AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES
G
EORGE OENSLAGER is one of those rare
individuals whose achievements have been outstanding and yet, despite the heavy imprint they have made upon the rubber industry and its customers, the man, personally, is much less well known. This has been due partly to his natural modesty and because he has never shown a flare for publicity. Whoever meets him for the first time, will see a tall (6 feet 2 inches) slender, erect individual, with clear eyes which look directly at you. With hair considerably darker than one would expect, he seems younger than his 67 years by a good 10. He shows an abundant nervous energy by the rapidity with which he walks, rather than strides, and because of a staccato quickness of speech. He is more apt to learn from the person with whom he is talking than to give out information himself. This trait springs from no desire for secrecy but because of his habit of asking questions to gain knowledge. Thus, one is impressed by an inquiring mind, which he has always possessed and which is, perhaps, responsible for the alertness and thoroughness with which he attacked the accelerator problem back in 1906. It was no small achievement for him to arrive at two satisfactory and useful organic accelerators within less than 6 months after his investigations were started. Young men might well ponder this somewhat astonishing speed in research. He does not impress one as an athlete, and yet those who have gone with him on fishing and hunting trips have told of his endurance and an ability to come to the end of a long hard day in good physical trim. And what is always of more consequence to one's friends in camp, he maintains a comfortable reserve of good nature. He loves the out-door life. His golf is rather bad, it is true, but nevertheless consistent and always in good humor. The recreation which he prefers is fishing in the Canadian wilds. I never heard him brag about big fish or large numbers, but he caught them and, I am inclined to believe, threw back, alive, those which could not be used at camp. He has gone with hunting parties occasionally, but not to kill. He has told me of his experiences where he had no objection to those who desired to kill deer and moose, although his personal preference lay in taking pictures of them, in which art he excels, and in the joy of being in the sort of country where wild game live. He
George Oenslager
has said, in his quick, assertive way, "Why should I kill them? The moose like to live just as much as I do." Mention has been made of his modesty. This does not mean that he has been hesitant about presenting the results of his investigations to officials of his corporation. When any problem had been carried to conclusion, his recommendations for practical trial and use have been clear and direct. The stockholders, he felt, expect the executive to do his own part of the team's job, which includes &n understanding of research problems and the responsibility for decisions. Although he possessed dignity of bearing and an apparent aloofness of manner, young men who came to work, for the first time, in adjacent laboratory rooms, found these traits to cover a natural diffidence. They soon learned of his innate kindliness and love of his fellow men, and after real acquaintance had been established, his sound judgment and " himsical humor endeared him to them. To those who sought his counsel, he gave meticulous attention. His advice could be d e e d e d upon to be unselfish and eminently fair, both to the man and to the corporation. Mr. Oenslager was born in Harrisburg, Penna., on September 25, 1873. He went to preparatory school in Harrisburg, and then to Harvard, where he graduated, with an A.B. degree, in 1894. It was during those years at Harvard that his love for chemistry became fixed, and he decided to become a chemist by profession. Following his graduation, he remained at Cambridge as an instructor in organic chemistry and a graduate student for two years, earning his master's degree.
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and then went to Rumford, Maine,[for the Warren Brothers Paper Co. Endowed by nature with a high regard for accuracy and thoroughness, he became, during his graduate work at Harvard, an appreciative student under Theodore W. Richards, from whom he gained a high respect for carefully conducted experiments and use of analytical methods in the solution of chemical problems. So he came to believe that only by deadly accuracy in analysis could he be certain of his results and, from then on, he never liked to trust the analytical portion of an important investigation to someone else. Mr. Oenslager, being of a sociable disposition, felt that with all due respect to the pulp and paper industry, he was not quite content to live a life of a pioneer at the edge of the forest, so he followed the cull of the large centers. The result was that he entered the laboratory of the Diamond Rubber Co., at Akron, Ohio, as a chemist, in May, 1905. He had had no previous experience in rubber, and in one of the early discussions with his chief the latter suggested that he study a means by which the cheap wild rubbers could be made to vulcanise as rapidly as those of higher grade, and to give as good a product. This was in the early part of 1906. His work was done during the days of secrecy. There were but few chemists in the rubber industry. Companies were jealous and supicious of each other. The grapevine channel of information was a well-traveled pathway. Thus, his efforts were highly individual. He was allowed no assistant, and was obliged to work alone, step by step, with no conferences except with his immediate superior. Despite these handicaps, his energy and grasp of the problem were so good that» within six months, he found two organic compounds wh.ch shortened the time of vulcanisation and which improved the quality of cheap wild rubbers. After a year, his studies had included hundreds. For these achievements, he was awarded the Perkin Medal in 1933. If Goody tsar's discovery of sulfur vulcanisation may be called the first major step in the development of the rubber industry, then George Oenslager's discovery of organic accelerators was truly the second. Another of his activities, for which he was not the original source, was the development of carbon black in the treads of automobile tires and other surfaces subjected to wear. More than any other one
NEWS E DΙΤΙΟΝ
