ANALYTICAL
CHEMISTRY
JANUARY
1954
NEWS
Scientific Apparatus Makers Look at Tariffs, Sales Prospects, Taxes, a n d Research BOCA RATON, FLA.—The unsung hero of the scientific instrument industry came into his own last month at the four-day meeting of the laboratory and optical sections of the Scientific Apparatus Makers Association. C. P. Tebeau, professor of chemistry at the University of Miami, summarized his views about the unsung hero in these words: The sales representative has made himself an indispensable part of scientific research; the work of the salesman has been such as to call for general commendation . . . . Certainly the scientist who discusses his needs with the representatives who call on him will receive invaluable suggestions and courteous help. How the company can afford to provide us with these very helpful people is, fortunately, their headache— not ours. All we know is that we are glad that they find some way to do it. Dr. Tebeau's address was part of a panel discussion, "The Scientific Sales Representative—His Selection, Training and Contribution to Science." The sum and substance of the discussion was that (1) salesmen—the right kind—are hard to find ; and (2) still better training is highly desirable. SAMA Tariff Position
One entire morning session of the SAMA conference was given over to a discussion of the tariff. In an official statement made by the officers of SAMA, the opinion was expressed that there now exists neither policy, procedure, nor agency through which an industrial operation indispensable to national security can be so defined and safeguarded. The SAMA statement suggests that the Commission on Foreign Economic Policy (the Randall Committee) recommend to the President and Congress: 1. That there be created an independent commission of seven members consisting of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of Defense Mobilization, or their qualified designees, and a chairman appointed by the President with power to control imports, through the issue of licenses or otherwise, of any materials, products, or articles similar to those produced by each of such indispensable industries for the purpose of creating or maintaining sound, adequate, and efficient domestic industries necessary to our national defense. V O L U M E 26, N O . 1, J A N U A R Y
2. That there be created by this commission an extraordinary classification of industrial operations to be so safeguarded as indispensable to national defense to the end that minimum levels of operational defense can be established or maintained without undue curtailment due to imports. It is further recommended that the following industry criteria be considered in determining both the extraordinary classification and minimum levels of operations necessary to national defense : (a) The necessity for trained personnel—unique skills not available in other industrial operations; the abnormal time required for training—in excess of normal industrial training periods; and the basic group necessary to train other personnel. (b) The necessity for continuous research to assure leadership in scientific developments. (c) The necessity for a constant relationship to defense needs and developments. Sales and Use Taxes
Another highlight of the midyear meeting was an address on "Sales and Use Tax," delivered by James E. Elworth of the law firm of Pope and Ballard. Mr. Elworth pointed out that during the depression of the thirties, many states turned to sales taxes to bolster their sagging revenues. As with any new tax, taxpayers quickly sought ways to avoid it. The tax operated successfully where residents bought from local merchants. But buyers living near a state line soon learned that they could avoid the tax by making their purchases in an adjacent state. They also discovered that if they placed orders with out-of-state sellers, the tax could be avoided. This was based on the fact that the commerce clause of the Constitution prohibited states from taxing transactions in interstate commerce. As the states became aware of these serious limitations on their taxing power, they sought ways to plug the loophole. According to Tax Expert Elworth, the result was a tax on the use of merchandise bought outside a state's boundary. The Supreme Court of the U. S. has upheld this type of tax. Practically every state which has a sales tax now has a use tax which provides that if a resident uses or consumes property on which the sales tax has not been paid, he is liable for the use tax. The rates, according to the speaker, are always the same. 1954
Sales and taxes were discussed by James E. Elworth of Pope and Ballard, attorneys for SAMA
In most sales and use tax states, the statutes require out-of-state sellers, under various factual situations, to collect the use tax on sales which are exempt from sales tax. Elworth closed his report to the SAMA organization by stressing the fact that manufacturers and dealers should give very serious study to the present sales and use taxes, since practically all producers and dealers of scientific equipment and laboratory apparatus sell across state lines. Further clarification of the situation is anticipated shortly when a case recently decided by the Maryland Court of Appeals is reviewed by the U. S. Supreme Court. Research Expenditures
In a report to the SAMA membership the officers pointed out that of the $1.6 billion spent in 1951 for research by all the companies included in the report, the scientific instrument industry's share was $91,400,000. These figures are based on a recent report issued jointly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U. S. Department of Defense and includes only the volume of research done by private organizations.
