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DOC
But it was time for Doc's focus to again go from civilian discoveries to military weapons. At the start of World War II many British pilots were crashing when they landed. One day a group of British "brass" meet with Doc in AO's conference room to discuss the problem. Doc laughed afterward when he told about the simple solution to their problem. The windshields on the British planes were conical in shape to reduce the air resistance and allow greater speed. The windshield glass was also thick to make it bullet proof. Doc's answer to this problem was to provide a flat glass surface as part of the windshield so that optical distortions are eliminated. These distortions made the ground seem further away than it really was to the pilots who would misjudge their speed and distance as they tried to land. Eliminating these distortions would improve the accuracy when they shot at the enemy. It took Doc a very short time to see this simple solution.172
In the early development stages of World War II, Germany discovered nuclear fission and was in the process of developing and controlling it. U. S. scientists started to worry that once Hilter's scientists succeeded with the control of this process, they would quickly develop a fission or atomic bomb. As a result of the concern, the Manhattan Project, the name for the United States' effort to produce an atomic bomb, commenced.173
Doc came home for lunch one day in 1939 or 1940 which was his usual pattern and was more subdued than usual. He told his son, Lynd, who happened to be at home at the time, that Dr. Harold UREY was in to see him about a problem that UREY was having with a top-secret governmental project. Doc looked at Lynd, shook his head sadly and said, "I sure hope to God the damn thing never works."
UREY did not tell Doc what the exact nature of the project was because Doc did not have the necessary secret clearance at the time. But Doc had a pretty good idea what they were working on. UREY was known to be a nuclear fission scientist and the problem dealt with radioactive chemicals.
Harold UREY was a scientist who was awarded the Noble Prize in 1934 for his work with isolation of deuterium (heavy water). UREY was brought into the Manhattan Project because of his experience with gaseous diffusion and isotope isolation. He was made the head of the gaseous-diffusion project for uranium separation.174
FBI agents soon came to see Doc to evaluate his patriotism. One of the questions they asked Doc was, "what are your politics?" Doc replied, "None of your Goddamned business!"
They must have okayed Doc because he continued to do the secret work.175
Doc soon discovered that the early research was hindered because the engineers and scientists on the Project could not look into the containers that contained the experiments to observe the reactions. The chemical, uranium hexaflouride, deeply etched and dissolved the ordinary type of glass, sand glass, of the laboratory vessels and containers. Doc and his team developed a type of glass that resisted this acid's corrosive attack and did not obscure the reactions to be observed .176 177 This new glass was the first in history to resist the attack of hydrofluoric-type acids. This discovery not only added to the atomic bomb research, it simplified the handling of the acid when used in the industrial applications such as "pickling" metals, etching glass, processing textiles, manufacturing ceramics, and as a catalyst in oil refining and synthetic rubber production. To obtain this new glass that would resist the hydrofluoric acid attack the first thing Doc did was to eliminate the sand which is the main ingredient in all existing glass formulas to that date. Doc replaced the sand with phosphorus pentoxide, which, by itself is a very unstable chemical and reacts violently and instantly with water. Paradoxically however when in the new glass composition, the glass is more stable in contact with water than the ordinary glass is.178
Doc lead a team of scientists who specialized in glass chemistry so he was called in to help solve another problem just as the United States was about to enter World War II. The problem was that as the military was hauling out all the equipment they had not used since World War I, they found that the optical things were just no good any longer. The lenses had changed corrections and could not be used. It affected binoculars, gun sights, periscopes, and so on and they all had to be scrapped. Doc had to find a way to make them so that they would last. 179
One of the processes of lens production that could have been the problem was "annealing" which means heating the glass to near the plastic stage then letting it cool very slowly. This removes the mechanical strains within the glass.180 For large pieces of glass that have been heated to a high temperature, this annealing process could take a very long time and, in the war years, time was valuable. In wartime, the industry could not afford to wait these long time periods for glass to cool and could not accept the inferior quality for the exacting precision now required.181 Another problem with the old way of annealing was that it was not precise enough to meet the demanding standards (that standard was that a ray of light could not spread more than one inch in five miles).182 The existing annealing process relieved the strains but was slow and could not always get the precision needed. Doc had a theory that this lack of precision occurred when the molecules of glass failed to settle or pack perfectly. This explained the instances where perfect optical glass lost its accuracy after being stored for years. The annealed molecules had not been "comfortable" in their annealed location and shifted to their more natural positions as time went by.
