new idea you conceive t h a t improves your process or the article you manufacture, should be as much yours as an overcoat you buy. Your title should be as clear and simple and well recognized for a reasonable time and your right to protection by public prosecution at least as good as if some one stole your overcoat. A fern of us are trying t o educate go million people t o understand t h a t the future of this nation and their own individual prosperity depend directly on the security of intellectual property. You would do well t o start the regular education of your workmen, for it is the uneducated vote t h a t puts in the destructive legislator. Your Board of Directors had best appoint their brightest man a “Patent Committee with power” t o lend a hand. Get a n intelligent Commission, have its findings published broadcast for discussion so the average voter may understand the issue and the Congress dare not ignore anything the Commission recommends. 5 0 EAST4 1 s ~ ST.,NEWYORK
“WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH THE AMERICAN CHEMIST?” B y DANIEL M. GROSH Received M a y 16, 1913
A. recent news item in the daily journals should furnish food for some very serious reflection. I n brief, it stated that the American textile manufacturers have for years been under the domination of the foreign dye trust and are at last beginning t o revolt. Why this industry is so dominated, why they have not revolted heretofore, and what their revolution will bring forth are well understood by any person who has studied the subject and is familiar with the status of commercial chemistry in America. The industry mentioned is forced t o use large quantities of imported dyes because they are superior t o most of the domestic dyes and are also forced to pay $ I .oo per pound for a product for which they formerly paid 25 cents. What’s the matter with the American chemists t h a t they cannot supply their own market? Is it possible t h a t they cannot, with all their vaunted genius and mechanical ingenuity, and with the protective barrier of a high tariff, exclude these as well as other articles of foreign manufacture? To acknowledge we cannot make as good products as foreign chemists is not only humiliating but true, not only in the chemical industry but in others also and the reason for it is that the foreign producer has worked on the basis of making the best goods a t the lowest cost and makes them under the intelligent supervision of modern science. American chemists individually are just as brilliant, well educated, energetic and ambitious; hence the cause is elsewhere. Our educational institutions are surely competent and possess the necessary facilities, so n-here does the difficulty lie’ Simply in the fact t h a t science has been relegated t o the rear and t h a t the American chemists do not get the encouragement and co-operation needed to develop their activities sufficiently t o meet commercial requirements. Our manufacturers have been concerned primarily in producing goods t o make money and have always had every advantage in their favor. A large demand due to an increasing population, plentiful and cheap raw material and fuel, efficient machinery and mechanical appliances, shrewd financial management and business combinations and again the highly protective and benevolent tariff. We have never felt the heavy hand of competition as have English and European producers and yet with every advantage we cannot produce first-class goods. Germany’s encouragement of the chemist, both financial and educational, and the application of scientific methods to industrial needs in general and chemical productions in particular, their eagerness t o utilize any new knowledge in their factory operations, and most of all a willingness t o spend money in experimenting and developing ideas and processes, are the reasons why t h a t nation to-day is gradually absorbing the
commerce and business of other nations. France long ago realized her danger and is rapidly applying science t o industrial ends and even Italy, a nation of supposed lethargic temperament, is keeping in the front rank. England has already felt with much concern the ironrhand of the Teuton reaching out over the seas and gathering in the business of the world and our turn will be next. No less authority than Prof. Perkin recently stated t h a t these are indeed parlous times, and England’s commercial future depends upon scientific industrial chemistry and to t h a t alone the nation must turn. It is no exaggeration t o say t h a t the situation in America at the present time is chaotic. The complaint of the textile industry is characteristic and confirms this assertion in their single charge t h a t they cannot get domestic dyes of quality and are being plucked for what they are forced t o import. The American producer is laboring under the impression t h a t when he attains mechanical perfection in his factory he has all that is to be had. Mechanical contrivances are well and good, but they are only a small part of modern industrial operation. Nearly all operations are dependent upon raw material; raw material is substance and t h a t in its turn is chemistry, and every industry or process involved is to t h a t extent chemical; wherever we turn this fact stands out most prominent. From the very nature of things, education to-day is largely a matter of books, and while much valuable information and training are obtained from this source, there is one vital element to success, not only in chemistry but in other professions, which is often neglected. This element is called common sense but experience shows t h a t it is indeed far from being common. I n solving the industrial problems of to-day its intelligent application is equally as important as professional knowledge. It is no more possible t o solve a chemical operation of magnitude by