BRITISH FORWARD MOVEMENT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3136, 25 September 1922, Page 2

BRITISH FORWARD MOVEMENT.

The city of Glasgow is perhaps most widely known for its shipbuilding and engineering, but the holding there of the annual meeting of the British Society of Chemical Industry serves as a reminder of its'importance as a centre of chemical manufacture. On the academic side too it is distinguished, its University and Technical College having been the training schools of many famous chemists. The members of the Society of Chemical Industry attending the annual meeting had an' embarrassment of choice in the works that couild be visited, as the following list of products shows. In Glasgow there are manufactured acetic acid, alkali, alum, ammonia, aniline dyes, bicarbonate l of soda 1 , bleaching powder, borax, carbonate of ammonia, caustic soda, chemical glass and stoneware, chloride of lime, creosote, chronic products, epsoro salts, essential oils, ester gums, explosives,. soap, Glauber salt, fluoric acid, glue: glycerine, iodine, methylated spirit, nitric acid, naptha. nitrate of potash, oxalic acid, phosphates, silicate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, sulphuric acid, vinegar. The screen of secrecy that is often drawn round chemical manufacturing processes haw led, in ■sonic quarters, to the belittlemciit of the industry itself. Few even of the citizens of Glasgow can have realised tbe uide field of chemical manufacture covered in their own city, and so it is net surprising that the stranger should remain in ignorance of what it has: to offer. A different spirit is now in evidence and, with the intensive development of the chemical industry in Great nritain, it seems likely that the fame of Glasgow's chemical manufacture,-; jviH reach as far as that of her Civdebuill ships and engines. Tbe progress made in chemical manufacture m Great Britain was exemplified in a striking manner in a semiprivate exhibition that was held recently in London. The exhibits included drugs, notably the recently introduced Chaulmoogra oil derivations for the treatment of leprosy, antiseptics, I'oc-al anaesthetics,* and sedatives such as menthyl valerate. In addition there were photographic chemicals. rareearths, synthetic tannins, analytical reagents, catalysts, synthetic perfumes, and flavoring and. sweetening agents. -Mr Stanley Baldwinn. president of the Board of Trade, after examining the exhibits, said the exhibition was the most amazing he had ever seen, and a revelation to business men of the ability of British chemists. The progress they were making and the way in which they were holding their own against foreign competition was striking indeed. They were comparative newcomers, yet. already in manv instanes, they were beating in the 'quality of their products all foreign rivals. ( There was recently completed in Great Britain the first aeroplane to be made wholly of metal. The advantages of doing away with wood and other combustible material need not be emphasised; and the all-metal aeroplane gives promise of supplanting all the earlier forms. A special al'lov of aluminium is used in its construction ; and the Government is at present engaged in making very elaborate tests of the strength of every part. Special attention is being given to the risks of corrosion with the metal employed and investigations on this point 'are being carried out in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. So much depends on this new type of aeroplane that although the first flving tests have been very satisfactory the "Government prefers to regard the model as an experiment and to suspend judgment until a most exhaustive examination over a long period is completed. Remarkable progress lias been made (luring the last seven or eight roars in breat Britain in connection with the correct illumination of factories The subject was brought to the notice of industries and tbe public generally by a number of British illuminating engineers who pointed out thai with improved' illumination the risk of accident was diminished, flic health of the worked enhanced, output increased and the general quality raised 1,1 .. higher standard. Tile Home Office took the matter no and appointed a Committee which has just issued its third report:. Some enthusiasts had pressed for f| u . legal enforcement of .-, minimum illumination in various tvpes of factories, but the Committee reports that the standard of illumination has risen so rapidly that there i- really no ))L'V(\ for compulsion to he exercised St contents itself with specifying the correct degree of illumination lor a large variety of processes and in rocfirdintr experiences in the relation between hettcr lighting and accidents. During the war (here were to he -eon in Groal Britain :i number of motor wagons carrying enormou- gas bags on Ihe roof, these lings wore lined with ordinary (own gas. which was used as a source of power in place ol petrol—then exceedingly scarce. Tim results were so far successful thai experiments were made afterwards in the storing of town gas under pressure in cylinders: but apparently these experiments have no, led lo i'mv very satisfactory result. At any rate the only substitute for petrol to which serious attention is now given is suction gas, "Inch is produced by drawing air and steam through heated fuel such as anthaeite, coke, charcoal, wood refuse brown coal, or peat. Petrol. l,e,izoi «"ct alcohol fuels generally are sl .|i ugh enough in price to encourage s ■■• - Won gas development, and a ifaduuliritish firm has put on the market a y;y well constructed three-ton lon-v driven by suction g afi . The steam fo'r L,K ' SI|H ga* produced is made in a separate generator heated bv the o--mi list gas from the engine. ' The pro ducer Itself forms part of the chassis and is neatly ac, 0111 nur.latcd in a light steel box at the side of the driver's cah. Where if is ea-ily accessible for inspection lis weigh, has been reduced to Ihe lowest possible limit. After being generated, the K „«, pass;-, aion- a p.pe 10 the scrubber, becoming cool on the "'ay. Ihe ,;cni!,l„ ~ removes ike tar; and the gas the,, pa>se.s d, | to the engine, where it mixes with air and drives the engine in the usual wav. lests made w.th this three-ton iorrv show that when using anthracite it ran .u an average speed of 12 miles per nour at a working cost a Id tie below one-third that of petrol. Tills vehicle is specially designed for use in count"es where petrol j„ scarce bm whore various types of solid fuel , ..u ••'hfc at a reasonable- price