AUTOMATIC CONTROL

Hokitika Guardian, 7 June 1930, Page 7

AUTOMATIC CONTROL

TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE

IMPORTANCE IN INDUSTRY

With the thermometer in one hand and a pencil in tile other, the taelory

employee whose joe il has been to keep

Li-urd of Lie temperature of certain

•arts oi the plant is rapidly disappearing. So also is his brother, who has o keep a watchful eye oil a thermometer to prevent the temperature ot a liocess from varying. The idea nowa-

ivs is to use automatic instruments "or temperature end pressure control •'st'mments which are as reliable and accurate as they are ingenious. This movement has spread through practically eveiv I ranch of industry •rr.--.lhgf to Mr S. J. Wheeler, eonsidt'lio' temperature specialists f or the Tavlor Instrument Companies, Rochester, Xew York, who arrived in Wellington hv the Tahiti recently. He had some interesting things to say, both in regard to the wide application of ternoeratore control, instruments to indnsprocesses and to the revolutionary '■•l'nwfs in <h e mhher tire industry "■lnch are the outcome of a recent deve l "•■merit in the same subject. “ ,rr 'e supreme imnortance of auto-' temperature control in industrial wo.yV in n'nv’ extensively recognised in ,+ s vit°! relationship to the uniformity 'n '■nnh'tv '•* the finished product.” *.-a o',, wVrinr. "Its effect on the fipr’i c>rrvtT r» f production ran be simply! cynressed ns a saving otf time, labour, and power.

Mi'CH PROGRESS RECENTLY. • “This recognition of the importance of heat arid temperature measurement lias daring Hie past year resulted in much progress in the development of instrumental controls for the factors of time, temperature and pressure in almost every important industry of the present day. The owners or rubber, leather, and textile plants are realising that the installation' of automatic controls enables them to reach a precision in their processes which ensure the high standard of their finished product, a far greater concern than any ineidently saving of wages.

“Take the vulcanising process for rubber' tires and tubes,” Mr Wheeler continued. “‘Assuming that the stock has been correctly compounded, it Is of course essential that the process be conducted under uniform conditions Not only must control be exercised over the elements of time and temperature quantitatively, but their relation to each other in the sequence of their application must he accurately controlled too. Instruments enable this to be done independently of the uncertain human element.

A recent and highly successful system of control for the vulcanisation of rubber tires and tubes is the automatic

‘time cycle control, or ‘timer’ a unit devised to make possible the adoption of the unit vulcaniser. Under the old system the vertical vulcaniser was used. A number of tires were dropped down into a chamber and the latter was sealed. All were then ‘cooked’ together. Much better results are possible with the new unit vulcanisors. which vulcanise each tyre sperately.

Tbev are called ‘watchcase (presses’ The operation of the ‘timer’ is so successful now, .since its introduction at the beginning of the year, that it is only a matter of short time before the vertical vulcaniser will be a. tiling of the past.

USE TX TEXTILE INDUSTRIES. “Temperature control in the textib industries is a vast subject, and is being met at every turn by efficient auto malic devices. In slashing and wan 'i-oak.-ve in weaving, the new method is making the ‘hit-and-miss' system obsolete. Warp breakages in weavin" have boon reduced 16 per cent., great f r nroduct'op lias been obtained from shiobpvs and the consumption of starcl and steam has been reduced.

“All big Inking concerns in America are now using modern methods of automatic control. The Haller Bakin”' Company, a nation-wide concern, ha 1 proved the great utilitv of the auto tt> system and manufacturers ovens which, save £I2OO annually in labour a« well ns doing the work of five brick ovens.

| APPLICATION TO DAIRYING. i “Uniformity in its products is one oi the greatest concerns of the dairyinj and milk industries. No manual metli i od of temperature control can com pan of course, with that done by properly designed instruments, Pasteurisation of milk, which proceeds at a temper ature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit, ? .controlled far more accurately thnr even a skilled operator can do b\ manipulating valves. It saves time am power. The low hydro-pressure bottb washers in dairies are also manage by temperature devices, and the sterilisation of the bottle is an.importanl part of the dairy’s work. In the process, too, power and fuel are saved with absolute reliability in operation You can easily'imagine the importune of good temperature control in the can and packing industries, and 1 need not waste time in stressing tin point. , r , “Our company began 80 years ago/ said Mr Wheeler, in reply to a ques tion. “During the last year and a hall the progress has been nothing else bul phenomenal. We have fully equipped laboratories for research in alnio.v every branch ,otf industry, as well a' special aeronautical and metallurgica departments,. “The most successful temperatur. regulators on the market to-day an the culmination of years of research and development towards the product ion of instruments comprising the essentials of ruggedness, accuracy : and dependability, and the pfactica’ adaptability of these instruments tc different processes throughout' all industries,”