Show Glass Ornaments Ornaments' Save Lives in War It If you talk about pris prisms s Grand Grand- Grandma ma might think you mean the glass ornaments decorating her chan chan- delier But her grandson if hes he's a GI Joe is aware of the fact that solid gla glass s prisms have been the means of saving many lives during the war It was early in the war that the army wanted a tank periscope supe- supe superior superior to the style old type made of mirrors and flat glass windows As Asa a result glass technicians here de- de developed developed a new plate glass prism that supplied about a 50 per cent increase in in- crease in visibility And equally if not more important this superiority was achieved in a unit that could be produced mass to take care of the desperate need for prisms tradition tradition- traditionally traditionally ally turned out in small quantities by bythe bythe the precise handicraft methods of at atthe the optical industry When the first U. U S. S tanks went into combat however a great need for prismatic viewing blocks developed In those first tanks commanders had to stand in the hatch exposed to sniper fire if they wanted a full fullview fullview view ot of their surroundings An alarming number were killed The answer was a new type of bullet bullet- resisting viewing panel developed by Owens Ford Glass company Made of laminated plate glass the tank observation panels are so placed that tank crews and commanders com com- commanders manders are enabled to obtain a degree field of vision when in action without having the hatch to see going on The pris- pris prismatic prismatic matic viewing blocks utilize for the first time the refractive properties of plate glass to obtain n a Some indication of the importance of these prisms might be gleaned from the number thus far turned out by the glass concert concern To date more than have been produced for various instruments of war |