THE F.cVP.
βλ ΤΟ W E I R
l?rom tiie Secretary The Divided
REFLUX-PRODUCT SPLITTING ON DISTILLATION COLUMNS I NEXPENSIVE PRECISE SIMPLE
HAVE YOU BEEN INDIVIDUALLY D E S I G N I N G AND C O N S T R U C T I N G " R U B E G O L D B E R G S " FOR S O L V I N G Y O U R REFLUX ADJUSTING PROBLEMS Grt D I S T I L L A T I O N PROCESSES? IF S O , Y O U C A N N O W E L I M I N A T E THIS C O S T L Y P R O C E D U R E A N D U S E F. & P. RATO\CEIRS T O G I V E Y O U A C C U R A T E A N D I N S T A N T A N E O U S L Y A D J U S T A B L E REFLUXPRODUCT R A T I O . INLET
WEIR WELL
HOW THE RATOWEIR WORKS The l i q u i d from the condenser is discharged downward into a cylinder which is open at the top and which contains in one side a rectangular lip-type overflow weir. The cylinder is rotatably mounted so that the position of the w e i r can bee varied respective to a vertically mounted knife-edge which divides the discharging fluid into two streams,. oneoF which flows to the product outlet and the other, through a suitabFe containing pocket, back into the column. For m o s t applications RATOWEIRS are constructed with borosilicate glass housings and with manual lever type ratio adjusters. However, high pressure totally enclosed RATO^J/EIRS (sometimes with high pressure sight glasses) are also available. Electric or pneumatic motor drive w i t h remote control for the ratio adjustment is also available. Catalog 9 0 - B gives further information.
F LOW RAT OR TRADEMARK *
FISCHER &- PORTER CO. - Dept. 8T-2B
2342
H a t b o r o , Pa.
Meeting
We are on the threshold of an experi ment in which you have a part. Regional meetings have been successful in this and many other organizations. A single divi sion has held profitable sessions by itself drawing an audience from the entire coun-" try. So far as we know a divided meeting is wholly original. The first one will be held by the ACS Aug. 30 to Sept. 16. It partakes of some of the features of a regional gathering and some of an interim divisional meeting. Each national meet ing of the ACS draws half or more of its registrants from the state in which it is held and those immediately surrounding it. Most of the members of the ACS in the U. S. live within less than 1,000 miles of one of the sites in which sessions of the divided meeting will be held, probably a high proportion within 500 miles·. The meeting is being taken to the members. The program in each location is so diver sified that each member in the immediate area will find something of interest. In that sense it is regional. In another way it is like a special divi sional meeting. Instead of one group ar ranging a program for all of its members in the U. S., and meeting by itself, each division has made such plans but six to eight of them are meeting at the same time and place. This permits arrange ment of joint symposia and programs of interest to members of more than one seg ment of the profession. Not only is the major plan an experi ment but many of its details of operation fall in the same category. Some divisions have scheduled their entire programs in one place—for example, the Division of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry with 92 papers in Portland. Some have elected to have their major endeavor in one site and smaller programs in others, in order better to serve their local members. Thus, the Division of Biological Chemistry will have eight sessions in Washington, a general program in St. Louis, and five sessions in Portland. The subsidiary pro gram on the West Coast is as large as the entire meeting of the division in Pitts burgh (1943) or Cleveland (1944). Any author who desires may present his paper at more than one place. Several have elected to do so. For example, two Washington contributions will be repeated in both St. Louis and Portland. Every member calling on the Executive Secretary asks "Will it work? Will the divided meeting be a success?" We don't know; it's an experiment. Special prob lems exist for the divisions that are absent from the more customary type of meeting; they are being solved, but extra effort is required. More cooperation than usual is necessary. Three local sections are serv CHEMICAL
>s Office . . . ing as hosts with many members arrang ing for accommodations, personnel, enter tainment, and plant trips. The Puget Sound Section at Seattle has planned several extremely interesting and instructive trips to follow the Portland meeting, a neighborly gesture. We hope the sections in the vicinity of all hosts are publicizing the event locally and making a genuine effort to see that all the chemists in the region take advantage of the oppor tunity of attending a national meeting. We believe the experiment will be suc cessful. We know the next one will be better and the one after that still more so as experience is obtained. Much depends on you, the members. One meeting will be near you. Plan to be in Washington Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 or St. Louis Sept. 6 to 9 or Portland Sept. 13 to 16. Read the details in the Aug. 2 issue of C&EN and see for yourself what fine programs are planned for each site. Then participate. If you do, the plan will accomplish its purpose, namely, to make the benefits of a national meeting more widely available.
The Half-Way
Point
Some statistics of July 1, 194S, and com parisons with previous midyear figures may be of interest. Total membership—58,222; 8% more than a year ago but the smallest percent age net gain since 1940. New members—5,532, the third largest number added in a similar period, 9.5% of total membership but the smallest per centage of membership since 1937. Dues for 1948 unpaid—2,772, 4.76% of membership, a larger proportion than any year since 1942. Student members—4,001, a 3 5 % in crease, constituting 6.9% of the member ship compared with 7.76% in 1941, the prewar peak. Emeritus members—181, an 18% in crease. Corporation members—841, a 3.2% de crease, an excellent showing in the light of doubled dues. Changes of address—9,677, a decrease (from 10,181) for the first time in many years. New local sections—two: Richland, Wash. (102 members) and Bloomington, Ind. (61 members). Total number of local sections—127 in every state but two, D. C , Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and portions of Canada. Local section officers, councilors, and alternate councilors—1,114.
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
