AERONAUTICS: CO Meter

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When his second son Harold was killed in an airplane crash two years ago, Inventor Miller Reese Hutchison (dictograph, klaxon horn, acousticon) resolved to make some contribution to safety and efficiency of aircraft. Last week Dr. Hutchison, onetime (1913-17) chief engineer and personal representative of Thomas Alva Edison, brought forth his offering: "Moto-Vita," a device which measures the unburned gases in engine exhaust, enables a pilot to adjust his carburetor accurately in flight for complete combustion of fuel and, consequently, elimination of waste. Capt. Frank Monroe Hawks tried the Moto-Vita on a flight to Memphis, informally reported a fuel saving between 30% and 40%. While Dr. Hutchison's motive was to help airmen, his invention may have the far more momentous effect of overcoming the carbon monoxide (CO) evil in motor car traffic. His Moto-Vita, which can be car traffic. His Moto-Vita, which is a bridge of platinum and nickel wires (weight i½ Ib.) over which the exhaust gases pass. This bridge is electrically connected, through a tiny battery, to a sensitive ammeter on the pilot's (chauffeur's) instrument board. If the fuel mixture is too rich, the unburned gasoline vapor—hydrogen, carbon monoxide—will cause the platinum wires to glow hot (by its catalytic property), resist electricity. The battery current is thus shunted back through the nickel wires, to register on the graduated scale of the dial exactly what percentage of fuel is not being burned. Dr. Hutchison estimated the U. S. might save $1,000,000,000 worth of fuel per year (at a market price of 20¢ per gal.) by universal use of his invention.