Evening Star Newspaper, October 4, 1936, Page 22

B2 = WEATHER BALLOON SERVICE EXPANDS Data on Mass Air Move- .ment to Be Secured Read- ily at Many More Stations. New methods in sky observations By which the Weather Bureau is improving its service to land-bound i citizens as well as aviators are de- scribed here by a veteran mnews- paper man who is an authority on aviation. He was awarded the 1935 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished re- ‘porting, based on his exclusive stofy in the New York Times on the de- ‘parture “of the Lindberghs for “ezile” in England. BY LAUREN B. LYMAN, NEW YORK, October -3 (N.A. N.A)—An interesting and little- known chapter in American aviation {s ‘fast drawing to & close. Within the next two years weather flights by dirplanes will, wherever possible, be geplaced by free balloons which will carry aloft only a set of instruments Bending out automatic radio signals. Thus, although it is a comparatively hew service that the airplane has been iving to the United States Weather ureau, it is already being replaced By & much older sky traveler. ; For seven years now, in widely sep- grated parts of the United States, hardy pilots have been starting at the ‘#ame hour each day to climb slowly something over 3 miles into the sky. ° Hanging from rubber shock cords inside their cockpits are meteoro- graphs, instruments equipped with gutomatic pens which record weather conditions in the upper air. While these flights were started in $ small way seven years ago, it was in 1934 that the Weather Bureau ob- tained an appropriation large enough to finance this gathering of “vertical” weather data to supplement the “hori- pontal,” or surface, observations, upon which the national weather forecasts for the day were based. Then the gervice really began to function. For the most part, the flights are made by JArmy and Navy planes, with a few ‘contract stations to fill out where the military pilots are not available. Zero Hour 4:15 AM. Here. Mitchel Field, Long Isiand, has such ® station. There is another at Boston &nd others at Lakehurst, N. J.; Cleve- land, Washington, Mount Clemens, Mich.: S8an Francisco, New Orleans and even in Alaska and Honolulu. At #ero hour—for the East, 4:15 am.; the Middle West, 3:15 a.m., Central time; further West, 2:15 a.m., Mountain time, and, on the West Coast, 1:15, Pacific THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 4 :1936—PART ONE. Balloons to Feature Parade Two of the 15 giant dalloon figures which will be a feature of the annual Hallowe’en pa- rade sponsored by the Greater National Capital Committee. The balloons will float above the ;:amde, guided by ropes in the hands of a “ground crew” walking in the parade. The balloon figures will be Jurnished by stores in the city, taking the place of floats used in the past. < | | [ time, the pilots take off whenever | to a set of circumstances we cannot used with pronounced success. The Weather permits—and sometimes m; understand without knowing how the radio sends down its cryptic signals pretty severe weather. They are sup- | winds are aloft, pilots often cannot | which the observers translate into de- posed to climb at the rate of 300 feet a minute, but at several stations they go up without altogether too muchf | risk. Thus when we need the infor- grees of moisture, air pressures and temperatures. If the weather is clear, have to climb faster because the neigh- | mation most, the flights cannot be ' station men follow the course of the bors kick. Recently at Boston the made and when with good weather balloon through theodolites, thus weather flyer was ordered to change | and clear skies we can find out more gathering the reports of wind direc- his course each morning because the noise of his engine had been waking up people long before their regular rising time. Mitchel Field has run into the same difficulty and so have ‘other stations. ‘The neighbors don't realize that the roar of these engines mean that more accurate forecasts than were thought possible a few years ago are being gathered for his particular use. Mr. Citizen, when he phones the nearest airport to complain that a crazy pilot 1s trying to roll his wheels on the fam- lly rooftree, does not know that through the agency of this same pilot he is go- ing to be able to find out whether the weather will be good enough for golf | the next day, whether he will be able .to go sailing, whether he or nature must take on the duty of sprinkling the lawn. Because of these complaints, from the ground it is easy to make the