Ryde Pier. uced, 2 3 1osen an Es oe 2 ared . ‘les 5 4 sired, iE Sovthsea Pylon. esse cL ; . 2 A Haylin bel Delite! oes —~ g bo aes moe - ya Starting ¢ #4 nthe : be wih se rN ! Finishin Lige~ y the ba — com- SS sae = * fet ; tGeaview Pylon. 4 : The Time Keepers' ~— Method of aighting Aincrae ‘ Position on Rupee Pier 7 per- passing the Line’ to Seaward. } Sao 2) The Sight i ; 1s8j cess. j (2) project tod eo Fiag Pole> | irate yp P sti : ie, 5 ’ Line to Land- x . | Annie FF . Sighting Wire. eared -aSES - $ in- “ag @) ( a Se . : ° a irne-kee, “racer aed ss fio ings. ¥ yr taking sight from Z _ the sighting wire on to | Speed Calculating 9x Vo 3 ; . Si hting post. Officer calcidlat 8. stry ei + the Speed of the” back vk Pe Aeroplane Of ier fer ea . Time Auditor ppm fe at « pars. udrtor Two passing ntachi calealatir Time keepers, . the Time taken § each provided J f the By the ‘ with 4 Chrono- el PI geo ‘ or : fo atc: . an ye « - 2 with ee nics tat ote ao ing Airccafe pasiidbeboal : ivili- daa ad & the-Shore.a S4 ¢ was tak morn? and ee of Ride hekon. eed- The Time-keepers'’Clerk —_ a edge Sor Dhices to che Clerk. sort: of the Course and ictu- 1i— if that f to- very the ject, ts or i the s of udy, itur- the cial- rob- Ik of

ver, iter- ap- eum and ss , ‘ oms . 4 gut employed it takings ‘ r i‘ Time Sheets ris of the Course opposite side of Main Dome "Timing the Schn WO timekeepers, Colonel Lindsay Lloyd and Mr. A. G. Reynolds, each with four chronometric watches, timed the seaplanes in this year’s Schneider Trophy Con- test from a platform built atop a dome of a pavilion on

eider Cup Races: Over 300 Miles Per Hour These sighted the plane against a wire if it passed to sea- ward and on the spire of Ryde Church if it passed to landward, and “split” their stop watches so there was a double check on the time. As the machine completed its lap, the time was noted and given to an auditor who worked

= Ryde Pier, the starting and stopping point. As gunfire m from the Medea started each plane, a timekeeper on board out the elapsed time and passed his calculations on to a ss informed the Clerk of the Course at Ryde Pier by wire- calculator who worked out the plane’s speed. The results ly : . less, and he informed the timekeepers at the starting line. were then passed down a chute to the Clerk of the Course.

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496 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 It has a hand wheel which facilitates sweeping the skies. nal mirror within directs the rays into a fixed, comfortable eyepiece A diago- in the horizontal axis. A SPECIAL COMET-SEEKING TELESCOPE ON THE ROOF OF YERKES OBSERVATORY 1 axi The special qualities are great light gathering power (large objective) with short focal length and low magnification The Puzzles of the Comets—II Research Indicates That the Sun Picked Up Its Family of Comets Only Recently While Passing Through Orion By HENRY NORRIS RUSSELL, Ph.D. Director of the Observatory and Chairman of the Department of Astronomy at Princeton University Research Associate of the Mount Wilson Observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington E told last month of some of the problems, solved or still awaiting an answer, which comets present to the as- tronomer. But the tale is toolong fora page or two and there is more worth the telling. Comets are members of our solar system, or at least this is true of all those which have been accurately enough observed to settle the question. In a few cases the velocity of the comet when under observation near the sun was greater than the maximum value for a body moving in even the longest elliptic orbit and returning regularly to the sun. But in every one of these cases calculations of the attraction of the planets showed that they had speeded up the comet as it approached the sun and that, when well outside Neptune’s orbit, its speed was below the critical limit or at most exceeded it by less than the errors of observation. The comets which we see are therefore old timers and not newcomers, al- though some of them have lingered long in the outer darkness. Delavan’s Comet of 1914 is a good example. Making allowance for the fact that it never came very near the sun, and was unusually remote from the earth, this was the greatest comet of recent times. But the time when last it came home to the sun was far from recent—about 11,000,000 years ago according to Van Biesbroeck’s care- ful calculations. To predict such an enormous interval from the motion shown by a couple of years’ observa- tions is obviously possible only if the latter are very precise, and even so there is an uncertainty of a couple of millions of years in the date of the last return. But this is an extreme case. This comet at its remotest must have been about 11% light years distant from the sun, and if it had gone much farther the attraction of some other star might have taken it away from our system. But one must not think of it as slipping away from the sun’s control to swing into that of the star and pass close to it as it did once near tie sun. OR the comet, although far from the sun and gradually going farther, would still share the sun’s motion through space. Could a remote ob- server see it as well as the sun he would observe the two traveling in almost parallel paths, traversing a light year’s distance in 15,000 years of time (by our earthly reckoning) and separating from one another by only 1/200 of a light year in that interval. It would be obvious that there was some relation between the two bodies. But while the comet’s motion, com- pared with that of the sun, is so slow, its motion relative to any other star would be rapid, for these stars have motions of their own quite differ- ent from the sun’s. Should the comet escape from the sun’s sphere of influ- ence it would be very little deflected from a straight course by the attraction of any other star, unless by chance it happened to be moving almost directly toward it. Such a close approach would not happen on the average until billions of vears and even more had elapsed. For al] this time the escaped comet would be a lonely wanderer in the depths of interstellar space—cold, dark, and invisible. Such a fate as this may befall a comet in another way. At some peri- helion passage it may be speeded up by the attraction of the planets until it ex- ceeds the velocity of escape, and not slowed up on its departure enough to undo the damage. It will then set out on an independent career without any help from the attraction of the stars and become a homeless vagabond. Our solar system must therefore be steadily losing its comets, for the escape process is irreversible; it can happen but once to a given comet and the chance of recruiting the sun’s diminish- ing army by picking up a comet which comes in from interstellar space and is slowed down by planetary attraction is quite negligible. There are still thousands of comets in our system; probably hundreds of thou- sands, for the evidence indicates that at least a thousand approach the sun every century (allowing for more than

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1929 ts met flu- ted tion e it tly ach ntil had ped - in ald, la pri- by ex- not to ut ny ars be pe en she sh- ich | is 1is in u- at un an December 1929 escape discovery) and very many centuries will elapse before the major- ity of these will return. A few millions of years ago there must have been even more comets. Can we carry this reck- oning back over the 4,000,000,000 years or so since the birth of the planets? If so, was the whole sky full of comets then? If we attempt to answer these ques- tions we must recall that the danger that a comet may be flung off into space by planetary perturbations is not the only one which besets it. Comets, even if they remain within our system indefinitely, are subject to steady de- pletion of their own substance by the very processes which make them con- spicuous. The greater show a comet makes, the faster it is wasting away, for the gas and dust which is ejected from the nucleus to form the head and is swept away by radiation pressure to create the tail never returns. We have direct photographic evidence that the tail particles move faster and faster the farther they go. The tail fades out at the end not because the gases have stopped shining but only because they are spread out so widely that the light no longer affects the eye or the photo- graphic plate. Each molecule or dust speck must fly on and on at speeds which are by this time much higher than those of the stars in their courses, and become lost in the depths of space, never to return. F we could watch a comet long enough we might then expect to see it gradually wear itself out, grow a smaller and smaller tail at each return, fade away into a mere spot of hazy light, until at last perhaps even this vanished. Measured by human chronology this process must be slow, for so far as we can judge by the evidence of the old chronicles, Halley’s Comet has not lost much in brightness during the past 2000 years. But we do not have to wait to watch things happen to indi- vidual comets. There are numerous short-period comets which return to perihelion every six or eight years. These should be the spendthrifts and might be nearly worn out. As a mat- ter of fact, not one of these comets is conspicuous and many of them seem already to have lost most if not all of their tail-forming material. One, at least, Biela’s Comet, which was an easy telescopic object a century or so ago, has faded out altogether and is now quite lost, although it has returned more than once to positions where it would have been conspicuous if it had been as bright as it used to be. Among comets of the same age and year, those with short periods should wear out the fastest, while those which engage but rarely in the brilliant dissipation of a perihelion passage should be less ex-. hausted. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN A test of this has recently been made by Bobrovnikoff, a Russian astronomer now at the Lick Observatory. He has collected from various sources deter- minations of the brightness of 94 comets of known period, ranging from three years to several millions. Plot- ting these against the periods, he finds that, although the individual values scatter a good deal, the averages show a definite and unquestionable trend. The comets with long periods average the brightest and those of shortest period the faintest. This agrees so well with the results of the theory of gradual disintegration that it would almost prove it independently of the visible arguments already mentioned, and the combined evidence of the two argu- ments is conclusive. T appears, therefore, that in bygone ages the comets of our system were not merely more numerous but brighter. How rapid the process of decay is we can not be sure. Only two comets have been observed for a large number of returns, Halley’s and Encke’s. The first is still a fairly bright comet, al- though far inferior to many of those of really long period. The second is a faint object and appears to have faded by about a magnitude during the last century; that is, 30 returns. Whether a similar change has happened to Halley’s Comet can hardly be deter- mined from the rough estimates of the ancient records. Such as they are they indicate a slower decrease in bright- ness per return. Even if the rate of disintegration is only one tenth as great as Encke’s Comet suggests, a comet must lose about 1/300 of its luminous material at each return. As it dwindles away, the rate of loss itself should decrease, but nevertheless after 3000 returns the brightness should have diminished by ten magnitudes; which covers almost the whole range from the brightest to the faintest on record. This would make the whole life of Encke’s Comet about 10,000 years and of Halley’s a quarter of a million. Some of the greatest known comets, such as those of 1858 and 1811, have periods of less than 3000 years. On our tentative assump- tion they would fade away into in- significance in 10,000,000 years. This is a long time from most standpoints, but to the astronomer and even the 497 geologist it is nothing at all. Our earth is certainly more than 100 times older than this. Hence either the rate of disintegra- tion of comets is hundreds of times slower than is indicated by such ob- servations as exist, or else the comets which are at present in our system are far younger than the planets and have been added to the system long after the planets were established. Which al- ternative must we choose? Bobrovnikoff decides definitely for the second alternative and concludes that our present comets were picked up by the solar system in some way only a few millions of years ago. Some six million or eight million years in the past our sun and its attendant planets must have passed through the great scat- tered cluster of hot stars which forms the constellation Orion and probably through some of the clouds of nebu- losity which accompany them. In traversing such masses of diffuse mat- ter, the combined attraction of the sun and planets might “capture” some of 7H] |\i\onm 4 a net mM Ps AA Aa —~ | 4 Z oO 1) +t =) 3 nw a an Cc wT¢ AA aA irtesy Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Paci Ce Pacifi SPECTRUM OF HALLEY’S COMET At left is the spectrogram and, above, a diagram of it. Vertical streamers are open slit spectral images of ‘the tail. Figures show wavelengths. Cyanogen (CN) bands are in the head but not the tail. From a paper by Bobrovnikoff the nebular material and cause it to cir- culate in orbits about the sun. Such aggregations of matter might well be the parents of comets. In the ages since, those of short period would for the most part fade out, leaving those whose periods were long and a few of the shorter period resulting from secondary changes in their orbits at later dates in their careers. The result million of years later might be a cometary system roughly resembling ours. Whether the resem- blanece would be satisfactory in detail can not be settled until a good deal more work has been done, especially in the way of calculating whether comets picked up in this way would ultimately be spread about the sun almost uni- formly in all directions as the comets actually are. But in any event the hypothesis is stimulating and _ its further developments will be awaited with much interest. |

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Radio in 1930 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 Regardless of New Circuits, Tubes, and the Like, the Final Test of a Set Is Its Tone Quality 498 ACH radio season is ushered in with a new collection of terms and catch-phrases to intrigue the prospective radio-set pur- chaser. While it would appear from a glance at the radio advertising that there had been a great many startling developments, it frequently becomes apparent after the season is well under way that there have been only one or two important innovations. This season we are confronted with such terms as “screen-grid,” ‘‘linear detection,” ‘‘band pass filter,’ and countless other terms and _ phrases which hold no meaning for the layman. VICTOR Above: Exterior of the R-52 radio set only. Below: Interior view of the RE-45 com- bination radio and electric phonograph By HOWARD T. CERVANTES* ‘THE layman considering the | purchase of a new radio set is confronted with a bewildering array of claims made by various manufacturers regarding the out- standing features of their partic- ular receivers. How is he to se- lect the one which will give him the greatest satisfaction? In the accompanying survey of the sit- | uation, the author points out the | standardization that has come | about in the radio field, and | plainly indicates that the choice | | is largely a matter of the price that one can afford to pay, and the style of “furniture” that one | desires to surround his set. One’s taste in tone will indicate the set in any price class that will please the purchaser. | —The Editor. After all, the final test of any radio receiver is what comes out of the loud- speaker. The average man, when he comes to select a radio set, judges it more on this basis than on anything that he has heard or read concerning it. In many instances he requires a private demonstration of the set in his own home where he can operate it under actual working conditions in the location where it is to be used. If the quality of reception does not come up to his expectations, the mere fact that the set uses screen-grid tubes or has linear detection or any other fea- ture will not induce him to buy. N reviewing this season’s radio sets, we find that the greatest strides have been made in the improved quality of tone and fidelity of reproduction. In fact, a point has been reached where it is a difficult matter to note any marked difference in the reproduc- tion of sets ranging in the same price class. In this respect it would be interesting to witness a radio blind- fold test, using a dozen or so of the leading radio sets of different manu- facture similarly priced. It is safe to predict that the result of such a test would show that the majority of people whe are incapable of splitting hairs on musical harmonics, and to whom overtones and undertones go unnoticed, would be unable to make an honest distinction between them. While the great majority of manu- facturers are featuring sets using screen-grid tubes, not all of the im- proved tone quality can be attri- *Vice-President, Haynes-Griffin, Inc., New York City buted to the use of this new tube. A power tube which has recently come into use, and the progress that has been made in dynamic speaker de- sign, have contributed largely to the better reproduction evident in this year’s receivers. pom credit must also be given to the broadcasting stations for their higher quality of transmission which has reached a state of perfection un- dreamed of a few years ago. Although the present furore over the screen-grid tube would seem to indicate that its application has revolutionized radio over night, we have two prominent manufacturers who are continuing to use the stand- ard type of A. C. tube in their latest productions. The Victor Talking Machine Com- pany is featuring ‘‘micro-synchron- ous” reception in its latest models. This term is derived from the method ZENITH The remote-control unit is shown. A built-in loop aerial and electric phono- graph pick-up connection are incorporated employed for securing resonance be- tween various circuits, which, it is claimed, insures a high degree of sensi- tivity and selectivity. The tuning arrangement used in these sets is quite unusual, consisting of a lever which operates over a full-vision illuminated scale. A space is provided at the top of this scale for marking in station loca- tions. Close adjustment is secured by turning a small knob at the end of this lever. Another interesting feature of the Victor sets is the “harmonic modulator,”

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December 1929 a device for regulating the degree of emphasis to suit the acoustics of the particular room in which the set is located. The Victor company is one of the prominent manufacturers pre- viously mentioned who have not gone in for sereen-grid tubes. We find another notable exception to the use of screen-grid tubes in the new Majestic sets. It will be re- membered that last year’s Majestic models met with unprecedented suc- cess due, in the main, to the fact that this was the first time that a low- priced, high-quality receiver using a built-in dynamic speaker was offered to the public. Several minor changes have been made in the new Majestic sets and they are claimed to exceed in sensitivity, selectivity, and tone qual- ity the models of the previous year. Improvements have also been made in the Majestic dynamic loudspeaker. The entire elimination of hum is an- other feature being stressed by the manufacturer of these sets. HE one indisputable fact regard- ing this year’s models is that the purchaser is given greater value for his money than at any time in the past. Any number of manufacturers are marketing sets in console cabinets with dynamic speaker and screen-grid tubes, together with other improvements, priced around 150 dollars. When we get above this figure we find more elaborate cabinets, automatic tuning, remote control, and other features that increase the manufacturer’s cost of pro- duction. This cost is finally passed along to those who are more exacting in their tastes and requirements. For example, the “tired business man” The automatic control in this Model 846 tends to overcome the effects of fading SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN will have one of the new remote-con- trol receivers which he may adjust without leaving his easy chair, or he may have the control box on a table beside his bed, enabling him to start, stop, or tune the set without getting up. For that matter, the control box may be installed in any room in the house and the radio set proper located in any other room desired. We have a set embodying this fea- ture in the latest model by Kolster. This set is furnished with a long cable at the end of which is a small control box resembling very much the push- button type of cortrol for inter-com- municating telephones. Ten push buttons are provided on the top of this box, one to start, one to stop, and eight others which, when pressed, operate the mechanism which tunes in the desired station. When the “start’’ button is pressed, a small red pilot light indicates that the set is functioning. When any of the se- lector buttons are pressed, a green light shows, indicating that the station ———— | COLONIAL CHASSIS The Cutting dynamic speaker is shown mounted with the opening pointing down selected is being tuned in. A _ small knob is also provided for regulating the volume of the loudspeaker. Zenith is also marketing a new set with remote-control features. It is possible, with this set, to use several control stations located in various parts of the home. For example, one of these controls may be installed in the bedroom, another in the dining room, and perhaps one in the den. The radio set may be located in an- other room, or if it is desired, it may be concealed in a closet. Adjustment of the set is accomplished from any of the points at which the control sta- tions are located. In addition to the remote-control receiver, Zenith is continuing to pro- duce a line of improved automatic receivers superseding those which proved so popular last year. Screen- grid tubes and other new developments .in receiver design have been incorpo- rated in these new sets. Push buttons are furnished in addition to the usual 499 COLONIAL Model 32, shown with the “secret” panel opened to disclose the control panel tuning dial and it is only necessary to press one of these buttons to tune in any desired program. If the operator desires to tune in stations other than those that have been set for automatic tuning, he uses the conventional type of tuning dial which is also included in this set. Another development designed to facilitate adjustment is that of visual tuning employed in the new Strom- berg-Carlson Model 846. Visual tun- ing is accomplished by means of a small meter located on the panel above the main tuning dial. A _ pointer moves across the face of this meter when the dial knob is rotated. The proper point of adjustment is indicated for any particular station when the pointer is at maximum deflection on the dial scale. FEATURE in connection with this method of tuning is what is known as a “‘silent’”’ knob, which, when depressed,disconnects the loudspeaker while the tuning dial is being rotated. The pressure on the knob is released when the desired number on the dial is reached and the pointer is at maxi- mum deflection. This permits the operator to tune by sight rather than by ear and does away with the neces- sity of listening to annoying noises and “blasting’’ of other stations while the dial is being rotated. Another feature of this set worthy of mention is the fact that the circuit employed compensates for any varia- tion in signal strength and results in uniform volume almost regardless of fading effects.

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500 The new Atwater Kent models are characterized, as in the past, by their compactness and low price. Two new models have been introduced using the screen-grid tubes. The Model 55 employs two of these tubes and the Model 60 three. The Model 60 is intended for use in locations where it is necessary to depend on reception from distant stations. This accounts for the additional tube which makes for greater sensitivity. An Atwater Kent set for use in D. C. districts, using the screen-grid tubes, is also available. All of these sets are equipped with a loca'-distance switch. The function of this switch when in one position is to cut down sensitivity for local re- ception and when in the other position to increase sensitivity for distance reception. “T°HE Atwater Kent company has this year designated several cabi- net companies to manufacture consoles expressly for the Atwater Kent chassis and dynamic speaker. This arrange- ment has resulted in a varied and attractive line of cabinets, making it a simple matter to select a console in proper taste with the style of the furni- ture in the particular room where the set is to be located. In the new Colonial sets emphasis is being laid on the Cutting dynamic sveaker. Colonial has departed from the usual custom of mounting a loud- speaker on the front panel of the cabinet and has located the speaker at the base so that the sound comes from the bottom of the cabinet. This method is claimed to be much more satisfactory and is likened to indirect lighting, in that the sound is not thrown directly out, but is reflected from the floor in the same way that light is reflected from the ceiling. It is said that a greater realism of tone is obtained with this system. Locating the speaker at the base of the cabinet has made it possible to do away with the necessity of a speaker grill on the front of the cabinet. No SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ATWATER KENT The sensitive and selective Model 60 in a special cabinet with built-in loudspeaker doors are in evidence on the Colonial sets, the tuning controls being acces- sible when a small panel, pressed at one end, raises up and slides into the cabinet out of sight. Screen-grid tubes are used in all of the new Colo- nial models. There is no question but that the average unit price on the complete set has been dropping rapidly during the past two years and probably the outstanding price development in man- ufacturers’ merchandising plans for the present year is the large number of sets retailing between 100 dollars and 150 dollars. The majority of these sets are built in small consoles, many of them using the screen-grid tube and all equipped with dynamic speakers. There are probably 15 or more manu- facturers fighting tooth and nail in this highly competitive price class. Ob- viously large volume is necessary to build profitably at this price and it is December 1929 equally true that not all of these manu- facturers can by any means secure the volume of sales which is necessary. Consequently, several of these manu- facturers will probably retire from the field this year or be obliged to seek mergers with their competitors. Evi- dence of this latter development is already at hand. Some mergers have already been accomplished and radio trade papers are filled with rumors of many more. Coming into the field this year in a big way, as manufacturers of com- plete radio sets, are several companies which have heretofore made products which were accessories to the battery set. We find the National Carbon Company in the field with a complete line of Eveready electric receivers, and the Philadelphia Diamond Battery Company with the Philco line of radio sets. The American Bosch Magneto Company is also making a strong play in the medium-price field. NX indicated in the early part of this article, manufacturers are striving desperately to create the im- pression that the new models are a distinct advance over sets that have been heretofore available. It is true, nevertheless, that for the first time in radio history it is difficult for the average listener to distinguish be- tween the new sets and those that were available a year ago. This is the best evidence of the stabilization that is making itself evident in the radio industry and purchasers of well-de- signed sets manufactured in 1928 are today practically as well off as the owner of any of the latest models. Whereas hundreds of thousands of electric sets were sold last year, it is generally believed that the big swing from battery sets to electric sets will take place in 1930 and that conse- quently more dollars per capita will be spent by the public for radio in the next six months than in any corres- ponding period in the history of the art. The Atwater Kent Model 60, shown in a cabinet at the top of the page, is illustrated in a table model at the left above. oe EE TWO OTHER MODELS At the right is an interior view of the Model 55 showing the arrangement of the parts. Note the screen-grid tubes in their metal shield cans

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Largest Electrified Metal Mine SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 501 COMBINATION TROLLEY-BATTERY LOCOMOTIVE Seventy-five ton electric locomotive designed for operation either from a trolley at 750 volts or from a 230-volt storage battery. Note folded trolley HE Bingham, Utah, mining properties of the Utah Copper Company can now claim the dis- tinction of being the world’s largest electrified metal mine. The electrification of the haulage system of this mine, starting on a large scale early in 1928, has now progressed to a point where the electric equipment involved is the most complete and up-to-date of any metal mining project. Although the actual mining operations had already been electrified, the haulage system had, up to the middle of 1928, been of the steam type. A trial locomotive was built by the General Electric Company and was found satisfactory in service. Plans were then made for the installation of 20, more than half of which are now in service, and finally, for an additional 20 for use as soon as they can be built and delivered. It is expected that possibly a few in addition to this number will be required to complete the haulage program. Thus this mine will have in use by far the largest number of electric locomo- tives ever applied to an open-cut mining operation. The copper ore is found on both sides of the canyon in which the town of Bingham is situated. Giant electric shovels working on successive terraces cut in the mountain face, remove the overburden which covers the ore, and then the ore itself. The overburden is deposited in cars which are hauled away by the electric locomotives and dumped xg Photographs Courtesy General Electric Company LONGEST TOWN IN THE WORLD Bingham, Utah, reputed to be the longest of its size inthe world, consists of a single street ina valley. Terraced hillside is the mine WITH A TRAIN OF COPPER ORE Front view of the first of the special locomotives drawing power from a trolley wire and pulling a heavy load down another side of the mountain, while the ore itself is hauled in cars to the mills at Magna, 17 miles distant. All the locomotives are specially designed for this service and weigh 75 tons each. Seven of the 41 involved are a combination type particularly valuable for operation where power cannot always be obtained from the usual overhead system. Each unit has facilities for overhead collection of current, side-arm collection, or for operation Portion of the Utah Copper Company’s railroad, showing the town. In the center background is a large inclined cable elevator by means of storage batteries. In addition, the 41 loco- motives are each equipped with a cable reel collector by means of which power can be delivered to the locomotive over a considerable distance from the supply point by means of a trailing cable. Power for this haulage system will be supplied from a number of substations, two of which are already in use, and an extensive electrification system is necessary for distributing the power. The electric locomotives haul the ore cars up the side of the mountain by means of switchbacks over the various benches to the shovels. There the cars are loaded and hauled back down to the foot of the mountain, where they are made up into long trains and transported to the mill over the Bingham and Garfield Railroad. Four large totally-enclosed motors, controlled by a single-unit, three-speed system, drive each locomotive.

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502 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN From the Archeologist’s Scythian Bronzes HE Scythians were a group of war- like Iranian tribes mixed with Mongolians that over-ran southern Russia and southern Siberia. Greek influence was not able to kill the virile Scythian style which, even when _ilill SCYTHIAN SILVER RAMS Owing to plundering, articles of Scythian origin in gold and silver are rarely found elaborated, remains purely Asiatic. The problem of the Scythian bronzes is a very difficult one and museums seek eagerly for them. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has many examples of them dating from the 3rd and 4th Century A.D. We illustrate two of them, first, a kneeling deer in bronze and second a pair of rams kneeling on a little cart. Both rams and cart are of silver which, like gold, is rare among the ‘“‘Seythian”’ finds which came from China and Siberia because of early and thorough plundering. The _ signifi- cance of the kneeling animals is not clear but it has been suggested that they represent animals already slaugh- tered and ready for the sacrifices. Archeology affords endless opportuni- ties for study. Primitive Art Solves the Secrets of Food Distribution CIENTISTS are solving the prob- lem of when and where various food plants were first cultivated. The origin of many is now definitely known, according to researchers on the staff of the Field Museum of Natural History; others are still in dispute. How some of these problems are solved is illus- trated by exhibits at Field Museum. For example, in the last few years scientists have established, through the unearthing of some very ancient pot- tery on the coast of Peru, that certain plants are indigenous to the American continents, and not the result of im- portation by the European settlers. These pots, made many centuries before the discovery of America by the white man, are modeled in the shapes of various plants, and thus prove that those plants were grown on this side of the world in those early days, according to Dr. William M. McGovern, former assistant curator of South American and Mexican ethnology at the museum. Among the plants which the Field Museum collection proves are in- digenous to America are peanuts, maize, squashes, pumpkins, beans, potatoes, and the poisonous tuber called mandioka from which tapioca is made. All of these have been used as models for the shape or the decorations of the pottery. From other sources, it is known that pineapples, tobacco, tomatoes, chocolate, and coca from which cocaine is made, originated in the Americas. On the other hand, watermelon, believed by most people to be a 100 percent American product of our southern states, apparently originated thousands of years ago in Africa, says Dr. McGovern, for re- mains of watermelons and their seeds have been discovered in tombs of ancient Egypt. The ‘‘False Pyramid’’ of Medum “THE Museum of the University of Pennsylvania has received per- mission from the Egyptian Govern- ment to carry on archeological work at Medum in Egypt and has organized an expedition which began excavation on that site in November. The expedition will be under the leadership of Alan Rowe, says Director Jayne, and will be conducted under the auspices of | 9 | oes ae POTATO-SHAPED POTTERY Archeology helps to clear up the true origins of food plants in foreign climes the Eckley Brinton Coxe, Jr. Founda- tion, which was established for the support of the Egyptian Section of the University Museum and for the fur- therance of field work in Egypt. Mr. Rowe has been serving since 1925 as field director of the University Mu- seum’s expedition to Beisan in Pales- tine. With the organization of the new Egyptian expedition, however, the work at Beisan in which the museum has been engaged for seven years will be temporarily suspended. December 1929 Notebook Medum lies in the Libyan desert, roughly between the northern end of the Fayyum and the River Nile, some 50-odd miles south of Cairo, and is a site which offers great possibilities not only for fresh contributions to existing knowledge in Egyptian research but also for the collection of interesting and valuable material. To the north of Medum and in the following order A KNEELING BRONZE DEER An example of Scythian art in bronze dating from the 3rd or 4th Century A. D. from south to north lie the Ancient and Middle Empire pyramid sites of Lisht, Dahshur, Sakkara, Abusir, Zawiet-el-Aryan, Gizah, and Abu Roash, while to the south are the Middle Empire pyramid sites of Illa- hun and Hawara. All these sites really form one continuous royal ceme- tery nearly 60 miles in length on the western side of the Nile. In its work at Medum, which is believed to be chiefly a Fourth Dynasty site dating onwards from about 2930 B.C., the University Museum expedi- tion will concentrate on the excavation of a pyramid called by the Arabs “El-Haram el-Kaddab,’’ or the “false pyramid,” and described in a report from Mr. Rowe as the most important structure visible on the site. “The ‘false pyramid,’ ”’ Mr. Rowe’s report states, “is of three, originally seven, square receding stories which, according to Professor George Stein- dorff, of Leipzig, rise to a height of 214 feet 8 inches in steep stages. The first story is 81 feet 6 inches high, the second 98 feet 11 inches, and the third, now almost destroyed, is 34 feet 3 inches high. “Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie, of the British School of Archeology, points out that the pyramid was built cumula- tively, ‘that is to say, in seven succes- sive coats each of which bore a finished dressed face’ around a central mastabah tomb. He states that the stepped stories were originally filled out.’’

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29 1g December 1929 Early Man in North Arabia By HENRY FIELD Leader ot the Captain Marshall Field North Arabian Desert Expedition *T“HE Captain Marshall Field North Arabian Desert Expedition, un- der the leadership of the writer (assis- tant curator of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago), covered thousands of miles between Bagdad and the Hejaz railway in search of archeological information. Many thou- sands of years ago this desert was fertile 2nd well watered and able to support a semi-nomadie population. Thousands of flint implements, scattered over the desert, prove the existence of primitive man in various prehistoric phases of culture. The two photographs show fortress:s built by Roman legions for protection from Bedouin marauders. Qasr Azrak was visited by the expedition to make plans, drawings, and photographs of the buildings. The upper photograph shows myself directing the work of re- moving a door-lintel inscribed in Greek characters, which may give the date of the Roman occupation of Qasr Burqa, the most eastern outpost of the Roman Empire. Qasr Burqa stands today more than 100 miles from wells con- taining water, although in the rainy season there is often water in the reser- voir built by the Roman legions. Much valuable archeological data was col- lected; thousands of photographs of the various sites visited, and of the modern Bedouins, were obtained. In fact a whole new light has been thrown on the early history of the North Arabian desert, and the results suggest that this area may have lain, in prehistoric times, on one of the main lines of migra- tion between east and west. It is now possible to state with absolute certainty that man in a pre- historic phase of culture inhabited this North Arabian or Syrian Desert over a long period of time. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN HENRY FIELD AND PARTY EXPLORING QASR AZRAK 503 Removing a lintel inscribed in Greek characters from a building which was located at the most eastern outpost of the Roman Empire. Marble Sculpture and the Ultra-violet Ray HE invisible ultra-violet rays are at the cold end of the solar spectrum. When objects are exposed to this light they tend in varying de- grees either to fluoresce or to reflect the rays. In the case of fluorescence, sub- stances which under normal conditions are white might appear yellow, blue, or any other color when exposed to ultra- violet light. Perhaps no works of art through the ages have been so sought for and cher- ished as fine marble sculptures. The temptation to produce forgeries, to copy, or to repair has attracted skilful artists and artisans. For this reason, in the study of the physical character- istics of museum exhibits, no material seemed to offer more interesting possi- bilities than marble. With continued exposure to the elements, the surface of marble is changed, and gradually, because of penetration from the surface, chemical action proceeds a short distance into af? AN ANCIENT ROMAN STRONGHOLD The fortress of Qasr Azrak was built by Roman legions to defend the Empire against Bedouin marauders. It was on one of the main lines of migration between the east and west North Arabia, once fertile, is now a desert the body of the marble. We might, therefore, expect that the appearance of old marble under the ultra-violet ray would be different from that of freshly cut marble (or old marble which has been re-cut), the surface of which has not been changed by chemical action, and this, in fact, has been demon- strated by experiments. After additional preliminary exper- imental work with marbles of various periods, a group of test examples was submitted. In ail cases the conclu- sions based on the use of the ultra- violet light were identical with those which had already been reached either on external evidence or by reasons of style. Both old and new pieces were submitted without any information whatsoever concerning the age of the specimens. Examined under the ultra- violet rays, the genuine pieces were readily distinguished from those which were more modern than they purported to be. The Little Maiden by Dossena, a marble statuette in the archaistic Roman style (see the SCIENTIFIC AMER- ICAN for October, 1929), although its surface had been altered by baking the marble and then pitting it with a ragged stone, was shown by the test to have been made from recently cut marble. In addition, the three portions into which the sculpture had been broken were found to be part of the same piece of marble. As with all new things, possibilities of which have not been throughly probed, it may be supposed that the ultra- violet light will be a panacea for all troubles. But just as with the X ray, it requires a wide experience with vary- ing cases, and no less careful judgment. Our experiments show that the ultra- violet rays will be of very great assis- tance in establishing the age of marble. That the ultra-violet rays have possi- bilities which are not limited to this field alone we are learning from our studies.—James J. Rorimer, of the Staff of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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504 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN eel ata December 1929 smal CENTRAL BUILDING OF THIS GROUP AT THE CHICAGO MUNICIPAL AIRPORT IS ONE OF THE LARGEST CLEAR-SPAN HANGARS Insuring Safety on Airlines Behind the Pilot Is a Far-Reaching Organization, Every Member of Which Is Working for the Good of the Service PERATING an air line has a fascination akin to any human endeavor requiring the co- ordination of a large number of separate functions to attain a particu- lar objective. As these operations in- crease, the separate efforts of a large number of people become increasingly important. Perhaps no better illus- tration of what I have in mind may be had than from the following quotation taken from an issue of the N. A. T. Fly Paper: “Airman. What a word to inspire the imagination! A dream of centuries come true, resulting in a people that may be described by such a magic word. Not all may fly, but as truly as the lowliest private and the greatest general are both described by the word soldier, so may the dirtiest ‘grease monkey’ and the greatest pilot be termed airmen. “Over the Alleghenies on the black- est night, through blinding fog as the mail roars on its way, it is accompanied and guided by the hand and brain of an airman. On an ice-covered field, in the blast of a zero wind, a fleet messenger of the air is being fueled. Guarding each gallon from the elements that the engine may have but the cleanest of gas, testing each plug that no chance of failure may remain to endanger a life at stake, you find a man who per- haps never flies but is nevertheless just as truly an airman. ‘Some are in cockpits; some at the gas pumps; others at a bench; some making a weather map; some pushing ships into shelter; others with no specific task more important than to help wherever they can—all airmen.” Air transport lines, being only another type of scheduled transporta- By LESTER D. SEYMOUR General Manager, National Air Transport tion, have discovered that they may look to the history of the railroads for precedent in many ways. Except for differencesin equipment the problems of the railroad and the well organized air transport line are much the same. Both depend to a large extent on that in- tangible but extremely important thing called esprit de corps. In air transport work particularly it is essential that every man, in what- ever capacity, realize the importance and relation of his particular job to the entire task. This may be because of greater speeds involved, the smaller in- dependent units, and because a failure of motive power may be more serious when a vehicle moves in two dimen- sions rather than in only one. The comparatively fragile nature of air- craft and the conditions under which they must operate have much to do with the situation. ERSONNEL employed in_ the operation of an airline require a greater average of skill than in other modes of transportation for the same reasons. This has been one reason for air transportation offering such great opportunities to specialists. Certain positions of trust in an air transport line, however, seem to de- mand many widely varying abilities in one individual. It has been said that a man who attempts to be a jack of all trades is a master of none. On the exception to this proverb rests the success of the air transport pilot. In flying on schedule through all kinds of weather, the actual manipulation of the controls of the airplane is the least of the pilot’s worries. That ability is something that he has at- tained and long since taken for granted somewhere back in his early flying ex- perience. In addition, he must at the same time exercise no mean ability as a meteorologist, aerologist, and weather forecaster. He must also con- tinuously function similarly to the navigator of a ship on the sea, and in some instances operate a radio trans- mitter. These duties require perfect co-ordination of brain and hand. The pilot has no little responsibility. He must not only complete his sched- ule on time but complete it safely. He has in his control an airplane which cost his employers many thousands of dollars. The value of his cargo is difficult even to guess. If it happens to be passengers, he is responsible for one to fifteen lives. If his cargo is inani- mate, mail or express, it may have any intrinsic value from zero to a huge sum according to the contents of the letters and packages. In either case he can only know that his responsi- bility for getting the cargo to its destination is too great for him to cal- culate. It has been said that the re- sponsibilities and duties of such a pilot combine those of the captain, navi- gator, and chief engineer of a ship, the locomotive engineer, train dispatcher, and railroad conductor. Leaving for the moment the actual task of flying the airplane, duties equally important devolve on the ground organization. It has been truly said by one of our pioneers “‘that there is more to aviation than flying.”’ For every airplane in the air someone, somewhere on the ground, must have made sure that every bolt, nut, and turn-buckle is tight and in its proper place; that every piece of metal and fabric is of proper strength and in pe gi al okt ne nee on 22 Shee. ae