abstract principles than i t is to diagnose a disease, repair a mangled machine or conduct a legal case. I n no other country but Germany does there exist such coordination and co-operation between the industries, institutions of learning and finance. A typical instance may be given in the discovery, by a German teacher, of a new process. His first effort was t o present it t o the expert of a great factory concerned in its production, then to the great financial institution of Germany, the Deutsche Bank. As a result, the factory with its producing facilities, the bank with its backing and financial aid, and the discoverer with his process form a company of three. Imagine the reception a chemist approaching a bank in this country would get! Nothing is harder t o get in this country than financial assistance to develop a chemical process. Many individuals have the idea t h a t chemistry is merely a routine operation, and it is no secret t h a t a chemist in developing a n industrial process has his own troubles. Numerous instances can be given where the establishment of a factory laboratory would save thousands of dollars to the producer, b u t he apparently prefers jogging along in the “save a t the spigot, lose a t the bung” gait of his forefathers. Any process to be of industrial value must be perfected on industrial lines and while a laboratory reaction will give all that may be desired, the same reaction with tons of material to work with instead of grams, means something different, as many have discovered to their confusion and sorrow. Many operations successful in the laboratory have been a failure when conducted on a large scale and the chemist condemned along with his process when the fault could have been avoided by a n intelligent application on a different basis. Chardonnet made a dead failure of his artificial silk process )Then he tried it out commercially, not once but four times, but financial assistance was given him, instead of condemning him as a fraud or fakir, and the process as a swindle. German chemical firms spent millions before a dollar’s worth of goods
Aug., 1913
T H E JOr-R-\-.4L
OF I.\-DL-STRI.4L
was marketed. The chances are that an industrial chemist in this country who could not revolutionize conditions or produce ideal results in a few months time, would be fired for not knowing his business. So much stress has been placed upon the value of chemistry in the industries of to-day t h a t the majority of people have the most vivid ideas concerning it. They do not know t h a t each application of its benefits meant perhaps years of persistent and unpaid toil. An individual once came t o the writer t o perfect a certain process which would ultimately devolve into a business of enormous proportions. brhen informed t h a t a sum of money would be required for a special laboratory, trained workers, equipment and material, it almost produced apoplexy. He was ready t o benefit but would not pay research expenses, had no idea chemistry involved such work, required such time, etc. Certain conditions exist in the commercial world of industrial chemistry t h a t are inexplainable and almost ludicrous. Why do we import essential oils t o the value of millions each year when we have all conditions, climatic and otherwise, for their domestic production? Why is impure bauxite imported by shiploads when we have aluminous ores, rich in alumina, free from iron and calcium by the millions of tons in our own land? Why do we use the chemical process for producing the enormous quantity of alum consumed, when from the same source pure sulfate alumina can be loaded on cars like sand from a sandbank? No wonder foreigners sal- ~ 7 - are e insensible to and unappreciati\-e of the good things nature has provided. No fault can be found with the American chemist individually, but the system or promoting and developing the chemical industries and applying science t o commercial requirements, needs a severe and an awakening jolt unless !ye v a n t to be brought to our commercial knees. 5927 V,-ALTONAYE. PHILADELPHIA, PA
GENERAL EFFICIENCY I N DYEHOUSES AND BLEACH WORKS’ B y LOUISJOSEPH XATOS
It has well been stated that the enemy of waste is efficiency, tr-hether of labor or machinen. If the kind and character of labor engaged in any work is of the highest order commensurate with the character of output. j u s t so. high \vi11 be its value, and likewise, if the tools and appliances made use of in forwarding the raw material from one process to another are of the highest possible type suited to the purpose, so again will the condition and quality of the output be high in proportion. Perhaps in no industry is the force of the above statements more apparent than in the conversion of raw textiles into finished fabrics, whether they be cotton, wool or silk, and in no subdi\-ision of these industries more so than in the dyehouses and bleaching plants. Other departments of textile mills contribute their share of skill to the value of the ultimate fabric, notably the finishing department, which has more to do in the physical handling of the goods than other departments, and consequently its treatment may be safely omitted a t this time. The dyehouse of a modern textile mill is in reality a huge laboratory where the raw stock, yarn or piece goods of whatever fiber made is colored to meet certain commercial demands. It is in this laboratory t h a t the material to be dyed is generally prepared for the actual dyeing operation by such treatments as will better enable it t o take the mordants or dyes as the case may be. This preparatory treatment consists in the majority of instances in cleaning or scouring the goods free from all extraneous oils, grease, dirt, etc., t h a t become attached to i t unavoidably in 1 Presented a t the Boston meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, June 2 5 - 2 5 . 1913.
