':ANUARY, 1951 !'iOL 4, NO. 2 iViENTY CfNTS lr I, I ,, I'I In Ibis Issue - I The Story of Ransom E. Olds AUTOMOTIVE PIONEER Rigid rule for spindles Machine tool engineers have to design for maxi- mum spindle rigidity to insure extreme, long-lasting precision. That's why most of them make it a rule to mount the spindle on Timken@ tapered roller bear- ings. Timken bearings keep the shaft in positive alignment, minimize friction and maintain original precision - normally for the life of the machine. -------------------------------------------------- ------- How TIMKEN@ bearings hold RADIAL RADIAL LOADS LOADS shafts in alignment Because a Timken bearing has tapered construc- tion, it carries radial loads, thrust loads and combi- nations of both. End-play and deflection in the shaft are practically eliminated. Lille contact between the rollers and races of a Timken bearing provides a wider, more rigid support for the shaft. These THRUST LOADS features are two of the reasons why machine tool RADIAL RADIAL LOADS bearing applications can be handled more efficiently LOADS with Timken bearings. --------------------------------------------------------- Want to learn more about bearings? .. Some of the important engIneerIng pr oblems . you'll face after graduation will involve beaClhn.g ... applIcatIOns. If you'd lIke to 1earn more about tF ISr phase of engineering, we'll be glad to ~elp. °d additional information on Timken bear1ng~ ~nn how engineers use them, write today to The !Im : d Roller Bearing Company, Canton 6, OhIO. A e don't forget to clip this page for future referenC . NOT JUST A BALL 0 NOT JUST A ROLLER a::J THE TlMKEN TAPERED ROLLER D BEARING TAKES RADIAL ~ AND THRUST -@D- LOADS OR ANY COMBINATION ~ Classroom work is combined with conferences and actual work assign- m~n.t~ to help develop potential abIlities. Convenient facilities are provided for formal an~ informal gatherings at the new Westinghouse Educational Cen- ter. ~ottom shows the terrace lounge portton of the rumpus room. For Men WHO BELIEVE THERE'S ROOM AT THJE TOP Leaders com e from men who devote their time responsibility for supporting these men in thopurposeful work, constructive study and pursuing their ambitions by providing the latest t. oughtful c oncentratIon . ... men who are will- facilities, graduate-level instruction and prac- Ing to invest th'elr tIme , to prepare for an tical individual guidance. oPPOrtunity. With the opening of its new Educational Cen- They must b eI'leve 1n . themselves and be pre- ter, Westinghouse has taken another step in pared, with a so I'd1 background of' knowledge, broadening its support of men who believe there experIence a n d sk'111 that qualifies them for is room at the top ... and who will back it up with greater responsibility. their own effort and enthusiasm. We believe it can Westingho only result in more room at the top ... for those h' use management knows that men w 0 Invest th' .. who believe in their own potentialities and have good elr tIme 10 self improvement are prospects for t op pOS1tIOns. ' , the will and courage to develop them. G-10111 It accepts the YOU CAN 8E SURE .. 'F 'T~~stinghouse January, 1951 No pipe that is provably deficient in any of these strength factors .hould ever be laid in city street. In full lenqth burltiDq telts Itandard 6-lDcb BUR STIN G cast Iron pipe withstands more than 2500 lb•• Wthout burstlnq strenqth-or, for that per square 1ncl1lntemal hydroltatic prellure, matter-without all of the strenqth factors ST R EN GT H { which proyes ample ability to rellat water. hammer or un1UUal worldnq prellure .. llated opposite-no pipe laid 100 years aqo In cIty streets would be in service The touqhne88 of cast Iron pipe which enables today. But. in spite of the evolution of It to withstand Impact and traffic shoeD, as traffic from horse-drawn vehicles to heavy well as the hcuards In handUnq, Ia demon- trucks and buses-and today's vast SHOCK Itral8d by the Impact TesL Whlle under hydro- complexity of subway and underground ItaliC prellure and the heavy blows from a utillty services-cast iron gas and water STRENGTH 50 pound hammer, Itandard 6-lnch cast tron pipe doel not crack until the hammer 18 mains, laid over a century ago, are dropped 6 times on tIle same spot from pro- servinq In the streets of more than 30 qfesll'f'ely Increased helqhta of 6 Inche .. dties In the United States and Canada. Such service records prove that cast iron The abUity of cast tron pipe to withstand ex, pipe combines all the strenqth factors of temal loads Imposed by hea'f'Y till and lID- lonq life with ample margins of safety. No CRUSHING usual traffic loads Is pro'f'8d by the BlDq Comprelslon Tell. Standard 6-lnch cast Iron pipe that Is provably deficient in any of STRENGTH { pipe withstands a c:ruahInq welqht of more these strenqth factors should ever be laid than 14.000 Ib.. per foot. In dty streets. Cast Iron Pipe Research Assoc:lation, Thos. F. Wolfe, Engineer, When cast Iron pipe Is .ubJected to beam Ilrell caused by soU .. ttlemenl. or dlatUrbaD; 122So. Michigan Ave., Chicago 3. BEAM of soil by other utUltlea. or reltlnq on an STRENGTH { Itrudlon. telta proy. that standard 8-1nch ca;: t \' I ~11no'oi Iron pipe In 100foot ..,an _talna a load 15.000 lba. 2 SPARTAN ENGINEER When is a liqUId not a liquid? It often seems that research moves in strange ways to solve problems. Take the case of the liquid liquids ... products of THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY ~he Dow laboratories. Called Dowanols, these chemicals offer MIDLAND, MICHIGAN mdustry a valuable tool, liquids that remain liquid over a hla • Washington • Atlanta • a.velend temperature range of 390 degrees. In addition, they have many other physical characteristics that make them extremely helpful New York • Bo.ton • Philadelp D.... oit • Chicago • St. Louis • Los Ange' .... s::- H ton. San frand,co d eta Limited. Toronto, Cana a ~othe processing industries. Their solvent power, for instance, Dow Chemical of CarMI , IS remarkable ... for Dowanols are miscible in all proportions with fluids from water and olive oil to benzene. This wide solv~~t. range leads to their use in many applications where stabllIzmg action is required: cutting oils, printing inks, rust removers, dry cleaning soaps, textile finishing compounds and many others. Dow~no.ls are but one product resulting from a program of contm~mg research carried on by Dow in the interests of producmg more "Chemicals Indispensable Agriculture. " to Industry and CHEMICALS TO INDUSTRY 'NDIS~.NSA.L. AND AORICULTUR. 3 January, 1951 We have good newS to repor t for the journals ". , " SOMEJOURNALSare technical publications. our tests furnished information that enab~: Some journals are the parts of rotating shafts that turn in bearings. the Anny to procure certain products WI greatly increased reliability of performance. For both kinds of journals, there's good news Some of our tests have become a part of govern- in Standard Oil's performance testing program. ment specifications. Many users of our prod- One result is a new testing device for mill and ucts are benefiting, both from better products locomotive driving-journal grease that enables and from more accurate information. us to tell more accurately than ever before what As time goes on, we are doing more and mo;; our greases will do under actual conditions of use. That, in turn, enables us to proceed more performance testing. In some cases, we hav~ directly with the job of making our greases develop not only the tests but also the testmg still better. equipment. But to Standard Oil rese~c~e~ Standard Oil took the lead in performance and engineers, any effort is worth while 1 testing, and is a leader today. During the war will help make better, more useful petroleum products. Standard Oil Company (INDIANA) 4 SPARTAN ENGINEER SpartaN ENGINEER EDITOR CHARLES E. PAUL Table of Contents BUSINESS MANAGER WILLIAM M. THROOP ASSISTANT EDITOR • articles Arnold V. Nelson PLASTICS 6 ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER Elton H. Moore DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUC- FEATURE EDITOR TIoN OF A METAL KINESCOPE a Harmon D. Strieter X-RAY DIFFRACTION 10 NEWS EDITOR Robert G. Kitchen waSH 12 PICTURE EDITOR Emil Raulin HISTORY OF THE SLIDERULE 15 ADVERTISING MANAGER R. E. OLDS, Robert V. Gay AUTOMOTIVE PIONEER 18 CIRCULATION MANAGER Ted Summers .features PUBLICITY NEW DEVELOPMENTS 14 Melvin Sandler THE SOCIETIES 16 STAFF Bruce Miller Robert E. Kuhn PICTURE PAGE . 