VOL.6. No. 10
GENERAL ELECTRIC RESEARCH LABORATORY
1619
THE GENERAL ELECTRIC RESEARCH LABORATORY. WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT HAS ACCOMPLISHED GUYBARTLETT, GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
It would he difficult to name an industry that has been more closely associated with research than has the electrical industry; and in that industry the work of the General Electric research lahoratory has played an important part. It was estahlished 29 years ago, a t which time E. W. Rice, Jr., then vice president and now honorary chairman of the board of directors, made the statement: Although our engineers have always been liberally supplied with every facility for the development of new and original designs and improvements of existing standards, it has been deemed wise during the past year to establish a laboratory to be devoted exclusively to original research. It is hoped by this means that many profitable fields may be discovered.
Back in 1901 Dr. Willis R. Whitney and his assistant, Thomas R. Dempster, wrestled for three days a week with some of the many unsolved problems of electricity, in the newly estahlished Research Laboratory of the company. Twenty-eight years have elapsed. Dr. Whitney and Mr. Dempster are still in the Research Laboratory, but it is a much enlarged lahoratory. Today it occupies the major part of two of the largest buildings in the front of the Schenectady Works, and the staff includes more than 400 physicists, chemists, electrical engineers and other scientists, with their assistants. Mr. Rice's hope-"that man%.profitable fields may be discovered"-has been more than amply realized. The inventions, the improvements, the new processes, and the new knowledge which have been unearthed and developed in the Research Laboratory have been of inestimable value, both to the company and to the public. New fields of application for electricity have been uncovered; the sum total of our knowledge of pure science has been decidedly increased; and, in the field of illumination alone, for instance, the savings to the American public have been a billion dollars a year for the current consumed by incandescent l a m p s a result of the improved efficiency of the lamp, and a result of research. What have been some of the outstanding achievements of the laboratory? Prominent among them have been the remarkable advances in incandescent lamps, including in succession the metallized carbon filament lamp, the ductile tungsten filament, and the gas-filled Mazda C lamp. There has been the magnetite electrode for arc lamps-the only survivor against the Mazda C lamp in street lighting-and there have been the Coolidge X-ray and cathode-ray tubes and apparatus developments; electron tubes of many types for radio and other work, the Tungar rectifier for battery charging, the Langmuir vacuum pump, the calorizing of steel, the invention
of water japan, the self-lubricating Genelite bearing material, the sheath wire with mineral insulation for heating elements, the heat-resisting Calite alloy, atomic hydrogen welding, the improved tungsten carbide cutting
, The Mazda Clamp, the high-vacuum power tube, the thoriated filamel~ t and atomic hydrogen welding claim this table as their birthplace.
tool material-all these, and many more, must be included in any enumeration of the accomplishments of this one laboratory. The development of such products has not been the only work of the
laboratory, however. Many investigations in pure research have been conducted, and the findings published in more than 400 articles in scientific and technical journals. Some of this pure science has been found immediately applicable; a t other times the findings have been put to practical use only after considerable time has elapsed. Similarly, such investigations have often been found to affect unexpected fields, as when Dr. Langmuir's investigations of traces of gas in incandescent lamp bulbs led to the development of atomic hydrogen welding. Some of the laboratory products have been accidental, or incidental, results of investi~ationsin pure science; others have been the result of persistent work toward a predetermined goal. Still another Research Laboratory activity has been the handling of specific problems affecting factory production, such as improvements of processes, location of troubles, or the development of new or better materials such as alloys and insulations. Possibly such a problem will he solved in a few hours-or many months, or even years, may be devoted to the subject. A one-story, shed-like structure formerly occupied by the Standardizing Laboratory, was occupied by Dr. Whitney in 1901, but within a vear more Dn. WILLISR . WHITNEY provided when the Vice-president of the General Electric Company and director of the Research Laboratory. laboratory was moved to another building. There it remained until 1904, when Dr. Whitney and his three assistants moved to still more spacious quarters. In 1912 the still further expanded laboratory moved into a seven-story building that was built expressly for it. And then, three years ago, when it was found necessary to expand the laboratory facilities even more, another six-story building was connected to it. Approximately 90,000 square feet of floor space in the first building, divided into 132 rooms, and an additional 52,000 square feet in the second building, divided into 63 rooms, are included in the present Research Laboratory quarters. City water, river water, illuminating gas, compressed air, vacuum, high-
-
1624
JOURNAL 09 CHEMICAL EDUCATION
OCTOBER, 1929
pressure hydrogen, low-pressure hydrogen, oxygen, live steam, low-pressure steam, vacuum cleaning, and distilled water are available in each workroom. A maximum of 250 kilowatts can be drawn from one or two terminal switchboards in each room; or connections can be made to any other room or to the hasement distribution board, and from there to other laboratories in the plant. Work requiring 20,000 amperes, or 200,000 volts, or temperatures as high - as 3000°C. or as low as -200°C. are also to he had with standard equipment.
