INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
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FATHERS and SONS in CHEMISTRY Balke—Pater et Filius in the dimly charted eleR ESEARCH ments in Group V of the periodic table can hardly be called a crowded profession, but when a father and son unite to throw more light on two of the most obstreperous of these elements—well, that is news.
is now an important component in many sintered carbide cutting tools and dies, including FansteePs own carbide products, Ramet and Tantaloy. Dr. Ralke is a familiar figure at the AMERICAN- CHEMICAL SOCIETY symposia,
and several of his papers have been published in INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY.
His son, Claire C. Balke, while not born with a tungsten ingot in his mouth, has been brought up in a reducing atmosphere, s o to speak. At the age of 15, he was already assisting his eminent father in difficult metallurgical problems. Graduating from Northwestern in 1932, he took a year's post-graduate work at Illinois in 1933, then entered t h e Fansteel laboratory , where he and his father have worked side by side ever since. T o the younger Balke's credit are some excellent specimens of photomicrography which nave been widely exhibited. He is also responsible for important improvements, snort cuts, and waste eliminations in the intricate metallurgical processes by which tantalum and columbium are made. Like many enthusiastic research workers, the Balkes have n o clocks in their laboratories. For many years, a midnight passerby would often see one light in the Fansteel laboratory. Now he sees two. CLARENCE W . AND CLAIRE
C.
BALKE
The accomplishments of Clarence W. Balke scarcely need reviewing. Graduating from Oberlin shortly after the turn of the century, he has devoted a lifetime to research in tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, columbium, and their compounds. He earned his doctor's degree at Pennsylvania in 1905 by determining the atomic weights of tantalum and columbium— before either had been isolated as a pure element. From 1907 to 1916 he taught at Illinois, occupying the chair of inorganic chemistry when he left. During this period, he started the work on rare earths which has since been carried on under the direction of B. S. Hopkins. Forsaking his role as instructor, Dr. Balke became director of research for the company which is now Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., at North Chicago, III. Until 1920, his time was occupied in the metallurgy of tungsten and molybdenum, which at that time was not so well known as it is today. After the World War, he again turned his attention to tantalum and in 1922 had perfected a factory process for the commercial production of ductile sheet and wire. This process, with some improvements and modifications, is still in use a t the Fansteel plant. Columbium, which resembles tantalum closely, except that its density is only half as great, had been produced only in very small specimens before 1929, when Dr. Balke made several pounds of pure columbium rod and sheet which were exhibited that year at the International Exposition of Chemical Industries. That same year he commenced a research project which led t o the development and perfection of tantalum and columbium carbide. Tantalum carbide
Charles A. Coffin Fellowships
N
INE college graduates have been granted Charles A. Coffin fellowships, totaling $5000, for use in carrying on advanced scientific research during the coming school year, according to an announcement by the General Electric Co., Schenectady, N . Y. The students will conduct their work in six different educational institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, Vale University, University of Cincinnati, University of Rochester, and the University of Virginia. Five of the recipients of the fellowships are engaged in physics as their field of research, three in electricity, and one in physical chemistry. The nine men who have been awarded fellowships are: Seymour Bernstein, Chicago, III.; Joseph R. Dietrich, Newport News, Va.; Richard P. Krebs, Cincinnati, Ohio; Richard W. Mat toon, Washington, D. C ; Robert J. Maurer, Rochester, N. Y.; Myron H. Nichols, Garrettsville, Ohio; Shepard Roberts, Mamaroneck, N. Y.; Worden Waring, Ithaca, N. Y . ; and Everett M. Williams, Wallingford, Conn. The fellowships are awarded each year to graduates of colleges in the United States who have shown by the character of their work that they could with a d vantage undertake or continue research work in educational institutions either in this country or abroad. Since 1923 more than 100 students have thus been enabled to make important studies, including one Nobel Prize winner. Charles A. Coffin Fellowships were established by the General Electric Co. in 1922 to honor its retiring president and founder.
VOL. 16, NO. 9
Decision i n t h e Trail Smelter Case
A tween the United States of America and the Dominion of Canada, providing
CONVENTION was ratified in 1935 be-
for a n international tribunal charged with finally deciding four questions: 1. Whether damage caused by the Trail Smelter i n the State of Washington has occurred since the first day of January, 1932, and, if so. what indemnity should be paid therefor? 2. In t h e event of the answer to the first part of the preceding question being in the affirmative, whether the Trail Smelter should be required to refrain from causing damage in the State of Washington in the future and, if so, to what extent? 3. In t he light of the answer to the preceding Question, what measures or regime, if any. should be adopted or maintained by the Trail Smelter? 4. What indemnity or compensation, if any, should be paid on account of any decision or decisions rendered by the Tribunal pursuant to the next two preceding questions? T h e United States of America chose Charles Warren and the Dominion of Canada Robert A. £ . Greenshields to represent them, and the governments jointly chose Jan Frans Hostie of Belgium as the third member and the chairman of the tribunal. The tribunal has m e t in various places, received a vast amount of records a n d expert testimony, and has spent some days in hearing the arguments of t h e agents of the countries involved in this controversy, which grows out of the claims of damage from the fumes from the smelter o f the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. of Canada, Ltd., a t Trail in British Columbia. Any damage involved in t h e questions before the tribunal has been in Stevens County, Wash. T h e tribunal has handed down a decision on t h e first question, but will defer its final decision o n the other questions until a trial period t o end October 1, 1940, during which time additional data are t o be gathered. An indemnity of $62,000 has been awarded with respect to damage to cleared land and t o uncleared land other than that used for timber, and $16,000 with respect t o damage to uncleared land used for timber, a total of $78,000. In answering the second question, t h e tribunal has decided that, until the date of the final decision, the Trail Smelter shall refrain from causing damage t o the State of Washinton in the future t o t h e extent set forth in their answer t o the third question. In their answer to the third question t h e tribunal sets forth a procedure to b e followed until October 1,1940, designed t o control the amount of sulfur which may be emitted from the stacks of the Trail Smelter and in obtaining additional information which it needs before announcing a final conclusion. Two technical consultants have been appointed, these being Reginald S. Dean, of trie U. S. Bureau of Mines and Robert E . Swain, of Stanford University, who have been until this time advisers t o the tribunal under the convention. The type of equipment to b e installed, the observations t o be made, and the data to be accumulated are set forth i n the report. Previously $350,000 had been accepted in satisfaction of damage done prior to* January 1 , 1932.
