AMERICAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES
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Airplane View of a Pertion of the 112 Acres Covered b y the Home Plant of The Procter 81 Gamble C o m p a n y , Ivorydale, Ohio
The Procter and Gamble Company
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N 1832 there came to Cincinnati, by separate routes, two a family characteristic which drew him toward the manufacturing men among those who were attracted by the wcstward tide side and, especially, that of a chemical nature. He was not, of empire who were eventually to form a partnership on the however, a chemist. foundation of which a great chemical business was to be built. These two men were thrown together by family ties, having William Procter was an Englishman who, as was the custom married two sisters. Upon the advice of their father-in-law, in those days in England, had served an apprenticeship of seven in 1837 they formed a partnership for the manufacture of soaps years. Among other things learned during this period was the and candles. In those early days the radius of source of supply art of making candles. These were the crude dip candles made of raw materials and distribution of finished product was exby alternately dipping the wicks into molten fat and cooling, tremely restricted. In fact, business was cariied on more by and finally, when they had attained the proper sizes, rolling to bartering finished goads for raw materials and other commodities make them more uniform. His main with the inhabitants of their immediate training, liowever, was in merchandising. vicinity or with passing travelers and After he had branched a u t for himself in immigrants on that great arterial waterLondon, he met 'bith misfortune in the way, the Ohio River, which passed their shape of a robbery which literally cleaned doors. Knowledge of chemistry played the goods off his shelves. Left in debt no part in their operations. Indeed, it by this catastrophe he stoutheartedly set was only a few years previous to their out for the States, with a small amount embarking in the soap and candle busiof borrowed capital. ness t h a t Chevreul had published his James Gamble emigrated from Dublin classic work on the constitution of fats about the same time. Why these two and soaps. This lack of m y chemical men selected Cincinnati is not known. supervision obtained until nearly the In fact, in the case of James Gamble it close of the first generation of these seems to have been the accident of families. Soap-making as practiced was sickness which arrcsted his journey a t an art only and much mystery surCincinnati, as it is thought he was headcd rounded it. The first outstandins apfor a point further west. Mr. Gamble plication of a chemically developed procwas one of that family who wcrc pioneers ess was the splitting of fatty glycerides in the heavy chemical business which dcinto their component acids and glycerol velopcd in England around St. Helen and for the manufacture of stearic acid canWidnes. Here great alkali works arose dles. An autoclave process had been following Le Blanc's discoveries. Janirs patented by Tilghman. The patent laws William Cooper Procter, President Gamble was not himself connected with regarding chemical pro~esses had not these industries, but there probably was been tested to any extent and great di-
August, 1‘325
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CIlEMlSTRY
versity of opinions existed. A suit arose over this process which mas fauglit through t o the Supreme Court of the United States. The rulings handed down in this case, known as Tilghman ws. Proctrr, 102 U. S. 707, are classic in the field of chemical patent litigation, probably being quoted in more CBSCS of this chnracter than those of any other decision. During the regimen of thc sccond generation, clieniical control was practiced more and inore. One of this gmtntion, James N. Gamble, had ”majored,” as the expression is now, in chemistry. Such developments as took place in this intermediate s t a g e , however, wcre prabnbly due more to t r a i n e d powers of observation than to direct seeking or chemical r e s e a r c h . Thus, the discovery of a floating swap and its advantages in 1878 were not due to rtsearch nor yet to accident, but to an a p p r e c i a t i v e and t r a i n e d clieinical mind which rrcogn i z e d a phenomenon and its c ~ u s c s and effects. His more comn,ercial parttiers, moreover, quickly scnscd its market possibilities. These men bad the courage of their convictions and embwked on a manufacturing and selling campaign which has not ceased to this day. They wcre the first to enter into nation-vide advertising and kcep stcadily a t it. They recognized from the beginning that advcrtising could only induce a trial ai the advertised product and once this trial was made the goods thereafter must scll thernsclves. Rigid standards wcre established for this soap. Cheinists abroad aid in this country, of whom Benjamin Silliman, 2nd. of Yale, was one, attested to its purity. From these analyses i t was determiiicd that the new product contained only 0.56 per cent of impurities (mostly necessary electrolytes) and that, per cent pure.” This result is therefore, it was “99 undoubtedly the best advertised and most widcly known oi any chemical analysis. The name was also given a great deal of thought. It came in a Bash, as most ideas do. The inspiration came to one of the partners when he heard read one Sunday morning Psalm 45, the eighth verse of which reads: “All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces. whereby they have made thee glad.” To maintain the high standard set, to meet changing conditions caused by supply and demand in their and competing fields and upheavals due to political changes, increasing chemical supervision and research became necessary. The a r t of soap-making gradually gave way to science. The classic work of Sabatier and Senderens and the increasing knowledge of colloidal chemistry further increased the demand for chemical knowledge and research. The large tonnagc of oils and fats required for soap-making necessitated wholesale buying, which, in tnin, led to The Proctcr & Gamble Company’s entrance into thc edible oil industry. Thus the complete output of a mill or other producer can be purchased and the very choicest oils and fats used for edible purposes, while other qualities go to the various soan grades. It is a very logical and economical combination.
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The rcscnrch and discoveries of Sabatier arid Senderens coupled with the industrial researches and application t o commercial needs well illustrate the immense value of research to the consuming public. Without this one discovery and its successful adaptation, the public would today be paying out millions of didlars annually because of a deficiency of edible fats and h i g h quality swags. The hydrogenation of oils has had a marked iiiLliicnce on stabilizing and preventing inflation in the price of lard, oleomargarine, and like products. It has givcn to the soapmakcr nc”: sources 01 supply. The law of supply arid demand has protected the public and made it by far the largest beneficiary. These new fields a,,dwideningknonIcdge have greatly affected the chernical division of this company. It now compriscs over one hundred and fifty persons. It corers the chemical COIItrol, supcrvision of manufncturins p r a c t i Ce , procc5s improvements and economics by means of semi-factory layouts, sales service through home ccononi i c s , baking, and laundry prxticc dcpartments, all fully equipped; and finally, a rescnrcli department for the more fundamental studies of the company’s proiilcms in an ever-widening field in all lincs of fat and oil technology. The library also has grown with this expansion and now contains over two tlmnsaiid volumes covering all phases of oil and fat cliuniisiry and technology, besides complete sets of all leading English, French, and German scientific journals. The subsidiary plants a t New York, Kansas City, Hamilton, Ont., Macon, Ga., Dalias, Tea., and oil niill headquarters a t Atlanta, Ga., all have their own control laboratories and pcrsonnel. The amount of chemical coiitiol neees~aryt u maintain uniformity a i d standards is probably not fully appreciated by the uninitiated. Thrce hundred aud twenty determinations are available on every batch of Ivory soap made. Fortunatcly, the large tonnage allows making some deterriiiiiations applicable to several batches; otherwise the overhead expense would become burdensome. The chemical division of this company is on a strictly commercial basis; that is, it has its budget which n u s t not be exceeded and, most important. it must show each year a substantid gain in savings to the comnany over and above its expense. The chemical division is not in an eaperimeatal stage, but has shown a steady arid continuous growth, fulfilling the required condition that i t shall more than pay its way.
Plasticizers in Lacquers-Correction In my article under this title, Twrs JOURNAL, 17, 568 (1925). the first reference in the bibliography is to the early laboratory production of dialkyl phthalates, and not to their use in pyroxylin plastics as indicated by the footnote reference. Bnucr: K. BXOWN COMMBIClnL SOL”*N?S cone. Terms H*”TR, I U D .
June 17. 1925
