Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-07-06
THE MELLON
MYSTERIES
By Frederic !. Haskin
~ ITTSBURG, Pa, June 30.-If
~ you think that the solving of
nillion-dollar mysteries is
10

confined entirely to detective
stories and the movies, you should
visit the Mellon institute, Of Pitts
| burg, and see how it is done In real
life.
That is the institutes business
solving the various mysteries which
BATTLE and obstruct the path Of
American industry. That is what
the MELONS. Andrew w. and Richard
! B., the well-known Pittsburg bank
/ While the institute is operated as
part of the University of Pittsburg,
and is often mistaken for one of
the university's buildings, it really
leads an independent life, with its
own separate bank account, it's own
board of directors, and its own fell
lowship system.
Working in it's many splendidly
equipped laboratories are experts,
| sent to it from all parts of the coun-
try by manufacturers and corpora
lions who are anxious to improve the
quality of their products, or to dis
cover newer and cheaper processes
for making them. Every kind of
commercial product, from soap and
cement to oleomargerine and glue, is
exclusively studied here, often with
million-dollar results.
Each manufacturer pays for his
own particular line of experimental
ton by endowing fellowship
sometimes two or three) in the in
stitute upon the understanding that
he shall receive exclusive title to any
results obtained. That is, any new
selected for the fellowship are the
property of the manufacturer. 1t is
also agreed that the nature of the re-
search shall be kept absolutely quiet,
unless the manufacturer or corpora
ton interested permits it to be made
public. Hence, many of the most in
teresting problems being worked out
at the institute are clothed in dark
est secrecy; and the visiting public
is merely permitted to smell the ex-
most of the laboratories, however,
one is given free access and gracious
ly allowed to ask as many questions
as one likes.
Wandering thus inquisitively about
the various laboratories of the insti-
tute the other day, the reporter came
upon young man bending tenderly
jars of peanut butter. Upon ques-
tioning him, we found that the box
and not the peanut butter was the
cause of his solicitude. The box was
man was a fiber board fellow.
1t seems that some years ago the
fiber board industry. was losing
money because it could not prove
that it's fiber board product made
The railroads held that all CORFU
gated fiber board boxes used as con-
tainers for freight shipments must
meet certain specifications-that is,
the fiber board used in their con-
struction had to have a certain min
imum thickness, and it had to pass
a specified bursting test. This burst
ing test was made with a machine
called the Mellon Paper Tester"
which was not particularly designed
for testing corrugated board, but
better. The results were unsatisfac-
tory, and consequently the railroads
refused to permit anything weighing
more than, ninety pounds to- be ship
ped in fiber board containers
So the fiber board industry found
ed a Fellowship at the Mellon insti-
tute, with, directions to prove, if pos
sible, that fiber board would stand
up under much heavier loads.
he Found the Answer
"And we have" said the young
man, running finger over the
heavy corrugated lining of the fiber
Renfd Oo new a maaga we do naa to H.
pointed to queer looking apparatus
on a nearby table. That's our new
Webb paper tester, Endorsed by the
United States bureau of standards"
he explained. :, 1T shows that fiber
board can easily stand up under 100
ones"
Besides contributing this impor-
tant invention, the fiber board re-
search men at the institute have dis
covered several substitute materials
to be. used in the manufacture of
fiber board, which are much cheaper
and just as good as the ones original
ly used. For instance, in place of
the former expensive cambria tape
T used IN f s;ebaling the Joint Of
paper and half CLOTH has been de-
vised which costs just about frac-
ton as much and answers the pur-
pose eually as well.
Sometimes the results obtained
from the research at the institute
are not SO satisfactory to manufac-
turers, but at least they are graft
fled to know the truth. For example,
not long ago, the manufacturers of
butter substitutes endowed a fellow
ship at the institute, in the hope Of
proving false. the charge of physi-
other vegetable butters-namely, tina:
they did not possess the important
v1tamines contained in butter. The
scientists engaged on this work have
not been able to refute this charge,
but they have proved that butter
i
the lost vftamines are replaced by
some other item in the diet, such as
milk and green vegetables. 1t is al
so possible that before they finish
turing an elusive vitamine or two
and Injecting it into the recipe for
butter substitutes.
The quest for important indus
trial secrets is long and tedious
business. often requiring years of
research tA fy~of rs Int
common sense fact. Months Of pre-.
liminary investigation must often go
by before the research man even
Thus, as one of the directors of the
institute points out, patience is a
cardinal virtue in the manufacturer
who wants to profit as much as pos
s1ble from research work. The world
was not made in day, although to
and industrial mysteries are not
solved in week or two. This state
ment is rather humorous1y corrobo-
rated by manufacturer endoWing
some dental research work. What
was wanted was a new dental cement
which, would fulfill the requirements
d iald gown 90 nne by a. prominent dentist
leges.
After signing the contract for the
research" this manufacturer says,
Il expected in two or three weeks
that tho chemist assigned to our
signs Of lin But when I went out
to the laboratory about a month
later to find out what progress he
was making, where do you suppose
found him? He was squatted in the
library, surrounded by a stock of
books that he couldn't see over.
He told me he hadn't the remot-
est idea in the world whether or not
he was going to be able to pro-
duce a material even as good as 9TH
ers 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 preceded t.
Wat en a d duf fhag the first Tinc yer 4h
lowship was terminated and we had