RESEARCH WORK MUCH EXTENDED IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Shannon News, 12 April 1929, Page 4

RESEARCH WORK MUCH EXTENDED IN GREAT BRITAIN.

NEW INDUSTRIAL METHODS ARE BEING INTI^JDUCBD —STANDARD . MEASUREMENT SOUGHT LONDON, Alar. 1. That the value of research work in all industries is being more widely appreciated is indicated in the annual report of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The Wool Research Association has succeeded in introducing a new woollen ring spinning frame which is believed 1o be capable of producing two and a half times as much yarn per spindle as the standard frame and of giviug a superior yarn. Machines have been manufactured which have passed .the necessary tests and will shortly be in use. The association is pleased at this result as it is the outcome of an exhaustive analysis by the latest method of the exact functions of every part' of existing standard machines. New Lead Alloy.

Another development is the new lead alloy of the Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. This allay is being extensively used as a covering for electric cables as it is free from the defect of a peculiar type of cracking It has a strength, weight for weight, some 40 per cent, greater than the ordinary commercial lead used for lead piping.

In the coal industry a large amount of research has been in progress. Methods of carbonising coal at low temperatures have advanced a stage and several processes are now being operated on a .scale large enough to provide reliable data by which the possible limits of commercial success may be judged. The plant developed-by the .Fuel' Research Board has been -handed over to the Gas, Light and Coke Company, the biggest gas concern in Bri tain, to try out on a commercial scale. Use of Concrete Grows. With the growing use of concrete as a building material the Building Research Staff has done good work in what is really a young industry. Concrete is a constructional material of which the builder has no traditional knowledge at his disposal. In the autumn of 1927 a request was received from Australia .asking for assistance in establishing standards of measurement in agreement with British standards. One is accustomed to think that such every day measurements as yards,, meters, and gallons are the same all over the world. Actually the ‘ ‘ Caleutto' ‘ yard of India differs appreciably from the imperial standard yard. The "Enfield" inch used in measuring parts of rifles differs by 3 in 10,000 parts from the imperial inch.

The American gallon is only live sixths of. the imperial .gallon. The American meter has a discrepancy of 4 parts in 1,000,000 from the British. These amounts, though apparently so small as to be negligible, are not so in certain branches of industry. In Australia difficulties have arisen through discrepancies' between the standards used in the different states A scheme has been prepared in order to establish and maintain an aggreement between the standards of the two countries.

Research work has also been carried out on alloys for use at high temperatures; on minor metals, metallurgy; stresses in railway bridges; soil survcys for agriculture; and, a survey of the coalfields, which aims at obtaining iu detail the main characteristics of all the important coal seams.