Doc theorized that a temperature different from the classical annealing temperature might give better results. With the aid of metallurgists183 and of thimble furnaces and microscopes, Doc measured the rate of expansion of glass at the different temperatures. At one particular temperature the glass behaved in a peculiar manner. This was just what Doc was looking for. This temperature, which immediately became a government secret, was much lower than the classical annealing temperatures. This new process created very precise glass quickly184 and which had far less light ray deviation than ever before.185
Doc's glass chemistry team included Carl SILVERBERG, Neill BRANDT and Ward COLLYER. SILVERBERG bragged about another of Doc's contributions to the optical glass industry. Doc started an experimental glass melting laboratory at the AO to find the best glass to use in the ophthalmic industry. At that time, most of the glass that the AO used, came from the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. As a result of Doc's work in his laboratory, the AO developed the ability to produce its own glass of ophthalmological quality. This advance saved the AO a great deal of time and money by requiring only one melt and pour into the molds rather than to remelt the solid glass purchased from Pittsburgh.
SILVERBERG said that "Doc's strongest characteristic was to come up with simple solutions to complex problems." 186
Doc's supreme delight was the development of new types or compounds of glass, most of which immediately became military secrets. Doc would describe these compounds in generalities with a teasing, tantalizing twinkle in his eye. It was obvious that he was enjoying himself.187
Another death in the family interrupted the early war frenzy. Ella Louise LYND died on 19 November 1939. Doc took Florence back to Dover to attend the funeral service for her mother which was held at the LYND home on 21 Randolph Avenue. Ella LYND was buried next to her husband in the Locust Hill Cemetery.188
This was just a pause in the activities and did not slow Doc however. In 1939, discoveries, refinements and patents were coming out of Doc's Research and Development Laboratory at such a rapid rate, the AO formed the Legal and Patent Department to be sure the company's interests were being protected.189
Also needing protection was the national interest and security. No one in Worcester County was so hemmed in by security as Doc. "Not the physical type with guards and alarms but the mental that makes him says 'I can't talk to you about that' or 'You can't print that'"190
This closed, protected life could have been very oppressive and unpleasant to a person with Doc's need to be unbridled, but Doc seemed to hold up under this strain to some extent. "Seemingly, Dr. TILLYER lives for science alone, but this is far from the truth," wrote Scientific American (January 1940). "Genial, possessed of an excellent fund of stories, his tastes are catholic and his hobbies many. Intensely interested in photography, nothing pleases him better than to project his excellent collection of colored photographs for his friends. He loves to fish and cheerfully admits the fish generally elude him."191
During his involvement of the atomic bomb development, Doc was not always genial and cheerful, however. His stubbornness and cantankerous side also appeared. Often, Dr. UREY wanted to discuss various theories and ideas about the physics of this project with Doc. Doc, who was 57 or 58 years old at that time, refused to go to Washington for meetings with UREY.
"I'm too old to travel," Doc growled.
This occurred several times and each time secret service agents would escort UREY to Southbridge and into Doc's office.192
But travel seemed to be part of his life especially in the earlier years. As we have seen earlier in this biography, Doc traveled to Wisconsin to present his paper on the Naval Observatory Clock Vault thermostat (The TARGUM, 1 December 1909). He was also seen in the Raleigh Hotel in Washington, D.C. in 1921 (RAM; December 1921). He visited Rutgers to inspect the new physics building in 1928. He ran into the editor of the Rutgers Alumni Monthly in Washington in 1936 while he and Florence had driven down from Southbridge (RAM, 1936). He traveled to Pennsylvania State College to take part in seminars in 1944 ("Doc - In Appreciation . . . ") and visited New York City in 1953 to attend a banquet in his honor (Press release from the AO, News Bureau, 21 March 1953). His trips to Dover were very frequent especially when both of his parents and in-laws were alive.
