May, 1931
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
proximately the same, the decline of chemical stocks was less gradual, and mostly toward the end of the depression. If we look a t the recovery from the lows of 1921 to the highs of 1922, we find that,, after the low point had been reached, chemical stocks had a much more rapid comeback than industrials. Industrial stocks had to wait until the beginning of 1925 t o touch their 1919 high mark, while chemicals had already done so in 1922. What is true of industrial stocks holds good for those of the individual industries charted, none of them recovering as fast as chemicals.
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If its performance after the last depression is indicative of what it will do now, the chemical industry will probably recover more rapidly than industry in general. Notwithstanding temporarily disturbing influences, major developments taking place within the industry itself strengthen the belief that this will happen. Indeed, the inherent character of the industry is such as to insure its recuperative power, for perhaps what most distinguishes the chemical industry from all others is its greater ability to adapt itself to changing conditions.
The Dyestuffs Act in Britain’ Ten Years’ Progress E. F. Armstrong BIJSHHOUSE,ALDWYCH, LONDON, W. C. 2, ENCI..AXD
The Government Aids Dyestuff I n d u s t r y EDITOR’SNOTE-Edward F. Armstrong is one of the outstanding personalities in England We are not concerned here to describe the today in industrial chemistry. After studying in England and Germany, he was first con swift resuscitation of the industry other than nected as chief chemist with Huntley & Palmer. to chronicle that the Government took a A few years later he became managing director hand in it and that a new company, British of Joseph Crosfield & Sons a t Warrington, as well as of William Gossage & Sons, Ltd., a t Dyes, Ltd., was brought into existence in Widnes and Liverpool. I n 1925 he was made March, 1915, which in 1919 linked up with managing director of the British Dyestuffs Cort h e o l d e r and more virile organization of poration, in which office he continued even after Levinstein, Ltd., to form the British Dyeit became a n integral part of the great Imperial Chemical Combine. I n 1928 he became stuffs Corporation. Several others, small a t an independent chemical consultant, in which first, were enlarged and new ones came into capacity he still acts. He holds the degrees existence. of D.Sc. (London), Ph.D. (Berlin), and LL.D In May, 1918, the British Government (St. Andrews). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Institute of Chemistry and is gave a pledge that the importations of all a member of the Institution of Chemical Engiforeign dyestuffs should be controlled by a Claude Harv.ts neers. He was elected president of the Sosystem of licenses for a period of not less than ciety of Chemical Industry in 1922 and held E. F. Armstrong ten years after the war; this was followed in that office for two years. He has also held the presidency of the British Association of Chemists He has done February, 1919, by a Prohibition of Imports Proclamation. original research work in a wide domain recorded in numerous The dyestuff makers set busily to work to build an industry on publications He is given credit for carrying out the necessary reconstruction in the British dyestuffs industry and for setting the insecure foundations of their war work, but their plans were seriously upset by a judgment of Mr. Justice Sankey that industry firmly on its feet. As chairman of the ilssociation of British Chemical Manufacturers he has been responsible that the prohibition was invalid, and it was not until Decemfor many of its present activities, in particular for the drawing ber, 1920, that the Dyestuffs (ImportRegulation) -4ct was up of a miniature Factory Act in the form of model safety rules book. for chemical factories and the creation of an organization to put On the establish British national industrial chemical standards. There was, therefore, a period of a little over twelve months during which there was n o restriction on the importation of
I
T IS a matter of chemical history that aniline dyes were first discovered in England by William Henry Perkin, but that from prosperous and promising beginnings the industry slowly declined or failed to develop. The continental industry, however, in Germany and Switaerland, prospered greatly and grew to large dimensions. At the outbreak of the war there was not only a lack of many of the dyestuffs required by the textile trade which had never been manufactured in England, but, owing to the further fact that practically none of the intermediates mas being made in the country, there was great difficulty in making even those dyes which England had been producing. I n 1914 the country had a dyestuff industry small in magnitude, struggling under great difficulties but in some cases understanding and endeavoring to remedy the errors of the past. This formed a nucleus for the extensions which were to come. There was available also, though in limited amount, both technical experience and scientific knowledge of dyes. 1
Received March 6, 1931
foreign dyestuffs. Naturally, the fullest possible advantage was taken of this period to bring large quantities of dyestuffs to this country, including a considerable amount of reparation dyestuffs. Unfortunately, the period coincided with the trade slump, which further increased the difficulties of the British dyestuff manufacturers. The dyestuffs industry was thereby threatened with extinction until the act became law. Under the act, which came into force on January 15, 1921, and which expired on January 14, 1931, importation into the United Kingdom of all synthetic organic dyestuffs, colors, and coloring matters, and all organic intermediate products used in the manufacture of such dyestuffs, colors, or coloring matters, is prohibited except under license granted by the Board of Trade on the recommendation of the Dyestuffs Advisory Licensing Committee. This licensing Committee consists of five representatives of the color-using industries; three representatives of the dye-manufacturing industries; together with three independent persons, one of whom is the chairman. It thus affords ample protection to the consuming interests.
