The American Tobacco Company Research Laboratory CLAIBORNE E. BROGDEN, American Tobacco Co., Richmond, Va.
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HE research facilities of The American Tobacco Company were greatly expanded with the completion of its new building a t 400 Petersburg Turnpike, Richmond, Va. The building was designed by Francisco and Jacobus, of New York, and erected by the Wise Contracting Company of Richmond. The cost of the building and fixed equipment was approximately 95 cents per cubic foot. The building, which consists of one story and full basement, measuring 135 by 110 feet, is of modified Georgian design, the exterior of buff brick with limestone trim. The exterior doors and sash are of wood painted white. The interior shows the influence of the Williamsburg restoration. The vestibule is paneled in teakwood, the lobby wainscoted to the ceiling and painted in old ivory. The library, which occupies 38 by 41 feet in the center of the building, consists of a conference room, from both sides of which open reading alcoves with bookstacks between. The room is finished in matched walnut panels. The executive and general offices are wainscoted in walnut or paneled in wood, painted ivory. The ceilings of the library and offices are acoustically treated. The floors of the vestibule and lobby are of marble, the library of teakwood with ebony inlay, the private offices carpeted. LABORATORIES. The laboratories on the first floor are arranged in units, or suites, around the building. These units correspond to the divisions under which the research deparb ment is administered-tobacco, essential materials, cigaret paper, physical standards, tobacco smoke, factory service, and biological. The laboratories are 24 feet in depth and vary from 9 feet to 35 feet in width. Ceiling heights vary from 10 to 15.5 feet. The walls are of glazed terra-cotta to a height of 5 feet 9 inches with painted plaster above. Laboratory floors consist of 3/,sinch air-pad rubber over concrete. Lighting is furnished by daylight fluorescent tubes operating on three-phase 208-volt circuits. LABORATORY FURNITURE AND SERVICES.Laboratory furniture is of birch flush construction finished in “burley” brown, with the exception of the biological division, which is furnished with white enameled lead-coated steel. Table tops are 1.625-inch birch, finished in black satin acid-alkali resistant enamel, excepting under hoods. Table tops under hoods are of black serpentine stone 1.625 inches thick. Balance table tops are of 1.625-inch enameled asbestos composition, which provides added weight and stability. Hardware and fittings are made of brass, satin chromeplated, excepting under hoods, where special acid-resistant alloy is used. All are of severely plain design for ease of mainienance. Services in each laboratory include steam, hot and
cold water, compressed air, gas, vacuum, 120- and 20&volt alternating current, and distilled water. All service lines are fully enclosed, so that only the fixtures are visible. Brass pipe is used throughout the building for hot and cold water. Ceramic drains for waste are used, except for lead connections from the floor level to laboratory sinks. Sinks and drainboards of one-piece construction are of black vitrified ceramic ware, set in mastic a t the joints with table tops to prevent moisture reaching unprotected surfaces. Acidproof ceramic drip trays, connected to the acid drainage system, are provided beneath all sinks, so that traps and wall pipes may be serviced without damaging furniture or floors by contact with corrosive liquids. These trays also serve as an excellent storage for stock bottles of concentrated acids. I n addition to housing all mechanical equipment in connection with the building, the basement is provided with laboratories and other rooms for special equipment. Laboratory furniture in the basement is of lead-coated steel finished in a pearl gray enamel with impregnated asbestos tops. One room, 32 by 35 feet, is equipped with semiworks digesters, beaters, sheet formers, and other equipment for fabricating cigaret paper from raw material. This room has a separate ventilating system for exhausting directly to the outside. A processing room, equipped with all services for use with small-scale factory machinery, occupiesabout 2000 square feet of floor space. A drying and milling room for tobacco and other samples has been provided, as well as a special room for pulverizing coal and related samples. The grinding mills are housed in hoods connected with rotoclones which remove 98 per cent of the dust, returning clean air to the rooms. One laboratory is equipped with a Kjeldahl wet-ashing unit provided with a Duriron vent directly to the roof. Moisture ovens having a capacity of over 500 samples a day occupy one room. A machine shop equipped with lathes, drill presses, and other necessary shop facilities occupies 24 by 30 feet. Stockrooms for glassware and chemicals, a storeroom for samples which are retained for reference, stationery stock room, record vault, shipping room, glassware washroom, sterilizing room, as well as locker rooms and showers for employees, are also located in the basement. HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING. The main floor is completely air-conditioned with controls in individual rooms or suites. The system is designed for both winter and summer conditioning-that is, dry bulb temperature and humidity will be automatically controlled throughout the year. All the air supplied to the laboratory through the air-conditioning system is thoroughly washed by means of a spray-type de664
