Feb., 1 9 1 j
T H E J O U K L V A L O F I N D L S T R I A L A N D E iVGI 3-E E RI N G C H E ilf I S T R I’
the Perkin Gold Medal for distinguished services in Industrial Chemistry, by the Medal Committee representing the ,Society of Chemical Industry, the American Chemical Society, the American Electrochemical Society and other associated societies. A full account of Dr. Hall’s achievements was published in JOURNAL, on the occasion of the the March, 1911, issue of THIS award of the Perkin Medal. There was also published in World’s W o r k for August, 1914, a very interesting illustrated article on “The -4merican Creator of the Aluminum rlge.” It was a remarkable coincidence that while young Hall was making his great discovery and invention in Ohio, another young chemist, of the same age, Paul L. V. HGroult, should have made the same discovery and invention in France. Dr. HProult was present a t The Chemists’ Club on the occasion of the presentation of the Perkin Medal to Dr. Hall; and gave some interesting information with regard to the early history of aluminum. Dr. Heroult was born in Thury-Harcourt, Normandy, on April IO, 1863, and died May 9, 1914. A short account of his life is given in the June, 1914, issue of THISJOURNAL. Dr. Hall was a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the Franklin Institute, the American Electrochemical Society, and the New York Chamber of Commerce; he was also a trustee of Oberlin College and ex-President of the Niagara Falls Memorial Hospital. A bequest of $3,000,000 was left by Dr. Hall t o Oberlin College. The bequest is in the form of $ z , o o o , m endowment to be used for any purpose; $500,000 for building a n auditorium and $IOO,OOO for its maintenance; $zoo,ooo for campus improvements; all property in Oberlin owned by Dr. Hall; and a valuable art collection. Dr. Hall was extremely modest, was very youthful in appearance and endeared himself to all who knew him well by his extremely lovable character. His career was remarkable and offers an example to our young college students, who rarely realize what young men may accomplish by serious interest in their opportunities. C. F. QHANDLER SAMUEL BENEDICT CHRISTY Samuel Renedict Christy, Dean of the College of Mining of the University of California and a pioneer in the development of the cyanide process for the treatment of refractory ores, died on Piovember 3 0 , 1914, a t his home in Oakland, California.
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Professor Christy was born in San Francisco on August 8, 1853, and received the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy a t the University of California in 1874. After his graduation, he studied mining and metallurgy in the same institution, serving as instructor in analytical Chemistry from 1874 to 1879, and as instructor in mining and metallurgy from 1879 to 1885 when he became Professor of Mining and Rletallurgy and proceeded to organize and develop one of the leading Schools of Mining in the world. Engineers whom he has trained hold positions of great importance all over the world. At one time there were more of his graduates in important positions in South Africa than from all the other American universities put together. The Hearst Memorial Mining Building, built by Mrs Phoebe A. Hearst some years ago as a mining laboratory for the University of California a t a cost of $640,000, embodies Professor Christy’s ideas as to equipment for mining and metallurgical instruction. Possessed of a powerful personality and great charm of manner, he was able to gain the confidence of the public a t large as well as to impart to his students something of his own enthusiasm and diligence. I n addition to his university duties, he carried on numerous laboratory researches of great interest and value to his profession. These included studies of the Monte Diablo Coals, the quicksilver deposits of California, the mines and works a t Almaden, Spain, Idria, Austria, and New Almaden, California-all of which are described in his publications. I n 1900 he patented a n improved and valuable process for the recovery of gold and silver from dilute cyanide solutions. Other publications include a discussion of the practice of chlorination a t the Alaska Treadwell mine; a series of very important papers on the metallurgy of gold, silver and mercury; discussions of the training of mining engineers and the relation of American mining schools to the mining industry; and a noteworthy biographical notice of his friend and colleague, Joseph N. LeConte. I n 1902, Professor Christy was the recipient of the honorary degree of Doctor of Science from Columbia University. Professor Christy was actively connected with the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the California Academy of Sciences, the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, the London Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and was an honorary member of the Chemical, hlining and hletallurgical Society of South Africa.
CURRENT INDUSTRIAL NEWS By h f .
