As a result of six years of research in his laboratory, Francis E. Wilkinson of Glendale, Calif, has devised a process that converts Corncobs into munitions. A plant being erected near Missouri Valley, Ia., is expected to turn 40 tons of corncobs a day into nitro-cellulose, a base for explosives, and into a synthetic rubber which can be fused with natural rubber in making tires. Eventually, Mr. Wilkinson hopes, his company will use annually for defense products, 26,000,000 bushels of cobs which otherwise would be burned as waste. Other products which are said to be obtainable from cobs are guncotton, alcohol, motor fuel, plastics and rayon.