Z—l40 Armour Institute of Technology. Chicago, Illinois. Tuesday, November 8. I938 breakage oi gross bleed arouses Piston To glittidi’i Engi that ol‘ Servijchon Weeks; Repairs Cost $l .000 lSec Photo) Last Wednesday, at 3:55 pm. every one on the campus was stirred into action as a result of an accident in the engine room. The large steam engine located in the engine room, is coupled to a large 20 kilowatt gen- erator which furnishes light and pow- or for the school. The cross—head. made of cast iron, broke allowing the cylinder to go right through the head of the engine. Having a flywheel that weighs close to five tons and travelling at 200 revolutions per min- ute, the .steam had sufficient force to send it out through the head. Interview Engineer An interview with Anthony Mol- lers, night engineer, gave the follow- ing‘ story: “I had just left the engine room and gone into the boiler room when I heard a bang! I happened to be talk- ing with Professor Libby at the time and with the clanking: noise every fraction of a second, I knew the cylin— der on the large generator had burst. Well, the steam was blowing in our direction so that we couldn’t get back into the engine room. About the time I had started to go outside and around from the other door, Claude Blankenship managed to come in from the north entrance of the en- gine room and close the throttle valve which gradually stopped the. en~ urine. Naturally all the lights went out and the room was clouded due to the escaping;r steam. I immediately told the fireman to keep the water pumps at full speed so that the boil- ers would not be damaged at the sud- den dccreasc in load on the steam lines. Steam at lZD Pounds Pressure “We then looked at the damage making sure the small machine was not harmed due to the accident and then got it started so we could have some lights. The steam was at a pressure of about 120 pounds pres- sure and when that comes out of a ten inch main, it has plenty of force. Just for example, take John's cabinet; it was blown against a post; and the cabinet is fully thirty feet from the engine. That‘s why we couldn’t get back into the room." When the machine was being dis. sembled the following day, this re— porter obtained additional facts from John Allen, the chief engineer. The cylinder head weighed about 300 pounds, was 1 5/3 inches thick and was bolted in place by Ill-one inch bolts. The steam chest was damaged but can be welded. The cast iron cross head will be replaced by cast steel which will increase the strength of the mov- ing parts. Damages are estimated at about $1,000 causing the machine to be out of service for about two weeks. “We‘re all glad,” said John Allen, “that no one was injured in the incident. A machine can al- ways be replaced, but not a human body." Wfif. Smoker tor Nov. id at P5 hops The W. S. E. Smoker committee has announced that the fall smoker will be held next Thursday night, Nov. 10, at the Pi Kappa Phi fray Festivities are to start at 8:30 p.m. Members will take part in a Monte Carlo party and View some very excellent motion pictures. There is one pre-requisite, how» ever, before attendance will be al— lowed. Membership dues must be Seniors, juniors, and partic- ularly sophomores who have not paid their fee had better do so lest they miss an enjoyable evening. As a par- ticularly pleasing innovation the com- mittee has promised a very tasty re- ternity house. paid. past for those who are able to attend The W. S. E. Smoker is an annual It is invariably held in the fall of the year and is traditionally conducted by a commit- afl‘air at Armour, tee selected from the junior class. ”#aeéluiead Professor, Nine Students, Pledged to Eta Kappa Nu The pledging of ten men to Eta Kappa Nu took place at the A.I.E.E. snicker Wednesday evening. The elec- trical engineering students so hon- ored are the following mcn chosen for outstanding scholarship and ac- tivity in their department: Seniors: Lawrence Strocchia, Vcrv non Terp, Gerald Anderson, Edward A. Chavalley, and Edward Marik. Juniors: John Hartman, Edward Pau- laitis, J. Dan Shaver, and Alfred Faulkner. Associate Professor Charles A. Nash was chosen for associate membership in the honorary fraternity. Armour Tech. class of 1906, was ap. pointed commissioner of subways and traction by Mayor Kelly last Thurs- day. Harrington has been traction engineer for the city of Chicago for the last three years. “Since I was a boy I have visioned a subway for Chicago,” Harrington said after his appointment as subway “Czar" had been unanimously