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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1957-05-23, Page 2About the Wonder Of Weight • Today, practically everybody bas something he wants weighed -from himself (to see if the diet is really working), down to such invisible microscopic "crea- tures as the amoeba, and on up to such giants as hundred -ton locomotives. Weight engineers, though they can already boast of over 45,000 different kinds of scales,never know when they're going: to get a job that will call. for a weighing gadget that has not yet been devised. Men have been tackling weighing problems since the dawn of history, and theearli- est scale, a simple balance, prob- ably dates back some 5,000 years before the Christian era. The early balance was a beam with a scalepan suspended from each end, and this simple device was used with variations and im- provements until the 19th cen- tury when Yankee ingenuity went to work. For, in spite of its ancient history, the modern scale is essentially an American lnsitution. Back in 1830, for example, young Thaddeus Fairbanks, a stovemaker and also manager of a hemp mill in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, came home after a hard day, disturbed by the crude method of weighing merchan- dise by suspending the loaded wagon from one end of a huge wooden steelyard. Surely, he vowed, there must be an easier method of weighing big objects. Why, for instance, couldn't the whole load, wagon and all, be rolled onto a patform for weigh- ing? The stove business suffered while Fairbanks spent his time working out a complicated sys- tem of counterbalances that eventually became the world's first platform scale, one that could weigh not only wagons but railway cars and locomo- tives. Today's engineers boast that no object that anybody could want to weigh is too big for the descendants of Fairbanks' scale, although they still find them- selves facing some odd chal- lenges. Take the case of a weight puzzler Toledo Scale Company engineers recently tackled for the American Mu- seum of Natural History in New York. When Robert Peary returned from one of his trips to the Arc- tic, he brought with him an unusual prize—a giant meteor- ite. No one knew how heavy the great mass of iron actually was for over half a century. Then the Toledo people came up with a unique solution: hoist the meteorite up and they'd build a scale under it. They did just that, and showed the weight of the visitor from outer space to be 34 tons 85 pounds. King- sized scales like these may have a counterweight representing 7,000 times their own actual weight. Recently, weight engineers tackled their toughest problem in weighing giant objects. How well they succeeded is illustra- ted by the case of the mystified trucker sailing down U.S. High- way No, 1 in Virginia a few weeks ago with an overloaded truck. Suddenly a siren screamed behind him, a police officer or- dered him to pull over and handed him a printed slip giving the exact weight of the truck and its load. This was the trucker's first encounter with the neat way the weight engineers found the answer to the question: How can you weigh a truck in motion? They cracked this one with elec- tronics—after every other means of weighing failed. The trick is a plate in the road which sends an electric current to an elec- tronic device. The amount of Current is instantly translated Into weight—more weight, more current. It is also speeding up traffic at the tollgates of the Ohio Turnpike. A. trucker doesn't have to make a stop. His rig is weighed as he approaches the gate and the attendant there hands him a ticket with his proper toll classification, The exit collectorcan thus easily figure out the charge. A different type of puzzler confronted • chemists : at Socony- Vacuum. They wanted a method of weighing microscopic Parti- cles in oil. Among other things# this would be a great aid in helping them determine the quality of the oil ' To do that, they dreamed up what is probably the world's most sensitive scale. It consists of a cone-shaped vessel 3/8ths of an inch long and 1/16th of an inch in dia- meter, hanging from a beam made of strands of quartz much finer than a human hair. And it can weigh, particles as light as 1/100,000,000th of a gram: Stop at the checkout stand of a supermarket and you'll see one, of the most common of all scales. It; looks simple enough but it gave the scale designers sleepless nights. "What we need," chain store operators had told the scale de- signers, "is a scale that will fi- gure prices—so that a clerk can tell just how much to charge for so much of something at so much per pound." It didn't sound too hard — until the engineers checked and discovered that the number of price and weight combinations they'd need added up to a start- ling 129,000. To get that many figures on a scale small enough to set on a counter you'd need a chart the width of the scale and 375 feet long! The researchers ended up with a special aluminum cylinder measuring just 834 by 13 inches. On it are etched, with almost microscopic smallness, the ne cessary thousands of figures. A powerful lens placed over the cylinder magnifies them to easy readability. The weight engineers expend some of their most ingenious ef- forts on scales for use in the assembly lines of food, chemical and drug factories. "Scales with brains," the en- gineers call them. And well they may, as witness the contraption they rigged up for a meat processor. lie was. having some trouble packing bacon in the perfectly sliced, neatly wrapped, exact -weight packages buyers expect in su- permarkets. Could they make him a scale