10 YEARS AGO — OCTOBER 7, 1999
No indicator? No problem: Cordsets with LED indicators from Turck Inc., Minneapolis, are designed to give diagnostics information for sensors lacking their own LEDs. Green indicates power and yellow indicates output in the LEDs that circle the connectors and are visible from all sides. The eurofast cordsets feature M12-style connectors, gold-plated contacts, and brass coupling nuts that have a ratchet design to prevent loosening during high vibrations. Fully molded polyurethane connector bodies resist moisture, oil, solvents, and abrasion.
30 YEARS AGO — OCTOBER 11, 1979
Peat Power – Fuel by the Bog: Peat can do more than nourish flower gardens. It is a good source of fuel for heat and power, as the Finns and Russians are already proving. The U.S. is a late starter in the peat-power sweepstakes, but we’re borrowing foreign technology to catch up and begin using the nation’s vast bog lands. Peat bogs, which cover about 1% of the earth’s surface or 400 million acres, were once rated as worthless land. Despite this vast amount, the low cost of other fuels and the high cost of peat recovery and transport have, until recently, limited the use of this fuel resource.
50 YEARS AGO — OCTOBER 1, 1959
Giant receiver reads remote stars: Measuring more than 1/10 mile in diameter, this giant radio telescope will collect and focus radio signals from stars as far as 38 billion light years away. The Naval Research Laboratory developed the specs and the hardware is being designed for the Navy by Grad, Urbahn & Seelye, New York. The 20,000-ton facility will be built in Sugar Grove, Va., in 1962. World’s largest radio telescope reflector now operating is at Jodrell Bank, England, with a diameter of 250 ft.