INDUSTRY
& BUSINESS
Executives Cope With Wartime Problems BDSA stages mock war session to give its executive reserve a taste of planning production under nuclear attack Industry executives have had a chance to taste the problems that would hit business in the wake of an enemy attack. They have had to come to grips with decisions for maintaining production and distribution of strategic materials and cementing together an industry shattered by nuclear war. Scene of these awesome problems was the first dress rehearsal for wartime planning by the Commerce Department's Business and Defense Services Administration, staged in Washington for its National Defense Executive Reserve. Executives in the reserve would play a major role in directing operations of the government production agency that would be set up in a national emergency. By the end of the rigorous two-day rehearsal session, government officials were virtually unanimous in saying that U.S. industry can rise to the occasion of an emergency again, as it has in the past. The war exercise was staged. But participants were deadly earnest. Damage and casualty reports were funneled into the "war room" nerve center of the operation to be recorded on maps and tote boards. Manned by government liaison officers representing the Department of Defense; Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Department of Commerce; and others, the war room served as central relay station for passing casualty information up and down the line. Damage and hazards were assessed. Requirements were mapped. And specific production and distribution problems were handed down to the panel of executive reservists responsible for these areas. Chemical Drill. Chemical reservists participated in a drill that involved a 28
C&EN
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ficticious chemical under the assumed attack pattern. They were asked to assess the damage to "chemical X* facilities, to determine remaining production capacity, and to channel output into the most essential end uses. More than 50 chemical and rubber division members were among some 600 BDSA executive reservists on hand for the drill. Chemical and rubber reservists were divided into 13 working groups (inorganic chemicals, organics, and the like). Although many are competitors under normal circumstances, group members in time of emergency are to be united to de-
WAR ROOM. Liaison officers from several government agencies man a battery of telephones in BDSA's communications center during mock war games to pass along casualty information. Map in background is lighted up to show "enemy hits"
Rorer Shares to Go On the Block Management plans to sell 130,000 shares of ethical drug firm's stock
DAMAGE REPORT. Tote board in BDSA's war room indicates casualties from "enemy hits" on U.S. cities; map (left) traces fallout distribution and intensity
CHEMICAL DRILL W. R. Koster (left), acting director of BDSA's chemical and rubber division, hashes over problems of maintaining chemical output under attack conditions with Union Carbide's John A. Field, director of the division's executive reserve for the war drill, while reservist panel in background tackles specific problems of channeling output of inorganic chemicals for defense
termine how to marshall the industry's remaining facilities most efficiently in supplying U.S. survival and retaliatory needs. John A. Field, vice president of Union Carbide Chemicals, headed BDSA's chemical and rubber division executive reserve for this exercise. "The purpose of this shirt-sleeve session was to give reservists experience in working out production prob lems critical to our nation's survival and defense under conditions which simulate an actual national emergency," says W. R. Koster, acting director of BDSA's chemical and rubber division. "There will be many cir-
cumstances and conditions arising during a real emergency which we cannot visualize in advance. By running through actual drill sessions such as these, we hope to uncover and correct a few of them." BDSA is the direct lineal descendant of the old War Production Board of World War II and the Korean War's National Production Authority. "At the time of Korea, it took the Department of Commerce more than a year to fully staff the NPA," Commerce Secretary Luther H. Hodges told reservists. "In future emergencies, we cannot afford that much time."
For the second time in about three years, a big block of stock of William H. Rorer, Inc., is coming up for public sale. Like the first public offering of Rorer shares in 1958, the forthcoming sale of 130,000 shares (out of nearly 3.4 million outstanding) will come from the holdings of company chairman Herbert C. Rorer and president Gerald F. Rorer. The sale will reduce the Rorer family's interest in the company to about 4 0 % . Although relatively small as ethical drug firms go, Rorer has grown fast over the past decade. And it has done well by its stockholders. Sold initially at $18.50 a share, the stock was split three for one in 1959 and four for one last April. Present asking price on the shares is about $35. Fast Growth. Sales of the Philadelphia-based company were $11.4 million last year, up 26% from 1959; profits totaled $1.8 million, up nearly 40%. In 1950, the year after Rorer introduced its biggest selling product, Maalox, sales were a mere $850,000; earnings were about $30,000. Although Maalox, an ethical antacid for treating gastric hyperacidity, accounts for 80% of sales, the company makes several other ethical products, including pain relievers, sedatives, and drugs for treating diarrhea and anemia. The company attributes its rapid growth in the past 10 years not only to the introduction of Maalox, but also to stepped up promotion. Its national sales organization now includes 272 detail men. And its advertising budget last year was $3.5 million, a more than tenfold increase from 1950. Rorer also is becoming more research conscious. Until a couple of years ago, most of its work was aimed at improving existing drugs. Now it is directing a major effort at developing new products. And it expects soon to occupy a new research lab at Fort Washington Industrial Park, 12 miles from the center of Philadelphia. The laboratory, together with a new plant at the same site, will cost about $2.3 million. When the plant is completed late this year or in early 1962, the company plans to sell its present Philadelphia plant. JUNE
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companies that makes its own ABC dry chemical.) Finally, pound for pound, Foray has one of the highest ratings of the ABC dry chemicals approved by Underwriters Laboratories, according to Ansul. Actually, on Class B fires, the new agent is more effective in some cases than standard Ansul dry chemical, the company says.
