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When your formula calls for Boron Trioxide (B2O3)...

we'll supply a suitable source.

The great diversification of BL>Oa sources in our product line-up may surprise you. Here you'll find Borates» Concentrates, Boron Compounds , Ores, Elemental Boron, and organic borates in the form of Boric Acid Esters . . . As specialists in the borate field for more than fifty years, our mines and refinery are geared to meet your particular requirements. Call upon us for technical advice without obligation.

li. S. Borax & Chemical Corporation PACIFIC COAST BORAX COMPANY D IV IS ION

100 Park Ave., New York 17 6 3 0 Shatto Place, Los Angeles 5 Co^raXC

®

S t l S * fcO* ^s^f^^n^r^^^m"

DIVISION WALLACE & TIERNAN INCORPORATED

BUFFALO 5, NSW YORK

BUSINESS & FINANCE

More $$ for New Plants Chemical firms a re stepping up their budgets for new plant and equipment outlays

X H E CHEJMICAL INDUSTRY S J Q O W S ΠΟ sign of taking in sa i l on i t s construction p l a n s . A n d that makes good news for business i n general. Capital spending bias t>een o n e of t h e chief forces driving t h e nation's economy, pushing it to record heights t h i s year and last and t ak ing up much of the business slack from lower car sales and home build­ing. Coming o n top of last year's r e co rd spending, the high level of construction outlays underscores the continued confidence of businessmen and adds u p to a strong prop under prosperity, even though the rate of ad--vancre is n o t so gTeat as a year ago.

Ttie nation's businesses expect to in­crease their spending for new plant and equipment to a seasonally adjusted an-xial Ε-ate o £ $37.9 billion, highest ever, dur ing t h e next three months, accord­ing t o the latest Department of Com­merce-Securities and Exchange Com­mission survey. Last year they spent $35~ 1 billion. Manufacturers' share for the th i rd quar ter comes to over $16.4 billion annually compared with 195e's $14 .9 billion total outlay.

• Chemicals' Share. And chemical firms account for a large part of the spending by manufacturing industries —nearly 10^c l a s t year and even more in 1957 es t imates . Many industries ex­pect to reduce outlays in the third quar­ter, after the r a p i d rise in investment during t r i e past couple of years. De­spite tight money conditions, increased construction costs , a squeeze on profit mairgins, and a leveling of sales volume, however, chemical firms' construction budgets a r e headed higher.

Dur ing the n e x t three months, chem­ical companies expect to invest $472 million i n new plant and equipment, more than in a n y previous three-month period. This further upswing follows on the Heels of an estimated nearly $800 million s p e n t by t h e industry dur­ing; 1957's first six months. If current plans a r e borne out, total spending of nearly $ 1 . 3 billion during the first nine momths will b e 25% above the like period o f last year. This year's rise, mooreover, comes on top of the 4 5 % gain last year scored over 1955. Should the uptrend continue into the final quarter, t he industry wi l l come close to the $1.8 billion target ( 2 4 % over last year) set by earlier estimates of 1957 capital out­laws (C&EN, March 2 5 , page 118) .

The r i s e in actual production capac­ity, of course, is not as great as the in-

8 4 C & E N J U N E 2 4, 1957

LU CIDOL.

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CRYSTALLINE SOLID WITH 90% MINIMUM ASSAY

ACETYL METHYL CARBINGL

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MELTING POINT - 5 ° C (MIN. )

DIACETYL

Every form of Borates

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borates and boron chemicals

Still another research teol from Lithium Corporation···

LITHIUM METAL ( I O W SODiwA! CONTENT)

Xhe latest from L.C.A. Following on the heels of the discovery that lithium metal dispersions make unique polymeri­zation catalysts (isoprene polymerized to a syn­thetic rubber which closely resembles natural rubber) comes recent interest in organolithium compounds as reagents for commençai uses. The preparation of these compounds often requires metallic lithium as the source of the lithium atom. This suggests that a lithium metal of low sodium

content (0.005% maximum) may be advanta­geous, research-wise, in developing laboratory ex-perimentationsintopossiblecommercialprocesses. Atomic energy holds still further possibilities.

