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lyster bag holding 36 sal. of water was especially characteristic of the American army.
Pic. ~-LYSTYBUnrs r’r R~n.wnuS ~ i r i o i i
?, gram o? calcium hypochlorite added to 36 gal. of water in the l,-stei bag was equivalent to treating the water with two parts per million of available chlorine. In the spring of r p i 8 it was noticed that there was a high percentage of deiective tubes in the calcium hypochlorite furnished for use in the A. E. F. The laboratories a t Bordeaux, Dijon, St. Nazaire, and Paris participated in studies of the quality and the physical condition oi these tubes. The most extensive work was done at the Bordeaux laboratory. Some determinations of the actual weight of calcium hypochlorite and percentage of available chlorine were made, but, since a tube containing 0.3 ofo gram of available chlorine was really desired, the percentage of chlorine ill the salt was immaterial, provided the proper amount was present. Therefore, most 61 the analyses were made by titration ul ilx contents of the tube without weighing it. By inspection alone, broken tubes, faultily sealed tubes, and tubes containing insufficient calcium hypochlorite could be discarded. If the tube was wlmle and the contents dry, the material would fall from one end of the tube to the other as a powder.
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The contents of such tubes were usually iound to be of good quality. As illustrating the success oi this method, from 720 tubes, 37 were picked out as supposedly defective. The available chlorine was determined in each of these, with the result that IW per cent were iound to have less than 0.2 g. oi available ehlorine. Fifty-three of the remaining suppose good tubes wcre selected at random ?or analysis. Nine per c of t h e e tubes had less than 0.2 g., and 91.5 per cent had m than 0.25 g. oI available chlorine. Beginning in the summer of ,918 all tubes coming into Base Section No. 2 by way of Bordeaux were inspected. Six end one-half per cent of the tubes 01 one lot were found deiective, and 41 per cent of tubes Irom another manufacturer were found defective. As a result of this work suggestions were made through military channels that inspectors be placed in all factories manufacturing these tubes in order to eliminate to a certain extent the large number of broken and defective tubes received in France. The Water Analysis Laboratories were called upon to analyze samples of alum offered to the engineering department lor use in water treatment. Analysis was made according to the methods of the American Public Health Association and the AMERICAK CXEMICAL SOCXRTY. At the request of the air service, analyses of the mineral content of water from established adation stations and from proposed sites for aviation stations throughout France were made. It was the purpose of the air service to soften the water with permutit for use in the radiators o led motors. Several equipments for water softening lled in consultation with laboratories. The laborat e had control of water treatment for several aviation station At the request of the Quarte artment, water used at the laundry a t St. Pierre du Corps was examined and recommendations made that a permutit water-softening plant be of soap and sodium carbonate required, the w easily done, and the washed materials, especial were in much better condition than when hard As a result of examination of water a t La Roc softening plant was recommended. This, however, was never constructed. Soda and a French boiler compound were used to treat the water added to the boilers.
II IMPRESSIONS OF THE ITA1 IAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY I FAitnr OJ the Journal of the Iflndustriul and Engineeping Cizemislry: Before leaving America I promised you to try to write a letter irom each country in turn, regarding my impressions of the chemical industries therein. I have beeu so extremely busy that, although my experieiices in England, France, and Belgium gave me some knowledge of the developments in each, I have been unable to put anything on paper. Now a day is at my disposal for rest here in this charming spot, and I have had such a wonderful reception as America’s representative at the meeting here in Italy that past of it shall be spent in fulfillingmy promise, so far as Italy is concerned. 1 am doubly urged to do so for the June issue of the JOURNAL which you kindly sent is before me, wit11 Mr. Hopkins’ interesting &icle. While the statistical data upon which he bases his conclusions have led him to concede decided development to Italy’s chemical industries. his conclusions fall far short of the reality, as you will notc hi what follows. The second meeting of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, which brought me to Italy, was a grand success. Prof. Lormand, your French correspondent, has already, or will shortly send you a full account of it as a part of
his July letter. I wish simply t o add that the social functions were charmingly carried out, and were accompanied by an artistic coloring and delightful touch which I doubt if one ever fmds quite so delicate a s m thi? truly charming and “simpatlca” country. The ladies for example will always lemember the lovely individnal bouquets that each found beside her plate at the banquet, nor will the memory be less lasting from the fact that each was tied not only with the colors of Italy but with the colors of the home country of the recipient. Followmg and during the meeting, we were taken to bee something of Italy’s chemical development, and this is where you are specially interested We were received with charming and opcnhanded hospitality, but best of all we were actually shown the plants and their detalls, not simply walked through them as is so often the case in America. The Itahan was justly proud of the work of his chemists and engineers, and was anxious l h a t his guests too see something of their actual accomplishments. There was no secrecy 50 far as we were concerned; they described their methods and their apparatus, and seemed to invite inquiries where anything was obscure. If I can judge from the treatment I received, one would believe that Italy’s industries
