AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES James Irwin & Company. of Pittsburgh in 18Y0. T IS singularly auspicious and fortunate Nine years later this firm became a part of the that this popular G e r m a n - A m e r i c a n General Chemical Company, by whom the Docshould be automatically chosen as the first tor is still retained as consulting chemist and local representative of the Pittsburgh Scction chemical engineer. AND ENGIfor a pen picture in INDUSTRIAL Doctor Stahl saw that great and dismal wagNEERING CHEblISTRY-from the dignity of his edy of the Johnstowii flood in 1889; and he may age, the quality of his work and position, and favor some with his g r a p h i c descriptions of the worth of his character. that woeful mixture of flood and lire. Doctor Stalil not only happens to be the dean Doctor Stahl has been affiliated with many of this section, but he also represents, as do social and technical organizations, being one of but few, a wonderful connection with the old heroic days of the nineteenth century. Morethe original members of the Society of Chemical Industry of Great Britain. On account of his over, he has greatly helped t o emphasize what care and probity, he has often been made treaswas Iiardly recognized as a profession when he urer; and there are many good stories told of started--namely, c h e m i c a l engineering, and his selection of his successor in care of the exespecially research on production problems in chequer, and of his requesting the resignation the chemical plant. There are many American chemists who have of any u n w o r t h y incumbent. He has becn Karl F . Sfshl chairman of the P i t t s b u r g h Section and a done much more spectacular work than he, many who have wrought and published good "Arbeits;" hut there regular attendant thereof since its inception as an offshoot from are few, if any, whose life work can be counted as more startlingly the Chemical Scction of the Engineers' Society of Western phenomenal in marking great changes that have, quietly and al- Pennsylvania. He was the orgmizer, and is still an active memmost unnoticed by a younger generation, come over these later ber and supporter, of the Venin Deutscher Techniker of Pittstimcs. Let us now try to givea word picture of this quiet, unas- burgh. His publications range from his thesis on "The Action of suming persou, with the general reputation of sure information, Ilydnhromic Acid on Sorbic and Hydro-Sorbic Acids," down to thorouglily respectable work, incorruptible honesty, and good many paprn on sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids, on the latter of which be is a respected authority. fellowship withal. Should the reader have thc good fortune to be B rcgular atMany of thc Doctor's friends have contributed to this com tendant of the meetings of the Pittsburgh Section, be would m t c pilation. Some have commented on his kindness in helping at every opportunity, from positions t o postage stamps, and esthat there is elways on hand a quiet, interesting, and interested looking elderly gentleman a t both the dinners and the following pecially in getting youiig men well placed. Some emphasize the sessions. One would see a stature rather below the avcrage, hospitality of his lrome, assisted by his wife until her death some with a slight scholarly stoop, with iron-gray hair but a white six years ago, and by Iris daughter, whom he generously and jovially calls "the boss," Some lay stress on his fine familiarity moustache, and with glasses, fur he is honorably myopic. One might not easily get acquainted r i t h this quietly genial with the classics of his native land. But one of the best s i d e clremist, for he minds his own busincss exceedingly well; but m y lights comes from an incidcnt of his transfer from Johnstown attempt a t nearer intimacy is always met more than half way, to Pittsburgh. The Doctor thought that he ought to have with that witty camaraderie which is a natural part of the man some letter of testimonial to show his new employers. On asking his old chief, Doctor Frohnheiser, for such a line, hc was told to and his persoilal charm. Further intimacy might give many facts of the life history of Doctor Stalil; as that he was born in a write his own testimonial a d it would be promptly approved. Wc must quote the following from our mutual friend, "Bill" little hamlet in Swahia, in Wiirttemberg, South Germany, in 1855..-lience his friends like to call him a "Schwab;" that hc Hamor, of the Atellon Institute of Industrial Research: studied a t the Technical High School a t Stuttgart; that hc had At tlie time Doctor Stahl entered American Industry (1876), ministerial blood in his veins but wanted to be an engioeer, from accuracy and diligence were mucli more essential t o the succcss which hc was kept by his nearsightcdness; that he also went on of the comparatively few technical chemists of that day than to the University of Tiibingen. Tubiiigcn gave liim his doctorate great comprehension of mind or brilliancy of talent. The work of thesc industrial chemists was mainly t o test, control, refine. (Sc.D.) in 1876, and fifty years latcr, in 1'320, she honored both and define; and few of them could gallop over the field of chemisherself and him by re-conferring thc degree; and he still sends all tiy on Pegasus, or fly across it on the wing of research achievehis many files of chemical journals to the library of his AILKA ment. That is one reason r h y Doctor Stahl has stood or( the Mater. Doctor Stahl was the last student to be examined for thc pround right through his very active professional career, the whole of which has been devoted to upbuilding heavy-chemical techdoctorate a t Tubingen by Fittig, that great and worthy successo~ nology, and to maintain good principles and the friendship and of Wohler, and he has many good and graphic descriptioiis of that respect of his confreres. His researches are not well known, even in Pittsburgh, principally because they relatcd largely t o short but active little human dynamo. I n 1870 Doctor Stahl came, via England, to America, visiting production problems of his employers; but he is generally recognized as an authority on hydrofluoric acid and its dcrivatives. the great Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, in which city he Doctor Stahl has taken out msny patents, but the one which obtained work irr heavy chemicals. He became associated with thc Northwestern Fertilizer Company a t Chicago in 18x0; hc considers most important is for packing sulfuric acid carboys. with the Piational Fertilizer Company a t Nashville, Tcnn., in It replaced the old hay 01 straw packing, with thin corrugated 1882; with the Johnstown Chemical Works a t Johnstown, Pa., wood, with wedges for tightening. This device came into use twenty y e a s ago, and has saved his company many thousands as superintendent in 1884; and in the same capacity with
