INDUSTRIAL
News
Ward V . Evans, retiring from Northwestern, to head chemistry depart ment of A r m y University Study Centers for soldiers . . . House of Representatives authorizes $8,000,000 annually to National Academy of Sciences for permanent technical and scientific research program ARD V. Evans, retiring head of the de Wpartment of chemistry at Northwestern University, and soon to leave for Europe on an assignment for the Government, was honored at a dinner party held by the Chicago Chemists Club on June 15. About 175 attended. Speakers at the dinner were Gustav Egloff, Dean G. Fagg of the North western Graduate School, and Robert E. Wilson who presented Dr. Evans with a plaque and an etching on behalf of the Chemists Club. Dr. Evans responded with a brief address. Robert Burtner, president of the Chicago Chemists Club, presided at the dinner. A teacher since he was 17, Dr. Evans went to Northwestern as instructor of chemistry in 1916 and rose to head of the department in 1942. In his new assignment, Dr. Evans will be head of the chemistry department of the Army University Study Centers to be es tablished at Shrivenham, England, and Fountainbleau, France, for the benefit of American soldiers who cannot get back home . at once. Headquarters for the schools have not yet been designated. The schools will probabl.v operate for a year, and each will have an enrollment of about 4,000 students. Various liberal arts courses will be given, and the chemistry courses will include general, qualitative, quantitative, organic, and physi cal. Dr. Evans is recruiting chemistry teachers in this country and will take 11 men overseas with him.
Acquittal in Acrylic Cartel Suit D u Pont, Rohm & Haas, and six executives were all acquitted June 20 in the cartel trial in which they had been charged with con spiracy under the Sherman Antitrust Act, in the sale of acrylic products. This was the first criminal prosecution in the United States of alleged international conspiracy to
monopolize production, allocate sales terri tory throughout the world, and fix prices. The two companies "were charged with conspiring with I. G. Farbenindustrie, Rohm & Haas of Darmstadt, and Imperial Chemical Industries. Two counts of the indictment, charging monopoly and con spiracy to monopolize, were dismissed a t the instance of the prosecution before the rase opened; a separate indictment concerning monopoly and restraint of trade in the den ture field -also was quashed.
War Research Program The House of Representatives passed unanimously June 19 the May Bill, H.R. 3440, which authorized an annual appropria tion of $8,000,000 to the National Academy of Sciences for a permanent program of post war military and naval research in technical and scientific fields. The bill has been sent to the Senate, where approval is expected. Activities would be directed by a Research Board for National Security, made u p of Army, Navy, and other government officials. During the debate on the measure, Repre sentative Gordon L. McDonough of Cali fornia, sponsor of H.R. 2827 which would esdmpt scientists and other key personnel from the draft, said that the United States is the only nation that has failed to provide adequate safeguards against the loss of needed chemists, engineers, physicists, and other highly skilled personnel. Representa tive Walter H. Judd of Minnesota joined in the criticism, asserting that the United States is systematically destroying our po tential scientists of tomorrow without realizing the seriousness of the situation.
Manpower for Rubber Plants The War Production Board has asked the War Manpower Commission to place inter regional recruitment facilities at the disposal
Robert K. Summerbell, who succeeds Ward V . Evans at Northwestern vescern University, congratulates Dr. Evans on his new mission. Right.
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of companies making rubber products, anticipating continued high military require ments for rubber during the next three monthsWorkers laid off by war plants are not accepting other work at lower wage scales, and the Army's policy of withdrawing all soldiers of the enlisted reserve from rubber plants has further complicated the man power situation. The second-quarter tire situation has not been met, and all rubber textiles may remain critically short until the first quarter of 1946.