20 & 21 William A . Little Thomas Ginther ALUMNI NEWS 37 William R. Guntrum CAMPUS NEWS 37 Andrew Nester Doug Hamilton SIDET RACKED 39 Eugene R. Highfield Stanley C. Bailey William R. Tappe Philip S. Lang . * * * I by the students of the SCHOOL OF Published four hmes year Y STATE COLLEGE East Lansing, ENGINEERING, MI.CHI?A~n room 515 Electrical Engineering Richard H. Kraft Michigan. The offIce IS 1 . 7119. Entered as second class Phil Sanford Building, phone 8-1511,. ext~ns~on 'ng Michigan under the act of matter at the Post OffIce In anSI , ' Thomas Lopker March 3, 1879... Christopher Brecht Address MaI'1 t o .. . POBox , 468 , East Lansing, MlchIgan. Robert E. Pryor publishers representative . David H. Wing Littell-Murray-BarnhIll, Inc. 101 Park Avenue, New York .. COVER: R. E. Olds 605 W. Michigan Avenue, ChICagO. This issue is dedicated to the Subscription rate by mail $1.00 per year. late Ransom E. Olds Single copies 20 cents. 5 January, 1951 A GLANCE AT THIS INCREASING POPULAR INDUSTRY BY DOUGLAS HAMILTON SOPHMORE CH. E. What are plastics? Despite the ever All synthetic plastics are made by increasing occurrence of plastics in the process of polymerization. When our daily life, the average person would the proper chemicals are combined un- find it difficult to answer this question. der heat and pressure, the molecules of The finished product furnishes no clues these chemicals join together to form as it seldom, if ever, re sembles the long complex chainlike molecules with original materials, while the many dif- new properties and characteristics" It ferent shapes and forms in which we use is these very long molecules th~t ,g.lve plastics further confuses the issue. plastics their strength and flexlbl~lty. However, if the more complicated de- For simplicity, a plastic can be defIned tails of chemistry are left out, plastics as a polymerized substance. can be quite clearly understood. Plastics are essentially synthetic organic substances. By synthetic we At the present time there are about mean that they do not occur anywhere in thirty basic plastics. Each of th~se nature, but are products of the chemist's can be varied by changing the reactIon creative genius. As they are made from conditions and constituents so that hun- coal, air, water, petroleum, and vege- dreds of different plastic products can table by-products, they come under the be obtained. However, many types ~a~ classification of 0 r g ani c compounds. be divided into two main groupS v: hIC The name "Plastics" has been adapted are; thermosetting and thermoplasbc. because of the ease with which these Thermosetting plastics undergo ad materials can be moulded into any de- permanent chemical change w en treate h h d sired .shape. by h eat and pre s sur e . Th e f"nis 1 d er product cannot be melted, d~ssolveTh~S Shellac and bit u men are natural plastics. They have been known and used broken down by heat or chemIcals. t 01 for many centuries, but they really don't permanent change makes exac t cont'r 1 ' sen Ia . belong in the same class with our more of the manufacturino process. eS 5- e modern synt.hetic plastics. They under- ComplIcated equIpment IS 0 e nec any •• 0 • ft n g.o no chemIcal change in their forma- sary, but the finished product has rn Ie hon and haven't the versatility of the important applications. A good exa rnPle_ true plastics. of a thermosetting plastic.. IS the t e phone we use every day. 6 SPART AN ENGINEER Thermoplastic to heat and pressure. ens a thermoplastic as it cools it is hard again. plastics dergo a chemical change when subjected do not un- Heat merely soft- material; as soon This prop- .'i. - ... erty helps reduce loss of material dur- ing manufacturing. Any imp e r fee t 1Y formed mol din g may be ground up, melted, and molded again. Thermo- plastic plastics are usually used where a product does not have to withstand high temperature. The common plastic pocket comb is usually made of thermo- plastic plastics. THREE DIMENSIONAL TRANSPARENT PLASTIC MODELS OF TOOLS AND MACHINE PARTS ARE USED FOR ANALVIING STRESS. The substitution of plastics for the WHEN VIEWED THROUGH SPECIAL POLARIZED LIGHT, THE STRESS more traditional materials (metal, stone, PATTERN TELLS THE LOCATION, DIRECTION. AND MAGNITUDE OF THE STRESSES. wood, and cloth) has taken place mostly in the last fifty years. John Wesley plastic compounds and the discovery of Hayatt accidentally discovered celluloid new ways of using old plastics is conti- (cellulose-nitrate) in 1869. He made nually growing. false -teeth and celluloid collar s, but the market for celluloid did not really de- For simplicity the plastics industry velop until the advent of the motorcar, can be roughly divided into four distinct when celluloid was used for windows and groups. There are the plastics makers, as the first filler for safety glass. the molders, the laminators, and the fabricators. Dr. Leo H. Backeland developed the well known plastic bake lite in the year 1909. With the development of celluloid Because of the large investments re- and bakelite the march of plastics had quired for equipment, space, and begun. laboratory research, the main plastics make r s are large chemical firms. They . The plastics industry, which today make the plastics compounds and supply 1S ~trong and vigorous, has every indi- the other branches of the industry. cahonof goind on to even greater heights of ach'1evement. The development of new The molders buy their raw materi- als from the plastics makers in powder form. While it is referred to as powder itis really in the form of granules, flakes, and pellets. The finished produc1 is made with the use of special molding and extruding machines. By pre s sin g together sheets of cloth, paper, wood or glass fiber '. coatec with a liquid plastic, the lammators make such things as gears, pul~eys, elec- PHENO.FORMAL seALl DIE 1.40 DEHYDE PLASTIC IS USED HERE TO MAKE A FULL trical parts, and items of furmture. MAKING DIES D~ OF THE HENRY J. THIS MODEL IS USED FOR , ASSEMILY FIXTURES, AND INSPECTION FIXTURES. The fabricators use wood and metal . wor k Ing me thods to assemble sheets, . rods, pipes, and special shapes Into a variety of items from small toys to large and complex articles. This branch.of t~e industry has been steadily growmg m importance. All of these fine new plasti.c com- poun d ld be of little use WIthout a . s wou ns of mo ld'Ing them PHENO'FORMALDEH satIsfactory mea . 11y into finished AND MAINTAINING YDE PLASTIC ASSEMBLY FIXTURE FIXTURES MASTER FOR IN AUTOMOBILE BUILDING PLANTS. quickly and economlca (Continued to pose 30) January, 1951 7 DE'JElOPMENl lNO PRODUC1\ON Of A MElll K\NESCOPE BY ELTON H. MOORE JUNIOR E.E. perhaps the most interesting feature face of good optical quality and little of post-war television has been the curvature to provide high-quality pic- development of large -screen picture tures on an essentially flat viewing tubes or "metal cone kinescopes." screen. The first of these tubes, a l6-inch directly-viewed kin e s cop e, was an- A cathode -ray tube for television nounced to television receiver manu- consists of three fundamental parts: an facturers in January 1948, Since that electron gun, a flu 0 res c e n t viewing date most development has been con- screen, an'd an elongated envelope which fined to minor improvements on this contains the electron gun and fluorescent basic tube. screen and through which the electrons are directed. As the picture size re- In the development of this tube, the quirement increases so does the size of l6AP4, it was recognized that to make a the tube envelope, and with that increase, lar ge - size picture available to a sizable the advantages of the metal construction portion of the television public, the kin- become increasingly evident. escope to do the job must be designed for mass production and low cost. The design ~ad to be suitable for high-speed Metal was selected for the envelope produ~tlOn by automatic machinery, have because of its lower cost, plentiful ele~tncal requirements within the range supply, ease of control of the dimen- o.f lnexpensive high-voltage and deflec- sions, durability, and the adaptability of hon power supplies and have minimum- the tube assembly to mass production, v?lume and weight for a given picture The art of heating and forming, and an- slze., In addition to the s e production nealing and cooling heavy masses of reqUlrements, the kinescope must have a glass is highly specialized. How~ver, the same pro c e sse s are relatlVely simple when metal is the working sub- stance. fOCUSING COIL. Necessary in tubes of this type are external magnetic, e 1e c t r 0 n-b e,a rn- deflecting and focusing coils, and 1ro~- trap magnets. A minimum of magnetlc shielding is desired between these eX- ternal magnetic fields and the electron fLUORESCENT SCREEN beam. Therefore, glass is used as the