lam ι NEWS Baekeland Award

HORACE K. R I L E Y , Chairman of t he Nor th Jersey Section, AMERICAN C H E M I C A L

SOCIETY, announced September 13 tha t the Leo Hendrik Baekeland Award has been established by the North Jersey Sec­tion of the SOCIETY TO encourage the creative talents of the younger American

chemists. The announcement was m a d e at the subscription dinner of t h e lO8th meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL S O ­CIETY a t the Waldorf-Astoria. T h e first presentation of the award, which was in­stituted with the cooperation of Bakéli te Corp., New York, Ν . Υ., will b e made during M a y 1945.

The Baekeland Award will consist of $1,000 and a gold medal suitably inscribed, and m a y be presented biennially to an American chemist who has not y e t reached his fortieth year, in recognition of accom­plishments in pure or industrial chemistry.

The recipient of the award will be se­lected b y vote of a jury of a t least five members. T h e Award Commit tee will be composed of the Chairman of t h e Nor th Jersey Section, who will be chairman of the committee, the three immediately pre­ceding eligible past chairmen of the sec­tion, and the immediately preceding past President of the A.C.S.

Nominations for the award will be re­ceived by the Chairman of the section no sooner than October of the calendar year preceding the award and not la te r than t he following December 1st. T h e member­ship of the Award Committee will be an­nounced at the regular November meet­ing of the section.

The name of the first recipient of t h e award, and of each recipient thereafter, will be announced a t the regular February meeting of t he section.

By means of the Baekeland Medal ,

the sponsor and the North Jersey Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY seek to encourage emulation of the inspiring career of Leo H. Baekeland.

Dr . Baekeland, who died on February 23, 1944 a t the age of SO, was one of the foremost research chemists of our t ime. He is best known for the invention of the first commercial synthetic resin, to which he applied the trade-mark "Bakél i te" . T h a t invention and the subsequent de­velopments of synthetic resins, com­monly known as plastics, have had far-reaching effects on civilization. Plastics are now used in every field of industry.

Dr . Baekeland was born in 1863 in the old Flemish city of Ghent , in modern Belgium. H e passed through the local elementary schools, the Atheneum, a government high school, and the Ghent Municipal Technical School. He entered the University of Ghent a t 17. At 21, t he youngest graduate, he received his de­gree of doctor of science, magna cum laude. By the time he was 26, he was associate professor of chemistry a t his alma mater, and one year later was extended the chair of chemistry and physics a t the Govern­ment Normal School in Bruges. I t was during this period t ha t he won his first recognition. A gold medal and a traveling scholarship came to him as an award for his many accomplishments in the field of pure chemistry. This award was a great st imulant to his further activities.

Shortly afterwards, he came to the United States, where, he said, "confronted with the big responsibilities of practical life, my real education began". Almost immediately he began to tackle the then troublesome problem of photographic papers. By 1899, he had perfected a photographic paper to which he gave the name "Velox" because of the speed with which the prints could be made inde­pendently of weather conditions. In tha t year, he sold the rights to tha t paper to a large photographic supply company for a liberal sum. At the age of 36 he was financially independent for life. He was now free, as Professor Chandler pu t it, " t o live the life he had always ardently desired; in which he would be able to de­vote his time and energy to s tudy and re­search, free from school, university, and business cares" .

H e turned next t o the s tudy of elec­trolytic processes, and after a year of preparatory work a t the electrochemical

laboratory of t h e Technological Institute a t Charlottenburg near Berlin, he began original research in his own laboratory in Yonkers, Ν . Υ. The work finally resulted in the erection at Niagara Falls of o n e of the largest a n d best equipped electro­chemical plants in t h e world. I n connec­tion with this work he w a s granted his first two patents : "Appara tus for Re­generating Electrolytes" a n d "An Electro­lytic Diaphragm and Method of Making Same". Later , t he number of patents granted him numbered in t h e hundreds.

Baekeland's crowning work was the invention of Bakéli te phenol-formaldehyde resins between 1905 and 1909. Before the end of 1907, h e had begun to m a n u ­facture the p roduc t commercially. In 1910, he founded Bakél i te Corp., now a Uni t of Union Carbide a n d Carbon Corp .