Standard O i l Research M e n Honored Four research experts of the Standard Oil refinery at Whiting, Ind., who lost their lives in May last year by explosion of a flame thrower have been honored post humously in certificates of merit presented by the Office of Scientific Research and Development. They were Frank V. Ovitz and James G. Nellis, chemical engineers; John Leonard, engine mechanic; and John J. Hanusin, engine laboratory foreman. Eight others who worked on the project received similar awards: E. R. Barnard, assistant director of research; T. H. Rogers, associate director, who sustained serious injuries; James A. Bock, chemical engineer; George Hajduk, technician; Bernard J. Lotkowski, machinist; Ε. Τ. Molson, engine mechanic; W. A. Proell, chemist; and R. B. Terry, chemical engineer. Forwarding the certificates to the widows of the four, Robert E. Wilson, chairman of the board, said that "the contributions they made for victory were as real in every sense as those of our troops in battle. The develop ment program on which they were working was of real importance in advancing the flame thrower to the important place on the battlefield which it occupies today". The flame thrower research was carried out by Standard Oil under the auspices of the National Defense Research committee.
International Cartels Assistant Secretary of State Clayton told a Senate Military Affairs subcommittee June 25 that the State Department proposes im mediate action to require registration of all international cartel agreements in effect in Germany after Jan. 1, 1933; put all inter national business communications with Ger many under military government surveil lance; and seize financial and corporate in terests of German nationals outside Germany,
Robert tE.. Wilson, (Ind.), rtooert Wilson, chairman of the board of Standard O i l Co. (Ind.)/ presents Dr. Evans with an etching from the Chicago Chemists Club
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Among the guests at the spring party of Chicago Drug & Chemical Association were (left to right) Mrs. Harry Dunning; Dale Ruedig, Eli Lilly; Mts. Ruedig; Harry Dunning, club president; Jim Pompa, Standard Pharmacel; Peggy O'Meil/ and Art Schultz, Drug Topics
president of the company. The award in cluded also the plants of the Remington Arms Co. and the Old Hickory Chemical Co., D u Pont affiliates. Mr. Dearborn noted that 58 D u Pont plants operated through 1944 without a single lost-time injury and that 27 of these opera* tions matched similar performances in 1943. The Du Pont nylon plant at Seaford es tablished a world's record in 1944 of 18,871,795 injury-free hours and the Bumside Laboratory at Carney's Point conducted smokeless powder research for 23 years without a single reportable injury ·
Alumni Give M I T $475,000 Résister of Patents Available for Licensing or Sale Believing that many owners of unexpired patents covering inventions not now in commercial use would be glad to grant licenses under their patents to prospective manufacturers on reasonable terms but for lack of means to contact and interest manufacturers in the exploitation of their inventions, and that in the immediate postwar era many manufacturers will be searching for new devices and products suitable for manufacture with their various facilities, a register has been set up by the Patent Office, Washington, D. C , to assist in establishing contacts between such patent owners and manufacturers. Anyone who has a right to grant licenses under a patent can submit the patent for entry on the register. No fee is charged for this service. There is no legal obligation. However, it will be assumed that the patent owner is acting in good faith in presenting his patent for entry on the register and that he will obligate himself to grant licenses under his patent on stated or reasonable terms. The Government derives no benefit from this service other than that which accrues from the welfare of its citizens. There is no assurance by the Patent Office that placing a patent on the register will result in applications for licenses under the patent. A patent will remain on the register for •the remainder of the life of the patent unless withdrawn by the owner or deleted upon evidence of lack of good faith on his part. A patent on the register may be withdrawn by the owner at any time. Entry of a patent upon the Register of Patents Available for Licensing will be published in the Official Gazette of the Patent Office. Periodic lists of patents classified according to subject matter will be sent to trade publications for publication. Manufacturers making inquiry of the Patent Office for assistance in rinding new products for manufacture will be furnished with lists of patents relating to the subject matter in which they are interested. Inquiries with respect to specific patents will be referred to the patent owners. When the patent owner requests entry of his patent on the register, he must state that he will assign his patent or grant licenses on reasonable terms. The specific terms need not be stated. The matter of the party or parties to whom licenses are granted is entirely within the discretion of the patent owner. A patent owner should determine whether 1176
a prospective licensee is reputable by the usual methods, such as credit reports, business rati η &s, etc. The Patent Office assumes no responsibility for prospective licensees. Entry of a patent on the. register does not preclude assignment or exclusive licensing. Ownership of record is a condition prece dent to entry of a patent on the register. The Pa/tent Office cannot assist the owner of a registered patent in his negotiations with a prospective licensee. Its responsibility ceases with the establishment and main tenance o f the register. The Patent Office will make no comment as to the relative merits of items disclosed in patents placed on the register or evaluate in any way their commercial possibilities. The patent owner must file a written re quest for registration, stating that he has a right to grant licenses under the patent, •citing the place where proof of ownership is to be found. He must state that he obli gates himself to grant licenses on stated or reasonable terms. The request for regis tration must be accompanied by a soft copy of the pat-ent or an order for a soft copy.
