Leroy J. Sauter, class of '49, speaks from experience when he says: "The variety of jobs open to engineers with United States Steel offers satisfaction and a great future." N 1949, Leroy J. Sauter was grad- Superintendent of the Open Hearth and uating from colleges and universities Iburgh uated from the University of Pitts- with a B.S. in Metallurgical En- Bessemer Department. His elevation to his present position of Superintendent throughout the country as engineers are unlimited. United States Steel offers gineering. Today, Mr. Sauter holds the of this department occurred in Decem- such engineers the opportunity to prac- important post of Superintendent, ber, 1955. tice using a large variety and range of Open Hearth and Bessemer Depart- Today, Mr. Sauter supervises 316 specific engineering talents. In the steel ment at National Works of United men, being responsible for and assur- industry practically every craft known States Steel's National Tube Division. ing the productivity, quality of product, to man is utilized." Before his college days, and as far and general morale of this group. His If you are interested in a challenging back as October, 1939, Mr. Sauter was responsibility further extends to the and rewarding career with United employed as a chipper, a molding complete operation of his department, States Steel and feel that you can helper, and helper on an electric fur- operating costs, meeting ingot require- qualify, you can obtain further infor- nace at the United States Steel's Johns- ments and- complete scheduling of mation from your college placement town Works. Then, from 1943 until equipment. director. Or we will gladly send you our 1945, he served in the U. S. Navy. He Mr. Sauter's rapid advancement is informative booklet, "Paths of Oppor- entered the University of Pittsburgh in not unusual at United States Steel. tunity," upon request. Just write to 1946, graduating within three years. USS training programs make it possi- United States Steel ble for men of vision and energy to Corporation, Personnel In February of 1949, Mr. Sauter was reach responsible goals within a mini- Division, Room 1622, employed by United States Steel as a mum of time. Mr. Sauter says, "With 525 William Penn student engineer. In October, 1950, he the vast expansion of the steel industry, Place, Pittsburgh 30, became a process engineer in the Open opportunities to men presently grad- Pennsylvania. Hearth and Bessemer Department. In April, 1952, he was advanced to prac- tice engineer in the same department, and three months later, July, 1952, Mr. Sauter was appointed Assistant Working at AC, THE ELECTRONICS DIVISION OF GENERAL MOTORS is exciting . . . challenges every inch of my engineering ingenuity, currently I am working on a phase of the Inertial Guidance System Program. A month or two ago I was equally absorbed in our Jet Engine Fuel Control Program. I am certainly growing ENGINEERING "KNOW-HOW-WISE" and my salary checks reflect it. I started at a good salary . . . have had regular increases in salary and position . . . gosh, I like it here. AND, I enjoy AC's MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAM, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. I attend evening classes and AC is paying my tuition and with no strings attached. M y family enjoys Milwaukee too. Here in cool, southern Wisconsin we have endless miles of swimming beaches, parks, playgrounds that are ours for the asking. W e have the cultural and shopping advantages of the big city in a community long known for its small town hospitality. P.S. AC's Permanent Expanding Electronic Program provides openings for more Mechanical, Electrical Engineers and Engineering Technicians. Even "square pegs" are provided "square holes" at AC. W r i t e today in strictest confidence to m y friend, M r . J . F . Heffinger, Supervisor of Salaried Personnel. ASPHALT is a durable and powerful The semi-solid form, known as Asphalt bituminous adhesive used in surfacing struction and specialty applications also cement, is the basic paving material. It call for ever-increasing quantities of more than 80% of the nation's streets is used in hot-mix Asphaltic pavements and highways. emulsified Asphalts . . . minute globules for roads, airfields, sidewalks, parking of Asphalt suspended in chemically With it, engineers build strong, endur- areas, dam facings, swimming pools, ing pavements that are smooth and flex- treated water. industrial floors and other structures ible. What's more, Asphalt construction The engineering advances that Asphalt that require paving. is fast, simple and low-in-cost. makes practical warrant your study of It's the basis for membrane linings of the art and science of using this durable, Asphalt is a natural constituent of irrigation canals and reservoirs, protec- most crude petroleums. From them, it is economical material. tive coating on pipe lines, and structural separated by various distillation proc- waterproofing. In fact, Asphalt cements esses that also yield gasoline, lubricat- are "tailor-made" for literally thousands ing oil and other refinery products. of applications, including such every-day Asphalt is a petroleum product and is items as tires, battery cases, roofings, not to be confused with tar, a black paints, wall boards, electrical insulating substance commonly derived from the tape and the like. destructive distillation of coal. The chart shows grades of Asphalt Liquid Asphaltic materials are like- produced by distillation, blending and wise used extensively. In the form of oxidation. These range from watery road oils and cutback Asphalts they meet liquids to hard, brittle solids. a variety of demands for both paving and industrial applications. Road con- There's satisfaction in meeting a challenge For engineers worth their salt, challenge is stimulating. We live in such an atmosphere at Detroit Edison, a company internationally known for its bold, imaginative engineering. But let's be specific. Soon it's going to be sound economics for us to transmit energy at 345 kv. There's not much precedent to draw on; much remains to be clarified about system design, operation, radio interference, line losses, relays, system integration, lightning performance. Where does the challenge stop? Or take the problem of heat exchange. We're deep in atomic power plant design, where sodium is the primary coolant. Efficient heat exchange is essential! There's the same problem with respect to gas turbines and critical-pressure boilers, too. We also plan to use our digital computers, and like equipment, in new, untried ways. Applying them to engineering and management problems, for example. But it will take time AND talent to do some creative engineering first. If these challenges—a few at random—suggest a career that appeals to you . . . well, you appeal to us. Stop at your Placement Office and arrange an early interview. Representatives of Public Service Electric and Gas Company trill visit your campus sometime in the near future. They will be glad to tell you about the company's job opportunities. FEATURES 10 It's Magic: Silicons are working for you 13 Introducing: J. D. Ryder, Dean of Engineering 18 Junior Engineers: Look to the future 25 Man and metals 28 Can't win all of 'em 54 Some practical applications of Servomechanisms Career with A Future ODAY, the graduate of an engineer- Ting or technical school can make no more promising choice of careers than the modern petroleum industry . . . with its amazing new offspring, petrochemicals. This is truly the "industry of the future." Phillips Petroleum Company is one of America's great integrated oil com- panies, engaged in exploration, pro- duction, manufacturing and distribu- tion of many types of petroleum products; and Phillips leads in the fast-growing petrochemical field. The company is a major factor in the fields of synthetic rubber, carbon black, chemical fertilizers, plastics, rocket fuels and special chemicals. Phillips also is active in the field of atomic energy and operates one of the gov- ernment's major reactor installations. At Phillips You choose your career At Phillips you can decide among many promising careers in an industry with an unlimited future. And Phillips policy of "promotion from within" offers you the opportunity for ad- vancement to positions of increasing responsibility and importance. PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY Bartlesville, Oklahoma Will your income and location allow you to live in a home like this... spend your leisure time like this? They can...if you start your career now at Douglas! Take that ten year ahead look. There's a fine career opportunity in the engineering field you like best waiting for you at Douglas. And what about the Douglas Aircraft Company ? It's the biggest, most successful, most stable unit in one of the fastest growing industries in the world. It has giant military contracts involving some of the most exciting projects ever conceived yet its commercial business is greater than that of any other aviation company. The Douglas Company's size and variety mean that you'll be in the work you like best — side by side with the men who have engineered the finest aircraft and missiles on the American scene today. And you'll have every prospect that ten years from now you'll be where you want to be career-wise, money-wise and location-wise. Brochures and employment applications are available at your college placement office For further information about opportunities with Douglas in Santa Monica, El Segundo and Long Beach, California divisions and Tulsa, Oklahoma, write today to: DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT COMPANY, I N C . C. C. LaVene, 3000 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica, California 7 Making today's BIG news in air conditioning Worthington's new residential air conditioners, packaged units, big cen- tral station systems — all are making \ headlines in the air conditioning field. And the same research and engineering skills responsible for their development are applied to all Worthington prod- ucts— engines, turbines, compressors, construction machinery, as well as pumps. For the complete story of how you can fit into the Worthington picture, write F. F. Thompson, Mgr., Personnel & Training, Worthington Corporation, Harrison, New Jersey. . . . AN INVESTMENT IN YOUR TOMORROW From its earliest days, Westinghouse has built a farsighted research program knowing that it was an investment in the future of the nation and in scientists and engineers like yourself. Recent evidence of that faith in tomorrow is the new Westinghouse Research Laboratories where more than 750 scientists, technicians and other staff members strive to make the unknown known. This research facility is an exciting frontier in the fields of Chemistry, Electromechanics, Electronics and Nuclear Physics, Insulation, Magnetics, Mathematics, Mechanics, Metal- lurgy, Physics, Semiconductor and Solid State Physics, and other technology. Pioneering here affects not only Westinghouse activities, but serves all industry and defense as well. You are cordially invited to become a part of Westinghouse research leadership. Challenging career opportunities await you in a variety of locations, and continued education at Westing- house expense is available in 22 universities. Ask your placement officer to arrange a date with the Westinghouse Interviewer who will be on campus soon. Meanwhile, write for Finding Your Place in Industry, and Continued Education in Westinghouse. SILICONES /ORKING FOR YOU Black magic today? Probably not black, but there The amount of energy bonding the silicon to oxygen by as much as 50% the power per pound ratio in silicone insulating materials have failed only six times is magic today and it is all about us. It lights our is 89.3 units (kilocalories per mole). The bonding motors, transformers, generators and solenoids. This in the past four years and have been delivering at homes and fills them with music, drama, and the energy for carbon-to-carbon is 58.6 units or only two- means you can meet increased production schedules least 50%- more power! Mickey Mouse Club. It makes our work easier and thirds as much. As you can see, it would take much at a minimum of cost by uprating present equipment runs the machines of a mighty nation to give us the Along the same line, another company found it more energy to break down the silicon products than with silicone insulation. Recently, a large chemical things we want to buy. the organic ones. necessary to get 50% more pumping capacity out Electricity. A world in itself. A marvelous world plant had this exact problem. Production had to be of their 22 mixing pumps. These motors were being The water resistance can also be easily explained. exposed to outdoor weathering and to a variety of that makes our world a better place in which to live. increased at a minimum of cost. This was done by The silicon molecule can be thought of as a silicon- Yet a battle rages. We have harnessed electricity, having 31 motors with name plate ratings of 50 and soluble salts. Being exposed to this punishment was oxygen-silicon chain linkage surrounded by hydro- but it strains at the leash. It has two weapons at its carbon units. This type of molecule presents a surface 60 H.P. at 850 rpm rewound with class H silicone all the conventional 2 H.P. motors could stand. To command-heat and moisture. Electricity at work very similar to paraffin or oil, which resists water. insulation to put out 75 H.P. to 90 H.P. at 1150 rpm. replace these with 3 H.P. motors plus installation creates heat. The harder it works for us, the more would cost $4400. Instead they rewound the old heat it has to work against us. This heat pokes holes The Dow Corning Corporation, the world's largest New 75 H.P. motors with conventional insulation plus motors with silicone (class H) insulation at a cost of in all the ordinary insulating materials such as: cotton, manufacturers of silicone products, was responsible installation would have cost $68,200. Rewinding, plus for a large amount of work done in this field. $2300. In addition the savings, they received a bonus wood, rubber, paper, and organic insulating materials. installation on the original mounts, cost about $19,000. of greater overload capacity and better salt resistance. Even the smallest crack or pin hole opened up by Many men worked together to develop this new Thats an initial saving of almost $50,000. heat will let moisture in, to provide an excellent path type of insulation. Perhaps foremost in the insulation As every engineer knows, there's many a slip be- of escape for our electric power. field is John F. Dexter, manager, electrical section of Equally important has been the added life and tween the print and the plant. In this case, twelve Other types of insulating materials have been tried the product engineering laboratories, Dow Corning reliability of the silicone rewound motors. The old 10 H.P. 1750 rpm motors were installed in a plant without success. Among heat-stable materials are Corporation. Dexters' native state of Texas can be only to be proved 1/2 H.P. too small for the job. The proud of his contributions to his field. motors burned out at the rate of one a month or 48 glass and ceramics. These, however, are much too costly delay and the large expense of installing new brittle and rigid to use successfully in electric machines. failures in four years. The same motors rewound with Melvin L. Manning and Henry P. Walker helped footings, brackets and controls for conventional 15 Asbestos, mica, and glass cloth cannot exclude to pioneer silicone insulation. Other men whose names H.P. motors were avoided by the simple expedient of moisture, so they must be held in place by a resin or are virtually synonymous with silicone insulation are: uprating the original 10 H. P. motors with silicone varnish to make them waterproof. However, the G. L. Moses of Westinghouse; T. A. Kauppi and C. A. instability of organic resins and varnishes has resulted (class H) insulation. Doremire of Dow Corning. in a sadly limited insulation. Many times in the construction of plants or smaller Without a doubt, the results of what silicone insu- This is where the silicone story begins. By combin- lation can do are astonishing. An electric motor wound units space is at a premium and weight must be at a ing glass cloth, mica, and asbestos with silicone resins with silicone insulation would have a "life expectancy" minimum. This was certainly the case when General and varnishes, a new class of insulation has been of at least 7 years of service at a hot spot temperature Dynamics Corporation was building the new atomic produced. Silicone insulation enables electrical engi- of 220 C! A motor wound with ordinary insulation submarines. These atomic submarines required 63 neers to reduce the size and weight of electrical equip- would fail after only three months. In addition to ment by 50%, or make electric machines last 10 times integral horsepower motors to drive pumps, com- this, silicone (class H) insulation permits weight re- pressors and auxiliaries. Each of these motors is as long as they did before. ductions up to 50%. completely insulated with Dow Corning silicones. Silicone products are particularly well-adapted to Since silicone (class H) insulated electrical equip- Combined weight of these motors is 27,141 pounds. accept the burden of the problems of electrical insula- tion. In general, there are three interrelated types of ment has 10-100 times the life expectancy of com- If conventional motors had been used, the weight silicone products-resins, liquids, and rubber. There parable machines built with the next best type of insu- would have been 36,000 pounds. Thus we see, silicone are two characteristics common to them all—tempera- lation, this means greater reliability for you. You can insulation is responsible for a total weight savings ture stability and water resistance. increase production while lowering maintenance and production costs. You will have more overload capa- of 4.5 tons. The heat stability of silicones can be readily and city and more efficient use of power in variable load The performance of silicone insulated motors is simply explained. Silicones are made up of silicon- applications. to-oxygen bond molecules as contrasted to carbon-to- really incredible. At 10 a. m., June 6, 1946, a silicone carbon bond molecules found in organic products. Silicone insulation, in addition to making the motors (Continued on page 52) 10 last longer, gives the motor more power. It can increase Spartan Engineer Not enough to go around How times change! Not so very long ago, an engineer struggled to obtain a degree. Yet afterwards he just couldn't find a job that would let him utilize his hard-earned knowledge, much less start to build a career. Today, however, the demand for engineers exceeds the supply . . . so much so that there are not enough to go around. We need engineers and skilled technicians. That hundreds of other companies do, too, is extremely well evidenced merely by thumbing through your newspapers and magazines. Why should you choose us above them? Perhaps you shouldn't. Neither should you come to that decision without first becoming fully aware of our record . . . who we are, what we do, where our future lies. For, in whatever field you choose to pursue a career, your transition from neophyte to veteran will not depend on ability alone. Without ample opportunities to demonstrate your talents, you'll not be able to prove your potential value in any industry. We would like to tell you about our company. We hope, too, that you will reciprocate and give us the opportunity to evaluate you. You can do this by writing to Mr. Richard Auten, Personnel Department. Introducing: John D. Ryder, Dean of Engineering "Engineering students should give consideration of the advantages of taking graduate work here at Michigan State University or elsewhere," states Dr. John D. Ryder, dean of engineering. "Why?" the student may ask. Dr. Ryder goes on to explain that the easy problems have been solved. A bachelor's degree isn't too sufficient and further education will be required in order to solve the problems of the future. Dr. Ryder's background in the engineering field started when he received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Ohio State University in 1928; and Besides this experience in the engineering industry, received his M.S. degree from the same school the Dr. Ryder has to his credit membership in several following year. professional organizations and honorary fraternities, and the publication of a number of textbooks. Also New York was the destination of Dr. Ryder, after included in his busy schedule, he serves as guest his graduation, where he worked in a test course at speaker at various functions. General Electric Company, specializing in his work on electron tubes suitable for heavy power use. He After the completion of the new engineering area, then went to Cleveland, Ohio to work in the research which will soon be in the building process, Dr. Ryder department of the Bailey Meter Company, where he is anxious for the students to have better facilities was in charge of electrical and electronic research which will enable better opportunities for each student and development. In 1941, he entered Iowa State in their education in engineering. To him, having a College as an assistant professor, becoming a full mediocre College of Engineering isn't satisfactory. professor and receiving his Ph.D. He was acting head He's hoping that the new campus development will of the department for 20 months, and soon after surpass that of any college or university in the nation. became assistant director of the college's experiment With little spare time for other interests, Dr. Ryder station. sometimes finds time for color photography and f.m. It was after this appointment that Dr. Ryder began radio, which he more or less considers hobbies. He work on the design and development of a high- also enjoys traveling, which includes climbing moun- frequency network analyzer, a form of computer used tains and taking pictures. now by many electrical utilities. In 1949, he trans- ferred his work to the University of Illinois where he Dr. Ryder and his wife reside here in East Lansing. was head of the electrical engineering department. They have a daughter, a sophomore at Iowa State He came to Michigan State University July 1, 1954 University, and a son, a student at East Lansing High and has been dean of engineering since that time. School. Honeywell...from thermostats to inertial guidance for satellites... Two of Honeywell's 12,000 differ- ent automatic controls are t h e Honeywell Round—first entirely new thermostat design in 70 years —and an ultra-sensitive type of inertial guidance system, which will direct the rocket placing the world's first man-made satellite in its orhit. Over thirty years ago in the American Mercury the inimi- SMALL UNITS MEAN OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU: O u r employees table journalist H. L. Mencken wrote, "Of all the great operate primarily through personal contacts with super- inventions of modern times, the thermostat has given visors and fellow workers. Our small units present mul- me most comfort and joy. Not for a dozen Marconis, tiple opportunities for early managerial experience as a regiment of Bells, or a whole corps of Edisons would (1) project leaders, (2) section heads, (3) foremen, I swap the great benefactor of humanity who invented (4) department heads, (5) chief engineers, or (6) sales the incomparable thermostat." managers. As Honeywell continues to grow, advanced Honeywell began in a basement, with the invention positions are filled largely by men who have worked u p of a simple bimetallic thermostat to open furnace damp- from within. So, as an employee, you too will have ers on chilly mornings. But extensive research into real opportunities to fill Honeywell's future managerial electricity and electronics, pneumatics, gases, metal- needs. And Honeywell needs restless men who can ac- lurgy, chemistry, plastics, and plain and fancy physics cept and discharge responsibilities. has diversified Honeywell by means of engineering and SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT: T h e men who r u n Honeywell new-product development into automatic control for al- are a top management-science team. Year after year most every known purpose. the American Institute of M a n a g e m e n t has rated Honeywell "excellent"—the top rating among Amer- EXCITING GROWTH: Today, after 72 years, Honeywell has ica's best-managed companies. Honeywell's manage- grown and is growing still—the world's leading de- ment recognizes that our growth in the challenging signer and manufacturer of all kinds of automatic con- future depends in the largest measure upon the initia- trols. Sales have more than doubled every five years. tive, intelligence, and interest of the young people now In the last 7 exciting years alone Honeywell has increased starting with us. sales more than fourfold—from 857 million in 1948 to $244 million in 1955. In these 7 years over 20,000 new MODERN PLANTS NEAR SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOODS: I n these employees from all over America have joined Honey- expanding units—each conveniently located near pleas- well to find new opportunities. Honeywell now has 31 ant suburban areas with adequate housing, schooling, factories and 160 sales and service offices throughout and recreational facilities—Honeywell offers you re- the world. warding opportunities to do your best work with the most modern facilities: MAIN FIELDS: Basically, Honeywell operates in three main fields: heating and air conditioning, industrial instru- 1. Heating and air conditioning: Complete engineering mentation, and aeronautical controls and ordnance and manufacturing plants in Minneapolis, Chicago, equipment. But the common denominator is always Wabash, and Los Angeles. We now produce scores of automatic control. Heat, color, density, liquid level, hu- dramatic new controls and systems applicable to all midity, weight, or any other measurable factor—such types of temperature-control equipment in homes and as attitude deviations of planes or missiles in flight— industry, public and commercial buildings of every can all be recorded and controlled. type, ships, planes, trains, and buses. Included are systems of zone control, individual room temperature REMARKABLE DIVERSITY OF PRODUCTS: More than 12,000 control, pneumatic controls, appliance controls, highly different Honeywell products give you an idea of the flexible electronic controls, control panels, and the en- range within which you can build a highly rewarding tire range of air conditioning controls. career. Because Honeywell is operating in almost all 2. Industrial instruments and controls: Complete en- the fields known as growth industries, our continuing gineering and manufacturing plants in Philadelphia. drive to provide new markets, new products, and new There is hardly a processing industry where Honeywell systems promises you a rewarding future. controls do not function as mechanical and electronic brains regulating processes better than could be done where space or weight limitations arc important—as in by human hands or judgement. Honeywell instru- aircraft, missiles and rockets, automatic machine tools, ments, for instance, are presently in use on every dictating machines, and automatic transmissions for U. S. atomic reactor. Instrumentation holds sweeping automobiles. potentialities as industry becomes increasingly complex and as automation is applied to more and more of its 5. Ordnance: Engineering and manufacturing in Min- processes. Typical industrial products include indicat- neapolis; a complete new Engineering Development ing, recording and control types of potentiometers, Center for missiles in Monrovia, California; and engi- pyrometers, pressure gauges, industrial thermometers neering laboratory facilities in Seattle, Washington. In and flow meters, electronic control panels, and thou- this Division a great many vital defense products and sands of other devices. systems—such as complete missiles and components, fire-control systems, and proximity fuzes are produced. 