HEADLINES of the Month Events of Interest to Chemists, Chemical Engineers, and Executives1, J L L Y 17. C;oodyear ‘Yirc, aiid l-, Ill.
-Reviewed b y the Editors
I)ivi~ioii,Xnierican Cjanaiiiicl Co. a t Willow Island, iV. Va.’ which will produce melamine, is in operation, it is announced4 “Dwight P. Joyce, preqident Glidden Co., says company will build a $3,000,000 sqrbeaii (,\traction plant adjacciit t o its feed mill in Indianapolis.
7 JZLY24. President Tiunian say- U. S. will hold fast t o the atomic bomb and continue its efforts t o make it more deadly SO long as Russia persists in obstructing efforts for international control of atomic energy. -USAEC announces program for production and domestic distribution of several important chemicals tagged with radioactive elemmts for use in medical and industrial research.
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7 JULY 25. H. K Fcrguson Co., industrial engineel- and bullders, Cleveland, New York, and Houston, form atomic energy division to specialize exclusively in nuclear engineering problems, with Karl Cohen, former director of theoretical division of J I ~ L Y19, U. S. I > ~ p a ~ ’ t n i e iofi t .-\gricwliui~criilt>A that iiorn~al Manhattan Project Laboratory, directing work.--Soconystocks of insecticides and fungicide3 shipped bj- manufacturer^ Vacuum Oil Co. grants $250,000 to M.I.T. for basic studies of to their own ~vai~cliouses may be sold in interstate c o n i i n e r ( ~ ~ nuclear fission and its engineering.--National Security Reuntil Julv 25, 1949, if they conform to insecticide rules and sources Board advises industry t o disperse its manufacturing regulations. plants and escape the paralyzing effects of a possible atomic war6. 7 JULY 20. Federal grand jury indicts 14 paint manufacturing concerns, including several of world’s largest, on charges of rigging Soviet prices in violation of U. 8. anti-trust lawsi.---iimerican Science Society announces it must stop aiding interchange of ideas between I;.S. and Soviet scient’ist’sbecause of lack of funds. “Britain’s main atomic energy research center at Harwell, lihglaiid, a top secret enterprise since it opened in Kovember 1945, is inspected by newspaper men. -.-Sinclair Refining Co.’s research department develops chemical to prevent rust in oil pipelines, storage tanks, etc.----U. 8. Department of Interior lvithdraws from entry and reserves for usc of ,4EC approximately 115 square miles of public land in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Ut>ahto be tested for uranium-bearing ores. National Chemical Exposition, to be held in Chicago October 12 to 1.6, will have a technical buwnu which will servc as :in inforniation service for all who at.tend2.
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7 JULY 21. American chemical process iiidustries with $11,000,000,000 chemical sales nov- represent the largest segment, in the hr, F. Crass, Jr., assistnation’s total n i a n u t ’ a c t u ~ i nenterprise, ~ a n t secretary, Manufacturing Chemists Association, says. Du Pont, Sherwin-Williams, Glidden Co., arid others under indictment deny government’s charges of price fixing in paint arid varnish industries.
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7 JULY22. World Comiiierce Corp. and Cassella Farbaerke Meinkuhr of Fechenheim near Frankfort, Germany, sign contract for export of $1,543,330 worth of German manufactured dyestuffs. --Trans-Ara,bian pipeline will be pushed to completion as rapidly as possible, W.S. S. Rogers, board chairman, Department and B. E. Hull, president, announce.--Commerce says exporters will be given priorities to obtain 61,287 tons of nitrogenous fertilizer materials for shipment abroad in next 12 months3. 11 t J u ~23. , ~ Third and final production unit, Calm Chemical 1
26, 2293 (.4ug. 9, 1948). l b i d . , 2330 rAuf. 9. 1948). C‘iwm. Eng. S e i o s ,
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7 JULY 29. An American Military Tribunal headed by Judge Curtis Shake of Vincennes, Ind., acquits I. G. Farben of conspiring with Hitler to throv- world into war, b u t nine of its aging directors are found guilty of war crimes after t h e shooting started. --Battelle Institute scientists after several years’ study have perfected a “growth-resistant” cast iron which doei not (.grow” when repeatedly heated t o high temperatures.-Earl Bunting, managing director, National Association of Manufacturers, says a speeded u p program of cooperation between industry and the Munitions Board has been agreed upon whereby critical niateilals essential to the nation’s military security will be stockpiled. “Estimated toll in Farben blast decreases as rescue workers find bodies, with total of dead expected to be 200 to 250 and 1400 t o 2000 injured6.
