Industry on Parade 426 - Joined in the Search

How does teamwork show up fake gems? Why would an association touch off an explosion? What good are crash programs to industrial groups? Industry on parade. Peabody Award winner for public service. Produced on film each week by the National Association of Manufacturers. A housewife getting supper for her family? No. This is a scientific experiment in a test kitchen high up in a Manhattan skyscraper. kitchen research aimed at finding new ways to use a crop that's in over supply. In this case, the tomato crop. The results of such research, carefully studied by a board of experts of the can manufacturers institute on behalf of its members and of course the consumer are new exciting recipes involving the use of tomatoes whose increased consumption will be good for all concerned. Another research experiment. This one testing the strength of a TV screen at the Underwriters Laboratories in Chicago. Here, every day, products of all kinds are tortured under conditions far more severe than they'll ever encounter in actual use. Not only must the set function safely under normal conditions, but even when parts are disconnected, misplaced, or worn out. [Music] [Applause] heaters as well as TV sets and that delicious stew we saw a moment ago. All are fair game for the countless experiments performed every day by industrial associations. This is a report on how and why it's done. Work undertaken by groups of companies for the mutual benefit of all their members and of the public they serve. Here, electrical cords are twisted and untwisted 3,000 times. And here, a roofing material is tested for fire resistance. One of some 400,000 products examined by the laboratories since their establishment by the National Board of Fire Underwriters, which still supports their fight against everyday hazards. The whole interior of this building at Norwood, Massachusetts, is filled with flames. Purposely started by the engineering division of an association of mutual fire insurance companies specializing in the protection of industrial plants. Raging infernos like this one are part of the everyday routine at the factory mutual laboratories, where experts constantly seek better ways to prevent big fire losses. That was an explosion of dust. Just one drum of gasoline can do this. To this laboratory, industries submit hundreds of samples for testing each year. Liquids, dusts, fibers, any substances suspected of being flammable. By analyzing them scrupulously, the experts learn how to store them safely, how to minimize accidents. In doing so, they have helped bring fire insurance costs down to their present low levels while helping maintain productivity and safety records that are the envy of the world. Most of the members of the Western Pine Association are companies too small to conduct extensive research individually, but working together, they've achieved some remarkable results, like the wood finish that swells up when a flame strikes it to provide its own protective insulation. When he cuts away the insulation, we see that the wood underneath has remained unaffected. Also developed here, an electric eye saw that snips out knots automatically. In a mill, there will be two blades a few inches apart. Scientific knowledge about the shrinkage characteristics of various woods is the subject of inquiry here in a project sponsored by the National Association of Furniture Manufacturers. It's part of the wood technology laboratory of the University of Michigan. Want to find out just how strong a certain piece of wood may be? They're equipped to get the answer. [Music] To make better furniture, the experts have to know the points of greatest stress and strain. Electrode reactors tell them wood is scrutinized here in Appleton, Wisconsin, too along with every other material, process, and technique used in the manufacturer of paper. This scientist is trying to determine precisely how waste chemicals can be safely disposed of in a river for the benefit of the fish. Results are available to all firms supporting the Institute of Paper Chemistry where 50 graduate scientists concentrate on experiments like those that have helped the paper industry achieve such remarkable advances over the years. How? Well, through experiments like this one, for example, involving a pofilm tent in which samples are subjected to 85% humidity for long periods. The analysis that follows is a valuable aid in devising new products with greater resistance to moisture. Analysis can get pretty rough at times as when the boxes from the humidity tent are placed in a big tumble tester. But it's torture with a purpose. Eventually, the carton has to give way. The goal is to find out how to make it hold up as long as possible. Just one more example of the sort of scientific studies being financed by numerous industries to give us better products and better services at lower and lower cost. [Applause] In Los Angeles, the Gemological Institute of America is another case in point. It was organized by the jewelry industry to help members with tricky problems, evaluating and identifying questionable stones, detecting frauds, recommending whether and how and where a gem should be sawed or cleaved. Experts from all over the world come here to improve their knowledge about gemstones, and to study, in addition, the gem testing and diamond grading instruments developed by the institute. By means of the institute's equipment, our cameraman is able to obtain some striking close-ups of the interiors of gems, real and synthetic. This is an uncut diamond, 16 karat, ocahedron in shape. Notice the inclusion. Separate crystals that were formed when the diamond was being created. Now, they're going to show us how a stone that looks like a large, beautiful emerald is proven to be a fake. First, it's checked on the refratoter, which reveals whether the stone bends light waves as a genuine stone would. But to really show it up, submerge the so-called emerald in liquid, and we find it was really made up of two colorless pieces of stone joined by a colored cement that made it look deep green when viewed from above. Here's [Music] a sapphire. Is it natural or man-made? The unaded eye can't tell, but the curved growth lines reveal it to be synthetic. Man-made or not, it's still a spectacular gem. Just so you know what you're getting and pay a fair price. Now a natural sapphire. See how the growth lines are straight and formed in a hexagonal pattern. [Music] Finally, a diamond that looks like a real beauty until a closer look shows flaws. Here at the institute, that closer look is always available for the protection of jewelers and their customers. [Music] More prosaic, but just as important to more people is the work in progress at this research center. To the American Institute of Laundering here at Joliet, Illinois, come garments from all parts of the country for rigorous tests to determine their washability. First, each one is measured carefully so it can be checked later to determine shrinkage. [Music] Now the shirt will be washed three times in the institute's model commercial laundry which incidentally has helped develop the present high standards observed by the industry. For scientific accuracy, all fabrics of a particular type must be washed exactly alike. Same kind of soap, same amount, same water temperature, and so on. So widely admired are the facilities that the National Institute of Dry Cleaning also uses them to study the washability of new fabric finishes which are applied and renewed by dry cleaners. Both before and after washing, fabrics are put through a variety of tests like the one that determines bursting strength. Pressure builds up behind a rubber diaphragm until the cloth gives way. Swatches are tested for resistance to fading in sunlight by a device called the fedometer. 40 hours under the carbon arc light inside equal 2 years of sunlight. It's one of the many tests a fabric must pass before it gets the institute's approval. One of the many ways in which research by industrial groups works to protect the American consumer. Among the most spectacular of the research projects backed by associations and their members are the grinding orals to which automobiles are subjected in the interest of improved safety. Specially built tracks and highways serve as laboratories for the scores of continuing experiments that have been supported over the years by the Automobile Manufacturers Association. For five consecutive years, the association's grants for such projects have topped $1 million a year. Every scientifically arranged crackup yields valuable information that may help save a life. in the search for even greater safety improvements ahead. Among the many organizations aided by the Auto Manufacturers Association, the Automotive Safety Foundation has received more than $10 million from the motor vehicle industry since 1937. Since that date, the nation's traffic fatality rate has been reduced by 60%. Down from 15 deaths to less than six per 100 million miles. Yet another example of the great public benefits derived from groups of firms who pull their resources in research for the common good. American Industry, builder of a better tomorrow.