Industrial Research 



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information, obtained by research, available in authen- 

 tic and condensed form, are the handbooks put out by 

 the A. S. M., the A. F. A., the American Welding So- 

 ciety, and others. These are prepared by hundreds of 

 experts who give their time free as a professional obli- 

 gation. This allows wide distribution of the handbooks 

 at very low cost. 



Making readily available the research information of 

 the world literature in its field is the task of the Alloys 

 of Iron Research Committee which is in process of pre- 

 paring monographs on the important iron -alloy sys- 

 tems. This useful, expensive, and still unfinished proj- 

 ect was financed in part by Engineering Foundation, the 

 National Bureau of Standards, and Battelle Memorial 

 Institute, in large part directly by the metallurgical 

 industries. There is nothing on foot in this country of 

 a similar nature for the alloys of copper, but this gap 

 is being filled by publications of the British Copper 

 Development Association. 



That one has to go outside the United States to find 

 cooperative effort of just this type in the copper indus- 

 try might be taken as evidence for the statement some- 

 times made that this industry is not so research-minded 

 nor so cooperative as other metallurgical industries. 

 The accusation is not justified as respects the producers 

 of copper. That of something short of perfection in 

 cooperativeness of the fabricators is more difficult to 

 refute. That individual firms in the industry are doing 

 highly useful research is known to those behind the 

 scenes. The lack of appreciation of this among other 

 scientists seems primarily due to the contrast in the 

 publication policies of this industry with those of the 

 steel industry. Such a case emphasizes the public- 

 relations aspect of publications. 



Textbooks and books of general metallurgical infor- 

 mation written for reference use rather than for the 

 classroom, and summaries of information, so-called 

 "correlated abstracts," in restricted fields are appearing 

 in greater numbers and of better quality. The tech- 

 nical societies hold symposia at which available infor- 

 mation is reviewed to date and publish the papers pre- 

 sented. By these means the assimilation of metallur- 

 gical research is facilitated and home study is made 

 more feasible than if the whole mass of literature had 

 to he assembled and digested by each one who wanted 

 to use it. 



Assimilation through the spoken word is sought 

 through the local chapter and regional meetings of such 

 societies as the A. S. M. and A. F. A., which as a rule 

 are planned to be more of an educational character than 

 are the annual meetings of the various societies. How- 

 ever, a feature of some annual meetings is a special 

 series of educational lectures, and some local technical 

 groups conduct what might be termed adidt-education 

 evening schools in metallui^y. The the willingness of 



metallurgical industries to publish their research findings 

 and to try to help the other fellow in the expectation 

 of improving the whole industry is noteworthy. 



Cooperative Effort 



An outstanding example of lack of secrecy and active 

 pooling of infonnation is the open-hearth committee 

 of the A. I. M. E., at whose meetings open-hearth 

 steel furnace operators from all the steel companies get 

 together to discuss experiences in increasing output, 

 lowering costs, and increasing quality and uniformity. 

 Great franloiess is a feature of the meetings. 



There is much joint research effort among different 

 firms faced with the same metallurgical problems. 

 Such activities are handled through committees of 

 existing trade associations, of technical and scientific 

 societies, or through temporary organizations set up 

 for the particular occasion, which are not intended to 

 continue after the present joint problems have been 

 solved. Examples of these are the support by the 

 American Electroplater's Society, the Non-Ferrous 

 Ingot Producers' Association, and, of the temporary 

 organization type, the Associated Silver Producers' 

 work on development of industrial uses for silver. 

 Cooperative work of industry with the Bureau of Mines 

 is also carried on. 



More widespread use of Government facilities is 

 hampered by the patent policy of certain departments 

 of the Govenmient which allows Government employees 

 to take out personal patents on work they do in the 

 Government laboratories. Certain departments frown 

 on this, but in the National Bureau of Standards, the 

 Bureau of Mines, and the various research divisions of 

 the Army and Navy an employee may elect to take 

 out patents for himself, and if he does, the cooperato." 

 must make arrangements with the employee for the use 

 of the patents. This situation often prevents industry 

 from taking its problems to the Government labora- 

 tories when patentable features are likely to grow out 

 of the work. In most university research foundations 

 and the research institutes the patentable features are 

 entirely the property of the sponsor. Patents are 

 seldom as important in joint projects as they are in 

 projects of an individual sponsor. 



As a rule the Government laboratories arc more 

 eager to cooperate actively with a representative group 

 on a joint problem than with a single firm, so on both 

 sides the conduct of a joint investigation at a Govern- 

 ment laboratory may have favorable consideration. 



Modes of Joint Research 



Committees of technical societies often meet research 

 problems the solution of which would be to the joint 

 advantage of a considerable portion of the industry 

 they represent. This is particularly the case as respect- 



