INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
August, 1927
This repair job cost less than $300 and the cost of shutting down the plant many times t h a t amount. It was surprising how quickly the plant was back t o normal operation. There was no increase in niter consumption and no reduction in yield.
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It is well t o point out the danger of such operations unless every precaution is taken t o prevent leakage of gas or acid through or around the tunnel walls. These sulfur and nitrous gases are extremely irritating, even in considerable dilution, and very dangerous if a t all concentrated.
AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Frederick W. Frerichs
I
N WRITING a n impression of Dr. Frerichs i t is difficult veloped the manufacturing methods to a high degree of efficiency, to decide whether one should speak first of his charming but devised methods of analysis t o test the purity of the product. personality, or of his wonderful skill and accuracy as a n His painstaking and thorough scientific work resulted in proexperimenter, or of his business ability, for he excels in all ducing on a commercial scale anhydrous ammonia of extraordinary purity. He also demonstrated on a commercial scale three of these qualities. Dr. Frerichs was born in Etzel, Germany, March 23, 1849. that ammonia of high purity was much more economical for the and received the excellent education in chemistry which has pro- production of artificial ice. thus proving- what has often been shown, that work of the highest scienduced so many eminent chemists. He tific refinement is commercially profitwas a leader in German student life, inable. His mechanical skill is shown in cluding the famous duels, although he the designing of test apparatus for ambore no marks of the eleven in which he monia. Here, as elsewhere, he could participated. The same skill and acmanufacture at minimum cost. curacy which characterized him as a His skill, thoroughness, and high acchemist seemed t o have been used in curacy are admirably shown in the design these duels, so t h a t his opponents carried of a soda ash plant, which he described away the evidence. He received the in one of the many admirable chemical degree of Ph.D. a t Gottingen in 1874. engineering papers which he published From 1874 t o 1879 he was an assistant in the Transactions of the American Into Professor Woehler, in charge of the stitute of Chemical Engineers. For this analytical laboratory. During the same process he made wooden models of the time he served in the army, obtaining apparatus so that his design might be the rank of lieutenant of reserves. While in Gottingen he designed various pieces accurately produced on a large scale. of laboratory apparatus, one of which His business permitted him to have several months' leisure during the winter. was the well-known Sartorius analytical A part of this time he spent in New York balance,' for which he received a gold attending grand opera, which he greatly medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposienjoyed, and part he spent in entertaintion a t St. Louis, in 1904. From 1877 ing his friends, at which he was a past t o 1879 he was associate editor of Post Zeitschrift far das Chemische Grossgewerbe, master, making a most charming host. In this he shows himself t o be the true and in these years he traveled extenFrederick W. Frerichs sively in Germany, Austria, and England, gentleman who lives t o enjoy life after being admitted to more than two huna period of technical service of a very dred factories. high order. I n 1879 Dr. Frerichs became manager of the paint and varnish The chemical engineering profession recognized his work as a factory of Herman Frenkel in Leipzig. I n 1880 he accepted chemical engineer by electing him president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He afterwards became a position with the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis. treasurer of this society and only recently resigned from this work He was soon advanced t o the position of superintendent and held this position until 1886. Here he began t o show skill as a on account of failing health. Recognition was also given him chemical engineer, not only in making improvements in chemical for his many valuable contributions t o the literature of the processes, but in directing the workmen in the plant. profession by awarding him the medal of the Institute. I n 1887 he entered into business for himself, becoming a J. c. OLSSN stockholder and director of the Herf and Frerichs Chemical Company in St. Louis. This company manufactured fine chemicals and introduced the manufacture of salicylic acid, New Books acetanilide, ammonia, and the treatment of bismuth ores on a Chemical Tests. A Manual for Chemists and Physicians. RUSSELLC . large scale. When in 1903 the manufacture of a number of these ERE. 262 pp. The Chemical Publishing Co., Easton, Pa. Price, $3.00. articles became unprofitable, the company sold out part of its Essays on the Art and Principles of Chemistry, Including the First Messel Memorial Lecture. HENRYE. ARMSTRONG. 276 pp. The Macmillan plant t o Merck & Company in New York, retaining only the Co.. New York. Price, $4.50. ammonia works. Galvanisation du Fer. HEINZBABLIE,translated b y A. SCHUBSRT. 220 Dr. Frcrichs then specialized in anhydrous ammonia, and pp. Illustrated. Dunod, Paris. Price, 58 francs 80. developed a new method for its production. He not only de- Lime and Lime Mortars. A. D. COWPBR. Special Report No. 9, Building 1
A n n . , 178. 36.5 (1875).
Research, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. H. M. Stationery Office,London. Price, Is. Od.' net.
81 pp.
