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T H E J O U R N A L O F .I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
COAL-TAR PRODUCTS FOR 1917 The United States Tariff Commission announces the completion of its census of coal-tar products for 1917. This group of products includes not only the coal-tar dyes and the crude and intermediate materials required for their manufacture, but also all of the medicinal and photographic chemicals, explosives, synthetic resins, synthetic perfume materials, and flavors which are in any way derived from coal-tar products. There were produced in the United States (not inclusive of explosives and synthetic phenolic resins) 54,367,994 lbs. of dyes and other finished products, which have a total value of $68,711,228. The production of the materials known as intermediates amounted to 322,650,531 lbs., with a value of $106,942,918. The annual production was reported for the following groups of products made in whole or in part from materials derived from coal tar: 45,977,246 lbs. of dyes valued a t $57,796,027; 5,092,558 lbs. of color lakes valued a t $2,764,064; 2,236,161 lbs. of medicinal chemicals valued a t $5,560,237; 779.416 lbs. of flavors valued a t $1,862,456; 263,068 lbs. of photographic chemicals valued a t $602,281; and 19,545 lbs. of perfume materials valued a t $125,960. There were 81 establishments engaged in the manufacture of coal-tar dyes in 1917 and their production during that year was practically identical with the amounts annually imported before the war. The imports for the fiscal year 1914 amounted to 45,840,866 lbs. and the production in the United States in 1917 was 45,977,246 lbs. However, an analysis of this total reveals that the domestic production, though equal in quantity to the preceding imports, differs in the relative amounts of the various classes of dyes. Only a small production was reported for indigo, and the alizarin and vat dyes derived from anthracene and carbazol-classes of dyes which include some of the best and fastest colors known to the textile trade. The United States produced only 2,166,887 lbs. of these dyes in 1917; and
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the elimination of 1,876,787 lbs. of extract made from imported indigo, reduces the output of these dyes to less than 3 per cent of the pre-war imports. Dyes of this class are dutiable a t 30 per cent in the Tariff Act of 1916. The lack of development in the manufacture of these particular dyes promises to be remedied to a considerable extent in 1918, for a number of firms have begun their manufacture and a large increase in production can clearly be foreseen. I n the classes of dyes which if imported would be dutiable a t 30 per cent plus 5 cents per lb., the American manufacturers have shown remarkable progress, producing 43,s 10,359 lbs. a t a total value of $57,639,990. That this represents something of an excess over the American needsisevidenced by the fact that during the fiscal year 1917, American-made dyes to the value of $11,109,287 were exported to other countries. Thus the exports exceeded the pre-war imports in total value although not in tonnage nor in the variety of the dyes. The development of the manufacture of intermediates is equally marked, for before the war almost all of these necessary materials were imported from Germany. The Tariff Commission finds that intermediates were manufactured by 117 firms in 1917 and that the production amounted to 322,650,531 lbs. valued a t $106,942,918. These figures, however, are somewhat misleading as there is inevitable duplication in the totals. It is well known that many of the intermediates are derived from other products of the same class. Thus starting with benzol the following succession of products is obtained : nitrobenzol, anilin, acetanilid, nitroacetanilid, and nitranilin. Each of these products had to be reported by the manufacturer and hence there has been some cumulative counting. The totals for all of the coal-tar products will be published in the final report which may well be expected to offer accurate evidence on the progress of the American dyestuff industry.
WASHINGTON LETTER
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By PAULWOOTON, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C.
Revenue legislation, industrial curtailment, restriction of imports, stimulations of domestic production and freight rates have vied with each other during the past month in their bids for public attention. Representatives of the chemical industries have been prominently associated with these activities. Edgar Gilbert, the general manager of the Lyster Chemical Works of New York, brought to the attention of the Ways and Means Committee some interesting facts with regard to the taxation of capital invested in secret processes. While Mr. Gilbert appeared primarily in his own behalf, he stated that the matter was one of peculiar importance to the chemical industry. In part, Mr. Gilbert said:
“Now, about his assignee. The inventor discovers a process for doing a certain work. I n one case he patents i t and in another case he keeps it secret. Now, he sells t o a corporation for a certain consideration and then that becomes a n item of invested capital for the corporation. Now, in the last bill secret processes were not mentioned a t all, and my point simply is t h a t in the redraft of the new bill secret processes should be classified as such, because they form, in the chemical industry especially, a considerable item in the assets of the corporation. “I had this matter up with Mr. Roper’s committee for rulings, and they felt that it was proper, they were identical, but they had no power t o reach it, they thought, t o reach a secret process, t o classify i t ; i t had t o go into the patent processes.” _.___
“The process patent is of such a nature very frequently t h a t when i t is disclosed it makes i t very difficult t o protect the inventor. I might cite an illustration t h a t is old and familiar to all of us, that of the nitration of cotton. “We will go back t o the time when nitrocellulose was first introduced: it is an unknown thing; and we will assume i t was t o be used in this marketed product, because it had. no use as nitrocellulose, but i n a solvent form i t was used as a nitrocellulate. Kow, the inventor, if he discloses i t t o the world, discloses a t once the nature of his patent and of his process, But he maintains his secret and patents i t and puts his nitrocellulose in another product, such as celluloid. Now if he patents that, he has no means of protecting himself against infringements, because nitrocellulose appears on the market and someone is producing it, but i t would be difficult t o know t h a t it had not been produced by some other patent. I n t h a t case the inventor would naturally keep secret. the nature of his invention and find a market for i t in the finished form of some other product. T h u e is a n illustration of that recently, in the act of Congress in recognizing the inventor of this substance we have known as Garabed, and recognizing in the inventor the right of protection. The nature of the thing may be such t h a t protection can be afforded neither by a patent nor by a secret process, because the disclosure would cut short the presentation of the product. So I think the right of protection is so well established t h a t i t is only a step t o say that the patent and the secret process are identical from the inventor’s point of view. He takes whatever course seems to give him the greatest security.
Industrial curtailment is still in an uncertain stage. T o relieve this undesirable condition, official promise has been given that announcement will be made of the amount of curtailment it is necessary to make just as soon as the matter can be weighed sufficiently to permit of an intelligent ruling. Careful surveys have been made by the War Industries Board and the Fuel and Railroad Administrations. It is shown conclusively that the fuel supply is not adequate for all purposes. At the same time, steel and other materials cannot be manufactured in sufficient volume to meet all requirements. I n deciding which industries should be curtailed, great difficulties have been experienced. The Fuel Administration has a list of some 360 industries which are classed as non-war activities. The list has not been made public and the amount of curtailment that will be expected from each has not been determined, with the exception of a few cases. The manufacture of pleasure cars has been reduced t o 25 per cent of the volume of last year. Other restrictions are expected to follow promptly. ~By heavier loading this year, the fertilizer manufacturers of the country have saved space equivalent to 87,000 cars. The average loading this year was 30.02 tons, as compared with 21.31 tons in 1917. This shows an increased loading efficiency of 40.8 per cent.