that would do it? What they made was some- thing no one would recognize as a scale.A side of bacon slides underneath a whirling knife which zips off slices like mad. The slices fall onto a moving belt, which is really a scale in disguise. When enough slices to make a pound have dropped onto the belt, it tips a balance, which closes a circuit, which sends an electrical impulse to a hydraulic device, which •stops the feeding mechanism. All this happens in less than a second, before the knife has made a quarter of a revolution. When the bacon on the belt moves off it onto another belt, an impulse is flashed to the knife to start slicing another pound. No package is ever un- derweight, and none overweight by more than ,25 per cent. The weight experts are having trouble though, weighing you. In the days when few persons kept daily tabs on their avoir- dupois, an inaccuracy of a pound or so didn't matter much. But now that millions are watching for ounces of change, there's a real need for highly accurate bathroom scales. A scale designed for weights ranging up to 250 pounds re- quires a mechanism that has to be quite free of friction to be accurate, That means that when you step on such a scale the dial will spin freely for a time, but most people want to see the bad or good news right then and there. They protest about a dial that spins too much. So now the engineers are working on new home weighing devices that will give anyone his weight, 99.99 per cent ac- curate, in two seconds fiat. Wisely, the wizards of weight figure it's easier to change the scales than it is to change hu- man nature.—By Reed Millard in CORONET. MAYFLOWER STOWAWAY—An unsuccessful stowaway, Britisher Bob Lewis, 27, points out the Mayflower ll, outward bound from Plymouth, England, to recreate the voyage of the original Pil- grim ship. Discovered about 10 miles out to sea, Lewis was put over the side with newsmen into a fishing boat. AMERICAN SHIP SAILS THROUGH CANAL—The American President Lines' President Jackson passes through the Suez Canal—the first American ship to enter the disputed waterway since It was reopened. The vessel flew the Egyptian flag in accordance with regulations for pass- age through Egyptian waters. ;� ; TABLE TALKS ekt An!cirews .A cup of ham — with the right additions — becomes a delicious entree. PIQUANT HAM RING 1 package lemon gelatin 132 cups water 3 tablespoons vinegar Dash of salt 1 teaspoon scraped onion 1/2 cup chopped sweet pickles 11 tablespoons diced pimiento 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons milk or water 1 cup ground cooked ham; firmly packed. y/ cup diced celery 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce Dissolve gelatin in hot water. Add vinegar, salt, and onion. Measure 1 cup and add 12 tablespoons cold water. Chill. When slightly thickened, add pickles and pimiento. Turn into ring mold. Chill until firm. Chill remaining gelatin until slightly thickened. Place in bowl of ice and water and whip with rotary egg beater until fluffy and thick like whopped cream. Combine mayonnaise and milk and fold into whipped mixture. Add re- maining ingredients. Turn onto firm gelatin. Chill until firm. Un - mold. Garnish with pickle fans, escarole, and pimiento strips, if desired. Makes 6 servings. « • • A few vegetables with a bit of leftover chicken make this light but savory. VEGETABLE CHICKEN MOLD 1 package lemon gelatin 2 cups hot water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes 3 tablespoons vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt Dash of pepper 2 teaspoons minced onion 34 cup 1/ -inch raw carrot sticks a/ cup thinly sliced celery 2 tablespoons diced pimiento 1/2 cup chopped leftover cooked chicken or veal Dissolve Gelatin in hot liquid. Add vinegar, salt, pepper, and onion. Chill. When slightly thickened, fold ih remaining in- gredients. Turn into 1 -quart ring mold or individual molds. Chill until firm.. Unmoid. Garnish with escarole and radish roses, if desired. Makes 6 servings. • • - A delicious salad from cooked vegetables and the stock. A bou- illon cube adds flavor. JELLIED CARROTS AND PEAS 1 package lemon gelatin 2 cups hot water and vegetable stock and 1 bouillon cube 3 tablespoons vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon scraped onion a/a cup cooked diced carrots s/ cup cooked peas Dash of cayenne Dissolve gelatin in hot stock. Add vinegar, salt, and onion. Chill. When slightly thickened, fold in vegetables seasoned with cayenne. Turn into individual molds, Chill until firm. Unmold. Surround with crisp lettuce, sprinkled with French dressing. Garnish with mayonnaise and parsley. Makes 8 servings. • • • Self -layering fruit dessert for any season! LAYERED PEACH AND BANANA 1 package lime gelatin 2 cups hof water, 1/ :cup canned sliced peaches 1 banana, sliced Dissolve gelatin in hot water. Place peach slices in mold. Pour on gelatin, being careful not to disarrange peaches. Add ban- ana. Chill until firm. Unmold. Serve with lime whipped cream. « * • Cherries below, cream on top . wonderful pie! CHERRY BAVARIAN PIE 1 package cherry gelatin 11/2 cups hot water 1/2 cup canned cherry juice - 2 teaspoons lemon juice 1 cup drained canned cherries 1 baked 8 -inch pie shell 1/ cup Light create Dissolve gelatin in hot water; add fruit juices. Chill 11/2 cups gelatin mixture until slightly thickened. Add cherries. Turn into cold pie shell; chill until firm. Place remaining slightly thickened gelatin in bowl of ice and water; whip with rotary egg beater until fluffy and. thick. Fold in cream. Pile lightly on firm gelatin. Chill. • • • Hard -cooked eggs with celery and olives make this a real main dish. HOSTESS SALAD 1 package lemon gelatin 2 cups hot water 1 tablespoon vinegar it teaspoon salt Dash of cayenne 2 hard -cooked eggs, coarsely cut 1 cup chopped celery 1/2 cup chopped olives. 