BLIND INVENTOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 18, 22 January 1938, Page 6

BLIND INVENTOR

DR. NILS DALEN DEAD

Dr. Nils Gustaf Dalcn, inventor of the Aga beacon and sun valve light, winner of the. Nobel prize for physics, has died at the age of 68, says the "New York Times." He had been blind for the last twenty-five years as the result ot a laboratory explosion.

Although as a consulting . engineer he was responsible for ninny inventions for the' improvement of hot air turbine machinery; and air' compressors, his name became world-famous in; connection with 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' niore at a time.. -.■•■.■ , ■;.;■.-:■,:;. ■ ■

He was for many years chief engineer of. the Swedish Gas Accumulator Company, of which at his death he was managing 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 this 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 Now Yorkers .who 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 kindles automatically when twilight sets in ana 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. His second invention, out oi which the Solventil developed, was avi apparatus, operated by gas pressure, which automatically lights and extinguishes' an acetylene gas flame at regular intervals. .'...■■ " .. ' ■

"I have much to be grateful for," ha once told an interviewer. "Here, I have my 'phones, 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 rhy 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 Acamedy of Science in 1913 and, in 1932 received the James Turner Morehead Medal, given annually by the International Acetylene Association. He visited America four times before his accident, and wrote technical papers and a'book, "Chemical Technology of Paper."