Evening star., 1941-06-22
By EDWIN STOUT,

Il4SIlCu NASAA ASAAASSA
ators, radios and telephones by the
million, and put invention itself or
mass production basis, are work
ing 10, II and IA hours a day tt
give the Nations war machine l943,
model equipment by 1912.
In a 3.500-mile air tour of de-
fense factories, I have talked with
& score of Americas foremost in
ventors and engineers. On theil
drawing boards and on their pro-
duction lines I have seen new en-
gines, new shells, new bombs, new
guns, new tanks and new fighting
cars.
Every engineer and production
man with whom I talked professed
profound respect for German
technical genius; but everyone also
had a tremendous faith in the
American industrial method of de-
veloping new things by piecing to-
gether the best ideas of many minds
How about the German engi-
neers?" I asked Charles F. Ketter-
ing, one of the Nations leading in
ventors, at a dinner table in Detroit.
They're good" he said. Il know
many of them. They've been at this
job a lot longer than we have"
Sure We Can Beat Them.
He drew graphs on the tablecloth
with the handle of his fork, marking
an *" line and a "Y" line and
plotting S-shaped curves from his
plate to his waterglass.
Can you beat them?"
You're damn shouting we can't
he said.
A combination mechanic, mathe-
matician and dreamer-Mr. Ketter-
ing is typical in looks, talk and
action of hundreds of engineers in
American industrial laboratories
The organization he heads-the
General Motors research division
likewise is typical of the brains
departments" that have grown up
In many factories.
War developments in General
Motors tthose about which talking
is permitted include such things
as the new Allison engine for air.
planes and the new Diesel engines
that go into submarines. The ALI
son engine, stepped up from 1,150
to 1925 horsepower, is the Air Corps
main pursuit engine. In the re-
search laboratory of the Indianapo-
lis plant, Allison engineers are at
work on new engine with Con-
siderably more" than 1000 horse
power.
The General Motors Diesel plant
at Cleveland is turning out more
Diesel engines than the ship build
ers have ships to put them in. En-
gineers declare Germany has moth
ing to compare" with the American
marine Diesel and that the Ger
man engine is about where we were
10 years ago"
Weight Reduced Greatly.
The improvement has been in re-
duction in weight of the American
product. At the end of the World
War, Diesel engines weighed about
100 pounds per horsepower. Now
they weigh 10. This permits in
stallation of more motor units, CIV
ing more power, in such vessels as
submarines. Mr.. Kettering says
that because of the engines, large
type American submarines can go
II to 20 knots on the surface-fast
enough to keep up with the fleet, "
while those of other nations have
to crawl along at II to Is knots.
While these developments are 60
ing ahead, Mr.. Kettering has given
much thought to one of the main
tactical problems of the battle of
the Atlantic-the job of catching
the enemy submarine. He predicts
that this can be done within a
reasonable time" by development of
detection devices and gives some
hint of the direction Of his thinking
by remarking that radio research
has been greatly stimulated by the
war
He and his associates, he said,
"might have to throw away. 39.999
of 10000 ideas" that come from en-
pineers and inventors over the coun-
try.
But then it only takes one good
idea to win war"
Development of engines to drive
sirplanes farther, faster and hlgher
is the goal of many research laoora-
tories besides that OF Allison. In
Hartford. Conn, for example, Pratt
e. Whitney engineers are working
on an cooled engine to beat the
2 0o-horsepower double Wasp they
now have in production.
Single Cylinders Tested.
Single cylinders for the bigger
end better engine already are being
tested in a deafening experimental
room. When the ideal cylinder IS
worked out and built into an en-
zine. the engine itself will be tried
out in a huge test house.
The designers gave no indication
of what performance they expected
but pointed out that the test houA.
was equipped to handle an engine
with a 3,600-horsepower output.
In the engine laboratory of the
Ford company at River Rouge,
Mich, a new liquid-cooled engine
soon will be ready for the test
block. C. w. Van Ranst, the COM
panys chief airplane engine de-
signer, expects it to surpaSs any
thing in the high air-the sub
stratosphere attitudes of more than
10000 feet.
Mr.. Van Ranst explained, with
a series of charts, that, because OF
a built-in, two-stage turbo super
charger, the Ford engine will main
tain its level output of 1900
horsepower up to 32,5oo feet, while
the British and German liquid
cooled motors at that altitude have
lost hundreds of horsepower. Mr..
Van Ranst has taken the British
and German engines apart and
knows how they are made.
They're excellent engines" he
said. But this new one of ours
will be better"
At another part of the Ford plant
two young drivers sent a pair OF
"blitz buggies" over rocks. bitches,
steep hillsideS and underbruSn.