Industrial Research 



73 



which he expressed the conviction that it was no longer 

 possible to hojie that a gentleman might secure a 

 liveliliood by the practice of analytical chemistry. 

 Some of the difliculties whicli faced consulting cliem- 

 ists in those da^'s have been described by Dr. Little: 



. . . Tlie impression prevailed tliat their reported results were 

 influenced by the interests of their clients. It was charged 

 that they frequently took commissions for recommending 

 products, processes, and equipment, and they were certainly 

 for the most part everywliere underpaid.. . Five dollars was 

 the ruling price for a sanitary analysis of water, and 7r)(( for tlie 

 analysis of a sample of raw sugar. We gave up testing sugar 

 on the day when a composite sample representing 6,000 tons of 

 sugar was brought to us for test at that figure. Clients almost 

 without exception refused to pay charges for consultations and 

 considered that the submission of a $3.00 sample for analysis 

 entitled them to discussion of its use, eflocts, and merits with 

 no limitation as to time.'-' 



The testing of sugar, however, proviilcd most of the 

 work of the commercial chemists in Boston at this time, 

 and, in spite of its previous experience with the 6,000- 

 ton batch, the firm soon obtained the major portion of 

 this work by buying the business of H. Rathgens upon 

 his retirement. Later a few additional clients were 

 secured by buying out another chemist by the name of 

 Austin. 



Early in 1S93 Griffin suffered a fatal injury in the 

 laboratory, and only after some hesitation and doubt 

 did Little decide to carry on the business alone. He did 

 so for 7 years, and then formed a partnership with 

 William IL Walker. 



In 1S99 a group of Delaware capitalists sent Dr. 

 Little to Em-ope with a representative of their group to 

 study the commerciid production of "viscose," a com- 

 pound which had been discovered in 1893 by Cross, 

 Bevan & Beadle, a well-known firm of cellulose chemists 

 in London. Little's report pointed to such important 

 possibilities that a second trip was made to confirm the 

 facts. As a result of this trip, the Cellulose Products 

 Company was organized. 



In 1918 Lord Shaugnessy, president of the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway, asked Arthur D. Little, Inc., to or- 

 ganize and carry forward a survey of the natural re- 

 soiu-ces of Canada for the purpose, primarily, of pointing 

 out the industrial opportunities of the country. The 

 work proved to be so important for Canada that it was 

 later transferred to the Council for Scientific and Indus- 

 trial Research, and thus became an activity of the 

 Canadian Government. 



A particularly interesting result followed from an 

 anah'sis of a German product marketed under the 

 name of "Lactarine." It was brought to the labora- 

 tory by AVilliam A. Hall, who manufactured in Bellows 

 Falls, Vt., a water paint consisting of a mixture of 

 ground g>-psum and glue. He had foimd that when 



Lactarine was used in place of glue in his paint, it made 

 the coating insoluble wlien dry. Lactarine proved to be 

 a mi.xture of casein and lime, but it could not be im- 

 ported for less than 30 cents a pound — a figure which, 

 for Hall's purpose, was prohibitive. After proving to 

 Ilall that casein could be produced from skunmed milk, 

 the company was commissioned to work out commercial 

 methods for its manufacture. The problem, although 

 not an easy one, was finally solved, and the Casein 

 Company of America was soon doing a business of 

 $2,000 a day. The research had cost Hall a little over 

 $700. 



Little's success in giving exi)ert testimony in numerous 

 l)atont suits also added to his reputation and that of his 

 company. Among the famous cases in which he served 

 as technical advisor were those involving the infringe- 

 ments of the Schultz patents for (chrome tanning leather, 

 the Malignani and Howell patents for the evacuation 

 of incanch^scent electric lamps, and the \Valdsrode 

 smokeless powder patent. 



A pioneer in the establishment of commercial 

 research laboratories, Little was also a pioneer in arous- 

 ing American industry to the importance of research 

 and in vitalizing the teaching of chemical engineering. 

 In fact, in spite of the notable achievements of his 

 laboratory, he once wrote that his— 



. . . most significant contributions had been (first) the preaching 

 of the gospel of industrial research during many years when 

 manufacturers had no conception of what research meant and 

 were profoundly skeptical of the value of cliemistry to them; 

 (and, second, the) conception of the new method of teaching 

 chemical engineering which, is embodied in the School of Chem- 

 ical Engineering Practice of the Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, and which has been adopted by other institutions."' 



For years he spoke and \vrote in an inimitable style 

 of the possibilities of research, beseeching industrialists 

 to see "the handwriting on the wall." 



Miner Laboratories 



The Miner Laboratories of Chicago, foimded in 1906 

 as a partnership of A. P. Bryant and Carl S. Miner, 

 but now under the ownership and direction of the latter, 

 has developed from an organization engaged primarily 

 in analyses for industries utihzing the products of mid- 

 western agriculture to one whose major activities are 

 now in the field of industrial research. 



Its first significant researches were those conducted 

 during the period 1910 to 1915 in connection with 

 patent litigations. This work led ultimately to the 

 establishment of a fellowship for the study of certain 

 problems connected with the business of manufacturing 

 molded plastic products. Other research followed 

 rapidly, much of it again in connection with patent 

 litisralion. 



"' Little, K. D .Manuscrip 



•" Little. See footnote 128 