BRIEFS Food Machinery and Chemical stockholders have approved plans to change the company's name to FMC Corp. at their annual meeting. The new name will be used beginning July 1. ON THE LINE. New portable extinguishers for fighting all types of fires are coming off Ansul's assembly line for the first time. The dry chemical used in the extinguishers is a silicone-treated monoammonium phosphate called Foray
Ansul Takes Wraps Off ABC Entry New dry chemical for fighting all three classes of fires can be used in existing extinguishing equipment Ansul Chemical, Marinette, Wis., has finally entered the ABC fire extinguisher picture. Joining other major makers of extinguishers, the company is now marketing a dry chemical agent for fighting all three classes of fires. Called Foray, Ansul's entry is a silicone-treated monoammonium phosphate. It puts out Class A fires (wood, paper, and the like), as well as B (flammable liquids) and C (electrical equipment) fires, according to Arthur B. Guise, Ansul's technical director. Moreover, Foray won't make existing equipment obsolete. Until now, most buyers of multipurpose extinguishing agents also had to invest in new equipment to apply the chemicals. Hand portable extinguishers aren't cheap; they can cost anywhere from $75 to $100 a unit. So potential customers faced a sizable new investment. Ansul, though, feels it has the answer to this drawback. Along with its new agent, the company is offering conversion kits which will adapt most of its hand extinguishers now in use. These kits consist of special nozzles, hoses, and elbows designed to give the proper flow rate and stream pattern for Foray, Mr. Guise says. Their average 30
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cost: about $8.00. Thus, by cleaning and recharging with Foray and by making the necessary mechanical changes, the user can adapt most standard Ansul dry chemical extinguishers to put out ABC fires—and at low cost, he points out. Alim First. ABC dry chemical agents are not new. Developed in Germany in 1956, they were introduced to the U.S. market a little over a year ago by Alim Corp. Other major fire extinguisher makers soon followed suit. These include American LaFrance, Fyr-Fyter, and General Fire Extinguisher. And Walter Kidde Co. plans to market one in the near future, according to industry sources. Basically, ABC agents consist of ammonium phosphates. Alim, American LaFrance, and Fyr-Fyter all make theirs from monoammonium phosphate, while General uses the diammonium salt. Silicones or stearates are used to give water repellancy; other compounds are added to give the desired flow properties. Foray has better water repellancy than conventional multipurpose agents, Mr. Guise says. In addition, it is matched to Ansul's extinguishing equipment, (Ansul is one of the few
U.S. production of crude products from petroleum and natural gas for use in chemical conversion totaled 26.1 million pounds, 7% more than in 1959, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Tariff Commission. Sales of 17.6 million pounds were up about 6%. Production of aromatic and naphthenic products increased 12% to 7.5 million pounds, with benzene from petroleum up 4 8 % , toluene down 4 % , and xylene up 17%. Output of aliphatic hydrocarbons advanced 5% to 18.6 million pounds.
Rubber consumption this year is expected to be about 2,037,000 long tons of natural and 1,865,000 long tons of synthetic rubber, according to the International Rubber Study Group. World production is expected to be 2,035,000 long tons of natural and 1,897,000 long tons of synthetic rubber. This estimate does not include figures for countries not belonging to IRSG (mostly Soviet Bloc nations).
