Document yrk6japLb24Y7542vvQj4J0Zr

FILE NAME Kent KNT DATE 0000 DOC KNT029 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Report - The H & V - Kent Study Barry Castleman's Kent file subpart of smoking file 29 ROM Document # Kent DATE % undated Type of Document reviewed journal article trade publication article advertisement newspaper article proceedings from annual meeting conference abstract talk proceedings unpublished or internal report meeting agenda minutes report letter memo state government regulation with cover memo industry warning information book excerpt legal BC notes other THE H & V - KENT STORY Research is the real economic life blood of industry today This is even more true of a State like Massachusetts which is quietly undergoing a complete change in the character of its industry from heavy dependence on textile products to a more evenly divided economy This change while of term character has been helpfully pushed along by the many accomplishments of its research laboratories Scores of new companies have been born in such industries as electronics atomic energy foods chemicals plastics metal working and its many facets paper and others The refreshing story of progress and accomplishment in many of these firms has been for the most part untold but is slowly being brought to light One of the very gratifying results of research is that oftentimes the initial objectives lead one into completely unanticipated fields of development This has been more than true with one of the research projects of the Hollingsworth & Vose Company nationally known paper makers of East Walpole whose wartime research lead to the Standard Military Gas Mask Fil- ter later adapted to United Energy Commission requirements and straight from there to the filter tip of one of America's fastest growing cigarettes Kents The real story of this amazing development began during World War II It is a dramatic tale of a wartime search for a new and more efficient gas mask filter for the military forces It was known that the existing gas masks would not be effective against extremely small particles of toxic dis- persions which the enemy had available for use against our troops High priority was given to this research by the Army Navy and the National Defense Resources Committee As a result of the cooperative efforts of the A.D. Little Company Army Chemical Corps Naval Research Laboratory The Hollingsworth & a a - fi ge - . . . tke hiae tl Ble THE H & V - KENT STORY - 2 Vose Company and others researchers came up in 1944 with a unique mineral fibre which when combined with other fibres in a paper produced an outstanding filter Later when the problem of purifying the air of minute radioactive dust particles in Atomic Energy Commission plants and laboratories came up scien- tists again found the solution in this same amazing fibrous filter material It was considered the greatest air cleansing advancement ever made and at the time it was classified by the Military for security reasons The current story concerning the commercial application of this unique filter material to a cigarette filter really began in Washington about 1950 about which time the material was declassified On reading one of the tech- nical papers covering the wartime development on these types of filters which was presented at the President's Conference on Air Pollution Dr. Harris B. Parmele Director of Research of P. Lorillard Company contacted Hollingsworth & Vose officials to ascertain the feasibility of a joint development program for a tobacco smoke filter incorporating similar filter material Prior to this Dr. Harold W. Knudson who had been associated with the Navy's research work on the new filter during the early days of the war had come with the Hollingsworth & Vose Company as its Technical Director Dr. Parmele found that Dr. Knudson and other Hollingsworth & Vose officials had already been thinking along those same lines but had been waiting for the process to be declassified by the Government With this mutual interest established a joint program of further development was initiated in the Fall of 1950. The first results of the early testing of the original filter material were startling Based on the performance of a water sheet material such as made on a paper machine 00420759 00420759 00420759 00420759 x? 00420759 004 20759 a 00420759 00420759 Z THE & V KENT STORY - 3 the filter was too good It not only took out the tars and irritants common to tobacco smoke but it took out the smoke too In other words the filter material as then manufactured was too effecient taking out 100 per cent thofe the smoke and leaving only hot air -- hardly acceptable to a cigarette smoker In addition the process did not lend itself mechanically to satis- factory commercial mass production of a cigarette filter It was at this point that a research approach was made to an laid filter as contrasted to the original water filter Facilities at Lowell Technical Institute through its Research Founda- tion were engaged for initial development Later pilot scale operations were transferred to the McCard Textile Company at Bedford The results of this development work indicated quickly that the researchers were on the right track and in July of 1951 the new material was accepted by P. Loril- lard Company and plans were made ready by Hollingsworth & Vose Company officials for scale commercial production About this time it was decided that the new product being entirely different from Hollingsworth & Vose