NEW DETECTIVES
USE OF VACUUM TUBES. ■ '• ■' Smokestacks., detected by their heat six miles away. Icebergs found in the fog by their cold. ■Uncanny- possibilities are hinted in new and improved opportunities for the use of vacuum tubes. Some of these were possible of accomplishment by delicate laboratory methods. in the. past, but , apparently were, not then adaptable .to. practical commercial, use, says .. the Industrial Bulletin of Arthur D. Little, Inc.j which gives ■ credit to. “Electronics” (New York):-
Infra-red. rays seem to offer the next great field for exploration with electronic apparatus. Navigation, industrial applications, remote control, and safety appliances all present striking opportunities for infra-red detection. During - a recent broadcast demonstration of the Macneil thermo-electric sextant, which can measure the position of the sun through thick, obscuring clouds,
the sensitive thermo-couple was pointed out the studio window and 'used, to “feel” heat from smokestacks six miles away. Commander Macneil is now ex'perimenting with locating aeroplanes flying above the clouds at night, by “feeling” the heat from their exhausts. This instrument will detect the heat of a man’s face at a mile, a horse’s at two miles. Smokescreens will be useless in- future wars; warships’ hot' funnels can be located through the thickest black smoke masses, and guns aimed at them easily. Detection and warning against icebergs will undoubtedly be another service of the future to be rendered navigation. During the broadcast mentioned a cake of ice was hidden in the studio behind a- thick sheet of black rubber, to simulate fog, and then all the lights were turned out Under them conditions, simulating a thick, foggy night, the thermo-couple was swung around tire “horizon” and instantly located the concealed “iceberg” there in the dark!
Many potentialities at once suggest themselves for such wonder-working apparatus—as sensitive in “feeling” as the electric eye is in “seeing.” y ‘ "
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Bibliographic details
Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1933, Page 4
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305NEW DETECTIVES Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1933, Page 4
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