The United States has agreed to lease special nuclear materials to Japan for fuels research and materials testing reactors. The new agreement replaces three earlier agreements providing for the lease of uranium-235 fuel for particular facilities in Japan and is designed to simplify such arrangements. The two-year blanket agreement doesn't commit the U.S. to furnish special nuclear materials for any specific plant; instead, it provides that the Atomic Energy Commission may authorize export of such materials as they are requested.
Glidden has purchased McPhran Corp., Marietta, Ga., maker of glass fiber reinforced panels for industrial and residential use. Glidden says the purchase marks its entry into the fabri cated building products field and gives it an outlet for its polyester resins.
in Brainards, N.J., LaPorte, Tex., and Sarnia, Ont. The company decided to adopt a name that "would not be con fused with other names in the chemi cal field," president Mason Pearsall says.
Thiokol
Lionel Corp. plans to acquire Porter Chemical Co., Hagerstown, Md., manufacturer of science toys, includ ing Chemcraft chemistry sets. Boards of both firms have approved the ac quisition. Lionel recently launched a line of science sets, and the two firms' lines are expected to complement each other.
Chemtron Corp., Phillipsburg, N.J., has changed its name to Pearsall Chemical Corp. The company pro duces aluminum chloride, zinc chlo ride, ferric chloride, chlorinated paraf fin waxes, and copper sulfate at plants
and
Shawnee
ION EXCHANGE with
Industries,
Shawnee, Okla., have signed an agree ment under which Thiokol may ac quire between 85 and 95% of the outstanding voting stock of Shawnee for 2850 shares of Thiokol stock. Shawnee was organized early this year to acquire properties formerly used by Jonco Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of Fairchild Engines & Airplane. Thio kol says Shawnee will supplement its present rocket and specialties opera tions.
Sephadex Ionic groups in Sephadex have given a range of ion exchangers the first of which is:
DEAE - SEPHADEX an anion-exchanger
Cryogenics, Inc., Stafford, Va., has acquired Wakit Instruments Corp.,
Falls Church, Va., in exchange for stock. Wakit, a fabricator of equip-
available in two types A 25 A 50
each type in sieve fractions
Coarse Medium Fine
Properties:
•• high capacity even for large molecules •ι low non-specific adsorption
Applications: serum proteins peptides nucleic acids nucleotides polysaccharides
Send for our booklet.
PHARMACIA UPPSALA
SWEDEN
Pharmacia Fine Chemicals, Inc., Sales office, Box 1010, Rochester, Minn.
Send your booklet on DEAE-Sephadex
Armour Industrial Opens Research Center Reactors and a fractionating tower line one wall of Armour Industrial Chemical's new McCook, III., pilot plant. The 4000 square-foot pilot plant, plus a 26,000 squarefoot laboratory, make up the Armour and Co. division's new center for research and development on chemicals made from animal and vegetable fats and oils. The company will use the center for product development, process improvement, tech nical service, and applications research.
Name Address State
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ment for critical cryogenic applications, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Cryogenics.
Purex Corp. has acquired T. F. Washburn Co., Chicago, in exchange for stock. Washburn, which had sales of $3.4 million last year, makes paint vehicles, varnishes and coatings, resins, and driers, as well as a line of private label floor finishing materials. Purex had sales of $79.6 million for the year ended last June 30.
NEW FACILITIES National Lead has started to build a multimillion dollar research center near Highstown, N.J., on a 250-acre site adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike. It is to have separate units for research and development for the company's major divisions. The first unit, for work in nonferrous metals, paints and pigments, lead chemicals, plastics, and resins, will be completed in the summer of 1962. The 150-man staff at National Lead's Brooklyn research labs will be transferred to the new center.
C&EN PROGRESS REPORT
Dow Chemical has started producing phenol sulphonic acid, used primarily for electrolytic tin plating, at its Pittsburg, Calif., plant.
Linde Co. will spend $2.5 million to expand and modernize its manufacturing facilities for cryogenic equipment at Tonawanda, N.Y. The program includes a new manufacturing building and a new metal-cleaning facility. Linde will use the new facilities in building on-site oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen plants and to fabricate equipment used to store, distribute and use liquefied gases supplied by central plants. The expansion will also permit Linde to increase production of its own liquid gas plants. The expansion will boost Linde's output at Tonawanda by 20%.
Air Reduction Chemical & Carbide, a division of Air Reduction, has started operating its new $300,000 manufacturing and distribution facilities at City of Industry, Los Angeles County, Calif. The plant produces Flexbond
copolymer emulsions and Vinac polyvinyl acetate emulsions, beads, and powders. Vinyl monomers, polymers, and specialty products will be warehoused at the site. A technical service laboratory is included in the facility.
