The Practical Einstein: Experiments, Patents, Inventions

217 Pages·2012·3.23 MB·English

by  József Illy

The Practical Einstein
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The Practical Einstein
Experiments, Patents, Inventions
József Illy
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2012 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2012
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
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The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Illy, József, 1933–
The practical Einstein : experiments, patents, inventions / József Illy.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4214-0457-8 (hdbk. : acid-free paper)
ISBN-10: 1-4214-0457-5 (hdbk. : acid-free paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4214-0533-9 (electronic)
ISBN-10: 1-4214-0533-4 (electronic)
1. Einstein, Albert, 1879–1955—Infl uence. 2. Inventions. 3. Physics—
Experiments. I. Title.
QC16.E5I45 2012
530.078—dc23 2011034750
A cata log record for this book is available from the British Library.
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To Marci with I+Sz
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Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1 Musings 7
The Flettner Ship 7
Why Do Rivers Meander? 10
2 Experiments 15
Michelson, Morley, and Eötvös Reinvented 15
The Mass of the Electron 17
Ampère’s Molecular Currents 19
The Velocity of Gas Reactions 24
A Geodynamo Model? 25
Light: Waves or Particles? 27
Explaining Superconductivity 34
3 Expert Opinions 37
The Patent Offi ce 37
Gyrocompasses 38
Mixing Tubes 48
Hebeluft schiff 49
Tungsten Wires for Incandescent Lamps 50
Triodes for Amplifi cation 51
Sound Direction Ranging in Air and Water 52
Prospecting for Ore and Water from a Dirigible 55
Riveting Hammers and Pile Drivers 56
Production of High- Pressure Gases 57
“Electrophonic Piano” 57
Aerial Stereophotography 60
Magnetic Cores with Low Electric Conductivity 61
Telescope for Daylight Observations of Phenomena near the Sun 62
viii Contents
Makeup Mirror 63
Balanced Tapered Bearing Rollers 64
4 Eu ro pe an Inventions 67
The “Little Machine” (Maschinchen) 67
Planimeter 71
The Cat’s Back Airfoil 72
Compasses for Land, Sea, and Air 80
Filtering Viruses 94
Refrigerators in a Row 95
Magnetostrictive Reproduction of Sound 121
Hearing Aid 127
5 American Inventions 131
Altimeter 131
Waterproof Breathable Clothes 134
Heat- Insulating Vessel 136
Liquid Filtering by Electrostatic Method 136
Automatic Correction of Mea sured Data 137
Airplane Horizon Indicator 138
Electrostatic Microphone 141
Fluid- Level Indicator 148
Light- Intensity Self- Adjusting Camera 151
Steel-T ape Recording 152
Aircraft Speedometer 153
Timer 156
On the Threshold of the Manhattan Project 157
Torpedoman Einstein 159
Notes 171
Index 197
Preface
The scope of the experiments, opinions for patent cases, and inventions in
which Albert Einstein participated shows how multifarious his activities were,
how deeply he was involved in searching for various technological solutions,
and how wide his knowledge of physics was outside the fi elds for which he has
been so famous.
I am not a pioneer in exploring this topic; the fi rst book dedicated to Ein-
stein’s practical ideas is Frenkel and Yavelov’s account. Wolfgang Graff ’s dis-
sertation concentrates on Einstein’s inventions made before Einstein emi-
grated to the United States. Graff is the ideal historian to discuss Einstein and
Leó Szilárd’s refrigerators, as he is a specialist in cooling technology. Michael
Eckert presents a broad picture of aeronautics around the First World War,
and Jobst Broelmann does the same for the development of the gyrocompass,
two other fi elds in which Einstein tested his mettle. Dieter Lohmeier and
Bernhardt Schell analyze Einstein’s contribution to the gyro compass by pub-
lishing and annotating his correspondence with Hermann Anschütz- Kaempfe
and colleagues. Finally, Matthew Trainer published a concise report on Ein-
stein’s selected inventions.
My primary source of information in researching the book was the Albert
Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. This archive, as with
archives in general, can be searched for names of correspondents and dates,
but rarely for the content of the documents. This entails no problem when the
persons who collaborated with Einstein in technical matters are widely known,
such as Leó Szilárd, Gustav Bucky, or Rudolf Goldschmidt. When, however,
Einstein proposes an experiment or is approached for an opinion, sometimes
in letters exchanged with friends or family members, only a systematic reading
of the documents will reveal the contents. Such reading has already been done
for the period 1879– 1922, and the results published in the Collected Papers of
Albert Einstein. These volumes are the reason for the abundance of information