Why Engineers Leave Home Maine finds its engineers end scientists migrating, white industries stay away fearing manpower shortage
INDUSTRIAL PROMOTION EFFOKXS of Maine's n e w Department of Developusent of Industry and Commerce havae nan into certain difficulties. Among tibese is a possible roadblock i n the minds of some prospective industrialists that Maine does not have sufficient technological brains and skills t o warrant locating in the state. Consequendy the industrial development group decided to check u p o n wîiat had happened to 2000 engineerinig graduates of the University o f Miaine who had moved away. It also asked if the graduates would return t o Maine if comparable employment were available now or in the near future*. Results of the survey will be coded t o pirovide a potential pool of professional skills to offer to industry prospects. The questionnaire also asked for suggestions as to companies the former Maine residents thought might b e interested in locating i n Maine if their requirements could b e met. Nearly 5 0 good prospect leads were obtained, the industrial development group says. The survey, still far from complete, has received replies from 8 0 3 of the 2DO0 it questioned. Of these 598, approximately 759&, state definitely that they would return t o Maine if giver* the employment opportunity. Among these affirmative replies are engineers and scientists in the following broad categories: 215 mechanical engineers, 1 3 3 electrical engineers, 129 chemical engineers, 63 research physicists, chemists, and other scientists, and 58 civil engineers. Their average age is 3S years, and they are located in almost every state. Industries represented include atomic research, aeronautics, automotive, chemical, electronics, electrical machinery, instruments, missile systems, nuclear weapons, plastics, rubber, sanitation and water facilities.
mill residuals and logs and holts classified as chemical wood from the Cumberland forest area of south central and eastern Kentucky. The company has patent rights on a process for extracting furfural from hardwood waste. Further research to refine production techniques is currendy being carried on. Initial production of the plant will be all in the form of the briquetted charcoal, with furfural extraction scheduled to follow within a year. Engineers for the plant are Knowles Associates of New York; general contractor is Tidewater Construction, Norfolk, Va.
Arizona Ammonia Southwestern Agrochemical Corp., has completed its arrangements for immediate first-stage construction of Arizona's first fertilizer and ammonia plant. It plans a $5 million industrial unit at Chandler. Work will begin immediately on a solid fertilizer plant with a production capacity equal to about a third of the state's present consumption of fertilizers.
Utah Construction, San Francisco, is general contractor o n the project. It indicates that construction will b e complete within a year. Engineering for die balance of the project will proceed during the initial construction period. The plant is located on a 40-acre site 1.5 miles south of Chandler and 20 miles southeast of Phoenix. The location was chosen» a company official says, because it i s the geographical center of the 1.3 million acres now under cultivation i n Arizona. Natural gas t o be used as raw material for ammonia is delivered to the site by a gas pipeline of £1 Paso Natural Gas. This Chandler plant will supplement Southwestern Agro-Chemical's facilities for distribution of ammonia and other fertilizer products which previously have been "imported" into Arizona.
Hooker Takes Stock Stockholders in Hooker Electrochemical have received a run-down on construction in progress, along with their semiannual report of the company.
Furfural from Hardwood T h e wood distillation plant being built b y Cumberland Corp., at Bwrnside, Ky., will start initial production early next year. First product of the $3 miUion plant will b e 150,000 pounds of charcoal briquets per day. High temperature vertical retorts will carbonize hardwood chips after prior takeoff of furfural. Sources of raw materials include saw
φ First Sheet Wraps It Up This new glassine paper mill, just completed by R-W Paper at Longview, Wash., will produce protective packaging papers for converters and food processors in the western states. It has just turned out its first sheet of glassine paper; production will be stepped up rapidly with operations on a schedule of seven days a week. In the background at left is Weyerhaeuser Timber's pulp mill from which the paper mill draws its pulp under long term contract. R-W Paper is a joint enter prise of Weyerhaeuser and Rhinelander Paper (now a St. Regis subsidiary). JULY
16.
1956
C&EN
3437
INDUSTRY
DU PONT
ASASASASASASASASASAAS
®&iSM8mmam ASASASASASAAS
BRIEFS DMF Powerful Solvent Inspires N e w Way to Solve Old Problems DMF (DIMETHYL FORMAMIDE), designed as a '•close a p p r o a c h t o the universal solvent/* is currently providing the answer to a w i d e range o f solvent problems* A S A RESIN SOLVENT for vinyl chloride p o l y m e r s , D M F o f fers a d v a n t a g e s o v e r ketones o f similar volatility. Higher solids a r e obtained for equivalent solution viscosities with either straight DMF or diluted solvent. D M ï is highly compatible with costsaving extenders a t no sacrifice to its high solvent p o w e r . Synergistic mixtures can b e p r e p a r e d combining D M F with a variety of solvents a n d extenders f o r optimum formulations from a cost a n d volatility standpoint. AS A PIGMENT SOLVENT, D M F has unique ability f o r dissolving formerly insoluble p i g ments. W h i l e retaining the desirable p r o p erties o f pigments. DMF solutions o f p i g ments harve advantageous dispersion characteristics. They a r e fast to washing and crocking . , . have unusually high color strength end covering quality. DMPs unusual solubility for inorganics as well as organics opens new potentials for: • "titrations in non-aqueous medium • electrolytic baths • reactions b e t w e e n compounds of diverse solubility characteristics How many difficult jobs D M F c a n solve r e mains t o be seen. So if you h a v e a solvent problem, DMF may b e the answer. Clip coupon a n d we'll send full information.
