250
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING
American
Contemporaries
Peter Fireman R. FIREMAN h a s been all his life a searcher of knowledge a n d truth. His path, until middle age, was tortuous and rough. Born and raised to university entrance in one country, he emigrated t o another, where he became farmer and naturalized citizen, then went to other lands t o resume his scientific studies, and later returned t o his adopted country and s t a r t e d on a career of teaching, only to give it u p after eight to ten years and devote himself to the field of industrial chemistry thereafter. Peter Fireman w a s born in t h e small town of Lipovetz, near Odessa, in t h e province of Kiev, Russia, April 4, 1863, t h e son of a grain merchant. He received his early education in a classical gymnasium in Odessa, o n t h e Black Sea. At t h e age of eighteen he entered t h e Odessa University b u t , after a s t a y of a few m o n t h s , he left for t h e United States. In this country, together with about sixty more young people, including students and skilled craftsmen, he founded in 1S83 a Utopian Agricultural Community in Douglas County, Oregon, for their own improvement a n d t h e reformation of mankind. After half a dozen strenuous years, rich in h u m a n experience, the idealistic venture was liquidated. D r . Fireman decided t o resume his interrupted scientific studies, and ret u r n e d t o Europe for that purpose. Four years were spent a t t h e Universities of Kônigsberg, under Lossen, at Zurich, u n d e r Merz, a n d a t the Swiss Polytechnieum a t Zurich, under Hantsch. He received his P h . D . degree from t h e University of Berne in 1893, his thesis being ''Zur Kenntnis einiger Alpha-Beta-Diphenylindole. , , H e then returned to his adopted land and obtained a position in t h e Department of Chemistry a t t h e old Columbian, now George Washington University, Washington, D . C. A t t h a t school, Dr. Fireman, who loved teaching as m u c h as learning, t a u g h t and studied, appreciating the old adage " b y teaching we learn." He remained nearly eight years a s instructor in all branches of chemistry, as was t h e practice in those days, particularly in not too w e a l t h y universities. I n 1901, he was called t o occupy t h e chair of chemistry at t h e Missouri School of Mines a t Rolla, M o . After a year in the latter school, Dr. F i r e m a n ' s teaching career was terminated. Thereupon, he entered the field of industrial chemistry. Together with a former pupil of his, he founded a research
D
CHEMISTRY
laboratory a t Alexandria, Va. A process for the manufacture of precipitated black oxide of iron was soon perfected. This led to t h e formation of t h e Magnetic Pigment Co., which started its operations in Alexandria, Va., t h e n moved t o Baltimore, and lastly, in 1914, t o Trenton, N. J . In developing t h e Magnetic Pigment Co.'s processes in Trenton, he had t h e very valuable cooperation of his wife, Frances M. Fireman, who, during those long strenuous years, became a real chemist while working with h i m . H a v i n g begun with t h e manufacture of one pigment, t h e company in T r e n t o n widened its activities a n d gradually d e veloped r w h a t m a y be termed a whole new industr3 , which embraced t h e production of a large number of colors, all of them iron oxide pigments. I t w a s a revelation t o find how great a v a r i e t y of colors could b e produced from ferrous iron salts b y precipitation with a n alkali or alkali earth, and oxidation of t h e unstable precipitate by a current of air. H e discovered t h a t there was a n almost limitless number of shades a n d colors obtainable b y this process. T h e t a s k w a s t o control t h e operations so as t o secure s t a n d a r d shades. The most i m p o r t a n t colors, from an industrial point of view, h a v e proved to b e blacks, reds, yellows, a n d browns. T h e rotogravure browns, which are so much in vogue a t present, are a m o n g t h e m . This development of t h e new iron oxide industry involved his t a k i n g o u t a considerable n u m b e r of p a t e n t s , both in t h i s country a n d abroad. I t m a y be noted t h a t t h e selection of Trenton for t h e final location of this industry was n o t accidental. I n t h a t city is sit-uated t h e J o h n A. Roebling Wire a n d Cable plant, which is unique in this c o u n t r y in \ising hydrochloric acid for cleaning t h e wire, with t h e result t h a t a ferrous chloride waste liquor is obtained. Ferrous chloride lends itself t o t h e production of a n incomparably larger variety of colors t h a n ferrous sulfate. -As t h e business grew, there was not a sufficiency of t h e waste liquors, so D r . Fireman developed a n electrolytic process for the production simultaneously of ferrous chloride a n d sodium hydroxide b y electrolyzing sodium chloride a n d using metallic iron as a soluble anode. I t took many years of p a