Word: fogs
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Robert's new radars cannot be manufactured fast enough to suit ship owners. The price, ?2,250 ($9,000), is a trifle compared to the cost of operating a big ship. During one extra day at sea (running slow through fog, for instance), the Elizabeth's passengers eat the worth of two radar sets. Even small ships can quickly recoup the cost of a radar in quickened voyages and reduced insurance charges...
...back of Sir Robert's head: a "radar telescope" which will magnify on its scope any object of interest within the range of the beam. The observer at night or in fog can "tune in" a distant speck for better examination...
...necessary.. A child's popgun shot into a supercooled cloud works almost as well. The air expanding out of the gun starts snowflakes forming. One night not long ago, G.E.'s Dr. Bernard Vonnegut walked out of his front door into a below-freezing fog. He fired his popgun once. For 30 feet the fog turned into snowflakes...
...Stop the Fog. But dry ice and popgun explosions are shortlived instruments. What G.E. snowmen wanted was something that would hang around in the air waiting for a supercooled cloud. They discovered in the laboratory that snowflakes form more readily if they have something like ice to crystallize on. So they tossed all sorts of powdered substances into the fog in their laboratory "cold chamber." Silver iodide did the trick magnificently, turning the fog to snow. Silver iodide crystals are hexagonal, as snow crystals are. Apparently snowflakes recognize the kinship and are fooled into hanging on. An infinitesimal whiff...
...other feature, "The Verdict," is taken out of that turn-of-the-century period when London was the haven of swarms of frock-coated, fog-surrounded gentlemen crooks. A combination of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Peter Lorre might be a treat for detective-story fans. As it is, "The Verdict" can boast of only the latter two, and the resultant weaknesses in the plot dilute a pair of top chiller performances. The mystery is weak, the logic strained and the outcome unfair to those connoisseurs who want their murder mysteries to be more than gory fairy tales...