MIT titanium flame-cutting environmental incident

Late 1970s. Tom's first research project at MIT. Technician Bruce flame-cutting titanium, smoke escaped from welding lab into hallway, thesis advisor's secretary called environmental police, who came and asked "what kind of lab is this?" Lab = welding lab. Anecdote about the laxer environmental enforcement era.

[Tom hands titanium samples around.] This is from my first research project here at MIT back in the late 1970s on welding of titanium. This is saw cut titanium; this is flame cut titanium. There's only a thinner piece, but you can flame cut it. A lot of smoke comes off when you're flame cutting titanium — it turns out it's just titanium dioxide, which is basically what's in wall paint. Not particularly toxic, not toxic really at all, but a lot of smoke. So one of my stories — 25 years ago I didn't have the office I'm in right now, but it was right across from the welding lab. My technician was flame cutting some titanium and we had the vents on, but the vents weren't all that great and some smoke was getting out of the lab into the hall. My old thesis advisor's secretary called the environmental police on me. This was when the environmental police were not quite so adamant about things. The guy comes into the lab, sees the technician, and there's smoke all around. He says "what are you doing?" My technician Bruce says "uh, flame cutting some titanium." The guy says "what kind of lab is this?" Bruce says "it's a welding lab." And I said, "well, what are you expecting to come out of a welding lab?" That's what the environmental guy said. They don't say those things now — 20, 25 years later I probably would have been in handcuffs and up in the Cambridge police station. But it does generate a lot of smoke to flame cut titanium.

Tom's welding lab cutting titanium ~25–30 years before the lecture (so ~1985); the secretary across the hall complained to MIT environmental health; investigator concluded that a welding lab is expected to produce smoke.

We were cutting in the lab here about 25 or 30 years ago, and the secretary across the hall — where my secretary is now; I didn't have this office then — complained to the MIT environmental people. They came down and they saw the smoke in the lab and said, what's going on here? He said, what type of lab is it? I said, it's a welding lab. He said, but what do they expect to come out of the welding lab? These are the old days thirty-five years ago, and it's okay to have a little smoke in the hallway. It's not good — the paint on the wall, it's tight.

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