It is not necessary for the bibliographer at the beginning of his task to decide on the various classifications to bo coded, indeed, it is undesirable that he do so. Instead, be should commence the literature search, transferring his findings to the punch cards the same as he would do with any cards. In t h i s way he will pain sufficient familiarity with the field to permit rather accurate prediction of the various categories into which references obtained by further searching are likely to fall. He will also he enabled to decide what phases of the subject are important enough to deserve coding. Then and only then should he undertake the preparation of an outline to he used as a guide in the coding: of the cards. Considerable experience in using the bibliography has demonstrated the usefulness of all the cod» M I information with the probable» exception of the type of article. This information has proved to be of limited utility and has hardly justified die use of card space. Kxp«Ticncc has also indicated that assignment of serial numbers to the references would be a useful and valuable addition. I t is planned to make this addition, since enough unused parts of the card remain t o permit coding. Subsequent to t h e use of the card shown in Fijçs. 1 and 2 for the bibliography on writing; inks, the senior author has designed a card (Fig. 3) correcting minor faults a n d using a new alphabet coding. The 17 and 18 for the centuries have been reversed, as this order facilitates sorting. When these numbers are sorted, the cards which drop out a r e placed at the front instead of a t the back a s in the usual sorting. T h e numbering of the direct index has been reversed as to order and carried through from 1 to 50 in a single series. The alphabet code uses the letters O-lE-C-B for designating the holes to be punched. It is thus more mnemonic than a system using numbers, since the letters used are represented directly by the singh punched holes. I t s advantage is in the punching of the holes; the sorting is done in the s a m e way a s for numbered holes. The second advantage of the new code is that less punching is required, as the letters most frequently used are represented in general by one o r at t h e most by two punches. I t is n o t required to punch a, and three of the vowels, e; i, and o, are shown b y a single punch. T h e code provides for separate treatment of Afar and Mc as a single letter. There is no dMiculty with this use in punching or sorting of the second and third letters of t h e name as the code used for Mac and Mc and t h e remainder of the m's is simply omitted. If the letters dt o, -w, or φ appear in either the first or second place in the name only, two-letter coding only can be done, as they are to be punched a s ae, oe, we, and oe, respectively, as shown in Table I I . No claim is m a d e t h a t the punch card bibliographic system effects savings of 1626
Table II. Coding for the Alphabetical Index of the Card Shown in Fig. 3 Letter Punch Letter Punch Λ Μ I EC No punch R Β (after Mr) C C Ν I ECB η
κ
F G H I J Κ L M
CB Κ EB KC
κc Β
I
Ι I I Ι
Β C CB Ε
(lu»fore Ma·* ) Mar, Mc Ι Κ Β
Ο Ρ Q Η
Ο ΟΒ OC ΟΓΒ
s
ΟΚ ΟΚΒ
II
ΟΙ
ν
ΟΙ ΟΙ ΟΙ ΟΙ ΟΙ
τ
\Υ χ Υ ζ
Β Γ CR Ε ΕΒ
time and effort in the task of compilation. On the contrary, somewhat more time and effort are expended, owing to the work of preparing the outline a n d coding the cards. However, this extra expenditure is no ι great, and will be found worthwhile in view of the east» with which widely diverse information can be obtained from the bibliography. Punch cards should also be extremely valuable in the indexing and analysis of a great variety of scientific data. This use
has been reported (#, 9) and can be ex pected to increase. Acknowledgment
T h e authors acknowledge the assistance of I I . K. Noble of the Charles R. H a d l e y Co. and of H. C Davis of the M c B e e Co. Literature Cited
(1) Anon., Metal Ind. (London), 5 4 , Θ17 (1939). (2) Cox. G. J.. Dodds, M. L., Dixon, S. F . . and Matuschak, M. C , J. Dental Research, 18, 409 (1989). Ci) ('rune, E. J., and Patterson, A. M., "A . Guide to the Literature of Chemistry". 1st éd., p. 220, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1927. (4) J . , E . M., Quarterly J. Studies on Alcohol, 2, 210 (1941). (.5) Nevins, D. Α., U. R. Patent 2,213,607 (1940). (0) Perkins, Α., U. S. Patents 1,739,087 (1929), 1,544.172 (1925). (7) Price, G. H. S.f Metal Uul. (London), 64 354 (1944). (8) West. E. G., Trans. Inst. Welding, 4,187 (1941). (9) Wright, N., "Infrared Spectrometry", presented before Symposium on SpectroeKeniical Methods of Analysis. AMERICAN
CHEMICAL SOCIETY.
New
York, Ν. Υ.. Sept. 12. 1944.
Concentrated Hydrogen Peroxide L. M . WHITE, Nia 9 ara Falls, N . Y . V W H I L E the American chemical industry ™ ranks a h e a d of t h e German in the applications of chemistry to peacetime ob jectives, the Germans did brins out some new developments for war purposes. One of the most important was concen trated hydrogen peroxide. High-strength hydrogen peroxide solutions have long been known in t h e laboratory h u t their large-scale production had never been car ried out because of the absence of peace time uses and t h e hazards of instability. T h e Germans in 1934 began the de velopment of military devices which re quired the use of high-strength hydrogen peroxide solutions alone or with fuels for the generation of power: rockets, V-l and V-2 bombs, submarine engines, torpedoes, and starting auxiliaries for airplanes. Some of these might have "had a decisive effect upon the outcome of· the war if Al lied bombing h a d not so effectively re tarded their development and production and reduced the numbers.available. By 1938 progress in the utilization of peroxide and in i t s pilot-plant production justified construction of the first unit of a ver}' large plant. Between early 193 • and the close of hostilities the production capac ity of Germany for concentrated hydrogen peroxide was continuously increased and a t the peak was m a n y times the equivalent production of the rest of the world. Much greater capacity was under construction CHEMICAL
but never completed. All this w o r k on production and use was classified as a top military secret and elaborate precautions wcro taken to prevent leakage of informa tion. All the evidence indicates the extra ordinary importance attached by t h e Ger m a n s to concentrated hydrogen peroxide as a war chemical. T h e process of manufacture in the abov*· plant consisted in the conventional elec trolysis of ammonium bisulfate to produce ammonium persulfate, followed by conver sion of the ammonium persulfate t o po tassium persulfate, which was separated from the electrolyte. T h e potassium per sulfate was hydrolyzed with steam t o pro duce 30 to 4 0 % hydrogen peroxide, a l l of which is well known in the industry. The new development was the concentration of the usual 30 to 4 0 % solution to 82 to 8 5 % , which was carried out in special equipment to yield a product of very high p u r i t y and stability.
[ S J C C H E M . E N G . N E W S , 23,
1519
(1945) for description of process. ] I t was these characteristics of the product thai mad+> it useful for military purposes. T h e German experience, which consti tutes a demonstration t h a t concentrated solutions of hydrogen peroxide of high quality can be manufactured and used suc cessfully a n d are of extraordinary im portance for*war purposes, indicates thai this material may also prove to be a valu able new chemical tool in times of peace. A N D
ENGINEERING
NEWS
