California Institute of Technology Cal Tech - Big T Yearbook (Pasadena, CA)

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AERONAUTICS The personnel of the Daniel Guggenheim Laboratory of Aeronautics was vigorously ac' tive during the last year. The staff members and the thirtyfnve or more graduate students have undertaken a great deal of original ref search into various phases of airplane design, and the huge wind tunnel has been in continuf ous use. For example, two navy men, Lieut.fComf mander Bolster and Lieutenant Fleming, have tested in the tunnel the effects of the propellor on the performance of the plane itself, using a onefsixth scale model of an airplane powered with a twelve horsepower electric motor, while study of the ground's proximity on the perf formance of ships while landing or taking off has been conducted by Mr. William Sears. Testing work for all the big aeronautical companies was an important item in the laboraf tory's activity. Proposed new ship designs have been studied for Douglas, Boeing, Lockheed, and several others. METEOROLOGY - Most important among the recent wide' spread activities of the Meteorology Departf ment has been the development of the Radio' meteorgraph. This instrument, a combined 1f5 meter radio transmitter, barograph, thermof graph, and hydrograph, weighs one pound, inf cluding small storage batteries for the transmit' ter. Attached to a free balloon it will broadf Wind Tunnel cast, by calibrated signals, weather conditions at any altitude. The device, developed by Cap' tain Carl Meyer of the Army Signal Corps and Mr. L. E. Wood, has worked successfully to an altitude of 90,000 feet, promises to revolution' ize methods of obtaining weather data. A most important contribution, says Dr. Krick. Weather forecasting, nationwide, and training of meteorologists for many agencies continue as important phases of the Depart' ment's work. - ABRONAU1-rcs Pnomassons Irving P. Krick, Ernest E. Sechler, Theodor von Karman, Clark B. Millikan, William H. Bowen, Arthur L. Klein. 20

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MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Paorsssons fRea1'2 Ernest E. Sechler, Herman J. Stoeverg KF-rofrttl Donald S. Clark. Robert L. Daugherty, W. Howard Clapp, Robert T. Knapp. Cooperation in industrial and governmenf tal work also enlarges the scope of mechanical engineering study at the Institute. Professors Daugherty, Knapp, and Von Karman have been directing the testing of pump models for the Metropolitan Water District, in the west part of Guggenheim Laboratory. Power for the pumps comes from the motorfgenerator set which was installed for operation of the wind tunnel, the largest such unit on the campus. The findings of this laboratory have improved and simplified dump design, lowering the costs of installation and operation. S700,000 have been saved from present first costs, with that much more saving in ma' chinery ultimately to be installed. Close to flS100,000 per year will be saved in power conf sumption alone.. Weight and length readings have been used -to measure pressures, rates of flow, and torquesg speeds are accurately reguf lated for an electrical dynamometer of 500 horsepower capacity and 5 5 5 5 r.p.m. maximum speed. Hydraulic engineering, a boundary field between civil and mechanical engineering, is represented not only by the work of the Soil Conservation Service, but also by research car' ried on in cooperation with the Los Angeles County Flood Control District. The tide pond allows study of river, harbor, and beach prob' lems, and is provided with a wave machine. For investigation. of rapid turbulent flow on high gradients, analogous to steep stream channels, a long channel platform has been built. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Dr. Donald S. Clark has conducted an elaborate program of metallographici study inf volving the structures of metallic alloys and the effects of heat treatment. Assisted by Dr. Gott' fried Datwyler, he has developed a testing ma' chine for applying instantaneous impact loads on steel samples, dynamite is used as the drivf ing force, and speeds of 250 feet per second have been obtained. lvlicroscopic studies of specimens have assisted in the determination of the crystal structures of metals. Advanced studies are also in progress in the fields of machine design, under Professor W. I-I. Clappg thermodynamics, power plant design and analysis, internal combustion engines, ref frigeration, heating and ventilating, air condif tioning, and steam turbines. Facilities are prof vided in a laboratory just east of the boiler plant for undergraduate work on hydraulic and heat engineering machinery. Industrial inspection trips and investigations are included in the work of several undergraduate courses. Pump Testing Laboratory I 19

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Ethane Purification for A.P.l. project Research under Dr. William N. Lacey, professor of chemical engineering, has been chiefly directed toward the measurement of phyf sical and thermodynamic properties of hydro' carbon mixtures. This investigation is conduct' ed by Dr. Bruce H. Sage, with several assist' ants and graduate students. The work is fin' anced by the American Petroleum Institute. CHEMISTRY Within a few years Gates Chemical Labor' atory will be enlarged by the construction of a new unit to the west. The Division of Chemisf try and Chemical Engineering has as its chair' man Dr. Arthur A. Noyes, internationally known for his contributions in analytical and physical chemistry. Thermodynamic data for equilibria of com' pounds of fluorine and the other halogens and for the higher oxidation states of silver, cobalt, and other metals, together with rate measuref ments of photochemical reactions and on artificf ially produced radioactive materials, make up the work in physical chemistry. A In the field of structural chemistry, studies of Xfray diffraction photographs and band spec' tra by Drs. Pauling and Badger have contributf ed to the knowledge of molecular dimensions and the justification of the quantum mechanics. Professor Lucas, whose recently published text on organic chemistry included a physical and structural approach to the subject, directs research upon the chemical reactions of unsatf urated compounds and on the structure of com' plex naturallyfoccurring materials. Two visitors to Gates have worked in this field this year, Dr. Alfred E. Mirsky of the Rockefeller Institute, on proteins, and Professor Dwight C. Carpenf ter of Cornell. Dr. Charles C. Coryell has inf vestigated the structure of the porphyrin comf plexes found in blood and chlorophyll. CHEMISTRY PRoFEssoRs fREU,7'2 Joseph B. Koepili, James E. Bell, William N. Lacey, Don M. Yost, Ernest H. Swift, Arnold O. Beckman. George W. Whelandg fFv'onU Linus Pauling, Howard J. Lucas, Arthur A. Noyes, Roscoe G. Dickinson, Stuart J. Bates. 21