Evening star., 1942-03-31
Formula for Rubber
VaIueIess 10 Reich,
Parish Declares
kozis Couldn't Obtoin
Materials for Product,
Oil Head CIoims
Earlier Story on Page A-1.)

Disclosure Of the formula for
butyl rubber to Germany in 1888
by the Standard Oil Co. could
not possibly have had any polit-
ical or military implications of
any kind" w. S. Parish, presi-
dent of Standard Oil Co. New
Jersey, today told the Senate
Defense Investigating Com
mittee.
The oil executive explained that
the product was obviously of no
value TO Germany because the main
raw material comes from oil refining
and is not available to the Nazis in
large quantities.
All exchange of information on
the product was discontinued after
January. 1910, he added.
operative Research.
Standard built pilot plant for
production of its own product. butyl,
in October, 1889, Mr.. Parish related.
adding that its history shows the
tremendous technical difficulties
overcome in the dogged determine
tion to make Butyl rubber a sue
cess" regardless of COST
"Butyl rubber" the witness said.
was the outgrowth of research
conducted. first comparatively and
then separately, by the German I.
G. Co. II. G. Farbenindustrie. the
German dye trust) and Standard in
an effort to find way to vulcanize
a rubber like product called vistenex
which had originated with the l. G.
Co.
STANDARD discovered that by add
ing minute percentage of another
ingredient and changing the process
there could be produced a true
rubber capable of being vulcanized.
Raw Materials Cheap.
The raw materials for this prod
uct, which we called butyl rubber.
were cheap. but it was difficult to
make and its quality was bad. In
1888. soon after Standard had dis
covered this product, it reported it
to the I. G. in the normal way pur-
suant TO the research arrangement
between the parties in the field of
synthetic rubber produced from oil.
The allegation that the 1. G. was
at that time withholding technical
information from Standard on Ger
man synthetic rubber and therefore
Standard should not have lived up
to its own commitments is untrue.
Il. @. was at the same time sup
plying Standard with much desired
information on the production of
raw materials for buna rubber from
oil. The only thing l. G. was with
holding was the detail of their gov
ernment-sponsored program of pro-
ducing buna rubber from coal in
Germany.
Not Available in Germany.
while the butyl rubber was rec
ognized from the beginning to have
commercial possibilities, it was
obviously of no value to Germanys
self -sufficiency program. because the
main raw material for the manu-
facture is isobutylene. which comes
from oil refining and is not available
in Germany in the necessary large
quantities.
If it were available. first use for
it would be to make 100-octane gaso-
line, which the Germans were never
able to make on a large scale for
lack of the same type of raw mate
rial. The same situation applies in
Italy"
Senator Ball, Republican, of Min
nesota, broke in to ask whether
Standard Oil officials had notified
the State Department that Hitler
was expanding certain war produc-
ton by controls over I. G. Farben-
industrie as early as 1895.
Mr. Parish said he would answer
this later in detail and asked If he
might present his testimony in an
orderly fashion"