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December 1929 perfect condition, and that every en- gine and instrument is more than cap- able of its task. Even the man whose duty is no more difficult than filling the fuel tanks has the responsibility of being sure that the tanks are really full, that the gasoline is clean and that his job is done at a time which will not inter- fere with the schedule or other work which the airplane may require in servicing. Somewhere another man must be re- sponsible for the collection and trans- mittal of accurate weather information, and another that it gets to the pilot when he needs it. Other men must be sure that the radio, whose beam the pilot follows through the clouds and fog, is kept operating and that the weather broadeast is accurate and ready at the exact time the pilot ex- pects or needs it. He must further hold himself in readiness for the trans- mission of any emergency messages that may be necessary. A little inci- dent will serve to show the necessity of quick action with the radio. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN companies. They have, however, cer- tain more or less definite points in common. At each field along the line a crew of service mechanics responsi- ble to a field manager is stationed. The field managers are responsible to a division superintendent stationed at some central point on the line from which flying activities are directed. If: the line is sufficiently long to warrant two or more divisions, then the division superintendents are re- sponsible to an operations manager. If not, the division superintendent him- self usually serves as operations man- ager responsible only to the general manager or operating head of the company. The pilots who fly the line are also responsible to the division superintendent or operations man- ager. Major overhaul and repair of the airplanes and engines is in most in- stances separated from service repairs and operated as an independent unit. Airplanes and engines are peri- odically taken out of active service and put through this overhaul shop before 505 Experience seems to indicate that airplanes may now be continuously flown a distance as great as 2000 miles between complete inspections and that complete overhaul may be required in the neighborhood of every 1000 or 1200 hours. An engine whose life may be estimated at 300 to 1500 hours is now expected to run from 250 to 300 hours between major overhauls. Of course, minor repairs and daily service are required on both airplanes and engines as the result of the rigid daily inspection. The weather service, which plays such a large part in modern scheduled air transport, is operated either by the government or by the lines themselves when the governmental service is not available. In either case this service consists of the collection of weather information along the line and some distance on each side of it at intervals of from two to four hours, and the dis- semination of such information to proper stations along the route. Data so collected, together with general weather maps and One of the N. A. T. pilots left Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, east- bound with the mail in fog so thick that it was impossible for him to see more than his lighted instrument board before him. He “took off,’’ however, with the knowledge that at Hadley Air- port, his destination, there was some 1500 feet of ‘‘ceiling.”’ ERIODICALLY along his journey eastward he was in- formed of weather changes as they took place. However, when he actually reached the field and flew over it, a sudden change of which he had not been informed had taken place since the last weather broad- east. As his ship went roaring across the field, which he could not see although he knew that he was over it, he found that the 1500-foot ceiling had _ disap- peared. He had no way of knowing whether the fog extended all the way to the ground or whether it might be clear un- derneath for a few hundred feet which would permit him to descend safely. With the ship roaring over- head, the field manager sensed the situation and rushed to the radio room of the Weather Bureau where he ad- vised the pilot that there was still approximately 300 feet below the fog. The pilot turned back, came safely down through the clouds, and landed. Only a sense of responsibility, knowl- edge of what to do, and doing it quickly brought the mail in on time and per- haps averted a disaster. The actual organization of an air transport line varies with different — INSPECTION Every plane on the N. A. T. lines is carefully inspected by competent mechanics before a scheduled being put back onto the line to replace others which in turn are taken off for their periodic overhaul. The shop mechanics are responsible to a shop superintendent who may either be responsible in turn to the manager of operations or to the general manager independently as the case may be. Such functions as engineering, ac- counting, publicity, advertising, and traffic are usually separate depart- ments of the company responsible di- rectly to the general manager. They serve as advisory and complimentary services to the actual flying. flight weather information furnished by the government, are made use of by the pilots in judging whether to fly through or over certain storms and atmospheric disturbances, and what may be their chances of getting through. The information is dis- seminated by land wire tele- graph and telephone and radio telegraph and telephone. Like railroad trains, the airplanes are dispatched and kept track of along the line from a central operating point. HE pilot usually flies from three to five hours on con- secutive days with one and in some cases two days off for rest between trips. Those who think that the pilot’s life is an easy one because he has so much time off need only follow him for a few weeks to discover that under certain circumstances he does as much work on one trip as most people do in a good many days. The pilot’s discipline is in most instances none the less rigid because self imposed. He knows that he must keep in the best con- dition in order to be equal to his task. In itself it places rather definite re- strictions on one’s mode of life. Every pilot is ambitious to complete on schedule that portion of the route assigned to him. The traditions of the service handed down from the days when equipment would permit of nothing like the present regularity are such that if it is humanly possible the trip is completed. No other urge is necessary. The pilot’s pride is in the success which his com-

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506 pany makes of the route, and he knows that when he is in the air he has it in his power to alter this record in proportion to how well he does his job. He is always endeavoring to do it a little bit better than someone else might do it under the same cir- cumstances. On air transport lines various methods are employed to pay the per- sonnel. Pilots receive in some cases a fixed monthly salary of from SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN In the past few years concentrated effort to develop aids to air naviga- tion, particularly for use at night and under conditions of poor visibility, have resulted in much improvement. The radio beacon, or radio range as it is technically called, has been put to work. By means of especially de- signed radio equipment, pilots now follow it between Cleveland and New York over the lines of N. A. T. Al- December 1929 value to everyone who travels by air. The business organization of an air transport company is divided into two parts. First, that which has to do with the functioning of the line incident to carrying the cargoes with which the company is entrusted. Another part of the business organization sells the service and seeks to familiarize the public with the service offered. This organization, variously termed the traffic, commercial, or public 300 to 500 dollars or more. On other lines they receive a base salary of from 1600 to 2400 dollars a year, plus from five to ten cents a mile, depending upon the route they fly and whether it is day or night flying. ECHANICS are paid either on an hourly or weekly basis. They receive from 35 to 40 dollars a week and upward according to their skill. Helpers receive from 25 to 30 dollars and upward in proportion to their skill and progress toward a full me- chanic’s rating. The schedules on air trans- port lines are maintained in proportion to the effort and vigor with which those charged with flying the route accomplish their pur- pose within the limitations placed by weather and natural obstacles. At the present state of development it is still true that a graph showing the year’s operations clearly indicates the effect of the seasons. Efficiency of operations falls off somewhat in the winter and mounts in the summer. Fortunately, airplanes are growing better. Aids to navigation are grow- ing more numerous and the discrep- aney between summer and_ winter operations efficiency is decreasing. A graph showing the regularity of keeping to schedule on one line was made covering a year’s period and compared with a similar graph showing weather conditions over the same period. Except for differences in scale, these two curves were almost identical. Undue delay, or failure to fly the route as a result of poor equipment or poor main- tenance, have been very nearly elimi- nated. On the line between Chicago and New York, flying has been carried out with nearly 100 percent efficiency all during thesummer months. Ina three- months period the average flying time between terminals has been less than schedule. Only a fraction of 1 percent of the trips has been defaulted and these were entirely due to weather con- ditions. This experience is not un- usual and should be expected of any well operated line equipped with proper aircraft and assuming average weather conditions. GOVERNMENT RADIO BEACON AND BROADCAST STATION though it is invisible to the eye, it affords a definite roadway for the sky traveler like the ribbon of concrete for the automobile on the ground. Powerful light beacons have also been developed and placed at fre- quent intervals along the routes, to aid the aviator at night. These light- houses of the air consist of large rotating searchlights whose rays may be seen on the horizon for distances up to 50 miles or more on a clear night. Because few nights are clear, these beacons are placed in most instances as close as ten miles apart. HESE beacons are guarded as carefully as the lights which guide tne ships along our coasts. The traditions of the light keeper who lives year after year on the rockbound coast with only an ambition never to let his light fail are no more exacting than the duty which keeps the caretaker on the job to see that the airway beacon is always lighted and _ functioning properly. These beacons, like light- houses, are under the jurisdiction of the United States Government. Inci- dentally, they are under the super- vision of the same office, the United States Bureau of Lighthouses. Likewise, the Weather Bureau of the United States has come to the assis- tance of this newest means of trans- portation, and is giving invaluable assistance from a multitude of new stations. Their duty is to collect and disseminate weather information spe- cifically prepared to be of the most relations department, func- tions much the same as the sales organization of any other company. Because the activities of an airline are stretched over a considerable distance, the com- mercial organization is com- pelled to have a number of dis- trict offices. One is to be found in each of the most important cities through which the line operates. From these offices under the direction of a dis- trict manager, all matters per- taining to advertising, pub- licity, business solicitation, and public information are handled. Because air transport is so new, and because the public has not yet become accus- tomed to thinking of air travel in the same way that it thinks of sur- face travel, the business organization of an air transport line must earry ona continual effort to familiarize the public with the capabilities and possibilities of using aircraft in their business and social life. URPRISING as it may seem, al- though over 40,000 miles are flown every 24 hours by the airmail in the United States, and perhaps half of that distance flown over passenger routes, many individuals still are not aware of the advantage which this new means of transportation offers to them personally in facilitation of their busi- ness. A rather humorous incident illustrative of this comes to mind. Not long ago a gentleman leaving Chicago for New York on one of the popular extra-fare trains discovered after hurrying onto the train that he had forgotten his false teeth. He had left them in his hotel room in Chicago. He mentioned this to the dining car steward at lunch time and the steward suggested that perhaps he might care to make use of the airmail. At the next railroad station a telegram was dispatched to the hotel in Chicago asking that the missing false teeth be airmailed to a certain New York hotel. The next morning the gentle- man was happy to find his false teeth awaiting him at the hotel upon his arrival in New York. Whether or not air transport “‘pays”’ is a difficult question to answer. Many people who should know believe that

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December 1929 the operation of an air transport line is already a profitable business. Others hold that it is still too new for them to judge whether or not that which ap- pears to be profit at the moment may actually and safely be so termed. This is because no two airlines now in exis- tence Operate under identical con- ditions. Loads carried have not be- come stable enough to determine what the ultimate may be. In general most of the airlines operat- ing under government contracts carry- ing mail in the United States are show- ing a profit. Except in perhaps a few isolated cases, the same is not true of scheduled lines carrying only pas- sengers. This is mainly because air- planes as yet available for these oper- ators do not carry enough passengers to make the unit cost per passenger mile sufficiently low to show a profit with the number of passengers that are attracted to the service. This in turn is the result perhaps of two factors. One is that not a sufficient number of people have as yet become familiar with the advantages of air travel and another that for a large number the prices which must be charged under present circumstances are too high to be at- tractive. With this in mind, it appears that the developments which will make air travel in the United States more popu- lar are such improvements as will bring the cost of air travel within the reach SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN scheduled airline operations are sur- prisingly free from occurrences resulting in fatal accidents and that most of the airplane accidents which occupy so much space in the pages of the public press are the result of irregular flying such as training, stunts of one kind or another, or some other hazardous type of flying that would never be experi- enced by a passenger on any regular air line. Statistics from our own service in this respect may be of interest. Since the beginning of operations we have flown more than 5,000,000 miles. In all of this flying, five lives have been lost. These were pilots whose lives were lost in the service of the airmail as the direct result of weather con- ditions beyond human control and at a time when no passenger would have been in the air. Likewise, ships are lost at sea in those rare instances when nature takes a hand in things and causes such weather conditions as are beyond the power of any man-made craft to endure. No doubt in whatever way we learn to travel in the future, this will still be true as it has been in the past. From the standpoint of comparisons it is felt that even with the meager progress which we have made to date, airplanes flying in scheduled service, licensed by the government, and operated by licensed personnel, afford no greater danger to the casual passenger than LOADING EXPRESS PACKAGES IN A TRANSPORT PLANE of a larger number of people. When this ean be done either by the use of airplanes carrying 20 to 40 passengers, or when smaller airplanes can be operated at a considerably less cost than at present, it is believed that air- lines carrying passengers will prosper. Fear of the air no longer prevents people from riding, if a reasonable price can be charged for the service. Undoubtedly the matter of fatalities as the result of air operations in the past have had a great effect on the pub- lic. Actual statistics indicate that cose OOO “AIR Simre vy AME AN RAM way EXPRi.- other established means of trans- portation. An incident which occurred some months ago revealed an interesting cause for a delay in transporting the airmail. Incidentally, it gives a good indication of the thoroughness with which the cause of each deviation from the schedule is investigated by those in charge of flying operations. The westbound night mail from New York was late reaching Cleveland— later than warranted by prevailing weather conditions. When the pilot 507 landed he was asked for an explanation. Shouldering the blame for the delay, the pilot explained that he had been forced to choose between maintaining his schedule and possibly saving several lives. In a village somewhere between Bellefonte and Cleveland he had no- ticed a house on fire. He could see that no one had given an alarm. Ap- parently the occupants of the house were asleep, totally unaware of their grave danger. With his motor roaring, he zoomed over the house, returning again and again in an effort to awaken the occu- pants. Within a few minutes the people were aroused by the noise. They rushed out of the burning house in their night clothes, sounding an alarm in time to keep the fire from spreading and causing more serious damage. Some time later, with appropriate ceremony, the airmail pilot was made an honorary member of the village fire department. As time goes on and the business in- creases, the organization of the lines will change to meet the situation. As it stands today, the United States mail forms the largest portion of the cargo. Express operated in conjunc- tion with the Railway Express Agency forms another portion of the cargo. Likewise, on certain lines, passengers are carried with the mail. Undoubtedly the division of cargo will change as time goes on, as will the capabilities and limitations of aircraft and com- munication systems. With these changes will come changes in organiza- tion and with the expansion of the lines to cover the country and serve its cities more completely, so will the organization expand and become more adapted to conditions as they appear. When it comes to considering air transport as a career, the answer would seem too obvious for comment. Here we have not only the newest but the greatest phase of transport de- velopment in the history of the world, initsinfancy. Itis no more possible to predict at this time what changes in our every-day life the use of aircraft will bring about than it would have been possible 20 years ago to have pre- dicted with any degree of accuracy what changes in our life or what op- portunities were about to be made possible by the increasingly wide-spread use of the automobile. F one stops to consider, the automo- bile has not only affected the lives of each one of us but it is surprising how many of us are living in a manner that could not have been true were it not for the automobile. This is true even in addition to the hundreds of thousands of people who are actually employed either in the manufacture or operation of the automotive vehicle. The same will be true, except in a much greater measure, as the result of the airplane.

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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 The Art of Pliocene Man More Discoveries Made in Eastern England Strengthen the Belief That Very Ancient Man Was Highly Intelligent By J. REID MOIR Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland HEN, in 1909, I discovered the flint implements of Pliocene man beneath the Red Crag of Suffolk, Eng- land, it was at once apparent that these artifacts were by no means as primitive in their forms and flaking as their great age would have led us to expect. In fact, a study of these specimens soon satisfied me that their shaping had been carried out by people having a consider- able knowledge of the fracture of Hint, and that it was not possible to believe such implements were made by some semi-human, ape-like creature. The complex and clever manner in which the ‘‘rostro-carinate,”’ or eagle’s beak, specimens had been produced showed that thinking brains were oper- ating in Suffolk some 500,000 years ago, and this conclusion was supported by an examination of the other sub-Red Crag implements such as side scrapers, push-planes, borers, and choppers. The Pliocene implements of East Anglia are made in the great majority of cases by the removal of large flake scars, and anyone who has flaked flint and‘attempted to shape it to any de- sired form will have realized the ex- treme difficulty of doing so by means of such bold flaking. It is, in fact, easier to make an implement by the removal of small flakes, such as were detached in late and Stone Age times. FT°HUS the extensive amcunt of material which I recovered from the Bone Bed beneath the Red Crag convinced me that on the ancient land surface of Pliocene times in East Anglia there lived a race of hunters who were adepts in flint flaking, and who had progressed some distance upon the path of human evolution. In order to demonstrate the truth of this state- ment I have drawn a sketch of a beau- tifully-made scraper in flint from be- neath the Red Crag at Bramford in East Suffoik. It is made from a flake, and will compare favorably with many of the scrapers produced at much later periods. Having thus realized the state of ad- vancement of Pliocene man, it was not, therefore, a great surprise to me to find associated with his flint implements certain specimens of shaped bone. The Bone Bed beneath the Red Crag is, as its name implies, rich in ossiferous re- mains, chiefly in a*fragmentary state. These bones are of widely different ages, some dating back to the Eocene aS THE AUTHOR POINTING TO THE BONE BED Above this bed are: Loamy Red Crag sand, 48 inches; glacial gravel containing many flints, 58 inches; upper chalky boulder clay laid down by an ice sheet, 36 inches; surface soil Epoch, while others are to be referred to the end of Pliocene times when the Crag Sea was invading the slowly sink- ing coast of East Anglia. It is evident that the people of those days had real- ized the many uses to which bone could be put if suitably shaped, and I illus- trate two specimens from beneath the Red Crag. The drawing in the right- hand column of the opposite page shows views of a pointed bone made from a large piece of rib. It is most definitely artificial and would have served admirably for making holes in skins and for other similar purposes. The specimen illustrated in the center of the opposite page is even more re- markable. It is also made from a large piece of bone and at one end has been rubbed into a well marked hollow. In dressing skins such a tool would be of great value, as the pelt could be placed over a rounded stick and ‘‘dressed”’ by means of the hollowed bone held in the hand. The bone implements from beneath THE REMARKABLE FIND The sling stone described in the text. Marks due to shaping show clearly the Crag are of great variety. They are very highly fossilised and when struck with another hard object ring as does metal. Often, as in the case of the specimen just referred to, they have been perforated by the boring mollusca of the Crag Sea which inundated the land surface upon which Pliocene man had lived. Although these discoveries in such an ancient deposit of well-made imple- ments and bones were sufficiently sur- prising, they pale into insignificance when compared with another specimen, the discovery and details of which I will now describe. URING the vear 1926 I conducted excavations in the Bone Bed be- neath the Red Crag at a pit designated as Pit No. 1 on the north bank of the River Gipping at Bramford, near Ipswich. The photograph at the top of the page shows the section of the pit, the Bone Bed lying at the base, upon the harder clay upon which I am stand- ing. In their work at this quarry its owners remove and dump the surface soil, the boulder clay, and the glacial gravel, while the loamy sand, repre- senting the Red Crag, is utilized in making bricks. When we started exca- vating in 1926 we found an area of con- siderable extent of this loamy sand left in place upon the underlying Bone Bed, and before beginning to search for any specimens in this latter deposit the loamy sand was barrowed away. Thus it is clear that any object found in the compact Bone Bed must be referred to that deposit and could not have been CS, = st oe ek ek ee Oe ae a ee ae. Gte CO Oat &

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December 1929 derived from any higher and later ac- cumulation. The Bone Bed at Pit Number 2, Bramford, rests at an eleva- tion of about 100 feet and occupies its norma) position in the area under dicussion upon the surface of the harder clay. Further, its contents, as examined by me, accord with those of the other exposures of the same deposit in various parts of Suffolk, and are made up of typical Bone Bed material. Moreover, the beds surmounting the loamy sand at Pit Number 2, Bramford, do not exhibit signs of glacia] disturb- ance such as might have ploughed into the Bone Bed and rearranged it with later material. The conclusion therefore must be that the remarkable object now to be described which was removed from the Bone Bed by my trained excavator, John Baxter, formed an integral part of that deposit. \ HEN the diggings carried out in 1926 were in progress, the vari- ous specimens deemed worthy of pre- servation were brought to my house, labeled, and put away in drawers. Among these items was an egg-shaped object which my excavator brought home because of its somewhat unusual form. This specimen, I regret to say, I did not submit to any close examina- tion, and its real and remarkable nature remained unrecognized until] the occa- sion of a visit to my house of the distinguished archeologist, Professor H. Breuil. Prof. Breuil was greatly im- pressed with the object and, at my re- quest, wrote the following account of it for insertion in the records: ‘“‘While I was staying in Ipswich with my friend J. Reid Moir, we were ex- amining together a drawer of objects from the base of the Red Crag at Bram- ford, when Mr. Moir showed me a singular egg-shaped object which had been picked up on account of its un- usual shape. Even at first sight it ap- peared to me to present artificial striations and facets, and I therefore examined it more closely with a min- eralogist’s lens. This examination showed me that my first impression was fully justified and that the object had been shaped by the hand of man. In shape it is like a rather elongated egg, a a

PLIOCENE FLINT SCRAPER “There lived a race of hunters who were adepts at flint flaking....’’ See the text SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 509

FOUR ASPECTS OF THE MANUFACTURED SLING STONE Drawn by the author. Natural size. The Pliocene Epoch preceded the Pleistocene, or glacial Epoch, but the author and some others place the first glaciation in the Pliocene Epoch with one end slightly blunter than the other. At each end there is a small de- pression or punctuation, and other punctuations are visible on the body of the object, four or five being grouped together in places into a rhomboid, or a straight line. It is possible that these are merely due to the decomposition of crystalline grains included in the gen- eral mass (which appears to me to re-

SKIN DRESSING TOOL This also was found in the Bone It was doubtless used for dressing skins 3ed. semble steatite). These tiny depres- sions are still filled with grains of sand cemented with ochrous and manganese material, spots of which have stained the object at various points on its exterior. “The whole surface of the ‘egg’ has been scraped with a flint, in such a way that it is covered with a series of facets running fairly regularly from end to end. Each one of these facets is made up of a number of longitudinal stria- tions, the fine parallel Jines being of un- equal depth, as though they had been made by a slightly broken edge of flint. A number of fine concentric incisions are visible at one of the poles; and others more or less oblique, one of the latter being fairly deep. The scraping described above covers the whole sur- face of the object and penetrates into its irregularities. As it stands, the ob- ject is entirely artificial, and although somewhat smaller it recalls the steatite sling-stones of New Caledonia.” With this excellent report I am in agreement. The specimen has now been submitted to various well-known archeologists who have without ex- ception agreed that it is artificially shaped, and conforms in its general ap- pearance with the sling-stones men- tioned by Prof. Breuil. The object, which is of a greyish-brown color, weighs, approximately, one half ounce. It measures in greatest length 13< inch, and in greatest width % inch. The material of which it is composed seems now very hard and its exact nature, at present, remains in doubt. I imagine that, at one time, the specimen must have been in a somewhat softer condi- tion to allow of the shaping being car- ried out as, in its present state, such shaping would, I believe, be impossible. In experiments I conducted in shaping clay with a sharp piece of flint I found that | produced markings in every way comparable with those observable upon the “‘sling-stone.’’ The specimen photograph and is illustrated by a by drawings which

ANOTHER FIND A piercing tool made from bone. These drawings are three eights natural size are reproduced above. The photo- graph appears on the opposite page. There would seem to be no need to stress the importance of the discovery of this “sling-stone” in a Pliocene de- posit. It has suddenly illuminated, as it were, the human Pliocene stage, and shows us a picture of man’s advance- ment hitherto regarded as impossible at that remote epoch. This “sling- stone” is more than an ordinary arti- fact—it is a work of art—and its signi- ficance upon our whole outlook on the antiquity of the human race must be profound.

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510 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 s, In PART OF THE BOULEVARD FROM SUTRO HEIGHTS An old section of the esplanade that is built along the sea beach of Golden Gate Park. The new and proader extension runs off in the distance. It is a popular recreation point Esthetic Engineering How San Francisco Anchored Shifting Sands and Built a Beautiful Boulevard on What Had Been a Barren Waste ANY of San Francisco’s civic achievements have excited universal admiration. And no wonder! A smouldering mass of ruins after the earthquake and fire not quite a quarter of a century ago, this Pacific Coast city has had the advantage of being able to start anew, practically to build according to mod- ern ideas from the ground up and to take advantage in its city planning of experience gained from the former mis- takes which the disaster had blotted out. The spirit of modernity therefore prevails in a great many of the city’s buildings and public works. The foresight of the city planners is reflected in a thoroughfare which is now nearing completion under the di- rection of the San Francisco Park Commission with Superintendent John McLaren in charge. In fact, this new boulevard, which is called the Great Highway, is said to rank second to no By C. W. GEIGER and RUTH SABICHI other of this city’s proud possessions. It is 400 feet wide and extends from the world famous Cliff House in the city, three miles southward to Sloat Boulevard. Extension of the solid concrete esplanade from Fulton Street to Lincoln Way is a part of the work. This covers the entire frontage of Golden Gate Park and its completion will mark the culmination of years of planning. HERE are three primary phases of this great work: the construc- tion of the concrete esplanade, the use of sea bent grass for building up the area on which the highway is con- structed, and the building of the high- way itself. At the section near Lincoln Way, where the work under the careful super- vision of John McLaren is being done, a great problem was presented to the engineers. This was the conquering of the drifting sand which previously was piled up or blown away by wind and waves. ‘Sea bent was the an- swer to this problem,” said Mr. Mc- Laren. “This deep-rooted grass, an immigrant from France, has done more to add to the area of San Francisco than any other agency of which I am aware. Sea bent, of which we planted the first seed many years ago, has re- claimed probably 150 acres along the beach from Lincoln Way south to the city limits. It has such a peculiar adaptability that it thrives best in sand where the wind is strong. The deep roots and tall leaves hold the sand so that drifting is prevented and the sand is made to pile up. By pre- venting the sand from blowing inland the beach has gradually been extended seaward.’ It is upon this reclaimed sand that the boulevard is being con- structed. It is doubtful if there is anywhere in ee —— — aS Se UC

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December 1929 the world a thoroughfare as wide and as beautifully built as the Great High- way. The various drives and walks on this thoroughfare are laid out as follows, from east to west: First, there is a 15-foot walk, then a 40- foot service road which is used for general traffic in both directions. To the west of this is a 60-foot section of lawn and shrubs sloping up to a level about 8 feet higher than the lower road. Then comes a 20-foot bridle path, and west of this a lawn A STRETCH OF LAWN At the left is the eastern footpath and roadway, in front is a lawn section, and at the right are the main roadways 10 feet wide. West of this lawn there is a 50-foot concrete road for one-way traffic. Then there is another stretch of grass and shrubs and another 50- foot concrete roadway for one-way traffic. Between the western side of the last mentioned roadway and the ocean beach is another lawn set with trees and shrubs, and also a wide hee. foot-path. From thisfoot-path, jean the slope down to the beach @=s sands is heavily planted with sea bent and trees, generally i cypress, to prevent drifting. ff 7 Ne An underpass which will : THE ‘H’’ BEAMS > Beams to provide slip joints, in place. In the trench at their lower ends are the piles a Auf SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN on ; i : ae —— PREPARING THE BOULEVARD GRADE The boulevard was built upon sand drifts—land that had been reclaimed by planting sea bent grass. This illustration shows the work of grading esplanade and is reached from the main highway. The first sections of the esplanade were built many years ago, and, suc- cessfully withstanding many winters of pounding by the Pacific Ocean, have demonstrated that this is a satisfactory method of protecting the world-famous beach. The esplanade is constantly being extended as money is provided; the last extension, just completed, pro- vides a solid concrete esplanade from a short distance south of the Cliff House to Lincoln Way. permit pedestrians to walk from the Ocean Beach Chalet to the beach with- out encountering traffic, and an adjacent equestrian ramp are among the engi- neering features of the project that have attract- ed widespread interest. It is believed that the equestrian ramp is a new de- parture in highway construction. It will enable horsemen to ride down the face of the esplanade to the ocean and will serve further as a protection against high tides during storm periods. The ‘THE popularity of this great en- gineering project which lends an esthetic note to an already beautiful park is attested by the fact that every day hundreds of motorists park their cars back of the es- planade (and on Sundays and holidays this number of motorists is increased to thousands) where they may view the mighty Pacific in ramp is built directly on the face of the absolute safety. Here they may rest and watch the waves pile up the sand against the steps of the es- ic 3 | et te ie 4 yor “P Shore ; yi Rite inpat it Bis ca ; 5s e eli dd % . 4 ‘—_ ee } - , pe y A 7 . a ~~ in = Pe P aaa | Forms, reinforcing steel, and the ‘“‘H’”’ beams with tar in their side grooves—all ready for the concrete. Note the complex reinforcing THE FINISHING TOUCHES Concrete has been poured around the projecting tops of the piles and men are making the final connections of reinforcing steel

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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FOR THE EQUESTRIAN RAMP Workmen placing the forms in which is to be poured the concrete ‘or the equestrian ramp. This ramp permits horses to be ridden down from the boulevard above to the beach sands planade in the winter time so that the driven. The piles that form the front water line is far out from the base, or row—-that nearest the ocean—were see it removed during the summer months so that the waves break almost directly upon the steps below them. The esplanade has a front wall which was formed by driving interlocking concrete piling to a depth of 13 feet be- low extreme low tide. ‘“Bleachers,”’ or steps, have been built in the lower sec- tion. The top bleacher riser develops into a rollway and this rollway ends at the top of, and forms part of, a three and one half foot parapet wall with re- turns at each side of each stairway sec- tion. Beyond this parapet is a 20-foot concrete sidewalk with weep holes to release wave water. Behind this es- planade is the Great Highway extend- ing from the Cliff House to Sloat Boulevard along the Pacific Coast for about three miles. HE method of constructing this mighty esplanade which has suc- cessfully withstood the pounding of the ocean embodies several unique fea- tures. The concrete piling was placed by four water jets, one jet being held at each corner of each pile as it was IN SUMMER T IME or risers, are washed free of action of the waves and furnish convenient seats During the summer the bleachers, sand by the interlocked by means of steel construc- tion. After the piles were driven, the sand between their upper ends was PARTLY COMPLE TE D The bleachers completed, the wall yet to be built—looking toward Sutro Heights December 1929 washed out and the space around the projecting piles filled with concrete, making practically a solid concrete wall. The steel interlocking makes it impossible for the piles to pull away from each other, either vertically or horizontally. This steel interlocking works some- thing like the tongue and grooving in flooring. In setting the piles, they were picked up by a crane and raised so that the interlocking steel in the bottom of each suspended pile fitted into the in- terlocking steel at the top of the last pile driven. It was then lowered so that the bottom of the pile rested on the sand. The jets were then started and, as the sand was washed from un- der the bottom of the pile, its weight caused it to sink into its final position. HE work is provided with ex- pansion joints in the form of heavy concrete “H’’ beams so that there is no danger of cracking. On each side of the ‘“‘H’”’ beams there is a groove running the entire length of the beam. Hot tar is poured into these grooves and the concrete which forms the bleachers is then poured. Run- ning into the grooves, the fresh con- crete, because of the tar, does not stick to the ““H’’ beams, thus giving a slip joint which allows the concrete to ex- pand and contract, after setting, with- out cracking any of the other work. The grooves also extend to the top of the back wall, thus binding the entire structure rigidly together, yet at the same time permitting the sections to give when struck by a high wave, due to their lack of rigidity or, we might say, due to their flexibility. The lower ends of the ‘tH’ beams rest on the interlocked sheet piling. A concrete slab four feet thick and six feet wide binds the lower end of the *“H”’ beams to the top of the interlock- ing piles. At the upper end of beams bearing on pedestal piles is a similar cap which ties the upper portion of the beams to the pedestal piles. There is also a groove, similar to those in the ““H”’ beams, which provides expansion joints for the rollway. AND IN WINTER Winter storms pile up sand against the bleachers as shown in this photograph but this is gradually washed away by the waves

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December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN CANTALOUPE BALL SALAD When these men get back on their cars one more dessert will be The kitchen simulates the real thing added to their repertoire. —_— AN IMMOVABLE DINING-CAR KITCHEN One end of the pantry and kitchen of the training school. The arrangements are exact duplicates of those on Tailroad trains When the Dining-Car OU ‘have perhaps often won- dered at the deft service and tasteful viands which the din- ing car affords. These are the net result of very efficient training and the use of excellent materials. Then the question arises, ‘““Do dining cars pay?” No, they do not. One large trunk line tells us that their dining cars “went into the red’’ for seven hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars in 1927. Another road advertises the fact that they lose 19 cents on every meal served on their dining cars. You might ask, Why do they run them?” The answer is competition. Passengers have to be fed one way or another, and the din- ing is quicker and more satisfactory than the old station restaurants where the whole trainload was disgorged for 20 minutes of indigestion. The Pennsylvania Railroad main- tains a school for dining-car employes at its commissary at Columbus, Ohio. Every dish on the menuis prepared from printed instructions, but the end is not there. Personal instruction is added in “ROAST BEEF RARE” ‘This teacher-chef knows how to cook roast beef and his pupils will be shown how to duplicate the culinary feat STEWARDS AND CHEFS FRONT The instructing chef is demonstrating to a group of stewards and chefs the proper method of preparing the meat for roasting =a A LESSON IN MANNERS This is a view of the dummy dining compartment in the Penn- sylvania’s training school and kitchen for dining-car employes Staff Goes to School a school which is an exact reproduction, both in space and equipment, of the latest type Pennsylvania Railroad din- ing-car, built into and forming a part of the Columbus commissary. Every fea- ture from kitchen utensils, range, boiler, and pantry, to the dining-room and tables for patrons, has been faithfully re- produced inthecommissary. Eventhe connecting aisles and corridors have been retained. The men see every- thing done in an ideal way, by skilled instructors. Not only the chefs but the waiters receive from time to time les- sons which bring them up-to-date after their initial instruction. All new em- ployes undergo rigid training and in- struction before actual service on the road. Under the present arrangement the men go to school for an hour’s in- struction before they leavefor their road trips. The average employe spends approximately three hours a week at school. Tests are also made to develop improved methods in the preparation of dishes and their combinations to be served on the diners en route.

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514 THE WHOLE FAMILY FLIES The Ford trimotor plane is in use on several airlines, and in- spires passengers with its readily apparent staunchness SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 American Passenger Air Transport—lIl Many Facts of Great Interest to the Prospective Airline Passenger Are Here Discussed at Length By PROFESSOR ALEXANDER KLEMIN Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics, New York University ssociate Editor, Scientiric AMERICAN (Concluded from November) N technical circles, there is still some argument as to the compara- tive merits of single-engined and multi-engined planes. The argu- ments in favor of the single-engined plane are somewhat as follows: That they give the pilot less to think of at one and the same time; that the pilot has fewer gages to look at and only one engine to listen to; that a single- engined plane is more efficient than a multi-engined plane; that, while un- doubtedly a multi-engined plane is more reliable as regards power plant, there are other hazards such as stall- ing, pilot’s mistakes, fog, and bad weather to contend with, and that a multiplicity of engines is no safeguard against such hazards. The very definite replies to these ar- guments is that safety is paramount and that while a more reliable power plant does not of itself insure safety, it is a most important contributing fac- tor; that the pilot of a multi-engined plane soon accommodates himself to his task; and that nothing contributes more to a feeling of security among passengers when flying over unfavor- able terrain,.than the sight of three powerful engines in lieu of one. No less an authority than Colonel Lindbergh has definitely expressed himself in favor of three or even four engines. The general practice of our operators also indicates that the multi- engined idea will prevail. A survey of the various airlines gives the following data relative to the type of planes in use: Single-engined planes on 16 passenger lines; twin-engined amphib- ians on four lines (the Sikorsky am- phibians are quite capable of flying on one engine out of the two); three- engined planes on 16 lines. There is little doubt that, as air traffic increases in volume, very few passenger lines will be equipped with anything but multi- engined machines. T is interesting to note General At- terbury’s reasons for theselectionof Ford trimotor planes for the T. A. T. ‘‘A number of tests were made by Colo- nel Lindbergh and his associates on the technical committee, of different pas- senger planes, at Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and Detroit. These tests lasted well into the fall of 1928, as new models of passenger planes were being perfected. The type of ship finally se- lected for the initial order was a Ford trimotor, a:l-metal monoplane, capable of carrying ten passengers. The first consideration in making this selection was that of safety. Trimotored ships can fly on any two of theirthree motors; and, with only a single motor running, will lose altitude so slowly that they still have a wide landing radius—more than 50 miles, for example, from a 10,000-foot altitude.’”’ Granted that more than one engine should be used for passenger air transport, there is still the question as to whether two or three engines should be used. The answer is one of simple arithmetic: If the twin- engined plane can fly on one of its two engines, then it is much safer than the three-engined craft, because it has only two engines to give possibility of trouble instead of three. When one engine in a twin-engined plane quits, the following difficulties arise: The engine still functioning gives through its propeller a powerful eccen- tric thrust, which tends to turn the machine violently round. The pilot has to apply powerful rudder, and bank the machine somewhat. Both these actions increase the horsepower required to keep the plane flying. At the same time the propeller of the remaining engine is working under disadvantageous con- ditions, because it has to absorb the full power of the engine while the for- ward speed of the plane is slow. De tho diti dy! pre of s gin tha the

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December 1929 A few years ago, plane designers thought it impossible to meet these con- ditions. Now by improvement in aero- dynamic design, by careful study of propeller characteristics, and by the use of special rudders at least two twin-en- gined transports have definitely shown that they can fly on one engine alone. These are the Sikorsky amphibian and the Curtiss Condor. F they give proof of this quality un- der continued service conditions, designers may rapidly swing to twin- engine design. Besides the possibility of greater power plant reliability, a twin-engined machine has a number of advantages. The propeller placed at the nose of a very large cabin fuselage is never highly efficient. In the twin-en- gined job, no such blanketing need be feared, since the engine nacelles can be nicely streamlined. The pilots can now be placed at the very front end of the fuselage where their vision is unim- peded. Engines, gasoline system, and piping can be removed from the fuse- lage, thus adding tothe safety and com- fort of the passengers. Since there is no engine in the nose, vibration is likely to be decreased in the cabin. These are all important considerations. In view of the large number of plane types employed in passenger transport (descriptions of several of which have already appeared in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN) we shall be obliged to deal with them rather briefly. It may be of interest, however, to give greater detail on the very latest (at the time of writ- ting) large passenger transport, the 18- < Fo

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN passenger Curtis Condor, which pre- sumably embodies much of the experi- ence gained by operators to date. (See also article on page 488 of this issue. Editor.) The first point of difference between the Condor and other large passenger airplanes, is that the Curtiss is powered with two instead of three engines. The Condor has climbed to and maintained an altitude of more than 5000 feet when fully loaded. If similar performance is maintained under service conditions, a real element of safety will have been added. Engine maintenance costs, an important point in airplane operation, are also likely to be less than with three engines. Furthermore, the engines are water-cooled instead of being air-cooled. The argu- ments advanced are that water-cooled engines are less noisy than air-cooled types with their exposed valve gear, that with varying weather conditions, temperature regu- lation in the water-cooled type is finer, and that with proper care, the water-cooled type is actually more reliable. These are plausible argu- ments, although the ‘“‘come- back” of the water-cooled type is by no means a cer- tainty. The general characteristics of the Condor are: Engines— two Curtiss Conquerors (geared down) with a total horsepower of 1200 at 2400 revolutions per minute; instrument board. empty—11,352 useful load — 6026 510 pounds; 1916 pounds; 3060 pounds for weight pounds; pounds; crew - fuel and oil pay load -

passengers, 540 pounds for baggage; gross weight—17,378 pounds; length overall — 57 feet 1 inch; span overall—91 feet 8 inches; wing area—1512 square feet; wing loading in pounds per square foot—11.50; power loading in pounds per THE TWO-MOTORED ‘‘CONDOR”’ Above: A three quarter rear view of this 18-passenger plane. interior of the pilots’ compartment showing the dual controls and the complete Left: Looking toward the rear of the passenger compartment 515 horsepower—14.47. The performance is as follows: high speed—139 miles per hour; landing speed—49 miles per hour; cruising speed—116 miles per hour; absolute ceiling—19,200 feet; and max- imum range at cruising speed of 116 miles per hour—five hours. The framework is entirely of metal, mostly duralumin. The biplane form of wing cellule was selected to keep the span to reasonable dimensions and pro- vide a light structure. The engines are geared down 2 to 1, so that the 13-foot propellers may work in correct rela- tionship to the speed of the plane. Wheel brakes are standard equipment, as are gasoline dump valves, running lights, and signal flares.

