C
AFFELITE, a thermosetting plastic, is now obtained from the coffee bean. The process involves grinding and extraction t o remove the caffeine and oil. The meal is then mixed with water, treated with a catalyst, and autoclaved a t about 150". The product is washed with water, neutralized, and vacuum dried t o give a thermosetting powder. The first plastic auto hody was exhibited by the Ford Motor Company a t Dearhorn, Michigan, on August 13. I n the production of this auto hody, synthetic resins and fibrous material were molded under 15,000 pounds pressure per square inch. The hody weighs about 2000 pounds, which is 1000 pounds less than a comparable steel structure. The Forest Products Laboratories have studied dicyandiamideformaldehyde and urea-acetaldehyde-formaldehyde resins with respect to their use as fire retardants. "Coatings of these resins, t o which either phosphoric acid or ammonium phosphate has been added, give exceptionally good protection to wood against flame spread as measured by the fire tube method." One fairly satisfactory formula is: 45 g. of dicyandiamide, 50 g. of 37 per cent formaldehyde. 15 g. of acetaldehyde, 55 g. of water, and 63 g. of monoammonium phosphate. Although this resin is a good fire retardant and shows fair to goad resistance t o checking, i t affords rather poor protectionagainst moisture. Lignin, which constitutes about one-fourth of the weight of wood and has been characterized as the "greatest economic waste in the world," may yield to research effort and yet prove t o he of great industrial importance. Because of its cheapness, lignin is of particular interest t o the plastic industry. By the impregnation of wrapping paper with diphenyl, the spoilage of food is materially decreased, as evidenced by the fact that 90,000 cases of oranges were so wrapped in 193940. "The wrapping paper is impregnated by printing and shredding simultaneously, and the cost is less than one cent a case or 30 cents a ton of fruit." During 1938-39,the use of the impregnated wrapping paper decreased spoilage from 9.57to0.37 per cent. Selenium poisoning in animals may be offset by the administration of arsenic, according t o studies conducted on dogs by Moxan, Anderson, and Rhian of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. The second largest use of our cotton crop is in the annual production of 60.000,OM)tires. I n the Hansgirg process, now being used for the production of magnesium, the magnesium oxide is reduced with carbon a t a high temperature and the reaction products are diluted and cooled with a cold, inert gas. The reaction MgO+C*Mg+ CO is displaced t o the right a t an elevated temperature (2000°)hut
the reaction products must be diluted and chilled rapidly t o about 200" to prevent reversal of the process. Originally, hydrogen was used as the inert gas hut in the new plant a t Palo Alto, with an ultimate capacity of 15,000tons annually, natural gas is t o he used. During 1941 the United States produced 97 trillion units of vitamin A, of which 11 trillion units were obtained from medicinal liver oils, 40 trillion from shark and dogfish liver oils, 6 trillion from cod-liver oils, 20 trillion from imported oils, and 20 trillion from other industrial sources. Sulfadiaeine, the fifth of the sulfa-drugs t o be accepted by the medical profession, has now been released for general use. Sulfadiazine, which is as effective as sulfapyridine and sulfathiazole in pneumococcal infections, is less nauseating. An enzyme known as tyrasinase, obtainable from mushrooms and potatoes, is effective in reducing high blood pressure when administered intravcnousIy, according t o studies by H. A. Schroeder of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. Penicillin, one of the most powerful nan-toxic germ-killers yet discovered, is produced by a special strain of mold in bread and Roquefort cheese. Although it was originally observed by Flemming in 1929,its real effectiveness has been demonstrated only recently by Damson and co-workers of Columbia University. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company has developed a tire especially designed far tractors which can he filled with a 15 per cent solution of calcium chloride. A liquid-filled rear tractor tire holds t o the ground better than does an airalled tire because of the relatively small weight carried by the rear tires. The state of Louisiana approved a ten-year property tax exemption far the new twelve million dollar synthetic rubber and solvent plants being built by the Standard Oil Company a t Baton Rouge. These new plants will produce Buna rubber, Butyl rubber, and the necessary raw materials and solvents. Costa Rica, according t o reports, has sulfur deposits in commercial qmntities in two regions which run from 85 t o 95 per cent sulfur. Four new synthetic rubber plants are being financed by the R.F.C. Each plant will cost about $1,250,000,and have an initial annual production capacity of 2500 tons, with expansion plans for 10,000tons per year. The plants are t o he built and operated by Goodyear Tire and Ruhher Company, Hydrocarbon Chemical and Rubber Company (a subsidiary of B. F. Gwdrich Company), Firestone Tire and Ruhher Company, and U. S. Rubber Company. Although this is a beginning, i t is only a beginning when i t is recalled that the United States' consumption of crude rubber is about 600,000tons a year. -ED. F. DEGERING
AS THIS issue goes to press we have received notice of the sudden death, on November 9, of Dr. Wilhelm Segerblom, for many years a staunch supporter of the JOURNAL and an active worker in the field of Chemical Education. Dr. Segerblom was a past chairman of the Division of Chemical Education and one of its organizers.
A frequent contributor to the JOURNAL, he was at one time a Departmental Editor. He had a long and successful teaching career at Phillips Exeter Academy-from which he retired a few years agoand was one of the most prominent and influential secondary-school teachers of chemistry. We have lost a genial friend and wise adviser.
