Industrial Research 



103 



There are many other applications of this distillation 

 process to the treatment of vegetable and animal oils, 

 all of which are developing from Dr. Ilicivman's work 

 on high vacua." 



General Electric Company 



High-pressure arc work. — "High-pressure arc work 

 (electric discharges in high pressures of gas, up to 

 50,000 pounds per square inch) has taught us how to 

 improve air circuit breakers so that an air circuit breaker 

 may now be made as compact as an oil circuit breaker 

 for the same service." 



Hot filaments. — "At a time when X-ray tubes con- 

 tained no fdaments, researches on phenomena connected 

 with hot filaments yielded the clew to a new type of 

 X-ray tube, so superior to former types as completely 

 to supersede them." 



Monsanto Chemical Company 



Ferric sulfate. — "Fundamental study of the system 

 Fe203 — SO3 — HoO, out of which rose efficient manufac- 

 turing methods for ferric sulfate." 



Synthetic resins from petroleum. — "Study of the reac- 

 tions of olefins with diolefins and aromatics resulting in 

 the development of resins from petroleum." 



Organic phosphates. — "Study of the reactions of 

 phosphoric anhydride with organic compounds resulting 

 in the development of alkyl phosphates." 



Standard Oil Development Company 



Lubrication studies. — "In connection with a study of 

 lubricating oil behavior it was found that a new syn- 

 thetic material had the effect of reducing the pour point 

 of lubricating oils. Manufacture of this material was 

 started within the company and it is now sold in the 

 form of an oil solution as 'Paraflow.' The production 

 of this material has been a quite successful commercial 

 enterprise." 



Polymerization studies. — "In connection with exami- 

 nation of the constitution of petroleum fractions, it was 

 found that the hydrogenated polymerization product 

 obtained from treating refinery C4 cut, with moder- 

 ately strong sulfuric acid, at essentially room tempera- 

 ture contained octenes other than 2,2,4-tri-mcthyl 

 pentane, normally known as iso-octane. Up to that 

 time it had been felt that the only product of the 

 reaction was the polymerization of isobutylene to 

 di-isobutylene which would be converted to 2,2,4-tri- 

 methyl pentane on hydrogenation. Discovery of the 

 presence of other octenes stimulated work on the modi- 

 fication of the polymerization process which led to the 

 development, so far as the Standard Oil Development 

 Company is concerned, of the 'hot acid' process for 



production of mixed octenes by polymerization of 

 isobutylene with normal butylenes. Development of 

 this process more than doubled the supply of aviation 

 gasoline blending agents that could be obtained from 

 refinery C4 fractions as compared with the earlier 'cold 

 acid' process. This work made possible the production 

 of high octane number blending agents for aviation 

 gasoline on a scale large enough to warrant wide appli- 

 cation." 



United States Rubber Company 



Research on latex. — "Shortly after the close of the last 

 world war the United States Rubber Company began 

 importing latex from its plantations. It appeared im- 

 mediately that latex could be used for a number of 

 purposes, including the direct manufacture of rubber 

 goods, which up to that time had been made from the 

 coagulated and dried rubber shipped from the East. 



"In order to develop such processes and operate them 

 on a satisfactory basis a large amount of fundamental 

 research work was carried on. Among other matters, 

 studies were made of the viscosity of latex in relation 

 to its concentration, pH, and the effect of nonrubber 

 materials, including compounding ingredients. 



"As a result of this work we are now able to make 

 reproducible latex compositions and to maintain the 

 properties of these compositions over considerable 

 periods of time." 



Some of the practical applications of this work are 

 the following: 



Latex thread (Lastex). — This is widely used in the manufacture 

 of elastic fabrics and garments. 



Latex wire. — This product is superior to wire insulated by the 

 older methods using dry rubber, in that the wall thickness is 

 more uniform and the dielectric properties of the rubber are 

 superior. As a result, wires made by this method have a smaller 

 over-all diameter for the same service than wires made by the 

 older method. 



Latex foam sponge. — This material is coming into wide use for 

 cushions for automobiles, furniture, and mattresses. 



Westinghouse Electric 



& Manufacturing Company 



Electric discharge phenomena in gases. — ^"In the elec- 

 trical industry, there has been considerable fundamental 

 work in the ionization, conduction and deionization of 

 gases and this fundamental work has led to valuable 

 commercial products such as lightning arresters and 

 circuit breakers. 



"It might be pointed out also that the early funda- 

 mental work, partly in industry and partly in the 

 imiversities, on conduction in gases at reduced pres- 

 sures has resulted in quite a long trail of useful products 

 such as X-ray tubes, mercury vapor lights, mercury 

 rectifiers, radio and industrial tubes, fluorescent lights, 

 photocells, sterilizing lights, etc." 



