THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK The Furnace plant will be in operation about N-iay l, United Carbon says, and will h a v e an eventual production rate of 25 million pounds a year.
Alcoa Adds T w o M o r e P o t Limes at Point C o m f o r t Expansion of its $15 million plant at Point Comfort, Tex., has been confirmed by the Aluminum Co. of America. To t h e thr^e-pot line plant completed last year ( C & E N , July 10, 1950, page 2346) at a cosrt of $15 million, an additional two lines w i l l be added approximately the same c o s t , making the total capacity oi t h e plarxt about 190 million pounds of pis ahiminiLin annually.
D u Pont Plans New Office Building Near W i l m i n g t o n Milton C. Whitaker ( s e c o n d from left) receives the Chandler Medal from Grayson L. Kirk, vice president a n d acting head of Columbia. A. W. Hixson ( l e f t ) , retired chemical engineering d e p a r t m e n t chairman, and A. W. T h o m a s ( r i g h t ) , chemistry d e p a r t m e n t chairman, were on hand to congratulate Whitaker Whitaker mentioned t h e manpower problem created by drafting of technical personnel into t h e armed services. H e praised the manpower system used d i n ing t h e last war by such countries as England, France, and Japan, an effective system which has not "penetrated t h e brass curtain around the book of rules in America." Looking at the elements comprising the job of a worker in chemical industry, Whitaker declared that there were five basic ingredients: ( 1 ) an invention, idea, inspiration, or recognition of an opportunity b a s e d on some form of research; ( 2 ) management to evaluate, organize, coordinate, direct a n d protect the enterprise, and plan and provide the facilities; ( 3 ) an investor with about $12,000 which h e or she is willing to risk o n t h e project; ( 4 ) a worker w h o wants a job a n d can be trained by the m a n a g e m e n t to carry out the required operation; and ( 5 ) customers w h o are willing and able t o buy its products and services. No one can guarantee that each one of these groups which go to make u p a new enterprise will prosper. W h i t a k e r went on to say that "Industry has m u c h to fear from t h e growing class legislation, discriminatory laws, laws which destroy t h e self-reliance and independence of t h e individual, laws which kill incentive and t h e independent will to grow and prosper." On t h e subject of secrecy in disclosure of information, Whitaker said that he used to be "roundly roasted" b y his colleagues because h e advocated publication of specifications and physical d a t a on all products sold, as well as publication of process details as soon as patent protection was launched in order to foster confidence and cooperation among engineers. Cooperation among professions and industries which has resulted in such dis-
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coveries as bactericides, antibiotics, alloy steel, and many others is one of the most hopeful signs for future growth. Chemistry is permeating almost every industrial field, Whitaker said, and t h e growth of industry is being accelerated by t h e replacement of rule-of-thumb operations by chemical know-how. T h e Chandler Medal, established in 1910, was provided by former students and friends of Charles F . Chandler to support lectures from time to time by an eminent person on the science of chemistry or its application. Whitaker was the twenty-third recipient of t h e medal, five of whom were Nobel prize winners in chemistry.
INDUSTRY U n i t e d C a r b o n t o Build New Furnace Process Facilities Plans to build $1.5 million carbon black facilities at Shamrock, Tex., have been announced by the United Carbon Co., Inc. T h e move was spurred by increased needs for additional furnace type blacks for the expanded synthetic rubber production program, and to satisfy increasing d e m a n d s of various consuming industries. T h e new plant will augment United Carbon's furnace process facilities and will b e located six miles east of Shamrock on the Chicago-Rock Island and Pacific Railway. It will produce gas base furnace blacks of t h e semireinforcing and high modulus types. These blacks, the company says, are required in the manufacture of tire carcasses, inner tubes, and automotive, footwear, a n d mechanical goods. Printing, paint, plastic, fertilizer, and allied industries also resort to these blacks for toning qualities.
