SCIENCE SIFTINGS

New Zealand Tablet, 16 October 1919, Page 46

SCIENCE SIFTINGS

(By “Volt

Why Waste Wind? f ~ There is,” says La Science* et la Vie, “in the bosom o the atmosphere an enormous force capable of being captured transformed into motor force, and utilised for the needs of industry. This power is the wind. At a ane when all combustibles habitually employed are so rare am costly, the utilisation of the wind appears doubly interesting by reason of the prodigious force which it represents, and the absolute freedom of this force. It is me that the wind is irregular. It .does not blow every day at the same speed. Sometimes this speed does not exceed more than one or two metres to the second, sometimes it attains 20 or 25 metres. For this reason its use would necessarily be confined. Nevertheless, it would be sufficiently great to interest a good number of organisations, industrial or agricultural, which until now have depended on coal (now so precious), and which can perfectly accommodate themselves to the intermittent motor force produced by the wind. The smaller industries and farming would derive from the utilisation of the wind important advantages for grinding, air compression, electricity, charging of accumulators, elevation of water in reservoirs, etc. . . . briefly, everything which does not require an absolutely constant motor force. The variability in intensity which constitutes the only inconvenience of the wind is otherwise largely compensated by the material advantages which one obtains in using it.” Some idea as to the practical working of dynamos driven by windpower is contained in the following description from the Scientific American, which says that, according to H. C. Vogt, certain “mills had sails 100 ft in diameter and an area of 3930 square feet. With a mean wind velocity of 24ft a second, 20 h.p. was obtained. Power is transmitted from the main shaft by a series of cog wheels with the spokes in tension; rope and chain gearing were found not to answer. By means of gearing, the speed of the main shaft, 12£ revolutions a minute, is increased to 1500 revolutions a minute for the dynamo.” Air Camouflage. The bold, impetuous nature of the airman has asserted itself in the startling colors with which most fighting “scouts” are painted. At first, aeroplanes were painted with a view to camouflaging them. The top. sides of the pianos were decorated with an irregular pattern of brown and green, which mingled easily with the dull mosaic of the fields below, and so hid, to a certain extent, the machine from the eyes of hostile airmen flying higher, while the lower planes were painted pale blue or silver in order that machines or anti-aircraft gunners below might not readily see them. This is still done to a certain extent, but bolder spirits have realised the psychological law that there may be greater safety in making yourself awfully conspicuous and conspicuously awful than in trying to escape attention with a quiet, drab appearance. The result has been that many machines now have a more brilliant appearance than any revue poster or Futurist landscape. Bright blue , and gold, scarlet and emerald, black and lemon, mustard and mauve, they flaunt themselves before a startled enemy. Some squadrons, such as Richthofen’s famous “circus,” are decked with one particular hue, and all who draw near realise with what they have to deal. Most individually-famous airmen have had their machines painted in a particular way in order to terrify enemy machines, and also that their report's may be checked by other airmen, for in the mad excitement of an air fight it is not easy to distinguish one machine from another. Observers on the ground also can distinguish the colors of different machines in a fight and can make a report on the success of a machine with a particular color design. Another cause of the coloring is that it gives the pilot a chance to assert his individuality and to get away from uniform ideas. Dragons, death’s-heads, clutching hands, lightning streaks, nicknames, emblems, mascots, and the faces of music-hall stars are also paintted on machines. Some are quit© works of art, and have been painted by professional artists who happen to be attached as officers or mechanics to the squadron. The psychological value is very great. A squadron of vivid scarlet machines must receive great encouragement from their similarity of de- - coration, while the color assists them greatly in distinguishing friends from enemies. The fact that the name/ of his sweetheart is painted , on the nose of his machine may give new strength to a flagging pilot who has ; perhaps been wounded. Pride in his machine is a very creditable quality in an airman, and if he decorates it himself it has for. him far more personality than if it had merely 'a number'—-Paul Bewsher, in : the Daily ■ Mail, : .. .. ....