ap- proved by the Chicago council, “It is a great honor to be in charge, I will do everything possible to bring honor to the mayor and the council in this undertaking.” Work To Begin in December Harrington‘s big and important task for the next two years will be the building of two rapid transit sub- ways on which work is scheduled to begin December 15. The subways, which are expected to bring Chicago’s antiquated transportation system up to date, will cost 4.0 million dollars and will be financed partly with an 18 million dollar grant from the Fed- eral government. Distinctively a Chicago citizen, Mr. Harrington received his primary edu< cation in Chicago public schools, spent four years on the Armour campus where he received the degree of Elec- trical Engineer, and completed a legal course at Kent College of Law. He was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1916, is 52 years old. For 29 years he was employed in the engineering department of the Sanitary district, spending the last two years (1933 to 1935) as chief engineer. He was re- sponsible for the preparation of dc“ sign, drawing of contracts, construc— tion and operation of more than 100 million dollars worth of plants and works. Plan For Extension Although Mr. Harrington will carry greatly increased responsibility in his new position, he will receive the same salary—$20,000—wbich he drew as traction engineer. His new subway department will not only build the initial system of subways, but it will prepare plans for the ex- tension of tubes. It will also main~ tain the subways after they are built and supervise the use of them by the Results at Philip Harrington, a graduate of Seniors To Hold Dance In Union dldg. mes. l Meetingy at noon last Friday, the senior social committee set Decem- ber 10 as the tentative date for the senior dance. If the Union Building; is completed and furnished by that date, the dance will be the first held in the remodeled student building. As is the custom at Armour, the senior class will hold the first class dance. Bids will be on sale shortly after the Thanksgiving holidays as the committee is, at present, design- ing- the style of bid. “If we can hold our dance in the Union Building,” said Anderson, “we can guarantee everyone a good time. We’ll have a real celebration, since it would be the first dance held in the new build- , in the way. 9 0n Why; Will be Placed in Engine Room Temporarilyl New Steel Lockers New One hundred and five new lockers are soon to be added to those in the busrmen‘t of the Main Building, ac- cording to an announcement made by Mr. George Allison, treasurer of the Institute. It is expected that the order will be delivered in about two weeks. The lockers of steel construc~ tion, will be of a type similar to those already installed. Temporarily the lockers will be placed in the engine room. Present plans are to clear a space for them along the west wall in back of the machinery rather than to have them along the aisle where they would be The new lockers will ing," continued Anderson, “so we’re be for the use of those juniors and hoping to have a good turn-out from the entire school." Appoint ll. irlarrington, Armour Alumnus, tiarninissioner at Chicago Subway i’roiect company operating them. An ordiw nanco passed last week amends the powers of public works, to place all of the authority for subway work in the hands of the new department. The ordinance which creates the new position of commissioner of sub- ways makes no statement as to the length of term in office. but authori- tativc sources have stated that a state statue governs in such cases. and lim- its the term to two years. An article on the Chicago subway system, authored by Mr. Harrington, appears as a “nation wide scoop" in the issue of the Armour Engineer and Alumnus issued this week. The arti- cle was secured by the editors previ- ous to last week's events and prom-v ises to be of foremost importance to the technical readers as well as lay- men. , Elect-ion @ommitree blames hive tithe-ere her Freshman glass A release last week from the terns porary freshman committee indicated that five offices will be filled by the coming elections. In addition to elec— ting the customary president, vice president, and combined secretary- treasurer, a social chairman will be selected as well as a representative to the board of the Armour Tech Stu— dent Association. Nomination procedure requires that the candidate (who can petition for only one office) must submit a petition to the election committee