flights. “Another thing. we need more air- | | plane stations. Their number should | | be doubled. We need them especially | in Canada—in Labrador in order to | study these polar-continental fronts | as they move down from the north,! i ‘We are pretty well supplied in Alaska | and the Canadidns are helping, but | we should have many more stations. than are likely to be established if we are to do a thorough job. We expect great things from these new balloons and the micro-meteoro- | graphs.” Four Automatic Pens Busy. Before describing their use, how-| | ever, let. us find out something nbuuc‘ the meteorographs now in use. They | consiat of four automatic pens which | | write on a revolving cylinder. No. 1,; tions and velocities. When the balloon disappears in the clouds, delicate di- rection finders will keep the observers informed as to its course and thus will be obtained the wind directions and velocities aloft. The airplanes are scheduled to go to 17,000 feet. Lack of proper flying equipment, expense and frequently the state of the weather make this im- possible. The balloons can be followed to four and five miles and there have been balloon flights which have been watched through theodolites to alti- tudes of 10 miles and more. As they mount, the balloons expand until they burst. Then the parachute goes into action letting the instru- ments gently to earth. Each set is labeled with directions for sending it back to the ground station from which pilots are climbing faster and are com- | the baregraph, is attached to and it departs. Of course, a certain num- ing down faster than the Weather Bu- | actuated by an anoroid barometer ber will never be found, but the prob- reau likes, but, after all, they must| which records the air pressure. No.| lem of expense is being solved by mak- keep peace with the neighbors, even |2 is the hydrograph which records ing them as economically as possible. though their reports lack completeness, Aid in Air Mass Analysis. ‘The fact that the pilot has risked his neck with icing wings, has been blown out to sea and is able to get back just about the time his gasoline gives out and has cheerfully taken a dozen other risks has nothing to do with it. These risks, however, give rise naturally to the question: “What good are these flights?” Dr. James H. XKimball, head of the New York office of the Weather Bureau, has the answer. “They help to clarify the picture of what is going on. They assist mate- rially, especially with the develop- ment of the new technique required in air mass analysis, and the informa- tion gathered above the surface is especially valuable in establishing what the weather is going to be in the immediate future.” the amount of moisture. This pen | is controlled by several taut hairs| which as they ahsorb moisture curl, | increasing the tension on the hairs, | causing the pen to follow a definite | 2igzag track on the cylinder. No. 3 | is the thermograph which records ! temperature. | It is controlled by a coil made of | two kinds of metal which, as the tem- | | perature changes, expand and con- | | tract in different ratios, thus driving | |the pen to work. Number 4 is an | | electrically controlled pen connected | with a switch in the cockpit which the pilot turns on at specific times during his flight. In addition to these automatic records, the pilot himself makes a set of observations which he | radios to the ground station (iving: | with each message his altitude at the | | time. | A development from this method is | air over the ocean. Flights Are Expensive. The airplane observations are ex- pensive even ‘with the whole-hearted co-operation of the Air Corps and the Navy, and the balloon flights, it is be- lieved, can be made more often at exactly the same hour, thus providing a more complete and accurate picture of conditions than ever before obtained. Moreover, they can be made from ships at sea which will make possible more exact weather charting of the upper Of course, the instruments will almost never be re- covered over water, but the news these automatic reporters send back will be far more valuable than the instru- ments that are lost. No one knows what the results will be when there are a hundred such stations functioning in place of about one-fifth that number of airplane sta- tions, but the meteorologists are hope- i to be used with the balloons. A small | ful that with more information air But aside from the service of the| | = ‘Weather Bureau to the man on tne | hydrogen balloon, perhaps 5 feet in | mass analysis may not only