Evening star., 1939-01-01

The minds of the worlds men of
science and inventors never have been
more active than during the past year.
In Washington alone patents have
been issued for 36,672 devices-many of
them OF very limited and purely tech
nical Importance, some silly to the point
Of the ludicrous and some intended to
put into practical operation original
Ideas with practical application to. a
large percentage of the American people,
When to these are added the constant
stream of discoveries from the Nations
scientific laboratories which are not pat
ented-at least by the discoverers-the
advances during the past II months at
first seem remarkable.
Far-reaching changes in daily life are
bound to come out of all this, but Just
what they will be it is difficult to pre-
dict Anybody who could make such a
sound prediction and had little money
to invest wouldn't need to work for
living any longer. But there are always
three elements involved-first the dis
covery, then its commercial exploita-
ton, and then the never predictable re-
action of the public, which used to pass
laws against bathtubs, declare steam
engines works of the Devil and smash
cotton looms.
Aviation Fruitful Field.
Some things, however, the public al
ready has accepted and is constantly ex-
pecting improvements in thenl-such as
aviation. Hardly week goes by with
out a score or more of devices patented
having to do with some feature of avia-
ton. And every week score or more
others have to do with the still COM
mercially unrealized television.
1t is often a long call from the idea,
however practical, and its commercial
application and all sorts of claims are
likely to go unchallenged until they
come to the acid test of financing. In
aviation, however there is some solid
ground for prediction, summarized re-
Gently by Dr. w. F. Durand of Leland
Stanford University before the American
Association for the Advancement of
Science.
-Four builders, DR.. Durand reports,
have submitted plans for planes in
tended for transatlantic service-each
designed for a total lift of 100000
pounds. Such planes are pictured as
veritable monsters of the sky. They call
for wing area of approximately 4450
square feet, engines developing 11,75O
horsepower, cruising speed of $50 miles
an hour and a pay load of $4,000 pounds,
including 100 passengers. All these de-
signs, he says, are within the limits of
possibility.
Theoretically it is possible for plane
to fly 500 miles an hour, which is very
close to the limit. The present record is
424 miles. For such speeds however, it is
necessary to give over the total lifting
power, except for pilot and a minimum
amount of fuel, to the power plant. DR..
Durand believes that 300 miles an hour
is about the utmost limit for commercial
planes and possibly $50 for military
planes designed for actual useful service.
How far is it possible to travel without
fefueling? Here again. considering planes
of the best possible present design, the
distance can be calculated theoretically
as between 5000 and 5000 miles. This
assumes, however, that the total load
capacity is given over to fuel 1t also
assumes perfect weather conditions.
Practically flights of between 1000 and
1000 miles are about the limit CONNER
cially possible, with planes now in service.
Some of the newer designs, hoWevef, give
promise of carrying 10,000-pound pay
load over range of 2,400 miles at
speed of about $50 miles an hour, a de-
cided advance over anything now in
regular service
Trans Atlantic Possibilities.
. The great advance popularity expected
In the near future is transatlantic pas
senger flying service on a regular sched-
ule, which will bring London within less
than "a hours of New York Most plans
call for an uninterrupted flight of about
5000 miles. Here is what DR.. Durand has
to say about it:
There are, at present, no commercial
craft capable of undertaking such serv-
ice. with pay load sufficient to give
good promise of economic success. For
stopWise flight by way of Bermuda and
the Azores or for the shortest possible
flight from Newfoundland to Ireland
there are some possibilities. 1t will be
remembered that the specifications for
newer designs of transatlantic planes
call for structure weighing about 200, 900
pounds and carrying pay load of about
$4,000 pounds including 100 passengers
An estimated cost for such craft would
be 81 100000, The cost per hour for oper-
alton IS estimated at from $1O8 to 1887,
with cost per mile from $1.62 to 1928
and per passenger seat per mile from
IL to nearly 3 cents 1t is safe to say
that the economics of such structures is
by no means fully assured"
Passenger flights through the strato-
sphere constitute another popularity ex-
pected development in the near future
The term "stratosphere" is used for an
indefinite stratum of the atmosphere
varying somewhere around $4,000 feet.
above which the temperature of the air
Is nearly constant at 81 degrees below
zero. Individual pilots, it may be ex-
pected, will go sooner or later to nearly
twice this heighth, but actual commercial
passenger flights at such a level, while
not actually impossible, are something
to be considered with the tongue in the
cheek for the time being, DR.. Durand
. oeheVes. Actual passenger flights at an