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had reached that stage where full cooperation was deemed to be the policy best for all. Naturally, Italy’s plants, like many of our own, are being changed, for the main part, from the production of war material to uses consistent with peace. The plant a t Segni, known as the Bombrini Parodi-DeEno, which was manufacturing balastite so successfully when I visited it first in 1916, is manufacturing sulfuric and nitric acids for the general chemical markets, and the nitroglycerin is now largely used for the manufacture of dynamite for commercial explosive. The plant owes its success chiefly to the energy and ability of the brothers Leopoldo and Sebastino Parodi-Delfino. The “Electrochimica Pomilio” located in Naples, is a comparatively new venture of Ing. Prof. Umberto Pomilio, who was a genial and delightful host who could and did address his guests fluently in three langyages, as well as entertain them royally. His plant is successfully turning out caustic soda, bleaching powder, liquid chlorine, hypochlorites, and other products arising directly and indirectly from the electrolysis of salt. The plant is noteworthy and almost unique in the fact that it does not use a pound of coal or other fuel, depending entirely on electricity for both its power and evaporation. The evaporation is done by compressing the steam of evaporation mechanically and using it over and over again, supplying the small necessary heat addition by a small Reavell boiler, run by electricity, which gives 800 kilos of steam per hour. From I kilowatt hour they get in practice 7 kilos of steam. The day spent a t this plant and as the guests of Prof. Pomilio a t Pompeii will always be remembered by those present. A few days later we were all entertained by Ing. Ferdinando Quartieri, chief owner and manager of the largest chemical works in Italy, with branches a t Cengio, Ferrania, Vado Ligure, I,inate, Turin, and a t Rho near Milan. These works for the main part were used for the manufacture of explosives and belong to the “SocietA Italiana Prodotti Esplodenti.” They are now rapidly being converted to peace uses and are actively producing on a large scale. It was my privilege to visit the plants a t Cengio, Ferrania, and Rho. Lack of time, only, prevented me from seeing the others. Mr. Quartieri, speaking at least three languages easily, and known personally to many of our American chemical manufacturers, was, like those already mentioned, a model host who left no stone unturned that his guests, both in his plant and in his home, might enjoy the full measure of his hospitality. At Cengio, a t Ferrania, and a t Rho many new and attractive buildings were being erected t o meet the increased demand and to utilize the output of the old war plants. Coal from America and from England was being distilled, the coke and gas used or sold, and the by-products all recovered and used in the dye industry. Contact sulfuric acid plants and unusually well-designed nitric acid plants were still being utilized. Benzene, toluene, naphthalene, and their derivatives were being turned out in quantity. The saccharin plant was running full blast, and not simply aniline but many intermediates for the dye plant at Rho were being produced. Again a t Ferrania, some fifteen miles away, a smokeless powder plant was now being converted to produce celluloid, photographic films, artificial leather, bakelite (here called sepilite), etc., and was even now actually turning out in quantity most of these products. At Rho a large dye plant was in active operation, already producing some 250 different dyes, many of them in large quantity. Its diazo dyes building was especially a model in design and arrangement. Its research laboratory was commodious, and contained many well equipped special laboratories, and, was easily comparable in its resources, equipment, and personnel with the research departments of our most advanced American corporations. The s. I. P. E. company now employs 92 chemists, most of them Ph.D’s., and about half of
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them are in this plant a t Rho. The plant is also well fitted with all kinds of sanitary arrangements, with baths and lockers, and with lunch rooms for the laborers. I t s workmen seemed happy and contented, and it had suffered from no labor troubles. The success of this lnrge corporation, now growing rapidly, seems to be centered around the personality of Ing. Ferdinando Quartieri, whose energy and vision is giving to Italy a dye industry which on first thought might seem impossible in a country so devoid of coal. Careful consideration will, however, show that inasmuch as Italy must have the products of coal, as she has comparatively cheap labor and an excellent outlet to the eastern markets, the cheapest way lor her to obtain her coke, her gas, her toluene, her benzene, and the intermediates and finished products therefrom is to bring them to Italy in the original raw material, coal itself. Two other important new plants for dyes, the “Materia Colorante Bonelli” a t Cesano-Maderno and the “Societh A. Bianchi” a t Rho, are also well under way in dye production; the first is making a specialty of indigo, and the second is developing especially the vat dyes. I was invited by Director Prof. G. Poma to visit the former, he even offering t o send his automobile here, some thirty miles, to get me, but important engagements in Switzerland unfortunately prevent me from accepting. Also through the courtesy of one of our own A. C. S. members, Prof. Giuseppe Bruni, who is known personally, as well as by reputation, to many of our members, as he was present a t the Congress of Applied Chemistry in New York in 1912, I was introduced to the Pirelli’s, father and son, was taken through their immense factory, and entertained in their charming home. Pirelli & Company have large rubber goods and insulated cable factories not only in Italy, but also in Spain and in England. Their factory is being enlarged rapidly and is approaching in size, if indeed it does not already equal, some of those a t Akron. As I had the pleasure of a visit recently to the Akron factories, it was especially interesting to find how vigorous and up-to-date was this great Italian industrial undertaking. Here, too, under Prof. Bruni’s able leadership were t o be found the modern research laboratory and the appreciation of research which is the sure sign of progress. I leave Italy tomorrow with sincere regret, for I feel that I am beginning to understand her people. Four things stand out plainly from my observations. First, Italian chemical plants are artistically built without much extra cost and with no loss in efficiency. They are clean, up-to-date, and attractive t o the eye. I n this particular they are greatly superior to anything I have seen in America. Second, the Italian scientific and engineering chemist is, on the whole, equal in training, vision, energy, originality, and application to those of any country. Third, Italy must have raw materials, especially coal, for the S U C C ~ S Sof her chemical industry, and there is a real opportunity for Americans controlling these basic materials to enter with profit into some form of partnership arrangement with Italian firms. Fourth, the Italian chemical industry is going to be successful, and must be reckoned with in the world’s markets, especially in those countries lying to the east of Italy and reached via the Mediterranean Sea and by the Suez Canal. I hope to follow this letter home in about three weeks, but must first go to Switzerland and into Germany. With best wishes t o all, Cordially yours, CHARLESI,. PARSONS HOTEL VILLAD’ESTE
CBRNOBBIO, LAKBCOMO July 2, 1920
