MANUFACTURING METHODS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20827, 10 April 1933, Page 10

MANUFACTURING METHODS.

PROGRESS SINCE DAYS OF CAVE MAN. LECTURE BY MR J. J. S. CORNES. The story of the manufacture of such necessities as bread, wool, cotton and paper was told in moving pictures shown to students of the Workers' Educational Association on Satu-day evening by Mr J. J. S. Comes. The pictures traced methods of manufacture from the days of the cave man, showing how, using his accumulated experiences, manias made work easier for himself. The picture describing the making of paoer, showed, too, how the art of writing and printing has developed. The Egyptians, probably the first nation to set down their thoughts in permanent form, used hieroglyphics, or picture writing. This was done on blocks of stone and obelisks. The Assyrians introduced straight-line pictures, and then the Phoenicians had the idea of exoressing not only thoughts but sounds in writing. An alphabet began to develop, the Greeks modified it with vowels, and then the Romans added the capitals to give it its present form. By this time the inner bark of trees was used for the writing instead of stone Paper making began in 105 A.D. with the Chinese, according to the storv told by the pictures. They used the pulr> of herbaceous plants, first boiling it, then beating it to get rid of the moisture. Paper making has always involved these steps. For a long time absorbent materials were used to remove the" moisture. The greatest advance in the manufacture of paper came in 1840. when it was first made from wood. ' There were pictures shown of the modern manufacturing processes—the paper going from the forest to the paper machines, and then to the making of the daily newspaper. The four machines shov/n turn out in a day 300 rolls, each weighing one ton. Of this paper, 22 per cent, is used in the printing of newspapers. One Sunday issue of a big daily in New York, the film said, eat up 800 tons of paper. Making Artificial Light.

The making of artificial light was one of the first objects of the cave man, Mr Cornes said. While he was using his sticks to make fire, the cave man noticed that fat from the bodies of animals burned with a strong flame. The rubbing together of sticks to get the flame continued for a long time, but ingenious devices, such as the rubbing of fat round a stick, made it possible to keep the one flame going for long periods. From the knowledge of the powers of fat candles of many kinds developed.

Illuminating gases were discovered in 1782, Mr Cornes said, and then came the Bunsen flame. The American, Franklin, first discovered the powers of electricity. He sent up a kite into the air, with a damp cord attached. The electricity in the upper air was earned down the cord to the ground and its force could be seen hitting against a bottle. Electricity was used for light first by means of the arc lamp. Arc Jamps have reached their peak in the giant searchlightr of 5,000,000 candle power. The incandescent lamp which could be used where the arc lamp could not, in small rooms, was invented in 1879 by Thomas Edison. Discovery of X-Rays.

The discovery of X-rays in 1895 was one of the greatest forward steps in the history of science, the films said. The manufacture of pure tungsten was shown in detail—tungsten is one of the most important necessities in the manufacture of the X-ray. The pictures showed the electrons travelling from one side of the X-ray machine to the other—from the cathode to the anode—and by bombarding the anode, giving ofT X-rays. Several comparisons were made to illustrate the size of the electrons, and the speed at which they travel. Some of the pictures showed human hands and legs under the X-ray. The steps in the manufacture of bread were shown in another film—steps from the paddock of wheat to the mill, and to the bakers' ovens. There were also the stories of wool and of cotton. Mr Cornes showed, too, pictures of the beaver, a North American amphibious animal, and its methods of building a wint home on a rivw. This film was made for the Canadian Government, and Mr Cornes obtained it through the New Zealand Trade Commissioner.