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Mondav. Nov. 19, 1951 University Daily Kansan
New Bonanza In Rare Ores Is Found A Century After Gold Rush of '49
Washington, D.C.—A desert bonanza in California has made the United States suddenly rich in the scarce industrial materials called the "grave earths," the National Geographic Society reports.
In a dusty mountain pass near the Nevada border, mining engineers are ready to dig open what is described as the world's largest deposit of rare earth ores. The pocket was discovered two years ago, an even century after the '49ers crossed the desert for gold; appropriately, the first vein was found on the so-called Birthday claims.
Metals priced at more than 1,000 times their weight in gold, up to $50,000 an ounce. are members of the rare earth family. Together they comprise one-sixth of all known chemical elements. Yet few people know their names. Cerium, lanthanum, praseodymium, neodymium and yttrium are the most common among 17 elements usually included in the group.
Joseph Tuczk, owner of the Green Feather restaurant, said he had decided to turn back the calendar when he collected only 24 cents in three hours one night last week.
Detroit, Mich., Nov. 14—(U.P.)-A daring restaurant owner who slashed his prices to 1939 levels said today his place is jammed with customers and he is making a profit.
Until the California strike and
He Rolls Back Own Prices Makes Profit
"It cost me $5.60 in wages alone for that time," he said. "Last week I had more employees than customers. But I had about 1,000 customers from noon until midnight yesterday."
Tuczak said the line started forming before noon when the news got around that a steak dinner with all the trimmings could be purchased for $1.15. He said he took in $600 and 1,000 patrons yesterday.
It's great," Tuczak said. "It's money for a change."
"I was throwing stale food away," he said. "Wholesale prices were up. Wages were up. Everything was up but my take. I lost between $2,000 and $3,000 in the last few months.
He decided to experiment when he looked at a 1939 menu he had kept as a souvenir.
"Now that they can afford it, they want the big stuff," he said. "I'm only charging $1.15 for steak with all the trimmings."
Tuczak, who has been in the restaurant business for 15 years, said the most popular dish was steak.
"So what happens. I lower my prices. I run out of steak by 10 o'clock. I've hired four more waitresses and two more cooks and they're all busy," he said.
Among other prices now charged are bacon and eggs, 45 cents; grilled pork chops, 55 cents; breaded veal cutlets, 50 cents; roast ham with apple sauce, 55 cents; and fried fresh shrimp, 60 cents.
City Adopts New Violations Plan
A new method of handling overparking in the metered areas of Lawrence has been announced by James H. Wigglesworth, city manager.
Envelopes instead of tickets will be left under windshield wipers of cars overparked for less than one hour. To erase the violation, the motorist need only place 25 cents in the envelope and drop it into one of the new yellow boxes now being set up.
set up. The overparking charge will be dropped when the boxes are opened and the envelopes checked off.
and the envelopes. This method will be good only for overparking of less than one hour. After that time, the envelopes will be replaced with regular parking tickets.
The regular tickets can be settled only at the police station or in court. The new plan will go into effect as soon as all necessary supplies have been obtained.
other recent finds in the Bear Lodge mountains of northeastern Wyoming, the major source of rare earths was the yellow-brown monazite sands mined in Brazil and India for thorium.
Small amounts have been found in the Carolinas, Florida, Colorado, Idaho, Norway, Nigeria, southeast Asia and Australia. But since the end of the gas light era, when both thorium and cerium were used for incandescent mantles, many early workings have been abandoned.
Rare earth elements have shown up in the "ashes" of atomic furnaces. In studying their "poisoning" effect on these nuclear-energy piles, scientists of the Atomic Energy Commission found a new way to purify the rare earths in amounts which once would have taken years to produce.
High temperature alloys for jet engines use rare earth metals. They are increasingly important in defense industries. In various forms they are used in metallurgy, in special optical glass, in waterproofing and mildew-proofing fabrics, in polishing compounds and in experimental attainment of temperatures approaching absolute zero.
In their most common use, rare earths serve anonymously. They are the "flints" in millions of cigarette lighters. For this purpose they do not have to be separated, but are refined into an alloy called "misch metal." The pyrophoric (fire-producing) quality of misch metal gives the rare earths the distinction of being the only common means man has to strike a flame without the aid of phosphorus.
