The Washington herald., 1922-10-03

paratus consisting of a large-size
searchlight and huge inclined
mirror. which have just been COM
pleted by the searchlight engineers
of the General Electric Company at
Schenectady, N. Y, are believed to
be the forerunners of land light
houses for the use Of aeroplanes at
night.
The equipment used in the tests
comprised a 36-inch high intensity
searchlight having a capacity OF
325.o0O.o00 beam candlepower, and
a mirror sufficiently large to reflect
this powerful beam. The search
light was enclosed in a housing
structure and remained stationary.
The beam played through n window
in the house upon the mirror and
was reflected straight up into the
sky to a great height. The mirror
was inclined at an angle Of Is de-
grees. and was movable. allowing
the light beam to be rotated in the
air.
Beam shows 75 miles.
The proposal is to Identify the
town or station by rotating the
light In a certain manner. Thus a
string Of these land lighthouses
could be set up, twenty-five miles
apart. between two points, like
the aeroplane pilot familiar with
their signals they would constituts
a perfect guiding path through the
night. as well as identify desired
landing places. BY enclosing the
searchlight, this delicate apparatus
would be protected at all times
from the weather.
In the General Electric tests, the
light beam was observed at points
from sixty-five to seventy five
miles distant. Land lighthouses. IL
established, would be only about
half as far apart. however.
Most people who use electric
lights or electric utensils in their
homes would say, II the question
were put to them. that the possi-
bility of using the electric lights
and the electric utensils constiL
tuted the service which electrical
engineering has performed for the
nation. That is true. but It is not
the whole story ,by a good deal.
what electrical engineering has
really done has been to cause many
products in daily use to be more
thoroughly and more economically
manufactured, by making power
generation and supply a separate
industry.
DR.. SteinmetE on "Fower."
Let one of the leading electrical
engineers of the times. DR.. Charles
P. Steinmetz, chief consulting en-
gineer of the General Electric Com
pany. explain in simple, un-
technical language, just what this
means to the American public, the
every day" men and women who
go about their affairs seldom real
izing the bigness of the unseen
things in their lives.
Power" says DR.. Steinmetz. 'fs
necessary in all industrial opera
tions, whether It be the making of
steel, or OF breakfast food, or of
shoes, or of furniture.
Therefore the production of
power by the steam engine-and
now often by steam turbine and
electric drive-hcs been an essen
tial part of economic history.
But the production Of power is
in itself arr Industrial operation.
and in the days of the steam en-
gine in mills and factories, two
idustries were really carried on
under the same roof. They were
the production OF power and the
production of shoes. or Of breakfast
food, or of food, or OF furniture.
Need Of Specialization.
This is inefficient and wasteful.
The source of our modern high In
dustrial efficiency is subdivision
and specialization. A single in
dustrail operation requires all the
ability and attention of the admin
istrative, technical and manufactur-
ing staff, to give maximum econ
omy. An attempt to operate stimuli
taneously two such different indus
tries as. for instance. the making
Of breakfast food and the making
of power, inevitably leads to lesser
efficiency in one of them. and this
is the production Of power.
Furthermore. an industry sup
plying one customer only and that
a customer whose demand varies
periodically, cannot be carried out
efficiently. Such is the case with
the industry of power production
as auxiliary to another Industry.
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