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Broadly, two sets of circumstances constitute grounds for the granting of licenses-viz., (1) t h e lack of a British equivalent; (2) price; i. e., where there is a British equivalent but the price is higher than the foreign color, but with adequate safeguards for the British makers. Achievements under the Act
It is universally agreed that the main object of the act has been achieved and a substantial dye-making industry built up in Great Britain. The dyestuffs produced now represent about 93 per cent of the quantity consumed in the country, and about 81 per cent of their sale value. h very wide range of dyestuffs not previously made has been placed on the market, and their quality is fully equal to that of any foreign manufacture, though many important dyestuffs have not yet been domestically produced. Vat colors were not made in Great Britain in 1913, whereas in 1928 the production of this series alone, exclusive of indigo, was 64 per cent of the country’s requirements. On the technical side, it is true that, compared with prewar periods, there has been very little production of an original character in dyes either on the Continent or in Great Britain or throughout the world. Thus not many new colors, in the sense that they have not been manufactured anywhere else in the world, have been included in the British products, with the exception of colors for the dyeing of various types of artificial silk. The latter is undoubtedly the outstanding achievement of British makers, and the foreign dyestuffs makers have followed the British in the manufacture of these products. Indeed it may be claimed that the performance chronicled in the following paragraphs is highly meritorious. Ionamine dyes. This range of entirely new products was discovered and elaborated by the British Dyestuffs Corporation, Ltd., in 1922, being a series which temporarily possess the character of soluble products but have no dyeing affinity for cotton. During the dyeing process they are changed into soluble products and have a direct affinity for cellulose acetate but not for any of the other textile fibers. Duranol colors. The same firm marketed a range of basic anthraquinone derivatives under the above description which are primarily intended for the dyeing of acetate silk. All these products are characterized by their generally excellent fastness to the usual agencies, light, washing, etc.
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Closely related to the above are the Celatene colors, introduced by Scottish Dyes, Ltd., possessing the same affinity for acetate silk and equal properties. S.R. A . products were put on the market by the British Celanese, Ltd., and are mainly insoluble azo dyes in a finely divided state which are primarily intended for, and used in, the dyeing of cellulose acetate silk. T h e dispersol colors are products of similar properties and characteristics to the afore-mentioned but introduced by the British Dyestuffs Corporation, Ltd., for the dyeing of acetate silk. Caledon jade green G, introduced by Scottish Dyes, Ltd., is by far the most important addition to the series of vat colors during the last ten years, and is an outstanding feature in a range of colors especially noted for their brilliance of tone and excellent fastness. The icyl colors represent a special type of azo dyes which possess the great feature of dyeing level shades on uneven viscose. The chroniazol colors are a new series of dyestuffs specially suitable for calico printing and possessing a special feature in that the alteration in shade, which takes place when the product is fixed with the mordant, is only very slight, which is contrary to the usual development of chrome colors under similar circumstances. Among other notable features may be included the manufacture, on a large scale, of a series of pigment yellows, oranges, and reds, largely used in the manufacture of paints and colors for lithographic printing; an extensive range of vat dyestuffs (anthraquinone colors) of all shades; a complete range of chrome colors for the dyeing of fast shades on woolen material; developments in the manufacture of accelerators and antioxidants for use in the rubber industry; and new processes for the application and discharging of colors. According to the report of the Development Committee, in the last ten years there have been introduced 80 new British colors in the chrome and mordant group; 30 basic; over 40 sulfur; 74 vat; 26 lake; 20 oil, spirit, and wax colors; and 20 new colors for acetate silk. The problem confronting the dye maker has been much the same in England as in America. I n 1913 practically no intermediates were made, and it was necessary in the first place to find out how to make these of sufficient purity and
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Blackley Works and Hexagon House, British Dyestuffs Corporation
Dalton Works, British Dyestuffs Corporation, Huddersfield
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Vol. 23, No. 5
Ellesmere Port Works, British Dyestuffs Corporation
regularity to give dyes which satisfied the ever more rigorous standards of the consumer. The success obtained has been due in no small part to the helpful cooperation of the color-using industries. I n the early days color users were often called upon to use dyes of British manufacture which were either not entirely satisfactory in quality or were higher in price than those which might have been obtained from abroad, in order to give the British dye maker the experience in production so essential to successful manufacture. It is also due to the joint labors of the chemist and chemical engineer. The successful preparation of these complicated organic chemicals in the research laboratories has been followed by expensive, but vitally important, trials on a semi-works scale and then on a factory scale. Special plant has had to be devised and older apparatus modified to meet the increasingly stringent demands of modern color production. Bearing on Training of Chemists
n-ill be of material assistance in the expansion of the export trade, the retention of the act for a further period would be of invaluable service to the industry, which probably employs a larger proportion of technically trained men than any other manufacturing industry in the country. The national importance of the dyestuffs industry as an outlet for British brains and a field of employment for trained chemists and chemical technologists cannot be too strongly stressed. Any restriction of this field would lead to a diminution in the numbers trained with a repercussive effect on the facilities for instruction and research in organjc chemistry. This would have an adverse influence, not only on other branches of the organic chemical industry, such as those engaged in the manufacture of medicinal products and other fine chemicals of vital national importance, but on many industries outside the purely chemical field, the progress of which requires the services of highly trained organic chemists.
