Industrial Research 



321 



themselves may be cited as exemplars of industrial 

 research as a national resource. 



Such laboratories, besides producing new and desir- 

 able results of commercial utility, even touch upon the 

 conservation of natural resources which are expendable. 

 Continuous and helpful studies are made of the con- 

 ditions of, causes of, and means for combating decay 

 of wooden poles and cross arms used to support over- 

 head wires, the corrosion of metallic wires and metallic 

 devices, the protection of cable protective sheaths from 

 corrosion by electric cm-rents in the earth, and from 

 other such deleterious effects. Even the character and 

 quality of the tools and implements used in manu- 

 facturing apparatus and in the construction of plant 

 have been and are being subjected to research, with 

 advantages derived thi'ough improving the accuracy 

 and speed of manufacture and the ease and safety of 

 installation. 



In the field of electronics, which now has so great an 

 influence in electrical communications, research has 

 included and stUl includes many features of service and 

 promise besides those already referred to, such as: 

 Electron optics, especially in relation to television, but 



finding application in electron microscopes and other 

 devices, and thereby opening new vistas for industrial 

 physicists; properties of coatings for television tubes, 

 with a side contribution to the production of liigli-efTi- 

 ciency fluorescent lamps; controls tlii'ough photoelectric 

 cells for various situations; medical aids through dia- 

 thermy; electron multipliers and allied devices; new 

 types of oscillators, which come into a multitude of 

 services. 



In the field of radio communications, development of 

 the use of ultrahigh frequencies is receiving empha- 

 sized attention, and radio waves of frequencies above 30 

 megacycles per second are being given useful applica- 

 tions in such relations as police communications, har- 

 bor-craft communications, au-plane communications and 

 airplane guidance, urban broadcasting, governmental 

 communications, television, and facsimile broadcasting. 

 How far these developments can go is still for the 

 laboratories to determine, but it is worthy of comment 

 that even some extremely high-frequency waves, often 

 called "microwaves" because of their short lengths, 

 show promise of utility. New types of vacuum tubes 

 are being developed to accompany such service. 



Figure 97. — Surge Generator, Wagner Electric Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri 



