F
IBER I), a new rayon development by du Pont, "has a permanent crimp which gives it a wool-like appearance and feel!" It can be dyed t o brilliant colors, and made both mothproof andiire-retardant. At their Point Breeze, Philadelphia, refinery the Atlantic ReGning Company is t o construct a new unit for the production of 1Woctane gasoline for use in military aviation. Egloff states in "Petroleum Chemistrr Keeos in Steo with Defense" that 100octane gasoline is now h-g produced in the United States a t the rate of about 35,000 barrels per day. I n the same article, he estimates that the potential production capacity of explosives in the United States is of the order of 85 billion pounds per year. The plastic industry in the United States is of the order of $500,000,000 a year. Ammonium sulfamate, according t o preliminary tests, is an effective herbicide or weed-killing chemical. Successful tests have been made on Canadian thistle, dogbane, goldenrod. nettle, poison ivy, ragweed, smartweed, toad Aax, wild onion, wild carrot, and yarrow, usually with timothy or red clover as an associate. Gramiddin, a new wonder chemical, which is produced by certain soil bacteria, "is the most highly effective agent yet discovered for stopping the growth of bacteria," according t o Dr. W. E. Herrell of the Mayo Clinic. Since it causes hemolysis or degeneration of the red blood cells, its use is restricted t o "such cavities as the sinuses, the bladder, and infected hut not bleeding wounds and any local infections such as ulcers." Diamonds, according to reports, become permanently green when subjected t o bombardment in a cyclotron. Brushes with nylon monofilaments are now serving in the textile industry in place of the Mexican tampico fiber and Oriental hog bristle. I t is estimated that the amount of rayon produced in the United States in 1940 was sufficient to provide every woman of our democracy with seven dresses. Oilproof Thiokol synthetic rubber, a product of the Thiokol Corporation of the Dow Chemical Company, w a s first produced t o the extent of 4000 pounds in 1930. Present production capacity of this important rubber substitute is about 6,000,000 pounds annually. The per capita consumption of sulfuric acid in the United States is about 125 pounds per year as compared to 25 pounds of soap and 8 pounds of table salt. Sulfamic acid adds another link t o the intriguing story of synthetic organic chemistry. Although discovered as early as 1878, sulfamic acid remained a laboratory curiosity until a process for its economically feasible manufacture was developed about three years ago by du Pont. I t has already become a "tonnage chemical" for use in leather tanning, dyestuff manufacture, and in the form of its ammonium salt as a 6re-retardant. Alginates, obtained from alginic acid which accounts for about 20 per cent of the weight of dry seaweed, are being used by the British in the production of a non-inflammable synthetic fiber which has goad luster and strength, a t a cost somewhat less than that of rayon. The world's foremost helium plant a t Amarillo, Texas, has
produced IlO,WO,WO cubic feet of gas during the twelve years that it has been in operation. The present capacity of the plant is 24,000,000cubicfeet annually. Writing for the Soulhern Lumberman, J. L. Sterns states that when wood is soaked one week per inch of thickness in a saturated water solution of urea (one pound of urea per pint of water), it may be bent readily a t any future time by merely heating up t o 175°F. "The principle of this treatment lies in the chemical reaction of urea with lignin" t o give a thermoplastic. "Ureatreated Lumber is more resistant t o decay'than untreated stock and in drying i t definitely reduces the tendency t o check." The Bureau of Mines estimates that two pounds of coal, properly utilized, can do as much work a s a m a n can d o i n a day. The nomenclature committee has approved the use of Me, Et, Pr, Bu, and Am as abbreviations for the corresponding alkyl radicals, but the extension of the practice to higher radicals is discouraged. The transmutation of mercury into both gold and platinum on an infinitesimal scale has been effected by use of the giant Harvard cyclotron or atom smasher, as reported by Sherr and Bainbridge before the American Pbysical Society. The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, announces the production of a weatherproof, non-checking rubber, which will resist the disintegrating effect of ozone and other weathering factors. Upon completion of the new neoprene synthetic rubber plant a t Louisville, Kentucky, which is being built, financed, and operated by the du Pont Company, the production capacity of the neoprene units will rise t o about 20,000 tons annually. Neoprene has been in production for only ten years, and has the distinction of being the first non-metallic substance t o be placed on the Government's mandatory priority list. The famed Rumanian oil fields, according to estimates, produce about one-third as much oil as does the state of Illinois. The increase in demand for phthalic and maleic anhydride is thought to be the principal factor back of the million-dollar expansion program of National Aniline and Chemicals Company. When the steel mills are operating a t maximum capacity in the United States, the production of the required amount of cake yields about 30,000,000 gallons of toluene as a by-product. When units now under construction are in operation, according to Egloff, the synthetic production of toluene from gasoline will amount t o 60,000,000 gallons a year. "We have 1800 industrial laboratories and 42,000 industrial scientists in America. But this is not enough! Every American must put to work the idea-laboratory under his hat! We must expand our idea production. We must step up our think-power," according to "A Creative Offensivefor America." The two sources of energy, states Charles F. Kettering of General Motors, are "the evaporation of water by the sun, returning as rain, and eventually becoming our water power. and the growth of plants." From the latter came all forms of stored energy such as coal and petroleum. The world awaits some new means of effectively picking energy out of the air. -ED. F. DBGERINC
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