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in small amounts as a requirement for their doctoral thesis. The universities, says Britton, as sume that industry should become the benefactor of the human race, forgetting the benefit that would result if they had good liaison with their own medical, agricultural, and engineering schools. "The cult of our researchers who proclaim knowledge for knowledge's sake
PEOPLE
„i
Edgar C. Britton (left) receives the 1956 Perkin Medal from Wallace P. Cohoe, senior American past president of Society of Chemical Industry
A Chemist's Chemist JL HE least one can do is to hope that the results of his work will b e useful to mankind at some future time." With this statement, Edgar C . Britton accepted the 1956 Per kin Medal of the American Section of the Society of Chemical Indus try. And the best indication that his hopes have been fulfilled are the 3 0 3 patents authored by Brit ton, many of which have led to the development of the chemical indus try as w e know it today. "Doc" Britton, director of the Edgar C. Britton Research Labora tory at Dow, and past president of the AMERICAN CHEUVIICAL SOCIETY,
has come a long w a y since the day a professor told him that he hadn't reached the age of puberty in or ganic research. H i s maturity was rapid and unquestionably com plete. His growing up was achieved, h e told t h e Midland Sec tion which honored him a few days before the award, b y following the regular paths w h i c h are open to everyone in scientific endeavors. These paths, h e continues, are **joiirneys in research/* Such a journey, h e says, is sirnilar to an exploration into the unknown by a traveler and his company. T h e provisioning for t h e journey, the study of known facts before the journey, the desire to keep going until the objective is reached, the return journey, and the reports
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which will permit others to develop the explored area are similar for each type of effort. • Secret of Success. One of Doc's main principles in all his re search journeys is the principle of 100% accounting. Unfortunately, says the medalist, the principle finds little application except in industrial developmental research where it becomes a necessity. Britton de cries the fact that our Ph.D.'s fresh from school know practically noth ing about die principle. Industry must take care of all its materials, and every chemist in industrial re search should strive to account and to find uses for the products of all his reactions. Too many chemists, claims Brit ton, are nothing but lab men with out any ideas as to the usefulness of their work. Currently, training chemists to think along these lines is up to industry, since the schools appear to have no conception of applications research. Too much emphasis is being placed on theo ries and mechanisms. These are mental exercises, while industrial chemistry depends on experiments. Theory is a guide, D o c states, but it is not absolute. Pointing to the time lag between the discovery of a material and its proved value, Britton emphasizes the fact that w e still have chemists who satisfy their professors by preparing compounds
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be eliminated and excluded from our institutions of learning," he de clares. Britton's thinking along this line is very positive. "I believe the chemist was put on this earth t o provide materials for man's use. If every chemist had this thought i n mind, be he teacher or researcher, and made it part of his idealism, our progress would be astounding.** • Still Active a t the Bench. T o help chemists assume this attitude, D o c still spends a considerable por tion of his time with his chemists at the bench, although only a month short of retirement age. H e feels that he can b e of value as an adviser, since the passing years, h e says, permit him to do consider ably more reading than in the past. With his guidance, the aim of h i s laboratory is simple—to strive t o develop chemicals for use in every day living. Britton's work has con tributed to the production of syn thetic dyes, pharmaceuticals, syntheic rubber, silicone resins, and a great number of compounds utilized in chemical production. D o c is a native Hoosier, and a graduate of the University of Michigan. After a short stint as a n instructor in organic chemistry, h e joined the organic research staff a t D o w in 1920. In addition to his post as director of the laboratory that bears his name, he is also secre tary and director of D o w Corning. Britton says that he would b e completely overawed b y his n e w honor were it not that his accept ance is in behalf of all those with whom h e has worked in chemistry. "My professors in college and uni versity, and m y colleagues and fellow workers in the engineering, sales, production, publicity, patent, and other departments in D o w , who, along with management, were sympathetic to research and d e velopment, have helped our re search into production and t o the notice of the world." A n d it is precisely this kind of thinking that prompted H. S. Nutting t o say. "Doc is not only a man's man, but a chemist's chemist."
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INDUSTRY
David M. Crowley joins C. F . Brann & Co., Alhambra, Calif., as process engineer. From Atlantic Refining Co.
Aver/ Elected J&L Steel President
Thomas E . Croxson joins research and development division of Chemstrand as acting group leader of the acrilan dye application group -
Avery C· Adeems, president of Pitts burgh Steel C o - , elected president of Jones & Laughlin Steel C o r p . He suc ceeds C L. Aaistin -who has been elected vice chairman of t h e board of directors.
