File:Bell telephone magazine (1922) (14753070491).jpg

Identifier: belltelephonemag4344amerrich (find matches)
Title: Bell telephone magazine
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: American Telephone and Telegraph Company American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Information Dept
Subjects: Telephone
Publisher: (New York, American Telephone and Telegraph Co., etc.)
Contributing Library: Prelinger Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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Text Appearing Before Image:
ing; second, smoothing and pol-ishing to achieve proper diameter andcross-section with a prescribed finish.Both operations are performed with asteel tool, charged with a varying gradeof diamond dust suspended in olive oil. The laser has changed that. Withbursts of tremendous energy, brought tofocus at a microscopic point, it vaporizesa bit of the diamond each time in a seriesof bites, finally piercing it. The lasertakes only a few minutes, as comparedto days by the mechanical method. Thehole is then polished and smoothed inthe customary manner. Shooting With Light This Western Electric laser looks some-thing like a modernistic oven. It ismounted on a desk-style workbench, andis operated by a woman who watcheswhat is happening inside by means ofclosed-circuit television. Since the laser shots must be accu-rately positioned on a tiny area of thediamond, the operators view as she chipsaway with the laser beam must be clearenough for her to adjust the die, deter- 43 the Laser goes to work
Text Appearing After Image:
Diamond dies for drawing fine telephone wire are shown with loose industrial diamonds.Drilling diamonds for dies was a slow and laborious process before the application of the laser. mine whether or not she is on targetand follow the progress of the job. The operation starts when the girlopens a small oven door in the ma-chine and clamps the diamond die in amovable fixture. Outside is a controlknob, which she manipulates to bring thediamond into target position. Her move-ments of the knob are stepped down bymeans of a pantograph arrangement,which makes the minute changes in di-rection required to position the diamond.The target position is indicated on theoperators television screen, where shewatches the diamond, greatly magnified,as she moves it into place. When ready to fire, the operator pushesa button on a control panel, and the shotis fired. The laser can be set to fire man-ually, or automatically at intervals ofone, five or ten seconds. Western Electrics Engineering Re-search Ce

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