AS HIGHA S 3000DC.MAYBE OBTAINBD TEMPERATURES SHOWN
WITH
TYPEOF APPARATUS
Horizontal ducts, of sufficient size so that workmen can easily make alterations or repairs, carry the pipes and wires above the corridors; and vertical ducts connect these to the basement of the first building. The wiring arrangements are such that each cable can be withdrawn and replaced without undue interference with the others. The hasement of the first building is used to provide facilities which are in general demand, such as electric power, vacuum, liquid air, motors, transformers, and rheostats. Power is distributed at 125-250 volts direct current, and 550-240-120 volts alternating current, from 154 trunk lines,
and by separate lines from 24 motor generators. Service valves for the distributing pipe lines also are in the basement. The first floor of this building contains the main offices, the library of 3000 volumes and technical journals, and experimental rooms for X-ray
TEMPERATURES As Low AS -200°C. ARE To BE HADWITH STANDARD RQUIPMENI and cathode-ray investigations. Connected to the rear is a one-story section of 4000 square feet, used as a metal-working department. Its equipment includes rolling mills, 100-ton hydraulic presses, tungsten and molybdenum treating equipment, swaging machines, wire-drawing appara-
1626
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
OCTOBER,
1929
tus, high-temperature hydrogen furnaces, a ball mill, sifting apparatus, and vacuum furnaces. A tile roof of this section provides space for outdoor experiments. A large portion of the second floor is used for model and apparatus construction, and contains a machine shop and carpenter shop. Lathes, millers, shapers, drill presses, disk grinders, surface grinders, external and internal grinders, precision lathes, and diamond-die drilling and polishing machines are included in the equipment of the machine shop. The carpenter shop is similarly well equipped with machines, hut its chief function is to provide high-grade hand work on wood and similar materials. A transformer and coil department in another building supplies special apparatus not available in the factory. For the benefit of visitors, a room in the front of the second floor has been fitted out with numerous equipments for demonstrating some of the interesting laboratory experiments and developments. On the third floor there is the analytical laboratory. In other rooms on the same floor there are electric furnaces of different types, photomicrographic equipments, metal testing machines, and similar equipment for the study of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Development of atomic hydrogen welding is also being carried on there. Studies of incandescent lamps occupy most of the fourth floor, along with the pure science investigations of Dr. Langmuir. Glassblowing rooms, photometers of different types, and lamp life-test racks are included in the incandescent lamp equipme*. Apparatus for making X-ray spectra photographs to reveal the arrangement of atoms in metals and other crystalline matter, facilities for experimental work on electric refrigerators, and life-test racks and other testing equipment for radiotrons and other vacuum tubes are contained on the fifth floor. A large lecture room for the various meetings such as the weekly colloquia is also located there. In the newer building most of the laboratory's three floors are devoted to investigations of vacuum tube and radio problems. Experiments with photoelectric tubes, hot cathode neon tubes, radio loud speakers, sound films, and radio tube and circuit investigations are conducted there. Still other lines of work to be found there are the development of new insulations and molded compounds, studies of vibrations and noise in electrical apparatus, and theoretical investigations along numerous lines. Not all the work of the Research Laboratory is carried on within these two buildings, however. Various types of electrlc furnaces up to twotons' capacity, housed in another building, are used for the production of all the high-speed steel used in the Schenectady plant. Titanium carbide for magnetite arc electrodes, boron carbide for use as a deoxidizing flux in casting copper, heat-resisting alloys, and non-magnetic alloys are still
VOL.6. No. 10
GENERAL ELECTRIC RESEARCH LABORATORY
1627
other materials produced in electric furnaces under the snpervision of the laboratory. The graphitizing of carbon brushes, calorizing of steel, purification and reduction of tungsten and molybdenum are other processes that are or have been followed by the laboratory. Mazda Service, still another part of the laboratory, maintains supervision over lamp production and tests. The Research Laboratory is but one of several General Electric laboratories, however. In Schenectady there also are the General Engineering laboratory, devoted to general and special engineering problems, including
A t thc Thorn.wl Kcaarch L a b r r ~ t o r y ,I.r.nn. w3, dcwloprd the r n c t l ~ o ~fur l producing thm rupcrior ghss like sol,itanw ~n barge rnxsses
high-voltage phenomena, the development and standardization of instruments and test methods, and the development of new apparatus like the photophone and the improved cathode-ray oscillograph; the Testing Laboratory, for investigating the physical and chemical properties of materials; and the Illuminating Engineering Laboratory. At Lynn there is the Thomson Research Laboratory, where clear fused quartz and the supercharger for airplanes and automobiles, among other things, were developed; a t Pittsfield there is the High Voltage Laboratory where artificial lightning of millions of volts is the toy of electrical engineers; and a t both Lynn and Pittsfield there are additional laboratories
MILLIONS O F VOLTSSTRIKEA MINIATURE VILLAGB I n the High Voltage Laboratory at Pittsfield artificial lightning of millions of volts is the toy of electrical engineers
VOL.6, No. 10
ERROR IN R w m WSIGAING
1629
concerned with the production problems of those plants. Then there are the lamp development and illuminating engineering laboratories a t Cleveland, specializing in incandescent lamps and illumination. What research has meant in the case of the General Electric Company is shown by a glance a t the products of the Schenectady works, just one of the company's plants. Two-fifths of the production therc last year was in apparatus developed since the World War-apparatus not manufactured by the company a decade ago. Chief among these, of course, were radio and electric refrigerating apparatus. A quarter of a century ago the industrial experimental laboratory was itself an experiment. Today i t occupies a firmly established and most important position in accelerating the progress of American industry.