be' fore noon, Friday, November 18, hearing the signatures of 35 members of the class of 1942. A primary and a final election are planned, each to be conducted ac— cording to the rules of the Australian ballot. The three candidates receiving the most votes for each office in the primary election will compete in the final vote. A plurality will decide in the final election. Petition forms and further in— formation will be supplied by the temporary committee, composed of Earl Huxhold, Bob Tatge, Ted Krup< ruik, Warren Undcright, and Fred Klein. seniors who do not at present have a locker. Boiler ileum Incident {Evils Submit Plan To Create Unified Engineering Group [Five Men fledged to moi Epsilon Chi Epsilon, honorary civil cnai~ nearing: fratcinity, pledged one chap- tor honor" y member and four chap- ter activ .17 their membership at the 0i regular meeting;. of the Western So- ciety o'I' Engineers last Friday. Dr. Linton E. Grintor. head of the de- partment of civil engineering and (loan of the, graduate division was the be pledged. To the active chapter were pledged D. J. Saigh ’39, D. M. Way ‘39, G. P. Hanna ’40, and F. A. ()pila ’40. because of the high standard they set in scholarship, character, socia- chapter honorary member to These men were pledged bility and practicability. in an attempt to solve their cur. rent problem, the officers of the W.S.E. selected Mr. A. Hammond to address them. The problem which is confronting: the Armour chapter of the W.S.E. is that of the installation of an Armour chapter of the Ameri» can Society of Civil Engineers. For some time there has been consider- able discussion of the relative merits of both the A.S.C.E. and the W.S.E. To do away with the W.S.E. entirely is felt by the faculty and the officers to be l'oolhardy. In accordance with this, the plan has been submitted that the W.S.E., which is not a purely civil engineering society, became the parent society. In this organization all the students would be entitled to membership with the governing body composed of all the officers of, the various departmental s o c i c t i c 5. Through this medium, the W.S.E. could obtain speakers and events which could not be had to address merely the small groups which are found in the departmental societies. I Mr. Hammond, being a past presi— dent of both societies, was deemed the logical man to advise the students. He advised the members to enter into (Continued on page two) 5 .l. Speyer "lakes Sketching Price Chapter Ediou of Scarab fraterni— ty hold its annual sketch competition last week. James Speyer was the non- member to win the one year sub- scription to Forum, architectural magazine, His winning sketch was a water color of a scene of the Chicago River. The jury was composed of Professors van der Robe, Kreihhel, Rodgers, and Moll. A total of sixteen sketches were chosen, from the competition of 55, to represent Armour in the na- tional competition sponsored by the chapters of Scarab. The competition will be held and judged in Cincin- nati, Ohio, on November 21, 1938. George E. Danforth, a third your man, was selected, according; to A. M. Richardson, president of Scarab, as delegate to the Annual National Con- vention of Scarab fraternity to be held in Cincinnati, Nov. 21. Accom- panying Dantorth will be Ambrose Richardson, .lohn Rea, and Fred H. Prathcr, ”Do/amid" is AS/l/lfi Topic: This/litémoon Culminating 250 years of scientific research by the world’s loading physicists to provide a directional control of light waves, Edwin H. Land, young Boston scientist, rcccut— ly invented “Polaroid,” a sheet of transparent material with an amazing power over light and promising ”an industrial and scientific revolution with its more than 800 possible ap- plications." This evening, at 7:30 p .m. George W. Wheclwright. III, partner in the Land-thclwrig’ht Laboratories, will demonstrate and lecture on Polaroid to a. Chicago audi» once under the auspices of the Amer— ican Society of Mechanical Engineers in the second floor auditorium of the Engineers Building, 205 West Wack- or Drive. The same lecture and dem- onstration will be shown before the student A.S.M.E. in Science Hall this afternoon at 3 o’clock. Three-dimensional Color Movies Demonstrations of a ‘fcw of Pola- roid’s many uses will include illumi— nation, completely free from glaring: reflections, three-dimensional motion pictures in full color, the creation of color in colorless materials, and the inspection of glass for annealing {laws and imperfections. Mr. Wheel— wright, who will be introduced