Document rBej3X56eJoBLna8r600bNoDe

FILE NAME: General Electric (GE) DATE: 1949 May 13 DOC#: GE042 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letter from GE to the Saranac Laboratory ADMINISTRATION DIVISION LAMP DEPARTMENT G ELECTRIC COMPANY NELA PARK CLEVELAND 12. OHIO May 13, 1949 Dr A .' J . Vorwald The Saranac L ab o rato ry Saranac Lake, New York Dear Dr. Yorwaldi The in c a n d e s c e n t lamp w ith th e Q -ooating seems d e s tin e d to assume an im p o rta n t p a r t i n our lamp-ma k ing program , so we a r e g e ttin g p r e t t y anx io u s to have some in fo rm a tio n on th e poss ib le to x ic ity o f th e powder used in i t . I t i s now s i x months s in c e you re c e iv e d our "go ahead1*, anrl, our in fo rm a tio n i s t h a t no t e s t a have been s ta r t e d as y e t . This i s v e ry d is a p p o in tin g to u s , alth o u g h we r e a l i z e th a t we must assume p a r t of th e r e s p o n s ib ility f o r th i s d e la y - due to our i n a b i l i t y t o o b ta in o e r ta in ESSENTIAL equipm ent. But we f e e l t h a t some of th e ite m s you have req u este d a re r e a l l y n o t e s s e n tia l, a l b e i t th e y would be n io e to have and probably would make th e jo b e a s i e r . As an exam ple, we seem to be i n d is a g re e ment* as to j u s t how e s s e n t i a l i t i s to have a b u r n e r - c le a n e r. We h ere do n o t th in k i t n e c e ss a ry an d , fu rth erm o re, i t w i l l be a major job t o d e s ig n and b u ild such a machine, so we w ish you could see c le a r to go ahead w ith o u t i t . A fte r Mr, B a r t l e t t ' s v i s i t t o S aranac, we th o u g h t you would soon be s t a r t i n g t a s t s , b u t s in c e then we have had only a d d itio n a l re q u e s ts f o r equipm ent, e t c . , and a p p a re n tly l i t t l e p ro g ress tow ard a c t u a l l y s t a r t i n g t e s t s has been made i n th e p a s t two and a - h a l f m onths. . - . But p erh ap s we a r e p la c in g to o much s t r e s s on th e equip ment a n g le . The d e la y may be a p e rso n n el problem , w herein th e man assig n ed to th e t e s t s may b e h e ld up because o f th e p r i o r i t y or urgency o f o th e r assig n m e n ts. We su sp e c t t h i s because i he has been sending to u s , f o r p ro cessin g on our e le c tro n micro scope, sam ples o f s i l i c a and g la s s w hich, by no s t r e t c h o f th e im ag in atio n , can we t i e i n w ith our Q -ooating in v e s t ig a t io n s . I f we a re m ista k e n , we s h a l l b e g lad to s e r v ic e th e s e samples as p a r t o f our m utual program . By th e same to k e n , we s h a l l 'be glad to se rv ic e any samples which have a d ire c t bearing on the Q-ooating in v e stig a tio n . Maybe our a n x ie ty h as made us im p a tie n t, b u t we f e e l t h a t ) we j u s t m ust g e t some in fo rm a tio n b e fo re lo n g , and we s o l i o i t your personal e ffo rts to "get things ro llin g " . Yours very tr u ly , <11 i'l i i