3. Aeronautical controls: In addition to extensive re- search, engineering and manufacturing facilities in 6. Servo components: Honeywell engineering and man- Minneapolis, another complete plant is being built in ufacturing plants in Boston produce precision synchro St. Petersburg, Florida, expressly for the development motors, gyroscopic instruments, and electro-mechan- and manufacture of inertia! guidance systems. There is ical servo components for standard use in jet fighters, also a complete Engineering Development Center for guided missiles, and bombers. The newest development aircraft and missile controls in West Los Angeles. Some is a vital control device for the automation of manu- challenging engineering interests include automatic facturing processes. flight control systems; hydraulic and pneumatic jet, ram jet, and rocket engine controls; instrumentation; 7. Oscillographic and Photographic equipment: The and airborne digital and analog computers. Honey- Honeywell plant in Denver produces high speed re- well is a major supplier of automatic pilots, bombing cording oscillographs, scientific laboratory equipment, systems, gyroscopes, and integrated weapons systems and a complete line of Heiland photographic flash for aircraft and guided missiles. The Honeywell elec- equipment. tronic fuel-measuring system is the standard of the in- dustry, and Honeywell leads in developing transistor- 8. Transistors: The Boston plant develops and manu- ized instruments for aircraft. factures high-output power-type transistors. 4. Precision switches: Engineering and manufacturing 9. Research: In a complete Research Center in Hop- in Freeport, Illinois; with additional plants in Warren, kins, a suburb of Minneapolis, emphasis placed on Illinois and Independence, Iowa; plus research facili- fundamentals has led to comprehensive basic research ties in Denver. Honeywell's 5000 variations of elec- programs in the fields of: solid state physics, metallurgy, trical MICRO SWITCH snap-action and mercury ceramics, magnetic and dielectric materials, physical switches are used in countless ways. They permit a chemistry, electronics, heat transfer, and mechanics. slight motion or a small physical force to control an Honeywell is continuing its steadily increasing expendi- electric motor or current. They are particularly useful ture for fundamental research. Research—Development—Production: One of Honey- ufacturing, application, or sales . . . you will enjoy the well's great strengths is the specialized engineering satisfaction of knowing that you are vital to an organ- knowledge we can concentrate upon each of many ization whose growth has helped lead and will continue highly technical operations and products. A consistently to lead our country's technical advancement. growing investment in research and engineering proj- Engineering Sales: Honeywell has a great need for the ects has in the postwar period increased at a rate almost man who likes and wants to sell . . . who is able to find double that of sales increase. The aggressive policy of new product applications and expand markets . . . and "engineering for tomorrow while producing for today" who can cultivate those markets with consistent energy. means one out of every ten Honeywell employees is You will receive up to five months of special training engaged in some phase of our engineering activities. in one of Honeywell's well-equipped and expertly Almost every type of technical college training can be staffed divisional sales schools. utilized to advance the art of automatic control. Engi- Honeywell's Training Program: Training at Honeywell neers, scientists, chemists, physicists, metallurgists, and is handled in various ways: organized programs for sales engineers are particularly needed. You should pos- "Learning By Doing"; formal classes during and after sess an intellectual curiosity that compels you to think in- working hours; orientation and development programs to and through and around a problem. Yet you should tailored to individual requirements; and outside study have something more: the faculty of working in close co- programs, on both undergraduate and graduate levels, operation with fellow engineers on common problems. with the Company sharing your tuition costs. Honey- Whatever scientific or engineering activity you choose well's various locations furnish access to the nation's at Honeywell . . . research, design, development, man- best technical schools. Bubble, bubble, toil and brainwork... Dow engineers create modem new plant for Saran produced an enviable new plant ready to produce in excess of 5,000,000 Saran Wrap rolls a month. Dow-engineered Wrap production from start to finish, it stands as a testimonial to the depth Demand was multiplying for Saran Wrap,* the clear and talent of Dow engineering and planning. moistureproof plastic wrap for foods. A new plant was needed . . . and needed fast. Dow's engineering and technical staff went to work. Pro- duction processes were checked and improved. Mechanical engineers designed new machinery. Electrical engineers introduced new fluorescent lighting (shielded by an entire ceiling of corrugated plastic) eliminating glare from Saran Wrap which would have tired the eyes. Modern plant innovations were widely apparent as the blueprints came in from engineer after engineer. Then the job was done. Hard work and brainwork had W HEN YOU WORK with the world's most successful industrial corporation—as we do-people often ask you that question. manufacturing divisions with 126 plants in 68 U. S. cities from coast to coast. In this sort of healthful climate, engineering achieve- Folks are naturally curious to know what accounts for ment flourishes, and so do engineering careers. General Motors' rapid and continued progress—they're seeking the magic formula. That's all the magic formula there is behind GM's suc- cess—and the success of so many young engineers who Well, we believe we have an answer that should be of join us. especial interest to young engineering seniors just Why not ask your college placement officer about oppor- about this time of year. tunities in General Motors ? Or write us directly. This answer was stated by a distinguished GM execu- tive, Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors-and it carries a lot of weight. Here it is: 'The only difference between business success and failure is the people in the business and how they work together ... We have given the people in General Motors an opportunity to perform. We have given them respon- sibility with authority. And we have made it worth while for them to do worth-while things." Those sentiments reflect an attitude that you'll find much in evidence throughout GM's 34 decentralized Junior Engineers: Look to the Future An early Greek philosopher, Aristotle, said, "Every The JETS plan field trips and go in groups to art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and industrial plants, construction jobs, etc. Also included pursuit, is thought to aim at some good." We may or with these trips may be visits to engineering colleges may not accept this theory, but most of us will gen- and industrial expositions. Trips of this nature should erally agree that the individual who knows nothing give the student some idea as to the variations found or very little of his inquiries or their ends will not tend in work in the engineering field. They also give him to be too successful in life. insight into such aspects as social mobility, group leadership, and economic and social problems, which About eight years ago, Dean Lorin Miller and are all present in our modern society. In this respect Professor Harold Skamser of the Engineering College the club tends to introduce many of our social prob- of M.S.U. had the opportunity to visit many high lems to the future engineer. Many of the problems schools. They found that many students wanted to are identical with those he will later encounter if he study to be engineers. Many of these same students enters into the engineering profession. did not have the necessary high school courses to pursue in the engineering field. Also, many did not JETS clubs take an active interest in community have an exact idea as to what the work of an engineer affairs. Various clubs throughout the nation engage would constitute. From the basis of these findings, in radio and TV participation. Chapters stage ban- Dean Miller and Professor Skamser felt that something quets, expositions, etc. These activities, in themselves, must be done to help these students who may have tend to promote organizational qualities among the the potential to develop into engineers. students. These two men were impressed by the success that Since most of us will agree that these functions the F.F.A. and 4-H Clubs have had in fostering agri- are fine, we may wonder what sources these clubs cultural interests and skills in youngsters. Why couldn't a versatile program be set up in the high schools, which would stimulate the necessary interest and skills in the high school student in the field of engineering? The idea became a reality in November of 1950, as a JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society) Club was organized in the East Lansing High School. Since that time, 116 clubs have been founded and are scat- tered over 20 states and two foreign countries. The JETS operate on the theory that the individual learns by doing. They provide many activities for the student who is interested in scientific inquiry. They range from individual to group projects. These proj- ects may consist of work on a model rocket, Geiger counter, a three-dimensional scale model of one's home, school, or community, and many others too numerous to mention here. These activities stimulate individual interest and serve a great importance in the club structure. Each year there is a contest be- tween these projects. They are displayed at the engi- neering buildings at M.S.U. at the Annual Engineering Exposition. The projects are judged for originality, scientific accuracy, and general engineering thinking! Prizes are given which include scholarships, drafting instruments, slide rules, and other tools of the pro- fession. use in planning their activities. The two main types are trained engineers and club advisors at the high school level. Both of these have their functions in regard to the club. Usually a consulting or practicing engineer in the community is available to form the link between the club members and the profession. Also colleges and universities have available engineers who go to clubs to provide information. This may vary from the types of courses students in engineering are required to take, to reports on the newest types of progress made in the field of engineering. The club advisor probably has a great influence on the efficiency of a club. The advisor is usually a mathematics or science teacher in the high school system. Most of these advisors find their work stimu- lating and rewarding, which is evident in their reports. A veteran mathematics instructor at Traverse City confided, "This is the greatest challenge I have expe- rienced in many years. Some of the boys are way ahead of me in their chosen interests and I'm amazed at the technical vocabulary they use." Many advisors also see the JETS clubs as a means of showing prac- tical use of the materials presented in their classes. Another feature which spurred the JETS movement is its progressive attitude in wanting people to know that it does function as a club. Members take pride in selecting and displaying pins, emblems, and jackets. Vernon Baker, of the Belleville, Michigan, JETS Club, designed the official emblem for the club. It is a monogram with a rocket on a background which may ers and also future teachers should take advantage of remind one of some modern architecture. It displays finding out more about this growing organization. many elements of the engineering profession. The They may find it possible for a JETS club to be organ- JETS have a club pin which expresses membership ized in their school. As Professor Skamser points out, in the club. The pin itself is a miniature representa- anyone wishing to inaugurate such a club should tion of what many people call the engineer's Bible— write to: JETS, P.O. Box 470, M.S.U., E. Lansing, the slide rule. These pins are provided free to all Michigan. A list of instructions will be sent by return members by the Keuffel & Esser Company. Many mail at no cost to the local club. "The JETS are rapidly clubs have blue jackets which are worn while they are together as a group. They also have the emblem becoming a national or possibly an international mentioned above on these jackets. organization," explains Professor Skamser, "and re- gional or state chapters are being set up." This will Oftentimes clubs hold joint sessions. These meet- insure more unity in the clubs. It will give them more ings give the members a chance to exchange ideas. opportunity for an exchange of ideas and also help Also a newsletter published at M.S.U. is sent to each in contending with the individual problems of the club and this contains notes from various clubs. Each areas. year in May the clubs go in groups to M.S.U. to attend the Engineering Exposition. This exposition JETS officials feel that their program, with its real- serves somewhat as a convention for the members. istic approach and enthusiastic response, is making It gives them an opportunity to look at the problems a substantial contribution to many students attempting and activities of other clubs. This Exposition is also to enter the engineering profession. The products of the highlight of the year for many members. At this these students should lead to a better world for all time the various projects of the members are judged of us. and prizes are given to the winners. Even though the JETS appear to be functioning very smoothly on the local level a great deal of work still remains to be done. The JETS have, at present, two major goals ahead of them. They have increased their number of clubs tremendously since 1950, but there are still many students in areas where these facilities are not available. Present high school teach- MISSILE DEVELOPMENT ROCKETDYNE DIVISION OF NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION, INC. DIVISION OF NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION, INC. Over 100 sub and major projects under The mightiest propulsion plants ever built way, including the SM-64 Navaho Inter- —large, liquid propellant rocket engines, continental Missile. the power for outer space. AUTONETICS ATOMICS INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION, INC. DIVISION OF NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION, INC. Electro-mechanical systems for missiles and A complete organization, engaged in every aircraft—automatic flight and fire control, phase from research to production on incrtial guidance and navigation, advanced nuclear reactors for power, industry, medi- computer techniques. cine and research. OPPORTUNITIES FOR: Equipment Design Engineers Weight Control Engineers Aerodynamicists Engine Systems Engineers Aero-Thermodynamicists Thermodynamicists Reliability Engineers Aeroelasticity Engineers Dynamicists Standards Engineers Mechanical Engineers Stress Engineers Hydraulic, Pneumatic & Servo Engineers Structures Engineers Structural Test Engineers Mechanical, Structural & Electrical Designers Controls Engineers Flight Test Engineers Wind Tunnel Model Designers & Builders Rubber Compounding Engineers Electrical & Electronic Engineers Physicists Computer Specialists Power Plant Engineers Chemists Electro-Mechanical Designers Research & Development Engineers Metallurgists Electronic Component Evaluators Weights Engineers Ceramicists Electronics Research Specialists Environmental Test Engineers Computer Application Engineers Computer Programmers Instrumentation Engineers Automatic Controls Engineers Electronic Engineering Writers Fire Control Systems Engineers Inertial Instrument Development Engineers Mathematicians Flight Control Systems Engineers Preliminary Analysis & Design Engineers Electronics Technicians Civil Engineers Systems Engineers Specifications Engineers Design & Development Engineers Armament Engineers Engineering Drawing Checkers Test Engineers Servomechanism Engineers Air Frame Designers Machine with "millions" on its "mind" These whirling disks are the heart of RAMAC®— IBM's revolutionary new random access memory data accounting system. Capable of storing from 6 to 24 million digits in its metal mind, RAMAC offers an entirely new approach to the problems of data maintenance and storage. RAMAC is a storage instrument permitting man- agement to reach facts almost instantly, without searching or sorting. It supplies immediate, auto- matically typed answers to queries put to it. For the first time, it makes possible "single step" data processing—the simultaneous processing of trans- actions as they occur. This new wonder tool for American business means record keeping with greater speed, range flexibility and economy than was ever before possible. What YOU should remember RAMAC typifies the electronic wonders being brought to reality at IBM. If you are preparing yourself for an electronics career, you'll find IBM offers excellent opportunities for rapid advance- ment in the virtually "unlimited" field of electronic computers. A growing company in a growing field, IBM means a chance for you to develop quickly to the fullest extent of your capabilities. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION about IBM opportunities, see your Placement Director or write to R. W. Hubner, Director of Recruitment, Dept. 3311, International Business Machines Corporation, 590 Madison Avenue, New York 22, N. Y. ACTUALLY, it's "Andy" Ashburn, Managing Editor of American Machinist. Andy holds a B.S.E. from the University of Michigan, and progressed with his magazine from Assistant Editor to Associate Special Projects Editor to Managing Editor since joining McGraw- Hill Publishing Company. Like most of the 485 full-time editors on the McGraw-Hill "team", Andy is an engineer first—a writer second. And unlike most engineering graduates his age, Andy is already near the top of his chosen field. Ask him what he thinks about a writing career for engineers and he'll tell you this: "All through college, I was a staff member of The Michigan Technic, and editor as a senior. And I've never stopped being grateful for the decision I made to be an engineer-writer. I've learned more about what's going on . . . kept in touch with key developments in engineering throughout industry . . . thanks to that decision." McGraw-Hill as a Place to Work Consider these advantages of an have a guarantee against boredom editorial career with McGraw-Hill and stagnation—and a stimulat- —world's largest publisher of busi- ing, rewarding career in your chosen ness and technical magazines. field of engineering. When you work with engineers on If you are the right man—both any of the 34 McGraw-Hill maga- an engineer and an alert, inquisi- zines, you are in constant touch tive knowledgeable man who likes with the experimental, the new, to report, appraise and write, we and the significant. You watch ex- want to talk with you about career periments, see new techniques come opportunities as an engineering ed- into being. And in many ways you itor with McGraw-Hill. Get the help develop them yourself. For story of McGraw-Hill and what it example, the word "automation" has to offer you today—by writing first appeared in print in Andy's for your free copy of "Successful magazine. Careers in Publishing At McGraw- As a McGraw-Hill editor, you Hill." Or tell us about yourself, will be on top of events of an entire your background, extra-curricular industry, not just a specialist in activities, college record, summer one narrow segment. You'll be jobs, and career goals. Write to: working with keen, alert men who are nationally-respected leaders in their fields. You are a welcome figure in front offices and inside the plants of the leading companies here and abroad. If you are the man we're looking for, you will From advanced research into the fundamental forces of the universe-gravity, nucleonics, astro- physics—to the launching of man's first stepping stones into space itself, Martin engineering activities are among the most exciting in the aircraft industry today. The sky is our world, and outer space is the next frontier! / / you are interested in learning the story of a great engineering adventure, which includes some of the most advanced projects now in the research and development stage, contact J. M. Holly day, The Martin Company, Baltimore 3, Maryland. Man and Metals The Egyptian Pharaoh Cheops had water conveyed mens scientific progress. This is not surprising for the from the Nile river to his private royal bathing pool experimental methods of science are but 400 years old. by means of a copper pipe. This does not seem so In learning how to melt metal, primitive man may startling until we stop to realize that it occurred 5500 have learned also how to smelt ore to extract metal. years ago. No doubt man learned to use metals much Lead and tin could have been readily smelted from earlier, particularly gold, silver, and copper nuggets their oxide minerals in contact with the charcoal of and meteoric iron. a campfire. If the fire, fanned by a brisk evening Gold nuggets found in exposed gravel banks near breeze, burned intensely enough to melt the extracted river beds could be pounded into crude ornaments metal, a molten pool of metal would form. Thus the with a stone hammer. Unlike copper, this pounding first smelting furnace as well as melting furnace could did not harden gold very much; thus, it could not be have been a fire over a hole in the ground — as well illustrated by its survival in the ancient tin smelting made into tools. The distinctive bright yellow color furnaces of Cornwall, England. of native gold, in contrast with that of the surrounding sand and gravel, easily attracted attention. Because With the coming of wood charcoal as a fuel, higher it is a very malleable metal, gold was easily fashioned temperatures were available and the primitive metal- into rings, bracelets, and other beautiful and enduring lurgist was able to cast the molten metal into the ornaments. That goldsmiths were among the first shape of the finished product. No longer did he have metal workers is substantiated by the gold ornaments to hammer the solid sponge or break away the rock. found in some of the oldest archaeological excavations He had learned to smelt, melt, refine, and cast a few in Egypt, Crete and Iraq. metals into the shapes of articles he wanted. Man had emerged from the Stone Age. Even in rather recent times, about 400 years ago, the inhabitants of the upper Amazon River Valley in Because of the higher melting temperatures required South America made fish hooks from a gold alloy it was not until about 1000 B.C. that furnaces were developed that could produce and melt the iron-carbon containing 19.5% copper