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t o play her part in the economic and industrial development of the continent as well as in the intellectual movement which is doing so much to draw the two Americas together.
REGULATIONS FOR ENFORCEMENT OF SO-CALLED NET WEIGHT LAW The regulations for the carrying out of the so-called Net Weight Law, which compels manufacturers to make a clear statement of the weight, volume, or contents of their packages of food, were signed M a y I I t h by the Secretaries of the Treasury, Agriculture, and Commerce. The regulations as signed become effective a t once, although the law, passed March 3 , 1 9 1 3 , as a n amendment t o the Food and Drugs Act, defers the exacting of penalties for violations until September 3, 1914. These regulations apply t o foods shipped in interstate commerce or sold in the District of Columbia or the territories and, in general, require t h a t the manufacturer of foods shall plainly mark all packages, bottles or other containers holding more than 2 ounces avoirdupois, or more than I fluid ounce, t o show the net weight or volume of the contents. The volume of liquids must be computed at 68’ F. The quantity stated on the container must represent the actual quantity of food exclusive of wrappings and container. In general, solids must be stated in terms of weight and liquids in terms of volume, except t h a t where there is a definite trade custom otherwise any marking of the package in terms that are generally understood t o express definite quantities will be permitted. The regulations also permit thestatement of minimumvolume or weight as “Minimum weight, 1 2 ounces,’’ “hlinimum volume, I gallon,” “ N o t less than 4 ounces.” I n such cases the amount stated must approximate the actual quantity. No variations below the stated minimum quantity will be permitted. TOLERANCES
I n the packing and bottling of many foods, it would be impossible, or else add unnecessarily to cost, for the manufacturer t o place a n absolutely accurate statement of the amount of the food in every package, and for this reason the regulations permit tolerances or variations in packages where the discrepancies are due exclusively to unavoidable errors in weighing, measuring, or counting which occur in packing conducted in compliance with good commercial practice. This tolerance is allowed in- order to permit the use of weighing and measuring machines which, like human operators, cannot weigh or measure every package with absolute accuracy. The regulations, however, provide t h a t a run of such packages must show as many cases of overweight and as much excess as it does cases of underweight or undervolume. Because goods shipped from one part of the country to another lose in weight by natural evaporation due t o differences of atmospheric condition or temperature, tolerances will be allowed for such changes. The proper tolerances to be allowed will be determined on the facts in each case, and it is probable t h a t the Department will establish tolerances for evaporation for various foods. Packages containing 2 ounces avoirdupois or I fluid ounce of food, or less, are considered small, and are exempted from marking in terms of weight since providing accurate small bottles
I
and accurately measuring their contents in the case of a number of articles sold in small packages for 5 to I O cents would be prohibitive in cost t o the manufacturers and would force them to raise the price for the package or to put less food init forthe same price.
RUSSIAN TRADE IN FERTJLIZERS IN
sils submits the following report of progress, the first of a formal
1913
International unrest caused great uncertainty in the fertilizer market in Russia during 1913, and the decreased demand embarrassed both wholesalers and retailers. Instead of the previous yearly increase of 2 0 per cent in the use of fertilizer, the consumption remained the same as in the previous year, and indeed, for some kinds of fertilizer ( e . g., saltpeter) it decreased. Chemie in its issue for March 28, 1914,gives the following data: RUSSIAN FERTILIZER I M P O R T(TONS) S Natural phosphates..
. . . .. . , , . . . . . . . . . , , ,
1912 52,128
, . 202,518 . . . 206,838
,
...
.., , . . ._.
