CLIMATE TO ORDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 May 1941, Page 6

CLIMATE TO ORDER

TESTING BICYCLES FOR ALL WEATHER. Tropical sunlight, lashing rain and salt sea spray effects are being produced at will' in the laboratories of a great cycle factory in Birmingham, England, where bicycles are made to suit climatic conditions in any part of the world. This man-made' weather is just one of the means employed by the chief chem-ist-strange to say. the most important man engaged in the production of these bicycles—to record their resistance to any particular climate. I Not only can he control weather, but jhe controls time also, and can reproduce the effects of years of blistering sun or torrential rainfall in almost as many days. But the weather test is the last test to be made by chemists before sending finished bicycles out into the world. Before that, hundreds of chemical tests were made through every stage in bicycle production to ensure that both the raw materials from which they are made and the workmanship put into each component are up to the high standard necessary for export. Samples of the special steel used in the factory are taken to the laboratory and analysed. Tubes and frames are tested for strength and resilience. CheI mists also control the strength and I solution of the rust-proofing process to which bicycles are subjected before I enamelling. Then the consistency of I each of the coats of enamel and the durability of the heavy coatings of nickel and hard chromium are all carefully controlled by chemists, hi some cases, chemists even determine the humidity of the atmosphere in which the processes take place. j Behind a glass-enclosed section of the laboratory, kept at an even temperature all the year round, lie the master | gauges in felt-lined boxes, small pieces |of metal machined to an accuracy of I thousandths of an inch, which ensure that every one of the 1500 or more parts lin each bicycle will lit together with I perfect precision. I And beside the factory is a specially built tost track, the surface of which isi sectioned into types of road and path| I to bo found in almost every country ini I the world. These are some sidelights on the thor- : pughness wiih which British menu me-j tutors are today looking after the countries which are cut oil' from Continental supplies. instead of merely copyme;! cheap Continental products, they are seizing the opportunity to design and produce a better article (han custom-1 ers have ever before been able io buy.' They are planning wiih British ihor-i (.ugliness tn on. lire that people will' always waul in.? bettor and more rcli-l able product; which Britain coukl make even i.i the middle < f a wa"- protlui".-' which will still I'mthe" improve witon ail the country’:-', efl’orl is turned t-q peace-time work again. • Industrial I, News Service.