RADIO HELPS SCIENCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 628, 3 April 1929, Page 14

RADIO HELPS SCIENCE

MILLIONS SAVED TO SHIPPING Widespread use of radio, aside from its purely communication functions, is saving millions annually to commerce and industry in the United States. Millions have been saved for the shipping industry alone by radio as a navigation aid. The lighthouse service maintains radio beacons at all strategic points along the coast, and huge liners are thus kept on their course. Radio beacons also have played a large part in aviation as direction finders. The larger power companies in nearly every big city in the United States find radio an invaluable aid in detecting an approaching storm. This information is necessary so that they may prepare to meet the "peak load” required during cloudy or stormy weather. Distant Storms Ring Warning Bell Warning of storm is given an hour or more prior to its appearance by means of a radio receiving set and a bell. The set responds to the distant ■lightning flashes and the bell rings. Geologists in oil-producing States are now using radio to discover oil deposits. The process is simple: an explosive is set off near a suspected oil dome and a radio transmits the sound overland to a distant receiving station. The time required by the radio wave and the underground percussion from the explosion are then compared. If the underground sound takes an unusually long time to come through it is probable that its course was deflected by an oil deposit. Use of radio as an aid to mineralogists seeking to discover precious metal or ore deposits in the earth is another recent development. Radio impulses are discharged through the area to be tested and the mineral is detected by a process similar to that in discovering oil. Controlling Ships By Radio Naval experts have now perfected means of controlling a ship by radio. Other non-communication uses of radio include the growing use of television, transmission of facsimile messages and photographs, and the utilisation of radio in connection with "wired wireless.” Railways are also saving time and labour by installing radio on long freight trains for communication between the guard's van and the engine. The depth-finder is another recent invention which measures the depth of water; this instrument is fitted to ships, making it possible for them to travel at full speed while the depth is recorded on a clock-llke dial in fathoms, where formerly it was necessary to proceed at a very slow speed to permit heaving the lead.