November 20, 1934
INDUSTRIAL
AND
E N G I N E E R I N G
August imports were 10,079 tons, as compared with 31,783 tons in August, 1933, a n d September imports were 8624 tons, a s compared with a 1933 figure of 24,983 tons. J u l y imports of coconut oil were unusually large—35,742,000 pounds—as compared with 13,026,000 p o u n d s in J u l y , 1933, b u t August anu S e p t e m b e r shipm e n t s fell to 17,210,000 a n d 17,990,000 pounds, respectively, as compared with 22,727,000 and 33,887,000 pounds i n 1933. MILLIONS OF POUNDS I2LOT DOMESTIC PRODUCTIONV1'
1 I
19 28
1929
1930
1931
1932.
1933
1934
IMPORTS AND DOMESTIC PBODUCTION- OF CBUDB COCOKUT OIX, 1928—34, BY QUARTERS
Production of crude coconut o i l from imported copra naturally fell off sharply with t h e decrease in i m p o r t s . In t h e September quarter t h e t o t a l manufacture w a s 56,716,000 pounds—more than 40 per cent less than t h e 96,526,000 p o u n d s of t h e third quarter of 1933. F a c t o r y consumption also dropped t o 113,731,000 pounds, as compared with 161,829,000 pounds in t h e September quarter last y e a r . Stocks a t the end o f the quarter remained at t h e comparatively high level of 174,924,000 pounds, or 32 p e r cent higher t h a n t h e y were a year before. Refined coconut oil showed decreases of 16 t o 20 per cent i n production and consumption as compared with 1933. T h e effect of the change in demand because of t h e tax: is seen in steadily rising prices for cottonseed oil during t h e summer and fall. Quotations on t h e New York m a r k e t for prime s u m m e r yellow, which ranged between 4 and 5 cents in t h e spring, were a b o u t 7.5 cents at t h e beginning of November. A y e a r before t h e y were slightly more t h a n 4 cents.
Recognizing Inventive Ability 1 B R U N O C. L E C H L E R , American Machine and M e t a l s ,
Inc.,
New York, N- Y. ALTHOUGH o u r Government w a s o n e of t h e first to recognize t h e inventor's rights a n d evidently intended that t h e benefits of patents should go to t h e individual, after 150 years we a r e still without any fully developed plans f o r actually paying a n employee for inventions m a d e while employed. A few companies give a specified flat reward—$25 or $50 for each patent. A few provide for dividing suggestions into groups, a n d p a y $25, $100, o r $500, depending upon the importance of t h e invention. Most companies require a blanket assignment of all inventions conceived by th.e employee which have a n y relationship t o a product of the company, in consideration of salary received. None of these methods h a s been satisfactory. T h e a u t h o r ' s company has adopted a plan which it believes is better t h a n a n y of those enumerated. While it is willing t h a t its employees should develop inventions and derive benefits therefrom, it feels t h a t it is in a certain sense a partner, b y v i r t u e of t h e inventor being o n t h e company's payroll. T h e employee agrees o n coming with t h e company t o disclose his inventions t o t h e patent d e p a r t m e n t , which will t r y o u t such inventions as seem worth while, or a p p l y for p a t e n t s , in his n a m e b u t a t t h e company's expense, where it seems desirable t o preserve his rights. The employee, in return, grants t h e company a n option running for t h r e e years from the date of disclosure, in t h e case of an idea not applied commercially within t h a t t i m e , or o n e year from t h e d a t e t h e device is p u t on t h e m a r k e t , to determine whether the company wishes to a c q u i r e the patent. If t h e comp a n y decides n o t to acquire it, the employee is free t o license others under t h e patent; if the company acquires it, p a y m e n t is m a d e according to a schedule, some of t h e items of which a r e : complete new major machine, with a l l accessories worked out— i. e., gasoline motor—$5000; major p a r t of a machine, principle only, such a s valve a n d cylinder, $2500; accessory, w a t e r pump, etc., $1000; improvement of a detail—a n e w ring t o replace t h e
CHEMISTRY
407
