JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
ABSTRACTING RESEARCH REPORTS1 I. C. STORK and K. C. COUSINS The Texas Company, Beacon, New York
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TEXAS COMPANY is interested in the whole range of petroleum products from gases to asphalt. For research on these items it has established laboratories a t Beacon, Port Arthur, Port Neches, and Lawrenceville. Reports are issued covering each phase of the projects. We, at Beacon, are responsible for making, classifying, reproducing, and issuing abstracts on all of this work. I n addition we have technical service reports which cover the chemical, physical, and performance testing of new or competitive products, as well a s technical investigations for consumers and other divisions of the company. Let us first examine the reasons for having such a service as an abstracting service.
REASONS FOR AN ABSTRACTING DEPARTMENT
The necessity for keeping information easily available would seem sufficient reason for an abstracting department in a company which has been established for some years and which has devoted so much of its time, money, and manpower t o research. There can be lit,tle doubt but that dependence on the memory of one of the older eniployees is a poor substitute. As the volume and diversification of the company's activities grow, the individual items tend to fade into the background. Moreover, trying to look through literally thousands of pages of reports t o discover the proverbial needle is a t best discouraging. Flipping through a small Presented before the 112th meeting of the American Chcmi-
oal Society in New York City, September, 1947.
handful of 5 X 8-in. cards is certainly less time consuming and, whpn the abstracts are well done, the information can usually be located within a matter of minutes or even seconds. This assumes that the leads furnished are not all completely wrong. A certain number of them are bound to be misleading, especially on the earlier work. Furthermore, as a quick and very concentrated review of past achievements and lines of endeavor for a new man on a project, they can he very useful. So far we have probably been in agreement as to the necessit,y for abstracting. But why a separate department? Surely the technical man, when he writes the report, could dash off an abstract while the material is so fresh in his mind. The reasons for the establishment of such a department and its activities form the subject matter of this paper. Originally the abstracts Tere made by the men doing the research and then checked, classified, reproduced, and distributed by the abstracting section. An ontline to be followed was compiled, approved by the supervisors, and distributed to each report writer. Almost without exception checking of the abstract resulted in its being rearranged, increased or shortmed, and usually rewritten. The time consumed in this checking proved to be, in case after case, longer than it would have been had the abstractor read the report and condensed it according to the outline. The reason for this was very simple. The technical man, after writing, revising, and checking his report (the abstract was put off to the bitter end), was anxious to get to the next step in his research.
MARCH, 1948
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form dependmg on the content, our answer is that the classifying takes care of keeping cards of similar content together so that similar information still appears in relatively the same place within a group of cards from the same class. Figure 1 shows a card before the abstract is made. In the upper right-hand corner are places for the necessary bibliographical references+. e., laboratory, experiment number, report number, and date. The space below gives the exact report title. This may be the same as the title of the experiment or, as is usual, it may limit the scope of the report to some particular phase of the experiment. Having filled in the above information, the abstractor is ready to read and digest the report. Let usassume for the moment that the report in hand covers some process, be it dewaxiug, alkylation, or manufacturing of asphalt roofing on either laboratory TYPES OF REPORTS RECEIVED or plant scale. The pattern is fairly fixed. Initial We have been mentioning reports and their abstract- materials are treated in a certain way and the resulting ing with only very brief reference to the types of materials are tested. The abstractor, knowing this, rcports we actually handle. In addition to the reports reads the report with the emphasized words as a on fundamental or small-scale research work on fuels, framework on which to hang the abstract. We have lubricants, and chemicals, there are those on full plant- sometimes found it helpful to draw a light pencil line zcale operations. Others cover asphalt, additives, in the left-hand margin opposite these points to make physics, automotive engineering, testing, mathematics, the inclusion of the material in the abstract simpler. literature and patent surveys, resins and plastics, etc. This provides insurance against omitting any necessary The variety is sometimes appalling, but the worst detail. feature results from the following. If someone comes Now we are ready to write the abstract. First we into the library and asks for an article he once saw in put down the purpose, which is usually obvious from the literature on something or other! you can go through the title. Sometimes greater precision in limiting the your cards. If it is not found, i t is acceptable to say scope of the work is obtained through this introductory that it evidently was not abstracted a t the time because statement of purpose. The next thing we're interested it did not seem of sufficient interest or time did not in is initial materials or charge stocks. Usually a mere permit concentrating on anything but the most im- listing of these with the proper heading will suffice. portant articles. On the other hand, all research The word treated is next and covers: apparatus; reports must be abstracted and, when the request operating conditions such as temperature, throughput comes in for a certain item, you have to produce it. and pressure; and catalysts, solvents, additives, diluOne run made on a certain type of column was a failure. ents, modifiers, etc. Of these items only the last Half a page in a report and a photograph covered it a t lends itself to listing. Incidentally, for those who obthe time but now someone else thinks he has need for ject to lumping such diversified substances together, we should like to point out that only one or two of it. A lead or two, a little time, and you have it. these classes will occur in any one type of report and hence will cause no confusion. The first item requires a description of varying length depending on the - .- .- ...............- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - modifications incorporated in the apparatus during the course of the experiment. The second can usually REPORT TITLE - .- - .- ......- .- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - be given as a series of ranges of temperature and presFigure l sure or in some cases tabulations, unless definite critical points are found in which case a statement is naturally MECHANICS OF MAKING ABSTRACTS made to that effect. Resulting materials would natuIn order to operate efficiently we felt that it was rally be the end products. If they differ from anticinecessary to standardize both the form and content pated products, some elaboration is required. Mentioning the tests run on the product would seem of our abstracts as much as possible-even as mentioned to the point of having certain types of infor- superfluous as long as they are almost standardized mation appear in certain relative parts of the abstract. tests for such products hut the occasion has arisen more Difficulties will naturally arise if only one form is set than once where just the running of one test on one up for all abstracts regardless of the subject matter. product has answered a lot of questions. If the test If it seems inconsistent to insist on standardization of were unusual in any way, special mention is, of course, form and simultaneously advocate more than one made of the fact.
But there are better reasons than that mentioned above for our doing the abstracting. The research man's imaginative and manipulative skills are most useful in laboratory work. Having the abstracts written up so that certain types of information occur in the same relative portions of the abstract makes scanning a lot simpler. Inclusion of all details, positive or negative, and the elimination of preconceived notions or weighting in view of the results of earlier experiments are taken care of since every abstract is mritt,rn as if the report were an isolated item. The lmk of duplication of effort has already been mentioned. Finally, since the cost of the department is prorated to the various research departments, it is merely a question of hidden versus apparent costs. The increased efficiency and decrease in actual costas arc not difficult to prove.
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132 Determination of rhea- I,AB .....P.N ............. EXP. NO .....22........ logical properties of As- RPT. NO. Pt. 2 DATE -6 806,40.................... 771 ,23.................... phalts rmLdefrom each the six types of Residua 806.30 771.22 771.90 125.40
...-........................................................................................................... REPORT TITLE Rheological Properties of Typical Asphalts.
Asphalts used were made from the following ~ e s i d u aand pro* essed to approximately 200, 100, 50, and 20 penetration a t 77OF.: Pickett Ridge, air-blown Sultal, vacuum reduced and sir-blown Mexican, air-blown Cayuga, vacuum reduced and air-blown S m Joaquin Valley, air-blown , So. Texas Heavy, vacuum reduced Duval, air-blown These residua were tested for sp. gr., flash (COC), S.F. visc. at 21OSF., per cent asphaltics, per cent pamffinics, and per cent cyolics. Properties of the asphalts reported were soft. pt. (B & R), ductility a t 77T., Penetration a t 77"F., 32'F., and 115"F., flash (COC), and component analyses. Rheological data on the asphalts were: B & R OF., rate of shear, shearing stress, and relaxation one-half time. Asphalts were compared and discussed on the basis of viscosity a t 77"F., complex flow (measurement of viscosity variation with rate of shear), elasticity, susceptibility to temperature change, and age hardening. The viscosity limits for group asphalts are also discussed. The appendix contains tabulated data showing properties and component analyses of charge stocks, properties of asphalts, component analyses of 50 penetration asphalts, rheologioal properties of individual asphalts, and age-hardening characteristics at 77' and 122 "F.