Western Spectroscopy Conference at Berkeley The first meeting of the Western Spectroscopy Conference will be held Feb. 4 and 5 at the University of California, Berkeley. Last April the Consolidated Engineering Corp., Pasadena, sponsored discussion at its plant on the formation of a regional spectroscopy group, with favorable reaction and cooperation. 21 A
another BECKMAN achievement! now — a faultless lab assistant the BECKMAN
AUTOMATIC TITRATOR
Efforts were made to make the meeting attractive to academic, industrial, and government spectroscopists. Field of coverage will embrace molecular spectroscopy. It was agreed to keep the meeting on an informal basis, with one or two invited speakers at each of four half-day sessions, each talk followed by general discussion and informal presentation of pertinent, current work byothers. No publication of either invited talks or discussions is planned. Registration fee will be S5.00 to all interested and includes dinner. Fee for students is $1.00; $4.00 including dinner. Kenneth Pitzer of the University of California will open the conference at 9:30 Thursday morning. Lifetimes of Photoactivated Molecules. G. K. R O L L E F S O N , University of California. The Interpretation of High Molecular Weight M a s s Spectra of Hydrocarbon Systems. M . J. O ' N E A L , J R . , Shell Oil Co. Principles of Nuclear Induction. F E L I X BLOCH, Stanford University. Applications of Nuclear Magnetic R e s o nance to Chemical Systems. J. N . SHOOLERY, Varian Associates. Infrared Spectra of Solids. J. C. D E C I U S , Oregon S t a t e College. Microwave Spectra of Molecules with Hindered Internal Rotation. R. J. M Y E R S , University of California.
Spectroscopy Seminar At Gainesville
typical applications Tola! Alkalinity in Water Vitamin Bu Assays Glycerine in Soap, Lye & Crude Glycerine Total A cidity in Milk Bicarbonate in Blood Borate in Brine or Salts Chromium in Steel Insecticide Residues Copper in Ores and Alloys Iodine Number Chlorides in Water Neutralization Number Nitrogen by Kjeldahls Permanganate Number
The Beckman A u t o m a t i c Titrator makes all titrations routine — whether common, tricky or time-consuming. And it performs all of these faster than humanly possible without making a mistake. This automatic device suffers from no human weakness such as weariness or boredom, nor does it ever misjudge an end-point. Simplicity itself, the operation requires merely the lifting of the sample container, and the Beckman Titrator goes into action. A stirring motor starts and the burette valve opens. A special circuit automatically anticipates the completion of the titration, slows down the addition of titrant, and stops it right at the end-point. The operator then reads and refills the burette, and replaces the sample. T H E TITRATOR DOES THE REST! One unit will control as many as four burettes. For Further Information, See Your Beckman Dealer or . . . Write for Data File 44 — 15
Beckman
division BECKMAN
INSTRUMENTS, INC.
S O U T H PAS A D E N A 1, C A L I F O R N I A
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The Southern Association of Spectrographers will hold its second annual Seminar on Spectroscopy and its spring meeting at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Feb. 17 to 19. The morning discussion of the first day will be on Interpretation of Spectra for Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis, Computational Methods, and Analytical Curves. The afternoon session will cover Instrumentation for Emission Spectrochemical Analysis. The morning session of Feb. 18 will take up Excitation Sources and Their Application, and Production of Spectra for Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis; the afternoon, Sampling, Sample Preparation, and Standards. On Feb. 19 the spring meeting will include presentation of technical papers, panel discussions, and a business meeting. Further information may be obtained from William T. Tiffing College of Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
Sensory Panel Testing An evening course in sensory panel testing for the food and allied trades will be offered Monday evenings, beginning March 15, by New York University. Designed for laboratory, quality control, production, and administrative personnel concerned with flavor and odor differences and preferences, the course will include practical methods for solvANALYTICAL
CHEMISTRY
News
another BECKMAN achievement !
