Science: Fog-Eye

Master Mariner Flavel M. Williams last week loped happily down the gangplank of the United States liner Manhattan, back from Bermuda. His "fog camera," tested during the cruise under his supervision, was to remain on the Manhattan's upper bridge as regular equipment, was slated for installation on the Manhattan's sister ship Washington.

Infra-red rays, invisible and insensible, pierce much farther through fog than visible light. With cameras using infra-red-sensitive film, special lenses and filters, mountains lost in haze have been photographed from hundreds of miles away, group pictures of people have been taken in pitch-black rooms.

What interested the U. S. Lines in the Williams infra-red camera was the speed with which the negative could be viewed after exposure. The long, tripod-mounted duralumin box contains its own "dark room." As soon as a portion of film is exposed it is fed swiftly into a developing bath, then into a fixing bath after which it is illuminated for examination. Elapsed time: 30 seconds. Thus a skipper can safely photograph his way through otherwise unnavigable fog provided nothing crosses his path at a distance less than his ship travels in half a minute.

Said the Manhattan's captain of the Williams invention: "Greatest boon to navigation since radio."