News of the Week Wyandotte sums u p its recent $30-million expansion and predicts a bright future as result of new' product research · . · Lilienthal t o quit post a s AEC chairman o n Dec. 3 1 . . . Pennsylvania reports o n Donora s m o g deaths and creates Air Pollution Control Division YANDOTTE Chemicals Corp. recently looked back with satisfaction on a completed $30-million expansion, talked optimistically of a future with more ex pansion and new products, and reported concretely on consolidation and tighten ing of the results of the company's re cent rapid growth. The occasion was the company's fourth annual research and development division staff meeting, an institution which has proved highly successful in promoting intracompany re lations and understanding of the inte grated operations by the men who make the operations tick. The meeting was sponsored by the research and develop ment staff, but representatives of all divisions of the company were invited— and attended. A brightening of the business picture since late summer was felt by Wyan dotte, reported Ford Ballantine, Jr., secretary and assistant to the new president, R. B. Semple, recently of Mon santo 's development department. He indicated that while ideas for more ex pansion were growing in the heads of Wyandotte leaders and that they have by no means reached the tapering-off point in their branching into new fields, their concerted attention for the present is directed toward making all that can be made of the expanded organization in the way of productivity and prolifera tion of new products from this broader base. The chemical economic picture and Wyandotte's place in it were surveyed by Paul Weller, director of market re search, who cited bases for predicting more stable conditions and the keenest
sales competition during the next 10 years that those present had ever seen. The chemical industry is in a good position, in the opinion of Mr. Weller. The process industries accounted for 21.7% of the 1948 national income, with the chemical component increasing from 5.2 to 6.87* between 1929 and 1948. In dustrial chemicals is the only industrial classification in the Federal Reserve Board's Index of Industrial Production producing continuously during the war which has surpassed its war peak in the postwar years. A change was noted in the company's sales pattern since it entered the organics field about a year ago. The organic factor has risen from almost zero until it now comprises a substantial portion of the Michigan Alkali Division's sales. T . H. Vaughn, vice president in charge of research and development, who or ganized the meeting, presented a view of the research program which was illus trated in tangible form with an out standing exhibit featuring the company's processes and products. Highlights included not only the Wyandotte organic youngsters, such as carboxylmethyl cellu lose, glycols, and the synthetic detergent Kreelon, but the entire range of products now marketed and new ones on the way. such as ethylene oxide derivatives and benzene sulfonic acid derivatives, and the newest department—nucleonics. Trends in the chemical industry were noted by Robert Taylor, editor of Chemical Industries, in the dinner ad dress. The rate of chemical industry growth has been greater than that of industry in general, he said, and it is
moving closer and closer to the public, which must be considered in marketing plans. It can no longer think simply in terms of caustic, ammonia, or chlorine, but the building block concept must be seen with increasing clearness. For ex ample, benzene was thought of only as a chemical twenty years ago; now we must think of it as a source of six car bon and six hydrogen atoms which can be rearranged to make a great variety of valuable materials.
Λ EC Chairmanship
Open
The resignation of David E. Lilienthal as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, to become effective Dec. 31, 1949, has set off many rumors as to I lis possible successor. No indications have been given by the White House in this regard. Prior to taking over control of AEC in October 1946, following a bitter fight in the Senate over his confirmation, he had been head of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Several possible reasons other than a desire to return to private life have been advanced for the resignation. In cluded among these is Mr. Lilienthal's desire to avoid further congressional battles such as he experienced in his original nomination and the recent in vestigation of charges of "incredible mismanagement." Other possible rea sons are the limited salary ($17,500 per year), disagreement with certain secrecy restrictions, and the complexities arising from having to work with the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, the Military Liaison Committee, and numerous technical advisory boards and committees. Mr. Lilienthal's term was not due to expire until June 30, 1950.
Pennsylvania Reports Smog Disaster
Exhibits used to illustrate some of Wyandotte's products, Detroit 3636
CHEMICAL
on
The recently released report on the Donora smog disaster issued by the Bureau of Industrial Hygiene of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's De partment of Health agrees basically with a similar report previously issued by the U. S. Public Health Service (C&EN, Oct. 24, page 3124). The new report emphasizes that there are definite indi cations that the concentrations of sulfur dioxide in the air at Donora were much higher on Oct. 29 and 30, 1948 than they were on Oct. 31 when the first test samples were taken. On the last date the quantities of sulfur dioxide present approached the safety limit. The Industrial Hygiene report pointed out that there was no evidence of
AND ENGINEERING
NEWS
Because y o u buy by the pound and sell by the g a l l o n . . .
LOW SPECIFIC GRAVITY KETONES ifÇOuER PROFITS Be sure YOUR solvents also offer these advantages: 1. High solids content 2 . Freedom from cold-check problems 3 . High diluent tolerance 4 . Low viscosity formulations
have a lower specific gravity than other active solvents—this means more gallons of lacquer soldperpound of raw material purchased. KETONES
Have you heard the full story on the cost-cutting advantages of Ketone Solvents? Call your Shell Chemical Representative and have him point out the basic factors that will enable you to profit by the competitive advantage of Ketone formulations.
