Word: thiokol
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...Thiokol is an elastic plastic made by Dow Chemical Co. Its merits as a retread material, hitherto overlooked, were enthusiastically presented to WPB last week by an authoritative group of experts from the rubber, chemical and automotive industries, headed by famed Research Engineer Charles Kettering of General Motors. They told the Government that Thiokol...
...Will wear at least 5,000, probably 10,000 miles on cars driven no more than 40 m.p.h. Though Thiokol is not quite so strong or wear-resistant as natural rubber, it does not deteriorate with age or from exposure to air, sunlight...
...Thiokol itself is not brand-new. It was accidentally discovered in 1929 by a chemist who was trying to concoct an antifreeze. Since 1930 it has been manufactured as a substitute for rubber, leather, cork. Typical uses: barrage balloon coatings, gas masks, gasoline hoses, washers, cable sheathing...
...nobody thought of Thiokol as a retread material until Kettering and the Society of Automotive Engineers last April set out to explore every possible form of rubber synthetic and substitute. They pried into the deepest competitive secrets of U.S. rubber processors without finding a quick, cheap answer to the tire problem. Then they called in the U.S. chemical manufacturers, again examined every possibility. Only one appeared good: Thiokol. To test its usefulness, they crowded a year's research into the last two months...
...Thiokol advocates were sure that big-scale production could begin at once. Said jubilant President Willard Dow of Dow Chemical Co.: "The caustic soda we shall derive from salt. Texas alone can supply all the sulfur we shall ever need. Chlorine at present is being allocated, but we can step up production to meet all requirements. Ethylene we can get from oil or from corn, wheat or any other agricultural waste or surplus by first converting it into alcohol...