Stauffer Chemical's Anderson Chemical division now is producing tributoxyethyl phosphate plasticizer, as well as other trialkyl phosphates, at Weston, Mich.
Allied Chemical's General Chemical Division is producing commercial quantities of tungsten hexafluoride at its Baton Rouge, La., development laboratory. According to Allied, the compound is used in a new vapor deposition process which produces tungsten coatings of 99.99% purity. The coatings can be applied to various metallic and ceramic shapes.
Procter & Gamble will build a synthetic detergents plant in Augusta, Ga. The plant should begin production early in 1963.
EXPANSION IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Here are companies making news last month, adding to the chemical process industries by . PLANNING... Company and Site Air Products, Inc. Tidewater Oil Co. Delaware City, Del.
Plant or Unit Isooctyl, decyl, and tridecyl alcohol
Allied Chemical Corp. General Chemical Division North Claymont, Del. Ansul Chemical Co. Continental Oil Co. Lake Charles, La. Borden Co. U.S. Rubber Co. Monochem, Inc. Geismar, La. Chemetron Corp. Farrell, Pa.
Hydrofluoric acid
Continental Oil Co. Hennessey, Okla.
Methyl chloride
Jointly owned, $1 million plant will have capacity for 60 million pounds a year
Oxygen
American Air Liquide will build a 600 ton-per-day unit under a $2 million contract
Liquid and gaseous oxygen and high-purity nitrogen
Total output will be 370 tons a day for use of Sharon Steel. To be completed next year. Dravo will design and build the plant Continental will own 5 0 % of the plant, the other half to be owned by other Oklahoma firms and individuals. To be completed this fall
Propane, butane, and other natural gas products
Continued on page 34 32
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Remarks Capacity will be 60 million pounds a year. Air Products will design and engineer the plant and handle sales. Tidewater will provide raw materials and operate the plant Expansion will increase plant's capacity 5 0 % by July 1
BULLETIN: Comparative data on Shell Chemical's high boiling Pent-Oxone* solvent promises lower costs on vinyl lacquers P e n t - O x o n e solvent is a k e t o ether. It is a remarkable new compound of this class of chemical which gives you double solvent action plus high diluent tolerance for use with a wide range of lacquer resins. Read how Pent-Oxone solvent compares with other high boiling vinyl solvents in evaporation and viscosity, what it costs, and where it is finding new applications in and out of the coatings industry.
B
ECAUSE it combines the solvent
properties of ketones and glycol ethers in one molecule, Shell Chemical's new Pent-Oxone gives you greater solvent potential than any other type of high boiler. This potential can often save you money. In vinyl lacquers, Pent-Oxone can replace high boilers costing 40^ to $1.10 more per gallon.
Comparative evaporation data Pent-Oxone is in the high boiling class with an evaporation rate comparable to cyclohexanone and EGMEE acetate. Comparisons with cyclohexanone and isophorone in seconds are as follows: Per Cent evap.
10% 30 50 70 90 95 100
cyclohexanone
PentOxone
isophorone
180 560 940 1330 1720 1825 2120
231 715 1200 1680 2175 2310 2450
2600 8300 14200 20600 27600 29500 34000
Comparative viscosity data The following viscosity comparisons
Solvent action in glycol ethers comes from the COC ether linkage. In ketones, the double bond oxygen does the work. Shell Chemical's Pent-Oxone is the only commercially available solvent with both these functional groups.
are taken after one hour on a 50/50 solvent/toluene mixture with the indicated Vinylite** resin: 10% VYNS-3
Pent-Oxone cyclohexanone
93 cps. 54 cps.
20% VMCH
Pent-Oxone cyclohexanone isophorone
125 cps. 142 cps. 260 cps.
20% VYHH
Pent-Oxone cyclohexanone isophorone
310 cps. 232 cps. 285 cps.
20% VAGH
Pent-Oxone cyclohexanone isophorone
500 cps. 320 cps. 405 cps.
