Industrial Research 



291 



the varied requirements of all these industries, the 

 employment given in their manufacture and servicing, 

 the taxes paid to government from the new or rejuve- 

 nated industries thus made possible, and the conserva- 

 tion of natural resources secured by fitting the materials 

 to their jobs and taking less and less material to do the 

 same work, are apparent to any thoughtful observer. 



It is essential to the national economy that the stream 

 of technological progress flows freely. Engineering 

 advances cannot go far without simultaneous or pre- 

 ceding advances in creating new metallurgical materials. 

 Metallurgical research is an essential national resource, 

 because technological advances do not just happen 

 automatically; they have to be produced deliberately. 

 The results are manifold. To pick an example from the 

 metallurgical industries, the development of aluminum 

 from the position of a chemical curiosity, rarely seen 

 outside of museums, to that of an everyday material of 

 construction for utilitarian service in pots and pans, in 

 gleaming transport planes, in streamlined railway 

 coaches and in multitudes of applications more familiar 

 to the engineer than to the public, did not just happen 

 by itself. This development has been the fruit of 

 research. Research has built the American aluminum 

 industry from the very first day when the young student, 

 Hall, who knew very well just what he was seeking, 

 made his first few pellets of the metal, on through the 

 early days when it had to sell for $5 per pound, through 

 the period during which its utility was demonstrated, 

 to the consequent building up of a demand that led to 

 large production and thereby to a steady lowering of its 

 cost, until it now sells at 17 cents per pound. In this 

 development there has been created a huge industry 

 that gives employment and provides funds for the tax 

 gatherer. Employment is created and taxes are paid, 

 not only by the aluminum industry itself, but also by 

 the aircraft industry (which would have difficulty in 

 making planes of requisite strength and lightness with- 

 out the strong, light aluminum alloys), and by every 

 other user of aluminum. 



Nor did the aluminum industry discontinue research 

 once a market was established. The competition of 

 other metals demands continuous research which is 

 being carried on upon an ever expanding scale. A 

 recent statement by the President of the Aluminum 

 Company of America ' says that no increase ^ in the 

 price of aluminum to domestic customers is contem- 

 plated because the "benefits of research and develop- 

 ment permit the company to expect lower costs and it 

 intends to share such economies with consumers of 

 aluminum." This published statement is significant 

 because it shows that the management is aware that 

 the public understands research, appreciates its possi- 



' To share economy. Automotive Industries, SI, 643 (December 15, 1939). 

 > The price W3S. in fact, reduced early in 1940 and again in the (all. 

 321S35 — 11 20 



bUities, and values its results. It was not necessary to 

 append a footnote defining research. 



Group vs. Individual Research 



The common metals are used widely not only because 

 of their properties, but equally because of their reason- 

 able cost. To attain reasonable costs, quantity pro- 

 duction and a very high investment in equipment are 

 generally necessary. Units in the metallurgical indus- 

 tries are therefore likely to be large and to require ample 

 financing. To develop, test, and install the production 

 equipment necessary for the fruition of a research idea 

 in the metallurgical field is, in these days, seldom within 

 the means of an individual. Capital must, therefore, 

 be attracted or, conversely, industries already capital- 

 ized must do research for themselves and on their own 

 problems. One has to go a long way back in the 

 metallurgical industries to find an analogy to Good- 

 year's kitchen-stove laboratory, and to his own produc- 

 tion and sale of raincoats to get funds for the further 

 investigation of rubber and the development of its 

 other uses. 



Perhaps the closest analogy in metallurgy goes back to 

 the case just mentioned of Hall who, while a student in 

 chemistry at Oberlm, carried out, as an extracurricular 

 activity, individual, very small-scale experiments on 

 the production of aluminum, succeeded in attracting 

 capital, and established the basis for the American 

 aluminum industry. It is a far cry indeed from that 



Figure 90. — Spectroscopic Examination of Metals, Chrysler 

 Corporation, Detroit, Michigan 



