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Oak ridge realized exceptional safety record
Aug., 1946.]
C U R R E N T TOPICS.
I59
(Butyl) at 33 cents a pound. At the end of 1945, GR-S was selling at I81~ cents a pound, GR-M at 27~/6 cents a pound and GR-I at I 5 ~ cents a pound. Consumption of Crude and Reclaimed Rubber
(In Long Tons). Year
Natural
GR-S
GR-M
GR-I
All Other
1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
775,o~
lO8 2,579 131,977 495,552 6oo,ool
4,463 6,833 26,205 46,243 42,363
--
1,688 8,217 12,4o5 I4,II2 8,o19
376,791 317,634 I44,II3 lO5,4o6
22 304 IO,763 43,0o9
Reclaim 251,23I 254,820 291,82o 251,o83 2~,78o
R.H.O.
Plastic Improves in Heat Test.--After one week's baking over a hot oven, General Electric's new chemical recipe, silicone glass laminate, keeps getting better and better. The new plastic has fat" surpassed any similar product by withstanding the week-long test at 250 degrees. More unusual is that both the mechanical and electrical properties of the laminate grow better each day. Pointing out that any other plastic laminate would deteriorate under such conditions long before the new member of the silicone family, G.-E. chemists have plans for still more severe heat tests. Constructed of layers of glass cloth treated with a silicone resin and subjected to heat and pressure, the laminate is so resistant to heat that whole new areas in the electrical insulation field may be opened. According to Dr. J. J. Pyle, director of the laboratory, ordinary solder will melt before this new insulating material will break down under heat. Many uses for silicone glass laminates are being found in such electrical equipment as motors, circuit breakers, induction heaters, high frequency oscillators and other electrical and electronic equipment. Other uses may include handles for arc welding electrodes and for indestructible insulatin~ parts for devices subject to fire hazards. Although heavy for plastics, this material weighs about the same as magnesium. R. H. O. Oak Ridge Realized Exceptional Safety Record(Electrical Engineering, Vol. 65, No. 5).--Management of the town of Oak Ridge, Tenn., which grew during the completion of the atomic bomb project from an initial population of 500 to one of 75,ooo, was accomplished by the Turner Construction Company with resulting accident frequency and severity rates lower than the national average. The company, which worked through its wholly owned subsidiary, the RoaneAnderson Company, was responsible for safety measures in both the residential and production areas of the community, as well as for providing every community need of an American city of like size. Though excess speed normally is the enemy of safety, at Oak Ridge both speed and safety had priorities, with secrecy an ever-present condition for all operations. None of the 12,ooo employees of the company knew what was
160
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
being made in the production areas. Even Raymond T. Bartnett, chief safety engineer, was ignorant of what was being manufactured. Utilities, building maintenance, and railroads were assigned to one safety engineer; dormitories, housing and cafeterias to another; medical, cleaning, construction, fuel distribution and refuse to another; salvage yards, administrative, fire department, roads and streets and farm departments to another; supplies, warehouses, coal storage, central warehousing, equipment repair and motor pool departments to another. A fleet engineer was responsible for a vehicle safety program. Expenditures of the safety department, however, were less than one half of one per cent. of the total company payroll. The entire departmental program was carried on with a total of'eight safety engineers, one fleet engineer with a driver training assistant, one statistical engineer, one statistical assistant, and five clerical assistants. With its major responsibility an industrial safety program, the department dealt with every conceivable type of working exposure. "While we had our share of the more interesting and dramatic problems, such as fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas and methyl bromide, railway freight operations of labeled cargoes, high voltage operations and mainten•ance, operation of an abbatoir and others, we still had the usual floor falls and material handling troubles," according to Mr. Bartnett. In spite of all abnormal circumstances, the above-average safety record was established. The national frequency average computed and weighed for similar operations was 2o.27. The Roane-Anderson 1944 cumulative frequency was less than 5o per cent. of this, and for the first eight months of I945 was less than 3o per cent. of the national average. Severity rates were under 4o per cent. of the national average. R. H. O.
Metal Lens Developed for Microwave Transmission (Electrical Engineering, Vol. 65, No. 5).--A metal lens capable of focusing radio waves as an optical lens focuses light has been developed at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, New York, N . Y . The new lens is expected to find its most widespread application in microwave radio relay systems such as the New York to Boston channel now under construction. These systems similar to systems developed for the Armed Forces during the war, are designed primarily as adjuncts to the telephone network but may find additional use in transmitting pictures, radiobroadcasts, and television programs, as well as in the peacetime development of radar. A major problem in the development of microwave communication has been that of transmitting and receiving the waveenergy in the form of a narrow beam like that of a searchlight. These very short waves do not follow the curvature of the earth but shoot off into space and so transmission over long distances requires the use of relays. T h e new metal lens produces the sharp beam necessary to obtain short range transmission between successive relay stations with the least interference. The lens operates on a principle comparable to that of a simple convex magnifying glass which can focus the sun's rays to burn a hole in a sheet of paper. The utilization of this principle is possible because radio waves are of
C U R R E N T TOPICS.
