CHEMICAL
AND
NEWS
ENGINEERING HARRISON Ε. H O W E , Editor PUBLISHED VOLUME
BY
THE
20
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
JUNE 2 5 , 1 9 4 2
SOCIETY N U M B E R 12
Manufacturing Chemists* Association M e e t s
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H. L. Derby
George W . M e r c k
Charles Belknap
Lammot du Pont
son, 608 Woodward Bldg., Washington, D . C ; executive committee, Lammot du Pont, chairman, E. I. du Pont de Nem ours & Co., Inc., Wilmington, Del., Ε . Μ. Allen, The Mathieson Alkali Works, Inc., 60 East 42nd St., New York, Ν . Υ., Leonard T. Beale, Pennsylvania Salt Manufactur ing Co., Widener Building, Philadelphia, Penna., H. I. Young, American Zinc, Lead
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W . N . Watson
THE Manufacturing Chemists' Association of the United States, with the largest attendance in its history, held its 70th annual meeting on June 4 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, with Lammot du Pont presiding. Follow ing certain committee meetings in the morning, a closed session was held at 2:00 o'clock, when the annual business was transacted and the following officers elected for the ensuing j'ear: president, H. L. Derby, American Cyanamid & Chemical Corp., 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, Ν . Υ.; vice presidents, George W. Merck, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N . J., and Charles Belknap, Monsanto Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.; treasurer, J. W. McLaughlin, Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corp., 30 East 42nd St., New York, N. Y.; secretary, Warren N. Wat-
Data Published on Selective Service " D E C A U S E of the wide interest in this subject and the need for obtaining trained men for our Pro duction Army, we give below refer ences t o information we have published on occupational defer ments, including those of men in training. Future developments will be brought t o the attention of our readers. Chemical and Engineering News
(NEWS EDITION previous to 1942) Vol. 18 (1940). pages 890, 1127 Vol. 19 (1941). pages 129, 311, 457, 459. 489, 620. 587, 681, 797, 1164, 1412, 1464 Vol. 20 (1942), pages 110, 157, 472, 579-80 Current issue, 788, 812 Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
Vol. 33 (1941), pages 1, 135, 283, 561 Vol. 34 (1942), pages 2, 131, 259, 648
781
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J. W. McLaughlin & Smelting Co., St. Louis, Mo., Russell H. Dunham, Hercules Powder Co., Inc., Delaware Trust Building, Wilmington, Del., C. F. Hosford, Jr., Pennsylvania Coal Products Co., Petrolia. Penna., H. O. C. Ingraham, General Chemical Co., 4 0 Rector St., New York, Ν . Υ., August Kochs, Victor Chemical Works, 141 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, 111., Clyde D . Marlatt, The Martin Dennis Co., 859 Summer Ave., Newark, N . J., Charles S. Munson, U. S. Industrial Chemicals, Inc., 60 East 42nd St., New York, Ν. Υ., Τ . P. Walker, Commercial Solvents Corp., 17 East 42nd St., New York, Ν . Υ. H. L. Derby, chairman of t h e Executive Committee, presented the Annual Report of the Executive Committee, part of which follows:
Annual Report, Executive Com mittee, Manufacturing Chemists' Association Since last June, the impact of our war program has deeply and progressively made itself felt upon our entire economy in its conversion to a full war effort. The acceleration after Pearl Harbor is illus trated by the dollar volume of govern ment contracts and commitments as follows: $ 1 . 8 billions November 1941 $ 5 . 1 billions December 1041 $ 8 . 4 billions January 1942 $20.9 billions February 1942 The magnitude of the war effort is indi cated by funds made available by Congress and the RFC from June 1940 to May 1, 1942, amounting to the stupendous figure of 162 billion dollars, of which over three fourths are committed. About one third of our national income is being expended for war purposes. Government expendi tures for war purposes in April exceeded 3.4 billion dollars or an annual rate of over 40 billion dollars. The program con templates a doubling of this outgo for the coming fiscal year. War funds available to date are approximately divided as follows:
Planes Ordnance Munitions and supplies Naval ships Industrial facilities Posts, depots, and stations Merchant ships Stockpile and food exports Pay, subsistence, and travel for uie armed forces Housing Miscellaneous
Per cent 23 21 12 10 9 8 5 4 3 1 4 100
Conversion to all-out war effort has in volved the following steps: conversion of industry to war production; control of inindustry as to products made and destina tion of shipment through priorities, limita tion, and allocation orders; price control, first determined for individual items and followed by the "big freeze" effective last month; control of transportation, both freight and passenger, by rail, water, and truck, which has become an integral part of rationing, and delivery of raw materials and finished products; and control of ex ports and imports. In addition, labor rela tions and wage changes are under super vision of various war agencies, more re cently by the War Labor Board. Thus,
