Problem:
To cut cost of conveying, storing and blending flour
I/EC
REPORTS A N D
air-embolism in the patient. T h e filtration is actually done with a 60-mesh stainless steel screen, held together by the Kel-F disks containing a specially treated "window" of Kel-F. Major advantages of this type of construction are its resistance to thermal shock and its ability to withstand high-temperature steam
INTERPRETS
autoclaving in conventional hospital sterilizing equipment. Fracturing, softening, and warping of the 3-M product are nonexistent even after hundreds of sterilizations. Dr. Alvin A. Bakst of New York, who dreamed u p the idea for this filter, has performed many successful open-heart operations calling for the tedious outside heart-lung equipment.
Space Cocoons for Orbiting Astronauts Proposed satellite life jacket—formed of foamed resin during free fall—could permit re-entry to atmosphere
Solution: SPROUT-WALDRON
PNEU-FLO® SYSTEM With just one man on each shift, the C. F. Mueller Company unloads, blends and distributes 125,000,000 lbs. of flour a year at its six-story plant in Jersey City. SproutWaldron's bulk handling and Pneu-Flo positive pressure system recently i n s t a l l e d has saved more than 25,000 square feet of floor space, reduced handling costs by $150,000 per year, freed more than $40,000 worth of equipment, simplified close check weighing of incoming raw materials, increased safety and reduced housekeeping and maintenance. The system unloads and conveys to storage a minimum of one carload of flour in four hours; provides maximum diversity of storage ; sizes all incoming material at a rate equal to or greater than the unloading rate ; transfers the material at rates of 30,000 lbs. per hour. The full story of this reliable pneumatic handling system is told in Bulletin 1-57. Copies are available on request. CW/105
SPROUT-WALDRON Muncy, Pennsylvania Size Reduction · Size Classification · Mixing Bulk Materials Handling · Pelleting Circle No. 53 on Readers' Service Card 36 A
Space man "spins" plastic foam cocoon for fast, safe return from ailing space ship. Vehicle protects him from heat of re-entry
^ • N E of many types of emergencies which space pioneers may face in the next few years is a fast return to earth from a disabled manned satellite. A plastic-foam "cocoon," visualized by research engineers at General Electric's Missile and Space Vehicle Dept., in Philadelphia, could be an answer to the problem of getting back to terra firma in a hurry. Foamed of polyurethanes (or improved modifications) during free fall, the cocoon would protect the spaceman from heat of atmospheric friction during re-entry and then cushion him against the moderate shock of a parachute landing. After this, the h u m a n meteorite would
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
peel out of his covering and await rescuers guided to him by automatic radio beacon. T h e simplest type of cocoon system is a satellite life jacket known as the M O O S E (Man O u t of Space Easiest). Here, the astronaut—in a space suit with attendant oxygen supply, recovery aids, a n d survival gear—dons (or is already wearing) a very loose plastic bag. Straps or cords assure his proper position inside his placental pouch. T o this he attaches tanks containing foaming plastic and mixer. T o deorbit, he takes a retrorocket package, visually orients himself to earth, and measures the altitude a n d {Continued on page 38 A)
Steady filtration FULLY
AUTOMATED
NIAGARA Filters are available in completely automated models for production-line filtration. Operating with process streams from 5 to over 1,000 gallons per minute, these highly efficient, versatile filters adapt easily to automatic processing of many materials like these:
ANTIBIOTICS · GELATIN WAXES · BEER · SUGAR I VEGETABLE OILS \
PECTIN · RESINS |
GLYCERINE · ACIDS
1 WEED KILLERS · SULPHUR j 1 ******
CAUSTIC SODA TALLOW
I/EC
REPORTS
flight direction with a n optical sight on the retrorocket. This tells hi m the proper direction to aim a n d fire the hand-rocket to achieve r e entry. H e then inflates the plastic bag and turns on the foam generator. T h e quick-setting material fills the space between the immediate clothing and the outer bag. A dense (50 lb. per cu. foot) foam cover about an inch thick forms an ablation shield on the nose portion of the designed conisphere shape. T h e outer afterbody foam coating is much less dense (about 3 lb. per cu. foot). And a very low density foam (1 lb. per cu. foot) fills in the rest of the space between man and shell, much like the white of an egg surrounds the yolk. This protects the cosmic high j u m p e r from heat of atmospheric friction and from shock of deceleration a n d landing. Weight Requirements for "Moose" Satellite Life Jacket Component Space suit Back pack (O2 supply, ventilation) Survival kit Beacon and battery Antenna for beacon Recovery aids—radar chaff, sofar bombs, flares (high and low altitude), timer and ejector, dye marker Parachute Foamed vehicle Total
