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TIME: Almanac of the 20th Century
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TIME, Almanac of the 20th Century.ISO
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1920
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<text>
<title>
(1920s) The Machine Age
</title>
<history>TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1920s Highlights</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
SCIENCE
February 4, 1924
</hdr>
<body>
<p>The Machine Age
</p>
<p> Occasionally there comes an apparent peak in the production
of new inventions in the field of machines. Here is the record of
recent weeks:
</p>
<p> Cables. Permalloy, a new alloy of iron and nickel, with
magnetic properties hundreds of times greater than those of
either metal, applied by a new process to cable manufacture, has
increased the word-carrying capacity of the New York-Azores line
of the Western Union Telegraph Co. 300% over similar cables.
Officials of the Company believe it will revolutionize the cable
industry. A trial cable, laid in deep water off Bermuda,
withstood severe tests. In the new type of cable a thin layer of
permalloy surrounds the copper core, under the gutta percha and
wire coating on the outside.
</p>
<p> A new device which automatically connects land telegraph
lines with submarine cables made possible direct cable
communication between London and Chicago.
</p>
<p> Locomotives. The fastest electric locomotives in Europe were
put into operation on the Toulouse-Bayonne line of the French
Midi Railroad and on the Paris-Orleans Railroad. The locomotives
are of the new type on which tests have been conducted by the
General Electric Co. and the American Locomotive Co., at Erie,
Pa. (TIME, Dec. 17), weighing 102 tons and capable of reaching a
speed of 105 miles an hour. The French roads have ordered more
than $15,000,000 worth of such equipment, and the Mexican Railway
Co., Ltd., ten electric freight units for mountain climbing. With
a new device, the otheograph, the tests showed no "nosing," or
periodical oscillation, even at high speeds. The riding qualities
of both ends were excellent, and no injurious effects were
observed on the trackage.
</p>
<p> Navigation. A giant submarine cruiser of more than 7,000
tons, invented by Prof. Oswald Flamm, of Germany, has been built
in model by the Augsburg-Nurnburger Machinfabrik. The boat is
heart-shaped, point upward, with the keel in the groove of the
heart, like an inverted V. The principal advantage is rapid and
even submersion, the stability depending on the form and the
distribution of pressure. It can submerge in 30 seconds without
turning a degree, can cruise 20,000 miles and develop a speed of
23 knots an hour. It is 525 ft. long and 49 ft. wide, and carries
large torpedo and gun armament. Germany has neither the money,
nor the possibility (under present military control) of building
such submarines, and the French, Italian and British Governments
are interested in the invention. The largest submarines now being
built are of 3,000 tons.
</p>
<p> Leandro Guglielmotti, of Italy, invented an underwater
periscope by which submarine crews can see through water for 80
yards horizontally or 100 yards vertically. Light is thrown
through the water to reveal the presence of mines and other
objects. The device can be attached to existing submarines.
</p>
<p> The Cunarder Laconia and other large liners have recently
tried out the Sperry gyro-pilot, a device which automatically
steers 50% better than the human hand. The mechanism depends upon
the rotation of the earth, and saves much of the wear and tear on
the ship in rough weather.
</p>
<p> Aerial Terminal. The New York Central Railroad is favorably
considering the erection of a tower of latticed steel similar to
the Eiffel tower, straddling Park Avenue, Manhattan, just north
of the Grand Central Terminal, where giant dirigibles may moor
and swing at anchor. Elevators would carry passengers from the
air direct to waiting trains. Many architectural projects and
applications for mooring privileges have been submitted.
</p>
<p> Moving Pictures. Photographs at the rate of 300,000 a
minute--31 times a fast as those taken by the slow-motion camera-
-are being made at Shoeburyness, England, by the British Ordnance
Department, to examine the impact of shells on armor plate. The
camera weights two tons, and shows how golf balls and other hard
objects are flattened and pressed out of shape when struck and in
flight.
</p>
<p> Gunnery. The expansometer, a machine invented at the Bureau
of Standards, Washington, can measure a projectile's speed within
a gun. It is operated by the infinitesimal expansion of the gun,
followed instantly by contraction, from the gas generated by the
discharge, which transmits an electric signal to a high-speed
recording instrument.
</p>
<p> Automobiles. Prof. Howard R. Mayberry, of the psychology
department, University of Chicago, has devised a test for
applicants for motor licenses, consisting of control devices
directing the movements of a toy automobile through the streets
of a model city. The candidate must avoid traffic jams.
</p>
<p> Tunnels. A.C. Fielding and W.P. Yant, gas experts of the
U.S. Bureau of Mines, in an extended series of air tests in the
new twin Liberty vehicular tunnels to the South Hills of
Pittsburgh, have perfected a ventilating system which makes the
tunnels safe for human beings with any volume of traffic. A
procession of 200 auto trucks was run through the tunnels several
times, and samples of air taken in the early test showed 4 1/2 to
10 parts of carbon monoxide present. Canaries, which are very
sensitive to the gas, were released in the tunnels, and on the
third test showed no ill effects.
</p>
<p> Radio. Transmission of light and power by wireless may be
expected in the near future, according to researches by Prof.
A.M. Low, of London. Light and wireless waves travel at the same
speed. "Television" may not be developed to the point of accuracy
for another generation, however.
</p>
<p> David Sarnoff, General Manager of the Radio Corporation of
America, sent a message to Iwaki station, Japan, by radio from
Columbia, Mo., received a reply by telephone in 1 min., 45 sec.
</p>
<p> A radio concert was heard in a tube 85 feet deep under the
Hudson River. But Baltimore and Washington cannot communicate
satisfactorily by radio. This is due to a large "dead spot" or
peculiar geological formation in the earth between the two
cities, says Dr. James Harris Rogers, inventor of undersea and
underground radio communication. The energy waves travel from
base plate to base plate, rather than from aerial to aerial,
according to Dr. Rogers. Long-distance messages take the way of
least resistance and are not hampered by dead spots. Washington
electrical experts are experimenting on the problem.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>