This refined grade of lithium metal, as well as the commercial grade, is available in experimental and commercial quantities in the following phys­ical forms: ingot, cup, rod, wire, ribbon, shot and dispersions in suitable media.

Got α catalyst problem? Investigate the practicability of lithium metal. Your request on company or institutional stationery wi l l receive prompt attention»

member of...

ià&rtd aUead IH uvz^AinMu cip-pJ,icail&n<i hyi LUUuun L I T H I U M CORPORATION OF AIV1ERICA, I N C .

2515 RAND TOWER, MINNEAPOLIS 2 , M I N N .

PROCESSORS OF LITHIUM METAL · METAL DISPERSIONS METAL DERIVATIVES: A m i d e . H y d r i d e

SALTS: B r o m i d e · C a r b o n a t e · C h l o r i d e · H y d r o x i d e · N i t r a t e SPECIALCOMP0UNDS: A l u m i n a t e · B o r a t e · B o r o s i l i c a t e · C o b a l t i t e · M a n g a n i t e

M o l y b d a t e · S i l i ca te · T i t a n a t e · Z i r c o n a t e · Z i r c o n i u m S i l i c a t e

BRANCH SALES OFFICES: New York · Ch icago · B e s s e m e r Ci ty , N. C. MINES: K e y s t o n e , Cus te r , H i l i C i t y , S o u t h D a k o t a . B e s s e m e r C i ty , N . C . C a t L a k e , M a n i t o b a · A m o s A r e a , Quebec PLANTS: S t . L o u i s P a r k , M i n n e s o t a · B e s s e m e r C i t y , N . C. RESEARCH LABORATORY: St. Louis P a r k , M i n n e s o t a

J U N E 2 4, I 957 C& EN 8 5

From the World's largest Production Unit

FORMALDEHYDE MERCK

Unrestr icted quantit ies deliv­ered within 24 hours to points in Middle Atlantic and New-England areas. Write, wire or phone your requirements for Formaldehyde 37% Low Meth­anol (Uninhibited) ; Formalde­hyde 3 7 % Inhibited; Hexamine Technical , Powder or Granular.

M E R C K & C O . . I N C . C H E M I C A L D I V I S I O N

R A H W A Y , N E W J E R S E Y Ο Merck & Co., Inc.

TRAINING OF LITERATURE CHEMISTS WiMinbvw* M 7 in Advances in Chemistry Series T i t l e pajje I n t rot)netor> R e m a r k s T h e P r o b l e m of L i t e r a t u r e C h e m i s t s in I n d u s t r y I l i t e r a t u r e Searchers , a s Needed by t h e C h e m i c a l C o n s u l t a n t T r a i n i n g : of C h e m i s t s for A b s t r a c t i n g a n d Index ing Ho le of t h e Library School i n t h e T r a i n i n g of L i t e r a t u r e C h e m i s t s Co l l ege a n d Univers i ty T r a i n i n g o f L i t e r a t u r e C h e m i s t s O n - t h e - j o b T r a i n i n g of L i t e r a t u r e C h e m i s t s i n I n d u s t r y 44 pages . . .paper bound . . .$2-50

order from: Special Publications Dept. Amer ican Chemical Society 1155 Sixteenth Street, N . W. Washington 6, D. C.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Spending for N e w Chemical Capaci ty—

N o L e t d o w n in Sight This Y e a r Millions of Dollars

1st Qtr.

2nd 3rd Qtr. Qtr.

1 9 5 6

-4th 1 Qtr

1st Qtr

2nd 3rd Qtr. (Est) Qtr.

1957

crease in dollar spending. Higher costs of capital goods account for perhaps half the dollar increase.