neck material in these tubes. As illustrated, in Fig u r e 1, e~~ metal tube consists of a truncated In d . fuse cone, to the lar ge end of which 1S t FIG. 1 a relatively thin nearly flat face pIa ed' , flare and to the smaller end a glass 8 SPART AN ENGINEER k section containing the electron gun. to partially dissolve strongly adherent nec flared section provl 'd es e 1ec t'nca 1 The metallic oxides, thus forming a mechani- , sulation between the defle cting coils cally strong bond between the glass and ~hich operate at ground potential and metal. The process used for sealing the the exposed metal cone surface which glass face plate and the metal cone con- operates at high potential. sists of placing the face plate and cone on the dealing machine, rotating the as- T he major properties required of the sembly, and heating it uniformly until it metal selected for. the envelope is close to the annealing point of the were: glass. At this time, the sealing heat is 1. The coefficient of expansion of the applied to the sealing area so that the metal must match that of the glass. glass in contact with metal is melted 2. The metal oxide formed in heating and the seal formed. Air pressure is the metal must be soluble in glass, used inside the cone durin.g this opera- tion to hold the face plate in position and 3. The metal oxide must have excel- to work and form the seal. Smooth con- lent adherence to the base metal. tour of the seal is important because it 4. The metal shaH not be readily eliminates points of high stress con- over-oxidized to form a thick por- ous oxide, centration in the seal area. Those iron alloys which included chromium in their composition were foundto have the above properties to the greatest degree. Therefore, the chro- mium-bearing alloys were considered with respect to the additional require- ments imposed by the use for which the metal was intended. The requirements were that it have a high tensile strength, FIG.2 both at room temperature and at tube baking temperatures, that it have good GRID N.21 corrosion res is tan c e, and that it be vacuum tight . w~, 1 .... _ • !<~::':::"::~:~:::::'~'T~'~: After m u c h experimentation, metal found most suitable was a modi- the .=JU "<: ... ':'- -- U ELECTRON BEAM ii,cation of a com mer cia 11 y available fiRST MAGNETIC SECOND MAGNETIG hIgh-chromium alloy SAE Type 446. fiELD m~o ION BEAM Formerly, face plates were made by FIG.3 pressing molten glass in an iron ~old. These plates are rough, scatter , eration, the After the sea 1lllg op , t' d hght, and Contain visible foreign parti- t oven maln alne bulb is transferred 0 an t of the cl,es. The l6AP4 contains high-quality l' tempera ure near the annea Ingd t temperature- WIndowglass as its face-plate. The glass and allowe 1 0 with all-glass presence of atmospheric pressure which equalize. For mer Y'to cool the tube t~tals about a ton and a half on the 't as necessary , 1 -inch tube, necessitates either a tubes, 1 w 'd excessive straIns, very slowly to aVOl 'n the l6AP4, Curved Or an excessively thick wall. This is not necesslabry aly be removed the bu m , h This tube, however was designed to However, so nd allowed to cool in a~r ve t: high strength in the metal rim so from the oven a This operation IS th~t the face plate may be relatively at room temperature'l' g and shrinking , posslble b ecau se coo In the glass III 'th bo thIn and nearly flat. The face plate of e l6AP4 is only 3/16 inch thick and has of the metal placde~ 1 compression to a rad' '1 d ra la IUSof curvature of about 27 inches. tangenha an , of tensile stress. limit the formaho~ sealed on by con- of dAs, may be concluded from the list The neck asseI?bly ~ethods and fla~e ,eSlred qualities of the metal, the ventional s~ahng h face-plate seahng sealmg f 1 nor to t e ) the a .. 0 g as s to metal depends upon anne a 1e d P (Continued to pop 32 blhty of glass in the molten state operation. January, 1951 9 x- Atomic termined structures by the relatively of X-ray diffraction. which were pre- viously unknown may today be de- new science Some of the more R general applications of X-ray diffraction are to identify, compare, and analyze raw materials in the manufacturing of paints, pigments, plastics, pharmaceuti- A cal chemicals, ber, The applications and diversified metals, paper, and rub- are so numerous that it will take a few more years before this new science will Y be used to its fullest extent. partment The Metallurgical recently Engineering De- of Michigan State College has acquired a new X-ray diffrac- tion apparatus. The apparatus is manu- D factured by the North American Phillips Company and will be used to help the metallurgists get a greater knowledge of the fundamental structures with which I they work. applications this apparatus structures, Some of the metallurgical which to determine are possible with are: to study the atomic the effects of F hardening effects and annealing, of various such as rolling, to study the forming processes stamping, spinning and F drawing, and to study the effects of al- loying agents in metals. X-ray diffraction is made possible by the fact that almost every substance R is composed of small crystals having different and definite structures. These structures, in most cases, determine the properties and characteristics of the A substance. Thus, when a fine beam of "X" radiation strikes a particular sub- stance , the rays will be diffracted, , Thed pattern obtained from the dlffracte C rays will be characteristic of this m~- terial. The separations and the int,ens~f ty of the pattern depend on the SIze the crystals and their structure. Hen~ei T once a picture is obtained of a mater~\ in its pure state any additional mater,1a or foreign matter will immediately g1~e a different pattern, This phenomenon 1S the basis for X-ray diffraction. I T he advantages of the X-ray diffrac- tion is that it makes it possible to o see into the fine structure of matter. This is impossible to do with microS- copes or other instruments. The rea~ Son this is possible with X-rays is tha h the wave length of the X-ray is m~c By know1ng N shorter than that of light. BY EMIL RAULIN something about the internal structure SENIOR M.E. 't IS. possible f or cer- 1 to give reasons tain behaviors. 10 SPART AN ENGINEER SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF A POWDER CAMERA. SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM Of A LAVE CAMERA. Where two materials have the same chemical analysis but different physical lave camera is used chiefly for deter- properties, the difference in properties mining effects of cold working and heat may often be explained by observing the treating. X-ray diffraction patterns. A brief description of the operation Since most substances give a differ- of the X-ray apparatus is as follows: A ent diffraction pattern a file some- sample of the specimen to be tested is what like that used with fingerprints placed into a specially designed camera. may be set up. This file may then be A strip of radiographic film is placed used for control purposes, serving as a around or in back of the sample, de- pending on the type of camera used. X-rays in the form of a fine beam are then directed at the sample and the dif- fracted rays are recorded on the film. The ~ilm is then developed and the pat- tern 1Sobtained. The X-ray diffraction apparatus is c,apable of taking four pictures at one tIme . Th'IS IS . to save time, as a speci- men must usually remain in the camera for two to three hours. There are vari- PRECISION, BACK- POWDER CAMERA. ous types of cameras developed that REFLECTION-FOCUSING CAMERA. may be used for diffraction work. The most common cameras are the powder standard against which subsequent ma- and . the 1ave t ypes. The powder camera terial may be checked for uniformity . 