Above at right: The Radio communication with the ground is essential at all times. The radio equipment, installed by the Radio Corporation of America, consists of a 100-watt combination telephone and telegraph transmitter operating on 600- to 950-meter wavelengths. Its source of power is a dynamotor which draws its current from the standard landing-light batteries of the plane. The receiving equipment is designed for frequencies used by the marine stations of the United States Coast Guard and

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516 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN THE FOKKER TRANSPORT the stations of the Airways Division of the United States Department of Com- merece. The entire equipment weighs but 145 pounds and was developed by the Radiomarine Corporation of America. A trailing wire antenna is used. The chairs in the Condor are com- fortable and luxurious, although they can be lifted by a small child. They have high backs tapering to padded headrests, and are covered with durable top-grain leather. These ‘“‘super-chairs”’ are adjustable automatically to any angle of inclination. The passenger accomplishes this adjustment by lean- ing back to a satisfactory position; the chairs will retain the exact angle. Draughts or excessive cold will not be tolerated by the traveling public, yet fresh air is demanded. The Condor cabin has 48 cubic feet of air per person, since there are 18 passengers, a floor area of 138 square feet, and a cabin height of 6 feet 3 inches. Also there are ventilators for admitting air through the roof of the plane, and capa- ble of being carefully regulated. One is located in the pilot’s compartment, one in the main cabin, and one in the lavatory. ‘T“O avoid the discomforts of leakage in an exhaust gas heater, steam heat isemployed. Two small radiators weigh- ing less than a pound and containing superheated steam are located below openings in the floor. The steam is ob- tained from two tiny boilers located in the exhaust manifolds of the engines. The interior of the cabin is divided into three compartments, separated from each other by arches. Each com- partment accommodates six passen- gers, and if desired the operator can shut off each compartment from the other by means of doors, thus giving the equivalent of a railway drawing room. The compartments have at- tractive carpets and the interiors are finished in light-weight paneling upon which the grain of natural wood has been reproduced. Over each seat is a rack on which light articles may be placed. December 1929 toilet, towel racks, and mirrors. Pilots enter their forward compartment through a door in the floor and without pass- ing through the passenger cabin. The ladder for this en- trance folds back under the ship when not in use. The courier is seated in the ante- room behind the passenger cabin. Altogether this new plane meets admirably the require- ments of passenger comfort which we have discussed pre- viously. One of the best known pas- senger planes is the Ford tri- THE SIKORSKY S-38 AMPHIBIAN There is a window beside each set of seats. The windows are fewer in num- ber and smaller than one would expect, but the vision is adequate. The reason for smaller window space is probably that glass is a poor insulator of sound and heat. For sound-proofing and vibration-damping purposes an air space of approximately three inches exists between the inner and outer walls of the cabin, packed with a sound and shock-absorbing material. (See second part of this article in our November issue. Editor.) Provision is included for the installa- tion in the main cabin of a private com- partment with four sleeping berths each 28 inches wide. For night flying the Condor cabin can be converted into a sleeper with 12 full size berths. Space can also be arranged for the installation of a desk set, buffet, and a refrigerating system at the order of the operating company. All baggage is carried in two metal- lined compartments, one in each out- board engine nacelle aft of the gas tanks. This is a new wrinkle in air- plane design, as it leaves all available cabin space at the disposal of the pas- sengers, and also makes it impossible for baggage to be spilled into the passenger compartments. This type of plane is equipped with a lavatory including wash basin, motor which is used by the Maddux Air Lines, the National Air Transport, the Stout Air Service, and several other organizations. This plane has the distinction of being the only multiple- engined passenger plane in America constructed entirely of metal. With three Wasp engines it has a high speed of 130 miles per hour, weighs 6700 pounds empty, and has a useful load of 4100 pounds with seating capacity for 12 occupants. The Fokker F-10 super-trimotor, equipped with three Pratt and Whit- ney Wasp engines of 425 horsepower, used by Pan-American, Western Air Express, and other airlines, took the world by storm when it made its first appearance. It is probably the fastest plane of its size in the world, having a maximum speed of approximately 150 miles per hour, and a cruising speed of 125. Its cabin is the last word in lux- ury, having specially constructed lounge chairs fitted to the full-vision windows, running water in a complete lavatory, toilet facilities, special compartments for personal baggage, buffet facilities, et cetera. It accommodates 12 pas- sengers with an operating crew of three. The amphibian gear is hydraulically operated and can be retracted in a few minutes. Carrying eight passengers and two pilots, the plane has a top speed of 128 miles per hour with two of its em

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December 1929 its engines functioning. The weight empty is 5875 pounds; gross weight is 9175 pounds. The area of the wings (the wing cellule is termed a sesqui- plane because the lower wing is so much smaller than the upper) is 720 square feet. The Sikorsky twin-engined amphi- bian is another famous passenger plane. It is used by Pan-American Airways between Miami and Nassau, and by Western Air Express between Los Angeles and Catalina Island, as well as by other operators, and is giving splen- did service. The Sikorsky S-38 has a short boat hull which makes for light- ness, and the tail surfaces are carried on a form of outrigger from the upper wing. The amphibian has again and again demonstrated its ability to fly on one engine. The design of the two ver- tical tail surfaces is partly responsible for this. They are placed in the slip- stream of the engines and are cambered only on the side where they face one an- other. As a result, when one engine fails, the slip stream of the other engine automatically produces a side force on the tail surfaces in its rear, which counteracts the eccentric thrust of the propeller. Our transport companies tremely proud of their pilots. They are hardy, courageous young men, who have been “through the mill,”’ either as Army fliers or airmail pilots or both. are eCX- It is now fashionable to put them into natty uniforms like those of the T. A. T. pilots in our photograph. There are very specific reasons why pilots are being put into uniforms. People on the ground are apt to resent advice from a pilot whom they cannot distinguish from any other individual. From a man in uniform they will gladly receive warning of a dangerous pro- peller. The uniform should also help in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN to maintain the dignity and esprit de corps of the pilot. Another useful touch is calling the chief pilot Com- modore and the pilot of each plane Captain. Mr. C. M. Keys predicts, ‘‘There will grow up in this country a large class of pilots that is now repre- sented. by a handful of men on the great airmail lines of the country. These men will be as familiar with the country over which they fly as your locomotive engineers operating on short lines of the main-line railways of the country. They will know every high tree, every wire, every grain elevator, and every church spire along their right-of-way. They will be trained to a rigid discipline that will not allow variation.” EOPLE frequently say that the pilot will ultimately sink, as equipment improves and experience increases, to the level of an aerial chauffeur. We doubt this very much. In fact the most serious problem for air transport will be the provision of a sufficient number of well trained men. There are real dis- appointments in store for the young men who take a short ten-hour course of flying instruction, and expect that they are in line for positions on transport lines, with possible earnings of six to seven thousand dollars a year, when the pilots of T. A. T. have each an average of flying time of over 3000 hours. It may be of interest to our readers to know the requirements of the De- partment of Commerce for a school which trains Transport Pilots: such a school must give a minimum of 200 hours total flying time, of which at least 35 hours is dual instruction, and including time on two types of planes other than those used for dual instruc- tion. Students must also be given A GROUP OF PILOTS ON THE T. A. T. LINES 517 solid instruction in air commerce regu- lations, engines, and airplanes, includ- ing history of aviation, theory of flight, nomenclature, aerodynamics, rigging, meteorology, aircraft instruments, shop practice, and so forth. Probably a minimum of 500 hours wil] be needed before a pilot can grad- uate from the position of assistant pilot to chief pilot on a passenger machine. It is probable also that al) transport pilots will receive instruction in blind flying, where a man is required to fly a plane over a ten-mile course with his view of the ground cut off, using only his instruments to guide him, while a second pilot checks the route. One of the main difficulties that American air transport has had to face was the lack of an airport close to the center of New York City. This lack is rapidly being remedied, and innum- erable airports have been, or are being constructed in cities both large and small. The first stage in the evolution of the American airport was a more or less level field, with a hangar and a large sign board. The second stage was a large, splendidly equipped land- ing field, well located geographically, with the long and well prepared run- ways, completely equipped hangars and shops, good field illumination, and service systems including fire protec- tion, heating and ventilation, lighting of buildings, water supply, fuel and oil supply, signal and communication sys- tems, weather service, et cetera, which is deserving of an A rating from the Department of Commerce. The next stage will have to be, if passenger travel is ever to become popular, the provision of real air passenger terminals. Colonel Lindbergh, testifying before the Joint Committee on the Washington Airport, was of the opinion that in this regard (Please turn to page 548) roa % % § OLSON NO NA

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518 fick PREPARING TO STRING THE Reels of wire ropes were mounted on barges and, after their ends were anchored, were paid out and allowed to rest on the bottom of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN CATWALK CABLES ON THE HUDSON RIVER BRIDGE December 1929 oon meen ST river as the barges were towed across. They were then lifted to the tops of the towers. Catwalks were completed late in September Wires and Cables for a Great Bridge Manufacture of the Wires for the Cables and Suspender Ropes of the Hudson River Bridge, New York City ROGRESS has been called the highway of human endeavor bridging the gap ’twixt past and future. Retracing our steps on this highway, we find that nearly a century ago, in 1831, John A. Roe- bling, a young civil engineer, left Saxony in Germany, arrived in America, and settled in Pennsylvania. A man of vision, a disciple of progress, it was he who first introduced the art of. wire- rope making to this country. From the designing of ropes for canal port- ages and inclined planes, he graduated to the erection of small suspension bridges. In 1856 the Niagara Bridge, made possible by Roebling’s vision, was opened to the public. This was followed by others of increasing length until, in 1867, the Cincinnati-Coving- ton Bridge, with a span of 1057 feet, was completed, after the pioneer had surmounted opposition and difficulties that would have dismayed any other than an enthusiast. As early as 1865, plans had been drawn for the erection of a suspension bridge between the cities of New York and Brooklyn. Engineers scoffed and technicians derided the idea. It seemed beyond engineering reason to suppose that wire could support a span of * Of John A. Roebling’s Sons Company By A. E. CRIPPS* 1600 feet at a height of 135 feet above high water, but again the visionary, with faith in his own ability, tri- umphed. His plans were approved by a selected board of federal engineers appointed by the President of the United States in 1869. The designer, unfortunately, was not spared to see the completion of the work, for he died as the result of an accident during this same year, on duty at his post while placing the site for the base of the bridge tower on the Brooklyn side. Work began on the foundations for this tower on January 3, 1870, and the enduring monument of granite and wire was completed by John A. Roebling’s son, Colonel Washington A. Roebling, despite numerous difficulties and prejudices. N 1883, with fitting ceremonies attended by both federal and state officials headed by President Arthur, there was opened to the public what was then the eighth wonder of the world: the Brooklyn Bridge. Years have passed, and during those years American ingenuity has gone from triumph to triumph in the art of bridge building. The East River has been spanned thrice since by the Williamsburg, the Manhattan, and the Queensboro Bridges. The two former are suspended by cables made from Roebling wire. The Hudson River has been spanned at Pough- keepsie and at Bear Mountain. From the linking of cities we have progressed to joining the highway systems of sovereign states. On July 9, 1929, the first foot- bridge cable was raised from the bed of the Hudson River and lifted to the top of two towers, one at Fort Lee, New Jersey, and one at Fort Washing- ton, New York. The _ engineering marvel of the century had become more than a dream. Two great states had another mutual bond—the Hudson had been bridged. To obtain an idea as to the im- mensity of this project one must necessarily draw comparisons. The Brooklyn Bridge took 13 years to build and cost 25 million dollars. The new Hudson River Bridge will be com- pleted in a space of five years and will entail the expenditure of 60 million dollars. The former has a span of 1600 feet supported by four main cables, each with a diameter of 151% inches and each composed of 5296 wires weighing 900 tons. The latter has a span of 3500 feet with four main 36-inch diameter cables, each weighing 7125 tons. Each of these cables is composed of 61 strands, each con- De | | |

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December 1929 taining 434 wires, making a total of 26,474. The towers of the Brooklyn Bridge are 295 feet high, while those of the Hudson River Bridge are ap- proximately 635 feet, or nearly a hundred feet higher than the Washing- ton Monument. Of course, with the march of progress, certain methods of construction used at the time the Brooklyn Bridge was erected have now become obsolete. These old methods have been im- proved upon to meet existing con- ditions, since the magnitude of the new project was inconceivable until recently. Without considering the ropes used in preliminary construction work, the main cables will total 000,000 pounds of galvanized wire, each wire having a diameter of .195 57,- inches—nearly the thickness of a lead pencil—or 106,000 miles of wire, enough to go around the earth at the equator more than four times. The John A. Roebling’s Sons Company, still oper- ated by the sons and grandsons of the pioneer bridge builders, are manufac- turing and installing these four 36- inch main cables, and are also furnish- ing and erecting the anchorage ma- terials. OST of the wire to be used has already been manufactured, and is now in storage at the plant at Roebling, New Jersey. The stored wire covers an area of 30,000 square feet, and is stacked 8 feet high— enough to cover a New York City block to a height of two feet. The production of steel wire for the four cables of this mighty bridge is no small task when one considers that the seven large suspension bridges in this country do not contain sufficient wire to fabricate the cables for the Hudson River Bridge, and yet this quantity of material will be produced within the specified time and not in- terfere with the normal production of the plant. Steel for this wire is made by A WIRE-DRAWING BENCH The rod is drawn through steel dies of successively decreasing diameter until reduced to the proper size. Die block is in circle SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Roebling in 40-ton acid open-hearth furnaces. When this refined steel reaches the proper chemical composi- tion, it is poured into ingots 14 inches square and five feet long and allowed to cool slowly. After re-heating, these ingots are rolled into two-inch by two-inch blooms which are cut into 380-foot billets. These are re- heated and rolled into round rods in a new, continuous-rod mill costing 2,- 000,000 dollars. After rolling, the rod is put through a normalizing process, cleaned in acid to remove the scale, and thoroughly washed, following which it is neu- tralized in lime and finally baked in ovens to prepare the steel rod for the cold wire-drawing operation. ie the wire-drawing operation cold wire is drawn through alloy steel dies of successively decreasing di- ameters until the correct diameter of .192 inch is obtained. After drawing, the wire is given another thorough cleaning operation to prepare it for the galvanizing bath where it re- ceives a coat of pure zine averaging about .002 inch in thickness which thoroughly protects it from the elements. It is then wound into coils five feet in diameter, there being about 4000 linear feet of wire in each coil. Although this wire has received thorough inspection prior to its fin- ished state and has been tested as to its chemical composition and physical properties, it must now meet severe and thorough testing in its finished state before final acceptance; that is, ultimate strength, elastic limit, ulti- mate elongation, and bend test re- quirements must be met before the wire is accepted and placed in storage. Every coil must meet these require- ments. This means that half a million tests must be made to secure this quantity of material. When the material is required at the bridge site the individual coil is rewound on steel reels, each of six- 519 foot barrel diameter, three feet wide, and containing 160,000 feet of wire. The individual coils are connected together by means of a special threaded connection that develops practically the full strength of the wire and makes possible a continuous wire of any length. Special machinery has been designed by the Roebling Company to speed the reeling of the wire and to eliminate excessive manual lifting and hauling of these heavy reels. This is all ac- complished electrically with a mini- mum of effort on the part of the ma- chine operator. A description of the various inventions that have been de- veloped by this company for the pro- duction and spinning of the cables for the new Hudson River Bridge would require a book to put forth, this article being too limited in its scope to at- tempt it. There will be about 4000 reels of wire necessary and special gondola cars have been built to carry them to tidewater. Here the cars containing the reels are transferred to car floats, and taken by means of tugs to the bridge site. From the river level they are hoisted by aerial tramways which have been constructed, one on each side of the river, to storage sheds at the anchorages. HE anchorage on the New York side is a solid mass containing 110,000 cubic yards of concrete (enough to pave a roadway 18 feet wide and 5314 miles long, or half the length of Long Island) in which are imbedded 1400 eye bars, approximately 40 feet long, each one over one ton in weight. There are 2100 eye bars on the New Jersey side. In all, the eye bars weigh approximately 4000 tons. The towers comprise 40,000 tons of structural steel, riveted together, on which will be suspended the four giant main cables. There was necessarily an enormous amount of preliminary construction work to be done before the main cables AFTER GALVANIZING The receiving end of the galvanizing operations. 20 five-foot reeling swifts for each outfit for galvanizing 20 wires There are

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520 could be spun. After the erection of the towers and the building of the anchorages, temporary footbridges, or catwalks, were erected for the work- men who spin the cables. The ecat- walks are supported by four groups of cables, each group being composed of nine galvanized 27-inch diameter wire ropes, formed of 6. strands of 37 wires each laid around an inde- pendent wire rope center. It is in- teresting to note that there is as much wire material in the footbridge ropes on the Hudson River Bridge as in the main cables on the Bear Mountain Bridge. These ropes were manufactured on a mammoth machine that is said to be the largest of its kind in America—if notin the world—which is capable of closing ropes up to five inches in diameter. To enable the manufacturers to test the footbridge ropes adequately, the world’s largest precision testing ma- chine was constructed to Roebling’s specifications. This machine is cap- able of testing wire cables for tensile strength up to 2,000,000 pounds. T certain intervals, samples of the suspender ropes—which will hang from the cables and support the bridge floor—are tested on this machine to their breaking point. A strain equal to approximately 1,360,000 pounds is applied before the final parting of the rope is accomplished. This is many thousands of pounds above the neces- sary specified strength. In the placing of the footbridge ropes from one anchorage to the other, an entirely new method was adopted. Heretofore the rope, in one continu- ous length, was made fast to one anchorage, lifted over the tower, then towed across the river on a barge, lifted over the other tower and then fastened in the other anchorage. In SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN this case the rope was made up in three separate sec- tions, one for each of the land spans, the ends being fixed at the two anchorages, and the other for the main span which is laid on the river bed. These three sec- tions were joined together by means of a special rope link at the bases of the towers, and, at a given signal, cranes operating on the tops of the towers and working in unison, picked the rope up from the bottom of the river and lifted it to a position in a temporary saddle on top of the tower. The foot- bridge ropes hang at the : SS proper deflection, since they ROPE-CLOSING, OR TWISTING, MACHINE On this machine, the largest in the world, the finished wire strands are closed into ropes of large diameter determine the position of the completed main cable. After the placing of the footbridge ropes, tramway ropes were strung across the interven- ing gap from anchorage to anchorage, these being used for the transportation of erection materials and for the spin- ning of the cables. Following this, the wood and steel footbridge sections were placed in position and clamped securely to the ropes; hand rails and December 1929 wire netting were then added for the protection of the workmen, and all was ready for the spinning of the main cables. It is interesting to note that after such footbridge ropes have served their purpose, they are re- reeled and cut into lengths to form the suspender ropes between the main cables and the suspended structure. There is a complete telephone system between the various centers of ac- tivity on the job, making it possible for one man to talk to another, if necessary, from the top of the 635- feet towers to any point on the job. When the Brooklyn Bridge was built, orders and messages were transmitted by means of flag signals. ACH tower is also equipped with an _s elevator running to within 50 feet of its summit. These will be a perma- nent installation. A staff of engineers is residing in bunk houses on the site so that they are in close touch with developments 24 hours of the day. Observations on the cable deflections according to temperature are made at varying hours since changes in temperature cause the steel cables to expand and contract so that there is an appreciable rise and fall of the roadbed from times of winter cold to those of summer heat. This, of course, al! has to be taken into consideration and the necessary information can only be ob- tained by frequent observations taken with precision instruments and gages. The spinning of the main cables was started early in November and it is expected that the completed struc- ture will be opened to traffic in De- cember, 1931, thus appropriately marking the centenary of the arrival in this country of a master bridge builder. MACHINE WHICH SNAPS HUGE WIRE ROPES LIKE THREADS The largest precision testing machine in the world, capable of exerting a pull of 2,000,000 pounds, in action before The New York Electrical Society. Inset: two ropes breaking in test at mt eb ae ]

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December 1929 MILLIONS Sealed cartons being delivered at the end of a spiral chute leading from the floors above, where the various SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ge 521 OF MINTS READY FOR SHIPMENT flavors offround tablets are automatically manufactured, wrapped in foil and paper, and packed in sealed cartons Rebuilding a Broken Business The Story of the Development Through Research of a Huge Candy Industry ITH all the thousands of things there are to eat, drink, chew, or roll around in the mouth, the favorite flavor of the Great American Public is peppermint. Just why this is so, no- body seems to know, although there are many theories. One is that it re- vives childhood memories, peppermint candy for generations being the one kind parents have given their children most frequently. It is the one kind, moreover, that has attracted young children most strongly, because the old- fashioned bright red and white sticks, like miniature barber poles, appeal vividly to the eye. Then, too, there is nothing backward about the taste of peppermint. When you taste it, you know you are tasting something, no matter how atrophied your sense of taste may have become. Also—and this accounts in no small measure for peppermint’s popularity there is a lasting, penetrating, but pleasant aroma about peppermint that drowns out lingering traces of other things that have been consumed. Whatever the reason for the popu- larity of peppermint flavor, the fact is that a great industry has grown up to supply the insatiable demand of the public for mint-flavored confections, an By MILTON WRIGHT industry which, for efficient manu- facturing methods and clever sales distribution, is second to none. De- spite its proportions, however, it is an industry that has developed into the million-dollar elass in the last ten years. Only a few months ago a mint con- fection business was sold for twenty- two million dollars. Yet 15 years ago this business was started with a capital of $900. O learn how candy mints are made, we journeyed to the biggest fac- tory of the kind in the country—the Life Saver plant at Port Chester, New York. As in many modern factories, we found production accomplished by the oldest, simplest, cheapest, and most efficient method man has yet dis- covered—the gravity process. Up to the roof of the building go the raw ma- terials. Down they come, rolling, slid- ing, tumbling, falling, passing through this piece of apparatus and that, until they emerge on the second floor, a fin- ished article, wrapped, and in cartons ready for delivery. In all the process no hands have touched them. The raw materials are sugar and mint flavor—nothing else. Granu- ated sugar received in barrels is emp- tied into a conveyor near the receiving platform on the first floor. A con- tinuous bucket elevator carries it to the roof where it is stored in hoppers until used. The first manufacturing step is: pul- verizing the sugar. Standard pulver- izers located on the fifth floor do this job. As soon as the sugar is powdered, it drops into mixers on the fourth floor. From the mixers it is put through a special form of granulator which de- livers the mass of sugar in the shape of small kernels on to moving belts which lead to elevators. Here the kernels are deposited into drying units, and the whole mass is dried before being de- posited into blenders, where the flavor- ing oils are added. A completely equipped laboratory is maintained at the plant, where the flavor is prepared and measured out into containers, so that for each batch of 200 pounds of sugar mixture, a uni- form amount of flavoring oil is added in order that each batch may be exactly like every other. From the blenders the mass is fed into batteries of rotary tablet-forming machines on the third floor. To every tablet a pressure of 14,000 pounds is ap- plied, giving it a china-like hardness. There is an old “‘wise-crack”’ to the effect that the manufacturers of Life

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5 ng, ~All SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN carton so that the trade mark and flavor name on the label are uni- form in appearance and can be seen when the carton is opened. That is a problem yet to be solved by some inven- tion. It means a lot to have a perfect and uni- form display of the car- tons and their contents on dealers’ counters.” With placing the rolls in the cartons, the trip of the sugar down from the roof is not completed. After pack- ing, the cartons are carried on a belt con- veyor to a wax sealing PULVERIZING THE SUGAR Granulated sugar must be powdered before it is ready for the mint-compressing machines Savers make their money not out of the confection, but out of the hole, or rather out of the sugar saved by hav- ing a hole. The fact of the matter is that the high pressure forces as much sugar into a small space as would fill a larger space at more moderate pressure. After the mints are formed, they are delivered to automatic wrapping and packaging machines, also on the third floor. It took eight years to develop these machines, but now, it is believed, they are as nearly perfect as human in- genuity can make them. Each machine wraps and labels an average of 1000 boxes a day, running at an average speed of 35 to 40 rolls a minute. These machines receive into their hoppers mints in bulk direct from the tablet forming machines. An aligning device turns them on edge and assembles them into rows of 14 each. The assembly completed, each group of 14 is gripped by steel fingers which carry them on to a piece of tin foil which has been cut to the desired length from a big spool of foil beneath the machine. The tin foil is then spun around the candy and the ends twisted. OW comes the affixing of the label. This is applied in the same manner as the tin foil, except that to make it secure, instead of twisting, a small strip of vegetable glue is ap- plied along one side. Assembled and wrapped, the packages are deposited on a belt conveyor which delivers them to packers. At this point on our trip through the factory, we felt impelled to ask a ques- tion: ‘‘Why not have machines pack the rolls in cartons? It ought to be no more complex than some of the other things you accomplish.” **“Machines have been perfected for such a task,” was the reply, “‘but as yet no machine has been devised which will insure each package being laid in the machine. Here a paper, waxed only on the out- side, is wrapped around the carton and the end folded in a peculiar manner. The box now passes through an electric heating unit, which melts the wax just enough to cause a tightly sealed package when the wax congeals again. Through spiral chutes the finished cartons drop to the second floor, where the individual cartons are packed. Those for domestice use are packed into fiber shipping cases and those for ex- port into wooden boxes. We hunted up the president of the Life Saver Company, Edward J. Noble, who is credited with having created the mint market in this country. “‘Why is there so much industry and so much business in such a little thing pulverizers December 1929 as a life-saver tablet?” we queried. “Well, our sales manager, Mr. M. B. Bates, who is supposed to know about the psychology of such things, says i is due to a national idiosyncrasy,” he replied. ‘It is the result of a trait our ancestors acquired down on the farm. A man used to walk along chewing on a straw. Ata later date a lot of people developed the gum-chewing habit many of them still have it. At a still later date we got the habit of rolling a mint tablet around under the tongue.” “We have heard that when you took over this business 15 years ago it was a failure. Do you attribute your present dominance in the field to the fact that you have improved the quality of your product?” ra OT at all. As a matter of fact, at the product is just the same as it always was, even when the public wouldn’t use it. A mint tablet is noth- ing but sugar and flavoring pressed to- gether. From the standpoint of ingre- dients there was nothing to improve.” By dint of long questioning we fin- ally got at the secret of it all. The mint- tablet industry, we learned, is a child of the candy business, but now grown to manhood and prospering on its own account. Clarence Crane, manufac- turer of Crane’s and Mary Garden chocolates, had started it in Brooklyn as a summer specialty. It kept his force of workers intact in months which are no time to be boiling sticky choc- olates. Managed as a side line, it was not a paying proposition. Noble and a friend, J. Roy Allen, bought it for a WHERE THE PEPPERMINTS GET THE HOLE Compressors moulding peppermint flavored tablets in the familiar “life-saver” shape; a pressure of 14,000 pounds is applied to each, giving it china hardness so it will dissolve slowly Decert song dolla “yy repu’ shap foun them tried stun; grou’ had “7 | good | spoil stud: the » card pack impé the kind tin f sure In t the | to in stay one N nam fold the | deal the othe gree 664 to t] to ti chal of p in oO ton it fe trac

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December 1929 song and with a capital of nine hundred dollars started in business. ‘We had staked all our money, our reputations, and our future on the shape of these confections, but we found the candy stores wouldn’t have them,’’ Noble told us. ‘Dealers had tried them and felt they had been stung. We had to build from the ground up and not only that, but we had to find new ground to build on. “The mint tablet, we found, was good when it left the factory, but it spoiled after two weeks. A careful study of the matter convinced us that the trouble lay in the packing. The cardboard tube in which the mints were packed absorbed the flavor and in time imparted its own unpleasant taste to the candy. We considered various kinds of wrappers and at last hit upon tin foil. In the first place, a little pres- sure would seal it; no paste was needed. In the second place, it would hold all the flavor and had no flavor of its own to impart. In the third place, the mints stayed in securely, but came out easily, one at a time, when you wanted them. I EXT we changed the name. In- stead of peppermint we took the name Pep-O-mint. This had a two- fold advantage. It helped to remove the curse from the old product that the dealers wouldn’t have, and it gave us the type of name we could adapt to other flavors, like Vi-O-let, or Wint-O- green, or Cl-O-ve, as the business grew. ‘So far, our efforts had been directed to the ultimate consumer. Now we had to turn our attention to the dealer. We changed the style of carton. Instead of packing 36 in two rows, we packed 18 in one row. We also designed the car- ton so that when the cover folded back it formed an easel. This made an at- tractive display case which the dealer was glad to place on his counter.” “Did thedealers take to thenewidea?”’ APPLYING THE TIN FOIL AND WRAPPER SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN BATTERY OF AUTOMATIC WRAPPING MACHINES From the pulverizers on the top floor of the factory, through the various steps to the final wrapping, no human hands touch the mints. “Not right away. They still identi- fied us with the old article that wouldn’t keep. Jobbers wouldn’t han- dle the product. The only thing for us to do was to find new: outlets—places where mints had never been sold be- fore. These we found in places fre- quented by men—cigar stores, bowling alleys, billiard rooms, and the like. I+ may surprise you to know that 60 per- cent of the mint tablets made in the country are consumed by men. In all, we developed 17 new outlets. After they had been operating successfully for some time with our product, the candy stores fell into line and our dis- tribution problem was solved.” “But all this took time. Didn’t it mean a lot of money going out before any was coming in?” “No, the business paid for itself from the start. We worked on the principle of taking some profit on every trans- action and we never ventured a posi- tive money risk. In the beginning we Rolling like wheels into the automatic package-wrapping machines, the candies are as- sembled in groups of 14, rolled in tin foil, and covered with a wrapper denoting the flavor Here they are being assembled and wrapped had a manufacturer make the mints for us. Our first order was for 1000 éar- tons a week. By the end of the first year we were ordering 6000 a week. Our net profit that first year was one hundred and fifty-nine dollars. Then we began to manufacture for ourselves. We progressed steadily until we domi- nated the industry.” ‘What steps would you say a man should take when embarking in a new manufacturing enterprise such as yours was when you took hold of it?” “First, be sure your product is right. Second, be sure the surrounding detail is right. Third, study your market completely. Then go in for scientific manufacturing methods, and after that your success will depend largely upon business ability and hard work.” F course the candy business is like any other in which the con- suming public is the deciding factor; the task of temporarily appeasing a sweet-tooth is mostly a matter of psychology. The imagination of the public has responded to the Life- saver idea because of the characteristic shape and name of the confection. The demand for the little mint with the hole has been sustained and en- larged by astute advertising methods. The importance of sales psychology is attested by James Somerville, trade commissioner of the Department of Commerce in London, who points out that sales of candy abroad are affected by the fact that residents of the United Kingdom have a_ decided prejudice against eating in public. For this reason manufacturers encounter difficulty in marketing candy bars of the type popular in America, although there is a vigorous demand for pack- aged candy put up for consumption in the home, and also for the less notice- able confections that can be eaten anywhere, such as candy-coated chew- ing gum, lozenges, and mints.