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
July, 1931
of dollars, not only in lower breakages, but also in substantial lessening of freight charges. That humorous censor, Lije, once defined a gentleman as one who could play the saxophone, hut wouldn’t. Now we do not know whether the Doctor can play t h a t most unmusical piece of musicality, but we do know that if he could he wouldn’t. Behind his back we speak of him, and most respectfully, as a
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“good fellow.” Long may this venerable scholar and gentleman of the old school serve as our dean, full of wit and wisdom and genuinely and generously venerated by all his admiring colleagues-”The Grand Old Man” of the Pittsburgh Section of the SOCIETY. AMERICAN CHEMIC~L CXWLESSKBELE PALMER
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Merrimac Chemical Company A New England Contribution to the Chemical Industry
D
URING the colonial period some industrial progress took place in New England, but operations were on a small scale and primitive methods employed. At the time of the Revolution there were several paper mills in Massachusetts, the product, of course. being handmade; glass making was a wellestablished industry; and several small plants were engaged in the making of iron fromnativeores. Themanufacture of textilees,however, still remained a domestic proposition and “homespun” was the order of the day. Long prior to the Revolutionary War the importance of potash in soap making and for other purposes was recognized, a n d t h e iiirst a t t e m p t s to manufacture c h e m i c a l s on a large scale were m a d e a t Leominster, Mass, by Celeb Wilder, who introduced various improvements in the method of making potash and devcloped a process for recovery of p e a r l ash. Incidentally, t h e erection of the huge kettle used in these o p e r a t i p n s was s n Robert 8 . Eaton event of considerable i m p o r tance, and the casting itself was deemcd a masterpiece of foundry work. In order that information concerning these improvements might be distributed throughout t h r Commonwealth, in 1787 a petition was presented to the Gencral Court by Mr. Wilder and his associate, Mr. Frobisher, asking that spccial provisions be made by the State to aid in aceomptisliing this. The matter was deemed of such importance that the following action was taken by the Legislature on March 7, 1787:
ReroEced, that Richard Cranch, Esq., Mr. Clark and Mr. Uowdoin be a committee who are empowered (in the Recess of the General Court) to rcceive from the said Williain Frobisher and Caleb Wilder, or from either of thcm, such descriptions, in writing, of their respective methods and processes for making and assayins patashes and pearl-ashes, as they, or either of them, t o he made~publick; and if the said processes, shall xe&;t or cithcr of them, shall appear to the said committce, on examination. to contain usriul and imaortant immovements in that rnaiuiacture, they arc hereby &powred .and directed forthwith to cause the same, or such parts thereof as shall appear to them will be usdul, as aforesaid, t o be published in Pamphlets, and that sucb a number of thcm he printed, at the expcnse of government, as will be suficieiit to furnish the clerk of each Town and Plantation in this Commonwealth, with one oi them, and the secretary is hereby directed, in case of such a publica-
tion, to cause the said Pamphlets t o be forthwith sent t u the several Towns and Plantations accordingly. We had no Patent Office at this time, and it is interesting to note that the first patent issued in the United States, dated July 31, 1790, was one for “making pot and pearl-ashes.” Broadly speaking, however, the need for chemicals in New England Came with the establishment of the textile iitdustry in the early part of the last century. Doriilg that period cottor, and elsewhere, and woolen mills were crected at Lowell, I~wrence, and these required superintendents. dyers, bleachers. and othfr skilled operatives, who for the most part were brought to this country from England and Scotland. At that time coal-tar dyes were unknown, and indigo, logwood. and vegetable dyes were employed in the dyeing of textiles. Soon a demand sprat~gup for sulfuric acid, Glauber salt, blue vitriol. and some other chemicals, and to meet this situation several small cliemical plants were crected, which , m e a n t i m e , have passed out of existence. One of these was built by thc T a l b o t s i n 1840, at North Billerica near Lowell, and continued to function until it was absorbed by the M e r r i m a c Cliemical Company a few years ago. At about this time several textile mills were making their own sulfuric acid, and many years ago M e r r i m a c Chemical Company purchased and dismantled B set of chambers, formerly in use a t one of the large m i l l s i n Lowcll. T h e s e c h a m b e r s were constructed by an Alsatian mgineer, who erected several sets in Courlesy Bl~nk-SLoN~r, Ina this country about the middle Salmon W. Wilder of the last century. The business of the Merrimac Chemical Company dates from 1853, when Robert Eaton began operations on a small scale a t what is now the Woburn works of the company. For some time this little plant was known as the Woburn Chemical Works. As may be imagined, the output was small and the methods of manufacture somewhat primitive; nevertheless, from this heginning has resulted the company’s present establishmcnt a t Woburn, which has been in continuous operation for more than seventy-five years. As time wcnt on, business iiiueased to such a degree that plant extension becamp necessar)., and Mr. Eaton found it difficult to look after the manufacture and marketing oi the