Potassium chlori Chile saltpeter.. Potassium nitrat .~~
~
~
91,296 6,642 56,718 2,466
1913 58,878 202,968 202,968 84,582 3,744 47,646 2,556
~~
NATURAL GAS IN HUNGARY Until recently little capital had been invested in natural gas in Hungary, but the beginning of large scale operations came when a n enormous gas supply was accidentally discovered a t a depth of 990 ft. in a search for potash a t KissArmAs near SBrm6s in April, 1909. The gas which is nearly pure methane has kept up its pressure since then at 28-32 atmospheres, and the amount delivered daily in this region is estimated a t about 6,0o0,000 cubic feet, Chem. Ztg., 38 ( 1 9 1 4 ) , 469. The nearest large cities which offer a market for this gas for power and illumination are Klausenburg and Maros V&shrhely about 62 miles away; a much larger undertaking than a line to these cities is however being considered, for a line t o Budapest, 250 miles distant is projected. Even with this expensive overland line, which is to be modeled on the American pattern, it is believed that natural gas can offer keen competition in the capital. The fact t h a t the gas wells are located in a country with little water makes their local commercial utilization difficult, although a small beginning in this direction has been made in lighting the trains of the state railway. I n March, a 45-mile pipe line, the longest in Europe, was opened from Kisshmhs to Torda and thence to Marosujvhr. The pipes, of drawn steel, are from 2 0 to 45 feet long and 5 to I O inches in diameter. They are joined with a special rubber packing, are covered with pitch and cased in an asphalt-jute coating. The country through which the line is laid offered great difficulties-among others frequent land slides; the cost of the line was in the neighborhood of ,$7oo,ooo. The Methana” Erdgas-Studiengesellschaft has been organized in Budapest to study the chemical possibilities of the situation, for in the gas country there are rich supplies of mineral products; the problem of manufacturing nitric acid from the air by the Bender process is also being studied. In the northwestern part of Hungary too, a supply of gas, accompanied here with oil, was discovered as recently as the end of 1913. The first well is yielding 1~1,carloads of oil a day and about 17,000 cubic feet of gas (95 per cent methane) are given off hourly. I‘
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTS AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERS DIVISION-REPORT OF PROGRESS BY COMMITTEE ON QUALITY OF PLATINUM LABORATORY UTENSILS, APRIL 9, I914 The Committee on Quality of Platinum Laboratory Uten-
Vol. 6 , No. 6
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since the preliminary report published in THIS 3 (191 I ) , 686: The committee itself has been unable t o do more than t o continue for a time the line of experimental work described in the report above referred to. The results are confirmatory in general of those already reported and need not be set forth in de-
character JOURNAL,
June, 1914
T H E J O C R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A X D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
tail here. The main reason for the long delay in securing d a t a of sufficient importance t o communicate formally has been due t o the difficulties encountered in devising suitable means for accurately determining the volatility losses suffered by commercial ware when subjected t o the temperatures, ordinarily employed i n laboratory operations. These difficulties have been,i t is hoped, overcome through the assistance of the Heat and Metallurgical Divisions of the Bureau of Standards, and it is expected, as opportunity permits, to accumulate data of value. There is, however, another more serious difficulty arising from the fact that the committee has been unable t o obtain reliable information on the composition of much of the ware which is a t its disposition, either through loan or purchase. Cntil exact d a t a of this kind are available it will be difficult, if not impossible, to determine all the causes of poor quality in ware or t o explain certain differences observed in the behavior of ware from different sources. This information. it is realized, is not t o be had from the makers, but can be gained only by carrying out an elaborate investigation involving the preparation of pure metals and of some of their alloys and also by the careful analysis of commercial ware. It is hoped that in time the Bureau of Standards may be able to take up such a n investigation, which i t is quite impossible for the committee to assume. This Division, or better still the Society, could lend most valuable support to a project of this kind by urging upon the proper authorities the great need for a thorough study of the platinum metals and their alloys, a study which will involve the expenditure of a considerable sum of money. The investigation should not he restricted to a study of the subject from the point of view of the chemist alone, but should be made comprehensive as t o the physical constants and physical behavior of the metals and alloys, so that all users of the platinum metals might benefit. In the meantime, however, Dr. G. K. Burgess, of the Bureau of Standards, assisted by hlr. P. D. Sale, has developed a method for determining with exactness and rapidity the total impurity in any