Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 04 – And His Giant Robot

The guard apologized to Hanson and the gate was raised to allow the motorcade to enter.

Later, on the inspection trip through the various laboratories and workshops, Tom and Sterling and Hanson found themselves nodding in approval of the ingenious design and fine engineering of the layout. At last Mr. Swift led them to the main structure, built of white cement. Inside was a corridor extending around four inner walls of lead and concrete. On one of the walls was a relay and television board for messages to and from the robot as he worked in the inner room. The main remote-control panel was in a separate building.

“Tom, I expect your giant to be able to feed slugs of uranium to the oven if necessary,” Mr. Swift said.

“He’ll do it,” Tom assured his father.

“Now we’ll take a look at the heart of this building,” Mr. Swift said.

In the huge interior section was a mass of square lead and concrete pipes arranged longitudinally.

“Looks like a mammoth honeycomb,” Hank remarked. “I suppose the slugs of uranium are fed to the pile through these.”

“Correct,” said Mr. Swift. “The heart of the reactor is in the center. In there the uranium will be

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bombarded with neutrons and changed into the various transuranium elements. Then the slugs are taken from the pile and the robot separates out the new elements in his own completely equipped chemistry lab over there.” He pointed to an enclosure whose walls were lined with the necessary chemicals in radiation-proof containers. “After that, he prepares them for shipment to medical and scientific institutions.”