Industrial Research 



03 



serious atteiilion, however, was given to the systematic 

 conversion of waste products into vahiablc byproducts. 



In 1892 a small laboratory was established at the 

 Chicago plant of Swift and Company ui a building 

 which served simultaneously as a glue and soap factory. 

 Dr. Joslyn was employed as chief chemist. The stated 

 functions of the laboratory were to analvze and stand- 

 ardize the company's products, and to find answers to 

 problems pertaining not only to the manufacture of 

 major products such as meat and lard, but also to the 

 exploitation of byproducts. Since the meat packmg 

 mdustry offered unexplored territory to the scientist, 

 his discoveries were frequent and led quickly to an 

 expansion of the company's activities. New packing 

 plants were built or purchased, and in each new plant 

 there was a laboratory' for analytical and control work. 

 Branch laboratories were installed at St. Louis in 1900, 

 Kansas City and St. Joseph in 1905, Fort AVorth in 

 1906, and subseciuently in Omaha, East Cambridge, 

 Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Paul, New- 

 ark, East St. Louis, Edmonton, Toronto, Harrison, 

 and Atlanta. 



Much of the research m the laboratories during the 

 early j'ears of their existence was determined by outside 

 factors. Between 1907 and 1910, the problem of acidu- 

 lation of phosphate rock to render phosphoric acid 

 available for fertilizers which could supplement the 

 animal fertilizers rich in nitrogen was of paramount im- 

 portance. A little later a process was worked out by 

 which potash could be recovered from kelp. From 

 1910 to 1912 the research staff was particularly active in 

 developing modern methods of fat and oil hydrogena- 

 tion, refining, and bleaching. 



Until 1920 the research laboratories were attached to 

 divisions such as glue and gelatin, fat and oil, soap and 

 glycerine, bacteriologj', and meat. Trouble shooting, 

 technical sales service, utilization of byproducts were 

 the chief activities of the men in the laboratories, and 

 out of a staff of approximately 50 persons, not more 

 than 8 or 10 were doing actual research. 



To relieve the inadequacy of accommodations and to 

 provide for expansion, the company built new labora- 

 tory facilities in 1929. Two years later W. D. Richard- 

 son, who had been chief chemist for 27 years, resigned 

 and R. C. Newton succeeded him. More trained men 

 were emploj'ed to work on problems which the smaller 

 staff had been forced to neglect. New divisions were 

 formed, and coordinated with them were 16 outside 

 laboratories and 160 smaller test rooms devoted to the 

 ever increasing task of controlling the processes and 

 products. Approximately 150 trained men are now 

 engaged in this control work. 



At the laboratories in Chicago about 60 persons are 

 engaged at least part of the time in fundamental re- 

 search in many subjects, including physical chemistry. 



bacteriology, industrial sanitation, nutrition, histology, 

 and pathology. These men also devote time to devel- 

 opment work and to consultation and technical sales 

 service. 



Babcock and Wilcox Company 



Since the early days of its existence Babcock & Wilcox 

 Company has carried on laboratory and research work. 

 Until 1900, studies were conducted at Stevens Institute 

 of Technology, under the guidance of T. B. Stillman, 

 Sr., and D. S. Jacobus. From 1900 to 1910 a small 

 wooden building in Bayonne, N. J., housed 3 to 4 men 

 engaged in laboratory work on fuel, combustion, and 

 water anal3'ses. In 1910 the company established at 

 Bayonne a complete chemical, physical, and metallurgi- 

 cal laboratory, and placed a competent chemist and 

 metallurgist in charge of it. This laboratory continued 

 in operation until 1932, when it was moved to the com- 

 pany's plant at Barberton, Ohio, and consolidated with 

 two other laboratories. Besides this laboratory, the 

 company now maintains a complete metallurgical and 

 piij'sical laboratory at Beaver Falls, Pa., and a third 

 laboratory at Augusta, Ga., especially equipped for re- 

 fractory research. To complement research work in its 

 own laboratories the company has supported research 

 in technical institutions. 



Most of the company's research has naturally been 

 devoted to subjects affecting the construction and op- 

 eration of boilers, which in 50 years have changed from 

 hand fired cast-iron boilers having a capacity of 3,000 to 

 4,000 pounds of steam an hour at 160 poimds pressure 

 to completely automatic units fired with pulverized fuel, 

 producing more than 1,000,000 pounds of steam an hour 

 at a pressure of 2,600 pounds. Research on refractories, 

 however, has led the company into the manufacture of 

 firebrick and insulating materials, products which find 

 little use in connection with boilers. 



Bausch & Lomb Optical Company 



The Bausch and Lomb Optical Company, is said to 

 owe its existence to the imagination of J. J. Bausch in 

 foreseeing the advantages of hard rubber as a material 

 for making spectacle frames. 



A chenucal laboratory was established by the com- 

 pany in 1899, with John Wood Scott as chemist in 

 charge. The iirimary purjiose of this lalioralory was 

 the preparation of chemicals to be sold through the 

 chemical supply division which, at that time, was an 

 active division of the company. Shortlj' after the 

 laboratory was founded, it was asked to undertake 

 research on lacquers for finishing metal, cements for 

 use in the lens departments, and abrasive materials 

 for use in grinding lenses. Before the end of the year, 

 1899, Mr. Frank Kolb was engaged to work primarily 

 on such problems. He was soon put in charge of the 



