712
I
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
1
EDITORIALS
THE FORTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY T o t h e members who have learned from experience t h e value of our general meetinzs no appeal need be made t o continue i n their attendance. To those who go intermittently or who have not as yet attended, we would emphasize t h e importance of these meetings a n d of t h e Rochester meeting (September 9-12) in particular. Our general meetings afford benefits of several kinds. Most important is t h e opportunity t o meet t h e foremost men i n t h e chemical profession a n d t o talk over matters of mutual interest. Then there is t h e discussion of papers which is frequently of more value t o us t h a n t h e papers themselves, a n d t h e discussions are not published. Again, t h e Society visits manufacturing institutions of interest t o them, a n d each city offers something unique. Further, t h e social features, t h e get-together sessions, t h e renewal of friendships, all a d d their quota of attraction. T h e chemist going t o t h e general meeting for t h e first time is liable t o feel himself among strangers. H e makes a few friends, meets some men from t h e old school a n d gets enjoyment from t h e meetings, b u t is a p t t o think t h a t t h e trip was hardly worth t h e cost a n d is doubtful about going t o t h e next meeting. A mistake is made if this is followed out, for t h e men deriving t h e greatest benefits from t h e American Chemical Society meetings are those who go regularly. We are about t o hold our first annual meeting as a separate society on t h e plan now in force which p u t s us on our own feet as a n independent organization, standing out as t h e largest chemical society in t h e world. Every effort is being made b y t h e Rochester Section t o offer attractions which will guarantee a n attendance in proportion t o t h e importance of t h e meeting. Rochester is within easy distance of a large majority of our members and has excellent transportation facilities. Both academic and industrial men will be well cared for, t h e general meeting being scheduled a t t h e great works of t h e Eastman Kodak Co. a n d t h e sectional meetings a t t h e University of Rochester. Factory excursions will be a special feature covering a field from t h e production of t h e instruments used b y t h e chemical profession t o works making t h e most modern application of chemistry t o industrial problems. Factories, t h e duplicates of which do not exist in this country or .abroad, will be visited. Social features will be prominent and a good program has been arranged for t h e ladies. We urge members t o be in attendance t h e first day, for such a unique program has never been planned for this Society. T h e general meeting a t Kodak Park will be followed by a complimentary luncheon a t t h e Kodak Works a n d a n inspection of t h e plant, this being t h e only opportunity of making t h e inspection. I n t h e evening comes t h e smoker, full of novelty, amusement a n d good fellowship. A live committee has been working on this event for months for your benefit.
Vol. 5 , No. 9
Let t h e members of t h e American Chemical Society descend upon Rochester i n unprecedented numbers for t h e first day, Sept. gth, a n d make t h e forty-eighth meeting t h e best ever! All will be amply repaid, -
WOOD ALCOHOL Since man began handling fire he has been utilizing dangerous substances t o his own good purposes. Also t h e chemist has discovered many substances a n d shown how t h e y might be used for the benefit of mankind; he has demonstrated t h e value of cyanides for extracting gold; how strychnine may serve as a heart stimulant; he has proved the value of phenol as a disinfectant; a n d how sulfuric acid may be used in multitudinous ways. All these substances are dangerous t o handle, in fact many of t h e commoner reagents used in t h e hundreds of laboratories a n d factories are poisons. Were partial facts only presented, i t is conceivable t h a t they might assemble themselves in astounding array, which, if not properly interpreted, would serve for a cause of impeachment of t h e entire chemical profession, whose daily routine is one of handling poisons of all kinds, except for t h e fact t h a t t h e chemist is supposed t o know his business as well as t h e substances he handles, and t o t a k e some precautions for safeguarding himself and t h e people working with him. It is a matter of business, even if i t presented no humanitarian features. Our attention has recently been directed t o attacks made upon methyl alcohoI, t h e production and sale of which constitutes a legitimate chemical business involving t h e annual manufacture and use of about IO,OOO,OOO gallons of t h a t substance with a capital investment in this country of about $12,000,000, a n industry which employs over 3,000 working people. W e , find in current literature, read b y t h e many, assertions made b y undoubtedly honest, b u t overzealous a n d presumably misinformed persons, or persons not sufficiently informed of t h e facts t o be competent t o judge according t o proportionality, such as t h e following: “It is unsafe t o burn wood alcohol or use i t in any way in a room where the air is close. T h e bottle should never be uncorked uialess the w i n d o w s are wide open.” (Italics ours.) Where would all t h e nearly 7,000 members of t h e American Chemical Society be if t h e latter were really t r u e ? There is no doubt about wood alcohol being a poison if taken internally (although we know of cases, perhaps accounted for by idiosyncrasy, where n o evil effects have resulted from drinking it) a n d if breathed as a vapor in a concentrated form for unusually long periods of time. I n f a c t , nearly a thousand cases of poisoning attributed t o wood alcohol (mostly due t o drinking it) have been reported in t h e literature since 1899, t h e time which marked t h e advent of such preparations as I ( Columbian Spirits,” “Colonial Spirits,” etc.-that is t o say, methyl alcohol of a high gradeof purity. I n 1906, due t o a general agitation for a tax-free, denatured ethyl alcohol, hearings were held before t h e Ways and Means
Sept., 1913
T H E JOURLVAL OF I N D G S T R I A L AND EA’GIA‘EERI“L’G CHEMISTRY
a n d t h e Finance Committees of t h e Federal Congress. T h e injurious action of wood alcohol on t h e general health a n d eyesight of working people handling i t in t h e industries was strongly emphasized a t these hearings by manufacturers employing i t , workmen a n d experts. T h e United States a n d practically every state in t h e union have specific laws against t h e sale of wood alcohol as a beverage, or as a n addition t o beverages. I n thickly populated communities t h e fear of detection is lessened, hence cases of adulteration a r e more numerous, especially where there is foreign cheap labor. T h a t fact (especially in New York a n d New Jersey) coupled with a f e w cases of serious poisoning by wood alcohol in varnishing brewers’ vats, which are not properly ventilated, caused t h e New York S t a t e Factory Investigating Commission t o look into the wood alcohol situation. T h e Commission invited Professor Baskerville of t h e College of t h e City of New York, t h e n Chairman of t h e Committee on Occupational Diseases in t h e Chemical Trades of t h e A-ew York Section a n d chemical adviser of t h e Committee on Occupational Diseases of t h e New York S t a t e Labor Association a n d now Chairman of t h e Committee on Occupational Diseases of t h e American Chemical Society, t o make a report on “Wood Alcohol.” This report, based on a thorough investiga-
I
713
tion of t h e literature a n d extensive inspection of works of all kinds where wood alcohol is made a n d used in various ways, we have been privileged t o abstract previous t o final publication by t h e S t a t e , which abstract appears elsewhere in this issue. The full report may be secured by writing to t h e Commissioner of Labor, Albany, N . Y. Wood alcohol presents a unique case for legislation, n o t only on account of its general resemblance t o ethyl alcohol, b u t especially on account of t h e word “alcohol,” which has a definite meaning t o t h e chemist, but is more associated in t h e lay mind with “drink.” Methyl alcohol is used extensively a s a valuable solvent and in t h e manufacture of many important materials. I t s legitimate use should n o t be throttled. T h e present laws in regard to its use a s an adulterant of beverages or in a n y preparation intended for internal use or external application on t h e human body are in most states now adequate, b u t t h e y should be more rigidly enforced. Where inadequate, we t r u s t t h a t reasonable legislation, such as is recommended in t h e report referred t o above, may be enacted. At present, however, we insist upon t h e rigid execution of t h e laws as t h e y exist before further encumbering t h e codes.
ORIGINAL PAPERS THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF STEEL CASTINGS B Y WIRTTASSIN Received July 23, 1913
I N T R OD U C T I 0 N
This paper deais with t h e results of some metallographic investigations of steel castings. All of t h e micrographic work was done i n t h e machine shop on t h e castings themselves, not on small sections cut from them. T h e work was undertaken during t h e course of what is planned t o be a fairly comprehensive s t u d y of t h e relation between structure a n d physical properties of steel in t h e mass, a n d intended for use as a guide b y t h e Inspector a n d Engineer of Tests. T h e present paper gives t h e results of t h e work on Tropenas steel castings, a n d is intentionally made as non-technical as possible. INFLUENCE O F ANNEALING O X STRUCTURE
A steel casting in t h e “green,” especially when of a complicated shape, is always liable t o be under internal strain. I n order t o relieve these strains annealing is resorted to. This process has a marked effect upon t h e structure of t h e metal. T h e structure of a steel casting in t h e “green,” i. e., a s i t leaves t h e mold, is coarsely crystalline a n d exhibits t o a greater or less degree a regularly arranged network, t h e meshes of which usually intersect a t some angle of a n octahedron (Fig. I ) . This structure is known a s “ingotism.” Heat-treating such a casting breaks down this original crystallization a n d , if properly carried out, effaces it. T h u s in a properly annealed casting t h e coarse crystal-
line structure gives place t o another which is finegrained a n d of a uniform distribution (Fig. 2 ) . T h e degree t o which this change takes place is limited by t h e temperature reached, its uniformity, t h e time t h a t it is maintained, t h e rate of cooling, a n d t h e size a n d shape of t h e casting. Given t h e proper temperature, b u t let t h e time be too short t o permit of a complete re-arrangement, t h e structure will be analogous t o t h a t seen in Fig. 3, in which t h e original structure is readily traced by t h e parallel grouping of t h e new crystallization. With a still shorter time period there is only a partial recrystallizing, a n d more or less of t h e original network is visible (Fig. 4). Let t h e time be long enough, b u t t h e temperature be too low, there will be again a partial re-grouping with more or less of the original crystallization present (Fig. j ) . Let t h e temperature be right b u t t h e time period be t o o long, all traces of t h e original structure will be destroyed, b u t in place of t h e fine granular structure seen in Fig. z there will be a much coarser one (Fig. 6) characterized by the large-sized areas of a certain kind. Let t h e temperature be too high a n d t h e increase in size of certain areas become marked (Fig. 7 ) . RELATION O F STRUCTURE TO PHYSICAL P R O P E R T I E S
T h e character of t h e structure bears a relation t o t h e physical properties of t h e metal in t h e casting, t h e finer t h e grain, t h e more uniform its distribution a n d t h e freer it is from occluded foreign matter a s slag, sulfide, oxide, etc., t h e better will be t h e physical properties.