SHELL CHEMICAL CORPORATION +
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Eastern Division: 5 0 0 Fifth Avenue, N e w York 13 LOS ANGELES · VOLUME
HOUSTON
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ST. LOUIS
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CHICAGO
Western Division: lOO Bush Street, San Francisco 6 ·
5, 1 9 4 9
CLEVELAND ·
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DETROIT
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NEWARK 3637
NEWS
OF
THE
effects of fluoride exposure. As in the Federal report, the state report attrib uted the disaster t o atmospheric pollu tion precipitated by unusual weather conditions and the topography of the surrounding terrain. The State of Pennsylvania has now created a Division of Air Pollution Con trol to continue studies of the problems of air pollution and to try to effect cor rections. This is the first such move by any state. State officials feel that to cope with this problem considerable re search must be conducted to establish standards which will represent maximum permissible levels of contamination for an industrial community.
Southern Research institute Opens Lab Addresses by Norman A. Shepard. chemical director of American Cyanamid Co., and Cornelius P . Rhoads, director of Memorial Hospital and Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, featured the fifth annual meeting of Southern Re search Institute in Birmingham. Ala., on Nov. 10. The first public showing of the newly occupied Robert I. Ingalls Labora tory occurred the same day. In its morning meeting, the board of trustees adopted a retirement program for the staff. The plan provides indi vidual retirement annuities for each voluntarily participating employee. A fifth anniversary bulletin, released at the meeting, traced the growth of the institute during the past five years and summarized some of the research results which have been released for publica tion by project sponsors. Laboratory work has been in progress for only four and a half years. Robert The current an nual · volume of contract research exceeds $450,000. Over 200 projects have been under taken, of which about 50 are now active. The capi tal fund of the in stitute, contributed philanthropically by businesses and individuals in terested in helping to stimulate the southern economy» has now reached 12 million. There are 90 employees, of whom 63 are technically trained. Forty thousand square feet of floor space are devoted tο laboratories
3638
WEEK Pictured at the presentation of service award plaque to the Naval Stores Station are: E. L. Patton, IS. C. McConnell, Congressman C. E. Bennett, G. P . Shingler, W. M. Scott, T. R. Reid, C. F . Speh, and Sen· Claude Pepper
and offices, and 3,000 square feet in addi tion are available for storage.
Naval Group
Research Honored
A superior service award plaque was recently presented to the Naval Stores Station, Olustee, Fla., "for outstanding research which resulted in the develop ment of revolutionary and more eco nomical and efficient methods of cleaning and distilling pine gum which in turn resulted in the marketing of crude gum on the basis of known turpentine and rosin content." The presentation was made by T . R o y Reid, director of per sonnel, Department of Agriculture on be half of Secretary of Agriculture Brannan. The plaque honors seven present or former members of the naval stores sta tion. These are C. F. Speh, assistant chief of the Bureau of Agricultural and Indus trial Chemistry; E . L. Patton, head of AIC's naval stores research ; G. P. Shing ler. former head of the naval stores sta tion : N . C. McConnell, naval stores techI. Ingalls
Laboratory'
nologist; J. O. Reed, naval stores engi neer; R. A. Feagan, Jr., Stanolind Oil Co., Tulsa, Okla.; and W. C. Smith, Treasury Dept., Washington, D . C. T h e latter three were unable to attend the ceremony. Mr. Shingler accepted the plaque o n behalf of himself and the other recipients. Mr. Shingler, who has spent 25 years in chemical and technological research on gum naval stores, was head of the Olustee station from 1935 until March 14, 1949, when h e was placed on special assignment to compile a history of F e d eral research on gum naval stores. C o m pletion of this project has coincided with his retirement at the end of November 1949. Emmette P. Waite, who replaced Mr. Shingler as head of the Olustee station, was formerly with the Glidden C o / e N a v a l Stores Division, Jacksonville, Fla. During the presentation of this award A I C officials announced the completion of a 32-inch commercial model continu ous steam still designed t o handle 10,000 lb. per hour of clean gum. Additional testing of the new equipment will take place prior t o i t s installation in a c o m mercial g u m processing plant near Lake City, Fla.