Company's regular products and using different raw materials equipment and personnel would not integrate well with standard paper production Thus H & V Specialties Co. Inc. a wholly subsidiary was formed for the purpose of manufacturing this type of filter material Officers and directors are Aubrey K. Nicholson President Bruce G. Lennox Treasurer Mark Hollingsworth Amor Hollingsworth Jr. and Guy W. Walker Jr. General Manager is Lorrel B. Nichols Technical Director is Dr. H.W. Knudson Immediate plans were made to construct a new building of approximately 6,000 square feet on the property of the Hollingsworth & Vose Company's West Groton Mill 0420760 oP hula. em. wuake eet, THE H & V - KENT STORY - 4 Commercial shipments from the pilot plant operation in Bedford to Loril- lard's Jersey City plant began in February 1957. The following month the new cigarette the Kent named for Herbert K. Kent then President and now Chairman of the Board of P. Lorillard Company embodying a filter made with & V's new material was announced in three major American cities New York Chicago Los Angeles The introduction of the new cigarette was publicized with a big press luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria in New York Because micronic particles 0.2 of a micron or two ten thousandths of a millimeter are removed by the new filter material Lorillard officials coined the word Micronite for the filter Thus the Micronite Filter incor- porated in the Kent cigarette quickly distinguished the new filter cigarette from other competitive brands The public's acceptance of Kent was so sensational that within nine months H & V whose production had since shifted from Bedford to the new plant at West Groton had increased its producing units from one to four and was now operating twenty hours per day six days a week In the meantime it became evident that the original building needed to be doubled in size in order to accomodate increased production and a new research laboratory In the meantime a major advertising campaign in both newspapers and magazines topped by Lorillard's TV program The Web | had pushed sales unbelievably New production requirements from Lorillard received the day ground was broken for the new plant addition at West Groton indicated that even this new capacity would be insufficient within a very short time As & is 00420761 00420761 the sole producer of the new filter material it was decided that it would 0 420761 0 420761 be unwise to concentrate total production in one building or location It 00420761 was at this point that a major decision had to be made Since Lorillard's 00420761 THE H & V - KENT STORY - 5 two major producing plants were in Jersey City and Louisville it might have been logical to locate the second manufacturing unit nearby one of these cities However H & V officials wantetdo stay in New England and prefer- ablyMassachusetts Immediate steps were then taken to try to locate a suitable building that might be quicly adapted to this type of manufacture . Fortunately a textile property in the village of Cominsville in the town of Oxford formerly occupied by Comins & Company as a woolen mill was avail- able This plant contained 45,000 square feet of manufacturing space Pro- duction equipment was set up May 1953 and by January ducing units were operating twenty hours a day 1954 three pro- While all this was going on the cigarette industry was facing a major problem with the adverse publicity concerning the effects on health of ciga- rette smoking This of course has hasieran effect sales regular regular oigaretter but has given further impetus to the demand for filter cigarettes type All to the advantage of & V whose filter material pro- duction has continued to increase as Kent sales have increased Current production from both plants is being shipped at the rate of five full freight cars and thirty trailer truckloads per month going to Lorillard's Jersey City and Louisville plants The production of this new product has meant additional sales to many New England equipment manufacturers Basic production units included modi- addition fied Lowell and Whiting Machine taxtile equipment In humi- dustaddition Cibau Cibau humi- % dity control equipment by Cramer Co. , of Fitchburg collecting- | 00420762 equipment by Turner & Haws Engineering Co. of West Roxbury vacuum stripping 0 420762 equipment by Abington Textile Machine Works of Boston and Abington duct work 0 420762 by Fitchburg Sheet Metal and special card clothing by Howard Bros. Mfg Co. 0 420762 of Worcester has been installed eaighes FY THE H & V - KENT STORY > 6 What makes the Kent cigarette so popular Both & and Lorillard officials keep the exact composition of the filter material a closely guarded secret But it is known that it consists of a carefully blended mixture of specially selected textile fibres together with a highly refined mineral fibre When bonded supported by crepe According paper the combination makes the cigarette filter to company ~~ officials the current competitive brands of filter cigarettes old or newdo not equal the performance of Kents on tar and nicotine removal Thus researc hahs spawned another new industry adding further to the industrial economy of Massachusetts Other new products may come from this development since Hollingsworth & Vose Company andH & V Specialties Co. Inc. has filed patent applications in the United States and several foreign countries covering the basic filter material 0420763 4 : oe Sane => Ae . Se ee ete : 4 .+. oe! :