With VAGH/Pent-Oxone solvent, viscosities rise with time. This can be overcome by using 50/50 Pent-Oxone solvent/cyclohexanone as the active solvent. Such a mixture would save you 55^ per gallon against using cyclohexanone alone. Better odor, lower cost, many uses The price of Pent-Oxone is 17.5^ per pound delivered in tank cars. It can tolerate up to 70% diluent in vinyl
chloride/vinyl acetate copolymer solutions. It has a better odor than other vinyl solvents and is proving valuable in vinyl adhesives as well as acrylic lacquer thinners. In nitrocellulose lacquers, PentOxone retards blush, dries in reasonable time. It acts as a coupling agent in sludge removing compounds. Complete data and samples For samples and information, including complete graphs on viscosity and evaporation, write or call any of Shells 9 Industrial Chemicals Division offices, or write Shell Chemical Co., 110 W. 51 St., New York 20, N.Y. Do it today. Start investigating PentOxone's remarkable keto-ether action for yourself. •Trade mark, Shell Chemical Company **Trade mark, Union Carbide Corp.
A Bulletin from
Shell Chemical Company Industrial Chemicals Division
EXPANSION IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY continued E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. Orange, Tex. General Aniline & Film Corp. Linden, N.J.
Polyethylene and a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate Chlorine and caustic soda
Gulf Oil Corp. Philadelphia, Pa. Mobay Chemical Co. New Martinsville, W.Va. Nalco Chemical Co. Freeport, Tex.
Cumene
Pure Oil Co. Lemont, III.
Benzene, toluene and xylene
Tolylene diisocyanate Tetramethyl- and tetraethyllead
Expands plant's polyethylene capacity from 200 to 280 million pounds a year Capacity will be increased from 50 to 230 tons of chlorine a day. Expansion to be completed in 1963 Multimillion dollar plant slated for completion in 1962 Adds 10 million tons per year to capacity at a cost of $1.5 million To cost several million dollars. Fluor Corp. will do engineering. Plant will use new electrolytic process developed by Nalco To be completed in November, the unit will turn out 26 million gallons of products a year. Procon, Inc., will build the unit
STARTING CONSTRUCTION . . . Armour & Co. Armour Agricultural Chemical Co. Cherokee, Ala.
U.S. Borax & Chemical Co. Boron, Calif.
I I I I
Ammonia, urea, nitrogen solutions, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, and ammonium phosphate Borax products
Six-unit complex will have capacity for 360 tons a day of ammonia, 50 tons of urea, 250 tons of nitrogen solutions, 300 tons of nitric acid, 250 tons of ammonium nitrate, and 500 tons of ammonium phosphate Expanding capacity of production units, mainly by adding fusing facilities to boost output of anhydrous products
STARTING PRODUCTION . . . Allied Chemical Corp. General Chemical Division Baltimore, Md. American-Marietta Co. Richmond, Calif. American Viscose Corp. Marcus Hook, Pa. California Chemical Co. Oronite division Richmond, Calif. Ethyl Corp. Orangeburg, S.C. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. Pottstown, Pa. W. R. Grace & Co. Dewey & Almy Chemical division Acton, Mass. Heyden Newport Chemical Co. Fords, N.J. Jefferson Chemical Co. Con roe, Tex. Mobay Chemical Co. New Martinsville, W.Va.
Urox and Urab herbicides
Boosts capacity for the products by 400%
Synthetic resins
Cost:
Avicel microcrystalline cellulose
Semicommercial 1 million pound-peryear plant Capacity is 20 million pounds a year
Maleic anhydride
o-Alkylated antioxidants Vinyl resin
Daran polyvinylidene polymer Maleic anhydride
Tolylene diisocyanate Anhydrous hydrazine
Reichhold Chemicals, Inc. Elizabeth, N.J.
Maleic anhydride
Witco Chemical Co., Inc. Ultra Chemical Works, Inc. Chicago, III.
Synthetic detergents
C & E N J U N E 5, 1961
Expansion nearly doubles capacity for firm's principal antioxidants Expands capacity for paint latexes and Exon resins by about 2 0 % . Engineering by Catalytic Construction New facility at existing plant
Plant has capacity for 24 million pounds a year. Scientific Design built and designed the plant
Polypropylene glycols
Olin Mathieson Chemical Co. Saltville, Va.
34
$600,000
Expansion—the fourth at this plant— boosts capacity from 25 to 40 million pounds a year Output to go to the Air Force as fuel for Titan II and Dyna-Soar missiles. Cost: $15 million The $4 million, 20 million pound-a-year plant was built by Badger, uses air oxidation of benzene New facility boosts company's detergent capacity by 6 0 % . Cost: $1.6 million
