FEBRUARY, 1943

(NH.),U,07, but perhaps (NH.),UO. or UO, withammonia of crystallization. It is hoped that from thestudies planned at the present time, it may be possibleto establish the exact composition of this uranium com­pound.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors wish to express their appreciation toDr. David Halliday of the Department of Physics,

91

University of Pittsburgh for the time and effort hespent in making the x-ray patterns and Geiger counteranalysis. They wish also to thank Dr. L. A. Goldblatt,formerly of the Department of Chemistry, Universityof Pittsburgh, now of the Department of Agriculture inWashington, for his suggesting the problem originallyand for his many helpful comments. They are also in­debted to Dr. Frank Day, Jr., of the Corning Glass Worksfor his assistance during the initial progress of the in­vestigation.

THE WAR needs for ethyl alcohol during 1943 are estimatedat 476,000,000 gallons, about half of which will be used in the

production of butadiene.The economical production of ethyl alcohol from citrus pulp

and peel waste is reported by the United States Citrus ProductsLaboratory of Winter Haven, Florida. The cost of production isabout two-thirds of that when blackstrap molasses is used.

The Argentine proposes to spend 24,000,000 pesos for the con­struction and equipment of a plant to produce power alcohol frombarley, cereals, corn, potatoes, and wheat.

One of the Ford plants at Dearborn has completed a pilot plantfOT the production of 1000 pounds of wool fiber per day from theproteins of soybeans. The beans are ground and deoiled by solventextraction, the resulting meal dissolved and acidified to precipi­tate the protein, and the precipitated protein is washed, dried,redissolved, aged, and extruded through spinnerettes to give awool-like thread.

The printer of the future may cast his type from nylon, ac·cording to U. S. patent No. 2,282,448. The patent claims that theimpressions are clear and sharp, and that the material may berecast as wear demands.

Copper, as a critical metal, is used extensively in the productionof Bordeaux copper mixture for sprays. Recent studies at CornellUniversity indicate that silver nitrate and lauryl sulfate mix­tUTe may replace in part at least this particular use of coppersulfate.

In Italy, some attempts have been made to recover copper fromthe leaves of vines sprayed with copper salts. As much as fivepounds of copper per acre have been recovered.

To conserve on rubber, tire manufacturers are planning to pro­duce an all cotton overshoe that will add 2500 to 10,000 miles tothe life of a tire.

When chlorinated rubber is mixed with ordinary rubber andvulcanized in the usual way, a fire-resistant product is obtained,according to U. S. patent No. 2.286.697.

The gulf (between liberal arts colleges and tech­nological schools) is nowhere better illustrated than inthe newspaper want-ad columns. College graduates,A.B., are wanted at $1600 a year, while even recentgraduates of technology schools, electrical engineers,mechanical or civil engineers, chemists and the like,command from $,%00 up.-ROBERT MULLEN, in the Christian Science jvlonitor,April 24, 1942.

Soft formulations of ethyl cellulose, according to the HerculesPowder Company, may be used satisfactorily for the productionof baby pants, coated fabrics, electrical tape, footwear, gardenhose, gloves, golf balls, gun covers, hospital sheeting, impregnatedfabrics, mason jar rings, raincoats, rubber hose, surgical tape,water tubing, and wire insulation. Hercules Powder Companyis now ·producing ethyl cellulose at a plant in Virginia, which isthe largest chemical cotton plant in the world.

Fourt~en new factories are to be built for the production of drymilk. The production of dry milk solids during 1942 is estimatedat 500,000,000 pounds, an increase of 26,000,000 over that of1941.

For convenience in transportation, twenty-six gallons of milkmay be evaporated to leave a residue of thirty-three pounds,which may then be compressed into a nine-inch milk brick.

Dicoumarin, originally isolated from clover, has been synthe­sized by Link and associates of the University of Wisconsin. It isan effective anti-clotting agent, which may be administered orally.It is about one-tenth as costly as heparin, which is obtained fromhorse liver and used as an anticlotting agent.

The cocoons of the silkworms, according to reliable reports, arenow being extracted for vitamin B to enrich food products inJapan rather than being woven into silk for export to the UnitedStates.

Recent studies indicate that the vitamin C content of theorange and tomato is less susceptible to deterioration than is thatof the apple and carrot. The pH of the medium or the presenceof certain buffers or inhibitors may account for this.

Chemical research has given to the United States, since 1917, aminimum of five major war products: camphor, dyestuffs, ni­trates, synthetic fibers, and synthetic rubber. If all of these ma­terials were imported now, it would take a fleet of ships spanningthe Atlantic about one mile apart to meet our requirements.

Eo. F. DEGERING

The Statue of Liberty, a symbol of freedom thatstands out as a shining ray of hope to the world today,was constructed of 300 separate pieces of 3/32-inch-thicksheet copper. When the pieces arrived in this countryin 1885, they were fitted together like a huge jigsawpuzzle and riveted. Its green color is caused bypatina, a protective coating formed on copper whichpreserves the metal against time and the elements.

-From the Copper Alloy Bulletin