VARIED WORK OF OUR SCIENTISTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 December 1925, Page 3

VARIED WORK OF OUR SCIENTISTS.

MAKINC ROOMS NOISK I‘ROOK. Kxporinionl vra npi np from tho si'lem>Hp of iit‘l'iijil;ilU',s la Ihe iVoozillp of epps ;i iv i Jasm hod in the annual report isisL i>htual oi the ilriiish (Jovernmuni depart ment Jar SciontiJic ami Indusit mi I (e>ca! i'll. it is a ivmai Labia document which • u n 'i’- 2 literally thousands of dif- -* i’fiil tests uaw hemp undcrtaken hy sci-.’iiiitic iik*ll lor l lit* l.cttonnont of industry. Their variety is as amazing as their in*sll l u*r. I>ui!i 1 inn search i> not only con(al lied will) lasts of now materials for house const ruction. Inn also with the elfeels a I wind pressure on roofs, and mat'nods of kocpinp w alls dry and rooms <|uiot from outside noises. Another proup of s.-imitisls lias di>eovoied that a fro/en epp loses some valuable properties o! the new-laid epp and that there is no really satisfactory method yet of Iremaim hoof. This depart mein is tryinp to hud a pood form of cold storage for apoles. .Motorists will he i eteiv-Ped in experiments heino; carried out. on springs, jhe friction of interna! honiiups. wind roost unco l<• motor-cars, ami the introdtietion of standard tests for tyres. Many te>ts are concerned with wireless t ransmission. XKW SOi !{( |*:s OK l.!(J| IT. The fed low ino summary pi\e> an idea of the vu rieiy of o! her in vest ipat ioiis ... T’wentv •ix acres id land have heen acijuired at Risborouph for experiment- < omrmiim tic preservation and new m-es ~f timber. A new Kintl of veliou ;hi-s ho rail«a; sipi i.i l lamps ha. di^noi.-d a *»d :s l,eia ; i.-t,-d on i N. K. I?. I Scientists are tryinp to timl m*w soirnes of lipht and the host methods of illiimiiia t hip factories and office*. Kxperimenis relatinp to the -tresses on railway bridpe.s will result in an alteration of ra ilw ay enpine desipns. Several aeres of Jerusalem art iehokes sire heinp prown to d«*lermine w ind her it. is possible to produee power aleohol from them on a commercial basis. TTAVOC AT TITF I.AVNDRV. More public money is to he spent on experiment s in the low temperature carbonisation of eoai. ami llriti.-di colliery propriei ors have apreed to put aside a levy, orpin I to one-hundredth of a penny on each ton of coal raised, for research into more economical methods of the use of coal. Kmphasis is, however, laid on the fact that no commercial process of low-

temperature ea rbonisation has yet been discovered, and the report states that the problem is not even now capable of rapid solution. -Hasty steps." if sax-s. •• will inevitable lead to a repetition of the past disappointment of enthusiastic private workers in this field.” The cost of the department this year is L'Asn.Oi;:!. The sum of Clg’.lftlo lias been given in the past four years to till' British l.aimderers’ Research Association to help that hodv to find means of preventing the flaying of collars and the destruction of buttons. The report naively remarks that " the laundry indtisfrv offers a considerable field for scientific research, though many of its problems are not of a deep character.”