Beta-ray gauge checks uniformity

In the first installation of its kind, a General Electric beta-ray gauge is being used at the Antioch, Calif., plant of the Fibreboard Products Corporation to help maintain accurate and uniform weight of milk-carton paperboard. The gauge, mounted on one of the company´s 136-inch paperboard machines, records the varying amounts of beta rays absorbed by the board as it passes through the gauge head of the noncontacting device. The amount of beta rays absorbed varies with the weight of the board, thus allowing a constant check to be maintained. Variations as slight as one per cent from the desired weight per unit area of the board are indicated and recorded automatically. Operators are able to make adjustments of the processing machinery as needed to produce paperboard of uniform weight. This is particularly important in the case of milk-carton board and similar material that is run through folding machines which operate on extremely close tolerances. The gauge, which is not affected by the speed, consistency, or temperature of the material being measured, also may be applied to other materials. Since no part of the gauge is in actual contact with the material being measured, it leaves no mark or scratch.