INVENTIONS WANTED!

FISH FOOD in time-release capsules that would dissolve over several days or weeks. Philip F. Sidotti, Glassboro. N. J.

QUARTER-IN.-WIDE safety razor lor a professional-looking home trim around the ears. George Smith. Chicago, Ill.

ICE CREAM freezer that could be hooked up to an exercise bike to make your perspiration more worthwhile. Ross White, Hueytown. Ala.

COMBINATION chapstick-suntan oil (refill-able) holder on a neckstring for the convenience of skiers. Scott Wilson, Selma. Calif.

TYPEWRITER ribbon cartridges that could be dropped in cleanly, like film in an Instamatic camera. R. S. Liholm, Anacortes, Wash.

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GUN TRADERS’ SUPERMARKET

You can get anything from a blunderbuss to a burp gun at this busy swap session.

ANY exhibition of guns, old or new, has a fascination for men of all sorts, from serious shooters and collectors to Walter Mittys who have never fondled anything more lethal than a cap pistol. The Gun Traders’ Market, a periodic event at Klein’s Sporting Goods Store in Elmwood Park, Ill., near Chicago, brings together a wide assortment of shooting irons and a large crowd of gun lovers from miles around. For those who only look, the trading and the traders are just as interesting as the guns. The event brings new customers, good will and lots of would-be Davy Crocketts to Klein’s.

New Machine Makes 600 Shoes in Eight Hours

SIX HUNDRED pairs of shoes in eight hour is the record set by the new shoe manufacturing machine recently exhibited at the Leather Fair in London, shown in the photo below. It resembles a gigantic wheel, the spokes of which contain the electrical devices which control the operation of the mechanism on the wheel’s rim. There is room for 14 pairs of shoes on the rim of the wheel. This type of invention is in keeping with the general trend of manufacturing efforts to increase the production of finished products with less overhead expense in both man power and mechanical power.

Mi-stoppers

BIG TIME DISPLAY in Frankfurt Germany, prompted this pretty Fraulein’s double-take. Sure enough, all of the huge wristwatches keep accurate time. Exhibit was part of a watch and jewelry fair.

GOVERNOR GETS THE BIRD. Kentucky governor, Lawrence Wetherby. delighted visitors at the State Fair recently when be donned a jockey’s costume and took the reins of this ostrich-drawn sulky.

CANINE COPTER LIFT, above, is employed by the British Navy for hauling scout dogs up into their craft upon the completion of bandit-hunting expeditions in the Malayan jungle. Steady now, Fido!

POODLE CUTS are finding their way home at last. Pete, shown here getting a complete tonsorial treatment at the hands of W. E. Simmons of Myrtle Beach, S. C comes by a poodle hairdo naturally.

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I Shampoo the Sidewalks of New York

A bright idea and home town pride prompted this ex-sweater manufacturer to beautify the city’s neglected pavements. Now he reaps the reward.

By Louis Schwartz

EAST Side, West Side, all around the Town . . . my Sidewalk Sanitation Service has made its debut and though it doesn’t cover quite as big an area as the song does—yet—I hope S.S.S. will be just as familiar before long.

I started this business a year ago by convincing one department store manager in New York City that scientific, mechanized methods could restore beauty to his sidewalks, at less expense than old-fashioned wash-’em-down methods. Today many of New York’s leading stores and hotels, stretching over some 40 city blocks, have signed up for my beauty treatment.

Where did I get the idea for a business as unusual as this? Well, having seen men scrubbing sidewalks by hand a hundred times without giving if much thought, one day I wondered: Why should people use such primitive methods outdoors while. they operate by pushbuttons indoors? Right then I started dreaming of a practical method to give stores and hotels better and cheaper cleaning service. Street cleaning is the city’s responsibility but sidewalk shampooing is left up to the property owners. Why couldn’t I relieve them of this responsibility—and make a few dollars doing it? I also wanted to have a hand in beautifying New York, my home town.

Then the fun began. Aside from watching my wife clean house, I had no background at all for my proposed occupation. Before the war I was in the ladies’ sweater manufacturing business. Then I became a navigator on a B-24 and served in the South Pacific where the girls don’t wear sweaters. No sidewalk sanitation in the picture yet. But I have always liked to tinker and I went to work on my new idea wholeheartedly, experimenting and doing research, checking with city authorities and consulting manufacturers.

I concocted several cleaning compounds and tried some of them out on the Fifth Avenue sidewalk in front of Bergdorf Goodman, one of New York’s ritziest stores. There are many different types of cement pavement. I wanted to discover the compound best adapted to all types. Every night for a couple of weeks I stationed myself in front of Bergdorf Goodman, poured on the detergent, then scrubbed away with a brush. After scouring for a while and noting the effect on the pavement, I’d go home.

. There were always some taxicabs parked across the street from the store and the drivers would watch my antics with vast curiosity. I used to see them wink at each other when I made my nightly visits but I tried not to let it upset me. Much later, when I was ready to give a real demonstration of my cleaning service to some city officials, one of the hackies came over to me and confessed: “Gee, brother, am I glad to know at last what you’re doing! Confidentially, we used to think you were a little . . . ah . . . you know. As I say, I’m sure glad that things are cleared up now.”

But that was much later. First I spent considerable time helping to design our special scrubbing machines. Then I had to get permission from the city to use the machines on the pavements while working out the most efficient cleaning techniques. All told, it cost about $15,000 to get started.

As we finally worked it out, through trial and error, there are three separate steps to our cleaning technique. The first operation consists of general debris removal. You’d be surprised, as I was at first, to see how much dirt accumulates on those famous sidewalks of New York. The worst offender is chewing gum. But we evolved a high-pressure steam machine which, together with my compound, goes to work on the pores of the cement and does a first-rate cleaning job. This machine also restores the original color of the sidewalk.

After this initial conditioning, our big baby goes to work. I’m very proud of our two three-wheeled monsters which resemble tanks as they lumber up and down the sidewalks. Actually, they’re patterned after the city’s own street cleaning machines, adapted to our own special use. Each holds a 150-gallon water tank which, since the water shortage began in New York, I fill with chlorinated river water mixed with my chemical detergent.

Nozzles strung across the 5-1/2-ft.-wide bottom of our tanks spray the treated water on the sidewalk. This mixture attacks the dirt in the cement and a big brush attached in front of the rear wheel sweeps and scrubs. The operation is very effective. It also pleases the city officials, as well as our customers, since all litter is actually picked up—sucked into a hopper—and not just tossed aside for someone else to pick up. Some of the stores take this service five nights a week and the hotels usually subscribe to it seven days a week.

On the busy sidewalks of the world’s largest city, our little “tank” arouses great curiosity.

When we first tried it out about a year ago, it was quite a traffic stopper.

One woman onlooker recently told one of my men that she was tremendously impressed with what he was doing and that she would personally go and speak to the mayor and ask him to duplicate our service on all the streets of New York. Who knows, maybe she did! Anyway, I do know that good will always pays off.

I also worked out a little patrol machine which constitutes the third phase in our service. We have ten of these machines now. They resemble carpet sweepers and my men use them during the day to pick up cigarette stubs, fine dust and any other debris that doesn’t belong on a sidewalk. Stores take this service at least three times during the day, hotels more often.

In winter, S.S.S. is also in the snow removal business. We are the only private snow removal company in the city, equipped to give service on a large scale. We’re on call day and night, Sundays and holidays, with gasoline-driven snowplows. The Weather Bureau notifies us when a storm is brewing and we have on file the names of some 500 college students who are willing to pitch in as soon as the flakes begin to whirl.

Our quest for cleaner sidewalks doesn’t confine itself to New York. We are in the $100,000 business bracket and are negotiating with men in other cities who will join Sidewalk Sanitation Service on a franchise basis. These men, whom I screen very carefully, buy all the necessary equipment through me. For approximately $20,000 they get the machines and complete instructions. I make the contacts for these men, getting in touch with civic groups as well as merchants, because we must have the complete cooperation of everyone concerned. A franchise operator’s income depends on how much ingenuity he puts into the work. He should earn somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 the first year.

