1. ELECTRICAL INSTRUMENTS IN POLAND 2. PRODUCTION OF CONDENSERS IN EAST GERMANY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300140013-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 10, 2001
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: December 30, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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COUNTRY Poland/East Germany 25X1A
SUBJECT 1. Electrical Instruments in Poland NO. OF PAGES 5
2. Production of Condensers in East Germany
DATE OF INFORMATION neeenek, I^"^ _
25X1A
In general, the electrical measuring instruments situation in Poland
was very critical. Usually the instruments were not available or
they were of inferior quality. Three general factors affected the
instrument situation in Poland:
a. The shortage of electrical instruments was mainly the result of
the fact that very few instruments were manufactured in Poland
and that the instruments had to be procured from other Satellite
.countries or from Western countries.
b. The difficulty of procuring instruments was caused in large
measure by the complicated administrative procedures prescribed
in ordering instruments. All purchases must be made through the
State Commission for Economic Plannin
/ ntrD"_ % -1,4-1.
.._ti _Y
g
as
25 d
inate only to the council of ministers
e. Another difficulty in the instrument field was the contradictory
policy of the Government in respect.to relations with other
Communist countries. On the one hand, it advocated that Poland
be self-sufficient in the instrument field and prevented exchange
of scientific information between the Satellites. Scientists were
told by Government authorities to reveal only the bare minimum
of information to visiting engineers from neighboring Satellites.
Purchasing from other countries was greatly discouraged. On the
h
ot
er hand, all Satellite countries were supposed to cooperate
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when the Ministry
ne n us ry bought a rather elaborate apparatus from
Czechoslovakia for making paper condensers, it never occurred to
the.Ministry?that Poland had no paper suitable for this work, nor
did the Czechs mention that a special type of paper would be
required. In general, scientists would gladly exchange informa-
tion but they were afraid to do so,
2 Instruments made in Poland were usually of inferior quality because
one or another required material was not available. For instance,
the Ministry of Machine Industry proposed that Pupin coils should be
built in Poland.. This proved impossible, however, because Poland had
no core materials.. Occasionally, small lots of instruments were manu-
factured by a Polish professor or his assistant in a laboratory in.
order to earn some additional money, but factories were not permitted
to divert labor or materials to make anything that was not provided
for in the state plans. Flow meters were not factory-produced but a
few of them have been made by staff members of the Polytechnic.. Insti-
.tute in Warsaw for their own use,
3.
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,rte ~~-~...aa u.nau J. 1 1 V.L.G44JU WC WUU.LU
say that the Ministry of Machine Industry likes to t 11,
f b
CA o
uilding a
chimney but never thinks of the brick. Top officials liked to propound
but whenever they were pressed for details they would reply that they
were not specialists and then would promise to ap
i
t
po
n
a commission
to take up the matter; and there the matter rested,
The Industrial Institute for Communications made Rochelle salt crystal,s'w
Practically no-:quartz was available
The Electri
al I
t
,
c
ns
rument Factory
A-3 in Wtoch near Warsaw, made voltmeters, ammeters, and watt-hour
25X1A meters. It was the only electrical measuring instrument
factory ii* One serious trouble with electrical instruments
was that the sensitivity changed by as much as 25% over a period of 30
days. This was due primarily to the fact that the alloy magnets were
put into use before they had time to age or season. The magnets were
cast, ground, and magnetized by the Baildon Steel Works in Upper
Silesia. Jewels for bearings were difficult to obtain. Instruments
above the milliampere range were seldom seen. The Baildon plant also
supplied parts to a factory in Wrzesnia which produced permanent
ma
net t
l
e
g
ype
oud sp
akers of 1.5, 4 and 15 w. capacity.
The Technical Institute in Gliwice has produced some
ri
expe
mental
sintered magnets but these have not yet been used in high frequency
circuits. Professor SMOLINSKI of the University of Warsaw was interested.
in this work. The Gliwice Institute also made standard cells in small
quantities. Plant A-.1 in Warsaw produced a temperature controller
And an inferior cathode ray oscilloscope 25X1X
Lenses, microscopes, and binoculars were s a e-owne p ant,.
25X1C'PZO, in Warsaw, but it is possible
that the firm Wichma a some m cr s gnifying
25X1X .glasses, Ordinar
gauges, Y,
(3 nvnfq vacuum pumps were
available
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It was always th
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Heavy machines such as lathes and drill presses were produced in
Poland, but there was no such thing as precision machines because
the "green" castin would warp out of line. Transformers of large
,capacity, (100 kw.) were produced, Electric clocks and alarm clocks
of inferior quality were also made in Poland. A gasoline tractor, the
Ursus,.was manufactured in Warsaw as was a passenger automobile, called
the Warszawa, This car was patterned,after the Russian Popieda and 25X1X
was-manufactured by the FSO Zeran plant, There are more cars and trucks
in Poland today than h-f r v. L-.-,,.,1 A S.re,..., T-r
duced in Poland. A former ""'w ~~uCi mo-uors were pro-
German factory, Wytornia Licznikow Elektry-
cznych in Swidnica neasr sY= built watt-hour meters.
Poland did not produce photographic equipment, infrared apparatus,
spectrometers s ect
r
h
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.9 p
ograp
s, geoprospecting gear, electron micro-
scopes, acoustical instruments, string oscillographs, standard resis-
tors, capacitors, thermopiles, tachometers, or dynamic speakers.
