PUBLICATION O F F I C E : E a s t o n , P a . EDITORIAL O F F I C E :
NEWS EDITION
VOL.
12, No. 15
AUGUST
10, 1934
Room 706, Mills Building, Washington, E>. C.
Industrial
ADVERTISING D E P A R T M E N T :
AND ENGINEERING
Chemistry VOL. 26, CONSECUTIVE NO. 27 P U B L I S H E D BY THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY HARRISON Ε. ΗΟΛΥΕ, EDITOR
332 West 42nd St., New York, Ν . Υ. T E L E P H O N E : Bryant 9-4430 SUBSCRIPTION to nonmembers. Industrial and Engineering Chem istry, S7.50 per year. Foreign post age S2.10, except to countries ac cepting mail at American domestic ra/tes, and to Canada, $0.70. Ana lytical Edition only, S2.00 per year; foreign, postage $0.30, Canada, SO. 10. News Edition only, SI.50 per year (single copies, 10 cents) ; foreign postage SO. 60, Canada, S0.20. Subscriptions, changes of address, and claims for lost copies should be referred t o Charles L. Parsons, Secretary, Mills Build ing, Washington, D. C .
Chemistry in Cleveland T H A T CLEVELAND has a chemical tradition is evident w h e n one remembers t h a t Morley, whose classic research on t h e deter mination of the combining proportions of oxygen and hydrogen became world famous, was professor of chemistry a t Western Reserve University; t h a t H e r m a n n Frasch, t o whom t h e world owes t h e successful operation of sulfur wells in Texas a n d Louisi ana, was once a citizen of Cleveland a n d there did some of his work on removal of sulfur compounds from L i m a oil; t h a t Charles M . Hall, to whom we owe t h e present process of making alumi num, was, at the t i m e of his discovery, a s t u d e n t in Oberlin Col lege a n d a resident of Oberlin, a s u b u r b of Cleveland; t h a t Dow, t h e founder and builder of t h e D o w Chemical Co. a t Midland, Mich., started his chemical career in Cleveland a n d t h e r e obtained financial support for his company; a n d t h a t M a b e r y did his exhaustive research on petroleum a t Case School of Applied Science. N o t m a n y people realize t h a t in Cleveland there are m o r e t h a n twenty-five companies manufacturing chemical products or a t least closely identified with chemistry. Akron a d d s fully a dozen more. T h e Grasselli Chemical Co., founded b y Eugene Grasselli who came to this country from Mannheim, G e r m a n y , was a pioneer in t h e field of manufacturing sulfuric acid for the petroleum industry. E v e n now, h e a v y chemicals a r e featured b y Grasselli, although the company h a s expanded into t h e field of dyes a n d other products. A few years ago d u P o n t purchased t h e Grasselli company b u t allowed t h e old organization t o retain its identity. The National C a r b o n Co., although removing some of its departments t o other cities, still m a i n t a i n s a huge dry-cell plant in Cleveland a n d a research laboratory from which have come special carbon arcs, such a s t h a t for t h e ultraviolet irradiation of milk a n d tobacco, carbon brushes, Cottrell. tubes, carbon pipe for corrosive liquids, electrodes, and m a n y other i m p o r t a n t carbon products. T h a t this city is a paint a n d varnish metropolis is d u e t o t h e early success of t h e Sherwin-Williams C o . in making ready-mixed paints a n d t o t h e enterprise of the Glidden Co., t h e Varnish P r o d u c t s Co., the Cleveland Varnish Co., and others. T h e Ohio Chemical Co. serves hospitals, industry, a n d research laboratories with its cylinders of compressed nitrous oxide, ethylene, carbon dioxide, oxygen, argon, phosgene, propylene, a n d 25 other gases. Quick t o see the i m p o r t a n c e of h e a v y water, this company was among t h e first to offer for sale t h i s precious fluid a t a time when research men everywhere were clamoring for
THE
it. T h e writer was told in London a n d Cambridge of their debt t o this enterprising Cleveland firm for early supplies. A t Willoughby, a Cleveland suburb on t h e east, is t h e J. H . R . Products Co. manufacturing b a r i u m peroxide—a porous a n d anhydride barium monoxide used as a gas drier a n d for removing non-metallic inclusions from metals and alloys—a h y d r a t e , and t h e sulfate. The Aluminum Co. of America has a large plant in Cleveland. This i s quite appropriate, since t h e whole industry was based upon t h e discovery in 1886, a t n e a r b y Oberlin College, of t h e Hall process of making a l u m i n u m . Recently t h e p a r e n t com pany entered t h e magnesium field a n d in Cleveland is m a n u facturing magnesium castings for m o t o r p a r t s a n d general equip ment. The Union Salt Co. h a s salt wells within t h e c i t y limits. Gases are m a d e by other companies t h a n the Ohio Chemical Co. For example, t h e Lake Erie Chemical C o . arms police a n d b a n k s with t e a r gas a n d stench b o m b s . T h e Liquid Carbonic Corp., t h e Linde Air Products Co., a n d t h e Air Reduction Sales Co. are also i n the field of gas production a n d sale. T h e old Rockefeller tradition of Cleveland and oil is m a i n t a i n e d by t h e refinery of t h e Standard Oil Co. of Ohio. Steel plants, such as t h e Corrigan-McKinney and t h e Otis, de pend u.pon chemical control. T h e Pioneer Alloy P r o d u c t s Co. is a producer of specialties. T h e B r u s h Laboratories are said t o be making beryllium a n d its alloys. The Ferro E n a m e l Co., the Glasscote Co., and t h e Pfaudler C o . are skilled in covering metal with glass or enamel. To conclude t h i s partial list we m i g h t mention t h e S. M . A. Co., scientific manufacturers of infant foods and, more recently, of carotene. RAYON
