STILLS ON LIFEBOATS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 8, 11 January 1944, Page 4

STILLS ON LIFEBOATS

Castaways atr sea can now set up housekeeping in their lifeboats or on their rubber rafts with an ingenious device which converts salt water into fresh and provides facilities for cooking as well. The newest invention to save the lives of men marooned at sea, a portable still, has intrinsic features which provide easy means for preparing fish caught at sea, as well as food which are a part of the lifeboat equipment, according to Mr. Albert O. Herrons, whose company is now turning out thousands of the stills for the U.S. navy. Heart of the practical life-saving gadget is its unique fuel, a non-explo-sive solid compound which burns without melting or possible risk of fire. To protect it for . unfailing emergency use at sea, a food ration can to preserve the precious concentrate was adopted as well as another protective container produced by techniques similar to those used in making fibre "suits of armour" for artillery shells. Compact, versatile, and easily stowed, each of three sizes of safety stills can produce many times its deadweight in drinking water. The largest, designed for large life-rafts, lifeboats, and small craft, will supply the needs of 40 men if operated 12 hours a day. The smallest, weighing only 41b, provides sufficient water for three, men when onerated only two hours daily.