FATHERS AND SONS
PMOTOREFLEX S T U D I O . E M E R Y , B I R O T H A Y E R D Q. CO
T^ORN
in Warrensburg, Mo., in 1889,
-*-* E . R . F o s t e r attended the public schools of Warrensburg and graduated from the Warrensburg normal school in 1909. Later this institution became a four-year college, and he received the degree of B.S. in education from it. From five years as chemistry teacher and principal of Nevada, Mo., high school, Mr. Foster went to Chicago University for one year. The next year he began the first of 26 years of service in the Chemistry Department at Central Missouri State Teachers' College, Warrensburg, where he is now associate professor of chemistry. This service was interrupted only once when in 1926 he did graduate work and served as assistant instructor in the University of Kansas Chemistry Department. Mr. Foster holds a master's degree from Kansas, having made a study of 1,000 of his own students over a period of years as a thesis. His records today show that he has given over 22,000 student credit hours of fundamental college chemistry in his classes since 1915. Kansas University is a stronghold for the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, and it
was there that M r . Foster became a full member. He has served on committees for the SOCIETY and has been on the Senate of
Division of Chemical Education. In 1941 he was chairman of t h e Chemistry Section of the Missouri Academy of Science. I n 1940 and 1941 he helped revise the state course of study in chemistry as a member of the Chemistry Committee appointed by the State Education Department of Missouri, and was asked to assist in the chemistry examinations for t h e Examining Board of the Merit System in the State of Missouri. Mr. Foster has been active in civic work and has served a number of local organizations in an official capacity. The local golf club claims him as a former president and champion in various years. He is author and proud possessor of two holes-in-one. Other top-ranking recreations are hunting and fishing. His hobby is archeology, and he has a large collection of Indian artifacts taken b y his own searching in Missouri near Warrensburg. R o b e r t T . F o s t e r was born in 1914 and reared in Warrensburg also. After re* ceiving his diploma from Warrensburg high school in 1931, he attended Central V O L U M E
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Missouri's Fosters Missouri State Teachers College—selected because of its convenient location in Warrensburg and because that's where his father teaches. He had decided to major in chemistry. Robert graduated from college with an A.B. in foreign language and a B.S. in chemistry in June 1935. In August 1936 he added to the list his B.S. in education from the same institution. While in college he found time for several extracurricular activities, including editor-inchief of the college yearbook, athletic manager, and member of the golf team. In 1936 Robert secured a position as a chemist for the Cook Paint and Varnish Co., Kansas City, Mo., a job doomed to be a short one because by May of 1937 he had joined the State Board of Health of Missouri as a chemist and bacteriologist. In the fall of 1937, he obtained a scholarship for graduate study at the University of Michigan, receiving the master of science degree there. Robert returned to t h e State Board of Health of Missouri, where he serves a t t h e present time. In 1940 he was made director of the State Board of Health District Laboratory, Springfield, Mo. This laboratory, with a personnel of eight assistants and technicians, is running a p proximately 4,000 tests a month of a chemical and bacteriological nature. Robert is a very new A. C. S. member. He secured his required amount of practical experience four months ago and, immediately upon becoming eligible, a p plied for membership. Robert and his father have been closely associated in school and recreation, and now they find another common interest in the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.
