A CENTURY of PROGRESS in the PAINT INDUSTRY* G. B. HECKEL Editor. drug^, Oilr and Painfs. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
T
HE highly appreciated suggestion that I contribute a paper reviewing the progress of the American paint industry during the past hundred years was accepted with the understanding that it would be an historical and not a technical survey. Many of my good friends in this Division are far better qualified than I to treat the subject from that point of view. However, since the progress of the industry has been due very largely to the concurrent progress of scientific information, both chemical and physical, that phase of the subject cannot be wholly ignored.
cially those for which the demand was limited, small iron and, later, steel mills were made available. They are still in rather general use, one or more being reserved for the production of a single color. The ball mill and the pebble mill were introduced to the industry within the past twenty years and are now standard equipment, both because of their economy of operation and their efficiency. Like a certain much advertised laxative, "they work while you sleep," and with the modern finely ground pigments, requiring wetting and dispersion rather than reduction in particle size, increase volume output a t a minimum cost THE BEGINNINGS of operating and loss in processing. The familiar old What is believed to he the first paint mill used in buhrstone mill has also been, to some extent, superAmerica may still be seen embedded in the wall of a seded by the harder and finer-grained aloxite stone, house in Boston, and has long been known as a land- which is more efficient and retains its sharpness much mark. Its traditional name is "The Boston Stone." longer. The roller mill, another adaptation from flour-milling It comprises a part of what was originally a trough, surmounted by a ball about nineteen inches in diameter, practice, is now an important part of standard plant both of granite. It was operated by rolling the ball equipment, and in its later forms is ellicient and adaptable to almost all paint-making requirements. In back and forth over the contents of the trough-white lead, linseed oil, and tinting colors-until incorpora- the latest types pressure between the rolls is automatition was deemed satisfactory. The owner was Thomas cally maintained through their entire width and can Child, a local painter who plied his trade in Boston be modified between either pair, while speed differenduring 1692 to 1706. Up to the time of the Revolution, tials may also be modified a t will. In addition to these, many other special types of practically all painting materials, with the exception of turpentine and, later, linseed oil, were imported mills embodying other mechanical principles are offered in great profusion. The latest of these is the "Banfrom the mother country. bury mixer" which, following its successful application MANUFACTORLNG MACHINERY in the rubber industrv. ,. is now knockins a t the doors of For a long period, the painter was the only paint the paint industry. manufacturer. With the exception of white lead, the In the prepared-paint branch of the industry meproduction of which, in this country, began in 1804, chanical mixing devices of many types are available, and of turpentine and linseed oil, all of the raw mate- one of the latest being the "Turbo Mixer," which, so rials of the industry were imported. The classic "slab far as speed and efficiency are concerned, seems to and muller" and later, the iron, hand-powered "Harris leave nothing to be desired, though I believe it is still mill"-a modified coffee-pinder-were the standard undergoing . .mechanical revision. shop equipment. Even white lead was a t first supPIGMENTS, VEHICLES, ET AL. plied in the dry form; but this was soon replaced by The first plant for the manufacture of white lead in lead-in-oil from the mill, &her single or in America was established by Samuel Wetherill & Sons, the form of a "chaser." in Philadelphia, in 1804, and the business has continl-he manufacture of paint as a commo~ityof merce began at about the tirne of the civil war, and ued in the direct line of descent to the present day.? the devices first utilized were adaptations of the famil- Other plants followed in different parts of the country iar bnhrstone flour mill, the dressing of the stones dming the next half century, so that, by 1887, there as experience dictated. vari- Were in existence some twenty or more plants, scattered being modified ous sizes of these milis were introduced as the need all over the country. Competition among them was manifested itself, and for the grinding of colors, espe- brutal and this competition led to a general degradation of the product, any competitive price being met by the *Delivered before the Divisior~of Paint and Varnish Chemistry -of A. C. S. at Chicago, Ill., September 14, 1933. ?Acquired by the National Lead Ca.,1934.