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524 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 The Scientific American Digest Newest Developments in Science, Industry, and Engineering A Mammoth’s Deformed Wisdom Tooth ~LEPHANTS, ancient and modern, have had dental troubles for a long time. Fossil mastodon and mammoth teeth have shown pyorrhea, cavity formation (dental caries), abscesses, and now we know they had impacted molars. The tooth shown here is from the largest of all the elephants, the animal standing over 13 feet at the shoulders. This tooth, eight inches high and weighing 25 pounds, was not able to erupt properly, and became impacted and badly twisted. The plates forming the flat- tened crown, to the right, are at right angles to the plates shown on the left. It is a mammoth’s impacted wisdom tooth, dis- covered in the Pleistocene deposits near Corsicana, Texas. Life Saving by Mechanical Respiration HE Schaefer method of respiration for resuscitating victims of asphyxi- ation, submersion, electric shock, et cetera, has been in use for many years and has proved its worth many times over. In the past, its successful use depended upon an appreciable amount of training the method has been usually applied by manual means, and the re- sults, therefore, were influenced by the human element and were not always satisfactory. Now, however, with a new apparatus recently introduced from France, which is easily portable since it weighs but a few pounds, the method may be applied mechanically by any person regardless of his training in resuscitation methods The Mechanical Resuscitator, as it is called, consists of a slightly inclined rest upon which the chest of the victim is to be placed, his legs extending outward on the floor to the rear, his head resting upon a curved, leather-covered plate at the top of the incline, and his arms on the two side “saddles” shown in the ac- companying illustrations. When he is because eee are shown. The mechanical respirator described in these columns. Head rest, shoulder saddles, and chest (poitrine) pad Body straps are connected to side bars placed in this position, wide straps, which are attached to the movable side bars, are buckled together over the small of his back. The apparatus does not interfere with the use of an oxygen mask which is necessary in cases of monoxide gas poisoning nor does it prevent vomiting or the expulsion from the mouth of any foreign substance which might impede respiration. In operation, the handle which is a a Fossilized impacted molar of a mammoth which shows that these beasts suffered from tooth-ache connected to the side movable bars is pushed down gently, this action lowering the shoulder supports and lowering the side rods which, in turn, pull down the strap which compresses the patient’s lungs. When the pressure on the handle is released, powerful recoil springs lift the side bars and therefore release the pres- sure on the lungs while at the same time lifting the shoulder supports so that the lungs are allowed to expand and inhale. = en The manner in which a patient is placed on the me- chanical respirator for treatment. When the rhythm of the pumping motion is timed by the breathing of the person operating the lever, the result is that the victim inhales and exhales properly and the likelihood is that he will have a better chance of recovery than if the Schaefer method is applied manually. As may be seen from the photographs, the apparatus is so simple that even a casual life saver can. make no mistake in its operation. The word ‘‘chest’’ on the apparatus (in our photograph, the French word poitrine is shown) and the rests provided for the armpits and the head indicate the postion in which the patient is to be placed and prevent any possible error. Railway Snow-shed Fire Fighters HE fire hazard of the extensive wooden snow sheds in the Sierras, exposed from without to forest and brush fires and from within to sparks from locomotives, is responsible for the fact that the railroad owner of the snow sheds possesses a fire department that is perhaps the most un- usual in the world. It includes fire trains, lookouts, patrolmen, and alarm systems, all having their well-defined duties. The fire-train service consists of four trains located one at each end of the snow shed district and two at points of vantage in the shed. Trains are made up of stand- ard 10-wheel locomotives and two water cars carrying from 20,000 to 30,000 gallons of water. This is enough to supply the 300-gallon-per-minute pump for an hour and a half at full pressure. Each one ecar- ries a thousand feet of hose and a full equipment of ladders, axes, buckets, and similar apparatus. Engines are kept with steam up at all times and crews are on duty day and night. There has never been a failure of the equipment to stop a fire at the point it was encountered on the arrival of a train. What losses have been sus- tained, therefore, are measured by the speed with which the alarms are given and responded to after a fire is discovered. The handle is pumped up and down with a gentle rhythmic movement Dece Fo train was alarn with boxe: for f syste firep) to w port W locat fores way stati - | La who tain vani Mot men 786! of t Her stru wat of ¢ has trar cen! on a ti line and colc sigr swi and in |: ligk pre elec etc sho the

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9 le | a ee December 1929 For communicating fire alarms to the train, the telegraph was first employed and was later superseded by two independent alarm systems, one like that used in cities, with gongs at the fire-train stations and boxes distributed through the sheds, used for fires only; the other a district alarm system with central office in a concrete fireproof building at the summit of the line, to which all watchmen and patrolmen re- port at regular intervals. When it developed that, with watchmen located only in or on the sheds, threatening forest fires could obtain considerable head- way before discovery, the necessity for a station from which a bird’s-eye view of the whole country roundabout could be ob- tained was apparent. Such a point of vantage was found on the summit of Red Mountain, or Signal Peak, as the Govern- ment calls it. The crest of this mountain, 7860 feet above sea level, commands a view of the sheds for almost their entire length. Here a stone observatory has been con- structed, and day and night observers keep watch. To determine the exact location of an observed blaze an ingenious device has been arranged. This consists of a transit, mounted on a fixed pier in the center of a bay window, and a map etched on a silver-plated copper plate located on a table in front of the transit. The shed line on the map is inlaid with black enamel and along this line is indicated in different colors each station, tunnei, mile post, signal box, et cetera. Over this map swings a knife-blade pointer attached to, and coinciding with, the axis of the transit. The operator at night sits in this window in semi-darkness. On seeing a suspicious light, he sights the transit on it and then presses a button which controls a small electric light illuminating the map and the etched line. A glance through the finder shows whether the fire is above, below or in the sheds, and the position of the pointer Stone observatory for fire fighters SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN shows the exact location on the railroad. If a blaze is from a small campfire too close to the sheds, word is sent to the nearest section headquarters and men are dis- patched to move the campers to a safe dis- tance and extinguish the offending fire. In the case of a fire actually in the shed, the fire trains leap into action on the alarm from the observer, those nearest to the fire going directly to the reported scene and the others closing in as in regular fire de- partment service. Once well started, the fire demon has been known to consume 3100 feet of snow sheds in 35 minutes, entailing a loss of 1500 dollars every 60 seconds. That is ea eR ae oe aa: 525 Fine nut fragments accumulate at the pecan shelling plants. Chemists made experimental pressings of this waste and determined the properties and compe sition of the oil. This oil is of excelluni quality and can be used for making salad dressings or other edible products. It is necessary to express the oil before the nut waste becomes rancid, otherwise the oil would not be edible. Dried Hog Stomach New, Cheaper Anemia Remedy [RIED stomachs of hogs may soon vie with livers as the saviors of sufferers from pernicious anemia. This newest why the fire trains race against time when the call comes. Actual records show that very promptly after a fire alarm is turned in fire trains with crews and volunteers are whistling their way to the scene. These fire fighters have been known to stay with the enemy until the headlight was burned off the engine. As a sample of the accuracy with which even small fires can be located from Red Mountain, the instance is cited of a section foreman who took it into his head to sharpen some track chisels, and, for that purpose, kindled a fire in a small portable forge that was in direct line between the snow sheds and the observatory. This blaze was observed from the lookout and, being apparently in the sheds, the fire train was called, ran two miles, and stopped ex- actly at the location of the forge before the chisels had been brought to a working heat. Pecan Oil From Waste ECAN oil, described by chemists of the United States Department of Agriculture as of very mild, agreeable, and characteristic flavor, is one of the latest additions to the long list of products that are now being manufactured from what were formerly farm wastes. One of the fire-fighting trains, called in observer in the station shown in the illustration above m3 to action by the The tank and hose car of a fire-fighting train. from a fire which menaces railroad property is visible showing snow shed over a railroad in the distance anemia remedy, made from one of the few unused parts of hogs, has just been developed and announced by Drs. Cyrus C. Sturgis and Raphael Isaacs of the Simpson Memorial Institute for Medical Research of the University of Michigan and Dr. Elwood A. Sharp of the Depart- ment of Experimental Medicine of Parke, Davis and Company. An ounce of extract from the dried, ground stomachs of hogs is said to be as effective a remedy in pernicious anemia as a pound of raw liver or three ounces of the most concentrated liver extract yet made. This is the latest step in the conquest of a disease, pernicious anemia, which a few years ago was in the category of the unvanquished ills of mankind. In 1926 it was found that by feeding liver to anemia patients, their red blood corpus- cles could be increased. Liver, once the poor man’s meat, increased in price rapidly. Then the active principle in liver was extracted so that anemia pa- tients could take small doses of the ex- tract instead of eating large quantities of the liver itself. Now comes the new and cheaper source of the anti-anemia prin- ciple which promises splendid results. Smoke

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526 of semi-automatic shoulder rifles. to test the various designs submitted. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Over a year ago the United States Government called for competitive designs Recently Army and Navy officials met Brigadier General George E. Simmons, Chief of the War Plans Division, is here shown examining one of the rifles The new extract from hog stomach is not yet commercially available. But it will be far cheaper than liver or the costly liver extracts on which pernicious anemia patients until now have been de- pendent. Hogs’ stomachs are largely a waste product, finding only slight use in the production of pepsin. The dried ex- tract is practically tasteless and looks something like sawdust particles. Beef stomach and ox stomach are sold as tripe, which is a familar food to many. Hog stomach, which has a different structure, is ground and dried to make the new ex- tract. An immediate increase in the number of red blood cells took place when this dried hog’s stomach was fed to patients suffering from pernicious anemia. The increase was even greater than that following liver treatment.—Science Ser- vice. Arc-Welded Steel Motor Boats ¥ tere Engineer Corps, United States Army, are now building three arc- welded steel motor boats for use as carriers and tow boats on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. This is the second fleet to be so constructed. The first fleet of seven was launched over a year ago and have been in continuous service ever since. The launches are constructed entirely of steel, all permanent connections being made by the electric arc-welding process. The over-all length of each craft is 28 feet; breadth 7 feet; and the depth 2 feet 4% a i} } oe One of the arc-welded steel motor boats built by the Engineer Corps, United States Army, for river service inches; the freeboard, of course, varies with the load, the draught being very little when the boat is not loaded. The boats have flat bottoms, slightly stepped close to the stern and have a rather sharp rise at the bow, effecting a broad, flat prow, similar to the seaplane type. Each rib of these boats is made from one piece of channel iron, 1% inch by °/16 inch by !4 inch, with the exception of the frame at rear end of forward bulkhead which is of 1% inch by 1% inch by % inch angle iron. The two floor stringers are 3 inches by 3 inches by %% inch angles punched and bolted in position to each frame, prior to are welding. Angle-iron stringers are also welded to each side of the channel frames. These stringers are also punched and bolted to the frames to maintain perfect align- ment, until arc welded. Deck beams over the fore and aft bulkheads are angles, arc welded directly to top ends of frames. Clamps formed from flat plate are arc welded to every other frame to carry the deck on both sides of the open cockpit. The bottom and side plates are joined to the frames by short fillet welds about 114 inches long and approximately 7 inches apart. The bottom is of 14 inch plate, the sides of °/is inch plate and the deck of No. 10 gage sheet steel. The bumpers at the bow of the boat are for pushing barges. Each boat is to be powered by a 125- horsepower six-cylinder gasoline engine equipped with a reduction gear having a ratio of three to one. With this arrange- ment the boats obtain an average speed of December 1929 approximately 13 miles per hour when running with a light load or no load. The unique design and construction of these boats is a distinct tribute to the in- genuity and engineering skill of the En- gineer Corps. The success of the design and construction of these arc-welded all- steel motor launches, proved after a year’s operation, marks a distinct step towards a new method of building power boats which may affect the entire industry. The ability of the electric are welding process to make a steel hull literally one piece of steel means a stronger, more durable craft free from leakage. **Going Up to See In Trees’’ \V RITING in American Ferests ond Forest. Life, Henry B. Steer re- cently described a look-out station for ¥ = Courtesy American Forests and Pere Life The spiral ‘‘stairway”’ that leads to the Forest Ranger’s lookout station on the top of a 170-foot tree forest rangers in the Indian Forest Service that is perhaps the most unusual in the country. It consists of a roomy cage seven feet square atop a 170-foot Douglas fir on the Quinault Indian Reservation in Interior of one of the arc-w and beams are channels and angles: the hull is plate elded boats. Ribs, stringers, Deceml Grays H this loo structed lands fo tion. \ can scar of smok The r means ¢ spirals t through house is an uno In fine pushed which p The ho necting large le vicinity the Dis Forest station Nation ——o [AZ Up the loc: the tres tion 0: In cas and e exting The steel ¢ feet sc tance The t rt

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} tion. December 1929 Grays Harbor County, Washington. From this look-out, the ranger has an unob- structed view of timbered and cut-over lands for at least 30 miles in every direc- With high-powered binoculars, he can scan the country for the tell-tale wisps of smoke that mean forest fires. The ranger climbs to his lofty perch by means of a steel rod and rope ladder which spirals the tree trunk and enters the house through a trap door in the floor. The house is glassed in on all four sides, giving an unobstructed view in all directions. In fine weather the windows may be pushed back since they are built in frames which permit them to slide back and forth. The house has two telephones, one con- necting with the headquarters camp of a large logging company operating in the vicinity of the station, and the other with the District Ranger of the United States Forest Service at Lake Quinault, for this station overlooks a portion of the Olympic National Forest as well as the major por- re be Court 1mer Forests and Forest Life Up the side of the tree on which the Forest Ranger's station is located, showing manner in which the step-rods were driven into the tree and the wire cable installed tion of the Quinault Indian Reservation. In case the look-out reports a fire, men and equipment are immediately sent to extinguish it. The tree is securely guyed by three steel cables, for even a small house seven feet square offers considerable wind resis- tance when it is 170 feet from the ground. The tree is nearly seven feet through on a — = — . - SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SPECIAL STUOENTS CAR FOR Fr MOO CLASSES 527 To set it apart, the San Francisco educational street car is done in white the stump and nearly two and one half feet in diameter 170 feet from the ground at the point where the house was built. As a foundation for the house, four rail- road ties were set in notches in the tree and securely bolted to the tree trunk. The house was then framed and built upon these ties. Educational Street Car for Children and Shut-ins N attractive parlor street car finished in 4 white enamel, trimmed with gold and fitted with all the latest safety appliances, is operated by the Market Street Railway Company in San Francisco for the use of children, principally for educational pur- poses and without charge. When sched- ules will permit, the car is also devoted to unprivileged and shut-in children who need to get around and who, without some such service as this, might never have the opportunity. Thick carpet covers the floor of the cen- ter section of the parlor car, which has plush cushioned wicker chairs and heavy plush window drapes. The end sections have been fitted with the latest type of leather upholstered street-car seats. Many trips have been made in which technical classes of the San Francisco pub- lic and parochial schools have been taken at | | “ts. fa 7 ourtesy Minne 9 Perhaps the only one of its kind in the world, this spiral approach to the bridge over the Mississippi at Hastings, Minnesota, was necessary in order to elimi- nate a long approach which would have run far into the business district through the company’s car-building plant, car operators’ training room, and one of the latest sub-stations where alternating current is converted into lower-voltage direct current for use by street cars. Technically trained men explain the mechanical and electrical processes in the various departments as the classes watch the inside workings of the big machines necessary to successful street-car operation. Light Uses Third of Electricity in Industry POWER was generated with about two thirds of the electricity furnished to 20 industrial plants in Detroit, while lamps assisting the sun in lighting the work con- sumed the other third, according to H. E. Cook and T. G. Ward, electrical engineers. Science Service. Chemistry Helped ‘Graf Zeppelin’s”’ Record Flight N UCH of the romance of industry is epitomized by the recent aerial cir- cumnavigation of the globe by the Graf Zeppelin. Underlying the many spectacu- lar features of the epoch-making flight, although very much in the background, is the steady march of modern science, which has made possible the brilliant success of the project. One of the major problems challenging the ingenuity and _ resourcefulness of chemists was the problem of refueling the giant ship at its various ports of call in the United States and foreign countries. The motors of the Graf Zeppelin burn gaseous fuel, which is carried in balloonets in the interior of the ship, the fuel originally used being Blau gas. This is a very satis- factory fuel gas, because it is about the same weight as air and thus the lifting power of the ship is not affected as the gas is consumed. Since this gas is available in quantities only in Germany, the problem of fueling in foreign countries was put up to chemists of The Linde Air Products Com- pany and the Carbide and Carbon Chemi- cals Corporation, both units of the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation, as authorities on the manufacture and use of such gases. Since nowadays compressed and lique- fied gases of many kinds are transported in steel cylinders and tank cars, to serve vari- ous industrial needs, with the same facility as the most commonplace commodities, the problem was solved without” much diffi- (Please turn to page 5438)

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528 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 Learning to Use Our Wings | Latest Facts About Airplanes and Airships CONDUCTED BY ALEXANDER KLEMIN In charge, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics, New York University A Radio Altimeter HE ordinary altimeter really indicates air pressure only. The height is de- duced from a conventional relationship be- tween decrease of pressure and thepressure which applies on the average but not on any particular day. Ona hot, low-pressure day, the altimeter may show two or three thou- sand feet of altitude when the plane is fly- ing at ground level. On a cold day of high barometric pressure, the altimeter may in- dicate that the pilot is flying underground. A true height indicator should not de- pend on atmospheric conditions, but give the real height above the ground at all times. This is particularly valuable when flying in dark or foggy weather, or when Dr. Alexanderson describing one of his new radio altimeter units making a landing under similar conditions. There are three principles on which the height altimeter has been attempted: the acoustic method, in which the time for the reflection of a sound from the ground serves to give the height; the capacity method in which two plates on a plane serve as a condenser whose capacity is varied by approach towards the ground; and finally there is the radio method, not yet described in these columns and of real interest. Such a method is being developed by Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson of the General Electric Company. A radio wave travels so fast that the time of its reflection from the ground is infinites- imal and cannot be made to give a measure of the height. An indirect method, how- ever, has given positive results. An oscillating tube circuit is used, one of the type which sends out a wave which may be picked up on other receivers as a squealing note or beat. The echo or re- flected signal is picked up on the same set as that which sends out the wave. Every time the airplane changes altitude by half a wavelength, a whistling note goes through a complete tone cycle from low pitch to high pitch and back again. By counting the cycles of the tone, using half the wave- length of the oscillator as a measuring stick, it is possible to measure the altitude. By means of the meter, graduated from 3000 to 200 feet, the pilot may read his altitude within close limits at any time. The‘‘echoes” indicating height are periodic, becoming stronger as the plane approaches the ground. The periodic characteristics of the echo, and the chance that the pilot would not see the instrument at the instant an echo was recorded, presented a problem which was met by developing a ‘“‘“memory meter.”’ In this instrument the echo is recorded as altitude when it occurs and the meter continues to hold that reading until a stronger echo, indicatingfa lower altitude, occurs. In approaching the earth, the memory meter gives a continuous indica- tion of altitude. Instruction in Fog Flying N_ returning from Europe, Major Clarence M. Young, Assistant Secre- tary of Commerce for Aeronautics recently stated that the Farman system of instruc- tion in fog flying was one of the most interesting things he had noted. Our photograph shows Major Young seated in the ‘“‘cockpit,’” so arranged that the occupant cannot see anything but his instruments. The instructor manipulates a control which causes the cockpit to sway sideways or fore-and-aft. The student, “flying blind,’ attempts to keep the machine on an even keel by the aid of his instruments and controls. This certainly appears to be a most practical introduction to real blind flying. Airway Marking UR photograph shows the Hon. Wil- liam P. MacCracken, Jr., former Assistant Secretary of Commerce, and Colonel H. H. Blee, on top of the Commerce Building in Washington examining some airway markers. A committee of the Department made an extended series of flight tests in which markings of various designs, sizes, and colors were painted on large canvases on this roof and tested under a wide variety of weather conditions. Night tests with illumination by various methods were also tried. As a result of these tests, and of a conference at Wichita, certain definite recommendations were adopted. The markings should be as simple as possible, and have maximum attractive power and visibility under all atmospheric conditions. They should be effective at night. The markings should give the pilot his position and indicate the direction and distance to the nearest landing field, as well as the general equipment and facilities available at such landing field. They should include the name of the city, and have a meridian marker. The best results are apparently obtained by using chrome yellow characters on a darker background. The height of the lettering should be from 10 to 30 feet, and under no circumstances less than six feet. Plain vertical Gothic capital lettering is recommended. A “cockpit” for instruction in blind flying

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29 yn rc 2 RR tt 4 Wl eee 2

ow to be Generous to a man at Christmas Just how does the Gillette Fifty Box qualify as the ideal Christmas gift fora man? Here’s how—on these eight counts: It is practical... Man, famous for his . . . i - . practical mind, insists on useful gifts. Yet he probably wouldn't buy this for himself... From long habit, he is used to getting his blades in packs of five and ten. This will be a new andrefreshing idea for him. He'll be sure to use it... Blades are a daily necessity in every man’s life. TheGillette Fifty Box is the most convenient way to have them, It is personal... It’s all to himself, for his own intimate, bathroom use. It is good looking ... Packed, as you see, in a metal box, velvet lined, with a spring- hinge cover. Blades are enclosed in brilliant Cellophane. it is truly generous... With fifty smooth, double-edged Gillette Blades in easy grasp, a man can look forward to more continuous shaving comfort than he has probably ever enjoyed before in his life. it will last well beyond the Christmas season... For months his mornings will be free from all thought of buying Gillette Blades. It is reasonable in price ... Five dollars buys this zdeal gift. On sale everywhere. GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR CO., BOSTON, U. S. A. Gillette

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WHAT WESTINGHOUSE IS DOING IN RESEARCH tc OTM DRAWN FOR WESTINGHOUSE BY C. PETER HELCK WESTINGHOUSE MEASURES INTERNAL STRESSES IN MACHINE PARTS WITH THIS LIGHT-PROJECTION MACHINE Tomorrow’s electrification--on view today Spend today with Westinghouse research engi- neers and catch a glimpse of what Westinghouse is doing toward meeting tomorrow’s electrical requirements... In a quiet wing of the laboratories in East Pitts- burgh, slightly pungent with the fumes of mys- terious chemicals, specialists are applying electricity to chemistry. Time alone can tell what new electrical principles they will uncover to aid the industries that depend on chemistry for their advancement. Westin glaze making it possible to solder cables securely to porcelain. There they are applying unusual tests to find the dynamic strength of metals, and the amount of permanent distortion they may undergo at high temperatures. Again they are developing inexpensive iron-base alloys to take the place of platinum in tubes and cells. Now we are among the grid-glow tubes and photo-electric cells. These super-sensitive tubes are the keys to automatic traffic controls, fire and smoke detectors, counting and sort- A cathode ray tube sputters in a dark * Seger. eae ing devices that need not touch their corner. We know it as the greatest concen- Avvlionces Apparatus subjects, and switches that will turn on trator of energy man has yet developed. Nothing can live in the path of its rays. Westinghouse research is seeking its com- mercial value. Here we find men working on new insula- tors for higher voltages, and new insulators with metallic -> Wiring = The Sirn of a Westinghouse Dealer Westinghouse lights automatically when daylight wanes. Thus Westinghouse research is ever looking forward, alert to the future needs and possi- bilities of every application of electricity —leading the way to new economies for ine dustry and new conveniences and comforts for the home.

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December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN The marking shown in the photograph is typical. The S preceding the pointer indicates that there are seaplane facilities ahead. Within the circle is the rating of the airport. The figure 3 indicates the distance from the airport. There will soon arise a need for a dis- tinctive mark or symbol to distinguish airway markings from advertising matter. It is important that air markings be placed on the most outstanding buildings or structures, selecting such locations where there is no likelihood of interference from smoke. In marking metal, shingle, concrete, slate, tile, and similar roofs, the markings may be painted directly on the roof itself, using a good grade of chrome yellow paint of semi-mat finish. Another method is to use markings constructed of painted gal- vanized iron or other rust-resisting ma- terial. When necessary the roof should be treated in such a manner as to afford a dead black background. Raised markings are thought to have a definite advantage, as those placed or painted directly on the roof are very likely to become covered with dirt or soot and in the winter to be blanketed with snow. There are three general systems of illumi- nation: (1) By reflected light, in which either floodlight projectors with spread lenses or industrial reflectors are so arranged as to give a uniform distribution of light of proper intensity over the entire surface of the marking. (2) By transmitted light in which incan- descent lamps are mounted under trans- lucent glass strips of suitable color arranged to form the letters or symbols. (3) By direct light in which the markings are outlined by exposed incandescent lamps or by neon tubes placed along the center lines of the lettering and other symbols. Illumination by direct light is most effective owing to the greater brilliancy and greater attracting power. Certainly every city which wishes to keep in the foreground will have to give roof marking serious at- tention. And nothing will give aviation more practical help than such airway markings throughout the country. Slots and Interceptors As we have often pointed out in these pages, the great advantage of the Handley Page slot is that it prevents stalling when the angle of incidence be- comes too large. The use of a*front slot in conjunction with the ailerons ensures perfect contro! at slow speeds or high angles of incidence. One way to use the slot and aileron control is that indicated in one of our drawings, where the aileron is connected by a link mechanism with the slot. With the aileron in its normal position, the slot is only slightly open. When the aileron is down, we want the greatest possible lift on the same side of the wing, and therefore the front slot is open to its greatest extent. When the aileron is up, we want the least possible lift on the wing ahead of the up aileron, and therefore the corresponding slot should be closed. There is a certain complication in having the slot operated manually, and it is much better to have it open automatically, under the forward movement of the suction on top of the wing. In our second drawing such an automatic action is indicated, and at high angles of incidence the slot is always open. The difficulty involved in this arrangement.is that on the side on which the aileron is down, there is not only more lift but also more drag. Hence the machine tends to turn incorrectly for a given bank. We bank to the right and the machine tends to turn to the left. The interceptor combined with the automatic slot and aileron gives absolutely the last word in lateral control at slow 529 speeds, and meets this difficulty. Let us imagine that we are flying at high incidence. The slot is open. The depressed aileron compresses the spring, but does nothing to the interceptor, which is a flap on the upper surface of the wing. But when the aileron is pulled up, the interceptor is opened out. Therefore, the drag is increased on the side where the lift is decreased. When the machine is banked to the right, it therefore also tends to turn to the right. There are many methods by which it is possible to achieve the same end. The result is worth much trouble. Selling the Light Airplane HE National Air Races at Cleveland were a tremendous success in attract- ing the public’s attention to flying, yet we doubt whether the races benefited American aviation so very much because several ac- cidents (probably unavoidable in an event of this character) serve to give the public a wrongimpression ofaviation dangers. The Cleveland Air Show, on the other hand, was distinctly disappointing. The number of visitors at this show was comparatively small because so many of them preferred to spend their time at the races. Few planes were sold, and manufacturers and dealers were rather disheartened. In the last two years the aircraft industry has been financed on a generous scale by the public and its productive capacity has been enormously increased. It is doubtful whether the market for planes has kept pace with the possible output. The industry is now en- tering on a competitive phase and the problem of sales has become paramount. From an article in Aviation by Jack W. Duelks of the American Aircraft Corpora- tion, it would appear that our airplane dis- tributors are fully alive to the situation and that their sales methods and plans are be- ing improved constantly. The distributor finds it best to announce his demonstrations to a few selected men. General announcements are apt to bring such a crowd to the airport that sales are actually hindered by excess of public inter- est. The demonstration at an airport follows well defined lines. The pilot makes a quick take-off, shows the fast climb of his ship, and then flies across the field at minimum speed to show how slowly and under what perfect control he can fly when need be. After gaining altitude, a low loop and a slow roll are performed. Then come in- verted flights and climbs in inverted flight, which are always very impressive. It may be asked why a prospect who will never be required to undertake such maneu- vers is given a demonstration of stunt fly- ing. The answer is that stunt flying gives an impression of the perfect command which a pilot has over his plane under all conditions and thus inspires confidence in the prospective purchaser. (Please turn to page 548) Aderon Norme da POCA \ “ vo “eg deren “Normal Illustrating ‘‘Slots and Interceptors’”’ above

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Chemistry in Industry Advances Made in Industrial and Experimental Chemistry Synthetic Resin Improves Lacquers YROXYLIN lacquers, to which we owe the lastingly beautiful finish of our au- tomobiles, furniture, and hundreds of other common objects, are basically nitrocellu- lose, or gun cotton. This very useful prod- uct has one disadvantage for this purpose, however, for the film formed upon drying normally lacks luster and adhesion. This has been overcome in modern lacquer pro- duction by the addition of resins to the lacquer. Unfortunately, the materials which are the best solvents for nitrocellulose are the poorest solvents for these resins, and vice versa. With some resins it is very difficult to get a homogeneous solution containing both nitrocellulose and resin, and practi- cally impossible to get a homogeneous film. With any natural resin the lacquer formu- lator must balance his resin and lacquer solvents very skilfully, and he is constantly confronted with the difficulty that he has, as an ingredient, a material which in many respects is incompatible with nitrocellulose. Alan C. Johnston, of the Hercules Powder Company, describes in a recent issue of Industrial and Engineering Chemis- try, a new synthetic resin which appears to be ideally adapted for use in lacquers be- cause it is soluble in nitrocellulose solvents. This latest contribution of synthetic chem- istry to lacquer technology is ethyl abie- tate. Until-recently this compound was regarded as a laboratory curiosity, but is now available commercially. Commercial ethyl abietate has a very slight but agreeable odor. In lacquers the odor is not apparent. Sunlight does not discolor the material itself. When used in a lacquer containing zine oxide and nitro- cellulose, the film does not discolor any more than does a lacquer containing zine oxide, nitrocellulose, dibutyl phthalate, and dammar gum, both films discoloring to a considerably less extent than films con- taining zine oxide, nitrocellulose, dibutyl phthalate, and ester gum. In ethyl abietate a natural resin has been changed in chemical composition in such a way that, while it still retains its primary resin characteristics and imparts to the film gloss, depth, body, and adhesion, as a resin should, it has ceased to be incom- patible with nitrocellulose and has come to have actually a latent solvent action on nitrocellulose. Powdered Fuels for Engines AFTER many trials and failures, a practical and reliable internal com- bustion engine appears to have been de- veloped to utilize powdered coal as fuel. Unlike the Diesel engine, states Rudolph Pawlikowski in Canadian Chemistry and Metallurgy, it compresses air and fuel at the same time, but keeps them separated until the injection, after the compression. In the Diesel engine, fuel oil must be atomized, heated, and ignited in a small fraction of an engine stroke; the new engine allows a complete stroke for these opera- tions. The engine has been successfully SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 J operated on dust of bituminous coal, lignite, peat, wood, charcoal, rice hulls, meal, and coke. Ash disposal, of course, is one of the major problems; but in this engine the ash is so fine that the particles, even if they do get into the oil film, rub on only one of the metal surfaces, not on both. The exhaust is said to be odorless. Industrial Stills Made of Glass RADITIONAL conception of the chem- ist links him with test-tubes, beakers, and weird assemblies of glassware, but be- yond the laboratory, in the actual chemi- cal plant, steel and special alloys dominate the scene and glass apparatus is seldom seen. Yet the many advantages of glass in handling chemicals have long tempted the industrial chemist, and only the me- chanical difficulties involved in construct- ing commercial apparatus have prevented laboratory his reversion to this useful Above: Special glass plate with its three bonnets. Below: The bon- net-type glass still plate assembled material. Now, however, science has brought such advances to glass technology that the chemical engineer is able to build commercial units out of special glass. A. A. Backhaus made this significant revelation to a recent meeting of the Institute of Chemica] Engineers when he described a distilling column, two feet in diameter, designed for the manufacturer of industrial alcohol, in which the intricate and cumber- some parts are all cast in glass. When this rather radical plan was first considered, the possibility of both the per- forated and the bonnet type of distilling plate was considered. Within a short time samples of glass disks 13 inches in diameter, perforated by sand blast, were submitted. The cost of producing perforations in this manner was prohibitive. Further experimentation finally _ re- sulted in a bonnet-type glass plate design which would be possible from the stand- point of glass practice and at the same time make a practical job for distillation work. This column has been in use two years for distilling anhydrous solutions contain- ing alcohol and hydrogen chloride. As is well known, corrosion is greatly increased Drawing of assembled distilling col- umn in relation toa bonneted plate when erosion occurs simultaneously. In a distilling column the plates, and espe- cially the bonnets, are subjected to the erosion of a violently boiling liquid. Cor- rosive liquids under these circumstances make a column short-lived. Lead plates used for the job in question lasted only a few months, while the lead lining of the shell showed good life. The use of glass plates has here resulted in a useful com- bination. Standardized ‘‘Weighting’’ Practice Adopted by Silk Industry ILK weighting is an art which has its uses and, like many other good things, its dangers. Properly weighted silk has better luster, ‘‘feel,’’ and draping qualities than pure dyed silk. The weighting ma- terial is cheaper than the fiber, and the makers have sometimes been tempted over much by the demand for cheap silk dresses. Quality has sometimes been sacrificed to price by over-weighting. The industry is striving to correct this by setting up standards of good practice, with the co- operation of the Bureau of Standards. Silk, as the silk-worm produces it, is covered with an outer layer of soluble gum, known as serecin. This is removed by treatment in a hot alkaline bath of soap with sulfonated oils or silicate of soda. The loss in weight due to this process is about 25 percent. The restoration of this loss is accomplished by successive treat- ments in baths containing chloride of tin, sodium phosphate, and silicate of soda; but as a well-known textile chemist has re- cently said, the fiber has no judgment. It will go on taking up mineral matter until it no longer retains properties which we value in silk. Every dyer knows that weighting ‘‘plumps”’ the silk fiber and improves its luster, the feel of the goods is better, and the dyer says it has a better ‘‘hand;”’ the Decemmbe

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December 1929 FOR CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS TOYS SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN For toys at Christmas time, for industry all the time ...this grainless wood board The discovery of a method to make wood grainless is revolutionizing many indus- triai processes, is giving manufacturers a new material with which to improve products and reduce costs. Perhaps you, too, can profitably use this grainless wood. A sample and the Presdwood booklet are yours for the asking. Both are FREE. Now tiny tots can play with wooden toys that will not splinter. Motor truck bodies are made strong and smooth with a material that neither cracks nor splits. Glistening concrete walls of towering sky- scrapers require practically no hand smoothing because of a perfect, smooth board that lines the forms, All these develop- ments, and scores of others in manufacturing and building, are possible today because of the grain- less wood board, Masonite Presdwood. Manufacturers find that Presdwood has many properties which adapt it to production methods. Builders find its smooth surface, its uniform 12th inch thickness, and its broad four foot by twelve foot pieces ideal for paneling, display booths, closet lining, breakfast nooks, and for lining ventilator and elevator shafts. ‘ ° Easily worked—in factory or home While the grainless nature of Presdwood is per- haps its most remarkable feature, it is far from the only property which makes Presdwood popular. This grainless wood is hard, smooth, strong, and dense. It never harms fine tools; it can be punched, die cut, milled, or sanded; it is also ideal for the home mechanic who has little to work with but a hammer and saw. And when an article is completed it can be left just as it is because of Presdwood’s natural beauty and resist- can be given any com- ance to moisture, or mercial finish. os WEATHER RESISTING SIGNS Re -, \\ {i @ ; ° / ( GENEVA a = ey SHICKS f GAL A = \\r ae X , a Made by Mas onite PRESDWOOD the makers of MASONITE pte benches INSULATION #40. U.S PAT.OFF, This grainless wood is used in radio cabinets, tension boards for loud speakers, beds of portable billiard tables, book cases, kitchen cabinets, show cases, and china closets. It makes strong shipping con- tainers, weather resisting road signs, light partitions, durable work bench tops, wad attractive novelties such as bedroom screens, fire screens, and trays. FOR LINING CONCRETE FORMS Lines concrete forms Building contractors reduce labor costs on concrete work as much as 40 per cent when Presd- wood lines the forms, for the face of Presdwood leaves the concrete perfectly smooth so that the process of polishing with carborundum bricks can be entirely eliminated. Every manufacturer, builder, and home me- chanic should read the fascinating story of wood made grainless. It is the record of a scientific experiment with live steam at 1,000 pounds pres- sure—an experiment which revealed a way to make grainless wood commercially. The Presdwood booklet tells this story, lists 80 uses for this grainless wood, and tells how various finishes should be applied. The booklet and a sample of Presdwood are yours for the asking. A postcard brings them. MASONITE CORPORATION Dept. 744, 111 West Washington Street Chicago, Illinois FOR STURDY SHIPPING CONTAINERS © 1929 M. C. 531

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532 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 increased weight also gives a better effect in draping. All of this results in a steady demand for silk which contains enough mineral matter to make it weigh 50 per- cent more than in the raw state. Silk is a very strong fiber and one would naturally expect the weighting to reduce its strength, but recent investigations show that moderate weighting actually increases the tensile strength of silk. It only begins to decline when the amount of mineral matter is enough to raise the weight of the fiber more than 50 percent. (Please turn to page 534) Photographs courtesy Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering EVERYTHING FOR THE MEDICINE CHEST HIS plant of the Abbot laboratories near Chicago is notable for the wide variety of its pharmaceutical products: more than one thousand substances are made here for use in the medical profession. (1) Percolators used for extracting the active principal in drugs, from vegetable sources, by means of solvents. (2) Grinder and receiver for preparing the ingredients of effervescent salts, which are purified by crystallization, ground and sifted. (3) Apparatus for manufacturing neomal, bar- bital, and other hypnotics. The ingredients are mixed in centrifugal glass-lined kettles, a steam-jacketed kettle, and an oil-heated kettle. (4) Part of the equipment used to manufacture antiflavine and proflavine sulfate. (5) A battery of driers used for many pharmaceutical products. Dust is removed from the incoming air by the oil filters on top of the drying chamber. (6) A battery of tablet and pill coating ma- chines. The coating not only hides the unpleasant taste of the pills, but also “case hardens” them so that they will not disintegrate until swallowed by the patient. Decer

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December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 533 “Delta” Electric Handi-Shop A complete Motorized Workshop for craftsmen, including all necessary equipment for Circular Sawing, Wood Turning, Scroll Sawing, Sanding, Drilling, Grinding and Buffing. Practical Design — Dependable Quality — Plus Many Exclusive Features — that’s what you find in every woodworking unit bearing the Delta trade- mark. Craftsmen, artisans, farmers, mechanics—all who use wood in their daily labors or spare-time hobbies —are delighted with the sturdy ¥ New “‘Delta’’ 7 construction, splendid efficiency, MOULDING CUTTER and moderate cost of Delta equip- ment. They appreciate keenly such exclusive constructional features as the Patented Tilting Tables, Auto- matically-oiled Bronze Bearings, Heavy U-Shaped Lathe Bed, Circu- lar Saw Raising Lever in the Handi- Shop—the new Welded Steel Stands, Graduated Fence, Practical Rip Gauge, Graduated Miter ‘ Se , a] Gauge, and the convenient arrange- == ~ ment, in the new Delta Jointer and Combination 4-inch Jointer and Circular Saw Units, which can be 8-inch Circular Saw Unit used with your motor, if desired. [| Cuts Over SO Moulding Shapes me unted conveniently or welded steel stand. Both ma- With Only 4 Sets of Blades Saw Unit ly and easily locked in position. Spe- mounted separately on Easy Terms cial guide fence. Unusually low price. sturdy, welded steel stand. See Winn Or ONE a vga Bog full pe co a za & &> Ss Ce ee 0 e new 193 elta line, send coupon " = s : for FREE illustrated literature. Shows a a a oe (aa many items of interest to those who work ; with wood. You will learn, also, how you can try any Delta equipment for 10 days shines can | sed together or separately. Furnished with ce with m “4 — eS eee a & High speed blades produce over 10,000 a ria cuts per minute at 3500 R.P.M. Blades | 8-inch Circular require no individual adjustment. Quick- under actual working conditions at our DELTA SPECIALTY COMPANY, Dept. S-129 4 “hoice 7eni "me Division of ‘‘Delta Manufacturing Co.” risk. Choice of three convenient payment 1661-67 Holton St., Milwaukee, Wis, plans, Mail coupon TODAY! Please send me FREE, illustrated literature describing 1930 model ‘Delta’? Woodworking Units. Also details of 10 Day Trial Offer and e Easy Payment Plans, | 4-inch Jointer Division of Unit DELTA MANUFACTURING CoO, Mounted du'sarl Furnished 1661-67 Holton St. Milwaukee, Wis- With or without motor. DEPT. S-129

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534 Elasticity declines at lower weights than tensile strength. A fiber which showed 26 percent stretch after boiling off, but with- out weighting, showed 28 percent stretch when weighted 30 percent above par, 24 percent at 40, and 20 percent at 50 above par. Quality of silk in relation to the con- ditions of its use requires much further study. There is good reason to expect that its resistance to abrasion or wear will be found better after proper weighting than before. This is an important factor. It has been aptly said there is no reason to suppose that a silkworm has a lady’s dress in mind when performing the syn- thesis of his useful product. Its adapta- bility to human uses is an accident.

Ethanolamine Soap Has Many Uses V E see and hear a great deal about the remarkable properties of certain brands of soap in connection with youthful complexions, skins you love to touch, and so on, but the chemist has gone the advertis- ing man one better by developing an en- tirely new kind of soap in which neither “fat’’ nor lye, the traditional raw materials of soap production, are used. This new pro- duct is known as ethanolamine soap be- cause it is made from a fatty acid and ethanolamine. Ralf B. Trusler, an _ in- dustrial fellow at the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, describes this ‘“‘syn- thetic’’ soap in the current issue of Indus- trial and Engineering Chemistry. The ethanolamines (there are three in the family—mono-, di-, and tri-) are synthe- sized from ammonia. There are three pos- sible homologous types of ethanolamine soaps, depending upon which one of the three ethanolamines is used. However, for technical purposes, a mixture of the three can be used advantageously, because they are quite similar in their properties. Any of the three ethanolamines as well as techni- cal ‘‘ethanolamine”’ combines readily with fatty acids to produce soaps. Ethanolamine soaps are pale yellow to reddish brown, depending upon the purity and color of the fatty acids employed, and, generally speaking, all these compounds have an agreeable, soapy odor. Those made from the higher fatty acids, such as oleic and steric acids, are soluble in a great variety of organic solvents, which is one of their unusual and outstanding properties. They are dissolved readily by benzine, toluene, and similar compounds. Turpen- tine, alcohols, glycols, glycerol, ketones, and SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN many aldehydes are excellent solvents for these soaps. It is surprising to note that even heavy petroleum products, such as lubricating oils and petrolatum, will dis- solve quite appreciable amounts. This is particularly true of the oleate. In most cases, excepting the heavy oils, the ethanola- mine soaps are soluble in the solvents in all proportions, yielding transparent solu- tions. Ethanolamine oleate possesses striking emulsifying ability in promoting oil-in- water emulsions. It has been found that small amounts, in the proximity of 0.3 to 1 percent of these soaps dissolved in lubricating oils, either increase their viscosity or cause them to gel. In many instances heavy oils can be rendered non-running and given in- creased consistency, and appear to be suit- able for pressure oiling systems (not for internal-combustion engines) and for cup and gear greases. A convenient and efficient means for re- moving oil and grease from articles and clothing can be made by dissolving about 10 to 20 percent of the oleate in a conven- ient solvent, such as naphtha, carbon tetrachloride, ethylene dichloride, and the like. A solution such as this has been suc- cessfully used in cleaning greasy walls, woodwork, mechanisms, automobile bodies, and parts covered with grease and oil, by brushing or rubbing it over the surfaces to be cleaned. After the solvent has evapor- ated, the grease and oil can be often com- pletely removed by washing with water, be- cause the grime is removed as an emulsion as the soap is taken up by the water. Ethanolamine oleate in the presence of moisture hasa marked softening action upon starch, sugar, and other non-greasy sub- stances, thus facilitating the cleaning of garments. In fact, much of the laborious spotting-out operation usually experienced by dry-cleaners can be avoided by using this soap in the regular dry cleaning opera- tion. For cleaning felt and wool hats, where the soap in naphtha is applied by hand, par- ticularly good results have been obtained.