Brooklyn P o l y Sets U p Paint Research Fellowship A RESEARCH fellowship in paint tech" ^ nolog}', the Joseph J. Mattiello Fellowship, has been established in the Department of Chemistry, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. Funds to maintain the fellowship, which has been assigned to Sidney M A R C H
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Siggiu, a graduate of Queens College, will be provided by royalties accruing from sales of the first volume of "Protective and Decorative Coatings", prepared by a staff of chemical specialists under the editorship of Dr. Mattiello. The more than 30 collaborators on the volume have waived their royalties to support the fellowship. Haverford Shortens Time N e e d e d for D e g r e e r
I \> PERMIT its undergraduates to com-
plete their work for the bachelor's degree before being drafted into the military service, Haverford College, Haverford, Penna., has instituted an accelerated course which begins operation this year. By attending for two summer terms and three regular terms a student may meet the degree requirements. In the summer term, which will run for ten weeks from June 22, a man may take one full-year course and one half-year course. On petition he may be allowed to take two full-year courses. Courses in chemistry will include full-year courses in elementary chemistry, quantitative analysis, and organic chemistry, and half-year courses in organic preparations and chemical thermodynamics. Cooperative Chemistry Test Announced r
I ^HE Committee of Examinations and Tests, Division of Chemical Educa-
tion, AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, has
announced t h a t the 1942 cooperative chemistry test will be available by April 1. Inquiries should be addressed t o the Cooperative Test Service, 15 Amsterdam Ave., New York, N . Y. The accumulation of data and experience of the past six years have modified the concept of what a test should measure and how this should be accomplished. As a result of a conference held at the University of Chicago last June, the 1942 form of the test is considerably different from those of the past four years. On the committee sponsoring this test are B. Clifford Hendricks, Rufus D. Read, Ed. F. Degering, Laurence S. Foster, Earl W. Phelan, Theodore A. Ashford, and Otto M. Smith, Chairman. 325
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( 7 ) T h e assembly o f isnitron a n o d e plates is shown in these t h r e e stages. Starting from t h e left t o r i g h t , t h e porcelain subassembly has b e e n p r o p e r l y l o c a t e d in p l a c e a n d the three insulating bushings that support t h e s h i e l d are p o s i t i o n e d . N e x t the s h i e l d support a n d the t h e r m a l baffles a l o n g with t h e a n o d e h e a d a r e a d d e d , a n d last t h e g r a p h i t e basket shield is fastened o n w i t h a simple spotlight t i g h t c l a m p . ( 2 ) Two 4 0 0 - l c w . , 5 7 5 - v o l t ignitron rectifiers s u p p l y p o w e r t o a coal m i n e i n West V i r g i n i a . T h e ease of m a i n t e n a n c e a n d t h e shortt i m e o v e r l o a d s g i v e t h e m a n advantage o v e r rotary converters. ( 3 ) P o w e r f o r aluminum p r o d u c t i o n is s u p p l i e d b y this l i n e of i g n i t r o n s , t h e t o t a l rating of which is 6 0 , 0 0 0 a m p . a t 6 4 5 volts direct current. ( 4 ) H a l f of a 1 , 0 0 0 - k w . , 2 5 0 - v o l t ig«
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Isnitron Rectifiers
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GNITRON rectifiers, manufactured by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co., East Pittsburgh, Penna., are being installed at an increasing rate in the electrochemical industry to help turn out the vast quantities of aluminum, magnesium, zinc, chlorine, and other chemicals needed in the war program. During the past 15 months 170 ignitrons, having a capacity of 500,000 kilowatts, have been installed in the United States and Canada. The company has orders for 270 more units which will add another 800,000 kilowatts of direct-current power to the Nation's supply. This progress, made since 1938 when the first commercial ignitron for a chemical plant was installed in the Buffalo Electro-Chemical Co. for the manufacture of hydrogen peroxide, is attributed to the advantages of the ignitron in supplying continuous current without interruption. For such service the much lower arc drop of the ignitron rectifier gives it a distinct advantage over the conventional grid-controlled rectifier. The ignitron rectifier consists of a gastight steel container in which there is an anode of graphite and a cathode of mercury. The principle provides a method of reliably starting an arc in a few microseconds and is based on the fact that current passed between high- and lowresistance materials in contact sets up a gradient at the junction sufficient to create a cathode spot. Once the cathode spot is started, the anode will pick up the current if it is positive with respect to the cathode. The arc will be extinguished as the anode becomes negative, and will not carry current until the next positive half cycle, when the cathode spot is re-established by the next synchronously timed impulse. During the extinguishing period the anode is surrounded by a deionized gas, as it is bearing a reverse voltage. To counteract the influence of other anodes while
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they are conducting current, each anode and cathode must be mounted in a separate chamber, and this construction permits the installation of a minimum of shields and grids—enough only to care for the transition period. This allows the anode to be close to the cathode, guaranteeing a low arc drop. Rectification does not depend on either the gas or electrode materials. Mercury, however, is peculiarly suitable for the cathode for it has the right density for the required conductivity and insulation strength. The vaporized mercury provides the path for current flow, condenses, and flows back to the cathode pool. The anode is graphite and withstands operating temperatures better than other available materials. Because it does not melt but vaporizes directly, it withstands arc backs with negligible injury. Occasionally a cathode spot will spontaneously appear on an anode when it is bearing reverse voltage and should be maintaining its high resistance to reverse current. When this happens, a reverse current will flow. This is the phenomenon known as arc back. Once formed, a cathode spot on the anode will maintain itself as long as current is conducted to it, and the rupturing of this current requires the opening of protective circuit breakers. In the multianode tank rectifier, in which the arc is maintained in the chamber continuously, it is necessary to use grids, shields, and baffles to guard against arc back. Considerable separation of the anode and cathode is required for this, as well as for mechanical reasons. T h e shields, grids, and electrode separation increase arc drop, the amount of increase being proportional to the extent to which arc back is minimized. Elimination of the source of ionization in the ignitron during the period when the anode must withstand high reverse voltage removes the major condition which is favorable to arc back. Elimination of the chief cause of arc back makes it possible t o reduce the anode-cathode spacing and the amount of shielding and griding. This is done in the ignitron with substantial decrease in arc drop and consequent gain in efficiency.
