Chapter 14

At nine thirty we got to John's home and I just wanted to sleep. Corinne wanted to talk and play. I had a quick shower and talked to the child for a half hour then went to sleep. Corinne got on the bed later and watched me wondering why I wanted to do a stupid thing like sleep when I could be playing or talking with her.

I got up at four with a headache from changing my sleep pattern. Corinne was happy that I came to my senses. I wanted to do some shopping before the stores closed. Sunday shopping was presently and for years to come, against the law.

After leaving a note, I got Gregory to drive Corinne and I out shopping. The selection of goods was much better in Toronto but still not up to what it would be at the turn of the century.

I came back with a load of clothes for the family and friends. I also came home with a very tired little girl that was happy to be wearing some new shoes I got her.

Mr Berger was at the house when we got back. He presented me with a pass to the university library and a paper stating that I was a part time student but one taking no courses.

"Thanks you Mr Berger. Did you have to threaten anybody to get this?"

"No, Mr Holtzman and I used the smoke alarm as a way of getting the university to do this. They are getting a small percentage if and when the material gets approved. I promised nothing but they were told that if you didn't have access to the books you couldn't invent anything more."

We had supper and discussed what had changed in the last week. Much more had happened in Toronto than North Bay. I mentioned what was in the letter I sent that Mr Berger would not get until Monday. I gave a partial list and he wondered how he was going to get everything.

"Jeff, the glassware and such is easy. The purified materials may be harder or nearly impossible. The high temperature refractory vessel can be ordered but I have no idea about the delivery time. The list you gave me gets very close to fifty thousand dollars. The rest of the list will only make the total higher."

"Research cost a lot of money as you're well aware of."

"The items you gave me don't sound like the things needed to investigate liquid crystals."

"Some portions can be but they are for the tape recorder. The various thicknesses of mu metal have to be cut. I want the lasers to do that cutting. It is a way of showing a practical application of the tool. I should be able to cut with air and water too but those are for later."

John said, "Air?"

"A while ago you were incredulous of using light. None of us has seen this yet but we do believe."

Mr Berger simply asked, "How do they work?"

"The water is driven from a small hydraulic cylinder that is pushed in turn to a high pressure, and much larger diameter cylinder of hydraulic oil. We should aim for 60,000 pounds per square inch. The water rushing by will wear out anything including diamonds. Presently diamond dust and a small brass wire is used to drill a hole in a diamond as a nozzle. To make it cut steel you simply mix abrasive dust into the water.

"The air method may already be around. An electric current strips some of the electrons from the oxygen molecules in ordinary compressed air. A further direct current is used to guide the ions to steel and it cuts cleanly and cheaply. I don't know the maximum thickness of the cut but the metal doesn't get so hot that it warps."

"We will look into those processes Jeff."

I added, "Both processes are cheap. I'm going to be making synthetic rubies soon that will work in place of diamonds but won't last as long."

John asked, "For the laser project?"

"For one of them."

We talked until eight thirty when Corinne went to bed then we left for our research facility. Mr Berger had to go through a guard at the door. He went through the security arrangements and I was signed in as a researcher. I was not a James Bond type but I did see that security was good. Though the engineers were only here in two shifts, the property was monitored around the clock.

There were some engineers around who told us what they were doing. Some of the men I had never met but they all apparently knew me. The bottle-making machine had been converted from glass to plastic and worked well. Even on Saturday a machinist was working on a new mould. The small cap-making machine had five different types of caps made and four of them were the safety variety I mentioned before.

The set-up for making magnetic tape was disappointing. I was shown drawings but very little of the machinery was available. The chrome dioxide was in a large drum. It had been through a ball mill many times to make the powder as fine as possible. This was done on nights because of the noise of the balls falling on each other and striking the powder in between.

Mr Berger and John were very excited about the progress and I guess I should be too. I saw very little of the difficulties and only saw the need for the tape for my machine. We stayed an hour and went home early. John and I had to catch up on a little sleep.

Corinne got me up in the morning and I attacked while pretending to be a dog. I blew a raspberry on her bare belly and her high pitched screams hurt the my ears. She had a chance and escaped while I tried to catch her while running on all fours. She shrieked once again and fled to the hall. She had bright eyes and was breathing hard when we went down to eat.

Corinne, Grampy and I played until noon then had a light lunch. Four prospective engineers were slated to come over at one o'clock. Two were mechanical while the other two were chemical and electrical. Mr Berger promised to come over too if he could find the time.

I had some drawings ready. One was the child's car seat, drawn as well as I remembered it. I made up for my poor drawing talents by making a lot of smaller drawings of some features. There were two varieties of child carriers used to put a child on a table or floor and be safe and secured. I had to draw the stroller. Mine had one front wheel sixteen inches in diameter. The back two were similar and all of them were pneumatic. The brakes were always on and the parent had to pull up a rod like a future lawn mower to get the device to move. A large carrier was provided to lessen a possible load. The engineers would try to see if they could get it to collapse for storage.

