March 10, 1931
INDUSTRIAL
AND ENGINEERING
Tungsten Produced b y Fansrteel Adjustment of certain patent restrictions n o w permits the Fansteel Products Co., Inc., North Chicago, 111., "to sell pure tungsten metal in all commercial forms for general ρ-urposes. The com pany has manufactured tungsten since 191-4, b u t has sold the pure metal only in the form of finished electrical contact points. Certain tungsten-molybdenum, tungsten-tantalum, and tung sten-copper alloys, as well as pure molybdenum and tantalum have been produced, and slight adaptation of teciinic and equipment bas been necessary to produce fine-drawn wire of pure tungsten. The metal is refined from Chinese wolframite or other basic materials t o tungstic acid, which is converted to salt and back t o acid three times in order t o eliminate impuri-fcies. The pure acid i s ignited to oxide, which is reduced in hydrogen furnaces t o 99.95 per cent pure tungsten powder. This powder is pressed into bars under several hundred tons pressirre, and t h e bars are converted into ingots by sintering. Sintering, when carefully controlled, starts a regular metallic crystal growth, which is continued by swaging the ingots into rods of decreasing diameter and finally drawing them into wire through drilled diamond dies. Ingots are also rolled into sheets for certain purposes. Fansteel tungsten i s obtainable in bars, sheets, wire, a n d powder. Tung sten salts are also obtainable. Durimet This is the trade name for a new nickel-chrome-silicon alloysteel developed by the Duriron Co., Inc., D a y t o n , Ohio. Avail able in sheets, bars, plates, and castings, "this alloy is recom mended for acid service where other materials do not apply. One of the newest products in Durimet is a Y valve which has several innovations. The valve seat is reino/vable and reversible ; the unit becomes an angle valve by turning -the lower part of the split seat 180°; the valve disk is full-floating, permitting a new seating each time the valve is used. The company has recently opened a branch office at 7-252 General Motors Bldg., Detroit, Mich., in c£harge of Richard R. Rourke. N e w Method for Lining Steel Tubing The Detroit Seamless Steel Tubes Co., Detroit, Mich., has perfected an exclusive patented process for lining steel tubes with a variety of metals or alloys. The lining and outer shell are bonded b y fusion so inseparable that there is n o t only n o evi dence of separation, but no manual means of destroying the union. This new tubing is advantageously used for steel-backed bearings, conveying corrosive liquids, delivering water through tubing boilers where a lining metal of high heat conductivity is advantageous, and similar operations. Lubricant-Testing Appara±us T h e Timken Roller Bearing Co., Canton, Ohio, has just announced an apparatus for testing the load-carrying capacity of lubricants. While it w a s originally developed for use in the company's own laboratory, its usefulness rxas been extended t o industrial plants, power plants, automotive works, and other places where i t is desirable to determine t h e usefulness of lubri cants for given conditions of service. It is also equally effective for obtaining data on the relative efficiency of different bearing metals under various conditions of load, speed, temperature, etc. Meter Prover Outfits For the purpose of accurately proving displacement meters in place, the American Meter Co., 105 West Fortieth St., N e w York. Ν. Υ . , through the Metric Metal Works, Erie, Pa., has brought out simple assemblies of testing equipment known as the Pierce critical flow orifice prover and the metric low-pressure flow prover. Improved models of 5- and 10-ft. "American" provers have been developed which afford more than twice t h e capacity of t h e former type. New Worm-Gear Reduction Units T h e Ohio Gear Co., 1333 East 179th St., Cleveland, Ohio, has recently put o n the market a speed-reduction unit which com bines high-speed reduction advantages of worm gearing with selective dial, permitting a n y of four speed changes t o be used. Originally designed for use o n machine -tools and conveyors, this unit has been made adaptable to other uses where high-speed reduction and speed changes are necessary. T h e Illinois Testing Laboratories, Inc., 1 4 1 West Austin Ave., Chicago, 111., have announced the appointment of t h e James H . Knapp Co., 4920 Loma Vista Ave., Los Angeles, Calif., a s their exclusive Pacific Coast distributor. T h e S t a c e y Engineering Co. has opened a branch office a t 235 Montgomery St., San Francisco, Calif.
