Electric Eye

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 44, 22 February 1936, Page 13

Electric Eye

/ ——» ——— % SEES THE PAST USED AGAINST CRIME j NEW ROBOT' DETECTIVE NEW YORK, Dec. 30. An electric eye which cati see events of the past was announced by agents of the Department of Justice hero today as new equipment in their fight ou crime. It is operated by use of the spectrograph. The Federal agents explained this new robot detective to-day at tho Scieneo Exhibition of the American Association for the ' Advancement of Science.

The Federal men are here to seek the co-operation of tho nation's foremost scientists in tlio development of crime detection instruments which can be passed on to police departments throughout the country. The new eye is a development of the last six months. It uses the instrument with which astronomers recognise the different kinds of atoms on stars. The spectrograph does this by breaking light into the rainbow and photographing the lines which compose all these colours. Atomic Fingerprints. The Federal eye reveals the “fingerprints” of all the known chemical elements. Each element has its own atomic “fingerprints” in Hues seen in the spectrograph, lines as plain as the whorls on a human finger. Any piece of evidence, one even no larger than the head of a pin, when analysed by the eye, shows every kind of atom of which it is made, even those buried from sight in its interior, its reveals them in mere traces so small that neither microscope nor chemistry can find them. These fingerprints of atoms often show where the evidenco came from originally, that is, where its parts grew, or were minded or manufactured. The “fingerprints” may reveal where the evidenco has been, where it touched, and might show almost postivc evidence of who touched it. The eye has been used with a least cue spectacular result. Bits of earth clung to some evidence which had been temporarily buried. Tho eye showed traces of iron in this dirt, with clear atomic fingerprints. Mud in Automobile. In the automobile of a suspect was found a bit of mud which might have dropped off his Shoe. Under the eyo this mud showed the same atomic iron fingerprints as the dirt on the buried evidence. It was different from all the other dirt in the car and from the soil of the region where the car usually travelled. With this information, the Federal men were able to reconstruct a past trip of the car and its driver into a definite piece of evidence. The eye does not lie. It has already also protected the innocent. The police had a repainted license plate, the paint with which the painting had apparently been done, and the owner of tho paint as a suspect. The eye showed that the paint oil the plates was not the same as that seized. Although the colours were identical, one paint had been made with zinc and the other with lead.