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I N D UXTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 16, No. 6
T h e Federal Naval Stores Act’ By F. P. Veitch BUREAU OB CHEMISTRY, WASHINGTON, D. C.
T
H E Federal Naval Stores Act was passed by the Sixtythird Congress on March 3, 1923, and signed by the President the same day. The title of the act is “An Act Establishing Standard Grades of Naval Stores, Preventing Deceptions in Transactions in Naval Stores, Regulating Traffic Therein, and for Other Purposes.” Naval stores are defined as spirits of turpentine and rosin. Three classes of turpentine are defined in the act. These are “gum spirits of turpentine,” meaning spirits of turpentine made from gum (oleoresin) from the living tree; “steam-distilled wood turpentine,” meaning wood turpentine distilled with steam from the oleoresin within or extracted from the wood; and “destructively distilled wood turpentine,” meaning wood turpentine obtained in the destructive distillation of wood. Two classes of rosin are also defined by the act. These are “gum rosin’’-that is, rosin remaining after the distillation of gum spirits of turpentine-and “wood rosin,” which is rosin remaining after the distillation of steamdistilled wood turpentine. The three kinds of spirits of turpentine and the rosin types which had previously been prepared by the Department of Agriculture and adopted by the naval stores trade are made the standards by which all naval stores in the United States shall be sold. The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to establish and promulgate standards for naval stores for which no standards are provided in the act, giving three months’ notice of the proposed standards to the trade, holding hearings, and then promulgating the standards, if any, to be effective three months after the date of promulgation. The Secretary is also authorized to modify the standards established by the act, whenever he believes the interests of the trade shall so require, after a t least six months’ notice of the proposed modification to the trade, which standards shall not be effective until six months after the date when made. The act requires that the various grades of rosin from highest to lowest shall be designated, respectively, “X,” “WW,” “WG,” “N,” “K,>, ,, “H,” S “D,” and “B,” together with the designation “gum rosin” or “wood rosin” as the case may be. The standards made and authorized by the act are to be known as the “Official Naval Stores Standards of the United States,” and shall be the standards by which all naval stores in commerce in the United States, including imports and exports, shall be graded and described. The Secretary of Agriculture is required to provide, if practicable, any interested person with duplicates of the official naval stores standards of the United States, when the request is accompanied by tender of satisfactory security for the return of the standards and under such regulations as he may prescribe. The Secretary is also authorized to examine, if practicable, upon the request of any interested person, any naval stores, and to analyze, classify, or grade the same, upon tender of the cost thereof, under such regulations as he may prescribe. He is required to furnish a certificate showing the analysis, classification, or grade of such naval stores, which certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the analysis, classification, or grade of such naval stores and of the content of any package from which the same may have been taken, as well as of the correctness of such analysis, classification, or grade, and is made admissible as such in any court. The heart of the act, so far as it tends to prevent adulteration ( L
1 Presented under the title “The Naval Stores Law” before the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry at the 67th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Washington, D. C., April 21 to 26, 1924.
of turpentine and the misgrading of rosin, is contained in Section 5, which reads as follows: Section 5. That the following acts are hereby declared injurious to commerce in naval stores and are hereby prohibited and made unlawful: ( a ) The sale in commerce of any naval stores, or of anything offered as such, except under or by reference to United States standards. (p) The sale of any naval stores under or by reference to United States standards which is other than what i t is represented t o be. (c) The use in commerce of the word “turpentine” or the word “rosin,” singly or with any other word or words, or of any compound, derivative, or combination of words, letter or combination of letters, provided herein or by the Secretary of Agriculture t o be used to designate naval stores of any kind or grade, in selling, offering for sale, advertising, or shipping anything other than naval stores of the United States standards. ( d ) The use in commerce of any false, misleading, or deceitful means or practice in the sale of naval stores or of anything offered as such. The penalty on conviction for willful violation of this section is a fine not exceeding $5000 for each offense or imprisonment for not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court. Section 5 is very broad in scope and should be carefully considered by any person who makes or deals in spirits of turpentine or rosin either in interstate, foreign, or intrastate business. It will be seen that naval stores can be sold in commerce only under or by reference to the United States Naval Stores Standards, that the United States Naval Stores Standards cannot be used in intrastate business in the sale of any kind of turpentine or rosin which is other than it is represented to be. The use in commerce of the word “turpentine” or the word “rosin,” or any derivative or similar word, or combination of words, provided in the act or by the Secretary of Agriculture to designate naval stores of any kind or grade, either in selling, offering for sale, advertising, or shipping anything other than naval stores of the United States Standards is absolutely prohibited; and finally, the use in commerce of any false, misleading, or deceitful means or practice in the sale of naval stores or of anything offered as such, is prohibited. The Secretary of Agriculture is further authorized to purchase from time to time, on the open market, samples of spirits of turpentine and of anything offered for sale as such, analyze, classify, or grade them to detect violations of the act, and he is required to report to the Department of Justice, for appropriate action, any violation of the act that comes to his knowledge. He is further authorized to publish from time to time the results of analysis, classification, or grading of spirits of turpentine or of anything offered for sale as such. The act became effective June 1, 1923, ninety days after its approval, but no money was provided by the Congress for the enforcement of the act. The agricultural appropriation bill now before Congress carries an item for the enforcement of the act, and this will be available July 1, 1924. The United States rosin standards were prepared to match the average of a large number of recognized standards made of rosin. There had been, however, previous to the time when the Bureau of Chemistry prepared these permanent standards, no permanent master set against which to match such rosin standards, because standards made of rosin rapidly change in color, and it was unusual to find any two sets of such standards which were alike. The standards are made of glass in metal frames seven-
June, 1924
I N D V S T R I A L ALYD ENGINEERIXG CHEMISTRY
eighths of an inch on the side, this being the exact size prescribed by custom for the grading sample. The standards are not only standards for the colors of the rosin, but also for the size of the sample which is to be graded. Each standard is marked “United States Standard,” with the grade letter or letters, with the number of the set, and also with the phrase “Property of the United States Department of Agriculture.” These sets of rosin standards are not for sale. They’are deposited with inspectors, boards of trade, chambers of commerce, trade associations, firms, and individuals, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture. The standards for rosin have been accepted by and have been in use by the naval stores trade of the United States for the past six or seven years. Sets of the rosin standards are deposited at the chief naval stores trading points, of the United States,
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either in the hands of the Food and Drug Inspection Laboratories of the Bureau of Chemistry, with chambers of commerce, or with trade bodies. Furthermore, a t the request of foreign trade organizations, a set has been deposited at London, England, and as soon as available other sets will be deposited in Prance and other foreign countries. It is hoped that ultimately the United States rosin standards will be the standards of the world for trade in rosin; and this is a logical outcome, because of the fact that the United States supplies from 60 to 75 per cent of the world’s rosin and turpentine needs, which will all be graded by these standards. The text of the Federal Naval Stores Act of March 3, 1923, together with the regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture for its enforcement, is published in Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Circular 22, copies of which may be had on request.