by John M. Magus of Crane & Company, and member of the Research Com: mittee of the Chicago Chapter of the, American Society of Mechanical En— gineers, will explain how Polaroid "combs” the hcltcr-skeltcr vibrations of ordinary light into a single plane and thus provides a harm-SS for light that allows mankind to make much more extensive use of this vital form of energy. Roesch in Charge Daniel Rocseh, Professor of Auto‘ motive Engineering, and member of the A.S.M.E., in charge of local or— rangements for the lecture. advises, that Polaroid has been considered by scientists and optical authorities as one of the great contributions to arti» licial illumination since Edison’s in- candescent lamp. Besides being helpful in conserving: vision for the normal person, thousands of ocularly deficient people who have been hand- icapped in reading under glare con—1 (litions of illumination will have ac~ cess to comfortable. reading: of news— 1 papers and magazines with the rid—i vent of Polaroid. Lecturer Wheelwright was a pro~ lfesscr of physics at Harvard Uni» (Continued on page Nil-eel Vol. XXII. No. 8 I linear World War Heroes At ,, 7 Armisticejlduy Moss Meeting brass ban—illixeads Way To @gden Field Following the custom which has been established at Armour for twenty years, a student assembly will be held next Friday morning on Ogden field to commemorate Armis- tice Day. This year the plans for the ceremony have been changed from previous years, in that the as- sembly is to be an all Armour of.- fair. No outside speakers are to be in attendance, since the address is to be given by President H. T. Heald. Expect All To Attend Plans for the assembly include a detailed explanation of how the vari- ous classes are to arrange themselves prior to entering field. The whole af- fair, while not intended as a stiff, formal occasion is to be a solemn dignified ceremony. All members of the student body, graduate students, comps, institute employees, faculty members, and members of the re- search foundation are required to ut~ tend. Separate divisions of the entire group are to assemble at designated places, under the supervision of stu- dent marshals. At 10:35, after the second hour class, the band will start playing and the Various groups will march onto the field through the south e'atc. From there the ranks, double tile, will proceed along; the west side of the field, turn east and arrange themselves in rows in the east and west direction. All will then turn and face to the north. When 11 o'clock comes the entire body will face to the east and remain at atton~ tion, in silence, for a period of one minute, This cessation 01' activity is the annual memorial which all Amer< leans observe in honor of those men who bore arms overseas and those who gave their lives in the World War. Heald To Give Address At the north end of the field there will be a raised platform upon which the speakers will stand. A public address system is to be installed ("or the convenience of speakers and audience. President Hcald will start his address at 10 :55 and will continue until shortly after 11 o’clock. The intermission will occur during his ad- dress. Last week the News carried the announcement that the assembly is to be held under any condition of weather which may prevail. If the (Continued on page four) denunciation @tliciuls Add New Equipment To Acoustics floor. Recently the Research Foundation added two new pieces of equipment to its ever increasing collection of unusual apparatus. The particular items are a sound level meter and a wave. analyzer, both of which will be used by the acoustics and vibrations division of the Research Foundation under the supervision of Dr. H. A. Lecdy. The sound level meter is a device to measure the magnitude of sounds. It is a very sensitive piece of ap~ paratus covering a range of energies of l to 1000 billion. One of the most valuable features of the Instrument is that it will cover sounds ranging from those on a quiet country road at. night to those produced by a pneumatic hammer with about the same response as the human or", making: the sound level meter an ideal tool for problems in noise elimination. At present inn struments similar to this are finding use as applause meters in the various radio stations and theaters. The wave analyzer is a device that breaks up a sound into its component frequencies and the amount of each frequency present in the sound. One of its main uses is in the evaluation of {one qualities. such as the tone of a fine voice. radio, and violin.