As the family gathered to help Doc celebrate his 60th birthday in 1941, they were interrupted by President ROOSEVELT's "date that will live in infamy" speech describing the attack at Pearl Harbor. As they listened to the radio, Doc kept saying, "I told you so. I told you so."193
Doc's father, Lorenzo TILLYER died of kidney cancer in 1920 when he was sixty-six years old.194 For some reason, Doc thought that his father was only sixty years old when he died and Doc was sure that he, too, would die when he turned sixty. So all of 1942, Doc worried that would be his last year.195 Obviously, Doc was wrong.
Even though Doc disliked the "lime light," his fame was spreading. In addition to the acknowledgment and appreciation by the AO and the military the "industry" noticed him, too. In 1940, the National Association of Manufactures awarded him a plaque that read, "A Modern Pioneer on the Frontier of American Industry, in recognition of distinguished achievement in the field of science and invention which had advanced the American standard of living."196
With this recognition came contacts with other inventors. Early in the World War II progression, a young Boston physicist, Edwin H. LAND, contacted Doc and his team at the research laboratory about a problem that Polaroid film processing was having. The steel molds used to process this film were very difficult to polish. Doc's group developed a special type of pitch that would polish these molds much easier and faster and did a better job than what was then being used. This compound also became a closely guarded government secret.
When a foreign power realized the success the AO was having at polishing the Polaroid steel molds, they asked for a sample batch of the compound. Doc, when he heard this request coming from a country that he didn't like, tried to dismiss the request saying that he just could not remember the formula. Later, Doc came into Colin YATES' office waving a paper over his head and was ranting and raving as only he could. The paper was a formal demand from that foreign country requesting the United States to provide a sample of the polishing compound. Doc fumed and stewed but knew that he had to comply.
Suddenly he calmed down and looked at YATES. "Colin," Doc said, "you know that for every four batches of that compound we make we only get one that is a good one . . . ?"
YATES smiled and nodded. He understood Doc immediately. They found a rejected batch of the polishing compound and did what they were told to do. Later, when the foreign country complained that the compound did not work, YATES simply answered that they (the government) just did not know how to do work of that caliber.197
It was at this point in his career when his writings started to be accepted for publication and he became an almost prolific writer. He wrote several articles for scientific and popular magazines. The following are examples of these studies: "If You Value Your Eyes" published in the August 1941 issue of Scientific American; "Sharp Eyes for Battle" published in the January 1946 issue of Hygenia - the Health Magazine of the American Medical Association; "Effects of Ultraviolet Light on Vision" (a description of experiments of young chickens exposed to U.V. light) published in the January 1946 issue of Hygenia; and an article in the November 1942 issue of Flying which described the use of red light to help pilots accustom their eyes to the night sky and described the new goggles available to pilots.
