Industrial Research 



55 



use of Bakelite and similai- coihijouihIs in the electrical 

 industry. In fact Wcstinghousc i^nvc I^r. Backcland his 

 iirst conmu'rcial order for Baivclitc. IniiJrovcnicnts in 

 insulation materials and electrical sheet effected in 

 the laboratory have brouglit great savings (o the users 

 of electricity. New and valuable alloys, incluiling one 

 with the same expansion characteristics as hard glass 

 and another of very great strength at high (enipera- 

 tures, which is a salisfactmy substitute in many i)laces 

 for platinum, have l)i'en developeti l)y the company. 

 The laboi-atories have also i)layed an active part in 

 perfecting radio transmitting and receiving e(iuipment. 

 Some 10,000 of the tubes used m the early receiving 

 sets were manufactured by members of the research 

 staff. 



In 193G the company' began an extensive program of 

 research in the field of nuclear physics, which led to the 

 construction of a 5,000,000-volt atoju smasher of the 

 electrostatic type. Another step toward more funda- 

 mental research was taken in 193G when the Westing- 

 house Research Fellowship Plan, by which five Fellows 

 with Ph. D. degrees would be appointed each year to 

 carry on research in fields of their o^\^l choosing, was 

 inaugurated at the suggestion of Dr. E. U. Condon. 

 Fellowships are granted for 1 year, although they may 

 be renewed for a second year, and, in general, the studies 

 made by the recipients have no inmicdiatc commercial 

 objective but are designed to increase the store of 

 scientific knowledge. 



Westinghouse supplements research in its own 

 laboratories by maintaining a number of research 

 fellowships and by subsidizing certain studies in such 

 institutions as Mellon Institute, Arthm- 1). Little, 

 University of Pennsylvania, Stevens Institute of 

 Technology, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology, and the Engineering 

 Foundation. 



Rubber 



B. F. Goodrich Company 



Although Charles Goodj'car discovered the secret of 

 vidcanization in 1839, when he dropped a piece of rubber 

 mixed with sulfur on the hot stove in his kitchen, it was 

 not until 1S95 that the first research laboratory in the 

 rubber industry was established by the B. F. Goodrich 

 Company at its plant in Akron, Ohio. Charles C. 

 Goodrich, the eldest son of the fomider, was a graduate 

 chemist and the first manager of the laboratory'. 



As the uses for rubber grew, an ever-increasing 

 number of problems were presented to the laboratoiy 

 staff. Groups were organized to find methods of con- 

 trolling and improving the raw materials, to study 

 waj's of bettering processes and equipment, and to 

 develop new products. Their research uncovered the 



fact that certain organic chemicals added to rubber 

 compositions shorten the time of vulcanization and 

 improve the strength and aging i)roi)erties of the 

 finished goods. This advance made it possible or 

 manufacturers to jjioduce in greater quantities without 

 buikling additional plants and for consumers to liavc 

 better products at lower cost. 



From the laboratory came also the discovery that 

 carbon black, when iiicorjjorated in rubber goods in 

 amounts much greater than had previously been used, 

 increased the resistance of rubber to abrasive wear and 

 made possible tiie construction of a satisfactoiy tread 

 for automobile tires. Similarly the addition of certain 

 chemicals to rubber, was found to retard its deteriora- 

 tion and to increase its resistance to heat and to 

 cracking under repeated flexing. 



At the present time the division of synthetic research 

 under the tlircction of Dr. \Vald() L. .Semon, is particu- 

 larly active in developing a rubber-like product made 

 entirely from raw materials available in this coimtry. 

 Petroleum, the base, is broken down to butadiene, 

 which is liquified, mixed with other ingredients prepared 

 from natiu^al gas and air, and then made into a milky 

 emidsion by the use of soap supplied from American 

 agricultural sources. 



United States Rubber Company 



As m many other great industries so, too, in the tire 

 industry progress in the early days was the result of 

 inventive genius. While this force is still important as 

 the industry continues to grow, it has to be supple- 

 mented with systematic investigations of the factors in 

 the numufacturing process which afi'ect the properties 

 of the finished product. 



In the United States Rubber Company organized 

 research is conducted by the operating divisions of the 

 company, in each of which there is a development 

 department with suitable laboratory facilities, and by 

 the general development division, of which the general 

 laboratories are a part. Fundamental research and 

 such applied research as is of interest to more than one 

 division are carried out by the general development divi- 

 sion. Responsibility for the maintenance and improve- 

 ment of the quality of the company's products rests 

 upon the technical groups in the operating divisions. 

 This separation of responsibilities permits both the 

 necessary concentration upon research and the proper 

 attention to manufacturing processes. 



For years the company has studied systematically 

 the physical and engineering problems involved in the 

 manufacture of tires, and as a result has contributed 

 materially to the progress which the industry has made 

 in increasing the safety, improving the performance, 

 and lengthening the life of this important product. 



Although it had been known for a long time tliat 



