1939: Industrial Scientific Research

The year 1939 was marked by the mobilization of our scientific and industrial research resources in the interest of National Defense. A number of surveys of industrial research have been undertaken during the year. National Research Council in cooperation with the National Resources and Planning Board has undertaken a Survey of Industrial Research with the broad objective of weighing and evaluating the total economic and social effects of industrial research upon the Nation. This survey, initiated in June 1939 as a National Research Council project, supervised by a distinguished committee of scientists and industrial research executives, will undertake to determine the place and contributions of Government, trade association, university, private industry, and the consulting research laboratories, in the major industries.

Various fields of science will be traced through the whole fabric of industry and some attempt will be made to appraise the 'growth index' of industrial research and to uncover the 'holes' in American industrial technology. When the survey was initiated there was no thought of its use as a census of scientific resources, facilities, and personnel in connection with National Defense. It may, however, serve that purpose as a by-product. The National Resources Committee had previously surveyed Government Research ('Research — A National Resource,' Dec. 1938). The present survey is a second step in a comprehensive program covering all science and research resources of the nation, both physical and human.

Surveys Undertaken.

The National Association of Manufacturers during 1939 undertook a survey of industrial research expenditures of their own membership and hope to develop data and information which will give a comparative picture of the part that industrial research plays in the business of the nation. As a part of a program to stimulate science, research, and invention in American industry, the Association has developed a plan for selecting and making awards to outstanding inventors and research workers under the title of Modern Pioneers — On the American Frontiers of Industry. The pamphlet announcing the plan in referring to the geographic frontiers of yesterday and American pioneers who cleared the land and made it productive, emphasizes science and technology as the modern pioneer:

'The pioneer on the modern frontier of science and technology ventures into the unknown and conquers it. He pushes forward man's knowledge of the useful arts and sciences and turns the new knowledge into productive uses. To stimulate this kind of pioneering the Government grants the inventor or the discoverer title in the form of a patent to his new idea.'

The Modern Pioneer Awards to be presented at a National Modern Pioneer Dinner on Feb. 27, 1940, in New York City will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Patent System. The Committee on Awards is chairmaned by Doctor Karl T. Compton, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The National Association of Cost Accountants took up another phase of survey of industrial research by examining accounting practices of industrial research laboratories in some detail. A report of their survey was published in the National Association of Cost Accountants' Bulletin, March 1, 1939, titled 'Present Day Practice in Accounting for Research and Development Costs.'

Cooperation and Progress in Research.

The year was marked by a new and significant development of industrial research in the collaboration of a number of large companies pooling their industrial research resources and staffs to produce a revolutionary process or product which draws upon the science and technology of their respective fields. The sealed-in headlights appearing in the 1940 automobiles are one illustrative example of that type of collaboration between such diverse groups as electrical, glass, and rubber companies. Two or three conspicuous examples of this type of cooperation in research between large companies appeared during the year.

One of the oldest industries known to man furnishes one of the most striking examples of the advance of industrial research in the control of the Bessemer steel process by electronic devices announced in May by the research laboratories of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. This company was the first to establish a pilot plant in the steel industry, which contributed largely to the successful introduction of the new process in an industry where technology is traditional and handed down from generation to generation.

The New York Times, May 21, 1939, reported that the electric-eye controlled process in perfecting precise temperature control by the use of scientific facts rather than the fallibility of the human eye, is estimated to save $3.00 a ton. Jones & Laughlin has a potential capacity of a million tons of Bessemer steel annually. According to the Times report this single research effort, costing less than $75,000 with a potential saving of $3,000,000 annually, is a striking demonstration that industrial research is a paying investment, in this particular instance in the ratio of 40 to 1!

Research Advisory Service.

