1953-10-24 — Page 6

In all things..

there is

BOOTH'S

FINEST

DR

GI

LONDON

R BOTTAR HEARD OUR STOMATUNG

only

ONE

BEST

Choose

BOOTH'S

Sale Distributors:

GILMAN & COMPANY LIMITED

JONG RONG

TAILOR CHEUNG

The Tailor for

Men of Distinction

Look!

Cary Grant, one of the ton best dressed stars in Holly- wood, placed numarous orders with us during his visit to Hong Kong.

For the tourists, orders can be com-

convenience of

pleted in 24 hours.

No. 1. Theatre Lane,

Behind Queen's Theatre,

Hong Kong. Tel: 33484.

POPULAR PUBLICATIONS...

Enjoyable Cookery

The Hongkong Countryside (Herklots)

Hongkong Birds (Herklots)

Coronation Glory

King George VI

It's Fun Finding Out ---- 2nd series

(Bernard Wicksteed!

Rupert Advertures (Annual)

Rupert Magazines)

No Hiding Place (Behind Scotland Yard)

The Birds of Hongkong (Field Notebook Herklots)

Common Marine Food-Fishes of Hongkong

(second enlarged edition!

Weights & Measurements

Chinese Creeds & Customs

(V. R. Burkhardt)

Hongkong Escape R. B. Goodwin)

Orders Accepted

Ciles Annual

Bookings now open

On Sale At

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1953.

BOUB

A BIG MAN for the

big job

T

HE tremendous blast Woomern is the near climax to an astonish-

ing career.

Sir William Penney. the man who designed and built the bomb, has risen in the last three venre from a Auburb scientists to an in- ternational celebrity name commanda wherever it is mentioned.

whose attention

No success which he may. later achieve will bring him greater satisfaction than the the Woomern explosion.

it justifies the complete faith which British defence chiefs and Cabinet Ministers

by CHAPMAN PINCHER

SPECIAL

· FIREBALL RISES TO 4 MILE

TREBAL

have placed in Penny from FOLLOW

the first.

The £120 million invested in atomic

factories and THE

equipment to produce the

bomb is

that faith.

some measure

I can do it better'

of

WHEN no help was forth-

coming from America in 1946, Penney, then plain Dr William, assured the Govern ment that he could make a workable bomb which would

CLOUDS

WH

-

FIREBALL CONTAINING

STEAM

COLUMN

OF DUST

17HY is the "atom" cloud mushroom shaped ? This is what happens:-

The Breball formed

in

the

first moments of the explosion mass of white-hot air Bled with (above) is a rapidly expanding

radioactive fragments.

be more efficient than any it takes U.S. pattern and cheaper to vapour In mass-produce,

no one

of

There was sufficient scientific calibre to argue with Penney on this issue. His wartime career as an explosives expert, culminating in his appoint ment to the secret U.S. atom- bomb laboratory, had made him top British authority in this field. Even the Ameri- cans rate him as the world's bent brain 01 atomie weapons.

has

never been

So the defence chiefs gave him the go-ahead. . .

Penney entirely" happy working On weapons. He hates Ilving be: hind a barbed-wire fence and being constantly protected security-men....

He would much

life of a university

of

Its heat cnuses it to rise ard

with

it any

water the alr near the ground. It also sucks up a great column of dust.

As the ball reaches cooler ne

the water vapour in it condenses to droplets forming a cloud.

Eventually this cloud reaches

weather-men

Coll air which happens to be warner "Inversion layer a layer, öt instead of cooler.

what

'MUSHROOM'

the

rising cloud flattens out, formning

At this layer the top of the head of the "mushroom" which has become the symbol of atomic threat,

Part of the cloud may stream through this layer because the radioactivity in it is still generat- ing heat.

This second column of cloud

meet another may

"inversion

by layer thousands of feet higher and form a second mush-

Final

prefer the

professor room.

mathematics, which he can

height of 11 double

comunand at any time, But mushroom may be 11 miles. Penney has persistently put · The shape of the cloud can be the needs of national defence altered by local weather condl- before his personal ambitions.. tions. The Z-shaped cloud at

$15.00

25.00

It all happened

35.00

10.50

as he said

10.50 THE e experimental

atomic explosion at Monte Bello

the Monte Bello explosion for instance, was caused by strong winds,

AND NOW

MANY?

last your proved that the novel HOW 5.00 detonating principle he had

5.00

devised was round,

Sir Winston Churchil said: 1.00 "The weapon bohaved

18.00

15.00

aeroplane,

FAT 2 MILES STEAM CONDENSES

TO FORM

CLOVE

• MUSHEDOM

•FORMS ON

STRIKERE

VERSION

LAYER

WARM

AIR

COLD

AIR

EXPLOSIVE

BETONATION LEADS

'. 199

ELECTRIC

DETONATORS

EXPLOSIVE

·CBAARGES

INVERSION LAYER

WHERE

IT WAS ALL PONE...

FIVE places in Britain

had a share in the Woomera bomb. Follow the stages of its production on the map below:-

1 The

uranium factory at Springfield, ncar Preston. from un 1.C.1. poison gas factory in 1947.

