Evening star., 1951-04-04
New Uses for PIustics
Found in Many Fields
Wur-Born Industry Expands
With Phenomenal Speed
By Thomas R. Henry

FlaSClcS are reVolut1OnlZlng mauy
fields Of American industry.
They were essentially war babies"
At the start of the last war they were
hardly known to the general public. Less
than 300 million pounds a year were
produced in 1910.
1t soon developed that they could re-
place many scarce but supposedly essen
tial materials and during the war years
the production tripled. Since then the
output has more than doubled, reaching
approximately 2 billion pounds last
year. Their use exceeds that of alumni
mum, magnesium, copper, zinc, lead and
rubber. With the threat of another war
1t is likely that this will be increased.
This is revealed by DR.. G. NJ Kline,
chief of the organic plastics section of
the National Bureau of Standards, who
says that the uses for these materials
are increasing by leaps.
Among the latest developments, he
says, is the production of 24-foot cabin
cruisers made entirely of plastics and
glass fiber. These never will require
painting or caulking. .'
Many New Uses Found.
The bureau scientists constantly are
testing plastic materials for new uses, at
the request of industry. Among the war
uses are bayonet handles, fuse parts,
helmet liners, lightweight armor plate
for aircraft, insect screenings resistant
to tropical conditions. These were just
getting well under way in 1945. Some Of
the most recent advances have been in
the fields of medicine and surgery with
such items as expendable blood trans
fusion sets, oxygen tents, Sutures, drain
age tubes, resinous pills for treatment
Of stomach ulcers, and blood plasma
substitutes. Nearly half the shoes now
manufactured in this country have
plastic soles and heels.
The postwar development, DR.. Kline
points out, has been striking case of
turning swords into ploughshares. EARLY
IN the war the first plants for the manu-
facture OF polyethylene were established.
The major function of this plastic was
to provide electrical insulation for radar
equipment. Since then the production
has gone up to 100 million pounds, ten
fold the war production, for such uses
as food packaging.
During the war, production of the
various types known as vinyl plastics
amounted to 120 million pounds. 1t was
used primarily by the Navy for wire
coating, insect screening and gun covers.
Since the war, production has scared to
400 million pounds for upholstery, gar
den hose, shower curtains and phono-
graph records.
Among the more notable recent de-
velopments, DR.. Kline said, are plastic
doors, drawers. furniture, foot lockers.
bearings for business machines, washing
machines and door locks
All radio transmission beyond the
horizon depends on the "echoing layers"
OF the earths high atmosphere.
Otherwise the radio waves would es-
cape into space. These echo layers, To-
Gated at from SO to 200 miles above the
planets surface, are regions of very
thin atmosphere whose atoms have been
made electrically conducting by radia.
tlon from the sun. Different layers re-
fleet different bands of wave lengths
back to the earth. The attitudes vary
a great deal with conditions on the sur.
face of the SUM-. -,
The United States Bureau of Stand
ards operates stations throughout the
world to record the changing heights
and lntensities Of these electrified lay.
ers. known collectively as the "iono-
sphere" Radio transmission is con-
siderably dependent on this data.
Mobile Laboratory Sent Out.
Little is known, however, of the ae-
tual echoing phenomena itself. The
bureau now is sending out a mobile
laboratory which will make it possible
for the first time to explore the actual
path OF the radio signals and to chart
the points where the echoes are re.
turned
The first stop will be made about ao
miles east Of Cincinnati, a point mid
way between the bureaus transmitting
station at Sterling. Va, and a corr
responding station at Washington Uni.
verslty in st. Louis. The site was So.
lected because it is directly under the
predicted spot in the high atmosphere
where the beam is bent back towards
the earth. Then several other midpoint
stations will be occupied
In the end it is expected that s,,f-
ficlent data about the propagation Of
radio waves will have been accumulated
to map accurately their paths across
the country and into other parts of the
world. =
&S sE-