Often our men are asked if they ever find anything valuable as they scour the sidewalks. Beyond an occasional “clink” which indicates that the machine has picked up some metal (which usually turns out to be a nail or perhaps a penny) we haven’t had any exciting finds. But I am thrilled that our work has found such quick acceptance, which is the really valuable find I’m looking for. The future looks bright. I can visualize sparkling, shampooed sidewalks stretching across the U.S.A. In the words of a little white-haired lady who was watching our tank in action, “It’s about time.”

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WHY MARRIED MEN VISIT PROSTITUTES

What are the motives which lead a married man, often with an attractive and “willing” wife, to patronize a common woman of the street?

by Albert Ellis. Ph.D.

“I SUPPOSE,” said my marriage counseling client, “that you think I’m crazy for spending so much of my time and money on the women I pick up in bars— when my wife, as you have seen, is such a fine and attractive woman.”

“It does seem a bit peculiar,” I replied, “considering that your wife, if I am to believe her story, is very much in love with you and is quite aggressive in her desire for frequent marital relations.” – “Yes, I guess it does seem peculiar. And, let me tell you, she’s being honest with you. She does want sex relations very often, and she is, as you can see, a fine figure of a woman. When I think how 1 felt about her before marriage! You’d never believe it.”

“But now—?”

“Now, frankly, she leaves me cold. Not that I don’t still admire her as a person. And, as the mother of our two children, I think she’s perfectly great. Couldn’t want anything better. But sexually! Sure she’s responsive — in theory. But just as soon as I give in to her need, all she does is lie supinely and leave the entire role of love-making completely to me.”

“If I understand you correctly,” I said, “your wife wants you to do the active lovemaking, while she, once coitus begins, does little or nothing. Is that right?”

“That’s exactly right — or exactly wrong, if I may coin a phrase. While the other women I go with—for the right payment and half a kind word—they’ll do almost anything I want. And they seem to get satisfaction out of it, too, a good many of them. Now do you see why I prefer them to my good-looking, fine, respectable young wife?”

I did see, very clearly. And I often see why many of my married clients patronize prostitutes, from high-class “call girls” to two-dollar women of the street, even when they have handsome and “willing” wives. For their wives, in many instances, are only willing within definite limits. They may be willing to have face to face coitus— but to try no variations of intercourse, which they consider “unnatural.” Or when these wives do try varied sex positions or acts which their husbands particularly desire, they do so reluctantly, listlessly, and guiltily, thus taking away all their husbands’ satisfaction.

Prostitutes, on the other hand, are in the business of satisfying their customers. For a stipulated fee, they will do almost anything a male desires; and will do so, in most instances, freely, guiltlessly, with verve.

Why, then, says many a male, even if he loves and respects his wife and wants to keep their marriage together, should he not patronize the woman who makes it her business to satisfy him sexually?

Other reasons why literally millions of married men regularly or irregularly patronize prostitutes include the following:

1. Many males, even though they derive satisfaction from sex relations with their wives, feel that they need a variety of partners. Some want a different type than their wives—such as a blonde instead of a brunette, or a young instead of a middle-aged woman.

Others simply want a different individual from the one with whom they participated a day ago or a week ago. The quickest and easiest way for many of these males to find a different partner is to patronize a prostitute.

2. In many instances, husbands who do not normally need sexual variety find they have no wish to remain abstinent when they are separated from their wives, when their wives are ill, or when they desire intercourse more frequently than the wives do. Again, resort to prostitutes may be easier in these instances than engaging in extramarital affairs.

3. Some men who crave variety feel that patronizing prostitutes is safer, less involving, and more loyal than having non-prostitutional affairs; and in many instances their wives agree with this viewpoint and tolerate their seeing a prostitute far better than they would tolerate a non-prostitutional relationship.

4. A surprisingly large number of men, I have found in my clinical experience, fail miserably in their marital relationships, largely because of their ignorance and prudery in regard to how to satisfy their wives sexually.

Such men are frequently impotent or sexually below par because, consciously or unconsciously, they subscribe to self-defeating sex notions which sabotage their powers and potentialities. Out of shame, they avoid having marital relations and resort to prostitutes with whom, because they pay, they are not ashamed to be poor lovers.

5. Occasionally, a man’s wife refuses to use proper birth control technique; and, rather than have intercourse with her and risk having unwanted children, he patronizes women of the streets.

6. Some men’s wives are so stingy of affection, and demand so much in return for having steady sex relations, that the male finds it actually cheaper and less emotionally blackmailing to visit prostitutes.

7. Once in a while, a man becomes deeply attached to a prostitute and keeps patronizing her, rather than bedding with his wife, because he genuinely cares for her and enjoys her company more than that of his spouse.

8. Some men, particularly those with low self-esteem, ignore the monetary element in their patronage of harlots, and convince themselves that they are making one real conquest after another in the course of such patronage. To them, even a paid “conquest” is satisfying.

9. Many husbands, for a number of neurotic reasons, occasional- ly or steadily visit prostitutes. Some thus vent their hostility against their wives. Others masochistically want to degrade themselves. Others find it impossible to be fully potent with a “good” woman. Still others seek the danger of an illicit encounter.

For a host of fearful, hostile, or guilt-laden reasons, or to erect defenses against their underlying irrational anxieties, such individuals find temporary “solutions” to their problems by bedding with a prostitute.

In general, then, a married man will resort to prostitutional affairs either for relatively sane reasons —such as the sexual inaccessibility of his wife—or for irrational ones —such as his unwillingness to face the real reasons for his being sexually unsatisfied in marriage.

In almost all cases where I have had personal contact with married males who steadily frequent women of the street, the irrational and neurotic reasons for so doing were predominant. This may partly result, however, from the fact that most people who seek my counsel are, as one might expect, fairly disturbed.

Where married males are regular patrons of prostitutes, and where they want to do something about their basic sex and general problems, cure or significant improvement is usually effected in reasonably short order.

In the case of the man whose wife refused to take an active part in coitus, it was a simple matter to induce her to participate more actively and more responsively.

At least, it was simple once I had shown him that his negative attitude toward her was encouraging her resistance in this connection, and that the more he worked at being nice to her and inducing her to be a more satisfactory sex partner, the better results he would be likely to attain.

In most instances, the husband’s neurotic attitudes about himself, about sex, about his wife, and about prostitutes must be explored.

One of my patients, for example, felt that he was so worthless that none but a prostitute, not even his own wife, could really care for him or find satisfaction in sex relations with him.

Another was patronizing call girls regularly because he was still rebelling against his mother’s early lectures against his having illicit affairs. Unconsciously, he still wanted to spite her as well as his wife (who, symbolically, he saw as another mother-figure) rather than primarily to go after the kind of sex-love satisfaction he really wanted for himself.

When irrational, early-acquired attitudes such as these are ruthlessly exposed in the course of counseling or psychotherapy, and relentlessly attacked in the light of the individual’s real goals and satisfactions, the prostitutional affairs of most men are voluntarily or spontaneously stopped.

- Dr. Ellis, a noted psychologist and sexologist, is author of “The Folklore of Sex” and “The American Sexual Tragedy,” and co-author of “The Psychology of Sex Offenders.”

Related posts

• PREMARITAL RELATIONS (Jan, 1959)
• Behind college doors… “The TRUTH about CAMPUS IMMORALITY” (Jan, 1959)
• What is your Sex Quotient? (Jan, 1959)
• What turns you on? (Jan, 1959)
• HOW MEN AND WOMEN LOOK AT SEX (Jan, 1959)
• EXTREMES IN SEX BEHAVIOR (Jan, 1959)

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What’s New

TOGETHERNESS by the tubful is the latest in bathroom decor. Twin tubs were designed by Gerald and Phyllis Yellin, a Manhasset N. Y. couple who believe that cleanliness is being next to your spouse.

MUSIC typewriter has 46 characters and can copy almost any kind of musical notation. Photo shows inventor Lily Pavey of Britain using the Imperial Pavey Musigraph.

