January, 1930
I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
101
AMERICAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES The Koppers Company
T
H E Koppers Company is primarily a n engineering organization serving the coal, coke, steel, gas, and coal by-products industries. Sound engineering, the phrase most often reiterated by its president, H. B. Rust, is the keynote of its success. Around him, Mr. Rust has assembled hundreds of technically trained and experienced engineers from all branches of the profession, and their coordinated effort is the motive power of the business. One of the first acts in the organization of the company by Mr. Rust was the creation of a research department. Through the support given by this company and the resources and possibilities developed in its rapidly expanding business, it became possible for the first time in industrial history t o deal with problems of coal carbonization, gas manufacture and purification, and by-product recovery systematically, scientifically, and on a scale commensurate with their importance. The research department has increased with the growth of the Koppers Company and now, numbering more than one hundred chemists, physicists, and chemical engineers. is believed t o be the largest in the world in its field. First impressions of a n industrial corporation are generally based on its p h y s i c a l manifestations-buildings, plants, apparatus, products. Most of our friends in t h e industries that we serve probably think of the Koppers Company in terms of t h e scores of great plants that the company has built in various parts of the country. All Pittsburghers immediately associate us with the recently completed Koppers Building, a splendid thirty-two-story structure of great architectural beauty. But in a true history all of these things would be of very minor importance in comparison with t h e human element, and yet in an article of this sort it is impossible t o do justice to this element. One should write of men whose ability to act soundly and constructively, to inspire confidence and affection, and to work loyally has really made the company what it is; but there are so many such men that space limitations would make the result a mere catalog of names. By far the major credit for the company’s achievements must be ascribed t o its president, H. B. Rust. His wise leadership, intense energy and tenacity, sound judgment, and s y m p a t h e t i c counsel have been the impelling forces responsible in the highest measure for the development of the Koppers ComKoppers Building, pany. His brother, W. F. Rust, presid e n t of t h e Koppers Construction ~. Company, has been very largely responsible for the splendid engineering organization that is the company’s fundamental asset. The name of Joseph Becker, vice president of the Koppers
Construction Company, is a by-word in chemical and engineering circles. His invention of the Becker oven is a n outstanding accomplishment in the by-product coke and gas industries during the past decade. C. J. Ramsburg, vice president of the Koppers Company, has been associated with the gas industry for nearly thirty years and has made valuable contributions t o the development of that industry. Fourteen years ago the Koppers Company moved its offices from Chicago t o Pittsburgh. There were sixty-five persons on the payroll at that time. Today the parent company and its subsidiaries employ in excess of fifteen thousand persons. I n 1906 the Coke Committee of the United States Steel Corporation visited Europe t o study the various types of coke ovens in use there. On their return to the United States, they recommended the Koppers oven for the purposes of the corporation in the production of blast-furnace coke. Subsequently, a contract was entered into between the corporation and Heinrich Koppers, under which, in 1908, the first Koppers by-product coke-oven plant was built at Joliet, Ill. Doctor Koppers came to the United States in 1907 and established his headquarters a t Joliet, doing business as Heinrich Koppers. In the next five years several plants were built. In 1912 the company was incorporated as the H. Koppers Company and the offices were moved from J o l i e t t o Chicago. A number of plants were installed by this company, but it was not until control passed to Pittsburgh interests that the new company, with H. B. Rust as president, secured a volume of business in keeping with the opportunities presented. The change in ownership occurred the latter part of 1914. Early in 1915 the Koppers C o m p a n y m o v e d from Chicago to Pittsburgh. With the advent of the war came the realization that the striking power of a nation in modern warfare is determined largely by its supply of the by-products of coke. There followed, naturally and swiftly, a phenomenal demand for by-product coking apparatus. Four years after the outbreak of war the Koppers Company had doubled the by-product coking capacity of the United States. Moreover, the company was the first to develop the recovery of benzene and toluene from carbureted water gas, thus contributing greatly to the necessary increase in the production of these indispensable Pittsburgh, Pa. materials when America took up arms. Altogether, the company played a n important part in the successful prosecution of the world conflict. Two outstanding events in the war period illustrate the rapid strides made by the company. One was the building by the
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INDUS"I'1ZIAL A N D IfNGINEEEING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 22, No. 1
cations of purity, sire, and strength. To safeguard its sources of raw material, the company embarked in the coal business, and is today the producer of some of our highest grade coals. It organized its own personnel ior the demonstrating, merchandising, and servicing of coke, in this way dcvcloping domcstic markets of growing proportions for this strictly modern fuel. IGxdy, the company entered the tarproducts business with the acquisition of the American Tar Products Company, iiow an important unit of that industry. It was not long after its entrance in lire gas industry that the company, realizing the advantages of bulk coal carbonization for making liigh-grade gas at low cost, began the devclopmcnt of a small coal-gas plant of various capacities adaptable to the needs of tlre gas industry. The invention of the Beeker oven followed. This oven assures great flexibility in gas production and is dceigncd to be underiired eithcr with producer gas or a portion o i the coal gas. I t has mct with great SIICCCSS. By-Product Coke Planf of Hamllfon Coke and Iron Company, Hamilton, Ohio As the result of a furtlier analysis of IO.-pmdurt recovery apparatus at t h e right gas-manufacturing equipment, the comDanv also introduced the KODIX~S con.