Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition — page 71: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

IN CASE controlling such threats has been remarkably good even though they have done some of their fighting under fantastic odds. Train travel, too, is made safer by techniques developed at industrial plants. Hot boxes, the terror of travel- ers in other days, have been made obsolete by roller bearings. Steel coaches trimmed with aluminum and plastics have replaced the wood and veneer death traps of the past. Loco- motive fires due to collections of oil dirt in hard-to-get-at places have been practically eliminated by semiauto- matic vapor degreasers that keep big Diesels almost antiseptically clean. Skyscrapers are safer because of lessons learned the hard way by in- dustry when ‘“‘fireproofed’’ plants in- sisted on burning to the ground. A sixty- or seventy-story building is too expensive to take the slightest chance with, as are the lives of thousands of persons who might be trapped. So tall buildings are constructed in such a way that, even though office furniture, carpets, et cetera, should burn to a cinder, their structures will remain relatively undamaged. Steel beams, floors, main electrical circuits, fire- fighting equipment, stairways and The World | of tomorrow... WAITS FOR YOU IN THE COMING ISSUES OF | ASTOUNDING | SCIENCE FICTION | — Subscribe Now — SIMPLY MAIL THE ATTACHED COUPON, | ENCLOSING YOUR REMITTANCE, AND YOU WILL RECEIVE YOUR COPY DIRECT THROUGH THE POST REGULARLY EACH MONTH OF FIRE 69 elevators will continue to function’ under such circumstances. In addition, | the law requires that skyscrapers must be tenanted by persons engaged in nonhazardous occupations—bankers, lawyers or ad agencies instead of salt bath operators. Skyscrapers are not “‘fireproof.’’ No man-made structure can be. But they are highly fire-resistant and liberally equipped with hand extinguishers, hose and plentiful supplies of water. Most of them have automatic sprinkler systems. The proof of their safety came when a B-25 bomber dived into the Empire State Building several years ago and. drenched the interior with gasoline. There was a nasty fire, of course. It gutted most of the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth floors. But, because only the furnish- ings burned and because the New York Fire Department had drilled itself for years to meet just such an impossible situation, it brought the flames under control within nineteen minutes! Despite such heroic examples of modern fire protection techniques, future historians may be more im- pressed by the way in which those techniques were developed. In most (your newsagent), or ATLAS PUBLISHING & DISTRIBUTING CO. LTD. 18 Bride Lane, London, E.C.4 | Enclosed is my subscription for 6 issues (10/—) Enclosed is my subscription for 12 issues (20/—) {Strike out whichever is inapplicabie) to ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION De ie eee. eee Bec a ay J | Commencing With the .............sssscseseserepeeneseeenenesens issue | BLOCK CAPITALS PLEASE conmmiclboolks.comnn