On 9 August 1943, the News Bureau at the AO sent a release to the news media describing a training gun sight Doc had developed which was designed to train Naval fighter pilots to shoot down Axis planes. "The sight's target rings reflected on the mirror permits a flier to line up his target accurately . . . The new sight duplicates the performance of regulation Spitfire combat sights used in fighter planes but can be made for one-tenth the cost. The Navy is installing the sight on training devices which simulate actual flying and sighting conditions without making the student pilot leave the ground."198
Just before the War started, the U.S. pilots were plagued by severe headaches, known as "air headaches" after hours of flying. The cause could not be found by the Army and Navy medical people grasped at theories for the cause such as vibrations, altitude, speed, etc., but nothing seemed to be the answer.199 So they turned to Doc. He studied the situation and gave the military "An analysis and correction of the zero power deep curve lenses used in aviation goggles, resulting in the elimination of eye-straining prismatic displacement." The military medical staff immediately carried out Doc's suggested corrections and once the newly ground lenses were in the pilot's goggles, the headaches disappeared.200
The Cruxite Lens, which absorbed ultraviolet light and brightened dark days while darkening blinding glaring days, was another of Doc's developments used by these pilots. This lens eliminated most of the blue portions of light. Haze is caused by fine dust particles and moisture which diffuse more blue light than yellow or red parts of the spectrum. By eliminating this blue color, the haze was penetrated.201 In addition to these benefits, this lens provided a pleasing cosmetic appearance. There were four shades, A, B, C, and D, available for use with any ophthalmic lens.202
The last of the Cruxite D lens line which was a "Rosesmoke" shade and, on 3 October 1950, was patented. It was pleasing to the wearer both physiologically and psychologically. This lens was a unique haze penetrating, glare absorbing lens that also absorbed ultraviolet and infrared light. It became the standard for the United States Air Force and a desirable civilian sunglass.203
Doc continued his association with Dr. Edwin LAND, the father of the Polaroid Company. In 1949, they combined to develop a sunglass lens that eliminated both ultraviolet rays and reflected sunlight.204 "The lens, which combines Polaroid and Calobar glass, is available through American Optical branch offices and ethical opticians. The inventors, Dr. E. D. TILLYER, American Optical's research director, and Dr. Edwin LAND of the Polaroid Corporation (father of the Polaroid camera) are currently attempting to adapt the new lens to ordinary, non-prescription sunglasses. They hope to have it perfected by spring."205
Doc wrote about this project of combining Polaroid and Calobar glass in one of his articles. Doc described how LAND developed a polarizing material which was a "cellulosic" sheet. Imbedded within this sheet were millions of polarizing crystals in each square inch. Close up, these crystals were all aligned perfectly reminding one of a "picket fence." Only light rays which are traveling parallel to the fence slats are able to pass through. All the other "helter-skelter" light rays are reflected away from the eye by this sheet of polarized material.
When this material was teamed with the ultraviolet and infrared absorbing qualities of Calobar, it made a great potential for a sunglass lens.206
Later, in another article, Doc described how this combination was used for the World War II pilots. The pilot's goggles were constructed of Calobar type lenses covered by two Polaroid lenses so that, to the observer, the goggles appeared to have three lenses on top of each other. The top two lenses were the Polaroid lenses. The top lens of this trio of lenses could be rotated so that just the desired amount of light was let through. When the polarized crystal "fence slats" in each lens were running in the same direction, light that was parallel to the "fence slats" came through unobstructed. When the pilots rotated the top lens, the Polaroid crystal "fence slats" let less and less light through. When the top lens "fence slats" were at 90 degree angles to the polarized crystal slats in the bottom lens, no light could get through.207
In 1930, a German named Bernard SCHMIDT developed a lens to be used in telescopes which was termed the "most important advance in optics in 200 years." He combined the best features of the two types of telescopes. One of the problems in the past had been irregularities in photographic images taken through these telescopes. Because of the light requirements, rapid speed pictures were required and the concave mirrors in these telescopes would distort the picture. SCHMIDT discovered that by covering the concave spherical mirror with a thin, transparent "corrective plate" at the center of the mirror, these aberrations associated with wide angle, rapid speed telescopic photographs were eliminated.208
Doc worked on a lens system that was part of a secret military optical device during the War. These secret devices required one of the "Schmidt Corrective Plates." The plate was to be used with a circular lens with multiple curves used in high speed astronomical photography209 and for night viewing instruments. Wider angles than any others in use at that time were required.210 Before World War II there was less that 50 such corrective plates in the world. During the war, there became a very real need for many more.
The methods to produce the corrector plates, however, were slow, exacting and difficult. It was a tedious hand process that took weeks and even months for a skilled operator to grind and polish one of these plates.
The United States government requested that the AO assign Doc to the problem. Doc was asked to find a method to mass produce something that defied mass production. The war effort depended on it. The plate was discovered in Germany, one of the greatest optical centers of the world, and they were rushing to find a solution to this problem at that very time. They were actually working on it on a twenty-four-hour basis.
