March, 1927
ILVDUSTRIAL AND EXGINEERI,VG CHEMISTRY
I n a widely cited case on a process for manufacturing car wheels, the Supreme Court said: What advantage did the defendant derive from using the complainant‘s invention over what he had in using other processes then open to the public and adequate to enable him to obtain an equally beneficial result? The fruits of that advantage are his profits * * * What was the advantage in cost, in skill required, in convenience of operation, or marketability, in bringing car wheels from the condition in which they were when taken hot fromthe molds, to a perfected state, over bringing
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them to the same state by those other processes, and thus rendering them equally fit for the same service? That advantage is the measure of the profits. Mowry v. Whitney, 14 Wall. a t 651. MARKISC “PATEh-TEn”-The courts have considered the requirements of the patented articles shall be so marked and have held that “This requirement is inapplicable t o the case of a process.” United States Mitis Co. v. Midvale Steel Co., 135 Fed. a t 112.
AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Henry E. Niese
T
HE individual, whether human or animal, must be studied
in its favorite haunts, so those wishing actually to know the American contemporary whom we have been asked t o sketch must seek him in his office a t 117 Wall Street, near the lower end of Manhattan Island. After the watchful doorkeeper has satisfied himself as to your motives, you will be taken by elevator to a n upper floor and then conducted through a labyrinth of halls and passageways until, turning abruptly up a short stairway, you emerge finally into the spacious room of an ancient building with a beautiful outlook upon East River and the heights of B r o o k l y n . If a kindly faced, elderly gentleman rises from his desk as you approach, it is a certainty t h a t you are being greeted by Henry E. Niese, the dean of American sugar refiners. Mr. Nieqe was born on February 2,1848, in Burg on the Island of Fehmarn, Germany-the son of a clergyman and seminary director. He spent his boyhood here and a t EckernfKrde in Schleswig-Holstein, amid scenes which have been described in the delightful stories of his talented sister, Charlotte Niese, whose name is known internationally to all lovers of German literature. After the death of his father young Niese emigrated, in April, 1873, to the United States and began his career in the employment of the Xatthiessen and Weichers Sugar Refining Company, where he rapidly rose to the position of superinHenry tendent in their Jersey City refinery. I n 1887 Matthiessen and Weichers entered into a combination known as the Sugar Refineries Company, whose interests in 1891 were merged in the newly organized American Sugar Refining Company, of which hlr. Niese became general superintendent, succeeding later, upon the death of J. 0. Donner, to the position of chief refiner. While still continuing in the duties of this office, he afterwards served on the board of directors of the American Sugar Refining Company. I n all these positions he has contributed greatly to the improvement of refinery practice not only in the plants of his own organization but in all parts of the United States. With the advancement of age Mr. Niese retired from his active duties as refincr and director, although he continued to serve his company as an advisor in planning the construction of new refineries and in many other ways. H e has not limited his attention, however, to sugarrefining alone, but has maintained an active interest in cane and beet sugar manufacture. He was greatly interested in the estabI
lishment of the New York Sugar Trade Laboratory, of which he has been a director and president on three different occasions. SOCIETY have witFew members of the AMERICANCHEMICAL nessed so complete a transformation in the methods and processes of industrial chemistry as has Mr. Niese. At the time of his arrival in the United States there were operating in the New York district over twenty- sugar - refineries in which the old and new methods were vying for supremacy. The disgusting process of blood clarification and the antiquated fill-house (with its endless equipment of cones and draining pots and its wasteful requirements of space, time, and labor) were then in full sway. The refining business was in a ruinous state; the margin between the prices of raw and refined sugar was continually dropping; competition was keen, and i t soon became a mere question of the survival of the fittest. One by one the less efficient refineries were discontinued, with the result that in 1880 only twelve establishments were left to continue the struggle. Attempts were then made in the interest of self-preservation to limit the meltings of sugar, but these efforts proved to be utterly futile. The outcome of i t all, w h e n t h e g r o w i n g losses of business threatened a wide disaster, was a general consolidation with a reduction in the number of refineries to t.he present basis. In this triumph of efficiency over wasteful indifference chemistry played a leading E. Niese part and no chemist was more activein effecting the much needed reforms in sugar-refining practice than was Mr. Niese. If you can persuade him, during your visit, to tell the story of this revolution, his tale will have all the interest of a romance. If he should digress a little to speak about “Blue Billy” and the other chemical “dopes” that were used by the old-time refiners, a considerable element of humor will also be added to his narrative. Mr. h’iese was most fortunate after his arrival in America to select as his life companion hfiss Hattie Frances hloring (now deceased), a gifted woman of sterling quality, who took a prominent part in the various charitable enterprises in Jersey City where Mr. and Mrs. Niese made their home. Three sons and three daughters were born of this happy union, all of whom are living. It is interesting to know that Mrs. Niese was a sister of Mrs. Arno Behr, whose distinguished husband, a winner of the Perkin Medal, found his first employment in America a s
INDUSTRIAL ALVDE*VGINEERING CHEMISTRY
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a co-worker of Mr. Niese in the old Matthiessen and Weichers refinery. An important event in which Mr. Niese takes just pride was his participation in the important meeting of April 6, 1876, a t the old building of Kew Pork University in Washington Square, CHEMICAL which resulted in the organization of the AMERICAX SOCIETY. Of the original organizers he and W. H. Nichols are now the only survivors who have maintained a constant membership in the S O C ~ E Tsince P the time of its establishment over fifty years ago. He was one of the charter members in whose honor the banquet was held at the Semicentennial Anniversary of the SOCIETY in Philadelphia last September. For many years Mr. Niese has sought diversion for his leisure moments in his one great hobby, farming. The cattle and horses on his farm in Morristown, New Jersey, have carried off blue rib-
VOl. 19, No. 3
bons on several occasions, while the products of his fields and dairy have always maintained a n enviable reputation. Few men have enjoyed a wider popularity among their business associates and friends than has Mr. Niese. This is due not so much to his accomplishments and success in business as to his kindly disposition, genial philosophy, and serenity of temperament, which remain unruffled even under the most trying situations. He has held steadfastly to the principle that a moderate rational course is always the smoothest and shortest road to success. I n the ultimate analysis the characters of men are of more value than their accomplishments; but when character and accomplishment are blended together the result is the “four-square man,” of which Henry E. S e s e is a splendid example.
