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AMERICAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES The Bakelite Corporation H E Bakelite Corporation was formed for the beginnings of Condensite and Redin 1922, when the General Bakelite manol-the Condensite Company organized, Company, the Condensite Company with Kirk Brown as president, to exploit the of America, and the Redmanol Chemical inventions of Aylsworth, and the Redmanol Company to exploit the inventions of RedProducts Company decided to combine their man and his two associates, A. J. Weith and interests. Chemically speaking, it had its F. P. Brock, who early joined him in the origin in the researches on the phenol-aldework. hyde reaction conducted between 1905 and 1909 by L. H. Baekeland. The story of Meanwhile Doctor Baekeland organized the General Bakelite Company, and cast this brilliant work is familiar to every student of chemistry. As in his earlier work about for a suitable location to begin manufacture of Bakelite in a large way. A t leading to the production of gas-light photoPerth Amboy, N. J., was the Roessler & graphic papers, Baekeland displayed his rare Hasslacher Chemical Company who manugift for picking the winner. In photography factured formaldehyde, one of the imporhe pinned his faith to the sluggish silver tant raw materials of Bakelite. From this chloride emulsion prepared without the company a building was leased in 1910 usual ripening or even washing; in phenol and manufacture of Bakelite transferred resins he chose the insoluble, i n f u s i b l e , from Yonkers to Perth Amboy. To Perth porous mass of Kleeberg studiously avoided Amboy with t h e new i n d u s t r y w e n t by previous workers; with what industrial Nathaniel Thurlow, who had been associated success in each case two trade-marked names L.H. Baekeland, President and Founder with Doctor Baekeland almost from the f i s t of world-wide significance bear witness“Velox” and “Bakelite.” Seldom has it of his researches. L. M. Rossi was in charge been the lot of one man to revolutionize two such important in- of formaldehyde manufacture for the Roessler & Hasslacher Chemidustries. cal Company, and he soon gave much of his time, and later his At the February, 1909, meeting of the New York Section of the full time, to the new industry. Hylton Swan, who had been AMERICANCHEMICALSOCIETY,Doctor Baekeland announced with the industry from its beginning, was sales engineer. his discoveries which gave to the world new and superior plastic In 1913 the General Bakelite Company, having purchased materials, the phenol-aldehyde resinous condensation products. an adjacent site, erected a three-story reenforced-concrete buildHe had previously applied for patents on his inventions and a ing and moved into it. This building was increased to five trade-mark on “Bakelite,” the name proposed by his patent stories and its length doubled in 1917, when the leased building was abandoned. attorney, C. P. Townsend, for the new synthetic products. The announcement was everywhere received with enthusiastic In 1914, the Condensite Company, which in 1910 had begun operations in Edison’s plant a t Glen Ridge, N. J., moved into interest. J. W. Aylsworth, of East Orange, N . J., chemical consultant for Thomas Edison and, as such, interested in a new quarters in the neighboring town of Bloomfield. superior material for phonograph records, turned his attention In 1913, preliminary work a t the University of Kansas having to the phenol-formaldehyde reaction as a promising source of been completed, Redman, Weith, and Brock moved to the Chicaao of S. Karpen Brothers and began development such material. - plant Out in Chicago Adolph Karpen, of S. Karpen Brothers, of their processes. makers of fine furniture, D o c t o r Baekeland’s attracted by the popular first customer was s c i e n c e w r i t i n g s of Edward Weston. one of Robert Kennedy Dunthe e a r l i e s t and most can, became interested successful pioneers in the in having a r e s e a r c h electrical industry. fellowship e s t a blis h e d Doctor Weston molded, under D u n c a n a t the from Bakelite, bushings University of K a n s a s t h e s i z e of m u s t a r d looking to the producseeds for his now celetion of a superior varbrated electric measurnish for furniture. Also ing i n s t r u m e n t s . L. V. Redman, just out Though the tonnage was of the U n i v e r s i t y of s m a l l , the encourageToronto, who had been ment was great. Soon selected for the fellowthe d e m a n d b y t h e ship, became impressed rapidly growing electriwith the possibilities of cal industry became genthe phenolic resins for eral and insistent. This such use. industry was in great Thus are a c c o u n t e d need of dependable inThe First Bakelite Plant
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sulating material, one which not only had good electrical properties, but which could stand abuse. Charles F. Kettering had recently brought out his new starting, lighting, and ignition system for the automobile, to the successful operation of which the new insulating material was practically a necessity. It withstood the heat of the engine and its oil as well. Added to its enduring character was the ease with which it could be molded into ac-
