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Introduction Titanium is becoming increasingly widely used in the oil industry in such areas as exploration/production, pipelines, underwater operations, engineering/construction and refining. The applications mainly depend on the unique corrosion resistance of the material in seawater but some use is made of the high specific strength of titanium alloys and also of their excellent resistance to cavitation and erosion. Potential and established uses of titanium include tube‐in‐shell and plate type heat exchangers, equipment for data logging, tanker purge systems, pumps and valves, fixtures and fittings, cathodic protection anodes and submersibles for underwater operations.

Corrosion‐resistant plastics coating. A new liquid plastics coating which has been developed by Turner & Brown Ltd. is specifically designed to give an attractive finish to plant and buildings in highly corrosive atmospheres.

New Research Laboratory. The recently opened Passfield Research Laboratories at Passfield, Hants., will be devoted to combined research programmes for Metal Containers Ltd., the U.K. company, and Inland Steel Container Co., the U.S. company, and the work being undertaken is expected to lead to improved containers in steel, plastics and fibre materials and new steel/plastic and fibre/plastic packaging systems.

High‐temperature Paint. Developed by the Atlas Preservative Co. Ltd., high‐temperature‐resisting anti‐corrosive silver paint No. 2336 is said to be capable of withstanding 600°C. for protecting in a single coat metal surfaces such as foundry cupolas, petroleum refinery equipment, chimney stacks, etc.

Data recorder. Now being marketed in this country is the improved Model SR recorder (Fig. 1) manufactured by E. H. Sargent & Co. of Chicago, U.S.A., which incorporates a number of interesting new features. It is an accurate automatic potentiometer to plot d.c. potential and voltage directly and continuously, or current, temperature, thermal conductivity, pH, light transmittance and a host of other quantities indirectly through transducing devices or instruments. Measurements are recorded with respect to time or any other quantity which may be sychronised in time by constant speed drive.

High‐temperature Masking. A paper/polyester silicone masking laminate tape has so far proved completely satisfactory for use in the most modern high‐temperature applications, such as those involving the use of high‐bake enamels, epoxy resin‐based paints and super high‐temperature processes covered by such specifications as DEF 1059 and others.

Increased automation and improvements in cost‐effective volume production techniques have, paradoxically, created additional difficulties when small quantities of printed circuit boards are required. There is consequently a growing interest in bench top and small modular equipment capable of producing high quality boards. This market, once almost exclusively confined to research and development laboratories, has extended rapidly throughout universities and polytechnics, government agencies and manufacturers of all types of electrical and electronic equipment. The impracticability of introducing small quantities into a volume production unit has extended the usefulness of such equipment to the “in‐house” facilities of the high volume printed circuit board manufacturers themselves.