ing problems involving organoleptic evaluation of products t h a t cannot be solved b y other analytical procedures. I n s t r u c t o r will be J a c k K. K r u m , re search chemist, National Biscuit Co. Registration will be a t t h e Division of General Education, 1 Washington Square N o r t h , N e w York 3, Ν . Υ., beginning J a n u a r y 18.
...BOW
better moisture measurements with the BECKMAN
ANALYST'S CALENDAR
AQUAMETER
Fifth Annual Southeastern Symposium on Industrial Instrumentation. University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., February 1 to 3 Instrument Society of America. Ninth Annual Regional Conference. Hotel Statler, New York, Ν. Υ., February 4 New York Microscopical Society. Sym posium on Industrial Microscopy. American Museum of Natural History, New York, Ν. Υ., February 5 and 6 Meeting-in-Miniature, New York Sec tion, American Chemical Society. Hunter College, New York. Ν. Υ., February 12 Metropolitan Microchemical Society. American Museum of Natural History, New York, Ν. Υ., February 18 American Chemical Society. 125th Na tional Meeting, Kansas City, Mo., March 24 to April 1, 1Θ54 Symposium on Instrumentation. Univer sity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., May 24 to 27, 1953 Seventh Annual Summer Symposium. Recent Developments in Titrimetry. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., June 18 and 19
Anybody who can read a burette and flip a switch can make fast, accurate moisture analyses vvith the BECKMAN AQUAMETER. The Aquameter uses the Karl Fischer method — most universally applicable for moisture determinations. And it does these Karl Fischer titrations AUTOMATICALLY, eliminating the problem of judging subtle end-point color changes which formerly required skilled technicians. Even inexperienced operators can achieve high precision.
... other advantages
BOOK REVIEWS Practical Chromatography. Robert C. Brimley a n d Frederick G. Barrett. I n t r o d u c t i o n b y E. C. Bate-Smith. 128 p a g e s . Reinhold Publishing C o r p . , N e w Y o r k , Ν . Υ., 1953. Price $5.00.
operator
Completes any number of sequential titrations without resetting or checking. Results are reproducible within ' a few tenths mg of water. /'**,·
F . C. B a r r e t t a n d t h e late R. C. Brimley h a v e produced a n excellent little monograph covering both paper a n d column chromatography. Their sche matic presentation of the probable m o d e of action of separations b y partition chromatography is a delight t o anyone wishing t o explain this now classical pro cedure t o s t u d e n t s . T h e three general types of column c h r o m a t o g r a p h y — p a r tition, adsorption, and ion exchange—as well as three procedures for operating chromatographic columns—elution, frontal analysis, and displacement de velopment—are described in t h e intro duction. C h a p t e r 2 gives a brief resume of t h e m e t h o d s of paper chromatography, d e scribing some of t h e original a p p a r a t u s a n d solvents of Consden, Gordon, a n d M a r t i n together with a few of t h e more recent modifications. C h a p t e r 3 describes very briefly m e t h ods for t h e q u a n t i t a t i v e estimation of materials separated on paper chromato-
V O L U M E 26, NO. 1, J A N U A R Y
Automatic feature allows to perform other duties between readings.
The Keck man Aquameter is ideal for routine moisture analyses on everything from food products, Mich of coffee, flour, grains, yeasts, syrups, and jellies to paper, petro leum products, pharmaceuticals, alcohols, soaps, oils, waxes, esters, solvents, paints, explosives, anti biotics. For full details, See your Beckman Dealer or . . . Write for
Data File 4 5 — 15
Beckman
division BECKMAN INSTRUMENTS, INC. S O U T H PAS A D E N A 1, C A L I F O R N I A
1954
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