Dynel Drapes Feature Their Own "Built-in Fire Extinguisher'.--Even a blowtorch can't send drapes of dynel up in flames! Dynel, another new contribution by chemists to better living, is a fiber developed in the laboratories of Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation. Processed in twelve different chemical steps from basic gases, salt and air, it is now being made into drapes beautiful to look at, beautiful to feel--yet so fire-resistive they have been approved by official bodies as safe for use as draperies in hotels, places of "public assembly," and passenger ships.
Dynel is self-extinguishing, won't support combustion. The new fiber will burn slowly at the point of direct contact with an open flame, but its permanent "built-in fire extinguisher"--vinyl chloride, comprising 60 per cent of the fiber--stops the burning when the flame is removed ! That's why a blowtorch can be applied to dynel drapes without setting them aflame.
But resistance to fire is only the beginning of the amazing combination of much-wanted advantages inherent in dynel drapery fabrics. They are delightfully soft and pleasant to the touch--so different from the harsh "hand" of many fireproofed materials. They're handsome, long-wearing, wonderfully easy-to-care-for.
In addition, dynel drapes are completely washable. It's safe to put them in a washing machine because they don't shrink. They dry quickly, too. There's no sagging or stretching when they're hung--they drape beautifully. And they wear for years, because dynel is a fiber of great strength and toughness.
And that's not all. Dynel has extraordinary resistance to chemicals and stains. Most acids and alkalis, soaps and detergents will not harm it. Many stains wash out with plain soap or detergent and water. Most others are removed easily with bleaches.
Summer use or storage brings no problems at all. Because dynel is absolutely mothproof and mildewproof, the only storage requirement is space in a closet. Moths won't ever eat dynel. In tests, moths not only would not eat dynel as food, but refused to eat through it to get at food on the other side of the dynel--as they do with other fibers. Instead, they starved to death. That mildew does not harm dynel fabrics is shown by the results of six-months burial tests in damp tropical soil. The dynel was taken out Of the ground after that length of time, completely unaffected.
Yet these drapery fabrics with so many "easy-care" features are as attractive-looking as the most luxurious fabrics made from natural fibers. Made by Hafner and Thorp, they are beautifully colored and designed, and their fire-reslstive factor makes for safe living all year round. These new drapes have the unique combination of luxury and practical advantages that only dynel, science's newest fiber, provides.
A device to measure the arterial pulse wave has been developed by the Air Force School of Aviation Medicine at Randolph AFB. The mechanism transforms the mechanical movement of the arterial wall into an electrical signal, using a mechano-electronic transducer in the form of a subminiature radio tube, originally designed for phonograph pickups. Measurement of the pulse wave is used in investigation of the cardiovascular response to postural changes during mild hypoxia, may lead to new techniques of resistance to high altitude stress.