D r . Baekeland maintained a life-long and active interest in American chemis­t ry and a t the time of his death had been a member of t h e AMERICAN- CHEMICAL S O ­

CIETY for 52 years . He w a s Chairman of the New York Section in 1908 and Presi­dent of t h e SOCIETY in 1924.

Some of t h e distinct i ons accorded to Dr. Baekeland for his achievements in chemistry are: president^ Chemists Club (1904); vice president, Soc ie ty Chemical Indust ry , England (1905); president, Inventors ' Guild (1914); official U. S. delegate to In ternat ional Congress of Chemistry, L o n d o n (1909); president, American Ins t i tu te of Chemical Engineers (1912) ; member, Naval Consulting Board of United States (1919); Nichols M e d a l (1909); John Scot t Medal (1910); Wil lard Gibbs Medal (1913); Chandler Meda l (1914) ; Perkin Medal (1916); trustee of the Inst i tute of In ternat ional Education (since 1919) ; Pioneer T r o p h y , Chemical Foundation (1936) ; Scroll of Honor, Na­tional Ins t i tu te of Immigrant Welfare (1937); Messel Medal (1938) ; Franklin Medal (1940); president, Section of Plastics, International Congress of Chem­istry, New York (1912).

Dr . Baekeland held t h e following de ­grees and academic t i t les: B.S., D . S c , Ghent (1884); Ch .D. (honorary), Pi t ts­burgh (1916) ; Sc.D. (honorary),Columbia (1929); D.A.Sc. (honorary), Brussels (1934); LL .D . (honorary), Edinburgh (1937) ; assistant professor of chemistry, Ghent (1882-88); associate professor, Ghent (1888-89); professor of chemistry and physics, Higher Normal School, Bruges (1885-87); honorary professor, of chemical engineering, Columbia (1917); Chandler Lecturer , Columbia (1914).

1538 C H E M I C A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G N E W S

American Chemical Society

Fig. 2453—Large size Stainless Steel Gate Valve for 125 pounds W. P. Has flanged ends, outside screw rising stem threaded through bronze bushing in upper yoke arms, bolted flanged bonnet

a n d t a p e r wedge solid disc. Sizes, 2V2" to 30", inclusive.

For every CORROSION problem in flow control, there'll always be a POWELL Valve to lick i t !

Powell Corrosion-Resistant Valves have not just been "born"— they're a product of evolution—the result of nearly a century of patient study, research and experimentation.by Powell's staff of Engineers and Metallurgists. Therefore you can be sure TODAY that TOMORROW you'll always be able to control efficiently the flow of any and all corrosive media. For Powell has evolved a completetline of valves of every type—Globes, Gates, Checks, Ys, etc.—in a wide variety of corrosion-resistant materials.· These include such pure metals and special alloys as Aluminum, Alumi­num Bronze, Everdur, Hard Lead, Herculoy, Inconel, Monel Metal, Nickel Pure , Nickel Iron, Ni-resist, Silver Pure · , Hastelloy Alloys "A", " B " , " C " and " D " , Durimet " T " and "20", Ilium, Misco " C " , stainless Iron Alloys and many more. Others will be added as new requirements arise.

The Wm. Powell Company Dependable Valves Since 1846

Cincinnati 22, Ohio ^ , ^ — ^ - ^ -

Write Dept. B, The Wm. Powell Co., for our new booklet— "Powell Valves for Cor­r o s i o n R e s i s t a n c e . "

Fig. 2309— Stainless Steel Flush Bottom

Tank Valve. For draining metal tanks and auto­claves. In this type, the disc rises into the tank when the valve is open. Sizes, M" to 8", inclusive.

Fig. 2559—Large size Stain­less Steel Swing Check Valve for 150 pounds W. P . Has flanged ends and bolted flang­ed cap. Disc is hung on a 5 degree angle and has suffi­cient lift to provide full straightway, unobstructed flow area through valve body. Sizes, 2" to 12", inclusive.

