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SURPLUS TUNNEL. W h e n Maryland University needed a supersonic wind tunnel for its aeronautics lab, it found one in surplus. T h e tunnel developed defects, but a n ingenious student used i t to build this rotating-plate machine that simulates air flows above moving helicopter blades
SURPLUS AIR CONDITIONER. MU's aeronautics lab, using test data from the old supersonic wind tunnel, finally built a new one. T h e n it took another look for surplus equipment. This time it found t h e large air-conditioning unit shown here and adapted it as a dryer for the tunnel's air supply
Scientific Equipment Goes Begging Schools have first choice of educational surplus property, but many fail to take advantage of it OCIKXTIFIC
EQUIPMENT
constantly
comes on the government surplus mar ket. Some sciiouls pick it up at bar gain prices—usually for no more than the cost of transportation. But others let it go begging or eventually b u y it from surplus dealers. Health, Education, and Welfare Secretary Arthur S. Flemming says a $100 million worth of equipment and supplies suitable for teaching science and math is declared surplus every year. It is free to colleges, universities, and public, parochial, and nonprofit private schools throughout the country. However, only about 2Qr/r of the scien tific items actviallv find their wav into educational institutions. Many schools seem to be unaware t h a t they can get the equipment simply b y paying ware 104
C&EN
MARCH
3 0,
1959
house or freight charges. Instead, Flemming adds, they often deplete their funds "by buying the surpluses from dealers. (Dealers can b u y the equipment from state depots after a reasonable holding period.) • How t o Get It. Every state and the District of Columbia has a surplus property agency. H E W allocates sci entific materials and supplies t o them according to their requests. Schools that want equipment—for general use or for special purposes—should: • Establish eligibility with their state surplus property agency. • Have science a n d mathematics teachers list the items they would like to have for their classes. • Send these lists to the state agency
so it can b e on the lookout for the items as they become surplus. • Visit the state warehouse to see what is available or ask for a list of current surplus equipment. Surplus scientific equipment has in cluded, from time to time, navigational instruments; radio and radar equip ment; testing and measuring devices; motors and generators; photographic equipment; spectrometers; laboratory supplies and chemicals; lenses; and computers and electronic parts. Much of it comes from Defense Department and Atomic Energy Commission re search labs. H E W will make a special effort to find particular types of equipment for schools when they are requested by a state surplus agency. Hence, it finds the spotty demand for surplus scientific equipment hard to explain u n i e s schools have no knowledge of the pro gram. The lack of activity in scientific items, H E W points out, is in sharp contrast to the speed with which some
other surplus items are picked up. For example, it has transferred over 20.0(H) buildings to elementary and high schools for use as shops and classrooms since the surplus program started in 1946. And last year, it rounded u p nearly S 13.5 million worth of machine tools and accessories for colleges and vocational and trade schools when the> expressed an urgent need for the sup plies to evrwnd training facilities and replace obsolete equipment.
A New Illiteracy American education harbors a new form of illiteracy, says J. Harold Janis of N e w York University. He describes it as the inability of experts t o com municate their knowledge to others, particularly in writing. Educated people today gather more and more knowledge, Janis says, but they are less able to pass it on because they have either under- or overde veloped vocabularies; they can't select and develop materials for easy under standing, and they seem to write for their own edification instead of the reader's information. Janis, who teaches business writing at NYU, cites several factors that are feeding the new illiteracy. One of them: People get less practice in writ ing. Almost any message they have can be said in person, on the telephone, or into an intercom or dictating ma chine. Someone else puts it in read able form if necessary. These devices plus precomposed report outlines, form letters, reply cards, and coupons take care of most business writing needs. And, of course, the greeting card is ever present for social communications. Another reason for the general de cline in writing proficiency. Janis thinks, stems from a loss of confidence in the subject of English grammar: The English that has been taught for centuries is not really the English w e talk and write, he adds. Only simple words, short sentences with active verbs, and interpretation of his data will get an expert through to his read ers. Unless colleges teach young scholars and specialists to vise these modern writing techniques, Janis sees the new illiteracy spreading t o a point where every expert is going to need a ghost writer.
