Juno 24, 1043
HERALD AND NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON
PAGE N1N1
Page, Guthrie Experiment
With Radar Principles to
Find Right Combination
(Editor's Not: By 1032, k.
enlists it Mia nnvul research la
boratory hod developed radars
radio "eyes" so that It could
bo urd ashore to detect ap
proaching enemy pianos. But the
equipment win too clumsy for
shlphonrd uo. Not until a super
itliorl radio wave, sort of elec
trical bullet or pulse, was used,
was It possible to undertake de
sign of a compact ynt hlgh-pow-ered
shipboard let. At that point
the main development work wai
taken over by Sciential Robert
M. Paun and an assistant, Robert
C. Guthrie. Theirs waa the Job
of building modern radar. Here
la the fourth of aix dally Install
nienta of John M. Hlghtower'a
atory of rnda).
By JOHN M. HIOHTOWER
(Copyright, 1943, by The Asao
elated Preaa)
WASHINGTON. June 24 m
Puo and Guthrie started tholr
work with tho basic prlnclplea
of radar, Including Leo C.
Young'a pulse application and
Loula A. Gebhard'a early pulte
experimenta, and with a wealth
of detail on how high-frequency
waves and pulses behave when
bouncing off of ahipa and air
planes. They were like men with lead,
gunpowder, Iron and wood and
an Idea that if you got them to
gether In the right combination,
you could hit a bull's-eye at 300
yards.
Their purpose waa to make a
radio detection machine which
would collect, automatically re
cord and correlato data about a
distant plane or ship, and come
up quickly with the answer,
ahowlng position, angle and
apeed.
Speed Necessary
It was all well and good In
the old daya to pick up an air
plane on a fixed radar beam and
by figuring the angle of reflec
tion determine the distance of
the plane from the transmitter.
Page had to transform that lead
pencil operation Into an adding
machine calculation that could
be performed at apllt-tecond
speed. '
Moreover, fixed antennae of
the kind experimented with were
no good on ship; they had to
niovo aa well as be compact.
alnce a ahip it subject to attack
from any quarter.
During the time he waa work
ing on these radar problems,
Page also was compelled by ur-
research to work on 10 other
experimenta which had nothing
to do with radar. "But 1 would
always ateal him off those other
projects and tell him to put all
tlio time he could on radar,"
says Dr. Albert Hoyt Taylor,
now chief navy physicist.
Complications
These complications and Page's
thorough-going work stretched
out radar development consider
ably. But this perseverance re
sulted in the production of one
act, a aort of haywire rig of
wood and metal, wires and coils
and tubes a typical experl
mental Job and while It got
limited results, he did not con
alder It successful.
When Pago's second set, hla
first conclusive radar produc
tion, waa finished and put Into
operation, It gave "satisfactory
results at long range," which la
to aay that It detected random
airplanes to a maximum dis
tance of five miles.
Great Moment
It waa a great moment, a peak
In science for all of them at the
laboratory when the first pulse
came flashing back from that
mnchino.
Somo time later Page and
Guthrie completed a third act
their second successful one and
when It waa shooting pulses down
tho Potomac river, they could
detect planes above tho naval
proving ground at Dahlgron, Va
40 miles from Washington.
Radar by this time was ac
quiring some powerful cham
pions. within the navy Itself.
One who later became director
nf tlin Inhnrntnrv nflnr a tnlir nf
duty as chief of tho bureau of
engineering was Rear Admiral
Harold G. Bowen. Another, who
preceded Bowon at the labor
atory by several years was Cap
tain H. R, Greenlee. .,
Funds Low
In lO.'IU radar work was badly
short of funds. Captain Green
lee and Dr. Taylor went to work
on Rep. (now Senator) Scrughnm,
Nevada democrat, who then was
the dominant figure and later
DANCE
EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT
SKATELAND
SIS Klamath Are.