we have reached a point of total govern ment control of our economy even down to the rationing of ultimate consumer items. The foremost chemical participation in the war program has been for explosives and raw materials therefor. This has necessitated a very large expansion of ex isting facilities as the pre-war explosive capacity was insignificant in comparison with war demands. During the past year the production program for both ex plosives and raw materials has been greatly increased. In addition, war demands for many other chemicals have necessitated the installation of increased plant capacity. Direct government purchases of chemicals are only a part of the total war consump tion, as virtually all fabricated products purchased by the Government involve processing with chemicals. A significant feature of our war program has been the constantly rising chemical demands owing to the fact that we not only have the obligation of supplying our own armed forces but those of the United Nations, including heavy shipments to Russia, Great Britain, the Far East, and obligations to the American Republics. Heavy losses of personnel owing to the recall of reserve officers, the draft, and en listments have imposed a heavy problem upon the chemical industry, which on ac count of rapid expansion has of necessity been compelled to dilute its operating and technical personnel. In addition, the new equipment has become so scarce that only equipment for direct war contracts is ob tainable, and then only with difficulty and delay. The continuous volume of ques tionnaires from various war and govern ment agencies has been beyond the capac ity of the staff of the industry as a whole to handle within the time prescribed. In the early war period many of the ques tionnaires were not correlated, and there was much duplication. It is very evident that if you divide your operations into three segments—defense (direct and in direct), essential civilian, and nonessential civilian, the last category represented by nonessential civilian has practically dis appeared. In the spring of 1939 at the request of the Assistant Secretary of War, the Chem ical Advisory Committee of the Army and Navy Munitions Board with a series of subcommittees was organized. This ad visory committee has had continuous activity with heavy responsibilities during the past year. This work has called for a heavy contribution of time and effort from many members of the industry, with
weekly meeting* for some of the com mittees and frequent calls to Washington for conferences. The Chemical Advisory Committee is independent of the Manu facturing Chemists' Association. Container Standardization In June 1941, the M. C. A. Executive Committee set up a Container Standardi zation Committee to survey the chemical container field for possible savings in stra tegic materials and to recommend stand ardization and simplification procedures in specific cases where such savings would facilitate transportation of chemicals and aid the war effort. This committee has been composed of the technical com mittee chairmen, with M. F. Crass, Jr.. assistant secretary of the M. C. Α., as chairman. It has worked in close coopera tion with the several government agencies directly interested in container supply, principally the OPM and its successor, the WPB. Recommendations for standardiza tion and simplification were tentatively agreed upon following the holding of con ferences with industry representatives directly concerned. Tentative recom mendations were then submitted to indi vidual firms and to the executive com mittee for approval before they were sub mitted to the WPB and made public. Specific projects handled are listed below. In each case, the industry voluntarily adopted the standardization recommenda tions. The accomplishments of this com mittee have been responsible in substantial measure for the maintenance of supplies of requisite containers needed for the ship ment of chemicals absolutely necessary for the war effort and essential civilian supply. Committee projects include: (1)
STANDARDIZATION
OF THE
GLASS
CARBOY BOTTLE. Agreement among users of the 12-gallon bottle to abandon this type on future orders and adopt the standard M. C. A. 13-gailon type has had the following results: increased by 8 1 /2 per cent the volume of liquid shipped per container, and increased the productive capacity of the carboy manufacturer by at least 10 per cent through elimination of lost time and breakages necessitated by size changeovers. Since this project was ap proved, there has been no shortage of car boy bottles and a substantial inventory of finished stock is now on hand at the bottle plant. (2) SINGLE-TRIP DRUMS FOR LIQUIDS.
