Page 270 - Chalcogenide Glasses for Infrared Optics

CHAPTER 10

Early Work at

Texas Instruments

10.1 First Job
After finishing his Ph.D in 1959, the author was with the drilling and
production research division of Humble Oil Company (now Exxon)
in Houston, Texas. The problem assignment was to develop a process
to turn loose unconsolidated oil sand surrounding the bottom of
shallow wells into porous permeable rock using epoxy resins. Loose
sand flowing into the well damaged the pumps and was a disposal
problem. During the year at Humble Oil, while the author was working
with Horace Spain, a suitable process was developed as described in
U.S. Patent 3,100,527. The process was used successfully in the field.

10.2 Infrared Applications to Materials
After one year at Humble Oil, a visit by the author to Texas Instru-
ments led to a move to Dallas in June 1960. The Materials Research
Laboratory was headed by Tom Burkhalter, a former chemistry pro-
fessor at Texas A&M and a family friend. A new fuel cell program
was just starting, and the job to build a fuel cell operating in the lab
by fall was given to the author. The program manager furnished two
books, one from the British describing 7 years of research to develop
a high-temperature molten salt fuel cell and the other from the Dutch
describing 9 years of a similar effort. Both groups had stopped their
programs, citing sound technical reasons why the high-temperature
molten salt fuel cell was impractical. Nevertheless, the program man-
ager insisted on following their same path. When asked why he
thought we would succeed while they failed, he replied that we at TI
solve material problems others can’t. The answer was, “Baloney.”
Through lots of hard work by program personnel, the fall goal
was met. The cell used a porous magnesium oxide disk made from
hot pressed powders as the membrane. A ceramic process developed
by Pete Johnson, a Ph.D. ceramicist, produced the disk. Silver

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