_Other resins._—In 1937 there were four producers of vinyl resins in the United States, and two of these also produced their raw materials. The vinyl resins were used chiefly in surface coatings, molding, and in safety glass. The polystyrene resins, used chiefly for molding and laminating, were offered by two producers for the first time in 1937. Two other producers offered acrylate resins, which are cast, molded, or used in surface coatings. In the same year petroleum resins were sold in good volume, their only producer obtaining them as a byproduct of the oil industry. Relationship of the resin industry to other industries. The term “synthetic resin industry” is a very broad one, referring in reality to a group of industries producing the varied synthetic resins—much as the term “steel industry” includes the manufacture of pig iron, structural steel, tin plate, and wire. But it is interesting to examine briefly the connection of the synthetic resin industry with some of the other large industrial groupings. _Relationship to the chemical industry._—Since the processes involved in the production of the synthetic resins are essentially of a chemical nature, the whole industry might be legitimately classed as a branch of the chemical industry. Historically, the synthetic resin industry in the United States developed outside of the chemical industry as it was constituted at the time, but with the passage of years and the development of a greater variety of resins the connections have multiplied. Chemical companies supply some of the important raw materials for synthetic resins; their skilled experts possess the technical training to develop new resin processes; their research programs from time to time lead to the discovery of valuable facts regarding resin; and they possess, or can, more easily than a new company, obtain the capital necessary to exploit a process. At present the interest of the large chemical corporations in synthetic resins ranges from active participation to apparent indifference; but the growing number of corporations thought of as chemical which are now engaged in experimental production would seem to indicate that in time they will be increasingly important in the production of synthetic resins. Some of the larger chemical companies that are important producers of synthetic resins in 1938 are: American Cyanamid Co Urea resins. Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corporation Vinyl resins. Dow Chemical Co Polystyrene resins. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co Alkyd, acrylate, vinyl resins. Monsanto Chemical Co Petroleum resins. _Relationship to the surface coating industry._—The use of tar-acid, alkyd, urea, and vinyl resins as raw material for the surface coating industry has already been mentioned, and also the fact that the coating industry is manufacturing a substantial part of its consumption of alkyd resins.