• Rensselaer Polytechnic, working un der a grant from Perkin-Elmer, has pro duced a 36-minute, color and sound
instructional film on the theory and ι practice of infrared spectroscopy . \ a r - 1 ration by TV commentator Bill Shipley explains infrared using both animation j U-ciimques Λΐιά instruments. The Shn J is distributed by Perkin-Elmer's Instru- J ment Division. I
in Three Outstanding
^1
REINHOLD BOOKS
* S e m e î 2 0 0 future college teachers I start graduate work at SO colleges next ι fall, aided by grants from the Woodrow | Wilson National î7c-ïîov\sîiiji Foui «da-J by E. SCOTT PATTISQN lion. This year's winners, chosen from I edited Manager,Fatty Acid Producers* 7000 candidates, include 875 men and I Council, JVfw York, Ν. Y. 1959, 2 5 0 pages, $7.00 325 women. About 3 8 ' * plan to study] in the humanities, 3 4 ' / in the social sci- j CP Or oNdTuEc Nt i oT nS:: RF aatwt y MAact iedrsi a l sT,o d aSye p a&r a t iToonm o rPrroowc ; ences, and 28'< in the natural sciences] e s s e s ; F a t t y A c i d s f r o m T a l l O i l ; O z o n e & o t h e r C l e a v a g e Processes; G e n e r a l C h e m i c a l Reac and mathematics. I tions; Applications i n Protective Coatings; M e • The College Entrance Examination Board is introducing a new test—the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test— designed to help schools advise college prep students early in their junior year,
] ] | J j
• "A Product of t h e Imagination" pre- I sents the 70-year history of the ahuni- j inini industry on 16-mm. film with color I and original music. Alcoa's Motion Pic- I ture Section, 1501 Alcoa Building, Pitts- I burgh 19, Pa., will furnish further in- j formation on the film. • A training course for packaging and I materials handling engineers and coor- I dinators is scheduled for May 31 to June 13 at the Lake Placid Club, Essex County, Ν. Υ. It is sponsored by the Industrial Management Center, 56 Robbins Road, Lexington, Mass.
i a i i i c Soaps  Greases, Cosmetics, Rubber Technology; Surface-Active Derivatives of Fatty Acids; Applications o f Soaps & o t h e r Fatty Surf a c t a n t s ; Fatty A c i d - D e r i v e d P l a s t i c i z e r s & C o p o l y m e r s ; Polymers & C o p o l y m e r s f r o m V i n y l E s t e r s o f Fatty A c i d s ; H a n d l i n g I n d u s t r i a l F a t t y A c i d s ; Tests & T e s t i n g M e t h o d s .
2
AUTdMATIC CONTROL: Principles and Practice
by WERNER G. HOLZB0CK
Chief Engineer,
Askania Regidatov Co. 1958, 266 pages, $7.50 '*It is probably the best nonmathematical treatment of this subject available." —Chemical & Engineering News CONTENTS! X h e A u t o m a t i c Control System; Static Characteristics; Step F u n c t i o n Response o f a Process; S t e p F u n c t i o n R e s p o n s e a n d A d j u s t m e n t s of C o n t r o l l e r ; F r e q u e n c y R e s p o n s e ; Mechanical C o m p o n e n t s ; Electrical Components; Balances a n d C o m p u t i n g C i r c u i t s ; Measu r i n g Elements; Controllers; Final Control Elements; I n s t r u m e n t a t i o n Flow Pian S y m b o l s ; F u n c t i o n Controllers; I n d u s t r i a l A p p l i c a t i o n s .
3
EMULSIONS: Theory and P r a c t i c e
ACS Monograph No. 135
by PAUL BECHER
Summer Courses • Russian
for
Research.
Two
courses offered by Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, 333 Jay St., Brooklyn 1, Ν . Υ., on Tuesday and Thursday evenings: (1) June 1 to July 18; ( 2 ) July 27 to Sept. 12. • Nuclear Technology
for
Industry.
June 22 io Aug. 28. University of Caîi- j fornia, Berkeley 4, Calif. For engineers, researchers, and managers. • Infrared Technology. June 15-19. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also: Technical Writing, June 15-19; Automatic Control, June 15-24.
Project Lcctder in Surface Atlas Powder Co.
Chemistry,
1 9 5 7 , 3 9 2 pages, $12.50
*\ . . (it) should be on the shelves of laboratories or libraries of all organizations concerned with the chemical technology of emulsions in whateverfield.*'—ChemicalAge CONTENTS: Introduction; Surface Activity; Physical Properties of E m u l s i o n s ; Theory of Emulsions; C r e a m i n g , Inversion and u e m u î s i f i c a t i o n ; The C h e m i s t r y of E m u l s i f y i n g A g e n t s ; Technique o f Emulsification; Emulsion Applications; Demuisification. A p p e n d i c e s : T e s t i n g of Emulsion Properties; Commercially Available Emulsifying A g e n t s .
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