CHEMISTRY IN THE TELEPHONE INDUSTRY 621 



we have drawn heavily upon the scientific work of our confreres in allied 

 fields, but have still found ourselves faced with peculiar difficulties. 



A great deal of the truly excellent scientific work on finishes has been 

 done by manufacturers with the idea of disclosing uses which will justify 

 the sale of a particular material. But comparative data on the dura- 

 bility of very dissimilar finishes as, for example, galvanized coatings in 

 contrast to cellulose lacquers, are usually lacking. The fact that 

 finishes are often used primarily for decorative purposes on relatively 

 short lived articles has limited the study of the durability of such coat- 

 ings. This is reflected in the fact that nearly all the scientific work in 

 this field refers to outdoor exposures where corrosion tends to occur 

 rapidly. Indoor exposures are commonly regarded as so mild as to be 

 negligible. Changing fashions, as in the case of furniture, often bring 

 an obsolescence so early as to be prohibitive were similar consideration 

 to be applied to telephone plant. The prevalent custom of trading 

 in one's motor car for a new model each year is a factor in another large 

 industry involving extensive use of finishes, which tends to put great 

 emphasis upon initial beauty rather than permanence over periods of 

 ten to twenty years, such as must be considered in telephone plant. 



With the manufacturing and operating telephone companies tied into 

 a single system, in which the Bell Laboratories' responsibility is to 

 insure quality of product, there can be no unloading of defective appa- 

 ratus upon the consumer, for the manufacturer is liable in the last analy- 

 sis for defects which may appear only after years of use. 



These considerations have received special emphasis in the discussion 

 of finishes because they aff^ord an excellent illustration of the point. The 

 same sort of considerations, however, apply to nearly all the problems 

 with which we are concerned, to such an extent that our chemical staff 

 is widely thought of in our own organization as a group of specialists 

 in the "permanence" of materials. Such an emphasis by the general 

 management upon ultimate economy rather than first cost alone would 

 doubtless be welcomed everywhere by thoughtful technical men 

 throughout the country. It is a source of peculiar pride to the staff of 

 the Bell Laboratories that the nature and organization of their business 

 is such as not only to permit such an attitude but also aggressively 

 to promote it. 



