Evening star., 1932-07-10

puzzled and discouraged. He con-
suited an industrial chemist. This
chemical detective discovered that
one of the streams feeding the greenhouse
reservoir had become contaminated with salt
water from an old oil we'll The stream in
question was diverted; the reservoir was
drained fresh water was supplied, and soon
the rose bushes resumed normal growth and
production And the florists business was
saved.
This incident is typical illustration of the
useful services that being rendered by this
new type of business detective to promote
prosperity for American business These
chemical detectives develop new sources of
supply for old materials; they evolve new proc
esses; they anticipate and inset new needs;
they create new markets; they reduce waste;
they use neglected resources; they are fact
hnders-unbaised. thorough and skillful. Their
every step is purposeful-to get exact and use
full facts. Their job is to investigate business
problems and to triumph over them
The progress of chemical research has
brought expectancy of discoveries from
day to day. 1t is forcing folks to give up old
cherished beliefs which handicap progress by
the simple method of showing them that their
old beliefs were wrong.
A LEADING manufacturer of cedar chests
engaged an industrial chemist to help
improve his products Chemical detectives Sis
pended strips of cloth in chests and then de-
termined the rate of emission of cedar oil into
the chests by comparing the weight of the
cloth before is was used with the weight after
it had absorbed cedar oil. This and other
tests helped show how and to what extent the
chests were effective in destroying moths.
Changed concepts of the manufacturers were
fundamental to enable them to insure
owners of its chests against damage by moths
to contents of the cabinets. The chemical de-
tectives in this way helped increase sales Of
this company from about IS per cent to about
40 per cent of the industry.
varnish company wished to know the ef-
feet that certain lacquers, which had then
just appeared competitors, would have upon
their varnish market. They planned to protect
themselves accordingly. The company asked
an industrial chemist to investigate, and after
his report he was engaged to develop similar
lacquers for them The result was that, in
stead Of experiencing a great drop in sales as
the demand for varnish tremendously receded,
this company in a few months was marketing
line of newly developed lacquers of its
own, and the sales OF this line more than
counterbalanced the drop in sales OF varnish.
wire and cable company desired flame
proof wire for complicated circuits where the
expense and loss of time occasioned by flames
is very considerable. Pressed for time in its
own research laboratory. it called on a firm OF
chemists and engineers for aid. The task
was TO develop fame proof wire This was
accomplished by adding the infiammable ele-
ment selenium to the infiammable insulation
of the wire
IN California a cement mill among orange
groves disturbed growers who maintained
that the cement dust harmful to the
fruit. The growers sought injunction. The
cement people consulted a chemical detective.
He installed some electrically charged wires In
appropriate chambers, and To- SO per cent of
the dust disappeared. The mill allowed to
operate and the growers happy, too.
railroad puzzled by a number OF Seri-
Gus rail failures There peculiar splitting
OF the heads of the rails. A chemical de-
tective was called in He traced the history
of the rails back to their ignots. This dis
proved the first theory of pipe in the ignot.
The chemical detective suspected low carbon
inclusions careful survey disclosed and
located them. The manufacturer settled with
the railroad on the basis of the report of the
chemical detective.
The plastics industry was Incorporating
resins with paper by the inefficient process of
making paper, dissolving the resins in solvents,
running the paper through the solution, re-
covering the solvents and laminating the paper
Chemical detectives were engaged TO seek a
better process They developed recently and
brought into commercial practice a process
for Incorporating various types of resins or of
other binders with pulp prior to formation into
paper, thereby realizing a plastic composition
in several respects superior TO the old product
and appreciaby more economical.