JANUARY
2 9,
1951
Tentative pLans for the construction oi a new office building north of Newark, Del., to supplement the existing companyowned D u Pont and Nemours Buildings in Wilmington a n d to provide additional office s p a c e for increased personnel at t h e company's headquarters, were announced! by Du Pont Co. A site has been acquired!, and preliminary exploration and site preparation work will start shortly. The xiced for more office space is the result o £ Du Pont's postwar growth which h a s paralleled that of the entire chemical industry^. In the last five years more than 20,000 new jobs have been created lor Dei Point workers in plants, laboratories, a n d offices throughowl th~ country, many of them stemming from new products. T h e coxnpany has invested upwards of $500 rmillion since 1945 in the construction of new plant and laboratory facilities and. the improvement or replacement ol existing facilities. These· increases in the field have brought the population of the Du Pont a n d Nermours Buildings to about 7,000, while m a n y other groups of employees art* woirking at various locations all over Wilmington. If present plans materialize, they w i l l ease this badly overcrowded situation and in addition provide the means o f taking care of any future expansion that may be necessary.
Shell Oil Nears C o m p l e t i o n of I t s Largest Expansion P r o g r a m An a-ecelenited expansion of oil distribution facilities, to raise the supply of petroleum products for both military and civilian use, will be completed by Shell O i l Co. early in 1951, II. S. M. Burns, présiderai, announced recently. The program, costing tens of millions of dollars and involving 49 new or expanded plants in 25 states, is t h e largest ever undertaken by Shell. According to M r . B u r n s , it is "two five-year plans c r a m m e d into four years." The new facilities will add several
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THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK hundred million gallons to the company's total petroleum storage and handling capacity. In addition, handling tech niques have been studied, overhauled, and brought to new peaks of efficiency. Among the larger units completed dur ing the four-year program arc two new mut*» at the Sewaren, \ . J., plant One receives, stores, processes, and distributes alcohol made from petroleum. The other handles lubricating oils that are brought in by tanker from the Gulf Coast, a new method of transportation for these prod ucts. Among the locations where major fa cilities have been completed or are cur rently under construction are: Kureka, Redwood City, San Diego, and Colusa, Calif., Tampa and Panama City, Kla.; Wood River and Argo, 111., Zionsville. Inch; Bettendorf, Iowa, Louisville, Ky.. New Orleans, La.; Searsport, Me.; Haitimore, Md.; Fall River, Mass.; Grand Haven, Mich.; Winona, Minn.; Cape Girardeau, Mo.; Sewaren, N. J.. Rens selaer. Brooklyn, Mount Vernon, Plattshurg, and Inwood. N\ V.; Wilmington. V C ; Akron and Dayton, Ohio.; Portland and North Bend, Ore.; Charleston, S. C . Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; Roanoke, Va.; Seattle and Taeonia. Wash.. Mil waukee, Wis.
Skokie Research Lab Announced by Min & Chem International Minerals & Chemical Corp. have recently announced plans for the construction of a new central research laboratory to be located in Skokie, 111. Negotiations are being conducted for the purchase of a site in Skokie. A por tion of the property has been zoned as residential, and an application now is pending before the Skokie zoning board for re/oning in t h e "light industrial" classification. T h e laboratory will have an area of ap proximately 33,000 square feet, and will house a research staff of approximately 75 persons. Construction work is expected to be started as soon as the application for rezoning has been favorably acted upon. Research in this laboratory will be car ried on in connection with t h e various operations of International Minerals & Chemical Corp., which includes the min ing and refining of potash and phosphate, the manufacture of plant foods and ele ments for animal feed, amino products, and pharmaceuticals. T h e company has also announced that it will move its Florida phosphate head quarters from Mulberry to Bartow when new offices now under construction have been completed. T h e new Bartow build ing has been designed all on one floor with a cold water air condition system. Total floor area will be 20,000 square feet. Completion is scheduled for August. T h e corporation's half-million dollar 386
service center a n d warehouse, under con struction in Noralyn, Kla._ is scheduled tor completion about May 1, 1951.
senior fellow. He will he aided by Joseph J. Heis, w h o has spent 10 years in research m brush manufacture.