and 1.4'/* platinum. alloys. Historians credit the Chinese with pioneering Here in the United States, the mound builders and this development. It spread to India before the Chris- other ancient inhabitants of the valleys of the Missis- tian Era. and was independently discovered in Europe sippi and Ohio Rivers may have learned to work native during the fourteenth century. Secrecy and poor com- copper secured from the northern peninsula of Michi- munication seems thus to have retarded the advance- gan even earlier than the Egyptians, because copper ment of iron smelting in Europe by 23 centuries. nuggets, sheets and strips curled up into beads have Alloys of copper and tin, known as bronzes, were been found in their mounds. Later inhabitants of the the first alloys widely used by ancient peoples. Thus valleys left copper adzes, axes, chisels, and rings in the name "Bronze Age" for the period starting about their burial grounds. Although copper was extensively 2500 B.C. when bronzes appeared in common use used by the North American Indian for thousands of along with metallic copper in the eastern Mediter- years, he never completely emerged from the Stone ranean countries, namely Crete, Greece, and Turkey. A ge as he had not discovered how to melt metals or The art of making and using bronze progressed very smelt their ores. slowly — for some 4000 years — until the sixteenth Man may have slowly discovered how to melt metal century. a s he peered, over a long period of time, into the dying Scarcely had the Bronze Age began, however, when embers of a thousand campfires. There, underneath the Iron Age emerged. Only a relatively short interval toe ashes, was the key to a better way of life. Ignor- (Continued on page 60) ance and superstition were formidable barriers to cave water has many uses Fortunately, not much water is used like this. Engineers know that America's greatest natural resource has many other vital uses. Supplying homes and industries with adequate water...today and for the future... is a job both challenging and rewarding one that merits the talents of America's best young engineers. Cast iron pipe plays an important part in that job. Today, practically every city in America—large or small—uses it for water and gas mains. Over 70 of our public utilities are still served by cast iron pipe laid over a century ago. That's why engineers turn to cast iron pipe for the efficient, economical distribution of water. Boeing engineers design America's first jet transport Pictured above is the full-scale cabin Expansion at this rate spells job stability retirement plans, and a choice of modern, mock-up of the Boeing 707, America's — and plenty of opportunity to move young-spirited communities in which to first jet transport. In developing this in- ahead. Boeing promotes from within, live. Boeing helps arrange special work terior, Boeing engineers helped design and holds merit reviews every six months schedules for engineers taking graduate features and innovations as advanced as to give each engineer a personal oppor- studies, and pays all tuition and fees. the 600-mile-an-hour performance of the tunity for recognition, advancement and You're missing a bet if you don't at least aircraft itself. increased income. find out how Boeing can help you get ahead in your engineering career. Pioneering revolutionary new types of Boeing engineers don't get lost in the aircraft like the 707 is one of the sources crowd. They work in small integrated of excitement — and satisfaction — that teams — on such projects, in addition to engineers and scientists enjoy at Boeing. the 707, as the advanced B-52 and B-47 This new jet-age transport has already multi-jet bombers, the BOMARC IM-99 been ordered by 10 major overseas and guided missile, the 502 gas turbine, and domestic airlines. These commercial other developments still under security orders, together with Boeing's tremendous wraps. backlog of military contracts, mean that Qualified engineers and scientists of this company will continue to expand all types are needed at Boeing — now. during the years ahead. You'll find high starting salaries, and Growth is a Boeing habit. During the stimulating contact with men outstand- past 10 years, for instance, the number ing in the wo'rld of engineering. Other of Boeing engineers has increased 400%. advantages include liberal insurance and Can't Win All of 'Em On August seventh of nineteen hundred and fifty- Mr. Schlegel turned to the judge and said, "In that five, a winsome young lady of twenty-two, jammed case, your honor, these good people are acceptable the rear end of her new oldsmobile into my middle to us." aged Chevy's front end. A year later, not a day sooner, her insurance company slammed a subpoena "Mr. Funk, you may now, if you wish, interrogate on mc. The way the thing was put over sent me at the jury members," the judge looked from his elevated once hightailing to a highly recommended counselor. bench at my counselor. "The case looks bad, very bad-against you," the Mr. Funk rose to his feet. Tall, with blond curly counselor said, knitting his brows, pretending he was hair, and eyes of blue like color, a color of the space thinking. "If you want me to act for you, then I sug- between the clouds—I guessed him at about twenty- gest we better have a jury try you. It's easier to confuse eight, he made a few steps toward the jury box, his a body of six than a body of one, you know." eyes on the man to the extreme left. From this man "Why confuse?" I was surprised. they wandered over to the next juror, and then the "It is not as bad as it sounds. Legally, it means plant next and the next. Subsequently he looked over at a doubt in minds-against the opponent's line of think- the judge, "Your honor, to us these people are all ing, see?" he winked and gave me a knife-edge smile. intelligent and trustworthy. I have no questions to ask them." He returned to the seat next to me. "Since you phrased it that way, so be it," I sighed resignedly. "In that case, I'll swear the jury again . . . and now On September fourth, my counselor and I entered the counselor for the plaintiff may proceed," the judge the court house. Six jurors were already seated, a more nodded at the attorney. beaten up collection could not have been rounded up in Railroad and Canal Streets. It was composed "Miss Wistful, take the stand and be sworn in," of four men and two women who looked as if they Mr. Schlegel was delighted with himself. He had a had been jostled off their park benches without warn- good reason. I had seen this witness a year ago. Even ing. I suspected at once that these people couldn't in that moment she charmed me, disgusted and angry intelligently wrestle with the simplest problem of as I was. But now this tall, willowy, green-eyed bru- justice. nette who was standing on the dais with her right hand, in black glove raised and who was saying in Mr. Charles Funk, my counselor, and I were asked a clear, pleasing voice, "I do," made me think that to take our seats on the left side of a long table that I had no more chance to win than a snowball has to stood in the middle of the floor and that squeaked the survive in hell's fire. Her attorney took her through moment an elbow touched it. The justice of the peace a series of questions, gently leading from who she was swore in the jury and invited middle-aged, short, stocky, and tricky Mr. Waldo Schlegel, plaintiffs coun- and where she lived to why the accident happened. selor, to question each juror's competence to evaluate "If Mr. Sleepwell hadn't run into me, in my lane, evidences that would be presented by the two con- there would not have been an accident," she said testing sides. prettily dropping her lovely eyes and fluttering her "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," Mr. Schlegel eyelashes. The jury smiled and comfortably settled removed his gold wire spectacles from his thin, arched themselves for an interesting afternoon feeling that nose and cleaned them with his handkerchief. "I they once more were sunning themselves on the park represent two plaintiffs. In fact, they are the All benches. People's Insurance Company and Miss Lorna Wistful. I hope you are not prejudiced against me because I "Your witness, counselor for the defense," Mr' am representing the insurance company, or are you?" Schlegel invited formally, showing an air of pleasure Mr. Schlegel asked the question affably. and confidence. "N-No, n-n-o," shaking heads the jurors responded "Miss Wistful, did you see the defendant before in somewhat subdued noises. you ran into him?" Mr. Funk made a few steps toward 28 the stand and stopped. The witness shifted slightly in the chair, lowered "Let's have it," a smirk appeared on his dark lined her head a little and in an uncertain voice like a scolded face. child said, "N-no." "I imagine, mind you, that the block between "Do you remember what color the light signal was Mechanic-Taylor and Mechanic-Larkin intersections when you crossed Larkin Street?" Each time Mr. to be about a thousand feet. But when I saw the car Funk asked a question, he moved a little closer to the first, it was quite well within the block." witness stand. It looked to me as if he were pulled "One more question." The insurance company by an irresistable force which he was incapable of attorney didn't intend to burden me •with more than overcoming. I knew then what was happening to my just that one, because insofar as he was concerned it attorney. was in the bag. "When you were standing put, in what Miss Wistful slowly raised her head, studied him position was your car in reference to the center lane?" for a moment, and said in her quiet, plaintive voice, "N-o... I don't." "About a hundred and twenty degrees to the line of motion along the lane." I was pleased with my "Your honor, the defense rests," my attorney an- adroit answer. nounced. His voice was a bit husky and far away, as if it came from a cloud. At that point, the old good judge pulled out of a crumpled paper bag two toy cars. Placing them on What luck, o' why did I have to pick on the young, the bench and smiling benevolently he spoke up. handsome, marriageable counselor, I thought. Then "These may be useful in showing the jury what hap- he turned to me, "Mr. Claude Sleepwell, take the pened at the intersection of Mechanic and Taylor stand." Streets." I stepped to the small elevated platform and was "Thank you, your honor," Mr. Schlegel took the toys sworn in. "Mr. Sleepwell, what is your full name; and pivoting on his heels he faced the jury. "Ladies where do you live? . . ." My attorney now led through a series of questions. In the process I noticed that he and gentlemen, these two play cars will show you suddenly had lost interest in the case, and I knew why. the physical impossibility for the plaintiff's car to do He appeared as if he had gotten lost on the way some- the things the defendant wants you to believe it did. where. The most vital questions in my defense, he Now watch carefully." He pushed fiercely his hair to neglected to bring out. He seemed to have forgotten the back of his head with a wiping motion, picked what they were. Unexpectedly he swung around and up a piece of white chalk and drew lines on the black mumbled, "Mr. Schlegel, your witness." board representing the streets, the intersections, and "Mr. Sleepwell," the plaintiff's counselor tried to the lornes. He then held the imaginary Chevy with appear ferocious and expert in the knowledge of just one hand against the board at the angle I told him my what had taken place at the Mechanic and Taylor car was, and the other car he pushed along the side intersection a year ago. "You say that your front of my car with his other hand. Most of the jury mem- wheels were in the other lane, facing Northwest. What bers couldn't see what he was doing because his back were they doing there?" he displayed a certain aloof was turned towards them. "Besides this physical evi- amusement. dence against the defender, his distance of a thousand feet between him and an on-coming car is completely "Standing, naturally." impossible. Good people of the jury, the defendant is "Naturally, you say. But why?" Mr. Schlegel's black, not telling you the truth. The facts remain, Mr. Sleep- unruly hair stubbornly fell across the scowl on his well places complete faith in his calculated and forehead despite his frequent efforts to smooth it in thought out answers, but the fact demonstrated on place. the black board conclusively proved that it was he "Waiting for a truck in front of me to clear off so who was responsible for the accident. In view of that I could move into the outer lane" I squirmed and these facts, I ask you to see that the defendant covers the chair squeaked. the cost of the repairs on the plaintiff's car in full! I "Was your car moving or standing put?" thank you." With his face flushed, the attorney handed "Standing still." the toy cars back to the judge and sat next to his wit- "After the truck cleared off, what did you do?" ness on the other side of the rickety table. "Stayed put." While the opposing attorney had been arguing, "Why?" Mr. Funk's eyes now and then moved from Mr. "I saw a car speeding towards me and thought I Schlegel to Miss Wistful; each time she gave him a better have it pass me before I threw my car into gear bashful but inviting look. His turn seemed to have again." come too suddenly. He stood up, his face went scarlet, How far from you was that car?" hesitatingly he opened, "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I . . . I partially agree with my opponent. Though "Difficult to fix the point." my witness said 'roughly a thousand feet,' I think it "Approximately?" Mr. Schlegel craftily invited me is rather too rough. But ladies and gentlemen, I still to commit myself. think that Miss Wistful was not blameless at the time "I can offer only a rough estimate sir." Intuitively I divined his thoughts. (Continued on page 31) CAN'T WIN ALL OF 'EM cedural questioning of the witnesses, Mr. Schlegel produced two of his own toy cars—a yellow one repre- (Continued from page 29) senting the Chevy and a red one the Oldsmobile. As before, he demonstrated the physical impossibility the accident occurred. The day was clear, there was for the red car to run into the yellow, and, as before, ample space to her right, if she had been careful and he confused the issue by citing the thousand feet had watched the traffic ahead of her, she wouldn't which I had used to approximate the length of the have run into the defendant. These facts and the evi- block in the previous court appearance. Having re- dence, extracted from her on the stand, that she did peated his old charges, and thrown a few barbs for not see the defendant's car and did not remember the good measure at me, he turned confidently to the color of the signal light at the intersection, are proof judge and said, "I am through, your honor." enough that she was negligent. Ladies and gentlemen, bearing this in mind, I know you will not want my Mr. Funk, for some unknown reasons to me, decided client to pay the repair bill." to question further the delightful Miss Wistful. She took the stand a second time. This time she artificially When Mr. Funk sat down, I leaned toward him allowed her luscious black hair to turn gray when and and whispered in his ear, "You are confused about where it wanted to and the streaks of it were very the thousand feet. You didn't listen carefully to what attractive in addition to her ravishing figure in stylish I said. Also you have failed to bring into the case red and black dress and a disarming smile that could Newton's First Law of Motion. If it's not too late may have made a clock stop. On the stand she didn't I stand up and demonstrate on the blackboard where try to be smart, only eager and willing to answer, the opposing attorney was wrong?" 'Yes,' 'No,' T don't remember,' 'I didn't see . . . her "Don't make it worse than it is," I was counseled. voice trailed off uncertainly. It was difficult for the young attorney to engage her in contention even on "If there is nothing more to be said, the jury may the points that were obviously against her. All of a retire to the chamber through the back door and sudden he seemed to turn from a sly lawyer that could deliberate," Judge Bittersweet recommended. take off ones socks without unlacing his shoes into a The jury filed out and went through the back door courteous gentleman. He threw not a single jab at into the back storage room. I was asked at the time her in retaliation for the rash stabs her counselor had to move and take a chair next to the thin partition given me. that separated me from the jury. I could hear almost every word that passed among the jurors. "Well, what Then he was asked by the bench to present to the did he sit there in the car for? A thousand feet is a jury his reasons why I should not be made to pay the long distance. He could have made it even if an repair bill of $95.95. In a few brief words, he offered express train was crowding him," a harsh feminine the usual reasons, all in all nothing to awaken the voice declared acidly. "Those toy cars showed clearly sleepy jurors with. Without further ado he turned to that the defendant wasn't telling us the truth," this the bench and abruptly ended, "we rest." time a male's tired voice offered his thinking. Soon I saw the writing on the wall. When he sat down, after some one said back of the partition, "We all then I stood up. "Your honor, if possible, I would like to agree that . . . " Presently a knock on the door from make two corrections to the opposing attorney's argu- the jury side was heard. ments." My attorney was completely taken by sur- The die is cast," Mr. Schlegel remarked to my prise. His head snapped up and he looked at me. attorney. "You know," he said a little thickly, shaking his head in wonder, "most men spend their lives warily tread- The judge let the jury in and then ascended to his ing straight and narrow paths in an effort to avoid chair. "Foreman, please read the decision," he looked trouble, and yet they step into all sorts of pitfalls. at the jury box. On the other hand, there are guys like you who The plaintiff's family was jubilant. It had come in actually seem to beg for a bear trap," he hissed at me full force to see their darling vindicated. trying to talk me out of my intentions. My attorney seemed not a bit surprised, leaned over "Attorney for the plaintiff, I am willing to grant and said to me blandly, "You can't win all of 'em." the defendant time to enter his corrections at this point The remark sounded as if losing a case was like losing of the proceeding if you are willing to go along with two pennies on the picnic ground—nothing to lose sleep me in this," the court invited. over. With that he drew me to a dark corner and advised, "Mr. Sleepwell, I suggest you pay and forget "I am willing, your honor, only if his corrections the day you met with the accident. But if you still have bearing on the presented facts." have a cause to doubt the verdict, you can appeal, you "They have, your honor," I reassured the court. know. While he talked to me his eyes wandered from me to Miss Wistful. "Present them to the jury, then," the judge ordered. "Ladies and gentlemen, I find myself in an un- Without further elaboration I told him to prepare enviable position. Being in my fifties, of faded looks the appeal. and aging posture, I know I cannot compete with On October sixteenth of the same year, we again young and engagingly beautiful Miss Wistful on the met with Mr. Waldo Schlegel, this time in the Circuit (Continued on page 63) ^ourt. After the preliminary routine and the pro- How would a graduate degree affect my chances for advancement at Du Pont? Robert J. Buch, M.S., Ch.E., came to the Engineering Devel- But I've noticed this at Du Pont. Once a man lands a opment Section of Du Pont's Grasselli Research Division from job in his chosen field and actually begins to work, his the University of Louisville four years ago. Since then, he has subsequent advancement depends more on demonstrated engaged in many kinds of chemical engineering work, from pilot- ability than on college degrees. That's true throughout plant operation to evaluation of the potential of proposed re- the entire company—in scientific work, administration, search programs. Within the last year, Bob has taken the re- or what not. sponsibility of procuring B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. technical gradu- ates in all phases of chemistry and chemical engineering for the So an advanced degree is not a royal road to anything Grasselli Research Division. at Du Pont, John. But when coupled with proven abili- ties, it is unquestionably helpful to a man in research and development work. It often gets him off to a faster start. AthatNeffect advanced degree would undoubtedly have a favorable in technical work, John, but let me enlarge on just a little. In your own field (and mine, too) a higher degree is considered to be evidence of ability in carrying out original research. It is therefore helpful in obtaining work in research and development, where that skill is definitely important. You might say that it gives a man a head start in proving his ability in those areas. It's less important in some other areas, though. For example, in production or sales work ability for handling human relationships is just as important for advancement as technical competence. If an engineer is sold on pro- duction work or sales, a graduate degree in marketing or business administration might be more helpful to him than advanced technical training in getting started. PROTECTED... against constant enemies Flexibility and practicality, important charac- Kerite Cable has to stand the test of not one teristics of armor in Genghis Khan's day, can enemy, but many—not for days or months, but refer as readily to a modern-day kind of protec- for 30, 40, 50 and more years. Water, heat, cold, tion—Kerite Cable's never-equalled, never- sun, deteriorating elements, time itself—these surpassed insulation. Moreover, Kerite's and more find Kerite an invincible opponent. endurance and resistance to constant attack Wherever it is used, the world over, Kerite truly would be a credit to one of those intrepid performs perfectly, lasts almost indefinitely. That 13th century Mongol guardsmen. is the reason wise buyers specify it. G. D. Schott (second from left). Flight Controls Dept. Head, discusses new techniques in the mechanization of autopilots with R. D. Wertz (left), Flight Controls Research Engineer; R. J. Niewald, Flight Controls Analysis Section Head, and B. C. Axley, Servomechanisms Analysis Group Engineer. MISSILE One of the most critical problems encountered in the development of a successful missile system involves attaining rapid responses of SYSTEMS controls consistent with system stability. Moreover, it is a problem of increasing importance as new aerodynamic configurations require major advances in flight controls performance. At Lockheed, Flight Controls engineers are developing unique control FLIGHT methods to cope with this growing problem. Their expanded activities have created new positions for those possessing experience and a high order of ability in: CONTROLS • Hydraulic servomechanisms • Circuit design • Aerodynamic stability and control • Flight analysis • Autopilot simulation Positions are open in flight controls and virtually every field of engineering and science related to missile systems. New Metals Testing Chamber Operates At 452 Degrees Below Zero Metallurgists are conducting tensile tests on metals at temperatures as low as minus 452 degrees Fahren- heit. The metal specimens are stressed within a specially designed chamber, which has been cooled with liquid helium. Results of these tests will provide engineers with needed information regarding types of metals that are best suited for use under extreme temperature ranges. Information of this sort may well be useful in the design and development of guided missiles and future supersonic aircraft. It is not at all impossible that aircraft of the future will use fuels that are stored as liquefied gases in metal containers at extremely low temperatures. Preliminary studies of the properties of metals at low temperatures will be essential to developments of this kind. Oxygen for human consumption during high alti- tude aircraft operation already is being stored in liquid form in metal containers at temperatures of about minus 300 degrees. This arrangement is more practical than using compressed gas since an equivalent size storage space contains a much larger supply of oxygen in liquid from. Although much larger testing apparatus has been used in low temperature experiments in the past, the newly developed chamber, which is only slightly larger than a hand fire extinguisher, is believed to be the first of its kind to use liquid helium in order to attain the minus 452 degree mark for purposes of Rapid temperature changes are made possible by tension testing. Prior to the use of liquid helium as heating and cooling a separately enclosed area above refrigerant, tests were conducted at temperatures as the chamber while other tests are in progress. Thus, low as minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit using liquid when a rapid change is desired, "trap doors" in the nitrogen. roof of the chamber are opened, and fans circulate The new testing temperature of minus 450 degrees the hotter or colder air into the main section of the is just short of absolute zero or minus 459.6 degrees chamber. Fahrenheit, the point at which, theoretically, all molec- ular motion ceases. The aims of these ultra sub-zero In this