May, 1926
INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
the purifier at the bottom and passes out a t the top. Two such purifiers are used in series. The internal tubes serve three purposes. I n the first place, the heat of adsorption of carbon dioxide by active carbon is quite marked,3 and for effective purification the gases must be kept at temperatures lower than 110’ or 120’ F. When a purifier is first cut into service, cold water is circulated through these tubes. I n the second place, the carbon after use, has to be revivified by steam. During the revivification high-pressure steam is circulated through the tubes, while low-pressure steam is reactivating the carbon. Lastly, after steaming, it is absolutely essential that the carbon be thoroughly dried before being used. Dry, pure nir is therefore forced through the mass, steam being circulated through the coils until the issuing warm air is dry; then the carbon is cooled by water circulation in these same coils. After passing the purifiers the gas goes to the compressors. There are two of these of the three-stage type intercooled, each with a rated capacity of 600 pounds per hour. From the compressors the gas goes to the filling rack after passing through a series of water-cooled coils. The cylinders used are of the regulation 20- and 50-pound types, I. C. C . , Class 3. When a cylinder is returned by the trade, the valve is removed, examined, and repaired if necessary. The cylinders are inspected, washed if necessary, then steamed and dried, flushed out with carbon dioxide, refitted with valve, and refilled. Constant tests are made for percentage of carbon dioxide, and each cylinder is individually examined for quality before being shipped. When so purified, carbon dioxide is an odorless gas with a very slight, pleasant, pungent effect on the nostrils. The water content is low-less than 0.1 per cent by weight. I n this laboratory it has been found so far that odor is an excellent test for purity, since exceedingly small amounts of odorifa Bancroft, “Applied Colloid Chemistry,” p. 26.
541
erous substances will give distinct evidences of their presence. For example, sporadic cases were noted of cylinders filled in the regular way, but the odor was suggestive of bread dough. It was found that this peculiar odor was caused by carbon dioxide in conjunction with red lead containing linseed oil, which had been used by the pipe-fitters in assembling the apparatus. Prompt measures were taken to prevent red lead from getting inside the pipes and the trouble was eliminated. Similarly, care had to be taken to prevent oil used by pipe-cutters from getting inside the pipes. I n order to keep oily odors absolutely out of the cylinders, the compressors are lubricated with the highest quality glycerol. The valves used have a leather retaining washer. Some of these were found occasionally to cause an odor in the gas, so that the composition of the filler in this leather was changed. Valves themselves sometimes cause odor, due to careless handling so that fruit sirups, etc., have come in contact with them. Wintergreen and peppermint have been noted in inspecting cylinders, and of course such cylinders represent an absolute loss as the gas had to be released in order to remove the offending valve. A new purifier has to be handled very carefully after steaming, else when it is dried the carbon will catch fire. A new machine, therefore, is always dried the first time with carbon dioxide. On later cycles this is unnecessary. Since the gas is collected only during the period of most actire fermentation, a gas-holder of 50,000 cubic feet capacity is provided to furnish a compression supply while fermenters are being cut in or out. The raw gas only is stored in the holder. -411 gas is purified immediately before compression. The quality of the gas is so high that customer adjustments have been made on only about 150 pounds of gas out of a total of over 5,500,000 pounds shipped, and the operation is so well in hand that this quality can be continuously maintained.
A. C. S. Committee Reports Committee on Industrial Alcohol During the last year a number of things bearing on the industrial alcohol question have claimed the attention of the committee. With the failure of the Cramton Bill t o pass during the last session of Congress, the administration of the National Prohibition Act and other laws governing industrial alcohol was left in the hands of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the officer charged by law with the enforcement of these acts. The Treasury Department, for the dual reason of providing more efficient enforcement and of relieving the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who is more than busy with income tax matters alone, assigned to General Andrews, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, the administration of the prohibition and industrial alcohol laws. The Assistant Secretary, directing both the Coast Guard and the prohibition and alcohol branches of the Internal Revenue, and acting through the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, has assumed active control of prohibition enforcement and industrial alcohol with the avowed determination of making the former effective and of lightening the burdens of legitimate manufacturers, distributors, and users of industrial alcohol. The Assistant Secretary appointed a committee of three before whom he might place matters in confidence pertaining to and related t o industrial alcohol, for their advice. Two are on this committee, the chairman members of the SOCIETY of the Committee on Industrial Alcohol and the editor of INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY.There is hope and belief t h a t a small committee of this kind meriting the confidence of the department will prove helpful t o the Government and t o legitimate manufacturers and consumers of industrial alcohol. There are strong evidences that the department is
using every effort t o differentiate between legitimate users and diverters of alcohol-to aid the former and t o wipe out the latter. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue has discharged with his thanks the Alcohol Trades Advisory Committee he established three years ago to advise him. Every Congress has witnessed bills t h a t are sought t o change the administration of prohibition and alcohol laws. Most of these bills have been one-sided and objectionable. They have all sought t o establish a more or less autocratic control t h a t might have placed unnecessary and burdensome restrictions on legitimate business without providing means for relief from such abuses should they occur. Bills are now pending before Congress, S. 3022 and H. R. 8998, which have the endorsement of the Treasury Department and which provide, among other things, for a Bureau of Prohibition in the Treasury Department. These bills, which are really identical, aim to place additional obstacles in the way of diversions, t o provide greater efficiency in detecting and prosecuting infractions of the law, while at the same time safeguarding legitimate interests. In this they differ from most bills heretofore introduced. It is significant that about the only active opposition that has developed has come from quarters heretofore active in backing prohibition bills t h a t have ignored legitimate needs and rights. The tax reduction act which has just been passed provides for a tax reduction of 55 cents per proof gallon on tax-paid alcohol to take effect on January 1, 1927, and a further reduction of 55 cents t o take effect January 1, 1928. The present tax on 95 per cent alcohol is $4.18 per wine gallon, or approximately 1000 per cent of the cost of making the alcohol. The new law will, when in full effect, cut the tax in half, which is the amount of the tax t h a t was levied before the war. This committee did not take part in these discussions, although
INDUSTRIAL A-VD EXGINEERI.\'G
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the chairman favored this tax reduction as an individual and a s a representative of a large alcohol-using trade association. From time to time bills and regulations affecting alcohol are brought up in various state legislatures or state boards. Some of these measures are ill advised and would be unnecessarily burdensome, and frequently are so drawn as t o give little credit t o the federal laws and regulations on the subject. It is very desirable t h a t the states should a t all times recognize the necessity for properly providing for the legitimate manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of industrial alcohol, and state laws and regulations that coordinate with federal laws and regulations will be more effective and more equitable than those t h a t ignore or differ from them. It is especially desirable that members shall keep a watch on measures pending in their of the SOCIETY own states t h a t would affect industrial alcohol in any of its phases, and so far as possible exercise a helpful guiding influence seeking t o a coordination with the federal laws and regulations. It is unfortunate t h a t the time has not yet arrived when industrial alcohol may be assured of consideration on its merits quite aside from caprice in prohibition enforcement. It is possible, however, if the Treasury Department plans receive proper support, t h a t a n improvement in both prohibition enforcement and administration of industrial alcohol may gradually be brought about. Until such improvement has become an established fact there would seem t o be further need for a Committee on Industrial Alcohol. MARTINH. ITTNER EDWARD MALIJNCKRODT. JR. Chairman RAYMOND F BACON J. H.BBAL E. H. KILLHEPFER
RALPHH. MCKEE
CHEMISTRY
T'ol. 18, KO.5
At the Convention of Union for the Protection of Industrial Property, revised a t T h e Hague on November 6, 1926, there was a statement in Article V of such convention t h a t contracting parties should have t h e right t o t a k e necessary legislative measures t o prevent the abuses which might result from the exercise of the exclusive rights conferred by the p a t e n t ; for example, failure to work. These measures will only provide for the revocation of the patent if the granting of compulsory license shall not suffice to prevent such abuses. The Convention also suggested t h a t the patent should not be subject t o such measures before the expiration of a i least three years from t h e d a t e of its grant a n d if the patentee produced j u s t excuses for failure t o work. Under the bill just offered after five years from the d a t e of issuance of t h e patent any person m a y file a n application with the Commissioner of P a t e n t s showing nonuse of t h e patent by t h e patentee or a n y other person entitled to make use of i t ; also, t h a t the applicant is financially responsible a n d able t o manufacture such patent for public use, a n d submitting a n offer in specific terms for a compulsory license. Upon receipt of such application t h e commissioner is t o investigate a n d determine the question of nonuse, the question of public interest, a n d t h e ability of the applicant t o manufacture, and if he believes it advisable to grant a compulsory license he is t o provide for a hearing t o determine finally whether a license should be granted and the terms and conditions under which the g r a n t should be made. The bill just offered does not affect vested rights or interfere in a n y manner with the holders of patents issued prior t o the passage of t h e hill.
Bills to effect the purpose outlined by Senator King have been before Congress for the last five years.
H . W. RHODEHAMEL
HENRY HOWARD. Chairman
FREDERIC ROSENCARTES
E A.HILL H.
c.P A R M E L E G
U'. A. SCHMIDT C. P. TOWNSEND
Committee on Patent and Related Legislation The Committee on Patent and Related Legislation has had two meetings during the past year, and submits the following report: Proposed patent legislation as indicated by the number of bills introduced in House and Senate since the beginning of the present Congress, and the attitude of the patent committees of House and Senate, lead to the belief t h a t no radical changes in our present patent law will be enacted. Up to the present time (March 23) the Senate Committee has held no meetings for consideration of any of the bills referred to it and has reported none out of committee. The House Committee has granted hearings on several bills, all relating to practice in the Patent Office. H . R. 6252 and H. R.7087. Hearings on these bills disclosed a need for simplifying the practice in patent litigation. H. R. 6252 would permit the complainant t o have service issued on all adverse parties from the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia instead of as a t present, service being required to issue from the court in which the adverse party resides. H . R. 7087 would reduce the time within which patents shall be completed and prepared for examination, from one year to six months. The bill would also reduce from one year to six months the time within which an appeal might be taken where an application is finally rejected in the Patent Office. The bill also would take away the right of appeal from final decision of t h e Commissioner of Patents to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, but would permit an action to be filed in the Supreme Court of the District. At the hearing considerable difference of opinion was indicated a s t o whether this change would in fact simplify the practice, it being held by opponents of the measure t h a t the right accorded t o bring action in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia opens up opportunities for additional delay by authorizing appeal t o the Supreme Court of the United States The American Bar Association has endorsed these bills and i t is likely they will be favorably reported. H . R. 5811. This is a bill to prevent fraud, deception, or improper practice in connection with business before the Patent Office. The aim of this bill is to report corporations which advertise for patent office business and who hand such business over to a n attorney outside the corporation. It is alleged that some corporations of this character have practiced fraud on the public. Compulsory Licenses for Unused Patents. Senator King of Utah introduced a bill, S. 3474, providing that licenses shall be granted for the working of patents in cases where the patentee has failed or neglected for five years to manufacture under the patent right. In presenting his bill Senator King said:
Committee Advisory to the Bureau of Mines and Bureau of Standards on Nonferrous Metals The following subjects were discussed a t the April 13, 1925, meeting of the Committee Advisory t o the Bureau of Standards a t the Bureau of Standards:
Pure Zinc. Mr. Freeman of the bureau presented a report of progress on pure zinc which is spectroscopically pure containing 99.993 per cent zinc and was presented t o the bureau by the hTewJersey Zinc Company. Tarnish-Resistant Silver Alloys. Mr. Jordan presented the report of progress on these alloys which was illustrated by a mounted exhibit of specimens. The most promising alloy is one containing about 4.5 per cent zinc and 2.5 per cent antimony, balance silver. Corrosion. Mr. Rawdon reported on the progress of the investigation which is being carried on in connection with the work of the A. S.T. M. Zinc-Coated Materials. This program consisted of cooperative work combining accelerated cbrr6sion tests and service tests located in different parts of the country. Embrittlement of Duralumin. This consisted of samples of Duralumin sheet which had deteriorated in service particularly in connection with the two airships, U. S.S. Shenandoah and Los Angeles. Microscopic examination of the material shows that the corrosive attack causing the embrittlement is restricted almost entirely to an intercrystalline penetration closely resembling the well-known season cracking of brass. Invar Tape. A study of this problem was taken up by the bureau at the request of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Exposure Tests on Screen W i r e Cloth. This was a report on the results of exposure on seven grades of nonferrous material in 0.0113-inch wire woven into No. 16 mesh cloth. This work is being carried out in cooperation with A. S.T. M. Committee D-14. Nickel Brass. This investigation was undertaken a t the request of the manufacturers of builder's hardware with a desire to produce a satisfactory nickel brass for hardware casting. Corrosion of Alloys. This had to do with t h e study of heatresisting alloLs in -respect t o their resistance t o corrosion by sulfur and oxygen at temperatures of 800" t o 900" F. A few words were said on each of the following subjects: pure thorium, impurities in 88-10-2, a r t bronzes, and metal spray. The Committee Advisory to the Bureau of Mines did not hold a meeting during 1925. WM. B. PRICE,Society's Representatice
