Evening star., 1943-02-03
Army Men Develop
Secret Device 10
Defect Land Mines
Scientific MorveIs
Are Shown Reporters
On Fort Belvoir Tour
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES,

SssVVH sNSRSsSSsS
On Fort BeIvoir Tour
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.
Star staff Correspondent.
FORT BELVOIR, Va, Feb. s.
For the first time. the Army re-
vealed today that this country
has developed new device that
detects that scourge Of land
force1the ground mine.
This was disclosed to a group of
reporters who toured this historic
engineer post.
The secret device Is believed to be
the last word in land mine detectors.
It conveys to the operator sound
which increases In volume when 1t is
placed over a buried mind. It IS
small, compact and can be carried
by soldier.
Other belligerents have used mine
detectors for some time. The Rus
SLAMS, British and Germans are re-
ported to have efficient types, and
the Italians q crude sort. Americas
is entirely new, and no word con-
cerning it hitherto has been allowed
to leak out.
Scientific Marvels.
This was one of the scientific
marvels demonstrated to the visitors.
Some Of the others remain secret.
After the tour, this seems an in
escapable conclusion:
A good Army engineer must be
combination of scientist, mechanical
expert, artist, laboratory technician
and 4 rough, tough fighting man.
At least collectively he combines
these traits, and many of the en-
gineers trained at this post are ex-
pert in at least one Of the scientific
fields, and all of them are ready to
tight at the drop Of a Nazi salute.
Not = few Of the of1cers can tell you
lot about every phase Of the in
valuable contribution which engi-
neers are making toward winning
the war.
The Army, in general, the units
fighting the Germans and the Japs.
have reason to be grateful to Fort
Belvoir.
For instance, air-borne equipment
developed here, designed primarily
for the repair of bomb-harassed
airfields, is proving its value in the
North African campaign. The party
inspected some Of this machinery.
A device known as multiplex
aerial protector, in use for some
years, but perfected at laboratories
here, Is out In the combat zones on
portable Photographic sets. This
machine. which seems to have q
brain OF its own, picks up where
the aerial photographer leaves OF.
That is, 1t brings out in faithful,
three -dimensional detail what the
developed photograph would show
only as = nat surface, ambiguous in
its outlines.
The photographer takes two pic
lures on his reconnaissance Of hos
tile territories, and these overlap
roughly so per cent, 50 that there Is Z |
panorama. Tiny negatives are
placed under the multiplex projec-
tor. To the naked eye they appear
in two colors. red and blue. But
you put on glasses with the left
lenss sred1cand the right slens blue,
them YOU see clear j uncolored sur.
face. Streams, roads and noun
tains, woods and towns come out.
II you gear the machine properly
and keep dot that wahbles around
exactly on the ground, you can
zee the elevations. Roads viii dip
and climb. BY computing known
elevations In the region with the
information divulsed by this un-
canny device. which looks like
microscope, an engineer can sketch
out Z map that will be accurate to
every detail. The maps then are
printed In 4 color pressroom in the
basement Of headquarters building
Of the Topographic Battalion.
All this Is practice for students
Of this delicate work. But the pro-
jector Is In active service in every
theater Of operations today. In
training the processes is slow be-
cause the area to be photographed
first must be actually surveyed on
foot to obtain elevations and other
data. Much swifter work must be
done when the foe Is over the next
hill.
Engineer Artists.
AS for Army engineers being
artists, quite = few of them are.
Some are instructing student SOL
diers in the art Of camouflage. And
as fast as they're trained these
camou1ieurs 60 to combat divisions
to teach them the latest develop
ments in the vital requirements Of
concealing positions.
We saw on the Potomac water
front between the mainland and the
other shore of little basin q pom
toon bridge resting on pneumatic
floats made of synthetic rubber.
And, for our enlightenment. every
type Of vehicle which an infantry
division uses, from the heaviest to
the lightest, passed over the bridge
without a sag.
Furthermore, as an of1icer ex-
planned, this is a type Of synthetic
rubber-and 1t has proved As dur
able as real rubber-which doees
not compete with the synthetic
rubber being developed for tires. A
reasonably trained" engineer group,
the ofncer said, can put up this
| bridge in two hours.
There were also two water -puri-
fication units for the fieeld. One
H%< %,. S~A
drinkable beverage. The other
purifies surface water Of uncertain
| antecedentS.