In mid-October 1943, the Chicago Bears were on their way to a 19-1-1[1] record over the course of two seasons (a record all the more impressive considering 45 active members from the undefeated 1942 team were serving overseas in the war effort)[2]. The price of wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade went to a new 15-year peak that same week as a result of persistent buying attributed to distillers.[3] And thousands – as estimated by rapid transit company officials – hopped aboard Chicago’s first subway in the new State Street tube, which opened on Oct. 17, 1943.
It was an exciting time to be in Chicago (the future home of Indium Corporation’s CMD facility).
The National Metal Congress and Exposition was a joint meeting between the American Society for Metals, the American Welding Society, the Wire Association, and the Iron and Steel Metals Division of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. The week-long session was a who’s who gathering of thousands of the country’s top metallurgists all descending upon Chicago, including personnel from Indium Corporation of America. The congress had met every year dating back to the late 1910s.
This, the 25th annual meeting of the National Metal Congress, was held Monday, Oct. 18 through Thursday, Oct. 21, 1943 at the Palmer House in Chicago. The 25-story hotel – today on the National Trust for Historic Preservation and dubbed the longest continuously operating hotel in North America – was the city’s first hotel with elevators, and the first hotel with electric light bulbs and telephones in the guest rooms. It was an opulent setting for this gathering of affiliated metallurgical and engineering societies.
The congress itself and conference displays were centered “on the increase of war production in the metal industry, to the conservation of metals, and to post-war planning.”[4] On the first day of the congress, attendees were excited to see the unveiling of an indium-alloy-finished propeller blade of hollow steel. The blade was the result of two years of experimental work between Indium Corporation of America and the Propeller Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio.
A media frenzy followed, and “Indium Scores” was the lead piece in Business Week’s “Production” section of its Oct. 23 issue of 1943. However, few details about the process could be released due to “severe editing by the military censorship.”[5] The article did share one tidbit about the process: steel bearings electroplated with silver were then electroplated with indium at a rate of 0.00016 troy ounces of indium per square inch, an economical cost at the time of $1.50 to provide abrasion and corrosion resistance for an aircraft’s main bearing.
In a piece for Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology (1944), Indium Corporation Founder and then President Dr. William S. Murray wrote about the importance of indium in the aviation industry, saying: “ … [For] it is in the aviation industry that indium has received its greatest acclaim and has contributed so materially to the perfection of vital war machines. … (It has long since passed the experimental stage) and has become a vital factor in both power plants and airscrews.”[6]
Today, Indium Corporation’s electroplated films have many industrial applications that take advantage of the unique physical and chemical properties of the indium metal, such as its low melting point, low vapor pressure, inherent softness and malleability, cold welding properties, anti-friction properties, and alloy hardening properties.
Authored by MarCom Specialist Christian Vischi.
References:
[1] 1943 Chicago Bears Statistics & Players. Pro Football Reference. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/chi/1943.htm#all_games
[2] WWII Honor Roll. Pro Football Hall of Fame. https://www.profootballhof.com/connect/ww-ii-honor-roll/
[3] “15-YEAR PEAK SET BY WHEAT PRICES; Prices at Chicago Bid Up on Talk of Distillers’ ‘Needs’ – Report Big Cash Movement FEEDERS CALL FOR GRAIN A More Favorable Outlook is Seen for the Winter Crops, but Experts Are Dubious.” New York Times. Oct. 18, 1943. https://www.nytimes.com/1943/10/18/archives/15year-peak-set-by-wheat-prices-prices-at-chicago-bid-up-on-talk-of.html
[4] “The National Metal Congress.” Science. Vol. 98, No. 2534. July 23, 1943. p. 79. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.98.2534.79
[5] “Indium Scores.” Business Week. Oct. 23, 1943. p. 56. Retrieved July 28, 2021. https://archive.org/details/sim_business-week_1943-10-23_738/page/n45/mode/2up
[6] Murray, W.S. “Indium in Aviation.” Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology. Vol. 16, No. 11. 1944. pp. 332-333. Retrieved July 28, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb031194
