68 



National Resources Planning Board 



fundamental rcscarcli on the theory of pliotograi)liic sensitivity 

 and development; Ilijjli Vacuum Chemistry, dealing with vacu- 

 um pumps and gages for molecular distillation and vapor- 

 pressure measurements; Electro-chemical Measurements, in- 

 cluding Redex potentials of developers, electromctric titration, 

 determination of hydrogen-ion concentration; Colloid Chemistry 

 of Gelatin, Physical Chemistry of Film Support; Research on 

 problems arising from the use of cellulose acetate yarn in textile 

 processes, including a physical testing of yarn and the dyeing 

 properties of textile materials; Micro-analysis; X-ray examina- 

 tion of structure; Photographic emulsions and Sensitizing 

 dyes."' 



More than 400 workers, over half of whom have uni- 

 versity degrees, are now required to carry on the 

 company's extensive research program. 



Johns-Manville Company 



In the seventies H. W. Jolms was experimenting with 

 an oil stove, a teakettle with a flattened spout, and an 

 ordinarj- clothes wringer to produce a fireproof roofing 

 from saturated wool felt, burlap, manila paper, pitch, 

 and asbestos. His experiments were successful, and for 

 more than 20 years his efforts were devoted largely to 

 the development of commercial products that could be 

 manufactured from asbestos. I^ooking about in 1899 

 for a man who would make himself generally useful, 

 Johns hired William Robbins Seigle, then 20 years old. 

 Ten years later, when the II. W. Johns-Manvill(> 

 Company purchased the Indurated Fibre Compan^^ at 

 Lockport, N. Y., Seigle joined forces with Prof. C. Ij. 

 Norton, who had developed a process for making 

 "homogeneous sheets from a combination of asbestos 

 and cement formed together under heavy pressure." 



Although not a scientist by training, Seigle be- 

 lieved that if inventors working alone and with little 

 scientific knowledge could occasionally make discoveries 

 that were important for industry, then highly sldlled 

 scientists working with adequate facilities could make 

 many more such discoveries. In 1916 he organized 

 with Professor Norton the Norton Laboratories, Inc., 

 at Lockport, N. Y., and in 1917 he set up the W. K. 

 Seigle Laboratories in the garage of his home in 

 Mamaroneck. ^Mien the garage became too small for 

 his research activities, he moved the laboratory to 

 Bridgeport, Conn., and incorporated the enterprise as 

 the Fibrefraks Laboratories. Although Seigle carried 

 on the research as a personal activity, Johns-Manville 

 profited by it in many ways. Asbesto-cement pipe, for 

 example, was made possible very largely as a result of 

 knowledge obtained in Seigle's laboratory. 



In time Johns-Manville purchased the Fibrefraks 

 Laboratories and centered all the company's research at 

 the Manville factory in New Jersey, with Mr. Seigle as 

 director. Under his supervision the research work ex- 



I" Research In the Rochester area. JnduaMal and Engineerlnp Chemittrn (Niict 

 Ed.), IB, 336-337 (August 10. 1937). 



pandcd until tiie laboratories reached their present size 

 employing more than 125 trained workers, headed by a 

 skilled staff of research engineers. Facilities have been 

 provided in individual laboratories, such as the 

 McMillan Thermal Insulation Laboratory and the 

 Acoustical Laboratory, for special study of each class of 

 materials made by the company. As a result, new 

 materials are developed, existing products are improved, 

 and technical service is given to customers and to the 

 company's manufacturing and sales organizations. 

 Only through research do the company's executives 

 feel that they can be prepared for the future. 



National Lead Company — Titanium Division 



About 1870 a young French chemist. Dr. A. J. Rossi, 

 came to America and was engaged in a blast furnace 

 operation at Boonton, N. J., where titaniferous ores 

 were being successfully smelted into pig iron. During 

 this experience he became interested in the occurrence 

 of titanium in iron ores. 



Mr. James McNaughton, who controlled the large 

 acreage in the Adirondack Mountains where the 

 Mclntyre Iron Company had operated a blast furnace 

 for the reduction of titanium-bearing ores, was aware 

 not only of the richness and extent of the titaniferous 

 ore deposits available there, but also of the doubt of 

 blast furnace operators regarding the possibilities of the 

 use of such ore in furnace practice. Confident that 

 effective utilization of the deposits could be made, he 

 secured the services of Rossi, the only person in the 

 country at that time who had anj- knowledge of the 

 practical smelting of titaniferous ores. About 1890, 

 with Rossi and several friends, McNaughton organized 

 a syndicate and erected a very small blast furnace in 

 Buffalo, N. Y., where titaniferous ores were smelted in 

 various proportions. Rossi secured patents on the 

 processes of smelting such ores and also on the manu- 

 facture of various titanium alloys. 



In 1908 Rossi separated an impure titaniimi oxide 

 and proved its unusual opacity as a pigment by mixing 

 it with salad oU and applying the combination as paint. 

 He was probably the first to conceive of the use of 

 titanium oxide as white pigment. In 1912 L. E. Bartan 

 joined Rossi in a systematic program of research on 

 the possibilities of titaniimi for use as pigment. To- 

 gether they developed a method of se])arating titanium 

 oxide from rutilc and ilmcnite. Tlu-ough further re- 

 search, they were able to demonstrate the practicability 

 and value of titanimn dioxide as a white pigment of 

 uniciue qualities and outstanding merit, and later, after 

 additional studies, they produced the composite types 

 of titanium pigments. 



As a direct outgrowth of their intensive experimental 

 effort, the Titanium Pigment Company was incorp- 

 orated and a factory built at Niagara Falls to produce 