STICK-ON bullet holes that lend air of intrigue to the most prosaic buggy are on the market in England. Holes for both the glass and body panels are available.

MARKET BAG is inflatable for use as seat cushion or headrest Handy ait beach. for long-distance travel, for toting or for just loafing.

DEPTH gauge for tire treads tells you when tire is becoming too smooth to be safe. If gauge reads less than 2mm, new tire is advised.

GEOCHRON, developed by W. German teacher Tom Gottberg, tells the time in all major cities of the world. The expected price is about $25.

TEN ft tires built by B. F. Goodrich for earth mover and scraper transmit nearly a million pounds of tractive force. Tire is tubeless, 5 ft. wide and weighs 6,000 lbs.

WEST COAST kids have taken to the king-size sissy bar as a handy place to mount a headrest or hang an ornament Price is $3.50.

No Shrink- No Spot

A DISTANT cousin of the sulfa drugs, melamine, is being used to “cure” some of the serious “ailments” of textiles.

Its most striking use is in a resin which, applied to woolens, solves the age-old problem of shrinking and matting in water.

In another form, melamine resins can be used to impregnate acetate rayons and cottons to make them spot resistant. Ink, coffee or other staining liquids, spilled on clothes made from treated fabrics, can be washed off with a damp cloth or a glassful of water.

Melamine was first developed in 1834 but was forgotten until a few years ago. It went to war in a resin applied to blankets, sleeping bag linings, socks, and insect netting. But it is in its peacetime application to textiles that melamine promises its widest use.

Woman Scientist’s Process Makes Glass Invisible

GLARE from reflected light, which has made it difficult to see pictures framed under glass at certain angles, has been removed by a new process developed in General Electric’s research laboratory by Dr. Katherine B. Blodgett (above).” By applying thin chemical films to the surface of glass, Dr. Blodgett has been able to nullify or neutralize rebounding light rays with the result that pictures framed with glass so treated appear as though there was no glass at all, regardless of the angle viewed from, as represented by center panel section of the portrait above.

The process consists of building or attach-ing to the glass a very thin transparent film of about four millionths of an inch, or exactly one-quarter wave length of light, in thickness. As light falls upon the film, rays are reflected from both the upper and lower surfaces. With the film exactly one-quarter wave length in thickness, the rays coming from the outer or upper surface are equal in intensity to those rays reflected from the lower surface, thus counteracting one another, and no light is reflected. The non-glare treatment of glass promises to have a wide-spread application in the field of camera, telescope and all other type lenses, including eye glasses although the process is still in the laboratory stage.

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NEW PRODUCTS of scientific and mechanical interest

A THERMOSTATICALLY CONTROLLED SOLDERING iron is announced by the Sound Equipment Corporation of Glendale, Cal. The Kwikheat takes only 90 seconds to be ready for use by means of a 225 watt heating unit controlled by the thermostat. Eliminating the excessively high temperatures acquired by ordinary irons during the idle period, this new iron has an unusually long life expectancy.

Six different threaded tips are available, one of which is an alloy melting pot. The iron, U.L. approved, is designed for A.C.

THE ROTAKIT, something new for the home workshop enthusiast and mechanic, has been announced by the Nicholson File Co. of Providence, R. I. It is built in the shape of a miniature bench stand and enables the worker to keep all his rotary files and burs in plain sight. A glass front serves to protect the files from dust.

Three assortments are available: No. 20 containing ten Ground Burs; No. 30, ten hand cut Rotary Files; No. 40, five Ground Burs and five Rotary Files. These can be used for die-making, pattern making, mold finishing, tool making, or wherever else a precision file or bur is needed for finishing.

A “LIFT-OUT” RADIO is one of the features in the new Westinghouse line of phono-radio combinations being produced at their Sunbury, Pa. plant. The radio which forms the front part of the combination can be easily lifted out for use as an independent set. The unit, known as the Duo, accepts 12 10-in. or 10 12-in. records for automatic playing.

Three other table models and five consoles have also been announced. A new power circuit is another feature of these radios. Called Plenti-Power it practically doubles the output of pre-war sets using the same number of tubes.

KITCHEN VENTILATORS are wanted by 96 out of every 100 women according to a recent survey. The ILG Electric Ventilating Company of Chicago is now producing three sizes for small, medium, and large kitchens (see photo below) as well as portable models equipped with adjustable panels for sliding sash window frames. An automatic model is also available which eliminates manual pull-chain operation.

A TEN OUNCE POCKET RADIO, small enough to fit into your pocket, without crowding and measuring 3 in. wide, 6-1/4 in. high and only 3/4 in. thick is now in actual production by the Belmont Radio Corp. of Chicago. The extreme compactness of this newmidget is made possible by the use of tiny radio tubes, the same kind used in hearing aids and of the type used in the radar proximity fuse. These tubes weigh about a tenth of an ounce and have a cross section about the same as an oval cigaret. Prices for these midget sets will start at about $30; they will be available in gold, silver, two tone metal and various leathers.

A PNEUMATIC SAW designed to speed-up and simplify sawing and filing operations is now being distributed by the Air-Speed Tool Co. of Los Angeles, Calif. The saw. built to operate with about 85 pounds of pressure, has an adjustable barrel which readily permits cutting in metals or woods as well as intricate dead end, keyhole and scroll work.

Long trouble-free life is assured since the saw has only two internal operating parts. There are no gears, adaptors, or power-take-off devices.

This new tool weighs only 3-1/2 pounds.

A DE LUXE PHONOGRAPH COMBINATION housing a 14 tube chassis equipped for Frequency and Amplitude Modulation reception. Television, and Wire Recording is now being manufactured by the Lear Radio Co., of Grand Rapids, Mich. The console has a 14 inch speaker and a de luxe record changer. List prices range from $500 to $600. The modern classic lines of these consoles have been designed by a leading Grand Rapids designer.

A WASHER THAT HAS EVERYTHING INCLUDING THE KITCHEN SINK is now here due to the efforts of the Hurley Machine Co. of Chicago. The Thor Automagic washing machine does the daily dishes and the weekly washing at a selling price, according to the manufacturer, of less than many pre-war washing machines. It can be purchased as a dish washer or as a clothes washer alone and the accessories added at a later date. Eight pounds of clothes and dishes for six is the capacity of the washer. Proposed attachments will include an ice-cream freezer, a home churn, and a potato peeler.

Take A Seat—But Watch For Splinters

MANUFACTURERS of upholstered furniture, who are no longer able to get metal for springs because of priorities, were invited at a furniture show recently to take a look at the spring pictured at right. Band-sawed from a piece of wood, this spring has plenty of resilience, may well replace in many peacetime functions spring steel needed for war uses. Weight for weight, it is said to be as strong as steel.

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Man Makes His Own Rubber

THE diversified chemical manufacturing industry of America is finding a way to make this country free from dependence on foreign sources for an increasing number of vital raw materials. Only a few years ago, America depended on the nitrate beds of Chile for fertilizers and raw materials for industry. Today, it makes its own nitrates from the air.

Camphor was from time immemorial a natural monopoly of the Far East. Today, America makes its own synthetic camphor for medicine and the needs of industry. A large and increasing number of medicinaland other compounds, formerly imported, are now being produced here. And now rubber may be added to this list of essential raw materials.

Rubber is a vital element in our life. It is used not only for tires but for thousands of other products that are essential to our industrial civilization. More than ninety-nine per cent of the world’s rubber is grown in the tropics. Many attempts have been made to grow substitutes for rubber in the United States, but none has ever succeeded.

Millions of American dollars, British pounds, and German marks have been expended during the past fifty years in anattempt to produce a synthetic rubber; that is, a product identical with natural rubber made by chemical means, preferably fromraw materials that are freely available in these industrial countries. All of these efforts to produce a true synthetic rubber have met with failure. Germany, duringthe World War, did produce a synthetic product that was used as a substitute for rubber, but it was a very poor imitation of the natural product and consequently its production was dropped as soon as the war ended in 1918.