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introduction of a larger percentage of barium sulfate. By 1887 conditions, had become so intolerable that when the president of one of the leading producers suggested that they combine in a single "trust," all excepting two or three gladly accepted the proposal and the National Lead Trust was formed. I t was an era of trusts, which was brought to an abrupt end three years later by the enactment of the Sherman Law. The infant "trust" then promptly reorganized as the National Lead Company. The only producers remaining outside of the trust and its successor were, so far as I can ascertain, Wetherill & Brother, of Philadelphia, the Eagle Lead Company, of Cincinnati, and W. P. Fuller & Co., of San Francisco. The units of this company all use what is known as the "Old Dutch" process of corrosion modified by many improvements introduced from time to time. The most revolutionary of these was the modification of the method of incorporating the product with oil. This invention, generally known as the "pulp process," utilizes the selective affinity of white lead for oil. The lead paste is agitated with linseed oil, which replaces the water. The process dispenses with the slow and expensive drying of the pulp lead and subsequent grinding in oil. Another highly beneficent act of the company followed during the agitation over industrial poisoning. Its engineering staff developed and patented a system by which workers in white lead plants are completely protected from exposure to lead dust, installed the system in its own plants, and furnished the plans, with free license to use them, to all its competitors. Various methods of producing the basic lead carbonate have been introduced from time to time, but of these, only two--the Carter and the electrolytic processes-are of much commercial importance at this time. The original patents for the Carter process were taken out in the early seventies by McCrary and Adams. Plants, both of which failed, were established successively at Baltimore, Md., and Washiigton, Pa. However, in 1878, a thud plant was built, at Omaha, Neb. In 1885, Levi Carter bought a controlling interest and reorganized the enterprise as the Carter White Lead Co. Additional plants were later erected at Chicago and Montreal. The chemical process involved is identical with that of the "Old Dutch" process; but the reactions are materially accelerated. Disintegrated lead is subjected in large revolving drums to the action of dilute acetic acid and purified carbon dioxide, and the operation is completed in a fraction of the t i e required by the older process. The company is now a component of the National Lead Company. The electrolytic process was invented by Elmer A. Sperry, of gyroscope fame, and was acquired by the International Lead Co. (Anaconda) which built a plant for its production in 1920. I t permits the use of complex lead-containing ores, the lead being desilverized in the electrolvtic "se~aratinr" In the - ~rocedure. . process the lead anode is immersed in an electrolyte
containing sodium acetate with a small percentage of sodium carbonate. The cathode is of iron, immersed in a solution of sodium carbonate and a little sodium acetate. A porous linen diaphragm separates the two solutions. On application of the electric current the lead dissolves as lead acetate, which is precipitated in the catholyte as basic lead carbonate, and is carried in suspension to a carbonating tower, where any deficiency in COe content is thus under complete control. The flexibility of control, both chemical and physical, is the distinguishing characteristic of this process. Another form of white lead which has won an important place in the industry is the basic sulfate. The process of manufacture is based on the procedure followed in the manufacture of American process zinc oxide. I t was suggested in 1866, to Geo. T. Lewis, of Philadelphia, by E. 0. Bartlett, who was familiar with the production of zinc oxide at Bethlehem, Pa. Mr. Lewis supplied the necessary funds and Bartlett built a plant and began production in Joplin, Mo., calling his product "sublimed white lead!' In 1888, the Picher Brothers became interested, the plant was rebuilt, and the company was reorganized as the Picher Lead Company. Later Raymond S. and his brother, S. Marshall Evans, with John R. MacGregor, entered the employ of the company and its success was rapid. In 1905 it was consolidated with the Eagle White Lead Co., as the Eagle-Picher Lead Co., and the product, with many technical improvements, due largely to Dr. John A. SchaeEer, is now a standard pigment in the industry. Zinc oxide, known to the alchemists as "nix album" and "philosophers' wool," was 6rst suggested for use as a paint pigment by the French chemist, Guyton de Morveau, in the late 18th century, and early in the following century it was made commercially available. At about the same time a French naval vessel was painted with it and officialattempts were made to substitute it for white lead. It was not, however, until the middle of the last century that it became of importance, through patents issued, almost simultaneously, to Sorel, the inventor of the galvanizing process, and LeClaire, a contracting painter of Paris, known as "the father of profit sharing." LeClaire's interest was chiefly in the abolition of the lead poisoning common among painters of his day. The process of manufacture, now known as the "French" or the "Indirect" process, comprises vaporization and oxidation of metallic zinc in an open furnace and collection of the oxide in a series of chambers. By similar, but considerably refined, processes, "French" process oxide is today manufactured by several American producers; the earliest of these being the plant of the New Jersey Zinc Co., a t Freemansburg, Pa. The other important method which supplies the great bulk of American consumptiou is known as the "American" or "Direct" process. It resulted accidentally from long-continued efforts by successive owners to utilize the franklinite found mingled with willemite, zincite, etc., at Franklin and
Ogdensburg, N. J. This extraordinary deposit is unique in its variety of minerals found nowhere else in the world. Fraukliuite consists of the oxides of zinc, manganese, and iron. I t is isomorphous with hematite, and failure marked successive attempts to utilize it as an ore of iron, since the zinc oxide inevitably clogged and chilled the furnaces. One of the more ingenious of these entrepreneurs, however, by connecting his furnace with a long tunnel in which the oxide was collected, succeeded in producing what we now know as "spiegeleisen." The introduction of the Bessemer process in steel manufacture later made this a valuable by-product. The history of the long series of attempts to utilize these ores, the inventions, both accidental and deliberate, which gradually solved the problems connected therewith, and the fifty years of litigation which finally resulted in the consolidation of all American zinc oxide producers of that day in the New Jersey Zinc Co., is too long and too complicated for even the most cursory survey in the time available here. Suffice it to say that the successive invention of a furnace with perforated grate-bars, the collection of the oxide in bags, and the magnetic separation of the franklinite from the accompanying ores resulted in the complete success of the American process. This applies equally to those plants using oxidized ores. An interesting white pigment which, for a time, played a rather important part in the industry was zinc-lead white, developed by J. C. Jackling, for the U. S. Smelting and Refining Co., at Canyon City, Colo. The or~gmalpurpose of t h ~ splant was the recovery of the gold and silver values from the complex lead-zinccopper ores of the region. An open blast furnace connected with cooling flues was devised. The lead fumes passed off as lead sulfate and the zinc as zinc oxide, the copper and the accompanying gold and silver being collected in a copper matte. The charges were so controlled that the fume consisted regularly of approximately iifty per cent. each of lead sulfate and zinc oxide and was collected, as in the American zinc oxide process. Being essentially a by-product, it was readily sold in competition with zinc oxide, and in practical use gave a good account of itself. The introduction of oil flotation into the mining industry and the consequent increase in the value of these complex ores put a sudden end to this competition; but it was "going strong" when it ended. Another still Important series of white pigments in this class are the "leaded zincs," containing fixed percentages of lead sulfate, ranging from five to thirtyfive per cent. They are regarded by some authorities as valuable in introducing lead into the paint film, thereby delaying embrittlement. Still another white pigment which, in a comparatively short time, has passed all the rest in annual consumption, is lithopone, a development of a patent issued to one J. B. Orr, in England, in 1874. I t met with only a moderate success until some years later chemists in
Germany began investigating and improving it, and before 1900 there were six plants producing it in that country. Cawley, Clark & Co. a t about that time started production in Newark, Cawley being familiar with the manufacture of "Orr's Enamel" in England. Other plants quickly followed and a t the opening of the present century consumption had grown to respectable proportions. Owing to its photochemical properties, howeverits disagreeable habit of darkening in sunlight and bleaching in the dark-its use was restricted to interior painting, exclusive of window sills and parts adjacent thereto. Much research was expended to discover the cause and correction of this embarrassing defect, both in this country and in Germany, the great Ostwald himself contributing a long series of patents to the literature of the subject. Unfortunately for all of these the cure was worse than the disease. In 1920, however, the New Jersey Zinc Co., in its research laboratory, succeeded in tracing the cause and correcting the disorder. The patent is on record for those who wish to know how it was done. Today, so far as I know, all lithopone is "light-resistant" and as a consequence the annual consumption, for both interior and exterior use, exceeds that of any other white pigment. Lithopone, as is well known, consists of approximately 70% barium sulfate and 30% zinc sulfide. Closely allied to normal lithopone are high zinc sulfide lithopone and pure zinc sulfide, both of which are consumed in considerable volumes. The white pigments next in importance are the titanium whites, the consumption of which is rapidly increasing. I t is unnecessary here to recapitulate the well-known chemical procedure involved in its separation from the iron with wh~chit is associated in its raw material, ilmenite. The most important present sources of the raw material are Norway and Travancore Beach, India, though there are large alluvial deposits in French West Africa which are now being developed. Titanium dioxide first appeared in the American market in a form analogous to that of lithopone, about three-fourths of the pigment being barium sulfate. Even a t this dilution the tinting strength is high and the product is widely used because of its density of color and chemical inertness. Traces of iron in the earlier product, impairing its whiteness, restricted its use; but when this defect was overcome its use rapidly expanded. The production of pure titanium dioxide began a few years later, and with the advent of pyroxylin lacquers, followed by that of the synthetic resin varnishes, its use rapidly expanded. This pigment is distinguished by high color density and bulking value, low specific gravity, great purity of color, and extreme brightness. I t is almost an ideal pigment for many important uses and the demand has frequently outrun the productive capacity of the manufacturers. One other white pigment-antimony oxide-requires
mention. Similar in many respects to titanium diox- cially; but with the settlement of the West both culide, it has for some years been used tentatively in the ture and manufacture followed; and, through the law manufacture of wall coatings and more specifically of the survival of the fittest, bas finally receded to the in lithographic metal coatings. Its production on an Northwestern states; but even the large production adequate scale is now assured and its use may be of that region is never sufficient to meet the requirements of industry. The deficiency is met by imporgreatly extended. tations from Argentina. PIGMENT COLORS During the earlier years of the present century seriIn the time allotted it will be impossible even to ous shortages in the North Dakota crop, ascribed to enumerate the great profusion of these now available fungoid infection, prompted the Paint Manufacturers' to the industry. We can, therefore, only glance cur- Association to contribute financial support toward a systematic study of these diseases and their control. sorily a t the subject. The American Indian commonly used several of our In this work Professors Bolley, of North Dakota, and native earth colorsiron oxide and ochre, for example Wilson, of Montana, were conspicuously serviceable, -made lampblack, and utilized several native dyes; especially in the development of resistant types of flax. Linseed oil was, from time immemorial, extracted but the white settlers throughout the Colonial period imported from the mother country all the pigments from the ground seed by simple pressure. When the they required, though they did avail themselves of a business became organized and centralized many improvements were introduced, the most important of number of the native dyes for home-spun fabrics. It is a curious fact, for example, that with a profu- which was preheating the meal with live steam, to rupsion of earth colors a t their doors, our people, up to a ture the oil cells. This new practice, like all innovaperiod withii the memory of the "oldest inhabitant," tions, encountered opposition from consemative conespeciallyand for a long time continued to import "Oxford ochre" and other common sumers-painters all paint troubles were attributed to the change in earth colors in large quantities. Shortly after the Civil War, however, people living practice. Also, for a time producers who adverin the mining regions of southeastern Pennsylvania tised "cold pressed linseed oil" had a certain advantage awoke to the fact that there was a good deal of salable which they knew how to utilize. With the coming of the research chemist in the in"yellow m u d going to waste in their immediate vicinity. "Ochre dams" suddenly became popular, and, dustry all this has been forgotten and linseed oil is as a sequel, the barns over a wide area were "primed more and more coming to be regarded, like petroleum, with ochre," to the benefit of the painting craft, who rather as a crude material than as a completed product. Dr. J. S. Long has recently predicted this as an inevitlater got the job of "burning o f f and repainting. At about the same time, it was realized that not only able development, and the present availability of somuch of the hematite of the region was available for called "special oils" with widely differingqualities verigood red paint, but that many of the clays and shales fies his prediction. Dr. Long has also stated that with of the region, as well as certain low-grade ores, were the double bonds available in these complex glycerides, admirably adapted to the production of excellent red "one can make almost any kind of product required," or brown paint, and by 1879 "mineral paint" plants and Dr. Schwarcman agrees with hi. During the recurrent shortages in the flax crop, other were scattered all over the landscape. At the present time their number is greatly reduced as well as the oils attracted attention and some of them found wide variety of products. The highest grades are made from use as adulterants, with generally unfortunate conseimported ores-principally from Spain and the Persian quences. The Scientific Section of the Paint Manufacturers' Association took cognizance of this situation Gulf. From the beginning up to fifty years ago, practically and made a systematic investigation covering a wide all other colored pigments were imported; but during range of possible substitutes and adjuvants. Among the last quarter of the 19th century and since, the these was soya-bean oil, which was being imported in American industry has developed so rapidly and so moderate volume from Manchuria. It showed some efficiently that we have become an exporting rather adaptability and it was decided to introduce its culture than an importing nation. This is conspicuously true in the United States. Many varieties of the bean were of the carbon blacks, due to the abundance of the raw imported and, with the aid of the agricultural experimaterials, research, and the improvement of production ment stations, the most promising were selected. Quantities of these were imported and, again with the processes. aid of the experiment stations, were distributed to inOILS telligent farmers in those areas found adapted to the Linseed oil, because of the interest in the mother purpose. Today soya beans are an important crop country in flax culture during colonial times, has al- in certain sections of the c o u n t r y s o much so that ways been an important by-product of American agri- very recently the Illinois state legislature attempted culture. Up to the time of the Civil War small oil to enact a law requiring that all paints sold in the state mills were almost as common as flour mills in the east- should contain a high percentage of that oil. It has ern statesPennsylvania, New York, and Ohio espe- found definite uses in the industry, but the great bulk of
the production is utilized by the food and soap industries. China wood oil, or tung oil, which had been used for ages in China, was first called to the attention of American varnish manufacturers in 1896, through tentative samples sent to this country. The earlier attempts to utilize it were abortive, because of its sudden polymerization a t moderately high temperatures. The proper procedure was, however, worked out very soon and tung oil has become one of the most important raw materials of the paint, varnish, and lacquer industry, being second only to linseed oil in volume of consumption. I t would be presumptuous for me to attempt to trace for you the course of this development. You know that it has become a prime essential of your industry and that, deprived of it, much of your progress in the last three decades would be lost. That, despite the uncertainty of China, you do not face this calamity, however, I think I may assure you. America is today producing tung oil in commercial quantities and in due time will produce enough a t least to counterbalance any irregularity on the part of China. Dr. David Fairchild, plant explorer of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, having already demonstrated the possibility of growing the tung tree in this country, was invited to address the Paint and Varnish Manufacturers' Associations in 1912, and the Educational Bureau issued a bulletin on the subject. Dr. Henry A. Gardner was authorized to make experimental plantings in various sections of the country. After several years a committee was appointed to make a survey and report. The report was presented to the two Associations in 1923, and immediately following this report the American Tung Oil Corporation was formed and capitalized by subscription from the convention floor. Twelve hundred acres of suitable land were purchased for demonstration purposes, cleared, and planted a t Gainesville, Florida, and one of the incorporators, an important member of the industry, to insure his own future supply, purchased and planted an additional twelve hundred acres, and has since erected a t Gainesville the first tung-oil mill on the American continent. Cultivation has since spread through the Gulf states and though most of this acreage is not yet producing, American-grown tung oil is already an article of commerce, and from now on the future is bright. Perilla oil, because of its high iodine number and its superiority in the final stages of varnish making, deserves mention. When available, it is valued by many knowing technologists. Attempts were also made by the Educational Bureau to introduce the seed into American agriculture. That was easy, but no successful method of harvesting the small and easily shattered seeds was found available. That is one instance where the Oriental coolie beat Yankee ingenuity. Fish oils &-the "black sheep" of the older industry-have been introduced into the best paint society by the intelligent work of the chemists. Menhaden oil was the only one among many possibilities that was
originally used, and in its crude form it had not much to recommend it. Systematic research, however, developed other sources and better processing procedures so that the modem "fish oils" find many important large-scale uses. LACQUER AND "SYNTHETICS"
We are still in the midst of the revolution started only a few years ago by the introduction of "low-viscosity cotton" followed almost overnight by the production of lacquer. It was a real revolution. One prominent manufacturer who had for many years enjoyed a large and comfortable business with furniture manufacturers has told me that on a certain spring day, in one city, he lost over a million dollars in contracts where lacquer had been substituted for varnish. He is himself today an important lacquer manufacturer. In fact, almost every paint or varnish manufacturer is also a potential "lacquer manufacturer," since he can buy the so-called "lacquer base" with which all he has to do is "mix and serve." Patent litigation was inevitable, bemuse of the vast financial interests involved, and, despite two conflicting decisions in the lower courts, the end is not yet. "We don't know where we're going, but we're on our way."* . And the solvents. They flutter down on the industry from day to day as fast as the leaves in Vallambrosa. Modem synthetic chemistry has worked miracles in the last few years; not, it is true, turning water into wine, but turning common thimgs like petroleum, coal, and natural gas into alcohols hitherto known only as laboratory curiosities or chemical possibilities; making varnish resins out of such improbable things as phenol and formaldehyde or glycerin and phthallic acid. Gardner, in his recent circular, lists and catalogs the properties of 130 solvents and diluents, 157 resins, and 29 plasticizers; and the list was out of date almost before i t was off the press. Looking forward in this industry of ours we envision a new heaven and a new earth. The premature competitive production of brushing lacquers and synthetic varnish paints did not close a chapter; their temporary failure merely necessitated the rewriting of the preface. The technologist is even now a t work on both problems, and who ever knew a real technologist to fail? VARNISH
The first American oil varnish, so far as can be ascertained, was made by Franklin Houghton and David McClure, during the year 1820, in the "Village Smithy," a t Cambridge, Mass., immortalized by Longfellow's poem. They and their compatriots, for more than a century thereafter, "cooked" varnish in small portable copper kettles using liaseed oil, the traditional "driers" (many of which have since been discarded as useless), African copal gums, and turpentine. They all obtained their knowledge, by hook or crook, from 'Since this paragraph was written these suits have been settled by mutual agreement.--6. B. H.
English practiceand, be it said, the small one-man kettle still prevails among English and continental makers. I t was not a science but a carefully guarded "black art," and the chemist played no part therein. Formulas were guarded as it were with shot-guns in the traditional manner of a college fraternity "guarding an empty tin can." "Recipes"-there were no "formulas" in those d a y s w e r e stolen, bought, and sold as articles of clandestine commerce, and ingredients were designated by numbers, to which only the professional varnish-maker held the key; and the slightest show of curiosity as to ingredients insured peremptory discharge. During the 19th century competition increased and some of the more enterprising learned the use of rosin ("to start the melt") and benzine ("to meet ruinous prices"). The introduction of kauri gum, from New Zealand, came very opportunely at about the time when the better grades of African gums were becoming "skeerce and high-though one old varnish-maker of the day assured me that "we do not have an ounce of kauri or other soft gums in our plant." Then the synthetic resins arrived, precipitating another revolution in this industry; but the varnish chemist had, in the meanwhile, been learning something more than routine analysis and rule-of-thumb rnatching of samples, and the technical men of the resin manufacturers "knew their stuff" and could teach as well as sell; so the revolution proceeded without the customary wreckage. One interesting consequence of the introduction of China wood oil was the fact that it elevated rosin to the rank of a legitimate varnish gum; while an aftermath of the synthetic gum conquest was the definite elimination of the traditional "varnish cookern-he must either give place to the "scientific guy" or relearn his business. The successful varnish-maker of today must forget his goose feathers, spitting in the kettle, and pill-rolling-in short he must know his technology and his technic from the ground up and "every day he must live and learn something." Today, more than ever before, the varnish-maker must know how to "make the punishment fit the crime" and with innumerable synthetics, solvents, and special oils at his disposal, he can do it, if he knows how, far better than it was ever done before. Probably after the research men have run the entire gamut of possible condensations and side-chains, natural selection will get in its work and l i e will be simpler. Now how and where did all this technical complication start? The older paint and varnish chemists did not start it. They were part of an old industry with established rules of procedure. It was, as always, the younger men, breathing the new air of scientific freedom, knowing in their hearts that nothing is settled while life endures.
bright young chemists and shortly thereafter placed R. E. Coleman in charge. Coleman promptly turned the entire outfit to research work, and his chart of "The Physical Properties of Paint Materials" was one of the earliest results of a study of the innumerable basic facts underlying the entire subject. Several years earlier Dr. E. F. Ladd, of North Dakota, had won his suit over the state paint law, and not long thereafter, the first paint test fence was erected on the Agricultural College Grounds at Fargo, with funds provided by the Educational Bureau of the Paint Manufacturers' Association of the U. S., and in due course that same organization provided the funds for installing a plant and a paint laboratory in the institution. This, I believe, was the first school of paint technology in America, and for many years thereafter it continued to furnish well-trained technical men to the industry. Many of them today hold high rank therein and the majority of these are serviceable members of this Section. Among the larger concerns there was, necessarily, continuous experimentation and research, but they kept what they learned under their own hats. Probably the most far-reaching influence on the technology of the industry has been the Scientific Section of the Educational Bureau, started in 1907, just after the loss of the North Dakota suit. I t was, so far as I have been able to leam, the first organized attempt by anyone, anywhere, to render unbiased technical service to an entire industry. You are all familiar with this invaluable service under the direction of Dr. Gardner, but I wonder how many of us appreciate the stimulus it has given, by mere example, to private enterprise along similar lines and to the stimulation of interest and emulation among the teaching institutions of the country. Some of them today actually specialize in paint and varnish chemistry and technology; while there are few that do not, from time to time, contribute individual researches on special subjects connected therewith. As conspicuous examples, I cite the research on the photogenic sensibility of lithopone, contributed a decade or two ago from Cornell, and the many important contributions from Dr. Pfund, a t Johns Hopkins. Another incident which has developed great importance for our industry was the organization of the fust Paint and Varnish Production Club, in Cleveland, in 1914. John R. MacGregor was the moving spirit, and not long thereafter he prompted the organization of similar clubs in Louisville and St. Louis. The idea was taken up later by the Association, and clubs were eventually organized in six other cities, and all of them were linked together in the present Federation, in June, 1923. The Federation now embraces eighteen clubs, representing all the important paint manufacturing centers of this country and Canada. You are all familiar with the practical value to the jndustry of the seENTER RESEARCH rious cGperative work of these clubs. This, again, I believe to be unique in industrial hisEarly in the second decade of the present century the Arco Co., of Cleveland, assembled a company of tory, and it demonstrates once more the cooperative
spirit fostered by our trade associations, of which the consuming public is the beneficiary. In fact, back of this entire history lies a cooperative spirit, fostered in the two original manufacturers' =SOciations and their successor, the American Paint and Varnish Manufacturers' Association. The late Dr. C . B. Dudley was one of the earliest authorities to direct attention to the physical properties of paint, and was also the prime instigator of the American Society for Testing Materials. Through its Committee D-1, on Protective Coatings, that organization has been of inestimable service to the industry. I t was the pioneer in field testing and inspection, beginning with the extensive tests on the new Havre de Grace Bridge of the Pennsylvania Railroad. These tests were regularly inspected and annually reported on from 1906 to.1913. It also participated in several wood test fences. In 1908 it collaborated with the Educational Bureau in a series of more systematic steel-plate tests a t Atlautic City, which afforded much valuable information. Gradually this committee has formulated a long series of authoritative specifications for testing miscellaneous raw materials of the industry, and these are widely accepted. The North Dakota law rudely awakened the industry to the fact that competition, backed by ignorance and unscrupulous greed, had led them into the bog and left them floundering, and the leaders among them bravely decided to fight their way back to solid ground. That was indeed the "dawn of a better day" for the technical men of the industry. How many of you know that the first prepared paint that appeared in the American market was a "patent paint," based on the emulsifying power of sodium silicate and "lime water"? I t was patented by D. A. Averill, on July 16, 1867, and the formula is worth recording, as follows: I f i s t take two hundred pounds of the oxide of zinc in a dry state and grind it in twenty gallons of linseed oil, t o which I add a compound prepared a4 follows: Mix five pounds of the acetate of lead with ten pounds of the sulfate of zinc in a sufficient amount of water to give a specific gravity of 3' BaumC, when the salts are dissolved. I then take a sufficient quantity of the soluble silicate of soda, dissolved in water, to make three gallons having a specific gravity of 8' B a u d . I also prepare six gallons of a saturated solution of lime-water. I now take three gallons of the mixture of the acetate of lead and zinc solution with three gallons of the solution of the silicate of soda. and add six gallons of limewater and six gallons of linseed oil. These are all combined, and then compounded with the aforementioned two hundred pounds of ground zinc and oil, after which are added six gallons of benzine, and the whole compound is then thoroughly ground together, producing a white, glossy, cheap,
and durable paint, which may receive any color or tint desired by adding color matter t o it. The coloring pigment may he used in place of the aforementioned zinc when positive colors are desired. The light colors or tints may also he obtained by mixing the pigments in proper proportions with the compound when first prepared.
It was made and sold by three allied manufacturers, and was the progenitor of oceans of similar "dope," the tides of which were checked only by the paint laws of the first decade of this century, seconded by the Associations and the advent of organized technology. I should like to devote a whole chapter to the development of testing methods and devices; but there is space only to remind you that within less than two decades analytical procedure has been refined and standardized, instruments of precision for evaluating practically every physical property of raw materials and finished products have been developed, permanent locations for field testing in all climates have been equipped, and research laboratories, both public and private, have been installed in many parts of the country. In this work the Scientific Section of the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association, the U. S. Bureau of Standards, the Federation of Paint and Varnish Production Clubs, a dozen or more of the leading colleges and universities, the Forest Products Laboratory, the large pigment manufacturing companies, and this Division of the American Chemical Society have been conspicuously serviceable. In a large measure they have completely abrogated the rule-ofthumb and trial-and-error. Science recognizes no race, creed, or class, and i t is astonishing what a lot of scientists working cooperatively for the common good can accomplish in a short space of time. In assigning to me the task of picturing for you "A Century of Progress in the Paint Industryu-in forty minutes-your Committee has greatly overestimated my ability-the "forty days and forty nights" of the Deluee would hardlv have sufficed: but I have sternlv repressed my eagerness to give you the whole picture. The future belongs to you and your class. It is a socially important industry you serve and direct. Even though we have come a long way from the "Boston Stone" and the mysterious traditional "recipe," the whole unbounded universe of scientific possibilities lies before you. A wide door was unlocked the other day when the indivisible atom was resolved into a solar system of particles of energy, which you can displace and reanange a t your will, if you know how.
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"Men, my brothers, men the. workers, ever seekina something new; That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do."
