industrial and engineering chemistry - American Chemical Society

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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY PUBLISHED

BY

THE

AMERICAN

CHEMICAL

SOCIETY

0

WALTER

J.

MURPHY,

EDITOR

EDITORIALS

Opportunity for Service T H E chemists and chemical engineers of this country constitute a vast reservoir of manpower that can be of very practical assistance to the Ofice of Production Research and Development headed by Harvey N. Davis, president of Stevens Institute of Technology. The Chemical Industries Branch of the OPRD is under the direction of Donald B. Keyes, and in make-up of personnel it is identical with the Referee Board of the Chemicals Division of WPB created in July of last year. The principal purpose for which the Referee Board was established was to provide a medium to assist individuals and agencies who discover needs for research to contact the many existing competent research organizations. Definitely the plan did not include the creation of any large or complicated organization, in Washington or elsewhere, for either the conduct or the detailed direction of an elaborate research program. Briefly the function of. the Referee Board was to act as a sort of clearinghouse, and its successor, the Chemical Industries Branch of the OPRD, is continuing along the same lines. Local sections of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY can assist in this important work by devoting a t least a portion of their program to round-table discussions. Ideas developed a t such meetings can be forwarded to Dr. Keyes. Chairmen of local sections will find in the October 10, 1942, issue of Chemical and Engineering News (page 1232), the Fifth Provisional Report of the War Production Board on the relative scarcity of certain materials. Informal round-table discussions by local scientific groups will probably bring to light alternate methods of manufacture of many chemicals vital to the war effort, particularly processes which do not require the use of highly criti.:al and strategic materials and specialized equipment. Practical short cuts in production may be proposed. Many worth-while suggestions and recommendations have been made and others naturally will follow if these problems are but “aired” properly before interested groups well qualified to perform the function of “consultants”. Here is a service in which chemists and chemical engineers can cooperate effectively in the war effort. 131

The Chemical Industries Branch of the Oflice of Production Research and Development will welcome such assistance, and machinery has been set up to evaluate quickly and effectively all suggestions offered and to centralize, coordinate, and sponsor production research. This plan is a practical way of attacking unsolved problems relating to the war effort. Research facilities are heavily taxed. A recent nation-wide survey by Dr. Davis discloses that all of the larger industrial research laboratories are carrying heavy loads, and only a few of the smaller laboratories, representing a small percentage of the country’s research workers, are available for new war problems. Likewise, in the universities the number of scientists still obtainable for war research represent less than 1 per cent of the total research manpower. On the basis of returns, it is estimated that less than 2 per cent of all the industrial laboratories are completely available for research on war problems, and that more than two thirds have less than a quarter of their capacity available. Under such conditions, it is necessary to employ in the most efficient manner what little technical manpower is a t hand.

T h e Latest- “Synergism ’ ’ N INTERESTING side light of warfare is the stimulating effect that it invariably produces on our vocabulary. Witness the introduction during the present conflict of such expressive phrases as “knowhow,” “imagineering”, and now “synergism”. A moment’s reflection brings to mind the full significance of each of these new expressions and their closely knit relationship. They truly are descriptive of the proper scientific approach to any technical problem. One accustomed to thinking in mathematical terms might liken these three words t o an equilateral triangle. “Know-how” is both the broad knowledge of scientific fundamentals and the ability properly to utilize such basic knowledge in a practical manner. “Imagineering” is the ingenious capacity for visualizing yet uncharted fields with full regard to established scientific and engineering principles.

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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY

132

“Synergism” has been succinctly described recently by the Atlas Powder Company as the force that can make 2 2 = 5 . Elaborating on this rather unorthodox mathematical equation, the coiners of this latest expression report that it is derived from two classic Greek words, one meaning “together” and the other “work”. Synergism is not really a new word, but has long had its connotations for the chemist, the doctor, and the theologian. Basically, we are told, “it always has meant forces working together to produce a whole greater than the sum of the parts”. One word will aptly describe it-cooperation. Thus we have the equilateral triangle-knowledge, imagination, and cooperation, three essential attributes of every good chemist and chemical engineer. One other attribute is also a prime necessityintellectual honesty. Carrying on into the realm of solid geometry, we might liken these four essentials to the tetrahedron. Here is a golden opportunity for phrase makers. Their job is not wholly completed.

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Men Are Still Necessary H E War Manpower Commission, operating through its Buffalo-Niagara Area Committee, is using newspaper advertising to appeal for “shock troops of production-men who are not afraid to do a real man’s work, a job no woman can do”. Women can and will prove invaluable in maintaining and even increasing the chemical output of the Nation, but as every operating oEcial knows, the “straw boss” and his husky assistants are vital components of the labor force of .any chemical plant. Technically trained women will continue in still greater numbers to render highly satisfactory service in our control and research laboratories. A relatively small number have successfully ventured into actual operating duties, and as the pinch in manpower becomes still more acute their numbers will increase. In Great Britain women are employed in chemical plants in many roles, but our friends over there realize that for certain laborious work men are essential. The printed appeal in the Niagara Frontier area, first of its kind in the Nation, states: “You’re needed for the kind of work you wouldn’t want your sister or your wife to do-and they couldn’t do if they tried.” Simultaneously with the newspaper drive, the War Manpower Commission is soliciting the aid of clergymen in spreading the story of the dire need for capable men in the heavy industries, including the chemical industry. The clergy can extend their contribution to the war effort beyond the primary objective of caring for the spiritual needs of their flocks, for they are usually very close to their congregations and have a

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Vol. 35, No. 2

thorough understanding of their make-up. We are in a total war. The fact that three large furnaces located in the Buffalo district, which should have been turning out materials for the production of tanks, bombers, and guns, were down for more than a week in January, solely because there were not enough men to run them, should be the direct concern of every agency in that area maintaining close relationship with labor.

The Fate of t h e Small Colleges HAT the seventeen hundred-odd institutions of higher learning in this country are precious assets no one will deny, yet many of the smaller colleges face extinction or will be badly crippled in the next two years. Approximately 575 institutions are publicly controlled, some 700 are under church auspices, and about 425 are privately controlled. Military and naval authorities have been collaborating with college authorities for months, attempting to evolve a plan whereby boys in the service who do possess extraordinary ability will be permitted to continue their education while they are being prepared for the military services. Such a plan, however, will be operated only in some two or three hundred institutions. The balance do not have much to look forward to during the war if their enrollment has consisted wholly, or to a large extent, of male students. We are constantly using the terms “total war” and “postwar planning”, yet it is diEcult at times to believe that we realize or appreciate their full meanings. In total war all men, women, and even youngsters of the upper teen-age are presupposed to be doing those things for which they are best fitted. Intelligent postwar planning should be going on simultaneously with the actual war effort. It might well be possible, in the light of the more favorable turn in the war, to enlarge the scope of the present plans of the Army and Navy for college training for bright youngsters, always of course with the provision that they are selected along democratic principles and possess outstanding ability. We in the chemical field are generally in agreement that it is a tragic mistake to draft bona fide students of chemistry, physics, engineering, and other scientific subjects. Not only will such men be badly needed next year and the year following to staff our greatly enlarged production facilities, but they will also be necessary in the postwar period to assist in a quick shift from a war to a peace basis. Is it not equally true that in the postwar period we will need j-oung men of superior training in the socalled cultural subjects? Postwar problems will not all be of a technical nature. There will be a serious manpower problem in the reconstruction period if we do not plan properly now.

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