1S used for bt .. In some cases the unknown may be iden- l'athce co t0 ta1n1ng determinations of ns an s whereas the spe Clal . tified from its pattern by means of.a back refle t .. card index file published by the Amen- c 1ng powder camera IS used when high preCISIon '" IS requIred. . The can Society for Testing Materials ... X-ray diffraction is rapidly f.llldlllg many uses in industry. Several Indus - tries employ the apparatus as a control test for the quality of sheet steel such as that used in automobile bodies and fenders. Diffraction patterns may also be used to reveal the orientatlon of granules resulting from vario.us .for~- ing operations and thereby llld1catlng which forming process is best for a particular material. .' With the aid of X-ray. d1ffractlon quick and efficient analysIS may be fROM made. No progressive industr'y should A PHOTOGRA INTENSITIES ARE P PH LIKE THIS, WHEN LINE SPACINGS AND overlook the possibilities of th1s equip- STANCE MAY BE ROPERlY INTERPRETED PROPERTIES OF A SUB- CLASSIFIED. ' ment in their laboratories. January I 1951 11 .......... C Q, C Q , HELLO CQ, THIS IS W 8 5 H AT MICHIGAN STATECOLLEGE CALLING. CQ, CQ . BY HARMON D. STRIETER SENIOR E. E. A lmost any day of the week, you can T he history of amateur radio ,is the hear these strange signals emitted history of radio development 1tself. from the lofty tower of the Electrical When Marconi first proved that messa~~s Engineering building. The home station could be sent by wireless, private C1tl- of Michigan State's Amateur Radio Club zens began experime~ting ~ith home~ is located in this tower, made affairs that em1tted slgnals. A knowledge developed about WIre , less" In the past few year s, MSC has be- more people became 1n 't eres t e d in radlO come noted throughout the country for " commun1cahon un t'l1 b y 1912 govern- 'f many phases of its academic life, The football team, track team, Basic College, ment regulations were passe d sp eC1y- Engineering facilities, and many others ing frequenc1es, , 1aws, a nd licenses.'d are becoming well known, In amateur Amateur radio enthus1as s wer e ass1gne 't At radio, W8SH has become well known for frequencies above 1500 kilocycles. its work .in handling messages, rag- the time this was an unheard of freq~en- chewing, and in up-holding the best stand- cy since dependable ra d'10 corn rnun1ca- . 1 t ards of amateur radio. ' hon was thought on 1yo.t be poss1b With ethe a frequencies lower than th1S. , The MSC Amateur Radio Club was development of better ama t eu r eqUlP- founded in the infancy of radio and is one ment occasional 1000 m1'1e t wo - way k con- of of- the oldest clubs on campus. It has tacts were made, At the outb~eaatelY grown with the advent of new techniques World War I there were ap~roX1~ates. and equipment of radio communication. 6000 amateurs in the Umted . the What is amateur radio and what is Four-thousand of these ser ved 1n d the its history? war as radio operators and fo~rne this Amateur radio is a scientific hobby, nucleus of radio operator dunng a means of gaining per sonal skill in the art. of electronics and an opportunity to period. , the re- After the war, and w1th b ds communicate with fellow citizens by opening of the amateur ra d'10d an' per- private shortwave radio. As defined in thousands began as ama,teurs a~i~h the international law, amateur radio per- ated with spark transrmtters. teurs forms a service of "self training, inter- coming of the vacuum tube, a;:h re- communication and technical investiga- immediately adapted them to 0 their tions €arried on by ... duly authorized ceivers and transmitters for use on f the persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without allotted frequencies. The d'1St a nce d 0til in percuniary interest." communication range increase u~antic 1923, the first two -way tranSa 12 SPARTAN ENGINEER communication was made. Frequencies increased, ranges increased, and de- pendable wirele s s communication be- came commonplace. A mateur radio has served the public well in its period of existence. Ex- perience received by the amateur in his hobby has served the country well both in time of peace and in war. Trained operators are readily available for any emergency and the record has shown the valuable s.ervice rendered in times of floods, earthquakes, typhoons, and fires. Often the only communication available into a stricken area is by ham radio. Ham radio is credited also with TUNING UP A 350 WATT TRANSMITTER WHILE OPERATIIolG 75.METER PHONE. many new t e c h n i c a 1 developments of radio engineering. Experimenting with At the present time, the club mem- high frequency wave propagation, single bership consists of 24 members, 10 with side band suppressed car r i e r s, and licenses, and the others working on ob- many other new developments may be taining their licenses through the facili- traced to some amateur. tie s of the club. It may be of interest to know just As in the past, W8SH has handled where the word "Ham" originated. It traffic, originating with students on this comes from the cockney English pro- campus to all parts of the world. The nunciation of amateur. They pronounced traffic handled so far during this school "Hamateur" and this was then shortened year has been quite heavy. Messages to simply "Ham." received during the day are sent out as quickly as possible to various relay The Fed era 1 Communication Com- points throughout the country. The club . mission has the authority to class- has direct outlets- to the international 1fy and license radio stations and to phone net, eastern sea-board net, and p.rescribe regulations for their opera- various 10 c a 1 net s that are designed hon. With this in mind, and hoping to solely for handling traffic. Occasion- help those who are not licensed by the ally it is even possible to contact the FCC, but who have an interest in ama- person direct and then two-way commu- teu r ra d'10, the MSC Amateur • Radio Club nication is established which is much con~ucts code and theory classes at con- the same as a~long-distance telephone' vement times throughout the week. It is call. necessary to be able to pass a 13 word W8SH calls in daily on the 75 meter per . HAN. The RAN stands for "Hot Air Net" mmute C.W. (code) test and a basic t~ansmitter theory examination to be and that is its sole purpose. Though the hcensed as an amateur club does handle many messages, the members still find time to do a lot of rag-chewing on the various amateur bands. (The author does - Ed.) A new service has been added this term for the benefit of the students. Located on the fir st floor of the E.E. building is a message box wh~re me~- sages may be dropped for del1:ery V1a ham radio. The messages ar~ p1cked up daily and relayed at the earhest oppor- tunity .. During fall term, several long-wue One is the envy antennas were pu t up.. of every. ham contacted. This antenna 1S stretched between the old W~.R antenna t of the Woodshop bUlldmg to the TAKING CODE IN THE "RADIO SHACK." on op (Continued to page 28) January I 1951 13 ~ has been added to the asphalt paving RUBBER ROADS material. With an increase in the amount of Five strips of asphalt-rubber pav- wear that our highways receive each ing were laid in NorthAmerica last year year. highway engineers are looking for both in the city and on heavily traveled a long-lasting resurfacing material. One trunk lines. In addition to the facts al- of the solutions that has been tried is ready known about asphalt-rubber, tests the mixing of natural rubber with bitu- on these strips indicate that the distance men. This mix t u r e then has a high required to stop, both on wet and dry melting point and the penetration and pavement, i$ decreased. flow are lowered. Among the potential applications of Several experiments with this rub- rubber asphalt are paving of airports, ber asphalt mixture have been made in sidewalks, tennis courts, playgrounds, the Netherlands and Java. The rubber and industrial flooring. It also has ex- was added in varying percentages ac- isting or potential applications in sealing cording to the type of the aggregate and compounds, asp h a 1t roofing and joint asphalt used. fillers. The results of the tests to date in- TALKING OVER A LIGHT BEAM dicate that natural rubber added to as- Equipment for talking over an in- phaltic paving material, increases the visible beam of light between ships at life of the p a v em e nt, requires less sea and from airplanes to the ground maintenance, increases the elasticity of with complete security from the ene- the pavement, reduces its susceptibility my's detection has recently been de- to temperature variations, the pavement veloped. becomes less brittle at low tempera- The great advantage of the light- tures, and materially increases the co- beam system is its security from de- efficient of friction of the surface area. tection as it is not broadcast in all The destructive effect of traffic shock directions as are radio waves. Coding and vibration is mat e ria 11y reduced messages is no longer necessary. Only where natural rubber is present in the when some opaque object comes between asphaltic paving material. The full ex- the transmitter and the receiver can the tent of these benefits have yet to be de- liahtbeam be interrupted. Unlike radio, termined by future tests. o the beams do not depend on s.epara te At present there are several tests channels, so communications will not being made as to the bri ttlene s s of as- become jammed. phalt paving, where natural rubber has The working of the system is very been ,added to the materials, at below simple. The light intensity from t.h~ ~re~zlng temperatures. Early results transmitter is varied in accordance WIt IndIcate that there is are d u c t ion in the frequency of the voice. The beam brittleness, which would bring about a falls on a light-sensitive receiver at ad correspondIng extension in the life of distance, the signals are amp l'f' 1 Ie d an d the pavement. the fluctuations and are then converte In regard to temperature, there is back into voice signals. The message ~ study under way on surface films of can then be routed through the intercom Ice on straight asp h a 1tic paving vs. to any location asphalt-rubber paving. Pre 1i m i n a r Y . keS The use of a wide angle beam ma , tests indicate that asphalt-rubber paving the new system useful for ship to ShlhP' has, a te~dency to resist the formation of 't' Ion. T, e and plane to plane communlca an Ice hIm. It has been noted in early , on te~ts that a film of ice occurs at a ancraft model is designed for f o~mah .th flying and to speed communicahon WI shghtly lower temperature where rubber ground and paratroops. (Continued to page 26) 14 SPARTAN ENGINEER History of the Sliderule BY PHIL SANFORD FRESHMAN M. E. T he now-common IISlipstick" had its slide rule. This rule was not generally basic origin back in 1614, when used until about the middle of this cen- John Napier, Baron of Merchiston in t.ury, when George Adams, a manufac- Scotland, publicly announced his inven- turer of mechanical instruments for tion of logarithms. King George III, brought out a more The earliest IIslide rule" was con- complete and convenient form of it. structed in 1620 by Edmund Gunter, an astronomy professor at Gresham Col- Although up until this time the devel- lege in London. To arrive at the length opment of the slide rule had gradu- of the scale, Gunter used the principle ally become better, not until about 1775 of logarithms. However, the scale was was its use widely accepted. In fact, not a sliding rule because it was laid off John Ward, in a paper on practical math- by the use of a pair of dividers. ematics and gauging, wrote, "The use of Reverend William Ouohtred o is the those lines of numbers, so much ap- actual inventor of the slide rule. He took plauded and but too much practiced, the principle used by Gunter, and sim- which at best do but help to guess at the plified it by placing one scale on top of truth, and may be called an idle, ignor- another, rather than end to end as Gunter ant way of doing business, if compared h~d done. In addition to the straight to that of the pen." Later Ward ex- shde rule, Oughtred devised a circular plained that he meant "pocket" rules rule, which made use of one large and only one foot long. However, he did find one small disc fastened together so as to some advantage to the one he used. This allow their rotation. rule was six feet long. Following 0 ugh t red's invention, Sir Isaac Newton made an important another improvement of the slide rule contribution to the development of the cam'e m 16 57. In that year Seth Part- slide rule. In work on the theory of al- rl'd ge, a surveyor and teacher ' of mathe- gebraic equations, Newton us~d a. runner ~atics, made a duplex slide rule that to produce greater accuracy m hIS com- ad two strips of wood connected to- putations. The runner first became a rether, with another strip running free- regular part of the rule in 1775. Y between them. This was much like That same year, James Watt. us~d the modern slide rule. the slide rule to great advanta~e m hIS Th In 1683 an English mechanic named work on the steam engine. ThIS popu- o~as Everard made the first com- larized the use 6f the slide rule among mercIal slide rule and was the first to English engineers .. ~s~ the name, II sliding r'ule." Hi s slide William Nicholson brought out ?m- ue featured II g a u g e poi n t s," using rovements in the slide ~ule, parhcu- S t andard . PI 1 . the spiral and Clrcular types. V.erslOn f measurements t and unIt con- ar y In 1" h announced ac ors market on the scale. I I'Nicholson's Journa e . b Th ... n 't was deVIsed Y On the e .Ir:verted scale" first appeared the folded scale, as I .' the folded In devlsmg brOughtshdmg rule in 1697 . This was Sylvanus B evan. "folded" at Was b o~t by William Hunt. The scale scale, the normal scale eW:~ds' were to- of a ased on a means of finding length the middle so that th t d at the fold- di re.ctangle of unit area when either gether and was then par e rated see- menslOn is known ing point making these sepal . nds of the new sca e. Fra By 1716, Jean 'Baptiste Clairaut of hons the e (Continued to poge 24) nce had . , re -Invented the circular 15 The Societies •••••••••• • ~ ETA KAPPA NU This display is the property of G, W, Cannon, Sr., a pioneer foundryman from ~The Gamma Zeta chapter of Eta Muskegon, Michigan. He brought the Kappa Nu has recently been in- collection to this country from Germany, stalled at MSC. The organization Sweden, and Switzerland. The display was formed during Spring Term was arranged by the student chapter of 1950. After receiving the necessary ap- the American Foundrymen' s Society. proval from the executive council and The majority of the castings were from the 52 college chapters this chap- made by a foundry company in Wetzlar, ter had the installation which was high- Germany. The major highlight of the lighted by a formal initiation and followed display was the complete table service by a banquet. National officers attend- of cups, saucers, plates, and cutlery, all ing the installation were Frank Sanford, cast in sand. The extremely fine artistic President; Dr. Ovid E s h b a c h, Vice detail is difficult to reproduce by the President; and Alton Zerby, Executive Secretary, sand casting method, especially when thin sections are involved. To become eligible to join this elec- One of the most interesting castings trical engineering honorary the student in the display was the figurine of St, must be a junior or senior electrical Barbara who is the patron saint of Ger- engineer, must be of unimpeachable man Iron Workers and Miners. To cast character and have undoubted ability as this figure, 38 cores and 2 half-molds evidenced by his s c h 0 1 a r s hip. The scholastic requirement for a junior is were necessary. Mr. Cannon said that . ' t to be in the upper quarter of his EE class he saw a statue of St. Barbara III JUs about every iron foundry that he V1S1ed , .t and for seniors the upper third of the EE class. in Ge rmany . , Another attraction was the set of £lve , p1erced panels de p 1 . C t' 1n g the "Erle 1£- AMERICAN FOUNDR YMEN'S SOCIETY King " a poem written by Johann Wo .... During the fall term, the Michigan , . t The gang Goethe, an early Gertnan poe . h'ld A S Foundrymen held their annual re- ~• - # gional conference at MSC. One of the main attractions was the gray iron casting exhibit on the second floor poem tells the story of a father and c 1 attempting horseback, the gap. to escape death by fleeing on but in the end death closes of the Union Building. A I which was made in a r g e V a Se . 'g the Sweden was rust-proofed by d1ppIll d casting in a boiling mixture of linsee oil and iron oxide. re To the layman these cas t'1ngs a merely objects . of art, but t 0 a persone with a knowledge of foundry, they ~rh also objects which represent a very h1g degree of craftsmanship. o PI TAU SIGMA .. , N tional Me- P1 Tau Slgma 1S a a ry .. ' Honora chamcal Eng1neen~g Pi TaU Fraternity. The alms of t dent Sigma are: to pron:ote ~ ~ be- scholarship, to further relabonsh P ro- tween students, fa cut I y an d the .ce p to fessional men; and to be of serv~ Me- CASTING EXHIBIT PRESENTED BY AFS. the school and the Department 0 tive chanical Engineering by taking an aC 16 SPARTAN ENGINEER part ,in en gin e e r in g act i vi tie sand •.... ENGINEERING COUNCIL serVlces. Th ff' f The MichiganState College Tau .