Evening star., 1932-07-10

Microscopic examination is part OF the
laboratory research performed by
chemists to reduce iUaSfe, improve pres
emf products and seek neiC markets for
them. IL is said that American manu-
facturers notc excel the Germans IN Gp-
preparations for this rcork.
Fahrenheit They deal with low pressures OF
a fraction of millimeter of mercury and with
high pressures of approximately 5000 atmos-
pheres 1t has been estimated that extremes
are comparable to the difference between the
diameter of a drop of water and the distance
from the earth to the sun.
About 20 years ago economists were greatly
concerned about depletion Of the nitrate beds
of Chile. They feared that the known supply
would soon be exhausted, and Chilean nj
trates furnished most of the supply of nitrog-
enous fertilizer, the fearful ones foresaw fall
ures of crops throughout the world. Famine
looned lust ahead for the pessmists but
chemical detectives went at the problem and
developed new methods By which the nitrogen
of the air is converted into compounds that
are used as plant food. The problems of saw
ing Chile's nitrogen and preparing for a world
wide famine have vanished
IN California chemical detectives went into
canneries and invented way to make
chicken feed from peach pits which were
formerly waste They developed a process for
making acids and nut meats from apricot pits.
They worked out a way of using Gull lemons
by sending them to a central plant to be pro-
cessed there into lemon oil, citric acid and
pectin. Now they are studying how to develop
useful by-products from the culls and sur
plus dried prunes and raisins.
If all oranges that are grown were to be
shipped away in a few weeks, they probably
would not pay the grower half the cost Of
production, but the chemical detective has
solved this problem for the grower. He has
developed q process of speeding up the ripen-
ing process so that by artificial ripening the
fruit with gas, and at other times by using
cold storage. the growers have been able to
ship out oranges regularly each month In the
year. A result is that the grower earns pro1t,
and that the consumer can have fresh oranges
orange juice every day.
On the Pacific coast chemical detectives
have started a new industry based on seaweed,
for which no commercial use had been known
previously, with the possible exception that
seaweed is a source of iodine. Now industrial
chemists have established in California an IN
dustry in which seaweed is used in the pro-
duction of a starchy product that Is in many
respects superior to starch. because 1t nils the
cloth better. Is tougher and more elastic, is
transparent when dry and acids do not act ON
it. Materials treated with this new product
have thick elastic feel without the stiffness
given by starch. It is now used in sizing and
coating paper in addition to its use In finish
ing fabrics.
CHEMICAL manufacturers have not
duced their stats of research workers
a result Of economic conditions, according 10
the American Chemical Society. Business con-
ditions have forced industries to services
of chemical detectives to seek out new mar
kets to improve present products and TO reduce
waste, whereas in more opulent times they
might have been content to carry on with
conditions as they were. American manu-
facturers now excel the Germans IN appropria-
tions for chemical research.
When explosions from bombs or leaking gas
or other causes result in serious damage,
chemical detectives invariably called in to
testify as an aid in fixing legal responsibility.
company manufacturing piston rings en-
joyed a "a per cent increase in business six
months after engineers had developed a more
efficient ring during a period of industrial
stagnation. In spite of generally declining
prices. this ring sold at higher price
than the highest-priced ring they had ever
sold.
The chemical detective is helping free the
thought of earth-bound man. He is revealing
things that always were but which were never
used simply because they were not known For
lack of knowledge, the Hudson Bay Co. trapped
uo1I V1airaa