Milford chronicle., 1948-04-30
DuPonts Are Planning
Expansion Program

COmpanys Experimental Station
has been approved by the executive
and finance committees and sub
mitted for ratification to the board
Of directors, the company an
nounced
This is the biggest single labora-
tory project the company has ever
undertaken. lit viii make the Will
mington experimental station,
birthplace If nylon, neOprene, and
other useful products, one of the
largest research establishments in
the world
Some Of the cOmpany's research
organizations now located else
where will transfer to the new
facilities to be provided there. The
ones already at the station are Lar
boratories of the chemical, engi-
neering, Grasselli and ammonia de-
partments, the nylon laboratory
and the Haskell Psychological la
boratory. They win be joined by
the ray0n pioneering laboratory,
BY research personnel Of the plas-
tics and pigments departments and
by additional Grasselli depart
ment research activities. Th e
number of chemists and other tech
nologists at the station will be al
most doubled when construction is
completed.
This major addition to scientific
facilities viii be an important fac
tor IN a program to increase du
Points activities in fundamental,
long-range research as well as re-
search directed toward the devel-
opment Of new chemical products
and processes.
I'VE are making this expansion
in the belief that in coming years
research win play an ever-in-
creasing role IN the development
OF products needed for the high
standard of living we in America
have come to expect" Crawford
H Greenewalt, dupont president
said ''The replacement Of ole
products and processes by new
ones underscOres the importance
of research. If scientific investiga
ti0n remains unfettered, as at pres
ent, we can rely on the laboratoriel
of free American institutions Il
give us new products in a never
ending stream. Our new facilities
are required to keep abreast of th
keen competition in the chemica
field. They are needed for the ex
perimental programs we now hav
under way and are essential 70
those planned for the future.
know that they will contribute {
the productive strength Of the ma
ton"
Research has become an in
ereasingly major phase Of our op
erations in recent years, he sale
I'VE have lately been enlarging ou
activities directed to the develol
ment of wholly new products an
processes. We have also enlarge
our program of fundamental re
search which has for its objeC
commercial use. These develop
ments have in turn made necessar
the expansion of physical facilitie
now being undertaken.
Construction plans call for te
new laboratory and semi-wOrk
buildings for long-range researc
and development of new chemic;
discoveries. Existing laboratoI
buildings for nylon and 9th.
products viii be enlarged. Thel
are also to be Is new service bull,
ings.
The company's future viii d.
pend to a large degree upOn el
tirely new products and processC
flowing from investigations requi
ing a background of basic know
ledge developed in the laboratory
Mr.. Greenewalt said.
Industrial chemical research
now so complex that highly cor
plicated equipment and specialize
technical services demandiI
heavy investment are required f
the thorough exploration of ne
fields, he added
I'VE confidently expect to crea
many new Jobs through this pr
gram Of expansion say ii
with assurance, because 10000 ]
Pont employees today are engag
in the manufacture and sale of pl
ducts which either did not exist
were not produced commercial
in 1886. These products provi
jobs for many more thousands
people in the other business
which use and sell them"
When the expansion is CO.
pletedy the company expects
have 900 technical employees {
gagged exclusively in research wo
at the station, Of which about
will be transferred from other
boratory locations. Now there 9
approximately 500 at the stati,
The total Of all employees the
technical and non-technical, v
approximate $500.
Major part of the plan for I
expanded Wilmington station ca
for construction of an entirely n
section on 55 acres of the Du Ps
Country Club, which is adjacent
the station. The entire job,
cluding work on new and exist
buildings as wen as outside Wo
is to be finished in approximat
two and one-half years.
The chemical department, VIII
is devoted exclusively to resear
will use its new facilities prim
ily for fundamental research N
the object Of discovering new sci
tific facts without regard to inn
date commercial use. Fundam
tai Investigations have become
Of the most valuable phases of
Pont research work in laying
foundation for new lines Of appl
research. In the past, it has
to nylon, among other thir
Some of the new facilities for OF
departments viii also be devO
to long-range iryestigations.