Vance P. Edwardes appointed con sultant to the soda products division of Diamond Alkali. Edwardes is the 1955 winner of the TAPPI Medal Award.
Edward Barkis named junior re search engineer and A l f r e d O. Paas, junior developnoent engineer at At lantic Refining CUo.'s research and de velopment department. Benjamin B a r r e t t joins Douglas Air craft as design specialist. Albert L. Ba*ik appointee! head of the American Society of T e s t i n g Ma terials' d e v e l o p m e n t department. Sidney J. Kaum, former general manager of P o l y o o department, Borden Co., appointed general manager of petrochemical division of F o s t e r Grant Co., Leominster,. Mass. Daniel R. J. Boyd joins D u Pont's polychemicals department research division as a cSiemist at t l i e Experi mental Station En Wilmington.
Kenneth R. Brown Retires Kenneth R. IBrown, v i c e president and director of Atlas P o w d e r Co,, re tired S e p t . 1 after 38 years with the company. Brown's pioneering work in developing the commercial pro duction of sorbitol won h i m the 1955 honor awards of hoth t h e ACS Divi sion o f Carbohy drate Chemistry and the Commercial Chemical Development Association. Lawrence Cliarnas appointed re search associate? in the photosensitive vinyl departmeint of Ferro Chemical Corp. Alexander Cliisholm joints Wm. S. Merrell Co., Cincinnati, Olxio, as sec tion head of t h e analytical division. Maxwell L. G u e t t joins D u Pont's Grasselli chemicals department as re search ohemist. T. J. C o l e m a n promoted t o associate technical director of U n i o n Carbide Development C o . Fred W. Cox,* Jr. named manager of x\tias Powder's JReynolds Kxperiiaental Laboratory, Tamaqua, Pa.
Norman Eisenstein elected president of the Chicago Dairy Technology Society. Boyd L* Embrey named manager of market research for Lion Oil Co. He replaces George C. Cook w h o trans ferred to St. Louis. Lawrence M. Epstein named senior scientist in the radiation and nucleonics laboratory of materials engineering at Westinghouse. Henry Erlich joins Vitamin Corp. and Lustgarten Laboratories Inc. as re search and development chemist. F. D . Fisackerly appointed staff chemist at Flint Rote Co., N e w Or leans. From Miss. Chemical Co. Francis E. Fon taine appointed plant manager for Cyanamid's Lederle Laboratories division at Pearl River, Ν. Υ. He will b e responsible for p r o d u c t i o n , engineering and maintenance, gen eral services, and quality control. Fon taine was instrumental in the develop ment of a fermentation process for ribo flavin manufacture and for the con version of penicillin production from the bottle method to deep-tank fermen tation. In 1948 he was assigned to set up production methods for the then newly discovered broad spectrum anti biotic, Aureomycin chlortetracycline.
Geiger Elected VP Of Grace Chemical Group Marlin G. Geiger elected executive vice president in charge of the chemical group of W. R. Grace & Co/s seven chemi cal divisions. He will b e succeeded as president of Davison Chemical
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Lothar E . Geipel and James V. Kerrigan join Stauffer's Richmond (Calif.) research laboratory as re search chemists. John T. Gillespie, Jr. appointed vice president of Debevoise Co/s Debanode division.
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Daniel M. Gillies promoted to man ager of research at the Indianapolis laboratories of Linde Air Products Co. Gillies has been assistant manager of research at the company's laboratories in Tonawanda, Ν. Υ. Arthur L. Goeschel appointed man ager of the Santa Rosa plant of NRC Metals Corp. From Stauffer Chemical Co. where he was manager of t h e Niagara Falls plant.
Dealkylafion Polymerization
Co. by William E . McGuirk, Jr.. formerly executive vice president of Davison. As chenncai group execu tive Geiger assumes duties now car ried out by executive vice president H u g h S. Ferguson wlio becomes a member of the top echelon manage ment group. Charles E. Waring, formerly vice president in charge of research at Davison, named vice presi dent of Crace Chemical Research and Development Co., and will also serve as vp of the parent company.
Lester Guttman named to the metal lurgy and ceramics department of GE's research laboratory. Prior to joining GE, Guttman spent a year in Harwell, England, studying neutron diffraction. Ralph W. Ki!b has also been named to the research laboratory staff. Robert M. Haft appointed research chemist with Continental-Diamond Fibre division of Budd Co., Bridgeport, Pa. From United Aircraft Corp. Wilford N. Hansen joins Atomics International, Canoga Park, Calif. From AEC's Ames (Iowa) Laboratory. Derick S. Hartshorn, Jr. and Peter Veit appointed sales and service engi neers at Enthone, Inc.