BETTER T H I N G S FOR BETTER L I V I N G . . . THROUGH CHEMISTRY
E. I. du Font d e Nemours & Co. (Inc.) Grasselli Chemicals Department, Rm. N - 2 5 3 9 Wilmington 9*8, D e l a w a r e i n Canada: Du Pont- Company off Canada Limited, Box 6 6 0 , Montreal Please send m e your information bulletin o n D M F . Name; Firm
,
Position Address City
3438
State
C&EN
JULY
16.
1956
Facilities at the company's Montague, Mich., plant for anhydrous hydrogen chloride production are nearly completed. Hooker expects deliveries to start around Sept. 1. Addition t o the C-56 plant there is more than 8 5 % completed, and partial operation is starting. At Niagara Falls the new Het acid plant is expected to be in operation soon, and Hetron resins manufacturing facilities are already in operation. Construction of a wood flour plant and an addition to the office building are in progress at the Kenton, Ohio, plant of Hooker's Durez division. Also Hooker has authorized a large addition to the research and development labs of this division at Tonawanda, Ν. Υ. A plant for the new light-stable colored thermosetting molding compounds will also be built there. New facilities of the chemical salt production company, constructed ad jacent to the Great Salt Lake," and jointly owned with Pennsalt, went into operation earlier this month. Sale of Hooker's interest in HookerDetrex to Detrex has been completed. Hooker received the Tacoma plant of Hooker-Detrex, plus about $1.1 million par value of Detrex's 5% preferred stock redeemable annually over a period of about 11 years. This sale contract also provided for purchase by Detrex of part of the trichloroethylene output at Tacoma.
Ship Channel are threatened with ad ditional taxation by the Pasadena Inde pendent School District. ί General Chemical's research lab has been honored by the Morristown Asso ciation, a civic group "dedicated to pro tecting and perpetuating the unique charm of Morristown,. N. J." The group annually makes awards for ex cellence of design for new or re modeled buildings which help main tain or improve community appearance. This year the certificate in the category of industrial and research buildings went to the General Chemical labs. • Electric Storage Battery's Exide In dustrial division has set up a new silver battery division. The new unit will make, process, and inspect batteries with silver-zinc active materials in al kaline electrolyte. • Kaiser Engineers' contract with AEC has been modified to provide for de sign of certain experimental facilities for the Engineering Text Reactor at Idaho Falls. This modification calls for design of experimental loops to be built into the reactor for tests of inter est to the aircraft nuclear propulsion program. Cost of the loops is esti mated at approximately $3 million.
• Olin Mathieson has expanded the technical service department of its in secticide division in Baltimore. ^ It will now incorporate responsibilities form erly handled in the market develop ment department. The combined de • Dresser Industries and New York partment will continue development Shipbuilding have joined forces for and technical service work on Terra"packaged" production of specialized clor, Omazene, Phytomycin, and other ships for the nationVoffshore oil indus new products of the division. try. Their initial contract calls for con struction of two vessels fully equipped • Enjoy has established a new central for drilling operations in the Gulf of sales division with headquarters in Chi cago. This new division will be respon Mexico. sible for all of Enjay's petrochemicals • Atomic Energy Commission has re sales in the central portion of the U. S. organized its division of raw materials' Included are alcohols, chemical raw field activities, under which the Grand materials, solvents, Paramins, Butyl Junction, Colo., office will direct all of rubber, and Vistanex. the commission's uranium exploration activities west of the Mississippi, in ad dition to continuing the ore and concen Contracts · · . trate procurement programs in the • Air Reduction Sales has contracted same area. with Luria Engineering for delivery and erection of a standardized steel • Chemoil Corp. is a new firm that building to house new equipment which plans to build a $20 million oil refinery will double the output of industrial in the New Orleans area. Construction gases at its plant in Butler, Pa. The is expected to get under way within a addition is expected to be in full op year, and operations should start in 30 eration by late this year. to 36 months. • Synthetic Mica Corp., Caldwell • Champion Paper, Sinclair, a n d Township, N . J., has signed contracts Crown Central plants o n t h e H o u s t o n with Carol Engineering for construe-
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