Ill. No. 19

Saturday, May 13, 1944

| 1f present plans mature, the plastics industry
| how coming into being on the Coast may be-
come an important factor in the life of our

ass

province, employing hundreds of men and
women in the postwar period.

i By CYNTHIA CARTER

z ee public attention has been centered on the amaz-
* ing development in the last four years of British
jumbia’s shipbuilding, aircraft, and other wartime indus-

5, a new, tremendously important industry has been quiet-

‘oming into being in small plants down side streets in Van-
ver’s business section, in laboratories as far away as Powell
fer, where skilled chemists wrestle with problems of pro-

ng, in tool, machine, and
| = makings shops where
hige, unheard of means of
juction are being forged, and
fie minds of a group of Brit-
Columbia busimessmen who
their eyes turned io the
re. nee
as industry is, of course, the
ufacture of plastics which
grown out of war needs in

directions. First, plastics
| been developed for actuai
industry itself. Second,

aes have been substituted for
iity’ materials in the manu-
Te of consumer goods. And
hose in a position to judge
ire that there are great pos-
dies for creation of an ex-
we industry here. _
‘SE people have a rough idéa
“hat the widespread use of
acs means to our future. It
iS that our houses will be
(fr, warmer in winter and
‘% in summer. The house-
Ss chores will be easier. Arti-
new in the luxury range
be prought within the reach
4d. And, to those concerned
the problem of providing
employment in the postwar
id development of a plastics
sity on the Coast can mean
*< more. It can mean utiiiza-
‘of natural products now go-
t0 waste and it can mean
loyment for many hundreds
len and women. s
Te is an example. This week,
tttain plastics manufacturer
‘aneouver told me that with-
0) days work wiil begin on
‘ge plastics plant to be built
jocauitiam. How many men it
femploy is as yet indefinite,
it will grow into a large in-
ty. iecture courses to . fit
and women for work in the
Siry haye been planned.
fat will be produced there?
dreds of useful articles. Air-
Wandshields which can
Stang dive-bombing pressure
00) pounds. Hulls for small
S which will be heat, cold,
@ ang rust-resisting. Kitchen
» More durable than that
& of silver, New household
ances” which will polish
uw expensive cleaners. Per-
> in the future, even cloth-
‘hat will sneer at dirt, creas-
Wear, or reugh treatment. —

'temempber, is only one de-

_ ties,

‘Portant? It certainly is. And
done?”

velopment. I have been assured
time- and time again that B.C.
plastics manufacturers are deter-
mined to expand their plants de-
spite all obstacles.
e s

ARe get a ciear idea of just what

is going on in plastics here
in Yancouver, I went to see a
Skilied craftsman who has
worked up his own small busi-
ness in the city and has as
much information on the sub-
ject, possibly, as anyone in the
province.

Besides experimenting in his
own shop, discussing the plas-
tics future with his workers, and
taking an intense interest in the
industry threughout the country,
be has had many a verbal tussle
with ~ government authorities
ever what Coast manufacturers
believe to be discriminatory reg-
ulations whieh hinder develop-
ment of an industry here.

“It’s long story,” smiled E. J.
Vann, general manager of Allied
Crafts and Sales, when I asked
him. “In the first place, let me
state emphatically that British
Columbia can enter into any
and every field of plastics manu-
facture. What's more, we can
compete successfully with man-
ufacturers in eastern Canada
and the United States. Experi-
mental work is being carried on
here, as you know, in opaque

and transparent plastics, and the -
. Powell River company is doing

extensive research in the field of
plastics with a wood base.
“Although there are 1,700 dif-
ferent plastics, they are gener-
ally divided into two types,”
Vann continued. “Thermo-plas-
either opaque or transpar-
-ent, are those whieh are made
by heating the powder in a mold.
These plastics can be melted
down, reheated, and remolded.
Thermo-setting plastics, on the
other hand, are always opaque.

At present they can only be made -

in dark colors and can not be
melted down and re-used.

“Then too, the plastics industry
is divided into two parts. There
is the manufacturing of the plas-
tie powders themselves and tien
there is the manufacturing of the
finished article from the pow-
ders. I believe both industries
can be developed here.”