present ring—$500. If t h e company buys t h e patent, it belongs to t h e company, including foreign patents. If not, it is the property of t h e employee, b u t t h e company h a s a shop r i g h t to m a n u facture t h e invention a t its plant. If t h e company feels t h a t an idea is not wortii patenting but t h e inventor believes that it is, he has t h e privilege of securing his o w n p a t e n t . If later t h e company b u y s the patent, the employee is paid t h e cost of taking o u t the pate-it in addition t o the a m o u n t previously specified. T h e advantage of such a system is that the employee is invited to become a partner with t h e company. T h e incentive is sufficient t o make it worth while to submit a n idea in its early stages. T h e plan should not b e expensive t o t h e company; many suggestions will be of value, either in minor ways or i n suggesting bigger inventions that will never b e patented, or considered for purchase. Of the inventions patented, m a n y will n o t have t o be bought when the option term expires, either because they h a v e proved commercially unimportant, or because they are so definitely related to the company's other patents that n o competitor would b u y them. T h e company buys only patents that h a v e been tested several ways: I t is really patentable—claims have been allowed. It is still promising after three years. No better method has suggested itself. The market has been tested and found t o exist. No better product has been put out by a competitor during development. No patents pending by a competitor have since been granted. The patent is so important as a n element in the machine that a competitor who has not t h e company's other patents might want to use it.
L O A N S TO I N D U S T R Y
A T THE REQUEST of Jesse H . Jones, chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Washington, D. C , and in t h e hope t h a t it will be of interest t o certain of o u r members, we a r e printing t h e following letter from him dated November 9, 1934, which briefly explains t h e corporation authority a n d policy with respect to direct loans t o industry under Section 5 (d) of the R e construction Finance Corporation Act, as a m e n d e d : Industrial concerns, eligible to borrow funds fxom t h e Reconstruction Finance Corporation for the purpose of maintaining and increasing employment, have not yet taken full advantage of t h e assistance which the corporation is prepared t o extend. Congress provided that such loans might be made to industrial and commercial businesses subject to t h e following requirements: (1) That the business must have been established prior to January 1, 1934. (2) That such loans be adequately secured. (3) That maturity of loans must not exceed five years. (4) That borrower must be solvent at the time of disbursement of the loan. (5) That credit at prevailing bank rates for loans of the character applied for not be available at banks. (6) That reasonable assurance of increased or continued employment of labor be given. (7) That the aggregate of such loans to any one borrower made directly or indirectly shall not exceed §500,000. (8) That such other provisions as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation may impose be complied with.
The directors of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation feel t h a t these loans should be made in such a way that t h e available funds can be utilized as fully as possible for the advance of permanent business recovery. This objective can be accomplished best if the moneys loaned by the corporation are used principally t o supply funds for the payment of labor and the purchase of materials incident to the normal operation of the business, rather than for t h e payment of existing indebtedness, though in exceptional cases a small part of the loan m a y be used for payment of existing debts or for the financing of construction, improvements and/or repairs that d o n o t materially increase capacity. "When a loan is to be used primarily for labor and materials, a small portion of the loan may b e applied to these latter purposes when necessary to assure ordinary and efficient operation. The corporation will make loans in cooperation with banks, or by the purchase of participations in loans made b y banks. In cases of national banks, only the bank's participation i n such loans, rather than the full amount of the loan, m u s t be within the legal limit which may be loaned to any one customer, and accordingly this plan will allow substantially greater credit t o be extended, through such channels to borrowers who are already borrowing up t o their legal limit. The depression years have left many enterprises in very much involved and weakened positions, but our experience has led us to believe that where present creditors are willing to cooperate by a proper adjustment of existing debt structure, many such enterprises may be safely supplied with additional funds that will enable continuing opera1 on a sound basis. Abstracted from an article in the Journal of the Patent Office Society, 16 tions Accordingly, we suggest t o industrial concerns, to which credit at (10), 805-8 (1934).
