HOME OF GADGETS

Evening Post, Issue 36, 12 February 1935, Page 16

HOME OF GADGETS

A LONDON EXHIBITION

UNUSUAL NEW DEVICES

The Physical Society's • twenty-fifth annual -exhibition of scientific instruments and apparatus opened recently at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, South Kensington. It is a glittering display, awe-in-spiring to the' layman and a paradise to the expert interested (as the catalogue says) in "highly technical developments of applied physics" (wrote a "Daily Telegraph" representative at the time). There is a trade section, a research and experimental section, and ''■.one' showing the. work of apprentices and learners employed by exhibiting firms. Seventy-nine firms are. showing their, latest products in the trade section, and there is a great collection of new and improved vacuum pumps, small furnaces, •" aeronautical . instruments, electrical indicating and controlling devices, microscopes, optical instruments. X-ray and wireless testing apparatus. The most fascinating section is in the research and experimental department. There are many devices which have not yet reached the stage of; com-, mercial production, but which may one day bring fortune to' a few and comfort. or increased efficiency to i "many. Here physicists are working to apply science to the elucidation of do-] mestic problems. ' DOUGH TESTER. / j The Rothamsted Experimental Sta-1 I tion, for example, in co-operation with i the Research Association of British I . Flour Millers,' is showing ah. ingeniI ous device to measure- the stretching ' properties; of ;dough. Different types of wheat make different types of 'dough,- and the apparatus measures the | various physical properties .of ttie dough. The British Launderers' Research Association, is ; showing an instrument for measuring the time-lag in thermally operated relays. Technically this is intended for the "automatic determination of the rather small time intervals associated with, thermally operated relays of the direct filament heated types." Practically, it is to discover how soon\an electric iron iwill' get : hot 'and how soon it will cool! The Post Office Engineering Research Station, has a fine, exhibit which was surrounded by. enthusiasts. :-. One of: the most interesting instruments" is a vo}ce frequency signal' received for - signals over trunk telephone lines, j where there is no means of using direct current. This device, an expert told me, wjll, give -the same control iri, trunk: calls as in: local calls. - "The eventual aim," he said, "is for London telephone operators to -dial direct any subscriber in Great Britain; without going through any other exchanges. This is already in operation between London and Bristol." By .the voice frequency signal receiver device this general direct dialling may be accomplished > by the G.P.Q. engineer's quite soon. NEW MICROGAUGE. On another stand is an instrument for measuring the 'most minute displacements. A notice above this microgauge states that the-gauge will measure "a millionth .of an inch," but the demonstrator, Mr. E. R. Wigan, of the Physics; Department, Woolwich ; Polytechnic, told me this was "ah understatement." '"This instrument, which in its simplest form is operated from the A.C. mains supply, /will measure, a ten-millionth'of an inch displace-, ment," he said. ' Nearby" another firm is showing an * apparatus for measuring the thickness of iron or steel plates accessible from one side only. There are many other demonstrations watched with absorbing interest by the experts. Dr. E. J. Baldes and Miss B. Garrard, of University College, London, were showing a micromethod of measuring osmotic pressure, and Dr. R. W. B. Stephens and Mr. ■N...-W. Robinson, of; the Imperial .College of Science and Technology, were demonstrating the extraordinary behaviour of soap films under-vibration in a flask.'