“Then why has so little been
I asked.

Tools for Reconstruction

He’s blazing a trail to the future! One of the many Vancouver technicians em-
ployed im plastics research, this lab worker tests plastie’s possibilities for color re-
action. Atm is to lighten wood-base plastics now available only in dark shades.

“The main trouble is mater-
lals,” he asnwered. “We are un-
able to get materials on the

Coast for the manufacture of
consumer goods and we have not
been able to develop until re-
cently to the point where we
Were given large war orders.”

“But how do plants in other
parts of the country get the ma-
terials for consumer plastic
goods?” I wanted to know.

Vann shrugged.

“It’s the old story,’ he said.

@

T was. I was to hear a lot about

it, IT met some who felt “it
will always be that way, so
what's the use.’ And then If
saw letters written to the fed-
eral government by other plastic

manufacturers asking that some- -

thing be done to solve a prob-
Jem which is literally throttling
the baby industry before it can
be born.

The story develops around a
icophole in government tlegisla-
tion. When priorities for plastics
for war orders were first given,
plastic - manufacturers grumbled
that there was a certain amount
ef waste connected with the in-
dustry which should be allowed
for in allotments. So the WPTB
and the department of munitions
and supply agreed: tthe manu-
facturer was to be allowed to
figure in 15 percent waste in his
estimates.

Which seemed like a pretty
fair thing. Now, however, the
interpretation has changed.

When a manufcaturer figures his
estimates, he figures in his waste

Materials for plastics

_explained.

and is able to get 15 percent ex-
tra material, above waste re-
quirements, with his order.

What does this mean? It means
that if a manufacturer is on war
work he can get a “bonus” of
15 percent of the amounts of
plastics he uses on his contract,
which he can use as he sees fit.
This leaves the small manufac-
turer, who cannot supply huge
war contracts, with absolutely no
way of obtaining materials, the
demand being what it is today.

Manufacturers on the Goast,
who are hardest hit by this rul-
ing, have protested many times,
asking that excess plastic pow-
ders for consumer. goods be ra-
tioned fairly to all. To date no
action has been taken to guar-
antee this. Until something is
done, the industry will suffer.

@

R W. FOOTE, of the Powell

e River Company, agreed that
manufac-
ture are to be found in British
Columbia.

“We are experimenting’ with
waste from our pulp mills,” he
“And if anybody can
think up an economical Way of
dryings out the pulp when it
comes from our plant, well have
the problem licked. At present
we Can manufacture a good
wood-base . plastic out of the
waste, but the process is much
too expensive. We are carrying
cn experimentation continually.
There is a big field here and cer-
tainly lots of raw materials. Why,
we waste tremendous amounts of
valuable resins and lignins

which, if they could be converted
inte plastics, would be as strong
as steel, and as rust-resisting as
a piece of hardwood.

From officials at Boeings, fi
learned that they, foo, are inter-
ested.~ While public relations
men wouldn’t deny or affirm it,
rumors have it that the aircraft
company has engaged a high-
priced technical expert to inves-
tigate the use of plastie woods
for planes.

They did say, however, that it
Was possible plastics with wood
bases could be used. ~ :

“This is, after ‘all, the natural
place to develop a wood-plastics
industry,” I was told. “The most
necessary materials are wood
pulp and coal derivatives. Well,
you know as well as we do that
we have both here. And wood
plastics are being used success-
fully “in” Mosquitoes and Avro
Ansons. Who knows?”

Members of Aeronautical Lodge
756 agreed. This union, which
has ‘taken a keen interest in
postwar Maintenance or conyer-
Sion of the aircraft Andustry,
have prepared a brief on the sub-
ject. Diseussing the use of ply-
woods, plastic glues, and wood
plastics, Secretary Tom Parkin
summed it up this Way: :

“Why take the material from
B.C. manufacture -it, and send
it back? Why not do it all here?
Plastics will play a large part
in postwar construction. The
basic materials are available in
BC., and closely allied to the

—Continued on Page 10

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