INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
318
Vol. 19, No. 2
PERKIN MEDAL AWARD On January 14, 1927, at a meeting of the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, the Perkin Medal was presented t o John E. Teeple, consulting engineer, 50 East 41st St., New York City, for “significant scientific, technical, and administrative achievements, particularly the economic development of a n American potassium industry a t Searles Lake, California.” The medal was presented by William H. Nichols, following introductory remarks by L. V. Redman, a n account of the early
days of the medalist by L. M. Dennis, and a summary of the accomplishments of Dr. Teeple by Charles H. Herty. The Perkin Medal is awarded “annually t o the American chemist who has most distinguished himself by his services t o Applied Chemistry.” It was founded in 1906 a t the time of the Perkin semicentennial celebration of the coal-tar discoveries, the first medal being awarded t o Sir William H. Perkin himself. The previous Perkin medalists are given below.
DATEOB AWARD 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912
D A T EOF AWARD 1920
AWARDED ro Sir W. H. Perkin J. B. F. Herreshoff Arno Behr E. G. Acheson Charles M. Hall Herman Frasch
1913 1914 1915
James Gayley John W. Hyatt Edward Weston
1916
I,. H. Baekeland
1917 1918
Ernst Twitchell Auguste J. Rossi
1919
Frederick G. Cottrell
PRINCIPAL FIELDS OF INVENTIONS Discoverer of first aniline color Metallurgy; contact sulfuric acid Corn products industry Carborundum; artificial graphite Metallic aluminum Desulfuring oil and subterranean sulfur industry Dry air blast Colloids and flexible roller bearings Electrical measurements; electrodeposition of metals; flaming arc Velox photoprint paper; Bakelite and synthetic resins; caustic soda industry Saponification of fats Development of manufacture and use of ferrotitanium Electrical precipitation
AWARDED TO Charles F. Chandler
1921
Willis R. Whitney
1922
William M. Burton
1923
Milton C. Whitaker
1924
Frederick M. Becket
1925
Hugh K . Moore
1926
R. B. Moore
PRINCIPAL FIELDS OF INVENTIONS Noteworthy achievements in almost every line of chemical endeavor Development of research and application of science t o industry Achievement in oil industry; efficient conversion of high-boiling fractions into low-boiling fractions Great constructive work in field of applied chemistry Process for extraction of rare metals from ores; manufacture of calcium carbide; processes for reduction of rare metals and alloys Electrochemical processes for caustic soda, soda and chlorine, production of wood pulp, hydrogenation of oils, etc. W o r k on radium, mesothorium, and helium
. . . .. . . ......
Expansion or Growth B y John E. Teeple
T
HE award of the Perkin Medal came to me this year as
a distinct surprise, for two reasons. First, I a m a n habitual consultant, and second, my inventive ability a s measured by patents granted is rather small. Former medalists almost without exception can show long lists of patents, sometimes fifty or more. M y list ends at number two, both issued many years ago, and neither ever served a s t h e basis of a n industry or proved remunerative to myself or anyone else. In defense of the Medal Committee, however, I should say t h a t patents and inventions do often occur in my neighborhood, and maybe I can claim t o be a catalyst or a fertilizer of inventions, b u t nothing more. Reverting t o t h e first charge of being a n habitual consultant: Most a n y chemist or engineer who is out of one job and looking for another is temporarily a consultant. The habitual one, however, for a long and uninterrupted period maintains his own office, pays his own rent, sells his services t o others but never exclusively, and has no visible means of support except consulting. None of m y distinguished predecessors in this high honor seems t o have practiced this mode of life. Most of them were owners of a manufacturing business or had been long and exclusively in t h e service of some one large manufacturing corporation, usually occupying a high executive position in it. The two or three exceptions in t h e list were men on university faculties or in government service. It is needless t o be impolite to the Perkin Medal Committee by citing other deficiencies of the present medalist, since my true belief is t h a t t h e work they have particularly mentioned in making this award, the development of a n American potash industry, is well worthy t o take its place beside those achieve-
ments they have honored in previous years. There is no lack of modesty in this statement, because i t refers to the work and not t o the medalist. Some few of my honored predecessors could possibly accept this honor as a personal award because the accomplishments had been largely their own. Most of us, and this is particularly true in my case, can only come here and receive the medal as delegates, as representatives of a large body of workers who have all contributed, who have all distinguished themselves by their services t o applied chemistry. It is sufficient glory for the present medalist t o have participated with the others and t o have contributed what he could. G r o w t h of Trona Plant Now, the story of American potash has been told repeatedly, and the history and problems of this particular plant at Trona, Calif., have been detailed elsewhere.’ It will be sufficient here t o say t h a t when I first saw t h e plant in 1919 it looked like a typical “war baby” with no war in sight. Attempts were still being made to operate in a half-hearted way, but production was only about 20 tons potassium chloride per day, of so low grade t h a t it would now be considered unsalable, and although prices were still far above pre-war levels the daily cost of operation was far in excess of income. Today t h e same plant ( a t least the buildings are the same ones) is capable of producing nearly 400 tons of very high grade potassium chloride, borax, and boric acid per day, and is marketing them a t a profit, a t prices below pre-war levels and in competition with two of those 1
THISJ O U R N A L , 13, 249 (1921); 14, 787, 904 (1922)