section airborne electronic systems are "taken investigations are concerned with obtaining a better up" to altitudes as high as 80,000 feet in about 25 understanding of the strength of metals and the factors minutes. At an initial rate of 5,000 feet a minute, the that cause embrittlement failures. For example, normal chamber reaches an altitude of 50,000 feet in 10 min- grades of steel become brittle and rubber loses its utes, slowing down on its way up to the 80,000 feet elasticity when subjected to these extremely low tem- mark. peratures. In addition to providing basic engineering data In the other section of the two-part chamber are necessary to the development of such things as low the humidity rain-making and salt-water spraying temperature liquid fuel and coolant storage tanks for devices. A standard test in this section would be run guided missiles, the studies will improve our under- as follows. The item to be tested, a computer, for standing of why metals behave as they do under example, would be placed in the chamber at room various conditions. temperature at a relative humidity of 95 percent. The temperature would then rise to plus 185 degrees F in than the conventional rotating-type gyro now generally two hours. After remaining at these conditions for in use on aircraft. six hours, the chamber would return to normal in the A gyroscope is used to stabilize aircraft in Bight; next sixteen hours. The equipment would undergo that is, it corrects any deviation from the desired flight this treatment for ten consecutive days. path, whether the deviation results from a rolling, The entire chamber is fiberglass insulated. Walls yawing, or pitching motion. and ceiling are made of stainless steel. The equipment The scientists explained that research on the vibra- required to create these artificial conditions, including gyro was initiated on the assumption that conven- compressors, steam generators, cooling systems, pipes, tional rotating gyros were approaching their peak valves and controls are "housed" beneath the floor of development. the plant in a specially excavated pit. A special two- The vibragyro is based on a method of stabilization feet thick, four-ton steel door moves down into the used by the common housefly and other two-winged pit in front of the altitude chamber thereby permitting insects. "floor-level" loading of heavy electronic equipment. The fly is equipped with small organisms called "halteres" which, by vibrating rapidly, govern its bal- A New Power Plant, the GM-14 ance during flight. The vibragyro is based on this GM-14 is a free piston gasifier, an experimental same principle of vibrating masses. workhorse and prototype of six free piston gasifiers This is in contrast to the rotating method of stabiliza- which the Office of Ships Construction and Repair of tion which is based on the same principle as a spinning the U. S. Maritime Administration has had installed top. in a repowered, converted Liberty ship, the SS William The vibragyro, because of its inherent ruggedness Patterson, which will operate in trans-Atlantic service. and reliability, might prove to be the most feasible A vestpocket version of this type of power producer type of gyroscope for stabilizing missiles. is the free piston engine in XP-500, an experimental It has no ball bearings, is of simple construction passenger car. and rugged design. In addition to these advantages, For almost three years the GM-14 has been tested. the unit is light in weight, small in size, and has a long It has undergone scores of engineering modifications life. It appears to be exceptionally well suited for use and logged more than 7,000 hours of endurance runs, under conditions where a sensitive, yet shock-resistant consuming as much as 1,000 gallons a day of Bunker and reliable gyro is needed. "C," lowest price petroleum fuel on the market. The GM-14 is designed for ship propulsion or power station operation. It generates 1250 gas horsepower World's Weather in a "Box" which is piped to a power turbine, virtually in the An environmental testing chamber used to evaluate same manner as the gasifier unit under the hood of the effect of various weather conditions on airborne the X-500 pumps gas to a turbine at the rear of the electronic systems has been developed. car. Considered as one chamber, the "box" actually con- GM-14 is an engineering hybrid, combining elements sists of two sections 10-feet high, 18-feet wide and of a Diesel engine, an air compressor and a gas tur- 16-feet deep. In one, rain, humidity and salt spray bine. Engineers consider it an excellent heavy duty tests are conducted. In the other, altitude and tem- producer because it uses cheap, relatively unrefined perature tests. In a matter of minutes the temperature fuels and has high thermal efficiency. can be reduced to a minus 100 degrees F. Similarly, In the GM installation the large gasifier consists the temperature can be raised to a sizzling plus 500 of a single cylinder with two pistons as contrasted degrees F. This is done with one man operating the with XP-500's Siamesed or twin-cylinder version with chamber from a set of controls near the rear of the four pistons. The two piston assemblies in GM-14 facility. weigh, 1,145 pounds each, and they bounce back and forth in the cylinder at approximately 600 cycles per minute. The large engine's inherent balance is indicated by the fact that although it never has been bolted to the fl oo r, it never has moved. It is simply mounted on a steel frame. New Type Gyroscope Developed By Westinghouse Research Engineers A new type of gyroscope-believed to be the first Practical commercial device of its kind-has been eveloped by research engineers. The new gyroscope -called a "vibragyro"-is designed for use on aircraft an d missiles. The vibragyro is the product of two years of research aim ed at developing a unit lighter and more rugged ALCOA WANTS VOU Here's a book that tells about exciting career opportunities in every branch of engineering The opportunities at Alcoa are so many, so offices. . . research laboratories; and positions promising, so rich in recognition it took a book are open in almost every section of the country. to tell the story. And Alcoa wants you to have Your work will be challenging and your a copy. associates stimulating. If you choose a career with Alcoa, you'll get The whole fascinating story of careers with intensive training from the men who built the Alcoa is told in this colorful new book. See your aluminum business. You'll have the opportunity Placement Director or send in the coupon below of working in our production plants . . . sales for your copy of A Career for You With Alcoa. NEW DEVELOPMENTS tire assemblies. Each wheel and tire is balanced on a film of air two thousandths of an inch thick. (Continued from page 37) The idea for the device developed from an air "lubricated" bearing engineers built for a trick exhibit HOT SAFE —a bearing that "floats on air with the greatest of ease." What is probably the world's "hottest" safe — and The new semi-automatic balancing technique fol- one which no burglar would want to crack — has been lows this operating sequence: devised by atomic experts for storing and studying Wheels with tires already inflated move horizontally radio-active materials. along a conveyor to an elevator. The elevator lowers The safe is a 15-ton, cylindrical installation that the wheels in pairs onto air-ball pivots. Sixty pounds operates much like a soft-drink dispensing machine. of air pressure is supplied through the vertical stems It suspends up to 780 "hot" samples on large horizontal of the pivots so each tire and wheel is "lifted" on a discs mounted one above the other inside a six-foot cushion of air. vertical cylinder. These samples are test pieces of When poised on the air-ball pivot, each wheel and uranium which have been subjected to chain reaction tire naturally tilts toward its heavy or unbalance point. in plutonium-producing reactors for the Atomic This might be compared with a small cardboard disc Energy Commission. being balanced on a pen or pencil tip. If the disc is The floor vault can store materials with as much off center or unbalanced, it will tilt toward its heavy radioactivity as exists in eight pounds of radium, more side. than the total amount produced in North America As the wheel and tire tilt, an electronic computer before World War II. registers both the amount and location of unbalance. The top of the storage cylinder, located at floor Next, an automatic marker stamps the amount of level, is a steel disc, 10 inches thick and eight feet unbalance in ounces on the inside of the wheel rim, in diameter. It is located in the Hanford radiometal- directly opposite the "heavy" side of the wheel. As lurgy laboratory and was designed as a vital, support- the wheels leave the machine on a conveyor, all the ing tool for research into nuclear bombardment effects operator has to do is look at the number of ounces a on fissionable fuel. wheel is out of balance and attach a weight to the rim opposite the "heavy" side to compensate for the un- To insert or remove a sample, technicians remotely balance. rotate the discs below the floor level until desired specimens are lined up under access holes in the discs Meanwhile, if a wheel and tire assembly is hopeless- above. Samples needed can be inserted or extracted ly out of balance and cannot be corrected within the without having to remove any other sample in storage. balancer's tolerance limits, the automatic marker This arrangement minimizes the escape of radiation. stamps an "x" on the inside of the wheel rim, identify- ing it as a reject. It is taken out of production imme- To remove a sample, the technician on duty lifts diately. a plug from the cylinder top, places a one-ton lead cask over the opening and turns a wheel to line up the wanted sample. Once the sample has been properly positioned, a claw mechanism is lowered through an opening in That eerie experience of "feeling your way" in the the heavy cask to lift it into the cask. After that it dark has posed so many scientific problems that can be transported safely to the main laboratory for scientists have launched an intensive investigation study. into this unseen world. Samples that are the "hottest" radioactively are An example of the electronic devices now in the stored on the lowest disc, six feet below the laboratory development stage is 'Ebicon' from the initials of the floor. This puts 18 inches of steel between them and phrase 'electron bombardment induced conductivity' the working area. which is the phenomenon basic to its operation. It is an improved type of television tube. During insertion or removal of samples, a vacuum system sucks air from the laboratory into the safe, The human eye is an instrument that covers an through a filter and out an exhaust stack to prevent enormous range of light intensities, but at the lowest loose radioactive particles from escaping into the levels of illumination, such as under starlight condi- laboratory. tions and even lower, the eye's performance becomes limited by the particle nature of the light itself. This is where electronics has stepped in. Because electronic devices can be designed to Wheels Balanced on a Film of Air operate with very large lenses, which collect great A new machine for balancing automotive wheels quantities of light particles, and because they utilize and tires on a film of air has been developed by these particles more efficiently than the human eye, General Motors Research Staff. they offer possibilities of vision at illumination levels It utilizes a so-called air-ball pivot approximately far below those required for ordinary vision. an inch and a half in diameter to register automatically (Continued on page 40) both amount andlocation of unbalance on wheel and November 1956 Another advantage of this new "atomic bullet" tech- NEW DEVELOPMENTS nique is the ease and precision with which it can be (Continual from page 39) controlled. Curing of the rubber is accomplished by exposure at ordinary room temperatures, in which no Why do we want to see the dark? There are a heat, no pressure, no chemicals are required. Control number of reasons for wanting to push the visibility of the process consists merely of regulating the volt- limit as far as possible. age, which speeds up the electrons, and governing the Among these are: length of time of exposure to the radiation. I. Military Ability to place enemy troops and The scientists say the high-energy electrons required movements under closer surveillance during darkness. for the process can be obtained from a standard elec- 2. Medical-To improve X-ray fluoroscopic tech- trostatic generator—a high-voltage machine which niques which now are limited by amount of radiation accelerates electrons and focuses them into a beam. a patient can stand. In a way, they explained, this is similar to what occurs 3, Astronomy —To increase the capabilities to see in a television picture tube, where electrons are accel- great distances into space which are now limited by erated and then focused on a screen, thereby giving the sensitivity of photographic plates. a television picture. However, the voltages used in 1. Atomic energy - It is now possible to detect and the television tube are only a fraction as high as those measure atomic particles by the scintillation counter. used in the vulcanizing process. In the future, and by "seeing in the dark," it may be Vulcanization takes place when the speeding elec- possible to see and record the results of high-energy trons smash into the silicone molecules and cause atomic reactions as they take place inside of lumines- them to arrange themselves into new patterns. This cent crystals. process, often referred to as cross linking, changes the The Ebicon tube works in this manner: silicone from a non-elastic, putty-like mass into a solid As particles of light strike the tube, they produce with the bounce of natural rubber. electrons which are then accelerated by a potential of approximately 20,000 volts. Then, these electrons are shot through the key point of the tube—a "storage" target" consisting ot a small aluminum-coated metal screen and a selenium semiconductor. This "target" serves the dual purpose ot storing and multiplying the electrons. Through this multiplication process a signal is received which is large enough to operate conven- tional electronic amplifiers. The Khicon tube is of simpler design than the sensitive tubes now in use and will require less com- plex associated camera equipment. Also, fewer camera adjustments will be necessary during operation. Other uses might include color television, closed circuit telecasts such as inside manufacturing plants where lighting is limited and virtually any indoor or outdoor event regardless of time of day or weather conditions. Scientists Devise Atomic Vulcanizing Process An ultra-fast method of using atomic "bullets" to vulcanize silicone rubber has been devised by three scientists. The process beams two-million-volt elec- trons at a silicone gun and almost instantly converts it into silicone rubber. Its discoverers say that the technique produces a better rubber in two seconds than conventional vulcanizing methods yield in sev- eral hours. While not yet ready for commercial application, irradiation with high-energy electrons will eventually Flame Spray Ceramics become an important method of vulcanizing silicones A novel process for coating a wide variety of sub- industrially. It duplicates all the good features of stances - by feeding powdered ceramic materials chemical vulcanization without introducing chemical through a simple flame gun - has been developed. agents, which remain in the rubber and spoil some of Coatings resulting from the process-called "Flame its desirable properties-especially those required for Spray Ceramics"-are superior to those produced by electrical insulation. (Continued on page 72) RAYTHEON GRADUATE PROGRAM The Raytheon Graduate Program has been established to contribute to the technical development of scientists and engineers at Raytheon. It provides the opportunity to selected persons employed by Raytheon, who are accepted as graduate students by Harvard or M.I.T., to pursue, at Raytheon's expense, regular courses of study leading to a master's degree in science or engi- neering in the institution of their choice. The Program requires, in general, two or three semes- ters of study, depending on circumstances, with the summer months spent in the Company's research, en- gineering, or manufacturing divisions. It includes full tuition, fees, book allowances and a salary while at school. Students also receive health, accident, retire- ment and life insurance benefits as well as annual vacation and other privileges of full-time Raytheon employees. To be considered for the Program, applicants must have a bachelor's degree in science or engineering, and should have outstanding student records, show technical prom- ise, and possess mature personal characteristics. They must be under 30 years of age on September 15 of the year admitted to the Program. They may apply for admission to the Program in anticipation of becoming employees of Raytheon. YOU ARE INVITED TO ADDRESS YOUR INQUIRY to Dr. Ivan A. Getting, Vice President, Engineering and Research, outlining your technical background, academic record, school preference, and field of interest, prior to December 1, 1956. the spark of promise that starts HERE... ...is nurtured into leadership at SYLVAIUIA ...where interesting and diversified technical work in advanced promising fields dynamic young management and decentralized operations... help create the interesting position you want mostl HOW TO KEEP ^1,000,000 WORTH OF CATALYST ON THE JOB When you have a million dollars' worth of with a better answer. They developed a new platinum catalyst in a single refinery unit, you type of platinum catalyst, and they learned hope you can keep it steadily on the job. That's how to regenerate it repeatedly—while it is too much money to be standing around idle. still in the unit. When a swing reactor is pro- Also, you'd like to keep the catalyst working vided, the unit need not even be shut down. at high efficiency. The new process is called U L T R A F O R M I N G . Most catalysts lose activity with use. The During a year of ULTRAFORMlNG atTexas platinum that "reforms" 40-octane gasoline to City, one reactor was regenerated 53 times. 100-octane gasoline is no exception. And the The unit is still producing 100-octane gasoline. higher the octane number, the faster the cat- ULTRAFORMlNG also gives high yields of alyst loses activity. by-product hydrogen. The hydrogen can be For years activity could be restored only by used in upgrading other oil products. Or, it taking the catalyst out of the unit and sending can be reacted with nitrogen from the air to it away for special treatment.To keep from hav- make ammonia. ing too many of these shutdowns, refiners had ULTRAFORMlNG is only one of the many to operate at relatively low octane numbers. major achievements credited to the scientists Standard Oil research scientists came up who have made careers at Standard Oil. Among the many engineering problems relative to Pratt & Whitney Aircraft is a special group of elec- designing and developing today's tremendously tronic, mechanical and aeronautical engineers and powerful aircraft engines is the matter of accumu- physicists. Projects embrace the entire field of lating data — much of it obtained from within the instrumentation. Often involved is the need for engines themselves — and recording it precisely. providing unique measuring devices, transducers, Such is the continuing assignment of those at Pratt recorders or data-handling equipment. Hot-wire & Whitney Aircraft who are working in the highly anemometry plays an important role in the drama complex field of instrumentation. of instrumentation, as do various types of sonic Pressure, temperature, air and fuel flow, vibra- orifice probes, high temperature strain gages, tran- tion — these factors must be accurately measured sistor amplifiers, and miniaturized tape recording at many significant points. In some cases, the meas- equipment. uring device employed must be associated with Instrumentation, of course, is only one part of a special data-recording equipment capable of con- broadly diversified engineering program at Pratt & verting readings to digital values which can, in turn, Whitney Aircraft. That program — with other be stored on punch cards or magnetic tape for data far-reaching activities in the fields of combustion, processing. materials problems, mechanical design and aero- Responsible for assembling this wealth of infor- dynamics — spells out a gratifying future for many mation so vital to the entire engineering team at of today's engineering students. Meet Dick Foster Western Electric development engineer l>lek Foster joined Western lElectric, the manufacturing and supply unit of the Dick's day may begin in one of several ways: an informal office chat Itrll Svut'ui, in February l >52, shortly after earning his B. S. in mechanical with his boss, a department "brain session" to tackle a particularly tngllittrtng at the University of Illinois. As a development engineer on a tough engineering problem (above); working with skilled machine new automation process Dick first worked at the Hawthorne Works in builders in the mechanical development laboratory; or "on the line" Chicago. Later, he moved to the Montgomery plant at Aurora, Illinois (below) where he checks performance and quality and looks for new where he is pictured above driving into the parking area. ways to do things. Here Dick and a set-up man check oier the automatic production line used to man- ufacture a wire spring relay part for complex telephone switching equipment. This Examining the plastic molded "comb" components of the win automatic line carries a component of the relay on a reciprocating conveyor spring relay Dick recalls his early work when he was involved through as many as nine different and very precise operations—such as percussive in workmg-up forming and coining tools for the pilot model of welding in which small block contacts of palladium are attached to the tips of the automation line for fabrication of wire spring sub-assemblies wires to within a tolerance of ± .002". tor relays. At present he is associated with the expansion oj these automation lines at the Montgomery Plant. Dick finds time for many Western Electric employee activities. Here he is scoring up a spare while liming up for the engineers' bowling league. He is active also in the golj club, camera club, and a professional engineering so- ciety. Dick, an Army veteran, keeps bachelor quarters in suburban Chicago where he is able to enjoy the outdoor life as well as the advantages of the city. AIEE-IRE A. I. Ch. E. The American Institute of Electrical Engineers- Officers for A. I. Ch. E. were elected for this year Institute of Radio Engineers requires an electrical during the spring term. The new officers are: engineering major for membership in the student President Bob Warner, Petoskey senior branch. Vice-President.. .George Miller, E. Lansing senior Meetings, which include speakers, movies, and Secretary Ed Sawyer, Springboro, Pa., senior tours, provide the link between classroom and indus- Treasurer Dick Bourns, Lansing senior try. Since meetings are also attended by graduate The first meeting this fall was a "Meet-the-Faculty" engineers, members have an opportunity to learn the night. A short talk was given by the head of the latest developments in their field from men who have Chemical Engineering Department, Dr. C. Fred Gum- observed them first hand. ham. In his talk, Dr. Gurnham pointed out the benefits Talks thus far this year have been by Dr. Von of belonging to the student chapter, and told what Tersch, Director of the computer laboratory at MSU the parent national institute did and what its benefits on "computers"; Dr. Sanderson of the Naval Research were to the students. department, on "The Artificial Earth Satellite," and Dr. Gurnham then introduced the members of the Dr. J. D. Ryder on "Advances in Electrical Engineer- faculty. Refreshments were served in the Chemical ing." Engineering Building and during that time students mixed with faculty to discuss many topics about Officers: Chemical Engineering. President Howard Shippen Plans are being made to have a field trip fall term. Details will be announced at the next meeting which Vice-President Robert Settersten is November 8, 1956. This year A. I. Ch. E. plans to Treasurer Richard Tillotson have programs which will be of interest and be of Secretary A. I. E. E Ernie Lapensee benefit to the underclassmen as well as upperclassmen. Secretary I. R. £ Nick Armstrong Programs include two meetings a term plus field trips and a spring picnic. Plans also include a contest for design of a body for A. I. Ch. E.'s race car. If you are interested, come to our meetings. Make this a big PHI LAMBDA TAU year for A. I. Ch. E. The Phi Lambda Tau fraternity was founded at Michigan State University in 1925 to mark with dis- tinction those who, as Engineering undergraduates, have demonstrated outstanding initiative, fellowship and scholarship; also those of the faculty who have conferred honor upon our Alma Mater by their attain- ments in the field of engineering; and finally to further the interests of those concerned with engineering in the engineering schools of America and throughout the entire world. Phi Lambda Tau believes that by selecting its members on the three outstanding qualities of initia- tive, fellowship and scholarship, it has the opportunity