New Britain herald., 1927-12-02
RADIO F|LAMENT
 SOURCE OF POWER
Fragile Tubes Store Up Vast
 Energy

New York, Dec. 9. Pl-Nacuum tubes, those Aladdin lamps of science that run the worlds radio sets. are making a back number of Jules Verne.
 Within their fragile shells are possibilities for electric power de- velopment. application and control that lead to a new field of engineer ing so vast that it requires the imagination of Verne to suggest it's ! lmitations-if indeed there are any.
 Open Doors, Turn On Lights
 Research men, retiCent gentle men who direct the progress of busy world from their obscure lab- oratories. already have developed tubes capable of controlling such di- verse accessories of civilization as garage doors, airway fioodlights and municipal lighting systems. What these scientists have up their sleeves IS not for public disclosure, but they have divulged enough to keep indus try hustling as it endeavors to keep up with them
 
 Gary waved a hand in front of a little glass bulb in his New York office and the new electrical mills of the Homestead Steel Works, hun dreds of miles away, were started for the first time. Recently the Westinghouse Electric & Manufac- turing company demonstrated . rl, ,,ar,,, f. ting one man control of power at great distances. Again, the same company showed how the roar of an airplane motor, approaching a landing field at night, could be made to turn on the hoodlights of the airWay.
 Operate Crossing Signals
 In each case the miracle was worked by vacuum tube. so sensi- tive to light or sound that the flick of a hand, the vibration of a voice or motor. sent the electrons in the tiny chamber scurrying on their CT rand of establishing an electric cur rent strong enough to operate an ordinary relay and circuit.
 Utilizing the same principles, en- gineers say 1t would be possible for a motorist to open his garage door at night merely by allowing his searchlights to shine on a tube placed near the doors. Similarly, automobiles could operate their own traffic or grade crossing signals, and in like manner the coming of dusk or of dawn could automatically turn on and off a municipal lighting plant thus eliminating the human agent.
 Some day, say these prophets of the new engineering. a lone man stationed at a strategic point will control completely and infallibly the operation of a vast power system eA- tending over half a continent. Me Ichanical men"-vacuum tubes-on duty throughout the net work of wires will instantly tell him when anything goes wrong, and he will be able to ascertain at a glance the To- cation of the trouble.
 Medical Science Next
 Already this principle of remote control has been applied to water systems, so that the rise Or fall of the water, by operating a vacuum tube circuit, is instantly communi- cated 10 headquarters.
 Medicine also may reap the bene- fits of this new science. The high power cathode ray tube, perfected by Dr. W D. Coolidge of the Gen. cral Electric Co, has worked won- ders that may have message for medical science. It has been ob- served that these rays, expelled into the air from an N-ray tube, have a penetrating effect equal 10 that of large quantities of radium. The ul- innate services of this tube have not been forecast by Dr Coolidge, but the indications are that physicians may be able to utilize it's product.