In response to Donald Loughridge's complaints about the performance of the IR-2T spectrophotometer, Arnold Beckman defers to general sales manager W. H. Steinkamp and expresses confidence that he will bring the instrument up to "first class condition." Beckman does note that performance issues caused the company to abandon production of the IR-2T.

The Beckman Instruments IR spectrophotometers began as a request from the Office of Rubber Reserve to Arnold O. Beckman in 1942, asking for an infrared spectrophotometer that they could use to create rubber. Under this contract, Beckman Instruments developed a single-beam spectrophotometer based on Robert Battrain’s extant design, which in 1942 was sold as the IR-1. With the IR-4 in 1956, Beckman Instruments branched out into double-beam design and kicked off a golden age of IR spectrophotometer production that lasted until 1973.