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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1943-06-03, Page 6War By Radio The application of television to warfare has interested experimenters for a number ,of years. Reconnaiss• anee by the use of television to send back instantly the results of the sur- vey made by observers in aircraft or scout cams would give a commander a definite' advantage over an enemy using slower methods of transmitt- ing information, The chief ,obstacles have been; Lack of definition of the televised image aid tire. weight of the trans- mitting equiprilent. The first obstacle has been over- come, Television today is able to send clearcut images comparable to good photography. The second obstacle is no longer as important as it formerly was. The Italian air force was believed to have overcome the weight difficulty and successfully used television in re- connaissance. There is reason to be- lieve that Britain, which before the war ]ed the world in television, has not lagged behind, Methods to use television for the steering of mechanized equipment and aircraft were fully designed be- fore the war. There is an apparatus 'which enables the navigator to re- ceive the televised picture of a com- pass scale on which his bearings are clearly marked. This is an improve- ment over the older DF system that requires the navigator to know morse in order to interpret the signals of the beacon station. In eases of poor visibility televi- sion may be used to project a picture of the landing field on the dashboard of the plane with a moving spot of light to represent the aircraft's own position in relation to the field. By watching the moving light on the fluorescent screen the pilot can fol- low his course of flight into the aero- drome. The development of facsimile transmission by wireless also has important military application. The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals has been testing machines for the trans - Mission of printed matter since the war. It is possible by means of this equipment to send maps, messages, documents in identical reproduction to distant receiving stations. Both transmitting and sending sets,. plus the power unit, can be transported in a small lorry. The fact that television signals did not follow the curvature of the earth but moved in a straight line into space, limited the effective range to about thirty miles. In February, 1940, Mr, David Sar- noff, President of RCA, announced that the problem of distance televi- sion had at last been solved. By the erection of mechanical relay stations 30 miles apart the original signals sent out on a frequency of 45,250 kilocycles could be converted to 500,000 kilocycles until the distant broadcasting station was reached, when they could be reconverted to the lower frequency. The result is that television today may have the same limitless audience as sound broadcasting. How soon this "missing link of television" will be generally adapted for military purposes, is any layman's guess. Outstanding work in color televi- sion has introduced another import- ant element for future military radio. Such are the dramatic potential- ities of wireless warfare in outline. However, there are many applica- tions of radio to the war effort which, though less sensational, are of high importance. New inventions and new techniques are coining from the laboratories constantly. The story of how weather has been used to further weather fore- casting is one of the most fascinat- ing chapters of the war. In July, 1941, I stood on the deck of the Am- erican Export Lines S.S. Exeter steaming between New York and Lisbon and watched the inaugura- tion of the short-wave radio balloon weather forecasting service intro- duced by the U.S. Meteorological Dept. on the high seas. In stormy weather a young met- eorologist released a large pear- shaped silk balloon from the upper deck. Several minutes later with the balloon miles away the automatic short-wave apparatus began to send signals back to the receiving appar- atus on board ship. It told the full details of barometric pressures and temperature as it ascended miles in- to the stratosphere, These reports recorded automati- cally on charts in the receiving ap- paratus were radioed to the meteor- ological station in Long Island where a composite picture of Atlantic wea- ther conditions was obtained. A young private was walking through the park with his girl, They bumped into his sergeant. "This is my sister," explained the private, bashfully, "That's all right," the sergeant replied kindly, "She used to be mine," THE S] AFO T NEWS THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1941 How Farmers Can Beat Fuel Shortage The farmer who owes 0 well-man- aged woodlot ,ot 20 acres or so has little to worry about in the present serious fuer shortage in Canada, states the Dominion Forest. Service. If the lot is in good condition it will provide from one,half to one cord per acre every year end actually. leave the slants in betel' growing con- clitionthan if nothing was cut from it. A well•etoeked woodiot ou suitable soil will beta' froir 30 to 40 cords per acre, If most of the trees are sound and spaced so that all the crowns re- ceive their fair share of sunlight, they will grow a cord au acre per Year. But unless this cord per acre per year is cut regularly, the crowns wil 'soon become crowded, the growth rate