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
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humidifier, then filtered. The dehumidifier is fabricated of stainless steel, ensuring freedom from corrosion and minimum maintenance costs. The fan supplying conditioned air to the first floor has a capacity of 28,000 c. f. m., equivalent to a complete change of air every 6 minutes. Since the heat loadis far greater in some rooms than in others, the quantity of air made available to each has been regulated accordingly. The system is divided into fourteen zones to provide for variation of internal heat load from laboratory equipment and of external load as the direct rays of the sun travel around the building. Requirements vary from comfort conditions in the offices to very accurate control of both temperature and relative humidity-for example, measurement of the physical characteristics of cigarets and tobaccos requires the maintenance of relative humidity within *0.5 per cent and similar exactness in temperature control. Smoke research, while demanding less precise control, requires more flexibility, with facilities for changing relative humidity over a fairly wide range and maintaining i t a t any prescribed level during a series of experiments. Since the duties of each division are specialized, facilities have been provided which are peculiar to its needs. Individual rooms are equipped with special humidifying equipment for
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control a t various levels. The conditioned air is introduced into the laboratories through adjustable openings in the window sills. The air, therefore, passes up across the window where the greatest heat change occurs. This avoids direct drafts on both worker and experiment. Heat is supplied by two 36-horsepower lowpressure boilers arranged for oil burning. An additional 10-horsepower boiler of the Scotch Marine type generates steam a t 100 pounds' pressure for laboratory use. In general this is reduced to 40 pounds' pressure and lower pressures for special uses. Refrigeration is furnished by three compressors, each having a capacity of 40 tons of ice daily. They are supplemented by evaporative condensers which eliminate a cooling tower or large quantities of city water for condensing purposes. A tobacco humidifying and aging room, insulated with 4-inch cork, has an individual airconditioning system designed to control a dry-bulb temperature a t any prescribed level from room temperature to 140" F. and to maintain any desired relative humidity up to 90 per cent. An important and novel feature of the airconditioning system is the development of airconditioned fume hoods-that is, they are provided with a supply of air equivalent to about 90 per cent of the volume exhausted. Individual fans for both supply and exhaust for each hood are installed in the attic. The supply air enters through adjustable grilles around the top and sides of the opening and acts as an air screen against the escape of a..,.. vapors. Normally, the hoods would need to be supplied with conditioned air from the laboratories, thus unbalancing the system. Since their requirement is approximately 35 per cent of the entire air-circulating capacity of the system, i t would have been necessary to add a greater amount of refrigeration to accommodate this additional load. Their practicability has been fully demonstrated by use. Exteriors of the hoods are finished in baked acid-alkali resisting enamel of a color to blend with the laboratory walls. The interiors of the hoods are lined with heat-resistant glass with Monel trim. Titration assemblies are of special design, the frames being constructed of stainless steel. At the back of the assembly is an opalescent glass lighted by fluorescent tubes which provide permanent uniform lighting of correct intensity, well adapted to reading burets and end points. All pegboards oVer wash sinks are finished in light-colored acid-resisting enamel to match the walls. Distilled water tanks. are concealed a t the ends of center tables under the reagent shelves. They are arranged for easy removal for filling with only the cock exposed. Waste receptacles of stainless steel are attached inside of swinging doors a t recesses and tables, wholly concealed but easy of access. Service fixtures are of one special design to ensure uniformity in appearance. All parts subject to wear are easily replaced with stock parts. Fixtures for air, vacuum, and steam are fitted with throttling nuts to ensure ease of control. Hand wheels are of black Bakelite of two-piece sanitary type with the proper initial to identify the service. Fluorescent tube lighting was selected because of its high degree of efficiency, especially important in an air-conditioned building. The average intensity of illumination in the laboratories is 35 foot-candles.
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