BLIND INVENTOR

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22308, 24 January 1938, Page 15

BLIND INVENTOR

DEATH OF DR. NILS DALEN AUTOMATIC OPERATION OF LIGHTHOUSES Dr. Nils Gustaf Dalen, inventor of the Aga beacon and sun valve light, winner of the Nobel prize for physics, has died at the age of 68. He had been blind for the last 25 years as the result of a laboratory explosion. Although as a consulting engineer he was responsible for many inventions for the improvement of hot air turbine machinery and air compressors, his name became world-famous for the "sunshine valve," which as soon as the sun set lit unmanned lighthouses and beacons and thus made operation of these lights entirely automatic for six months or more at a time. He was for many years chief engineer of the Swedish Gas Accumulator Comapny, Of which at his death he was manging director.

In 1912 he received the Nobel Prize, and in the same year was blinded by an explosion during one of his experiments on gas accumulators. Even after his calamity he continued his inventions, producing an automatic device for changing gas mantles in unattended coast lights and a novel "tapless" domestic cooking stove. The* automatic light invented by Dr. Dalen guides seafarers the world over. This same light at dangerous crossings

became known also to American motorists, to old New Yorkers wfaa rode on the "L" before it was electrified, and to aviators who cross the American continent over isolated regions. It is due to his clever invention, called Solventil, which kindlef automatically when twilight sets in and extinguishes the fire at daybreak His First Discovery Dr. Dalen's first discovery—called "Agmassan"—was a method for storing acetylene gas under high pressure in cylinders filled with a porous substance. In this way great quantities of gas could be kept in small containers without excessive danger of explosion. Hi* second invention, out of which the Solventil developed, was an apparatus operated by gas pressure, which automatically lights and extinguishes an acetylene gas flame at regular intervals. "I have much to be grateful for." he once told an interviewer. "Here I have my telephones, linking me with my business associates and friends. Necessity has taught me how to conduct my researches without my eyes. There is always someone at home to read to me, and after that I have my radio. The theatre is one of my favourite recreations."

Before specialising entirely on the use of acetylene gas he obtained several patents for dairy machinery and steam turbines which are still in use. He was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 1913 and in 1932 received the James Turner Morehead Medal, given annually by th* International Acetylene Association. He visited America four times before bis accident, and wrote technical papers and a book, "Chemical TechnoJocyo* Paper." '