In 1925, research chemists of the du Pont Company began to work on the rubber problem, but they did not try to duplicate natural rubber as others had done. “Why,” they said, “should we assume that the product created by nature for an entirely different purpose is the best material for making the thousands of rubber products that modern industry requires? Why be content to reproduce in the laboratory the product that Nature has provided? Let’s start with different raw materials and produce a product that is even better adapted to present-day industrial requirements.” Among other things, they visualized a process for the production of arubber-like material from acetylene gas. The first experiments were quite disappointing, but help came from an unexpected quarter.

The chemical director of the du Pont Company attended the first symposium on organic chemistry which was held in Rochester by the American Chemical Society. At that meeting, Father J. A. Nieuwland of the University of Notre Dame told of the results of some of his experiments on the chemistry of acetylene. Father Nieuwland had been studying the gas and conducting research into its properties for many years and was recognized as the outstanding authority on its behavior from a scientific point of view.

His report told how he had succeeded in causing acetylene to polymerize, or, in plain words, to form giant molecules by combination of smaller molecules with one another. Acetylene when combined in this way became a different chemical entirely called di-vinyl-acetylene. That was something that the du Pont chemists had not tried. Arrangements were made to have Father Nieuwland’s experiments duplicated in the du Pont laboratories and an effort was made to convert this di-vinyl-acetylene to synthetic rubber, but it did not work. From di-vinyl-acetylene the chemists were able to obtain only the hard, brittle resins that Father Nieuwland had already produced.

The next step in the pursuit of a better lubber substitute was taken by a group of chemists who found that by changing theconditions that Dr. Nieuwland had used it was possible to convert acetylene to another chemical known as mono-vinyl-acetylene. It was hoped that a good artificial rubber could be made from this chemical, but again the experiments were unsuccessful.

The chemists who were working on this problem, however, refused to believe that it could not be done. They continued their work, and a few years later they found that by treating mono-vinyl-acetylene with hydrogen chloride gas they could produce a new channel which had never before been made and which they christened chloroprene.

Chloroprene is a volatile liquid; it certainly does not bear any resemblance to rubber. But the next and most startling discovery of all was that this liquid chloroprene can easily be converted to a tough, elastic solid. Imagine the elation of the chemists when they found that they had at last produced what chemists had been striving for so many years and had failed to find—an artificial product that is fully equal to natural rubber in strength, toughness and resistance to abrasion.

But the real thrill came a few weeks later when they proved that this chloroprene rubber is actually superior to natural rubber in many ways. They had not produced a synthetic rubber but had made something immensely more valuable—an elastic material that is superior to natural rubber.

The first step in the manufacture of neoprene is to heat coal and limestone in an electric furnace, producing calcium carbide, designated by chemical symbols as CaC2. The next step is to add water to the calcium carbide and produce acetylene gas (C2H2)«There is nothing new about the manufacture of calcium carbide and its conversion to acetylene gas. Everyone who is old enough to remember the early days of the automobile will recall the acetylene generators that were usually mounted on the running board in which grayish lumps of calcium carbide were treated with water, producing the acetylene gas that was burned in the headlights. However, the next step in the manufacture of neoprene carries us into a new realm of chemistry. Acetylene gas is treated with a catalyst in specially-designed apparatus made of new corrosion-resisting alloys with the result that the acetylene molecules combine with one another to form a previously unknown chemical compound, mono-vinyl-acetylene. Mono-vinyl-acetylene, also a gas, is then put into another catalyst chamber where it is caused to combine with hydrogen chloride gas. The intermarriage of these gases produces another new chemical, chloroprene, which, strange as it may seem, is no longer a gas but a liquid.

The final step in this chain of chemical miracles is to subject liquid chloroprene to a polymerization process which causes the molecules to combine, producing a tough, rubber-like solid which is known as neoprene.

The perversity of chemical reactions is such that the materials being combined often tend to react not in the desired manner, but to combine in different proportions with the production of unwanted impurities or byproducts. The problem of the chemists and engineers who were charged with the responsibility of making this process work was to design equipment and methods of chemical control which would make the reactions follow the desired channels and produce neoprene having a maximum degree of strength, toughness and elasticity.

It was not an easy problem. The first special equipment designed for the job did not work satisfactorily. Changes were made and again the results were disappointing. The process was further modified and the result was more disappointments, but in the end the problem was solved and now in 1938—seven years after the first experimental factory was built—a huge chemical plant is converting millions of pounds of calcium carbide into neoprene. Apparatus and equipment unlike anything the chemical industry ever before knew made it possible for manufacturing chemists to direct these reactions in the desired channels, keep them under control, and produce an even better product than was originally made in the chemical laboratory.

Neoprene resembles natural rubber more closely than any other artificial product. The X-ray discloses that its physical structure is the same even though its chemical composition is different. It looks like crude rubber shipped from the rubber plantations and is mixed with other materials, processed, and vulcanized by rubber manufacturers just like the natural product. But although the finest articles look like those made of crude rubber and have the same elasticity, stretch and toughness, they, also have the ability to resist the action of oils, gasolines and solvents which destroy rubber. They resist heat, and direct sunlight does not cause them to check and crack so readily. They resist the passage of gases and have a much longer, useful life than like articles made from nature’s product.

BUSINESS Welcomes NEEDED GADGETS

Motor cleaning fluid which is poured into an auto engine through the spark plug openings is said to clean out carbon deposits overnight.

Bottle cap with a new measuring cone permits accurate pouring of the correct medicinal dose without using a spoon or dropper.

Centrifugal water pump powered by 10 h.p. outboard engine is designed for fire fighting, small irrigating jobs, or even for pumping dirty, sand-laden water.

Combination sofa-bed has ash trays and bookshelves built into wide, cushioned arms.

Electric turntable for store windows, powered by small electric motor, runs at 4 revolutions a minute, and costs less than 2 cents a day for power. It will support displays weighing up to 10 pounds.

Radio test leads with interchangeable points permit use of either needle or blunt point when testing radio apparatus.

Grease guns using cartridge refills eliminate messy filling from cans when greasing automobiles. Factory-loaded 1-lb. grease cartridge is slipped into gun. Single gun serves for full greasing operation, since cartridges are interchangeable even when partly empty.

Short-wave tuning oscillator attachable to any all wave radio receiver gives pleasing tuning signal tone to help find distant stations. Signal tone disappears when the switch is thrown, leaving the desired station accurately tuned in.

Electric lighting plants in 300 to 2000 watts capacity provide flickerless 110 volt, 60 cycle current for lake cottages and farm homes. Gas engine, starter, governor, and generator are all combined in one compact unit.

New fisherman’s aidpermits trolling at any depth without the use of heavy sinkers. Sliding weights on the device reverse the action of the troller to bring the fish to the surface after a strike.

Projector for 16 mm. film throws 15×20′ pictures brilliant enough for theater or auditorium use. A 1000-watt light combined with a highly effective optical system makes this exceptional performance possible.

Vertical spindle wood shaper selling at less than five dollars operates from any motor over 1/10h.p., and cuts a variety of bevels, moldings or grooves. The spindle is readily adjusted on the metal frame for a new cut.

Magazine loading razor contains 20 blades; blades are changed instantly when necessary without touching them. The angle of the blade to the handle changes constantly with use, to conform to the contours of the face.

Cigarette package opener slices out small hole in end of package with one movement of operating lever.

Racing Canoes With Large Umbrella for Sails Is Popular Water Sport

RACING canoes with umbrellas for sails has become a popular water sport at the southern resorts and will undoubtedly be taken up seriously everywhere this summer.

The canoes are jockeyed into place along the starting line by paddling, and the over-grown umbrellas are then opened for action. At the starting signal, paddles are taken from the water and the canoes start off under full sail. In some races the “skipper” is allowed to use the paddle to keep the canoe in its course and prevent collisions.

GYP of the MONTH

Want to be a better crook? Harry the Hyp will help.

EVERYONE HAS HEARD some American tourists complain about being gypped by the natives in Europe, but now we give you a tourist who reversed the story. He bought a railway ticket at a station in Scotland and paid with a $50 bill.