The chemical industry has voluntarily agreed to limit single-trip liquid-type drums to two sizes—5 and 55 gallons. This has reduced stocks of specialty and
The AMBBIOAM CHEMICAL SOCIETY assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced b y contributors t o its publications. Published by the AMEBICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. Publication Office, 20th & Northampton Sts. ( Easton, Penna. Editorial Office, 1155 16th St.. N . W.. Washington, D . C : Telephone, Republic 5301; Cable, Jiechem (Washington). Advertising Department, 332 West 42nd St., N e w York, Ν . Υ.; Telephone. Bryant 9-4430. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Easton, Penna., under the a c t of March 3 , 1879. as 2 4 times a year on the 10th and 25th Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3 . 1017, authorised July 13, 1918. Annual subscription rate, $2.00. Foreign postage t o countries not in the Pan American u n i o n , $0.60; Canadian postage, $0.20. Single copies. $0.15 8peoial rates to members. N o claims can b e allowed for copies of journals lost in the mails unless such claims are received within 00 days of t h e date of issue, and no claims will be allowed for issues lost as a result of insufficient notice of change of address. (Ten days' advance notice required.) "Missing from files" cannot be acoepted as the reason for honoring a claim. Charles L. Parsons, Business Manager, 1155 16th St., N . W., Washington, D . C., U. S. A.
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CHEMICAL
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
odd-gage sheet in drum manufacturers' shops and enabled them t o carry higher in ventories of volume-size sheet, facilitating delivery of drums. Shippers' delivery problems have been simplified and an over-all saving of steel accomplished.
tives of the technical committees met with Bureau of Explosives officials in June 1941 to urge that authorization for re-use of reconditioned single-trip metal barrels and drums be made. On August 7 member executives were advised that t h e bureau, after consultation with the Interstate Commerce Commission, would grant authorization t o individual firms for the transportation of regulatory articles in reconditioned drums upon receipt of ap plication and the furnishing of specific information thereon. This action has been of substantial importance in enabling chemical firms t o maintain their scheduled deliveries during the past year.
(3) R E T U R N A B L E D R U M S FOR LIQUIDS.
Shippers agreed t o limit such drums to the 10-, 20-, 30-, and 55-gallon sizes and to order no more intermediate sizes. Ad vantages gained are similar t o those out lined under (2) above. (4) CAUSTIC SODA A N D ALKALIES.
A
conference of 13 producers drafted recom mendations reducing from 21 t o 3 the sizes of drums used for solid, flake, and ground caustic soda and potash, and re ducing t h e gage of metal permissible for construction of such drums. This has re sulted in an appreciable saving of steel. Bleaching powder drums, multiwall paper bags, wooden barrels and plywood drums for soda ash, bicarbonate of soda, calcium carbonate, and calcium chloride were standardized t o effect savings of container materials, and t h e use of burlap bags abandoned in most cases in favor of paper. (5) TRISODIUM
PHOSPHATE
Manuals Manual C - l , t h e shippers' carboy manual, has been completely revised and rewritten during the past year. Manuals now in preparation include unloading of tank cars containing flammable liquids, and handling and u s e of multiwall paper bags. Revisions will be made in the next reprinting of manuals D-31 and TC-1. An informal talk was given by E . W. Reid, chief of the Chemicals Branch, WPB, on "Operations of t h e Chemicals Branch", followed by an open forum in which D . P. Morgan, deputy chief, and W. G. Whitman and H. F . Coith, assistant chiefs, partici pated. E . R. Weidlein, technical adviser to the Rubber Reserve Company and chief technical consultant t o WPB, discussed the "Chemist's Contribution t o the War Pro gram". Then followed a sound motion picture in full color o n man's fight against insects and plant diseases, a film prepared by the General Chemical Co. Following a social and cocktail hour the union dinner with t h e Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association was held, a t which Neil Carothers, dean of the College of Business Administration, Le high University, discussed "Our Present Economic Situation".
CONTAIN
ERS. Efforts of the committee have been successful in causing adoption b y the in dustry of a standard multiwall paper bag with abolition of burlap bags in shipping. (6)
ALUMINUM
SULFATE
A N D ALUMS.
