Evening star., 1941-11-09


be written. had to surrender my fin
gerprints and photograph and swear
never even to mention some of the
things IN social conversation. For in
this building, and the others like it,
Sperry is constructing weapons of war
IKE none ever seen on this planet,
super-scientlfc devices designed to
make America forever dominant.
This is truly the wizards den of mod
ern warfare.
VI course. there are also commercial
machines being fashioned in the great
shops, modern miracles that we have
come to take for granted. The gyro-
scope compasses for steamships, for
instance, some as tall as a man. Then
there are unCanny evolutions of these,
one of which holds ship on given
course. manipulating rudder and con-
trolls by itself; and another which
automatically writes a complete his
tory of the voyage. With these it is
theoretically possible to start vessel
out of one port and dock it at another
without human hand touching the
helm or the log chart,
In the aviation departments saw
more mysterious commonplaCes - di-
rectional gyros and gyro-horizons,
which tell the pilot where's he's head
ing and whether he's on an even keel;
also the newer gyro-pilot, which keeps
an airplane faultlessly on its course
while the human pilot relaxes.
Near by, men with delicate preci-
sion tools were turning out pieces of
metal measured to the incredible ac-
curacy OF one-half of one-tenth of
-thousandth of an inch. much finer
than the finest spider web. They were
for use in connection with the new
flight ray" an instrument installed
in plane by which pilot can bring
his ship into the precise center of an
airport runway in impenetrable fog
or deepest night. He rides smoothly
down an invisible ramp through the
air, and this ramp is mysteriously
created by an eight-inch tube Of glass
and copper set up on the flying field.
1t is called the klystron.
The klystron is, of course, radio
tube. But instead of shooting out its
waves fanwise, it can be made to pro-
ject straight beam no more than
two feet wide, infinitely more accurate
than a bullet from gun. With
Klystron installed in the center of
runway and aimed on an easy slant
skyward, and with the beam-receiving
flight ray" in the airplane cockpit,
the pilot is able to come down to
perfect landing. Still brandnew
Klystron is expected to be useful in
many fields. Among other things. it
may make long-range television broad
casting cheap and easy.
But right now," said my guide sig
nihcantly. "it means that bad weather
won't stop our fighting planes"
Mysts,y Even 10 Moksrs
More than nine-tenths of Sperrys
business is military. Even before the
national emergency was declared. the
plants had been virtually comman-
deered During my several visits there
was always an armed guard within five
feet, watching every move made.
Many of the men who work on these
floors don't know what they're max
ing. Each is given part of job to do.
When the secret device is finally as
sembled, it is the product of hundreds
of pairs of hands. No one man knows
exactly how it has been made.
But some of the things that are
happening in those mysterious clois-
tiers can be told. For one thing, a
military searchlight is being made,
brighter than any light ever before
created by man. It's 8O0,OOO,OO
beam candlepower" throws a ray
that will spot an airplane five miles up.
Most remarkable of the devices
xyh;rb ran he mentioned is a series of