Laurel outlook., 1945-10-31
u. 5. Inventors
Still Hold Lead
Yankee Genius Again Proves
In War 1t Is Greatest
Force in World.


ASHINGTON American inven-
tive genius still is as great a force
In the world as ever. In fact, an
even greater force. Scientific men
are pointing out that this was con-
vlnclngly demonstrated by the war
Just brought to a victorious end,
says the Chicago Herald American.
The tradition of American fertility
In devlsing machines to make work
easier and to produce more and bet
ter goods goes back to the very roots
OF the nation.
Since the days of Benjamin Frank
lin down through the years, one
Yankee inventor after another has
given mankind a mechanical boon
1t never had before. Eli Whitney,
Samuel F. B. Morse, Alexander Ora
ham Bell, Thomas A. Edison, the
Wright brothers are only a few of
the names that rang around the
globe.
This nation of inventors brought
forth new instruments of both war
and peace. The first submarine was
a Yankee product, so was the first
lronclad warship with a revolving
gun turret-the Monitor of Civil war
fame-and numerous other weapons
originating here blazed new paths
in warfare.
Germany OutStripped.
Then came World War II, and
fnr q fipNn - 1nOGnI nc if thn nalna
for inventiveness had passed into
German hands. But skilled as the
Nazis were in contriving means for
speedily crushing their neighbors,
the tremendous events leading to
American triumph on two fronts
proved ~conclusively that Yankee
mechanical genius had by no means
diminished.
Not only did the ideas for outstand-
ing inventions that resulted in vic
tory originate in American labora-
tories and workshops, but indica-
tons clearly point to American lead
ership in the current race to recon
vert war weapons and industries
to the uses of peace.
Dramatically at the head of the
list of new war inventions is, of
course, the atomic bomb.
For years, scientists sought to
release the vast energy known to be
locked in the atoms nucleus. 1t re-
manned for an American, DR.. Ernest
o. Lawrence, 30-year-old physicist
at the University of California, to
show how to release that force.
Though the atomic bomb sealed
the fate of Japan, the Nips were
already groggy from American
blows. The greatest single mechan-
ical factor in overwhelming both
the Nazis and the Japs is, by gen.
eral consent, radar-radio detection
and ranging.
Radar and DOT.
Credit for radar belongs strictly
to America and goes back to 1922, |
when DR.. Albert Hoyt Taylor, chief
consultant and co-ordinator for cleo
tronics at the naval research labor
atory, Washington, D. c., and Leo
G. Young, an associate, made some
experiments with the use of short
waves for communication with air
planes.
They discovered that ships in the
Potomac river distorted their radio
They were keen enough to
recognize that they had come upon
an epoch-making discovery - that
here was a means by which the U. S.
navy could detect enemy warships
at considerable distance.
The rest is history. Other nations,
following our lead, likewise devel-
oped radar instruments, but no
try brought the equipment to the
peak of perfection arrived at in this
country.
Another marvel the peerless
bombsight, named for its inventor,
Carl L. Norden-convinced all our
enemies they had a good deal to
earn in the way of war-making
this democracy.
The Norden bombsight is so pre-
Else that U. S. bombardiers found
t possible to spare churches, hos
pitfalls and non = military buildings
while %pulverizing everything else in
heir immediate neighborhood.
That extraordinarily effective in
'ecticide, DOT, which saved mil
ions of American servicemen from
Malaria, typhus and other insect
borne diseases, already has been ap-
olied to civilian needs.