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How to Run An Atomic Power Plant

Nuclear research piles give preview of methods that may be used to make tomorrow’s electricity.

By Martin Mann

You—as a citizen—own a part of the 2-1/2 billion-dollar atomic-energy industry. Although your individual share is only one in 143,000,000, it is probably the most important single thing you own. It provides the most powerful weapon in our arsenal for war, promises cures for many diseases, and will eventually furnish cheaper electricity and transportation.

YOU’VE heard a lot about atomic energy. But you probably have a lot of questions because so few people have actually seen an atomic engine. Well, I have. I was one of a small group of reporters who saw two nuclear piles early this winter. While they were operating, I touched them, stood on top of one, saw it turned on and off, watched as “hot” radioactive materials were taken out of it. So maybe I can help you visualize the process and get rid of some of the mystery. Let’s imagine you have just gotten a job running an “atom furnace.” Sure I mean you! Some day such jobs will be as common as locomotive engineers. The engines of die future will be like the experimental piles I saw at the Argonne National Laboratory, which the University of Chicago runs for the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, used to transfer heat out of power piles, but what that material will be is still a question. That’s one reason nobody has built a real power pile yet. A good heat-transfer fluid will probably be found among the metals that melt easily—bismuth might be a possibility.
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Tomorrow’s Design Today…

Airplane design involves a staggering amount of data processing—a seemingly endless number of computations and tests between the drawing board and the production line. Every hour…every day … every week gained here brings the time when the finished plane takes off on its first flight just that much closer. In the aircraft industry, as in many other engineering applications, the Remington Rand ERA 1103 Electronic Computing System has proven how easily it can handle the most difficult research problems. Here are some reasons why leading aircraft builders and other prominent users are counting on the ERA 1103 these days:
Because of its ability to reduce large volumes of data at extremely high speeds, the ERA 1103 is the ideal computing system for scientific applications. Its speed is matched by many other outstanding characteristics: superb operating efficiency, obtained through large storage capacity … great programming versatility… the ability to operate simultaneously with a wide variety of input-output devices … and far greater reliability than any computer in its class. For more information about the ERA 1103, or for information about how you might apply the system to your particular problems, write to …
ELECTRONIC COMPUTER DEPARTMENT, REMINGTON RAND
ROOM 1915, 315 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK 10

NEW DEPARTURES OF TOMORROW
Bake-O-Mat 1960?
TOMORROW: Breads and pastries . . . mixed, baked, sliced, wrapped at your door!
Place your order at your door. In seconds, Bake-O-Mat mixes and processes the ingredients, electronically bakes, slices, and wraps any of a wide variety of hot breads and pastries—as you watch!
When? 1960? Could be! But, one thing is sure. Then, as now, New Departure ball bearings will reduce costs by simplifying machine design . . . increase customer satisfaction with added product dependability.
If you’re “cooking up” a new machine—or improving a present one—New Departure’s engineering service provides the right bearings for you!
NEW DEPARTURE • DIVISION OF GENERAL MOTORS • BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
NEW DEPARTURE BALL BEARINGS
NOTHING ROLLS LIKE A BALL

Birds Hit With Bullets of Light
BULLETS of light instead of the usual lead shot are being employed by Chicago’s sportsmen in a new trapshooting game.
The sport, which is said to be absolutely noiseless, may be played in an ordinary hall. It is held to be a valuable aid in perfecting marksmanship.
Photo-electric cells are mounted in the bodies of duck targets which move across a panelled opening at one end of the room. Each gun has its source of light which flashes on when the trigger is pressed.
If a marksman “hits” the photo-electric cell directly in the center of the bird’s body, the duck falls and the number of respective hits is registered automatically in light.

This reminds me of the Tinker Toy computer built by Danny Hillis, though not quite as cool.

Calculating Machine is built of Toy Parts

CONSTRUCTED entirely from the wheels, gears and structural members of a popular construction toy set, an amazing calculating machine at Manchester University, England can do in a few minutes problems which ordinarily would require many days of tedious work by mathematicians. The only other machine of its kind is at Boston, Mass. When experiments on this machine have been completed, Mr. A. Porter and Professor Hartree, its builders, propose to make a larger model, 27 feet long and 12 feet wide.

