Many people believe that the chemical industry is dominated by a few giant companies whose research laboratories have a virtual monopoly on new chemical wonders. The man who has disproved this is Henry Reichhold, the world's biggest maker of paint & protective-coating resins. Last week Reichhold Chemicals uncorked one of the biggest chemical advances that the paint industry has seen in years.
Ever since Du Font's quick-drying lacquer (Duco) revolutionized automobile painting in the 1920s, chemists have tried to find a similar paintmaking resin which could be dissolved in water, instead of...