134 teaspoons chopped chives or 1 teaspoon scraped onion Dissolve gelatin in hot water. - Add vinegar, 34 teaspoon salt, and cayenne. Chill until sightly thickened. Season eggs and celery with 1/2 teaspoon salt; add remaining ingredients. Ford into slightly thickened gelatin, Turn Into individual molds or loaf mold and chill until firm. Un - mold. Surround with crisp greens. Garnish with mayon- naise and olives. Makes 6 serv- ings. Bible Sentence Newly elected Police Judge C. O. Brennenstuhl instituted a new policy for regular offenders in city police court this morning. Reading of the Bible and going to church were ordered instead of the usual $10 fine. One of the "regulars" was or- dered today to report to the po- lice each morning for 10 days and while there read two chap- ters of the Bible. He was also ordered to attend the church of his choice Sunday morning. The Bible reading and church attendance were ordered after (the defendant) entered a plea of guilt to charges of drunken- ness. "Fines and jail sentences have been ineffective to a number of local offenders so we're going to try something different," the Judge said. Republican Times (Trenton, Mo.) Wrote Great Novel On Wallpaper There was another name in the passenger list of the Overland Stage that spring that caused us excitement, and that was the naive of Robert W. Service. He slid intotown one day without any great fanfare and was soon to be seen weighing out gold dust in the teller's cage of the Canadian Bank of Commerce on Front Street... . Miss Hamtorf and I, having missed Service in Whitehorse, immediately made a hurried ex- cuse to turn up at the bank for a glimpse of the man whose poems we had already committed to memory. We had thought of him as a rip-roaring roisterer, but instead we found a shy and nondescript man in his mid- thirties, with a fresh complexion, clear blue eyes and a boyish fig- ure that made him look much younger. He had a soft, well - modulated voice and spoke with a slight drawl. "An English in- flection, an American drawl and Scottish overtones," I told Miss Hamtorf. (I later discovered he had been born in Lancashire raised in Scotland, and had lived for a number of years in Cali- fornia.) At that time most of Service's readers took it for granted that he had been a gold -rush pioneer. . . . But this was actually the first time he had ever set eyes on the Klondike. He had been in California when the rush be - o. north. Late , when han and had no e e to g joined a bank, he had been posted to. Whitehorse in 1905. Now he was transferred : to Dawson. Service was never much of a, talker, but he was good listener and he got the inspiration for many of his 'poems listening tau old-timers ramble on in White- horse. V41e now saw him stroll- ing curiously about in the spring sunshine, peering at the . shuttered dance halls which had given.place to schools, churches, fraternal houses and even a Car- negie Library. He was a good•. mixer among men and spent a lot of time with sourdoughs, but we could never get him to any of our parties. "1'm not a party man," he sed to say. "Ask me sometime when you're by your- selves. .. . By the time Ballads of a Cheechako came out, Service's royalties were payinghim more than his salary — indeed more than the salary of the manager of the Bank of Commerce, wherehe worked. He quit the bank and took a small cabin on Eighth Avenue under the hill. This lit- tle cabin surrounded by willows, with its long overhang roof and its pair of moose -horns over the door, has since become a shrine. Here the poet plunged into his first novel, The Trail of '98. His habits became more erratic and he himself became more inacces- sible. On summer nights I would often meet him rushing pell- mell down a hillside trail or see him starting out on an all-night excursion to the creeks. Then he would shut himself up for days while he wrote furiously. He wrote most of his novel on huge rolls of wallpaper and when he ran out of wallpaper he used building paper. Some- times he used heavy brown wrapping paper. He was a vol- uminous writer and decent fool- soap was not only expensive but sometimes, in the winter, unpro- curable. Service simply took anything that was handy and in that town there was plenty of wall covering. He used to write with a carpenter's pencil in a large hand, then pin the results up on the opposite wall and stare at his own work to see if it was right. The walls of his cabin were fairly covered with his own writings, long since famous. — From "I Married the Klondike," by Laura Beatrice Berton. BABY, I'M HERE! — Lovely movie actress Barbara Bates plants a peck on the nose of her poodle, Petchulie, after she arrived in England from Hollywood. The beloved pooch was sent to London by air and had to undergo six months' quarantine there. But all is forgotten in this touching reunion scene. BONUS BABY CASHES IN—James Christopher Owens, 31/2 years old, one of the youngest of General Electric's 376,000 stockholders, receives his quarterly dividend check from Miss Joyce Maguire. Jimmy has been, a share owner all of his life because he was born on the company's 75th anniversary, Oct. 15, 1953. Children born to employees on that day each received fivo. shares of GE stock. The stock has since been sp lit so Jimmy and the other "bonus' eob.es' each own 15 shares and are sharing with other stockholders more than 43 million dome's .A dividends distributed during the recent annual stockholders' meeting.