The Industrial Rayon C o r p . was first started in Cleveland as the American Borvisk Co. i n 1916. I t was the second r a y o n firm t o be organized in America, the first having been t h e American Viscose Co. i n 1911. T h e infant c o m p a n y and t h e infant indus try struggled along for a good m a n y years. Technical progress was slow. E q u a l l y slow w a s public acceptance of merchandise made from synthetic y a r n . T h e real g r o w t h of I n d u s t r i a l R a y o n Corp. dates from 1926, when t h e present m a n a g e m e n t assumed control. Skilled chem ists were employed to improve t h e y a r n ; t h e sales a n d adminis t r a t i v e functions were completely reorganized along sound lines».
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NEWS
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EDITION r
Progress since then has been rapid. I n 192S this companj made approximately 4 per cent of all the rayon yarn produced in America. Four years later, in 1932, it made 9 per cent of the total American production. In 1929 t h e fine new plant in Covington, Va., was put in operation. This most modern and •efficient of all American producing units is now making about one-half of the company's total production. The following year a new yarn, called "Spun-Lo," was placed on the market. In a very few years this dull luster yarn won nationwide recognition in various branches of the textile industry. In 1931 the company took a great forward step and installed a large and complete knitting plant—undoubtedly the finest establish-
Vol. 12, No. 15
Nela consists of the control of all materials (with the exception of glass, wire, and bases) which can be seen in an electric lamp. All chemical problems pertaining to these materials come t o the laboratories of the Preparations Division, Incandescent Lamp Department, Nela Park. Developmental and analytical work on glass is done a t the Pitney Glass Works and in the Glass Technology Department, Ivanhoe Works, on the eastern edge of Cleveland. Chemical work on tungsten filaments, molybdenum, and tungsten support wire and on nitrogen, argon, Irydrogen, and oxygen gases is centered a t the Cleveland Wire Works on Chardon Road, and the chemical work on bases at Providence, R. I.
EDGEWATER W O R K S , NATIONAL CARBON C O . , INC.
ment of itslkind in. this country. This brought fresh problems to the technical staff—already burdened with the chemical complexities of rayon production—such as fabric yield (expressed in square yards per pound), bleaching, dyeing, and finishing. Today a considerable portion of the yarn produced by Industrial Kayon Corp. is sold in t h e form of knitted fabric. Almost all of this cloth goes into underwear. Another large rayon producer recently followed suit and entered the knitting field. Industrial Rayon Corp. uses the viscose process entirely—the process by which 76.4 per cent of American synthetic yarns are made. Acetate yarns account for 17.3 per cent; cupramnionium and nitrocellulose combined, 6.3 per cent. It may be interesting to note the following distribution of synthetic yarn shipments by trades in 1933: hosiery, 9 per cent; other knit goods, 20 per cent; broad woven goods, 67 per cent; narrow woven goods, 2 per cent; miscellaneous, 2 per cent. The growth of the rayon industry has been phenomenal. American production increased 500 per cent from 1923 to 1933— from 33,000,000 t o 207,000,000 pounds. World production during the same period increased from 106,460,000 to 650,000,000 pounds. During the same period the consumption of cotton, wool, and silk remained practically unchanged. The United States produces about 26 per cent of the rayon made throughout the world, about twice as much as its nearest competitors—Italy, 14 per cent; Japan, 14 per cent; Great Britain, 13 per cent; and Germany, 12 per cent. T H E GENERAL ELECTRIC PLANT AT NELA PARK
Cleveland's University of Light Nela Park was once awarded a prize as the best kept industrial plant in the country. The home of t h e Incandescent Lamp Department and Specialty Appliance Sales Department of General Electric Co. is a real park—90 acres of velvety lawns, trees, shrubs, and flowers on a hilltop with blue Lake Erie on the horizon two miles away and the heart of Cleveland only a 45 mainutes' trolley ride distant. Nela Park's special magnet for the public, however, is the recently opened General Electric Institute, a hall of the science of seeing and electrical housekeeping, a university of study for engineers, architects, optometrists, and men and women from a score of other fields. A. C. S. members will feel a kinship to Nela Park because within a stone's throw of the green quadrangle, from which 16 buildings radiate, is a series of chemical laboratories. Chemistry takes a very real part, along with physics, engineering, metallurgy, and a dozen other sciences in the manufacture of incandescent lamps. The inside frosted lamp, for example, a milestone and signal victory in lamp history, was made possible and practical ifor manufacture through the chemical researches of M. Pipkin, an A. C. S. -member, at Nela Park. CHEMICAL PROCESSES AT NELA PARK.