will become much slow- er, and finally so niauy of the trees will die that the loss from this source may be even greater than the annual growth. it is a serious mistake to exploit the woodiot — to out all the trees that are large enough to make fnei- wood at one Dine. Such treatment would mean a wait of years before there would again be trees large enough to cut. Not only that, but the growth on the few trees left would be much less than the land is capable of producing, The proper procedure is to select and mark the trees that should be cut each year before actually starting to cut, First select the dead, defect- ive and old, poorly shaped trees; se- cond, enough of the largest trees scattered Here and there to snake up the cord or so per acre should be selected to let light in to trees be- neath; but not so many should be taken in one place that large open- ings will be made in the crown cover, It is a good idea to divide a large woodiot into a nrunber of sections of 5 to 10 acres each, and cut the whole year's supply from one section at a time; then leave that section undis- turbed until all the other sections have been cut over in the same way. That is, instead of cutting over the whole 20 -acre lot to get 20 cords, cut 20 cords from one section each year, Hints Worth Noting hi Operation of Farm Tractors Information on the saving of gaso- line in the operation of farm tractors is of particular interest these days to farmers. W. lcalbfieisch, Agricultural Engineer, Central Expermiental Farm, Ottawa, suggests the following:— Proper carburetor mixtures will save gasoline and dollars. For car- buretor adjustment place the engine on an average belt load, let the eng- ine warns up and set the throttle about 14 open. Turn the main jet down to lean the mixture till the en- gine starts to slow down and show signs of misfiring, then open the jet slightly until the engine runs smooth- ly. Always adjust the jet to as lean a mixture as possible with smooth op- eration. If the tractor is operating in dusty conditions, the entire air cleaner may require cleaning every 100 hours of operation. To service the cleaner, remove the complete unit from the tractor and clean the wool by pour- ing kerosene through the unit. When replacing the cleaner make absolute- ly certain that every connection be- tween the cleaner and carburetor is tight to prevent dusty air, from ent- ering the motor. Remove spark plugs from the en- gine every 500 hours, clean them and adjust the gap to 20 to 25 thousands. Use the type of plugs recommended by the manufacturer to obtain the best fuel efficiency. Operate tractors using distillate with the manifold set at "hot" and tractors using gasoline with the man- ifold set at "cold" or "gas." Most tractors are timed by adjust- ing the impulse to trip exactly , on head -centre of the compressor stroke. Consult a service manual or obtain the assistance of an expeltenced mechanic if the ignition requires fur then adjustments. . Worn cylinders, burnt valves, in- correct valve clearance and defective ignition waste both fuel and oil, Tractors operated close to their full load give the best efficiency, In all operations endeavour to load tractors with implements so the ti'ectnl' is working near its capacity. Where possible Buil two implements, When light loads are handled, oper- ate in a higher gear, and adjust the throttle to the desired speed, Draft of tillage implements increases with speed, Do not operate these imple- ments too fast. Check tire pressures frequently and control slipage, Save fuel and reduce tire wear by keeping tires at the pressures recommended by the man- ufacturer, Adjust the loads or add whoa] weights where necessary to keep slippage below 10 per cent, The largest contingent of Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division to arrive in Britain, these smiling girls from the Domin- ion Tine up in a London railway station. From 'London these youthful Canadians went to the various stations of the Canadian Bomber Group which is making a'large contribution to the steady aerial pounding of the Axis, NEW BOX CAR GETS FIRST WAR LOAD Mats CAR, one of 2,000 new box I. cars beim built for the Canadian National Railways to handle the in- creasing volume of war tr ffic over the lines of the National System, is shown above at the plant of National Railways Munitions Limited being loaded with naval guns manufactured at this subsidiary of the Canadian varieral Railways, The car bears the new maple leaf design with the Sys- tem slogan. The big crane handling the gun being placed in the car is operated by Noella Beaudet. Inset is close-up of Miss Beaudet operating the crane. There are seven girls work- ing as crane operators in this big war plant. The box in which the naval gun barrel is encased for travel is a special product of the Canadian National Railways Montreal wood mill shop. The box is of unusual design with interior bracing to hold the barrel firmly in place, while on the exterior steel pieces strengthen the carrier and provide loops to enable crane hooks to take bold when transferring to and from the freight cars at terminals Counter Check Books • We Are Selling Quality Books Books are Well Made, Carbon is Clean and Copies Readily. All styles, Carbon Leaf and Black Back. Prices as Low as You Can Get Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your Next Order. The Seaforth News SEAFORTH, ONTARIO,