EXHIBITION OF ENGINEERING

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27089, 11 July 1953, Page 2

EXHIBITION OF ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY DISPLAY OPENS

VARIETY OF ATTRACTIONS The novelties of being electrically counted, photographed for television, spun in a gun turret, or of switching off a radio simply by shouting “silence" await visitors today to the public display in the National School of Engineering at Canterbury University College. There are dozens of exhibits that would intrigue even young children, but the crush of postprimary school pupils and undergraduates at a special session yesterday afternoon suggested that there will be little time for lingering in the open periods today from 2.30 p.m. to 5 a.m. and 7.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Signs and marshals direct visitors round a systematic circuit of all departments, but some bottlenecks were caused yesterday by crowds clustering too long around some features.

Entering at the main entrance to the school by the cloisters, visitors see first the electronics laboratory, which houses stands that yesterday immediately caused congestion by their interest. The first and only complete television transmitter in New Zealand was the major attraction. If conditions are suitable, the camera will be focused today on visitors to the exhibition and others will see the pictures on receivers in different departments. The image effect derived from a monoscope in testing receivers is demonstrated. A cathode ray oscilloscope indicates deflections in a beam of electrons. Radio-frequency heating of materials without charring, spot welding, electronic control of tensions in paper winding, and wave guides are also demonstrated in this laboratory. Stopping a radio set by calling “silence” into a mouthpiece caught the imagination of the schoolboys, but, moved on, they were unaware of being counted by photo-electric cells. The experimental boiler seemed standard equipment, but its gauges show everything from the heating values of its fuels, forced and induced draught, and content of flue gases, to the power of steam produced. The team engine laboratory compares the compact modern machine with its heavy earlier counterpart. Supersonic Wind Tunnel

A supersonic wind tunnel showing behaviour of a model rocket missile at 1500 miles an hour, a high-speed tunnel of 400 miles an hour, and a low-speed tunnel of 60 miles an hour with a model American bomber in a continuous roll through the set of. its control surfaces and a moveable wing section with tags indicating changes in airflow, drew crowds constantly yesterday.

Heat engines burning town gas, oil, and motor spirits are in another laboratory, with test models for variable compression and electrical generation, and a “pulled-down” jet engine revealing the blades of the compressor. Associated is the fuels laboratory. Electricity from generation to consumption has been traced in the electrical machines laboratory. The transmission section portrays the type of 220.000 volt reticulation that will bring power from Roxburgh to Islington. Its use is seen ip all kinds of machines, household appliances, and lighting. Measurement at all stages brings in an array of instruments, some units going back to 1885. 1,250,000 Volt Flashes Lightning flashes up to 1,250.000 volts are reproduced in the high-tension laboratory. Besides giving the most spectacular displays of the school’s exhibition, they provide the basis of research on high surges, high-voltage transmission, insulation, and power measurement.

Practical demonstrations of concretemaking (good and bad samples), their responses under load, dissected specimens, and the advantages of prestressing are displayed in another laboratory. In soil mechanics there is testing of briquettes for tension, shearing, and compression, and a model layout with the implements and materials used in all stages of road construction. A small-scale earth dam, similar to those used for the protection of hydro-electric works under construction, traces the extent of seepage. Surveying students present a wide assortment of their instruments.

Turbines, pumps, and a model spillway with the unusual “jump” of water below, provide some of the serious features in the hydraulics laboratory, but there are several novelties. Most intriguing is a “smoke rings” display of vortex formation and propagation. The result is one descending ring passing through another and then widening to rise outside its followers. The heatpump principle of warming a swimming pool to 70 degrees is also demonstrated.

Strength -of - materials testing stretching lin steel rods, bending timber beams, compressing leaf springs (in some cases to destruction)—provides another of the more striking exhibits. Modern methods of non-desk-uctive testing were also operated. The powerful machines th.|t apply and record these tests are impressive. “Heavy Water”

Outside the chemical engineering laboratory there is a 35-feet-high column for the generation of “heavy water” by spinning-cross distillation. With a heater and pump at the bot•tom, the contents are kept mixing by a cross-shaped beater. A spinning flat band is the conventional method and this cross-section improvement has been developed in the chemical engineering department with a 3ft experimental model, which is also displayed. Small boys would love to be left in the applied mechanics laboratory, where a model locomotive running on steam and a number of little horizontal steam engines fully explain link mechanisms. There is- also a long stand moving with every conceivable kind of gearing. The National School of Engineering has again arranged an exhibition that everyone will find too full to be appreciated in the necessarily rapid inspection. The novelties assure interest in all departments, and everywhere the descriptive booklets, placards, and the readiness of staff to explain and demonstrate, allow some understanding to be gained of all aspects of training in engineering. School pupils and students attended in scores yesterday afternoon. Last evening professional engineers and invited citizens enjoyed the exhibition. Today it is certain that hundreds of the public will attend.