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Chemical Products Company was successfully prosecuted by the General Bakelite Company. ATegotiations which followed brought about, in 1922, consolidation of the three companies. The after-war supply of phenol nearing exhaustion and an increased tariff threatening a radical rise in prices, the corporation erected a t Painesville, near Cleveland, Ohio, a plant for the synthesis of its full requirement of this important raw material. Moreover, pressure of business required re-occupancy, in 1921, of the original factory building, which had been abandoned in 1917. The corporation’s New York office, which was first opened a t 8 West Fortieth Street, was moved, in 1923, to its present location, 247 Park Avenue. About this time and later, affiliations were established in several foreign countries. For a time after the consolidation manufacture of Bakelite was continued a t all three of the original plants-at Perth Amboy, Bloomfield, and Chicago. I n 1924 a building for research was erected a t the Bloomfield plant, and centralization of research and development at Bloomfield was begun. Since then the whole plant has been taken over and buildings have been added as required. The latest and largest single addition is a threestory building of brick and concrete, 50 by 150 feet, erected in 1930. Not only was the Bakelite Corporation founded on research, but the control of its policies has remained largely in the hands of men of scientific training and achievement. Doctor Baekeland, its president, still maintains active leadership. Associated The Perth Amboy Plant with him are Adolph Karpen, vice president; George Baekeland, vice president and secretary; L. M. Rossi, vice president curately dimensioned, replaceable parts. The labor-saving ef- and director of manufacture; L. V. Redman, vice president fected, particularly when metal inserts were required, made the and director of research and development; and C. Lansing Hays, treasurer. Hylton Swan is now manager of service and sales. cost of the material a matter of secondary importance. Then came the war with its increased demand for the new Sanford Brown, associated from the early days of the Condensite Company with his father, Kirk Brown, now retired, is presimaterial-also its demand for phenol. All the companies dent of the Halowax Corporation, a subsidiary having its origin had large supplies of this important raw material, the price of which rose rapidly from eight cents to a maximum of a dollar in the early researches of J. W. Aylsworth on the chlorination of naphthalene. Aylsworth, who was a man of rare ability, and eighty-eight cents a pound. But the production of phenolic condensation products had become an essential industry. The died in 1916, stili tireless in research and invention. A. J. phenol was retained and did service in the ignition systems Weith, early associate of Redman, is in charge of development a t Bloomfield. F. P. Brock, his other associate of the days a t of trucks and airplanes, and even in airplane propellers, with the Vniversity of Kansas, is manager of the Chicago plant. little increase in the price of the condensation products made from C. P. Townsend, the man it. The t h r e e c o m who christened “Bakepanies preferred to get l i t e, ’ ’ and incidentally along with small profits the inventor of the elecand thus encourage the trolytic cell that bears growing d e m a n d for his name, was an early t h e i r p r o d u c t s , now a s s o c i a t e of D o c t o r needed in war as well Baekeland. He has reas in peace. The supply m a i n e d t h r o u g h the of pre-war phenol havyears as technical coning become exhausted, sultant and consultant cresol, with its slower in patent matters. reacting resins, had t o In every division of be substituted. Formthe corporation the great a l d e h y d e also became majority of those in posiscarce through increased t i o n s of responsibility demand, which added to are men of s c i e n t i f i c the difficulties of the intraining. The corporadustry. Its price fluction a t present employs tuated from a pre-war sixty-three chemists and Bakelite Research and Development Plant a t Bloomfield, N. J . ten cents a pound, or physicists in scientific View shows aliout 40 per cent of plant under, to eighty cents work. Of these, fortya uound. After t h e war came radio and its rapid development, replacing war de- four are a t Bloomfield, with a hundred twenty-three other workers engaged- in research and development. mand. It is t o research that the industry must look for its future Before the war a bill of complaint filed by the General Bakegrowth, just as it was in research that it had its origin. The lite Company against the Condensite Company, charging patent infringement, led to the licensing of Condensite under Bakelite present, relatively large research organization is still young, but it has already justified its existence. The outlook is for patents. After the war suit against a customer of the Redmanol
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New Bakelite Manufacturing Plant, a t Bound Brook, N. J., Now in Process of Erection
increased justification. One of the latest, and by no means least, of its achievements is the development of a series of new and superior synthetic varnish resins. In fact, it begins to look as if another important industry, that of paints and varnishes, were about to be revolutionized-as if a dream of twenty years ago were t o come true. As for the synthetic resin industry, only a beginning would appear to have been made. I t s products are finding increasing opportunity for service in mechanical and structural applica-
tion, the possible extension of which seems almost unlimited. As a next step in meeting the growing demand for synthetic resin products, the Bakelite Corporation is now erecting a t Bound Brook, N. J., a central plant which will provide considerably enlarged manufacturing facilities and will have plenty of room for future expansion.
