Industrial Research 



of this unit would be acceptable commercially, aiul 

 many changes were anticipated before the desired 

 product and procedure were achieved. These varia- 

 tions in the process coidd be made without enormous 

 expense, and mistakes on this scale are not ruinous. As 

 the process was then still in the research stage, various 

 trials could be conducted without delayina: production 

 or interfering with the momentum of commercial 

 operation. In this instance, for example, the high- 

 speed-photography method was applied to the study of 

 glass spinning and this made various refinements 

 possible. 



Kesearch continues after the product is in actual 

 production. Obtaining a satisfactory coating for glass 

 fibers, as for air filters, for example, is typical of the 

 product-improvement assignment frequently received 

 by the research laboratory. At the same time in- 

 vestigations are made of various applications when the 

 fringe between sales and research has been reached. 

 Commonly, in the market introduction of a new article 

 research men cooperate with the sales force and 

 frequently even become salesmen themselves tem- 

 poraril}'. 



WTien market or production difficulties cannot 

 readily be solved by production or sales personnel, 

 membei-s of the research staff are frequently called 

 upon to assist. Experience with the initial coating 

 of photographic plates is typical of the kind of trouble 

 that develops after the product is already on the 



market. The coating of these plates proved to have 

 poor keeping qualities for unknown reasons. By dint 

 of careful investigation it was eventually found that 

 the difficulty was in the gelatin and that a special type 

 was necessary. Such investigations are frequently 

 known by research men as "trouble shooting." 



As a final stage in the develoiiment of a new process 

 or product, technical control of process and quality is 

 frequently established, providing for analyses or tests 

 at various points in order to maintain the original 

 procedure and the standards established. 



In this gradation from fundamental or pioneering 

 research down to "trouble shooting" various steps and 

 "types" of research have been recognized by authors 

 and research men. Routine testing and production 

 control are generally considered outside the definition, 

 but there is no such general agreement on other fringes 

 of research, as for example, at the border line between 

 research in applied physics and the design of new 

 mechanisms. Some research laboratory organizations 

 include design personnel that in others would be in- 

 cluded in engineering departments. 



It will also be apparent that dependence upon 

 organization dift'erentiates modern industrial research 

 from the practice of the individual inventor. In a 

 typical project a new type of yeast is noted by a 

 research bacteriologist, possibly a variation giving 

 better flavor or greater yield. It is investigated in 

 the test-tube stage, and its preferred nutrients and 



Figure 2. — Research L:i 



iries, American Cyanamid Company, Stamford, ConDecticut 