Rare earths burn with a brilliance that also gives them widespread use in the carbon-arc electrodes of motion picture projectors, searchlights, and floodlights; in heat lamps, tracer bullets, and flash powder.
90% Of Car Accidents The Drivers' Fault, 10% Can Be Blamed On The Automobile
Statistics show that only ten per cent of all automobile accidents are caused by mechanical failure. The remaining 90 per cent are caused by poor judgement on the part of the driver, according to Fred Henderson, instructor in driver education.
"For example," he said, "the failure to dim lights in night driving is a dangerous practice. When the path of the bright lights from another car hits the face of a driver, there is a four second period of blindness. A lot can happen in those four seconds."
"The skillful driver should anticipate the actions of the other highway users," he said. "The proper driving attitude is that of wanting to do what is right regardless of what others do."
Mr. Henderson pointed out that drivers should have more faith in the signs governing the road. They were put there for a purpose and mean what they say, but many persons ignore them.
Knowing the road well doesn't mean a person should drive by habit only, he said. Too many things can be changed on that road since the time a person last drove over it. Mr. Henderson said the reaction time for the average person has been found to be three-fourths of a second to get his foot from the accelerator to the position of stopping.
"When a person is driving 30 miles an hour the reaction distance is 33 feet and the braking distance is 40 feet—a total of 73 feet to stop the car," he continued. "At 70 miles an hour the reaction distance is 77 feet and the braking distance is 218 feet, a total of 295 feet.
"At night it is almost impossible to see that distance ahead of you
Tokyo—(U.P.)-The revival of commercial aviation in Japan after a six-year ban since World War II brings to mind the story of the first flying machine in Japan.
16th Century Japan Frowned On Inventor's Flying Machine
According to a small Japanese book written in the 16th century, it was built long before that time by a man named Kokichi.
Kokichi got the idea for his flying machine by watching birds in flight. He captured a dove, measured its wings and body, and calculated the size his "wings" would have to be to carry him into the blue.
He fashioned the wings from paper and bamboo, attaching strings to the ends so he could flap them like a bird.
Kokichi never was successful in taking off from the ground, according to the story, but was able to fly off the roof of his house. He did it quite frequently, his "invention" apparently working like a glider.
Nobody paid much attention to him, however, until one day he flew far from home and landed near a group of citizens enjoying a picnic lunch.
The strange machine scared them away and Kokichi helped himself to
the food they left behind.
The governor told him that flying around, scaring people and eating their picnic lunches were frowned upon in that community. The flying machine was confiscated and poor Kokichi was deported to another province.
The incident attracted attention. Kokichi was summoned to appear before the governor of the province.
KU Professor Wins Award For His Painting, 'Still Life'
Robert Green, assistant professor of drawing and painting, has won honorable mention on his oil painting "Still Life," at the fifth annual Mulvane Art museum opening in Topeka.
Karl Matten, professor of art at Drake university, former member of the University faculty, was one of the judges for the selection of the winners.
DID YOU SAY Film Prices are LOWER?
24 Hour Photofinishing
That's right . You can save 15c by buying a 3-in-one package of Anscco film.
in case you should have to stop. Therefore the driver's speed should be such that he can stop in the distance that he can see," he said.
What may be a legal speed in Kansas today may be illegal tomorrow because of highway conditions. "The speed limit in Kansas is defined as one which is a cautious and prudent one." Mr. Henderson explained. "What the officials consider the speed limit varies with the weather and condition of the road."
Sizes 127,620 and 120. Came in Today!
On the other hand, he said, it is just as dangerous to do 20 miles an hour when everyone else is going 50 miles an hour as it is to go much faster than the others.
"No matter how big the car is
the only thing that holds it and
the driver to the road is a four-hand
area—that area in which each tire
touches the road," he explained. Conditions of the tires and of the roads has a lot to do with keeping the car on the road.
"We are living in the age of supersonic cars, but driving them on ox-cart roads," Mr. Henderson said. Road construction has not advanced at an even rate with the production of automobiles.
"Good observation and foresight are needed in good highway driving," Mr. Henderson said.
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Before That Thanksgiving Trip Service Your Car-