RESEARCH IN INDUSTRY

Evening Star, Issue 21036, 25 February 1932, Page 6

RESEARCH IN INDUSTRY

APPLIED SCIENCE

A 11 PROFITABLE INVESTMENT "

The importance of scientific research to industry is once again strongly emphasised in the report for 1930-31 of the British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, just issued. One of the most valuable parts of the report is the general survey of the work of the year given by the Advisory Council. This survey is supplemented by details of the work carried out by the various research organisations to which the department gives financial assistance. These number twenty, with a total membership of 4,800 firms, and they co-operate with the department to meet the needs of the industries concerned.

Most of the survey of the Advisory Council is devoted to pointing out the dependence of industry on research. “ Research is a necessity for the country whose industries are to survive the competition of energetic and scientifically informed rivals in the world market,” is one striking sentence. In the view of the council industry in general is proving itself increasingly anxious to take advantage of applied science. The assistance of the department is more and more in demand, and the council feels no doubt that it is now generally recognised that the initial advantages which this country secured through her island position, her natural resources, and the technical skill of her workers, are no longer sufficient in themselves to enable our manufacturers to withstand the organised and scientific rivalry of competing countries. “But while we are naturally encouraged by the more co-operative attitude displayed by industry towards scientific research, we are convinced that something further is called for by presentday needs,” the survey continues. “We gladly admit that, as the scientist and the industrialist by their increasing association come to appreciate the measure of the common task, so science is becoming more and more recognised as a profitable investment, and a useful ally in fighting industrial depression. But we feel that the attitude towards research is still too often one of hope rather than of faith; and that it has not yet become a matter of habit for all branches of industry to look to scientific research, as one of the principal avenues of progress.” In the view of the council, scientific research cannot provide a ready-made solution of any of the present-day industrial difficulties, but it does point the road along which persevering effort may be made to enable industry to find a way out of some of those difficulties. The essential characteristic of the machinery of the department is its flexibility, and the council is convinced that this is sufficient to enable that machinery to adapt itself to new needs as they may arise. NEW INVENTIONS. Dealing with the application of new inventions, the council states that those interested in financing the development of new industrial processes might with advantage make more use than they do of available facilities for obtaining authoritative evidence on the technical performances of new devices. “We are convinced that those who are interested in financing new industrial development do not appreciate to the full the reliable guidance on the technical issues which can be obtained from investigations carried out on the appropriate financial terms in the stations of the department, the laboratories of research associations, or the works of individual firms..

In their conclusions, the council states;—“There must be many who, with the best will in the world to apply the results of scientific research are in some doubt of the means to be adopted in their particular case. To these, our advice is first to examine in detail, in the light of existing knowledge and with the help of the best scientific advice available, the whole of their manufacturing processes. Where this is not already periodically carried out, we believe such examination will reveal methods by which improvements, perhaps small in themselves, but amounting on the scale on which modern industry is conducted to hundreds of thousands of pounds, may be attained.” The council also advises a firm embarking on such an examination to join its appropriate research association. The summary of the work of the department shows the help which science can give to industry. The problems touched on extend from the study of new heat-resisting alloys for aircraft construction to improvement in the keeping properties of boiled sweets. In the food problems dealt with the new British canning industry has been helped by successful work on the prevention of corrosion of tinplate containers, a problem which has been responsible for about 25 per cent, of the wastage in American factories. The possibility of prolonging the canning season for soft fruits and vegetables by cold storage is also under consideration. STRIPES IN SHIRTS. One of the discoveries made is that the stripes in striped shirts may make the material wear out more quickly. “Certain fast colours,” it is stated, “ while themselves unaffected in shape during bleaching, are capable of inducing very rapid attack by the bleach liquor on the cotton on which they are dyed. The practical consequence of this is that in a bleached shirting or other cloth the stripe dyed with such a colour rapidly disintegrates in wear.” With a mixture of cellulose, leather, rubber, and wool, all in suitable form, various products have been made which “strongly resemble” leather. A new process for the bleaching of wool has proved most successful. “ The British manufacturers who have adopted this process,” it is pointed out, “ have found that flannel garments laundered twelve times have come up whiter than in their original state.” Mention is made of the King’s interest in the linen industry, and it is stated that three acres of land at the Royal estates at Sandringham have been devoted to the growing of flax. The linen manufactured from this flax was to be used in the Royal household. An important section of the department’s work is concerned with the iron and steel industries. Research on blast furnace problems has shown that steady development is taking place. The average output a furnace in Great Britain has increased from 705 tons a week in 1923, when investigations were first started, to 922 tons in 1930, COST OF THE WORK. The work of the department costs a little over £500,000 a year. “There are those,” states the Advisory Council, “ who would urge us forthwith to recommend greatly increased State expenditure on research for the solution of industrial difficulties. In our view, such a development cannot bo defended. The expenditure which is defensible in the national interest depends on the degree to which' industry generally is prepared to apply scientific method and advances in scientific knowledge. So long as we are convinced, as we are to-day, that industry is showing itself increasingly ready to make effective use of science, so long shall wo bo able to justify to the nation the policy of steady development to meet neii£ needs as they arise.”