1 86 Master Minds of Modern Science 



of this invaluable Tank. During the War the world's 

 fastest destroyer was built for the British Navy after 

 experiments in design had been made at Teddington, and 

 if Britain regains the blue riband of the Atlantic it will 

 quite possibly be through similar trials at the Laboratory 

 having proved which design could be expected to produce 

 the maximum speed. Thus our shipbuilders are no longer 

 building ' in the dark/ for their ideas can be tested 

 quickly, under the appropriate conditions, by men who 

 have made the sailing of toy boats the handmaiden of 

 Science. 



If waves are wanted they can be produced by a special 

 device. If a shipbuilder wants to see how his projected 

 boat will weather a violent Pacific storm, exactly equi- 

 valent conditions can be produced. There is also a false 

 bottom to the tank ; this can be raised to give the effect 

 of shallow water. 



The use of wax models contributes also to elasticity 

 in the experiments. If the first design does not give satis- 

 factory results, then a little can be added to the model 

 here or shaved off there, and a vessel of new and 

 improved shape put through its trials. This can be 

 done again and again, if need be, until the perfect line has 

 been discovered. 



The National Physical Laboratory will investigate 

 anything associated with water-navigation. In one year 

 it tested eighty-one models, representing fifty-nine diffe- 

 rent designs. The Tank is used for other experiments 

 too. For instance, the famous Schneider Trophy 'planes 

 were tested, in model form, in the Laboratory, and 

 experiments have been carried out with the object of 

 illustrating the action of seaplanes when rising from the 

 water. 



The scientists at the Laboratory have even studied the 

 rolling and tossing which most of us associate inevitably 

 with seasickness. One of them specializes in studying 



