Industrial and Engineering
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Editor: HARRISON E.
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Number 21
NOVEMBER 10, 1928
Volume 6
T h e Second Century of Aluminum Chemists know that the discovery of aluminum is credited to Wohler, but they may not recall that the late Professor Jewett of Oberlin College was a student of Wôhler, a n d the inspiring teacher of Charles M. Hall who developed the first commercial process for the production of this metal. Aluminum is now produced at the rate of more than 213,000 metric tons per annum, over half of which is produced by the Aluminum C o . of America and its subsidiaries, the successor of the company organized to work the Hail process. There is thus a special significance at this time, the beginning of the second century of aluminum, in the exercises at Oberlin, Ohio, on October 30, when a bronze tablet was placed upon t h e house in the &&1&ν%~~-^:·:."!?$-*•&::{·. 'f. ''-i\ woodshed of which Charles M. Hall completed his work after graduation from Oberlin in the class of 1885. I t will be recalled that in his work Hall had tried the electrolyCharles Martin Hall sis of water-soluble salts without success and that he had also tried reduction with carbon, which was also a failure. The Cowles Co. was making a copperaluminum alloy by electric furnace red-uction, using copper to capture the aluminum, for t h e tempera-ture of the reduction of alumina is very close to the boiling point of the metal. Hall did not have the furnace equipment to do t h i s work, but if he had he would have made only an alloy and not trre aluminum itself. At Oberlin there is an interesting aluminum exhibit to which there has now been added one of the o r i g i n a l p e l l e t s first made in Oberlin in February, 1886, and displayed on t h e 2 3 r d of that month to Professor Jewett. In litigation which arose over the H a l l patents, Tablet o n House O c c u p i e d by M r . Hall Professor Jewett was able to swear t h a t when Hall came to him with a few pellets and told him he had succeeded in his research he stood in the old lecture room of a laboratory demolished in 1886, as proved by the college records. This was important as unmistakably fixing the date when the discovery was made, and was a part of the testimony presented in the court where William Howard Taft handed down t h e decision i n favor of Hall. There was on display a t the time of the exercises not only these first pellets but a group of larger ones made i n December, 1886, when the process had been further perfected a n d one button of 8 grams
made. There was also the 3-inch button from trie first commercial run made in 1888 by the Pittsburgh Reduction Co., wlaich has become the Aluminum Co. of America. The rapid development of the industry may be measured in many ways, b u t here we will call attention only t o the creation of Arvida, the new town in Northern Quebec, where the company has readily available a million horsepower equal to more than ten times the primary power at Muscle Shoals. This great development is but a few miles from tidewater, and bauxite from the Guianas will be brought all the way by water t o the great plant erected in this model town. From a few familiar uses of the alloys of aluminum, we have now come to the age of dirigibles and
:
H o m e of Charles Martin Hall
aluminum furniture, with railway and street cars awaiting only a reduction in the cost of these alloys. Duralumin and that alloy "Alclad" typify the great engineering materials that have foeen developed. Preceding the exercises the student body and townspeople met in the auditorium for brief exercises over which President Ernest Hatch Wilkins presided. Harry N. Holmes, chairman of the Department of Chemistry, gave the story of the discovery of aluminum and some points in the subsequent litigation. S. K. Colby, vice president of the United States Aluminum Co., the chief subsidiary of the Aluminum Co. of America, briefly mentioned some of the technical applications of aluminum, and Η. E. Howe spoke on "Invention and Industry." Among the guests of honor were R. E. Withers, vice president of the Aluminum Co. of America, and Homer H. Johnson, trustee of the Hall estate and a classmate of Hall. Mr. Johnson unveiled the tahlet. Joel Hayden, of Cleveland, and Andrew Noah, vice president of the Goodrich Co., both trustees of the college, and Dan Bradley, of Cleveland, were also gues+s of honor. Doctor Bradley was the student whose ribj were nudged by Hall when, following Professor Jewett's statement that the man who discovered how to prepare the metal would beneiit society and make a fortu€ie for himself, he said, " I am going after that metal/' In addition, there were five women classmates of Mr. Hall present a t the exercises and a t the unveiling of the tablet. The guests of honor and members of the faculty in the Department of Physics and Chemistry were entertained at luncheon by President Wilkins, where framed photographs of Hall were presented as souvenirs. Our readers are referred to addresses made upon the presenta tion of the Perkin 2Medal to Charles M. Hall,1 and also t o a dis cussion of the Hall patents. ι J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 3, 143 (1911). 2 Ibid., 7, 789 (1915).