give the ; 8round, there has come the necessity “with the growth of aviation for sure .and accurate forecasts for the thou- “sands now traveling far above the ground and over the oceans as well. Capt. Ernst Lehmann, skipper of the Hindenburg, complained on one of .1 his early trips across the North At- flantic this Summer that if he could have known more about the weather he could have saved many hours. The caerologists of the Unied States Navy and of Pan-American Airways, on their route shortly to be opened to | . passengers across the Pacific, have | *Jearned that surface reports, no matter ~how carefully gathered, do not give the true picture of what is going on | N aloft. + . The Government meteorologists have known for years that they were only - getting part of the picture with their surface observations and in the 90s they operated several kite stations with * meteorographs attached to the kites in an attempt to learn more. Now * with the new meteorology, the “air * mass analysis” method of studying | * weather of which Dr. Kimball spoke, it is impossible to solve the weather _ problems without observations aloft. g Masses of Air in Motion. In the Northern Hemisphere great . Masses of air moving geperally east- rd and south from the Polar regions 4 react on other hugé masses moving in a northerly and easterly direction Zfrom the tropics, and the contacts of ;thfi “fronts” of these masses and the sresults of their meeting are now being ¢ studied, analyzed and plotted. This information gives the weather forecaster a more complete story of | i ‘'what is happening and of what is .. going to happen than surface observa- ftions could possibly give him. The % Air Corps and the Navy in this coun- “try adopted the new system of weather _study first. In Eurgpe it is generally fiused and through its applications the Utime is coming when every skipper the transoceanic air transports will ve & complete chart of what he t expect and what he must avoid his crossing. “The trouble is,” Dr. Kimball re- rked, “that we cannot siways get e -air observations. - In the worst weather, when conditipns may be due A | diameter from which is suspended a | | parachute from the shrouds of which | the instruments are hung, is the de- | | vice. The meteorograph is connected | with a tiny radio set which sends out ' automatic signals, caught by the re- | cording set at the ground station, Already at the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology in Cambridge | and at California Tech they have been | ey pieces of the world. In quality of tone and beauty of worke manship it is, like all Chickerings, the product of men of long association with this famous make—whose ideals and ar. tistic standards are devoted to the crea- tion of ome of the pianoforte masters world the story of tomorrow's weather, but of weather weeks and perhaps months ahead. (Copyright, 1936, by the North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.) e Average cost of producing a British film is about $500,000 this year, com- pared with $200.000 last vear. FLOATS SOUGHT FOR HALLOWEEN Organizations Planning to Share in Parade Urged to File Entries. Col. Edward G. Bliss, general chair- man of the Washington Halloween Celebration, today urged all commer- | cial and clvic organizations which ex- pect to participate in the parade dur- ing the Halloween festivities October | 31 to send in their entries as soon as | possible to facilitate formation of the | line of march. More than 500 applications for entry in this feature of the celebra- tion were sent out yesterday by the | Greater National Capital Committee | | of the Washington Board of Trade. | Entry blanks may be secured at the | | committee’s offices, room 204, The | Star Building. The parade will form in the vicinity | of Pirst street and Constitution ave- | nue, proceeding up Constitution ave- |nue to the illuminated area between Fourteenth and Seventeenth streets. | Prizes will be awarded in the following divisions: Commercial float, civic or non-commercial float, costumed group marchers, not less than five persons: decorated private vehicle, costumed individual march, and to the band division on the basis of appearance, size and quality of music. Not more than three floats may be | entered by any single exhibitor in the commercial division, and all entries | are subject to the approval of the committee. Undecorated vehicles will be denied permission to the parade. 