Industrial Research 



145 



importance of refinery operations, the engineer came 

 into prominence; this was at a time somewhat before 

 the advent of the automobile, when more emphasis 

 was being placed on construction and operation than 

 on process development. Problems in plant control 

 called for the aid of the chemist. But the chief con- 

 cerns of the refinery chemist of those days were the 

 smooth operation of existing equipment and the main- 

 tenance of product qvuility. 



The recourse to organized research has come largely 

 during the last two decades, tlirough the wholehearted 

 !ip[)lication of chemical engineering methods and the 

 establishment of well integrated research staffs. With 

 the organization of research, important technical 

 developments quickly followed. The automobile and 

 aviation industries as we know them today could never 

 have materialized had it not been for the contributions 

 made by the technical workers in the petroleum field. 

 Moreover, to provide an adequate supply of fuels and 

 lubricants, meeting more and more exacting require- 

 ments with respect to quality and performance, it has 

 been necessary to call upon the closest cooperation 

 between research workers in many fields, such as engi- 

 neering, metallurgy, geology, chemical engineering, and 

 chemistry. Although the greatest proportion of re- 

 search activities has been concerned with problems 

 arising with the growth of the automotive industries, 

 the accomplishment of petroleum research extends far 

 beyond this field; it has had a pronounced effect on the 

 development of a variety of products ranging from 

 industrial fuels and lubricants, domestic fuels and 

 road-building materials to an ever increasing line of 

 specialty products and chemical derivatives. 



So completely has the petroleum industry turned to 

 research for guidance that today the industry stands 

 as one of the leading cmploj-ei's of teclmically trained 

 personnel. Through the aid of research it has become 

 one of the pioneers in the current trend to produce 

 better things at lower cost, so as to enable industry to 

 pay higher wages and to make its products available 

 to the greatest number of people. 



In reviewing the methods and accomplishments of 

 petroleum research, one cannot help being impressed 

 with their consequences in the larger field of our coun- 

 try's social economy. The present paper, therefore, 

 while citing specifir technical achievements will also 

 attempt to analyze their particular implications as 

 they affect the national life. 



Technical Problems Involved 



Space considerations make it impossible to present 

 more than a small fraction of the contributions made by 

 research in the solution of the technical problems that 

 have been encoimtered in the development of the petro- 



FlGURE 31. — Model of Pipe still Used in Dcvclopiiient and 

 Improvement of Processes, Standard Oil Development Com- 

 pany, Elizabeth, New Jersey 