Music Pappy Gordon's Oregon Hillbillies
Auspices Veterans of Foreign Wars
chairman of the house naval ap
propriations subcommittee
They first dlscuasod the mat
ter briefly and Informally with
Scrugham at a dinner party, and
ha appeared not deeply concern
ed. Tho following Sunday,
Greonlco, Taylor and another
scientist from the laboratory
corncrod the Novadan In his capl
tol office and discussed their
needa In as much detail aa they
darod and without In any way
disclosing even that they were
working on radio detection. Jim
Scrugham listened impassively
and bade them goodbye without
committing himself.
Got Money
"We thought we had failed In
our mission," Taylor recalled.
"But next morning Jim called
and said we would get the
money."
Scrugham waa a trained engi
neer and a man accustomed to
deal with technicians and sci
entists. Even without getting
more than a superficial look at
NRL'a work, he sensed that some
thing of considerable importance
waa afoot. Through Scrugham's
work primarily, the laboratory
got lta firat $100,000 from con
gresa for long-range research.
Greenlee's aucccasor at the
laboratory was Captain Hollls N.
Cooley, a naval officer with out
standing ability to communicate
his Ideas and enthuslams to oth
ers. Cooley worked under Bow-
en, who then was chief of the
bureau of engineering, and was
powerfully aided and abetted by
him in tho high pressuro sales
manship In which he engaged
soon after taking office.
As fleet admirals, including
on one occasion the commander-
in-chief showed up at the navy
department, Cooley would nab
them and talk them Into visiting
the laboratory where they got
their first look at radar in oper
ation. Congressional Support
While this energetic captain
still was in charge of the labor
atory, Bowen decided the time
had arrived to deal frankly with
the congressional committeemen
who had been stringing along for
three years furnishing money
for projects they had not real
facts about. Great expansion of
the research center was in pros
pect, the admiral foresaw, and
that could be accomplished-only
with the support of congress.
Bowen slashed through the
numerous layers of red tape that
then swathed radar in the navy,
and he Invited members of the
house naval appropriations sub
committee to see for thcmsclvos
what great things wcro In the
making. They were committed
to secrecy and the admiral is
most proud of the fact that the
confidences were never violated.
The committee was so sold on
radar that after the laboratory
got Just about any money It
asked for.
First Try-out
By the end of 1036 plans had
been well advanced to give radar
Its first try-out at sea some
thing that Taylor had proposed
in essence in 1022. The 1936
set was vastly different from the
simple tactical Instrument hhe
had in mind 14 years before, and
its ability to pick up airplanes
miles off in cloud, fog or dark
ness or high In a clear blue sky,
for that matter was what gave
it sharply focusscd significance
undreamed of in 1022.
In April, 1937, radar worked
over salt water on the old-four-stack
destroyer Lcaryi Pago took
out a crew of NLR scientists to
operate the outfit. In appear
ance It was another haywire rig,
but in results, while it was not
all that was desired, it proved
to be a successful outfit, detect
ing planes at considerable dis
tances. "We felt that although It was
flimsy and hard to work, we
were getting somewhere," Page
says of it now.
New Experiments
Characteristic of radar's prog
ress at this stage, as real funds
began to como available, was
that while development along
proved workable, lines was press
ed forward aa rapidly aa possible,
new experiments were simultan
eously being made Into the un
known. Thus In tho years that
the first crudo Instruments were
going to sea, Dr. Claude Clccton,
who had dono soma work on ex
tremely short radio waves at the
University of Michigan, L. R.
Phllpott from tho University of
Idaho and John P. Hagon from
Connecticut Wcsloyan undertook
pioneer work In frequencies pre
viously almost undreamed of for
radio detection purposes.
Pulse Altimeter
One experiment by this group
was the pulse altimeter, a min
iature radar for airplanes which
receives echoes from the earth's
surface and thus gives a pilot
constant Information on his alti
tude regardless of weather. Phll
pott, Hagcn and Cleeton all did
work on this and all three men
hold Important positions at the
laboratory now.
