Evening star., 1942-01-13
ACKNOWLEDGING Unit
May Give U. 5. Tanks
More Staying Power
N-Pound Weather Maker
Cuts interior Heot;
Adaptable to Homes
By HOWARD BLAKESLEE,
Wide World News.

By HOWARD BLAKESLEE,
Wide World News.
DALLAS, Tex, Jan. 13-When
peace comes, the average man with
q small home may be able to thank
the war for new kind OF air con-
ditioning suited to his house and
his pocketbook.
The new weather maker is small,
compact aid simple. You can carry
. around in one hand-if you can
a lift so pounds packed into a suit
case-enough of this weather to cool
. 30-ton Army tank.
. That Is more than enough for
cooling one room, nearly enough for
a small house.
In Texas, tanks are being used in
/ experimenting with the little wealth
- er maker. Under some conditions
of warfare, the heat and fumes of
tank in action are the limiting
factor in the length OF time the
crew can continue to fight.
The heat in the crew compart-
ment runs up to 100 degrees. The
men emerge exhausted after a few
hours, with faces coal-black from
fumes, dust and gases that drift in
from guns and engines. The heat
alone Is about the limit for human
endurance. enough to cause some
blood changes.
Where the little 50-pound air con-
ditioner has been tried, they finish
the work with faces still reasonably
clean and with fewer signs of IA
tigue.
= Military conditions are one Of the
severest tests that air conditioning
has yet faced There is no space
for the weather unit inside the
fighting compartment. The sweep
of the gun muzzles forbids placing
the unit near the turret.
The only place left is out near an
end of the tank, where the appara-
tus is subjected to violent pounding
The plunges of the ends of the tank
are greater than OF the middle.
Standard ir-conditioning units
large enough for a tank weigh about
600 pounds, too great a weight. es-
pecially in the end position. They
may contain several hundred NOV
ing parts.
The 5O-pound weather box prom
ises to stand the pounding. 1t has
only two moving parts. 1t reduces
the temperature by IS degrees. 1t
has the added advantage OF using
no recirculated air, but brings in
outside air all the time A third
moving part is added to the weather
box for delivering warm air in win
ter.
Army barracks promise another
type of test for the weather boxes,
not only for cooling in summer and
heating in winter, but as a factor in
keeping down epidemics. The con-
tinued circulation of fresh air u
q promising factor for health.
Army physicians already have
some plans to avoid the epidemics
Of the First World War Not count
ing the flu outbreaks, common
epidemics like mumps and scarlet
fever incapacitated l out Of every
133 men in the American forces in
that war.
The inventor is Thomas w. Car
raway, Dallas conditioning engi-
neer. His new system was given the
highest achievement award OF the
Inventors of America this year. One
of his works is air conditioning q
large department store in 10o-degree
weather with the front door left
wide open all the time.
His new method is a wartime
secret. His system differs in prin-
ciple from the usual air condition
ing, which uses either mechanical
refrigeration or ice to cover the
range of temperature from COM
fort down to actual freezing.
The Dallas inventor discards low
Temperatures. His new system won't
make ice or create chill conditions.
Partly for this reason he Is able to
get rid of much OF the expense, both
of construction and operation.
Keeps Temperature "Ehective.'
This weather box is made to reg
E!ate what engineers call the ef1ec-
tive temperature-the scientific term
for human comfort 1t is mixture
Of temperature, humidity and change
of air.
A private home test was made in
Dallas when the outside temperature,
in the shade, was 96 and the humid
ity was high. The new system deliv-
cred an indoor temperature OF 81,
but with low humidity, and with a
complete change Of fresh air once
each minute.
On the engineering scale this COM
bination is an effective temperature
of 70, which means it feels like 73
under the conditions which would
make that temperature comfortable.
The box will produce lower tenn
peratures. but physicians and engl-
neers are getting away from any
thing that feels chilling to person
coming indoors on hot day.
Priorities limit the development OF
new air conditioning for civilian
use. but war may speed up this
science even more than peace. be-
cause of it's potential value in mech
anized conditions.
New FkIund Trial SOUGHT: