THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK
RESEARCH
T r e n d T o w a r d Building N o n p l a n f - A r e a Research Labs In a recent study on research and engi neering aspects of new product develop ment, the National Industrial Conference Board finds four types of research facili ties are used. These are: research labora tories, engineering departments, pilot plants, and experimental stations. Choices of location and design of these units are governed by operating needs, costs, com pany products, organization, and size of the research budget. Although there is a strong trend toward the construction of isolated research cen ters, the majority of company research and development laboratories are still located within plant areas, according to the study. Locating research laboratories in plant areas is said to have advantages such as: permitting use of services provided by other company departments (such as main tenance and production ) ; reducing re search overhead costs (joint use with other company departments can be made of plant guards, receptionists, employee cafeterias, and the like); and providing benefits of close contact between "theo retical" research men and "practical" pro duction men. Some of the advantages of locating re search laboratories away from plants are said to be: minimization of the number of routine jobs handled by the laboratory; simplification of confidential handling of projects when secrecy is important; and that it permits location near university centers and consultants. Companies say they frequently supple ment their own research facilities by con tracts with universities, trade associations, and independent laboratories. Such lab oratories can absorb peak work loads, pro vide specialized equipment and, in effect, increase the size of the company's staff and facilities for periods of a year or more. As a percentage of total research expendi tures, however, the study finds that the amount spent for outside work by most firms is "relatively small." Three types of problems are reported to arise in dealing with research and de velopment personnel. These are recruit ment, organization, and policies. Virtually all firms say that they rely on campus re cruiting as the prime source of junior technical men. The majority of firms, however, recruit some senior men on the basis of their records and fields of spe cialization "in order to maintain a wellbalanced organization and to meet ex pansion needs." In companies surveyed by the Board, basic personnel policies governing research staff working conditions are the same as those for other company departments. Training programs, salary levels, nonfinancial incentives, and means of recog 3446
nizing research achievement are often different. They are generally designed to promote a strong desire for individual achievement. Because the research or ganizations are usually tailored to indi vidual company needs, both the location of research within the company and the organization of research activities vary widely. Some firms grant research and development full departmental status. Others make these activities a division of a larger department or convert them into a research subsidiary. There is also great variation in the functions of development groups. In most companies, the department's primary re sponsibility is for the development of new and improved products and processes. In some instances it is also responsible for the physical design, and construction of manufacturing plants, for patent func tions, for technical service problems, and for economic evaluation of existing and proposed products. THe flo-sv of develop ment in the firms surveyed is controlled by frequent review7 of all projects. Com mittees and informal conferences are used to assign priorities, schedule approved projects, authorize abandonments, and co ordinate development progress. Efforts are made to bring varying viewpoints to bear on each problem and obtain agree ment of all interested department heads when differences of opinion arise. Cost controls used provide both justifi cation for research appropriations and a means of controlling development costs. In general, the study finds, budgets are established by projecting costs by classes of expense, or by totaling the probable expenditures of each project. The study "New Product Development— II. Research and Engineering" is Number 57 of the Studies in Business Policy pre pared by the National Industrial Con ference Board, 247 Park Ave., New York. Oklahoma U. U n d e r fake s Grease Research Methods of improving lubricating grease are being studied a t the engineering labo ratories of the University of Oklahoma, un der the direction of Walter J. Ewbank. Machinery developed by Morehouse In dustries of Los Angeles, sponsors of the project, has been supplied to the fuels and lubricants laboratory of the university. The current program will deal with all phases of the milling of greases in order to learn as much as possible what changes take place under such action. First project under study is the pro duction of lithium hydroxysterate greases. Morehouse Model B-X405, high produc tion grease mill, will be used in the project. Cooperating in the project are the Cato Oil & Grease Co. of Oklahoma City, the Archer-Daniels-Miclland Co. of Cleveland, and the Foote Mineral Co. of Philadelphia, who are supplying the raw materials for the manufacture of grease. The sponsors CHEMICAL
are all members of the National Lubricat ing Grease Institute. Awards for G l y c e r o l Research The Glycerine Producers' Association has established a group of awards for research in the application of glycerol or glycerol derivatives. The awards to be given will consist of an honor plaque carrying a cash stipend of $1000, and two honor certificates carrying stipends of $300 and $200 respectively. The awards were established for the purpose of acknowledg ing and encouraging research which ad vances the uses for glycerol and its deriva tives in any product or process for indus trial or consumer use. Research work eligible for nomination may be concerned with chemical, physical, or physiological properties of glycerol, or with properties of glycerol-containing, or glycerol derived materials. The work may deal with applications which of themselves are currently or potentially of value to industry or the general public, or it may deal with scientific principles or proced ures likely to stimulate future application. Originality in extending the application of glycerine into new fields of usefulness will receive special consideration. Work which has been successfully con cluded or which has reached a clear-cut point of accomplishment during the cur rent year will receive first consideration for the awards. Work carried on in pre vious years, but which has become signifi cant commercially in 1952, will also be eligible. The awards are open to any individual in the United States and Canada engaged in research, either in industry or in affilia tion with a governmental or educational institution. In the latter case, the awards are open to both faculty and college stu dents. The entries may also be made jointly by two or three members or asso ciates of a research team. Official entry blanks required for mak ing the nominations may be obtained be fore Nov. 15, from the Glycerine Pro ducers' Association, 295 Madison Ave., New York 17, Ν. Υ. PetroSeum Standards A group of 32 petroleum experts from eleven nations, meeting for the first time in committee session, has drawn up and agreed on an initial program of work for developing a system of" international stand ards for measurement and testing of petro leum and petroleum products. The twoday meetings took place at Columbia University as part of the two-week triennial session of the International Organization for Standardization. The American Stand ards Association, U. S. member of the in ternational body, was host at the tri ennial session. The committee adopted as its scope of work methods of measurement, methods of sampling, methods of test, nomenclaAND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK ture, terminology, and specifications £or petroleum and petroleum products. As a program for immediate futmre work, the committee agreed to study oil measurement tables, now under development jointly by the American Society £or Testing Materials in the U. S. and Iby the Institute of Petroleum in the United Kingdom. As a second item for immediate work, the committee listed methods for determining the knock test of motor fuels by the so-called motor and research methods. Broadening of this activity through ISO Technical Committee is expected to lead, within two or three years, to internationally accepted methods for determining this characteristic of motor fuels. A third item of work is terminology relative to petroleum products. The committee called for development of French and English equivalents for terms in t h e two languages, perhaps to be supplemented later by parallel undertakings providing for the development of these terms in "the languages of the other interested coontries. In addition the committee agreed to study the problem of temperatures used in determining viscosity in the various countries. T h e committee will poll the member bodies for the purpose of collecting information on the standard températures used and favored for the determining of viscosity in their countries. Cancer Control Grants Public Health Service grants, totaling $523,993, have been made to aid 34 cancer control studies and demonstrations in 16 states, the District of Columbia, a n d one foreign country, Israel. They will be administered by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Preliminary review of grant applications was performed for the Council by the Cancer Control Committee, whose members are drawn from the American College of Surgeons, American Cancer Society, state health departments, hospitals, and medical schools. Among the grants are 15 to assist n e w projects. All other grants are for continuation of previously supported projects, P a r k e , Davis Virus Fellowship Parke, Davis & Co. has established a research fellowship at Mellon Institute here for long-range studies emphasizing viruses and tumors. Work already has started under the supervision of Alex M. Moore, Park, Davis laboratory director in organic chemistry, serving as administrative fellow at t h e Institute. Scientists working under the fellowship also will investigate general problems in synthetic organic chemistry and chemotherapy. Methods of combating viruses and tumors through chemical means "will be the immediate objective. Initially Dr. Moore heads a staff of £our Mellon scientists: Robert S. Tipson, Alice VOLUME
3 0, N O . 3 3 > •
C. Renfrew, Marcus S. Morgan, senior research fellows, and Pauline C. Piatt, research fellow. Further staff expansion is planned for the near future. Kansas Research Allotments The chemistry department at the University of Kansas has received research allotments of $22,426 for 10 projects during the next academic year. The grants are from the special research fund given the university by the legislature. The fund for the next fiscal year is $300,000. Most of the projects provide for a salary to a research assistant one-half time for 11 months and a fund for supplies and equipment. ^These projects are in addition to the sponsored research work in the department. The projects and faculty directors: WILLIAM F. MCEWEN.
Novel syntheses
in the pyridine, quinoline and isoquinoline series.
CALVIN VANDERWERF.
Orientation in re-
actions accompanied by neighboring group effect. ROBERT TA FT. Conductance methods in investigation of ternary systems. Interactions of inorganic ions in solution and mechanisms of oxidation-reduction reactions. W. P. ARGERSINGER and A. W. DAVIDSON.
Studies in ion exchange.
PAUL W. GILLES.
of TiO ( g ) .
JACOB
KLEINBERG.
Dissociation of energy Reactions
between
soluble metal salts and alkali superoxides.
PAUL W. GILLES.
Thermodynamic prop-
erties of compounds of elements of groups IV and V.
ERNEST GR IS WOLD.
Salt effects and ion-
pair equilibria in solvents of low dielectric constant.
WILLIAM
M. M C E W E N .
Ipecae alkaloids.
Studies on the
Bakélite Fellowship A t Mellon Institute A multiple fellowship to develop uses for resins derived from ethylene and acetylene has been established at Mellon Institute. The fellowship, sponsored by the Bakélite Co., a division of Union Carbide and Carbon Corp., will be headed by Richard W. Quarles, Senior Fellow. His associates will b e William H. McKnight, Edward T. Severs, Walter K. Vollmer, Arthur C. Frechtling, John T. Ingram, and Gordon P. Bigelow. This group has heretofore been a part of the multiple fellowship on organic synthesis sustained by the Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Co., another division of Union Carbide and Carbon Corp. The group has been engaged in the study of Vinylite resins, originally developed at Mellon Institute by the parent fellowship. Three other chemists will soon join the group.
Printing Ink Research Institute is focusing an entire new study on the printing of solids. The NPIRI decision to launch a new attack on fundamentals stemmed from a study of known test methods and the conclusion that subjective evaluation still plays too great a part in most of them. Defining print quality as the faithfulness of the appearance of a print to the desired results and printability as the quality of each of the printing components in use under operating conditions, the NPIRI stresses the necessity of finding means to measure, in numerical terms, each of the variables. The NPIRI research, under the guidance of Jacqueline Fetso will team up a recently developed pressure-sensitive base and the Printegrator, an electronic instrument under development by the Institute staff. Research G r a n t s to University of South Carolina Several research grants have been made to the department of chemistry of the University of South Carolina. The Research Corp. has made two Frederick Gardner Cottrell grants; one for $2000 to O. D. Bonner for a study of the silversodium and mercurous-hydrogen ion exchange systems, and one $2000 renewal of a grant to Peyton C. Teague for the preparation of a series of pyridylhydantoins. Dr. Bonner has also received a grant of $4000 from the Atomic Energy Commission for fundamental studies of ion exchange equilibria using radioactive isotopes as tracers. The AEC has also given IL W. Davis, head of the department of chemistry, a grant of over $4000 for a study of allylic fluorinations using carbon-14. The department has also been awarded a $1200 grant by the Parke, Davis & Co. for research in organic chemistry. These grants provide for materials and equipment and, in several instances, graduate fellowships.
G r a n t and Fellowships A t Syracuse The Atomic Energy Commission and two industrial firms have granted $18,000 to support research projects in Syracuse University's chemistry department next fall. Major portion of the fund is a renewal of a $12,000 AEC grant to continue a project in radiation chemistry. This project was originally financed by the Office of Naval Research and directed by Harry Essex, who has since retired. For the past year, the AEC has supported the research under the supervision of Benjamin P. Burtt. Graduate students assisting on the project are Theodore Baurer, John Kircher, Phillip Klein, Clarence Vanselow, and AEC fellow Margaret Carncrosc. Printability Project Two fellowships have been awarded to Because of the lack of test methods for chemistry department graduate students. the various properties contributing to the Carl Reirner, Ph.D. candidate, has requality of printed matter, the National ceived a $3300 fellowship from Proctor
AUGUST
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THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK and Gamble. He is studying coprecipitation from homogeneous solution. Henry Bungay has been g r a n t e d a Du Pont fellowship, which provides $1400 for tuition and $1200 for research e q u i p m e n t . His project involves polarographic studies of biologically active materials.
Battelle Building Started Construction was started about t h e first of the month on the sixth major building at Battelle Memorial Institute. Columbus, Ohio. The million-dollar building will be a four-story structure specially designed to minimize vibration. Plans call lor the building to be occupied by research per sonnel working in electronics a n d other fields of research utilizing precise instru mentation. The rate of research contracted at Battelle has risen from $9 million at t h e end of last year to the present r a t e of $12 million per year. With the new b u i l d i n g -Battelle will be in a position to conduct an additional $2 million worth of research. It will provide 80,000 square feet of work area in 187 unit laboratories.
Research Grants Made For MS Study Five research grants totaling $28,000 have been made by t h e National Multiple Sclerosis Society for studies in multiple sclerosis. T h e projects deal with relatively un explored fields of basic research. E m phasis will be placed on the changes which occur in the chemistry, metabolism, and circulation of multiple sclerosis. A grant of $8167 has been m a d e to the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, Ν. Υ., to study t h e variations of the lipid and lipid-like composition of body fluids and tissues in M S. The in vestigation will be under the direction of Richard C. Fowler. A large proportion ( m o r e than 5 0 % in weight) of t h e myelin sheath, the nerve covering w h i c h is patchily destroyed in M S, is lipid in nature. The investigation aims at a better understanding of t h e chemistry of the myelin sheath and its destruction. A technique used for t h e study w i l l be the infrared spectrometer. T h e processes by which foodstuffs are " b u r n e d " by the human brain in M S will b e studied at t h e University of Cali fornia and the Langley Porter Clinic, San Francisco, as a result of a grant of $5687. T h e project will be under the direction of Gilbert S. Gordan. Preliminary studies indicate that there is a defect in the brain's metabolism in M S. A more accurate and simple m e a n s of diagnosing M S, one of the most difficult diseases to diagnose, may result from a study initiated at t h e Jewish Sanitarium and Hospital for Chronic Diseases, Brook lyn, N. Y., as a result of a grant of $6000. Directing t h e project will be Bruno W . Volk. The study seeks to d e v e l o p a tech nique for determining the protein changes
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which take place in t h e cerebrospinal fluid in M S patients. Studies already carried on indicate that there are abnormal changes in protein content of M S patients. A study to obtain further information concerning the blood circulation a n d utilization of various food elements in t h e brains of patients with multiple sclerosis will take place at the University of Miami, as a result of a $5000 grant. The project will be under the direction of Peritz Scheinberg. It is planned to determine t h e effects of certain vasodilator drugs a n d muscular exercise on the circulation a n d blood changes in the brains of patients with multiple sclerosis and allied nerve diseases. A study of the changes which take place in the serum of M S patients will be con ducted at the Neurological University Clinic, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, under the direction of Heinrich Pette, a s a result of a grant of $3750. It is believed that serological changes may be d u e t o an allergic factor, a theory which needs further study.
Grants for Cancer Training Public Health Service grants to support training in cancer diagnosis -and treatment in 21 States, the District of Columbia,» a n d Puerto Rico have been renewed by t h e Federal Security Agency. The grants will be administered by t h e National Cancer Institute of t h e National Institutes of Health. Aid in establishing a n e w cancer teach ing program was given to the University
of North Carolina Dental School. All the otîier 3 3 grants were for continuation of previously supported projects. They totaled $562,351.
Spice Standards Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh, will soon start studies on methods of setting more uniform standards for natural spices. The work will b e conducted under a fellowship placed by the American Spice Trade Association, with the long range program aimed at establishing laboratory testing methods for standardizing types arid grades of spices, herbs, and seeds. Leo W . Ziemlak has been apjxnnted to head this research.
EDUCATION First 1952 class of the Air Research and Development Command indoctrination school is now in progress. Graduation from the school will be the first step in planned careers in Air Force research and development work for t h e 186 Air Force R O T C officers taking the class. United States Rubber Co. has established a five-year graduate fellowship in science at Notre D a m e . T h e fellow will be selected by the university in accordance with its established practices. T h e company also recently announced the renewal of a five-year program of financial ύ
