Aug.,
1911
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L AiVD ENGIIVEEKING C H E I W I S T R Y .
“ Methods of Attacking Chemical Industrial Problems,’’ which was accompanied by complete detailed drawings and models of an installation for the manufacture of soda by the Solvay Process Company; also the great difference in both conditions and prices between this country and Germany was demonstrated by estimates on a process, which though successful in Germany, would prove a failure in the United States. The report of the Committee on Chemical Engineering Education was read b y Dr. Samuel P. Sadtler, chairman of that committee, and a paper discussing the “ Four-Year Course in Chemical Engineering” was read by Professor J . H. James; of the Carnegie Technical School of Pittsburgh. A paper giving a summary of the work of the “Committee on FiveYear Engineering Courses of the University of Ohio” was presented by Professor J. R. Withrow.
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Other papers presented were: ‘‘ Industrial Chemical Calculations,” by Professor J. W. Richards; I ‘ Rapid Determination of Tin in Food Products,” b y Dr. Edward Gudeman; “ Distillation on the Continuous System,” b y Dr. C. L. Campbell; “The Institute and the United States Patent System,” by Dr. William Grosvenor; “ Practical Value of Calorific Tests on Anthracite Coal,” followed by another on “Two Methods of Testing Asphalt,” by Dr. S. F. Peckham. A number of industrial excursions were made t o plants among which was a visit to the plant of Messrs. Swift & Company. The Toronto meeting of the American Electrochemical Society will be held September 21-23, 1911. There will be many interesting papers presented a t this meeting.
EDUCATIONAL The University of Maine recently conferred its Doctorate of Science upon Prof. Charles L. Parsons, of New Hampshire College, Secretary of the American Chemical Society. --Dr. K. Polstorff, Associate Professor of Pharmacological Chemistry a t the University of Goettingen, Germany, died on June 20th a t the age of 66 years. ___ Dr. P. Walden, Professor of
Chemistry a t the
Polytechnic School of Riga, Russia, has been elected a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
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On June 26th Dr. Julian W. Baird, Professor of Chemistry and Dean of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, died a t the age of 53 years.
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Dr. Wm. C. Rose has been appointed Assistant Instructor in Physiological Chemistry a t the University of Pennsylvania.
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the “Iournal of Industrial and Engineering Chewistry.’ ’ SIR: In the July issue of your Journal, there is a communication from Dr. Leo H. Baekeland in which he discusses my Belgian patent relating to new condensation products, a brief notice of which appeared in your June number of this year. In reply to the same, I desire to explain that I have been too busy in commercially exploiting and developing these products and on other technical researches and enterprises to find time to produce any matter for publication other than patent applications, of which I have about forty now pending in the United States relating to this subject. By invitation from the editor of THISJ O U R N AILhad , previously promised t o write an article on this subject, which will, I hope, follow this communication in the near future, as soon as the condition of pending applications for patents and my other work connected with the commercial development and exploitation of my inventions will permit. I t goes without saying and as a matter of course that if my Belgian patent gives my invention no approved standing as to novelty of subject matter and the proper restriction of my claims, neither do the Belgian nor French bakelite patents confer any such approved standing on bakelite.
But i t should be clearly understood that from the beginning of my work, and a t all times during and since, I knew that my products and my processes were each and all of them totally different, physically, chemically and patentably, from any, each and all of the products or processes described before or during the time any or all of my work was in progress, inclusive of any or all publications by Dr. Baekeland. I will, however, briefly describe the substance called condensite which is now being manufactured and sold in the United States by the Condensite Company of America a t Glen Ridge, N. J . , under my patent applications pending in this country, among which is one corresponding to the Belgian patent referred to in the July number of THISJ O U R N A L . Condensite is a high-grade plastic which may be rapidly molded in its uncured state and can be hardened with or without pressure, in from one minute, more or less, to one hour, more or less, depending on the particular composition, its mass and the care with which it has been manufactured. The products, which are now being manufactured and marketed and used in the United States for more than six months last past, are each respectively of constant composition and absolutely reliable products in their molding properties. I t is adapted for molding in either open or closed molds without the necessity, as for instance in the
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T H E JOURA’AL O F I.VDL-STRIAL A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHE3IISTRY.
rubber industry, or in the manufacture of bakelite, of a vulcanizer or equivalent apparatus, in a very simple and rapid manner and the strength is so great and the contraction so small that beautifully molded objects are made and metal parts can be molded within it and without any difficulty from cracking. Present experience shows that for practical purposes and under certain conditions, condensite is oil-proof and is acid-proof, except in the cases of nitric acid, concentrated sulphuric acid, and the strongest hydrofluoric acid, Cold or hot, dilute or strong solutions of caustic soda or caustic potash do have an action on it, and the statement on page 439 of the June issue of THIS J O U R N A L should be read and understood in the light of the foregoing. Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity of editing that note. Condensite is harder and is stronger than hard rubber in tensile strength. I t differs from other phenolic condensation products in several features which are of vital importance, among which the following may be mentioned: freedom from stresses due t o excessive shrinkage and other causes, such as the retention of vapors due to the reaction under a compensating pressure ; for all practical purposes it is non-odorous in the cured state, and nearly so in the uncured state ; uniformity and reliability of manufacture ; extremely high dielectric strength even when small per cents. (say 2 per cent.) of lampblack are compounded with it and the molded object is not specifically made for high tension insulation; when specifically so made, its dielectric strength is enormous. The expression “ quantitative synthesis ” should be intelligible to Dr. Baekeland, but, assuming that his questioning is in good faith, I will explain that that expression is a descriptive statement of a synthetic operation in which the fate of all materials used a t the beginning of the operation is accounted for a t the end of the operation in contradistinction to the ordinary and u ual synthetic operation in which only selected parts of the initial materials are accounted for a t the end of the operation. As to Dr. Baekeland’s comment on what I have offered ;n my Belgian patent as to the molecular weight of one of my new products, I say that a t the time 1 made those determinations 1 was fully aware of all the disturbing or possibly disturbing conditions referrid to by Dr, Baekeland, but I believed then and I believe now that within the limits indicated in that patent 1 succeeded In overcoming those experimental obstacles. By reference to the Belgian patent it will be seen that, a t the best, my statement as to molecular weight is merely a surmise and is not made as a hard and fast and rigidly proven fact. In answering Dr. Baekeland’s communication, I trust I may be pardoned for confining myself t o some of the technical matters discussed therein and leaving for some other occasion those points which have their interest only from a legal or commercial point of view and which while of paramount importance to Dr. Baekeland because of his financial interest in bakelite,
Aug.,
1911
of which he is the inventor, are doubtless of minor, if of any interest to the readers of THISJOURNAL. J. W. AE’LSWORTH. GLEN
N.
J.s
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FLASK FOR DISTILLATION OF TARS. In THISJ O U R N A L , j, 110, is a “Note on the Distillation of Tars Containing Water.” The object of this method was t o provide a means for the prevention of ‘ I bumping.” Previous to the article, a method had been in use in the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry in the University of Washington, which effectually accomplished this result. A thin sheet of a bestos paper was wrapped once around the neck of the distilling flask, and this in turn wound with a few turns of No. 30 Nichrome resistance wire. A thick covering of
was put Over and fastened. An force Of ‘5-3’ impressed On the terminals of this wire will furnish enough heat to keep the neck of the flask up to the required temperature, and in this way end any ‘Ondensation which have gone On in the neck. As a practical laboratory method, this has been tried and proved satisfactory in preventing “bumping” in the distillation of wood tar. C. E. BROWN, G. B. SHADINGER. UNIVERSITY O F \vASHINGTON, SEATTLE. W A S H
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NOTE ON THE TWITCHELL PROCESS OF DECOMPOSING FATS.
In the decomposition of fats and oils by the Twitchell process the progress of the decomposition is followed
