Passing Comments
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AN interesting method of fuel supply is being' adopted in the U.S.A. Army. . Motorized units in this are accompanied by tank trucks carrying fuel-delivery pumps. The pumps are erected at convenient spots ancl supplied, through heavy rubber tubing, by a number of tankers parked nearby. It will be noted that this system differs from that adopted by the British Army. ("C.M.," August 15.1
Tank Trucks and Portable Pumps for Fuel Supplies . . . 'OR one penny a bulletin I issued by Specialloid, Ltd., and addressed to Mr. G. W. Hayter, general manager of the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., at Bensham, Co. Durham, travelled to Bensham, in Canada, and back, and was safely returned to the sender, marked "Unknown." Thus it performed two crossings of the Atlantic under the protection of the British Navy.
Two Journeys Across the Atlantic for a
Penny
FOUND recently in the archives of the G.P.O. was matter concerning an early Airgraph service, instituted when Paris was besieged in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. Micro-photography was employed. Printed messages were pasted upon a board to hold nine or 16 sheets. These were photographed on to a film, each film containing 1,800 or 3,200 letters, according to the number of sheets. Some 12 to 18 of these films were rolled, inserted in a quill and attached to the tail feathers of a pigeon. On arrival they were enlarged by magic lantern, copied and delivered.. Later, the delivered copies were reproduced and enlarged by photography. As a matter of interest, we may mention that we have in our possession a microscopic slide carrying a photograph, about in, long, of a E5 Bank of England note and another with a photograph of the same size comprising a ballad of 32 printed verses. Both these were produced between 1850 and 1860.
Early Pigeon post Edition of the Alrgraph . ,
THE reference in the preceding paragraph to a photographic film used in 1870 has raised the problem of what type of film was employed. It has been suggested that the emulsion might have been on very thin tinfoil, although nitrocellulose was discovered in 1846, whilst " celluloid " was the name given by J. W. Hyatt to cotton cellulose treated with nitric acid; he developed it as a material from which to make billiard balls. Later, Hyatt produced the famous flexible-type roller bearing which bears his name. It will be remembered that this form, of bearing was employed, to a very large extent, on one of the best-known motor vehicles, the Model T Ford. which was really the forerunner of mass production in this sphere. Each roller consisted of a closely wound strip of hardened steel, whilst the races were rolled from wide strip, the split being arranged as a full-width V. so that no jar was caused, as would result if the split had been straight.
inventor of Celluloid also Produced Hyatt Bearings