West Virginia building at fair shows smallest metal tube
✍ Scribed by R.H.O.
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1940
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 55 KB
- Volume
- 229
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0016-0032
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
What is believed to be the smallest metal tube in the world was placed on display at the West Virginia Building at the World's Fair recently, it was announced by Senator Dan B. Fleming, commissioner in charge of the State's exhibit at the Fair. Made of pure nickel, its total diameter measures 26/Io,ooo of an inch-the size of an average strand of human hair. The hold of the tube is 7/IO,OOO of an inch or less than one-third that of a piece of hair. Senator Fleming pointed out that the tube is so small that a coil one pound in weight strung in a straight line would reach from the Trylon, around the peak of the Empire State Building and down to the Battery--a distance of approximately I I miles. The tube is displayed in a novel device known as the "Quadrylon," made of transparent material to a design suggested by the Trylon. Within the Quadrylon, the tube is submersed in oil. Air, forced through the tube, actually blows bubbles. The tube itself can barely be seen with the naked eye and magnifiers are provided for visitors. For purposes of comparison, a common pin is suspended by a strand of hair alongside the tube. Larger size nickel tubing, produced at the International Nickel Company plant at Huntington, West Virginia, was used for making this minute display which was drawn down to its present dimensions by the Superior Tube Company, Norristown, Pa. Produced especially for display purposes at the Fair, the tube as yet has no commercial applications though tubes of slightly larger size are used in certain types of hypodermic needles and for various laboratory purposes.
R. H. O.