L. V. REDMAN A . V. H. MORY
BOOK REVIEWS Carburanti e carburazione. BY UMBERTO RE AND E. VARETON. 516 pages. 316 illustrations. Ulrico Hoepli, Milan, xvi 1931. Price, 50 lire.
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According to the authors, this book is intended t o acquaint automotive engineers with the physical and chemical characteristics of the materials which are or may be used as motor fuels, while giving the chemists an outline of the workings of combustion motors. The book is divided into twenty chapters. The first chapters deal with the mechanism and operation of motors, carburetion, and compressors and superfuelizers. Then follow chapters on the mechanism of combustion, knocking and antiknock materials, and gasoline substitutes. Lubricating systems, lubricant dilution, and carbon deposition are also discussed. A final chapter deals with carburetion using natural gas, hydrogen, cracked gases, and Blau gas. American practice is given extensive consideration and the results of numerous workers in the various fields are noted, although references t o the original literature might well be more frequent. Volume 11, dealing with the preparation and evaluation of various fuels, is to follow.-A. W. CONTIERI
and methods to determine the amount and rate of sedimentation; methods of decantation, plasticity, and sifting; and methods of separation of larger particles from fine material by air. The selection of proper methods is discussed and emphasized, together with the necessary preparation of the materials to be analyzed. Practical hints are supplied for the exercise of the usual methods employed, and finally the methods of calculating results and the presentation in graphical forms are discussed and illustrated. The methods described are of particular interest to soil chemists and soil physicists, and are of use in ceramics, analyses of building and road materials, mining, dyestuffs, and paper and rubber, where in many instances the production could be guided by one or more of the methods given. The book is profusely illustrated and the set of analyses, brought together in a handy form, is undoubtedLy an important contribution.-WILLEM RUDOLFS
Anleitung zur Herstellung von Ultragiften. BY HUGOSTOLTZENBERG. 70 pages. 34 illustrations. Norwi-Druck, Hamburg, Germany, 1930. Price, 20 marks. The author uses the appropriate name “Ultragifte” to designate those extremely poisonous substances which have become known throughout the world by reason of their use in the World War as war gases or chemical warfare agents. Many of them are Die Schlamnanalyse. BY HERMANNGESSNER. Band X, finding ever widening application for peacetime uses and the Kolloidforschung in Einzeldarstellungen, founded by RICHARD term “ultra-poisons” removes from them the opprobrium of their wartime origin. ZSIGMONDY.244 pages. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft The book describes in an unusually clear and concise manner m. b. H., Leipzig, 1031. Price, bound, 18 marks; paper, the methods for the laboratory preparation of ultra-poisons. 16.50 marks. The description includes the equations involved, lists of equipment required, photographs of laboratory set-up, details of The methods of analyses described in this volume are all based upon the general principle that small particles fall through water manipulation, yields for each step of the process, properties of the product, precautions to be observed, and the treatment to with a constant velocity, and mathematical calculations and formulas are collected from different sources, mostly from soil be used in case of injury by the chemicals. Several different methods of preparation are given for a number of the substances chemists and soil physicists, together with experimental data to described. show that the velocity of particles of a definite size (soil) falling The ultra-poisons are classified into eye irritants or lacrimators, through water is constant. The effect of coagulation, together nose irritants, respiratory poisons, blistering agents or vesicants, with the theory of floc formation, is discussed. The bulk of the work is concerned with a description of meth- and blood and nerve poisons. These are arranged in the asods to determine the size of particles; processes of sedimentation; cending order of the danger attending their preparation and