Carbon Dioxide Gas Used to Fight Fire ARBON dioxide, the gas which we ex- hale and which gives the sparkle to our soft drinks, has begun the conquest of a new realm—that of fire fighting. Be- cause it is comparatively easy to liquefy and is safely handled in that condition, its fire-blanketing property is useful in December 1929 certain conflagrations. One of the illustra- tions shows a fire in a large lacquer dip tank being extinguished through the use of the Alfite system, which utilizes carbon dioxide as the extinguishing agent. This photograph was taken just at the moment when all flame had disappeared and the fire was out. The fire was extinguished in seven seconds, after being allowed to burn for two minutes. In the other illustration a lacquer fire is being extinguished by the “‘fireman’’ who is directing a blanket of carbon dioxide over the flames. This system is called “‘Fyre-Freez’”’ because, in addition to the blanketing effect, some of the effectiveness of the system is attributed to the chilling effect of the carbon dioxide. Because of the high pressure under which it is stored the CO: falls on the fire at a temperature far below zero.

Fish Fussy About Salt in Their Water NEARLY everyone has “felt like a fish out of water’ but it is only recently that scientists of the United States Bureau of Mines have looked into the question of how a fresh-water fish feels in salt water, and vice versa. Here is a typical example of the strange fields into which industrial and research chemistry leads its votaries, for this particular investigation, conducted by L. Schmidt and J. M. Devine, had for its objective the discovery of how the wastes from oil fields can be disposed of harmlessly. This led them to the considera- tion of the effect of soluble chlorides, run as waste into streams, upon the fish. No general statement can be made re- garding the maximum concentration of salts in which fresh-water fish can live, for this depends on the species of fish as well as on other factors. The top minnow, Gambusia, may be plunged directly frora fresh water to sea water without any ap- parent ill effects. Again, such typically fresh-water fishes as the black bass, the brook trout, and the carp, are known to live and thrive well in brackish and even salt water under natural conditions where the fish is free to choose its own environ- ment. On the other hand, salt-water fishes may be killed by a too-great saline concentration. Calcium chloride seems to be much more lethal in its effect than sodium chloride. According to the Bureau of Fisheries, a 1 percent solution of calcium chloride (Please turn to page 545)

.

Fire in a large lacquer tank, which fills th shown at the left, photographed just as the flame was e building extinguished. At the right, carbon dioxide at a temper- ature several degrees below zero blanketing a lacquer fire

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December 1929 x Teed by oe ie Albert Shaw Hoover Picks § BA How Louy Will His Men You Live? fy Wibtse Hand We Leproe tye on bak The Fifteenth Macedonia Anniversary id and New Few Br George Whe Canada’s Wea! Peal Be Raber Sere The ‘Revi ew of Reviews Is the Leading 2 News Magazine of Toda ry Go It Brings You 3 Reading That’s a Real Mental Eye-Opener 4 Go It’s a Crystallizer of View Point — 5 It Gives You the Assurance 6 to Express an Opinion tenets | hy Bare =s SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Wh. a g Rwex 16 REASONS | A NREVIEWS | Why you'll likethe Reviewof Reviews BECAUSE — It brings you all the worth while news, both here and abroad. Once a month the Review of Reviews gives you the true, sifted substance of all that’s going on in the world. A clarifying account, impartially told, of national affairs, political trends, social problems, foreign affairs and trade relations, activities in the world of business and finance — “‘like a monthly chat with an old friend who knows all about everything.”’ BECAUSE — It gives you more than the news. It gives an interpretation of the news. Once a month the Review of Reviews clarifies the disconnected, confusing news story you get through your daily reading. It interprets the news in practical terms. It makes you see our busy world in one complete picture. BECAUSE — Each issue contains Dr. Shaw’s intensely inter- esting editorials on subjects of national importance. Each month an article by Frank H. Simonds, the well known authority on European affairs. BECAUSE — It’s a digest of other magazines. You can’t read them all. Anything that is published in periodicals or books that is too good to miss will be passed on to you in brief in the Review of Reviews. It’s a time-saver for busy men and women who wish to keep up with the times. BECAUSE — It acquaints you with the outstanding person- alities of the day and has departments to cover every field of activity, Finance, Art, Travel, Science, Books, Religion, and Sport. BECAUSE — It is the most inexpensive way to carry on a continuous education and no one can afford to stop educating himself. “AN INTELLIGENT UNDERSTAND- ING”’ — Your interpretations of events constitute a unique contribution toward an intelligent understanding of history in the making. — Charles M. Schwab, Chair- man of the Board, Bethlehem Steel Corporation “INTIMATELY AND GRACEFULLY AND UNDERSTANDINGLY”’ — I have read the Review of Reviews in its new form from cover to cover. It is a wonder to me — always — to observe how intimately and gracefully and understandingly you present the outstanding characters and affairs of the wide world from month to month. — Irving Bacheller, A uthor. **“WELL-BALANCED, HIGH-MINDED” — I have been long accustomed to looking forward every month to the well-balanced, high-minded, and forward-looking com- ments which you have fortunately been able to make year after year for several decades. — Edwin R. Seligman, Depart- ment of Political Science, Columbia Uni- versity. THIS COUPON * ° . . Ad ALWAYS HELPFUL —1 never turn to Will bring you °° it without obtaining both light and leading. ‘ > Ad — John W. Davis, Democratic Nominee a Six months e for President, 1924. F oe trial ° | **A SOURCE OF PROFIT AND PLEAS- 2 e » Roslaw URE” — For many years the Review of subscription e of Reviews Reviews has been a source of profit and ° Corporation pleasure to me and I would like you to f = know that, as one of its long time readers, or Fs ie = dig I feel grateful for its change in form. It is as ° easy to handle as before, and a joy to read. Pg I enclose $1.00 for a — Col. Edward M. House, Author and 1 Ay special Six Months’ Diplomat. Pg Trial Subscription to the Pe Review of Reviews. e “ONE OF OUR INDISPENSABLE MAGAZINES” — The Review of Reviews Pd has always been one of our indispensable ?¢ magazines ever since it was founded. You ¢ are to be, congratulated in making it more ” Ee er rte ur iia) indispensable— if that is possible. — ® ~'"'""° SA 12-29 Charles A. Beard, Author. AAsER BER SREREERSSSE SHES eee eee Name TERRE R RR RRR ERR ERE RE R ERE REE EEE OES NG 5 ca daiad aca eotaenaee 535

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536 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 The Month in Medical Science Progress in the Medical and Surgical Fields By MORRIS FISHBEIN, M. D. Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia Liver and Iron in Anemia Y EARS ago when girls lived largely an indoor life, there was a great fre- quency of a disease called chlorosis, or the “green sickness.’’ As costumes have changed to permit more freedom of motion and as women have come to take up outdoor sports, this disease has practically disap- peared and is rarely seen by a modern physician. The chief symptom of chloro- sis is the deficiency of red blood cells and of the red coloring matter in the blood, pro- ducing a condition called secondary anemia. It used to be the custom to treat secondary anemia by giving iron, which has the value of stimulating the formation of the red coloring matter; small doses of arsenic were used with the idea that they aided the bone marrow in producing red blood cells. A few years ago investigators in the laboratory of the University of Rochester, New York, found that animals could be caused to have some new blood very promptly after they had been submitted to hemorrhages, by feeding them with - meats. Of all the meat substances avail- able, liver and kidney seemed to be su- perior. It was generally thought that this action was due to the fact that these tissues are rich in iron. On the basis of this work, however, Boston investigators proved that extracts of liver had some special function in stimulating the formation of blood and in preventing the destruction of red blood cells in the body. Asa result of their work, pernicious anemia, formerly an incurable disease, has been brought under control. It was thought at first that the feeding of liver would be equally satisfactory for controlling the secondary anemias, but liver seems to have failed somewhat in this regard when used either in the form of raw liver or in liver extract. Recently, Drs. Chester S. Keefer and C. S. Yang of the Peking Union Medical College in China studied the question of secondary anemia to find out whether liver alone or iron alone would be as effective as both used together in cases of secondary anemia. They tested their methods on persons recovering after blood transfusions, after surgical opera- tions and hemorrhages, and after hook- worm disease. In hookworm disease there is an anemia which apparently is due to the fact that the person with hookworm seldom eats enough of anything and cer- tainly not enough of the vital nutritive substances. The investigators found that iron was effective in bringing about increased re- generation of the red coloring matter in the blood in patients with secondary anemia. When liver and iron were given in combina- tion, the increase was more rapid than when either was given alone. The results were particularly noticeable in the cases of per- sons with hookworm infestation. Eye Examinations of Children PRACTICALLY every modern school now arranges for regular examinations of the eyes of children to make sure that the child is not backward in its work be- cause it does not see the blackboard or the books. In many schools the system has been so thoroughly worked out that it is a relatively simple matter to test a great number of children. Investigations by the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness have shown that there were from six to twelve percent of children in schools who have defective eyes. Doctor Frank H. Rodin is convinced that such examinations should be made by the regular medical officers of the schools and that they can be assisted in the routine by the school nurse and the teachers. In the routine examinations, children are examined in groups of ten. First the doctor looks over the eyes to make sure that there are no visible diseases. For small children, the Snellen chart with the letter E is commonly used. The child is asked to read the second line, known as the 20-20 line because normal vision demands the ability to read this line at a distance of 20 feet. If the child cannot read this line, it is then asked to read the top line and then the smaller ones. In most instances when defective vision is found, the child is referred to a specialist in diseases of the eye, in order that it may be properly treated. Ringworm of the Feet M2kE and more as the gymnasium, the swimming pool and the golf club have spread throughout the land, infections of the feet have become prevalent. The most widespread of infections is the ring- worm [See also page 442, November 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.— Editor] which causes breaking down of the skin, particu- larly between the toes, itching, and in some cases such destruction of the tissue as to produce pain and secondary infection. Among the measures used to overcome such infection are scrubbing of floors with antiseptic substances, insistence on the use of individual slippers or paper slippers by all who use the showers, and the applica- tion of measures directly to the infection. Unfortunately, it is quite easy for people with ringworm of the feet to become re- infected from their own clothing, unless it is thoroughly washed when it is removed. Recently, Drs. C. M. Williams and E. A. Barthel have shown that it is possible to believe that one has recovered from the condition and then to become re-infected from very small foci of infestation from around the toe-nails. Indeed, they found by examination of clippings of the nails and of the feet of many people who were infected, that almost every one of them still had some remnants of infection about the nails. When the scrapings are examined under the microscope after being suitably prepared, the organism that causes the trouble can easily be seen. Obviously it is Proper eye examination should be a regular part of school work impo foci ¢ the i ie ] or a su the cases port Wisc fathe grea chile atta thir gt wit fron che! In give Q. dea mos but pois whi \ the ves in $ of ope ele wh the ph

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December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 537 FASTS Self-dligning (COM UIBIN fe » ees Above: The organism that causes ringworm of the feet. Below: Typical infection of the fifth toe-nail and thickening of the cuticle of the third nail in a case of ringworm of the feet ef ok sorte . “ + . ie ee ek ene is ae main Eliminate Your Coupling Shutdowns ! [gown TIME an old-type flexible materials are used. There is nothing coupling fails—trace it and al- to fatigue, nothing to be replaced, I | most invariably it is due to the nothing that may cause a plant shut- breaking down of flexible bushings, down for repairs when you can least important to be sure that every possible pins, springs, discs or grids. . foci of infestation have been removed before N i fat; F “als” afford it. the individual can consider himself cured. o wonder “‘fatigue of materials ‘ . ‘ the individual can consider himself cured , g Like moet inventions that have revo- sesame so frequently sets in wherever any ma- eRe : ; : eS pr ; lutionized time-honored practice, Fast’s Nervous Baldness terial is under constant bending back . me . A coupling is so simple that in the ten T has long been known that severe worry and forth with each revolution of the ee P or strain is sometimes accompanied by shaft. Failure comes, and the drive years since its first development, it has a sudden falling of patches of hair from] myst be shut down to replace the swept the coupling field because of its the head. One of the most interesting kabl f : cases of this type has recently been re- broken parts. a pee ported by Dr. R. B. Rogers of Neenah, “ ' Wisconsin. In the case mentioned, the It Is Not Necessary ! Read Wh father of three children had suddenly lost : , . y great patches of hair after the birth of each Do you realize that 99% of flexible If you will mail the coupon, we will child in the family. Thus he had his first cou ling troubles vanish when you re- aie send you a bound reprint of the Prof. attack in 1915, his second in 1920 and his F . . . third in 1928 place flexible materials with the modern M “J Wh H ; FAST’S Self-Aligning Coupling, — YOore article, . Garage Deaths which provides purely mechanical com- Couplings,’’ that tells the entire story. THe United States is not the only| pensation for shaft misalignment? Learn how flexible materials can be country which is greatly concerned = F : meee with the number of deaths that take place See the sketch below. A por il from automobile exhaust gas or from other} ON each shaft end. A casing, with in- chemical hazards in the motor industry.| ternal gear teeth to match, slipped over In Germany special attention has been ; : 3 > two gears. 2 sha . 3 given to this subject in recent years. Dr. the two eras As one shaft turns, the O. Marienfeld finds that there were 242| casing turns also. The other shaft turns deaths in garages in Prussia during 1926,| as a unit with it, the entire misalign- most of them from carbon monoxide gas, et thet k : . but some of them from benzene or benzol| ™¢Mt being taken up between the lubri- poisoning and a few from electrocution| cated faces of the gear teeth. while working on cars with electric wires. Wi > usue é i ASS ; ; ith the usual German thoroughness, Simple and Effective the author prepares an outline for the in- vestigation of safety of working conditions in garages. The outline calls for inspection eliminated, so your plant may elimi- nate flexible coupling failures. == GET FREE BOOK..----------- Sign and mail this coupon today to oir 4 the BARTLETT HAYWARD CO. ‘ Please send me the free , book by Prof. Moore. Simple, isn’t it? Instead of relying of the windows as to whether they are upon flexible pins, bush- open or closed, ventilation, gas heating, ings, discs or springs to mame electric wiring, temperature, the place b H where the body is found in relationship to aboot mis Firm ne ee ee TS alignment, no flexible the car, odors, smokiness of the atmos- phere, and many similar factors. Address . —

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538 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 Current Bulletin Briefs Short Reviews of Bulletins and Papers on Scientific and Allied Subjects, and Where to Get Them Aeronautics THE PREDICTION OF AIRFOIL CHARACTER- istics, Report No. 312, describes and develops methods by which the aerody- namic characteristics of an airfoil may be calculated with sufficient accuracy for use in airplane design. George J. Higgins is the author of the report. National Ad- visory Committee for Aeronautics, Navy Building, Washington, D. C.—10 cents. SUGGESTED CITY OR COUNTY AERONAU- TICS ORDINANCE AND UNIFORM FIELD RULES FOR AIRPORTS, prepared by the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce, outlines a standard code of airport field rules, supplementing existing Federal regulations for aircraft in flight, designed to save aviation from the con- fusing traffic codes now encountered in the automobile field. Department of Com- merce, Washington, D. C.—25 cents. Agriculture INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL USES OF JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE is an assemblage of the available facts about a tuberous artichoke from which laevulose sugur can be extracted commercially. Suited for widespread cultivation in Canada and the United States, this tuber may become an important factor in the sugar beet industry, according to the Canadian investigators. National Resources Intelligence Service, Department of the Interior, Ottawa, Canada —Gratis. ELECTRIC STIMULATION OF PLANT GROWTH, by G. N. Collins, L. H. Flint, and J. W. McLane of the Bureau of Plant Industry in the Department of Agriculture, is the report of carefully conducted experiments which resulted in the conclusion that no significant change in the rate of growth can be attributed to electricity. The pamphlet is a reprint from Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 38, No. 11. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.—25 cents. Industry PoPpULAR RESEARCH NARRATIVES, THIRD SERIES, is the title of a volume containing 50 short stories of what science and re- search is accomplishing or has accom- plished. The narratives are written in plain language, on an amazing variety of topics, each planned to acquaint the reader with the outstanding developments in a specialized field. Williams and Wilkins Company, Publishers, Baltimore, Maryland. —One Dollar. DIESEL POWER PLANTS FOR LARGE CITY BUILDINGS, by Edgar J. Kates, is a reprint of an address given recently before the American Society of Mechanical Engi- neers in New York, which later appeared in Oil Engine Power. The paper is an analysis of the electric power requirements of large buildings, and a study of how they may be met by Diesel power plants, with figures on the economies of Diesel power in a municipal power plant, a large factory, and a typical New York office building. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 29 West 39th Street, New York.—Gratis. EXPLOSIVES SERVICE BULLETINS of the Du Pont company are issued frequently to assist users of explosives in various in- dustrial applications. ‘‘A Few Suggestions for Producing Lump Coal,’’ and ‘Placing the Detonator to Get the Best Results,”’ are titles of two of the recent bulletins. i. I, Du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, Delaware—Gratis. PERTINENT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Bulletin No. 26) is a booklet containing much valuable information regarding re- spiratory protective equipment used by rescue crews and others engaged in activi- ties requiring oxygen breathing apparatus and rescue equipment. Mine Safety Ap- pliances Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania —Gratis. Dust EXPLOSION HAZARDS ENCOUNTERED BY FIREMEN IN FIGHTING FIRES IN IN- DUSTRIAL PLANTS, by David J. Price of the United States Department of Agri- culture, is an interesting and _ helpful presentation of information concerning an important industrial problem. Northwest Fire School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.—Cratis. AN X-RAY STUDY OF FIRHBRICK, by Albert E. R. Westman, (Bulletin No. 193) is the report of an investigation to obtain powder diffraction patterns of a number of brands of commercial firebricks, to find what infor- mation could be obtained by X-ray exam- inations. Engineering Experiment Station, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois—15 cents, BRITISH TRADE IN RUBBER AND RUBBER PRopucts, by Robert B. Bacattee, the American Consul at London, has been re- leased as Trade Information Bulletin No. 644. The study covers recent develop- ments in the British rubber industry, with a discussion of manufacturing trends in England. United States Government Print- ing Office, Washington, D. C.—10 cents. OXWELDING ALUMINUM AND ITS ALLOYS describes in detail oxy-acetylene welding processes as applied to aluminum in all its forms. It includes complete instructions for welding both cast and sheet aluminum, and also the various aluminum alloys which have lately become of great importance in manufacturing processes. Linde Air Prod- ucts Company, 30 Eagt 42nd Street, New York City—Gratis. NICKEL CAST IRON: THEORY AND PRAc- TICE is a well-planned portrayal of the various attributes of this alloy. Inter- national Nickel Company, Inc., 67 Wall Street, New York City.—Gratis. NICKEL ALLOY STEEL PRODUCTS is a buyer’s guide, listing manufacturers of va- rious items under such headings as ‘‘Axles, Auto” and ‘“‘Forgings.’’ The scope of the guide is limited to those items most fre- quently requested of manufacturers using nickel alloys. The International Nickel Company, Incorporated, 67 Wall Street, New York City—Gratis. Minerais MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1928, by Frank J. Katz and Martha B. Clark of the Bureau of Mines, is a preliminary summary of the quantity and value of all mineral products of the country for the period covered. The arrangement is alphabetical by minerals, supplemented by tables giving the mineral production by states. Imports and ex- ports are included in the summary, with figures from the records of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. United States Government Printing Office, Wash- ington, D. C.—20 cents. CopPER IN 1927, by C. E. Jilihn and Helena M. Meyer of the Bureau of Mines, contains complete data on copper production in the United States and Alaska during the cal- endar year 1927. The statistics cover also the imports and exports, by-products, consumption, and uses of copper during the period. United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.—10 cents, Railroads THE RAILROADS ENTER AVIATION, by General W. W. Atterbury and Myron M. Stearns, is a reprint from the Saturday Evening Post. It is a candid portrayal of the reasoning of executives who have learned that the key to industrial and com- mercial development is in co-operating with new forces, rather than in opposing or seeking to ignore them. Publicity Bureau, Pennsylvania Railroad, Broad Street Station, Philadelphia.—Gratis. 103 YEARS OF RAILROADING is the story of the New York Central Lines, and is an interesting chapter in the commercial and industrial history of the United States. Department of Publicity, New York Central Lines, New York Central Building, New York City.—Grat’s. ' Decemt PIGOTT’: INTERCC( of adva operatin Canada ports. authorit guide fo Pigott’s New Yo USE OF Gustave the Ea: , films. made fe the Ne apprais' public | Inc., 4 York.— REPOR’ 1907-1$ volume exploit: the sce ably b South | —Grati THE SI publice initial cultiva toa mi BD. B: Palma. copy. STUDY To Do LETIN nical « with si perfor ability It pre relativ gas. PARTM non-te prospé tion, ington REGU CABLI came mariz This voted be us use 0 The . Wools 10 ce) REFO by F book! inven secut invol ticulz pract unde Mille ingto

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—. December 1929 Miscellaneous PiGoTT’S BULLETIN FOR EXPORT AND INTERCOASTAL SHIPPERS is a weekly index of advance sailings for all steamship lines operating from the United States and Canada to all foreign and intercoastal ports. It is considered the standard authority for such information, and as a guide for shippers, travelers, and operators. Pigott’s Publications, Inc., 80 Broad Street, New York City.—Sample on application. UsE OF FILMS IN THE SCHOOLS, by Dr Gustave Straubenmuller, is an analysis of the Eastman experiment with classroom films. Dr. Straubenmuller’s study was made for the Board of Superintendents of the New York Board of Education, to appraise the value of classroom films in public schools. Eastman Teaching Films, Inc., 843 State Street, Rochester, New York.—Gratis. REPORT ON PROGRESS IN MANCHURIA; | 1907-1928 is a _ well-indexed 238-page volume covering the development and exploitation of a rich region that has been the scene of many conflicts and will prob- ably be the scene of many more. The South Manchuria Railway, Dairen, China. —Gratis. THE SPEAKER makes its debut as a monthly publication under the flag of Liberia. The initial number contains a treatise on the cultivation of the cacao tree, in addition to a number of brief essays and editorials. D. B. Cooper, Editor, The Speoker, Cape Palmas, Liberia, West Africa.—Six cents a copy. STUDY OF THE OIL BURNER AS TO DoMEsTIC HEATING, TECHNICAL BUL- LETIN 109-T, presents comparative tech- nical data derived from a series of tests with several types of burners to gage their performance, cost of operation, and adapt- ability for use in existing heating plants. It presents also a brief discussion of the relative costs of heating with oil and with | DE- | gas. THE DOMESTIC OIL BURNER, PARTMENT CIRCULAR 405-C gives reliable non-technical information of interest to prospective purchasers. tion, Department of Agriculture, ington, D. C.—Both gratis. REGULATIONS GOVERNING INTERNATIONAI CABLE AND RADIO MESSAGES, which be- came effective on October 1, are sum- marized for the benefit of code APPLIED | Office of Informa- | Wash- | users. | This summary, for the most part, is de- | voted to the types of languages which may be used, with specific regulations for the use of plain, code, and cipher languages. The Merchants Association of New York, Woolworth Building, New York City— 10 cents. REFORMATION OF INTERFERENCE ISSUES, by Howard S. Miller, is a well-indexed booklet of 107 pages designed to help inventors and patent attorneys in pro- secuting an application for patent when involved in interference proceedings. Par- ticular attention is given to authoritative practice on setting for hearing motions under Rules 109 and 122. Howard S. Miller, 1335 15th Street, N. W., Wash- ington, D. C.—75 cents. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Sizes of Motor Housings ‘om a Single Die HE skill and ingenuity of Milwaukee Die Casting technicians in the de- sign and production of interchange- able dies enables the Dumore Company to secure die cast motor housings in three different lengths with but a single die cost. As a result, they are able to produce frac- tional H. P. motors of different capacities with minimum labor and expense. Each of these housings is identical in diameter and in interior and exterior contour. The different housing lengths accommodate the different lengths of “fields” which produce the various fractional H. P. capacities, Cover Also Cast In An Interchangeable Die The die-cast cover for the motor housings is also made in an interchangeable die ¢o permit the in- corporation of several types of “bearing bosses” for different types of motors. Some have oil holes; others have machine threads. As in the casing proper, all holes are cast in, as are the field bore and bearing seats. The “snap fit” necessary between cover and case is achieved entirely in the casting operation. No subsequent machining is required. The joint is a lap joint with a key cast in the cover and a keyway in the case. Modern developments in die casting practice may be the means of solving one of your diffi- cult production problems. The counsel of Mil- waukee Die Casting Engineers is available to you at no cost. MILWAUKEE DIE CASTING CO. 287 Fourth Street Milwaukee, Wis. The finish is an important factor in the appearance of Dumore Mo- tors. These castings take a beauti- ful high lustre finish in both nickel and chrome. * re TH pe This simply written, well illustrated booklet will reveal to you the many possibilities of die casting parts of your product. Send for your copy today. JILWAUKEE SI D/E CASTINGS AND BEARINGS 539

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540

The Amateur Astronomer SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

December 1929

to month we shall cut short the tele- scopes, satisfying our interest by a group of pictures which have self-explanatory legends. We shall then pass on to a most informative discussion of the principles of what the astronomer calls ‘‘good seeing.” In a recent number we published a letter from Ellison, co-author of ‘‘Amateur Tele- scope Making,’ in which the following statement was made: “The real difficulty about 16- and 21-inch jobs is in the mount- ing and using. I know from my experience with an 18 inch that observing with a 21 inch is no picnic.”’ The Reverend Mr. Ellison is, of course, referring to his own seeing conditions in the climate of Northern Ireland, and these conditions will differ from those in some parts of America, particularly in the west. Nevertheless, some of the considerations having to do with seeing and its principles, touched on below, are likely to prove of value. They may explain why it is all but futile in certain parts of our country to attempt to “‘manufacture’’ better seeing than can be had, simply by using large mirrors and crowding on higher magnifica- tion; also why it is that experienced ob- servers keep pointing out that the prac- ticability of larger sizes than ten inch, except for photographic work, is illusory in many cases. Discussion by Mr. A. A. C. Elliot Merlin, under the heading ‘‘Fifty Years at the Telescope,”’ in English and Amateur Me- chanics (London) May 24 and June 7, 1929, quoted by kind permission of the publisher, bears directly on this point.

| com] In ferri defir tion, its d are mirr calle “Te amp form ascel to re than can diffr: Se and

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929 Lae jas ire ill December 1929 Mr. Lower inscribed this photo- graph: ‘‘Dad beveling the edge of the mirror disk. This is the rig we used for cutting out the disks’’ competitor, the eight-inch instrument.’ In the last statement Mr. Merlin is re- ferring to the fact that the resolving or defining power increases in direct propor- tion, not to the mirror’s area, but only to its diameter. If we divide 4.56 seconds of are by the diameter or aperture of our mirror or objective lens we get what is called the ‘‘Dawes Limit.’’ (See Bell, “The Telescope,’’ Chapter XI). For ex- ample, consider a six-inch mirror. Per- forming this simple feat of arithmetic we ascertain that this size ought theoretically to resolve or separate two stars not closer than 0.76” apart—although closer pairs can sometimes be seen elongated, their diffraction disks overlapping. Separating a close double is essentially and optically the same thing as defining . ee —- ] The simple grinding rig. The lead weight applies added pressure. The picture also shows glass with disks cut out by rotary ‘‘cookie cutter’’ SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN indeeanegte Mainstay -and yours as well as industry, great flexible Few realize how the individual, is dependent upon wire rope the “handler” of practically everything. The illustration shows a great slab of concrete bridge flooring being lifted onto a freight car. All the material in a modern skyscraper is handled with wire rope—in the ‘raw’; in shipping; in the actual building erection. Oil wells are drilled with wire rope; mines are mined and quarries quarried with it. Your furniture and the evening newspaper both originated in logs taken from the forests with wire rope. Yellow Strand Wire Rope will usually be found where real stamina is demanded. Not mere strength, but strength so nicely balanced with elasticity, flexibility and resistance to the crystallizing effect of vibration, that long life under severest conditions is assured. One strand of yellow distinguishes this high quality rope from all others. Broderick & Bascom Rope Co. St. Louis, Mo. Eastern Office and Warehouse: 68 Washington Street, New York Western Offices: Factories: Seattle and Portland, Ore. St. Lous and Seattle Manufacturers oj F nothi ns g but wire rope , for « Yellow Strand WIRE ROPE ver hal a cent Aerial Wire Rope Tram- ways designed by this com- pany have features that insure eco- nomical oper- ation. —— malitndincties Si Skt ®

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542 A NEW SMART MEN GIFT FOR

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Order now. RUXTON MULTI-VIDER CORPORATION, Graybar Building, N. Y. City RUXTON MULTI-VIDER PENCIL RUXTON MULTI-VIDER CORP., Dept. 17A Graybar Building, New York City Please send me a Multi-Vider, with instruc- tions for use. On arrival, 1 will pay the post- price quoted below plus a few cents postage. Within 5 days, if not satisfied, | may return the Multi-Vider and you are to return my money. I am checking the model I want. ( ) Standard Model $5.00. ( Goldfilled Executive Model in a variety of colors, in handsome gift box $10. Specify color for Executive Model —Blue, Green, Maroon, Black, Crimson and Black.

man Name Address City.. Se. a cteeieenus BOILER FEED WATER TREATMENTS of purity and all other required characteristics. Pamphlet on reques SIME, DARBY & CO., UNISOL MFG. co., Singapore, S. S. A - ts for Straits Setilements. Jersey City, N.J.,U. S.A.

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RADIO CLARIFIER * ° ; $3.00 Postage Prepaid pies SS It clears the tone, decreases interference and in- creases volume. Overcomes fading of sound. Good for any wave length. Easily installed on inside or outside aerial. Simply cut wire near cabinet and connect between cabinet and aerial by using clips which are attached to Clarifier. Gives wonderful résults Satisfaction guaranteed. Worth many times its cost. Send $3.00 for immediate deliv ery. Descriptive literature on request SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN minute detail on, say, the moon. Resolving power, and therefore aperture, is here the decisive factor. But, as we shall see later, there is a fly in the ointment: much of what we gain thus we lose in lack of contrast. Professor A. E. Douglass, now Director of the Observatory at the University of Arizona but then on the staff of Lowell Observatory, published in Popular As- tronomy, June, 1897, a long article entitled ‘‘Atmosphere, Telescope, and Observer,” laying down certain basic principles which are equally valid in 1929 as in 1897, or any time. We shall quote salient parts of Prof. Douglass’ article in a later number. The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for October contains an interesting list of the reflecting and re- fracting telescopes of the world, compiled |} by W. E. Harper. In the list of reflectors

December 1929 we find two instruments made from the instructions in the book ‘‘Amateur Tele- scope Making,’”’ one being that of G. H. Hamilton, of Jamaica, B. W. I., a 21 inch described in our issue of last May, and the other that made by Steber and Thurn, of Warren, Pa., described last June. These two lists, as complete as the com- piler could make them, show the world’s telescopes above 15 inch distributed among sizes as follows: 100 to 50 inches, eight reflectors; 50 to 40 inches, five reflectors, two refractors; 40 to 30 inches, 24 reflectors, six refractors; 30 to 20 inches, 20 reflectors, 29 refractors; 20 to 15 inches, 15 reflectors, 56 refractors. No telescopes under 15 inches are listed—which lets out most of us who “roll our own.”’ If what Mr. Merlin writes is correct, we amateurs are a wiser lot than we supposed.—A. G. I., Tel. Ed.

The Heavens in December By PROF. HENRY NORRIS RUSSELL, Ph.D. ia 07 /J0f] | UsaYy1ION eae d Aé€ ” ( ~~ 2 5 a < wy a Vestern| Horizon At 9 o’clock: Jan. 7. At 81% o'clock: Jan. 14. At 8 o'clock: Jan. 22. NIGHT SKY: DECEMBER AND JANUARY MERCURY is an evening star but is so far south in the sky that he will be hard to see. At the end of the month when conditions are best he sets at 6 P.M. Venus is still a morning star but is getting behind the sun. At the year’s end she rises only 40 minutes before him and will no longer be easy to see. Mars is in conjunction with the sun on the 3rd and is unobservable. Jupiter is in opposition on the 3rd and is the brightest thing in sight except the moon, and is visible all night. His first and third satellites cross the disk on the evening of the first between 8 P.M. and mid- night, while the second satellite is hidden

ROAT & LOHMAN, Dept. 404, Milton, Pennsylvania behind the planet. This exhibition is re- peated on the 8th between 11 P.M. and 2 AM. Saturn is in conjunction with the sun on the 25th and can be seen only at the beginning of the month, just after dark. Uranus is in quadrature east of the sun on the 29th and is observable in the evening; while Neptune crosses the meridian between 3 and 5 A.M., so that the astronomer who would study it must rise early. The moon is in her first quarter at 5 A.M. on the 9th; full at 7 A.M. on the 16th; in her last quarter at 9 P.M. on the 23rd; and new at 7 P.M. on the 30th. Her path in the heavens takes her near Mars and Mercury on the first, Saturn on the 2nd, Uranus on the 10th, Jupiter on the 15th, Neptune on the 21st, and Venus, Mars, and Saturn on the 30th.

Decerr The culty. volved gas wa voyag' be the same V This g leg of richshi hurst constr bide ¢ in We At ] with FE AS mixtu: fax is a fuel mains Althor a suff could from an eq was u hydro weigh same For Angel to Leo natur ment furthe Th suital an in now cente woulc so ag C (;‘ D I fish ] ball « line wate is pr emp! steac acet; dese’ Frar spea Che} D follo “a of a hop] bras swif it fe Fro! forw litth eigh fron and com Oxy:

Page 83

the sJe- The Scientific American Digest 7 (Continued from page 527) ich . the culty. Because of the freight rates in- j WM, of volved, however, a different type of fuel for f e av vas was used on each of the four legs of the vs - m- nero It was decided that ethane would wo Cares ’s be the ideal gas to use as it is about the ng same weight as air and has a high fuel value. ht This gas was accordingly used on the first rs, leg of the flight from Lakehurst to Fried- rs, richshafen, having been shipped to Lake- S, hurst in steel cylinders from a recently ‘S, constructed ethane plant of the Union Car- 15 bide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation 1s in West Virginia. in At Friedrichshafen the ship was refueled oP with Blau gas for the flight to Tokio. d, At Tokio the ship was refueled with a mixture of Pyrofax and hydrogen. Pyro- fax is commonly known to householders as a fuel for gas ranges in homes beyond gas mains. It was supplied in steel cylinders.

December 1929

Although it is somewhat heavier than air, a sufficient volume in the liquefied state could be much more cheaply transported from West Virginia to Tokio than could | an equal volume of ethane. Therefore it | was used, mixed with half of its volume re| hydrogen, obtained in Tokio, to make the | weight of the mixture approximately the | same as that of air. For the last leg of the flight from Los Angeles to Lakehurst, Pyrofax was shipped to Los Angeles where it was mixed with natural gas in suitable proportion. Ship- | ment was made this time in tank cars, still | further reducing the cost of transportation. | Thus the huge dirigible was supplied with | suitable fuel gas at all points by means of | an ingenious combination of various gases | now commercially available in industrial centers throughout the world—a feat which |

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 543

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ASTRONOMICAL

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Golf Ball Murders 74,000—Fish!

(,°LF is charged with the murder of J 74,000 fish at Glacier National Park fish hatchery. A player sliced badly, the | ball entered and clogged the intake water line and the thousands of fish had no water in which to swim.—Science Service. |

Burn Aluminum Dust for Intense Flame A FLAME so intense as to melt its way | < through any known solid substance is produced by a new type of blowpipe, employing finely powdered aluminum in- stead of the more familiar hydrogen or | acetylene gases. The new invention was | described in Minneapolis recently by Dr. | Frank M. Strong of Syracuse University, | speaking before members of the American Chemical Society. Dr. Strong described his device as follows: “‘A screw conveyer carries a slow stream of aluminum dust from the bottom of a hopper out through the open end of a'| brass pipe. The dust is here met by a swift cross-stream of oxygen, with which it forms a fine and uniform suspension. | || From this point the mixture is passed | forward through a larger tube, which a| little farther along is divided up into | eight smaller tubes. The latter diverge | from the central tube for a short distance, and are then curved back inward so as to come to a sharp focus. The aluminum- oxygen flame can be lighted at this focus ALEXANDER AIRCRAFT CO., Dept 8, Colorado Springs, Colo. | PL AINFIELD. N. J.

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romantic provide stories in Science News-Letter. res astronomers probe new wuni- ver .. Or amateurs chase meteors - » when chemists and physicists discover ele ments in the making.

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tery types hitherto unknown in the Mayan art, also jade ear-plugs and apple-green jade beads. While digging in a large mound in the ruins of the city, the expedition made the first authenticated find of a mirror from a site of the Old Empire of the Mayan tribes, that is, from the period between 400 and 800 a.p., Mr. Thompson states. The object consisted of a number of small squares of iron pyrites, which apparently had made a shiny metal looking-glass with a pottery back. Heretofore, it has been generally supposed that the inhabitants of the early Mayan cities were unacquainted

ASBESTOS All grades of Crudes and Fibres in large or small quantities Sold by KEASBEY & MATTISON COMPANY Ambler, - Branches in Principal Cities Penna.