Doc studied the difficulty with the Schmidt Corrective Plate production methods. He soon saw through the problem and developed a process, called the Green Block process, to produce the corrective plates in a few hours instead of days as before. He did it by heating sheets of ground, polished optical glass until it dropped or "sagged" onto a refractory mold that had been previously ground to the desired shape. This allowed the circular, wavelike Schmidt curves to be imparted to one side of the lens. This mold had a surface that could only be expressed by a very complicated mathematical equation. The other side was later reground in the traditional manner and polished.
The Germans were right on Doc's tail but could not get past the hurdle of distortion and sticking. Doc solved this problem by putting a kyanite 211 clay and other ingredients against each other in molds.212
Louis ROWE was the chief mathematician at the Research Laboratory. He had become associated with Doc during the development of the "Green Block" process and said that he was amazed at Doc's grasp of these mathematical concepts and equations and his practical, simple methods to perform complex tasks.213
It was called the Green Block because it was a green colored mold.214
The war effort affected the American Optical Company tremendously. The company could easily have been described as a war machine. "Uncle Sam's soldiers are going to stay a while in tropic and sunny climes. No better evidence for this could be found than the shipment by the American Optical Company of 180,000 pairs of sunglasses, part of an order for a number of a million pairs, for the United States Army. The big consignment, largest on record, filled 900 cases - one whole freight car."215 Another interesting statistic is that in 1942 eighteen and a half million lenses were sent to the military and another fourteen million in 1943 while still providing quality civilian customer service.216
During the war, Florence hung the flag in her front living room window. This flag had one star signifying that they had one son, Lynd, in the service. Both Florence and Doc were proud yet concerned parents during Lynd's service.217
Once the war was over, it became apparent that the discoveries made during the war, could be used to better civilian life. Doc's revolutionary Green Block heat molding process used for the Schmidt plate molding was used in the postwar period for the manufacture of telescopes and large television sets. It was also used in a device which was used to detect stomach cancers.218 The telescope at Palomar Observatory, in San Diego County, California, has a mirror 72 inches in diameter with a 48-inch diameter corrector plate made using Doc's Green Block process and was designed by Dr. GLANCY.219 220
Another of Doc's theoretical discovery's was one of "considerable importance" raved both American Telephone and Telegraph Company and General Electric Company. The process they were lauding was Doc's discovery dealing with quartz crystal manipulation in radios. Each of these companies used his discovery in their radio communication in World War II and continued long after the war's conclusion. In the heart of military radio systems at that time were tiny, wafer-like, crystals of quartz which controlled the frequency or wave length of radio signals and were used to prevent interception of the signals by the enemy. Cutting these delicate crystals was a slow, difficult and unsatisfactory process. Doc developed an entirely new theory which led others to complete the job and produce "zero temperature coefficient" crystals.
"That invention," Doc said, "was contrary to all theory. And a properly worked up theory is absolute. I deliberately went against the existing theory - and it worked. I found that the previous theory was half-baked."221
Doc was once asked by an interviewer, "What makes an invention?" Doc answered, "I don't know what makes an invention - or why an invention occurs. It just happens." Doc continued, "My tools at the start of any invention are figures and formulas."222
Safety glass or the automatic heat screen that prevented fires in movie projection machines was another one of Doc's discoveries. Projection room fires were a common danger before Doc took on this problem. Doc soon developed a glass that let the projected light out but would retard the heat that was responsible for overheating the film and starting the fires when the machine was stopped.223 224 This heat screen allowed the projected images out to the screen accurately and brilliantly but reflected and disbursed the heat generated from the powerful and hot projector bulb. The new glass was "phosphate glass" and could be molded, ground and polished like ordinary glass and transmitted 85% of a possible 92% of the light rays.225 This glass was patented by Doc in 1945.226