After their adventures and ex
periments on the destroyer
Leary, the NRL tcientists re
turned to their fcenchei and made
several additional inventions
which gave the detectiol equip
ment greatly improved perform
a nee.
Operation Started
By February, 1938, high-pow
ered pulse radar equipment was
in operation at the laboratory
and planes were detected at a
range of 50 miles.
Tho following month Dr. Tay
lor directed the formation of a
task group under Gebhard, then
head of the laboratory's develop
mcnt section and creator of the
original pulse transmitting equip
mcnt a dozen years before. The
purpose of this group, largest
yet assigned to a single radar
project simultaneously, was to
develop and perfect a prototype
lor commercial manufacture.
Model XAF
The force Included Page, Guth
rie, H. E. Rcppert, A. A. Varcla,
I. H. Page and Lt. E. Luke. Dur
ing that year they built radar
model XAF and were ready for
a full-scale test at sea.
This aet, which atill is In work
ing order at the laboratory and
probably will go into the Smith
sonian institution museum some
day, was installed on the battle
ship New York In December,
1B38, and for the next three
months underwent extensive
tests during battle maneuvers,
OREGON AFL MEET
EUGENE, June 24 (At Con
tinuation of the referendum sys
tem for election of officers at
tho Oregon State Federation of
Labor convention was approved
last night without an anticipat
ed battle.
Convention forecasts had been
that a resolution calling for se
lection of officers by direct vote
from the floor would be a bit
ter issue.
Other resolutions adopted yes
terday opposed a state sales tax,
urged a retail price rollback to
levels of May IS, 1042, protest
ed importation of alien labor,
asked that insurance under the
new state motor vehicle respon
sibility act be made available
by the state and not limited to
private companies, objected to
tho national youth administra
tion's vocational training pro
gram, supported the Wagner
Dingle bill for extension of so
cial security.
Kaiser Yards to
Start 'Victory'
Ship Building
PORTLAND, June 24 ()
Oregon Shipbuilding corpora
tion, one of the nation's fastest
producers of Liberty ships, soon
will start a $5,000,000 altera
tion and expansion program for
the switchover to Victory ship
construction.
Plans were announced last
night by Edgar F. Kaiser, vice
president and general manager
of the three Henry J. Kaiser
yards In the Portland-Vancouver,
Wash., area. He said the
expenditure to provide facili
ties for building the new type
craft was authorized by the ma
ritime commission while he was
in Washington recently. .
ISOLUTIS
WAR BONDS and
LIFE INSURANCE
Help Prevent Inflation
Oregon Mutual Life policyholders
are buying hoods individually i : i
and they are buying mm bonds
through their purchase of life insur
ance, because life insurance company
dollars are going to war bonds Every
dollar saved, whether in bonds or life
insurance helps prevent inflation.
Hmefoipir v
Alk tht.il J I
agenti! shout tj f
the complete 4 I
way protection I I
of the Home. J
keeper PUa.
LYNN ROYCROFT
US North Seventh Street
OREGON MUTUAL LIFE
INIURANCI COMPANY
Kisses for Ground and Girl
- -e
Back from a year in the Aleutians, Navy Seabee Frank J. Narta
kisses the soil of the good old U. S. A., then smacks Seattle reporter
Jerri Jacobs, who came down to interview the sailora. Fellow Sea
bees get a kick out of both osculations.
Elk Hills Oil Contract
fair, Says Standard Oil
SAN FRANCISCO, June 24
H. D. Collier, president of the
Standard Oil Company of Cali
fornia, in a statement just given
out here, asserts that the origin
al agreement between the navy
and the oil company covering
development of the Elk Hills oil
reserve is fair to both parties,
accomplished the navy's long-de-sircd
objective and is in the pub
lic Interest and adds that if the
navy desires to tcrminato the
contract, Standard of Califor
nia will of course continue to
Own and operate its own in the
Elk Hills pending further nego
tiations with the navy. .
