Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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is THE ASI-IBURIAN show the amazing similarities between microwaves and light. The climax was the section on semi-conductors: We saw a transistor oscillator with a cell made from a piece of blotting paper and a quarter, and we noted the advantages of solar batteries over conventional cells. From the Panorama, we passed through the Long Distance switchboards and had a chance to see the operators whom we hear so often. Then Mr. lirohman showed us down to the IBM and relay machinery which will play so large a part in Direct Distance Dialing. VVe left the chattering of thousands of relays, our leaden legs scarcely able to support us and wandered back to our base, the Y.M.C.A. Friday morning, we reached Shell Dil safely despite the perennial snowfall, and were abruptly introduced to the technicalities of distilling crude into the various components, the heavier of which is Hcrackedi' to form more gasoline, and the lighter of which is 'fpolymerized , again to form gasoline. Wie were taken to the Resin manufacture, the newer chemical section with polyhydric alcohols, and acetone manufacture and thence to the Research Laboratories, where gasolines are tested, and the octane, or measure of knock qualities is determined. The safety pre- cautions taken throughout were very impressive: those of us who carried cameras were disappointed because of the danger the shutter might spark and cause a fire. After a good lunch here, we were oif to Sherwin XYilliams. At Sherwin VVilliams, we saw both the old and the new methods of making varnish, and learned to our amazement, that the old method makes types of varnish that still cannot be made any other way, in spite of modern equipment. Then we followed the manufacturing process from the varnishes and shellac to the packaging of the cans of paint. We noted that titanium dioxide is a wonderful white pigment here. ln the Laboratories, devices were shown to us to simulate test conditions of night and day, rain and shine, salt water and lake water. At the CBC that evening after a good meal, we were taken on a regular tour and saw the master control console, the recording room and a TV Studio with a show in progress. The master control panel is the biggest in North America, and took Northern Electric six months to design and six months to install. Recording equipment consists of six table tape recorders, and four disc recorders. ln the television studio, we learned that the program was being recorded on the new Videotape etpnipment, and that Montreal has the biggest output of programs on the continent. Un Saturday morning we were up early, and after breakfast, set off on foot for .Xlciiill University. The Assistant Dean of Engineering took us around the llngineering Building. XYC attended a lecture by Dr. Nlarshall, one of the Stormy XYeather Group, on the use of radar in meteorology. It was very line, enhanced especially by Dr. Xlarshall's

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TH E .1 SH If L' R I xl .Y I7 SCIENCE TOURS 1. Sl'iL'lIL'e' Tour to .llmlrrciil Un XYednesday, Feb. 2-lth, we set sail as per usual by bus to .Nlontreal for our Senior Science Tour. Our first visit Thursday morning was to Canadair, which we reached with a minimum of difiiculty via XI.T.S. Once there, we were briefed in the Board Room by Alf. P. Redpath, as to our program, and shown an impressive list of aircraft that had been constructed since the founding of the plant in I9-I-2: North Stars, Argo- nauts, eighteen hundred of the fabled Canadian Sabre, T.33's, and the most modern submarine hunter-killer weapon in the world, the Argus, number thirty-five, nearing completion. We saw a film portraying the birth-throes of the first Argus, and. later in the plant the new CL -I-4, as yet unnamed. the pride and joy of all at Canadair. lt is the first breakthrough in air cargo planes, capable of transporting twice the ton- nage at half the cost. A method of shaping the aluminum that was of particular interest was the stretcher . The metal is stretched, in a particular shape, past its point of elasticity, and will remain thus shaped. The interesting thing about this was the fact that the plane has a tail which opens up to receive the cargo. The plane can also be used for passenger service. After a magnificent lunch. and talks by Nlr. Ainger and Mr. McGill we departed for Dominion Linoleum. At this plant, the vice-president, Alr. lil. Blakeney, greeted us and turned us over to our guide. lt was firmly impressed upon us that vinyl tile is not linoleum and oilcloth is neither of these. Yinyl tile is placed on floors and is laid as tiles. The pattern on it is part of the composition and goes right through the tile. Linoleum is a rubber with a pattern again constant throughout, but formed on a canvas back. The method of production is most interesting: plastic in the form of granules falls through holes in a plate onto the canvas, in a definite pattern. The spaces on the canvas are thus filled with different colours until the whole sheet is covered in a quarter inch of synthetic material in a definite pattern. This is now led to a press and an oven to cure. Oilcloth has the design printed on it, and blocks of wood carrying the design must be tediously and painstakingly cut out. The design centre where the patterns were born made us all linger. After a rest and supper, we were off to the Bell Telephone Company. The Panorama , a working museum of telephones from Alexander Graham Bell to transistor chimes, was truly fascinating. We could hardly pull ourselves away from the models of the new Direct Distance Dialing System, to watch the more exciting demonstration of microwave transmission performed with a microwave transmitter and receiver to

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THE ASHBURIAN I9 sense of humour, and we laughed when informed on the film that the experiment had to be postponed because at this point, lightning struck the radar. From the engineering building we had a quick tour of Chemistry, Physics and Geology, and then were oii to the Radiation Laboratory to the cyclotron, which fortunately was not in operation, so we could see it. Dr. Telford gave us a very concise and adequate explanation of its workings. The writer is pleased to report that no one made the classic mistake of leaning up against the magnet with his watch on. :Xfter a look at the control panel we took our leave. To wind up the tour, we accepted gratefully the annual hospitality of Xlr. lfascio, and stuffed ourselves over the excellent dinner provided by the LaSalle llotel. Those who enjoy anticlimax were given the opportunity to indulge in some of the delights offered by the city, but most of us had had enough during the course of this educational, inspiring but exhausting tour and we were willing to rest. Our thanks are due Xlr. Sibley, who once more was the guiding light of the tour, and thanks are also due to so many who helped make this a line success. Those who made the iourney this year were: Bishop, Sarkis, Dunn ll, Wilson ll, Tucker, Noel-Bentley 1, Farrugia l, lierruish, Xlarland. and Butcher I, with your reporter, Nlerrett l and Nlr. Sibley. II. Science Tour - The Natiolml Research Colmcil On Monday, February 29th, we journeyed to the Council. After being greeted at the main gate by Dr. Kohr, and told what we were not going to see, we moved to the Division of Building Research. Xlr. Crocker took us through laboratories where walls were being tested for water, air, and heat leakage, and into the strew laboratory which was just being set up to test the strength of different types of roofs. We transferred to the Fire Research Building, where we saw two giant furnaces composed of thousands of burners, whici were being used to compare the reactions of walls and floors to heat and stress combined. The next stop was the Radio and Electrical Engineering Building. where we were under the supervision of Xlr. Chisholm. ln the high voltage laboratory a demonstration was given us on the DLI. Generator. XYe watched a two-foot spark generated by six hundred thousand volts. Then we ascended to the magnetometer, a magnetic field sensor so sensitive that it would register the shutting of a door down the hall. In the infra red research rooms, we came upon another extremely sensitive device, a heat detector that gave almost a full deflection when a hand was held in front of it ten feet away. The I learn pictures taken by this device were almost as clear as normal pictures. Next we saw a com- pletely electronic device that. without the use of relays. or any