Polypropylene Patents Fight Moves to Courts Montecatini charges infringement; Hercules bid denied by court The multicompany struggle over U.S. patent rights to polypropylene, confined for years to the precincts of the Patent Office, is moving toward the open courtroom. Montecatini has started lawsuits against Humble and Rexall, charging infringement of one of its polypropylene patents (U.S. 3,112,300). And the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has denied Hercules Powder's bid to be reinstated as a party to an interference proceeding involving polypropylene patent applications. Humble and Rexall both claim that Montecatini's patent is invalid. Rexall adds that its polypropylene does not infringe the Montecatini patent. Humble says it negotiated with Montecatini for 18 months regarding the patent, which was granted in November 1963, but concluded that a license was not needed. The suit against Humble was filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. It also names as a defendant National Plastics Products Co., which is owned jointly by J. P. Stevens and Humble. The suit against Rexall was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Both suits ask for treble damages. Interference. The court's decision against Hercules involves an interference proceeding that has been under way in the Patent Office for nearly seven years. Besides Hercules, which was dropped from the proceeding last October, other parties include Montecatini, Du Pont, Standard Oil (Ind.), and Phillips. Hercules, according to the court, was dropped as a party because it couldn't allege an invention date prior to the application date of one of the other parties. The court decided it could not reinstate Hercules without conducting a full trial on the question of which of the five parties is the first inventor. To do so would transfer the function of the Patent Office Board of Interferences to the District Court. The more sensible approach, says Judge Joseph R. Jackson, would be to postpone Hercules' right to a trial until the Patent Office awards priority to one party. At that time, he says, the court will be able to dispose of the matter in an orderly way. 18
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British Oxygen Builds First Tall Oil Plant in U.K. A distillation column is rounding a corner on its way to British Oxygen Co.'s tall oil plant going up at Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England. The plant, the first such to be built in the U.K., will be capable of processing 27 million pounds a year of crude tall oil.
Pesticide Makers Get Operating Advice NACA committee presents manufacturing guidelines at series of workshop sessions The pesticides industry now has a set of guidelines designed to minimize, if not eliminate, some of the industry's problems which have resulted in bad publicity during the past several years. The guidelines for good practice for pesticide manufacture are contained in three manuals sponsored by the National Agricultural Chemicals Association. The manuals were prepared by a committee headed by Howard J. Grady, vice president of California Chemical Co. Three areas of concern to the industry are the disposal of "empty" containers, cross contamination of herbicides with other pesticides, and decontamination and disposal of plant wastes. While the container disposal problem doesn't lie directly within the province of the pesticides industry, manufacturers feel that they have a responsibility to educate users at all levels in the procedures for the disposal of containers containing residues. Of more immediate concern is the problem of cross contamination. At the first of five workshop meetings
(this one held in Atlanta, Ga.; other cities on the itinerary are Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia), Justus C. Ward, director of the pesticides regulation division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, pointed out that cross contamination can kill livestock. For example, forage grass sprayed with a herbicide that contains another, more toxic pesticide in large quantities (about 15%) could kill the livestock. In smaller amounts, the contamination dosage may not be fatal, but might pass through a milk cow's system. In this case, the contaminating pesticide could inadvertently end up in milk bought by consumers. To forestall any such problems that would set off another wave of what the industry calls scare publicity, the Grady committee proposes that the problem of cross contamination be attacked at the producing level. Aside from the more conventional good housekeeping practices, the committee makes definite recommendations for processing dry and liquid pesticides.