Chemical work at
The Lamp Development Laboratory, Nela Park, also handles some chemical work. One of the principal activities of the chemical laboratories at Nela Park is the preparation of materials for use in General Electric's lamp factories throughout the country. A walk through the laboratories shows the diversification of these materials. DESCRIPTION OF NELA FARK.
General Electric's Cleveland
activities, if consolidated in one plant, would represent one of the biggest single industrial units in the city. The company is one of Cleveland's largest employers, with 5000 persons. The outstanding local activity of the company is Nela Park. Here are the national headquarters for the administrative, sales, engineering, research, manufacturing, sales promotion, statistical, accounting, and purchasing divisions of the Incandescent Lamp Department. The operation of 20 factories, 13 warehouses, and 17 division offices of this department are supervised from. Nela. Enough lamps are tested annually in its laboratories to light a good-sized town. Several years ago the Specialty Appliance Department of General Electric took up residence a t Nela Park. The new and elaborate General Electric Institute is the product of this department and the Incandescent Lamp Department. A Mecca of the electrical industry, the institute houses demonstrations of the most advanced home, commercial, industrial, architectural, and street lighting, model lighted rooms, electrical kitchens, classrooms. During the year approximately 5000 persons came here from utilises, dealers, jobbers, and allied fields of the electrical industry to study courses. They stayed for periods ranging from three days t o several weeks. In addition to these 5000, another 1000 per year come from all parts of the world to study lighting methods and practices. They sometimes stay several months. HISTORY. Nela Park is distinctly a Cleveland industry in tradition and history. It is also reflective of the great Thomas A. Edison and Charles F. Brush. The Edison Lamp Works, now consolidated with the National Lamp Works of General Electric into the Incandescent Lamp Department, was organized by Edison, and the Brush company, makers of arc lights, became a part of Edison G. E. at Harrison. The importance of G. E.'s Cleveland interests is due to a considerable extent to what in 1872 appeared a relatively unimportant incident. If in that year Brush, then a young engineer, had not become affiliated with the Telegraph Supply Co. of Cleveland, the story of General Electric in Cleveland might have been different. Brush patented the dynamo arc lamp in 1877. I n 1S78 the first Brush dynamo arc lamp was sold to Dr. Longworth of Cincinnati. So great was the public interest in this revolutionary invention that Dr. Longworth exhibited the light from the balcony of his borne, to the delight of thousands of Cincinnatians. I n rapid succession installations were made in stores in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York; in factories in Providence, Hartford, and Lowell ; and in a San Francisco hotel.