“But,” said a spokesman for British Railways, “the bill was out of date. It was issued by the Confederate States of America in 1864.”

* * *

As if that weren’t trouble enough for the British, their own gyps are now doing better work than ever as a result of the efforts of Harry the Hyp.

Harry is a hypnotist. According to the Daily Herald of London, his clientele consists of 50 top English crooks. Before they go out on jobs, Harry hypnotizes them to give them extra confidence.

Harry’s fees are reasonable, he says. He gets five guineas ($14.70) for bracing up a nark who’s about to do an ordinary cheap burglary and as much as 20 pounds ($56) for a fellow going on a big payroll snatch.

Where did he learn his trade? In a prison library—while he was doing a stretch for robbery.

* * *

Some of our American crooks don’t need Harry’s help to have confidence. Take, for instance, the stranger whom Matthew Sampieri, of Yonkers, New York, found in his apartment.

The man said he was a plumber and was trying to locate a leak somewhere in the building. And while the bemused Sampieri looked on, he hollered down the drain of the bathtub, “Is it still leaking, Joe?”

Joe didn’t answer, so the stranger said he’d have to go downstairs and see for himself. Meanwhile. Sampieri was to run the shower, please. Sampieri obliged.

But when time passed and the “plumber” didn’t come back, Sampieri began to look around. Jewelry worth $450 and the “plumber” were both gone.

* * *

Richard S. Tibbetts, 21, of Portland, Oregon, studied burglary at the very best school.

He told police who nabbed him that he had used a phony press pass to get into police headquarters where he attended a lecture at which experienced locksmiths described the fine points of opening safes and locked doors.

There are no flies on the cops in San Francisco. They wanted to raid a bookie joint, but the place was so heavily barricaded they figured they couldn’t get in before the evidence was destroyed.

So a detective called the bookie and told him he was about to be raided. A moment later the bookie dashed out the backdoor with a satchelful of betting slips—and into the arms of the gendarmes.

Post Office inspectors, as usual, have been nabbing their share of gyps. In Kansas City, Missouri, Raymond N. Standefer, president of the Union Automobile Club, landed in the jug for five years.

Standefer told prospective members that joining his club would give them adequate insurance against all automobile accidents if they paid a two-year membership fee of $49.50. He fleeced principally poor people, signing them up on a time payment basis, and he wouldn’t deliver his member- ship policies until the last’ payment had been made.

The Postal agents figured he had defrauded his customers of a full million dollars before he was caught.

Postal inspectors also arrested Jerry M. Ramey on charges of mail fraud and he was indicted in California. They accused him of advertising in California newspapers that people could get jobs in foreign countries at salaries ranging from $750 to $1,500 per month, plus many extra benefits, if they bought information from him for a fee.

The Post Office not only charged that these claims were false; it also said Ramey had cheated the newspapers which carried his ads by not paying, for them.

The moral of both of these stories is simple. In the words of the Better Business Bureau, before you invest, investigate.

* * *

One of the biggest gyps in this country is perpetrated by ordinary housewives. It’s “cartnapping”—stealing those little carts from supermarkets. One survey showed that $2 million worth of carts vanished from supermarkets in the Los Angeles area alone.

Now two Detroit men, Irving Stollman and Richard Gerloff, think they have the answer. They want to put special wheels on the carts and sink magnets in the sidewalk outside the supermarket. If the customer tried to take the cart too far, the wheels would stop when they hit the magnetized area.
• • •

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The Mystery of the Shrinking Oranges

A Sad Story from Southern California

by John Devaney

California’s Valencia oranges are shrinking. The Golden State’s summer orange, which provides the entire nation with orange juice from July to November, has become little larger than a golf ball. And nobody in California knows why.

To make the mystery even more puzzling, the state’s Navel oranges— which are harvested in the wintertime-have been only slightly affected by shrinking. (But the Valencias illustrated on this and the next page certainly have. From the husky at the top, they shrink gradually to the pee-wee in the lower right-hand corner.) And that’s another problem for the California growers; they have on their hands 149,000 acres of shrinking Valencias, only 86,500 acres of Navel trees.

The growers have other troubles, too. The booming California population is taking up available orchard land; insects are threatening to get entirely out of hand. The shrinking Valencia may be a symbol of California’s orange headaches.

If it’s not a symbol, it certainly is a mystery. Nearly everybody interested in the industry—scientists, growers, pickers-has taken a pot-shot at the riddle. Some of their answers: not enough rain, too much rain, inconsistent rain, the insects, the insecticides, smog, sunspots, radioactive clouds and so on ad infinitum.

Actually, none of these causes fully explain the puzzler. Since both Navel and Valencia oranges are grown in the same region, why should one be less affected than the other?

Growers don’t know, but they do know they have to put more Valencias into every box (that’s the yardstick used to measure size of oranges). Thus, from 1940 to 1944, it took an average of 220 Valencias to fill a box; in 1945 it took 254. Since 1945, growers have watched the oranges grow smaller: 1946, 264 to a box; 1947, 276; 1948, 277. Estimate for 1949: “well over” 300 oranges per box.

Those are average sizes. But last year some oranges were so tiny it took 344 or more to fill a box. And housewives don’t like their oranges that small. Thus, while a size 176 orange brought growers $7 to $8 a box in New York last season, a size 344 averaged only $3.60. Subtract the $4.85 shipping charge, and you find the grower losing $1.25 to $1.50 a box, plus growing costs. Orange growers—like everybody else—don’t like to lose money.

So they—and scientists at the Citrus Experimentation Station at Riverside, California—are studying the mystery. Actually, the Riverside scientists have been working on the problem since 1929, when an alert grower detected the first group of shrunken oranges. At that time the citrus researchers noted that a year of heavy production would also be a year of small sizes. For example, 1928 and 1930 were years of low production and large oranges; 1929 and 1931 were high production years, but more oranges were needed to fill a box.

The Riverside scientists theorized: If production could be lowered by “thinning” the trees, larger oranges would be produced. From 1930 to 1932, the scientists thinned trees in six orchards. Sure enough, the resulting oranges were larger. But the next year’s crop on the thinned trees was just as heavy (and thus as small) as formerly. Concluded Dr. Leon D. Batchelor, director of Riverside: “It seemed a case of the more you thin, the more you have to thin.”

After this disappointment the scientists left their test orchards, went back into the fields again. This time they noticed that trees with a large amount of leaves bore large fruit; trees with sparse foliage produced small oranges. And since insects are usually responsible for ruined foliage, the scientists trained their sights on the insects.

The number one pest of the citrus belt is a bug named red scale; number two is red mite (alias red spider). Both pests are adept at stripping a tree bare of leaves. They also are adept at staying alive.

But are the pests responsible for midget Valencias? It’s doubtful. Navel oranges are also raided by insects, yet have not shrunk as much as Valencias.

But if insects aren’t the cause, then what is? You can get plenty of answers to that in California, but few good ones. A Science Illustrated reporter canvassed the industry, picked up these interesting theories: “The smog we have here (Riverside) is the main reason. It’s caused by the dust from a cement plant at Colton, and from the smoke of Santa Fe railroad shops at San Bernardino. It poisons the oranges.”

Scientists pooh-pooh this theory, since, the smog occurs infrequently (only when the wind blows in a certain direction).

Another: “We’ve only had serious small-orange trouble during the past five years—and four of those years were drought years. You need water to grow oranges.”

You certainly do, but Riverside scientists point out that orange growers depend principally upon irrigation for water—not the rain.

Other chauvinistic Californians blame the “bad” Colorado River water, which feeds many California groves via aqueduct. But they’re being unfair; most major groves use deep wells as sources for their irrigation canals.

Some growers are firmly convinced that sunspots are the cause of it all, while others, staying closer to home, point an accusing finger at the New Mexico atomic bomb explosion.

Another interesting theory—which gives orange growers the cold shivers-is that California groves are just played out. They shiver because good virgin citrus land is scarce; and expanding suburbs have made it even scarcer. Some people in the industry claim Southern California will have no more space in 20 years to grow oranges.

That may be over-pessimistic, but there is some evidence that the present groves have become senile. Riverside scientists have observed devitalized and decaying root systems under midget-orange trees. But, asks Dr. Batchelor, are they a cause or an effect? Injury to the foliage of the trees would influence the amount of nutrient materials flowing back to the roots—thus decaying the root systems.

That crimp in the senility theory brings us back to poor foliage—and insects. Another theory blames them again—but this time only indirectly. The Riverside scientists have observed that oil sprays (the most popular insecticide in California) “are almost uniformly adverse to the health of the trees and vary from striking losses of foliage and fruit to an apparent increase of dead twigs in the trees.”

Since poor foliage is a clue to midget Valencias, the scientists think that a new, safer and more effective insecticide may mean larger oranges.

Up to now, their soundest bet has been an organic acid labeled 2,4-D, best known as a weed killer. Used in very minute solutions, 2,4-D has lessened the destructiveness of oil sprays. One enterprising grower, J. A. Porter, of Olive Hillside Groves, went further; he sprayed his Valencia trees with a water solution of 2,4-D, and increased the sizes of his Valencias appreciably.

However, 2,4-D is still an uncertain remedy. If used in too great an amount, the oranges will expand but have rough, thick peels; so it doesn’t answer the riddle, either. The scientists want to know why the Valencias are getting smaller, not how to make them larger artificially.

And the growers want a remedy. Despite a four-year ad campaign, house- wives still shy from the midgets, doubt that a five-pound bag of small Valencias contains as much juice as a five-pound bag of normal Valencias.

If the housewives’ suspicions are correct, you won’t be drinking as much orange juice this summer; California Valencias are the only orange on the market from July to November.

Florida and Texas pluck their oranges once a year—from October to May. By July that batch is cleaned up (except for small amounts in cold storage), and California Valencias take over for the summer. In November, Florida and Texas start competing with California Navels.

But the summer monopoly may end, some worried growers fear. If Riverside scientists don’t clear up the mystery of shrinking Valencias, the growers may have to yield Southern California to Hollywood’s movie-makers, and try their luck in a much less mystifying environment.

Tricycle Vender Solves Girl’s Unemployment Problem
UNABLE to find suitable employment in her profession as a typist, Miss Clara Cage, of Hollywood, discovered an unusual method of earning a living. She rigged up a tricycle as a delivery wagon and now delivers cartons of ice cream direct to consumers. During hot spells Miss Cage turns many a pretty penny by pedaling her way about the streets on her tricycle, which is shown in the photograph at the left. Along Hollywood boulevard, her favorite selling area, she attracts attention by her novel togs and vehicle.

Electric Banana Ripening
THE ripening of bananas, which are cut from the trees when green, requires carefully controlled heat and humidity. A new and positive method has been devised by using electric strip heaters mounted under water pans suspended from the ceilings. The rooms in which the bananas are ripened are specially constructed, practically air tight, and with refrigerator-type doors. Thermostatic control maintains the room temperature between 60 and 75 degrees, depending on how green the bananas are when placed in the room and how soon it is desired to complete the ripening process which is from 48 to 60 hours.

Shoes for Fastidious Walkers

IF YOU are a fastidious walker you will probably appreciate the unique shoe soles shown in the photo below. The design is made by the use of inlaid bits of colored leather and with studs, so that the patterns run all the way through the leather, if that means anything to you. The shoes were displayed recently at the Shoe and Leather Fair in the Royal Agricultural exhibition in Islington, England. They were held to be a masterpiece of the shoemaker’s art.

It’s All Gold that Glitters Here

HALF of the yearly gold production of the world passes through the great refinery at Germinston, South Africa, where the photographs shown on this page were taken.

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Amazing Vacuum Tubes May Eliminate Motors

by JAY EARLE MILLER

Based on an interview with Dr. W. R. Whitney and Associates of the General Electric Research Laboratories Scientists have accomplished the marvelous feat of literally taking nothing, sealing it in a glass tube and making it perform the tasks hitherto done by huge motors. Thyratrons, as these amazing vacuum tubes are called, may soon relegate all machinery to the junk pile. Already vacuum tubes are curing dread diseases, increasing the range of man’s senses, and saving industry huge sums.

IMAGINE a tube, a thing of glass and metal, replacing a motor to operate a piece of machinery. Imagine a fiat bed printing press—or any machine using a reciprocating motion-—getting its energy from a glorified descendant of a radio tube.

That’s just one of the things that research engineers of the General Electric Company expect to see within the next few years. With Thyratron power tubes and solenoids it is technically possible today.

William C. White, engineer of the vacuum tube research department of General Electric, makes that prediction. The field of vacuum tube engineering, he says, is not to simply do a thing in a different way and with different means, but to do it better and cheaper. It is possible, he adds, that as knowledge of the possibilities of vacuum tubes increases we may have to modify many of our ideas, such as the accepted one that an electric motor is the best and cheapest means of producing mechanical movement, at least in reciprocating parts.

A few steps from his office is a little framed sign beside a door. It reads: “Open locks, whoever knocks”—a quotation from Shakespeare. Beneath is a small bronze plaque with the monogram of “G. E.” A guide taps twice on the plaque, pauses, taps seven times more. The door silently swings open. As the visitor steps over the threshold a talking machine whirs into motion and calls a greeting. All around the room are ranged exhibits of electrical apparatus. As you pause in front of each it automatically starts, and stops as you walk away. A pair of Thyratron tubes are the switches that intercept the code signals tapped on the plaque and start the door-opening mechanism. Light beams falling on photoelectric cells are interrupted as you stop in front of an exhibit, and the interrupted current releases the energy of more Thyratrons to start the machinery working.

The suffix “tron” applied to a long line of tubes from the first high voltage radio valve, means an object that is used as an instrument or tool. And the prefix “thyra” comes from another Greek word meaning door, or gateway.

And that’s just what a Thyratron is, for it will convert direct current into alternating, or invert alternating current into direct As a valve it can replace switches, current breakers or lightning arresters. It can change current of one frequency into another, or pick out any particular portion of an electrical wave and put it to work. It can control any form of electrical apparatus, operate burglar alarms and do other forms of work. And it may even, as Mr. White predicts, displace electrical motors.

The Thyratron is really a mercury vapor arc switch controlled by changing the grid current in the tube. Its ability to convert direct current into alternating and invert alternating current into direct opens up a vast field of incalculable value. It may make possible the transmission of superpower over long distances an economical possibility, and so help solve the problem of getting hydro-electric energy from distant water power sites to cities where it is needed, or the burning of coal at the mines and transmission of its energy as electrical power.

Long distance transmission has not been practical because it is cheaper and easier to generate alternating current, but the losses in the transmission of alternating energy are prohibitive over distances of more than a couple of hundred miles. Direct current, on the other hand, can be transmitted with only nominal losses, but costs more for generating equipment, and is less adaptable for economical distribution and use in the city.

With Thyratrons it may be possible to generate alternating current, convert it into direct current for transmission, and at the distributing end invert the direct and have alternating current again.

Five hundred people are working at the research laboratories at Schenectady under the direction of Dr. Willis R. Whitney, in the oldest great research institution in America. When Dr. Whitney left Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1900 to establish the research department of General Electric he was the whole department. His method has been unique. At Schenectady they do not say that Dr. Coolidge, or Dr. Langmuir, or Dr. Alexanderson, or any of the other famous men who have made Schenectady famous is “working” on this or that. They say he is “playing” with it. Outside Dr. Whitney’s office is a sign reading “Come in, Rain or Shine.” Everybody is welcome, and the chief is never too busy to drop whatever he is doing and talk over things with the workers.

Dr. Irving Langmuir, when he left Stevens Institute in 1909 to join Dr. Whitney’s organization, was told to look around and see what interested him most. He saw some experiments in drawing tungsten wire for lamp filaments under a process developed by Dr. Coolidge, and suggested the difficulties experienced might be due to impurities resulting from gases in the wire.
That led him to experiment with gases, and for several years, he recalls, “While I was having a good time satisfying my curiosity and publishing scientific papers I frequently wondered whether it was fair that I should spend my whole time in an industrial organization on such purely scientific work.”

Today they show you a laboratory work table at Schenectady which probably did not cost $50C to build and equip. On that table Dr. Langmuir produced the Mazda C, or gas-filled incandescent light, which annually saves the public millions of dollars in lighting bills, the high-vacuum power tube which made radio broadcasting possible, the thoriated filament for tubes, and atomic-hydrogen welding, among other things.

The way in which research in pure science produces useful by-products for industry has been demonstrated many times at Schenectady. One of the most recent is the development of an artificial fever producer for hospital use. Fever, as doctors have come to know, is not necessarily a symptom of disease, but nature’s method of combatting it. By producing fever it is possible to cure some diseases. In at least one form of insanity cures have been effected with high fevers by letting malaria mosquitoes bite the patient, and then curing the malaria.

A few years ago the research engineers were experimenting with short-wave radio, using considerable power of exceptionally short waves. They discovered that the workers in the apparatus room developed symptoms of fever when waves of less than thirty meters were being used.

The result of that chance discovery was the production of a high frequency heater, or fever machine, which is being used experimentally in various hospitals. Essenti-

NEW SCALP EXERCISER IS DRIVEN BY ELECTRICITY

BALDNESS seems to be the fear of all men. Here is the newest remedy for that fear. The new motor-driven scalp exerciser is guaranteed to give the scalp all the exercise that it needs. Scientifically the principle that this machine exemplifies is correct. Since blood is the food on which all the tissues of the body feed, the supply must be kept fresh and plentiful. Exercise will draw the blood to that portion of the body that is being so developed. The scalp does not receive sufficient exercise to warrant the growth of hair and as a result baldness ensues. To overcome this condition, the use of hair tonics became common. The chief value of any tonic is the process of application. The rubbing that is always prescribed makes the blood circulate and thus helps the hair gain new life. It was found that the hand could not deliver as much exercise as was really necessary, so the inventor of the scalp exerciser got busy. His machine possesses four rubber pads that are comparable to the human fingers. The motor is at the top and by means of vibrating rods causes the pads to move, which action exercises the scalp.

Largest Dial Thermometer Built

THE world’s largest dial thermometer has recently been installed at Atlantic City. The diameter of the dial is 22 feet; the pointer measures 9-1/2′. The control element is a small helix of bronze tubing filled with a liquid which expands or contracts with each change in temperature.

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PERMANENT LETTER FILE

ANYONE possessing a phonograph can read the “photovox letter” shown above, by merely placing the plate on a machine and playing it like any other record. The chemical process that was devised to manufacture the photovox disc and retain a permanent record of the spoken word was the work of two Vienna inventors, Prof. Eugen Fischer and Chemist Otto Zecha.

The difficulty with the ordinary reproducing record that can be made at home or in the office is that the air will make the record deteriorate so that it is unintelligible. The “photovox” plate has been made impervious to the air by the new chemical process.

Tiny Lamp Outshines Giant Tube

SIZE doesn’t seem to be the most important feature when it comes to candlepower in lamps, for the tiny photo flashlamp shown in the photo below is about three and one-third times as powerful as the larger one. However, the small one lasts only one-fiftieth of a second, while the large one lasts about a hundred hours.

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HOW TO MAKE MEN LIKE YOU

Ever wonder why so people are liked by everyone they meet Usually because they work at it—even though their effort may not be apparent to you. They are the ones who take the extra trouble to get a stranger’s name right, to remember a co-workers birthday, to telephone or write their thanks for a favor.

But many people in their eagerness to be liked or, as the case may be, romanced by a handsome young man, make the wrong kind of effort. It’s a mistake to strive too hard to make a good impression. Don’t be so busy putting yourself across that you neglect to give the other person the recognition he craves. If you want to be really well-liked by members of the opposite sex, make sure that your words and actions convey this simple message: “I recognize and am interested in you.”

Here are five surefire ways to get your “message” across —to bosses, customers and potential male friends:

1. Make a man feel important in front of Others, One of the most successful salesladies of a nationally known toiletries company confided her secret to her sales manager. She always managed to compliment a man in front of his friends or associates.

Naturally, a man likes to hear words of praise because it confirms his good judgment in being interested in you as an employee or new romance. But more than that, it makes him feel important in front of others as we said before. Compliments cost you nothing but they may be worth millions to him!

2. Groom yourself for popularity. Hair that’s neat and well-trimmed, scrupulously cleaned and pressed clothes, proper makeup—these things can make all the difference in the way people react to you.

It’s more than a matter of being attractive. To many men, carelessly groomed women indicates a “I couldn’t care less—about your opinion of me!” attitude. Yet this kind of offense is so easy to avoid. In the sizzle of summer —or in the winter when heavier garments may create a perspiration problem, a good deodorant will solve this problem. And how long does it take to give your face an extra pat of powder … to slip into clothes gently rather than wearing them so that they look thrown on which is exactly what you did …. or to comb your hair before a big appointment or an important date.

These things are just as important when you’re with men you like romantically as when you’re trying to win the favor of your boss or client. In either case, faultless grooming is a subtle compliment—your way of saying “I care!”

3. Give your conversation a personal angle.

After reading books and articles about how to be well-liked, many girls have concluded that the way to be popular is to talk very little about themselves and let the other person’s interests dominate the conversation.

This is an example of a good idea gone wrong. If you take it too literally, you will not only lose half the fun of conversation, hut you will quickly become known as a dull conversationalist. The trick is to bring the other person into the picture when you talk about yourself. Instead of . telling a handsome guy about your trip to Europe for example, lead into your remarks by saying “You would find Paris (or Munich or Madrid) especially interesting because . . .” Then tell him why. This would hold true if the place were Tampa, Florida or Hollywood, California. A surefire ego-booster is to tell the other person “I thought of you when I did this, or saw that.”

4. Give the young man a real hearing. Probably no one irks you more than the guy whose comments reveal that he really wasn’t listening to your remarks— unless it’s the one who interrupts you so constantly that you never get to finish them at all! i Many men are not even aware that they have the bad habit of interrupting. Can you honestly say that you don’t? Listen to yourself talk for the next few days, and make a mental note of how many times you finish someone else’s sentence. Maybe he’s a maddeningly slow talker —or maybe you were just so involved in the conversation that you got carried away. Whatever the reason, you can a be fairly sure that your contribution was not appreciated.

Although we spend 45% of our time just listening, according to speech experts, most of us actually hear only half of what is said to us! This can be a strain on personal relationships—and a costly error in the romance department.

5. Show each man that you accept his image of himself. Witty or pretty … an incisive thinker or a spell-binder talker … a demon for efficiency or a creative whiz—everyone you meet has a picture of himself which may or may not correspond with the facts. If you would like to be really attractive (apart from your physical endowments) to the opposite sex, it’s up to you to sense the image that he is trying to project—and show that you do accept it. This is not dishonesty—even in the case of the name-dropper, the would-be expert, or the man who pretends to have more wealth than he has.

Showing your acceptance of this image may involve nothing more than asking the young man’s opinion, or laughing at his “witty” jokes, or substituting respectful silence for sneers when he boasts of his social contacts. Once he receives the recognition he craves, he may relax long enough to let his genuinely good qualities show through.

It takes only a little thought and effort for you to protect your own image—as a person, a young, attractive, desirable female who men like to have around.

Neon Beacon Has 120-Mile Range

Huge Light Is Visible to Aviators Across Entire State of Indiana

All aerial night traffic on the transcontinental route from New York to the Pacific Coast is now guided across the entire state of Indiana by the world’s largest neon aviation beacon, which has recently been completed atop the tallest building in Indianapolis. Standing 375 feet above street level, the red beams of the 2,000,000 candlepower light may be seen by aviators within a radius of 60 miles. On clear nights it may be picked up 100 miles away.