to honor the students who will be most successful in the engineering field and will be able to contribute the most to the School of Engineering. Phi Lambda Tau has pledged itself to a program of service to the School of Engineering in an effort to demonstrate our spirit of initiative and fellowship. Thefirstprojects this year were in helping the Fresh- men during Orientation and Registration, and welcom- ing the Engineering Alumni back to a coffee hour and luncheon in which Phi Lambda Tau participated. Last year, approximately one third of Union Carbide's total sales were of products not available L~> rears ago. For the past 25 years, the Corporation has averaged one new product a month. Now it is introducing them at the rate of two a month. Ideas born in Union Carbide Laboratories grow . . . from exploratory and fundamental research to applied research and product and process develop- ment . . . through pilot plants to production to sales. In all these fields the Divisions of Union Carbide need engineers, chemists, physicists, and business and liberal arts majors. For more information write Co-ordinator of College Recruiting. CLUBS AND SOCIETIES Any questions pertaining to the Chapter could be answered by contacting one of the officers or faculty (Continued from page 47) advisors. ETA KAPPA NU The main objective of Eta Kappa Nu, National Elec- trical engineering honorary, is to become acquainted Tau Beta Pi with and be of service to fellow electrical engineers, Tau Beta Pi is the highest national engineering hon- and to further advance the electrical engineering pro- orary. The Tau Beta Pi Association was founded at fession. Lehigh University in 1885. The second chapter of the Requirements for membership are rigid. Members present 100 graduate chapters throughout the United are chosen on the basis of high scholastic achievement States was founded at Michigan State University in 1892. and good fellowship. Members initiated into Eta Kappa Nu this term are: This year the officers of the Michigan Alpha chapter Melvin Anderson, Onley Arnold, Eugene Hanson, are: President — Rex Morin, Vice-President — Craig Ronald Hileman, Conrad Roth and William Wall- Sterling, Corresponding Secretary — Keith Iverson, schlarger. Recording Secretary — Robert Fox, and Cataloger — John Greene. OFFICERS: New members are initiated in fall and winter term. President John Wirth Those eligible for election fall term are those in the Vice-President Ernest Lapensee upper one-fifth of the senior engineering class scholas- Secretary Gordon Morin tically and the three outstanding juniors. In winter Treasurer Frederick E. Brewer term Tau Beta Pi membership is extended to the top one-eighth of the junior class. Tau Beta Pi has a club room where the members can relax, study or socialize, it is room 405 Olds Hall. American Society of Civil Engineers The key of Tau Beta Pi is a yellow gold Bent and OFFICERS: can be seen on the tie clasps of many of the Professors in the Engineering College. President Richard Hertzler The purpose of Tau Beta Pi as stated in the preamble Vice-President Onto Lindy of the constitution is "to mark in a fitting manner those Secretary Richard Carr who have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater Treasurer John Bischoff by distinguished scholarship and exemplary character as undergraduates in engineering, or by their attain- The student with the qualifications of at least a ments as alumni in the field of engineering, and to Sophomore and majoring in Civil Engineering is invit- foster a spirit of liberal culture in the engineering ed to become a member of the Michigan State Chapter colleges of America." of the American Society of Civil Engineers. This opportunity is one gamble which excludes the possi- bility of loss. The finishing touches of a graduate engineer are supplied through the benefits gained in the Chapter. Since the Chapter is under the Senior Chi Epsilon Society, which is made up of men in the profession, Chi Epsilon fraternity was founded by a group of many worthwhile contacts are made. Civil Engineering students at the University of Illinois in 1922. Candidates for membership are judged on At present, the Chapter is made up of approximately- the basis of scholarship, character, practicality, and one hundred members. It is general practice to have sociability. Chi Epsilon has forty-eight chapters at a meeting every other week. When the big red ASCE engineering schools all over the country. banner is seen in the corridor of Olds Hall, a meeting is scheduled for that evening. The only fees assessed One of Chi Epsilons well known members is Dr. are the annual dues. David B. Steinman, the designer of the Straits of Mackinac Bridge. These meetings include picnics, field trips, films, The Michigan State Chapter of Chi Epsilon was and get-togethers with the Senior Society. The main established in 1953. The local group has 36 members. event of each year is the Joint Banquet which is held The officers for the 1956-57 year are: for the Senior Society. It is put on by the students and held on the campus. They treated in return last President Roy Rodd spring by inviting the Chapter over to Fords Proving Vice-President Kent Johnson Grounds at Dearborn. It proved to be very interesting Secretary Tony Avellano to all that attended. Treasurer Val Krumins The Chapter couldn't have two better men for Transit Editor Karl Kettelhut faculty advisors than Prof. A. Leigh and Prof. L. Northstine. The contributions these men have made The highlight of the fall term will be the initiation for the Chapter are far in excess of those necessary banquet which will be held November 29th. At this to do the job. time the fall quarter pledges will be formally initiated. "A new era is beginning... "As I review the progress in aeronautics within so short a span, and marvel at the complex aircraft of today, I call it an achievement little short of miraculous. "Today, electronically-guided planes take off and land without human touch. Lethal sky missiles seek and destroy invisible targets with uncanny precision. And still other fantastic achievements in both man-controlled and pilotless flight are now in the offing. "When men go to the moon and planets, electronically-controlled skycraft will take them there. Aviation maps will be studded with stars as well as with cities. New developments in aeronautics will go on and on. Success opportunities and careers will continue to develop for ambitious young men in this exciting field where a new era is beginning"* LEE De FOREST Appropriately qualified to speak for aeronautics and other fields in which his own scientific achievements play an important part, Dr. Lee de Forest gives help- ful counsel to young graduates headed for successful, rewarding careers. His expression, "a new era is beginning" has parti- cular significance at Northrop, world leader in the design, development and production of all-weather and pilotless aircraft. At Northrop, permanent positions are available that offer full play for individual talent and ambition. Here the graduate engineer will find interesting assign- ments for which he is best fitted. Surroundings are attractive, co-workers congenial, opportunities for advancement unceasing, the compensation good. For detailed information regarding specific openings in your field of specialization, write Manager of Engi- neering Industrial Relations, Northrop Aircraft, Inc., 1001 East Broadway, Hawthorne, California. CAREER OPPORTUNITIES WITH HERCULES HERCULES' CONTINUING RESEARCH offers many challenging buildings and other projects where Hercules Vinsol® opportunities for a career in the development and sales of Resin is used as an air-entraining agent in concrete. Other processing materials for construction and other industries. Hercules products require specialized application in many New York City's Coliseum is typical of the many modern industries offering more career opportunities for you. HERCULES IS A LEADING SUPPLIER of chemical materials to the pro- WITH MORE THAN $20,000,000 invested in new plant facilities this tective coatings industry, a field where there is always a future year alone, Hercules will continue to be a chemical growth leader or the young man of vision. For example, multicolor lacquer, in the years ahead. This pilot plant, where new rubber chemicals cased on Hercules® nitrocellulose, was used as an interior finish are being readied for commercial production, is a part of Hercules' °n this new 48-passenger bus. Other uses are challenging. effort to anticipate tomorrow's needs. Technical men are needed. SIUCONES (Continued from page 11) insulated (class H) motor was generator loaded to operate at its test temperature of 240 C in Dow Cor- ning's motor test lab. Every 500 hours since, it has been shut down and exposed to 100$ relative humid- ity for 24 hours. As of July, 1956 this motor was still on test after 58,090 hours at an average temperature of 240 C! That's equivalent to 353 years operation at the Class H temperature of 180 C. Consolidated Edison Company of New York has purchased 106,175 H.P. of silicone insulated motors. These motors were rated from 200 to 2,500 H.P. for station auxiliary power drives. Since the initial pur- chases in 1945, the cost of silicone insulation has been more than compensated by increased depend- ability which is so vital in large power plants. It has also been found that money is also being saved in not needing the heavy vault construction and fire protection that ordinary motors require. Westinghouse recently built a 400 cycle silicone insulated generator designed to service aircraft aboard ship. It is rated at 600 kw at 12,000 rpm and weighs to 100 '/< relative humidity and then operated at only 2100 pounds. The same machine under conven- temperatures as high as 310 C until they failed. The tional design would weigh 7500 pounds. This 300$ harder a motor works, the hotter it gets and the faster increase in power per pound ratio was accomplished the insulating walls break down to cause motor failure. by skillful design, high speed operation and the use The graph shows the relative life expectance of Class of silicone insulating materials. It was first used A, Class B and silicone (Class H) insulation at various aboard the U.S.S. Timmerman. hottest spot temperatures. It indicates that silicone insulated machines may last up to several hundred It was World War II that impelled Dow Corning to undertake the evaluation of silicone products (at that times as long as the other types of motors where heat time mostly resins) invented by research chemists at is a major problem. Corning Class Works. These first resins were pro- The first silicone product to gain commercial accept- duced at Dow Corning in Midland, Michigan. The ance as an electrical insulating material was Dow results of these preliminary tests, reported to the Corning 4 Compound. It was designed as a moisture AIEE, indicated that silicone insulation had a tem- proof seal for aircraft ignition systems. Early in World perature advantage of about 100 C over the next War II it proved its usefulness by helping to bring the best type of insulation. This meant silicone insulated first flight of Thunderbolts safely over the ocean from motors could be expected to operate several hundred Brazil to Africa. It kept the ignition systems of high- times as long as ordinary insulated motors where altitude bombers and carrier-based planes from conk- thermal aging is the primary factor. ing out over Berlin, Tokyo and "The Hump." After all these years it is still specified for aircraft ignition During the past few years, these test results have been confirmed by the performance of thousands of and electrical control systems. It is still used to seal motors rewound with silicone (Class H) insulation. the junctions in radio and radar equipment. This type of insulation has been known to save hun- Large savings on wages are also realized by the use dreds of thousands of dollars a year in maintenance costs alone. of silicone insulation. Increased production in a large toundry was accomplished by speeding up the oper- ating cycle on an overhead crane driven by three All types of business are incorporating silicone insu- lated motors in replacing the kind previously used. ordinary motors. However, in doing this, motor service Heavy duty in a steel mill burned out conventional We was dropped to 20 days. There was no room for armatures in lift truck motors every 2 or 3 weeks. The larger motors. Three hours of wasted time while these first silicone insulated motor was still working there motors were b e i n g s e r v i c e do r ^placed was costing after 57 months! $1000 per hour or $40,000 a year for idled man power. Rewound two years ago at an extra cost of $370 for The life expectancy of silicone insulation was deter- silicone insulation, those motors have saved about mined in the Dow Corning motor test laboratory $80,000 in wages alone. where both heat and moisture were turned loose on identical Class B and silicone (Class H) insulated Plant engineers got 50% more pumping capacity motors. Motors were alternately exposed for 7 days by having twelve, 50 and 60 H.P motors rewound 52 The California Division of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation presents its Master's Degree Work-Study Program Graduates in Engineering • Mathematics • Physics The program enables you to attain a Master's Degree while ing, Electrical Engineering (Communications or Power), gaining important practical experience on the engineering Mathematics or Physics and members of the Armed Services staff of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. who possess appropriate degrees and are being discharged. The program in outline: You are paid 3/5 of a full-time salary during the school year. You carry at least six units per semester at the University of (Salary and work are on a full-time basis during school California at Los Angeles, University of Southern California summer vacations.) or other approved universities. You work three days per week Tuition, fees and books for a maximum total of 36 units of on Lockheed engineering or scientific assignments. full-time study are paid by Lockheed. Travel and moving Eligible are U.S. citizens who are graduating with a B.S. allowances are provided those residing outside the Southern degree in Aeronautical Engineering, Mechanical Engineer- California area. Additional information may be obtained from your Placement Officer or Dean of the Engineering School or by writing E. W. Des Lauriers, Employment Manager and Chairman of the Master's Degree Work-Study Program. California Division Some Practical Application S E R V O M E C H A N I S M S Summary— The two dominant characteristics of a servomecha- nel buoy appears on the port bow the pilot calls out steersman. This is quite true, if one limits servo- The basic servo loop of a small energy signal nism are: (1) the energy controlled is usually far to change course. The quartermaster acknowledges mechanisms to machines only. However, the under- controlling a much larger output of energy pre- greater than the controlling energy, and (2) the con- with "Port 15 degrees, Sir!" and gives the wheel a lying theory of a closed loop servomechanism that sents a fascinating and almost limitless number trolling signal or energy is obtained by some measure- couple of turns to port. governs the response of the system is still valid even of applications. When the bask loop has man as ment of the difference between the actual situation Nothing much happens, however, except that a though there is a biomechanical link in the control one of its p a r a m e t e r s the s e r v o h a s an even and some desired situation. Thus a closed signal loop pointer on a dial on the top of the steering stand moves greater potential. This paper describes some prac- loop. It is true that the steersman cannot be classified always connects the higher power output of the servo from zero-center to maybe ten degrees left. This is tical applications of the servo and tells of some as a linear element nor is he essentially noise free. to the low power input. Under some circumstances the rudder order indicator, and shows the amount of of the author's personal experience as the human Nevertheless, he is a link in a closed loop servomecha- an over-riding amount of the high power output may rudder called for by the wheel. Down in the bowels link in a servo system and as a designer of servo- take control of the input and the system "runs away." nism. The response of the entire system can be studied of the ship the steam steering gear starts cranking mechanisms to rule out the human factor. In- In the equine-human system mentioned previously, away, and hauls the twenty or thirty tons of rudder by including his characteristics in the system; par- cluded are some interesting future possibilities of this might take place literally when some characteristic ticularly his sensitivity (how far he turns the wheel out to the angle called for. Usually there is an elec- this challenging device. of the load, say a couple of tin cans on the end of a for a given compass deviation) and his lag (how long trical or mechanical repeatback from the rudder to rope, provided an element that excited the prime the steering stand, and the rudder angle indicator it takes him to note that a deviation has occurred). INTRODUCTION mover. Then the system becomes highly regenerative over the pilot house window now moves over to match These are important parameters in the design of any During the last few years, the term "servomecha- and the output tends toward infinity. the rudder order. The steady sidewise pressure of the control system operated by a human, and servo theory nisin" lias appeared with increasing frequency in nidder on the stern gradually builds up a turning is a powerful method for including the human factor technical literature, and lias been treated as something momentum in the ship and she starts to swing. into the design of such equipment. wholly new. In fact, however, we have always used SERVO APPLIED TO STEERING A SHIP On the bridge the swing of the ship is first noted servoineehanisms; the term is simply a name for a type Another example of a servomechanism at work is The Automatic Steering System (it control system that has always been with us. For »y a ticking from the gyro-compass repeater as it the steering of a ship. This is a particularly good illus- Many ships now have entirely mechanized stering instance, some years ago the author had occasion to Jcords the changes. When the ship is within a few tration because events take place so slowly that the become quite familiar with a certain type of servo- egrees of the new course, the quartermaster will systems, familiarly known as the Metal Mike* auto- sequence of operations is readily apparent, and also turn the wheel back toward center. However, the mechanism which has had rather wide application for matic pilot. Until recently these systems were rela- it is a system in which the mass of the controlled object pressure of the rudder has given the ship, all ten thou- a great many years. It consisted of a self-propelled tively simple servomechanism, which measured the rather than friction is the overwhelming factor. When sand tons of it, an angular velocity of several degrees prime mover which would release energy in varying a force is applied to move the mass, an opposing force displacement of the ship's head from the desired amounts on demand depending upon certain acoustic Per minute, and this means the ship has an angular course by means of a pickoff of some type on either a of equal strength must be applied later on to stop it. momentum of a good many thousand ton-feet squared input signals; generally of the form "giddap" or To see how these various phases of control action magnetic compass or a gyro-compass. Then the rudder "whoa." This source of energy was used to accomplish Per second. This angular momentum must be dis- angle was made proportional to the error from course, take place, consider the simple act of making a sipated before the ship will steady on the new course. certain tasks that were beyond the abilities of a by having the course error signal from the pickoff moderate turn with a large steamship. At first, this the quartermaster therefore turns the wheel through human; to wit; moving large objects from one place to operate relays to run the steering engine until a rudder another with some measure of precision. appears trivial: the wheel is turned and the ship turns center and orders the rudder out on the other side to in response. However, it is not so trivial; several things angle indicator showed a rudder angle proportional This was a true servomechanism: the energy ex- apply meeting helm." Then as the ship swings in must happen after the pilot decides he wants the ship to error from course. This repeatback from the rudder pended in performing the work was far greater than the new course, he gradually reduces the rudder to take up a new course, and before she actually settles angle, and if he is skillful, he will bring the rudder could be obtained in a variety of ways. One means the energy expended in the command which controlled out on that course. used a mechanical connection from the rudder stock the operation. Further, there was some correlation angle to zero as the ship reaches the new heading with its turning momentum just cancelled out. to the compass binnacle, so that the pickoff itself was between the intensity of the command (the amount The Human Steersman as a Servo Link rotated by the rudder. and grandeur of the profanity employed), and the The ship's head is now on the new heading, but she severity of the task (the size of the object and the A large steamship of ten thousand tons or so, is isn't going that way yet. Before In such a system the rudder applies a turning force the turn started, the steepness of the hill up which it was to be moved). steaming up the Narrows into New York Harbor and ship, all ten thousand tons of her, was coming up the proportional to deviation from course giving more The fact that this servo control loop includes a at a channel turn must change course some 15 degrees. channel on one course at 12 or 15 knots.She will rudder angle with larger deviations and vice versa. biomechanical link does not invalidate the idea that Usually a quartermaster is at the wheel. The harbor continue °n t h a t c o u r s e for s o m e Iittle t i m e until t h e Such a system, however, does not take into account the entire system is a servomechanism and can be pilot is beside him smoking his pipe and wondering linear m m e n t u ° m is absorbed bv the now sidewise the rate of turn or turning momentum of the vessel analyzed and understood in terms of the laws of feed- it the Staten Island ferry will charge out of the slip motion through the water. before he gets past. The captain is behind the pilot and therefore cannot apply "meeting helm" to dissipate back control systems. keeping an eye on everything in general. As the chan- Some may say that the foregoing example does not (Continued on page 56) 54 illustrate a servomechanism because of the human Sparran Engineer 55 generator would cease, and the steering engine would SERVOMECHANISMS return the rudder to center. Such a control would have no sense of heading, but it would counteract (Continued from page 55) any swing or turn of the ship. If now the heading the turning momentum. If it were not for the more or signal is added to the rate signal, the rate signal will less streamlined shape of the vessel's hull, which resists tend to oppose the ship's overshoot (due to its turning turning and absorbs the turning momentum in water momentum). For instance, if in returning to course turbulence, such a system could not be operated with- the turning rate of the ship is too great, the heading out oscillations or hunting (a continuous yawing back signal would decrease to zero in strict proportionality, and forth across the course). However, the Metal but the rate signal from the compass generator would Mike pilot in its primitive form was several orders not. When the heading signal became less than the better under most conditions than the human pilot, rate signal, the resultant would change sign and cause steering a straighter course with less rudder motion the rudder to swing out oppositely and oppose the than the quartermaster could. It was found that the turn giving "meeting helm" and thus stopping the turn use of the Metal Mike pilot had a sizeable effect on right on course. the rate at which the coal pile disappeared into the furnaces. Each time the rudder is put over, it increases Such a control permits the amount of rudder applied the drag of the ship in the water as is well known for a given error to be increased, and the action of the by anyone who has sailed a small sailboat in a race. control in applying opposing rudder to meet the swing Steering the ship with the least possible amount of of the ship in a seaway becomes very similar to that rudder motion gives the least drag, and therefore, the of an expert steersman applying "meeting helm" when best fuel efficiency. It was found that Metal Mike was coming to a new course. no luxury; he easily paid his way. Finally, it should be noted that the steering of a The simple-minded Metal Mike described above ship is not a linear process. The torque applied to the could steer a reasonably good course up to a point, ship by the rudder is not proportional to rudder angle. but when an attempt was made to increase his sensi- It is greatest for intermediate angles, becoming mostly tivity so that he would steer a tighter course, beyond drag with little