I S D U S T R I A L A N D ESGISEERIXG CHEJIIISTRY
August, 1923
865
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE Regarding Iridium
The Magic Wand
The present agitation in the organs of the jewelry trade for the passage of a National Stamping Act, restricting the use of the word “platinum” to the pure metal and its alloy with iridium, taken irt connection with the statistics of the platinum metals just released by the U. S. Geological Survey, should attract the attention of all chemists and all who are interested in those electrical and scientific industries which call for the use of platinum-iridium alloys. These statistics show that in 1922 the amount of “new” iridium obtained by the refiners was only 210 ounces, compared with 465 ounces five years ago. The amount of “secondary” metal recovered (largely from scrap) was 1937 ounces, against 3410 ouiices in 1918. Imports were 1129 ounces in 1922 and 1345 in 1921. Comparing the amounts available for the past two years, we have 3407 ounces in 1921 and 3276 ounces in 1922. On the other hand, the consumption in the jewelry industry was 2367 ounces in 1921 and 2588 ounces in 1922; in the electrical industry in 1921, 1003 ounces, and in 1922, 1637 ounces. As a source of supply Russia is practically cut off probably for a t least several years to come, the amount of iridium in the rather precarious supply of Colombian platinum is not large, and Tasmania, the only dependable producer of iridosmiurn, furnished only about 2000 ounces of this alloy in 1920. It is easy to see that the consumption of iridium is far exceeding the production. Obviously, a law legitimizing iridium in jewelry platinum and tabooing the other metals of the group as hardeners for platinum, would result in the appropriation of the whole iridium supply by the jewders, leaving the electrical and scientific industries, where a decided amount of iridium is indispensable in platinum alloys, absolutely crippled. Verbum sap. JAS. LEWISHOWE
Editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: We are interested to note on page 488 of the May issue of THISJOURNAL, a brief article by Harvey A. hTeville,of Urbana, Ill., on “The Magic Wand,” the construction of which he describes in detail. For your information we would call your attention to patent to J. J. Porter, No. 1,401,185, applied for December 3, 1919, and granted December 27, 1921, describing a magic wand involving the same principles, and call your attention to the fact that a number of the claims of this patent, which is the property of this company, were intentionally drawn broadly enough to cover just such modifications of the patented inventions as the construction described in the Neville article.
WASHINGTOK A K D LEE UNIVERSITY LEXINGTON, VA. June 29, 1923
HAGERSTOWN,
MD., June 7, 1923
.. Editor of Industrial and Engineering Chenzzstry: I have had no intention of manufacturing or selling the article described. It is a simple piece of apparatus that anyone can make for his own use. It was designed here for use in our Chemical Open House or Exhibition, and for lecture demonstration in elementary chemistry. Whether or not the patent claims will cover this type of rod I am not prepared to say. I was not aware previously that any such article had been patented and I appreciate your calling my attention to this fact. HARVEY A . NEVILLE UNIVERSITY O F ILLINOIS
U R B A N A , ILL.,June 14, 1923
Bureau of Physico-Chemical Standards
Calendar of Meetings American Ceramic Society-Summer Meeting, Toledo, Detroit, and vicinity, August 8 to 11, 1923. American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 1nc.Ontario and Quebec, Canada, August 20 to 31, 1923. American Chemical Society-66th Meeting, Milwaukee, Wis., September 10 to 15, 1923. American Association for the Advancement of Science-77th Meeting, Los Angeles, Calif., September 17 to 20, 1923. CenNinth National Exposition of Chemical Industries-Grand tral Palace, New York City, September 17 to 22, 1923. American Electrochemical Society-Fall Meeting, Dayton, Ohio, September 27 to 29, 1923.
Importance of Diffusion in Organic Electro. chemistry-CorrectFon I n the article under this title [THIS JOURNAL, 15, 605 (1923)l Equation 2 should read: 2 X 96,500 DC 1 = 66 D C = 0.0737 - (2) 1000 X 2* X 86,400 I I The calculated results given in the article are correct as printed. WHITING,IND. July ’7, 1923
HAROLD b9. PORTER
THE PORTER CHEUICALCOMPANY
ROBGRT E. WILSON M E R R I L L -4. ’YOUTZ
The Bureau of Physico-Chemical Standards, established by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, with headquarters a t the University of Brussels, has samples of the following standard substances available for distribution to the chemists of those countries belonging to the Union: (A) Standard substances prepared a t Brussels and intended primarily for the calibration of low temperature thermometers. The freezing points of the following substances reproduce to 0.1 O C., the scale of the helium thermometer of the Cryogenic Laboratory of the University of Leyden [Compt. rend., 174, 365 (1922)l:
c.
Carbon tetrachloride.. . . . . Chlorobenzene . . . . . . . . . . Chloroform. , . , . . , . . . . , , Ethyl acetate. . . . , , . . . . . ,
- 22.9 -45.2 -6 3 . 5 -83.6
c.
Carbon disulfide. , . . . , . . . , Ether (stable f o r m ) . . , . , . , Ether (metastable form). , , Methylcyclohexane.. . , . , . ,
- 111 , 6 -116.3 -123.3 -126.3
Fifty cubic centimeter samples of each of these substances are available a t 25 Belgian francs per sample. All orders should be addressed directly to the bureau. (B) . Supplementing the preparations of the bureau are the following standard materials prepared by the U. S. Bureau of Standards a t Washington and obtainable directly from that bureau [Bur. Standards, Circ.251: cane sugar, for calorimetry and saccharimetry; naphthalene, for calorimetry; benzoic acid, for calorimetry; sodium oxalate, for oxidimetry; dextrose, for use as a reducing agent; benzoic acid, for acidimetry; tin, zinc, aluminium, copper, and lead, with stated melting point, for use in thermocouple calibration. The Bureau of Physico-Chemical Standards plans to act as a center for the study of pure materials, and it requests that authors of papers in this field send reprints of their papers to the bureau. It also hopes that industrial organizations may be willing to contribute to the bureau materials which may be used as the starting point for the preparation of highly purified substances.