CHEMISTRY
73
Chemistry in Finance Allied Chemical & Dye Corp. Orlando Weber, president of the Allied Chemical & Dye Corp., has been granted an indefinite leave o f absence. Charles Walter Nichols, son of t h e late William Henry Nichols, a graduate of Cornell, and a director of Allied, will serve a s chairman of the executive committee during Mr. Weber's absence. There has been considerable gossip as to what this may portend, but there are no official announcements. American Commercial Alcohol Corp. The American Commercial Alcohol Corp. and subsidiaries show a profit, before inventory adjustments, of $56,381* and after write-off of $534,403 o n inventories t o market values, a Ti&t loss of $478,022 for 1930. In 1929 the company reported a net income of $1,395,716, equivalent t o $4.78 a share o n 2$1,924 average common shares outstanding during that year a n d $3.22 a. share o n 389,138 common shares outstanding at the end of 1929. Corn Products Refining Co. For the year ended December 31, 1930, the Corn Products Refining Co. reports a net income of $14,067,689, equivalent, after preferred dividends, to S4.86 a share (par $25) on 2,530,000 shares of common stock. This compares with S16,309,651, or $5.75 a common share, in 1929. Eastman Kodak Co. Eastman Kodak Co. has declared t h e usual extra dividend of 75 cents on common stock and the regular quarterly dividends of $1.25 o n the common and $1.50 on the preferred. All dividends are payable April 1 to stock of record February 2S. Freeport Texas Co. The Freeport Texas Co. reports for the year ended December 3 1 , 1930, a net income of $3,124,185, equivalent t o $4r.28 a. share o n 729,844 no-par shares of stock. For December, 1929, the net income was $359,914, making the net income for the 13 months ended December 31, 1930, $3,484,099, o r $4r.77 a share. The company has changed i t s fiscal year to end De cember 31 instead of November 30. Through acquisition of a controlling interest in t h e C u b a n American Manganese Corp., owners of extensive manganese deposits in Cuba located about 10 miles north of t h e port o f Santiago, the company has expanded into the manganese field. Production is expected to b e started within a year i n a plant which is to be erected immediately t o treat 1000 tons of ore a. day b y new patented processes which will increase t h e metallic content of manganese ores t o the percentage required b y A m e r i can steel mills. This new project will require n o new financing o n the part of Freeport Texas. Newport Co. Quarterly dividends have been declared by the board of d i rectors on the class A convertible stock a n d common stock o f the Newport Co. On class A convertible, 75 cents per share was payable in cash o n March 2 to holders o f record a t t h e close of business on February 2 1 , 1931, and o n common, 25 cents per share, payable a t the same time. The Meriam Co. At a recent meeting of the directors, the president of t h e Meriam Co., manufacturers of U-tube and well-type manometers and flowmeters, announced that the company was able t o declare a stock dividend of 100 per cent. He attributed this remarkable showing to the interest that is being taken in many brancmes o f industry in thorough, and thus more economic, measurement o f liquid and gas flows and pressures. United Carbon Co. The report of the United Carbon Co. for 1930 shows a n e t profit of $704,600, equivalent, after dividends paid on 7 per cent: participating preferred stock, to $1.43 a share on 397,885 no-pax shares of common stock outstanding at t h e end of the year, including 36,300 shares held in the treasury. This compares with a net profit of $1,314,555 in 1929, equal t o $10.49 a. share o n 27,055 shares of 7 per cent participating preferred stock, and S2.62 a share on 393,073 common shares outstanding a t t i i e end of that year. The quarterly dividend due this month o n the common. stocJk was omitted to conserve the cash position of the company a n d t o supply funds for t h e large expansion program in connection with t h e Columbia Gas & Electric Co. contract t o purchase gas from United Carbon in the Kentucky fields.
R. R . Wason has been elected president of Mannings Max well & Moore, Inc., and of its subsidiary, tJhe Consolidated Asixcroft Hancock Co., Inc., and will make his headquarters in N e w York.