L. HAhlLI?:
METALS I N I914 Among a vast amount of data on the metal market in this country during the last year published in detail in the hTewYork Eaening Post’s Annual Financial Review (December 31, 1914, p. 1 3 ) , much was of sufficiently permanent interest to warrant being repeated here. To some extent it amplifies C. H. White’s article in the last number of THISJOURXAL, 7 (rgrg), 6 2 , but it also covers ground that mas not touched on there. COPPER-In January, 1914, following a year of generally declining tendency, copper stood a t about 1 4 ~ cents, ~ 4 and a little rally dating from the beginning of the holiday season was in evidence. h-o new copper supplies of any magnitude were immediately in sight, and after Inspiration and Chuquicamata should begin t o swell the output about the middle of 1915, nothing more of any consequence was foreseen for ii long time. When the war began, a complete closing of foreign outlets except to England, France, and Russia, with din: results t o American copper producers, was prophesied. Yet, as things turned out this was an excellent test of the soundness of the readjustment of the previous three months. The producers did not budge from their position t h a t in offer-
ing copper a t 11 c. they were taking less than the cost of production and rather than make any further sacrifice they themselves would finance their accumulation indefinitely. The buying movement that began with copper a t I I . I c. a t the first of November continued right through that month, the sales aggregating ~oo,ooo,ooopounds or more, and a t the end of the month the price was IZ’/Z c., or just where it closed at the end of July. LEAD-The price for lead, January I , 1914, was 4.15 c , S e w York, which had been named a t the end of December, but this was found t o check buying, and on January 9th the price was reduced to 4.10 c. This improved things, and the leading interest named 4.15 c. again a t the beginning of February, but for the second time there was a chill, and the independent producers, quick to discern that things were out of joint, began to take a t cut prices all the business offering, whereupon the American Smelting and Refining Company reduced to 4 c., the bedrock price in former estimation, but what was subsequently to be regarded as something luscious, and indeed was not t o be realized again in 1914. The United States has for many years been a large exporter of Mexican lead refined here in bond, but the novelty of 1914 was the exportation of a very large tonnage of domestic lead.
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T H E J O U R N A L O F I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERIA\TG C H E M I S T R Y The situation was helped, moreover, by a reappearance of the foreign demand, which again absorbed large tonnages, remote countries like Japan and Russia, cut off from their previous supplies from Australia and Germany, becoming large buyers. zmc-Producers make no claim that the war has adversely affected their business. On the contrary, i t lifted them out of an extremely awkward predicament. After a very unsatisfactory year in 1913 the zinc smelters found themselves with a n unsold stock of 40,000 tons, which was something larger than ever known before in the history of the industry in this country. The price for spelter was about 5.10 c., St. Louis, which was deemed low, and is, in fact, below what is reasonably to be expected as an average. During the first quarter of 1914 the market hung around 5 @ 5l/4 c , and then the price began to exhibit an unpleasant habit of dipping below 5 c. Production continued large and demand poor, wherefore stocks increased still further. Finally a few of the producers gave up in disgust and closed certain of their plants, but this was not a general movement, and, what was done was too feeble to be a corrective of a bad situation. As the mid-year approached, the common idea in the business was t h a t the stock had increased to 50,000 tons. The price a t t h a t time was about 47/8 c. The situation had been bad in Europe also, where a stock of about 45,000 tons a t the beginning of the year had risen to about IOO,OOO tons a t the middle, in spite of a curtailment of about 18 per cent in production, which the International Convention made effective on May 1st. This huge European stock was held chiefly in Germany, a very important thing, as was subsequently t o appear. On t h a t fateful first of August the first thought in the zinc business was that England, deprived of her German and Belgian supplies, would have to buy spelter in America, especially inasmuch as the great accumulation of the Convention was piled up in Germany. In fact, England did within a week or two begin t o buy spelter, England, Russia, Japan, South Africa, and other unusual customers bought spelter here, and within a few days the price jumped to 6.10 c. on export sales, while the same sellers on the same day sold to domestic consumers a t 47/8c., and were glad t o do so. At this point the export business culminated, purchases having amounted t o about 25,000 tons and England having overbought herself, and becoming able to obtain some supplies from Rotterdam, the price here declined almost as rapidly as i t had risen, within a few weeks was back a t 4.80 c. and pessimism reigned again. But after a while foreigners began to buy again, soberly, steadily, and judiciously, and ultimately this put up the price here t o about 51/2 c., and there was some reason to believe t h a t the market might be held a t t h a t level, although right up to the end of the year domestic consumers were poor buyers. SILVER-In March it was estimated that the available stock in London and in the East was about 8,000,ooo