Robert E. Divine Retires T ) OBBRT E . D I V I N E , one of the oldest
active members in the Western New York Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL
SOCIETY, voluntarily retired March 1, after some 52 years of active service in the chemical profession. For a number of years he has been associated with the Hooker Electrochemical Co. as a member of the Research and Development Department. Mr. Divine was one of those few chemists who, in the early 1900's, formed what was then the Buffalo Section of the A. C. S. Although in recent years he has been active in the American Society for V O L U M E
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J A N E HAROCASTLE
Robert E. Divine
morial to Joseph Priestley by the faculty of The Pennsylvania State College and the local chapter of Phi Lambda Upsilon, was established in 1926. D r . Hass, who is a world authority o n the nitration and chlorination of t h e paraffin hydrocarbons, will speak o n "Synthesis from Aliphatic Hydrocarbons". His work in this field h a s been to a large extent responsible for t h e rapid and important industrial development and production of the chloro- and nitroparaffins. In his lectures he will discuss "Function of Research in the University", "The Nitroparaffins", "Reactions of t h e Aliphatic Nitro Compounds", "Chloriaation of Hydrocarbons", and "Chlorinolysis and Other Reactions of the ChloroParaffins".
Testing Materials and American Oil Chemists' Society, his chief devotion has been to the AMERICAN CHEMICAL. SOCIETY
in which he has served continuously on the Soap Committee since before World War I, as well as on the Glycerine Committee. He was also the first chemist employed by the Larkin Co., where he headed their technical work for eight years.
Taylor Receives Longstaff Medal
H. B. Hass Complete duplicate copies of the l e c tures may be obtained at $1.00 p e r copy by application to John P. Wilkins, D e partment of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State College, State College, Penna.
Swift Gives Grants to Chicago and Texas Hugh S. Taylor
H P H E Longstaff Medal of the Chemical Society of London has been awarded to Hugh S. Taylor, chairman of the Department of Chemistry, Princeton University. The medal is conferred every three years upon a fellow of t h e society "who, in the opinion of the council, has done the most to promote the science of chemistry by research". It is the highest honor the society's council can bestow on a fellow. Dr. Taylor, who is the David B. Jones Professor of Chemistry, received the Nichols Medal of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY in 1928.
Hass to Deliver Priestley Lectures X T B . HASS, head of the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University, will deliver the 16th annual series of Priestley Lectures at T h e Pennsylvania State College, March 16 to 20. This series of five lectures, presented as a meM A R C H
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H P H E University of Chicago has received from Swift & Co., Chicago, a grant for 1942, to be used for studies on diet in relation to health and longevity, under t h e direction of A. J. Carlson, emeritus professor of physiology. Until his recent retirement, Dr. Carlson was Frank P . Hixon Professor and chairman of the D e partment of Physiology, University of Chicago. He purposes to study t h e growth and length of life of rats fed various levels of food intake of diets containing either animal or vegetable protein a n d various types of fat. The University of Texas has also received a grant from Swift for 1042, to be used for fundamental studies of n e w nutrition factors in meats. This work will be under the direction of Roger J. Williams, who has recently been named a joint recipient, along with his brother, Robert R. Williams, of the Charles Frederick Chandler Medal of Columbia University, award in chemistry. Dr. Williams is known for his discovery of pantothenic 327
acid and for his work on other mem hers of the vitamin H-romplex, chiefly inositol, biotin, pyridoxin, and folie acid, in their relation to yeast nutrition.
the Purchasing Department after 50 years of service with the company. Homer M. Hoffman becomes purchasing agent of the Glass Division, and E. J. Peters purchasing agent of the Paint Division. Edwin L. Dennis, chief combustion engineer of the Coppus Engineering Corp., Worcester, Mass., has been relieved of his duties as instructor at Louisiana State University at his own request. He will devote his full energies t o the increasingly vital problem of efficient combustion in industrial plants.