turning effect when hard over. the point where sufficient damping could be obtained The force of the rudder is also a marked function of from the hydrodynamics of the ship's hull, he would the ship's speed, as well as the direction of the ship's break into uncontrollable oscillations, swinging back motion through the water. When the ship is skidding and forth across the course. To obtain better steering on a turn, the neutral position of the rudder may be it was found necessary to take into account the rate at displaced several degrees to one side. It has been sug- which the ship turns, as well as how far she is off gested that a measure of the ship's speed as well as a heading. measure of its relative motion through the water be Measuring the turning rate of a ship is no easy added to the control system. matter: the rate of turn is slow, the ship yaws with In recent years the availability of analogue com- the seas, and the roll is also coupled into the turn or puters has made it possible to study the action of yaw. However, if the ship is provided with a gyro- various types of ship steering systems in the labora- compass, there is a fairly ready means of determining tory; and much improvement in the operation of such its turning rate. In the gyro-compass there is the steering systems is being made by such methods as gyroscopic wheel itself, which through its ballistic adding non-linear elements to the repeatback from the coupling to gravity, is constrained to keep its axle rudder to the heading control to compensate for the pointing north. This gyroscopic wheel is hung in a non-linear action of the rudder itself. delicate gimbal suspension, which incorporates a follow-up motor that serves to keep the gimbal always aligned with the wheel so that the wheel is thereby SERVO APPLICATIONS TO FLIGHT CONTROL isolated from any disturbing influences due to the The steering of a ship is an illustration of one type motion of the ship. Thus, when the ship turns, this of servo in which the direction, or heading of a moving follow-up servo will drive the suspension oppositely craft is controlled so that the craft will move in a to the direction the ship is turning. Hence, the speed desired direction. The type of control presupposes with which this compass follow-up motor runs is that a craft will move generally in the direction of its proportional to the rate at which the ship is turning, longitudinal axis. The characteristics of such a con- and a generator coupled to this motor will produce trol are determined largely by the dynamics of the a voltage proportional to the rate of turn of the ship. body being controlled; its inertia, the friction effects of the medium in which it moves, etc. The next step in This signal voltage can be applied in place of the the control of vehicles is the control of the track of steering signal, so that, if the ship swings or yaws, the the vehicle so that it is constrained to move along rudder will always move so as to oppose the swing. a definite prescribed path. An example of such a Thus, if the ship swings to port, the generator on control system is the automatic approach control in the gyro-compass would send a rate signal to the steer- which an aircraft is constrained to follow the path de- ing engine to move the rudder to starboard. As the fined by an instrument landing system. swing of the ship stopped, the signal from the compass 56 (Continued on page 58) 1957-1958 The Ramo-Wooldridge Fellowships for Graduate Study at the California Institute of Technology or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Leading toward the Ph. D. or Sc. D. degree as offered by each institution Emphasis in the study program at the California Institute 0} Technology will be on Systems Engineering, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Systems Engineering or Operations Research. The Ramo-Wooldridge Fellowships have been estab- ELIGIBILITY The general requirements for eligibil- lished in recognition of the great scarcity of scientists ity are that the candidate be an American citizen who and engineers who have the very special qualifications has completed one or more years of graduate study in required for work in Systems Engineering and Opera- mathematics, engineering or science before July 1957. tions Research, and of the rapidly increasing national The Fellowships will also be open to persons who have need for such individuals. Recipients of these Fellow- already received a Doctor's degree and who wish to ships will have an opportunity to pursue a broad undertake an additional year of study focused specifi- course of graduate study in the fundamental mathe- cally on Systems Engineering or Operations Research. matics, physics, and engineering required for careers A W A R D S The awards for each Fellowship granted in these fields, and will also have an opportunity to will consist of three portions. The first will be an associate and work with experienced engineers educational grant disbursed through the Institute and scientists. attended of not less than $2,000, with possible upward Systems Engineering encompasses difficult advanced adjustment for candidates with family responsibilities. design problems of the type which involve inter- The second portion will be the salary paid to the actions, compromises, and a high degree of optimiza- Fellow for summer and part-time work at The Ramo- tion between portions of complex complete systems. Wooldridge Corporation. The salary will depend upon This includes taking into account the characteristics his age and experience and amount of time worked, of human beings who must operate and otherwise but will normally be approximately $2,000. The third interact with the systems. portion will be a grant of $2,100 to the school to cover Operations Research involves the application of the tuition and research expenses. scientific method of approach to complex manage- ment and operational problems. Important in such ap- plication is the ability to develop mathematical models of operational situations and to apply mathematical tools to the solution of the problems that emerge. The program for each Fellow covers approximately a twelve-month period, part of which is spent at The Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation, and the remainder at the California Institute of Technology or the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology working toward the Doctor's degree, or in post-doctoral study. Fellows in good standing may apply for renewal of the Fellow- ship for a second year. from when the craft will follow a track parallel to SERVOMECHANISMS the axis of the landing system but displayed from it (Continued from page 56) just far enough to maintain the proper crab angle. To eliminate this type of displacement from course, In such a system, the actual mass of the airplane due to unknown crosswinds, errors in knowledge of loses its predominant place in importance, since it is runway headings, etc., an additional factor may be the position of the craft relative to the axis of the added to the control system. In addition to the change lending system that is being controlled, and changes in heading proportional to deviation from course, the in this parameter are determined largely by the speed aircraft is also made to turn at a rate proportional and heading of the craft. Generally, transient changes to the displacement from course. Now, if there is in heading can be considered instantaneous relative a cross wind, so that the track tends to settle parallel to the time it takes the aircraft to move across the with the desired track, the remaining displacement field. necessary to establish the crab angle will then cause In this particular application, the deviation of the the heading to change further, causing the craft to aircraft from the axis of the radio beam of the land- crab further into the wind and thereby pull into the ing system is measured and indicated by the instru- course. ment landing system receiver. A control signal from If the craft is flying on a heading to the right of the receiver is applied to the turn control of the the desired course when the control is turned on, that automatic pilot to turn the aircraft toward the beam part of the control which changes the heading of the by an amount proportional to the deviation, so that the aircraft seeks to make its track coincide with the craft an amount proportional to deviation from course, axis of the radio beam. will turn the craft to the left. The size of the angle to the left then decreases as the craft approaches the An all-important characteristic of this type of con- course; i.e., the heading has a rate of turn to the right. trol is that the error information upon which the sys- That part of the control that turns the craft at a rate tem operates is the deviation of the aircraft from the proportional to deviation from course will cause the beam, whereas the quantity that is controlled is the craft to turn at some rate to the left. At some angle heading of the aircraft, and there is not necessarily with the course, these two effects will cancel, and the any sensible relation between the two. This brings rate of turn will fall substantially to zero. The track certain complicating factors into the operation of the of the craft then subsides asymptotically to the beam system. axis with the proper crab angle to remain on the beam. This then is a control system which is able to cancel Lateral Deviation Problems "unbalances" in the system, such as cross winds, or The coupling between the deviation from the axis unbalances in the aircraft controls, and does not re- which produces the control signal, and the heading, quire that the runway heading be known in the air- which changes in response to the control, is through craft, provided the point at which the aircraft enters the angle that the track of the craft makes with the the beam is far enough out for the control to have desired course, i.e., the rate at which it travels across sufficient time to pull the craft into the center of the the beam. If the craft is moving parallel to the axis beam before it gets to the point of contact. of the landing system at the time the control is turned However, this system has certain other pecularities on. then its track will subside to the axis of the land- because the rate of turn of the aircraft is being con- ing system. If it is heading in any other direction, the trolled. One of the most distressing is if the deviation track will subside to a course parallel to the axis of from course is large, the maximum rate of turn put the landing system but displaced from it. The dis- in when the craft is moving perpendicular to the placement distance corresponds exactly to the amount desired course may be less than the rate of turn put of turn, or heading change, put in by the control. in by the rate control. Then there is no stable course, This is an unsatisfactory condition, because the and the craft will follow a more or less circular path aircraft must land on the runway, and not in the to the side of the desired track, without ever finding ditch alongside of it, and the dimensions of the run- it. Hence, if this system is used, it must not be turned way, in width at least, are very small relative to the on outside of a certain distance either side of the distances covered by the craft in the approach. As a landing beam, or other means must be provided to result, the relative accuracy of control must be very prevent circling to one side of this desired course. high and the allowable deviation from the beam must The two types of control signals must be properly be very small, at least at the point of contact. There- proportioned. If the part which makes the rate of fore, for a control of this type to be satisfactory, the turn proportional to deviation is made too large, the exact heading of the runway, or the beam, must be track will be a damped oscillation across the course; known in the aircraft with a high order of accuracy if too small, an unnecessarily long distance will be prior to the start of the approach. In addition, if required before the track converges into the beam. wind is blowing across the course, the aircraft will drift to the side until the deviation from course builds Altitude Deviation Controls up to an amount that will turn the craft, by means of the control system, so that it holds a "crab" angle Much the same sort of control system is used to fix with the course just sufficient to counteract the wind, the altitude at which an aircraft flies. In such a system, 58 the primary attitude or angle of attack (how sharply Spartan Engineer the wings cut the air) is fixed by means of a closed bomber, guiding it by this assemblage of experimental servo loop. A gyroscope establishes a horizontal plane, equipment, without ever having been at the controls and some sort of signal pickoff measures the deviation of an aircraft myself. I decided to learn what the of the fore and aft axis of the airplane from the hori- actual controls of an aircraft felt liko, and got into zontal. The output of the signal pickup is then applied the co-piolt's seat, with the system running on the to an amplifier and servomotor to move the elevator automatic pilot. Taking a firm grip on the wheel, I controls. If the aircraft is out of trim, so that the switched off the power of the servos and proceeded attack angle held by the control system is not correct to "fly the airplane myself. It shortly became appar- for constant altitude or level flight, the airplane will ent that to a rank neophyte, keeping an aircraft level climb or dive. on two axes and going in a straight line on the third all at the same time, required a simultaneous divisi- To maintain the aircraft at constant altitude, in spite bility of attention and order of concentration some- of unbalances in trim, an additional control signal pro- what more than I possessed, regardless of how non- portional to deviation about some set altitude is chalantly it is handled by a seasoned pilot. First we obtained from an altimeter. The altitude for zero fell off on one wing and then while concentrating on signal is set by means of a knob on the instrument. getting level again, the nose came up and we climbed. This signal is then added to the horizontal signal to While getting the nose down, we were off on the bias the elevator control so as to increase the angle other wing. And then putting some balance in those of attack if below the set altitude, and decrease it if two we were going in a circle. After about ten above. With this control the character of the system minutes of staggering around the sky, I came to the is changed so that an unbalance or bias in the system, conclusion that the automatic pilot I had assembled instead of causing a continuing climb or dive, causes could do five things at once better than I could, so the system to settle out a fixed amount above or below with a momentary burst of superhuman concentration, the altitude to which the altimeter pickoff is set. I got the thing entered on all three axes simultane- ously, and snapped on the servo power control.. When making an instrument-controlled approach to a landing the rate of descent along the glide path is Unfortunately, I had failed to note that while per- held fixed by replacing the altimeter signal with the forming our Brownian motions through the sky, we glide path signal, so that the elevation of the aircraft had also climbed about 50 feet. The altitude control, is stabilized about the glide path. Here it is essential however, didn't forget. It recognized the situation that any bias in the system be removed before contact immediately, and ordered full down elevators. The with the ground. A few feet of offset could be im- automatic pilot jerked the wheel out of my hands, portant, particularly if it is a matter of clearing a slammed it full forward, and we promptly started fence along the edge of the field. To insure this, a down, heading for an outside loop. My assistant, back further control is added which makes the rate of in the cabin, rose off the floor and plastered himself change of pitch angle (angle of attack) proportional against the overhead, and the pilot, being tied to his to deviation from the glide slope, so that any bias in seat, let out an almighty grunt as his safety belt bit the system is removed before contact with the runway, into his middle. He yanked the emergency disconnect in this case, circling when far off course is not a on the autopilot controls and leveled us out. Then serious factor, since aircraft are not normally flown he headed for the airport. on a course perpendicular to the glide slope. When we got back on the ground, it was a consider- able period before they would let me near an airplane UNFORESEEN PROBLEMS OCCUR again. For some reason the airplane people objected Speaking of aircraft control systems, it was brought to young engineers who tried to make their equipment rather forcibly to the writer's attention some years ago fly an outside loop without warning anybody. On my that the most disturbing part of designing and operat- part, I couldn't understand how the flight testing ing these systems is not the design of the basic system, could do much good, if the equipment was expected but the anomalies which crop up. In 1940 the servo to be perfect before it was tried out. This is an argu- amplifiers of an automatic pilot were being developed ment which has never been settled. which operated from synchro pickoffs to actuate servo power units that did the actual pulling on the control In final designs of Sperry automatic pilots the alti- cables. These power amplifiers served to amplify the meter has had a servo incorporated within it, which signals from the instruments and at the same time automatically keeps the altimeter signal pickoff cen- differentiated the error signals to obtain a measure of the rate the attitude was changing. In addition, signals tered when it is not connected to the autopilot, so from several different instruments were added to pro- that whenever the altitude control is switched off the vide various control combinations such as: coordinated system is automatically aligned, and gross errors such turns, bank-constant altitude control, and automatic as described cannot happen. approach control. This is characteristic of servo design problems. The At the time I knew very little about airplanes, having things that are the most difficult are usually not in the never been up in one. After some time in the labora- basic design of the servo itself. Instead, the troubles tory constructing a set of experimental amplifiers and concern ancillary effects, which occur at various non- associated gear. I found myself in the unusual posi- (Continued on page 69) On o f flying over Long Island in a Lockheed Hudson 59 November 1956 Each metal is distinct from every other because its MEN AND METALS atoms are unique. Not all of the metals are in common use; some are very scarce and costly to obtain. In (Continued from page 25) looking at the future of metals, it is evident that more separated the Bronze Age from the widespread use must be learned about their properties and those of of iron. In fact areheologists variously date the begin- their alloys so that they may be used more selectively. ning of the Iron Age within the period 4000 to Consider, for example, the search for outstanding prop- 13(X) B.C. erties of metals heated to incandescence. In this regard the radiation from superheated molten zirconium is Neither iron nor steel was produced in large amounts so intense that it is the basis of a new concentrated or in articles heavier than one or two men could lift arc lamp. In fact a crater of molten zirconium only until lar into the Christian Era. The European invasion of the Americas succeeded in large part because the 0.003 inches in diameter has a brilliance equal to one- Invaders had what the natives lacked-iron and steel sixteenth that of an equal area on the sun. weapons and armor. In the race over the years for The day may not be far away when much of the the development of better weapons and armaments, effort now devoted to studies of "smashing the atom" iron and steel have played a major part. will be translated into investigations of "synthesis of Perhaps iron's greatest gift to the human race is atoms." The building of atoms may one day provide simply that it lifted the burden off the backs of men. a variety of alloys with properties as yet unobtainable Man used it to create machinery to do for him what (or not even imagined) in existing materials. he could not do for himself. What astronomers now see near the limit of their The search lor improved metals and more versatile telescopes and the physicist measure in their studies alloys continues at an ever increasing pace. More than of cosmic rays suggests that matter is being created three-fourths of the known chemical elements are as well as annihilated in the cosmic realms of far-off metals. It is with these 75 metals, and with the large space. The story of metals is a part of the great devel- number of possible alloy combinations both with other opment of science in its never-ending search for truth. metals and with non-metals, that the Science of Metals The awesome job of annihilation lies behind in the concerns itself today. Not only have the old and more nuclear bomb, but an even greater task — creation — commonly known metals and alloys been improved beckons in the future. The Science of Metals will play and adapted to modern scientific and industrial de- a key role in the creative engineering of tomorrow. mands, but a large number of entirely new metallic materials have been developed. A brief glimpse at only a few of these new faces in the metallurgical world might well include the following: SILICONES Beryllium - used to harden and stiffen copper. Cesium - used in photoelectric cells and for re- (Continued from page 52) moving traces of gas in electronic tubes. with silicone (Class H) insulation. The list price for Columbium — a constituent of electrodes in elec- 12 new 75 H.P. motors was $24,840. The cost of tronic tubes. rewinding the old ones with silicone insulation cost Gallium — a backing for special optical mirrors. $7,425. That is a saving of $17,415. Without any Germanium — used for some types of transistor change in the installation, motors originally rated at tubes. 