USE OF SCIENCE IN INDUSTRY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22337, 26 February 1938, Page 4

USE OF SCIENCE IN INDUSTRY

RESULTS OF VARIED INVESTIGATIONS

"STRANGE AND SURPRISING DISCOVERIES"

(raoaj oub owm corbesi-ohdent.)

LONDON. February 2

Shoe sizes, toffee making, car squeaks and rattles, blast furnaces, shrinking woollens, and dirty buildings are a few of the multitude of subjects investigated by the British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research during the last year. Hl annual report reveals some strange and surprising discoveries. Tests in wind tunnels, for intance, suggest that with aeroplanes flying at a speed considerably below that of sound, (800 miles an hour) a shock wave is likely to be developed which will exercise such a drag on the machine as to set an almost impassable limit to the spread of flight. The flesh of pigs killed immediately after muscular exertion is less acid than that of those adequately rested. Pigs before slaughtering should be kept warm, as shivering is a form of muscular exercise which causes fatigue. Poultry kept in cold storage and placed in composite aluminium foil, greaseproof pager at 10 degrees centi-' grade for three months were indistinguishable from freshly killed birds, as also was the flavour.

Millions of Pounds Saved

An indication of the financial value of research is given in its application to the electrical industry. In the last 10 years, it is stated, the improvement in efficiency in steam generation stations has been about 40 to 44 per cent. It is estimated that more than 8,000,000 tons more coal would be required to generate the output of 20,000,000,000 units sold in 1935 at the lower efficiency then obtaining than has been required at the higher efficiency now gained. This is equivalent to a difference in cost in the year of more than £7,000,000.

Another piece of research which has effected a tremendous saving is an investigation on cylinder wear—the biggest job undertaken by the institution of Automobile Engineers' Research and Standardisation Committee. A recent inquiry among manufacturers and operators indicated the marked effect this investigation has already had in reducing the severity of a trouble "which has cost the public sums that, whilst difficult to assess, must amount to several millions of pounds per annum." Investigation on body-squeak in cars is being continued, while two new researches, one on silencing motor-cycles and the other on the noise emitted by motor-car body panels, have been started.

Wool Research

The results are reported of research into the use of rubber with wool. By employing suitable agents rubber can be deposited from latex on the surface of the individual fibres of a yarn fabric or felt much in the manner of a dyestuff, absorption proceeding until the solution is exhausted. By one of the applications of the principle, material is increased in strength and resistance to abrasion. Considerable attention is being given to treatment of wool to reduce shrinkage, the report states, and laboratory technique has been developed which has proved of great value in determining the modifications produced in wool by variQus treat-