Presensitized
Printing plate 3 by Mr. Bob Gumbinner
3M
claimed that our plates really had a silicate interlayer. Their
chemist, Case, did not believe we could make plates with zirconium
fluoride. The Court appointed a master, Professor Lindford, to find
out if this were true. We bought very pure potassium zirconium
hexafluoride and he came to our plant where we made plates using
distilled water and 0.1% of the zirconium fluoride and made plates
that could be imaged and copies printed from. I then went to 3M in
St Paul where they tried to make plates using a 0.1% solution of sodium
silicate. These plates failed to print. About this time, the US
Government sued 3M for anti-trust violations. Don Spille our
attorney at this time got the presensitized plates included in the
government’s case.
The
government won, so Professor Lindford did not need to report his
findings to the Chicago court. We later hired Professor Linford as
our research director. Although I asked him, he never told us what
he would have reported.