Fig. 1979—Stainless Steel Globe Valve for 150 lbs. W. P . Has flanged ends, outside screw rising stem threaded through bronze yoke bushing, bolted flanged bonnet and. plug type disc. Sizes, 1/4" to 3", inclusive-

V O L U M E 2, N O . 18 » S E P T E M B E R 2 5 , 1 9 4 4 1539

Powells Past . . . you assurance of

Future Performance

POWELL VALVES

k /Am z

w^tmr

Off the ground 160 feet sooner with the help of

CATALYSTS TYPICAL· CATALYSTS

Anhydrous Hvdrofluoric Acid · Aluminum Chloride Boron Trifluoride · Anhydrous Hydrochloric Acid

Activated Alumina Chrome Alumina

Chrome Cobalt Jron Magnesia Molybdenum

Molybdenum Alumina Tungsten Alumina

Nickel Phosphates Thorium Titanium Tungsten

• High octane gasoline gets planes off the ground in a shorter distance. Its many contributions to the war effort are inesti­mable. · The story of high octane refining records the amazing performance of catalysts. New catalysts and new catalytic processes, are uncovered overnight. More uses are certain to be discovered. · Harshaw is now supplying catalysts for alkyla-tion . . . isomerization . . . dehydrogenartion . . , hydroforming . . . hydrogénation . . . polymerization and dehydration.

Samples of catalysts are available to you for testing. We have a large capacity for pelleting.

HARSHAW CHEMICAL co. 1945 East 97th Street, Cleveland 6, Ohio ^ BRANCHES IN PRI NCIPAL CITIES

1540 C H E M I C A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G N E W S

prevents slime deposits...

In many of the war 's largest in­

dustrial developments, including

virtually all of the Butadiene, Sty­

rène, and Copolymer Plants of

the synthetic rubber program and

most of the high octane plants,

chlorination has been recognized

as the most efficient and eco­

nomical method of preventing

heat exchanger fouling by mi­

crobiological accumulations.

These modern plants, which have every facility for determin­ing the best methods to employ, have chosen the W a l l a c e & Tier-nan Desliming Process.

At lowest cost, minimum of total solid addit ion, and without interference with existing corro­sion control treatments, chlori­nation is equally effective in fresh as in salt water; in surface as in well water; in cooling towers as in once-through systems.

The W a l l a c e & Tiernan De­sliming Process can be used to equal advantage in your plant, whatever the nature of your slime control problem.

Wa l l ace & Tiernan's thirty years of experience are avai l ­able to you. cD-o

Manufacturers of Chlorine and Ammonia Control Apparatus

Bel lev i l le 9, N e w Jersey · Represen ted in Pr inc ipa l Cit ies

Advertisement.

Condenser Efficiency is Markedly Increased by

Chlorination of Water At the new refineries, at synthetic

ruhber plants, wherever men who know heat transfer technology best are on the job, microbiological control of cooling water serves to keep tubes and surfaces free from slime. Modern methods of CHLORINATION, pioneered and per­fected by Wallace & Tiernan, have been chosen for this task at virtually all the war's outstanding oil-industry projects.

Qualities of Chlorine Chlorine has long been recognized as

the most efficient germicide and bac­tericide- To those interested in prevent­ing bacteriological accumulation on heat exchanger surfaces it offers out­standing advantages.

1. Chlorine is one of the most active of all known substances, thereby permitting considerably lower dos­age rates than any other chemical.

2. Chlorine is molecularly active and no inert molecules are added. There are no added problems of scaling and deposition, or of sec­ondary growth stimulus. In cooling waters high in total solids this assumes added importance.

3. Chlorine is the least expensive avail­able treating chemical, whether compared on a pound for pound basis or on a basis of cost per mil­lion gallons of water circulated.

4. Chlorine does not interfere with any standard treatment for corro­sion control or for the prevention of scale deposition.

Importance of Proper Application

But to take advantage of these out­standing properties of chlorine, the chemical must be added in carefully controlled and proportioned amounts, must be formed into proper solutions and must be accurately diffused at the proper point in the cooling water system.

Technical Information Technical information on the various

phases of the control of microbiological growths in industrial water can be ob­tained, without obligation, by writing to Wallace & Tiernan Products. Inc, Belleville 9, New Jersey.

V O L U M E 2 2 , N O . 1 8 - S E P T E M B E R 2 5 , 1 9 4 4 1541

MODERN INDUSTRY

WALLACE & TIERNAN P R O D U C T S . INC.