7 JULY 30. Army announces contract with Johns Hopkins for establishment of general research office to develop guided missile rockets and other new weapons.--USAEC approves export of high-voltage x-ray generators to England.--L. G. Berry, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ont., reports he has grown “minerals” in his laboratory to study framework of atoms under controlled conditions. “Prison sentences ranging from 8 years t o 18 months are imposed on 13 former directors and officials of I. G. Farben chemical concern for plunder and spoilation in various countries 01 io1 exploitation and ill treatment of slave labor. (i JULY31. President Tiuman appoints Oliver E. Buckley, president Bell Telephone Laboratoriea, N. Y., as member of general advisory committee of AEC and reappoints Cyril Stanley Smith of Illinois and I. B. Rabi of New York to commission.-.Irnir~and S a v y say research program to dcvelop production of I
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T JULY 28. Explosion and fire wrecks large portion of I. G. Farben chemical works a t Ludwigshafen, Germany, leaving hundreds missing, dead, and injured6,“North Carolina Textile Foundation fund increases t o $1,000,000.
I b d , 2363 (Aug 9, 1948)
* I b i d , 2249 (Aug 2, 1948) Ibzd , 2360 ( 4 n g 0 1948)
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Val. 40, No. 9
synthetic riiica in commercial quantities a d make the U. $3. independent of foreign sources has reached pilot, plant st,ape.
with Soviet Military Adrniiii tion on 4-power control o f 1. < i , Farben cartel and that a bipartite administration is heing set u p
7 AVGUST1. Albert L. Lehninger, Cniversity of Chicago, wins $1000 Paul-Lewis Laboratories Award in Enzyme Chemistry, to be presented a t A.C.S. meeting in Washington 4ugust 30, for research on chcmistry and metabolism of fatty acids.--Michigan Chemical Corp. announces full-scale production of potassiuni bromate is under way at its plant in St. I~ouis.---U~ S.Bureau of Mines says giant gas turbine once destined for loan t o Russia will be installed in locomotive labora,tory at Dunkirk, X. Y., for use as part of $2,800,000 research program of nine major railroads and four coal producers t o t w t adaptability of powder.fine bituniinous coal t’ogas turbine.N^C/Iiidustrialfair, portraying 50 years of progress in science and industry, opens in Kew Pork. .--.-Eugene I,. Houdry, Ardmore, Pa., wins 1948 Potts Medal of Franklin Inst,itute for leadership in development of cntalvtic method for cracking petroleum that bears his name.
7 AUGGST 7 . Photographic Society of -4nierica ~ I I ~ ~ O L I I L ~ X selection of C. E. K. ees, Eastnian Kodak Co., t,o receive PSA Progress Medal for h work in photography, technicnl achieve,ments, for documenting his n-ork: important contributions LO photographic literature, and for his inspiration to hi,s f‘ollow-worlrers. --American University’s Teaching Institutc of F : c w nomics, Washington, D. C., announces it will open classes iii t’he economic aspects of at’omic energy. --Carloton Slugg, manager of Hanford, Wash., alomic energv plant,, will bocomc, deputy general manager for BE@. it is a n n o u n c e d . ~ . u C h e m i t a s Corp., 40 Exchange Place, N. Y ~ confirms , order t,o S. W. Shaltuck, of Denver, for ursnium nitrate a,ndumniiim oxide shipped t;o Russia 5 years ago.
[: Aucus,r 2. Forest Service, U. P. department^ of Agriculturej accept>sbid of Ketchilran Pulp c! Timber Co. t o establish paper industry in Alaska. “Thirty coinpanics in fertilizer industry contribute $19,600 to research fnnd of industry’s Phosphate Research Committee which is being us~clto sponsor joint i n d u s t r y experimental station research projects employing radioactive tracer technique.- --Heyden Chemical Corp. enters Ptreptomycin field on large scale using new process which B. R.Armour, presidcnt, says is marked improvement over conventional methods and results in product of great purity. --Southern Dkbrict Federal Court gives Standard Oil (N. J.) and i t s affiliates exclusive rights t o oil refining processes covered by 544 patents purchased in 1929 from I. G. Farhmindustrie.
7 AUGUW 3. Damage in 1. G. Farben explosiuii and fire is placed a t 86,000,000, 185 dead, and 42 missing. --C,hemical industry makes plans to switch over to f.0.b. prices on acids. alkalies, fertilizer materialsj coal-far derivatives. pigments, and other product’s,
7 AVGCST4. E‘arbcii c.Iic~iiiical pliLrrl c i e a t l i loll is i.aiecd l o 187. --General Mills’ n c v chemical plant a t Kanlrakee, Ill., will begin operation this month, W’hitney € Eastman, I. vice president of General Mills and president of chemical division, sags.
