American Leather Chemists' Association Convenes A STAFF REPORT
Alexander Saxe9 ISaxe Catch and Dean Williams, U~ S. Co», outgoing president
Corp.; Leather
L. ΛΙ. Whitmore, Letts and McVitty, member of the council; A, IL Winheim. International Shoe Co., new president-elect of ALCA: and E. R. Theis, chairman of convention commit tee
M* A. Buchanan, Institute of Paper Chemistry; R. £,. Moore, Moore Laboratories; and IL F. Lewis, In stitute of Paper Chemistry
BATHER'S part in the equipment of the armed forces during the recent war was proclaimed at the victory convention of the American Leather Chemists' Associa tion at Lake George, Ν". Ύ., o n June 18 through 21. T h e meeting, t h e forty-sec ond of the association, was t h e occasion for t h e presentation of a well-integrated program of technical papers which in cluded subjects of practical as well as theo retical interest. Since the application of modern science to this field i s relatively new, many of the processes used b y the leather industry are based upon empirical data gathered through years of plant oper ation leaving several theoretical aspects still t o be fathomed.
1912
The fchreeT. F. Oberlander, new president of ALCA; Edward E* Doherty, day gather Bona Allen Co., J. tu. Highberger, General Dyestujf Corp., ing ended and E. B. Thorsten&en, S. B. Foot Co., all members of the 9 council of ALCA; mnd Frederick O Flaherty, University of with a n in Cincinnati, secretary-treasurer of the association formal Lunch eon at -which tannin was treated with lead acetate and the new officers were installed. Dean hydrogen sulfide consecutively t o liberate Williams of the United States Leather Co., t h e tannin which in turn was further puriincumbent president turned over the presi fied. T h e tannin and phlobaphene obdency tif South. America. Because of am The work done at the laboratories of impending shortage of some of these trees, t h e University of Cincinnati'for the War considerable work has been done on thie Department's QMC-50-A projects was exact -nature of the tanning operation and discussed i n a series of papers presented by the properties a tanning material must several representatives of that institution. have ΐκ> be effective. R. M . Lollar i n his paper, " A Study in Tannage Stability", revealed that the ÏÏ. IF. Lewis of the Institute of Paper military leathers showed several deficienr Chommstry described some of the difficult cies under field conditions. T h e main difties h e had experienced in purifying w o o d ficulty w a s experienced with t h e hydror tannim and i t s related compound phlobaTlytic deterioration of the materials avfe to phene* on a laboratory scale. I n his pamt h e action of t h e water on t h e collagen. per, f C The Chemical Nature of Tannin and! Greater resistance to aqueous detannizaRelated Materials in Wood", h e outlined! tion and heat a s well as lesser area changes some "work h e had done in attempting feo due t o atmospheric conditions was deseparate the tannins from the m e t h o s y sired, and efforts were directed by the ulgroups. Redwood tannin was extracted timately successful program toward the from stumpwood by acetone at room teimtproduction of synthetic tanning agents to peratiare, concentrated under reduced presachieve t h i s aim. Dr. Lollar also reported sure a n d poured into distilled water a.t on the use of organic solvents such as ethyl 58° C - The phlobaphene separated as a tsur alcohol in which good tannage could result andTO-asfurther purified by ether extracfrom the use of the water-insoluble but tion a n d resolution in acetone, reprecipikasolvent-soluble tanning agents developed tion, a n d subsequent flocculation from iJke in this program. colloid state. * The aqueous solution of tike
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