Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

Radio on the''Rack" MODERN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS AT RCA-INDIANAPOLIS DEVELOP TORTLJRE CHAMBER JO TEST WAR-VITAL COMMUNICATIONS UNITS THE notorious Iron Lady of the medieval torture chamber, to- gether with such devices of torment as rack, wheel, and thumbscrew, have nothinjjf on the ingenious de- vices which modern industrial engi- neers have developed to put vital radio and sound equipment through their pre-battle paces. Deep in the basement of the Indi- anapolis plant of the RCA Victor Division of Radio Corporation of America, situated like the dungeon of a castle, this modern "torture chamber" is the daily scene of har- rowing trials by water, fire, sub- mersion and shock—all in a good cause. The victims are communication equipment, parts of radio appa- ratus, and sample materials under consideration for use in manufac- turing radio, sound and electronic devices for the armed forces. The "executioners" are skilled radio en- gineers. RCA Victor's torture chamber grew out of the Navy Department's need for equipment that could with- stand the most strenuous use under virtually all conditions of climate and battle. These requirements demanded rigid, uncompromising tests to insure that this important communication equipment, destined for battle service in the air, on and under the seas, meet the Navy's specifications. The subterranean chamber houses many ingenious devices especially contrived by Navy and RCA Victor engineers to simulate battle condi- tions, which the equipment will be called on to withstand and through which it must operate perfectly. Since this equipment may see serv- ice on any continent and on and under the seven seas, RCA's engi- OUT OF A SPECIALLY CONTRIVED ICE BOX, WHERE THE TEMPERATURE DROPS TO 40 DEGREES BELOW ZERO, IS LIFTED THIS TRANSMITTER STATION. [RADIO AGE 7i neers are confronted with the re- sponsibility of designing equipment dependable in almost any conceiv- able set of operating conditions. The torture devices (more po- litely called test equipment) jiermit engineers to observe how the e(iuip- ment withstands punishment and eliminates the guess work from the question of how a piece of equip- ment or its materials will stand up under virtually any battle or cli- matic conditions to be found any- where on the globe. In the confines of the chamber, a piece of apparatus may be given a normal life time of service—with- in a single week. It is made to operate at temperatures as low as 40 below and as high as 260 degrees above zero. It may be made to func- tion in man-made humidity rival- ling the tropics or the blistering dry heat of a desert; under condi- tions of vibration and shock such as caused by bombs or cannon fire; in a salty atmosphere simulating waves dashing over the bridge of a shiii; 40,000 feet up in the air, or GOO feet beneath the surface of the sea. "Simulating these actual condi- tions," explains William J. Morlock, engineer in charge of RCA Victor's test development section, "the fu- ture behavior of the equipment and material can be accurately predict- ed. Thus the weaknesses of anv ^.^ M SHIPBOARD INTERCOMMUNICATION UNIT BEING BROUGHT FROM "TORTURE CHAM- BER'S" WEATHER ROOM, WHERE IT OPER- ATED IN 140-DEGREE HEAT. equipment are discovered before manufacturing in quantity is started." As might be imagined, mayhem of no mean proportions is inflicted upon the equipment in the torture chamber. It is thumped, shocked, beaten, frozen, broiled, submerged, shaken, bounced, and all but boiled in oil. Perhaps the most spectacular, though not the most violent, device in the torture chamber is the splash tester, which simulates rain or vio- lent waves of water. Designed by Ray A. York, development engineer at the Indianapolis radio plant, who presides over the torture chamber, it is modelled after a shower room, but with a backboard where the