Fred W. Hotch Elected NACA President Fred W . Hatch, manager of Shell Chemical's agricul tural chemicals division, elected president of the National Agricul tural Chemicals Association. He succeeds W . W. She!! Chemical Allen, manager of Dow Chemical's agricultural chemical sales, and has served as vice president of the association for the past two years. J. V. Vernon, president of Food Machinery and Chemical Corp/s Niag ara chemical division, elected vice
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φ SDC Perkin Medal Posthumously to Carothers Mrs. Wallace H. Carothers accepts the 1956 Perkin Medal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists from Clifford Paine, president of SDC. The honor was awarded posthumously to her husband, W. H. Carothers, founder of nylon.
PEOPLE president. Vernon has been a member of the association's board of directors since 1954. Three new members elected to the association's board of directors: Arthur W. Mohr, president, California Spray-Chemical Corp.; George R. Vila, assistant general manager of U. S. Rubber's Naugatuck chemical division; and T. L·. Wilkerson, general sales manager of American Cyanamid's agricultural chemicals division. FiCtiring members from the board of directors: Paul M ay field, vice president of Hercules Powder, and August Petrus, president of Cotton States Chemical Co., Inc.
Delbert R. Luebke joins Abbott Laboratories* analytical research group as a chemist. Joseph G. Martins joins research department of Shawinigan Resin Corp. Frank A. Mather named special representative to the Philadelphia district of Goodyear's chemical division. J. L. McCloud retired as staff consultant at Ford Motor Co/s manufacturing engineering office. McCloud joined Ford as a chemist in 1915, and
Charles T. Hathaway named research chemist in Monsanto's plastics division. B. J. Hayes named junior chemist at Callery Chemical Co.
George W. Higgins named chemical products sales engineer for Atlantic Refining Co. From Rubarite, Inc. Joel O. Hougen, former professor of chemical engineering at Rensselaer, and Theodore J. Williams, former assistant professor of chemical engineering at U. S. Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, join Monsanto's research and engineering division.
Vernon H. Jaynes joins U. S. Flare Corp. as project engineer in the research and development department, Pacoima, Calif. J. Robert Koenig joins Guilford Finishing Co., Guilford, Conn., as plant chemist. H . M. Leeper transfers from Monsanto's organic chemicals division at Nitro, W . Va. to research and engineering division at Dayton, Ohio. Reid H. Leonard resigns from Newport Industries, Inc., and is now a self-employed biochemist in Pensacola, Fia. R. L. Logan appointed manager of the Niagara Falls electrochemical plant of International Minerals & Chemical Corp.'s potash division. He succeeds Charles H. Berle. Philip Lowenstein joins Ace Scientific Supply Co., Inc., Linden, N. J. as chief engineer in charge of technical service.
J. H. Tyler McConnell, secretary of Hercules Powder Co., granted leave of absence to campaign for his election as Democratic Governor of Delaware.
POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT NO STUFFING BOX
Melville J. Hayes joins patent section of Du Pont's fabrics and finishes department at the Marshall laboratory, Philadelphia.
G· E . Hutchinson named manager of quality control for Rem-Cru Titanium, Inc. Alvin R. Ingram named manager of Koppers polyethylene laboratory.
two years later became chief ciiemist for Henry Ford and Son Tractor Co. In 1948 he was named director «of the chemical and metallurgical departments, and finally staff consultant in 1954. Since his retirement, McOloud has been named consulting editor of Metal Progress.
Specify Lapp Auto-pneumatic PULSAFEEDER ... for Automatically CONTROLLED Metering of Liquids The outstanding features of the Lapp *'Auto-Pneumatic" Pulsafeeder xnake possible continuous automatic processing of liquids which cannot b « satisfactorily handled by plunger-type metering pumps. The "AutoPneumatic" Pulsafeeder is a piston-diaphragm pump providing positirve displacement widiout the problems of a stuffing box. A hydraulicaltry balanced Pulsafeeder diaphragm isolates the product from the working parts of the pump, preventing product leakage or contamination. With pneumatic instrument control, the pumping rate of the "AutoPneumatic" Pulsafeeder automatically adjusts from zero to full capacity. Manually adjustable models also available. WRITE FOR BULLETIN 4 4 0 tvith typical applications, flow charts, description and specifications of models of various capacities and contractions. Inquiry Data S&eet included from tvhicb tue can mah
