COOPER <CBE> ASKS FTC TO END ACQUISITION LIMITS Cooper Industries Inc asked the Federal Trade Commission to vacate a 1979 order that requires the company to get FTC approval before making certain acquisitions, the FTC said. The order was issued as part of a settlement of FTC charges that Cooper's merger with Gardner-Denver Co would lessen competion and increase concentration in the gas compressor and industrial air tool industries, the FTC said. The order requires that, until 1989, Cooper must get FTC approval before acquiring companies in the natural gas compressor or hand-held industrial pneumatic tool businesses.