Lanes. It was converted MILEST

SO THIS IS HOW IT ALL WORKS

T

THIS drawing (left) explains how the A hollow sphere weapon is exploded:

of the metal plutonium forms the CX- plosive core of the bomb. It is safe in

Springfield hus' operated con- inually in shifts for nearly five years. So Britain's stocks of cure uranium must How be high.

2 Windscale Works, Sellafield: Huilt on the site of a m'mi- ilons factory at a cost of at Toast £10,000,000.

Its 400 feet chimneys the highest in Britain-can be sech for miles in the Lake District.

3 The Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston, Berks. This is the most secret of the Government's atom stations, Sir william Penney

this form, but explodes automatically if and his staff are based there. suddenly_compressed into a solid ball,

off

The bomb exploded at Woomorá was presumably built at Alder masion.

4

a

The plutonium sphere is surrounded by many "shaped charges"--cylinders of or- dinary T.N.T. high explosive in which cone-shaped cavity has been hollowed out. When the fuse in the bomb is set in the Woomera test, this was done by radio from a safe distance of 13 miles all the "shaped" charges detonate at once..

Because of their shape their blast is directed inwards to the plutonium sphere, instantaneously compressing it into a solid ball.

The plutonium atoms then split in Jew millionths of a second, setting tree enormous quantities of atomie energy in the form of hent.

This, of course, is only the principle of the weapon which is already known to the Russians through the treachery of stem

spies.

The

ingenious

refinements

the British bomb,

which make il so

much

cient, secrel.

CEREALCES T-INSTON MILES

EQU

TOW many bombs can

MILITARA

ANE EXPERIMENTA, BUILDINGS

at

10.00 as expected and forecaat In The exact rate of production many preciso detalla by Dr is secret but a reasonable 7.50 W. G. Pensey, whose services estimate can be made from

were of the highest order."

which Now the test hear Woomera information 24.00

has has shown that this principle already been published. 15.00 can be used in a bomb compact Atomic explosive is made

enough to be carried in an only two factories -the

plutonium. plant Rt Sellafiel PENNEY will remain in West Cumberland, and-the- Government service for a few uranium 233 factory ht Copen- more years to make refinements hurst, to this weapon. But he doubts The plutonium factory is about whether he will get any better the same size as that which the 5.00 basic idea.

Americans HE THOUGHT up his in- 1043. Their uranium 235 plan! were operating in genious bomb mechanism nine was considerably bigger then years ago when he was 35. And than the Copenhurst factory. Penney believes that scientists have passed their most pro- U.S. plants was enough to make Combined output of the two durtive phase when they have reached 40.

six bombs a month,

SOUTH CHINa morning POST, LTD.

HONGKONG

ARTHUR'S Gift suggestions-

G. M. ARTHUR & CO.

JEWELLERS-

KOWLOON

BRITISH MADE

BRETBY POTTERY

Animals, Figures, Book-ends, Vases,

and Ash-trays.

GOLDSMITHS~

40.NATHAN ROAD, KOWLOON

AND SILVERSMITHS

TEL: 57513

Cheshire.

Taking into acount the in- creased emelency of the British.. bomb and modern improvements In atomic explosive manufacture, the British production hardly be more than ten bombs a month for the next few years.

CON

JOHNNY HAZARD

I'M GOING TO HAVE A LOCK-BEB.....FIND OUT WHY THAT BALLOON VENDER WAS)

BOBET ON GETTING IT/

I THINK I KNOW

+ WHAT YOU WILL FIND..... YOUR BALLOON VENDER IN THE ACT OF MUKPTRIJO SOMEONE?

ASUR

Final adjustments on the bomb tower.

I CAN SURMSE THAT

SINCE I AM HIS NEXT

| INTENDED VICTIM.........AND

SO IS ANYONE WHO STANDS

IN HIS WAY!

HOW COME YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT THIS'

more em-

are still

1. Uranium

ore tram Belgian

Conga

4. Made

Atomic Energy Production Headquarters, Risley, Lants, The main planning headquarters of the project is housed in part of the Royal Ordnance factory built at Ristcy during the war.

5 The Atomio Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Berks, Converted from an air- fleld since 1946 this "atom city" set up for baste research in- eludes 1wo

small uranium furnaces-code-named Glcop and Bepo and a plot plant for separating plutonium explosives.

There is a for handling radioactive chemi- "hot" Taboratory cals, atom-smashing machines,

#10

៖ ០.៧ ឯ

ALDERMASTON

(Älonde wezpon striken),

3. Made into

slutoniu explosive

2. Made into

'pore uranium metal

MONTE BELLO"

ISLANDS

ROCKE

WISTIAN

AUSTRALIA

NORTHERN FALOm kombi TERRITORY

Peralade

here

By Frank Robbins

A MOST ABTUTH GUESE/ YES, IT

| POEG AND THE KEY TO THE ENTIRE

GUYZ, AND DOES IT

| SITUATION SERAU TO BE A UNAPSHOT-

TAKEN BY A BOY WHOSE LIFE IS NOW,

ALL TIE UP WITH YOUR

KALF-A-MILLION POUNDS | many IN GRAVE DANGER! interther

·STERLING?

THANK

5. Flown out

to Woomera

QUEENSLAND

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

WOOMERA: NEW Soun)

WALES

VICTORIA

.this situation

zalls for a

San Miguel