C . A . BROWNE
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE Influence of Some Chlorinated Hydrocarbons on the Limits of Inflammability of Methane-Air Mixtures Editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: In your September number’ H. F. Coward and G. W. Jones have published their experiments on the “Extinction of MethaneAir Flames by Some Chlorinated Hydrocarbons.” I noticed with pleasure that the explosion regions CH4-air-CCI4, CH4air-CzHCla, and CH4-air-C~H2Clz are examples of the three principal types of reaction regions (explosion regions) recently described by me.2 With carbon monoxide and hydrogen as inflammable gases 1 had previously studied explosion regions using the same chloro derivative^:^ The explosion region COair-CCla is very small,4 t h a t of CO-air-CzHZClzresembles that of CHI-air-CzHSClz; t h a t of HZ-air-CzHCla resembles t h a t of CH4-air-C~HCls. The same three types found by Coward and Jones we have observed with CO-air-CHCla, CO-air-CH2C12, and CO-air-CHaC1 mixtures5 and also with mixtures of solid substances.6 Using methane as inflammable gas we had only made some preliminary experiments with the chloro derivatives also used by Coward and Jones. No explosion regions were determined. The experiments of VeliSek’ were made with impure methane* (methane 88.7, heavy hydrocarbons 3.8, carbon monoxide 3.7, hydrogen 1.9, oxygen 0.3, nitrogen 1.6 per cent). Therefore, they may not be compared with the experiments of Coward and Jones. There is no difficulty in explaining the differences between their other experiments and ours (with Meuwissen). First of all, the experimental procedure was quite different. Coward and Jones used a glass tube 5 feet long, 2 inches internal diameter, ignition being effected by drawing the flame of a small spirit lamp across the open end of the tube. We used tubes of about 1.5 cm. internal diameter, in which the mixture was fired by one small spark near the top of the tube. Only in some experiments with tetrachloroethylene they used a tube which 1
THISJOURNAL,18, 970 (1926).
Chem. Weekblad, 23, 79 (1926); Chem. News, 132, 150 (1926). Jorissen, Langen van der Valk, and Ongkiehong, Rec. trav. chim., 44, 810, 814 (1925). 4 Jorissen and Langen van der Valk, Chem. News, 132, 151 (1926). 6 Jorissen and Langen van der Valk, Chem. TVeekblod, 23. 80 (1926); Chem. News, 132, 1.51 (1926), see Fig. IX. 8 Jorissen and Ongkiehong, Rec. trav. chim., 45, 540 (1926). 7 Jorissen, Velfgek and Meuwissen, Chem. Weekblad, 18, 636 (1921); Rec. trav. chim., 43, 80, 591 (1924); 44, 132 (1925). 8 Rec. frao. chim., 48, 593 (1924). 2
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somewhat resembled ours, but their spark was much stronger (gap 5 mm.) and they do not say whether or not they passed only one spark, as we do, using a method analogous to that of Slumberger and P i o t r o w ~ k i . ~As to the influence of the intensity of the spark, I can refer to the experiments of Emich‘o and Bone.” Then the great influence of the mode of propagation must be mentioned. The curves representing White’s results on the explosion limits of hydrogen-ammonia-air mixtures have shown12 t h a t the explosion region for upward propagation extends itself to the ammonia axis, b u t not t h a t for doynward propagation. In our experiments downward propagation always took place, in those of Coward and Jones always upward propagation. In the latter case the explosion regions will be larger and the effect of CCL, etc., will be found t o be smaller. Finally, the chloroderivatives used had partly a different degree of purity, as shown by the following table of boiling points:
Pentachloroethane s-Tetrachloroethane Perchloroethylene Trichloroethylene s-Dichloroethylene
COWARD AND JOKES 0 c . 143 to 161 (tech.) 144 to 146 119 to 121 8 5 . 8 to 87 56 to 60
JORISSEN A N D O
159.6 t o 142.8 to 120.5 to 86.3 to 53.5 to
MEUWISSEN
c.
160.4 143.4 120.8 86.5 54.5
(770 mm.) (769.5 mm.) (770 mm.) (763.1 mm.) (770 mm.)
Mentioning the different results which we observed using different burets, Coward and Jones say: This inconsistency proves that Jorissen was not observing whether or not his mixtures were capable of propagating flame per se. His apparatus is not satisfactory t o insure certain ignition and also t o give the resultant flame a long enough “run” t o enable observers t o judge whether it is self-propagating when it has lost the initial impulse due to the source of ignition. I n all our experiments we have determined the limit between reaction (some propagation) and no reaction (no propagation a t all). When we investigated a certain reaction region we always took care to do so under the same conditions (same tube, spark, substances, etc.). Thus, the reaction regions CO-CHC13-air, CO-CHnClz-air, and CO-CH3C1-air, mentioned above, which we compared with each other, have been determined under the same circumstances. J. Gasbet., 43, 941 (1914). Site. A k a d . Wiss. Wien, 16, 10 (1897). 11 Bone and Weston, Proc. Roy. SOC.(London), llOA, 615 (1926).
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13
Jorissen, Rec.
chim., 44, 1048 (1925).
~ ~ Q Z J .
