THE “ NOCTOVISOR.”

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1929, Page 2

THE “ NOCTOVISOR.”

SEEING THROUGH FOG. INVENTION I3Y MR- J. L. BAIRD. LONDON, August 15. The “Noctovisor,” an apparatus which, it is claimed, will enable the lights of a ship half a mile away'to be seen in the densest fog, was demonstrated at a little chalet on Box Hill on Sunday by -Mr John. L. Baird, the inventor of television. 'Hie machine, mounted on a turntable, was directed towards tiie Surrey Valley, where the headlight of a car moving along the road ,two and a half miles away, could easily be seen. At a flashed signal from one df the watchers on the mil, the car light was shut off from ordinary view by a sheet of ebonite, which for the purpose of the experiment, was “fog.” Gradually, as t-ne “Noctovisor” was moved round an image of the vanished light crept across a screen inside, its exact bearings being registered on a graduated scale on the turntable. ■ It was explained that, while a lighthouse or a car-lamp behind an ebonite screen could thus lie made visible two and a half miles away, an ordinary ship’s light would be detected within

half a mile', though a radius 1 of two miles at least was expected to be achieved shortly.

in its present form the new invention is able to register only the invisible infra-red rays emanating from a direct source of light at these distances. The principle on which it is constructed is that of a combined televisor and receiver. It reproduces the infra-red rays as an orange light. Mr Baird says that several naval and mercantile officers have seen the “noetovisor,” and believe it will be of enormous use to ships at sea.

“ It should be of great use to fogbound ships. A ship in even the thickest fog will be able to see the lights of ships near by.

It is hoped that the “noctovisor” may soon he placed in every British liner, and it is pointed out that in naval warfare a battleship so equipped would possese eyes that the enemy avou kl lack.