Electronic cruise control arrives
A fuel injection system that is controlled by electrical pulses instead of the conventional mechanical metering device will be offered to American motorists in 1958. Equipped with this optional fitting, the driver has only to dial the speed they require, press a button and take their foot off the accelerator. An electronic 鈥渂rain鈥� then apportions the requisite amount of petrol to the engine, thus allowing constant-speed motoring without having to regulate the accelerator pedal.
The brain, an electronic modulator incorporating transistors, is mounted in front of the radiator and picks up signals from sensory units mounted around the engine. It instantaneously translates the signals 鈥� reporting such variables as air temperature, altitude or throttle position 鈥� into the fuel requirements of the engine. An electrical pulse, the length of which is varied according to the information received, is then sent out to open the valves. The frequency of the pulse varies with engine speed and their length can be controlled to one-thousandth of a second.
Advertisement
The electrically driven fuel pump, which is submerged in the tank, will not begin working until the engine is being started, and will not operate when the engine is stopped. In this way, the danger of flooding the engine with fuel is eliminated. The new system has been developed by the Bendix Aviation Corporation and, at first, will be available for Chrysler, de Soto and Dodge cars.
Home of the future
In the household of 1977 there will be a prepared food unit. Frozen food packages will be stored in classified ranks below four ovens. In the morning you will set the time you want to eat, the meal containing up to four food items. At the correct time the unit will transfer the four food packages from freezer to oven. They will be ready simultaneously at your chosen mealtime.
From The New 杏吧原创, 21 November 1957