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The need for drastic standardisation of aero wheels and tyres in England is long over‐due. The U.S. Air Services have standardised five sizes of tyres for their needs, and these five sizes use only four axle diameters. In contrast, the English standards, covering the same range, list nineteen standard tyre sizes and fifty‐two axle diameters and length combinations.

THE need for drastic standardisation of aero wheels and tyres in England is long overdue. The U.S. Air Services have standardised five sizes of tyres for their needs, and these five sizes use only four axle diameters. In contrast, the English standards, covering the same range, list nineteen standard tyre sizes and fifty‐two axle diameters and length combinations.

THE coining of the phrase “work study” implies that someone wanted, without a noisy grinding of axes, to give time and motion study, as practised, a boost. So “work study” was born, all the old techniques were dressed up in a “new look,” and the whole show was presented to industry as “different”—it was a box‐office hit.

A power plant comprising a rotor having a plurality of circumfercntially spaced combustion chambers; a stator having an air intake port and a pair of exhaust ports disposed so that upon rotor rotation said air intake port communicates sequentially with said chambers at one of their ends and each of said exhaust' ports communicate sequentially with said chambers at their other ends; means for adding fuel to said chambers; and means for initiating combustion within said chambers; the relative circumferential positions of said ports and the point of combustion initiation within said chambers being such that during rotor rotation and after combustion in a chamber, said chamber, cyclically and in the sequence stated, is placed in communication with one of said exhaust ports, is closed to said one exhaust port, is placed in communication with the other of said exhaust ports, is placed in communication with said intake port, is closed to said other exhaust port, is closed to said intake port, and thereafter combustion is initiated in said chamber while it is closed to all of said ports, the overlap between said intake port and said other exhaust port being sufficiently large so that in each said cycle each said chamber is simultaneously in communication with said intake port and said other exhaust port for a length of time substantially longer than the length of time said chamber is in communication solely with either of said latter two ports.

These details and drawings of patents granted in the United States are taken, by permission of the Department of Commerce, from the ‘Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office’. Printed copies of the full specifications can be obtained, price 25 cents each, from the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. They are usually available for inspection at the British Patent Office, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.2.

A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that contract. When such a repudiation has been accepted by the innocent party then a termination of employment takes place. Such termination does not constitute dismissal (see London v. James Laidlaw & Sons Ltd (1974) IRLR 136 and Gannon v. J. C. Firth (1976) IRLR 415 EAT).

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides:

IF work study principles are being applied rather belatedly to the organisation of clerical duties it is doubtless because the area, being much smaller, is recognised as a less profitable one in which to effect substantial savings. There is, however, an increasing use of such techniques in offices.

In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.

This is an important book, as it is the first volume of an entirely new edition of a work sponsored and approved by the Royal Aeronautical Society. In the preface we arc told that ‘the purpose of the Handbook of Aeronautics is to collect together in as accurate and authoritative a form as possible, information which will be of everyday use to the designer and constructor of aircraft, and the aeronautical engineer’. Mr George Dowty, the Society's President, says in his foreword that ‘in order for a handbook of this nature to be useful it must be accurate and comprehensive’. In the latter connexion it must be judged in conjunction with the other members of the series; and as far as the design side is concerned we shall eagerly await the promised companion on Component Design.