Research has been applied profitably to the adaptation of elec trical processes to metallurgy. Numerous metals are refined by the electrolytic process. So great is the saving achieved that much spoil from old mine workings, once regarded as too low in metal content, may be worked economically by the new process.
One of the most recent products of industrial research is the art of producing objects from metal powders under hot or cold com pression. In this way a number of adaptations of metals is made possible which cannot be obtained by any other method.
Although the Diesel engine was patented in 1892, its use was re stricted to large engines. Intensive research has produced a lighter weight engine of great power which has led to a much wider adoption. The reduction in weight has permitted its use on railroads, in motor trucks and buses, and in tractors. Because of its operation upon a tax free fuel, its freedom from electrical ignition, and the great power derived from high compression, it is an advantageous field for further research.
Activity prevails among research workers in a multitude of other branches of engineering, notably in refrigeration, heating, welding, and allied industries. Notable results have been achieved in research directed
toward the improvement of many instruments required to promote the rapid progress made in industrial processes and in transportation facilities. These are of such a divergent nature that a representative selection is well nigh impossible. In the development of safety devices in transportation alone, mention might be made of such features as the gyroscopic compass, position and direction finders operating with radio beacons, depth sounding, signals being delivered directly to the cab of a locomotive, and the collection of instruments which have been developed to facilitate the flying and landing of aeroplanes. This latter operation has now become almost automatic.
The results of the past few years' experience have shown that the roots of industrial development are the research laboratories, and these roots have penetrated so deeply and widely into the rich soil of applied science that there is no possibility of suspending their growth.
(T. Co.)