A u g u s t 10, 1934
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AND* E N G I N E E R I N G
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casting on a commercial scale. T h e c o m p a n y designed b a t t e r i e s especially adaptable to broadcasting use and went o n t h e air i n 1923 with its own station, W T A M , now owned a n d o p e r a t e d in Cleveland by the National Broadcasting C o . In common with all other American industrial organizations, t h e Willard company threw its full resources t o the s u p p o r t of t h e Government during t h e World War. Some v e r y u n u s u a l developments were originated t o meet t h e requirements of t h a t strenuous period. T h e fact t h a t t h e United States Bureau of Mines used t h e Willard plant a s t h e setting for its industrial film " T h e Story of a Storage B a t t e r y " indicates that t h e equipment a n d methods used in t h e factory are modern a n d efficient. T h e materials used in t h e construction of Willard batteries a r e drawn from every s t a t e in t h e Union a n d from two foreign countries. Since one of the requisites of t h e manufacture of a quality storage b a t t e r y is p u r i t y of materials, the Willard comp a n y has set u p elaborate precautions t o insure t h a t r a w materials come u p t o specifications—tests being made e v e n before t h e material is unloaded from the cars. A highly organized inspection system protects t h e purity of materials in process and checks all production operations. A large p a r t of t h e complicated, almost human, a u t o m a t i c machinery used in t h e plant is designed a n d built within t h e company's own organization. Extensive laboratory testing facilities are provided for research, for t h e development of n e w products, improved production methods and equipment, and for performance tests on t h e finished product. The company employs 1200 people in t h e Cleveland p l a n t w i t h average length of service of 8 years. This unusual service record in an organization whose personnel is so largely composed of u n skilled labor is undoubtedly a t t r i b u t a b l e in a large degree to i t s broad-visioned welfare activities combined with a well-developed system of accident prevention a n d health maintenance. T h e c o m p a n y ' s slogan "Through Service We G r o w " is carried, out i n spirit in its relations with employees, as well a s with customers. ABSTRACTORS' L U N C H E O N I N CLEVELAND
EVEREADY CARBON A R C U N I T S FOR ULTRAVIOLET OF TOBACCO FOR C I G A R E T T E S .
IRRADIATION
B u t t h e real history-making e v e n t took place in Cleveland in 1879. This was t h e c o u n t r y ' s first demonstration of street lighting, a n d it was held o n t h e Public Square. Clevelanders poured d o w n t o t h e heart of t h e city b y horse car, b y carriage, a n d on foot t o t a k e p a r t in t h e civic celebration. M a n y brought blue glasses to protect their eyes from t h e glare. Although t h e city's population was only 160,000, t h e square was filled w i t h people. T h e Clevel a n d Gray's band played stirring melodies, and artillery salutes were fired on the lake shore. I n 1881 t h e B r u s h Electric Co., w i t h a capitalization of $3,000,000, succeeded t h e Telegraph Supply Co. I n ' 9 1 , according t o a Brush biography, the company combined with ThomsonH o u s t o n Co., L y n n , Mass., manufacturers of d y n a m o s and arc lamps. T h e combined company, in t u r n , consolidated with t h e Edison General Electric Co., of Harrison, N . J., t o form t h e General Electric C o . THE
HOME
O F WILLARD STORAGE
CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS has more than 500 workers s c a t t e r e d throughout t h e world. These include 50 assistant editors a n d approximately 450 abstractors in addition t o the 17 full-time workers in t h e central office. E a c h year a s m a n y as possible of these folks get together for a family gathering i n a c i t y where a meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY i s being held.
Such a gathering is t o be held in Cleveland on Tuesday, September 1 1 . I t will t a k e t h e form of a luncheon a t t h e Hotel Cleveland. W i t h a show of special pleasure Editor E . J. Crane lias t o l d u s t h a t President Charles L . Reese a n d Secretary Charles L . Parsons are t o be present at t h i s luncheon and t h a t Presidentelect. Roger A d a m s will lunch with t h e abstractors, t o o , if a previous meeting-time engagement will p e r m i t .
BATTERIES
T h e Willard Storage B a t t e r y C o . factory on East 131st Street in Cleveland, consisting of 15 buildings, 597,000 square feet of floor space, a n d having production facilities for 12,000 batteries per d a y , is t h e largest of three factories resulting from t h e inventive a n d organizing genius of T . A. Willard. M r . Willard built h i s first storage b a t t e r y in Minneapolis in 1885. Seven years later he built a small laboratory i n Norwalk, Ohio. I n 1894, t h e Willard Electric a n d B a t t e r y C o . was formed a n d two years later m o v e d its operations to Cleveland. T h e present corporation, Willard Storage B a t t e r y Co., w a s organized in 1902. T o d a y , in addition to a full line of automotive starting, lighting, a n d ignition batteries, t h e Willard company m a n u factures batteries for country home, marine, aircraft, motion picture, radio, a n d industrial applications. T h e company furnishes batteries for original equipment o n m a n y automobiles, t r u c k s , tractors, a n d o t h e r a u t o m o t i v e equipment. Replacement batteries are sold t h r o u g h a nation-wide organization of 5000 wholesalers a n d 38,000 dealers. One of t h e o u t s t a n d i n g milestones in t h i s period of study a n d fairly rapid progress is of u n u s u a l interest. This is a n exclusive development—thread r u b b e r insulation—which was announced in 1917. F r o m a technical s t a n d p o i n t t h e r e are m a n y angles of m o r e t h a n passing importance in t h e development, production, a n d performance of t h r e a d r u b b e r insulators, b u t from the Viewp o i n t of t h e casual observer t h e finished product is unique in t h a t it has t h e a p p e a r a n c e of a solid block of rubber pierced with t i n y threads, so close together t h a t there are 5000 t o the square inch. Another milestone in t h e history of t h e company is its firsth a n d experience in t h e radio field during t h e early d a y s of broad-
EVEREADY CARBON AKC U N I T S FOR MILK. IRRADIATION OP THE NATIONAL C A R B O N C O . , I N C .