Soybean Plant to Be Erected Mankato, Minn., has been selected as the site for a new Archer-Daniels-Mid land soybean plant, according t o T . L. Daniels, president of the Minneapolis firm. T h e new three million-bushel plant will be ready for operation b y next October when the 1950 crop of soy beans is harvested. Daniels revealed that Archer-Daniels' plans call for at least five separate struc tures. T h e grain elevator, whose foun dations will rest on rock, will contain cleaning and drying equipment. A second structure, three stories high and about 90 feet square, will house the heavy machinery which prepares the beans for processing. T h e five-story solvent plant will con tain much machinery and auxiliary
CHEMICAL
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
IRON FREE-RAPID SOLUBILITY Prove High Quality of Hooker Sulfides Where you are using or considering using Sodium Sulfide or Sodium Sulfhydrate, you will do well to see how the high, purity of these Hooker products can make your work easier and more effective. Hooker Sodium Sulfide has a maximum iron content of 8 ppm and Sodium Sulfhydrate a maximum iron content of only 5 ppm. In developing these iron free sulfides, Hooker has also been able to keep them remarkably free from other impurities. Rapid and complete solubility of these sulfides, a result of careful manufacture and high purity means that the clean solution can be used without settling or decanting—a time and material saving that is well worth while. Large users of sodium sulfhydrate can obtain this Hooker product in liquid form in tank car quantities. It is supplied in concentrations of 37% or 45%. Send for samples and Technical Data Sheets. Please make your request on your company letterhead. SODIUM SULFHYDRATE NoSH
SODIUM SULFIDE Na 2 S ΜοΙΛΝΐ
(sodium hydrosuliide) Mol.Wt 56.1 M.P 55°C Light lemon colored solid in flake form. Completely and rapidly sol uble in water, alcohol and ether.
78.1
M.P 100°C Light buff colored solid in flake form. Rapidly soluble in water; slightly soluble in alcohol; insol uble in ether. ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS
Na 2 S 60 to 62% NaCl 1.5% Max. Other Na Salts 2.0% Max. Fe 8 ppm Max. Cu, Ni, Cr, Mn, Pb . . 1 ppm Max. Water of crystallization 36.5 to 34.5%
NaSH 70 to 72% Na 2 S 2.5% Max. NaCl 0.8% Max. Na^SQs and N a H C 0 3 . .0.4% Max. Fe 5 ppm Max. Cu, Ni,Cr, Mn, Pb . . . 1 ppm Max. Water of crystallization . .28 to 26%
USES
USES
I n unhairing hides and wool pull ing; desulfurizing viscose rayon; inmanufactureofdyestuffs.chemical intermediates, paper pulp, soap and rubber, as an ingredient of dye liquor for textile dyeing; boiling out linen; ore flotation and metal refining.
In unhairing hides, in desulfuriz ing viscose rayon; in preparation of dyestuffs and other organic chem icals such as thioamides, thiourea, thioglycolic acid, thio- and dithiobenzoic acids, sodium thiosulfate.
HOOKER RESEARCH PRESENTS SULFUR COMPOUNDS Bulletin No. 9
Looking for a new organic sulfur compound? The answer to your prob lem may be found in this new Hooker bulletin. It lists typical processes and over 40 different organic sulfur com pounds in 9 different classifications. These products are not all being manufactured, but they are all prod ucts we know how to make. As they are all typical products, they may sug gest other materials of a similar type ^ for which you may be looking. Hooker does not offer ordinary sulfonations or sulfurized products. We do offer a variety of sulfides, mercap-. tans, thio acids, thiocyanates. and j other sulfur derivatives, many of : which require our specialized pro cessing ability. If you have a potential requirement for a new orgahiè sulfur compound, see what we can do for you. Writetoday on your business letterhead for your copy of Bulletin No. 9, Sulfur Compounds.
SHIPPING CONTAINERS
Flake: Lacquer-lined steel drums, 90, 350 lbs. net Liquid Tank Cars
SHIPPING CONTAINERS
Steel drums . .90 and 350 lbs. net
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lf you have a product, or plan a product» let Norda help you make it better. Norda knows what you need in Industrial Perfumes, after helping solve similar problems for so many years. Call on us often . » . Call on us now.
^[orda
ESSENTIAL OIL AND
CHEMICAL CO., INC. 601 West 2 6 * St., New Yoffc 1, Ν. Υ.
3640
WEEK
lection of applicants in the case of the mately S2.S million in cash plus about Ottawa laboratories, but only British sub- »* 17,500 shares of Dresser common stock jeets will be appointed for work at Chalk has been accepted b y the majority stock River. holders of Magnet Cove, i t has been Application forms can be obtained from announced by H . N . Mal Ion, president the Laboratories Awards Committee, N a of Dresser Industries. tional Research Council, Ottawa, Ont. "The purchase of Magnet Cove," MalApplications should b e received before lon said, "represents another forward Feb. 15. 1950. step i n Dresser's program of long-term growth and makes possible t h e replace ment of a significant portion of t h e Plant for Sale earnings of three subsidiaries disposed Godfrey L. Cabot, Inc., of Boston, of by Dresser last January. primarily manufacturers of channel and furnace blacks and destructively dis Public Health Service Exams tilled pine products, has announced its decision to withdraw from the vitamin Examinations for Scientists and Sani ami drug manufacturing field and its tarians (Chemists and Biochemists) in interest in selling the plant of Valley the United States Public Health Service Vitamins. Inc., at McAllen. Tex.. (C