536 man, he should be credited with the suc cessful application of carbon black in the treads of automobile tires. Then, too, much of the early development in the use of stearic acid was performed by Oenslager. He remained active in the B. F. Good rich Co., which was consolidated with the Diamond Rubber Co., up to tht> time of his retirement. As might be expected, a man of his characteristics has many interests, and a wide grasp of them. His primary one, quite naturally, is rubber technology. He has always been a voluminous reader of periodical literature and is a wellknown figure at meetings of scientific societies. He has a wonderful memory, and can cite names and dates of scientific literature for years back. His second chief interest has been in business. George Oenslager is no mere routine chemist. He grasps corporation affairs, and can read a balance sheet and understand it as well as the majority of executives. As a member of the staff of a large corporation he, in larger measure probably than shown by the majority of other technical men, felt a personal loyalty to it. This was no blind sentimental matter with him, but was one of prin ciple and of cold dollars and cents. His personal success, so he has said, must be dependent upon that of the corporation. Therefore his work must be as good as he can make it. He was not personally am bitious for preferment, but was keenly so that the investigations of the labora tory might improve profits and the quality of products. Never did he attempt to advance himself or his id^as at the expense of his associates or subordinates. He knew the value of others and was ever quick to give credit where it was due. He became a member of the AMKRICVN CHEMICAL SOCIETY in 1910;
American
Institute of Chemical Engineers in 1916; a Fellow of the Institution of the Rubber Industry of Great Britain in 1936. He was awarded the degree of doctor of sci ence by the University of Akron in 1939. He has been a moderately active member of the societies and is a veteran of all the campaigns for technical progress in Akrrn. He has been glad to see the change from his early days, when he was the only chemist in the Akron rubber industry, to the present situation with the large and active staffs of technically trained men. Always loyal to Harvard, he is a mem ber of the committee which annually surveys the Harvard Chemical Labora tories, and is a member of the Harvard Fund Council. He has been chairman of the Akron Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, and chairman of the
Akron Chapter of the Archaeological Insti tute of America. He loves to travel, particularly in this country and Canada, although he has been abroad and spent several years as tech nical adviser to the Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., in Japan.
He is an Kpiscopalian and has been vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Akron, for many years. He is a trustee and past president of the Akron Y. M. ( \ A. It has been mentioned that he is inter ested in photography, and is an excellent amateur photographer. He loves art for its own sake. I have been with him at chemical society meetings when, with an hour available between sessions, he took me with him to an art gallery to hunt up some special painting that he wished to see. He has been a director of the Akron Art Museum for a number of years. In a modest way, he has collected oriental art, particularly Japanese prints. During all his active years, he was one of Akron's outstanding bachelors. Al though socially agreeable and popular with the ladies, hi* heart was not stirred until just before his retirement from Goodrich. Then he fell truly in love and married Miss Ruth Aderfer, of Sharon (Center and Akron, on July 15, 1939. His wife is a graduate of Vassar. They are kindred spirits in love of art, music, and travel. They reside, when at home, in Akron. This story has attempted to picture α modest, reticent, and somewhat diffident gentleman who, when a pioneer in indus trial research, achieved results which have made a deep imprint upon the economy of this country. He was a sort of prospector in the field of accelerators. With his own tw hands he uncovered a vast potential ore body and one so large that it would have been impossible for him, alone, to have brought to the world and the markets, the knowledge of even a small percentage of the values which lay therein. Other men, stimulated by his discovery, studied and tested a large number of or ganic compositioas and applied them to thousands of rubber products. Out standing improvements in quality of rubber goods have been achieved thereby, and extensive changes in methods of manu facture. It was estimated some years ago that, even after having discounted the contributions of various other chemi cal and engineering developments, the use of organic accelerators during the past 20 years alone has saved consumers of rubber products upwards of $50,000,000 per year. WILLIAM C. GEER
Vol. 18, No. 12 A Warning in Use of Perchloric Acid I N GOING through his files, I. Schwarts, chief chemist of Bendiner & Schleeinger, Inc., Third Avenue and Tenth Street, New York, Ν. Υ., found a photo graph dated 1933 which may serve as a further warning to those who are in· clined to be careless in the proper use of perchloric acid.
In this particular case, perchloric acid was used in a potassium determination. Some unsuspected organic matter was present which should have been removed. The explosion occurred when the material in the platinum dish was being evaporated. It wrecked not only the dish as shown, but smashed the window of the hood as well. Had the worker put just a little nitric acid into the dish before heating, the ex plosion would not have occurred.
Accumulations of a Life Time AYOUNGfellow once found a $2.00 bill as he walked along the road. From that time on, he lies never lifted his eyes from the ground as he walked. In forty years he has accumulated 29,516 buttons, 54,172 pins, 7 cents in pennies, a stooped body, and a miserly disposition. He missed the sunlight, the smiles of friends, the virtue of trees, the blue of skies and all there is in life worth living for—the opportunity to serve one's fellowman and to spread happiness through the world. Moral—look up, not down—look out, not in—and lend a hand. Reprinted from Plrofrcu
Otto C. Voss, advisory superintendent of the Tank and Plate Shop at the AllisChalmers plant, West Allis, Wis., and authority on the oxyacetylene process, received the 1039 James Turner Morehead Medal of the International Acety lene Association at its 40th Annual Con vention in Milwaukee in April, in recognition of "continuous pioneering! untiring educational effort, and con structive sponsorship of oxyacetylene process applications".
