WHEELS OF POWER

In the lull between creation and the fulfillment of its destiny, a great turbine undergoes the exacting scrutiny of its makers. Such is the subject of this week’s cover photograph, taken in the shops of the General Electric Company where so many great power wheels are made.

NEW "TRIANGLE" PARACHUTE

A revolutionary type of parachute that may ultimately take the place of the standard one now in use has been developed by the Army Air Corps at the experimental laboratories at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, after more than a year’s research.

Though the materials, general size, and principle of operation of the present-day "flyer’s umbrella" are utilized, the newcomer has a different kind of mainsail, far more stability and safety of operation, and a unique type of pilot "chute."

Instead of the circular mainsail, a triangular one has been substituted, with two corners rounded and the third sheared straight across. The shroud lines extend down, spaced regularly as in the standard ‘chute, except across the sheared-off corner, which has no shroud lines at all. The result is that when the parachute is open, this corner forms a tail-like vent through which the air escapes.

ULTRAVIOLET WINDOWS TESTED BY U.S.

How to let the ultraviolet rays of sunlight through the window into home and schoolroom was discussed by Dr. W.W. Coblentz, physicist of the U.S. Bureau of Standards at Washington, in a report to the Illuminating Engineering Society. He reported his tests of various window glasses and other materials and suggested that for effective results, the material should not transmit less than 45 to 50 percent of the ultraviolet rays in the sunlight.

If only small amounts of the ultraviolet rays penetrate the windows, they can not be relied upon to effect cures of rickets, which are possible with large doses of ultraviolet rays as well as with sources of vitamin D. Dr. Coblentz quoted clinical reports that indicated that exposures of 5 to 7 hours each day with light through glass with 25 percent transmission must be required in specifications. Even with this degree of transmission, the effect would be preventive only and in no sense curative.

MUCH CRY; LITTLE WOOL

Alexander William Stern in The Monist, April 1929:

At no time is science so much talked about and as little understood by the layman as now.