In addition, we have found that it is very helpful to mention any graphs, charts, or photographs included in the report as well as the contents of the appendix. However, conclusions, although part of each report, are not included since they may become obsolete over a period of years. You will notice a space a t the upper left-hand corner of Fievre 1. After we have boiled the renort down to the minimum, we deliberately make an abstract of the abstract which must fit that space. Thus scanning time is again saved. Furthermore the space between the bibliographic data and the report title is not wastedsince our classificationnumbersare fittedin there. The middle of the line a t the extreme bottom of the cards shows the coded distribution of the card and the number a t the bottom right is the number of the abstract card for clerical purposes. The abstractor has adhered fairly closely to the scheme outlined. She has managed rather well in condensing 26 pages to two sides of a 5 X &in. card. In exceptional cases the sheer number of products made or evaluated increases the number of cards to a maximum of four. The underlining is just another attention-catcher for very quick reviewing. While the foregoing outline is su5cieut for perhaps 75 per cent of the reports issued, there is another group consisting of physics, mathematics, and analytical research reports that does not fall into this pattern. However, by shifting the emphasis and amount of detail
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
on the various items and abandoning the idea of listing, it is still possible to approach this outline fairly closely. Figure 3 shows an abstract from a 35-page report made by the Physics Department. Shaping and polishing UB.. .Beacon. . . . . .EXP.NO..,708
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Windows and Prisms of
RPT. NO.
Alkali.Halides
1210.70 852.73 852 72
Pt. 11
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3-14-15 .............. 290.524
DATE
Halides. ................................................................................................................ Techniques, methods, and equipment for cutting, milling, turning, lapping, and polishing alkali halides were investigated, as well as the technique for polishing the sodium chloride foreprism, snd shaping and polishing various KBT windows and the lobes of 8. NaCl shutter for the injxwed speclrog~aph. Experimental work included: the el~llingof blank forms from large crystals of KBr or NaCl with a string saw, and shaping these pieces by water farming an wet cloth stretched over plate glass followed by milling and turning with a milling cutter at a speed of 200 r. p. m. and turning done on a lathe at a speed of 450 r. p. m.; lapping of the surfaces on plate glass with emery and alcohol to produce approximate flatness and to eliminate deep scratches and water marks; polishing of the surfxes with rouge and alcohol on cloth stretched over plate glass; polishing the surfaces to a flatness of less than one wave length of mercury vapor light with rouge and water on a pitch pad rotated on a horizontal table. Method far testing surfaceflatness is described. Photograph of the string saw is shown.. Details on the preparation of pitch pads and a description of containers suitable for shipment of highly polished alkali halides are appended. -11
+ Lock. + L.A. + Casp.-
8023
Fipun 3
For Engineering Research reports the emphasis will be almost exclusively on modifications of the app a r a t u s i n this case the engine. In other cases the fuel or lubricant may be of prime interest. The last type of report we handle covers literature and patent surveys. The abstracts on them are very perfunctory, mentioning merely the subjects covered by the survey. CLASSIFICATION
While the abstracting is of importance, the actual value lies in its accessibility. All the effort in making these abstracts is wasted if the material is buried in literally thousands of cards. If 10 to 50 cards will give you all the work done on a certain subject, it should not be too arduous to glance through them. For that reason we have developed a classification system, which, while borrowed to a greater or lesser degree from standard systems, is unique. We have applied i t to the classification of our subject index of books, the literature and patent abstracts turned out by Mr. Doss' group in the New York Office and to the abstracts of reports emanating from the various laboratories of the company. The system has recently been revised and brought up to date and has sufficient room for expansion. By using it, one is able to find all the information the company has a t its disposal
133
MARCH, 1948