ounces less than a t the beginning of the year, and early in April it became known t h a t the London syndicate had closed out its holdings. The silver market then naturally began t o acquire a little more tone. By the early part of May a price of 2 7 3-16 d. in London was reached, the Mexican troubles of that time being a contributory bullish influence. About $z,ooo,oooworth of silver-chiefly from Cobalt-went down in the Empress of Ireland. In June the silver market turned dull and declining upon reduced demand from India and China, and a t the mid-year the price was 2 5 ' / 8 d. In the latter part of July selling by Chinese banks caused a rapid decline to about 24 d. On August 1st official quotations for silver, both in London and New York, were suspended. On August 8th the official price a t London was reestablished a t 26 d., but this was for spot transactions only. An official quotation of 26 d. warranted a New York quotation of 52 c. only, the cost of freight and war
insurance added to the usual charges, then amounting to 6l/4 c. per ouwe. cow-Statistics will show undoubtedly a decrease in the world's production of gold in 1914. Anyway, we know that the Rand and Australia have made reduced outputs, while the troubled conditions in the United States, Russia and Llexico must have operated in the same way. The prompt suppression of the rebellion in South Africa of course removed the danger of interference with mining there. In gold mining the greatest scare produced by the war is with respect to the supply of potassium cyanide, which heretofore has come to a large extent from Germany. The fear was relieved, however, by the announcement of the sole American producer that he would be able t o take care of the domestic requirements, while the English producers saw to i t that there wag no shortage in the British colonies. The requirements of hlexico were unprovided for, but were not large, owing to the previous suspension of mining there, and after a while i t became possible to get some cyanide from Germany, one cargo of 1,000 tons reaching here. Several parties considered the manufacture of cyanide in this country, but apparently did not think i t worth while. TIN-In January, 1913, the 'price of tin in New York was about 5 0 c. per pound, and i t had begun to look as if even a higher price might be realized, owing to shortage in the supplies, b u t contraction in consumption more than offset any shortage, and the general tendency throughout 1913 was declining, the price a t the end of that year being about 37Ij2 c. The outbreak of the war caused a tremendous scare about tin supplies, all of which come by sea and were thought likely to be cut off entirely. The price rose for the small quantity of tin actually in stock in New York, 75 c. per pound even being realized. This represented, however, what was merely picayune business-1- to s-ton lots-and was in nowise representative of a broad commodity price. In September tin was down to a basis of about 32l/2 c. per pound, and in October i t was about 301/4 c. In November and December it was a few points higher. The position of tin seems t o be that the high prices of two years ago stimulated production, while consumption has diminished along with the general contraction of business experienced in the United States in 1913 and 1914. mos-In January, 1913, Bessemer pig iron a t Pittsburgh averaged $18.15; in December, $15.71. In January, 1914, the average was $14.94; from that time on the monthly averages were steady a t about that figure, but in October a declining tendency was manifest and in December the average was probably . average for 1914 will somewhere about $141/* @ 1 4 ~ 1 ~The be more than $2 per ton below the average ($17.09) of 1913. The following data are from Iron Age: 1912 J a n u a r y , . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,057,911 February. . . . . . . . . . . 2,100,815 March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,40.5,318
April. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,375,436 M a y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,512,583 J u n e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,440,745 July,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,410,889 August. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,512,431 September, . . . . . . . . . . 2,463,839 October. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,689,933 h-ovember . . . . . . . . . . . 2,630,854 December. . . . . . . . . . . 2,782,737
1913 2,795,331 2,763,563 2,586,337 2,752,761 2,822,217 2,628,565 2,545,763 2,560,646 2,505,927 2,546,261 2,233,603 1,983,607
1914 1,885,054 1,888,670 2,347,867 2,269,955 2,092,686 1,917,783 1,957,645 1,995,261 1,882,577 1 518 316 1,783,045
:
1 500:0 0 0 ( a ) ~
Comparison of the average daily rate of production, in gross tons, is as follows: 1910 84,148 Jan . . . . . Feb.. . . . 85,616 M a r . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84,459
April, . . . . . . . . . . . 82,792 M a y . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77,102 June,. . . . . . . . . . . . 75,516 July.. . . . . . . . . . . . 69,305 Aug. . . . . . . . . . . . . 67,963 Sept... . . . . . . . . . . 68,476 Oct.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 67,520 Nov. . . . . . . . . . . . . 63,659 Dec . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57,349 (a) Estimated.
1911 56,572 64,090 70,036 68,836 61,079 59,585 57,841 62,150 65,903 67,811 66,648 65,912
1912 66,384 72,442 77,591 79,181 81,051 81,358 77,738 81,046 82,128 86,772 87,695 89,766
1913 90,172 92,369 89,147 91,759 91,039 87,619 82,601 82,121 83,531 82,133 74,453 63,987
1914 60,808 67,453 75,738 75,665 67,506 63,916 63,150 64,363 62,753 57,518 50 611 5s:ooo(a)
