RECENT ROOKS PROCESSEQUIPMENT DESIGN. Herman C. Herse, Prafessor of Engineering Drawing and Design, and J o h n Henry Rushton, Prafesxlr of Chemical Engineering. University of Virginia. D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., New York, 1945. vii 580 pp. 451 figs. 101 tables. 15 X 23 cm. Trade edition $7.50. Textbook edition $6.00. This is an unusual book in many respects. I t is unusually good in part and unusually bad in part. I n so far as the present reviewer is aware, this is the first occasion on which a professor of engineering drawing and design, and a professor of chemical engineering have joined in producing a textbook on design of nrocess eauioment. Considerine the fact that verv few chemical engineers, particularly those occupied in teaching, can design anything structurally more elaborate than a chicken coop, one may rejoice t o note that a t least one professor of chemical engineering has concerned himself with the design of process equipment. It must be said, however, that one might peruse the book here under review without knowing a t once that a chemical engineer had been concerned in its production. A list of the chapter headings will perhaps give point to this assertion. They are:
pate that a t last the chemical engineer will really go places. Not SO in the present book. And so one comes finally to Chapter 18 on special stress applications, still hoping and still doomed to disappointment if his quest is for contributions obviously from the hand of a chemical engineer. All that has been said above gives a wrong impression of this book as s whole. I t is packed with useful information, and beautifully illustrated with drawings such as one would expect from a professor of engineering drawing and design. The book does. however.. trv to cover too manv fields and in "laces becomes superficial The present reviewer's chief complaint is that Professor Rushton, who is quite capable of writing on the design of process equipment, missed so many opportunities of getting chemical engineering into the picture. The book carries many useful examples of how t o solve problems, and a list of problems a t the end of eachchapter. The hook is well bound, the type clear, and the text unusually free from typographical errors. This reviewer, being a chemical engineer, and having long complained that chemical engineers do not know how t o design anything, now expresses the hope that Professor Rushton, having remained so shyly in the background in this venture in the world of design, will strike out boldly on his own. HARRYA. CURTIS
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Materials of Construction Mechanical Properties and Strength of Materials Riveted Pressure Vessels Welded Pressure Vessels Mechanics Threaded Fasteners and Combined Stresses Structural Analysis Trusses and Truss Adaptations Piping Attachments and Closures Nonferrous Construction Concrete Construction Wood and Other Nonmetallic Construction Belt and Chain Drives Toothed Gearing Shafting and Bearings Handling Equipment and Mechanical Frames Special Stress Applications
I~NIVBRSITY OF M I S S O O X ~ COLUMBIA,
MISSOYPI
C o ~ r o r oCHEMISTRY (Theoretical and Applied). Collected and edited by Jerome Alerender. Reinbold Publishing Corpora1256 pp. Illustrated. tion, New York, 1944. Vol. V. vi 15 X 23 em. $20.
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Thechapter on materials of construction barely introduces the subject. One would expect a chemical engineer t o devote more than six lines to carbon and a dozen lines to plastics. Chapter 2 is likewise a nibble a t the subject. The authors remark in their preface that "for college curricula, in which courses in mechanics and strength of materials are taught prior t o the design course, Chapters 1 , 2 , and 5 may be omitted or used forreview." If they are not intended for review, it is not evident what purpose these chapters may serve. Chapters 3 and 4 are goad as far as they go, which isn't very far, considering the importance of pressure vessels as process equipment. Chapter 5, on mechanics, is a brief review of some of the topics ordinarily covered in a course in mechanics. Chapter 6 lightly hits the high spots, and Chapter 7 is a brief chapter with a big name. A chemical engineer who undertakes to design trusses on the basis of Chapter 8 cannot be accused of lack of courage. The chapter on piping is a verygood introduction to the subject. That on attachments and closures covers some of the simpler types. I n the chapter on nonferrous construction one wishes that the chemical engineer had had more t o say. Chapter 12, onconcreteconstruction, i s a g a y little review of plain and reinforced concrete construction, or, rather, a few topics in this field. I t is not evident t h a t the chemical engineer was present when Chapter 13 a n wood and other nonmetallic construction was written. H e wasn't needed when Chapter 14 on belt and chain drives was written, and no mechanical engineer would ever let any other kind of an engineer share in the joy of writing about toothed gearing. Shafting and bearings (Chapter 16) have given many a chemical engineer a headache, hut the mechanical engineers claim them as their awn. When we reach Chapter 17, on handling equipment and mechanical frames,however, weantici-
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This valuable compendium of the work of many distinguished authors, ably edited by Jerome Alexander, is the fifth large volume in a series dealing broadly with colloid chemistry and related fields. Another will be forthcoming in due course. Twenty-five chapters deal with theory and methods while thirty-five present biology and medicine. Besides sections by the editor such authors as Harkins, McBain, Gerrner, Hickman, Mark, Sollner. MacInnes, Sheppard, Eyring, and many others contribute to the first part. The case for biology and medicine isargued by Elvehjem, Booker,Kamm, Wald, Stanley. Meyerhof, Menkin. Loeh, Carlson, Spiegel-Adolf, Jennings, Cannon, and other well-known scientists. The range of topics is wide, perhaps almost too wide for consistency, yet every chapter is so useful and interesting that the reader will not object. Among the chapter headings are Films, Applications of Electron Diffraction and X-rays, High Vacuum Distillation, Polymerization, Thevitreous State, Ultrasonic Waves, The Betatron, High-speed Centrifugation. Measurement of Surface Areas, Photosynthesis, Plant Cell Membranes Action, The Visual Process, Viruses, Genes, Protoplasm, Inflammation, Blood Coagulation, Immunology, Cancer, Infective Aerosols, Lipids. Psychiatry, Allergy and Anaphylaxis. Some of the chapters are so detailed as t o amount t o monographs, notably the 90-page chapter by Harkins on surface films. A chapter by Prebus of 83 pages on the electron microscope is a close second while Wanda Farr devotes 57 pages t o plant cell membranes. Two or three chapters dealing with vitamins, minerals, and nutrition 05- a n excellent treatment of those subjects. The reviewer cannot resist the temptation t o quote Axelrod and Elvehjem. "In 1937 Lohman and Schuster demonstrated in a now classic paper that cocarboxylase is the pyrophosphoric acid ester of thiamine. Our present understanding of the biological activity of thiamine stems largely from this observation." Later, Lela E . Booher states, "Vitamin E is reported to exert a sparing effect on vitamin A, and more so on carotene, resulting in improved utilization of vitamin A or carotene for growth and vitamin A storage." Lauffer and Stanley include this statement: "Langmuir and Schaefer found that they were able t o adsorb a film of tobacco mosaic virus on a surface containing a monolayer of egg albumin.
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