AA-D ESGI*YEERI.YG C H E A I I S T R Y
693
its passage through the mill, or which may have been added t o it intentionally, such as oils in the case of wool. Consequently it stands t o reason t h a t if the dyer is expected to turn out good work it means t h a t the goods delivered t o him should be clean; t h a t is, thoroughly scoured out, or boiled out, with either soap or soda according to the stock, and then finally rinsed. Here the lack of efficiency in many woolen mills is painfully apparent; through misdirection or otherwise, scouring in alkaline soap liquors is pushed to the limit under the mistaken idea that hard punishment of the pieces is the best means of removing oils and dirt; this is followed by failure to give the best part of the scouring-the final ample washing in water, so ample as to remove all traces of the emulsified oils and the emulsifying soap liquors. Absolutely false economy is experienced by such treatment of woolen or worsted goods, for the reason t h a t traces of soapy liquors remaining are the unmistakable causes of so-called cloudy or streaky goods; defects t h a t cannot be removed and can only be hidden by over-dyeing with other and heavier shades or by stripping and re-dyeing. Two definite results are then obtained: ( I ) The goods are not of a level shade, and consequently, if otherwise acceptable, must be sold a t a lower price than they would normally command; ( 2 ) If they are stripped and re-dyed, other conditions of feel, handle, texture and shade being equal, the time and the cost in rehandling and re-dyeing are absolutely lost, and cannot be recovered from the buyer. Efficiency in the preparatory treatment of woolen fabrics therefore resolves itself into thorough scouring and perfect rinsing, without which no piece of goods is ready to be dyed. Perfect scouring, again, brings pointedly before us the necessity of having good n-ater to scour with. Some mills are so favorably situated that their water supply is of very low hardness and generally free from suspended matter, but, on the other hand, there are many mills that have only a moderately soft water and some where it is liable to be contaminated with much silt. n’here the water is clear and soft, or moderately so, no bad effects are to be found in the goods due to the \rater, but under the mistaken idea that cheapness is an element of economy. some mills having an unlimited supply of good water use mill soaps of the lowest grade, rosin filled, with the result t h a t the characteristic odor of rosin persistently remains n i t h the goods, whereas if even a fair quantity of tallow soap had been used, the goods would a t least be free from odor if well rinsed. The importance of water softening in connection with dye and bleach works has not reached the position it deserves. but as competition increases among textile mills, and the demands for relatively better fabrics from a constantly discriminating public increase, the mill t h a t aims to meet these particular demands mill be the mill to avail itself of every scientific help. It is a fact t h a t there are to-day otherwise practical mill men who conscientiously believe that the tenaciously adhering lime soaps, the result of hard water, are effectively removed in a competitor’s mill and regard with sincere distrust the statements of chemists t h a t such deposits when formed on wool are irremovable, when such deposits are found on woolen goods in their own mill. Irrespective of the saving in the cost of soap, which could be credited to increased scouring efficiency, the amount so saved would in many mills be the interest on the money invested in an effective water softening plant. Modern ideas in textile machinery have in general kept pace with other improvements, but there are many large mills that. years ago, turned out goods that held a prominent place in the market, but now these do not meet with the same favor as goods from other mills. On examining the cause of this condition, we are confronted with the fact t h a t the machines used are of types long since discredited and abandoned. This applies to scouring as well as t o dyeing. The old type of woolen goods washers, found in many mills, depended upon their harsh and energetic