Producers have agreed t o stop shipping alums in steel drums and burlap bags. Adoption of a standard multiwall paper bag has resulted in savings of substantia] quantities of strategic materials. (7) SODIUM B I S U L F A T E ( N I T E R C A K E ) .
Use of steel drums has been abandoned by all shippers. U s e of wooden barrels and plywood drums of specific construction has been agreed t o b y producers concerned. (8) SYNTHETIC R E S I N
MOLDING
COM
POUNDS. Although not completed, this project h a s resulted in t h e saving of sub stantial amounts of strategic materials.
Technical Committees During the past fiscal year the associa tion's technical committees sponsored a number of important container and trans portation items before the various regula tory agencies of t h e U. S. Government, and briefs were submitted or appearances made in other instances. Of considerable importance t o the industry w a s the ap proval granted b y t h e Interstate Com merce Commission for use of a 16-gage single-trip sulfuric acid drum, and author ity for u s e of I. C. C. 103A and 103B tank cars with safety vents provided with Ve-inch breather holes. Other submitted items for changes were approved and addi tional items are pending, including requests for authorization of a light-weight carboy assembly under Specification 1A and for changes i n fiber and plywood drum speci fications t o permit shipment of larger in secticide a n d other Class Β poison units. Realizing t h e seriousness of the con tainer procurement situation, representa
VOLUME
2 0, N O . 1 2
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Division of Petroleum Chemistry to M e e t in Buffalo H P H E Division of Petroleum Chemistry of the
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY
will hold sessions i n Buffalo. This de cision was made after the printing of the preliminary program for t h e meeting in CHEMICAL A N D ENGINEERING
NEWS
for
June 10, pages 717 t o 725. Those wishing to present papers must submit t o the acting secretary before July 10 three copies of a 100-word abstract A N D three copies of a 1,000-word abstract; before July 16, three copies of t h e complete paper must be in t h e hands of the acting secretary· If the paper in form for publica tion is submitted in triplicate b y July 10, the 1,000-word abstract is unnecessary. Send abstracts a n d papers t o L . M. Henderson, Acting Secretary, Division of Petroleum Chemistry, Pure Oil Co Laboratory, Box 266, Winnetka, III.
.
JUNE
2 5, 1 9 4 2
Chemical A b s t r a c t s Subscriptions and Export Censorship T P H E Technical Data License Division of the Bureau of Export Control, Board of Economic Warfare, has disap proved tho mailing of the June 20 issue of Chemical Abstracts t o all foreign coun tries oxcopt Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand and Russia. As this has been done without objection t o any spe cific wording or abstract therein, and ap pears to have been adopted as a policy for this particular scientific publication, the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY cannot ac
cept subscriptions t o it from other coun tries pending further notice. Subscriptions already received and paid for from all Latin American countries (in cluding Cuba and Mexico), from Eire, Belgian Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Liberia, South Africa, Tanganyika, India, Iran, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, British West Indies, Fiji Islands, Iceland, Mauritius, and the Netherlands West Indies will be held in storage until such time as the Gov ernment permits their export to the right ful owners. The
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL SOCIETY
is
helpless in the premises. C H A R L E S L. PARSONS
Business
Manager
Seventh Unit Process Symposium THE Seventh Unit Process Symposium will b e held b y the Division of Indus trial and Engineering Chemistry at the meeting
of
the
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY in Buffalo, September 7 t o 11. Authors desiring t o present papers before the symposium should communicate a t once with R. Norris Shreve, Purdue Uni versity, West Lafayette, Ind., symposium chairman.
Change in Program for Buffalo A . G S. Meeting Π Ρ Η Ε general meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY at Buf
falo will be devoted to a series of papers on a matter of vital interest to the public and t o every chemist and chemical engineer, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon because nor mally that is the time of maximum a t t e n d a n c e . T h e subject a n d speakers cannot be announced until publication of the final program in CHEMICAL AND E N G I N E E R I N G N E W S
for August 25. Divisional programs will start M o n d a y afternoon, continue through Wednesday morning, and be resumed Thursday morning. Divisional officers should bear this in mind in arranging their programs.
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