The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-07-03

ture Of fiber board, which are much
cheaper and just a. good rs the
zones originally used. For in
stance. in place Of the forme., ex-
pensive cambria tape used in seal
ing the point Of . corrugated fiber
box, new tape, half paper and
half cloth, has been devised which !.
costs just about fraction as much
and answers the purpose equally
n well.
Sometimes the results obtained
from the research at the institute
are not SO satisfactory to manufac-
turers, but 1t least they are graft
fed to know the truth. For exam
pie, not long ago, the manufac-
turers of butter substitutes endow-
ed a fellowship at the institute, in
the hope Of proving false the
charge of physicians concerning
oleonargarine and other yegeta-
bic butter-namely, that they did
not possess the important Vita
mines contained in butter. The
scientists engaged ON this work
have not been able to refute this
charge, but they. have proved that
butter substitutes are as good as
butter, II the lost vitamines are re-
placed by some other item in the
diet, such as milk and green vege-
tables. 1t is also possible that be-
! fore they finish their work they
may succeed in capturing an elu-
sive vitamine or two and inject
ing it into the recipe for butter sub
lstitutes.
The quest for important indus
trial secrets is . long and tedious
business, often requiring years Of
research work to demonstrate
what, in. the end, appears az sim
pie, common sense fact Months Of
preliminary investigation must oft
en- go by before the research man
even starts his work on new pro-
cess. Thus, a. one of the dfrec-
tors of the institute points out, pa
thence is a cardinal virtue in the
manufacturer who wants to profit
as much as possible from research
work. The world was not made In
a day, although to look at 1t any
one might think SO, and industrial
mysteries are not solved in q week
or two. This statement is rather
humorously corroborated by IL
manufacturer endowing a fellow
ship at the institute for some den,
tai research work. What was want
ed was new dental cement which
would fulfill the requirements laid
down by q prominent dentist, dean
Of one of the large medical col
leges.
| Workers Cannot Hurry.
| After signing the contract for
research" this manufacturer says,
Il expected in two or three weeks
that the chemist assigned to our
undertaking would begin to show
signs of life. But when l went out
to the laboratory about a month
later to find out what progress he
was making, where do you sup
pose / found him? He was squat
ted in the library, surrounded by .
stack of books that he couldn't see
over.
He told me he hadn't the remot-.
est idea in the world whether Oh
not he was going to be able to pre-
duce a material even >as good al
Others already on the market, much
less fill the large order We had
given his chief, but he also told me
to go back to my desk, look as
pleasant as possible, and sit down
and wait.
I'VE waited, and we proceeded to
wait all during the first year. At
the end of that time, since the fel-
lowship was terminated and We had
paid our money, We had the priv
} ilege of taking our choice of two
cements. developed by our chem
ist, neither of which was worth
manufacturing.
Our board OF directors discussed
the situation for two or three days
We looked at 1t from every angle
with the result that we decided to
stick. We faced big loss anyway
! which would never be anything but
, loss IL we quit. And We were IL
, months nearer the solution Of our
problem. So we blindfolded the
treasurer and cut for new deal.
: Then we proceeded to wait for
, several more months, and finally
: incredible as 1t had come to seem.
! our waiting was rewarded. One
day, our chemist came tearing into
: my ONCE with his hair fairly stand
: ing on end, and shouted, I've got
it, And we had-a new dental
: cement which beat all Of the pro-
: ducts of its kind on the market.
} But that day was one year, seven
: months and two days from the day
: we signed up for the research"