t i e n t work before t h e successful production of sodium hydroxide and ferrous chloride i n t h e same cell, without their reacting upon each other, was achieved. Besides manufacturing iron oxide pigments b y his own processes, of which t h e first step invariably is t h e precipitation of ferrous hydroxide, he contributed m u c h toward t h e development of a process i n vented b y Penniman a n d Zoph for t h e manufacture of yellow iron oxides. T h i s consists in t h e conversion of iron scrap into yellow pigment b y feeding t h e scrap into a t a n k containing ferrous sulfate a n d blowing air t h r o u g h t h e whole. An interesting point about t h e new iron oxide industry is t h a t n o t only h a s it attained large proportions in this country, b u t it enjoys a considerable d e m a n d abroad. I n 1929, Dr. Fireman acquired t h e Lambertville Rubber C o . of Lambertville, N- J.; near b y he has a fine estate. H a v i n g imbibed in Russia, his m o t h e r country, tÏÏe Russian s t u d e n t spirit of half α c e n t u r y ago, h e has always been inter ested in economics, sociology, a n d philoso
VOL·. 13. NO. 11
phy. While in Switzerland, he published a number of papers on economics. In 1931, he g a v e t o t h e press a book i n verse, entitled " C h r i s t i a n i t y ; a T a l e a n d M o r a l . " There -will soon be r e a d y for publication t w o books which have engaged a great deal of his leisure t i m e for the l a s t t w e n t y years. T h e o n e bears t h e t i t l e , ''Sound T h i n k i n g , " a n d t h e other, " T h e Beginnings of Philosophy a n d Science i n Greece. " During t h e academic period of his life, he diligently pursued researches in o r ganic, inorganic, and physical c h e m i s t r y , a n d published a n u m b e r of papers on t h e results obtained. He is a n able scholar and linguist, speaking a n d writing four languages w i t h equal facility. Dr. Fireman's out-of-door h o b b y is horseback riding. Daily, rain o r shine, sleet o r snow, hot or cold, h e m a y be seen riding a spirited horse, with M r s . F i r e m a n , on the intriguing roads of t h e i r picturesque estate on G o a t Hill, along t h e D e l a w a r e , near L a m b e r t v i l l e , N . J. So, t o use h i s own words, t h e y " w o r k together a n d p l a y together." Dr. F i r e m a n w a s president of t h e W a s h ington Section of t h e A M E R I C A N C H E M I C A L
SOCIETY. H e is a, member of t h e Cosmos Club of Washington, D. C , a n d T h e Chemists' C l u b of New York. G E O R G E C. L E W I S
American. Potash Institute· I n c .
A potash salts announce the tion of the American P o t a s h MERICAN P R O D U C E R S a n d
importers of
organiza Institute, Inc., which will b e established in W a s h i n g ton, D . C , a t an early date. In view of t h e growing importance of potash in t h e agriculture of N o r t h America a n d i n order to lend assistance in t h i s N a t i o n ' s fertilizer research program, t h e institute h a s been organized to carry o n scientific a n d agricultural investigations t o promote t h e efficient and profitable u s e of potash in crop production. It is recog nized t h a t a n increasing a n d effective u s e of fertilizers, including potash, can o n l y b e based on facts resulting from scientific work. It will be the policy of t h e institute t o cooperate, a s o p p o r t u n i t y affords, w i t h state a n d federal institutions in carrying on research and e x p e r i m e n t a l work in t h e United States, C a n a d a , a n d C u b a a n d with t h e agricultural work sponsored b y t h e N a t i o n a l Fertilizer Association a n d other scientific a n d trade organizations. J. W . T u r r e n t i n e , for j^ears past i n charge of potash researches of t h e B u r e a u of Chemistry and Soils, U. S. D e p a r t m e n t of Agriculture, h a s been a p p o i n t e d presi dent. Dr. T u r r e n t i n e has long been well known in America a n d E u r o p e for h i s numerous researches, writings, and a d dresses on p o t a s h a n d other fertilizer subjects a n d his activities in connection with t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of t h e American potash industry. He has been connected with t h e U. S. D e p a r t m e n t of Agriculture since 1911, when the initial p o t a s h survey of the United States w a s inaugurated. H e is the a u t h o r of t h e book, * ' P o t a s h — A R e view, Estimate, and Forecast," and for several years has written t h e potash c h a p ter for "Mineral I n d u s t r y . " G. J . Callister, director of t h e Agricul tural a n d Scientific Bureau, N. V . P o t a s h E x p o r t M y . , I n c . , a n d for 24 years con nected with the educational work of t h e potash industry, will b e vice president, a n d secretary. It is contemplated that branch offices of t h e institute will be established a t Atlanta, G a . , Lafayette, I n d . , S a n J o s e , Calif., and Hamilton, Ontario.