~" eo lcers or this year are: Epsilon chapter was organized in the' '.; ~ola~d ~arlson, ,Preside~t spring of 1950, by a group of senior'- ~rwm rote, Vlce-Presldent , ., Blll Throop Treasurer mechamcal englneenng students, The F k D'll' S chapt er was 0 ff'loa. 11y Ins ' t a 11e d' In April, Th E'ran lon,, Eecretary ' , 1950, at which time 52 student members e ~g~ne~~mgE x~oslh.on, which is and 4 honorary members were initiated sPdons~trhe 'dYf e thngmee.nng Co~n~il, . an Wl al rom e varlOUS soclehes ~ntothe chapter. The honorary me,mbers will be held on Ma 11 and 12 h' mcluded Professors F. B. Harns and y, t IS year, J, M. Campbell, Dean of Engineering TAU BETA PI L, G, Miller, and Head of Mechanical Engineering Department L, C. Price, President Jim Jursik made the During the fall term, 24 student annual Tau Bet a Pi slide rule members and 2 honorary members were award to Elvin Tuttle, freshman formally initiated into Pi Tau Sigma. engineer of last year with the The new honorary members are Profes- highest point average, sor Womochel of the Mechanical Engi- William Guntrum's winning thesis neering Department and Claud Erickson, "Electronics in Industry" was selected well known Lansing engineer, by the chapter to be sent to the National A banquet in honor of the new mem- Headquarters for competition with other bers, was held at the 1861 House in chapters of Tau Beta Pi. Lansing. The guests, totalling close to one hundred, enjoyed the talk given by the main speaker, "Bill" Otto, of the Lansing Chamber of Com mer c e, and talks given by the honorary members, Eligibility for membership in Pi Tau S' , Igma IS based upon scholarship as well as those personal characteristics that are ' , re~ulsltes of all good engineers. Mechamcal Engineers, you are invited to, become eligible for membership in Pl Tau Sigma, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF TAU BETA PI INITIATES, MECHANICAL ENGINEERS Suggested projects for the o:ganiza- tion were promotion of informa,tlOn.about ~ The g u est s pea k e r during fall Tau Beta Pi to freshman, pubh:ahon of term was Mr. A, C. Pasini, nation- a newS letter twice a year and msta~la- al v,ice president in charge of tion of a monument for Tau Beta Pl on ' Reglon 5, His talk was "Our SOClet campuS. , ,Y. '. Mr Pasini outlined the ob- JectIves ' of th'e senlor mechanlcal , engl-' AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF neenng , SOclety and urged all students ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS graduatin th' 'th g IS year to become affiliated The last meeting of the fall ter.m, + W1 as' gine enlOr group. This will save en- the AlEE heard a very info~mahve belo~rst money because those who do not talk, "Electrical Measunng In- qUire~ to the student chapter will be re- " gl'ven by Mr. T. S. strumen s t C 0 pay $ 10 more to join, Other a t' 't' C W thorne Instrument 0" ic' c IVl les for the term were a Cawthorne 0 f a P mc and d March ~nce at Grand Ledge and a Detroit., 1 for the winter term tions." of Tlme movie, "Public Rela- Tentahve pans . h Olds- include an inspection tnp throug Place- , lk b Mr Skamser on try ~~l~eaker from the television indus- moblle,ata Y . djobinterviews. lie is 1 t be p.resented during winter term, ment Office procedure an power is t f Consumers broad 0 ~nng a portable tel e vis ion Mr. Beat y 0 k "What the Inter- demo c~stIn,g and receiving setup for a scheduled to tal, on Young Engineer." ns ratIon. viewer Looks for In a 17 January, 1951 L •• ~~UTOMOTIVE p.~eN'f!R------~ BY CHARLES E. PAUL, SENIOR E. E. AND WILLIAM M. THROOP, SENIOR S. E. During the ninteenth century auto- conceived ideas for his first steam motive pioneers were busy perfect- carriage. ing the "horseless carriage" which was As a source of power for his new destined to become one of the greatest carriage. Olds invented a steam boiler inventions of that era. One of the many that obtained its heat from gasoline. He men working on this project was the late tested it by attaching the boiler to a Ransom Eli Olds. Here are some of his small skiff taking trips up and down the experiences while he was working on Grand River in Lansing. Although the improvements of the automobile. invention worked remarkably well, Lan- By 1880, when young Olds had singites were saying, "If that wild Olds I reached fifteen, he had already become kid keeps fooling with steam he will blow quite a dreamer. As a boy, young Ran- himself to Hades." ny, as he was called, was always inves- Shortly thereafter Olds started work tigating things that were mechanical. on a steam automobile. At first he was Almost from the time he could walk he laughed at. by the men in his father's had spent his spare time rummaging in shop. They predicted that the contrap- the dark corners of his father's small tion he was building would never work. shop in Geneva, Ohio. In the shop he However, in the face of this skep t.lCl'sm , found tiny pieces of scrap metal that he diligently worked on his idea. were more precious to him than dia- One spring evening in 1886, Olds monds. He would take this metal and completed his first steam autom~- twist or hammer it into workable parts bile. Rather than take the chance of hIS which he could use. friends making fun of him for being a One day while he was taking care of failure he waited until early the next the family horse he began dreaming how morning before testing it. At 3 A.M. wonderful it would be if a person could Olds awoke and went to the machine shop design an engine that could be hooked to where he kept his carriage. As he cau,~ a carriage, thereby eliminating the tiouslywheeled the "horseles.s carriage, horse. Olds thought that if steam could out of the shop and made a few last min- be used to propel boats and trains why ute adjustments while the engine waS could it not just as easily drive a"car- riage building up steam, the momentous ques.- t.lOn k ept haunting him . "Would It Sometime later the Old's family work? " . Up to this point the te st had moved to Lansing, Michigan, and Ran- gone according to plan. He had come som became a partner in his father's this far without awakening his family or business. It was here that Olds his neighbors and was wise enough to 18 SPARTAN ENGINEER I schedule the test at an hour when the to drive the carriage. In order to get streets were quiet. the necessary power he would have to The streets of the immediate vicini- build a larger boiler. Another weakness ty were very quiet until R. E. began to Wa{> the gear arrangement. The crude work the clutch on the "horseless car- gears had been responsible for the noise riage". Suddenly the streets reverbrated that had a w a ken e d every family for with inhuman sounds of metal parts blocks on his initial venture. With these grinding together. In a cloud of smoke improvements in mind R. E. set upon the the carriage jumped and jerked and then task of achieving them. went rumbling down the quiet village By 1890, the second steam automo- street. After t r a vel in g two blocks, bile began taking shape. This auto- awakening countless sleepers, and had a larger boiler and more refine- causing a milk horse to run away, the ments than the first steam carriage. At engine came to an abrupt stop. the appointed time he rolled this second Olds was immediately surrounded by "horseless carriage" into the street. irrate citizens who made fun of him As the crowd gathered R. E. began mak- and wanted to know why he was perform- ing the necessary adjustments. After is- ing the test at this peculiar hour. While suing a warning for the spectators to he was sitting upon his carriage waiting stand back the young inventor opened the for the engine to again build up stearn throttle and the vehicle began moving R. E. was accosted with insults. Never- forward. theless' once again he put the carriage This attempt was different than his into gear. The carriage shook and out of first. The carriage did not lurch for- a cloud of steam Olds began his trek ward as -before and the grinding of gear s back to the machine shop. -He created was not as noticeable. After traveling a a horseless carriage that would run few blocks and gaging his trip according perhaps only a few blocks, with its de- to the amount of steam he had built up, fects, but it had operated under its own Olds started back to the shop. Arriving power. at the shop with little stearn to spare and That rnorning at breakfast Olds was knowing he could travel little farther, he teased by his brothers about the defects decided to quit for the day. of his invention. Later that day, after Olds was immediately approached the workmen in his father's shop had by a reporter from the local newspaper gone home, he t.ook the canvas off his who said that he would publicize the in- carriage and began dismantling it. His vention. This was big news as there was father, who remained in the shop, no successful inventor of a "horseless watched with interest Finally he said, carrIage. " before this time '. The public- ".Somehow, R. E., I ~idn't think you'd ~ty was international and a patent medI- glV~nup this wild idea of yours, but I see cine company in London, England bought Youre tearing the thing down". this second carriage for use in Bombay, India .. . .R. E. realized that his father had llUSlnter t d . BY 1893, the Olds Gasoline. Engme . pre e hIS gesture. Finally he saId "y I' Works was producing gasohne en- b ' es, m tearing it down, but only .. t.t After Otto developed . ecause I've thought of some obvious glnes In quan I y ... ngine with illummatmg Improve the f our cy cle e t' ments. Before long I'll be put- Olds started a search to gas as a f ue,1 . doIn~It it '11 back together again, and when I "d 'n the internal combustIon use l1quI gas I .. WI be a much better vehicle" . . F' lly he devised a mIXIng engIne. Ina . After numerous rebuildings Olds ur e tor which spht the realiZed that he had made a serious er- valve or car b .' ror in . into fine partIcles In calculating the power necessary liquid gasol1ne (Continued to page 22) 19 January, 1951 Autombile Scenes o the Earli1900's ". WORKSHOP WHERE THE FIRST OLDS ENGINE SECOND AUTOMOBILE BUilT BY R. E. OlDS. IT WAS LATER SOLD TO A MEDICINE COMPANY WAS BUILT. IN INDIA. THEO~ A MASS PRODUCTION ASSEMBLY LINE AS IT APPEARED IN 1901. FIRST OlDS GASOLINE STEAM CAR - __ BUILT IN 1816 • FIRST AUTOMOBilE ADVERTISEll&'~IARED IN SATURDAY EVENIN; POST. .. DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1901. OLDS MOTOR WORKS, DETROIT _ FIRST FACT -- J THE OLDS MOTOR WORKS, DETROIT - ORY FOR BUILDING MOTOR VEHICLES. 