The heavy racking was very familiar to me. All my future businesses had this equipment in the back for storage. It never failed although a lift truck buckled one leg when we had an inexperienced driver.

I drew the steel sheets for constructing a building but this was not really important. I did add the insulation and other things necessary for the walls. The trusses were shown with a gently sloping roof. Customers would need air-conditioning but I would try for chillers if cool water was available.

The self-tapping sheet metal screws were drawn. Again they were not fancy but were perhaps something new. I added a soft plastic material under the head to seal the hole.

From last night, I drew the light dimmer and the GFI. The transistors for these were just on the market now. They were not what was best but I could fudge the properties a bit to make it work. The current comparator circuit and the trip coils would only be a little problem.

The sanitary napkin was drawn next with the plastic flaps. The material of the pad would have to be worked on because in later years it got much more absorbent and much thinner. Variations in designs were added though it wasn't something I usually investigated. The ladies over the years used a large variety of sizes and shapes.

Pictures of various sizes of bubble wrap were given with only one showing some dimensions. A toaster oven may or may not be around now but I drew it as I remembered them. It was really the rods inside the oven that would be different. Most elements now were ceramic with a coil of bare nichrome wire running in the grooves. This meant another drawing for electric element design but now they would pop in and out for cleaning. That didn't happen in any stove now.

I was able to get them all done because most I had sketched while I was in school.

I handed them to John and said, "I threw in one more. It is an improved element for an electric stove. You will see a connector drawn beside it."

"This looks fantastic, but why are they sticking up so high above the surface?"

"For normal cooking they are too high. But the use of large pots reflects a lot of heat back down. This will warp the oven because it is made of thin metal. The extra space allows the excess heat to escape."

"That makes sense. So we can put lower profile ones in though?"

"Yes, if you want something that looks pretty but fails under heaver use."

He was looking through more drawings when the doorbell rang. The housekeeper went to answer it.

"Is this the GFI thing?"

The people coming in interrupted us and the drawings were put on the table. A new nanny came to get Corinne so I had to assume the last one didn't make out very well.

The first arrival came in and introduced himself. His name was Andrew Bush. He happened to be the chemical engineer. He stated his age at thirty-two but looked older. He was thin to the point of emaciation. His movements were quick as if fearing an attack but this was probably his nature.

Andrew's field was more toward petrochemical processes, however, he did know a fair amount about plastics and explosives. He had heard of us from some friends and came to see if he could improve his standing. He was currently working in the paint industry and the pay was poor. He had a wife and two children as dependants.

We had only talked for a few minutes before the doorbell chimed again. This time John got up to meet the next person and Andrew asked, "If you don't mind me asking Jeff, I thought you were John's son or possibly grandson. You seemed to be remarkably well informed."

"John is a friend and business partner. I'm the one that finds a need and devises a strategy to overcome fill that need. The patents are mine and all future patents will be mine as well. I'm the one actually doing the hiring."

The man just looked at me. Something like this took a while to be understood.

The next man came in and we had to stop this conversation. The next applicant was a tall redhead with a prematurely receding hairline. John introduced the new man to Andrew then started his questioning. I chimed in with my own questions as they came to me. James Slatter didn't seem to like me questioning him but he did answer. He was one of the mechanical engineers. He had spent some time in the auto industry then went to farm implements. Currently he was employed in a machine tool company related to the auto industry.

Charles (Charlie) Turner was the next. He was a bit overweight. He laughed a lot and had a good sense of humour. He was older than the other two at around forty years. He too had worked making farm equipment but had a stint working for an aircraft maker. Under some questioning he admitted to working a great deal outside his profession. He claimed, "I have to eat and feed my family. When things get bad we all do what we must."

Dale Pouchette was the electrical engineer. I soon found he spoke little of his ancestors tongue. He was the shortest man here but he was very strong. I did most of his questioning, as I knew much more about electricity than John. Dale worked for both Ontario and Quebec Hydro. He was currently working for a company making specialty motors.

The housekeeper brought coffee and some pastries while we continued our talk.

I said, "I'm the one that is doing the hiring. You might well wonder how this is happening. I have a surprising brain. When I see a need, I usually think of a way to satisfy it. Other times I just stare at it for days with no solution coming at all. I write and sell popular songs and might get into books and screen plays too. My inventions though are all money-makers though some are just things that needed to be done. I haven't kept track of the number of patents I own — "

John interrupted, "Eighty seven before today or what's on the table."

