Document L94N25MB1V6XrvDLgzo0OGr5

June 3, 19<)0 Mr* H. M. Williams, Prlgidaire Corporation, 32 N. Main Street, Dayton, Ohio* Dear .Mr* Williams: I have read your letter of May 28 In regard to the use of a porcelain frit which contains lead. There are two aspects of this problem. One of them is that you undoubted ly introduce some lead hazard into the spraying process in !addition to the one you now have, namely that of silica. Both of these hazards will require a certain amount of ob servation. This brings to my mind a statement of Dr. Shaf er *s to the effect that at the present time he does not have adequate facilities for properly watching your men who are handling the porcelain spraying in such a way as to check the development of silicosis, among them. This has nothing to do with the question you have asked me, but it strikes me that anything that you can do toward making it possible for Dr, Shafer to watch these men, follow them, and to ex clude from time to time such men as show evidence of sili cosis, you ought to do. I recognize that you are not in change of the works, but I believe that your voice is lis tened to with a considerable amount of respect. H ot/ important the addition of lead to this porce lain will be to y o u r porcelain handlers I do not know. I suspect that it w i l l not be v e r y important. That is a . m a t ter which we can check without any great inconvenience. The effect of such a porcelain upon food materials is one which is in all probability insignificant. 1 do not believe that it will occasion any difficulty, nor that it will make any subsequent contribution to the lead content of food materials. In any case, there will be no danger in resort ing to the use of this material for such a time as would be necessary to enable us to arrive at a certain conclusion in the matter. We fully anticipate a thorough-going study of the extent to which-food materials in general are contamin ated with lead as the result of spraying with insecticides, and as the result of picking up lead from various containers in which they are to be kept. The investigation of your problem, therefore, would be right in line with what we pro pose doing, and it would take only a very short time. I see no reason, therefore, why you should not go ahead with your program if you can in this way get away from your mechanical difficulties. Sincerely yours, 000VG65 Fr i g i d a i r e c o r p o r a t i o n SUBSIDIARY OF GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION DAYTO N, O H IO .,US.A. May 28, 1950. CABLE A D D R ESS "F R I G I D A I R E " A U C O D E S U SED Dr. Robert A. Kehoe, Un iversity of Cin cin n ati, Cin cin n ati, Ohio. . Dear Dr. Keh oe:- We h ave, in the p a st , endeavored t o keep a l l m at e r ials used in fin ish in g work a t the Moraine City P lan t , fr e e from le ad . In th e p a st white lead p ain t s were u sed , and var iou s leaded m a t e r ia ls, in var iou s ways. These lave a l l been r eplaced by zin c pigments with the exception of the Duco prim er, which con tain s b asic lead su lph ate which i s , accordin g t o the r ep or t s of th e duPont Company, in so lu b le . < We have always in sist e d t h at t h e f r i t from which our p or celain i s made be fr e e from le ad . Th is was due to the fa c t that: t h i s f r i t was ground in a b a ll m ill to a very fin e slu r r y w ith t i n oxi.de and clay . This ground f r i t is put on the work by dippin g or spr ayin g. The f r i t s used in the p ast fo r t h is purpose were not acid proof'an d did not con tain any le ad . We are now able to purch ase an acid proof; f r i t con tain in g 1 t o 1-1/2? of le ad . The lead i s placed in to a m elt , w h ich ,is a g l a ss m ixtu re, and in the fin a l con dition th e lead i s probably pr esen t as s i l i c a t e . At any r at e th e lead i s in an in solu b le form. Th is f r i t i s ground, as mentioned above, and then i s sprayed on t o the work and baked at about 1500F. A ft er i t comes out the fin ish e d a r t i c le i s acid pr oof and i s not affe ct e d by such acid s as h ydr och lor ic, t a r t a r i c , c i t r i c , a c e t ic , m alic, and o x a lic . We would lik e very much to go t o th e u se of t h is type o f ac id r e sist in g f r i t and i t i s p r a c t ic a lly im possible t o u se a f r i t e n t ir e ly lead fr e e on account of the fa c t th at th e fu sin g poin t i s too h igh and our lin e r s ar e warped by such h igh h eat . By th e addition of t h is sm all percen tage of lead to the m ixture, the fu sin g poin t o f th e r e su lt in g p o r ce lain i s brought in t o working range and inasmuch a s th e lead i s in an in solu b le form , in both th e f r i t st a t e and in th e fi n a l fu se st a t e , we fe e l th at we w il l be ju st i fie d in goin g t o t h is m at er ial fo r u se on our lin in g s. We would lik e very much t o have your opin ion in t h is m atter before we take any st e p s in follow in g out t h is program. Everyth ing i s progressin g very n icely with th e flu or id e r e fr ige r an t s; the on ly d iffic u lt y i s th at p r ogr ess seems kind o f slow when we are in such a hurry t o work out the u sage of F ig, 'With b e st r egar d s. Very t r u ly yours N7994.01 Manager - Research and