20 21 January, 1951 SPART AN ENGINEER J R.E.OLDS ing the duties of general manager, but (Continued' from poge 19) now his policie s were being questioned. combination with air. This mixture pro- The shift of policy was not due to a su- vided far more power than the illuminat- perior knowledge of engineering, but be- ing gas. Olds started inve stigating the cause of the amount of stock held byout- possibility of putting the gasoline engine side men. Mr. aIds told the board that on wheels. they were free to choose a new general R. E. knew that the finished gasoline manager. This removed him from the powered vehicle would need a body simi- automobile business which :hehad worked lar to that of the "horseless carriage". so hard in creating. Finally the automobile began taking its In 1904, aIds was approached by a final shape. Hard rubber tires were group of citizens from Lansing that pro- provided instead of steel rims. Two posed the establishment of a second auto- seats were installed and the vehicle was mobile plant in Lansing. After a time equipped with gears to move in botb for- another company was formed which was ward and reverse directions. to be known as the REO Motor Car After Olds had run into considerable Company, taking its name from Mr. Olds' financial difficulties in Lansing he was initials. Soon an 800 foot, two story promised support in Detroit. A site for building was erected and REO cars were a new plant was purchased, a three story being produced in it. building erected, and the Olds Motor Works was moved to Detroit. During his entire career, he never A new car was des i g n e d which forgot a friend. Once, in 1887, when weighed scarcely 700 pounds. The en- the newly 0 r g ani zed aIds Gasoline gine was of the single cylinder, four Engine Works was experiencing a fi- cycle type. A metal chain transmitted nancial crisis, R. E. was able to obtain the power from the engine to the axle. a small loa n from Professor R. E. It had two forward speeds and one re- Kedzie, a chemist at Michigan State Col- verse. The front of this car curved up- lege. R. E. repaid the loan in full, but he ward and this new model Soon became never forgot. known as the Curved-dash Oldsmobile Thirty years rater, Dr. Frank S. Runabout. Kedzie, a son of Professor Kedzie, was It was while in Detroit that Olds president of the same insb 't ut'lon. A started building car s on the principle of disastrous fire destroyed the engineering mass production. Howe ve r, shortly building, leaving Dr. Kedzie confronted after this mass production was started with a difficult situation. the entire plant was razed by fire. One The college was faced with the losS of the workers managed to save one of of many students, for there were nO the Curved-dash models as well as the funds to replace the facilities destroyed drawings and specifications. Olds was by the fire. R. E. aIds came to the i m m e d i ate 1y offered the State Fair rescue almost immediately. Grounds at Lansing as a site for another On June 1, 1917, the aIds Hall of plant. This would be given to the Olds Engineering was formerly dedicated. Motor Works at no cost and since many The cost was $121,422.00 -- mor ethan buildings were available it was a great . 121 bmes the amount R .. E h a d once incentive to return to Lansing. After the borrowed from Dr. Kedzie's father. change back to Lansing, production was resumed almost immediately. Through the efforts of men l'ke ~ Ransom Eli aIds the automo t.lve In- At the age of forty R. E. found him- dustry has, from a humble b egl.n ning, self a minority stockholder in the compa- grown to one that equally ranks Wl .th the ny he had founded. He had been assum- largest industries. 22 SPART AN ENGINEER • • partners In creating For 81 years, leaders of the engineering profession have mode K & E products their partners in creating the technical achievements of our age. K & E instru- ments, drafting equipment and materials-such as the LEROyt Lettering equipment in the picture-have thus played a part in virtually every great engineering project in America . .......", Experience, they say, is the best teacher. But you can avoid one pitfall if- from the very start-youe wir- ing specifications call for Sherarduct Rigid Steel Con- duit. It ha~ meant "perma- tRego u.s. Pat. Off. nence" and "quality" to the electrical trade for more than KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. 40 years because it is proc- essed to meet all the require- NEW YORK • HOBOKEN, N. J. Chicago • St. Louis • Detroit ments of an outstanding San Francisco • Los Angeles' Montreal conduit . • It is made o( Spelleri~d steel (or a hne, even texture . • It is Sherardized by alloying zinc to steel to gi ve it ruSt- \\ ,'LL SEE YOU resistance and li(e-Ion~lro- teClion. Zinc is apphe &0 smoothly that tllJelllhe threads are protected. IN THE • It is treated with Shera-Solu. tion enamel to $ive it smooth surfaces and aCid-resistance. APRIL You can always expect a feather in your cap wb~n you spt:cify the installation of ISSUE Sherarduct. It will "last as long as the building stands." Sht:rarduct is but one of many OF outstanding pro?ucts ma~e by National ElectClc-a rellable ,HE source of supply !or any e~ec- trieal roughing-lD matenaIs that you might need. SpartaN ENGINEER" 23 January, 1951 HISTORY of the SLIDERULE (Continued from page 15) While most of this development was in England, France did contribute some to the development of the slide rule until the time of the Napoleonic Wars, In 1815, Peter M. Fuget, a French physician, invented the log-log scale. Such a scale was not practical then, but came into use after several "inventions" by the French and English. In 1821, Lenoir popularized the log-log scale by inventing a machine to divide it. His machine greatly increased the accuracy of the scale, which previously had been divided by hand. Amedee Mannheim introduced the Mannheim Slide Rule in 1851. Although he designed his rule in 1850, he publicly announced it the following year in a publication called Modified Calculating Rule In- structions. At the time, the 20-year old Mannheim was a French artillery officer at Metz, a fortress of Alsace -Lorraine. The French artillery adopted Mannheim's rule for their use, and named a firm to .. ,Id's flust d,nln, pencil manufacture them. with , ... , .. ,/APOIRD It took an Italian to popularize the Mannheim rule. In 1859, a book written by the Italian Sella CASTEll I.. ~ now! highly recommended the Mannheim rule, and soon it carne into general use in Europe. However, England Why wait until yev graduate? did not begin to use it until twenty years later and in Start u$ing the Drawing Pencil the United States ten years after that. 01the MoJte'$ todor-mooth, 'ree,flowing,grit,'," CASTEll, The United States began to recognize the Ma~n- CK'CIIIVtely groded in 18 un- heim rule about 1881, which coincided with the In- lfOr)'ing tonw 01 bIock,711o 9H. vention of the first cylindrical slide rule by Edwin YOU CAN AFFORD CASTEll- Thacher. But the use of the slide rule did not be- &ecvu.e H ovtIom other pen- come really popular until 1890. About this ti~e cil" hence i$ more KOnomico/, William Cox began work on the slide rule. Taking In oddHion, yev get the per. the Mannheim rule as a standard, Cox started a long ,onol lOtiIIaction 01 wperiar campaign of propaganda and "education" in the Ne,w c,a'hman,hip that only York publication, Engineering News. He wrote ar~l- CASTEll give" Unlilce ardi. -y pendl" CASTELl marp- cles describing the Mannheim rule and told of lts e/ll 10 a