News
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
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T h e N e w President of t h e Chemical Catalog Co. T h e Chemical Catalog Co., I n c . , has announced t h e election of Francis M . Turner, Jr., a s president. Mr. Turner, w h o is a native of Ontario, is a g r a d u a t e of the University of Toronto, class of 1914. Prior to b e c o r r n g editorin-chief for the Chemical Catalog Co., Inc., h e was in t h e service of t h e American Vanadium and other corporations, as well as Canadian government commissions. He has been associated with the Chemical Catalog Co., Inc., since its founding, and became vice president in 1925. His "Condensed Chemical Dictionary" is well known a n d besides joint authorship in several books, he is a frequent contributor t o t h e scientific a n d technical literature. H e has long been identified with t h e activities of the F r a n c i s M. T u r n e r , J r . , presiJent, Chemical Catalog Co., l a c .
AMERICAN
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particularly its advertising develo p m e n t in t h e last several years.
t o journals which cover a definite field, a s some of t h e biological journals. T h e editor's office is able to check u p on this work, a s well a s the rest, by systematically following some t w e n t y o t h e r abstract j o u r n a l s which carry abstracts of chemical interest. If they h a v e something suitable which h a s been missed, s t e p s are taken t o procure a n abstract for Chemical A bstracts. T h e abstracts a r e sent to the editor and, after being recorded, are forwarded t o the appropriate assistant editors (there a r e forty-five) for approval. T h e assistant editors return t h e m o n specified dates. Then they a r e edited, systematically a r r a n g e d , and sent t o the printer. T h e various assistant editors help i n the proof reading, which gives t h e m a further opportunity t o make corrections. The most important t a s k of t h e central office is t h e compilation of yearly subject indexes. Well-prepared subject indexes are of special importance for a n abstract journal. T h e annual indexes run over 1400 pages a n d represent about one-fourth of t h e journal.
Special R a t e s on C h e m i c a l Society P u b l i c a t i o n s By a cooperative agreement with the Chemical Society (London) t h e following rates on journals of t h e Chemical Society a r e given t o m e m b e r s of t. e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY if
Decennial
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Completion
When advance subscriptions for t h e Second Decennial Index to Chemical Abstracts were being sought it was promised that an effort would b e made to complete t h e Author Index (2 volu m e s 2452 pagesï late in 1927. a n d the Subject Index ( 3 volumes, approximately 4150 pages) late in 1928. T h e Index covers the period 1917-26. T h e schedule called for as much speed as was consistent with proper economy a n d the safeguarding of accuracy a n d general quality. W e are glad to be able to announce t h a t t h e work h a s been k e p t on schedule. T h e Author Index was completed last November, and h a s long since been sent to all paid-up subscribers T h e Subject Index will be ready in December. Rather t h a n put these b i g volumes in t h e mail around Christmas time, when losses are more likely t o occur, it has been decided to send them out with t h e regular Chemical Abstracts mail on January 10, 1929. This slight "safety-first" delay beyond the promised time seems advisable. N o claim for non-receipt of Index can be allowed if made l a t e r than sixty (60) days from mailing d a t e . E . J . C R A N E , Editor CHARLES L. PARSONS,
