Charles Cameron and Charlotte Gilbert son, both of the Plastzeen Co., Chicago, and winners of the 1948 Junior Achievement Atcard sponsored by the SPI, visited the expo*it.ion as part cf their award which also included a plaque.
Between them is Winthrop Howards chairman of tlte atcard committee. Right* Gustavus Essselen, consultant, gets some information on exposition exhibits from John Wetherby, assistant secretary of the Society of tlte Plastics Industry
Record Attendance Marks Plastics Industries Exposition A STAFF REPORT
1HE third National Plastics Exposition durittg the five days, Sept. 27 through Oct. 1, in New York City, was reserved this year "for the trade." Notwithstanding t h e fact that the general public was barred, the exposition's two floors were jammed throughout the week with visitors and t h e attendance for the first three days rose "to 28,500. Indications near the close of the week were that this figure would be swelled to around 50,000 before the show closed its doors on Friday. Thie plastics exposition, under the auspices of the Society of the Plastics Industry, had many things of interest to the manufacturer and consumer of resins and plastics. Chemical producers displayed new types of resins. Machinery makers demonstrated equipment for molding and extrusion incorporating advances which cut production time and provide a better product. Exposition managers also cited a number o f other reasons for the large attendance this year. One was that for the first time the larger resin producers are providing fabricators and marketing agencies with complete sales campaigns and merchandising programs to move dealer inventories of finished plastics. Other stimulants were new adaptations of older products and the development of brand new items which extend the range of plastic uses. Government technicians and others meanwhile discussed plastic requirements at conferences staged by the SPI in nearby Hotel Commodore. Warren Stubblebine, research director of the chemicals and plastics branch, Army Quartermaster, said that the necessity of replacing strategic materials was a direct challenge to the plasties industry. Lrucius Gilman, Picatinny' Arsenal, VOLUME
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Dover, N. J., reported that the Ordnance Department procured a larger dollar volume of plastics than any other military branch. Emile McK. Beekman, chemical engineer for the Signal Corps, Fort Monmouth, N. J., outlined four major requirements influencing the selection of plastics in Signal Corps equipment: "Tropicalization, winterization, miniaturization, and ruggedization." Dr. Stubblebine, speaking on the replacement of strategic materials, thought that this project might be started with studies of design and structural materials. The most important plastics applications to the quartermaster were as follows: buttons, combined showerhead and faucet: laminated materials ranging from body protection to arctic boats, fireproof structural laminates, adhesives, coated fabrics, low temperature materials, unsupported plastic films, tableware, and protective coatings. Fred B. Shaw, Chemical Corps, Army Chemical Center, stated that the value of special plastics became apparent during World War II when a molded plastic lens was successfully used in some 25 million gas masks. Attention now, he said, is being directed to the replacement of heavy, nonfunctioning metallic parts. Currently these are being utilized in munitions, weapons, and protective devices. They consist for the most part of lightweight, high tensile strength laminated resin materials. Addressing the SPI conference on plastics standards, I. L. Rosenheim, of the Army-Navy Electronic and Electrical Standards Agency, Fort Monmouth, said that three agencies were issuing standards of performance for these materials: industry, the Federal Specifications Board, and the armed forces. The groups engaged in establishing standards are working to-
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gether, and for the most part differences in test methods have been eliminated. The failure of a plastic is the failure not of the material itself, the conference was told, but of those who used it incorrectry. There was no royal road to the choice of the proper plastic for a particular application, Mr. Rosenheim added. Exhibits at the plastics exposition this year were novel, colorful, and many were displayed for the first time. The art of the molder is extending not alone to size but to more attractive and artistic design". Others are taking resins of many types and combining them with other materials into new products. Polyplastex United, Inc., Eimhurst, L. I., for example, displayed a material called Synspun, a thermoplastic formed of glass fibers and resin which may be "sewn, Laced, glued, riveted, corrugated, and fluted" for many decorative purposes. The Dow Chemical Co. announced two new basic types of its Styron polystyrene resin which it feels will greatly expand applications of polystyrene where light stability and toughness were not sufficient. Styron 475 possesses elongation at break which is about 10 times that of regular polystyrene, while its impact strength is three to five times greater. New resin compounds, detailed in CAEN for Oct. 4, were shown by the Plaskon division of Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Co., by the Hoppers Co., and by the Bakelite Corp. Tennessee Eastman Corp. attracted interest with extruded sheeting of Tenite and fabrication of it into boxes. A statement from, the chemicals division of the Glenn L. Martin Co. disclosed that its polyvinyl chloride, Marvinol, can be processed in five different ways. American Cyanamid displayed molding materials and related products. 3023