50 H.P. now can carry peak loads of 86.5 H.P. Indium — component of special bearing alloys. Performance of the kind outlined has resulted in a Indium — contacts on voltage regulators. growing demand for new equipment made with sili- Osmium — electrical contacts. cone insulation. Many types of this kind of machines Palladium - a catalyst for hydrogenation re- are available from most of the leading manufacturers actions. of electrical equipment. Rhodium - searchlight reflectors, alloy thermo- Only in the past few years has a large step been couples. taken in the electrical world-that of silicone insula- Ruthenium - jewelry, alloyed with platinum for tion. With the ever-growing trend toward automation electrical contacts. and increased mass production, the development of an excellent insulation is a fortunate thing. At Dow Tantalum — grid supports, cathodes, filaments, and Corning the work is still going on to improve their getter cups in electronic tubes. products. As long as there is a desire for progress, Thorium — used in x-ray tubes. American industry will help make our world a little Titanium — used in aircraft, armaments. better. Zirconium - structural component in nuclear re- actors. New frontiers of the Science of Metals are opening so widely and at such an accelerating rate that no one Visitor: "Can you tell me the name of this school?" can predict their extent or effect on the economy and culture of the world. Young man: "Sorry, mister, I'm just a football play- er here." 60 Could you help advance these new frontiers? New techniques... new equipment... new knowledge—all are in constant growth at Livermore and Berkeley, California as some of America's most challenging nuclear frontiers are met and passed by the University of California Radiation Laboratory's unique scientist-engineer task force teams. There are many such teams. And what you can do as a member, is limited only by yourself—your ability and your interest. For UCRL is directed and staffed by some of Americas most outstanding scientists and engineers. This group offers Pioneering knowledge in nuclear research —today's most expansive facilities in that field...and wide-open opportunities to do w hat has never been done before. WHAT MAKES THE PHOTON Lo, the poor Photon, A DESIGNER It's miserable existence Due to Lorentz's equations OUTSTANDING? And Einstein's insistence That it must be born O be successful, a designer must And live and Die T first know how to develop products that are profitable to his In a state so peculiar, Irrational as -w! company. To be profitable, these Its mass at rest products must meet competition, Is nothing, you see, yet be manufactured for low cost. But is proportional to nu By taking advantage of the bene- fits of welded steel construction, When V = c. the alert design engineer has un- Now c is constant limited opportunities for develop- Of relative persistence ing new product ideas. He can add Despite a natural improvements to present products, Intellectual resistance make them stronger, more service- To Einstein's theory able . . . while actually reducing the cost of production, as in the ex- And all its brilliance. ample shown. So the photon is bored By its constant speed, H O W COST IS REDUCED Through the fabulous ether Which it doesn't need, Till it strikes one day An atomic oscillator And disappears in a flash Of Photo-Beta. JERRY DANIELS—Grad Student Dept. Physics, U. of M. Can't Win All of 'Em and you will have a complete picture of what happened on August seventh, nineteen fifty-five at Mechanic (Continued from page 31) and Taylor intersection. Looking at it you will un- doubtedly arrive in your minds at a just and equitable stand; neither am I a match to the worthy and able conclusion. I thank you." opposing attorney in crossing my words with his, none- The judge gave the jury instructions and the jury theless, I beg your indulgence to hear me out. It's a filed out to the adjacent room for the deliberation. matter of two extremely important facts in this case In the meantime my attorney wandered to the plain- that were, perhaps unintentionally misconstrued and, tiff's attorney, obviously ignoring me. Mr. Funk therefore, put incompetently before you. exchanged cordial remarks with Mr. Schlegel and was "Mr. Schlegel, as able as he is, has offered for an introduced to the lovely Miss Wistful. I sat subdued argument something I did not say. And, too, he has and alone waiting for the verdict while my counselor also overstressed a point which is not even relatively engaged in lively conversation with Miss Wistful. important in this case. First, ladies and gentlemen, Finally came the anticipated knock. Court Clerk I want you to note that I did not say that the on-coming opened the door and the jury filed in. Before resuming car was 1,000 feet away from me. He asked me how their respective seats, they, for a brief moment, stood long the block was. I told him 'I would very roughly rigid, like small statues, with only their eyes alive. guess it to be 1,000 feet,' I am not and I was not Judge Kahgegab ordered, "Mr. Foreman, please read positive about the length of the block because I did the jury's verdict." not measure it. Now then, this Very roughly' could well mean 500 feet. I have also said that the car A man of about forty-five, tall, shapely, well-dressed, traveling at an excessive speed was well within the and the possessor of luxuriant, almost white hair read, block when I saw it coming. Here is another fact for "We the jury . . . find the defendant not guilty of you to keep in mind. My car was standing still about negligence placed upon him and therefore hold him 100 feet from the intersection of Mechanic and Taylor not responsible for the repair bills which the plaintiff Streets. And when the on-coming car was well within asks this court to order him to pay." the block, it could have easily been 200 feet from Mr. Schlegel's face turned as dark as the autumn Mechanic and Larkin intersection. In that case, the clouds. Miss Wistful's expression changed not at all. distance between my car and Miss Wistful's car could She showed apparent indifference to the outcome. have been not more than 200 feet. Cars traveling Mr. Funk all of a sudden made an about face, grabbed between 30 and 40 miles an hour, do well over 50 my hand, squeezed and pumped it hard and said, "We feet in each second. So you see, ladies and gentlemen, did better this time, didn't we?" I had only about three seconds to take my car out Next moment he turned around and looked to where or the traffic. Three seconds is not enough even for he left my pretty opponent. Then and there dropping the best of experts to pull a car from zero velocity to me like a pair of shorts, all swelled up he went to her that of 60 feet per second in order to get out of the and sputtered, "you can't win all of 'em." Her green way of an on-coming car that is doing more than fifty eyes gave him a warm smile, while he lingered in con- feet every second. versation with her, the judge pounded the gavel three 'Secondly, this business of showing colored toy times and then announced, "The Court declares the case is closed." Gazing at the two from his elevated cars on the black board proves nothing. A fast moving chair, he smiled wryly, as did I, not only because car does not behave like a crawling baby on the floor. justice had been done, but because obviously the case It does not go around the obstacle like the baby does was not closed insofar as Mr. Funk and Miss Wistful around the bassinet. I am certain that, at one time or was concerned. another, you have driven your own cars and made a "I'm feeling a little out of place with all these people sharp turn trying to miss something that was in your smiling at us," holding her eyes on him, Miss Wistful way. You must have noted in such instances that mildly complained. when you swing your front wheels to the right, the "You look a little out of place," Mr. Funk agreed font end of your car goes the way you want it to go; kindly. "But time cures all ills. A dozen years from but the rear continues in the line of your original now it won't be so noticeable." motion. This is the reason many cars get turned over °n sharp turns. The well known 'Moment of Inertia,' When the echo of the last gavel blow died down, the two left the room side by side, and discovered a law of nature, operates all objects in motion that Wa that they were bound in the same direction. y- Any competent engineer would tell you that. The reason Miss Wistful's car didn't turn over on the quick turn to the right was that my car stopped it. If s h e h a d watched the traffic and turned her wheel sooner, there would have been no collision. Now she would not be pleading with you to have me pay the bill tor her own negligence. "Good people of the jury, kindly add these two corrections to what my trustworthy counselor said Student Authors Page Interviewing Dean Ryder, was the first assign- ment given Mel Maynard, freshman, for the Spartan Engineer. A major in journalism, she thought it would be of interest to write for the Engineer so as to have a broader knowledge of fields other than journalism. A resident of South Campbell, Mel is orig- inally from Royal Oak, Mich. During high school, she worked on the school paper four years and for a while had her own feature column in the city newspaper. Patrick Miller, Maple City senior, is author of the JETS story which is con- nected with the Junior Engineering Technical Society. It is his first story for the Spartan Engineer. Before coming to Michigan State University, Pat attended junior college in Traverse City. He is majoring in mathematics. His future plans include teaching math and physical science for secondary high school. Pat is also a member of the Newman Club. Besides writing "Silicones are Working for You," Herbert Horsley, Midland, Michigan jun- ior, is also interested in music. He produced the musical "Good News" in the MSU Auditorium last year. Herb is majoring in journalism and plans to go into advertising. He worked at Dow Corning for three years. INDUSTRIES THAT MAKE AMERICA GREAT STEEL... WHEREVER YOU TURN Abundant, durable, versatile and compara- greatness. Much credit must go to the in- experience covering almost a century, built tively cheap, s t e e l in its many carbon, al- dustry itself, which did not hesitate to exe- on the results of a continuing, intensive loy and stainless forms is the most useful cute a bold post-war capacity expansion program of research and engineering de- program of more than 28 million net tons velopment. In steel as in all industry, of all the metals at man's disposal. Un- improvements in steam generation will knowninnature, steel had to be created at a cost of nearly 6 billion dollars. The steel companies are carrying on an inten- continue to make genuine contributions by man's ingenuity, from iron ore and toward still better products and services. other available natural materials, sive two-fold program to develop new sources of ore. While spending hundreds The Babcock & Wilcox Company, Boiler Today,anestimated11/2billion tons of Division, 161 East 42nd St., New York 17, steelareinusei n t h i s country. With a of millions of dollars to open fields in Labrador and elsewhere, they are also in- N.Y. capacity of about1 2 5 m i I l i o n net tons a N-201 year, American S t e e l m i l l s c a n Produce vesting heavily in engineering develop- closetohalftheworld'sannual total. Used ments that will make it possible to use foreverythingfrombuildingsto pins, the domestic low-grade ores such as taconite. totalapplicationsofsteel are almost count- Interwoven with the history and progress less; it is virtuallly impossible to find a of steel is the development of steam gen- product that does not depend on steel for eration for power, processing and heat. itsproductionordistribution,or both. B&W, through the applications of steam, Steel's stready growth reflects the impor- has long been a partner in the vital, steel tance of its contributions to America's industry—has brought to it boiler building Coed: "What position does your brother play on the A young divinity student whose father was a bishop team?" admitted that he had used profanity. Sister: "A sort of crouched, bent position." "It was like this," he said to his father. "The ball had been passed to me . . . a long pass . . . and I caught it tight under my arm. There were only two men between me and the goal line. Interference took My checkbook Informs me the balance is small. care of one and I dodged the other. I was within The bigger the summer, the harder the fall. two yards of the goal post and I looked down and the ball wasn't under my arm. It just wasn't there, father. And I couldn't help saying, 'Where the hell is that ball?'" M.E. Student: "Could you help me with this prob- lem?" "Well, where the hell was it?" cried the bishop impatiently. M.E. Professor: "I could, but I don't think it would be quite right," M.E. Student: "Well go ahead and take a shot at it anyway." A man caught in a snowdrift looked up and saw a St. Bernard coming toward him, with the usual keg Thermo Prof.; "Who's smoking in the back of the of brandy under the dog's chin. "Well," exclaimed room?" the man, "here comes man's best friend — and look M.E.: "NO one-that's just the fog we're in." at the big dog too." If you have imagination . . . if you can bring fresh ideas to bear on technical problems that are beyond the realm of experience . . . you are qualified for an unlimited future at Chance Vought. For an evaluation of your background, send a resume of your education and experience to: Index To Advertisers 1 AC Spark Plug Electronics Division 53 Lockheed Aircraft Corp. Division of General Motors 35 Lockheed Missile Systems Division of Lockheed Aircraft Corp. 80 Allegheny I.ndlnin Steel Corporation 85 Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory 84 Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. (University of California) 87 Allison Division of General Motors Corp. 83 Marquardt Aircraft Co. 38 Aluminum Co. of America 22-23 McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. 2 Asphalt Institute. The 24 Martin Co., The Glenn L. 65 Babcock & Wllcox Co. 14-15 Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co. 27 Boeing Airplane Co. 79 New Products Corp. 26 Cast Iron Pipe Research Assoc. 20 North American Aviation, Inc. 50 Northrup Aircraft, Inc. 67 Change Vought Aircraft 6 Phillips Petroleum Co. 30 Convair—Fort Worth 44-45 Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division of General Dynamics Corp. Division of United Aircraft 3 Detroit Edison Co. 4 Public Service Electric & Gas Co. 7 Dougkl Aircraft Co., Inc. 73 Radio Corporation of America 16 Dow Chemical Co. 57 Ramo-Woolridge Corp. Eastman-Kodak Co. 41 Rayetheon Manufacturing Co. 33 K. I. Dupont de Nemours & Co., Inc. 32 Sandia Corp. 86 A. W. Faber-Castell Pencil Co. 12 Sikorsky Aircraft 69 Federal Telecommunications Laboratories Division of United Aircraft 70 Socony Mobil Oil Co., Inc. 77 Carrett Corporation, The 43 Standard Oil Co. (Indiana) (Airesearch Mfg. Co.) 42 Sylvania Electric Products, Inc. General Electric Co. 71 Timken Roller Bearing Co., The 17 General Motors Corp. 48 Union Carbide & Carbon Corp. 82 Hamilton Standard U. S. Steel Corp. Division of United Aircraft Corp. 61 University of California Radiation Laboratory 51 Hercules Powder Co. 46 Western Electric Co. 81 Higgins Ink Co. 9 Westinghouse Electric Corp. 74 Ingersoll-Rand Co. 8 Worthington Corp. 21 International Business Machines 76 International Nickel Co., Inc. 66 Johnson Service Co. "Inside front cover 'Inside back cover 34 Kerite Co., The : Back cover 62 Lincoln Electric Co. SERVOMECHANISMS (Continued from page 59) linear boundaries of the system, and which often are unexpectedly violent in their results. A rather minute disturbance in the control system, greatly amplified, can release the full power of a high energy servo at the wrong time with disastrous results. CONCLUSION We have examined the application of servomecha- nisins to a few examples with which the author has had some experience. The total number of different kinds of applications now being made is extremely large and grows every day. But perhaps even more im- portant is the application of servo theory to obtain a better understanding of long established systems. For instance, some efforts have recently been made to analyze an economic system on the basis of servo theory with the idea of determining what controls could be applied to damp its oscillations, and maximize its output. In the field of biology there is growing evidence that muscular control is a servo system; for instance, in reaching to pick up an object, the eye senses the dif- ference between what is and what is desired, and the brain sends an appropriate nerve impulse to the muscles tending to reduce the difference. This system shows many of the outward characteristics which servomechanisms possess; notably a tendency to oscillate, if the gain is made too high. For instance, when concentrating on a delicate operation, a tremor often appears in the hands, that is not normally pres- ent. There is good evidence that this is due to an increase in system sensitivity (concentration in the ask), to the point of incipient oscillation of the muscu- lar servo system. This is further borne out by the fact that such tremors can be damped by relaxing a bit. Many other fascinating possibilities appear. In the field of atomic research, there is the problem of per- forming chemical analyses on substances that are too hot for t h e operator to even approach, let alone manipulate. The solution of this problem is to arrange compound servomechanism for manipulating the instruments, and repeating back the pressures, felt by the instruments, the hands of the operator through servo links running in the opposite direction. This entire process is being observed via a television link and sound communication channel so that sight, sound, and feel, c a n b e m a d e a t a d i s t a n c e . But from this we can speculate further. Consider a servo of this type; with the o u t u t P devices reduced tremendously in scale to where they can be manipu- lated under a microscope, and the microscopic forces of the output multiplied by the repeatback servos to where they can be felt the operator. It then be- comes possible to perform extremely delicate opera- tions under the microscope; and if carried far enough, one could think of rearranging atoms in a molecule under an electron miscroscope to make special com- pounds. Behind Today's Miracle Machines... a Master's Touch in Oil World's largest outdoor turbine plant, producing free world—more than half the big turbines (5000 electricity for Atomic Energy Works at Paducah, kilowatts and over). . . Kentucky . . . All have one thing in common—SOCONY MOBIL'S Giant eye of the Mt. Palomar telescope through master touch in lubrication. which man sees farther into space than ever before... Good reason! Men who depend on machinery de- World's most completely automated plant, manu- pend on SOCONY MOBIL, as a partner in its protection. facturing automobile engines . . . • • * First successful diamond-making machine . . . Wherever there's progress in motion—in your car, your factory, your farm or your home—you, too, One of every six industrial wheels turning in the can look to the leader for lubrication. How to keep cranes flying When engineers designed the over- head cranes for the world's largest line maintenance hangar, they faced the problem of taking the enormous thrust and radial loads imposed by swinging aircraft engines. To assure dependability, keep the cranes on the job, and keep the engines mov- ing, they specified Timken® tapered roller bearings. Tapered design lets Timken® bearings take both radial and thrust loads Because of their tapered design, Timken bearings can take radial or thrust loads or any combination. And be- cause the load is carried along a full line of contact be- tween rollers and races, Timken bearings have extra load-carrying capacity. Want to learn more about bearings or job opportunities? Some of the engineering prob- mation about the excellent job lems you'll face after graduation opportunities at the Timken will involve bearing applications. Company, write for a copy of For help in learning more about "Career Opportunities at the bearings, write for the 270-page Timken Company". The Timken General Information Manual on Roller Bearing Company, Canton Timken bearings. And for infor- 6, Ohio. NEW DEVELOPMENTS Big Jump in Use of "Throw-Away" Tooling According to a study just completed by an independ- (Continued from page 40) ent technical research organization, industry is leaning strongly toward the gradual abandonment of cutting the metallizing processes because of their greater tools that have to be sharpened. A survey shows that resistance to heat and chemical stability. In many "throw-away" tools will shortly reach the startling cases, the underlying metal actually can be melted total of 40'/! of all single-point tools used in metal- without causing coating failure. working. The present figure is 15 percent. The technique of application is similar to that re- Chief reasons for the trend appear to be the several quired for the metallizing processes. "Flame Spray indirect cost reductions which throw-away tooling makes possible. Maintenance of extensive and costly Ceramics" are sintered layers of refractory and chem- tool grinding facilities becomes less necessary. Opera- ieally inert materials, such as aluminum oxide or zir- tors skilled in tool grinding are also getting harder conium oxide. to find and are costly to train. In addition, the The spray coatings do not require that the metal throw-away tools require no elaborate setting up on or other base be heated unduly—as opposed to ordinary machines. As a result, machine downtime for tool ceramic coatings, which require heating both metal changes is greatly reduced, thus producing major overall economies—particularly on automated or semi- and ceramic to high temperatures. automated production lines. Since the two basic "Flame Spray Ceramic" coatings The survey shows that industry is even more inter- -aluminum oxide and zirconium oxide—are stable ested in the idea of adapting the throw-away principle metal oxides, they cannot oxidize further. on a broad scale to milling cutters and other more The alumina coating is harder than tool steel and complex tools, such as boring tools. This is due to the unusually adherent in thicknesses up to about 10 mils. desire to eliminate grinding—which is even more com- If applied more heavily, residual stresses may cause plex and costly on milling and multi-diameter cutters coating failure on sudden heating or cooling. than on single point tools. In throw-away tooling, the responsibility for main- The coating appears to be extremely effective for tenance of tool accuracy "on the job" is passed on to protecting metals, such as steel and even aluminum, the manufacturers of carbide tooling. Since carbide against high temperature erosion such as that encoun- manufacturers can make the "throw-away" inserts on tered in rocket nozzles. a mass production scale, they can effectively use high precision automatic equipment to assure a high degree The hardness of the coating suggests its use for of accuracy on the inserts despite their low cost. protecting soft metals—aluminum, die-cast alloys, or mild steel, for instance—against erosion and abrasion The industries covered by the survey include man- in pump impellers and housing, fan blades and tur- ufacturers of ordnance, fabricated metal products, bines, and piping subject to cavitation. machinery — both electrical and non-electrical - and transportation equipment including airplanes, auto- The alumina coating is electrically insulative, and mobiles, etc. Analyses were also made to determine Bradstreet anticipates its use in the manufacture of extent of present and future use according to size of high-temperature process equipment. The coating is plant. poorly wetted by certain molten metals, and prelim- inary tests show it to act as a satisfactory permanent mold coating for aluminum casting. In this last respect, New Reversing Roughing Mill to Use Card the zirconia coating should be even better, since it is more refractory and inert than alumina. Although the Programming and Transistorized Memory zirconia coating is somewhat softer and more difficult Storage for Automatic Operation to apply, its resistance to corrosion and heat is out- A new reversing roughing mill now being completed' standing. for Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation's AliquipPa Works is expected to be the steel industry's first com- The coating will find use in rockets, flame ducts, pletely automatic card-programmed rollingmill.Its burner equipment, and as a liner for troughs, feeders, control system will permit an operator to initiate a molds, and other foundry equipment. detailed rolling schedule simply by pressing a push Like all sprayed coatings, "Flame Spray Ceramics" button. By selecting the proper card from several pre-punched for each schedule, it will be possible to have a residual porosity of about 10 to 15 per cent and attain a definite set of reductions while allowing f°r alone do not provide perfect protection against chem- variations in temperature and composition among ical corrosion of the underlying material. individual slabs. However, various additives to the two basic coatings When in operation in late 1956, the card program- improve their protective action, and this can be im- ming control system will be given the schedule for proved further by overcoating with recently developed any set of rolling operations in the form of pre-punched "Solution Ceramics," or by co-spraying with soft metals. 