"Thank you Mr Holtzman. I have eighty seven patents to my name. Some are related to pure physics alone and it was just done to mark my place as the one finding a new branch of physics. There's one more area I want to expand and that is why I need a chemical engineer. This deals with liquid crystals. My hunches are usually good and I want to see if I can find some that work at room temperature.

"The device I made that produced coherent light in the ultraviolet spectrum sits in my basement at home. An engineer can duplicate it in an hour. I plan on making three more devices. One will produce visible light but I can't see it doing much other than a way of learning. The other two will be infrared and they will have enough power to burn through or weld almost any material.

"I need a mechanical engineer to work on the fabrication of the necessary crystals along with the electrical engineer.

"I'm building a very sophisticated audio recorder that should see a very wide usage in the radio and television industries. To do this I'm making a new head design and an improved circuit to remove hiss and a much superior type of magnetic tape. The tape itself will be in a plastic housing I call a 'cassette' so it does not have to be threaded by hand. These cassettes will also be sold with pre-recorded music. They'll be played in the portable units I want to manufacture. I see a market for home and automobile units also.

"So you gentlemen see, I'm a busy person. The tape, the cassette and the recorder could net me close to fifty million dollars on a gross income of a hundred million. I will have a high profit margin due to my ownership of all the patents. The real world enters here and I'll not be able to even meet part of the heavy demand.

"My company is growing, and you gentlemen have a chance to get in on the ground floor. I do not know who if any of you here will be asked to join our group. The information I gave you was confidential but it was something you had to know. First, does anybody here resent working for a twelve-year-old?"

Each engineer was asked and they answered verbally. James Slatter was asked more questions concerning this to make sure he knew what he was getting into.

The questioning went on for only a while then they had to fill out a detailed form listing past employers. I planned on trusting employees but only after finding out if they deserved the consideration. They also had to work with each other and not be inept. My old companies got most of the new employees by recommendations from those already working for me. This put pressure on the old employees to make sure I got a fair shake. I had to start from fresh all over again. This time I had some very valuable secrets instead of used televisions.

The men left after a light supper with us. The two mechanical engineers would have a chance to devise the device that grew the long crystals for me. This was nothing new, for synthetic rubies had been grown for a long time. John would pursue the investigation on each man as he did on all the other employees. He was also going to register Wal-Mart, Costco, Best Buy, Zehrs, Home Depot, and Starbuck's in my name along with variations on the name Congdon.

Mr Berger never did make it to the meeting but I drew a rough sketch of some neon sigh electrodes fused to sections of Pyrex three inch glass tubing. Other sections would have the glass-tubing cut at an angle to suit the wavelength of the carbon dioxide laser. If I were off by too much I would use a tube cut to a different angle. The ball joint allowed a bit of tinkering but lost some of the cross sectional area of the main tube.

We really needed the line of credit. I would be broke if the prices Mr Berger quoted were even close.

Corinne and John saw me off on the bus. The large package of clothing was wrapped securely and in the bottom compartment of the bus where luggage usually went. The suit though stayed at John's house along with some clothes. I doubted if I would need the suit in the next two weeks.

I took a taxi home with the package in the back seat. The driver helped me carry it to our veranda. I treated him kindly with a nice tip.

The next morning came much too early but I was still able to function. The large package was still unopened and I got only one inquiry and that was from Maggie. I said, "They are presents for those I love. Please let me give them when it is time."

Maggie smiled a bit though it hurt and said, "Ok."

When I got to Home Ec, Mrs Cameron told me that the executive board had finally come up with what should be said. Instead of feeding nearby ears I wrote out, "Use three or four of the young unwed mothers to talk to a class at a time. They are stronger in a group. A message from a woman that has been through this ordeal is much stronger than from a young boy. If this is not acceptable I will do what I must." Mrs Cameron read the note twice then nodded her head and returned to her desk.

During lunch some of the senior young men stopped me in the halls and gave me a piece of their mind. Their problems with their girlfriends were laid at my door. I was not threatened outright but the implication was obvious. They were just angry and figured I could make it all right again. There was not much chance of that happening until the girls needed some male attention or until they extracted some concessions from their boyfriends.

During English class Alice kept batting her eyes at me and doing other foolish things. I knew that if I was were knee deep in hormones I would never have noticed this as foolishness. Clark was not pleased either.

I caught site of Paige in the hall and all I could do was wave. She smiled and threw me a kiss. A girl did not usually do this during this era yet meek little Paige was doing it to me. It made me feel good for some reason.

Chemistry was more fun. I followed the teacher's notes and explained a simple fact of physics. It related to Bernoulli's law; and I just mentioned it in passing as important and probably on a future test. Some wrote that note in their books. For a half hour I was able to work on my project. I even stayed five minutes after the last class to finish the experiment then clean up.