Page:Popular Mechanics 1928 11.pdf/20

 first leg of the journey would have to be given over to fuel, and seventy-six per cent for each of the ocean stages. To transport a ton of pay load from Berlin to New York thus would require about fifty-two tons of fuel.

If the speed of the gases could be increased, the amount of fuel could be cut down. Valier estimated that if, instead of the technically possible 7,200-feet-a-second velocity, the gases could be made to move at 13,000 feet a second, the fuel would be cut from fifty-two to sixteen tons.

In Professor Goddard's experiments, using smokeless powder, he obtained gas velocities of 8,000 feet a second. The fastest rifle bullet has a muzzle velocity of not over 2,500 feet per second. As every marksman knows, increasing the muzzle velocity of a bullet increases the kick-back of the gun, so Professor Goddard's 8,000-foot-a-second gases should produce an enormous recoil to propel the rocket on its way.

One problem that remains to be solved is whether the human body could withstand the terrific strains involved in being shot into space at such speeds. In experiments with a rocket car mounted on railway wheels and operated on a track, Opel placed a cat in the seat to see how it would withstand the strain. The car, however, blew up and the cat was killed, so nothing was learned.

 

Employes of an eastern mill enjoy nearly half a day of daylight out of the shop each working day, and the company has been benefited, officials report, as the result of a two-shift, eighty-eight-hour week schedule that has been in effect several years. The first shift goes on at 6:30 o'clock in the morning and works until 2:30 p. m., when it is replaced by the second shift which is on until 11:42 p. m. On Saturdays, the first shift works until 12:30 p. m. Lunch time deducted each has a forty-four-hour week. Younger men prefer the second shift, for it gives them a long week end, from Friday night until Monday afternoon, and the older men favor the first shift with its shorter day. From the company's standpoint, the plan reduces overhead costs and machinery gives a maximum return before it becomes obsolete. The three-shift program is necessary in some establishments, but in this particular business, the two-shift schedule has been practiced as a happy medium. Elimination of the third shift, from midnight on, has not meant a serious loss, for studies have shown that this is the least productive period.

 



Street cars in Germany are being equipped with mirrors on the exit doors to induce women to face forward just before alighting and thus prevent a possible fall. Such accidents are common among women, an explanation being that, due to centuries of experience in carrying children on the left arm and working with the right, she naturally uses the right hand to grasp a support when leaving a street car or train. This causes her to face to the rear, the wrong position. Since the mirrors have been installed, accidents have decreased in number, it is reported, and women passengers appreciate the additional mirror.