Poland received most of her imports from the following countries:
a. East Germany was the chief source of instrument importation. The
i
nstruments were of good quality. Of late, Apparate Werke, Berlin--
TroM-
c. Most of Poland's instrument standards come from Austria. These
included Wheatstone bridges, Thompson bridges, potentiometers of
the precision type, etc, The Norma.plant in Vienna supplied most
of these items and they were of excellent quality.
d. Instruments from Hungary were poor in sensitivity, accuracy, and
mechanical construction.
b. Czechoslovakia supplied voltmeters, ammeters, and wattmeters of
good quality.
e. Switzerland supplied semiprecious stones such as sapphires and
agates for instrument bearings.
f. Poland used to receive many instruments from Sweden. In recent
vearfi _ hnwAx7Can $-L,o _-_*1-R-1--- -s, -- ,
g. The only Soviet instrument
oscillograph. Despite the
Germany. because of the exce or ans p,
ip. The shortage of the following was very acute: electric.sockets,
extension cords, small drills, taps, dies, abrasives, emery cloth
and grinding wheels, ball bearings, wood and metal screws, and machine
tools of fine -quality. Czechoslovak tools were much better and much
cheaper than domestic products,
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11. The standard* and units of measurement used w, ,,,-. metric ---as-in Ger-
?tia"V Thar,-, W o n
a Central Bureau of Wei hbf
g and Measures in Warsaw,
that the adoption of the Soviet s st
r
many. There was a standard
astronomical clock in Krakow and a standard frequency oscillator in
Warsaw, with a precision of one hertz, which was coordinated with a
ana measures was under consideration. The physical standardswofhts
length and mass were all-imported from Ge
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 frequency standard signal originating in London. In addition to the
primary frequency standard in Warsaw, there were branches in several
other laboratories in Poland,
Gera Condenser Works
.12.
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comparatively new, was four storieshigh. Itemployed ap 'oxi mn was
1,000 to 1,200 workers of all ages with~ a ratio of about three women
to two men. The plant was not at all modernized or mechanized. Every-
thing was done by hand. The plant produced the following types of
condensers:
a. Electrolytic. These were made with aluminum oxide and impregnated
with an electrolyte. They were made in two sizes;
n mf,> -
75 having dimensions of about 10 cm.' x 2 cm., and a high potential
condenser of 550 v., in the 83 16, and 32 mf, he n
ta.9 narc W.="n --A- ,.r -_ - 9 ; sizesp The
was between .2 and %a,m U. e , The
ture range between minus 40 and Plus 700 C. The losses wereemperavery
small compared to those incurred when using The
210 v. condensers had a capacity of .001 microfarads. Theshigh
h
voltage condenser, that is, from 14 to 10,000 v., had a maximum
capacity of one-half microfarad. The conductor was aluminum and
the separator was a very thin sheet of polystyrene. These con-
densers were used as standards. They were costly but were not so
expensive as the corresponding mica condenser.
b. Polystyrene condensers. These condensers were non-inductively
wound. They were enclosed in an airtight alumin t b
rge
c. Metalized paper condensers. These condensers were made by passing
a special strip of paper about 50 cm, wide between rollers similar
to those of a printing press, which printed several violet colored
strips about two centimeters wide on the paper. The material
smelled like amylacetate or acetone and affected the eyes in the
same way. After the paper had been printed, it was run through
an evacuated. cylinder at a temperature of about 1000 C. The violet
colored stripe assumed a very bright metallic surface. The paper
was then out in strips and again wound non-inductively on a spool
which was then dipped in an artificial wax in a liquid state under
vacuum.' The condenser was then placed in a sheet iron container
which. was sealed airtight. The microfarad condensers were tested
at 250 v. and had a working potential of 150 v., DC. They were
about 18 x 30 x 30 mm. in size. A smaller condenser, about 10 x
30 x 30 mm., having a capacity of .05 m:f,, was also available. An
interesting point was the ease with which the workers soldered
copper wires to aluminum when making these condensers which were
produced for military receivers and measuring apparatus. More of
these condensers were made than those of the polystyrene type,
The containers were first plated with'copper and then with nickel
and then lacquered.
d. Paper-oil condensers. These condensers were made in various sizes
for various voltages using paper and aluminum foil in the usual
way. They had an induction-free winding. They were evacuated
and. then filled with oil. The lead-ins were made through glass
beads and the assembly was airtight but not a true vacuum. Capa-
cities ran from a few microfarads to 10,000 mfs. and from 15,000
to 20,000 v. The power loss was one tenth of one per cent. These
r....4 ,_
were mars 4- la
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e. No ceramic condensers were made at Gera.
13. Large coupling condensers were produced by Turbonit Werke in Berlin
and by Transformatoren Werke, also in Berlin. These condensers were
used to couple a high potential line with a high frequency oscillator
for.telemetering and power control. They were made at Turbonit Werke
for 30, 60, 120, and 220 kv. They were about two meters high and 60
ems. square. These appeared to be made on order, with several workers
working on each condenser. These condensers were about twice as
heavy as the Swedish condenser of the same specifications.
14. Poland had ordered high frequency telecommunication equipment for
power. stations from Sweden the delivery of which was extended over a
period of two or three years, the cost depending on the current
price at time of delivery. , 25X1X
to go with these high frequency a eme er ng installations. High
frequency telemetering was coming to be used more and more in the
USSR.
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