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December 1929 Chemistry in Industry (Continued from page 534) at 20 degrees, Centigrade, proved harmful to tench, which are noted for their tenacity of life, after a period of three hours and five minutes. The tench were then re- moved to fresh water and died three days later. However, a one-tenth of one per- cent solution of calcium chloride had but slight effect upon trout and tench when the temperature of the water was six degrees, Centigrade. Numerous investigators have shown that many fresh-water fish will die if subjected to the action of water of high salinity; the ill effects are largely attributed to the un- balancing action of water of greater specific gravity, a diminution of some of the es- sential food, and also, tendency toward loss of water from the body of a fresh- water fish when placed in a salt solution; this latter phenomenon is explained by the theory of osmosis. Bass transferred from fresh water directly into sea water died in a few minutes. However, a transfer of bass and perch from fresh water to a sodium chloride solution containing approximately 14,000 parts per million failed to produce _ any fatalities in 14 days. Those interested in further details as to the effect of impurities in streams on native fish will find a vast fund of information available at the United States Bureau of Fisheries, Washington, D. C.

Novel Method for Making Citric Acid ITRIC ACID from lemon juice and similar raw materials without the in- termediate production of citrate of lime, has been worked out by Professor Dr. C. Crotto of the School of Pharmacy in Buenos Aires, says a recent issue of “‘Quimica ¢ Industria.’’ The elimination of the usual step of neutralizing the acid of lemon juice with lime to form calcium acetate is ex- pensive and the yield poor, so that this novel process promises appreciable savings. In outline the process is as follows: The lemon juice is concentrated in vacuo to the consistency of a semi-solid and is then mac- erated with acetone, the weight of acetone used being double that of the concentrated juice. The albuminous, pectic, mucilagin- ous, and otherinsolublesubstances are sepa- rated by filtration and the filtrate treated with half of its weight of distilled water. The citric acid dissolves in the water and the acetone is separated and recovered. The process is patented and is stated to give perfectly satisfactory results on a semi- large scale.

Rust Used in New Base for Paint USTY tanks for oil storage or other exposed iron surfaces require cleaning as a preparatory to receiving a protective coat of paint; this is a laborious and con- sequently costly process. Near ROOT MAGNETIC COUNTERS How much from those new “‘auto- matics” NOW) Get the answer up-to-the- minute by glancing up from your desk. There on the dials of Magnetic Counters, read the production of any machines in the shop. Be in complete control of your schedules through this continuous check-up of each machine. Mechanical contacts on machines make and break the electrical circuits which operate the counters over your desk, or “banked” conveniently on a Counter- Board. The electro-magnetic drive of the counter gets its current from your regular lighting circuit: Alternating current either 55, 110 or 220 Volts as ordered. Also furnished for operation by direct current or storage battery. Write for new Catalogue with the data complete.

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Leica Cameras on the Graf Zeppelin around the _.«@ World ON the Graf Zeppelin’s west bound trip one of the several Leica Cameras on board was used to photograph the in- terior of the torn bag. Motion prevented time exposures—the only light was that reflected from the ocean through the ripped opening, yet the pictures were remarkably clear. Several Leicas accompanied the Byrd Antarctic Expedition. Six more have been ordered by radio since the intrepid men reached their winter base. The Leica is known and used throughout the world by scientists, engineers and those who follow the advancement of photography. E. LEITZ, Inc., Dept. S. A. 5, 60 East 10th St., New York, N. Y. Please send me catalog on the Leica Camera.

Invariably part of the equipment of Explorers, Scientists and Experi- enced Travelers There is no camera like the Leica com- bining as it does quality, latitude of work, convenience and economy of operation. Takes 36 pictures on each loading. Uses standard cinema film and each negative is of double framesize—the first camera to have this feature. The smallest roll- film camera with focal plane shutter. May be used for snapshots, por- traits, indoors or outside. Used by engineers for recording data and by scien- tists for photo-micrographs. Always ready for instant use. Leica enlargements to 12" x 18" or larger, preserve beauty and detail. Mechanically and optically the Leica is a model of perfection. See the Leica at your dealer’s. He will gladly demonstrate it for you. Or write for illustrated literature. E. Leitz, Inc., 60 East 10th St., New York, N. Y.

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546 DEAFNESS | The “PHONAK” A new scientific hearing aid | now available Clarity and purity of tone Quietness of Operation Adequate Volume and Range No Cracklin3, or Hissin?, Sounds from the Electrical Currents FRENCH ELECTRIC CO., Ine. | 654 Madison Avenue | New York | GEORGE BARTON FRENCH PRESIDENT Circular on Request 7 Magnified 225 Diameters ULTRALENS MICROSCOPE At last a high powered microscope is within the means of all who wish to study, observe ande xperiment ith the vast world of minute objects invisible to the naked eye. Such fun it is, as well as educational. No technical train- ing required, yet hundredsofscien- tists and teachers are using this in strument. Gives enormous magni- fication and per- ect definition Send $5.00 for complete outfit Send for descrip- tive literature. ROAT & LOHMAN Dept. 102 Milton, Pa. $5.00 for Complete Outfit Prepaid * SPORTGLASS VEST POCKET Get the Habit—Carry Them Always in your ~~ ket! Compact—hav then ou at football games, races, ringside and « ol itdoors Difterent, powerful with wide field of view (265 yds., at 1000 yds.); 90° luminos ity Beautifully fin ished. Every one would be delighted to own an ELDIS" 3 1-2 inches long; 1 5 8 inches high; 1 3-16 inches wide. Weighs 4 0z. Soft leather pouch Blue, jade or tan finish $13.50; Black ba Ask Your Dealer sen direct if he cannot supply Mo ne Rt k& guarantee te for folder Beonll nquiri AMERICAN THERMO- WARE Co., Exclusive Importers —Est. 1901 16 Warren Street New York SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN |sion. Whiting and zine oxide are stirred | |in, and colored pigments may be added if | | desired: a preservative such as phenol or} | salicylic acid may be added in small amount | | |if the mixture is to be stored before use. |It works best on rusty surfaces to which | |it adheres firmly, and when dry makes an | | economical base for paint. The process | es covered by United States patent 1,647,- | eo | | | | Processes Developed to Bind | Fixed Nitrogen | N_ interesting series of processes | 4% utilizing phosphate rock to bind fixed | nitrogen has recently been introduced into | this country by the Dorr Company, Inc. | The processes were developed by Frans G. | Liljenroth, a prominent Swedish engineer | whose name has been associated with some |of the pioneer work in developing phos- | phorie acid technology. | Kunstdunger Patent Verwertungs A. G., of Switzerland, has been formed as a | patent holding corporation and will con- | |tinue research work in connection with | |nitrogen binding and the production of | concentrated synthetic fertilizers. The Dorr-Liljenroth processes bind from | 20 percent to 70 percent of the nitrogen in | the form of concentrated mixed fertilizers | containing from 40 to 70 percent total plant | food and the remainder as ammonium | sulfate and calcium nitrate containing | from 14 to 21 percent nitrogen. It is claimed that the over-all binding | cost of a plant with a capacity of from) 20,000 to 25,000 tons of ammonia per | | year will be from 0.6 to 1.2 cents per pound, depending on the type of materials pro- duced Electro-Plating “LECTROPLATERS are already mak- ing use of instruments for measure- ment and control of temperature, pressure, and acidity in electrolytic baths. But an- | other necessity is to control the thickness of |the deposit by suitable regulation of the |current density. To meet this need, the | LPW current density meter has been de- | veloped abroad and is described by W. Pfanhouser in Chemiker-Zeitung. It con- sists of two round comparator electrodes in a hard rubber housing, insulated from each other and connected together across a small meter. The instrument must be |calibrated according to the solution in | which it is to be used and must be placed | in proper position with respect to the anode and cathode. It serves to show the time }required for a given thickness, and also helps maintain quality by keeping the cur- rent density within proper limits. | | | Regulating Thickness of | | | | | Ferric Chloride Becomes Cheap Coagulant TRICTLY speaking, ferric chloride in solution is not a new coagulant, but for many industrial purposes its price has pro- | | hibited its use. Recently, however, ferric | chloride has appeared on the market in commercial quantities at prices which make it economical for use in sewage disposal | systems and for other coagulating func- | tions. Industrial and Engineering Chemis- try comments on this significant develop- ment as follows: | “It frequently happens that the adoption | of a material for a particular large-scale | | TAHSESAEB, P. O. No. 132, December 1929 PATENTS TRADE-MARKS DESIGNS FOREIGN PATENTS MUNN & CO. PATENT ATTORNEYS Associated since 1846 with the Scientific American SCIENTIFIC AMER. BLDG. 24-26 West 40th St., N. ¥. C. SCIENTIFIC AMER. BLDG. - Washington, D.C. TOWER BUILDING - - - Chicago, Il. HOBART BUILDING - San Francisco, Cal. VAN NUYS BUILDING - Los Angeles, Cal. Books and Information on Patents and Trade-Marks by Request Associates in All Foreign Countries Circular~ References ~ Guarantee - Free BERNARD ¢ HELLER ~ 31 East 174 St.NYC. I SELL PATENTS If you wish toadd New Products to your line, or have a good Patent to sell, write me— CHARLES A. SCOTT Established 1900 773 SA Garson Ave. Rochester, N. Y. CRESCENT Inventors--We Build Models - Mech: anics will develop it for you into COM PANY a practical working Model. Thirty years successful experience doing this very thing. Best shop equipment. Expert advice Confidential service guaranteed. Bank refere nee furmished. Send for free book- let ‘‘The Road _ To Success. CRESCENT TOOL CO., Dept. C. Experimental and Model Work Fine Instruments and Fine Machinery Inventions Develope Special Tools, Dies, Gear Cutting, Etc. HENRY "ZUHR, Inc. 187 Lafayette St., New York City WANTED For manufacturing and selling by a prominent, long established Massachusetts concern, special or patented equipment for \Vater Storage Reservoirs, Filtration Plants, Irrigation Develop- ment. Liberal royalties on exclusive manufac- turing basis. Address BOX 193, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, New York City. PATENTED ww A N T E D SPECIALTIES Desire articles which can be stamped from sheet metal and pertaining to automotive, radio, or hardware lines. If attractive to us will either buy outright or make satisfactory royalty arrangement. Send full in- formation and drawing. Over forty years in business. THE OTTO KONIGSLOW MFG. CO. 3500 Perkins Ave. Cleveland, Ohio. you AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM? WE SPECIALIZE IN ‘“‘PERSONAL SERVICE”, and | salve them for YOU through the mail -_ traeiion Write as now. LUSHING, NEW YORK M we MYSTERY GAS LIGHTER[Y) JUST OUT. LIGHTS GAS INSTANTLY wiTHOUT @) Ei SPARKS OR FLAME - SELLS LIKE WILDFIRE WHEREVER GAS IS USED —RETAILS FOR 25¢ i MAKES) 5, aba ae IN — CARDS WITH a Ps Y RUSH F8O22 FORGROSS om 129 FOR MN NEW METHOD MFG. CO. gf Desk SA-12 Bradford, Pa. Send us your rough idea. Our Master Cincinnati, Ohio \/ Dec SI $3,06 are I not | all tk train buy; —_

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December 1929 Whatever the projector flashes on the screen... your vacation trip. ..your hunt- ing trip .. .your little tots . . . remember it’s the motor that furnishes the action . . that is the heart of the projector. And, in this projector (reproduced above) it’s a Signal Fractional Horse- power Motor—selected because the motor will render dependable serv- ice with low consumption of cur- rent. No better motor could be put into such a device... another use for small motors. Signal Fractional Horsepower Motors—either induction or series wound — are de- signed from experience to meet manufactur- ers’ needs for hun- dreds of different ap-- pliances. Perhaps our experience can help you, too. SIGNAL ELECTRIC MFG. CO. Menominee, Michigan Small Motor Specialists Since 1890 sf STEEL STAMPS — “METAL CHECKS Teese STEEL LETTERS Ss EALS AND FICURES SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN use leads to its manufacture in such quan- tities as to bring the price within the reach of others long interested but not able to buy. It is in this connection that we note with interest a contract recently awarded the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Com- pany by the Sewerage Commission of the City of Milwaukee, calling for between 2000 and 2500 tons per year of ferric chloride in solution at a price of $2.08 per hundred pounds on the anhydrous basis, delivered at the sewage plant. “The solution will be transported in rubber-lined tank cars and will replace chlorinated copperas heretofore used. The availability of ferric chloride in solution in quantities that will greatly reduce its price would seem to open up a number of possible applications and make it a direct competitor with the older coagulants. Lignite Absorbs Sulfur Gases N interesting process for sulfur re- moval from gas is reported by Dr. F. Neuwirth, a German chemist. In the re- search laboratory of the Oesterrichischen Montangesellschaft it was found that a local ligneous coal, steam-dried, had a great absorptive affinity for various gases and behaved much like activated carbon. Slow passage of a coal gas over this dried lignite resulted in the removal of 80 to 90 percent of the hydrogen sulfide, and simple treat- ment with superheated steam regenerated the coal for fresh use again. Similar trials with the coke from this coal, activated at 800 degrees, Centigrade, with CO, showed an even more active absorption. Finally, similar trials with the raw ligneous coal gave the surprising result that it has by far the most favorable action, especially at a raised temperature of preferably 70 to 80 degrees, Centigrade, and that it could be regenerated by mere wetting with water. Quantitative tests after a 15th regeneration still showed a removal of 98 percent, 600 grains of coal absorbing 77.8 grains of sulfur. Sulfur dioxide was removable in the same way, in fact the process has suggested itself strongly for American use for various 547 Two cigars each of all six sizes that we sell regularly for $8.00 to $20.00 per 100. We want you to become familiar with the com- plete line of the Famous Bouquet de Rose Cigars. Every cigar is made by hand in our own factory, filled with the finest Havana tobacco grown. Our representative in Cuba pro- cures the choice leaves from the richest crop Cuba produces. You cannot duplicate these cigars anywhere else for half again as much money. If you don’t find them as represented, your money will be refanded in fall. We can afford to send only one sample box to a customer, at this special price. BECOME A FOOT CORRECTIONIST $3,000 to $10,000 yearly ina business of your own—many are making it in the New Profession of foot correction; not medical nor chiropody. Openings everywhere with all the trade you can attend to; easy terms for license and training by mail; no further capital needed, or goods to buy; no agency or soliciting. Write today for full details. STEPHENSON LABORATORY 23 Back Bay Boston, Mass. cracking gases and the like since it is quite probable that some native lignites possess the same strange property. Coupon below must be used. MARVIN CIGAR CO. 364-376 CANAL PLACE, New York New Material for Crucibles Outpoints Porcelain NEW fireproof product intended to Enclosed find $1.00 for which send me prepaid one Sample box of 12 Bouquet de Rose Cigars containing 2 cigars each of all six sizes that you sell regularly from $8.00 to $20.00 per 100. A =. AIRPLANE. | take the place of porcelain has been OMild OMedium OStrong P gx. q DRAFTING = placed on the market, the product of a a ae w= | Holland manufacturer. Weta-material con- GRDNIIRS sin enicconmdatduaepiemesentiasekeusacerneae: THOUSANDS OF MEN “4 _ | ‘sts of very fine, uniformly distributed iii csi tees " , N carborundum particles with admixed sili- ‘ will make fortunes in Aviation. Airplane . P ‘ : : ‘ Pe rncaticcvntictssdennenis PGB a swicvenesd nace’ 17 Drafting and Designing are the biggest jobs cates and metals of the iron nares cobalt ahead in this fastest growing industry. A new and nickel, and sinters, after firing in a field of opportunity for you is opened in our porcelain kiln, at about 1400 degrees, Centi- grade. A pot is obtainable which, without any glazing, is completely watertight. A glowing hot Weta-material crucible can be chilled in cold water without injury. The dark gray crucible can be used for qualita- tive and quantitative analyses and on ac- count of its resistance to breakage is es- | pecially adapted for work under very high improved method of training. EASY TO LEARN. STUDY AT HOME. PAY AS YOU GO. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE. Write for booklet outlining courses in Airplane Drafting and other aviation subjects, including the famous Weem's System of Navigation endorsed by Col. Lindbergh, Commander Byrd, Lincoln Ellsworth, Admiral Moffett, etc. NEES sinc dd ed Aaheiea Sak dutomiuasaed | we ne ere 4Fields of real opportu- | pressures. Weta dishes survive a large "nity. Big pay—a permanent Ce CCCP oe |number of determinations without crack- Bills i ora business of your =. sg . - : . illion dollars spent last year in one of these Ricci alicia h tod atts I ole ing due to decided changes of tem pera- fields alone. Train here in Chicago, America’s in- dustrial center. 1, 2 and 3 year courses. Diplomas and B. S. Degrees. Special 4 months’ practical course in Drafting. Other short courses. Earn while you learn. Enter any time. Day and evening classes. No time wasted. Free Employment Bureau. Low tuition—easy terms. Athletics. Successful graduates everywhere. Free 80-page ‘“‘Blue Book.’"’ Address the President, Chicago Technical College, Dept. R-57, 118 E. 26th St., Chicago, Ill ture, knocks, or blows. Tubes can also} be produced from Weta-material for use in the manufacturing plant. Weta-material ranks somewhat better than porcelain cru- cibles from the state porcelain factory. 1 AIRPLANE DRAFTING AIRPLANE AIRPLANE (] “motors. ° LJ mecHanics PACIFIC TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY 225.2582 CALIFORNIA

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548 250 POWER § MICROSCOPE Educational, entertaining, this fine microscope helps all to know life that can't be seen with unaided eye. Tiny insects look like monsters. Plant and mineral life reveal new wonders in form and Used by physicians, in home, office, school Precise XX color. students, dentists, scientists ana optical Magnifies 100 to 250 times. Tilting stand, fine finish, nickel trim, plush- hned case, prepared slide, instructions. At your dealer or direct postpaid. Money back Other models $8.50. laboratory. qualities, guarantee, $2.50 to Catalog Free Wollensak Optical Company 914 Hudson Ave. Rochester, N. Y. 25 POWER $1 G ERM AN SOCKS T MICROSCOPE gt pencil Enlarges re s German _— Hining, ps, finger prin te insects, sith handy fount "40-50: cay 71/2 ipa $1 prepaid. thee back guarantee. Discount for 6 or more. BINOC UL eager Ait “Makes $1-$110 Everything binocul vrs, i. ad ela . teles s and optical instru- finest at ent ir Tica. (€ kc nents € in Ame « gives all informatior wt h oe ths bank fer r individual needs at the PRICI Try America’s Leading Binocular House First DuMaurier Co., Dept. 1612 Elmira, N. Y. **WONDER”’ Cold Pipe and Tubing Benders Do Not Crack, Flatten or Crimp the Pipe q Standard of the World Hand and Motor Operated 14 Sines of Machines What it costs to bend pipe our Me end: . - 5ects es ws 6s 6 cts 6-inch pipe 8-inch pip Fie gi 00 American Pipe Bending Machine Co. 32 Pearl St. Boston, Mass. GEARS In Stock—Immediate Delivery Gears, speed reducers, sprockets, thrust bear. ings, flexible plings, pul \ com plete line is carried in our Chi sco #tock c aleo quote special gears of any kind, Ss your blue prints and inquiries, Write for Catalog No. 70 CHICAGO GEAR ‘WORKS 769-763 W. Jackson Blvd., CHICAGO, Ill. SPRINGFIELD ames, Model 1903 $19.50 A ‘tel. d and Refinished £34 pounds, 43 inches long, 24 inch barrel. Offered without bayonet, $19.50 Pac tking charge 50c extra. Ball cartridges $3. G0 per r 100. New cats alog, illustrated, 380 pages of Army-Navy equipment, pistols, guns, uniforms, saddles, for 50 cents. Special new circular for 2c stamp. Established 1865. Francis Bannerman Sons, 501 B’way, N.Y. City RADIO cataicc AT WHOLESALE PRICES 196 pages of radio bargains. New Screen Grid, all- electric, A.C. Sets in a eoneoies — also battery operated sets as low $15.95. Write t ALLIED RADIO CORPORATION 711 W. LAKE ST., DEPT. CHICAGO RITER » World’s 3s i Price bes Underwood, Rcntnason, Royal—also portable—prices smashed to below haif,(Zasy &rms), SEND NO MONEY Aillate modele le completely rebuilt and refinished b new. Guarante: ip full colors. Get our direct-to-you easy - Payment plan and 10 ay free trial offer. mazing values—send at once. 1 w. Monroe S International ‘epenetee Exch., Bent izeo chicane | SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Learning to Use Our Wings (Continued from page 529) At the conclusion of the solo demonstra- tion as slow a landing as the conditions per- mit is made and the plane is taxied smooth- ly over the ground. During the demonstra- tion the salesman on the ground is carrying on his talk in tune with the demonstration. Immediately after an inspection of the plane, each of the prospects is sent up for a short smooth ride, during which an at- tempt is made to impress him with the steadiness and safety of the plane. The newspapers are very fond of talking of airplane sales to the average American family, but the average American family is not yetinthe market. The American Aircraft Corporation lists its best sales sources in the following order: the dealer, the flying stu- dent, the successful business man, and the weathy sportsman. It might seem strange that the dealers are included, but actually the dealers are themselves the heaviest users of light planes because of their school December 1929 SEE THE MARVELOUS SPECTACLE in the telescope, sky through your own and details 20 miles away, by day. Reflecting mirrors, guaranteed accuraic by test, furnished or ground to order, 6” to 12°, $75 wp. Simple to make your own tube and mount- ing. Prisms and eye- pieces all sizes and y= powers. C. A. OLSON, Box 363 Westwood “te New Jersey work, passenger hopping, and so forth. Students are all extremely anxious to buy | planes, and generally select the type in| which they have learned to fly. ness men are in a distinct group from the students. business men learn to fly, but the majority either hire a pilot to fly for them or else learn to fly after the purchase. The wealthy sportsman is a comparatively easy man to sell. ‘However, selling the planes to people who will use them for sport and pleasure alone is not following the guiding star of the in- | dustry. Such sales will continue in fair volume for a while and should be sought after, reached on any product which does not have the practical utility appeal which generates volume sales. There are many pleasure yachts sold each’ year, but there is a vastly greater number of electric refrigerators being sold. It is true that some successful | The airplane is | The busi- | ase Mr. Duelks voicesone very wise thought. | but the saturation point is soon | primarily a tool of commerce and industry, | and we believe that our business of selling airplanes must be built from the ground up on a solid foundation of commercial appli- | cation.” American Passenger Air Transport—IlII (Continued from page 517) we were still lagging somewhat behind European practice. We do not believe, however, that this con- | Consider, for ex- | dition will long prevail. ample, the air depot of the Western Air Ex- press at Los Angeles, California. The depot is not large but it is built in attractive Spanish style. There is a general waiting room, a special waiting room for women, a ticket office, suitable lavatory space, and a roof garden. On cool days there is an open fire to welcome the passenger. Private automobiles are stored without charge. The airplane is brought directly to the front of the depot. Here an extensible canopied walk has been provided, which may be made to inclose the door of the airplane, so that passengers are under cover at all times, and protected from propeller danger. Uni- formed attendants carry baggage and are not allowed to accept tips. Waterpower Engineering Home Study for High School Graduates H. von SCHON, Consulting Engineer Parker Street, Newark, N. J. LX Inventions AND Patents | By Milton Wright | Sound practical advice to Inventors, covering the entire field from the inception of the idea through to the legal forms of assignment, sale or royalty, with numerous hints suggested by the experience of many years practice. (8265 postpaid DOMESTIC SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 24 West 40th Street New York, N, Y. eae ae a a a fe

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29 = December 1929 The Municipal Airport at Oakland, Cali- fornia, on the east side of San Francisco Bay, one of the busiest airports in the United States, will, when completed, present an im- posing architectural appearance. As an in- dication of what the American passenger terminal is already like let us quote from Hank’s “International Airports”: ‘‘The airport buildings consist of four hangars with suitable shop facilities, an administra- tion building and an airport restaurant. The hangars are constructed of masonry and steel and are of ample size to shelter the largest of transport airplanes, the total area providing in excess of 20,000 square feet of clear floor space. Hangar doors are all of full width opening and the overhead clear- ance of each is 24 feet. Floors are of con- crete and aprons of the same material have been constructed in front of the hangars. The restaurant seats 150 people and is mod- ern in every detail. A lunch counter is provided for those desiring rapid service. The administration building contains the office of the airport manager and head- quarters of the various transport companies operating from the airport. A complete | weather display board has been installed in this building on which full weather re- ports are posted several times a day. A club house for the use of pilots is now be- | ing erected.” The Future of Passenger Travel [" is always difficult to predict, but there are certain conclusions which may be readily drawn from present trends. | Safety comparable with that of rail travel | will be achieved within a few years. In- creased safety, increasing propaganda by the press, the tremendous superiority of the airplane as regards speed, will eventually make the public completely air-minded. Passenger air travel will then be on a tre- mendous scale. The net-work of airways will cover the entire country, giving air travel facilities to every city of any impor- tance. Cruising speeds will gradually approach 200 miles per hour. Night flying for pas- sengers and sleeper airplanes will become commonplace. Further improvement in the structure, aerodynamics, and power plant will greatly increase the pay-load capacity of anairplane. So will re-fuelling in the air. The crowning technical achievement; a combination of all these elements will give us an overnight service from coast to coast. Improvement in production methods both of plane and engine, greater skill in operation, a far greater intensity of air traffic and hence more intense utilization of material will all reduce the cost of air travel until it is but little greater than that of the best railroad travel. Since the airplane causes distances to contract, systems covering a geographic area equal to, for example, that of the Pennsylvania Railroad, will appear small. The trend toward mergers and consolida- tions so strong in all branches of American business is already visible in aviation, as in- dicated by the formation of such huge con- cerns as Curtiss-Wright, United Aircraft & Transport, and Aviation Corporation. In air transport this trend is logical, good eco- nomics, and good engineering. Therefore, in a comparatively short time we shall wit- ness the consolidation of the airways of the country in a few huge and powerful systems. Air travel will become within 10 years well nigh universal. THE END SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 549 soe =F [I= os an HEALTH ‘ GREETINGS Tuberculosis might make her an orphan H elp prevent ut! BUY CHRISTMAS SEALS The National, State, and Local Tuberculosis Associations of the United States

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550 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 Our Choice of Recent Books Modern Aviation Engines By Victor Page |p eotlhticnage chapters describe the various leading American, English, French, German, and Italian aeronautical engines, considering thermo-dynamics, design, construction, repair, and trouble shooting. Diagrams and charts are especially clear and under- standable and materials of construction, alloys, et cetera, are thoroughly covered. The most com- plete and up-to-date work that has yet appeared. Volume I includes general applications; Volume II describes individual motors, et cetera. Separately $5.00 per volume. Both volumes, $9.00 postpaid Mechanics of the Gyroscope By R. F. Deimel, Asso. Prof. Mechanics Stevens Inst. N reality a text on the dynamics of rotation, this extended consideration embraces the gyro-com- pass and stabilizers. It presupposes a knowledge of the mechanies given in college physics although the subject is started at its beginning. There has been need for a work of this kind which covers the entire subject in a most complete and conclusive manner. $4.20 postpaid Beginnings of Telephony By Frederick L. Rhodes AN authoritative discussion of the problems sur- rounding the beginnings of telephony. Of special interest to inventors, lawyers, and students of our patent system as covering one of the great legal controversies which was definitely and finally ad- judicated. The group of telephone cases was characterized by Mr. Justice Brewer as the most im- portant litigation that has arisen under our patent system. $4.50 postpaid Edison His Life and Inventions By Dyer, Martin and Meadowcroft OST happily timed to appear when all the world is celebrating the birth of the incandescent lamp, this biography which in considerable part is also an autobiography will be of particular interest as being personally authorized, the third editor being Mr. Edison’s secretary for many years. Rich sources of original matter have been drawn upon and the com- plete work makes most fascinating reading, while the historical importance of such a record will be un- questioned. Generously illustrated with reproduc- tions of unique photographs. Two volumes—$10.00 postpaid Scotland Yard By J. F. Moylan wrt Scotland Yard is and does, how the police work and live, the duties of uniformed and plain clothes men, the development of the detective force and the scope and methods of criminal investigation are fully described by one possessed of all the facts, yet the story is divested of statistics, being written for the general reader. An interesting resume of a famous organization. $2.65 postpaid Sparking of Steel By E. Pitois John D. Gatar | ig which everybody using steel should know. The illustrations present a complete practical series of spark streams and the contingent description is clear and concise, in understandable terms. A most valuable and interesting presentation of excellent format. $2.15 postpaid Drury’s History of France By Franklin Jameson Mabell S. C. Smith NE of the well thumbed books in our library, for besides being the most authoritative, periods are presented in a style that is entirely removed from that of the textbook, and the grouping is one that carries on with a sequence like a story. This fourth edition continuing to the year 1929 will be welcomed in every library. It is interesting to note that refer- ence to French history seems more often required than to any other his‘ ory. $3.90 po tpaid Principles of Economics By F. S. Deibler, Prof. Economics, Northwestern Univ. Price incorrectly quoted last month. Correct price is $3.20 postpaid. The Most Nearly Perfect Food S. J. Crumbine J. A. Tobey OU will be surprised to find that you know so little about the production, practical sanitation, and dietary functions of milk and its products. From the intriguing frontispiece to the last chapter “(How the world gets its milk” you will find much that is inter- esting and profitable and all is told from a practical standpoint that will appeal to every consumer. As interesting a little volume as we have seen in many days. $2.65 postpaid Decer ||

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December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 551 Ends of the Earth By Roy Chapman Andrews HE story of the wanderings of this scientist ex- plorer who has revealed, among other significant accomplishments, a new volume in the history of the earth. From a boy working his way through school doing taxidermy, to the leader of the large expedition into the Gobi Desert, the story grips one with its fascinating interest and importance. Sprightly told and abundantly illustrated. $4.65 postpaid Albert—King of the Belgians By Evelyn Graham HIS authorized biography of the most outstand- ing monarch of the war reveals intimately a character so heroic and so inspiring as to receive the unqualified admiration of the world. Wherever the subject touches other countries, new information of importance is added to that already available. One of the most interesting biographies we have read. $5.20 postpaid The Prince of Wales By W. R. L. Townsend HE biography of this most popular Prince told in an informal way that describes his likes and dis- likes, his duties, amusements, accomplishments, and friendships. Many entertaining stories are told that show how keen he is and how he loves his people, with glimpses of the private life of the royal family. Through it all one sees the development of a personal- ity and a character that is thoroughly likeable. $2.65 postpaid Foch My Conversations with the Marshal By Raymond Recouly LOSE comradeship up to the time of his death afforded the author unexcelled opportunity to record faithfully Marshal Foch’s estimates of the men who fought against him, the Allied and _ political leaders, and his thoughts on the conduct of the War in general. As important as it is intimate and authoritative. Some of the opinions recorded are startling. $3.20 postpaid Bolivar The Passionate Warrior By T. R. Ybarra LINEAL descendent of a participant in the story of liberation which is described, the author had access to original material that adds greatly to pre- viously recorded facts, and weaves a fascinating tale of adventure and patriotism comparable to the best historical fiction. A good subject, well written, and founded on long and careful research. $4.20 postpaid Twelve Royal Ladies By Sidney Dark Fe entices title might almost have been chosen for this book—‘‘Unhappy she who wears the crown,” for ten of the subjects of these sketches never realized even average happiness. The author weaves an insight into the times while describing the char- acters in a style which is most readable and carries attentive consideration. $3.15 postpaid The Human Side of Science By Grove Wilson E have had science presented to us from many angles but this work quite strikingly emphasizes the truth that it is something warmly alive; the truly great scientist having a definite kinship with the artist and poet. Ten years of research adds to the value of the interpretations of the great lives which are here sketched with appreciative understanding and the whole tone of the work is most elevating and inspiring. $4.20 postpaid The Wonderful Story of Science By Inez N. McFee EVEN of the major sciences are viewed in a manner ‘J that points out the scope and most important facts of each, giving to the interested seeker a thirst for more extended study; each chapter may be con- sidered as an introduction to the particular science it represents. An ambitious but quite successful treat- ment. $2.65 postpaid The Universe Around Us By Sir James Jeans, Cambridge University HIS new book, we predict, is destined to have as phenomenal and as deserved a sale among scienti- fic thinkers both lay and professional as the equally brilliant, outstanding work of Eddington, “The Nature of the Physical World,’ has just enjoyed. If this prediction is fulfilled Jeans’ book will become the outstanding scientific book of the coming season. Sir James Jeans is unquestionably one of Great Brit- ain’s three most famous and ablest cosmological thinkers. Fortunately he can and does write, not only so the average man can well understand him, but it has been commented again and again by other scientists that everything he writes seems to take on an enhanced fascination due to his own enviable manner of presentation. The present book has six parts: Exploring the Sky; Exploring the Atom; Ex- ploring in Time; Carving out the Universe; Stars; 3eginnings and Endings. Thus its scope is as broad as the universe, extending from microcosm to macro- cosm. This philosophical work will stir profound thought in the reader who likes to think. Size 6 x 9; 331 text pages; 24 plates; clear type; good paper and binding. $4.70 postpaid. For Sale by SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

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552 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 Commercial Property News Facts and Notes of Interest to Inventors, Patentees, and Owners of Trademark Rights Reward Awaits Inventor of Machine LTHOUGH a reward of 25,000 dollars ss was offered as early as 1869 by the Government of British India for the in- vention of a machine that would separate the fibers from the stalk of the Ramie plant, the required machine has not yet been in- vented. Ramie is cultivated commercially in China and Japan, and might prove a desirable crop for the southern United States, according to the Department of Agriculture. The development of such an industry is awaiting the invention of a decorticating machine which will strip the fibers from the plant more economically than by the hand methods used in the Orient. Ramie is a perennial shrub and belongs to the nettle family, but does not have stinging hairs. The fibers develop in the inner bark, and are removed by stripping the bark from the stalk, after which the fibers are scraped out by hand. The pro- cess corresponds to the scutching of hemp, but is essentially different. The fiber is remarkably strong, according to Mr. Lyster H. Dewey of the Bureau of Plant Industry, and it is adapted to many uses although it is not readily spun on spinning machinery designed for other fibers. Experimental plantings have shown that the crop would be well suited to the lowlands of the south- ern states. It grows in a warm, temperate climate with abundant rainfall and requires very fertile, well-drained soil. Mr. Dewey has written a brief summary of the information available in regard to the plant, which has been published as Miscellaneous Circular 110-M, entitled ‘‘Ramie, a Fiber-Yielding Plant.’’ This cir- cular is available for free distribution to those who apply to the Department of Agri- culture, Washington, D. C. No Infringement in Old Process for Cleaning Neon Tubes [N ruling that the defendant’s process for removal of impurities from neon tubes before the introduction of the neon did not constitute an infringement of the process covered by patents held by Rainbow Light, Inc., the District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the process used by Claude Neon Lights, Inc., was in use long prior to the issue of the plaintiff’s patent in 1925. Witnesses for the defend- ant testified that the process used by the Claude company had been practiced in 1923 and 1924. The patent in question (Number 1618767) covers a process of purifying neon tubes by introducing a purging agent such as an alkali metal, causing it to co-act with the walls of the tube or with the impurities therein, subsequently evacuating the tube, and then introducing the neon. The proc- ess of the defendant, which was claimed to be an infringement, consists in evacuating sufficient air from the tube to permit an electrical discharge through it, and then causing the discharge to take place until the wall of the tube is heated almost to the melting point, after which the tube is com- pletely evacuated. No alkali metal is put into the chamber of the tube by any sepa- rate step such as the distillation or electro- lyzation mentioned in the patent. The plaintiff contended that in heating the tube, some of the sodium is liberated from the glass and vaporized, and that it bombards the wall of the tube as described in the patent. Although many scientific questions were raised at the trial, they were considered irrelevant to the case. Judge Coleman based his decision on the testimony of ex- perts and the testimony of defendant’s witnesses, the latter declaring that the process of the Claude company has been used in manufacturing neon tubes since 1923, or two years before patent was issued. Patent Protection Still Effective CRITICS of our system of patent pro- tection have made many disparaging statements which seem to contain more breadth than depth. We are pleased to present an authoritative contribution from T. Hart Anderson, member of the New York Bar, which refutes certain unjustified criticism and shows that inventors may still sue all infringers excepting those fur- nishing infringing devices to the Govern- ment, and in such cases one may sue the Government. Judge Anderson’s contri- bution follows: During a recent conference with a client, an engineer, he advanced the theory that it was of no further use to patent inventions because one could no longer get protection under patent rights; that one could no longer sue the infringer. As a basis for this statement he called attention to a recent issue of Engineers and Engineering in which appeared an account of an address by Mr. Chester W. Cuthell of the American Bar Association, delivered at a meeting in Philadelphia held under the auspices of the Engineers’ Club, the Aero Club of Phila- delphia, the American Society of Mechani- cal Engineers, and the Philadelphia Cham- ber of Commerce. What appears to be substantial founda- tion for the impression received by this engineer as to the ineffectiveness of patents is found in Mr. Cuthell’s statement to the effect that, ‘““‘The patentee couldn’t even sue, and he can’t today sue, the manufac- turer, the outside manufacturer, who never invented anything, but who has used the in- vention supposedly covered by a Govern- ment patent.” The particular law to which the learned author takes exception is that which re- quires that suits for patent infringement be brought against the United States Government, and not against the manu- facturer or contractor who makes for or furnishes to the Government anything which infringes a patent. This law provides that such suits shall be brought in the Court of Claims. Mr. Cuthell asserts that this law is a war measure and should be “stricken down just as promptly as all other war measures should be stricken down.” He particularly emphasizes the alleged bad effects of such a law as it con- cerns the aviation industry. He states that Wright ‘‘has been out of invention for a great many years’’ and that Curtiss ‘has been running a farm in Florida.’’ While deploring the loss to this industry of these two great figures, he attri- butes it to this law. It is further asserted that this Jaw has interfered seriously with the financing of many inventions in the aviation business. Just what foundation he has for asserting that Wright and Curtiss are no longer interested in aviation in- ventions is not known. However, where they left off (if they have left off as stated by the learned author) thousands of other inventors are carrying on, making valuable improvements and inventions of import- ance to aviation, for which they are seeking and obtaining patents as usual. When one appraises the remarkable prog- ress of the aviation industry, and particu- larly of those companies engaged in pro- ducing airplanes and aeronautical equip- ment, it is hard to believe that this alleged objectionable law has had any effect what- soever upon the financing of inventions or upon the industry as a whole. In a recent financial-statement issued by a _ leading firm of investment bankers, it is stated that “the United States not only has more air- planes in operation than any other country in the world, but the 1928 American pro- duction was greater than that of all the rest of the world combined.”” They further state that the production of airplanes in- creased more than 300 percent last year; that approximately 4500 airplanes and 3500 engines with a total value of 75,000,000 dojlars were produced, and that the pro- duction of airplanes for the current year is estimated at 10,000 or 12,000. This hardly looks as though the aviation industry has suffered because of this pro- vision of the law, but still the learned author insists that it is unfair to inventors, for in the New York State Bar Association Bulletin, for September, there is a report of another address by Mr. Cuthell, de- livered at the annual meeting of the New York State Bar Association. In this ad- dress he has this to say: “The Federal law as to use by the Government of patents is very unfair to inventors. It was passed during the war as a war measure and it should be taken off the books. It prevents the patentee from suing a private infringer if the in- fringer is manufacturing for the United States Government, and gives the patentee only the right to sue in the Court of Claims for reasonable and entire compensation.” In this address the speaker seems to have discovered that the financial difficulties to which he referred in Philadelphia were non- existent, because he refers to the fact that “during the past year there has been a

