INDUSTRY
First carload of styrene produced by a plastics molder moves from Foster Grant's Baton Rouge plant on April 27. "Engineer" Joseph C. Foster, company president, waves from cab of switcher pulling insulated car leased from General American
Plastics — Polymer — Styrene Foster Grant — pioneer in plastics molding — completes vertical integration with new styrene plant BATON R O U G E . - A pioneer of injection molding has bridged both the petrochemical and plastics industries with a new styrene monomer plant dedicated here on April 27. Foster Grant perfected injection molding of plastics in the U. S. in 1931, and now produces its own r a w material. By 1950 the company h a d already constructed a polymerization plant at Leominster, Mass., as a result of difficulty in obtaining polystyrene needed in its molding operations. Company spokesmen believe the monomer plant will serve its own requirements and in the future will benefit others in the plastics industry. With the first tank car load of monomer enroute to New England from Louisiana, Foster Grant now integrates monomer production from petroleum refinery r a w material with polymerization and molding operations in Massachusetts. T h e plant is the first one built without government subsidy since the beginning of World W a r II. Original plans called for the plant to be located at Orange, Tex., but availability of benzene and ethylene from Esso's refinery led to selection of the Baton Rouge site. Foster Grant obtains benzene by tank car and ethylene by pipeline from the nearby refinery. F. D r e w Mayfield, plant manager, also mentions the consideration of water transportation on the Mississippi River as an important factor. 1870
Ground was broken in May 1953 and equipment erection began in August. Joseph C. Foster, company president, expresses pleasure with the building schedule that resulted in first shipment of styrene from Baton Rouge less than a year after initial ground breaking. Design S t a n d a r d i z a t i o n . Instrumentation and standardization of equipment are emphasized in design of this new plant. Mayfield points out some examples: All condenser tubes are 1 inch outside diameter and 20 feet long, or standard shorter lengths. One make and model of p u m p handles 8 0 % of all process applications. Only one size of precut p u m p packing is stocked. Control valves are by the same manufacturer and many parts are interchangeable. Over 250 control units enable four operators per shift to regulate plant operations. There are only 35 employees at the plant. Instruments, too, are standardized. All flow controls are of one make and type, as are flow recorders, temperature controllers, and temperature recorders. Relief valves throughout the plant are standardized. Process Different. Early German patents are incorporated in the plant with some novel features introduced by Foster Grant's engineering staff. It is the first plant built in t h e U . S. without using U. S. Patents or licenses. First process step—alkylation of benzene over AlCl3 catalyst using ethylCHEMICAL
ene and ethylene chloride—produces about 3 5 % ethylbenzene, 15 to 2 0 % polyethylbenzenes, and 4 5 % unconverted benzene. Fractionation of this mixture provides ethylbenzene for d e hydrogenation step, as well as polyethylbenzenes and benzene which are recycled through the alkylator. In dehydrogenation step, ethylbenzene is mixed with steam, heated, and passed over Shell 105 catalyst. Yields of 35 t o 4 0 % styrene are obtained. Unreacted ethylbenzene is recovered as overhead and recycled. Small quantities of by-products, such as benzene and toluene are also recovered. Foster Grant's styrene purification process differs from conventional ones in the use of an organic polymerization inhibitor rather than sulfur. Styrene is stored in refrigerated tanks for shipment in insulated tank cars leased from General American Transportation. Early shipments of styrene demonstrate efficiency of purification—freezing point determinations indicate 99.83% purity. Future Expansion. Foster emphasized t h a t monomer production at Baton R o u g e will be keyed to needs of the Leominster, Mass. facilities. Present plans call for shipment of all of the output to the N e w England plant. Some styrene may also be supplied t o Foster Grant's Mexican affiliate in t h e future. " W e have planned an expanding sales campaign and a continuing search for new consumer products," said Foster. When in full production, the Baton Rouge plant will have a capacity of 2 million pounds of styrene per month; it will represent an investment of nearly Foster Grant's ethylbenzene and styrene fractionation unit (foreground) were designed with emphasis on standardization and automatic control. Only four operators per shift are needed at new plant
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INDUSTRY $4 million. Company engineers are confident that production can be readily increased to keep pace with new product developments. M ay field predicts that plant capacity could b e doubled economically. There is room for expansion and plant units are laid out and designed so that additional ones may b e readily integrated when necessary. John LaBelle, Foster Grant sales director, feels that they are keeping
pace with t h e growth of t h e plastics industry. H e points out that in 1 9 5 3 plastics consumption averaged 2 0 pounds per capita, a 3 0 % increase over 1952. Styrene resins molding reached 450 million pounds in 1953, of which 300 million pounds were in t h e form of polystyrene. "In 1955, 4 billion pounds of plastic materials will b e molded if recent growth continues," LaBelle says.
