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told Hess I had little to do with the battery business he still was persistent about my joining him at the Laurence afterward for some conviviality. He interviewed Whitey and Shapter and me in all. This was the only indication today that things are moving. Whitey himself never mentioned Shap or the move. In the meantime Shap rolled in an order today for 8 straight electric-industrial switchers for Russia!

I would have taken Hess up on his cocktail invition [[sic]] as I rather liked the fellow (D.P. Orcutt was here today too by coincidence) but the tank suddenly came to life. Horn phoned me after lunch and said they were going to build a second pilot tank with electric drive! - wanted to know what it would mean to our job if we omitted electric steering. The result is that I am now en route to Washington with Frank Pritchard to see Capt. Cummings tomorrow and find out what this is all about. Horn admitted he couldn't understand what the Capt. was talking about and suggested a conference. I felt pretty good about this because I have written a couple of letters to Horn trying desperately to keep the job alive and apparently the spark somehow has taken hold. I would certainly be tickled to pull this out of the fire after all - I had put an X opposite the tank on my schedule of autumn objectives - now perhaps I can change it to a satisfactory [[check mark]]!

En route to Erie, 
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 1940.

Horn took us down to see Capt. Cummings bright and early and we spent the morning with him. As I feared, the picture was not quite as rosy as Horn thought it was but it was decidedly rosier than I had even hoped for a few days ago when we thought all was lost temporarily