INTERNATIONAL

Biggest and best Achema draws 170,000

Exhibitors of chemical equipment number 2000 at Germany's triennial chemical engineering show

The biggest and best yet. This was Achema 67, the gigantic exhibit-con­gress for chemical engineers, held in Frankfurt, West Germany. More than 170,000 visitors flocked into Con­gress City for the triennial show, spon­sored by Dechema (Deutsche Gesell-schaft fuer Chemisches Apparate-wesen E.V.). They trooped past row on row of displays occupying 810,000 sq. ft. and crammed with the very latest in chemical processing equip­ment and technology.

Some 2000 exhibitors vied for visi­tor attention at the show, the world's largest meeting for chemical engi­neers. Over half of them were West German firms. Indicative of the grow­ing international flavor of the show, however, was the sharp rise in foreign exhibitors, up 34% from three years ago to 701.

Great Britain led the foreign con­

tingent with 179 exhibitors, followed by the U.S. with 161. Forty-seven American companies participated in a group exhibit (sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce) of meas­uring, recording, and controlling in­struments for the chemical industry. Of these, 31 were new to Europe.

Achema 67 offered little in the way of startling new equipment or technol­ogy. What was evident, however, is a growing similarity between Euro­pean and U.S. equipment in terms of design and philosophy. Labor-saving devices, automatic controls, more instrumentation—all the things that American chemical engineers have become accustomed to seeing at U.S. trade shows—were more in evidence than ever at Achema 67. Thus many of the same forces that have strongly influenced U.S. equipment design are obviously now at work in Europe.

STROLL. Achema visitors in Strasse der Nationen of the congress grounds. Exhibit space at Achema 67 was in­creased by a third over 1964 congress

OUTDOORS. Outdoor exhibits were commonplace at West Germany's 10-day congress and show in Frankfurt. There were lectures, fi lms, excursions, concerts, and social events as well

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U.S. FIRMS. Booths of 47 U.S. instru­ment firms that exhibited jointly under Department of Commerce sponsorship. Thirty-one of the firms made their Euro­pean debut at the show

SPILL OVER. Exhibitors of measure­ment, control, and automation equip­ment filled this hall (Hall 1) and spilled over into three others. Some 2000 companies exhibited at Achema 67

DISCUSSIONS. Heat exchangers in the foreground, discussions under way in the background at the booth of Sigri-Electrographit, GmbH, Meitingen, West Germany

DIMPLED. A thin-film evaporator, with dimple-jacketed column, by Samesreu-ther Mueller Schuss, Butzbach, West Germany, dominates the ground-floor view in hall devoted to equipment

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