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Vol. 12, N o . 15
EDITION
Cleveland as a Vacation Center
Courtesy, Convention Board, Cleveland Chamber of Commerce M U S E U M OF ART
YOUJSHOTJLD E N J O Y driving t o the A. C. S. meeting, September
10 t o 14, if y o u come from t h e west, for t h e shore of Lake Erie from Cedar P o i n t resort near Sandusky t o Cleveland i s a succes sion of lakeside resorts a n d bathing beaches. If you come from
Courtesy, Convention Board, Cleveland Chamber of Corrimerce
t o give these grounds rare charm. T w e n t y parks, with more t h a n 44 miles of well-paved driveways a n d boulevards, comprising 2875 acres, make u p this great system. Take a dip i n t h e lake at Edgewater P a r k w i t h i t s 6000-foot frontage o n Lake Erie, or stroll around t h e F i n e A r t s Garden facing the classic M u s e u m of A r t . While you a r e o u t a t Univer sity Circle (Euclid and 107th) step across t h e street from t h e A r t Museum to Case a n d Reserve. There, too, is t h e new Lake side Hospital G r o u p , a 30-million-dollar project. Cleveland has o n e of t h e really great symphony orchestras of t h e country, a n d a t University Circle is its palatial $2,500,000 home, Severance Music Hall. Downtown a t Playhouse Square are five theatres with a total seating capacity of 15,000. Per formances are also staged at t h e Playhouse a t 82nd Street. An aggressive civic step which h a s attracted world-wide a t t e n tion is Cleveland's group plan of public buildings. Α "Ύ" shaped tract of land, approximately 104 acres i n t h e h e a r t of t h e city and known a s the Mall, will ultimately contain nearly all of Cleveland's municipal buildings. T h e Federal Building, costing S3,875,000; the Cuyahoga C o u n t y C o u r t House, costing $4,500,000; the City Hall, costing $3,300,000; t h e Public Audi torium a n d Exhibition Hall, costing $10,000,000; a n d t h e Public Library, costing $4,000,000, a r e n o w occupied. A n e w Board of Education Building is under construction. T h e completed proj ect will represent a n outlay in excess of $40,000,000. Cleveland's $5,000,000 Public Library, within a golf drive of Public Square, is a model in i t s methods of reaching t h e public. Fully 200O technical publications a r e to be found in its reading rooms. Convention headquarters i n Hotel Cleveland on Public Square have a perfect location. T h e hotel is a p a r t of t h e $150,000,000 Terminal Building G r o u p dominated b y t h e 708-foot Terminal Tower. Cleveland h a s a n airport w i t h 1000 acres of hangars and landing fields. A t night planes a r e welcomed with a floodlight of 500,000,000 candle power. Business, rest, a n d recreation m a y be balanced t o suit every taste during t h e week of September 10.
PLATHOTJSE SQUARE
t h e northeast, similar beautiful views of t h e blue water are t o be enjoyed. Approaching t h e city those interested in colleges m a y stop a t PairiesviUe on the east to see Lake Erie College for Women ; coming from t h e south east, a t H i r a m t o visit H i r a m College; from t h e south, a t Wooster to view Wooster College; from t h e southwest, a t Oberlin t o see Oberlin College; a n d within t h e city t o visit Western Reserve Uni versity and Case School of Applied Science (sepa rated b y a w i r e f e n c e ) a n d J o h n C a r r o l l University. Cleveland grows more magnificent each d a y . Millions of dollars are being spent t o m a k e it one of t h e most enterprising, interesting, a n d beautiful cities of the United States. Unless you h a v e seen it recently you cannot fully realize t h e transforma tion which Cleveland is undergoing. Things a r e happening every day i n Cleveland. Civic, social, financial, a n d industrial innovations a r e con stantly being wrought. Cleveland's p a r k a n d boulevard system, extending like a girdle around t h e greater p a r t of t h e city, has hardly a rival in America. Deep ravines, natural water falls, fine old forests, a n d the shore of a great lake, combine
Co-urtesy, Convention Board, Cleveland Chamber of Commerce CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY
