equipment and production lines for them. Radiation curing can cut production costs from 8 to 2 5 % , says president Keith R. Clark. Currently RPC is devoting most of its attention to building products. It is processing prefinished ceiling tile, exterior siding, and millwork products—such as paneling and table tops—on a developmental basis for several companies. All are wood products. RPC is also studying textiles, plastics, and papers. A number of coatings are being evaluated. Boise Cascade's new pilot plant, which uses a radiation process licensed from Ford Motor (C&EN, Feb. 14, page 2 8 ) , uses 300-k.e.v. accelerators and is also equipped with a conveyor system. It can handle products up to 4 by 18 feet at production rates as high as 60 feet per minute. Boise Cascade is concentrating its initial efforts on particle board. Other substrates to be investigated include paper, plywood, and lumber. Most promising coating to date is an acrylic developed at Ford. Boise Cascade has exclusive rights from Ford for three years to use the process on wood products (Ford can license others for nonwood uses). The auto maker is currently using the process on a pilot-plant basis to finish auto steering columns and is studying its application to plastic and other metal parts.
Cairns is ACS President-Elect Dr. Robert W. Cairns is the PresidentElect of the American Chemical Society for 1967. Dr. William A. Mosher was elected regional director for the Fourth District, and Dr. W. Albert Noyes, Jr., regional director for the Sixth District. The new President-Elect is director of research for Hercules and is also a member of the company's board of directors. He is also president of the University of Delaware Research Foundation. Dr. Cairns' new ACS role takes effect Jan. 1, when the current President-Elect—Dr. Charles G. Overberger of Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn—becomes President. Dr. Overberger will succeed Dr. William J. Sparks of Esso Research and Engineering. Dr. Cairns' election by the ACS membership (balloting was completed last week) caps a long career in science and the Society. He joined Hercules in 1934 as a research chemist and rose to research director in 1955. He has been involved in many ACS activities at the national and local levels. He is currently on the Society's Board of Directors. Dr. Cairns has served as consultant
Dr. Robert W. Cairns 1967 ACS President-Elect
to a number of federal agencies. In addition, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for R&D early in the Eisenhower administration. The Fourth District's new regional director, Dr. Mosher, is Willis F. Harrington Professor of Chemistry at the University of Delaware and head of the department. He, like the new President-Elect, has been engaged in ACS activities since the 1930's. Dr. Noyes of the Sixth District is Ashbel Smith Professor of Chemistry at the University of Texas and Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Rochester. The long-time editor of the Society's The Journal of Physical Chemistry (1952-64) and Journal of the American Chemical Society (1950-62) is a former ACS President. He holds many scientific honors, including the Society's highest award, the Priestley Medal. Dr. Noyes has also been president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Tetracycline suits settled Chas. Pfizer & Co. has reached agreements with two companies it had sued for infringing its tetracycline patent. Under one agreement, the huge drug maker has licensed Rachelle Laboratories, Long Beach, Calif., to make and sell tetracycline in bulk and finished package form. Under the other agreement, Premo Pharmaceutical Laboratories, South Hackensack, N.J., will sell tetracycline supplied by Pfizer. Rachelle, a subsidiary of International Rectifier Corp., will pay Pfizer royalties on net sales and an undisclosed sum in settlement of past claims. Premo will also pay Pfizer a settlement.
Rachelle has been selling tetracycline to McKesson & Robbins, which led Pfizer in 1964 to sue McKesson for $15 million. Neither Pfizer nor McKesson would comment at press time whether they were negotiating for settlement of the suit. No mention of McKesson was made in the settlement with Rachelle. As part of the Premo agreement, Pfizer will supply bulk tetracycline to Premo, which makes dosage forms such as capsules and sirup. Premo will buy all the tetracycline it needs from Pfizer for one year and some of its needs in succeeding years. Premo will market the drug under its own label and is allowed to say on the label that the tetracycline was bought from Pfizer. Discussions leading to the agreements began in July after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District set aside the Federal Trade Commission's 1964 order requiring compulsory of tetracycline patents licensing (C&EN, June 27, page 19). Dismissed under the agreements are the patent infringement suits Pfizer brought against Rachelle, International Rectifier, and Premo, and the antitrust counterclaims they filed against Pfizer. This brings to more than 20 the number of patent infringement suits Pfizer had filed that have been settled. The company had filed about 30 such suits to protect its tetracycline patent. As far as Pfizer knows, no U.S. company is now making tetracycline in defiance of the patent. Two U.S. companies have licenses from Pfizer to make and sell tetracycline: American Cyanamid's Lederle Laboratories division and Bristol-Myers' Bristol Laboratories. Pfizer has licensed two other companies to sell the drug—Olin Mathieson's Squibb division and Upjohn.
More recognition for ABS After experiencing some rough and, at times, dirty political weather, the use of plastics in drain, waste, and vent (DWV) systems seems headed for clear sailing. "Every major standards organization and plumbing code authority in the U.S. now recognizes ABS drainage pipe," Rom Rhome of U.S. Rubber's chemical division told the Society of Plastics Engineers' regional technical conference in Millbrae, Calif., last week. There is local approval for acrylonitrile-butadienestyrene in 24 states. Approval in the remaining states should follow, probably at the rate of about six states per year, he believes. Last month, the Southern Building Code Congress gave the green light to ABS and polyvinyl chloride in DWV DEC.
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