Speedy cake removal, elimination of manual cloth washing and totally enclosed construction are NIAGARA advantages which are helping save time and improve product quality in all areas of the processing industry. For more complete d a t a , see the NIAGARA section in Chemical Engineering Catalog or write:
N i a g a r a ® FILTERS A DIVISION OF
American Machine and Metals. Inc. I E C N - 1 1 6 0 , EAST MOLINE, ILLINOIS (Niagara Filters Europe: Kwakelpaad 28, Alkmaar, Holland) Specialists in liquid-solids
separation
Divisions of American Machine and Metals, Inc. TROY LAUNDRY MACHINERY · RIEHLE TESTING MACHINES · DE BOTHEZAT FANS · TOLHURST CENTRIFUGALS · FILTRATION ENGINEERS · F I L T R A T I O N FABRICS · NIAGARA FILTERS · UNITED STATES GAUGE · RAHM INSTRUMENTS · LAMB ELECTRIC COMPANY · HUNTER SPRING COMPANY GLASER-STEERS CORPORATION
Circle No. 15 on Readers' Service Card 38 A
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Foam tanks and mixer (discarded before reentry) Propulsion pack
Weight Lb. 15 10 12 5 2
10 13 198 265
20 188
General Electric's John H . Quillinan and Harold L. Bloom have considered an orbiting altitude of 100 to 400 nautical miles for their preliminary calculations. They assume re-entry to the earth's atmosphere begins at an altitude of 50 nautical miles. During free fall prior to re-entry, the astronaut will fire a high-intensity flare to indicate emergency re-entry from orbit, and will turn on the beacon. T h e stable conisphere shape orients itself early in re-entry, and the dense foam on the nose ablates. After re-entry heating has passed its peak, the occupant helps rescuers track his fall by expelling radar
I/EC
REPORTS
chaff and firing another flare. At a n altitude of about 30,000 feet, a parachute (metallized to give large radar cross section) automatically opens and pulls cutting cords which tear the light foam from around the man's hands and arms. Thus freed, he can yank these cords after landing (the parachute limits impact velocity to 30 feet per second at sea level) and can cut the foamy insulation away from the rest of his body. Finally, he digs out survival equipment embedded in the foam. In case he lands in water, the former astronaut releases sofar bombs to pinpoint his location, and the M O O S E system serves as a life raft. T h e radio beacon continues to operate, providing a directional fix, and a dye marker aids visual sighting. O t h e r deorbiting systems receiving preliminary consideration at General Electric include a satellite life raft and a satellite lifeboat. These rigid vehicles may have a thin glass fiber liner protected by a nylon-reinforced phenolic ablation shield. They would have an afterbody of glass fiber cored with aluminum honeycomb. New chemical materials—now solving present industrial, military, and consumer problems—will be the answer to increasingly complex future needs, too. Catastrophic accidents are almost sure to occur during early space exploration. But, certainly in the cases of orbiting satellites, they need not always be fatal. D.G.W.
OLD MOUNTAINEER said to
From its major facilities in Santa Rosa, California and West Chester, Pennsylvania — and its field engineering and service offices in Chicago, Houston, Seattle and Los Angeles—Rietz has supplied size reduction and heat exchange equipment to
MORE THAN 50 OF THE LARGEST CHEMICAL COMPANIES IN THE WORLD An example
RIETZ
DISINTEGRATORS
TYPICAL APPLICATIONS Dry pulverizing —coarse or fine. Wet grinding of solids to produce slurries or pastes. Fine dispersion and homogenizing. Dissolving of solids in liquids. Intimate mixing of pastes, slurries and powders.
SPECIAL FEATURES AND ADVANTAGES
Look Down, Look Down f\w
AN ENVIABLE RECORD OF SERVICE TO (jp|
the
flatland tourist who asked where the road in front of his cabin went: "Since the state built it 40 years ago, it ain't gone nowhere." Scientists at Socony Mobil Oil's Paulsboro, N . J., research department can make this statement nowadays without any attempt at being facetious—they have built a four-lane highway that permit autos to "travel" up to 100 (Continued on page 40 A)
Can be supplied for operating under atmospheric pressure, vacuum or internal pressure. 360° screen area insures maximum capacity, uniformity of grind and minimum temperature rise of product. Optional secondary discharge for continuous separation of disintegration-resistant material. Rugged, compact construction in carbon or stainless steel in vertical design (as illustrated), or in angle or inverted models.
Rietz DISINTEGRATORS
MANUFACTURING CO. Santa Rosa, Calif. · West Chester, Penna. PREBREAKERS · EXTRUCTORS · THERMASCREWS Circle No. 49 on Readers' Service Card VOL. 52, NO. 11
·
NOVEMBER 1960
39 A
