Evening star., 1939-01-01
Mans Inventive Mind Pushes
Conquest Over Space and Time
Many of 6,672 Patents of Year Concern Aviation;
Others Hold Power to Mold Lives
to New Standards
By Thomas r. Henry.

49, - S"s vs
ton by the motion of the structure under
the pull of an air propeller driven by
an engine much as in the conventional
airplane.
Compared to an airplane, the device
is supposed to be relatively safe and easy
to manage. Many pictures have been
drawn of suburbanites flying to their
Offices, landing on the roofs and getting
on elevators being freed of all
the perplexities of traffic.
Says DR.. Durand: "The autogyEo, now
some IS years DID, seems to be on the
way to acquiring fairly we'll assured
place among the various forms of craft
available for air transport. 1t appears
to have special qualities which go far
to adapt it to the individual, such as
take-off from and landing in confined
areas and relative safety against cas-
ualties from loss of control. Speeds may
reach about 125 miles an hour. It ap-
pears to have possibilities as relatively
safe family carriage.
THE helicopter is, in effect, simply a
flying propeller. The shaft, nearly verti-
cal, is tilted so that the upward COM
ponent of the total pull provides sus-
tension, while the horizontal component
provides transport. The true helicopter
appears finally to have made its ap-
pearance in Germany, although detailed
information is lacking"
Television Already Practical.
A significant trend is in the relative
nearness of television. when will it
Gomez" is the question thousands are
asking. The fact is, as recently ascer-
tanned by the National Resources Com
mittee, that it is now possible to transmit
over local area of from 10 to 20 miles
radius fairly good pictures having at
least the clarity and detail of the aver
age home moving picture. A few tech
nical problems remain to be solved, but
television is entirely practical, from an
engineering standpoint, at this moment.
But who is going to pay for it? No.
body has yet been able to work out the
commercial possibilities of this new art.
And nobody wants to invest in a tele-
vision set until they can be assured of
something to see. On the other hand,
nobody wants to start broadcasting at
very great expense-and particularly no
advertiser wants to pay for this broad
casting-until there can be assurance of
an audience. That is the inpasse in
which television stands at present
Some of the most notable prospects
of the immediate future are in the field
of medicine and public health. Even
If &c J,,1& g.
be heightened very much, there is very
good prospect of removing the menace
of some of the most disabling illnesses.
With the combination of serum and
sulfanilamide pneumonia would be just
about beaten. The great hurdle is the
cost of treatment and the distribution
of treatment outside the great centers
of population. The Federal Government
has taken in hand the problem of cancer
and there is concerted drive in progress
on all fronts such as never before been
undertaken against any malady. The
practical extent of the progress is diff
cult to estimate In theory experiment.
ers are getting very close to the heart
of the cancer problem. An ever-increas-
ing number of bacterial infections are
proving susceptible to sulfanilamide
therapy, and one of the most remarkable
forward steps of the generation
hardly appreciated by the general pub
lic-is the virtual conquest, when treat
ment is started in time of mastoid in
fections in children and the highly
lethal meningitis
Chemistry Promises Much.
Chemistry has entered new age when
almost anything can be expected. Hith-
erto it has striven to duplicate nature.
Now it is trying, and most successfully
in many cases, to make something bet
ter than nature produces. Wool and
ivory from milk, silk from feathers
rubber literally from the air, and all
sorts of plastics with all sorts of uses
are at hand. One of the biggest tasks
it has undertaken is that of bringing
relief to an agriculture which produces
more than it can sell, and, as newer
methods are introduced, may be expected
to upset the balance still further.
We live, as National Resources Com
mittee report recently stated, "in a
cellulose age" Hitherto cellulose, the
chief constituent of plant stalks, has
been used mainly in the form of lumber,
paper, cotton and linen. Tremendous
quantities are destroyed annually as
crop by-products which are suitable for
producing synthetic lumber paper, rayon,
lacquer, etc. Chemically, there are uses
for about all the cellulose that could
be produced. 1t only remains for man
ufacturers to turn these into industrial
possibilities.