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December 1929 tremendous activity on the part of the bankers and lawyers in the financing of aircraft enterprises of ail sorts.’’ He also refers to the ‘‘activity on the part of the Patent Bar in respect to matters growing out of aviation.” This activity of the Patent Bar, of course, negatives the idea that protection under patents can no longer be obtained because of this law. Apparently Mr. Cuthell dislikes the fact that where the Government is involved one must sue the Government and not the manufacturer of the alleged infringing device, and that one must bring the suit in the Court of Claims. Now a suit in the Court of Claims is no different from a suit in any other Federal court. Anyone can get exactly the same relief so far as com- pensation is concerned as in any other court. It certainly is much better to sue a responsible government than an irrespon- sible individual or corporation. In such a suit the Government can, of course, make the same defenses that any defendant could make, and the owner of the patent must meet such defenses in ex- actly the same way as he meets them in a suit in any court. The reason for this law, and its only effect, is to save the Govern- ment and those making devices for the Government from an injunction which might work to the disadvantage of the nation. Otherwise the owner of a patent in the aviation industry, or any industry, is at no disadvantage whatsoever. Patents are just as effective as they al- ways have been. It is just as desirable to patent inventions as it ever was, and except in the one instance where the Government is involved in the alleged infringement, the courts are always open to the owner of a patent. Wherever relief and compensation is justified, one may be sure that so far as the courts are concerned it will be extended. Word Writing Machine Perfected NE of those inventions which startle even the most severe critic into a con- fession of amazement and admiration has been perfected and patented by Mr. Clyde C. Balston. His invention is a typewriting machine for use in offices, which prints words and phrases with about ten times the speed of a typewriter. It is designed for use in large offices, and does billing as well as writing of all kinds. The machine is about one and one half times the size of the customary typewriter, operated electri- cally and can be operated as a regular typewriter as well as a word and phrase writer. Its keyboard is a novel but not complicated departure from the keyboard of the typewriter; in addition to the “‘stand- ard” arrangement of the keys, there are several auxiliary banks of keys which cor- respond to an ingenious chart containing the words and phrases which constitute about 99 percent of our usual vocabulary. Mr. Balston has discarded the idea that every word we write must be decomposed into the individual letters by the typist, and then mechanically put back together again by the machine on the paper. As shorthand writers learned long ago when word signs first came into use, the single unit system is grossly inefficient. Instead of depending on the typist’s artistic dis- play of brain-and-finger gymnastics, the word writer attends to the composition automatically by means of an _ intricate assembly of rapidly revolving disks and combs inside the machine. At the touch of two keys, one repre- SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN senting the initia] letter of the word and the other a selector, the desired word is instantly and automatically impressed on the paper with the proper spacing and punctuation. Conventional phrases used over and over again in business correspon- dence are written in the same way—by pressing just two keys. Misplaced Copyright Notice Void N°? protection was gained by placing the notice of copyright in all copies of a booklet on the last page, according to a recent decision of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York in a suit brought by United Thrift Plan, Incorpor- ated, against National Thrift Plan, Incor- porated. The misplaced notice was held not to constitute compliance with section 19 of the 1909 copyright act, requiring that notice of copyright be placed on the title page or the next page. To be relieved by the law, a plaintiff must have sought 553 to comply with the law, and in this case it was held that the plaintiff had know- ingly neglected to follow the plainly stated terms of the statute. The case was dismissed, but no counsel costs were awarded the defendent. The plaintiff contended that its rights were in- fringed, citing the fact that the defendant had published a booklet containing matter copied from the last page of the booklet bearing the misplaced copyright notice, and that the defendant must have known that the book was copyrighted. The court ruled that this contention could not be sustained no matter how strong might be the suspicion of its truth. Section 19 of the present copyright act provides where the notice of copyright shall be placed, as follows: “".. one notice in each volume or number of newspaper or periodical. The notice of copyright shall be applied, in the case of a book or other printed publication, upon its title page or the page immediately Patents Recently Issued py) Classified Advertising Advertisements in this section listed under proper classifications, rate 25c per word each insertion; minimum number of words per insertion 24, maximum 60. accompany each insertion. Payments must Anyone desiring the address of a patentee listed in this section may obtain it by aadressing Munn & Co.; those desiring official copies of patents herein listed, may secure them by remitting 13 cents for cach one (state patent number to insure receipt of desired copy) to Munn & Co., 24 West 40th Street, New York City. Pertaining to Aeronautics AIRPLANE STABILIZER—Whereby means are provided for the shifting of ballast and manipu- lating the wings for stabilizing the plane while in flight should the equilibrium be disturbed by any of the influences to which such apparatus is sub- jected. Patent 1727275. Federico G. Diago. AIRPLANE CONSTRUCTION—A unit comprising a Venturi tube, a propeller just in advance of, and extending a trifle beyond the rim of the tube, and a second propeller disposed inside of the rear of the tube, and rotated in an opposite direction to the first propeller for propelling an airplane. Patent 1727542. Albert C. Gienger WATER DRAWING APPARATUS FOR AIRCRAFT Which permits water to be drawn into the air- craft while the latter is in motion, the device will not interfere with the landing gear, being mov- able by pneumatically controlled mechanism from operative to inoperative position. Patent 1729558. Vincent Strafino. Pertaining to Apparel SHOE-BUCKLE HOLDER—Constructed from a single sheet of resilient material, which may be readily secured to the upper edge of the shoe vamp so that a buckle may be detachably con- nected and rigidly maintained in applied position. Patent 1727650. Fred F. Kohn. CorseETt—Having novel means for concealing the adjustment portions in order that the outer part of the corset may be relatively smooth, and obviate the adjustments showing through the outer garments. Patent 1728985. Earle B. and Amy Stewart. Chemical Processes material is carbonized. Patent 1728807. Carl G. Schwalbe. TREATMENT OF FELT AND FELT-HAT BoDIES— For increasing the lustre, by placing the hat bodies into an aqueous solution of a complex compound of a heavy metal, at a temperature below boiling point, for some time under slow agitation. Patent 1729474. Erich Bohm. Designs DESIGN FOR A RADIATOR-CAP ORNAMENT— Patent 79333. Biagio Intingaro. DESIGN FOR A MIRROR OR SIMILAR ARTICLE— Patent 79394. Rose Statella. DESIGN FOR A VANITY CASE—Patent 79421. Leonard Friedberg. DESIGN FOR A STATUETTE—Patent 79515. Mildred C. Gresham. Electrical Devices ELEctRIC Motor—Of the solenoid type, whereby a relatively high torque and speed of the revolving elements or armature may be obtained, adapted to operate from either alternating or direct current. Patent 1728054. Alexandre F. Godefroy. STATIC ELIMINATOR FOR RADIO RECEIVERS— Which intercepts undesirable electrical impulses before they reach the receiving apparatus, by means of an air gap whereby sucl. impulses may escape, and a sounding metallic screen upon which said impulses may impinge before being grounded. Patent 1728057. Watson E. Grimm. ELEcTRIC Liquip HEATER—For heating water or other liquids, the principal object being to so arrange the bottom terminals that short circuiting by virtue of an accumulation of sedi- ment will not occur under ordinary circums stances. Patent 1729587. Barnett W. Macy. METHOD OF CARBONIZING A CELLULOSE- CONTAINING SUBSTANCE SUCH AS Woop, PEat, AND THE LIKE—Consisting in thoroughly soak- ing the said materials with a concentrated solu- tion of calcium-chloride, adding thereto a small amount of hydro-chloric acid and heating the mixture at a pressure of less than fifteen atmospheres until said cellulose-containing Of Interest to Farmers STANCHION HALTER—For use in holding the heads of cattle rigidly in their head stanchions for performing any necessary operation thereon, such as de-horning, permitting the operation to be performed in the animal’s stall. Patent 1727290. George A. Jones.

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554 following, or if a periodical either upon the title page or upon the first page of text of each separate number or under the title heading, or if a musical work either upon its title page or the first page of music.’ Copyright is secured by publication of the work with the notice of copyright required by the act. Copyright for Photographs ECENT changes in the regulations governing copyrights have increased the cost of copyrighting a photograph. The charge is now one dollar when no certificate is desired, and two dollars when a certificate is requested. Using the proper blanks, photographs may be made and prints sold the same day with com- plete copyright protection, if the blank is filled out and immediately mailed with two copies of the photograph and the one dollar fee. If one wishes to have a mini- mum amount of lettering appear on the face of the print, one may use the letter C within a circle followed by the initials or monogram of the photographer. When this is done, ‘‘Copyrighted by”’ and the full name of the photographer must appear on the back of the photograph. If the above form is not used, the words “Copyrighted by” and the full name of the photographer must appear on the face of the print within the picture area. If pictures are produced and sold without the copyright notice they cannot be protected by a later application for copyright. Every print made from a copyrighted negative must bear the copyright notice. For this reason it is best to place the copyright on the negative itself. Any person who contemplates copy- righting photographs should procure appli- cation blanks and complete information from the Registrar of Copyrights, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C Method Patented for Improving Celery OING beyond the prior art, which dis- closed a method of treating citrus fruits for the purpose of changing the color of the skins, a method has been patented which improves the edibility of the product, which in this case is celery. The new method of treating celery consists in apply- ing unsaturated hydrocarbon gas mixed with air, rendering the celery less bitter, less stringy, and more edible, as well as changing the color. The claim rejected by the examiner and later allowed by the Board of Appeals of the Patent Office reads as follows: “‘A method of treating leafy green vegetables to remove acrid bitter green substances, which consists in exposing the vegetables to the action of ethylene, admixed with gir in proportions ranging from one part of the gas to one hundred thousand parts of air to one part of gas to one hundred parts of air.” The patent was issued to Rodney B. Harvey. In commenting on the older Denny patent for coloring the skins of citrus fruits, the opinion states that the prior art process did not solve the ap- pellant’s problem of making the product more edible. “There was nothing in the Denny treat- ment,”’ according to the decision of the Board of Appeals, ‘“‘that would teach or suggest that the same method could be employed to convert a bitter substance SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN COMBINED RopD AND GuUN—Especially for spraying, so formed that it may be used under low shrubbery, or for fruit trees at a height of six feet or more, directing a stream not injurious to blossoms, fruit or leaves. Patent 1728455. Ernest C. Taylor and David B. Mackie. Of General Interest CIGARETTE-MAKING APPARATUS—A readily manipulable apparatus which is portable and adapted to be used by any smoker for making a single cigarette with ease, or may be used for the manufacture of cigarettes commercially. Patent 1726368. George P. Silke. DISPENSING VALVE—Which embodies novel features of construction rendering it practically leak-proof, reliable and effectual in operation, particularly adapted for discharging quantities of liquid soap. Patent 1726402. Winfred N. Lurcott. BUILDING CONSTRUCTION—Consisting of a steel framework so formed that it may be readily assembled in the field without the use of rivets, designed for relatively light work, such as private homes, small buildings, garages, etc. Patent 1726400. Henry B. Littlefield. PROCESS OF MAKING A WASHING LIQUID— Which comprises a mixture of sodium carbonate, pulverized lime stone, and calcium chloride, will remove grease and other foreign matter from fabrics without injury to the article, may be used in combination with ordinary washing soaps. Patent 1728082. Eugene Scales. HatrR-WAVING DeEvicE—Designed to con- form to the head of the user and so constructed that when a number of them are engaged with the hair side by side, uniform and continuous waves will be formed. Patent 1727218. Alex- ander J. Rusak. FoLDING ARM-CHAIR—Which may be folded or set up by a simple relative movement of the seat with respect to the back, which may be accomplished with one hand only, accidental collapsing is prevented. Patent 1727255. Finn Simmons. Tie RackK—Formed of a single strip of metal horizontally disposed to receive ties, a plurality of points to prevent slippage of the ties, and a bracket for securing the supporting means to a wall or fixed support. Patent 1727269. Robert L. Bee. Caps FOR CONTAINERS—Having threaded dis- charge necks, wherein the cap may be readily screwed into place or removed, and may be moved to an open position without being dis- connected by means of a swinging structure. Patent 1726966. Fred and Walter Schlayer. STRUCTURAL-STEEL FRAMEWORK—A supple- mental column for partially supporting the gravity load to relieve the main columns thereof, and to lend to said main columns a greater wind stress capacity than could otherwise be sustained on a given area, allowing a building to be erected to greater height than heretofore possible. Patent 1726844. John A. Larkin. ASPHALT PAVING CoMPOSITION—Which in- corporates asphaltum in impalpable powders to produce synthetic rock asphalt having all the desirable properties of natural bituminous rock asphalt capable of being shipped in granular state without forming a mass. Patent 1727231. James 8S. Downard. JOINT FOR STRUCTURAL-STEEL COLUMNS AND GIRDERS—Including integral wing gussets pro- jecting in different planes which permit direct attachment of the girders to the column, thereby eliminating connections by angles and hence placing all rivets in shear which establish such 7907 connection. Patent 1727293. John A. Larkin. METHOD FOR PHOTOGRAPHING OBJECTS— Which permits the making of photographic reproductions either in exact, reduced, or en- larged size, without focusing in the usual manner, by means of a compass with identical scales corresponding with graduated readings on mov- able parts of the camera. Patent 1727288. Carl G. Johnson. December 1929 contained in the edible portion of the vegetable to sugar. We believe that even if it occurred to anyone to blanch out the green appearance of celery, he would ex- pect no more than the change in appear- ance, and that the sweetening and reduc- tion in stringiness would be a surprise and therefore an unobvious result. We there- fore consider that the teachings of Denny do not constitute anticipation of the claims of this application.” New Insulating Material Patented AN electrical insulating material com- posed of the fiber obtained from cer- tain portions of the leaves of the Bromelia family has been patented by Harold H. Brown (Patent Number 1725335), who is credited with having been the first person to discover that the fibers have superior and unexpected electric insulating proper- ties. The claims were allowed although a prior description was found of paper made of such fibers being used for insulating pur- poses, but it was shown that previous in- vestigators had only contemplated the use of the material for making a “strong wrapping paper and a heat-insulating paper for use in refrigeration chambers or private houses.”’ All of the claims had been rejected by the examiner, but the Board of Appeals re- versed his decision. An affidavit from the vice president of the Western Electric Com- pany was submitted by the applicant, in which it was stated that paper represented to have been made from the fiber of the plant “‘caroa” and supplied by Mr. Brown was tested and proved efficient as an in- sulating material and better than most of the insulating materials commonly used for wrapping wires in telephone cables. It was also stated that the material was first brought to their attention by Mr. Brown, and that the company had entered into a contract and paid him a substantial sum for the right to use it. Trademark for Grapes Held Invalid EFUSING to restrain other dealers from using the name ‘Lady Finger’’ for a variety of grapes, although the owner of a trademark covering the name had sought an injunction, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the name “Lady Finger” is not a valid trademark but is the name of a variety of grapes. The court pointed out that there was no effort on the part of the defendants to simulate the plaintifi’s labels or to in any way in- dicate that the grapes were produced or packed or marketed by the holder of the trademark, other than by the use of the name “‘Lady Finger” indicating the variety of the grape contained in the package The case was brought by A. B. Hum- phrey Company against Ben H. Arkelian and others, on appeal from the District Court for the Nothern District of Cali- fornia. The law of the State of California stipulates that boxes containing grapes must be marked with the namie of the variety, and designates one of the varieties as “Lady Finger.’”’ The higher court ruled that the defendants were entitled, if not required, to use the name in designating the variety of the grape packed and shipped by them. The appellant’s plea for relief by injunction was denied, in view of the opinion that the name ‘‘Lady Finger” was not valid for trademark use, although registered. 42nwaA ee oS — — ~~

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December 1929 IcE CREAM CONTAINER—Which maintains the ice cream frozen and yet entirely isolates the ice and salt from the ice cream and from the opening through which access is had to the ice cream. Patent 1726469. Charles M. Brenner. PENCIL SHEATH—A sheath which is adapted to be positioned within a garment pocket for the reception of a pencil, whereby to prevent casual displacement or loss and to protect the point against breakage. Patent 1728128. Nobyoshi H. Kodama. BATH SPRAY APPARATUS—A_ shower bath spray attachment which is adjustable vertically to suit the convenience of the person using the same, and is arranged to be detachably sup- ported from a shower bath curtain. Patent 1728129. Harry Madison. CONTROL DEVICE FOR STOVES—Which serves the purpose of automatically shutting off the supply of gas to the burner of the stove, by the overflow of any liquid, such as coffee, tea or water being boiled on thestove. Patent 1728107. Charles F. Conover. LOOSE-LEAF Book—Having _leaf-holding means which serve advantageously for pocket size books with flexible covers, and will not make the book bulky at the back, the construction is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. Patent 1728078. Antti Polkko. CAKE AND PIE TIN—Of substantially con- ventional construction but having associated therewith a specially constructed cutter or knife for readily separating the pie or cake from the container, while at the same time presenting means which form a handle. Patent 1728087. Clyde W. Stuart. PrICE-TICKET HOLDER—Having movable spring actuated cooperating parts so constructed as to hold an indicia bearing card in such manner that it may be readily gripped for the purpose of removal from the holder. Patent 1728789. Francis Devins. INTERLOCKING JOINT FOR STEEL CONSTRUC- TION—Which enables all parts in connection with building frame structures to be interlocked and securely welded so that the structure be- comes integral without the use of rivets, thus doing away with noise. Patent 1728782. Charles Carmichael. RETAINING DEvICE—For adjustably and de- tachably holding, and for forming a brace be- tween relatively movable parts of an article, such as a folding chair, or other articles to be held in different adjusted positions. Patent 1728849. Arthur F. Bailly. Roor—Which includes a waterproof base and a mastic which will substantially fill the inter- space between slates, thereby eliminating the necessity for overlapping the slates, yet the roof will be entirely waterproof. Patent 1728795. James H. Griffin. FISHHOOK DISGORGER—Which may be easily operated, and is so constructed that after being released the point of the hook is protected to prevent its re-engagement during its with- drawal from the mouth of the fish. Patent 1728864. Henry A. Kramer. BOTTLE OPENER—Which may be used either for removing bottle caps, or withdrawing corks, being so constructed that the insertion of the corkscrew will operate to exert a pulling action to automatically withdraw the cork. Patent 1728787. Joe de Bracht. SUBMARINE RESCUE DEVICE—For persons confined in a submarine which has been sunk and cannot of itself rise to the surface, an at- tachment being provided which will present by a signal at the surface the location of the submarine, whereby communication may be readily provided for releasing the persons, or supplying air, without an appreciable amount of water entering the submarine. The inventor has been granted two patents, 1728808 and 1728882. Yoshi Shimizu. WATCH-HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR BELTS—A belt having a novel type of clip for anchoring the end of a pocket watch chain, either to the belt or to the strap of a wrist watch, which may be mounted on the belt. Patent 1729578. Frank Gogan. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN PROCESS OF ARTIFICIALLY AGING TOBACCO— Which includes the steps of steaming the to- bacco with a cereal grass extract, then packing and sweating the tobacco, then again moistening the tobacco with the extract and re-packing and re-sweating. Patent 1729482. Thomas H. Keller. ARTICLE Rest—For fragile articles such as bottles, particularly nursing bottles, whereby a baby may feed from the bottle in reclining posi- tion, without the employment of other means of support and without liability of accidental dis- placement. Patent 1729531. Charles N. Wolever. HoTeL Room SERVICE-TABLE—For serving meals in the private rooms of hotels, the table being constructed to include a heating cabinet to permit the complete transportation and service of an entire meal by a single waiter at one trip. Patent 1729491. Frank Rygl. RESTING DeEvicE—Whereby the head or other portions of the body may be comfortably supported for a period of time, as in hair curling where heavy electrodes are attached, to the head, thus eliminating fatigue during the operation. Patent 1727751. Frances M. Davenport. FLOAT VALVE—Of simple construction, and not easily liable to get out of order, for use in conjunction with water flush tanks for controlling the filling of the tank. Patent 1729484. Francis E. Lee. EXERCISER—In which the resistance may be varied according to the physical condition of the person using it, the hand grips being so arranged as to permit the change of elastic elements of various thicknesses. Patent 1729399. Roy H. Noe. FASTENER—Having a head adapted to be in- serted through a slot, eyelet, or other opening, and then turned to transverse the opening, may be constructed as a curtain fastener, or in a collar button type. Patent 1729489. Frederick C. Rile. FLusH LEVER—Having a stem and adjust- able collar which make it readily possible to adjust the height to which the flush ball may be lifted without rebending the lift wire, particu- larly adapted for closet tanks. Patent 1729546. Herbert B. Myers. Hardware and Tools DEVICE FOR PICKING FrRuIT—A light-weight tool having a blade and a dependent finger-re- ceiving portion so that the fruit can be cut without disturbing the rest of the hand which may be engaged in holding a fruit container. Patent 1727286. Allie H. Hamre. WELDING ToNGS—A tong particularly adapted for use in electric welding, characterized by the ease of manipulation and the ability to firmly grip electrodes of different sizes or release them at will thereby facilitating welding operations. Patent 1726624. Ernest S. Lawson. CUTTING INSTRUMENT—A_ double acting multiple instrument adapted to simultaneously operate in opposite directions a plurality of tools such as saws or choppers, particularly adapted for use by butchers. Patent 1726863. Samuel Singer. AUXILIARY LINK—Composed of two iden- tical U-shaped parts that may be removably secured together without any fastening devices being necessary, and will bind together more tightly as greater tension is applied. Patent 1726654. Knut A. and Klause E. Dahlgren. SHREDDER—A kitchen tool formed of non- corrosive or rustproof material and capable of being used for shredding edibles, such as pine- apples, the knives being readily adapted for cutting the meat of the fruit into shreds. Patent 1728801. Margare M. McCutcheon. LIFTER FOR STONE BLOCKS AND THE LIKE— A heavy metal tool which may be quickly applied and removed and will securely engage the block, and cannot be released until the stone engaging elbow is unscrewed. Patent 1729467. William S. Whyte. 555 JOINT RE-ENFORCEMENT FOR METAL Doors OR THE LIKE—A wrought metal re-enforcing block for the joints of hollow metal doors, in- cluding a pair of plate members flanged on two sides and secured together with the flanges over- lapping and the plates spaced apart. Patent 1729586. Louis Liebman. CASING SPEAR—Which is capable of being operated from the top of a well to grip a casing at any point so that the casing may be pulled from the hole, or the sections unscrewed or screwed together. Patent 1728136. Edward D. Power. Heating and Lighting SECTIONAL BOILER HEADER—An_ air-tight joint or seal between the contacting faces of boiler header sections whereby the passage of air between the header sections is obviated, par- ticularly adapted for steam boilers. Patent 1729487. Edwin C. Ramage, Jr. Machines and Mechanical Devices SAWMILL—Making use of but one engine, it does not move the log against the saw, but advances the saw against the log, thus eliminat- ing waste motion, is readily transportable and adapted for sawing railroad ties. Patent 1725295. Rober H. Orr. FLEXIBLE MECHANICAL POWER TRANS- MISSION—Primarily intended as a gear for transmitting, without lag, the power generated by a constant torque prime mover, such as a steam turbine or internal combustion engine, driving machine tools and pointing guns. Patent 1727232. Stephen A. Farrell. WATER-LIFTING APPARATUS—Which will not only be mechanically efficient, but will be simple, of practical construction, rugged and durable, suited to the requirements of economical installation and inexpensive to operate in elevating water. Patent 1727216. Thomas J. Porter. DisPpLAY DeEvicE—In which the exposed matter is continuously changing, the driving mechanism simple positive and smooth in opera- tion, and the displays brought into view each being removable. Patent 1726605. James S. Anderson. VALVE GRINDER—Which may be tilted at any angle from the vertical during the operation of grinding the valve, an adjusting plate is resiliently supported at one end of a rotatable for carrying a valve wrench. Patent Joseph R. Keiper. TENSION DEVICE FOR SPINNING MACHINES— An attachment, to co-act with upper delivery rollers whereby the core yarn is maintained un- der positive tension as it is advanced between the usual rollers of the machine, with the roving strand. Patent 1728066. Giles A. Lay. barrel 727292. Pump VALVE—Characterized by its ability to seal itself in closed position against possibie leakage through the port which it controls, particularly adapted for slush pumps as used in drilling oil wells. Patent 1725297. John L. Paterson. AUTOMATIC COAT-HANGER MAKING Ma- CHINE—Which will take the rough weod, chip the ends, bevel the top, for providing a smooth garment-supporting surface, drill an opening in the center, insert a wire, bend a hook, and dis- charge the complete hanger. Patent 1727513. Earl B. Maloon. PRINTING-PRESS FEEDER—Having means which allows envelopes to be stacked flap downwards, and to be individually advanced into printing position, and a pushing element which separates the envelopes after the printing operation is completed. Patent 1724199. James W. Hoag. GARMENT CouNTER—Particularly adapted for stockings, wherein counting mechanism is automatically operated as the garments are placed in a holder which is automatically closed when a_ predetermined number have been placed therein. Patent 1729497. John K. Voehringer, Jr. and Robert A. Gibbs, Jr.

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556 BACON SLICER—An adjustable slicing machine wherein bacon or other meat may be supported and fed either horizontally or upwardly on an in- cline to a cutting knife which functions regard- less of the angle of the bacon. Patent 1728843. Max Trunz. SEPARATOR—For separating solid particles from a moving gas stream, comprising a hollow casing of V-shaped cross section, and separated V-shaped partitions through which the gas moves, and means for continuously flushing the centers with a liquid. Patent 1728877. Albert R. Mumford. LADDER—For use in connection with fire fighting apparatus, which is automatically actuated and vertically adjusted to height by means of a pressure responsive mechanism, and sustained at any desired angle about two right angularly disposed axes. Patent 1728854. Melvin K. Carr. TAPE-FEEDING MACHINE—A tape feeding and moistening machine in which novel means is actuated for automatically cutting off the tape when the tape feeding means is manually Patent 1726883. Rufus M. Brooks. FINISHER—Especially constructed for shoe- polishing machinery, in which a long shaft sup- ports polishing wheels of different shapes, these wheels carrying wax that is kept in a warm condition for use at all times. Patent 1726888. Robert J. Crossman. released. FAN MountinGc—Arranged in such a manner that the rotation of the fan causes the mounting means and the fan to revolve so that the direc- tion of the air current caused by the fan changes continually. Patent 1726881. Ralph N. Berry- man. MixeER—For grain, having a novel form of casing for thinning out the grain, and causing all the grain to flow from top to bottom, and then to be conveyed back, for repeating the operation. Patent 1728411. Oliver O. Howard. Cotton CLEANER—Which removes foreign material from cotton either before or after gin- ning, by mixing air with the cotton in a manner to force out the heavier particles, while collect- ing the cotton through an independent path. Patent 1729503. Cary S. Cox. TENSION DEVICE FOR SHUTTLES—Wherein the shuttle may be quickly threaded either automatically or by hand and maintained in threaded position while remaining under tension, the guiding eyes are formed to be readily re- moved, and the tension varied. Patent 1729551. John Rush. SHart HANGER AND BEARtING—Including easing sections each fashioned from a single sheet of material with one section having its edges rolled to secure the other in mated rela- tion, whereby the sections will retain ball bear- ings against axial separation. Patent 1729499. Theodor Anthoni. ‘ Medical and Surgical Devices DENTAL Bite MetHop—Including floating partially submerged, two superimposed “bite forms” in a heated liquid until one form becomes softened to a greater degree than the other, with the inside or core of each form remaining hard. Patent 1728199. Abel O. Eberhart. APPARATUS FOR CONTAINING OR RETAINING THE HUMAN BODY OR THAT OF ANIMALS, FOR MEDICAL, SURGICAL, AND HYGIENIC PURPOSES— A flexible retaining article formed of india- rubber bands, perforated with a large number of holes which ensure proper aeration and evapora- tion, linen protecting and isolating the rubber from the skin. Patent 1729502. Louis M. Clement. Musical Devices BRIDLE STRAP FOR PIANO ACTION—Which is capable of being quickly and securely applied to a piano action without dismembering the latter and is sufficiently strong to minimize breakage and resist the usual effects of such straps. 727 Hiram E. Chute. Patent 1727502. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN VIBRATILE MusICAL INSTRUMENT—Comppris- ing a metallic bar having a vibrating center adapted to be struck, and dead metal adhered to the bar at one end which functions to prevent harmonies and overtones but permits the hum to predominate. Patent 1727238. George E. King. VALVED Brass INSTRUMENT—Wherein a valve or series of valves may be used in connec- tion with wind instruments such as cornets or horns, to entirely eliminate distortion of the sound wave in its journey through the tubes. Patent 1729568. Ernest A. Couturier. Prime Movers and Their Accessories Motor—Of the multi-cylinder type, which eliminates crank arms, and wherein the piston rods are arranged for operating cams carried by oppositely disposed shafts so that rotary move- ment is imparted in the downward movement. Patent 17428. (Reissue). Paul Marchetti. INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE — In which means are provided for directing a new charge of gas into a cylinder in such manner as to cause this charge to force the exhaust gases out, without mixing with them. Patent 1728472. Gustave H. Brekke. Pertaining to Recreation GOLF-BAG SUPPORTING DEVICE—Which has novel means for automatically actuating sup- porting members when the bag is placed upon the ground, and releasing the supports when the bag is raised, the device may be secured to any size or type of bag. Patent 1727612. George W. Lescher. SWIMMING APPARATUS—Comprising a float- ing casing with a propeller which is arranged to receive its rotary movement by the simultaneous action exerted by the hands and feet of the swimmer on two pairs of cranks. Patent 1728103. Rene G. Chaligne. Toy—By which children may obtain the pleasurable benefiis of a teeter, the construction being such that the seat and foot rest may be readily adjusted to accommodate children of different Patent 1729214. Benjamin Gordon. Toy VEHICLE—Having a removable body associated with the chassis of the vehicle to provide a wagon when in applied position, yet when removed from the latter, is convertible into a sled, providing amusement both summer and winter. -atent 1728587. Daniel L. Aldridge. sizes. Pertaining to Vehicles CHILD’s AUTOMOBILE CHAIR—Which may be maintained in anchored position by the weight of an adult so that the child may be readily at- tended to directly over the lap of the person, who is relieved of the child’s weight. Patent 1723899. Robert C. Sturges. LIGHT-RAY PROTECTOR AND HOLDER—Which will contribute to safety in driving a motor vehicle, by providing a glare shield against the lights of approaching vehicles, and a simple holder for the shield, composed of jointed sec- tions. Patent 1720199. Lon H. Barringer. CLUTCH-PEDAL CONTROL—Which may be readily attached to the frame of an automobile and adjusted for automatically stopping or checking a clutch pedal in its neutral position, particularly adapted for use on Ford cars, Patent 1720075. George F. H. Hicks. TrrE-Rim TooL—Which can be quickly con- nected to a rim, and when actuated for collapsing the rim will first spread the ends apart and permit the ends to overlap each other during the remainder of the operation. Patent 1717806. Lisle H. Nicholson. AUTOMOBILE O1L REcoRD—In which certain data may be displayed on the instrument board, whereby the operator may be informed as to the time when the oil was last changed and when it should be changed again. Patent 1717848. Ralph E. Maxwell. December 1929 SCRAPING DEVICE FOR FOOTWEAR—In the nature of an attachment capable of being readily applied to an automobile running board in an inconspicuous and unobtructing posi- tion, for removing dirt adhering to the foot- wear, thus preventing soiling the floor covering. Patent 1718428. Frank P. McNulty. AUTOMOBILE LICENSE-PLATE ATTACHMENT— Which is applicable to a license plate for in- dicating the current year, being substituted by a similar one in the new year, in this manner the attachment could be renewed annually in- stead of the entire license plate. Patent 1720258. Hugh D. Barnett. SWITCH FOR AUTOMOBILE SIGNALING AP- PARATUS—Which may be readily attached to the steering column of a car and will enable a driver to indicate to drivers of other cars his intended change of course by a “right’’ or “‘left’’ turn. Patent 1723845. Charles J. Diehl. TROUBLE - LIGHT - Mirror SysteEM—In the form of a set of adjustable mirrors which may be associated with the headlight of a car in such manner that the light will be transmitted by reflection to any desired point. Patent 1723863. Robert Jeffrey. COMBINED LICENSE-PLATE HOLDER AND StgNaL—Including a casing in which a license plate is sealed against unauthorized removal, and carrying means for lamps to illuminate the license, the right and left turn signals. and a tail light. Patent 1723463. Henry Brewster. ROAD FINDER—Adapted for connection with the usual speedometer gearing, for giving a driver traveling a strange road, the ‘‘right’’ and “left” turns, the side streets, condition of the road to be traveled, garages, and hotels, in ad- vance. Patent 1725644. William H. Kirby. AUTOMOBILE SIGNAL — Automatically actu- ated through the movement of the brake or clutch pedal, and including mechanism whereby the pivotal motion of the foot pedal is trans- formed into relative rotary motion of a signal arm. Patent 1726443. Benedict Mayer. DIRECTION INDICATOR—Which is convenient to handle, does not require complicated working mechanism, and may be readily secured to any type of vehicle, indicating direction to other drivers or pedestrians, by means of a pointer and light signals. Patent 1725248. Eugene A. Bradbury and Wilford B. Holland. AUTOMOBILE SIGNAL—Compact in form and adapted to be controlled by an electric switch which may be disposed on the instrument board, steering wheel, or other place within convenient reach of the car operator. Patent 1726961. Frederick L. Marsh. AUTOMOBILE Top PAaD—Which may be in- eluded with the original construction of a car or incorporated into tops already built, for preventing injury to the heads of occupants when subjected to sudden jolts. Patent 1728093, George E. Wintz. GLARE SHIELD FOR REAR-VIEW MIRRORS— Which will permit a screen to be drawn across the face of the mirror and secured for the pur- pose of protecting the eyes of the driver from the glaring headlights of a following vehicle. Patent 1728123. William E. Hummel. MASKING TaAPpE—Comprising a strip of flexible material narrow in width and having adhesive sides for permitting a protecting paper to be secured for protecting the painted parts of an automobile body. Patent 1726744. Albert J. Krug. Dump-BED Hoist FoR TRUCKS—Which automatically raises or lowers a truck bed when the operator moves a control lever, and auto- matically returns the control lever to neutral position, after the bed has been moved to its uppermost or lowermost position. Patent 1726723. George T. Summers. DEVICE FOR PREVENTING RETROGRADE MOVEMENT OF VEHICLES—Through the action of a locking device directly associated with the drive shaft of an automobile which will prevent retrograde rotation of the shaft when the car is located on aninclined road bed. Patent 1728809. Alfred B. Small.