I59
(Butyl) at 33 cents a pound. At the end of 1945, GR-S was selling at I81~ cents a pound, GR-M at 27~/6 cents a pound and GR-I at I 5 ~ cents a pound. Consumption of Crude and Reclaimed Rubber
(In Long Tons). Year
Natural
GR-S
GR-M
GR-I
All Other
1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
775,o~
lO8 2,579 131,977 495,552 6oo,ool
4,463 6,833 26,205 46,243 42,363
--
1,688 8,217 12,4o5 I4,II2 8,o19
376,791 317,634 I44,II3 lO5,4o6
22 304 IO,763 43,0o9
Reclaim 251,23I 254,820 291,82o 251,o83 2~,78o
R.H.O.
Plastic Improves in Heat Test.--After one week's baking over a hot oven, General Electric's new chemical recipe, silicone glass laminate, keeps getting better and better. The new plastic has fat" surpassed any similar product by withstanding the week-long test at 250 degrees. More unusual is that both the mechanical and electrical properties of the laminate grow better each day. Pointing out that any other plastic laminate would deteriorate under such conditions long before the new member of the silicone family, G.-E. chemists have plans for still more severe heat tests. Constructed of layers of glass cloth treated with a silicone resin and subjected to heat and pressure, the laminate is so resistant to heat that whole new areas in the electrical insulation field may be opened. According to Dr. J. J. Pyle, director of the laboratory, ordinary solder will melt before this new insulating material will break down under heat. Many uses for silicone glass laminates are being found in such electrical equipment as motors, circuit breakers, induction heaters, high frequency oscillators and other electrical and electronic equipment. Other uses may include handles for arc welding electrodes and for indestructible insulatin~ parts for devices subject to fire hazards. Although heavy for plastics, this material weighs about the same as magnesium. R. H. O. Oak Ridge Realized Exceptional Safety Record(Electrical Engineering, Vol. 65, No. 5).--Management of the town of Oak Ridge, Tenn., which grew during the completion of the atomic bomb project from an initial population of 500 to one of 75,ooo, was accomplished by the Turner Construction Company with resulting accident frequency and severity rates lower than the national average. The company, which worked through its wholly owned subsidiary, the RoaneAnderson Company, was responsible for safety measures in both the residential and production areas of the community, as well as for providing every community need of an American city of like size. Though excess speed normally is the enemy of safety, at Oak Ridge both speed and safety had priorities, with secrecy an ever-present condition for all operations. None of the 12,ooo employees of the company knew what was
160
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
being made in the production areas. Even Raymond T. Bartnett, chief safety engineer, was ignorant of what was being manufactured. Utilities, building maintenance, and railroads were assigned to one safety engineer; dormitories, housing and cafeterias to another; medical, cleaning, construction, fuel distribution and refuse to another; salvage yards, administrative, fire department, roads and streets and farm departments to another; supplies, warehouses, coal storage, central warehousing, equipment repair and motor pool departments to another. A fleet engineer was responsible for a vehicle safety program. Expenditures of the safety department, however, were less than one half of one per cent. of the total company payroll. The entire departmental program was carried on with a total of'eight safety engineers, one fleet engineer with a driver training assistant, one statistical engineer, one statistical assistant, and five clerical assistants. With its major responsibility an industrial safety program, the department dealt with every conceivable type of working exposure. "While we had our share of the more interesting and dramatic problems, such as fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas and methyl bromide, railway freight operations of labeled cargoes, high voltage operations and mainten•ance, operation of an abbatoir and others, we still had the usual floor falls and material handling troubles," according to Mr. Bartnett. In spite of all abnormal circumstances, the above-average safety record was established. The national frequency average computed and weighed for similar operations was 2o.27. The Roane-Anderson 1944 cumulative frequency was less than 5o per cent. of this, and for the first eight months of I945 was less than 3o per cent. of the national average. Severity rates were under 4o per cent. of the national average. R. H. O.
Metal Lens Developed for Microwave Transmission (Electrical Engineering, Vol. 65, No. 5).--A metal lens capable of focusing radio waves as an optical lens focuses light has been developed at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, New York, N . Y . The new lens is expected to find its most widespread application in microwave radio relay systems such as the New York to Boston channel now under construction. These systems similar to systems developed for the Armed Forces during the war, are designed primarily as adjuncts to the telephone network but may find additional use in transmitting pictures, radiobroadcasts, and television programs, as well as in the peacetime development of radar. A major problem in the development of microwave communication has been that of transmitting and receiving the waveenergy in the form of a narrow beam like that of a searchlight. These very short waves do not follow the curvature of the earth but shoot off into space and so transmission over long distances requires the use of relays. T h e new metal lens produces the sharp beam necessary to obtain short range transmission between successive relay stations with the least interference. The lens operates on a principle comparable to that of a simple convex magnifying glass which can focus the sun's rays to burn a hole in a sheet of paper. The utilization of this principle is possible because radio waves are of