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ABSTRACT A BOOKLET which has just been issued, describing the Research and Testing Departments of the Metro-politan-Vickers Electrical Co., Ltd., Trafford Park, Manchester, shows what an

important part industrial research plays in the advancement of science. The somewhat fragile and makeshift construction of the equipment of many science laboratories is often due to an

excessive use of glass, rubber and similar materials. Modern engineering principles, materials and manufacturing methods have led to great improvements. The original research work carried

out by the scientific staff of the Company has led to many important developments. In particular, the discovery of the Apiezon series of low-pressure oils and distillates has led to highly

important advances in vacuum technique. Valves, X-ray tubes, etc., can now be taken to pieces for repair and adjustment and then re-assembled for use. They can also be made of materials like

metal and porcelain and so have not the disadvantages of permanently sealed glass apparatus. The physics and engineering staff have done excellent pioneering work in many branches of

research. Their vacuum furnaces, their arrangement of apparatus to apply testing pressures of a million volts continuously and their testing methods for impulse pressures as high as one and

a half million volts are scientific triumphs. In developing apparatus for measuring noise they have broken new ground. The principle on which the apparatus works is that of aural comparison

of the complex noise under observation with a pure reference tone of fixed frequency but adjustable amplitude. By listening simultaneously to the two sounds and adjusting the loudness of the

reference tone until it sounds as loud as the noise under observation, the loudness of the complex noise can be expressed, by an experienced observer, in terms of that of the simple

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Contact customer support RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Metropolitan-Vickers Research and Testing Departments. _Nature_ 131, 649 (1933).

https://doi.org/10.1038/131649a0 Download citation * Issue Date: 06 May 1933 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/131649a0 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able

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