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December 1929 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 557 INDEX TO VOLUME 141, JULY-DECEMBER, 1929 Lack of space makes it impossible give many cross-references or to enter a given reference in more than one place. Each article is therefore entered where it is believed it will be most eas sily fom nd. In every case, general subjec t should be sought rather than the supposed specific title of an article. We call special attention to the classifications “‘Aviation,”’ ‘Engineering,’ *‘Household,”’ ‘* Medicine ‘Miscellaneous.”’ etc., under which many items will be found, the location of which otherwise would be very puzzling. Cape to Cairo Highway 154 | Eckener, Dr. Hugo 281 A Elephants Should Carry Lights 109 Edison, Thomas A. 206, 377 pa il . Gasoline and Alcohol Mixture $38 | Ford Henry 206, 377 AGRICULTURE Highway Safety Ilumination 434 | Gilbert, H. F.... 74 pe Motorists, Sudden Death of 74 | Heath, Lady Mary 4 Bees, Hos iey, Home of 158 Road for Motorists, Thrill... . 14.| Hoffman, A.C...” 289 Celer Improving. . 554 Roads, Ugly 381 | Hutc! a oe 269 Fur F irming Misconce pttons $77 Sand Spreaders, Anti-Skid. 162 Keys, C. } ‘ 223 Insect Pests, Crop a sstroying 124 Street Cleaning Trucks, Sanita iry Bodies for 160 | Knox, = apt. D. Ww. 79 Pecan Oil from Wa 525 Ventilator for Rear Window 162 Laird, Dr. D. A. 4 Pest, a 50,000,000 ta. Cattle Grub 181 | Lawrance, ( harles L. 24 Potash, New Sources of 252 “ Reindeer as a Source of Food 104 | AVIATION | Lindbergh. \ sheamenae a Air Country Clubs. 205 Pee Wr “3 H. F. 4 \IRPLANES. See AVIATION. | Aircraft, Exporting 249 Parkes, Oscar 373 Aircraft — Financing 249 Puleston, C apt. W. D. 288 Airplane Catapult 293 | Rentschler, F. 223 AIRSHIPS. See AvIATION. | Airplanes in 1936, How Many in 164 | Rogers, Will sae 285 | Airplanes Tested in Tunnel 15 Russell. Dir, Henry Norris > Airport Competition, Lehigh. . . 71 Woolley Ci ied bits 471 \NTHROPOLOGY. See ARCHEOLOGY. | Airport Sign ind Signal 73 Tio Novo Bete 7 Airport “‘Stop-Go” 287 | | Airports. 282, 298 | BOATS. See also MERCHANT MARINE \RCHEOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND Airports and Airways 164 | ETHNOLOGY | Airship, Metal-Clad 436 Arc-Welded Motor Boats... 520 Airship Travelers. 483 Yachts Transported by Outdoor Motor Africa, South, What the World Owes to 119 | Air Tour, Fifth National 164 a ree RA ae 161 Ancient History from Aloft 242 Air Transport, Passenge 324, 404, 514 Antiques, Fake. . 335 Airway Marking 528 , Arabia, North, Early Man in. 503 Altimeter, New 336 | BOTANY Archeologist’s Note Book. . 502 | Altimeter, Radio 528 : Archeology, Behind Scenes of 492 | American Passenger Air Transport.. 324, 404, 514 Avocados—Alligator Pears. s9 Art of Pliocene Man 508 Amphibian, Single Wheel 338 Fungi that Kill 132 Australian Bushman, Modeling a 287 Ancient History from Aloft 242 Joshua Tree 425 Cave Man... 478 | Army Pilot, Our First. . 72 Mushrooms. . . 22 Cave Man's Brain.... 544 | Autogiro 336 Dentist, Prehistoric Indiat 544 \utogiro, How It Flies 290 UT . England, Invaders of 16 | Aviation, Future of. 313 BREWING Flint Mines of Grime's Graves 394 Aviation Industry, Grou] sings in the 58 : . Food Distribution, Archeology Solves Prob- Aviation Law phe 340 Outlawed Industry 428 a 502 | Aviation’s Patron Saint (Will Rogers). . 283 French Cave Men 478 Blimp at the Capital. . 483 | BRIDGES. See ENGINEERING, CIVIL. Herculaneum, Discoveries at... 334 | Blimp, Commercial Possibilities of. . . 116 Jerusalem, Walls of... . 60 | Boeing 80-A. ; 73 ; =A a alas o ’ Kish. ... 151 | Charting Alaska frora Air . 207 | BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Lindbergh: Scientist. . 477 Charting Canada from Air. . 214 | Magnifying Glasses He sIpe -d Egyptians 66 | Cooling System, New 70 | Beautifying Washington. 110 Mammoths’s Tooth. . 524 Cowling to Reduce Drag : 164 | Bricks, Chemistry Helps Make Better 72 Marble Sculpture and Ultra-Violet Ray 503 | Craft, Convertible. ‘ 165 Building Stone, Synthetic 89 Medum, False Pyr: imid of 502 | Cup Races, Timing 495 | Concrete, Expansion Effects in. ... 87 Mongolians, Slanting Eyes ot 86 De ate ivi land 66 166 | Concrete Improved by Soap 838 Mousterian Man 472 Diesels for Airplanes, Are They Practical 222 | Office Building of New Era 184 Nemi's Barges, Uncovering 35, 334 Dornier Plane, Do. X. 318, 337, 488 | Piaster Laths, Fiber Metal 263 Pliocene Man, Art of 508 Eaglerock ‘Bullet’ 72 Pneumatic Tubes in Fp ng 484 Race, Extinct. . 472 | Eckener Granted Patent 460 Skyscrapers Rest on Lead Mattresses 440 Reindeer Roamed the » Pyrenees, When 478 “Flamingo” Metal Plane 248 Weather, Artificial for Buildings. . 24, 80 Sculpture, Prehistoric 478 Fly, It Is Safe to 36 Scythian Bronzes... 502 Flying Clubs, Private 165 : Sinai. 376 Flying, Learning to... . 336 ( Sumerian Harp. 492 Fog Flying, Instruction in 528 oa 492 Giant Airplanes 488 | CHEMISTRY | Glider Salutes Monument 483 | Gliding in Germany 248 | Acid Crystals. . ee ee 252 ARCHITECTURE. See BvuILDING Con- Goldbeater Skins for Airships. ..... 435 | Aluminum Chloride Manufacture... ..... 438 STRUCTION and FINE ARTS. | Handley Page Slot Mechanisms 436 | \utomobile Uses 100 Chemicals 350 | + ingar, Huge Dirigible — | Belt Dressing, Chemical, Eliminates Static 170 | Helicogyre. 40 | Bentonite Suitable for Lead Pencils... 349 ARMY AND NAVY. | _ strument Boas d, Flush aan | Boiler Seale, Organic Substances Reduce 252 | earning to ; Bricks, Chemistry Helps Make Better 172 Boilers, Lowering Huge 482 Light Aeroplane Contest 157 Caustic Soda Made ee Fluorine 261 Fleet, Salvaging a Scuttled 473 | Light Airplane, Selling the. . 529 Chlorine Carrier. . 348 Guns, California's 14 | Lights, Private, Certification of ... 436 Citric Acid Manufacture 545 Japan's New Navy 396 Lindbergh: Scientist. . ‘ 477 Columbium May Emerge from Museum. 77 Mechanized Force, Our Army's 216 Lowering Parcels from tie Ait 336 Concrete, Expansion Effects in.... 87 Naval Accord, Jeopardizing. 381 | Mooring. Masts, Mobile 338 Corn Sugar 429 Naval Reduction and Parity... .. 320 | Motor, First Radial? 483 Corrosion-Resistant Metals Made Immune Parity and the Public 289 | pe ag Aol Sheds, Eskimo 165 Electrolytically...... 78 Pensacola, Launching of. ; 15 | Neon Light for Penetrating Fog. ... 435 Cottonseed Grading by Analysis. 87 Rifles, Designs for 526 Parachute Broadcasting 287 Crucible Material, New 547 Tank, British 111 | Passenger Air Transport, American. .324, 404, 514 Dish Washing, Scientific. 174 Tank, Fighting, Our Newest 246 | Passenger Travel, Future of .. 529 | Ethanolamine Soap Has Many Uses.. 534 Torpedo Plane Suit 267 | Pneumatic Tubes at Croyden 340 Explosives, Improved : 254 Runway ae = Ferric Chloride Becomes Cheap Coagulant 546 Safety on Airlines 0 ‘luorine Co 1ercia -roduced 261 ASTRONOMY | Seadrome, Armstrong 340 Furfural Snake st de gg 78 a e Je , Seaplane, World's Largest, Do. X. 318, 337, 488 Genius, Seeking 288 Amateur Astronomer. .82, 176, 258, 354, 448, 542 Seed Planting by Airplane. ... 72 Germany's Chemical Industry Expands : 77 Amateurs, Practical Astronomy for. . 426 Slots and Interceptors. 529 Leviathan and Saltwater Corrosion 77 Canned Astronomy ; 200 South America, Wings of 46 Lignite Absorbs Sulfur Gases 547 Comets, Puzzles of the 400, 496 Spin, Physiological Effects of the 454 Malt Syrup.... 429 Earth Shine 30 Streamline, Ideal 166 Nitrogen, Fixed .. , . 546 Heavens Month by Month * Tailspin, Fatal 306 Nitroglycerine Tamed. . 440 84, 182; 262, 356, 450, 542 Timing Schneider Race 495 Outlawed Industry Comes Back. . . 428 Jungfrau Observatory. 14 Will Rogers and Aviation. 283 Paint Testing Instruments. 174 Meteor, Large, Falls. 323 Zeppelin Flight, Chemistry Helps. 527 Peroxide Bleaches Cereals... . 183 _ teors. .. 316 Zeppelin’s American Home : 230 Petroleum Products in Insecticides 348 I anetarium 200 j Power from Polar Cold. 77 Plane ts, P uzzle ot the Major. . 138 Protective Coating (Rubalt)..... 260 Star Light, What Becomes of the : _ 220 | B Radium, High Cost of ’ 440 Star Maps. 84, 182, 262, 356, 450, 542 | Resin, Synthetic, Improves Lacquers. . 530 Telescope, Silvering World's Large st 22 7 Rust Base for Paint 545 Telescopes, Amateur. .82, 176, 258, 354, 448, 542 | BASE BALL Silver as Purification Agent f 348 Telescopes, Large, Designing. . 237 | re " Sionon—A Sugar Substitute , 348 | Base Ball, “Lively . 310, 435 Soap Dust, Explosive 350 see Sp _ | Soap Making..... 408 ATHLETES. She pense. | BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS Starch 429 } “Stickum”’ for Stamps 174 AUTOMOBILES | paeet. Sar 199 Stills, sepectrint, Made of Glass... . a4 | Berliner, E.. : 288 Straw, Waste i Automobile Uses 100 Chemicals 350 | Boy a R. M. 197 Sulfur in Air Attacks ‘‘Wash"’. 170 Automobile Parts, ‘‘Just-as-Good”’. . 267 | Brush, C. F. 205 Sunflower Seeds as Source of Pots ash 78 Banking by Auto... Saat ats ; 344 | aoc Major L. H., Jr. : 197 Synthetic Sweet Smells. . 386 Brake, Hydraulic... Sd ce asin 180 ' Eastman, George.... : 5 P 375 | Titanium Pigments.... , 78

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( ( ( ( Weighting Practice, Writing, Age of, Estimating n Flight, Chemistry Helps IVIL ENGINEERING See ENGINEERING, Civil LOTHING Clean Iron Workers Clothes Make Men Hot What is Wrong With Men's IMMERCIAL PROPERTY Fish Balls a Inter-Indust n OPY RIGHT Misplaced Copyrig! tice Void Photograph, (¢ f SI py Copy rs RI MI I t by Mail Burg Foiling the RRENT BULLETIN BRIEFS 80, 178, 250 D DAMS See ENGINEERING, Clvu DIRIGIBLES. See Aviation. DRAMA Stage Goes to School k EARTH Power from the Earth Shine EDUCATION Street Car, Educational ELECTRICITY \ I t Carbons \re-Welded Motor Boats B k Ca r, Mechanical I ( I I a I Electric, for Bananas Fig Heat in Flashing Warning Lamp Foot Warmer, Electri Heat, Portable Highway Safety Illuminati Ice ] I Li ce by Wire neenst ee er, Electri amp Factory, Edison's ght Uses One Third f ity Lightning, Phe ip of Metal Mine E lectrit fed. Metal Pouring Devic Oil, New for Old Photoelectric Comparator Portable Heat Refrigerators, Manufacture ot Searchlights for Fire Fighters Shock-proof X-Ray Apparatus Solderless Wire Connector Steam Power Plants Come Back relephone on Train lime Siret lransformers, Nitrogen Gas U-V Ray Effect ENGINEERING, CIVIL Blasting, Sand Bags for Boulevard on Shiftins Bridge, Grand Car Bridge, Spiral Approach to Crane, Mobile Dam, O'Shaughnessy Dam, World's Hig Esthetic Engineeri: Hangar, Huge Dirigi bl Ice Aids in Regrade Engineering Roads, Colombiar Roads, Steel Framew Roads, Ugly Steel Scaffolding Roosevelt Highway ork for Wires and Cables for Hudson River Bridg NGINEERING, MECHANICAL Boiler Scale, Bolt and Nut Thread, Self-Locking Cars, Railway, Cleaning Crane, Mobile Locomotive, America's First Locomotive, Gas Firing Locomotives, Ten Thousand Miles of... Standardized NEWS 92, 188, 267, . est, for Irrigation Organic Substances Reduce 477 205 128 | , 552 269 268 awn nn New 40 SCIENTIFIC Lumber Plugging Machine Mechanical Movements Mechanical Wonderland. . Pipe Lines. . . Portable Heat. Power from the Earth. Railroad Cars, Disinfecting Steam Stages a Come- Back rrain-Carrying Ship Vibration for Boat Propulsion Water Pipes, Frozen, Prevention ETHNOLOGY. See EXPLOSIVES Improved FINE ARTS 3eautifying Dossena at W ork. Egyptian Motives for Furniture Stone Carving by Sand Blasting Washington, the Greater ngton.. FIRE FIGHTING Carbon Dioxide Forrest Fire Lookout Railway Snow-shed Fires... . FISHERIES Fish Fussy about Salt. . Golt Ball Murders Fish Sardine Packing FLYING. See Aviation. |} FOODS Alligator Pears—Avocados Botulism and Home Canning Candy Mints Cereals Bleached by Peroxide Corncobs Yield New Sweet. . Dining-Car Staff Goes to School. Fig Packing, Electric Heat in Licorice the Versatile Mushrooms Queer Foods Reindeer as a Source of Food Sardine Packing Sionon \ Sugar Substitute Vineyard, World's Largest FORESTRY Forest Fire Lookout Joshua Tree Lumber Plugg Praying Trees the Desert Reforestation Tractors Drag Logs Weighing Mois ture of Lumber FOSSILS. See GEoLocy Anthracite Chokes Rivers Gasoline and Alcohol Mixture Hydrog Metak , mr as Fue Oat Hulls for Fuel Oil Gusher, Why Does it Gush Petroleum, What Is . Pipe Lines for Oil and Gas Powdered Fuels for Engines GASOLINE See FUELs. GEOLOGY Dinosaur Leg Bone Fossil Reptiles Mammoth's Tooth Meteor, Large, Falls Meteors Oil Gusher, Why Does it Gush? Power from the Earth Seismology, Amateur GOLF. See Sports. GLIDERS. See Aviatton. H HOUSEHOLD ARTICLES Foot Warmer, Electric Incense Burner, Electric. . Lamp and Globe Roaster, Three Piece. . Steel Wool Polisher. ... \RCHEOLOGY. 1ation in Gasoline Produ Gas Used to Fight Fire. Fire Alarm Senders Photographed n Kilns AMERICAN 53 364 364 | 434 422 206 234 56 432 534 543 419 59 521 183 68 513 64 208 22 206 104 419 348 240 > www 160 438 252 88 67 212 170 530 | eee wwue 63 63 62 wun > iN = mh December 1929 IRRIGATION Aid to Dam, World's Highest for Irrgation -EATHER Reptile Leather Industry. ... IBRARIES Mechanical Book Carrier... . Study Rooms -ICORICE -IGHT Edison's First Electric Light Holds Universal Speed Record. . . Symphonies in Light Weighing with Light... -OCKS AND KEYS Burglar, Foiling the Locks, Time and Combination LOCOMOTIVES MARINE EQUIPMENT. See Sarety. MECHANICAL MECHANICS. See Enocr> See ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL. M ING, MECHANICAL. MEDICINE Anemia, Dried Hog Stomach for Anemia, Liver and Iron in Arsenical Poisonin \sthma, Reflex Ite Shien it Backache in Golf and Polo Baldness, Nervous... Bathing Accidents. Blindness Caused by Battery Fluid Botulism and Home Canning. . Carbon Monoxide Deaths. Chemical Burns..... Cockroaches, Damages for Compressed Air in Novel Hospit: a] Constitution and Reproduction Digestion, Effects of Emotion on. Digestion of Meat..... Drug Store, Modern Ethylene, Dangers of ‘ Eye Examination of Childret Fish Tapeworm Infestation. . Food, Sensitivity to. Garage Deaths... Health and H¢ ippin 1ess Heart Disease, Conquering ot Heart Rate During Sleep Infants, Body Builds ot lodine Surveys. . Licorice the Versatile. . Medicine Chest, Everything tor the Mental Excitement and Brain Stimulation Mongolians, Slanting Eyes of. . Mosquitoe s and Horses Motorists, Sudden Death of Muscle, Machinery of... Radioactive Waters. . Radioactivity After Death Railroad Cars, Disinfecting ‘ Refrigeration Gases, Poisonous Respiration, Artificial. Respiration, Mech : Ringworm of the Feet Shoes for the Baby. . Shoes, Right and Wrong Smoke Encourages Pneumonia... . Fraudulent Sulfur Dioxide Hi azard Exaggerated. Tobacco Smoking Tularemia from Mu Tularemia in Seg Weather and Pain in the Joints X-ray Apparatus, Shock- Proot X-ray Films, Danger from. U-V Ray Effect. MERCHANT MARINE Bow Rudder Bremen Cable-laying Ship Maritime Law Laxity. Sea Safety Contest Train-Carrying Ship Vibration, Propelling Boats by. METEOROLOGY Neon Light for Fog Penetration. Radio Does Not Make Rain...... Weather, Artificial, for Offices. . Weather and Pain in the Joints ENGINEERING. See 162 39 420 402 403 208 378 414 264 416 50, 148, 226 26 ENGINEER- EERING, MECHANICAL. 8 74 74 18 4 cs Wie wARS~ De em RUS nn 206 229, 293 110 21 56 250 O:

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December 1929 {ETALLURGY. See MINEs AND METALLURGY MICROSCOPY Diatoms 112 MINES AND METALLURGY Alloy, Heat Resistant. 440 Aluminum Dust, Burning 534 Gold Beating 110 Iron Wire Acts Like Nerves..... 358 } Konel, New Alloy by Westinghouse 432 Metal Mine, Electrified. . . 501 Metal Pouring Device. 163 Metals, Corrosion-Resistant Made Immune = Electrolytically ‘e Nickel Welded With Flux... 351 Nitrogen Treatment tor Case-hardening ue Steel - 77 Oxygen Lance for Cutting 433 Potash, New Sources of. 252 Pre-heating in Shop Welding. 451 Re uzor Blade Science. .... 302 “Spotting’’ of Electro-plated Metals 252 Sulfur Mining. 365 Tunnel Yields Its Cost in Gold 181 Vault Construction...... 148 Zinc, Pure. ... 349 MISCELLANEOUS Ball, ‘‘Lively’’ Base. . 310 Banking by Auto. 34 aes air, Foiling the 50, 148, 226 able-laying Ship 110 C andy i, Serr §21 Cigarette Container and Ash Tray. . 63 Cigarettes, Self-Lighting. 246 Cockroaches, Damages for... 76 Dining-Car Staff Goes to School. . 513 Drug Store, Modern...... 13 Ear Phone. . 62 Fido, Health Food for. 188 Gas Smeller in Berlin....... 207 Ice, Imitation for Skating........ 89 Incense Burner. . 63 Liberty Bell, Reinforcing. .... 110 Light, Symphonies in....... 264 Locks, Time and Combination. . 226 Mail Box, Waterproof. 15 Men's Clothing, What Is Wrong With. 128 Money. Small Bills. . . 211 Mongolians, Slanting Eyes ~ SRS 86 Muscle, Machinery of 18 Outlawed Industry. . 428 Pencil-Lighter. 63 Photographing Books... 11 Pneumatic Tubes. . 484 Razor Blade Science. . 302 Reptile Leather Indus try y 420 Robot, More About 64 Robot, What Is a?.. 64 Shoes for the Baby ; 168 Shoes, Right and Wrong 444 Soap Making. : 108 Stage Goes to School. 10 “Stickum” for Stamps 174 Telephone Book Rack 62 Time Siren 207 Ultra-violet Rays for Manuscripts 357 Vault Manufacture 148 Vineyard, World's Largest 240 Wall Street and the Research Laboratory 381 Watch, Dustless Wrist 452 Water-tight Purse..... 15 Word Writing Machine 553 Writing, Age of.. 28 X-ray Detects Smuggled Diamonds. . 263 MONEY Small U. S. Bills 211 MOVING PICTURES AND TALKING FILMS Apparatus for ‘‘Talkie’’ Film 206 yclorama 482 Enlargements from Amateur Movies 68 Machine Gun, “ Movie’ 482 Shooting Wild Life With a ‘‘Movie’’ Camera 140 Sound Proof Cage. : 207 ; **Talkie’’ Headphones... . 483 | N NATURAL HISTORY Ant “‘Cowboys”. . 181 Antlers, Old and New. 147 Bees, Honey, Home of 158 Bees ‘‘Sweet Tooth'’ Measured. 358 Bird's Companionate Marriage... 160 Camel’s Hump.... 137 Goats, Photographing 140 Insect Pests 124 Loon Poses for Camera. 152 Man versus the Insect. 109 Monkey-Shines. 294 Reindeer. ...... 105 Sea-worm, Minced, Turns Into Family. 68 Shooting Wild Life With a **Movie’’ Camera 140 Snake Bite 109 Sn akes, Truth About 134 | Zoo, Feeding __. 131 NAVY. See ARMy AND Navy. Oo OFFICE APPLIANCES Cigarette Container and Ash Tray. . 63 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

| Ear Phone.. 62] Refrigerator Gases, Poisonous 381 | Floor Connections, Electric. .... 63 Sulfur Dioxide Hazard...... 78 Pencil-Lighter 63 Rubber Stamp, Flexible. . . 62)} RO : | Telephone Book Rack. 62 ADS ; 2 Colombian. 8 OIL. See FUELs. San Francisco Boulevard Built on Sand 510 : . 7 ‘ ee » Steel K , ii ere fe OILS AND LUBRICATION eel Framework for Paving 78 Oil, New for Old. 183 | ROBOT, What Isa?..... .64, 264 Pp RUBBER PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS | Protective Coating 260 SoD TEE oss 5 Se ce ark weiss Roe 342 Automobile Parts ‘‘Just-as-Good”’ 267 Capitalism and the Patent System. 93 Ss Castoria Decision. 268 Discontinuance Not Abandonment 460 | SAFETY Celery, Patent on Improving. 554 ‘Doctor B. F. Davis’’ Trademark....... 268 Accidents, Fatal... ; 477 Dogs, Health Food for. 188 Bathing Accidents. ... 346 | Drugs, Cut Rate on 365 Chemical Burns..... 89 | Eckener Granted Patent 460 Elephants Should Carry Lights. 109 | Edison and His Work 377| Ethylene, Dangers of...... 250 | Employer Restrained from Using Patent 188 Flashing Ww arning Lamp. 246 First Patent Petition. 460 Fly, It Is Safe to 36 Foreign Rights to Patents and Trademarks 92 Gas Smeller in Berlin....... 207 | Geographical Term Allowed in Trademark 93| Highway Safety Illumination........ 434 Grape Trademark Held Invalid........ 554| Lifeboat, Every Ship a. 205 Hutchinson, Patent Examiner . . 269| Maritime Law Laxity... 12 Infringement, Useless Step in. . 267 Railroad Cars, Disinfe« ting ia eG 206 Insulating Material Patented........ 554 Respiration, Mechanical. 524 Inter-American Trademark Bureau...... 92| Sand Spreader, Anti- Skid. 162 Inventing, Who Does the? 267 | Searchlights for Fire F Fighte ere 111 | Italian Inventions...... 189| Sea Safety Award. 491 | Joseph Jenks’ Petition........ 460 | Sea-Safety Conte st. a aeianms + 229 | ““Mama”’ Dolls Patents Infringed. . . 460 Steel Scaffolding. 385 | Mark Refused Registration. .... 364 Street Cleaning Trucks, wreeide Bodies for 160 | Mechanical Method Claims. 460 Wing Signals, Rattan...... 14 | Neon Tube Cleaning, No Infringement 552 X-Ray Films, Danger from..... 167 | Patentability of Combination. ..... 364 | } Patent Attorney—Friend or Enemy? 188 | SANITATION | Patent Law Abroad. 460 | Patent Protection Still Effective. . 552 Dust and Dirt, City 109 | Patents Recently Issued 93, 189, 268, 365, 461, 553 ; . ts ai | ‘“‘Penn-Allen’’ Registered as Trademark. . ET sesiikantice nite } Potato Chip Degreaser, Protection for 461 SCIENCE | Rotarians Guz Their Nz - 9: ‘ Save ong « albeing Pome gy teat 267 | Evolution, Do Any Scientists Deny It? 161 Torpedo Plane Patent Suit........ 267 Health and Happiness 1 : Trademark Not Used, Denied. . 365 | Science, Significance of. . 12 Tr: idemarks, Joint Use of. 365 | Wall Street and the Research Laboratory. 381 ‘Walker on Patents” 188 | Wanted, a Genius..... 189 | SEISMOLOGY War Claims. 366 | Yeast Patents Awarded on Appeal. . 92 AURGERUS GAGIONS. 5.0.5. 6055 K55% s0 es saws 411 PETROLEUM. See FUuELs. SPORTS ‘ NOG >HS Backache in Golf and Polo... ‘ 168 PHONOGRAI . , <a Ball, The ‘‘Lively”’ | Base are ; 310, 435 Phonograph Speedometer. . 69! Base Ball, ‘Lively’ 310, 435 - . Diving from a Gun...... 15 wl gle aig tod : ae Golf Ball Murders Fish 543 see also 2 LOVING PICTURES AND TALKING Golf Game, Indoor .......... 63 Fits. Golf Practice ee 287 Ice, Imitation, for Skating 89 Ancient History from \l ft 242 Mctorists, Thrill-Road for.... 14 s Alaska from Air 207 Tennis Nets, Tightener. 62 ng Canada from Air 14/ Trap Which Catches Animals Alive. .. 433 ne: ee rg ie for a Water-tight Purse...... 15 hotographic Display, Continuous 6 Water Wings, Novel...... ¢ Photographing Books... . . 111 lille teas ” Wild Life, Shooting With a**Movie’’ Camera 140 | T PHYSICS a aati nid = . | | TALKING PICTURES. See Moving Pictures Marble Sculpture and Ultra-Violet Ray 503 AND TALKING FiLMs. Radioactivity After Death 75 Speed Record of the Universe 414 | TELESCOPES. See Astronomy. ‘Itra-Violet from the Sun 32 Weighing With Ligh t 416| TELEVISION Weights at Bureau of Standards. . 110 | relevis *s Progress... 7 PLANETARIUM... 200 vision's Pongeaes - PORTRAITS. See BioGRAPHY AND PorTRAITs. | TEXTILES PSYCHOLOGY | Cotton Imperiled by Static Electricity 247 | Mens Clothing, What Is Wrong With 128| THEATER Mental Excitement and Brain Stimulation 75 | Muscle, Machinery of 18|} Stage Goes to School. . 40 R | TOOLS RADIO. See Also TELEVISION. Lumber Plugging Machine. .............. 53 Parachute Broadcasting. .... 287 ; Radio Does Not Make Rain . 247 | Toys Radic 930... 98 eae ta E9SR . Baby Roadster. . . 62 | RAILROADS ” : a TRADEMARKS. See PATENTS AND TRADEMARKS. Cars, Cleaning 206, 389 | _. iia ‘ — 7 r ye =o gale 901 | TRAVEL AND EXPLORATION ) ( Staff Goes to School $13 | cs E — — afl orp #3 s Fir srg 4 eas oe 247| Africa, South, What the World Owes to 119 Lounge Care 64 | Cape to Cairo Highway... 154 | Snow-shed Fire Fighting 524| Jerusalem, Walking Around. 60 | RAYS | TREES. See Forestry. | - Marble Sculpture and Ultra-Violet Ray 503 U | Itra-Violet Rays and Manuscripts.... 357 | X-Ray Detects Smuggled Diamonds. .... 263 | lu LTRA-VIOLET FROM THE SUN, 32 | X-Rays in Industry. 256 | | Ww REFRIGERATION | : WASTE Heat- Makes-Cold Refrigeration Unit 245 | Ice by Wire (G. E. Refrigerator) . 390 Reclamation of Waste Nets Large Savings 57

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560

He’s Patented Four Inventions Anp he’s only one of scores of inventors who got their first real stact through spare-time study with the International Correspondence Schools. Jesse G. Vincent, Packard Motor the Packard the Liberty student. So is John C. Wahl, inventor of the Wahl Adding Machine and the Eversharp Pencil; E. Hallett, inventor of the Hallett Tan- dem Gas Engine; H. E. Doerr, Chief Me- chanical Engineer, Scullin Steel Company, and W. J. Libby, Libby President of the Car Company, inventor of Twin Six Vice and co-inventor of Motor, is a former I. C. S. inventor of the Mine Hoist Controller. Here’s the same coupon—the same opportunity that these men had There’ s still a chance for you to get ahead if you will only make the start. One hour after supper each night, spent with the International Correspondence Schools in the quiet of your own home, will prepare you for the position you want in the work you like best. Yes, it wi Put it up to us to prove it. cost or obligation, just mark and mail Without this coupon, Mail this Coupon for Free Booklet INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS ‘The Universal niversity”’ Box 6113-B, Scranton, Penna. Without cost or obligation on my part, please send me opy of your 48-page booklet, “Who Wins and Why,” snd tell me how I can qualify for the position, or in the ibject, before which I have marked an X: TECHNICAL AND INDUSTRIAL COURSES

CO Architect | Automobile Work C) Architectural Draftsman L) Aviation Engines ||) Building Foreman | Plumber and Steam Fitter L) Concrete Builder } Plumbing Inspector {jContractor and Builder }] Foreman Plumber (Jstructural Draftsman 5] He ating and Ventilation "Structural Engineer ] Sheet-Metal Worker E}Ele Avical ngineer } Steam Engineer LIE ] Marine Engineer LIE i eration Engineer [JE }R. KR. Positions LIEK }I it hway Engineer LIT ] Chemistry LITe ) }] Pharmacy CJ Mechanical Engineer } Coal Mining Engineer |} Mechanical Draftsman ] Navigation Assayer LJ Macl *ractice } Iron : ind Steel Worker } Toolmaker } Textile Overseer or Supt. L.) Patterr maker }) Cotton Manufacturing Civil En; ineer } Woolen Manufacturin ] J () Surveying and Mapping Agriculture |) Bridge Engineer | Poultry Fs irming ) Gas Engine Operating ] Mathematics ([) Radio BUSINESS TRAINING COURSES C1) Business Man ageme nt (Rusiness Correspondence Industrial Manage nt Show Card and Sign }Personnel Management Lettering ) Traffic Manageme nt 1Ste nography and Typing oO Fruit ‘Growing

Accounting: and C. P. A, ish Coaching Civil Service [Cost cecemeaiinn }Railway Me nT Clerk LJ Bookkeeping ) Mail Carrier | } Secretarial Work ]Grade School Subjects [jSpanish (© French ] High School Subject {}Salesmanship ]!lustrating (Cartooning L] Advertising ]Lumber Dealer

NAME. ...........cccccccrsecscccvcssccccesocccrscoeccssecsoossescoccocsoesccesesessosese : et \ ress City sot State CeCwPEtdOM....cccccccsssccencscscccrcccossencserccccsnccsensseessssescsonscssoonosesse If vou reside in Canada, send this coupon “to the International Correepondence Schools Canadian, Limited, fontreal, Canada

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1929 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN—DECEMBER, 1929 Alexander Aircraft Company 543 \llied Radio Corporation 548 \merican Lead Pencil ( omnes any 544 American Pipe Bending 3 achine Company 548 American Thermo Ware Co 546

American Tobacco (¢ athe y Fourth Cover) Francis Bannerman Sons 548 Bartlett-Hayward Co 537 Bernard & Heller 546 Box 193 546 Broderick & Bascom Rope Company 541 Chicago Gear Works 548 Chicago Technical Coliexe P 547 Crescent Tool Company 546 Delta Specialty Company 533 Dodge Brothers Trucks Second Cover) i ny 548 544 Elec. Se rvice & Eng. Bureau (P. O. Box 132). 546 Florsheim Shoe Co 543 Forbes Publishing Company 468 Ford Motor Company (Aviation ie 470 French Electric Co., Inc 546 Gillette Safety Razor Company Color Insert Gilson Slide Rule Company 544 International Correspondence Schools 560 International Typewriter Exchange 548 Keasbey & Maitison 544 Otto Konigslow Mig. Company 546 Laboratory Materials Compa 544 a ae rer : 545 Marvin Cigar Co 547 Masonite Corporation 531 Metal Cast Products Company Sater 544 Metallic Sign — Company ore aie 544 Milwaukee Die asting Company. 539 Wm. Mogey & } Se Inc eens 543 Munn & Co Serer we Natio re a Assn = Saree 549 ictmatete oS 546 C. A. Olson 548 P cific Technical University 547 Packard ere Car Company... (Third Cover) Review of Reviews Company Sica ames 53 Moat @ Wotsian...>.......5..s..<5:. 542 & 546 Ruxton Multi-Vider Corp. er ee ee 54

schwerdtie Stamp Co. ......65 ccc ccccscssacs . Se COOERCAE DUC ONMR RUT oc ooo von oa do 0.060 b eknreree 544 rn eee es 546 signal Electric Mfg. Company............... 547 SK F Industries, Inc winch i Me peeibaseoakts 465 TACDRENSOR LADOLGEORY 6.5.56 6c es ob. 0s 0acess 547 Yimken Roller Bearing Company............. 466 Unisol Mfg. Company eee ie ee ae 542 Veeder-Root, Inc ls Sree hw thal ey 555 Pa ON cic Serna 54a hee bees , 548 Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co.......... (Insert) Tee CRO: WN ocd actin oa-e dr eee ecakeass 548 oS ee ere Remne cpr edaaloe-s 546

FRANCIS Advertis

N. Pruyn, g Manager Western Advertising Representative Blanchard- Nichols-Coleman Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Atlanta

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY Munn & Company, 24-26 West 40th Street, New York ORSON D. MUNN, JOHN P. DAVIS, President Treasurer LOUIS S. TREADWELL, Vice-President I. SHELDON TILNEY, repuapig EDITORIAL STAFF ORSON D. MUNN ALBERT G. ALBERT A. HOPKINS A. P. PECK PROFESSOR HENRY NORRIS RUSSELL F. D McHucu , Editor INGALLS Louis S. TREADWELL HENRY W. HouGu PROFESSOR ALEXANDER KLEMIN CORRESPONDING EDITORS Ernest W. Brown, Sterling Professor of Mathe- matics, Yale University. \. E. BUCHANAN, Jr., Lehigh University, Assistant Secretary of the Engineering. American Institute of Chemical Morris FisuBetn, M.D., Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia. Witttam K. Grecory, Professor of Vertebrate Paieontology, Columbia University. Leow A. HausMAN, Professor of Zoology, New Jersey College for Women. Paut R. Heyt, Physicist, Standards. United States Bureau of Davip STARR JORDAN, Chancellor Emeritus, Leland Stanford Jr. University. WALDEMAR KAEMPFFERT, Director Museum of Sci- ence and Industry, Chicago. M. Luckiesn, Director, Lighting Research Labora- tory, National Lamp Works of General Electric Company, Nela Park, Cleveland. D. T. MacDouGa.L, Associate in Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington. Roy W. MINER, American Museum of Natural History. Russe_L W. Porter, Optical Associate, Jones and Lamson Machine Company, ind Instrument Design, Technology. Dr. WALTER FRANKLIN PRINCE, Research Officer, Boston Society for Psychic Research. W. D. Putesron, Captain, United States Navy Technical Adviser on Military Matters. E.inu Tuomson, Director, Thomson Laboratory of t!i General Electric Compary, Lynn, Massachus vette. R. W. Woop, Professor of Experimental Physics, Johns Hopkins University. Associate in Optics California Institute of

Vol. 141, No. 6. Price 35 cents a copy. an d foreign countries where eighth zone rates apply. anada $4.50 a year postage prepaid. sion. The use of Scientific terprises is never authorized. “Scientific American,” $4.00 a year. Other foreign countries $5.00 a year, postage prepaid. Illustrated articles must not be reproduced without written permis- American articles or quote ations from them for advertising and stock-selling en- Registered United States Patent Office. Postage prepaid in United States and possessions

The barg trav the | Th now the the Ref the: taka bee: dan and

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1929 §35 : 546 1? $47 544 546 547 465 547 555 548 ert 548 546 lent ra- tric + =a * a a LUXURIOUS TRANSPORTATION The magnificently carved and gilded barges in which Georgian royalty traversed the Thames, represented the height of 18th century luxury {Spa Rasp - OT Ne : ” b singh ais ‘Tue new series Packard cars now on display again impress the permanence and stability of the famous Packard design. Refined and beautified as they are, these new cars remain unmis- ; takably Packard. No way has yet been found to improve the fun- damental grace of the distinctive and characteristic Packard lines. PACKARD And this freshly emphasized sta- bility of appearance continues to impress a motor car buying pub- lic tired of investing, every other year, in a car which will be out of date and outmoded a year later. The permanent style and beauty of the Packard Eight means more even than the satisfaction of owning a car acclaimed as the most beautiful in the world. K T HE M A N Ww PRINTED IN U.S, A., BY ART COLOR PRINTING COMPANY, DUNELLEN N. J, It has its certain reflection upon the owner’s pocketbook. For the finest of materials and work- manship are discounted if beauty and style do not long persist. The Packard owner enjoys keep- ing his car far longer than is usual—for the Packard continues to provide luxurious transpor- tation—_and to look the part. O o WwW s 2 Oo N £

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AN ANCIENT PREJUDICE HAS BEEN ee RA DR eeeet Never again need scientific research grope in darkened cellars behind doors bolted against torture. AMER- ICAN INTELLIGENCE has swept before it the ignorant barrier which stupidly impeded men of genius and science marches proudly on. “TOASTING DID IT”— Gone is that ancient prejudice against cigarettes —Progress has been made. We removed the preju- dice against cigarettes when we removed from the tobaccos harmful corrosive ACRIDS (pungent irritants) present in cigarettes manufactured in the old-fashioned way. Thus ‘‘TOASTING’”’ has destroyed that ancient prejudice against cigarette smoking by men and by women. (iGaretTE “It’s toasted” No Throat Irritation- No Cough. ee semen © 1929, The American Tobacco Co., Manufacturers ‘ ‘ 7 :

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