Hyatt Medal Award The fourth annual John Wesley Hyatt Award fo>r outstanding achievement in the plastics industry was presented in New York June 13 t o William Her Beach, chief plastics engineer of North American Aviation, Inc., Inglewooci, Calif. Mr. Beach received the award for his work on the post forming of laminates, which made possible the manu facture of certain critically needed parts for the aircraft industry. The presentation of the gold medal and $1,000 was made by George K. Scribner representing the John Wesley Hyatt Award Committee. Mr. Scribner, who is president of the Boonton Molding Co., Boonton, N. J., and past president of the Society of the Plastics Industry, made the presentation at a dinner given in Beach's honor at the Waldorf-Astoria. The importance of Mr. Beach's contribu tion to thte nation's war effort and its impact on the plastics industry was lauded by J. A. Krug, WTB chairman, who was the guest speaker for the occasion.
Safety Award M a d e to Du Pont The National Safety Council's "Dis tinguished Service to Safety" award has been presented to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. for the third successive year. Ned H. Deaiborrk, of Chicago, president of the National Council, made the presentation, which w a s accepted by W. S. Carpenter, Jr., C H E M I C A L
Two gifts totaling $450,000 from Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., chairman of the board of the General Motors Corp., and Gerard Swope, retired president of the General Electric Co., were presented to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on June 23. Mr. Sloan's gift of $350,000 will endow a professorship in the field of industrial management, while that from Mr. Swope will endow a group of postgraduate fellow ships in physics, electrical engineering, and industrial management. These are planned for students of superior quality. Both are alumni of MIT and they announced their gifts as they celebrated the fiftieth anni versary of the class of '95, which presented $25,000 itself to bring the total to $475,000.
Army Seizes Diamond Alkali Diamond Alkali plants at Painesville, Ohio, were seized by the War Department June 20, under executive order of President Truman, following a strike of some 2,000 members of District 50, United Mine Work ers. The President quoted the Under secretary of War, saying the strike was one of the most critical from a war standpoint that has occurred. Production of soda ash, caustic soda, chlorine, and other chemicals vital in the war effort returned slowly to normal, following the government seizure of the plant, but several days elapsed before full production could be resumed. The strike arose from union objections to the company's use of "an outside contractor for work which it is alleged can be done by the regular employees in the plant".
Enemy Technical Reports Committee Formed Donald B. Keyes, director of the WPB Office of Production, Research, and Develop ment, is to be chairman of the Enemy Tech nical Reports Committee now being formed to evaluate and distribute technical informa tion received from occupied enemy countries. All information of the kind that comes to WPB will be studied by the committee and * distributed on a classified basis to advance the war effort, and where military security is not involved, may be published in technical journals.
Exports to Philippines Resumed Foreign Economic Administration has annon need resumption of licensing of com mercial exports to the Philippine Islands, which'are placed in country group K. A N D
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Philip H. Groggins was honored by the Fertilizer Industry Advisory Committee to the War Food Administration at a gathering at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C , on June 11. He was presented with a sterling silver coffee set in appreciation for his work as chief of the Chemicals and Fertilizers Jiraneh «luring the war period. John L. Keats, a member of the chemical department