The statement reads:
"Standard of California has
been advised that for technical,
legal reasons, the contract be
tween tfie navy and Standard of
California for development of
the Elk Hills oil reserve has
been declared by a representa
tive of the department of Justice
to be invalid. This contract was
proposed by the navy depart
ment and was designed to con
solidate the area under navy
control in the Interest of con
servation and to insure perpetua
tion of the area as a naval re
serve in the public interest. As
compensation. Standard of Cali
fornia was to operate the com
bined properties as a single unit
in the navy's behalf and to se
cure its proportionate and legiti
mate compensation for its per
centage of the total reserves out
of production.
"The agreement, approved by
the president, was based on auth
ority contained in a congression
al statute of 1038 which both
the navy department and Stan-
Your WAR BOND PURCHASES IN JUNE
WILL BUY 4 FIGHTER PLANES TO ESCORT
"THE PELICAN BOMBER" BOUGHT IN MAY..'. .
Fighter Plane
Bond Contest
Standings
Henley $29,896.85
Merrill 28,347.50
Malin 25,60375
Sprague River 18,302.50
Keno 11,172.50
Gilchrist 10,000.00
Chil.-Ft. Klamath.. 6,252.50
Bonanxa 5,210.00
Bly-Beatry 4,302.50,
fMMMMMMHMsWssaWaVsfstoXsBaM
1310 Main
tfi
dard of California believed fully
adequate to support the type of
agreement ultimately concluded.
It would appear irom informa
tion so far available to this com
pany that the sole question is
one of interpretation of the law
under which the navy depart
ment and this company proceed
ed to negotiate. Fundamentally,
the agreement was fair to both
parties, accomplished the navy
department's long desired objec
tive, and was in the public inter
est."
"If the navy, In the light of the
justice department's opinion, de
sires to terminate the contract,
the company will of course con
tinue to own and operate its
lands in the Elk Hills pending
further negotiations with the
navy. This company desires to
cooperate with the navy in every
way possible In serving the best
interests of our country."
WPB Gives Okay to
Aluminum Plant
WASHINGTON. June 24 (P)
The war production board (WPB)
has approved the application of
the Columbia Metals corpora
tion, Portland, Ore., to con
struct a plant to develop a pro
cess for recovering alumina
from clay, Rep. Angcll (R-Ore.)
said today.
Angell said he was told the
WPB will arrange immediately
with the proper government
agency for a contract to finance
construction of the plant
Classified Ads Bring Results.
We Salute the Farmers of Klamath County-
Who help to keep ui a nation of milk drinkers, military and civilian! For
the nutrition and vitamin content that keeps our army on the march, our
. civilians on the job use Crater Lake Dairy Producti.
Jfome j
Oregon News Notes
By The Associated Press
The Keep Oregon Green com
mittee urged the enrollment of
Oregon youth In the Green
Guard to protect the state for
ests this summer . . . Dr. Ho
race C. Terrell, English depart
ment head at Llnfleld college,
CLEARANCE!
FALLS
QnaU. Jtaka jbaiif PtoJucU
has been granted a leave of ab
sence to serve in the Red Cross
foreign service . . . Marshall
Leathers and John Osburn, As
toria hotel men, announced pur
chase of the Hotel Gcarhart , , .
Bandon city officials report
ed the municipal bonded debt
HAT
ALE
Our large millinery stock
of straws and summer
felts. All colors. All head
sizes.
VALUES UP TO $6.95
VALUES UP TO $10.95
Q
GHEfliEBV
has been reduced to $100,100
. . . A visit by Vice Admiral
John H. Towers, Pacific fleet
air force commander, to the As
toria naval air station waa dis
closed by the 13th naval district.
Sell your used articles
through Herald-News classified
ads and convert the cash into
bonds. Call 3124 today.
1)
Phone S101