ltHd/epoint witbout value and importance to engineers and technical f &r.oIcing, \ ' workers. In addition, he obtained several patents to variations of the Mannheim rule, and in 1~9l Aile 'ar CASTEll at your booIf wrote a manual of instructions for use of the shde Itore, Don't allow yovr,eH to be tallced into u,ing 0 ,ubm. , J: ; rule. Also, Cox patented his duplex slide rul\ -, tut., CASTEll i, a IHe.time Based on the principle used by Seth Partridge haC hoI:Ht 'ar up-and-coming Engi. in 1683, and using a variation of the Mannheim rule, Cox's rule was the immediate forerunner of the popular polyphase duplex rule. fel All of Cox's rules were manufactured by Keuf . hed d re- and Esser, and several times they pubhs an t . d h'lS shde Vlse . rule manual. In 1908, K & E b rou ght the aU the log-log duplex slide rule, and more recently the l?g-log duplex decitrig variation, to complete hst of slide rules of standard form now in use. Unt'l1 englneering . ase students are able t ~ P urch f the one of the ~ew electronic computing machlnes a this ~ocket vanety, they will have to continue to use lnv en t.lon 0 f three centuries ago. 24 SPART AN ENGINEER Building the firsl Am' . ~ Bridge. Crane which ellcanlzed ~resllessed-Concrele ~Ithe b!idge operale:~~fets desIgned loa.d capacity ort Its concrete ley on the unfinished span presrr."ing applied s ab has been laid or laleral IN OCTOBER the first Prestressed-Concrete Bridge in the United States Th. bridge loca'r d . ftt~, was desi e. In Madison County, Ten- wa~ put in service. Its roadway, designed for a 15-ton load, was of an ~alhville ... bUilfnb~ ~ lryan and Dozier, of entirely new design which permitted amazing speed of construction and a y C~~~lyunEd.~ supervision B nglneer. Co ~~onEd<;::unntyC HRighwa . ogers cost only $2.00 per square foot. With the experience gained, it is esti- r.. ko Block '" Tile C~~ele blocks by Nashvill; mated that similar spans to be built will be erected in five days-ready for traffic in 14 days - and at an even lower cost. The span is made up of beams formed of machine-made concrete blocks laid horizontalIy with mortar joints. Two Roebling Prestressed-Concrete Galvanized Strands running through longitudinal holes in the blocks were placed under tension, converting each beam into a self-contained monO- lithic concrete unit. After the beams were erected in place, the span was covered with a continuous, mesh-reinforced concrete slab and laterally prestressed when the concrete had cured to strength. Americanized Prestressed-Concrete, employing special cold drawn steel wire and specially designed fittings, is an exclusive Roebling development. It makes available a new construction material with an exceptional strength- Swingin th 10 10rOlgth e assembled Coner . weight ratio ... a material economical in itself and a real time-saver! Its Ooly 11Y, • eddeck cover lor th~reb ~dams 1010 place • eep. tI ge. Beams are potentials quickly recognized, it has already been adopted in several structures, including use for floors and roof of a large commercial building now under construction. The Roebling engineering staff is ready to help your engineers work oul problems connected with new applications for Prestressed-Concrete. FOR NEW DEVELOPMENTS ~~ ,~ ~A.j.6 ,41 ~~~~;::;:~~~~S~/~~ rK/t9f /1(} "..;.~_{i_~~_V.A"_I~' Amedcani d galvani edze Presllessed C es.igned fil ~old drawn sl~e'icrele employs special oPOlenrs w~!'gs. It is these rce Wlte and. specially "t/anta. JOHN A, ROEBLING'S SONS COMPANY. 3253 Fr.donio Ave • Cleveland. 701 51. Clair Av•. , H.E. • Houston. 6216 Novigalion Blvd.• Los Anlle'es. 216 S. Alom.da TRENTON 2. NEW JERSEY 934 Avon Ave .• loston. 51 Sl•• per St.• Clslcollo, 5525 W. Roo•• vell Rd. • ClncfllIlGt~ Denver. 4801 Jochon 51. 51. • Hew YOlk. 19 Reclor 51. ;;." 0" Itructioo. Icb make possibl ';!,. e Roebling devel- IS type of con- * p""adelplsla. i2 S. 121h 51.• Sa .. "anelsco. 1740 Sevenleenlh 51. • Seott/e, 900 Firsl Av•. , S. 25 January I 1951 The' 'turbo -hearth " development is NEW DEVELOPMENTS regarded as especially important be- (Continued from page 14) cause it provides a steelmakmg method For ship to ship contact the receiv- that is fast yet flexible. A hearth of 30- ers are mounted on the deck for c,lear- ton capacity is capable of making much ance in all directions. Gyroscop1cally more steel in a day than a 225-ton stand- controlled mounts may be used to keep ard open hearth furnace. Hearths may the instruments steady and aimed at the be used as the demand for steel warrants other instrument even in the heavy use. it. Most significant is the fact that ox~- A portable unit has bee,n developed gen may be added to the standard au for field use. This transce1ver may be blast and still further speed up the pro- carried and operated easily by one man, cess, and the wide angle beam makes it useful NON-FERROMAGNETIC SYNCHROTRON in contacting both tanks and plane s .. A new atom smasher expected to The new system uses a gas dis .... produce X-rays of 300,000,000 :ol,ts. charge light whose in ten sit y can, be was announced as being successful m Its varied electrically to carry the V01ce first phases of operation. communication, One source use in the This new machine is known as a transmitter is the caesium vapor arc- "non-ferromagnetic synchrotron. " and lamp ope rating in an a t m 0 s p her e of was built for the Office of Naval Re- argon gas. The resonance light from search. Although it has been ope~at~d the lamp is similar to that emitted by only to the million-volt range ,It IS yellow sodium va po r -1 amp s used for expected to be running in the hIgher street lighting, except that the caesium ranges very soon. , d vapor arc -light is just beyond the visible The new atom smasher is des1gne range in the near infra-red region. to eliminate the large iron-core electr~- magnets that are commonly used m TURBO-HEARTH devices. In the place of these l~rlgle Details of a new steel making pro- h ave b een Put speCla'1Y electromagnets cess were presented recently to the ' These t' C01sd designed coils of WlTe. American Institute of Mining and Metal- d d are con amem lurgical Engineers. carry the heavy oa , an 1 in a steel, evacuated tan k . The vacuu This process, called the "turbo- produced in this tan k. IS e qual to one hearth," is to be capable of making open hearth-quality steel in 12 minutes with- billionth of an atmosphere or be~t:~~ons out using external fuel. Physicists believe that sync r 1 _ The hearth chamber in wh}ch the of this type may be use d' lIt the acceItser ation of electrons, up to a b'll'on 1 1 vo ' steel was experimentally produced, is shaped like a large coffee -maker, built LUBRICATED SKI S h 'ns may set American ski c amplO f skis of heavy steel and lined with basic brick new records through the use t~' used which can stand temperatures as high as ' made of m1carta, t h e sam e plas 1C r 3000 degrees F, It is suspended on trun- in Army helmet hners d'unng the wa .nd ' nions so that its spout can be raised during the heating period and lowered M i car t a has a h' 1g h glosS 't d aby smoothness , and 1S es b t lubnca 't' e gpro- for charging and to pour of the finished , th1s , wa t er lubnca d1n rface steel into ladles or ingot molds. water, It 1S perty that makes m1car . t a a goo , su ta bot- Like the B e sse mer Con v e r t e r, "turbo-hearth" steel is made without for skis. By actual test the m~ca~er than the use of external fuel. The heat is tomed skis have prove~ to be f ~ckory, provided from chemical energy obtained the best skis made entIrely 0 f cloth . M1carta , ma d e 0f layers 0 'n and 1S from the burning of the impurities in liquid iron with a blast of air. The air saturated with a s y n t h e t'1 c reS1 tic being in the "turbo-hearth" is applied from pressed under heat. The p 1a; being in the sides at the surface of the charge. lubricated by water, and the s 1keep the The experimental s tee 1 produced constant contact with, the sn~~. s means was cast into ingots, rolled into plates, ski lubricated at all tImes. 1 neces- and subjected to tests for tensile not only more speed, b~t also n~et snOw strength, bending, strain aging and im- sity for waxing, except 1n very ed skiS. pact. In all these tests the new steel conditions. The micarta- botto::;finished behaved like open hearth steel of the need not be sanded, regrooved, f normal same composition, or relacquered over years 0 service. 26 C::Pl1RTAN ENG INEER New tel eV1SIon .. microphone, develo pe d at ReA LaboratorIes, .. vJrtually vanishes when in active use. Continue your education with pay-at RCA Graduate Electrical EnginccrJl ileA VJt:wr- ,01\t of the world'. furl:H10,l "lall'1- facturen of rll