Most blending plants are used to produce a large number of pesticide dusts. Because a small amount of each produot tends to remain in various parts of the system, this material must be removed to prevent cross contamination. In most cases, redesign of equipment is involved. For example, the most commonly used mixer is a ribbon blender. Mixers with sweeping action of the blades are best suited for partial cleanout of the equipment. Removable side covers for easy access to the interior of the mixer would also permit thorough cleanout. Spray nozzles should be designed to distribute liquid materials on the carrier without a build-up of deposits on the equipment. Other materials-handling equipment such as elevators, bag fillers, and hoppers are also available with built-in cleanout features. In some cases, equipment can be eliminated from the processing scheme. For example, packaged ingredients may be raised to a processing level by a fork lift rather than by a bucket elevator. Because bucket elevators are difficult to clean thoroughly, a possible source of cross contamination can thus be eliminated. Schedule. Scheduling of production plays an important part in reducing cross contamination. The committee suggests that production of dusts for forage crops should precede production of products containing chlorinated hydrocarbons. They can also be produced after products that contain no chlorinated hydrocarbons. Production scheduling should also follow a pattern such that organic phosphate dusts with short residual life are not contaminated with organic phosphate dusts having long residual life. High-toxicity products should be carefully excluded from a process which contains low-toxicity products. In liquid-pesticide plants, equipment and lines should be designed to eliminate dead spots where material can accumulate. Drain cocks should be included in low spots of lines. Thorough flushing of the system with the solvent used to dissolve the pesticide should be used in cleanout procedures. This solvent can then be stored for subsequent processing of this pesticide. The number of times a given system should be flushed will depend on the concentration of the pesticide last processed, the completeness of design of the system for thorough cleanout, and size of equipment.
Inefficiency, Growth Cause Manpower Gap NICB survey shows various causes for world-wide shortage of qualified managers in business The world-wide shortage of qualified managers and technicians in business is a well-established fact, but this common problem seems to stem from different causes in various localities. In the National Industrial Conference Board's survey (made public last week) of 60 Free World countries, 155 business leaders point to a variety of causes for the short supply of qualified talent in their ranks. The problems faced in the U.S. generally typify those encountered by the rest of the industrialized nations. The causes of the shortage, as listed by a U.S. executive, include: • R a p i d industrial expansion and technological advance. • Inefficient use of available talent. • Rapid increase in global operations. These causes are found in all of the industrial nations; but several have their own special problems. A chairman of a West German company feels that the lack of qualified people for management positions there stems mainly from the enormous casualties suffered during World War II. The war interfered with the normal education and vocational training through army service and captivity— especially to those born between 1920 and 1927. A president of a Japanese firm sees his country's social framework as a major cause of management shortages. "Emphasis of seniority and uniformity in advancement and concentration of authority in a small group of top executives" limit individual initiative and hinder advancement of junior managerial talent, he says. And Canadian executives report a shortage of engineers and scientists because of the "brain drain" across the border into the U.S. Most countries are experiencing personnel problems in the expansion of international trade. Britain and Belgium, though, are having trouble because of their long background in international trade According to a British world trader, salesmanship is the most defective area of foreign trade This stems from the days of the industrial revolution when these coun-
tries had it too easy in the sale of their products, he says. Now, in the face of increased competition, their background in market research, marketing, and sales promotion is not strong enough to provide enough people skilled in foreign selling operations. New Nations. Developing countries have a whole host of different problems. Their lack of sufficient qualified manpower will make their advancement up the industrial ladder even more difficult. There is only a small base in industry where potential managers have a chance to gain experience. There is insufficient educational opportunities, and the schools that exist teach little in the way of business administration. In these countries, most of the businesses are either family-owned or foreign-owned. In neither case has there been much chance for the development of managers. These countries, too, suffer from the loss of talent by those who go abroad to study and don't return. Another problem is the appearance of regional markets—much as the Central American Common Market (C&EN, Feb. 8, page 2 1 ) - w h i c h produce a further drain on the already thin corps of managers and technical people. Finally, business is not a prestige profession in the developing countries. Most of the small number of university graduates are inclined to choose another profession—medicine, law, or politics, for instance. These problems are recognized nearly everywhere. What these countries are doing about it is the same as what is being done, and has been done, in the U.S. While governments are increasing the capacity of universities and technical schools, businesses are working with school faculties to improve the curriculums and methods of school instruction to meet their needs. Business is also assisting educational institutions and young people seeking a higher education. Most companies are setting up special management programs and institutes. Finally, business is trying to attract the best minds by offering higher incomes, bonuses, profit-sharing plans, and part-ownership incentives. JULY
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