Technical efficiency is very largely dependent upon the employment of chemists of sound training and wide experience in the highly complicated technic of manufacture of organic chemical products. During the past ten years a large number of chemists have gone out from universities and other educational institutions to the various dyestuffs-manufacturing concerns in this country to apply and adapt their academic knowledge and training to the needs of the industry. Many of the works chemists, however, are as yet too young in experience fully to have explored all the intricacies of efficient production, even in connection with products the manufacture of which is long established. From the point of view of developing and cultivating this experience, which
Prices were regulated under the act by a factor which the *DyestuffsAdvisory Licensing Committee imposed upon the industry, whereby prices of dyestuffs were established bearing a definite ratio to the pre-war prices. The factor, originally fixed at three times pre-war, has by successive stages been reduced to 1.75. It must be borne in mind that this factor price is by no means the average price, but rather a maximum price, and is therefore unsuitable for purposes of comparison. It is calculated that 80 per cent by weight of the British sales of home manufacture are a t prices below this factor. For several years British prices have compared so favorably with those of foreign competitors that requests to import products for price reasons have been very few.
Prices
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The service rendered by tlie Brit.ish dyestuffs industry, as a competitive instrument for reducing prices alone, is abundantly evident from a study of tlie downward trend of price8 of foreign dyestuffs consequent upon the appearance of British equivalents on the market.
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Vat dyes have been successfully rnade'also by Claus, subsequently merged into the British Dyestuffs Corporation. O t h e r Products of I n d u s t r y
The operations of a dyestuff industry canriot be confined to the production of colors alone. The primary organic raw materials and tlie intermediates produced from them are available for the prodilct.ion of such substances as accelerators for the vulcatiiaation of rubbcr, wetting out and other reagents for the textile itidustry, syntlictie resins, and many others. The English inilitstry lias not neglected these fields, and in rubber questions in part,iaiilar it has taken a lcad.
Rubber Service Laboratory, British Dyeetuffs Corporation
Import Producers
Tiie niaking of dyes has been in the hati& of the British Dyestuffs Corporation, of Scott.ish Dyes, Ltd., both merged in Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., since 1926; of the British Alizarine Company, L. 13. Holliday & Company, Brotherton 6: Company, Hickson h Partners, Williams Brothers, and others; and in addition the Clayton Aniline Company, Swiss-owned since 1911, which is the second largest producer and manusactures a t Clayton a very large range of colors of all types. All of these have made great teclrnical progress and played their part in the advance recorded. The factory a t Ellosinere Pint built by Meister, Liteius h Brliriing and employed to convert phenylglycine into indigo, wliich had been closed oil the outbreak of war, was purchased by Leiiiisteiii in 191H and the manufacture of indigo resumed within three months. A product of the highest quality was produced able to satisfy the homo demands and maintain a large rsport business.
Spreadins Machine Rubber Service Laboratory. British i>;estuff* corporation
Alizarin had always been manufactured by the British Alizarine Company, who later extended their opcrations to vat dyes. The vat colors were primarily the concern of Scottish Dyes, who were associated with large consumers of these dyes in Morton's Sundour Fabrics. Ltd. Mr. Morton has told his own story of the achievement in graphic 1angiw-e in the Juimml of t k Society uf Arts for April 12, 1929.
(:uring Presne8 Rubber Service Laboratory, Brifish byestuff.
