804 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1065 



bined membeTsMp of these societies consists of 

 men engaged as executives in manufacturing or 

 contracting work. In such work ability as an in- 

 ventor is less essential than familiarity with prin- 

 ciples and applied methods of industrial manage- 

 ment. 



The speaker outlines the course in industrial 

 engineering given at the Pennsylvania State Col- 

 lege. 



This course contains all the fundamental mathe- 

 matics, underlying science and mechanics given 

 in the standard engineering courses, but in place 

 of the more technical work in designing and test- 

 ing we introduce work in organization, manage- 

 ment, theory of accounts, factory accounting, 

 foundry and pattern-shop methods and organiza- 

 tion, machine-shop methods and organization, fac- 

 tory lay-out and design and application of such 

 methods of scientific management as planning de- 

 partments, including orders of work, bulletining, 

 making of time studies, preparation of introduc- 

 tion cards and tool lists, keeping of cost records 

 and accounts on commercial work actually sold, on 

 the one hand, and certain essential exercise work, 

 on the other hand. The degree obtained by stu- 

 dents graduating in this course is that of Bachelor 

 of Science in Industrial Engineering. 



Methods and New Apparatus for Measuring the 

 Electrical Conductivity aiove 1500° C. of Vapors 

 at Normal Pressures: Edvstin F. Northkup. 

 The electrical conduction of gases and vapors at 

 atmospheric pressure at temperatures above 1200° 

 C. have apparently been little investigated quanti- 

 tatively. If the investigation is to extend to me- 

 tallic vapors means must be provided for produc- 

 ing and measuring very high temperatures, and if 

 high pressure can be combined with high tem- 

 perature, a searching experimental method will be 

 provided of ascertaining the true nature of me- 

 tallic conduction. Some progress is reported in 

 providing the necessary outfit for the investiga- 

 tion of gaseous and vapor conduction at atmos- 

 pheric pressure and at temperatures up to the 

 melting point of platinum. 



A furnace is described which gives safely a 

 temperature above the melting point of platinum 

 and which wiU maintain a temperature above the 

 melting point of nickel for at least 140 hours. 

 The furnace can then have its life renewed by the 

 introduction of a new heater-unit. A container 

 for the hot gases or metallic vapors is described. 

 It is shown that the conduction is considerable 

 but complicated in character. It depends (1) 



upon the form of the container, (2) probably, 

 upon the material of the container, (3) upon the 

 applied voltage, (4) upon the direction of the ap- 

 plied voltage, (5) upon the temperature, (6) upon 

 the frequency, when an alternating voltage is em- 

 ployed and (7) upon the nature of the gas or 

 vapor. 



A description is given of a series of measure- 

 ments. The data obtained is given, partly in a 

 table and in ten curves. 



The considerable conductivity exhibited by a 

 mixture of CO and N above a temperature of 

 1500° C. suggests the idea that the conductivity 

 found for refractory oxides at and above this tem- 

 perature is due in considerable part to the hot 

 gases which fill the interstices of the material. 

 This idea was put to the test of experiment and it 

 was found that, under identical conditions in re- 

 spect to method of measurement, cross section and 

 length of material, etc., at the temperature of 

 1530° C. through pure aluminum oxide 36 milli- 

 ampferes and through a mixture of CO + N 8.5 

 milliampferes passed, the pressure being 50 volts. 

 Hence it is concluded that approximately 24 per 

 cent, of the conductivity of pure aluminum oxide 

 at this temperature is due to the conductivity of 

 the gases in its pores. It therefore seems safe to 

 make the general statement; that when the tem- 

 perature exceeds 1500° C, it is impossible to ob- 

 tain even approximately good wisulation by any 

 mean^. 



One of the most interesting properties of the 

 conducting power of a very hot gas is the asym- 

 metry of the conduction. In a particular case, at 

 a pressure of SO volts, 15.5 milliampferes passed 

 from a tungsten wire, axially located, to the walls 

 of a graphite cylinder when this wire was made 

 negative, and 45 milliampferes when this wire was 

 made positive. The temperature in both cases 

 being 1510° C. 



The writer states that high-temperature investi- 

 gation presents innumerable problems, and it is in 

 his judgment the most fruitful field for chemical 

 and physical inquiry which is at this time pre- 

 sented to chemists and physicists. 

 Saturated Vapor Refrigerating Cycles: J. E. 



SlEBEL. 



The author analyzes the energy conversion in 

 refrigerating cycles conceived to be operated per- 

 fectly reversible by a saturated vapor with nega- 

 tive specific heat (steam as a representative). 



Accordingly, it is found that the work required 

 to produce a certain amount of refrigeration in 



