The Machine Age

Occasionally there comes an apparent peak in the production of new inventions in the field of machines. Here is the record of recent weeks:

Cables. Permalloy, a new alloy oi iron and nickel, with magnetic properties hundreds of times greater than those of either metal, applied by a new process to cable manufacture, has increased the word-carrying capacity of the New York-Azores line of the Western Union Telegraph Co. 300% over similar cables. Officials of the Company believe it will revolutionize the cable industry. A trial cable, laid in deep water off Bermuda, withstood severe tests. In the new type of cable a thin layer of permalloy surrounds the copper core, under the gutta percha and wire coating on the outside.

P: A new device which automatically connects land telegraph lines with submarine cables made possible direct cable communication between London and Chicago.

Locomotives. The fastest electric locomotives in Europe were put into operation on the Toulouse-Bayonne line of the French Midi Railroad and on the Paris-Orleans Railroad. The locomotives are of the new type on which tests have been conducted by the General Electric Co. and the American Locomotive Co., at Erie, Pa. (TIME, Dec. 17), weighing 102 tons and capable of reaching a speed of 105 miles an hour. The French roads have ordered more than $15,000,000 worth of such equipment, and the Mexican Railway Co., Ltd., ten electric freight units for mountain climbing. With a new device, the otheograph, the tests showed no "nosing," or periodical oscillation, even at high speeds. The riding qualities of both ends were excellent, and no injurious effects were observed on the trackage.

Navigation. A giant submarine cruiser of more than 7,000 tons, invented by Prof. Oswald Flamm, of Germany, has been built in model by the Augsburg-Nuernberger Machin-fabrik. The boat is heartshaped, point upward, with the keel in the groove of the heart, like an inverted V. The principal advantage is rapid and even submersion, the stability depending on the form and the distribution of pressure. It can submerge in 30 seconds without turning a degree, can cruise 20,000 miles and develop a speed of 23 knots an hour. It is 525 ft. long and 49 ft. wide, and carries large torpedo and gun armament. Germany has neither the money, nor the possibility (under present military control) of building such submarines, and the French, Italian and British Governments are interested in the invention. The largest submarines now being built are of 3,000 tons.

P: Leandro Guglielmotti, of Italy, invented an underwater periscope by which submarine crews can see through water for 80 yards horizontally or 100 yards vertically. Light is thrown through the water to reveal the presence of mines and other objects. The device can be attached to existing submarines.

P: The Cunarder Laconia and other large liners have recently tried out the Sperry gyro-pilot, a device which automatically steers 50% better than the human hand. The mechanism depends upon the rotation of the earth, and saves much of the wear and tear on the ship in rough weather.

Aerial Terminal. The New York Central Railroad is favorably considering the erection of a tower of latticed steel similar to the Eiffel tower, straddling Park Avenue, Manhattan, just north of the Grand Central Terminal, where giant dirigibles may moor and swing at anchor. Elevators would carry passengers from the air direct to waiting trains. Many architectural projects and applications for mooring privileges have been submitted.

Moving Pictures. Photographs at the rate of 300,000 a minute--31 times as fast as those taken by the slow-motion camera--are being made at Shoeburyness, England, by the British Ordnance Department, to examine the impact of shells on armor plate. The camera weighs two tons, and shows how golf balls and other hard objects are flattened and pressed out of shape when struck and in flight.

Gunnery. The expansometer, a machine invented at the Bureau of Standards, Washington, can measure a projectile's speed within a gun. It is operated by the infinitesimal expansion of the gun, followed instantly by contraction, from the gas generated by the discharge, which transmits an electric signal to a high-speed recording instrument.

Automobiles. Prof. Howard R. Mayberry, of the psychology department, University of Chicago, has devised a test for applicants for motor licenses, consisting of control devices directing the movements of a toy automobile through the streets of a model city. The candidate must avoid traffic jams.

Tunnels. A. C. Fielding and W. P. Yant, gas experts of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, in an extended series of air tests in the new twin Liberty vehicular tunnels to the South Hills of Pittsburgh, have perfected a ventilating system which makes the tunnels safe for human beings with any volume of traffic. A procession of 200 auto trucks was run through the tunnels several times, and samples of air taken in the early tests showed 4 1/2 to 10 parts of carbon monoxide present. Canaries, which are very sensitive to the gas, were released in the tunnels, and on the third test showed no ill effects.

Radio. Transmission of light and power by wireless may be expected in the near future, according to re- searches by Prof. A. M. Low, of London. Light and wireless waves travel at the same speed. "Television" may not be developed to the point of accuracy for another generation, however.

P: David Sarnoff, General Manager of the Radio Corporation of America, sent a message to Iwaki station, Japan, by radio from Columbia, Mo., received a reply by telephone in 1 min., 45 sec.

P: A radio concert was heard in a tube 85 feet deep under the Hudson River. But Baltimore and Washington cannot communicate satisfactorily by radio. This is due to a large "dead spot" or peculiar geological formation in the earth between the two cities, says Dr. James Harris Rogers, inventor of undersea and underground radio communication. The energy waves travel from base plate to base plate, rather than from aerial to aerial, according to Dr. Rogers. Long-distance messages take the way of least resistance and are not hampered by dead spots. Washington electrical experts are experimenting on the problem.