A WORLD OF CHANGE — WEIDLEIN 195 



tion became common terms in the industry. The increasing demand 

 for power plants has resulted in more severe conditions for the lubri- 

 cants used. Automobile and airplane engine oils are exposed to high 

 temperatures and greater loads each time there is an increase in the 

 horsepower yield per cubic inch of cylinder capacity. Under these 

 severe conditions oils are more likely to deteriorate and fail in service. 

 Some progress is being made in the development of addition agents to 

 oils for increasing the oiliness and film strength under severe condi- 

 tions. By analogy with the well-established practice of adding anti- 

 oxidants to gasoline to prevent gum formation, there is a development 

 under way for adding antioxidants and similar inhibitors to lubricating 

 oils. These may serve to prevent the formation of sludge by oxidation 

 or to prevent corrosion of bearing surfaces, this by some mechanism 

 not yet understood. It is possible that some of these difficulties may 

 be eliminated by change of the engine design so that the lubricants 

 will not be punished so severely. However this may develop, it is 

 interesting to note that chemical research is suggesting a remedy for 

 the engineering difficulty — difficulties caused by over-rapid engineering 

 advances. 



Our home-construction industry has received much criticism during 

 recent years, and, as the basis of value received for cost and effort, 

 it must be conceded that this criticism is largely deserved. Here is 

 a field that has possibilities of a "world of change." That such a 

 subject has reached the stage of public discussion, however, indicates 

 that improvement has already begun. Our homes may not seem to 

 us to be a chemical project but, in countless applications of plastic 

 materials, quick-drying lacquers, and synthetic fibers, we may con- 

 fidently expect new types of assembly to emerge with greatly reduced 

 costs while giving sanitary, noiseless, fireproof, moisture-proof, and 

 vermin-proof construction, in keeping with known possibilities. Let 

 us take a simple example such as a cookstove. Practically every 

 housewife complains of cooking over a hot stove in the summertime, 

 and conditions are almost as difficult any time during the year. This 

 inconvenience is caused by waste heat, which, if scientifically con- 

 trolled, would eliminate the discomfort, economize on the fuel bill, and 

 also save time. There has recently been constructed a stove along 

 these scientific lines, using both new and old materials, which will give 

 a heat efficiency of 80 percent instead of the average yield of 20 percent. 

 In other words, 8 pounds of coal will cook sufficient food for a family 

 of 12 per day. You are quite likely to see on the market in the future 

 a combination coal cookstove and refrigerator in which the waste heat 

 from the cook stove will operate the refrigeration unit. Glassware 

 for cooking purposes has become a common article of commerce, but 

 there was a time when glass was used only for windows and for orna- 

 mental purposes. The new tunnel under the Hudson River is to be 



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