50, 100 and 150 Years Ago; July 1997; Scientific American Magazine; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

JULY 1947 GUZZLING GAS--Unfortunately for the development of the light car in the U.S., much of the public thinking has been concerned with ¿keeping up with the Joneses.¿ General Motors and Ford have apparently shelved their plans for such cars, feeling it ¿inopportune¿ to divert materials and manpower to the production of light cars which have high mileage per gallon of gasoline. Such moves leave Crosley Motors alone with the opportunity to develop a leading position in the low-priced car market.

METAL ATOMS--From experiences with hot metals and casting, science is evolving a theory: Given a supply of energy and half a chance, atoms may wander from one metallic crystal to another, forming new patterns. Cold welding, at temperatures below the molten, had been done for thousands of years, but nobody understood why the metals joined each other. What the atoms seem to need is more time to wander back and forth within their own crystals and to emigrate from crystal to crystal. The crystals would then seem to be locked by each other¿s atoms into a true weld.