844 



NATURE 



[February 24, 192 1 



Dr. Edward B. Rosa, of the U.S. Bureau of Stan- 

 dards, lays stress on the departure from established 

 custom which is entailed by the fourth recommenda- 

 tion. He considers that such a system will make the 

 State Service the refuge of the mediocrity, since there 

 is no incentive to the individual worker. He would 

 wish to see initial salaries determined by the promise 

 of the candidate for a class. 



The most serious objection which can be raised to 

 the report is the almost complete failure of the Joint 

 Commission to suggest a remedy for a disease which 



is only too prevalent in the United States Service : the 

 lack of co-ordination and co-operation in research. 

 Before the war each Department was watertight, the 

 idea being to prevent the overlapping of research — 

 which many consider vital to its prosecution — and 

 consequent waste. It is not clear that any particular 

 attention has been paid to this aspect of departmental 

 practice. Above all, it is not evident that the Com- 

 mission has fully appreciated the possibilities of the 

 co-ordination of research and other scientific Def>art- 

 ments of the State. 



Efficiency in Industry. 



\X7 E referred last week to the comprehensive 

 '• exhibition at Olympia organised under the 

 auspices of the Daily Mail with the object of en- 

 couraging modem methods of increasing etliciency by 

 the application of scientific principles. The range 

 covered is large, dealing as it does with education, 

 commercial organisation, factory equipment, and 

 general industrial matters, but the keynote of apply- 

 ing scientific rather than haphazard methods to 

 obtain the improved results now so badly needed runs 

 through it all. 



Scientific education is represented on the stand of 

 the University of London, where, among other 

 things, is to be found an interesting display exem- 

 plifying the development of the thermionic valve, 

 which is the basis of most modern wireless tele- 

 graph work. This goes back to lamps fitted with 

 internal plates by Prof. J. A. Fleming in 1887-89 for 

 the study of the unidirectional conductivity effect dis- 

 covered by Edison in 1883. Some of the original 

 oscillation valves made as a result of these researches 

 in 1904, and practically used in wireless telegraphy, 

 are also shown. The later developments of the three- 

 electrode valve are exemplified by a large number of 

 valves of different design, including the form to 

 which de Forest gave the name of the "audion." A 

 recent four-electrode valve of Prof. Fleming's own 

 design is to be seen, and the very latest development 

 in wireless telegraphy is exemplified by a large trans- 

 mitting valve made by the Marconi-Osram Valve Co. 

 Some historic apparatus used by Sir William Ramsay 

 in his researches upon the rare gases is also shown, 

 and a collection of historic electrical apparatus from 

 the laboratories of King's College includes some used 

 by Clerk Maxwell. 



Sheffield University shows exhibits relating to the 

 production of cupro-nickel and some special apparatus 

 developed by the department of glass technology. 

 Armstrong College, Newcastle, shows Dr. Bedson's 

 apparatus for the investigation of coal-dust explosions 

 and the inhibitory power of inert dusts. A small 

 amount of the dust mixture to be tested is blown by 

 a puff of air on to a heated platinum wire in a glass 

 bulb, and the sudden rise of pressure due to the 

 little explosion is noted. Another educational exhibit 

 is that of Loughborough College, Leicestershire, 

 which is largely devoted to the work of students of 

 the college. The technical training of partly disabled 

 men occupies a deservedly large section of the exhibi- 

 tion, where the men are seen working at their various 

 trades. An interesting exhibit relating to industrial 

 efficiency is that of Major F. B. Gilbreth, consisting 

 of a working laboratory for the recording of the 

 actual movements of operatives in performing any 

 given operation with the view of determining the 

 most economical and least fatiguing way m which 

 it can be carried out. 



Among exhibits in the general engineering section 

 it is interesting to see the Constantinesco wave system 

 of power transmission working rock drills and other 

 NO. 2678, VOL. I06I 



appliances on the stand of Messrs. W. H. Dorman 

 and Co., Ltd. Attention should also be directed to 

 an instrument for the regulation of temperature shown 

 by British Oil and Fuel Conservation, Ltd. This is 

 known as the Freeman precision control, and depends 

 on the change of volume of the air in a bulb plac(^ 

 within the furnace or other chamber being heated. 

 The expansion and contraction of the air drive a 

 little column of mercury up and down an incliniKl 

 tube, causing it to open or close a contact which, by 

 means of a relay arrangement, controls the valve or 

 other device regulating the supply of the heating 

 medium. 



Various branches of electrical engineering are 

 represented in the comprehensive exhibit of the 

 British Thomson-Houston Co., Ltd., including an 

 electric welding plant in operation. Particular atten- 

 tion may be directed to a portable Rontgen-ray outfit 

 employing the Coolidge tube with heated cathode. 

 This is arranged to make up into four easily carried 

 packages, and can be erected at the bedside of a 

 patient. It is worked by means of a small trans- 

 former, with or without a rotary converter, from 

 any ordinary direct- or alternating-current supply 

 circuit. The power required is about 600 watts. 

 Another remarkable piece of portable apparatus is a 

 wireless receiving set, weighing no more than 20 lb. 

 and needing no external connections, which will pick 

 up messages from the chief Continental stations. A 

 rectifier for charging small batteries from alternating- 

 current circuits, acting on the same principle as the 

 thermionic valve, is also shown. 



A representative display of wireless telegraf)h 

 apparatus is made by the Marconi Wireless Tele- 

 graph Co. A comriete 3-kw. valve transmitting 

 station for land use is shown, as well as several 

 smaller sizes of valve receiving and transmitting 

 equipments down to a 20-watt portable apparatus. 

 Demonstrations are given bv means of the " radio- " 

 megaphone," which is a combination of a wireless 

 telephone receiving apparatus and a Creed " stentor- 

 phone." This latter in its ordinary form is a loud- 

 speaking gramophone in which the record actuates a 

 valve controlling a flow of compressed air, and gives 

 purer and more powerful sounds than the ordinary 

 gramophone. A large example used in this way is 

 placed in the gallery, where it discourses music, etc., 

 which can be heard all over the building. In the 

 "radio-megaphone," however, the gramophone needle 

 is replaced bv a piece of specially designed apparatus 

 which enables the wireless telephone receiver to 

 actuate the control valve. One of these combination 

 instruments on the Marconi stand is used to make 

 audible the time-signals recel\'ed from the Eiffel 

 Tower and from Nauen, and to reproduee music and 

 soeecli from a small wireless station at Surbiton. 

 These are picked up on an aerial just outside 

 Olvmpia. 



Messages are also sent periodically from Surbiton 

 in the Morse code at a high speed and are printed in 