~ company of the largest by-imduct cokr plant in the world, tlie tiiiuolis vertical combination oven plant. This incorporated Clairton plant of the Camcgir Stecl Company in the Pittsburgh many structural and operating improvements over other plants district. The other >vas the company's decision to engage in the of the vcrtical type. aperating end of the nianulacturcd-gas busiiless, an act fraugilt Coincident with tliese developinenis, tlie company engaged with increasing import to this great basic industry. in extensive investigation and enpcrimentation looking t o the The company entcred thc gas btisiness because of the convic- modemiration of antiquated methods of purifying gas and the tion, since proved sound, that tile by-product cokc oven is the production of a gas of higli quality. As B consequence of these most efficient source of city gas supply. Tiiereaiter it undertook rcsearclies, new P I O C ~ S S ~ of S liquid purification were made availtile highly exacting tasks o i procuring coal supplies, erecting able to the gas industry and w n e %,idely adopted, with noteplants and operating tlicm, and selling llic cokc and other by- wortliy results of a financial and technical nature. More reproducts. This c e n t l y t h e comlast-named activity pany has introis distinct in charduced in this cowacter from t h e t r y t h e newest public service busimethods for the reness and calls far moval of moisture the exercise of spefrom gas, thus furcialized knowledge ther improving the and qualifications quality of this essential fuel. The erection of the plants at ChiIn the f i f t e e n c a g o , Keamy, N. year period covered J., and St. P a u l , in this article there hlinn., followed, were witnessed in and their successful the United States operation promptly m a n y changes of illustrated t o t h e enormous industrial m a n u f actured-gas and economic sigindustry how valun i f i c a n c e . In no a b l e a by-product s m a l l degree was cake plant could be. this true of our key The company took industries engaged extreme care in the in the processing of selection of coals t o coal. In this brief insure the producspan of time they tion of a domestic saw the transition coke of the highest f r o m t h e beehive By-Product Coke Plnnt of the Connecticut Coke Company on the Share of quality, one meetoven a n d retort Lone Ietand Sound a t New Hwen ing definite specifib e n c h to the byCapacity, 550,WO tons of cod a year
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Interior of N e w Seaboard Experimental Leaborafory of the Koppers Company a t Kearny, N. J. Pnrt of space used for seemi-cornrneid~aland plant scak drvrloprnent work
product coke oveii. Tliis development was tile result of ihe interplay of riiany diverse factors, including the daring ai capital, the prosecution of original research, the application of matured enginerring and clicmical knowledge, a tliorouglx understanding of fuels and their potential markcts, and the exercise of k e a merchandising ability. The contribution made by the Koppcrs Company to thc progress of this period is rmectcd, in part, by the statement that, of the 48 million odd tons of by-product coke produced in the United States in 1928, Koppers and Becker ovens accountcd for approximately 79 pcr cent. and, furthrr, of all cokc-oven in-
At Eome among the Atoms. BY JAMES KENDALL. A first volume of candid chemistry, dedicated to Sir James Walker and to the memory of Alexander Smith. 318 pages. The Century Co., New York, 1929. Price, W O O . In the iritroductiori the author says t h a t "this book has not been written for the scientific expert," so undoubtedly the reviewer has been happily chosen. And yet even as an orthodox teaclier of chemistry he is able t o applaud this effort to help the average citizen, who has an amateur's interest in chemistry, t o "orient himself and to distinguish fact from fancy" in the s b r y of the atom. Fundamental chemical theory is developed systematically and logically. Much of the presentation of elementary chemical theory is very similar to Alexander Smith's popular handling of the same material. In fact, the reviewer, who wasastudent of Smith, could almost hear the voice of that great teacher, pnrticularly as he was reading Chipter I l l . But the author has gone much farther than anyone else, the reviewer believes, in "unconventional (often almost flippant) methods of prescntation".-nactly how far only a reading of the book can tell. Thc book is very entertaining, the treatment being vigorous as well as frrsh. "Homely analogies and alleged wise-cracks furnish temporary distractions from the abrupt precipices of strict fundamental theory which cannot be avoided." These analogies and wise-cracks were usually so clever t h a t the reviewer was completely charmed by them. Occasionally, however, one wonders
is too bad, for the book otherwise is an encellent'pobulai treatment of chemical theory. It is true that when the book reaches the Bohr atom it is not very satisfying, and when it gets to
Monorail for Elecmc Crane. Also Secnon of Thlrd Floor of the New Seaboard Eiperlmenfsl Laboratory of the Koppers Company rat Kearny, N. J.
stallations made in the vast five years, 90 per cent have been of the Becker type. The company's appreciation of the best there is in engineering is strikingly exhibited in the great by-product coke plants which the traveler now can see as an impressive feature of hi5 ride as lie approaches New York. Philadelphia, Xew IIauen, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, and many other cities. These plants arc worthy examples of the highest expression of the a r t of the engineer. In their conception, design, and construction, technical and scientific skill have combined with imagination to produce units largely instrumental iii ushering in a new era of fuel technology.
Schradinger it is even less so. But could aiiy similar book do bctter? The author thinks that the book may, among other uses, serve a few unorthodox teachers as a textbook, and that others
of -his non-chemisi frknds. And he expects t h a t t h y will be not merely entertained but will also find in it "the sort of information regarding chemistry t h a t the serious minded searcher craves."--B. B. FREUD
Gas Analysis. BY L. M. DENNISAND hl. I,. NICHOLS. Kevised edition. 499 pages. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1929. Price, $4.00. This book is a valuable contribution to the literature of gas analysis, as until recently up-to-date information an this subject has been rather meager. It has probably been written mort as a textbook than for industrial use. The chapters on Combustion of Gases and Heating Valuc of Gas are especially good. Too much space has, however, bcen devoted to the Hcmpel apparatus, which is practically obsolete and requires a very skilled operator. More space should h a w been given to the type of apparatus employed by the United States Bureau of Mines. Also the method of Colman and Smith for the determination of naphthalene in gas has been im-
There are numerous references t o other heratlire and the book is vcry well indexed.-J. M. GONDER
