Centralia Township High School - Sphinx Yearbook (Centralia, IL)

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Y l Back row-R.XVin'te. N. Niblo. R. Stinde, H. Smith, E, Furthing, P. iiuhl. Front 7'0'ZU xV. Simmons, J. Saul, J. Pick, J. Crouch, hir. Atkins. Auto Mechanics A few years ago the qualifications required of one desiring to enter the automotive industry were very meager. Any young man who could ply a wrench decently and use a screwdriver with comparative ease was considered a first-class mechanic. As such, he encountered little difhculty getting a job in one of the numerous one horse garages that sprang up in great numbers all over the country. Today, however, the situation has undergone a complete changeg no longer is such preparation sufficient. The successful mechanic of today must be about as well versed in the automotive field as a doctor is in medicine. V Early in September Harold Smith suggested to Mr. Atkins that he organize an auto, mechanics club which would be composed of students who were interested in the advancement of the automobile. At the first meeting, Jimmie Pick was elected presi- dentg Harold Smith, vice-presidentg and Emery Farthing, secretary. A committee com- posed of Jack Crouch and Raymond Hoyt was given the responsibility of preparing the programs for the meetings. Each program was centered around some specific subject. Either the topic was discussed before the club by some appointed member or a trip was made to some garage where an experienced mechanic gave demonstrations relative to a chosen subject. Diesel engi-nes, which are fast coming to the front were the subject of a lengthy discussion relative to their remarkable economy of operation, extreme lightness in weight per unit horsepower, and simplicity of construction. A discussion tending to show that auto racing has many hazards and drawbacks but is important in the development of pleasure cars proved to the club the necessity for its being encouraged. The increased speed and tremendous saving in gas consumption obtained by streamlining was brought to the c1ub's attention so that interest would be created in the study of designing. A study of testing apparatus took the club to I-I,oltkamp's Garage where a, spark plug analyzer showed the effect of compression and carbon on the spark plug's activity. Twenty-six

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1 1 Bark 1'0wff1NIary Ann Stoker. Robert VValler. Donald King. Edra Schneider. Lorraine Peithman. Bliss lilca Creedy. Fran! roto- Evelyn NVood, Bernice Vkellpott, Helen XVheeler, Irina Soeder, Muriel VValler, Norma Chambers. Current Events Discussing all the major events in the world of news, kept the Current Events club continually on the jump. Following informal procedure, the programs included talks by members of the faculty, open forums, round-table discussions, and intelligence tests. To start the meetings interestingly, the calling of the roll was changed by requiring each member present to give a current event as his name was read. After all business had been called to the attention of the club, the meeting was turned over to the member in charge of the program. At one meeting, Miss Hartley gave an account of the buried city at Wfycliffe, Ken- tucky. Having been there herself, she was able to present a vivid picture of the habitudes and customs of the prehistoric people who had lived there. Miss Merz was called upon to give some interesting facts about Yugoslavia, the subject she chose for her master's thesis. Miss Curtis delighted the club by compari-ng'the ancient Romans' great economic struggle two thousand years ago with our present economic dilemma. She read many bulletins posted in the Roman forum which read very much like modern news headlines. Usually somewhere on the program, Norma Chambers, posing as Lowell Thomas, gave fifteen minutes of 'news flashes before a wooden microphone which transformed the club into a radio audience. Everyone enthusiastically participated in the open forums and discussions held on some of the current world events such as the European War situation, the coming presidential elections, and Ethiopia vs. Italy. An intelligence test that was published by Time, the weekly news magazine, was divided into several parts and administered to the members at various times. The test had questions on important men and women in various fields such as aviation, explora- tion, excavation, engineering, writing, and moving pictures. The oilicers of the club were: Edra Schneider, president, Phyllis Wright, vice-presi- dent, Helen Wheeler, secretary. It was sponsored by Miss Mccfeedy. T'wenly-five

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Radio Some of the members of the Radio Club have had the course in radio, while others plan to become radio amateurs. However, most of the boys were just interested in seeing and having a part in some very interesting experiments. In order to make up-to-the-minute information on recent developments in radio available to the members, the club subscribed for two magazines. Regenerative receivers, metal tube sets, power supplies, public address systems, photo- cell circuits, and low power transmitters were presented for demonstrations. Discus- sions of the principles involved were undertaken by the boys who built the apparatus. I-n one experiment with the photo-cell a gas flame was used instead of the usual carbon type microphone. A demonstration of the phonograph pickup was followed by a study of the theory of electromagnets as applied to the pickup and various other radio parts. Although some were a little mike shy at first, every member enjoyed talking over a public address system that had been built up by one of the more experienced boys. For one night, at least, C. T. H. S. had a broadcasting station in the form of an experimental transmitter that was demonstrated to show something of the nature of short wave amateur work. It was a new experience for many of the boys to talk over the air, even if the distance was only from 101C to 103C. In conjunction with the study of cathode rays, various demonstrations were made with the Crooke's tube and geisler tubes showing the effect of an electron bonbardment on fluorescent materials. More fascinating than all, however, was the demonstration of the Clough-Brengle Oscillograph which is a practical application of this effect of cathode rays on fluorescent materials. The club was sponsored by Mr. Spencer and had as officers: Charles Edwards, presi- dentg Edwin Vaughn, vice-presidentg Lloyd Rigg, secretary-treasurerg Robert Nelms, librarian. ilfizi-lc rim' -Jay Grimes. Lloyd Rigg, liz-ralrl Heiss. NValter McClelland. lfclix NYheeler. Frank Terry, Lhzirles lzrlwards. Mr. Spencer. Front run' l reclerick Langenfeld. ,Xnthamy Zack. Otis Collie. Eugene Lee, Curl Lee. Richard Scott, Maurice Ricks. Tu'erz!j'-srwrz