An equally novel departure in another sector of business which may have considerable influence on the development of industrial research, was the establishment of the Research Advisory Service at the Liberty Bank of Buffalo under the leadership of its Vice-President Bert H. White. Banker White, after a thorough study of industrial trends both in this country and abroad, came to the conclusion that small industrial companies not maintaining their own research laboratories should be put in contact with companies so equipped, for their mutual advantage as a new service feature of banking. During the first year of its operation the Research Advisory Service not only demonstrated its usefulness to industries on the Niagara Frontier, but received the enthusiastic cooperation of more than 800 industrial research laboratories. Other laboratories are being continually added to the Bank's lists on the basis of voluntary cooperation. Twelve leading banks in key industrial cities are clients of the Service.

'The Service is an answer to the question. 'What can be done to overcome the prohibitive cost of research for the majority of American manufacturers who appreciate the value of the benefits of research but cannot afford to pay the price to have it?' The Service functions as follows. A manufacturer with a problem submits it to the bank which submits it to the outstanding research laboratories in the field of the problem. From the comments of the research men, the bank prepares a report which is submitted gratis to the manufacturer.'

The banker in the rôle of promoter of research in industry is a new figure. Having the confidence of the bank's industrial clients, and in many instances a stake in their economic future, the Research Advisory Service, operating without fee to the industrial companies served, may have a far-reaching influence in the expansion of industrial science in the American scene.

One of the vital needs in this greatest of industrial nations is the more uniform application of industrial science throughout industry. This is particularly true in the smaller industrial companies where the mortality rate is high.

Growth of Industrial Research.

The National Research Project of the Works Progress Administration, recently completed an exhaustive report: 'The Growth of Industrial Research in the United States 1920-1938' — under the direction of George Perazich. Some of the major subjects treated in this report (largely based on a National Research Council Bulletin listing industrial research laboratories) include: types of research, basic, applied, and commercial development; employment trends, concentration of research, occupation of workers engaged in research, research expenditures, geographical distribution of industrial research. A comparison of the growth, both of numbers of personnel and research expenditures in various fields of industry, is examined in some detail. According to Chart No. 3, Industrial distribution of Research Personnel of all companies 1927 and 1938:

'Chemical and allied products industries employed in 1938 the largest number of research workers. The industries next in importance were petroleum, electrical machinery, apparatus, and supplies; other machinery industries, rubber products, and electrical communications.'

An interesting comparison was developed for the first time by this study of the number of wage earners to research workers employed. This tabulation shows that for each 10,000 wage earners there were, in 1937, two research workers employed in the textile industry; 15 in iron and steel; 16 in food; 28 in paper and allied products; 41 in automobile; 116 in electrical machinery; 173 in rubber products; 300 in chemical and allied products; and 563 in the petroleum industry.

Between 1927 and 1937 the increase in the ratio of total research workers to wage earners was the largest in the petroleum industry, with textiles, food, motor vehicles, and iron and steel industries following in importance. This section of the report is concluded with the statement indicating the phenomenal growth of industrial research during the last decade:

'Of the 25,000 persons added to the industrial research laboratories during the last eleven years, more than 10,000 or over 40 per cent were employed by the chemical and petroleum industries.'

Recent Developments.

Some 1939 growth trends of industrial research as indicated above are further confirmed by specific illustrative references to Science Service review for the year 1939, which covers all fields of pure and applied science:

'A new synthetic silk-like fiber made from polyvinyl, and known as Vinyon, approached commercial production; a new type of glass, which can be heated cherry-red and then plunged into ice water without cracking, was developed; chemists were able to obtain 1 gallons of gasoline out of each gallon of crude oil by newly developed hydrogenation processes; the world's most powerful magnetic alloy steel was developed, which when used in a magnet, the size of a pea, lifted five pounds; commercial production was begun of high-test gasoline, using sulphuric acid as a chemical catalyst; Lignin, former waste product in the making of paper pulp, found a new use when it was discovered that it is more efficient than any chemicals now used in removing iron from water.'

The national Government gave support to the Chemurgic movement by establishing four regional laboratories under the Department of Agriculture with an announced budget of $1,000,000 each. The regional laboratories will assist in the development of industrial uses for farm products.

The emergence of television from the laboratory to the commercial form of a new industry may, when history is written, be the most significant milestone in industrial research in 1939.