In general, this flexible, closely co-operative plan has been suc cessfully applied. There are in fact several notable instances of economic savings to technology from research in the bureau. It has been reported (Department of Commerce, Domestic Com merce Series No. 20, "Trade Association Activities," 1927) that $15,000,000 is being annually saved to industry and the public from the bureau's brake-lining research, that the annual savings from its tire investigations amount to $40,000,000, and that the motor-fuel studies are saving $100,000,000 each year. Research in the bureau also eventuated in the founding of a dextrose indus try in the U.S. The following are among the investigations in progress : constitution of petroleum, colour standardization, dental materials, silver, nonferrous alloys, soldered plumbing fittings, aviation lighting, railroad signal glasses and Portland cement.
The Bureau of Chemistry and Soils and the Forest Products Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Mines of the Department of Commerce have also advanced technology by researches on behalf of various industries. The Bureau of Mines is conducting various investigations in mining, metallurgy, health and safety, and on the economics of the pro duction, preparation, and utilization of minerals. The research laboratory of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers is located in the Pittsburgh station of this bureau. The laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is a central research plant serving the industries concerned and Gov ernment alike. Certain researches of the Public Health Service of the Department of the Treasury—investigations of dusty trades, sewage disposal, water purification, illumination of build ings, and motor fuels—have also benefited industry.
has been in continuous operation since 1917. Its incumbents have enriched both refractories technology and metallurgy by their studies of the evaluation of refractories for specific purposes and by the improvements that they have made in manufacturing and testing methods.
An association fellowship of this type enables direct research service to a number of industrial concerns instead of to an indi vidual company. Its activities also give rise to stable relations of co-operation among the members of the association by the ex change of technical experience and research results. An association fellowship usually acts as a clearing-house of information for the sustaining organization, and gives technical assistance and scien tific advice to the company-members. One of the prominent ad vantages of association research is that it enables a small manu facturer, who cannot afford to have a research laboratory of his own, to profit from the investigational work in the same way as a larger manufacturer. Association research reduces the cost factor to a minimum and thus promotes the welfare of manufacturers in the field concerned, without respect to size. Moreover, prob lems may be studied that require more time and expense than should be borne by a single manufacturer or company, in view of the wider application of the results. The correlation of research effort, such as is done in the fellowships supported by associations, prevents unnecessary duplication in scientific inquiries.
Association Fellowships in Educational Institutions.— This class of research has become important in many industrial fields. It serves to train technical specialists as well as to aid in solving production problems. Armour Institute of Technology, Purdue university, Ohio State university, Columbia university, Iowa State college, and the universities of Illinois, Michigan, Wis consin, Minnesota, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh are in the fore of the institutions that are encouraging industrial research by associations and also by individual companies. About 4o trade associations are now sustaining such investigational work. The American Gas Association has 14 fellowships and the American Petroleum Institute is making 19 similar grants.