Industry: Seeing Red

All physical bodies emit heat in the form of infra-red rays invisible to the human eye. Out of this simple scientific fact has grown an exciting and important new industry that is already big in missile and space work. Unlike more familiar uses of infra-red—which use it as a heat source to cook foods quickly—the new applications need supersensitive detection equipment to receive infra-red and “see” the source it comes from. Infra-red detection now adds a new dimension to sight.

Unlimited Horizon. Detection by infra-red can perform incredible feats. A person can put his hand against a wall for a short time, and an infra-red camera taking a picture of the other side of the wall will later pick out the imprint of the hand. The temperature of the moon can be easily measured. Scientists are experimenting to see if infra-red can detect the presence of cancer by changes in skin temperature. Although infra-red was developed primarily for the military and to guide and track missiles, detect camouflage and take aerial photographs through fog, other uses are being found for it almost every day; e.g., it can be used to scan giant electronic computers for overheated circuits that might soon burn out or malfunction. Says R. Bowling Barnes, president of Barnes Engineering, a top maker of radiometers: “Infra-red is untopped in possibilities for military and commercial use. It has more potential than anything we know. Only the limit of our imaginations can hold us back.”

Although such giants as General Electric, Westinghouse, Aerojet, RCA and Texas Instruments are active in infrared, the industry is still dominated by the small companies. Among the leaders:

¶ PERKIN-ELMER of Norwalk, Conn., began in 1944 turning out chemical analytical spectrophotometers, which are used to study the infra-red spectrum of molecules. Since each molecule shows up with unique characteristics in infrared, spectrophotometers are vital in chemical research, have played an important role in identifying synthesis of drugs and vitamins. Perkin-Elmer also makes among other things a spectrometer for the Air Force that measures the efficiency of missiles in flight. Manhattan’s Sloan-Kettering Institute for cancer research uses Perkin-Elmer spectrophotometers for organic chemical analysis.

¶ SERVO CORP. OF AMERICA at Hicksville, N.Y., produces infra-red fire-detection systems for aircraft as well as hotbox detectors, which are placed beside rail tracks to sense an overheated wheel bearing as it passes, warn maintenance crews of hotboxes. The Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. installed 17 such detectors for around $400.000. reckons it saves more than that amount each year in labor costs.

¶ INFRARED INDUSTRIES of Waltham, Mass., got its start four years ago making the infra-red detection system for the Sidewinder missile, which seeks out the enemy aircraft by homing in on the heat from its engines. The company also provided the detection equipment for the surveillance satellite Midas. On the commercial market Infrared Industries offers a toy walkie-talkie that uses an infra-red beam to transmit up to i.ooo ft. in the daytime.

Homing on Venus. The speed with which the infra-red industry is growing is exemplified by Barnes Engineering, which doubled its Stamford, Conn., plant space a year ago, is now doubling it again. Founded nine years ago by Bowling Barnes, 54, a onetime physics instructor at Princeton, the company has become the top outfit in space-navigating and stabilizing equipment. Its most celebrated product is the infra-red horizon sensor, the key element for stabilizing the Project Mercury space capsule as it orbits. Sensors, set in the capsule, can detect the difference in heat between the earth and the air above the horizon. If the capsule begins to roll or pitch, the sensors can detect the slight variation in heat, give the signal to release corrective jets of air to stabilize the capsule. For the weather satellite Tiros II, Barnes Engineering built a radiometer that reports on the temperature at various levels from the top of the clouds to the surface of the earth, made the sensor that controls the TV cameras. For Project Mariner, the U.S. space probes to Venus and Mars, Barnes Engineering is building the homing device that will take over at 100,000 miles from the target, steer the probe vehicles on a close arc around the planets.

Industrial Uses. Barnes is also eying the industrial market. The company has perfected an infra-red micrometer, accurate to one one/thousandth of an inch, for use in factories for measuring products that are so hot or cold that they cannot otherwise be measured; e.g., in a steel mill, the device could be used to measure the thickness of steel plate while it was still hot.

Though profits in the infra-red industry are still small because of high development and production costs, the future looks promising. Industry-wide sales in 1960 were an estimated $100 million, but demand is so great that most companies are growing at the rate of 30% a year. At that rate, some industry experts predict infra-red sales of $500 million a year by 1966.