Word: delco
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Welcome to the world of microtechnology, where machines the size of sand grains are harnessed to do useful work. Huge numbers of microscopic sensors are already employed to measure the temperature, air pressure and acceleration of airplanes and automobiles. Delco Electronics alone sells 7 million silicon pressure sensors a year to its parent company, General Motors, for use in power-train controls and diagnostics. But scientists at Berkeley, Stanford, M.I.T., AT&T, IBM and a handful of other research centers around the world see much broader possibilities for minuscule machines. They envision armies of gnat-size robots exploring space, performing...
Sensors like those made by Delco were the first to combine microelectronics and micromachines on one chip. The typical microsensor is a thin silicon diaphragm studded with resistors. Because the electrical resistance of silicon crystals changes when they are bent, the slightest stress on the diaphragm can be registered by the resistors and amplified by electronic circuits...
Pressure from foreign competitors is prompting American companies to move part of their production overseas, where labor costs are often much lower than in the U.S. Many electronics firms, including Atari and Apple Computer, have set up circuit-board assembly lines in Asia. General Motors' Delco electronics division has built plants in Singapore and Mexico. Such moves stir bitter resentment among American workers. Says Edward Sesma, 33, who is being laid off this week from his job as a forklift driver at a San Diego tuna cannery: "You only have to look a few miles across the border...
Wayne Addison, 39, of Kokomo, Ind., lost his job with Chrysler last August, and has seven children to support, but claims not to be worried. "We've been cutting corners for years," he says. Addison's wife returned to work testing transistors at Delco, a division of General Motors. He buys most of the family groceries directly from farms, spending only $55 a week on food. Addison also barters his services, repairing a neighbor's clothes dryer in exchange for a new shirt. Still, Addison is bothered that his two eldest daughters must pay most...
...morning: Outside the Ford dealership, the guys from Gadlock's crew are getting ready to leave. The dealership has been opened extra late to accomodate crowds. Inside you can hear Elvis doing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" over the Delco system. Another one of those haunted Civil War songs. One by one the flourescent lights go out. There's a weird orange sodium vapor lamp glow over the city ten miles away. The cicadas are going crazy in the heat. It is terribly still and terribly wide open. There's been a bag lady outside the window all night...