J. M. Huber Doubling Capacity of Carbon Black Plant
Research on Furfural Subject of New Fellowship
As construction of the first unit of J. M. H uber's n e w furnace type carbon black plant near Baytown, Tex. ( C&EN July 24, 1950, p a g e 2493) i s nearing com pletion, t h e company has announced a second unit of the same size. With the first unit expected to go into operation in late spring and the second in late fall, total plant capacity will b e 72 million pounds annually and the estimated cost of the two units, S3 million.
Κ. Β. Weidlein, director, Mellon Insti tute, Pittsburgh, Pa., has announced that the Quaker Oats C o . of Chicago is the donor of a new fellowship there that re lates broadly to research on the utiliza tion of by-products from the manufacture of furfural. C. E. Colwell, w h o received his P h . D . from Purdue in 1950, is the present incumbent of the fellowship. At present furfural by-products a r e be ing utilized in fertilizer, foundry, and plastics technology, and are under evalu ation in other diverse fields. T h e fellow ship, in setting out on a wide systematic investigation of the applications of these b\ -products, is now according research attention to the chemical aspects, with particular emphasis on studies of the prop erties of the various extracted fractions.
RESEARCH Johns Hopkins Receives Grant For Trace Element Research Karle F. Johnson, former vice president of the General Motors Corp., has given $10,000 to Johns Hopkins University for a postdoctoral fellowship in t h e McCollumPratt Institute, it was announced recently by Detlev W. Bronk, president of the university. McCollum-Pratt was founded three years ago as the first organization devoted solely to t h e study of trace elements which are considered one of the m o s t important problems in the field of biology. Trace elements, such as copper a n d cobalt, in the soil are known to b e vital to the health and growth of all living things. Their absence can cause a wide r a n g e of defici ency diseases. T h e three-year E. F . Johnson fellowship will b e used to support a y o u n g scientist doing general work in the trace element field. Earlier this year Charles F . Kettering gave Johns Hopkins $10,000 to b e used over a three-year period to set up a post doctoral fellowship in McCollum-Pratt In stitute. This gift enables a scientist to devote his investigations to the impor tance of inorganic ions in the nutrition and metabolism of plants o r animals, according to W . D. McElroy, McCollum-Pratt di rector.
Research on Synthetic Fibers To Be Conducted at Mellon T h e Pittsburgh Plate G l a s s Co. has established a multiple fellowship at Mellon Institute, Pittsburgh, according to a n an nouncement by E. R. Weidlein, director of the institute. The prograjn will b e con cerned with a comprehensive study on special fibers. This long-range investiga tional work will embrace synthetic fibers suitable for use in paint and other brushes. • Adelbert W. Harvey, a specialist in fibrous materials, h a s been appointed C H E M I C A L
GOVERNMENT FTC Cracks Down On False Advertising The Federal T r a d e Commission h a s an nounced that it will seek court injunctions or restraining orders to p r e v e n t false ad vertising of food, drugs, therapeutic de vices, and cosmetics when t h e public in terest is threatened with "irreparable and substantial financial injury." In the past, F T C policy has b e e n to seek injunctions only w h e n false adver tising "may cause serious injury to h e a l t h . " A statement of the new policy appeared in the Federal Register, Vol. 16, No. 7.
Chemists Sought By Army Chemical Center T h e Technical C o m m a n d at Army Chemical Center, Md., has openings for approximately 60 professional employees. Desired at the present time a r e analytical chemists, organic chemists, inorganic chemists, physical chemists, meteorologists, physicists, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, statisticians, a n d draftsmen. Personnel will work on various research and development projects in connection with the discovery and development of new chemical and radiological warfare agents and materiel. T h e salary range for these positions is from $3,100 to $/,400 per a n n u m , de pending upon the position in addition to the education and experience of t h e a p plicant. Interested applicants may apply on Standard Form 57, or in person, t o t h e Civilian Personnel Office, Army Chemical Center, Md. These forms are available at any first or second class post office. AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
