ENGINEERING WONDERS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 300, 7 December 1922, Page 2

ENGINEERING WONDERS.

INVENTIONS FOR EMPIRE EXHIBITION.

PRESS-THE-BUTTON ERA

London, Oct. 27. The most up-to-date and representative assembly, of machinery that the world has ever seen will be shown at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924. Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of 20th century inventions and craftsmanship will be on view. At the invitation of the Executive Council of the Exhibition, the British Engineers’ Association and the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers’ Association have consented to organise and arrange all the exhibits of electrical, general and marine engineering, and the ablest men in these industries are now applying their minds assiduously to this stupendous task. Shipbuilding improvements are sure to play a part worthy of an Empire of great mariners. Latest delevelopments in ship-construction and marine engineering will be cUsplayed. Visitors will be able to see how the oil in the most modern oil-burning ships is distributed from the tanks to the burners beneath the voilers. Side by side, the most recent steam-turbinfes and the marine-type Diesel oil-ejngines will be shown, and the power-system of the all-electric ship will be compared with both FROM HAND-DRILL TO POWER WAVE. Colliery and other mining appliances of every description will be shown. Scarcely more than a quarter of a century ago. our quarrymen, our coal, tin and copper miners, were working with only hand drills to bore the holes foj their shot-firing. Wembley, with its novel displays of rock, slate and stone cuting by means of drills worked by compressed air, electric motors, and on the new wave-transmission system, will reveal to the multitude the revolution quietly brought about by our modern scientific power appliances. Light railway engineering is another section in which many modern improvements will be demonstrated. All the latest types of locomotives, both steam and electric, the latest cranes, lifts, and overhead transmitters, signalling inventions, bridge-work, aud permanent-way improvements, will provide a complete summary of modern transport develdptaents in all parts of the Empire. Visitors will see also textile machinery of every modern character, appliances used in the wool, cotton; printing, paper, chemical, dyeing, pottery, and glass-making industries, and all classes of agricultural machinery. Perhaps development in no section of engineering is so rapid and continuous as in electrical plant and appliances. In this section Wembley’s display will include the latest achievements in turbo-alternator design, in switch-gear, transformers, storage batteries, and plant used in connection with the generation, conversion, and distribution of electric energy on an enormous scale. Some of these will be at work on the spot, serving a useful purpose within the Exhibition. HOMES MADE HOMELY. But it is not only the inventions for use in factory, mine and navigation, that the great Empire Exhibition will reveal. There is the home side—the side that appeals most to the womenfolk; and this “switch and button” side is the only one of the thousand features of the Exhibition in which women will be specially interested. Electric labour-saving devices for the home will be shown in infinite variety. Electric stoves, ovens, grills, washers, cleaners, toasters, coffee mills, and cake mixers will demonstrate the extent to which the domestic servant problem has been solved in the really modern household. The housewife to-day. by turning a switch, can have almost everything dope for her by electricity—from the brewing of tea to the beating of carpets. You press a button and you get your bouts cleaned.

Transmitting sets, aerials, and power units for long-distant communication will astonish visitors who have not yet realised the enormous progress that is continually being made in the commercial application of wireless transmission. Every kind of receiving set, from the simple “crystal” unit to a complete multi-valve equipment, will be explained.

In addition there will be. at frequent intervals, practical demonstrations of wireless transmission and reception of messages, speeches, and musical items. Visitors will be able toi get into touch with the best musical and theatrical entertainments of the West End, and with the big political demonstrations, if any are held during the run of the Exhibition. Engineering, however, is only one of the sections of this vast Empire trade fair.

It has been decided to divide the exhibits into ten sections. ,45 groups and 150 classes.