NEW USES FOR X-RAY TO SAVE VAST SUMS IN MANUFACTURING

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6851, 5 March 1929, Page 3

NEW USES FOR X-RAY TO SAVE VAST SUMS IN MANUFACTURING

New York, Jan. 29. Vast savings in the manufacturing and construction industries are anticipated by leading physicists and radiographers here as the result of new industrial uses for the X-ray which are now in the procoss of development. Far reaching progress within recent months has placed the X-ray in an important position in industry. It has become the practical tool of the metallurgist and the candy-maker, the -plumb-1 er and the jeweller. Its beam, capable of penetrating more than three and three-quarter inches of steel, has opened a window through which, the manufacturer may look upon the inside of his product. It enables him, so to speak, to determine whether a match will light without striking it to find out. With the new developments the Xray will not only be used as a check on manufacturing processes, but it will become a fundamental factor in the development of new and improved materials, opening hitherto unexplored posibilities, especially in the field of metals and alloys, experts declare. An example of the possibility of new applications of the X-ray to industry is cited by Dr H. H. Sheldon, head of the physics department of New York University. If the amount of steel needed to support specific weights in building and bridge construction could bo reduced a third or a half,' a groat economic saving would result, he said. Present research with X-ray holds the possibility of such a development, he added. From a definite knowledge of the atomic structure of any material the physicist is able to determine its physical character—its strength, elasticity, and its other qualties. Thus, a piece of steel with a certain atomic arrangement might be much stronger than a similar looking piece of steel, which the X-ray disclosed to be of different internal structure. '.‘This type of knowledge and research ,applied to steel alone, may make it possible to develop materials of a strength groat enough to materially reduce the steel in a building without reducing the factor of safety,.’ Dr. Sheldon said. "The saving in this one industry is obvious.’’ Some of the present applications of the X-ray in industry were described by Dr. Ancel St. John, consulting, physicist, who was the first technician in the United States to devote his entire time to studyng the industrial applications of the X-ray. "It is no longer necessary to open the-oyster to find the pearl,” he said. "The X-ray not only does this work, but it distinguishes between tho true gem and the imitation. The real pearl omits more light under the X-ray than the artificial gem and is readily recognised. Other precious stones also are distinguished from tho imitations by their transparency to X-rays. ‘' Chocolate manufacturers have used the Eoentgcn ray to inspect their product for possible extraneous metal content. When the golfer makes a putt and the ball rolls square and true into the cup, he can thank the X-ray physicist whose studies showed how to prevent the core of the ball from being pressed out of its spherical shape during the process of manufacture. "Numerous manufacturers have made use of the X-ray to inspect the contents of packing boxes without destroying the package. A variation of this use has aided the government inspectors who radiographed bales of cotton and thus found contraband which smugglers had placed within the bales.