Donald WHITNEY and Allan JEWELL, were young physicists at the Research Laboratory, working for Doc in the early 1940's. They had both developed intense personal interests in high fidelity audio systems that were then in the infancy of the development stage. During their breaks, this subject dominated their discussions. One noontime, they became engrossed in an electronic circuit that one of them had designed. Time went by and they suddenly realized that their lunch hour had long since ended and that they had better get back to their lens work or Doc would really "raise the roof." As they stood up, they realized that Doc was behind them and had been leaning over them observing their drawings and listening to their discussions. He did "raise the roof" but the reason wasn't their malingering but it was because of the poor audio circuits they had designed. Then Doc ordered them back to their seats and he pulled up a chair between them. He pulled one leg under him and sat of his foot and they spent the rest of the afternoon in a "spur of the moment" electrical circuit class in which Doc showed them how to do it the correct way.227
At the age of 63, in 1944, Doc attended the Glass Science Inc. when it was established by Professor W.A. WEYL at his laboratory at Pennsylvania State College. After the all-day meetings, the group would retire to an eight to a ten-person round table in the local tavern for the evening session. These sessions usually consisted of tenderloin steak sandwiches and a large pitcher of beer. Doc wasn't a beer drinker. "I just don't like the stuff," he would mutter.228 However, Doc always had a "big" drink before retiring for the evening 229 or get a "little looped" so he could sleep better. 230 When any of his adult children were visiting, he'd offer them a beer and often joined them. He even insisted that his daughter, Louise, have a Dublin Stout before she went to bed each evening so she would put on weight.231
Doc liked to relax and read novels and short stories. "I like nothing better than an exciting detective yarn," he told the Scientific American reporter with what was termed refreshing candor.232
It was about this time that Florence developed gall bladder problems and was in severe pain much of the time. Doc hired a cleaning lady, Ester, to help her keep the house clean233 but refused to allow her to see a doctor. Instead, Doc fed her pain killers (and "dope") and confined her to her bedroom. In the evening, he would carry a glass of wine up to his invalid wife. Her dependence on this "dope" increased as time went along.234 Florence continued to keep her hair long, wearing it in a tight bun on the top of her head. Her headaches continued and she secretly did see a doctor about that problem. The physician advised her that her tight hair bun could be causing the headaches and advised her to cut her hair. She did so and that made Doc furious. We do not know what sort of retribution Doc took, if any, but he did collect his wife's long tresses and tied them together with a red ribbon. These were found in his bureau when he died. 235 This behavior might have been because of Doc's dislike or distrust of physicians, perhaps from his early encounters with his uncle, or it could have been his desire to be in control of everything about him. However, so wary of these medical people was he that he actually pulled his own teeth rather than submit himself to doctors or dentists.236
In the laboratory, Doc's habit of crossing a leg under him and sitting on his heel when he was really excited about something had become an Edgar D. TILLYER characteristic noticed by all of his co-workers.
One day, Roy C. GUNTER, Jr., Science Editor for the Southbridge News brought a hydraulic engineering professor from Worcester Polytechnic Institute to Doc. This professor was in despair. His assignment, to photograph a naval gun shell as it entered the water, seemed impossible. This picture would require a tremendous amount of light because of the slow speed film available at the time. There appeared to be no way that this engineer could develop the required amount of light. As the professor described the problem to Doc, Doc silently and slowly crossed his leg under him.
When the professor finally finished describing the problem, Doc quietly said, "I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I don't think I've ever come across this problem before."
GUNTER, who knew Doc quite well, said to the professor, "Don't believe him, he's not telling the truth." The Polytech engineering professor knew Doc's reputation for explosive reactions and he was sure that he was going to get thrown bodily out of the office. But the crossed leg was the telltale sign to GUNTER that Doc did know something.
Doc heard GUNTER's comment and smiled, "Well, maybe I do have something on the subject after all." The professor sighed with relief as Doc started running his fingers over a pile of articles and reprints. About three feet down in one of the piles, he pulled out a paper he had written on this very subject when he was at the National Bureau of Standards some thirty years ago.
"Perhaps this will help," Doc said and handed the young professor the paper.
Rather than to increase the light required, Doc redesigned the optical system for the camera. Doc's optical system allowed the professor to cut his lighting requirement by a factor of nearly 200 and made the photography of the shell entering the water possible.
Doc's crossed leg and sitting on his heel was a dead give away to all who knew Doc that he was pondering a solution.237
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Tim TILLYER