NEWS
408
prevailing bank rates for loans of such character is not available but which can offer adequate security (even though such security may be frozen and therefore not generally acceptable to banks) and which can profitably use additional funds for labor and materials, that they communicate with the local loan agency of this corporation serving the territory in which such concerns are located. Each loan agency of the corporation will, when requested, assist and advise with applicants in determining their eligibility and in the preparation of applications. JESSE H. JONES, Chairman
Corpus Christi Plant of Southern Alkali Corp. Opened CHARLES ROSTER, Corpus Christi, Texas T H E D E E P SOUTH'S first alkali works is now in production. It was constructed b y the Southern Alkali Corp., organized b y the American Cyanamid Co. and the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. The plant occupies a 400-acre site on the Corpus Christi ship channel, has its own private docks, terminals, and turning basin, the local waterway facilities having been extended two miles westward in order to give the new industry the advantages of low-cost water transportation. Southern Alkali made its official bow Friday, October 26, when officials of the t w o parent concerns joined in the festivities incident to the opening. Its president, Hugh A. Gait, of Akron, Ohio, who is also a vice president of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., predicted an extensive development of the chemical industry in the South within t h e next decade. Harry L. Derby, of New York, president of t h e American Cyanamid and Chemical Corp., said that an adequate home supply of basic alkalies had been a recognized need of many Southwestern industries for many years. "Mineral a n d vegetable-oil refineries, meat packing plants, glass factories, soap makers, paper mills, and others, lacking a Southern source of supply, have been compelled to pay for 'the long hauP which has made it difficult for many of them advantageously to compete with similar manufactories located in other sections of the country," he said. Other prominent industrialists at Corpus Christi for the opening included W. S. Landis, vice president of American Cyanamid; Clarence M. Brown, chairman of the board of Pittsburgh Plate Glass, and Raymond Pitcairn, capitalist, of Philadelphia; M. C. Whitaker and K. F . Cooper, both of New York and vice presidents of American Cyanamid; and Eli Winkler, of New York, sales director for Southern Alkali. A number of events had been arranged for t h e entertainment of the industrialists, among them a barbecue o n the world-famous Santa Gertrudis ranch, owned b y the King estate, and which encompasses 1,250,000 acres of south Texas land. There are many unusual features of this development that amount almost t o innovations in engineering achievement, but the most important aspects of the Southern Alkali plant are not mechanical but economic. The provision of a southern supply of alkalies not only will prove t o be a constructive force in the building of present industries throughout Texas and the Southwest, but represents a sound reason for the extension of industrial development in this general region. In a consideration of t h e economic features of the large plant at Corpus Christi a number of superlatives arise. First and foremost is the availability of fuel. Southern Alkali has acquired approximately 5000 acres of natural gas reserve, located 4 to 6 miles west of the plant. The gas has a B. t. u. of 917, with a rock pressure of 600 lb. T h e general area from which it comes is recognized as the greatest in the Nation, pipe lines from southern Texas fields radiating to all sections of t h e state and to other parts of the Nation. The low rate at which Southern Alkali acquires fuel enables the plant to generate horse power a t a cost far below the cheapest coal. Salt, the principal raw material utilized in the alkali manufacturing process, comes from the Palangana dome 60 miles west of Corpus Christi. The beds lie 1000 and more feet below t h e surface of the earth, but this has presented no mining problems. Ordinary wells are drilled into the deposits. Heated water is then forced into them, and. after the saturation point is reached, air pressure is applied to bring the brine t o the surface, where it is turned into a 14-inch cast iron pipe for delivery at the plant. The salt field, being approximately 450 feet above sea level, precludes t h e possibility of bringing the solution in b y gravity Sow. The plant obtains i t s lime-bearing minerals from t h e Balcones fault near San Antonio and N e w Braunfels, a source of supply nearer t o tide water than is available to any other southern harbor. Lime is also obtained through t h e conversion of oyster shell taken from the waters of the b a y on which the plant is located. The supply is apparently inexhaustible. The plant has a daily production capacity of 500 tons. I t is built around a hollow square and m a y be extended for several hundred feet in each direction without interrupting production and without affecting the basic production scheme. Although no announcement has been made of future chemical manufacturing activities, t h e recent organization of the Southern Chemical Corp. gives a hint of future plans.