from acids to ~eolites. One work of caution, however: pick out the required cards in seconds without waiting one number may not give you the complete answer the for the machine to sort through all of them; (2) the first time. In fact, we maynot even have a classifica- complete abstract is instantly available; (3) several of tion number covering the key word in the request. our smaller plants do not have IBM machines availFor instance, me were unable to provide the informa- able; and (4) the Keysort seems a bit awkward with tion on a Tecumseh setup until we learned that it had the minimum 8250 cards, even if the whole classibeen used in connection with refrigerator oils. The fication system could be coded on such a card and work "Tecumseh" appeared in neither the classification multiple punching be effected. book which is arranged in so-called logical fashion (exploration for oil through refining to products) nor in the EXTRA SERVICES One thing that dawned on us was the fact that some classification cards which are arranged alphabetically lubricating oil additives were repeatedly appearing in by key words. Provided wtth the words-refrigerator oils, or wax determination, or some such-the answer our reports. The reason was simple. We try thousands of them and it is impossible to remember every one was forthcoming in a matter of seconds. tested. The additives are, of course, listed on the individual abstracts and classified according to purpose. The next step after our abstract is completed and However, looking through all these cards for an inclassified is to send it. to those points in the company dividual additive could prove quite arduous. Therewhere the information will be used. Our maximum fore, when we offered our services in carding these distribution, as shown on the report itself, for any while abstracting the report, they were accepted. abstract is 20. That m'eans 20 places get a copy of The cards are arranged alphabetically by additive the card for each classification number on the original name and are columnized as shorn in Figure 4. If abstract. IT the card has 5 classification numbers, two or more additives are used simultaneously, the we reproduce 100 copies of it plus a few more to enable complete information appears under each of the addicertain offices to have a set arranged by experiment tives. By perhaps an over-abundance of cards, trade and report number. The cards are reproduced by names (in so far as possible), homologs, and abbreviamimeographing on legal size mimeograph stencils tions are cross referenced. Since the number of cards that have been impressed with the outline shorn on per additive averages 6, and since complete sets are the original blank card. That gives us 3 cards to a distributed to eleven points in the company, the total stencil and cutting the card stock used (15 X &in.) number of reproduced for each additive is about 66. is a simple matter. The only precaution necessary is At last count the number of individual additives to make sure that backs and fronts match and enough tested tallied about 1500. This figure (1500) assumes copies are run off to cover the maximum distribution one entry for each additive. However, in practice, shown for any single abstract on the stencil. Our each card may contain from 1 to 25 such entries, insingle set of abstracts (by experiment and report so much as an individual record is made for each adnumber) runs about 8250 cards. Since the average ditive every time it is tested. Any literature and patent surveys undertaken by the number of classifications per card is about 7, this means library are assured of abstracts on any allied previous a complete set contains approximately 60,000 cards. work within the company written from the point of Some points in the company will have considerably less, view of the immediate ~roblem. Handling of the binbing of New ~ o r k a n dBeacon's ADDITIVE: copies of all reports, making up a monthly. list of all PURPOSE OIL TESTS EXP-PT reports issued by Beacon, and indexing such reports as resulted from the PIWC wartime agreements, etc., occupy another portion of our time. We are a t present abstracting thislast group just as we do our own reports. Perhaps in time even the research correspondence files will be abstracted, as I understand is done elsewhere.
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Figure 4
QUALIFICATIONS OF ABSTRACTORS
Experience has taught us that they should be college as they receive reports on only' a very limited number gad;ates with a ma& in chemistry and considerage of subjects. While we do not intend to get into a dis- proficiency in handling English. The abstracting cnssion concerning the merits of punched cards, I "knack" which speeds up the process comes with pwcthought it advisable to say that we had considered tice. Alertness and ability to concentrate must be using thein. We decided against it for the following coupled with painstaking carefulness. Such are the reasons: (1) by our present method it is possible to modest requirements we demand of an abstractor.
