THE MIGHTY ELECTRON

[Music] when did the electronics industry get it started what are some services it performs today how do electronics lead us into the future industry on parade Peabody Award winner for public servants produced on film each week by the National Association of Manufacturers [Applause] one of the earliest broadcasting station primitive equipment like this marked the practical beginnings of the age of electronic theoretical scientific discoveries dating back to Benjamin Franklin's provided the foundation but it was the time and money invested by radio pioneers of the nineteen twenties that first made electronics useful sending through the air to homes near and far the sounds of entertainment and information less than 25 years later television pictures were being sent through the air and we're reaching millions an amazing achievement but only one AAA in the electronic industries brief history for example there is raid on the same industry that first made it possible for ship's crew to talk to each other and to shore stations gave the navigators the ability to see through fog or darkness showing them the position of other vessels rocks and shoreline [Music] air travel - is safer and smoother because radar lets the pilots see the weather far ahead lets him maneuver around the store on the ground meanwhile other radar installations keep track of the approaching planes helping control tower experts guide incoming pilots to perfect landing even when visibility is poor at the same time of course only electronics makes possible the traffic control techniques that permit today's heavy volume of movements without electronics large-scale round-the-clock air transportation would be impossible or without electronics the closely spaced takeoffs and landings required to not even be attempted the radar used in our air route traffic control centers gives a picture of all planes within a hundred and twenty mile range permitting the controllers to maintain proper separation on city streets electronics helps control auto traffic at many intersections here in Wayne County Michigan for example drivers are held back or speeded along by lights that receive their orders by means of radio signals from a central office an aerial a radio receiver and a device that will decode a variety of tone signals are mounted on each of the lights in the network which can be extended for a radius of thirty miles from the transmitter atop a Detroit office building the need for expensive installation and maintenance of underground connecting cables is eliminated a more familiar use of electronics is the police radio involving mobile transmitters like those now widely used by taxi cabs trucking systems and even private citizens who can phone office or home from their cars as easily as the policemen can talk to headquarters the industry responsible for the thousands of electronic devices now in use did not even exist 40 years ago yet today it is the nation's fifth largest manufacturing group its investments having created jobs for more than 700,000 Americans whose work ranges from the Assembly of large complex devices to the manufacture of the smallest component parts so great is the demand for electronic components that some 3,000 small businesses are engaged in turning them out that's about two-thirds of the total number of companies now engaged in manufacture of electronic products whose value totals more than eight billion dollars a year there are plants in virtually every state in the Union with heaviest concentrations on the east and west coasts and in the Midwest their output goes to three major markets home industrial and most importantly national defense [Music] [Applause] [Music] in today's defense system our ground forces could not operate effectively without electronic equipment any more than could our intercontinental ballistic missiles that's why 30% of Uncle Sam military procurement budget goes for electronics more than 5 billion dollars a year the outpost designed to give us timely warning of an aggressors earliest moves rely on electronics and so do the supersonic planes and the missile ships ready to respond on an instance notice electronic communications are the Nerds electronic computers the brains for high speed retaliation all branches of our armed forces depend on electronic equipment turned out by an industry that devotes half its production facilities to defense without failing in its civilian role among the many electronic devices now available for the home is one that will open the garage door at a signal from the dashboard radio inside there's a variety of home electronic systems television now brings programs to 86 percent of the nation's 51 million homes many with more than one set fast electronic cooking employs microwaves improve radio receivers now are found in almost every row and music reproduction at home now is frequently stereophonic and you will sound for maximum fidelity not so well-known to most of us is the work electronic devices are performing for industry the continuous weighing of material for example right on the conveyor belt [Music] sorting and filling and measuring of many kinds these two are handled by industrial electronics thus saving time and money increasing productivity and income for all while promising even greater progress in the future here's a demonstration of the way electronic controls are linked to a machine tool the magnetic tape is filled with instructions which it passes along to the tool in the proper sequence over and over again as often as the tape is repeated the tireless machine will do the job each time in precisely the same way it did before accuracy is assured errors are eliminated [Music] sometimes a number of complicated operations are linked to the electronic controls which may even have the ability to detect and correct their own mistakes should trouble develop they can shut off the power or better still flash a signal than a particular tool needs replacement before trouble occurs so vast is industries use for electronics that we can only sample a few highlights in this power plan an industrial television system transmits to the control room a continuous picture of the roaring fires in the boilers [Music] here electronic equipment helps the search for oil by measuring the speed and force of shock waves from controlled explosions geologists can learn about earth straight ahead down below and electronics promised an important boost for learning through the growing use of television in education the system installed at Washington County Maryland employs central studios which can serve several schools like this one where TV seems to have encouraged rapt attention while there's no thought of eliminating classroom teachers it's believed they'll be aided greatly by the new teaching tool with its promise of improved education for tomorrow's leaders meanwhile other future promises of electronics are taking shape in the laboratories whose research the industry regards as its lifeblood in such labs the transistor was developed and is being constantly improved in the midst of countless other projects a home tape recording machine that will tape TV programs is among them and so are fundamental studies probing scarcely explored paths like solid-state physics to probe the future electronic companies spend heavily on research newer firms sometimes reinvest all their earnings in growth that generates more profits more jobs new products products incidentally are many which have materially hated research in other fields the electron microscope for example has become a basic tool in medicine today the medical research underway at facilities like the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington makes extensive use of a wide variety of electronic devices these permit researchers to follow the progress of radioisotopes for example through various parts of the body thus revealing much we didn't know before about the cause and cure of disease more than 1 million persons have been diagnosed or treated so far through the use of radioactive isotopes and the related equipment that makes them useful in addition the electronic industry provides for the medical profession such things as cardiogram and diathermy machines and even devices that will keep Bakke hearts beating steadily [Music] in medical education a color TV camera linked to a microscope permits simultaneous viewing by large audiences surgery is televised - and doctors now are learning for the first time with the help of this device exactly how much radioactivity the body contains normally and how much it can tolerate the equipment is called a liquid scintillation counter and it's big enough to completely enclose the subject who is rolled inside on a canvas Hammond after the chamber is sealed the medical officer can estimate identify and localize all elements in the patient emitting gamma radiation only by knowing the dynamic levels of radioactivity in man himself can the overall implications of the international nuclear energy program be followed and eventually evaluated as a matter of fact nearly everything nuclear depends on electronics here cables from an experimental reactor lead to a control room in a trailer park safely half a mile away from this vantage point the technicians can start the chain reaction electronics helps control record and study the reactors progress as the temperature rises generating steam in a related boiler and finally creating enough electric power to supply a small city TV screams keep the control room fully inform meanwhile electronic devices are performing their most spectacular feats in the exploration of outer space helping put the satellites in orbit and giving those satellites the ability to report their findings gathered by tracking antennae the record of each flight and probe is captured electronically by a complex telemeter ring equipment already electronics provides the key to preliminary space explorations by Radio Astronomy as well as by rockets and satellites tomorrow it will provide worldwide television and other new forms of international communication even communications between the planets opening a newer age of untold Marvel's to come [Music] American industry builder of a better tomorrow as presented industry on parade a public service of the National Association of Manufacturers produced this week with the cooperation of the electronic industries Association [Music]