INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHE*MISTRY
May, 1925
some definite constructive proposals come from the industries themselves. One such proposal that may be worked out satisfactorily, if the legitimate interests are given the consideration they deserve, is to establish the Prohibition Unit as a part of the Department of Justice and to give it all strictly prohibitive features of the law but none of those which regulate legitimate acts coming under the law, leaving these to a Division of Chemistry and Industrial Alcohol to be under the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Several of the states have also taken up alcohol legislation during the past year and some bills of this kind are still pending. A bill has just been killed in Pennsylvania which would have been most drastic and even in some respects unconstitutional had it passed. This bill would have extended arbitrary authority over anything containing, or capable of developing, as much as half a per cent of a n y alcohol. This would have put very objectionable restrictions on the manufacture, sale, or use of all kinds of things, including even completely denatured alcohol and such things as tincture of iodine and glycerol. Great credit is due to a number residing in Pennsylvania for their of the members of the SOCIETY active opposition to this bill. In the opinion of the Committee on Industrial Alcohol the need for such a committee still exists, and it is highly desirable that it should have the backing of the entire membership of the SOCIETY in its efforts to show the need for the encouragement of the manufacture, sale, and use of alcohol for lawful purposes, and also in its attempts to have the administration of these lawful features placed under the direction of an experienced chemist trained in these matters, rather than under a prohibition commissioner who, though he may be given all necessary proper authority over actual prohibition matters, should be given no control over legitimate acts. MARTIN H . ITTNER, E. H. KILLKEFPER Chairman RAYMOND F. BACON
J. H. BEAL
EDWARD MALLINCKRODT, JR. R . H. MCKEE FREDERIC ROSENGARTFN
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mention in the papers of the value of study by a centralized laboratory organization. Such an organization should operate with the advice of the present national corrosion committees. It would study the general problems which would not be undertaken by other laboratories but whose solution would be of direct value to many industries. The committee has discussed the possibility of taking certain constructive steps along this line, but full agreement as to action has not been reached. It does not believe that the building of new laboratories for the purpose is advisable. It stands ready to cooperate if such an organization is formed, as the laboratory work would be closely allied to this committee’s work as projected. ROBERTJ. McKhu, Chairman m’.s. CaLCoTT J. H. REEDY
A. E. STEVENSOX
W. G.
WHITXIAN
R E. WILSON
Calendar of Meetings American Oil Chemists’ Society-16th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, La., May 11 and 12, 1928. American Association of Cereal Chemists-Annual hIee:ing, St. Louis, Mo., June 1 to 5, 1925. Third National Colloid Symposium--University of Minnesota, Blinneapolis, Minn., June 17 to 19, 1925. American Society for Testing Materials-28th Annual Meeting, Atlantic City, N. J., June 22 to 26, 1925. American Institute of Chemical Engineers-Providence, R. I., June 22 to 27, 1925. Joint meeting with British Institution of Chemical Engineers, Leeds, England, July 13 to 23, 1925. National Chemical Equipment Association-Providence, R. I., June 22 to 27, 1925. American Chemical Society-70th Meeting, Los Angeles, Calif., august 3 to 8, 1925. American Electrochemical Society-Fall Meeting, Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24 to 26, 1925. National Exposition of Chemical Industries-New I’ork, X. Y., September 28 to October 3, 1925.
CORROSION COMMITTEE Since the last annual meeting the committee has continued to work with the Corrosion Committee of the h’ational Research Council. The chairman has met with that committee and discussed methods of procedure. He has agreed to furnish them with a short outline of the progress of this committee and, with the consent of the SOCIETY, will send them a copy of this report. As a logical first step in studying the theory of corrosion, a symposium was held before the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry a t the Baltimore meeting. [THIS Reclamation of Automobile Crank-Case JOURSAL, 17, 335 (1925)). This symposium describes the status Oil-Correction of corrosion theory and should be a starting point for further work. Nearly all the leading authorities on corrosion in the In our article under this title [THISJOURNAL, 17, 416 (1923)] United States presented papers or took part in the discussion, the last paragraph on page 422 should read: and representative papers from other countries were secured. The following extract from the chairman’s introductory note The energy input is 280 watts for the rectifier, and 107 for the t o the symposium summarizes the situation in theoretical study : settling tank heater-387 in all, or between 0.27 and 0.31 kilowatt hour per liter (1 03 and 1 16 kilowatt hours per gallon) The last few years have been prolific producers of useful data. Worthof oil entered. while new alloys have been developed, and our knowledge of older metals a n d the factors of corrosion exterior to the metal has increased, thereby CHARLES VANBRUNTAND P. SCHUYLER MILLER opening new channels for research which promise t o be of extreme value. The striking corrosion-resisting properties of some new alloys are still unexplained. L ncovering of the laws governing this resistance t o corrosion, with the resulting development of better alloys, does not seem remote. Additions t o electrochemical theory have removed part of the past difficulties in applying electrical considerations t o predict the course of corrosion and explain present experience. The basic cause of pitting is clearer than ever before. Pitting seems t o be due more to differences in oxygen supply than in the metal. Investigators differ as to the exact mechanism of the action. This matter can be cleared up by further study, and from the results a method of preventing pitting might be expected. Quantitative work on the effect of dissolved oxygen is getting a t the basis of variations in corrosion rate in the same solution. This work applies t o almost all other corrosion study, and with these quantitative d a t a the other work can proceed where i t has been a t a standstill. The production and properties of films have been studied. Knowledge of how films may affect the course of corrosion has been obtained in special cases, but the acquisition of quantitative data has only begun. Microscopic study of the progress of corrosion has produced interesting results, and the possibilities for new results in studying film formation and electrochemical effects are great. The phenomenon of passivity is still unexplained, but the progress along other lines is so rapid t h a t we can reasonably expect it, if continued, to lead t o a solution of the passivity conundrum.
It would seem that the gaps in the knowledge as indicated might be readily filled by some correlated research, and there is
Production and Sales of Dyes Decline Preliminary figures compiled by the United States Tariff Commission indicate a domestic production for 1924 of about 67,000,000 pounds of coal-tar dyes, valued a t about $36,000,000. This quantity represents a 28 per cent decline from that of 1923, which was the largest in the history of the industry. The sales of dyes in 1924 were about 63,200,000 pounds, valued a t 833,800,000. This is a 27 per cent decrease in quantity and a 28 per cent decrease in value from sales during 1923. The principal reason .for this decline was the decreased activity of the textile industry. Among other contributing factors were: (1) stocks carried over from 1923, amounting to over 7,000,000 pounds; (2) increased imports following the 15 per cent reduction in the tariff, effective September 22, 1924; and (3) a reduction in exports amounting to 2,211,109 pounds. In 1924 commercial production in the United States of many valuable dyes was first reported. These include colors which have been previously imported, in certain cases in large quantities. In addition to the new vat dyes, the prototypes of diaminogen blue, trisulfon brown B, geranine, cyananthrol R X 0, and B G A 0 0 were produced. Other additions include representatives of each class of dyes applied to cotton, silk, wool, and leather, including several alizarin dyes.
