How Lasers Are Going to Work for You

The light fantastic is no longer a scientific curiosity: It's now being used for just about everything from moon measuring to tire checking
By C. P. GILMORE / PS Consulting Editor, Science
At RCA's David Sarnoff Laboratory in Princeton, N.J., Dr. Henry Kressel handed to me what appeared to be an odd-looking gold-colored bolt about three quarters of an inch long. The threaded part was ordinary enough. But a small block perhaps a quarter of an inch long and half that thick was built onto one side of its flat head. A wire from the head arched up and connected to the side of the block.
"That's the laser," he said, pointing to where the wire joined the block. "This metal block?" I asked.
He took the device, walked into a laboratory next door, put it under a powerful binocular microscope, and peered into the instrument as he adjusted it.