High-Pressure Boom

Out from Du Pont last week came a new liquid gas dubbed Freon C-318. While the name was just so much gobbledygook to consumers, the gas itself may play a big part in their lives. If tests prove successful, C-318 will bring a vast expansion of the aerosol industry by making possible a big new pantry of liquid-gas-dispensed foods such as frostings, sandwich spreads, sauces and syrups. Until now, aerosol foods have been slowed by the fact that the liquid gases used in nonfood products have been ruled out by the Food and Drug Administration. (Compressed gases are now in use in a few food products but often lose their pressure before the food is exhausted, though recently developed compressed nitrogen shows promise of whipping the problem.)

Aerosol men figure that the pushbutton foods will help double sales of aerosol products by 1961. Sales have gone up more than tenfold since 1951, topped $400 million last year, are heading for $500 million in 1958. Every day almost 10 million U.S. men use aerosol shaving creams, and more than 10 million women put on aerosol hair sprays. The 250 different aerosol products on the market can stop runs in hosiery, smoke bees out of hives, extinguish fires, bandage wounds and deodorize homes, pets or people. Said a Manhattan merchandising expert: "People will buy anything in those fascinating pushbutton cans--even air." Aerosol men agreed. Recently Liquid Glaze, Inc. brought out an aerosol can of compressed gas called Spair, which can inflate a flat tire to 22 Ibs. pressure in six seconds.

Battle Against Bugs. Aerosol owes its existence to the anopheles mosquito. During World War II two young Department of Agriculture scientists, Lyle D. Goodhue and William N. Sullivan Jr., developed the "bug bomb" to kill mosquitoes. The Government got the patent on aerosol (it still licenses, free, all marketers of aerosol insecticides); Scientists Goodhue and Sullivan got nothing.

At first, few companies saw a commercial market for the aerosol cans because their welded steel walls, necessary to hold their high pressure, made them too heavy (1 lb.). But as Du Pont developed lower-pressure gases, the cans became much lighter, and the aerosol industry started to boom.

Chance for Small Business. The industry is still so new--and there are so many aerosol products yet to be developed--that many small businessmen are pouring into the field. For example, an Australian shepherd wrote to Du Pont about the problem of marking sheep to determine which ones had been vaccinated. So Du Pont developed an aerosol marker. Several hundred shepherds wrote the company to praise the new product, and now one of them plans to market the sheep dye.

In the future, a great growth will come in aerosol drugs. Pharmaceutical companies have begun to market heart medicine in aerosol cans. In case of an angina attack, the patient puts the aerosol tube in his mouth, gets the proper dosage with a single press of a button. Also starting to come out: cortisone skin medicines, burn ointments and antiseptics in aerosol cans.

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