Document NNpRkLJdR2okx5KwywLOLL0BV

CONFIDENTIAL Under S ecrecy A greem ent w ith C alifornia R esea rch CONTACT REPORT V ia T elephone - F eb ru ary 10, 1959 P eople in C onference: J. L. C ooley, J. R. M acGregor, H. J. G ibson, C alifornia R esea rch C orporation "" " E thyl C orporation Subject: M ore V olatile Lead Compounds T h is c a ll w as m ade by the w riter to bring to the attention of C aliforn ia R esea rch a num ber of item s w hich w ere b eliev ed to be of in te r e st to them . D iscu ssio n fir s t cen tered about rep o rts from our B aton Rouge people w hich indicated that the p resen t standard le a d -in -a ir an alyzer w as not relia b le when it w as used to d eterm in e le a d -in -a ir resu ltin g from tetram eth yllead . The in stru ctio n s for the field kit sp ecify that 4 to 6 m inutes should be used to take a four cubic foot sa m p le of air (a flow rate of 0. 7 + 1 .0 cu. f t /m in .). B aton Rouge had found it n e c e ssa r y to red u ce the sam pling rate to as little a s 0. 03 cu b ic f e e t p er m in u te in o r d e r to r e c o v e r a s m u ch a s 80% of the tetra m eth y llea d in the a ir . W hile the C aliforn ia rep o rt r e c e iv e d on F eb ru ary 9 had indicated that C alifornia probably had recogn ized this p rob lem and had solved it, we fe lt that we should point out to them that ex trem e care m ust be e x e r c ise d in using the equipm ent in their stu d ies of le a d -in -a ir . The con versation brought out the fa ct that C alifornia had indeed reco g n ized the p oten tial p rob lem in using the field kit for TM L rather than T E L . T hey had tried a secon d scru b b er in s e r ie s and had found that it accum ulated su b stan tially no lead fro m TM L and that the fir s t scrubber gave ex ce lle n t r e su lts on known sa m p les. A ctu ally, they had had trouble in getting accu rate read in gs on air containing TEL vapor rather than TML vapor. They had found that if they allow ed the solu tion containing the TEL vapor to age th ey obtained c o r r e c t le a d -in -a ir re a d in g s. In ord er to sp eed up the p r o c e s s , th ey had stan d ard ized on the u se of a so lu tio n tem p eratu re of 120 F in stea d of the recom m en d ed 80 F . When th ey did th is, they found that both TEL and TM L read in gs w ere su b stan tially c o r r e c t on known sam ples. Since this exp erien ce se e m s to be d ia m etrica lly opposite to that of Baton R ouge, it w as su ggested that D r. Rue an d /or D r. G riffing contact D r. B aruch at the R ichm ond L ab oratories d ire ctly to d isc u ss d eta ils of the a n alytical p roced u res in volved . It is assu m ed that th is d iscu ssio n w ill be covered by a separate Contact R eport. N e e d le ss to say, the C aliforn ia people w ere in terested in our ex p erien ce, and m o st anxious that everything be done to a ssu re that le a d -in -a ir K f 0004031 ' CONTACT REPORT Page 2 read in gs obtained during their exp erim en tal program w ere as accu rate as p o ssib le . 1 agreed to keep them inform ed of a ll developm en ts in this area. ' ' Since the la st c o st fig u r e s given to them indicated that flu id s containing M A -7 5 0 m ix w ou ld c o s t 30% m o r e than T E L on a w e ig h t - o f - le a d b a s is , and th a t T M L w o u ld c o s t 35% m r e th a n T E L if w e co u ld m a k e i t , i t w a s d eem ed a d visab le to give them the la te s t fig u r e s supplied by D r. M cK im to M r. S ca le s. The C aliforn ia people w ere in terested in the fa ct that we now fe lt that we could m ake TM L w ithout se r io u s p ro b lem s, and that our c o s t w o u ld b e 25% p lu s or m in u s 5% o v e r T E L f o r an e q u iv a le n t w e ig h t of lea d . I told the C aliforn ia people that the c o s t of M A -750 would be exp ected to be a p p r o x im a te ly 120% of th at of T E L , and of M A -5 0 0 a p p r o x im a te ly 115% of T E L . I fu r th e r to ld th e m th at w e had a p p r o x im a te ly 16 m e n w ork in g on this p roject, and that w e would not ca re to continue th is le v e l of effo rt if it had alread y b een decided that we would not have an opportunity to p articip ate in the b u sin ess if it should d evelop . M r, C ooley said they had no com m itm en t of any so rt, w ritten or unw ritten, w hich would com m it C alifornia to give one su p p lier a ll of the TML b u sin e ss. He w ent on to sa y that he saw no rea so n why the av a ila b ility of TM L should in any way change the rela tio n sh ip w hich now e x ists betw een the C aliforn ia C om panies and their two su p p liers of antiknock com p ou n d s., I ask ed M r. C ooley w hether having a h alf a pound of toluene per pound of TM L in flu id would cau se th em undue p ro b lem s. He said that they had alread y con sid ered th is sin ce they had b een ad vised that a TML fluid m ig h t co n ta in a s m u ch a s 50% to lu e n e . T h ey s a w no p a r tic u la r o b je c tio n to th is, although it would m ean that the C alifornia operating com panies would have to handle one additional tank car for ev er y th ree or four r e c e iv e d . (It a p p e a r s th at the 50% to lu en e fig u r e p ro b a b ly w a s g iv e n them by D uPont sin ce we have not, to the b est of our know ledge, d iscu ssed toluene with them p reviou s to th is c a ll.) 'f I rem inded M r. M acG regor that when he fir s t cam e to D etroit to d iscu ss TM L w ith us, we had told him and M e s s r s . C raise and B atch elder that we had b een d isc u ssin g m ore v o la tile lead antiknock com pounds with two other com panies over a con sid erab le period of tim e. M r. M acG regor agreed that th is w as the c a se . I then told them that at the req u est of one of th ese com p an ies we had rec en tly held a m eetin g w hich w as sim ila r to that w hich M e s s r s . S ca le s, G ibson and D r. K ehoe held w ith the C alifornia people in January. M r. C ooley w as told that we fe lt it b etter to te ll them that this had happened than to run the r isk of having it leak back in one fa sh io n or another to C aliforn ia R e se a r c h . I told M r. C ooley that nothing that had b een said or done in the m eetin g w ith the second com pany could, we fe lt, be construed in any w ay a violation of our se c r e c y agreem en t w ith them . A fter a b rief pause M r. C ooley asked w hether we had r e c eiv ed fro m the second com pany a reason ab le am ount of antiknock CONTACT REPORT Page 3 p erfo rm a n ce data. I told h im that I fe lt that the data r e c e iv e d fro m the second com pany and from C alifornia R esea rch had been roughly com parable in quantity. H is only other com m ent w as that he w as so rry to know that they had com petition, but that he w as p leased that we had taken this straigh tforw ard m anner in lettin g them know that we had d iscu sse d m ore v o la tile lead antiknocks w ith another com pany. M e s s r s . C ooley and M acG regor w ere not told that the second com pany w as p r e se n tly in te r e ste d in the u se of TM L ou tsid e the U nited S ta te s. (If they r e c a ll our co n v ersa tio n s in Septem ber when the subject w as fir s t ra ised by C aliforn ia R esea rch , they w ill probably know that the secon d com pany is in terested in fo reig n m a rk etin g .) It ap p ears that everything is m oving along quite n ic e ly in our rela tio n sh ip w ith C aliforn ia on th is m a tter. A t the m om ent it would appear that th ere is nothing rem ainin g to do that is urgent other than to get our le a d -in -a ir a n a ly tica l m ethods straightened out and to keep them inform ed in this a rea . M r. C ooley ra ised the q u estion as to what d e liv e r y date w ent along with our r e v ise d p rice e stim a te . I told h im that we w ere estim a tin g that w e could be in c o m m e r c ia l p ro d u ctio n of TM L on Jan u ary 1, I96 0 , if by M ay 1 of th is year we had approval for its u se. To be m ore gen eral, we b elieve we could provide TM L in c o m m e r c ia l q u antities in eigh t or nine m onths after we do have approval of its u se. T his w as a m atter of con sid erab le in terest to M e ssr s. C ooley and M acG regor, and M r. C ooley asked that I put it in a letter of confirm ation, w hich has been done. , H JG /dl C opies to: S. B litzer D. M. Guy H. E. H esselberg D. A. H irschler R . V. K erley W. G. L ovell W. B . L igett R. K. Scales R. A. Kehoe G. F . K irby P . A . M cK im S. O. Rue P . W eim er J. K oehnle G il Way