|
|
History Of Lenox Instrument Company
1940 - 1950
When World War II erupted, Dr. Crampton devoted much of his energy
to the war effort. His shop was "filled to the rafters" with defense
orders, mostly for borescopes. Crampton and his employees would
work late into the night peering into the bores of 37 mm anti-aircraft
guns and other weapons
|
|
|
|
|
Borescope kit, 1943. |
|
Chevrolet G.M. gun plant, 1942,
inspection of rifling & interior finish. |
|
Chevrolet G.M. gun plant, 1942,
inspection of rifling & interior finish. |
|
|
|
Popular Science magazine story
on G.M. gun plant, 1942.
(click
for larger image) |
|
G.M. gun plant, 1942, rifling
in a 90mm anti-aircraft gun. |
During the war, Lenox provided both Westinghouse and General Electric
with borescopes for inspecting the rotating shafts of steam turbines,
which both firms were making for warships. The army also used the
company's borescopes extensively for inspecting the gun barrels of
tanks, and the anti-aircraft weapons, which were being produced at
the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. An even more challenging
assignment for Crampton and Lenox lay ahead.
Dr. Crampton & employee John Lang played a small part in the
course of history by helping to develop the first atomic bomb. The
scientists working to develop a successful nuclear chain reaction
in the top-secret Manhattan Project asked Lenox to provide a borescope
for inspecting tubes near the radioactive pile at its guarded location
beneath the stadium seats at the University of Chicago's Stagg Field.
Crampton and Lang designed a 1.37 in. (35 mm) diameter, 33 ft. (10m)
long aluminum borescope. It consisted of 6 ft. (2m) sections of
dual tubing that were joined by bronze couplings and which also
carried an 8 V lighting circuit. An operator standing directly in
front of the bore, or the tube being inspected, would be subjected
to radioactivity, the borescope was viewed from the other side of
a heavy concrete barrier. The operator stood at a right angle to
the borescope, looking through an eyepiece and revolving the instrument
by means of a hand-operated wheel. The borescope had a prism-type
viewing head and had to be rotated constantly. It was supported
on a steel vee trough resting on supports whose height could be
varied. A special camera was mounted on the eyepiece for photographing
the images from the inspection location
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Custom 10 power borescope for
Columbia Univ., 1944. |
|
Univ. of Chicago Stagg Field. |
|
Manhattan Project borescope,
Univ. of Chicago, 1943. |
|
Custom borescope for Detroit
Edison, 1945. |
Lenox later improved its original Manhattan Project borescope with
radiation resistant optics and a swivel-joint eyepiece, which permitted
the operator to work from any angle. This newer instrument did not
require a vee trough, and was also capable of considerable bending
to snake through the tubes in the reactor. Lenox supplied a total
of three borescopes for this historic project; they were the first
optical instruments to be used in a nuclear environment.
In the post war era, Lenox supplied a 55 ft (17m) long tubescope
to the Bahrain Petroleum Co., Ltd., for inspecting the inside of
heater tubes at a refinery on Bahrain Island near Saudi Arabia.
The tubescope was so long that it stuck out of the window of the
Chancellor Street shop during assembly and inspection. After it
was delivered, the customer used a very simple support fixture,
several individuals held the lengthy scope over their heads during
inspection.
|
|
|
|
|
Lenox Extendible Scope, circa
1948. |
|
Prop scope, Ordered by Magnaflux
Corp. used at Sikorsky Aircraft, 1946. |
|
Custom borescope for Bethlehem
Steel, 1945. |
|
|
|
|
|
Spinner scope manufactured for
the American Viscose Co., 1947. |
|
Insulation scope, Western Rock
Wool Co., 1947 |
|
55 foot Tube Scope for Bahrain
Petroleum Co. Ltd., circa 1947. |
|
|
|
|
|
Periscope, order by Foster Wheeler
Co. for use in Rohm & Haas plant, Houston, 1947 |
|
Coca-Cola Drum scope, 1949. |
|
Cathode ray tube inspection
scope for R.C.A., 1946. |
Also in that same year of 1946, Lenox developed the first borescopes
used for the inspection of piping at a Petroleum Refinery, and made
an outstanding contribution to air safety by collaborating with the
Magnaflux Corp. to develop an ultraviolet light borescope for fluorescent
inspection of the interior of hollow Curtiss Wright propeller blades.
The 100 watt viewing instrument, only about 1 inch (25 mm) long, revealed
surface flaws in the steel as glowing greenish-white lines.
|
|
|
|
|
Diagram of the Oil scope in
use inspecting electrical transformers, G.E., 1946. |
|
Oil scope, 1946. |
|
Sun Oil Co. tube scope, Houdry
Unit, Toledo, Ohio, 1946.
(Click
to Download PDF) |
|
|
|
|
|
Ultraviolet prop scope, Ordered
by Magnaflux Corp. used at Sikorsky Aircraft, 1946. |
|
Tube scope, Sun Oil Co., 1946. |
|
Sun Oil Co., Houdry Unit, Toledo,
Ohio, 1946. |
Home »
About Lenox »
Lenox Firesight History 1940-1950
Continue...
. |
|