ads this month T seem uniformly to have an engineering HE
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though this summer of 1943 failed to bring the usual vacation atmosphere with it, its end is a signal to accelerate from the slowed gait of summer back to a swift pace again. That transition, we hope, will be helped by our continuing provision of significant papers bearing on the important problems of the present and others that loom ahead. Solvents will be the leading topic of our October offering, with a group of informative papers to bring us up to date in this broad field. Each of the important families of solvents-hydrocarbons, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, and chlorinated compoundswill be discussed from the several points of view involved in their many applications. Products of petroleum, coal, pine trees, fermentation, and synthetic processes will receive attention. Many of the commoner uses of solvents are covered briefly, and others, such as selective solution, will be emphasized. The pkesent availability of large numbers of solvents having widely diverse properties suggests consideration or reconsideration of many processes based on their action which have been overlooked or shelved in the past. The refining of wood rosin and of lubricating oils by the use of furfural's selective solvency suggests the possibilities in other fields, many of which await exploration. Surface characteristics of asphalt are more important in most applications than its mass properties, and that has suggested the development of a method of testing of relatively thin layers. The method devised and some of its applications will be found in our October issue. Efficiency of soap as the world's No. 1 cleansing agent and detergent is usually modified by the inclusion of inorganic compounds in the commercial product to act as builders. Few subjects have continued for so long to be so highly controversial as the usefulness of these various additives. Many variables affect results, and agreement on test methods has been difficult, almost impossible, to reach. However, a comparative evduation of a number of common builders by a specified method will appear in October as new information on this important subject. Another subject of much divergence of opinion, the estimation of molecular weights of polymers by measurement of the viscosity of their solutions, will also receive attention. Data to he presented on viscosity of solutions of normal paraffins in n-hexane agree perfectly with the Staudinger relation and suggest the value of this method for linear polymers. Stability of furnace oils has been investigated because of its effect on the operation of heating systems and methods of test devised to determine suitability of oils. Lignin, recoverable from p d p making wastes, is a cheap pleatifu1 and interesting raw material. Some of its esters with aliphatic acids will be described for us. Waste d i s p a l , always important, involves special problems in war time when high explosives manufacture adds to their diiXculty. This time it w i l l be TNT waste discussed for us. There will, of course, be much more, but that should at least encourage us to look into the issue assured there will be in it a spur to our imaginations and a probable help with pressing problems. YEN
YOURHUMBLE SPY
slant and they are all interesting reading. The first to strike our attention is that of the Corhart Refractories Company and the data they have given on the operation of a Corhart electrocast furnace in the glass industry. They have been collecting facts and figures since 1935 on the performance of a furnace lined with Corhart electrocast, and, let us quote in effect "(in) 1937 we published figures for a record breaking furnace which produced 76,446 tons of soda lime glass in 556 operating days. When the furnace was let out (on an arbitrary date) the operators found they could have run 12 more months without failure." Now this same furnace has completed a run of another 12 months-a total of 36 months during which it produced 122,200 tons of soda lime glass. Corhart supplies us with a table in which an analysis of the various performances is given. The message they wish to get over is the following: If this refractory does such a outstanding job in the glass industry, perhaps there is some job for i t in the chemical equipment you now use. The Marley Company ad this month strikes us as being wpecially good. The diagrams of cooling towers are quite revealing, and they have a message which ought to be read and considered hy every engineer interested in water cooling problems. Babcock and Wilcox are designers and builders of special equipment for the process industries. To fabricate these parts accurately requires ponderous and rare machinery, and in their ad this month is shown a few of the giants used. Good news for our Texas readers inasmuch as this month's message from the American Smelting and R e h i n g Company announces the opening of a new Houston plant devoted to service on lead products and lead burning. The Syntron Company adds a new page to their already versatile book by announcing water- or air-operated vibrators and feeders for spots where electricity is not available or where explosion hazards, or economics, makes water or air the power to use. A convenient check list of bulletins describing the equipment made by the Hardinge Company is supplied this month by their ad. The same page shows the countercurrent classifier which may be had in ten sizes-from 18 inches to 10 feet in diameter. Dowtherm comes in for double-barreled emphasis this month. One is the message of Foster Wheeler describing the application of this heating media to synthetic rubber processing; the other, from the Daw organization itself, covers varnish production. The product Dowtherm is too well known for review here, but the controlled heating conditions it makes possible, from 400" to 700" F. at low pressures, is an achievement of note. The Foster Wheeler ad states that eighty-two Dowtherm units have been installed by twenty-five companies, and five of these concerns have five or more individual systems in operation. Shown is a 24 million B. t. u. per hour capacity unit installed recently in a large synthetic rubber plant. Simplification of purchasing and layout of electrical installations is possible, says General Electric, through the use of factory-assembled groups of high voltage equipment. A. SID.U w m
