The Yale expositor., 1918-07-11
SCIENTISTS BUSY
IN WAR WORKSHOP
AirpIane Mechanism Demands
Most Careful Study.
TASK OF BUILDING VESSELS
National Bureau of Standards Carries
on a Wide Range of Scientific
Investigation and Testing.
BY LANES Il. COLLINS.

Wnen men ufSI began I'D Dullu air.
planes they covered the framework
with cotton sheeting and vanished
this with beeswax, just about as boy
takes almost any old newspaper that
is handy for making kite.
When men turned their attention
seriously to the selection of the best
cloth for airplanes they settled upon
linen. This was strong and gave a
good fabric without much trouble in
weaving. Moreover, airplanes were
developed abroad, where linen is much
more widely used than with us.
Then came war, with its need for
thousands of airplanes, and certain
new demands upon airplane fabric,
such as the greatly increased strength
required In the acrobatic maneuvering
with fighting planes, and the factor
known as "tear resistance" made nee
essary by the contingency of bullet and
shell splinter holes.
Then we got into the war.
The finest linen is grown In Ireland,
but there is only about 100000 pounds
of ii yearly. The next best flax fibers
were grown In Belgium, where the in
dustry has been practically wiped out
by war. For airplane purposes Great
Britain alone requires double the linen
production Of Ireland.
Query-With Uncle Sam proposing
to make airplanes by the thousands and
perhaps tens of thousands, where are
we to get airplane cloth?
Another airplane problem is that of
wood for the framework, for which
spruce has thus far been found the
best material. But demands for
straight grain spruce are so great in
view Of our airplane program, and so
little of 1t passes the rigid require
ments, that securing sufficient supply
is very difficult, Only about 200 feet of
wood are used in an average airplane |.
but to get this 200 feet you must start
by culling the spruce trees as they
stand in the forest, and then culling
the rough lumber after 1t has been
cut, and culling the kiln-dried product,
until finally after working over 5000
feet of rough lumber you are lucky
to have sufficient for single airplane.
Query-How can this part of the
aircraft program be speeded up?
Again, war requires that we build,
equip, and man hundreds Of ships
Ships are sailed by means of chronom-
eters, which are clocks with mechan-
ism built to watch fineness, highly ac-
curate. Chronometers are not made in
this country. In limited way we
have imported the parts from France,
England and Belgium, and assembled
few bearing American names. But
most of our thermometers were bought
abroad, and war has made 1t practi-
cally impossible to get sufficient sup
ply.
Query-How are we going to sail
our new ships?
Some of the Problems.
These are a few of the problems
connected with fighting tools of which
the public has heard less than about
the major details of war, such as can
tonments, uniforms, rifles, machine
guns, and heavy artillery. Each is a
vital essential, however, and in every
case Uncle Sam has taken steps to see
that his fighters have the best tools
which can be supplied-somethlng for
fits particular purpose which, starting
with the best that the allies have de-
veloped in three years of war, will
carry that art step further, giving
improvements characteristic of Ameri-
can invention and research.
On the outskirts of Washington
Uncle Sam maintains the national bu-
reau of standards, which, in peace
times, carries on wide range of scien-
tific investigation and testing. The
national bureau of standards keeps
the international standard meter and
kIlogram. 1t has scales capable Of
weighing the ten-millionth part of a
gram, and a gram is about the fifth
part of nickel in weight. 1t also has
testing machines capable of 100000
pounds pressure. So that, In this insti-
tuition, Uncle Sam is equipped to meas
ure the accuracy of watches, detecting
variations of fraction of a second In
the minute, or crush large steel
bridge truss and accurately report up
on its strength.
In peace times this institution
serves our industries In countless ways.
Today. however. most of its work has
been conferred on war problems. Not
all Of these problems can be spoken of.
For many Of them relate to the deli
cate scientific work necessary to secure
results on the battle front. Fortunate
ly, enough of them can be discussed
to give people an idea of how thor
oughly and skillfully Uncle Sam Is
looking after war details In this special
direction.
The problem of airplane cloth was
turned over to the bureau of stand
ards and its textile experts went to
work. What makes good airplane
cloth? Most people would think of
strength first of all, but this is not
the chief factor--a fabric testing up to
so pounds per square inch is quite
satisfactory. Tautness is much more
imDortant-the fabric ON ar airplane