HEADLINES of the Month Events of Interest to Chemists, Chemical Engineers, and Executives7 NOVEMBER17. David E. Lilienthal, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, in letter to John R. Steelman, acting chairman Natimal Securities Resources Board, urges atom war defense for public. 4
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structural materials.-NCommercial Solvents announces its antibiotic production facilities will be increased by building a $670,000 fermentation and filtration unit a t Terre Haute, Ind., near its penicillin plant.--Oh Industries announces i t is going into cellophane-making business a t Ecusta Paper Corp. plant, Pisgah Forest, N. C.
7 NOVEMBER 18. Survey of 50 companies made by Pendray & Leibert shows that U. S. industry is spending $200,000,000 to $300,000,000 annually to eliminate air and water pollution.
7 NOVEMBER28. AEC says it has worked out plans, design 90% completed, for a plant to breed atomic materials, and work will start immediately on test plant near hrco, Idaho, which will make new atom fuel as it uses up the old.-WReichhold Chemicals forms Canadian affiliate, Reichhold Chemicals (Canada) Ltd., in Toronto to manufacture synthetic resins.-Radio Corp. of America, a t Exposition of Chemical Industries, shows first commercial models of electronic instruments, heretofore used only by government laboratories, by the use of which many industries can employ radioactive isotopes from AEC without excessive risk to employees.
7 NOVEMBER 19. University of Chattanooga formally dedicates its new $500,000 science building. --Senator Alexander Wiley urges dispersal of government units and functions in case of atomic bombing, even to legislating by television fromscattered key points and perhaps a mobile capital on railroad trains.-NMallinckrodt Chemical Works, St. Louis, gives Harvard an unrestricted gift of $50,000. 7 NOVEMBER20. David G: Cogan, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, attributes eye cataracts in Japan to atomic bombing. --Keystone Paint & Varnish Co. develops odorless Bat oil paint after 15 years of research.
7 NOVEMBER 29. Texas Co. opens new $60,(#30,000 refinery a t Westville, N. J., and expects to process about 50,000 bbl. daily of foreign-produced crude oil. “Exhibitors a t 22nd Exposition of Chemical Induatries reveal that industrialists from foreign chemical industries have started buying new American equipment for materials handling, mixing, power, etc., in record quantities. --AEC and Department of Defense issue joint statement that this country is preparing to conduct further tests of its atomic weapons a t Eniwetok Atol, but dates are closely guarded.
7 NOVEMBER 21. Ethyl Corp. awards eight university fellomships to as many educational institutes in fields of petroleum, automotive, and chemical industries.--Shell Development announces plans for construction of a s t o r y building a t Emeryville, Calif., laboratories to cost about $24,000,000. 7 NOVEMBER22. A token shipment involving 8000 tons of manganese ore is said t o be enroute to U. 5. from Russia.-American Quakers suggest United Nations sponsorship of fitandstill agreement to halt atomic race and provide time for new scientific examination of conditions necessary for international control.
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7 NOVEMBER30. .4EC authorizes sale of commercially produced uranium metal, for commercial research projects in this country.--Federal Court in Baltimore rules Standard Oil CO.’s cracking process for high-octane gasoline does not infringe patent rights of Phillips Petroleum Co. “American Optical Co. opens central research laboratory a t Stamford, Conn., which, backed by a $1,200,000 annual research budget, will concentrate on basic problems of optical science.
7 NOVEMBER 23. White House announces resignation of David E. Lilienthal as chairman of AEC, effective December 31.“ UN General Assembly calls on Big Five and Canada to do everything possible to break deadlock on atomic control and to look carefully into all concrete plans.--Austria will be permitted to stockpile certain strategic materials, notably steel and chemicals, under terms of treaty nearing final stage of negotiation by U. S., Britain, France, and Soviet Union.--Procter & Gamble announce plans for new research center near Venice, Ohio, at estimated cost of $1,500,000.--Prime Minister Atlee reports good progress in cooperation among U. S., Britain, and Canada on atomic energy.
7 DECEMBER1. Supreme Commander for Allied Powers authorizes Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry to solicit orders on a negotiated basis to supply Japan with approximately 229,000 tons of phosphate rock for use primarily in manufacture of superphosphate. 7 DECEMBER 2. John R. Steelman, assistant to President Truman, addressing Third National Men of Science and Industry dinner in Washington, says the Government must make scientists “safe from political harrassment,” and that private capital must carry the vastly expanded scientific research and depelopment program needed to achieve maximum employment and productivity, as there is question as to how much further Government can go in extending its support, now $1,400,000,000 per year.
7 NOVEMBER 24. Robt. S. Casey, director of research, W. A. Sheaffer Pen Co., is awarded 1949 Medal of Iowa Section, A.C.S., for work in ink-testing field.--One hundred more governmentowned foreign patents are available to chemical industry, Commerce Department’s Office of Technical Service announces.
7 NOVEMBER26. Earl Bunting, managing director, National Association of Manufacturers, in letter to Paul Hoffman, administrator of Economic Cooperation Administration, charges businessmen in some Western European countries are reviving old cartel arrangements and forming new ones, a cause of concern to U. S. businessmen.
7 DECEMBER 3. Brig. Gen. Carlos P. Romulo, president UNGA, says that the six permanent members of the AEC are gaining on atomic energy accord and indicate that they will not close doors to an agreement. 7 DECEMBER 4. H. V. Churchill, chief, analytical division, Aluminum Co. of America Research Laboratories, is chosen to receive 1949 Pittsburgh Award of the Pittsburgh Section, A.C.S., for distinguished service to chemistry. --George R. Jordan, a former Air Force major, testifies before House Committee on Un-American Activities that uranium and data on atomic bomb
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NOVEMBER27. Arthur J: Dempster, Argonne National Laboratories, reports that a weakly radioactive mercury isotope, atomic weight 196, changes to gold if bombarded by neutrons in an atom pile.--Twenty-second Exposition of Chemical Industries opens in N. Y. with nearly 400 displays of chemicals and
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and other strategic information had been flown to Soviet Union in 1943 and 1944 under orders of Harry L. Hopkins, adviser to President Roosevelt. 7 DECEMBER 5. A.C.S. chooses N. Hoaell Furman, Russell Wellman professor of chemistry, Princeton University, to head the SOCIETYin 1951; Ernest H. Volwiler, executive vice president of Abbott Laboratories, becomes President for 1950 January 1,” Department of Justice charges Celanese Corp. of America with unreasonable restraint of competition in manufacture and sale of rayon warp-knit fabrics through merger with Tubize Rayon R. Ewing, U. S. Federal Security Administrator, Corp.--Oscar is in London with a team of experts gathering information for planning civilian defense against atomic bomb attacks, Vannevar Bush, speaking a t MIT convocation, warns that growing trend toward federally sponsored “soft security” is a greater threat to U. S. than Russian armaments.--Ministry of Supply announces work has been suspended on building Britain’s third atomic pile a t Sellafield on River Calder in Cumberland County near Seascale.
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7 DECEMBER 6. International Labor Organization urges early start on technical aid to backward areas in Far East.--Logan E. Emlet, director, Operations Division, Oak Ridge Sational Laboratories, speaking before meeting of American Institute of Chemical Engineers in Pittsburgh, predicts cheaper gasoline, fuel oil, and other petroleum products, better quality‘ sheets of rubber and plastics will result from atomic energy program.-AEC asks federal help to end a wildcat walkout a t Oak Ridge, Tenn., that has made idle 2000 construction workers. 7 DECEMBER 7. Shamrock Textile Processing Co., h’. Y., demonstrates to members of press new system of high-speed fabric dyeing by a photochemical dyeing unit, harmless under normal handling, which uses radioactive catalytic agent, UA-1, and can dye 600 yards of rayon fabric in about 5 minutes.-Toni Co., Chicago, announces research appropriation of $500,000 for further studies on human hair and skin.--Brig. Gen. Thomas B. Wilson, president, U. S. Plastics Corp., tells the Syqthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association that with development of atomic energy and closer relationship between physical sciences in field of chemistry, it seems probable that chemical industry is about to enter another great phase of expansion.-NJ. J. Sher and William E. Howes of Brooklyn Cancer Institute report to Radiological Society of North America use of solutions containing radioactive thorium for treatment of akin cancer, solution being swabbed on like iodine on a scratch during eight weekly visits by patient. fi DIXEMBER 8 Frederick E. Frey, assistant director of research, Phillips Petroleum Co., is chosen to receive 1949 Southwest Regional Award of A.C.S. for outstanding achievement in petroleum chemistry.--Department of Justice says Amtorg Trading Corp. has registered as agent of the Soviet ministries of foreign trade and maritime, the fleet, the Bank for Foreign Trade of the USSR, and I8 Soviet-controlled trading companies, and that Amtorg defined its purpose as exporting and importing goods to and from Soviet Union as well as sending trade information to Russia.--Cit-Con Oil Corp. dedicates 842,000,000 refinery a t Lake Charles, La., eo-owners being Cities Service and Continental Oil.--Essential Oil Association a t the annual meeting of its scientific section in New York adopts specifications for eight additional aromatic chemicals and essential oils. Ti DECEMBER 10. House Un-American Activities Committee asks Chemical Warfare Service for records in effort to learn how Russia got atomic materials during war. T[ DECEMBER 12. European Cultural Conference meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, recommends an all-European Institute of Nuclear Physics and removal of restrictions on flow of books and magazines among European countries.--Diplomatic source in Washington discloses Czechoslovakia is supplying Russia with
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large quantities of uranium ore from new mine near Prague.-Esselen Corp. of Boston, Mass., and United States Testing Co.. Inc., with headquarters a t Hoboken, N . J , and laboratories scattered throughout the country announce merger effective January 1, 1950; the Esselen Corp. will become the Esselen Research Division of the United States Testing Co., Inc., and will continue to operate from Boston’.
7 DECEMBER 13. Budget Director Frank Pace, Jr., says President Truman has plans for a major program of government reorganization in 1950.W-Herbert I. Bergson, head Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, says Administration’s recent appeal for voluntary cooperation by business communities to end threats of monopoly to free enterprise will mean no relaxation of enforcement of antitrust laws.--Chemical division of Koppers Co.. Inc., announces i t is abandoning the cellulosics field to devote all plastic manufacturing facilities t o polystyrene operations.-A revolutionary new type of atomic power plant that will eliminate some of costliest and most troublesome features of nuclear reactors, that will harness vast energy of nuclear fuels, uranium 235, and platonium for peacetime power production but not yet ready for construction stage “opens new vistas and areas of development” Lawrence R. Hafstad, director of research development for AEC tells conference at AEC’s Argonne Laboratory near Chicago.--Petition made public by committee for peaceful alternatives to Atlantic Pact and signed by more than 1148 clergymen, educators, scientists, and writers from 45 states urges U. S. delegation to UN t o take initiative to prohibit atomic bomb as an instrument of international warfare. --Department of Commerce reports United States exports of rubber, allied gums, and manufactures in October valued a t $8,218,371, compared with $7,933,946 in September and $10,823,292 in October 1948.--Canada will undertake production of ACTH, new drug which has had “encouraging results” in treatment of arthritis and other diseases, Paul Martin, Minister of Health, announces 7 DECEMBER 14. Charles Allen Thomas, president Monsanto Chemical, succeeds Roger Adams as Chairman of the Board of Directors, -4.C.S.--H. V. Churchill, chief analytical chemist, Aluminum Co. of America, in address accepting Pittsburgh Award of the A.C.S. says improved analytical techniques now being d e veloped by chemists will greatly facilitate increased utilization of low-grade ores to replenish America’s dwindling mineral supplies.--Harold C. Urey, Institute for Nuclear Studies, University of Chicago, addressing Washington meeting of Atlantic Union Committee recommends a limited political union be formed by Atlantic Pact nations against what he calls the “world conquest ambitions of Russia,” and in an interview earlier in day calls excitement stirred up in Congress over wartime shipments of atomic materials to Russia a “little silly.”--General Electric Co. announces development of improved x-ray spectrogoniometer, which records chemical analysis on a moving strip of paper in the form of a graph. 7 DECEMBER 15. Crown Oil Products Corp. and A. J. Wittenberg Corp. merges to form Crown-Wittenberg Chemical Corp., A. J. Wittenberg, president, announces; new company will continue production of alkyds, treated drying oils, and hard resins, and will market natural resins and rosin products,-Rene Aerts, general sales manager Gevaert Co. of America, Inc., announces main plant in Belgium has resumed full-scale operations upon completion of post-war reconstruction program, and that besides films, plates, and paper for photographic and graphic arts fields, plant now produces plastic raw materials, plastic sheeting, recording tape, and acetate recording blanks.--A shipment of 1,000,000 units of antimalarial Aralen is flown to Guatemala City to curb aftermath of epidemic of malaria following recent floods that caused death of more than 4000 persons and left approximately 20,000 homeless, officials of Winthrop Products, Inc., report. 1
Chem. Eng. News, 27, 3710 (Dee. 12, 1949)
