Submarine E-2 and transparent aluminum in 1916

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Once again while browsing through old local newspapers I came across an interesting story. I know we have a lot of submarine fans. The article covered the explosion in 1916 of the E-2. It looks like the Edison batteries, which were designed to eliminate chlorine gas problems, gave off too much hydrogen and exploded during charging. A search led to this naval archive page. The interior photos are excellent, well lit and focused they give a great look at an early sub.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08025.htm

If you click on the link that shows Edison seated at a battery, that newspaper also has an article about X-ray tubes. The new tube design focuses the beam instead of just emitting it in all directions. The beam is emitted through a “glass aluminum” window. Scotty - beam down there!

Dennis

2

Maybe they just meant Amorphous metal, sometimes referred to as “metal glass”?

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x-ray tubes sometimes used a metal foil “window” to let the rays pass through. Beryllium was a favorite, since it was pretty transparent to x-rays. My copy of George Clark’s 1940 Applied X-Rays has a “midget x-ray tube” with a metal foil (unidentified) through which the x-rays pass. The foil is mounted on a glass plate with a hole in it. I could easily see someone calling this a “glass-aluminum window”.