Industrial Research 



211 



Research in Scandinavian Countries 



The industrial research of Norwify and Sweden 

 revoh^es largely around the utilization of their natural 

 resources — iron ore, cellulose, arsenic, pyrites, hydro- 

 electric power, and other less important materials — 

 rather than in dissipation of efforts toward attaining 

 self-sufEciency. These countries are more noted not 

 only for their engineering sldll but also for their recent 

 accomplishments in basic research. Sweden produced 

 Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, and de Laval, inventor 

 of the centrifuge. 



Svedberg, developer of the high-speed centrifuge, and 

 his assistants at the University of Uppsala are doing 

 the most outstanding work in the world on the centri- 

 fuge and its application in biological and chemical fields. 

 The Academy of Science in Stockholm has constructed 

 a modern and well-equipped physical-research institute. 

 The laboratories are equipped with a fine cyclotron and 

 one of the best ruling engines for diffraction gradings. 

 Here is being conducted under Professor Seigbahn im- 

 portant physical research of a very high order, including 

 X-ray and nuclear research. 



Cellulose is a product which Norway, Sweden, and 

 Finland each has in abundance, and each has been 

 competing with the other on improvements in processes 

 of recovery. Sweden has been conducting much re- 

 search on utilization of lignin from pulp operations, but 

 the results are said not to be encouraging. Some 20 

 mills producing alcohol from sulfite waste liquors, how- 

 ever, have benefited by research. Production of "tall" 

 oil from sulfate pulp waste is mainly a Swedish develop- 

 ment. Production of gasoline substitutes from wood 

 has been under investigation there. 



Sweden is famous for its iron-ore deposits and its 

 steel. She has been conducting much research in this 

 field, including alloys. The pyrites deposits of the 

 country have yielded sufficient arsenic as a byproduct 

 to exert a depressing influence on the world market for 

 that product. Faced with legal restrictions on disposal 

 of arsenical residues, Bolidens Mines has conducted 

 intensive research on new outlets for arsenic and par- 

 tially solved the problem by use of arsenic in preserva- 

 tion of wood poles and piles. 



Industrial research laboratories which have been 

 particularly active in Sweden include those of the 

 Allmanna Svenska Elektriska AB. Viister§,s (electric 

 equipment), Allman Telefen AB. L. M. Ericsson (tele- 

 phone equipment wires and cables, etc.), AB. Bofors 

 (ordnance forgings and castings, tool steel), Bruks 

 Korcerne AB and Stora Kopperbergs Bergslags AB, 

 two of Sweden's leadmg iron works, Svenska Cement- 

 forsaljnings AB, an association of Swedish cement 

 manufacturers, and Reymersholms Galma Industri 

 (phosphates, heavy chemicals). 



The Aga Company in Sweden has done applied re- 

 search on a variety of equipment for household and 

 commercial uses, such as stoves, refrigerators, and 

 sweepers. An important activity of the Consumers' 

 Cooperative Union in Sweden has been in applied 

 research on products which it manufactures for use as 

 rubber goods, vegetable oils, rayon, fertilizers, food- 

 stuffs, and some heavy chemicals. 



The Swedish Iron Masters' Association, composed of 

 most of the Swedish mining companies, has done much 

 valuable work for its members, and has assisted them 

 both by loans and tlxrougli cooperation with the Acad- 

 emy of Engineering Sciences. 



A proposal has recently been made to the Swedish 

 Riksdag for centralization and rationalization of scien- 

 tific and industrial research. The central institute 

 would become a foundation supported financially by 

 both Government and industry, with the Academy of 

 Engineering Sciences as the neutral party. Committees 

 and institutes which would be parties to this plan are 

 as follows: 



Committee for the Study of Couplings in High-voltage 



Electric Wires and Cables. 

 Association for Rational Textile Washing. 

 Forest Scientific Committee. 

 Welding Committee. 

 Corrosion Board. 

 Gasgenerator Board. 

 Air-Conditioning Committee. 

 Cool-Technical Committee. 

 Aeronautical Committee. 

 Shale Committee. 



Committee for Domestic Motor Fuel. 

 Fuel-Technical Committee. 

 Swedish Iron Masters' Association- 

 Swedish Cement Association. 

 Steamheat Institute. 

 Charcoal Laboratory. 

 Cement Laboratory. 

 Technical X-ray Central. 

 Laboratory for Boilers. 

 Electroheat Institute. 

 Central Testing Institute. 

 Royal Building Board. 



Norway had its Birkeland and Eyde, codevelopers of 

 the arc process of nitrogen fixation. The enterprise and 

 vision of these men, together with Norway's ample 

 supplies of hydroelectric power have placed that country 

 high in the world's nitrogen and electrochemical indus- 

 tries. To be sure the arc process for fixation has been 

 replaced by synthetic ammonia, but Norsk-Hydro con- 

 tributed a method of obtaining the soda of synthetic 

 sodium nitrate from sea water. More recently comes 

 news of this company's process for recovery of potash 

 from the same source. 



Industrial research in Nonvay has been more limited 

 than in Sweden. Although the Aluminum Company 

 of America and Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation 



o2is;;3 



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