April, 1930
I S D US TRIAL .4XD EAWXEERIiYG CH E.111 ST R Y
305
AMERICAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES Laclede-Christy Clay Products Company
T
HE Laclede-Christy Company had its inception in 1844,
as the clays had been, and their action on the burned clays was with the founding of the Laclede Fire Brick Manufacturing recorded. And what has been the result? Old rule-of-thumb processes Company in St. Louis by James Green. In 1857 the have been discarded and more accurate ones substituted. Clay Christy Fire Clay Company was founded in the same city. Both concerns were successful from the start, and it seemed very fitting mixtures have been standardized and the uniformity of the finished products thus made certain. Special refractories t o t h a t they consolidate, which event took place in 19Oi, the name of the new firm being the Laclede-Christy Clay Products Com- meet special furnace conditions have been produced, tested, and proved. At every paw. step chance has The merger was g i v e n way to ceri n d e e d a big stept a i n t y . This reping stone in sucsearch includes cess, for t h e L a work in the realms c l e d e - Christy deof geology, physics, v e l o p m e n t from and chemistry. t h a t time on was a I n t h i s conneccontinuous m a r c h tion a few w o r d s of progress, u n t i l about Seger cones now i t is one of the may be interesting. l a r g e s t industries T h e s e little pyraof its kind in the mids of m i n e r a l world. composition soften Several other imand deform w h e n portant mile-posts subjected to various mark this growth. temperatures. One was t h e acWhen a s e r i e s of quisition in 190; of t h e s e cones is arthe Jamiesonranged in the order French Fire C l a y of their fusibility, C o m p a n y a t Lathey make a sort of clede Junction, Mo. I n 1917 the Beaver p y r o m e t r i c scale. \ - a l l e y Pot ComAs both clays and pany, of Rochester, c o n e s are affected Pa., long known in by heat in the same the glass industry, m a n n e r , when One of the Laclede-Christy Clay Products Company Plants, S t . Louis, Mo. was acquired. heated together the A very considermelting of the cones able factor in the success of Laclede-Christy refractories has forms the best known method of determining the vitrification of been its research department. About twenty-five years ago a the clay. thoroughly equipped ceramic laboratory was installed, under T h e founder of the Laclede-Christy Company, James Green, the charge of experienced ceramists. Clays were analyzed guided its destinies until his death in 1914. I n his later years and classified. Their texture and other physical characteristics he was chairman of the hoard. His son, John Leigh Green, folwere noted. The action of these clays when fired was studied lowing his graduation from Princeton and a few apprentice years and records were made. Then the clays were combined in in the iron and the clay industries, had become president, the various ways and proportions, and their effects upon each position he occupies today. Werner J. Westphalen is vice presiother when wet, when drying, and when burning, were care- dent and general manager and J. H. NcKelvey is vice president fully noted and valuable conclusions drawn. The condirions in charge of sales. Both of these men have been with Lacledeunder which the products made from fire clay are used were also Christy over a quarter of a century. studied. Furnace gases and slags were analyzed as carefully J. H . RICKELVEY
Thyrite-Insulator and Conductor-The discovery of a molded compound t h a t will preient the flow of electricity a t low roltages and allow it t o pass a t high potentials was reported t o the American Institute of Electrical Engineers by K. B. McEachron, of the General Electric Company. A lightning arrester of this new material, known a s thyrite, will keep the current on the line in normal times, b u t when lightning strikes the electricity will
escape through the same arrester. Samples of the substance, which includes silicon carbide, have a resistance of 50,000 ohms a t 100 \-olts and less than 0.5 ohm a t 10,000 volts. The material resembles black slate in color, and has mechanical properties similar to those of dry-process porcelain. I n manufacturing, the material is molded t o the shape required and the contact surfaces are coated with metal by the Schoop metal-spraying process.