'D. C. ATTORNEY ELECTED Board at 26, Is One of Young- est to Hold Position. David A. Bridewell, 26, Federal Home Loan Bank Board attorney, who re- | cently was elected a trustee by the — University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., is one of the yocungest men ever to hold such a post. Bridewell, also secretary of the ¢ Subcommittee of Law and Legisla- tion of the Cen- tral Housing Committee, was one of the young- est ever admitted to the graduate ) school at Prince- ¥ ton. Bridewell's law work was done at George Washington University. Arthur Jordan Piano Co. Announce the Showing of A New 5-ft. 1-in. Chickering GRAND PIANO *595, At Factory TRUSTEE AT SEWANEE | i 'Briduvell, Chosen to Univen{tyi All New 1937 Chickerings ‘On Display WITCHCRAFT FEAR ALLAYED BY PRIEST Story Accusing Woman With Sorcery Charged to Rival Peddler. By the Associsted Press. WOODBRIDGE, N. J, October 3.~ An ftinerant brewer of herbal potions was blamed tonight for sowing wild tales of witchcraft, sorcery and black magie among credulous and involving one of their neighbors. Rev. Vincent Lenyi, the little parish priest who succeeded in convincing the women of the absurdity of their superstition, said a “fakir” had in- vented the stories to discredit the woman accused of witchcraft, be- cause she, too, concocted snd sold herbal brews. The peddier, the priest said, had canvassed the Hungarian neighbor- hood two years ago. He found this woman was a commercial rival, sell- ing her own preparations, and spread the stories, the priest sald, to im- prove his own trade. The stories became more fantastic as they were passed from mouth to mouth like folk lore, As Father Lenyi started his search for the peddler “to give him a good talking to,” he was praised by Police Recorder Brown for the way he dis- abused the Pranklin street house- wives of the conviction that their neighbor was a witch and a sorcerer. Brown, himself, tried unsuccessfully to alter their beliefs when the “witchcraft” case came before him in court the other day. Going from house to house through- out the neighborhood, Father Lenyi sought out not only the five women who had voiced the “witchcraft” charges in court but their friends and acquaintances who shared the same eerie notions. In a kindly way, often speaking in the women's native Hungarian tongue. he chided them for their mental folly. “Witcheraft is a rubbish heap of ‘wornout creeds and superstitions,” he told them. “It is all the product of fevered imagination.” Heads nodded and there were re- spectful murmurs of “Yes, father.” Neighbors said the atmosphere- and general feeling in the “bewitched” Franklin street neighborhood was bet- ter today, but the woman charged with witchcraft remained in seclu- sion behind the drawn blinds of her home. Recorder Brown meanwhile lifted the month's suspension he imposed on the three women who annoyed the woman they called “witch.” $110,768 FOR ROADS LEESBURG, Va, October 3.—The State is going to spend a total of $110.768.62 on secondary highways in Loudoun during the coming fiscal year, A. T. Arnold, resident engineer for the State Department of Highways, has reported to the Board of Super- visors. A total of $53968.62 will go for maintenance and $56,800 for construc- tion, Arnold said. Horse Injures Socialite Miss Phyllis Tuckerman of Boston Trampled at Warrenton. MISS PHYLLIS TUCKERMAN Shown beside one of her favorite Boston mounts. ~—A. P. Wirephoto, IS8 PHYLLIS TUCKERMAN, schoolgirl daughter of Bayard Tuckerman, wealthy and so- cially prominent Bostonian, suffered three broken vertebrae when thrown from a horse while riding in the Warrenton Hunt yesterday. 8he was taken to Emergency Hos- pital, where Dr. John Lyons, attend- ing surgeon, said last night her con- dition was “satisfactory.” Her in- juries cannot be said to be serious or eritical, he stated. It was reported | in Warrenton that the horse stumbled | at & jump and stepped on Miss Tuck- erman’s face and back. The young Boston socialite is & student at Foxcroft School, Middle- burg, Va., and was spending the week ‘end with a school mate, Miss Jose- phine Winmill, whose family has a | large home and hunting stable at | Warrenton. The accident occurred | while Miss Tuckerman was riding in !a cub hunt yesterday morning. HOMESICK TYPIST TAKES LIFE BY GAS Miss Winifred Welker, 23, Found Dead Ten Hours After End of Vacation Trip. Ten hours after she returned from a two-weeks' vacation in Colorado. Miss Winifred Welker, 23-year-old typist of the Railroad Retirement Board, was found dead late yesterday in the gas-filled kitchen of her second- floor apartment at 1315 Belmont street. Miss Mildred