Corporate Engineers in J e o p a r d y Rallying f r o m d e f e a t in N e w Y o r k legislature, c o m panies intensify efforts to a m e n d e n g i n e e r i n g l a w W H A T quite a few engineering firms in N e w York State want to know is: Are they living in sin? More specifi cally, are they operating in violation of Section 7209 of t h e New York State Education Law? T h e answer is an unequivocal yes. T h e law specifically states that a cor poration m a y not practice professional engineering in N e w York unless it meets at least these requirements: T h e company must have been incorporated in New York State on or before April 15, 1935. It must have been operating continuously ever since. Furthermore, the office of chief company executive must at all times since April 15, 1935, have been held b y a New York licensed engineer. An estimated 757c of the engineering firms in N e w York State—including many of t h e largest and most highly regarded—do not meet these require ments. Yet these companies continue to operate because, as opponents of the law declare, the present statute is un realistic, unworkable, and probably un constitutional. Spearheading the movement to re vise the present law is the Committee on Engineering Laws, which in March faced a major setback. Although C E L had made strenuous efforts to support the Carlino-Milmoe Bill aimed at revis ing the N e w York law, the bill did not pass either the Senate or Assembly. The committee, chastened b y this de feat, is now intensifying its efforts to get the bill through t h e next legislative session, to open in January 1955. Headed by E. R. Ramsey of the Dorr Co., who last month succeeded H . Ames Richards, Jr., of Chemical Con struction Co., as chairman pro tern, t h e committee in the coming months plans to expand its activities considerably. By November, it hopes to have a total corporate membership of at least 7 5 . CEL's influence is being felt. Already V O L U M E
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its regular mailings go out to over 2 1 , 000 industrial engineers, engineering teachers, legislators, magazine editors, community leaders, and other opinion molders. The committee started off last J u n e with eight corporate members. Its pres ent membership totals 48. Active in C E L a r e such major firms as Austin, Blaw-Knox, Chemical Construction, Dorr, Ebasco Services, H. K. Ferguson, Foster Wheeler, Girdler, M . W . Kel
logg, L u m m u s , Rust Engineering, Stone & Webster. Of special importance to the local economy, the payrolls of t h e companies represented by C E L total more than $ 8 0 million a year in N e w York State «alone. Although many of C E L ' s members have a very direct interest i n t h e out come of t h e current legislative battle, others also h a v e reasons for deep con cern. They regard the present contro versy a s a m a t t e r of major significance to the future of corporate engineering practice in t h e U . S. It is not incon ceivable, they say, that restrictive stat utes p a t t e r n e d after t h e existing N e w York l a w m a y in t h e future b e adopted by other state legislatures. "Basic" prin ciples are a t stake," says o n e spokes man. " W e ' r e not just a lobbying group for some companies that h a p p e n to be in trouble." Legal Restrictions. The present law does n o t entirely prohibit t h e corporate practice of professional engineering in New York S t a t e . On the other hand, it does place enough restrictions on such practice so that many companies today, legally speaking, a r e hanging by their eyelashes. It is common knowledge that t h e majority of engineering companies n o w
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