!• St retch-Out in Plans? One big question, though, is whether current programs will actually be realized on schedule. Chemical companies may be stretching out their spending plans. Three months ago, for instance, an

SEC-Commerce survey put first-quar-tei expenditures at an estimated $433 million; the latest report shows that only $353 million actually was spent. Likewise, estimated spending in the second quarter has now been shaded from $462 million to $444 million. All in all, the latest figures represent a $100 million cutback for the first six months

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

INVENTORIES & SALES (Chemical) INCLUDING ALLIED PRODUCTS, BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED

Source: U. S. Dept. of Commerce

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8 6 C & E N J U N E 2 4 , 1 9 5 7

NEW

BUSINESS & FINANCE

from previous estimates. But where the previous report predicted a leveling off in outlays during the second half, the current survey, based on industry plans in late April and May, sees a con­tinued upsurge.

In other process industries, too, spending is at higher levels. While chemical firms see no slackening of their expansion pace through the third quarter, however, some other industries expect a decline during the July-Sep­tember period. Producers of coal and petroleum products plan to cut back outlays from $976 million in the sec­ond quarter to $913 million in the third; the paper industry estimates it will spend $228 million in the current period, slice this to $209 million in the following three months.

• Kaiser Aluminum plans to offer 300,-000 shares of convertible preferred stock with a par value of $30 million to the public. Proceeds will be used to retire $21.5 million of bank bor­rowings due this year and next and help pay for Kaiser's current expansion program. The company also is nego­tiating to sell $50 million of first mort­gage bonds to institutional investors. It has $321 million slated for construc­tion programs to be completed by next year and $92 million for expansions expected to be completed in 1959.

• S. B. Penick's wholly-owned subsid­iary, New York Quinine & Chemical Works, has been merged into the parent company in order to simplify corporate structure and will now oper­ate as a Penick division.

• "The pulp and paper industry is having problems maintaining profits at necessary and desirable levels," says president John Stevens of Marathon Corp. Marathon's earnings dipped to $3.0 million (before pulp wood inven­tory adjustments) for the six months ended April 30, down from $3.7 million for the same six months of a year ago, although net sales were up 6c/c to $74.3 rnillion. For the same period, West Virginia Pulp's profits droj>p*ed to $5.8 million, compared with $9.1 million the year before, although dollar volume was off less than 3% at $93.0 million. Demand has been reduced in many segments of the industry, according to David L. Luke, Jr., president of West Virginia Pulp, at the same time new capacity has been brought in. Luke adds that many of his company's mills are operating as low as 85% of ca­pacity, resulting in higher costs per unit of output.

careers in peaceful applications of atomic energy

reactor shielding

engineer

EDUCATION: B.S. in Engineering. Physics or Applied Mathematics. EXPERIENCE: 3 yrs. of p r a c t i c a l reac tor s h i e l d i n g ca l cu l a t i ons . D U T I E S : Analysis and calculations of neutron and gamma ray shielding for reactor systems.

ATOMICS INTERNATIONAL A DIVISION O F NORTH A M F R I C A N AV IAT ION. I N C .

Mr. G. W. Newton, Personnel Office, Dept. CEN 6 21600 Vanowen St., Canoga Park, California

A new organic

sulfur compound

for your

evaluation . .

«DIGLYGOLIG ACID HflUÎÎ-eH2-S-ÊH2^C001i

SPECIFICATIONS

Appearance White Powder

Assay

Ash

M:P.

Thiodiglycolic acid,-.α mater ia l o f low toxicity, has potent ia l as a ' versati le stabilizer for, a var iety of

"organic mater ia ls . It also offers possibilities in the pharmaceut ical field

g a n d i n epoxyhydrofcy polyether resins. Data sheet and sample sent

• prompt ly*on -request.

98 .5% min.

1.5% max.

128CC. min.

Please send me sample of Evans' Tbiodiglycolic Acid and data sheet.

N a m e .

Position ,

C o m p a n y .

Address —

J U N E 2 4, 1957 C & E N 8 7

EVANS CHEMETICS. INC. 250 Ea*t 43rd Street, New York 17, N. ^ .