72 RCA-First to bring your home the stereophonic sound you've heard at movies Now in your own home you can hear New Jersey—"trains" the electron to music in perspective, just as in the make life fuller, easier, happier. concert hall. Strings from the left, Brass from the right. The secret lies in amazmg new RCA Victor Stereophonic Tape, pre-recorded with 2 sound tracks. The RCA High Fidelity Stereotape Playerreproducessoundthrough two separatedgroupsofspeakers. . . gives recorded music new dimensions. RCA, originator of many other "first" in sound, continues to pioneer in"Electronicsforliving"atitsDavid Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, HAND-OPERATED plungers in hollowed- out tree stumps provided a crude but workable source of compressed air for this primitive African iron foundry — mark- ing an early step in the mechanization which permitted man's evolution from the stone age to the iron age. HE HUGE blast furnaces of T today gulp air at 130,000 cubic feet per minute. For it takes three tons of air to pro duce a single ton of pig iron. In steel plants from coast to coast, you'll find Ingersoll-Rand Turbo-Blowers on the job 24 hours a day, month after month, year after year. Their reputation for dependable performance is the result of Ingersoll-Rand's continuous research and devel opment in the design and con- struction of air power equip ment. If you'd rather make indus- trial history than read about it. be sure to look into the fine job opportunities available with In gersoll-Rand. For further infor- mation contact your Placemen Office or write Ingersoll-Rand NEW DEVELOPMENTS of its sunshine. The instrument reports it five times brighter or more intense than Detroit sunshine. Also, (Continued from page 72) a so-called solar "twinkle" appears in Detroit's indus- trial atmosphere, apparently caused by invisible puffs IBM cards. These cards can be prepared for prac- of smoke floating through the air. tically every slab and strip size and grade of steel Developed in 1952 the "sun sleuth" underwent a so that proper drafts and speeds will produce a pro- year's trial near Detroit before it was shipped to the duct of high uniformity at a high production rate. Florida Test Field near Miami. So far as researchers Each card will include all the requirements of a given know, the instrument has produced the first continuous schedule: mill screw-down opening, edger adjustment spectral record of the sun's daily behavior. It was opening mill speed, and edger speed. Also included used at Miami to find out first how much sunlight falls will be a notation to indicate when the last pass has on the Florida Test Field in a year. This gave research- been completed. ers a measurement yardstick for indoor laboratory After a stack of punched cards is placed in the IBM tests with a so-called "Little Florida" device in which card reader, the card applying to the first schedule paint samples are exposed to artificial sunlight from is read and all information is transferred to a tran- a 1,200-watt high pressure mercury vapor lamp. sistorized memory storage element. The mill is then By knowing how much sunlight drenched Miami ready to roll the entering slab. Automatic operation annually, researchers could expose paint to similar takes place when the first pass is initiated by the amounts of intense laboratory "sunlight." In a period operator's pressing the pass-advance push button. of weeks they hope they may duplicate many months of outdoor exposure at Miami, and any speed-up of As the slab approaches, the control equipment acts testing tempo is a research bonus. through magnetic amplifier output units to preset roll Meantime, while the Spectroheliometer was in serv- openings and speeds. After one pass, reversing is ice, chemical researchers put new auto finish sample brought about by sensing devices that read the posi- panels on exposure racks each month at Miami. This tion of the slab and reverse the rolls after a brief was done to find out how much paint weathering period of slowdown. After all but the final pass, roll varied from month to month. The amount of weather- openings and mill speeds are readjusted in accordance ing on each new panel each month is being correlated with the schedule filed in the memory storage element. with the Spectroheliometer's reports of varying intensi- When the final pass is completed, an indicator light ties and amounts of the sun's radiation, rain or shine. automatically signals the operator at the crop shear Later, a research project was set up to determine that the strip is ready to enter the finishing mill. how much sunlight varies in amount and intensity from The mill will then be preset for the next schedule by sunrise to sunset through the four seasons of the year. pressing the schedule advance push button. Again, This indicated that at Miami's latitude a paint sample a punched card is read by the card reader, its informa- panel in a fixed position took its worst "beating" from tion is transferred to the memory storage element, the sun either during spring or fall. Meanwhile, studies and the mill is made ready for the schedule required of all this accumulated information are under way- for the next slab. part of an overall effort to make automotive finishes even more durable than they are today. When completed, the new roughing mill will feed The instrument follows the sun's path in the same a six-stand continuous hot strip mill. Main horizontal rolls of the roughing mill are 42 inches in diameter manner that astronomical telescopes follow paths of and 44 inches wide. Each edger roll is 24 inches in the stars. It picks up the sunlight and passes it through diameter. a spectrograph. This breaks the light into a color band stretching from the "red" to the "blue" light of the sun's spectrum. Thermopiles convert five of the various light bands into electrical signals that are amplified approximately The "Sun Sleuth" and Paint 100,000 times so that both amount and energy intensity A "sun sleuth" that has kept its automatic eye glued of each band can be recorded on graph paper. on the sun continuously for two years at Miami, may help unravel the mystery of what some of the sun's rays do to auto finishes. Called a Spectroheliometer, the device recently traced the s u n f r o m d a w n t o d u s k Introduction of "Lumonics" for 8,104 hours, recording the amount and intensity New York-Using the same type of radio signal that sun s of have certain a parts of the weathering effect ' light t h a t a r e k n o w n t 0 transmits sound to radio and television receivers, a on paints, lacquers and new multi-purpose lamp has been introduced. The enamels. lamp transforms radio impulses into light so brilliant It automatically transfers the "evidence" on graph that it is brighter than any incandescent lamp ever paper for researchers to study. Data from hundreds devised. of feet of graph lines are still incomplete, but research- The lamp is not connected by wires to the source ers have uncovered some incidental intelligence. For of its activating energy. Known as the RF (Radio example, the Spectroheliometer indicates the Miami (Continued on page 78) Chamber of Commerce may claim one point in favor 75 Now Inco saves iron in Nickel ore from the slag heap ALSO RECOVERS NICKEL There's iron in Nickel ore. International Nickel has built a iron ore, this has enabled Inco to But for years, this iron was of $19,000,000 recovery plant. Mod- no commercial value. No one could expand the free world's natural ern and streamlined, this plant is resources. Today, International find a way to recover it. only the first unit of the new Inco Nickel gets fourteen different ele- Recently, after years of re- Iron Ore operation. It is expected ments from its Nickel ores. search, International Nickel pio- to add hundreds of thousands of neered a new extraction process. • • • tons a year to this continent's Saves the iron- high-grade iron resources. "Mining For Nickel" Nickel is recovered, too! More from the ore Inco's new full-color, sound film! This new Inco process not only 16mm prints loaned to engineering That's one of the prime objec- classes and student technical socie- recovers iron ore from pyrrhotite tives of International Nickel's ex- ties. The International Nickel Co, economically; it is the highest pansion program. As in the case of Inc., Dept. 127e, New York 5, N. Y grade iron ore (68% iron) now produced in quantity in North America. It also recovers the Nickel in the ore. For its pioneering new process, The rapid scientific advance of our us maintain and extend our leader- eration systems, pneumatic valves modern civilization is the result of ship. If you fall in that category, and controls, temperature controls, new ideas from creative minds that you'll find working with us fulfilling cabin air compressors, turbine are focused on the future. Our engi- in stimulation, achievement and motors, gas turbine engines, cabin neers not only have ideas but have financial rewards. In addition, finan- pressure controls, heat transfer, the ability to engineer them into cial assistance and encouragement electro-mechanical equipment, elec- Products. will help you continue your educa- tronic computers and controls. That's why The Garrett Corpora- tion in the graduate schools of fine We are seeking engineers in all tion has grown in both size and neighboring universities. categories to help us advance our All modern U.S. and many foreign knowledge in these and other fields. reputation to leadership in its areas Send resume of education and expe- of operation. That's why we are seek- aircraft are Garrett equipped. We rience today to: Mr. G. D. Bradley ing m o r e creative engineers to help have pioneered such fields as refrig- NEW DEVELOPMENTS Wash Day on the Railroads Every day could be wash day somewhere on the (Continued from page 75) railroads if a revolutionary new theory proves eco- frequency) lamp, it was originally designed by engi- nomically feasible. neers, in cooperation with the Motion Picture Research The theory points to washing rails—with a detergent Council in Hollywood, to overcome a number of possibly—to help eliminate one of the railroads' oldest motion picture printing problems. The RF lamp can and most expensive problems—slipping of locomotive also be used in color television tube processing, med- wheels. ical research, computers, film projectors and many The theory holds that slipping is caused by an other fields. The RF lamp also permits radar images extremely thin, practically invisible layer of oil approx- to be projected on to a screen. This has found immedi- imately one molecule thick, which spreads itself over ate application in an air-traffic radar device presently the running band of a rail at the onset of rain or when being produced under military supervision. there is dew. Despite its thinness, this "monomolecu- lar layer" can withstand pressures so high (up to In this fast moving jet age there is no longer time 75,000 pounds per square inch) that locomotive wheel to plot the location of planes on a large board as has loads ordinary used will not break through it. been the practice. Planes now move so fast danger of Suitable rail cleaning holds the promise of fair collision can occur during the time the aircraft are weather adhesion around the clock every day of the being plotted. With the RF lamp, the radar targets year. If a practical cleansing method can be perfected, can be projected directly on a ten-foot square screen the savings to the railroads will be tremendous. and the movement of the planes observed immediately. From the earliest days of locomotives pulling trains, Not only does this mean more safety for the flying the slipping of locomotive wheels has been a problem. public, but the application opens up many useful Slippery rail conditions often result in stalled trains, applications for the military. overspeeded traction motors, delay, and expense. This same principle is being applied in medical At many places on railroad track, accumulations of research. For example, with the use of RF illumina- journal oil can be observed outside the wear band. tion, scientists will be able to project microscope When the rails become moist or damp, the oil spreads images of tissues on a large screen to determine over the rail, pushing the water off. The result is a whether cancer cells are present. The excellent uni- thin film of oil which causes slipping and often stalls formity and brilliance of RF illumination permits crack trains traveling on grades. more perfect images than were previously possible. Journal oil, used in the bearings of freight cars, The lamp represents a union of lighting and elec- contains some percentage of animal oils which spread rapidly over a polished surface in the presence of a tronics. It opens the door to an entirely new field small amount of water. Oxidized mineral oils seem which might be termed "lumonics." In the case of to exhibit the same characteristics as animal oils or the RF lamp, the energy is concentrated into a small fish oils and spread over a polished surface in the disc about 5/16 of an inch in diameter, causing it to presence of moisture. incandesce brilliantly. One drop of oil in the presence of moisture has the The RF lamp, which is heated by induction, uses ability to cover a surface of five square meters. If for the light-emitting source a disc of refractory tracks were not interrupted by rail joints, this one material. Because the refractory material can be drop would spread along the polished running part heated to a much higher temperature than the tung- of the rail (5/8 inch wide) to form a slippery film for a distance of two miles. sten filaments of incandescent lamps, a great increase in light is attained. Also, because of the higher tem- If the source from which the film spreads is removed, perature, the light has a higher content of blue than the presence of moisture will no longer cause slipping- does the incandescent lamp and provides more light Most people have experienced the oil-spreading phe- emission in the visible range. With the use of a disc, nomenon in driving a car on an oil-dripped highway as contrasted with the usual tungsten wire filament, on a rainy day. When the rain first starts, the road is the light from the lamp can be focused directly without extremely slick. Rut after the rain has been falling complicated optics. for a while, it isn't nearly as slippery. The steady rain has washed away most of the oil film. The RF energy is carried to the RF lamp by means of a copper coil wound around the outside of the It has been known since the earliest experience with railroads that rails which looked perfectly satisfactory lamp from a radio frequency oscillator. A DC voltage would, with the introduction of moisture, lose ad- source is used and the brightness of the lamp can be hesion. Even before the turn of the century it was controlled by varying the voltage. A water line can observed that if rain continued, adhesion would be be connected to the oscillator to cool the lamp and coil. 78 From this very furnace (and its fellows) came the special heat-resistant steels for aircraft engine exhaust valves that first let men fly an ocean: Lindbergh, Chamberlain, Byrd. From it and its successors in various A-L mills came the high-temperature alloys that made possible the first air- craft superchargers . . . and later, the first ventures into jet and rocket-propelled flight. • In your future business life, whenever you have a problem of resisting heat, corrosion, wear, or great stress—or of satisfying special electrical re- quirements—remember to see us about it, won't you? Allegheny Lucllum Steel Corporation, Oliver Building, Pittsburgh 22, Pa. NEW DEVELOPMENTS (Continued from page 78) restored, but no satisfactory explanation of this was offered. Cleaning methods now under investigation, in addi- tion to water, include detergents, solvents, open flame, and ultraviolet light. If a suitable cleansing agent is found, much of the sand currently used on locomotives to improve traction on wet days can be eliminated, with the added benefit of a reduction in the drag of the train. VINYL PLASTIC WALLPAPER Wallpaper with a vinyl plastic finish promises to foil junior in his attempts to draw a modern-day Rembrandt on your living room walls. The wallpaper is easily cleaned with soap, water and a fine bristle brush if the dirt is especially heavy. Dry cleaner or other chemical bleaches may be used to remove stub- born stains. The wallpaper is completely saturated with vinyl plastic, which encases every particle of color. This gives a protective shield which renders the wallpaper impervious to penetration by dirt, ink spots, crayon marks, grease spatterings and other stains. Since these marks are stopped at the surface, they can be whisked off with ease. It can be washed as often as necessary. The plastic IMPROVED TRANSISTORS resists the effects of soaps and other alkaline cleaning Transistors recently developed can be used in tele- solutions, and the surface does not come off with vision, radar, short-wave radio, and other electronic repeated washings. Special detergents may be used devices where high-frequency requirements have pre- on the wallpaper providing they do not contain any viously called for bulkier vacuum tubes. abrasive material. The use of abrasives must be A revolutionary new method of producing the avoided to protect the plastic surface from scratches. crystal "hearts" of such transistors has been developed. Wallpaper cleaner may also be used if you prefer it When made by a new "meltback" process, the tiny for ordinary dust and dirt. devices can operate efficiently at frequencies five Unlike many plastic coated wallpaper products times higher than those of ordinary transistors, and at such high frequencies the new devices show greatly whichfinish have a gloss or sheen, this has a beautiful matte improved power-amplification characteristics. which is a characteristic of the finest wallpapers obtainable. A certain few have special color effects "Meltback" significantly improves the control of which are enhanced by a special satiny lustre. It impurities in the thin layers of germanium or silicon comes in soft Pastel tints or in deep decorators' tones crystals from which transistors are made. With this and in a wide range of designs for every room of greatly improved control of impurities, crystals can the home. be successfully produced in layers thin enough to meet the requirements of high-frequency operation. This wall paper can be hung like ordinary wallpaper. Before development of this process, even the best No special tools or adhesives are needed. It is preci- sion-trimmed with electronic accuracy at the factory, commercially available transistors were not useful for eliminating messy trimming. This makes it much many applications above the standard radio frequen- easier work for Mr. and Mrs. Do-It-Yourself if they cies. Gain characteristics have also improved. want to do a professional job. (Continued on Page 86) 81 "It's quite simple," explained one of the seniors in EE, "to hook up an electric power circuit. We mere- ly fasten leads to the terminals and pull the switch. If the motor runs, we take our readings. If it smokes, we sneak it back and get another one." o a o OHM ON THE RANGE Opus 314 — In Three Phase Time Oh give me an ohm Where the impedances roam, Where the fields are not flux- ing all day, Where you'll never see A field without phi, And the flux is not leaking away. I Ohm, ohm on the range, Where the flux is not charging all day; Where never is seen A shunt field machine With the a r m a t u r e running away. » * # Pilot to tower, pilot to tower: Plane out of gas; am one thousand feet and thirty miles over ocean. What shall I do?" Tower to pilot, tower to pilot: "Repeat after me-'Our Father who are in heaven—'." o o « Salesman: "Sir, I have here some- thing that's guaranteed to make you the life of the party, allow you to win friends and influence people, helP you to forge ahead in the bus- iness world, and in general make lifeamore pleasant and invigorat- ing experience." Engineer: 'I'll take a quart." • • , Livestherea man with soul so dead Who to himself has never said To hell with these studies, I'm going to bed. Shape your own future at Allis-Chalmers • Grow with the world's basic industries! Here at Allis- Chalmers is a range of product applications from earth moving to atomic energy . . . a choice of training assign- ments...plus professional development and advancement. Allis-Chalmers Graduate Training Course allows you to develop skill through application of theoretical knowledge. For example: THERMODYNAMICS—steam turbines, internal com- bustion engines ELECTRICITY—transformers, motors, generators HYDRAULICS—hydraulic turbines, centrifugal pumps —and many more make up a course designed to develop industrial leaders. Whatever your engineering goal, there's a place for you at Allis-Chalmers. Find out more from the A-C rep- resentative visiting your campus, or write Allis-Chalmers, Graduate Training Section, Milwaukee 1, Wisconsin. I love the ENGINEER I think it's swell And every month I run pell mell To get my copy And read each line. The stories and features I think are fine I laugh at the jokes I read all the ads I note all the news And take up all the fads. When I praise it I scorn those who laugh I'm really most loyal I'm on the staff. • « * Their joint account's retarded By one persistent flaw; He's fast on the deposit. But she's quicker on the draw. » e a If it's true that women dress to express themselves, some have very little to say. • s • YOUTH — When you can be a college track star during the day - but can't go to the corner drug store at night without the family car. • • • Bars are something which, if you go into too many of, you are apt to c °me out singing a few of, and ma ybe land behind some of. • • » Pit Y the minister who bought an °'d USed car and then didn't have the vocabulary to run it. • • o One lecturer on this campus was so boring in one of his classes that twoemptyseatsgot up and walked electricty for less than three-quarters of a pound of NEW DEVELOPMENTS coal. This coal consumption per kilowatt hour is (Continued from page 81) approximately 30 % less than the national average. The new unit will have a capacity of 300,000 k\v ELECTRONIC CLOCK and will be capable of supplying the electrical require- Setting a new trend for time-pieces of the future, the first electronic clock is being introduced by Gen- ments of an industrial city of one-half million people. eral Electric, The new clock involves unique engi- The cross-compound turbine will be designed for neering design, keeping accurate time without a cord or direct electric attachment. an initial pressure of 2400 psig and an exhaust press of 1 in. Hg absolute. Initial temperature of 1050° F. The clock picks up electric impulses floating in the air. It is kept in accurately synchronized time by these and reheat temperature, 1000° F. Both high and in- impulses, rather than by being plugged into an outlet. termediate pressure turbrines will be on the 3600-rpm It is claimed that no other electric appliance on the shaft. The high speed generator, which will be rated market today operates in the manner or makes use of in excess of 200,000 kva, will have supercharged cool- such a cordless electric principle. ing aplied to both stator and rotor conductors. WORLD'S LARGEST STEAM TURBINE GENERATOR The largest steam turbine-generator in the world has been ordered for the River Rouge plant of The Detroit Edison Company. The new unit, one of the most economical ever designed and built, will produce a kilowatt hour of given the opportunity to continue learning while you work alongside top-level engineers in the aircraft engine industry. Should you want to work toward an advanced degree, you can, for we have arrangements with an outstanding engineering school which conducts classes within the plant. You get your Master's degree in engineering while you continue to work and earn. A variety of refresher courses at college level and other specialized, non-credit courses are always avail- able at Allison. Lectures on curent problems and WITH the completion of your academic training, practices are conducted by prominent university men, you're basically qualified to start your career in consultants and Allison's own specialists in their engineering. respective fields. What then? We'd like to tell you more about the many benefits, If advantages and unlimited opportunities awaiting you you plan to go ahead and further your education to Prepare for greater things later on you'll be inter- at Allison. Write for full information: Personnel ested in the Allison Training Programs. Dept., College Relations, Allison Division, General Starting your engineering career at Allison, you areMotors Corporation, Indianapolis 6, Indiana. Girls arc like newspapers. They all have forms, they "I can't marry him, Mother, he's an atheist and does always have the last word, back numbers are not in not believe there is a Hell." "Marry him anyway, my dear, and between the two demand, they have great influence, you can't believe of us we'll convince him." everything they lay, they're thinner than they used to 0 0 0 be, they get along by advertising, and every man should have one of his own and not try to borrow his A cynic is a person who, when he smells flowers neighbors." looks around for a coffin. « * » O 0 O Oh, Engineers, with hairy ears designing dams and ditches, Rules for handling women electrically: Controlling floods and blowing suds and never If she talks too long — Interrupter. reaching riches, When you want fun your tastes don't run to If she wants to be an angel — Transformer. graphs and mathematics, If she meets you half way — Receiver. But to the "Pub" and "Clover Club" and ball-room If she gets excited — Controller, acrobatics. You make surveys of waterways, and plan for If she gets up in the air — Condenser. irrigation If she is hungry — Feeder. But H2O to gin that's sloe you add in moderation. If she sings inharmoneously — Tuner. With stress and strains you ascertain the ways to make frames rigid, If she is wrong — Rectifier. Then spend the night till broad daylight in mak- If she is too fat - Reducer. ing dames less frigid If she gossips too much — Regulator. Oh, Engineers have hairy ears, I find them most endearing, It she wants to get married — Resistor. But awfully odd, because by God, they don't like o * d engineering. o o o People are like steamboats — they toot loudest when First old maid: "I hate to think of my youth." they are in a fog. Second old maid: "Why? What happened?" First old maid: "Nothing!" 0 o * e o o Famous last words: "Hell, he won't ask us that." C.E.: "She's like an auto radiator." 0 0 0 M.E.: "How's that?" C.E.: "She'll freeze up on you if you don't keep One thing about sport cars: If you flood the car- her filled with alcohol." buretor, you can just put the car over your shoulder and burp it. o o o 0 0 f t Soph. - I failed my Physics exam. "Shay lady, you're the homeliest woman I ever saw." Jr. - But I thought you had the answers written on "Well, you're the drunkest man I ever saw." your cuff. "I know lady, but I'll get over it in the morning." Soph. - Yeah, but by mistake I put on my Calculus shirt. They're coming in for a first landing at a "new" airport Before an American Airlines' pilot sets his aircraft line personnel and ticket agents. It means greater effi- and passengers d o w n at a new airport, the field ciency and money saved. and surrounding territory are as familiar as though Photography works in many ways to save money he'd come l n many times before. and improve operations for all kinds of businesses, large and small. In research, in development, in pro- As part of A i n e r i c a n A i r l i n e s ' comprehensive air- duction, in sales, it saves time and cuts costs. port familiarization program, he has seen the field from many heights. He has gone over Behind the many photographic products becom- the approach to each runway-correlated what he has ing increasingly valuable today and those planned for seen with the radio and instrument aids. tomorrow lie intriguing and challenging opportunities at Kodak in research, design and production. All this is done through color slide films shown on a wide screen to simulate actual vision from the cock- If you are interested in these opportunities in sci- pit. American makes one for each airport added to its ence and engineering—whether you are a recent system. As a matter of fact, American uses similar graduate or a qualified returning serviceman, slide films to train many of its staff-flight write to the Business and Technical engineers, stewardesses, main Personnel Dept. tenance employees, cargo handlers, At General Electric . . . Here's how your engineering background fits you for the broad field of Technical Marketing