platinum alloy in terms of iridium, which is the most common associate of platinum in commercial ware. This method depends upon the measurement of the electromotive force of the alloy against pure platinum at a given temperature. So far the method has shown itself very reliable for platinum containing known amounts of iridium, and its application will be extended, if suitable materials can be obtained, to other binary alloys of platinum and its common associates. At present it is not possible t o determine what other metal or metals may he alloyed with platinum, hut, as said above, their joint effect can be given in terms of iridium. The determination takes hut a few minutes. The method is printed in full in this issue (p, 452) in the form of a paper by Messrs. Burgess and Sale, with the results obtained on the various samples loaned t o our committee by American manufacturers of platinum ware, as well as upon articles of English, German and French make and some purchased specimens of American make. Since this work is a direct outcome of the activity of our committee, we feel that substantial progress has been made, notwithstanding that we have no experimental data of importance to present on our own immediate behalf, and we take this opportunity to express to 5lessrs. Burgess and Sale and t o the Director of the Bureau of Standards our appreciation of their efforts to forward our work. It was hoped that, after the publication of our first report, American manufacturers would furnish to purchasers commercial ware of decidedly hetter quality, as t o iron and perhaps other base metal content, than they had been offering in recent years. This hope has proved illusory as t o some a t least of the ware now sold, so far as we can judge from specimens recently submitted for test a t the Bureau of Standards, on request of one of
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In order that more information may be acquired as to the quality of ware sold from now on, the committee asks purchasers t o submit t o it one or two specimens (particularly crucibles) from each lot of new and unused ware. The committee is authorized to say that these samples will be examined-at the Bureau of Standards (for the present without charge) in such manner as not to injure the articles, and reports will be made to the senders. The tests will be directed, so far as can now be foreseen, toward the detection of iron or other base metal (as shown in part by the appearance of the surface of the ware after ignition) and to the determination of the sum of alloyed metals in terms of iridium by the thermoelectric method above mentioned. The determination of loss on prolonged heating a t high temperatures will not, for the present, figure in the tests. T h e Bureau will reserve the right to make such use of the results. of its examination as i t may find desirable. It is believed that the adoption of this course by a sufficiently large number of users of platinum utensils, during the next few years, will bring about speedy improvement in the quality of commercial ware. If not, the committee will probablv make other recommendations for the protection of the public. W. F. HILLEBRAND E. T. ALLEN PERCYH. WALKER AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY-49th MEETING, CINCINNATI, APRIL 6-10,1914 FERTILIZER CHEMISTRY DIVISION REPORT The meeting was called to order by hfr. J . E. Breckenridge, Chairman. After the transaction of the usual routine business, the papers were presented as published in the official program. An amendment to the by-laws was adopted, making a generaI Committee on Research and Methods of Analysis in place of the Committees on Xitrogen. Phosphoric Acid, Phosphate Rock and Potash. The meeting was very well attended considering the conditions which would enforce the absence of a good many of the members a t this season of the year. F. B. CARPENTER, Secretary REPORT OF T H E COMMITTEE ON FERTILIZER LEGISLATION
The question of uniform fertilizer legislation having occupied the attention of this division for some time, the following resolution adopted by the Association of Southern Agricultural Workers a t the annual meeting in Montgomery, Ala., Feb. 26th, will be of interest: “%‘HEREAS, the wide variation in the requirements now existing in our Southern States for the branding of fertilizer packages are a source of confusion t o purchasers, a waste of time and liability t o errors in inspection, and an unnecessary expense to manufacturers, “THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that this Association endorses uniformity and simplicity in branding, and urges the officials in charge of fertilizer control in our Southern States to use their influence in securing such legislation as will bring about simplicity and uniformity in branding of commercial fertilizers.” Your committee was represented a t this meeting and participated in the discussion. I n the matter of new legislation there have been a few minor changes since the last report, but not of such a nature as to materially affect either the manufacturer or consumer. F. B. CARPENTER, Chairman REPOET OF COMMITTEE ON PHOSPHORIC ACID
This Committee has been asked to prepare a rCsumC of the work done since its organization, for the guidance of the Committee on Methods of Analysis. This Committee first turned its attention to the determination
