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Deep Freeze on Motorways
THERE is general acceptance of the view that with the I coming of the motorways the traffic flow will take on a different, form from hitherto. Fast-moving long-distance schedules will become commonplace and serious congestion may be expected if a main highway is blocked for any reason. Such a situation could easily occur under snowy conditions.
With this possibility in mind a study of the equipment and planning required has been produced by an expert on the subject, Mr. W. E. Weisflog, under the title of " Snow Clearance on the Motorway." The author points out that fast clearance speeds are essential in order to facilitate the normal circulation of traffic after, or during, a snowfall.
Most county roads in Britain have a width of some 22 ft. and the fact that motorways have a total carriageway width of 72 ft. means that a big step-up in clearance capacity is essential. The advantages of various kinds of snow clearance unit are discussed in Mr. Weisflog's leaflet. The suggestion is made that a ratio of one plough per four miles of motorway may be needed in order to secure adequate clearance. In parts of the country where both traffic and snow may be expected to be heavy, a higher proportion of the blade ploughs may be required to a given distance. The possibility of rotary snowploughs is also considered, although in this case it is more difficult to estimate accurately the number of units necessary.
Indian Minister's Views
THE opening speech of the Indian Minister of Transport, at a recent road transport operators' conference, is interesting as it shows how transport problems there are much the same as in Britain. Referring to the controversy between what he termed the private and public sectors (the railways) he could not understand why this should occur as the two should be supplementary and complementary. There was nothing wrong in peaceful and co-operative co-existence, and everyone should do all he could to see that the interests of both should be harmonized, and thus strengthen the national economy.
As regards the railways, he pointed out that only the Government could find the huge amount of money needed to improve them, and whatever was nationalized would not be de-nationalized. In England he had asked authorities the reason for the de-nationalization of road haulage and whether it was just sheer enthusiasm after the change of Government. He was amazed when he was told that the British Government had no proper personnel to run their State transport. If England, where everyone was well equipped to handle any responsible job, had no suitable personnel to run nationalized road transport how could he, as Minister for Transport, claim that he was better equipped to do this? Therefore, so far as road haulage was concerned, he repeated a promise that the Government would not nationalize such transport before five or seven years. Also, that if there was dose co-operation between operators and the Government, and the ." free " services were run economically, efficiently and rationally, he believed that no wise Government Would nationalize road transport for another 50 years. There was no with to disturb it nor millions of people. . .
Private operators could handle the business better. . They had initiative, and there was a. profit incentive, which helped to make them efficient. Remove this incentive and there would be hardly anything left.
As regards public passenger services there would be no undue haste in nationalizing them, provided that they ran efficiently and economically. .
Synthetic as Good as Rubber
ASY_NTHETIC. rubber is..to be manufactured and sold by Shell Chemicalof America for the production of . tyreS,..a4.wililie known under the name Of2Shell..IsoPrene, although its norMal.... technical name . is polyisoprene. This is expected to have a strong stabilizing effect on the price of natural nib-13er, and possibly, permit future reduc, tions in the east of tyres. One of :the ,big rubbercornpanies has already produeed. a commercial vehicletyre made entirely of this synthetic that will equal the perform:. ance of those made with the natural product.
For the .present the output of Isoprene will be about 5 tons a day, but additions to the plant are expected to raise production to some 20,000 tons a year. Last year, however, the States still used about 485,000 tons of real rubber.
Polyisoprene is not new, but was used to a certain extent by the Army after the last war; it was, however, not produced On a commercial basis. Now the current price is 30 cents per lb. and whereas natural rubber arrives in many grades, the synthetic is more uniform and of higher purity.
Glasses. of Rich Ruby WHAT is described as the world's best warning light is the "rich ruby" which is coloured with selenium. The glasses used for this are Of fairly soft quality and have a low melting temperature, so that the Selenium is incorporated in the molten glass before it has a chance to volatilize. Usually, selenium is introduced in the metal form together with cadmium, which in this case is embodied as cadmium sulphide, whilst normally zinc oxide is added to facilitate the formation of the desired colouring compounds from the selenium and cadmium.• The red Colour results from the • mixed crystals of cadmium sulphide and cadmium selinide or more exactly, cadmium sulphoselenide. By varying the ratio:of-cadmium :to selenium a range of :colours frorn:arange;to deep red can be produced. There are hdwever,-. other factors; inchading, the temperature "at which _ the 'glass ' is worked and annealed, the time taken in fabrication and the :thickrte.sS and composition of the glass., Curiously, a glass suitable for an article which is to be blown is not 'necessarily satiSfactary. for One that is to be PreSsed. The blown article usually requires less selenium because it cools down relatively slowly; thus allowing more time for the colobring crystals to .form. If, however, the glass Contains too much seleniuna, or the article is not cooled rapidly enough, the crystals may 'grow to such a size that the glass will have a brownish and " livery " appearance (apparently something like that of the morning after the night before!). Sometimes it is necessary to "
strike" a colour by re-heating to about 650 degrees C. This applies to articles which have chilled so quickly that the glass is colourless after pressing. Incidentally, glasses containing selenium, but no cadmium sulphide, are only pink in colour.