Plane Wing Carries 14 Men
SOVIET military aviators have converted an ordinary two-seater airplane into a troop transport carrying 14 soldiers by building a special compartment onto the bottom of the plane’s lower wing. The men lie in a prone position within the compartment and are fully protected from the wind.
In test flights the converted plane earned 14 men and gas spreading equipment with a total weight of 4,400 pounds at a speed of 111 m.p.h. The plane will be used in time of war to land special troops behind enemy lines, a military strategy resembling Soviet experiments with mass parachuting of troops. The plane can also be used to transport wounded soldiers to base hospitals.

Coiffeurs Foil Breezes With a Cellophane Hair Lacquer
A NEW coiffure, “Cellophane Hair,” recently developed in Hollywood, is wind proof, according to Lawrence G. Springer, inventor of the process.
A Cellophane lacquer is sprayer onto the hair. While the hair is still wet, it is pressed into shape by the skilled hands of the coiffeur and painted with a small brush. The paint comes in any color milady desires, tints often being chosen to match corsages or gowns.
The hair is dried quickly under electric driers, developing, during the drying process, sleek glossy highlights that show to an advantage under artificial lighting.
The coiffure is not easily mussed, and it will stay in place for days.
It is expected that this coiffure will be quite popular for evening wear. The lacquer is easily removed with soap and water.

you may think you’re
TALL enough…but what does she think?
No doubt in YOUR mind, or HERS when you wear “ELEVATORS”.
These amazing height-Increasing shoes make you almost 2 inches taller instantly, smartly, confidentially.
She’ll look UP to you. Be sure, be smart, be taller; change to “ELEVATORS”.
STONE-TARLOW CO.. INC. DEPT MI-9-55, BROCKTON 68, MASS.

Nickel Meter Stops Overparking
OKLAHOMA CITY is cashing in on its car- parking problem by charging all motorists a nickel to park for from 15 minutes up to an hour, depending on location. At each parking space on the curb is a nickel meter. When a nickel is inserted, a clock mechanism raises a red indicator for the allotted time. The traffic policeman, on making the rounds, passes out tickets where no indicator is showing.

Expert Tastes Soap for a Living
TESTING soap by taste is one of the chief duties of Joseph Strobl, chief soap maker for a Los Angeles company. He samples the cooking product much like an expert chef. Chemical tests take too long at critical stages and are said to be less accurate than Strobl’s tongue.

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SCIENCE IS KING
“Men who made civilization what it is today were not famous statesmen, conquerors or philosophers. They were—and are—men engaged in the mechanical sciences”

BY LOWELL THOMAS

OVER the airwaves comes a desperate appeal to the radio station at Nome. “For God’s sake, send help, if you can. We’re starving and dying. There’s an epidemic. Almost everybody is flat in bed.”

“What do you need? Food?”

“Food, yes, and milk. But above all, serum. This whole settlement will be wiped out if we don’t get serum.”

By dog-sled and man-power it would take two weeks and a lot of luck to carry the needed supplies to that stricken community. But there is Joe Crosson with his plane. Can he make it? The problem is put up to him.

“We’ll do our durndest,” he replies, speaking for himself and plane.

We won’t go in to the trouble and danger he goes through. For one thing, it’s an old story to Joe Crosson. He has done it before probably will have to do it again several times. The point at this moment is that he does it. An entire settlement in the frozen North is saved from extinction.
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This is the first in a really weird series of ads I’m posting from the Ford Instrument Company. All of them involve these two little dolls doing things like launching missiles or torpedoes, shooting guns, or manning radar stations. Very odd stuff.

about missile guidance
…AND FORD INSTRUMENT COMPANY
To make sure that a missile hits its target, Ford Instrument provides it with a guidance system that is sensitive to the variable conditions it meets along the way. If you have problems in this field, it will pay you to talk them over with Ford engineers. Guided missile devices are typical of the systems that Ford designs and manufactures for the Armed Forces and the Atomic Energy Commission. Thousands of Ford specialists are now working on such projects as electronic, hydraulic, mechanical and electrical servo-mechanisms, computers, controls and drives.
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