E D I T I O N
Vol. 12, N o . 22
A . C . S. S T U D E N T M E M B E R S H I P A W A R B S T H E FOLLOWING AWARDS of student memberships in t h e AMERI-
CAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY have been made since the list which appeared o n page 160 of our N E W S EDITION of April 20, 1934, was published: DONOR ALPHA C H I SIGMA:
RECIPIENT
The fourth annual award of student membership by Alpha Sigma Chapter has been made to a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Arkansas. Annual award to outstanding junior in scholarship at the Pennsylvania State College. BROWN UNIVERSITY. EPSILON
CHI.
PAUL
1934, Joseph C. Ambelang
Annual award
to outstanding senior chemistry student. This year awarded to a student of Butler University. KRTTESI,
1935, William V. Loebenstein
Annual
award to senior in the College of Arts, University of Akron, for outstanding scholarship in chemistry. INDIANA SECTION.
1934, George H. Cummings
Membership
awarded each year to the outstanding junior chemist. DELTA
1934, Harold F. O'Keefe
J.
1934, Vincent C. Meunier
Scholarship
award, University of Tennessee.
1934, Laxton Smith
Montgomery
M C K E B , R. H., professor at Columbia University, an alumnus of Wooster College. A two years' membership in the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY given t o the
junior in the College of Wooster who has the highest standing in chemistry.
1934, Robert Holmberg
SILVERMAN, ALEXANDER, University
of Pittsburgh. Through Chemistry Department. WHELAN, ISABEL R.
1934, Marcus S. Morgan
This i s an
award for two years to the junior at the College of St. Elizabeth who has been the outstanding student of chemistry for two and one-half years.
1934, Hannah E. Chelius
I D A H O F O R E S T R Y SCHOOL G I V E N T W O R E S E A R C H FELLOWSHIPS
T w o FELLOWSHIPS, amounting t o $400 each, have been given to the University of Idaho School o f Forestry by Potlatch Forests, Inc., of Lewiston, Idaho. These fellowships will be used b y the university for research on t h e chemical utilization of wood, and particularly for studies on t h e chemical plasticity of wood. Potlatch Forests, Inc., is t h e largest lumber company in Idaho, and is a, unit of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. The fellowships were tendered in behalf of t h e company b y C. L . Billings, vice president, and were accepted b y the university regents. The regents also approved the appointment of the research fellows recommended b y Dean It. E . McArdle of t h e School of Forestry. The appointees are Leslie L . Larson, of Blackfoot, Idaho, who received the bachelor of science degree in chemistry a t Idaho in June, 1934, and Joseph L. McCarthy, of Spokane, Wash., a 1934 graduate of t h e University of Washington with a degree in chemical engineering. The fellowships will enable both m e n to study for the master's degree. The fellowships will be under the direction of E . C. Jahn, associate professor of forestry, in charge of t h e Wood Conversion Laboratory. T h e facilities of t h i s laboratory are devoted entirely t o research work on the chemical utilization of wood.
WHO
M A K E S IT?
J U L I U S F . MULLER, 2 1 7 Baldwin St., N e w Brunswick,
N. J., wishes to learn of a source of s o y bean proteins. The National City Turpentine Co., 3135 East 26th S t . , Los Angeles, Calif., is interested i n commercial quantities of dihydroxy stearic acid. A CORRESPONDENT is looking for a commercial source of supply of dichlorhydrin a n d epichlorhydrin.
