The Coolidge examiner., 1931-05-29
| Machines That Are
Almost Human
v B " E. c. T A YL O r
The Thermostat

~ bots yet produced by scientists
has stood guard for many years
over the enormously valuable IL
brary of the pope in the Vatican at
Vatican city, Italy.
1t protects the unreplaceabie
books, documents and other treas
ures from the ravages of the
weather and of time. It is on the
job twenty-fOur hours every day,
and since it first was given its in
structions and put to work, it has
performed it's duties without once
breaking down or calling for out
side help.
The heart of this robot is a ther-
mostat, device that is highly SEN
sitive to heat and humidity. 1t au-
tomatically controls the humidity
and temperature in the pOpe's Ii
brary and it has halted the deteri-
Grafton that Rome's extreme wealth
er had worked on the priceless
books for centuries.
Rome is either very dry or very
humid, very hot or extremely cold.
These sudden changes and wide
ranges of humidity and tempera-
ture were causing the library to
crumble into dust.
The robot is set at the exact tenn
perature and humidity that is best
for the library, and when the hu
midity or temperature reaches be-
y0nd that point either way, the
thermostat starts a weather" ma
chine" that quickly brings the tenn
perature and humidity back to
where they should be.
The thermostat measures heat
and cold and is highly sensitive to
moisture in the air. 1t trips other
machinery into action. In thou
sands of cellars throughout the
country it is standing guard over
the furnace, manipulating dampers
and drafts to increase or diminish
the heat as it is instructed TO do.
1t has replaced thousands of men
from watching boiling caldrons or
vatS.
The thermostat Is used to turn
on the phonograph, washing ma
chine, electric lights, and perform
many tasks heretofore intrusted
only to human beings.
The principle of the thermostat
is used in the thousands of auto
matte refrigerators that have been
installed in homes and that are
used by food-packing plants.
A thermOstat robot signals men
in New York city to turn on the
street lights when the city is about
to be darkened by a storm.
The device is on the roof of a
building where the street light con-
trolls are located. When an electri-
cal storm is approaching the robot
rings bell to warn the operators
to notify the electric generating sta
tions to increase the power over
the network of electric lines that
carry current throughout the city.
This is done whenever a sudden
storm brings on premature dark
ness, calling for more light than is
ordinarily used
A new development of the ther-
mostat tells builders if their lum-
ber Is properly seasoned. 1t oper-
ates on the principle that the elec-
trical conductivity of wood varies
with its moisture content. Green
wood or wood that is not properly
seasoned ha5 more moisture than
properly seasoned lumber.
The device consists of a simple
Indicator and two contact points
and dial. The needle on the dial
Is set to show the range of mOis-
ture content that would be accept
able for the quality of lumber de-
sired for the building operation. If
the needle is DETECTED off the scale
for which it is set when the test is
made, there is too much moisture In
the wood.
The device also is used by paint
ers to determine if a house or 9th
er building can be painted after
rainstorm. 1t shows whether the
wood is too damp to hold the paint.
The thermOstat robot has a pc
culiar use in keeping billiard balls
alive. Ivory billiard balls "catch
cold" when subjected to tempera-
ture of so degrees for only a few
minutes, and their life is greatly
shortened. They can live only
three months after Catching cold"
The life of ivory billiard balls is
five times as long If they are kept
in a temperature of 70 degrees than
if they are forced to live in a tenn
perature of 60 degrees.
(0. 1881 Western Newspaper Union.)