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;\L-GCST 5 . Commerce Uepartinent changes policy so that limited quantities of tin-bearing alloys may bP imported. Glidden Co. licenses the Euston Lead Co. of -\ustralin to U S ~ Euston process for rnanufa.cture of while lead. --1?rpresentative McDowell tells his colleagues on IIousc Un.-American Activities Committee about 1300 Ib. of uranium compounds were shipped to Russia in 1943 “after tremendous pressure” on the Government, by known Soviet agents. -,Kational Academy of Sciences in its Pioceedings announces experiments showing that a form of vitamin K, vitamin K,, inhibits the growth of fungiproducing diseases in men, animals, and plant,s.-.,-President Truman expresses hope atomic bomb will be outlawed as ~ e a g o n of war. --Office of International Trade lays before alkali bdustry representat,ives tighter caustic soda export licensing to screen out applications from “fly-by-night” operatora.-u-Electronic Chemical Corp., %It.Carmel, Ill., completes pilot plant designed &oproducc 99%;;pure liquid hydrocarbons from natural gas by a n electrochemical process, Henry M. Unschuld, director of reH. Dow, president Uow Chemical, search, says.-.vWillard receives Bmerican Society for Metals first medal for advancement of research for 1948.
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7 AUGUST 6, Lt. Gen. €1. C. k1. Robertson, commander of British Empire forces in occupied Japan, a t ceremonies in Hiroshima marking third anniversary of atomic bombing. stresses 8. “betrayal” of friendly nations led to atomic bombing. ----U. and British Military Governments annoiiiice oficially B break
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7 AuGnsT 8. War Assets Administration and Mathirsorr (Ilreiiiical Corp. conclude agreement for lattei- t,o purchase ammonia plant and ammonia oxidation facilities a t Lake Charles, La., at a purchase price of 8 7 , 0 6 3 , 3 0 0 . ~ . ~ B m e r i r aand n British authorities say scores of plants of 1. 0. Farben chemica,I combine will be offered for sale sooni.
7 AUGUST9. Charles AllciiThoriias, President; A.C.S., aIinouilcos Diln-orth Wayne Woolley, 34-year-old blind chemist, Rockefellei, Institute for lCIedicai Research, will. receive the $1000 Eli Lilly & Co. Award in Biological Chemistry at A.C.S. meeting in Washington, D. C., August 30, in recognition of his research on vitamins and antivitamins. --Goveriiment~’s basic magnesium plant a i Henderson, Nev., is t’urncd over t,o ptafc oF Xevada n f t n operat . iiig a t a loss since end of war. 7 ; ~ U G C S T 10. Thirty-four coiiipaiiios and individuds plead innocent in Federal District Court t,o charges they conspired h! fix prices in nation’s billion-dollar paint’ and mood stains indwtries.N-VOlT says it \\-ill cont,inue export controls over caustic: soda and soda ash at least through 1948.--hTert- York St,ate Bar .Issociation authorizes creation o f section on anti-t,rust law with Chas. TVesley Dunn as chairman.
7 SUGL-ST 11. Economic Cooperation hdininistration m y conferences will begin next u-eek in Europe on shipment of strategic mat,erials t o U.S.---i3ecretxzy of Interior IZrug makes effective a t all consumer levels volunt,ary allocat,ion plan for oil industry which receives anti-trust clearance from Att,orney General Clark.--\Vorl; begins on China’s first D D T planl at K ~ o h siung inSouthern Tniman,espectedto be in operation by Dercmber. NNAEC gives back to Air Force 275,000-acre arra in X‘cw Slcxico whcre first at’omicbomb was exploded. AL-GCST 12. Shell Chemical Corp. opens iiiulti-million-dollal. chemical plant at Houston, Tex., for manufacture of methylethylketone and secondary butyl alcohol. --Senator Ilnmer Capehart, chairman Special Senaf,e Committee t o study implicabions of Supreme Court’ ruling in “cement’ case,’’ announces appointment, of over 40 public leaders to an “advisory council” to assist committee in studying impact, of cement case dccisiorr.
7 Be-GUST 13. .B. F. Goodrich uses atomic energy b~--proctucts in rubber experiments to produce better rires arid other riibhttr products, Howard 8.Fritz, vice prcsidetit in chargc of research, says.
7 AUQUST14, Provincial ofhial confirms discovery in Britisli c’olumbia of uranium deposit. 7 AUGUST I 5 Federal ,agencies plan water pollu(don ( : o ~ l t r d program, Maj* Gen. Philip €3. Fleming, ‘Federal Works Adminkt,ratop, a ~ r n ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 7
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