British Industries Fair

Abstract

THE British Industries Fair, 1935, organised by the Department of Overseas Trade, is being held at Olympia and the White City, London, on February 18-March 1. This year the Engineering and Hardware Section is to be held at Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, not simultaneously with the London sections, as previously, but later, on May 20-May 31. The textile and furnishing exhibits will be shown at the White City and the general articles, other than engineering and hardware products, will be exhibited at Olympia. There are 1,550 exhibitors at Olympia and the White City, of which more than 750 are from London. There are again notable increases in the space taken and the number of exhibitors, compared with last year's figures. An indication of the remarkable growth of the Fair is given by the fact that the advance catalogue, which is issued in nine languages, runs to 684 pages, or about 152,000 words. The exhibits of products of scientific interest at the Fair again cover a wide range and reveal markedly the increasing use of scientific products, both materials and instruments, in the field of industry. The Committee responsible for the organisation of the united exhibit of scientific instruments is to be congratulated on the important display at Olympia of scientific, optical and photographic instruments. Microscope object-glasses of great refinement of construction; microscope projection apparatus; sound projection apparatus for cinemas, with suit-case sound sets for commercial and educational purposes; various forms of plani-meters; pocket cameras and aircraft cameras; distant-reading thermometers; geophysical apparatus for prospecting for gold, minerals and oil-these are but a few examples, selected almost at random, of the products that are being shown in this united exhibit. It is worth notice that, until two years ago, practically all the various forms of planimeters used in Great Britain came from abroad; and similarly, the particular geophysical apparatus referred to above was practically a German monopoly. It is good to note the enterprise of British scientific instrument manufacturers in these new fields.