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Trouble Busters

You toss them a tough problem and they toss back a tender solution.

BY MARGOT PATTERSON

“NO POTATOES,” the grocer said grimly.

“No potatoes?” the housewife exclaimed with emotion. “Why, I must have potatoes! My family needs potatoes!”

“Sorry, lady,” the grocer said. “There’s a shortage. It’s on account of the rot.”

Until 1938, this little scene was re-enacted annually all over the United States. Bacterial soft rot baffled shippers. It would spread through whole carloads of potatoes, causing losses of millions of dollars. Finally, the shippers put the problem in the hands of the Armour Research Foundation.

The Armour men promptly brought forth a new dryer. A conveyor belt carried the potatoes through a hot-air blast which dried and altered their skin condition and prevented penetration of the bacterial invader. This technique cut the frightful annual loss.

Armour Research Foundation makes a business of solving other people’s problems. It will tackle headaches in any worthy field and tell you why your machines break down, how long a suit of clothes will last, the quickest way to assemble the parts of a watch, how fast your heart will beat if you jump from a plane at thirty thousand feet, or, if you like, the behavior of lubricants under the tremendous hydraulic pressure of 1,500,000 pounds to the square inch.

A bright idea, a lot of enthusiasm and very little cash launched it in 1937. The idea was a simple one. Giant corporations had their own laboratories to solve their problems but the small businessmen, faced with similar problems, were out’ of luck. They couldn’t afford to maintain even one technician. So the Foundation was started with the idea of giving the “little man” a break.

With a scanty supply of equipment and the blessings of the Illinois Institute of Technology, three willing young scientists set themselves up in three rooms of an ancient apartment house and asked for tough problems to solve. People laughed, but once the Foundation started it boomed. Tales of the unique organization spread, and new clients beat a pathway to the ugly red brick building on Chicago’s South Side, as Harold Vagtborg and his associates licked one tough problem after another.

Business came from far and wide. And not only small business. Executives of large corporations were frequent visitors. Where their own laboratories had failed they were willing to try anything. The Foundation almost always came up with the right answer. Amazed and grateful, these executives showered the young men with equipment and materials.

Today 200 scientists carry on their work in several well equipped buildings. More than 1,500 clients have been served. The astonishing number of 4,000 research tasks have been undertaken, saving millions of dollars for private industry and the Government.

There is very little of the orthodox about the Foundation. Its members read all there is to read about a subject, then toss aside the textbooks and tackle the problem from the beginning. This open-minded approach speeds the solution and keeps the Foundation from old and futile lines of thinking.

“For years we have been told that such and such is so. But is it so? Let’s prove it, or try to.”

When the Foundation finishes a research task for a client the theories, methods and patents on it belong exclusively to that client. None of his competitors has access to the findings. If he makes a fortune from the discoveries, well and good. The organization is run on a non-profit basis, asking nothing but a modest service fee, agreed upon in advance. The staff estimates the approximate cost of materials, tools, equipment, salaries and overhead, and this is the fee it charges.

Sometimes a baffling problem can be settled in ten minutes and sometimes a dilemma that looks simple on the surface will take a year of careful study. Teamwork is the keynote of the Foundation’s success. The Armour Associates don’t believe in “too many cooks spoiling the broth.” If two heads are better than one, then three are better than two. Round table discussions—fact finding from many angles—go on daily. Often new tools and new methods must be invented to deal with a problem that won’t yield to known methods. When this happens, the man with the idea doesn’t hesitate to call upon metallurgists, electrical experts, mechanical engineers, chemists, or any other staff members. The answer may end up looking like something out of Rube Goldberg, but it works. Their group research means speedy results. And better ones than the lone genius in the garret can produce.

The staff is a collection of able young scientists. Its director and executive members are all in their thirties. They are constantly on the lookout for up-and-coming youngsters completing their technical training. They say that young blood and young ideas go hand in hand, and young ideas keep the Foundation on its toes and make it the success it is.

Plain horse sense solves many a problem, as in the case of the leaking fountain pen. Business executives who traveled by plane were apt to find that they had a pocketful of ink when the trip was over, because at high altitudes the air pressure was too low to keep the ink in the pen. It wasn’t long before a manufacturer brought this problem to the Foundation. The Armour technicians tackled it with exhaustive care. They made every test and experiment. Then, suddenly, the answer struck them: Why not give the pen two reservoirs, one connected to the other? At low altitudes the ink would stay in the main reservoir, at high altitudes it would leak into the secondary one.

But horse sense doesn’t work all the time. Complicated problems need a great deal of time, study and sometimes new equipment. Certain tiny parts used in watch making had been causing the makers of watches a heavy annual loss. At one point in their manufacture the parts had to be subjected to heat. No matter how much care was taken, all but a fraction of them were ruined in every trial. They would stick together, fuse into a solid mass and become worthless. The industry, both here and abroad, looked on this waste as inevitable and just added the cost to the price of each watch.

Dr. C. N. Challacombe, the Armour staff physicist, found the answer within a month. He dreamed up a novel method of heat treatment with a more satisfactory furnace-atmosphere control, and built it. The new equipment produced perfect parts in trial after trial.

“How can we reduce the amount of tin in tin cans?” manufacturers asked. The young scientists studied the subject as if it were something new under the sun, as if the conventional hot-dipping steel sheet method did not exist. The real question was, “How can steel be tin plated with the smallest amount of tin?” They came forth with electroplating by induction heating. This method saves from one-third to one-half the amount of tin used in the hot-dipping process.

The president of an office machine manufacturing company went to see the Armour men. One of his machines was too noisy. Two or more of them in the same room made a clatter like hail on a tin roof.

The staff studied the vibrations set up in the machine in relation to the shapes and sizes of its different parts. New sound-absorbing materials and a change in the design of certain parts reduced its overall noise 94 percent.

To walk through the Armour Institute is to see a miniature cross section of American industry. Open that door on the left and you’ll see rows of chocolates coming out of an embryo candy factory. Walk to the next room and you’ll see cement being made in a model rotary mixer. Up a little farther, just beyond the working flour mill, an enormous smelter melts steel with ultra-short radio waves.

Don’t open that door, unless you want to freeze in a temperature of 67 degrees below zero in the teeth of an artificial 200-mile-an-hour gale. It’s the thermal chamber, where they turn weather off and on. Just now it’s being used to duplicate stratospheric conditions for the testing of equipment. Come back next week and it may be a typical tropical day in there.

The Foundation doesn’t limit its research to solving other people’s problems. Sometimes it gets curious about how this and this would affect that and that and goes ahead and develops things in its own right.

This is how they perfected wire recording, which allows hours of music to be recorded on a small spool of wire and played over and over without wearing. Five miles of the wire used weighs only a pound, and it can be bent, twisted or even heated to high temperatures without affecting the recording. There is no comparison between this method and the clumsy record system now in use. It is superior in almost every respect.

During the years ahead, the success of our economic system depends in part on whether small companies can compete with the industrial giants. We can reach full employment only if these small companies can keep pace technologically, only if they can win and hold their business in competition with the giants. Scientific research on a fee basis—the Armour system—is the answer.

Light Pipes

GLASS tubing—eight hundred miles of it each month—flows from the nose of the 100-ton mandrel furnace at right. Cut into five-foot lengths for 100-watt fluorescent lamps, the tubes are first thoroughly cleaned inside and out with the combination brush and suction cleaner shown above. Then each one is filled to the top with fluorescent powders called phosphors. The liquid drains out leaving a phosphor coating inside and the long bulbs are placed on the rack at left to dry. Above, the furnaceman inspects tubing as it emerges

Fletner S-Rotor Used for Windmill

TAKING a hint from the unique power plant of the rotor ship designed by Anton Fletner several years ago, Charles L. Lawrence, aeronautical engineer, has designed a windmill —the only one of its kind in this country — which uses the famous S-Rotor to catch the wind. Mounted high on a platform as shown in the accompanying photo, the cylindrical rotor is hooked to a pump which supplies water to a duck pond. Pump is housed in the shed beneath.