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Modus Operandi of Chemical Abstracts I n its efforts to cover all of the chemical literature of t h e world, Chemical Abstracts systematically examines some 1350 chemical periodicals and publishes an abstract of each paper appearing therein which contains new information with a chemical bearing. In addition, the patents of chemical ir Merest issued in the following countries are abstracted: Australia, Austria, Belgium. Cana d a , Denmark, France, G e r m a n y , Great Britain, Holland Paly, J a p a n , Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, a n d the Tnired States'. T h e journal literature a n d the patent li*era*-ure combined will furnish probably about 35.000 abstracts in 1028 This number will be considerably increased next year, when thef abstracting of p a t e n t s (curtailed for several vears on accoun of lack of funds) will be resumed. T h e literature abstracted is published in all of the languages of t h e civilized world; a t least t w e n t y a r e represented. F o r the most p a r t abstracts a r e prepared by chemists who are specialists in t h e various branches of chemistry represented. F o r example, a p a p e r on colloid chemistry is assigned to a colloid chemist, a n d one o n rubber technologv to a rubber technologist. All of the important chemical journals, a s well as all of t h e rare ones, are received in the e d i t o r s office where t h e assigning of abstracting is done. Some of these come in advance proof form, t h u s saving time. An appropriate abstractor is selected for each p a p e r and the so-called assignment card is mailed t o him, together with the journal, unless t h e record shows that h e does not need it. A duplicate card is filed in the editor's office, together with the record of abstracts published. T h e duplicate is thrown away when the abstract is received. If t h e abstract is not received within the specified time, a follow-up is sent out. T h e use of this c a r d system and a record which is kept abreast with the literature means that practically all papers of chemical interest a r e noted, duplicate assignments or abstracts are elimin a t e d , and proper correlation between abstracts is maintained. A limited portion of t h e literature is assigned in the form of whole journals, instead of b y individual papers. T h i s is restricted
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Engineering F o u n d a t i o n Has C h e m i c a l E v e n i n g The meeting of t h e Engineering Foundation a t t h e Union League Club on October 18 was made the occasion of a chemical evening. A dozen representatives of t h e chemical profession were present, Marston T . Bogert being t h e guest of honor a n d Charles H. Hert3>- the principal speaker. T h e latter addressed the gathering on cellulose. The income from the F o u n d a t i o n ' s funds is a t present d e v o t e d t o five principal groups of studies: alloys of iron; properties of wire rope i n service; perfection of small models to predict strains in s t r u c t u r e s ; dielectrics of insulating liquids; and of impregnated paper in solution. Ambrose Swazey, of Cleveland, through whose generosity t h e Engineering F o u n d a t i o n w a s created, w a s present, a s were a considerable number of m e n prominent i n various fields of engineering a n d identified with the direction of t h e Foundation's activities.
Perkin Medal Award By vote of a committee representing the Society of Chemical Industry, the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, the Société de Chimie Industrielle, and the American Electrochemical Society, the Perkin Medal for 1929 will be awarded to E. C Sullivan. The award is for his work on various special types of glasses, including Pyrex. Presentation will be made on January 4, 1929, at a joint meeting of the chemical societies to be held at the Chemists' Club, New York, Ν. Υ. The other speakers on the program will be announced later. P r o g r a m Ν . Υ . Section American Textile Chemists The p r o g r a m committee of t h e N e w York Section of t h e Ameri can Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists h a s been for t u n a t e in procuring for its speakers during t h e coming season t h e foremost authorities in t h e fields represented. T h e pro gram is as follows : 1928 November 23 December 1029 January 25 March 1 Cat Paterson) March 29 April 26 M a y 24
B. Wuth No meeting
(Subject t o be announced)
Wilder D. Bancroft The Colloid Theory of Dyeing. David Wallace (Subject t o be announced.) C. F . Hoppe (Subject t o be announced.) T. W. Marsson and Newer Developments on Indigosols H . E. Hager and Rapid Fast Colors. G. W . Steiger T h e Thies Method of Dyeing. Annual meeting of t h e section a n d election of officers.