Some Recent Developments in Industrial Alcohol’ By J. M. Dorm INDUSTRIAL
ALCOHOLA N D CHEXMICAL DIVISION,
P R O H I B I T I O N UNIT,
I
N NO field of chemical industry has the industrial revival of the past two years been more clearly reflected than in the inciease and broadening of the use of industrial alcohol. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act has relieved chemical industry from the economic competition brought about through the use of the most availablkfermentable material, molasses, for the production of beverage spirits. Cheap industrial alcohol is a sine qua non of an active chemical industry that may compete in the world market, and the present situation with regard to the availability of molasses as a raw material shows the fortunate position in which the necessary users of industrial alcohol are placed in procuring their supplies. Speaking from the industrial standpbint, it need hardly be pointed out that any misuse of industrial alcohol that restricts the supply available for lawful products is a wholly unnecessary industrial waste and should naturally be combatted by every industrial chemist. The present law seeks to accomplish that purpose and its wisdom from the economic standpoint cannot be questioned. Probably the greatest increase in the volume use during the past two years has been as an antifreeze solution for automobile radiators. This does not involve any complicated chemical process, but the necessity of a satisfactory antifreeze solution, in order that transportation may be maintained throughout the winter months in the large industrial centers of the northern states, is apparent. Denatured alcohol fulfils this need admirably, and to date it is the only material that has proved satisfactory for this purpose. Millions of gallons have been so used during the past two years, and the present volume production of the automobile factories indicates a steady increase in its use for this purpose. During the past two years there has been developed in this country a commercially practicable and economical method for dehydrating alcohol by continuous distillation without the employmelit of dehydrating agents. The use of liquid fuels, in which alcohol is one of the constituent liquids, has been before the public and has received the close attention of chemists for years. It has been repeatedly pointed out that the supply of cellulose, starch, and sugar, which are renewed annually by natural growth, offers practically unlimited raw materials for the production of alcohol for fuel purposes in the event that the available petroleum supplies fail to meet industrial requirements. Alcohol fuels have from time to time been satisfactorily used 1 Presenf erl beEore the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry at the 67th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Washington, D. C., April 21 to 26, 1924.
BUREAUO F
INTERNAL
REVENUE,WASHINGTON, D. C.
in internal combustion engines where the economic factors are favorable. The presence of 5 per cent of water in high-proof alcohol has been a serious handicap to its use as a component part of a blended fuel. The dehydration of alcohol by continuous distillation, and a t a reasonable cost, has therefore removed one serious defect in the alcohol-blended fuel, and today it occupies the position of being a t once available and profitable to use should the petroleum distillates increase substantially in price. The production of absolute alcohol by distillation has made it available for research work a t a cost very much less than heretofore. The possibility of the procurement of absolute alcohol a t a moderate cost for use in various synthetic processes has been of great assistance to the industries concerned. The recent announcement of the commercial availability of tetraethyI lead as an antidetonator for rendering motor operation more efficient serves to illustrate the essential relationship of ethyl alcohol to the combustion engine, even though in this case the ethyl compound is employed for purposes other than direct power generation. Recently there has been developed in Virginia the largest artificial silk operation in the United States, in which there are employed annually over two million gallons of alcohol-ether mixture in the preparation of collodion. This development is a notable one and, in addition to being of great peace-time value, it stands as an asset t o our national defense, as the entire plant could be rapidly converted for the manufacture of smokeless powder. The production of commercial pectin on a large scale has developed rapidly during the last two years, and the use of specially denatured alcohol, consisting of a mixture of ethyl alcohol and ethyl acetate, is generally employed as a precipitant of the pectin. The uses of pectin in food technology appear to be widespread and increasing. Interesting experiments have been made within the last year in the use of ethylene as an anesthetic agent. Preliminary results that have been noted in the current medical literature indicate that ethylene as an anesthetic agent may have some very distinct advantages over ether and chloroform. These developments show the substantial progress in this particular field during the past year and there is no reason to doubt that many other useful developments will occur in the immediate future. The laboratory of the Prohibition Unit will be glad to take up with those who have occasion to come in contact with the industrial use of alcohol in their various lines of activity any question relating to its procurement and use that may arise under the present law.