Vanderslice, co- worker and rooming companion of | Miss Welker, told police she found the apartment door locked when she re- turned from work about 4:30 pm ‘When police broke through the door, they found Miss Welker's body on the kitchen floor. All gas jets on a stove were open, police said. The Pire Department rescue souad and Emergency Hospital attaches were unable to revive her. The body was taken to the District morgue. Mrs, Eva Perry, who lives in an apart- ment across the hall, told authorities she smelled gas fumes around 2:30 o'clock, but did not investigate at the time. Two hours later, when the odor became stronger, she said she wens out in the hallway and found Miss Vander- slice trying to open her apartment door, Miss Vanderslice informed police Miss Welker returned from a visit to her home in Colorado about 6:30 am. While they were eating breakfast to- gether, she sald Miss Welker remarked that she was “homesick already.” She was to have returned to work tomor- row. Miss Vanderslice moved into the apartment on Thursday, when Miss Gladys Ellison, who had been living there, Jeft for Missouri on her vacation. Retirement Board since last May, Miss Vanderslice said. —_— Pruning Demonstration. LEONARDTOWN, Md., October $ (Special).—A pruning derhonstration will be held at the yard of George W. Joy here October 15 by Prof. W. R. Ballard of the University of Marvland Extension Service. The demonstration | will takeé place at 1:30 pm. and is | sponsored by the Rural Women's Ciubs of St. Marys County. §2.200 10 PROVIDE TUBERCULIN TESTS Christmas Seal Fund Aids Plan for High School Graduates. The District Tuberculosiz Asrociae tion has appropriated $2,200 from its Christmas seal fund to provide tuber culin and chest X-ray examinations for all pupils in the city’s senior high school graduating classes, Mrs. Ernest R. Grant, managing director of the association, announced yesterday. The same service was offered last year. The appropriation was granted at the request of Dr. George C.. Ruhe land, District health officer. In an- nouncing the action of her associa- tion, Mrs. Grant said that 80 persons out of 100,000 die of tuberculosis bee tween the ages of 25 and 29. “The period between the ages of 15 and 25 is an especially dangerous time for development of tuberculosis,” she said. “Yet at that time, when young people are in high school, col- lege or just entering into business, tu- berculosis can be most easily pree vented.” In asking for the appropriation, Dr. Ruhland said the plan of examining the high school senior classes shoufd be permanently established. He added that the health department is unable, at the present, to finance the pro- gram, which was recommended by the National Tuberculosis Association. The appropriation for the program was authorized at the last meeting of the association’s Board of Directors and has lgen approved by the Board of Education. . | Auto Towed Away W hile He’Phoned, Miss Welker had been employed at the | Says Owner’s Suit 181,000 Asked in Prince | Georges Against Police- man and Garage. By 8 Siaff Correspondent of The Star. UPPER MARLBORO, Mc., October 3 —Claiming that his stalled automoe bile was towed from the Washington« Baltimore Boulevard without his con- sent, William H. Sudduth of 1841 Columbia road, Washington, today filed a $1.000 damage suit here against Prince Georges County Policeman Albert Anderson and Eleanor F. Johnson, proprietor of a Hyattsville garage. Officer Anderson was named in the suit as an executive of the garage. Sudduth’s attorneys, Louis Lebowita of Mount Rainier and James T. Crouch of Washington, averred that the plaintiff’s car was towed to the garage after a breakdown near Cole lege Park last Sunday and while he was telephoning the Keystone Autoe mobile Club to obtain a towing mae chine. b Attorney Lebowitz said that the garage had refused to release Sude duth’s car without payment of & tows ing charge. Drive an exciting new STUDEBAKER fzes? SPOTLIGHT CAR OF 1937 ITS THE I3 T.yoLp on to that money you're think- ing of putting into a new car until you first find out what you can get in an excit- ing new 1937 Studebaker! Big, handsome, new air-curved bodies, steel-reinforced-by-steel, with a paintfinish twelve coats deep! Gleaming “winged vic- tory” radiator grilles and louvers! Sweep- ing air foil fenders! Domed disc wheels! P Lavishly roomy interiors richly styled by Helen Dry- den! New steering that halves the turning effort of parking! Built-in warm air windshield defrosters! 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