I/EC POINTING
Forecast THE E D I T O R I A L
FINGER
Low Pressure Polyethylene Detergent Bottles You may soon see liquid detergents in low pressure polyethylene bottles on the shelves of your local supermarket. Owens-Illinois Glass Co. will start making the containers in 12- and 32ounce sizes shortly. T h e company says it has several orders for the containers already, customers not disclosed. T h e move to all-polyethylene bottles for detergents is a natural. Manufacturers of liquid detergents have been putting polyethylene inserts on the pouring lips of both glass a n d tin can containers to reduce dripping of the product down the side of the bottle when it is used. W i t h an all-polyethylene bottle, dripping will be a thing of the past, they hope.
Twenty Times as Fast Look for increased use of automatic computers for more down-to-earth plant and lab applications. Esso Research a n d Engineering is using an automatic computer in heat exchanger design a n d cost estimation of shop-fabricated vessels (page 712) and both Esso and U . S. Borax use computers for pilot plant calculations. In process engineering work, computer calculations are 20 times as fast as h a n d figuring. This increased use of computers points u p another trend : F u t u r e graduates will not only be required to master the engineering curriculum b u t m a y also have to know something about computer programming.
Sunlight Turns to Limelight F r o m an interesting conversation piece, to a fad, to a revolution in the chemical and metallurgical industries. This m a y be the history of solar energy. Right now, it is in the fad stage, with a good m a n y companies getting o u t commercial items that work on solar energy—for example, cigarette lighters. But there are a good n u m b e r of scientists who are now working on more important applications of solar energy. I t e m : A segmented mirror 200 feet in diameter and capable of producing a temperature of 5000 ° C. is under consideration. Such a development m a y revolutionize chemical and metallurgical m a n u facturing methods and permit the development of new materials.
AT T O M O R R O W ' S
PROGRESS
Glass Heart? Some of the most startling developments to come out of research labs in the future will probably come from the glass industry. For instance, research is now being done on composition control to make a glass as flexible as rubber. Such a material might first find use in making replacement parts for body organs. Also, malleable glass with the workability of plastics and the abrasion and heat resistance of glass is possible.
Nuclear-Powered Car While it m a y be some time before your car is powered by a l u m p of u r a n i u m the size of a pea, engineers are thinking about some of the problems. T h e result m a y be a nuclear-powered car within the next 20 years at least. According to W. D . Manly, of the O a k Ridge National Laboratory, probable coolant will be liquid sodium, moderator sodium hydroxide, shielding lead, and borated water.
Comes the Revolution Something new at Western Electric Co.'s Point Breeze (Baltimore), M d . , plant may point to a mild revolution in materials handling. Material is polyethylene and the development was forced by high materials handling costs. Polyethylene has been handled in small volume containers ever since it was introduced. Now, though, Western Electric has replaced the individual containers with 10,000-pound-capacity bins—huge .air- and water-tight bags m a d e of neoprene and fabric. F r o m the bins, the polyethylene, which is used for insulated exchange cable, is fed to heaters and extruders by a pneumatic tube system.
Rare Earths Not So Rare Commercial production of the rare earth elements is likely to get a strong boost in the near future. T h e reason for it is a program being sponsored at Battelle Memorial Institute by seven chemical companies. T h e p r o g r a m will probably take two years to complete and will be aimed at developing commercialization of these elements by improving methods of separation. At the same time, a group at Battelle will also try to find new uses for the rare earths. VOL. 50, NO. 5
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MAY 1958
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