Evening star., 1943-01-04
WPb Holds Up
bIackout Device
For Headlights
Present Priority
Too Low to Permit
Manufacture ~.
By MIRIAM OTTENBERG.

dened a high enough priority to
permit manufacture of the blackout
headlight device sought by the Dis
trict, it was learned today.
AS a result:
l. District emergency vehicles will
not be allowed within the city limits
of Alexandria during a blackout
since that part of the Metropolitan
Area requires blackout out head
lights.
2. The District is no nearer getting
controlled driving lights than it was
IL months ago when it first recog-
nized that driving lights revealed
the city from the air.
3. Emergency vehicles driving dur
ing a blackout will continue to be
stopped every few feet for lack of a
clear identification, such as would
be provided by the headlight device
4. Low beam headlights on emerg-
ency vehicles will continue to threat
en- the lives of those who have to
be on the streets during blockout.
Critical Material Involved.
Manufacturers interviewed imme-
dately after WPB granted AA-5
priority for the steel required to
make dies for the plastic headlight
device, stated definitely they could
not consider going into production
with less than an AA-1 priority.
Authoritative sources said they
understood the War Department had
advised WPB not to permit manu-
facture of any device except that
approved by the War Department,
although the War Department de-
vices cost $40 and is not available
because of the amount of critical
material involved.
Although the District had been
looking for an acceptable device for
many months, it was in August that
Policeman Claude E. Glass, worked
out a fiber device, in collaboration
with Oscar Fetterman, auxiliary
policeman and inventor.
Mr.. Fetterman was sent to the
Engineer Board at Fort Belvoir, Va,
to obtain Army approval. The de-
vice was rejected after six weeks,
during which fiber became critical
material
Attempted Plastic Model.
Mr.. Fetterman then went to work
on a plastic model and after 81 at
tempts. finally arrived at a design
which is said to be the nearest any
substitute has yet come to meeting
the War Departments optical speci-
fcations.
The War Department sent him to
the Electrical Testing Elaboratories
in New York. On his return, De-
fense Co-ordinator John Russell
Young and the other Commission
ers and Col Lemuel Bolles, execu-
tive director of District civilian de-
fense, gave tentative approval and
sent him to National OCD which
arranged for a test at the Bureau
of Standards.
The District wanted Army ap-
proval, for fear the Army might
order cars to the curb after the
devices had been bought and in
stalled The Engineer Board, how
ever, proposed that Mr.. Fetterman
produce handmade plastic model
of the device in it's true form. He
had been using metal model Then
he was to begin his testing rounds
all over again.
Couldn't Get Toolmaker.
The inventor protested that not
only would it take months to pro-
duce plastic model by hand but
that he couldn't get a toolmaker
to waste three months with nothing
to show for it at the end but one
model. He proposed that he have
a toolmaker make the dies for the
plastic model, for which he would
have to get 1,150 pounds of steel.
The War Department refused ap-
proval.
District officials, meanwhile, were
so anxious to get the devise that
they accompanied the inventor on
some of his rounds and sent man
with him to the WPB to see if a
priority could be obtained through
the Bureau of Governmental Re-
quirements. Even Chairman Ran
dolph of the House District Com
mittee. irked by the long delay,
wrote to the Engineer Board, COM
planning of Army red tape and
demanding action.
Applying for priority on Decem-
Der l, Mr.. Fetterman was advised
that War Department approval was
necessary for him to get the steel.
WPB, however, agreed to accept
OCD approval as a substitute.
Substitute Encouraged.
The National OCD, which has
also had its hands tied by the War
Department with the result that a
number of States have gone ahead
on their own to develop blackout
devices-some Of them, according to
OCD, pretty bad-wrote that it
could not give official approval but
felt this was the type of substitute
that should be encouraged. Brig.
Gen. U. S. Grant, Sd, chief of the
OCD protection branch, personally
recommended that the masks be
purchased "as there is little prospect
of the prescribed equipment becom-
ing available"
Col. Bolles added his plea, point
Ing out that the finished product
would require almost no critical ma
terials since it is of a plastic COM
position.
He declared the District was ZEN
tirely unprepared adequately to deal
with the emergencies resulting from
enemy action" since it has no con-
troll over driving lights, that it was
absolutely impossible" to conduct
training of the Citizens Defense
Corps without the device and that
it was feared some fatal accident
might occur because of improper
driving lights.
0N December 81, WPB notified
MIR. Fetterman of the priority
granted. According to District off,
cials, the War Department has re-
fused to take any action to allow
the District to obtain the model it
can get for less than 50 in lieu of
the model 1t can't get for $40.