Mrs. John J . Bruff, better known to many as Eleanor, after serving as a member of the staff of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry since February 1 9 2 5 , yielded to the demands of home duties and retired from the organization on March 1 . Eleanor has been a very valuable and hard-working assistant and she will be greatly missed.
Kenneth A . M a c k
Myron Bakst has been transferred from the Federal Telegraph Co., where he was employed as a chemical engineer, to the Intelin Division of the International Telephone & Radio Manufacturing Corp., East Newark, N . J., where the work deals with chemical engineering application and coordination between laboratory, pilot plant, and production in the field of resins. Esther L. Batchelder has left her position as director of home economics at the Rhode Island State College to become chief of the Division of Foods and N u trition, Bureau of Home Economics, Washington, D . C. Ronald F. Brown, recently instructor in chemistry at Purdue University, now is an assistant professor of organic chemistry at the University of Southern California. M. E. Carlisle has been appointed general purchasing agent of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., Pittsburgh, succeeding J. A. Bechtel who is retiring as head of 328
Kenneth A. Mack, formerly chief chemist and chemical engineer for BakerPerkins, Inc., Saginaw, Mich., is commandant of the 437 Ordnance Company (Avn. Bomb.) and station Ordnance officer of Midland Army Flying School. Captain Mack is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the officer's aviation Ordnance course at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md. At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Rumford Chemical Works, Rumford, R. I., A. E. Marshall, president, was elected chairman of the board. Charles L. Parsons, Secretary of AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY,
Corp., New York. M r . 8eiler received his science degree recently from Brooklyn College. Elmer J. Weis, former aircraft parts manager, has been made vice president of the Pacific Pump Works, Huntington, Calif. Mr. Weis originated and has been responsible for t h e operation and supervision of the company's aviation hydraulic actuating assemblies division.
Mathieson Right to Oyster-Shell Burning Process Upheld A st ASSERTED monopoly of the right to burn oyster shells i n rotary kilns, for the purpose of making high-test carbon dioxide and lime, has been broken, according t o an announcement of the Mathieson Alkali Works, New York. On February 9 the Supreme Court of the U n i t e d States refused to review t h e decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of W. D. Haden Co. vs. Mathieson Alkali Works, Inc., which was favorable to Mr. Allen's company. The W . D. Haden Co., of Houston, Tex., asserted a broad monopoly of this shell burning process on t h e basis of U. S. Patent 1,896,403, and selected Mathieson as the point of attack to establish this monopoly because the company burns oyster shells at its Lake Charles, La., plant. The crushing of the shell before calcining is an essential part of trie process covered b y this patent, as was determined i n both t h e U. S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana and the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. However, it was shown that Mathieson washes shells a s dredged from t h e reefs a n d subjects them t o no crushing treatment before calcining in rotary kilns of special design. The Mathieson process, therefore, according t o the decision of the lower courts which has now been approved b y t h e Supreme Court, d o e s not violate the Haden patent.
the was
elected a corresponding member of the Sociedad Colombiana do Quimicos at its February 10 meeting. T. E. Schneider, for many years sales manager of the chemical division of International Minerals & Chemical Corp., formerly International Agricultural Corp., has resigned following his purchase of the detergent products division of the company's business. Mr. Schneider's new company, known as the Tesco Chemical Co., Atlanta, Ga., is manufacturing cleaning specialties, vegetable oil soaps, soap powders, and disinfectants. Charles V. Seiler has joined the research and development staff of the Bakelite C H E M I C A L
Rubber Industry Seeks Technicians ^TJ-OOD chemists, engineers, and super^ ^ visory personnel a r e needed b y t h e rubber manufacturing industry. This present shortage in technical and management men will probably be extended to t h e bottom classifications o f labor by midsummer. War goods output, it is said, will more than take up the slack caused by a n e n d to tire manufacture. T h e tire companies have not laid off workers but i n stead have cut the length of t h e work week t o 30 and in s o m e cases 24 hours, pending the expansion o f arms production. I n another three or four months the rubber industry is expected t o be back to the 36hour week. A N D
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