Wartime Technology

Science at war last week had reported these advances:

Bomber Nose Guard. The clear, polished plastic noses and cockpit enclosures for airplanes must be saved from scratches during assembly and shipment by masks of heavy paper. In many such uses, rubber cement (using up huge amounts of crude rubber) will be replaced by a new Du Pont adhesive which resists heat & cold, strips off clean.

Beryllium Windows. First commercial use for pure beryllium, tough cousin of magnesium and aluminum, is for windows in X-ray tubes. Beryllium is more transparent to certain X-rays than glass (though opaque to light), permits faster work by war laboratories checking the effect of heat-treating on alloys.

Ship Soap. War-scarred ships brought in for repair are usually fouled with tarry black bunker oil hard to remove especially in the presence of salt water. A new "gunk," one of the concentrated degreasing solvents developed by the Curran Corp., dissolves the oil to the point where it can be sluiced off with a hose.

Health Bombs. Insecticides for jungle fighters are now packed under pressure in tomato-can-size metal containers. Pressing a valve releases a bug-blasting mist that will fumigate a regulation pup tent in three seconds.

Vanadium Strike. Deposits of vanadium-bearing ores in Idaho and Wyoming have been opened by Government geologists. Vanadium, hardest of metals, toughens steels for armor plate, guns, machine tools. The Western deposits free the U.S. from dependence on imports.

Plastic Plates. Photoengravings used to be made entirely on copper or zinc plates. Originals still are, but duplicates are now being made increasingly on plastic. Advantages: 1) they are cheaper to buy; 2) thinner and lighter, they can be airmailed more cheaply (many plastic plates now are sent overseas); 3) war-scarce metals will be saved.

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