TI74
T H E .JOURNAL OF I N D U S T R I A L ALYD ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
T‘o~.8 . NO.
12
THE EXPLOSIVE CHARACTER OF MERCURY OXYCYANIDE A fatal explosion which wrecked the interior of the building in which i t occurred, took place a t the plant of Powers-Weightman-Rosengarten Co , on the morning of Xovember 21, while an employee was preparing to transfer a batch of Powdered Mercury Oxycyanide from a factory container into storage bottles As therc. were no open flames in the room and as the only
surviving witness of the explosion has stated emphatically that there was no smoking, etc., the cause of the explosion is not clear to us but we desire to publish the occurrence so that others dealing with the same article may take warning. We might add that we never had the slightest indication of the explosive character of the material even though we have a t times powdered it with a pestle in open mortars.
The Annual Meeting of the American Paper and Pulp Association and the Technical Sssociation of the Pulp and Paper Industry will be held in New York, February 6 to 8, 1917, with headquarters at the Hotel XValdorf-Astoria.
Dr. Edward Hart has retired as active head of the chemical department OF Lafayette College. He will, however, remain connected with the department as professor of chemical engineering and as librarian of the Henry W.Oliver Chemical Library.
The new ceramic engineering building of the University of Illinois was formally dedicated on November 20 and 21. In connection therewith an industrial conference was held, in which topics of current interest. to the ceramic engineer, the clayworker and the manufacturer will be discussed by well-known experts.
Dr. Eugene C. Bingham has resigned the professorship of chemistry a t Richmond College to become professor of chemistry and director of the Gayley Chemical Laboratory a t Lafayette College. During last year Dr. Bingham was on leave of absence from Richmond College in order to carry out special investigations a t the Bureau of Standards on the subjects of fluidity and plasticity. Dr. Eugene P. Wightman has been appointed professor of chemistry a t Richmond College to succeed Professor Bingham.
Dr. Amos W.Peters has been appointed assistant professor of bio-chemistry in the laboratories of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine; Omaha. The eighth annual convention of the Independent Oil Men’s Association was held a t the Hotel La Salle, Chicago, October 18 to 20. President F. E. Van Tilburg was unanimously re-elected for the ensuing year. The new acid phosphate plant of the Davison Chemical Company, a t Baltimore, which began active operations October 14, is now working up to its normal capacity of io00 tons of acid per day. Mr. 31. G. Kopf has opened a consulting engineering office a t Mr. Kopf has been chief engineer for the McCormick Laboratories a t Dayton, O., chief engineer of the technical laboratories of the Automatic Electric Company and electrical engineer for the h’ational Cash Register Company.
P O n r B R S - m j B I G a T ~ ~ A N - R O S E N G A R TC~O~.
PHIEADBLPHIA. PA
Dr. J. Hunt Wilson has resigned his position a t Lehigh University in order to become assistant professor of chemistry a t Laiayette College. Dr. Garnett Ryland, who was acting professor of chemistry a t Richmond College last year, has returned to Georgetown College, Georgetown, Ky., after a year’s leave of absence. Ur. J. Ernest Carman, of the University of Cincinnati, has succeeded the late Prof. Charles S. Prosser, to the chair of geology a t Ohio State University.
602 Chemical Building, Chicago.
The doctorate of laws was conferred upon Thomas A. Edison over the telephone by Dr John H. Finley, president of the University of the State of Kew York. on October 20. Mr. Edison was in his laboratory a t Orange, N. J. ; Dr. Finley was in the New York Education Building.
The Carborunduni Company of Piiagara Falls, N. Y., will construct a new administration building on the Kiagara River front, and it is proposed to tender the use of the present offices to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has decided to establish a station a t Niagara Falls with the Carborundum Company.
Walter D. Harris has resigned his position with the Bureau of Chemistry to take an active interest in the Valhalla Company, Chicago, manufacturers of electrochemical machinery.
In response to the request of the General Supply Committee of the executive departments of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia for specifications to govern the purchase of gasoline in the District, the Bureau of Mines has prepared tentative specifications and has sent copies of them to the refiners, automobile engineers, jobbers and other men prominent in the industry, for criticism, in order that the final specifications will be fair to both refiner and consumer. Of interest to the naval stores industry is an appropriation by Congress to the U. S. Department of Agriculture of $10,000 for investigating the grading, weighing, handling, and transportation of naval stores, the preparation of definite type samples thereof, and for the demonstration of improved methods or processes of preparing naval stores, in cooperation with individuals and companies.” With this appropriation the Bureau of Chemistry will be able to continue its investigations and undertake additional field work. -4canvass ol the producing area will be made and such helpful advice as the department is able to secure will be placed a t the service of those interested. I‘.
A4meeting to plan a memorial to Sir William Ramsay was held in London on October 31, after which Prof. J. Norman Collie, director ‘of the University College Chemical Laboratories, delivered a memorial lecture on “The Scientific Work of Sir William Ramsay.” m5lliam Cooper Cuntz, general manager and director of the Goldschmidt Thermit Company, and also a director of the GoldSchmidt Detinning Company, died a t A4uburndale, Mass., on November 2 The new plant of the Isco Chemical Company, Niagara Falls, S. Y., completed a t a cost of $4jo,ooo, has commenced operations. The Grace IGtrate Company has been incorporated with capital stock a t Dover, Del., by L. B. Phillips, A[. M. Hirona and J. B. Bailey, “to explore for caliche or nitrate and put the same on the market.” $4,000,000
The fertilizer plant of the I. P. Thomas & Son Company, a t Mantau Point, Pi. J was burned recently, with a heavy loss. I
The University of Chicago has received a fund to create the Edith Barnard Memorial Fellowship in Chemistry. Miss Barnard was instructor in the department of chemistry when she died and had been connected with it for ten years.
