Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 05 – And His Atomic Earth Blaster

“I sure hope that you can sell them on the idea!” Tom said. “In the meantime, I’ll get back to work on the atomic blaster. I believe I can use my present design as the basis for a much more powerful machine to penetrate the earth’s crust.”

After breakfast father and son drove to Swift Enterprises. Here, in a cluster of buildings and airstrips sprawled over a four-mile-square enclosure, their scientific ideas were developed.

Tom said good-by to his father at the main gate and hurried to his own private laboratory. To get in, he took an electronic key from his pocket, dialed the proper wave length, and beamed it at the lock. The door flew open.

The laboratory was equipped for all kinds of experiments. It contained an electron microscope, chemical supplies and glassware, a small electric smelter for metallurgical work, and a variety of other apparatus.

Seated on a stool in front of his workbench, Tom quickly applied his thoughts to the job of altering and improving his original blaster design.

A PERILOUS EXPERIMENT 35

Where to begin?

For one thing, he must adapt the cooling system, invented for his giant robot, for use in the earth blaster. This system used a highly paramagnetic fluid which was alternately magnetized and demagnetized. The fluid was circulated through the vacuum tubes inside the robot and controlled by a thermostat to maintain an ideal working temperature of 96.4� Fahrenheit.

A similar system would be needed to protect the instruments in the earth blaster from overheating. A hundred miles down, the blaster would have to operate at temperatures of several thousand degrees -hot enough to shrivel a human being to ashes!