The Alum War and World War I

The alum baking powder companies turned on each other over Calumet’s deceptive water glass test, in which egg albumen foamed up and looked more powerful than other baking powders. President Theodore Roosevelt ignored the Poison Squad experiments by USDA chief chemist Harvey Washington Wiley, and appointed famous scientists to the Remsen Board to investigate the effects that new chemicals in food, such as saccharin and baking powder, had on humans. Wiley continued his crusade at Good Housekeeping, where he withheld the famous “Seal of Approval” from alum baking powders. During WWI, doughboys developed a new appreciation for doughnuts, while Americans used baking powder to leaven rationed gluten-free flours, and baking powder use expanded in the Jewish community.

People Make the Difference

The Las Vegas meeting of the Rubber Division, ACS, provided attendees the opportunity to hear the interview of Mr. Arnold H. Smith, by Mr. Herbert A. Endres, recorded April 7, 1966. Mr. Smith, as Secretary-Treasurer of the Division from 1919 to 1928, and as Chairman in 1929, was the person most responsible for laying the foundation which supported the growth of the Division to its present status. The India Rubber Section was sanctioned by the American Chemical Society on December 30, 1909. The 28 chemists from the rubber industry who were the organizing members, had the objective of meeting together to solve mutual problems. The major problem for everyone in 1909 was the variable quality of the 36 varieties of wild rubber from the jungles of Central and South America and Africa. Para rubber from the Hevea Brasiliensis tree was considered to be the best type available, but there were at least 13 variations, identified by source of the Para rubber. Charles C. Goodrich, as first chairman of the India Rubber Section, moved immediately to resolve the problem and appointed a committee, chaired by Dr. Charles Knight of Buchtel College, to develop standard methods of testing and evaluation. The committee diligently addressed the subject and reported to the Section at each meeting for 10 years, but progress was slow. Members attending had been instructed by their superiors, “Listen—but don't talk!” Not a very satisfactory format for conducting a meeting. Several key individuals helping to organize the India Rubber Section were W. C. Geer, Chief Chemist at the B. F. Goodrich Co. and George Oenslager, of the Diamond Rubber Co. Geer invented the air oven used to accelerate heat aging of rubber samples, and Oenslager is famous for discovering the effect on vulcanization of organic accelerators in 1906 and for the use of carbon blacks in treads in 1911. Although the sharing of technical information was tantalizing slow during the early years, the American Chemical Society, at their meeting in Buffalo, April 7, 1919, approved the formation of the Division of Rubber Chemistry. John B. Tuttle, first chairman of the Division in 1919, with Arnold H. Smith as secretary-treasurer, determined to bring to the members technical information less restricted in content, and from their neutral position of employment at the National Bureau of Standards, thought results could be obtained.

Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, 1897-1967

Cyril Norman Hinshelwood was born in London on 19 June 1897, the only child of Norman Macmillan Hinshelwood, a chartered accountant, and Ethel née Smith. His father was of Scottish origin, and once he remarked jokingly that some of his ancestors must have been well enough known because a street in Glasgow is named after them. His mother came from the west country. Several members of his family had artistic leanings but none appears to have had associations with science. As a small child he was taken by his parents to Canada, his father having some business there, and for a short time he was at a Montreal kindergarten, and later at a national school in Toronto for a few months. His health was not good, however, and at his father’s wish, his mother brought him back to England. His father died soon afterwards in 1904. Many years later, sailing back from Montreal down the St Lawrence River past Rimouski, he recalled with obvious emotion his childhood memory of how the pilot had been put off there. He went to Westminster City School, where there were two good science masters, H. F. Brand and E. B. Fisher, with whom he remained life-long friends. The Headmaster, too, E. H. Stevens, was scientist with wide interests who helped him a great deal. Here he won a Brackenbury Scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, but was unable to take it up immediately because of the war. From 1916-18 he worked at the Department of Explosives, Queensferry Royal Ordinance Factory, where his remarkable ability was quickly noticed. Before leaving, at a very early age, he became deputy chief chemist of the main laboratory. His work there on the slow decomposition of solid explosives by measuring the gas evolved stimulated his interest in the mechanism of chemical change, which was to be the main theme of nearly all his subsequent scientific research.

Lithium Polymerization Catalysts. Charles Goodyear Medal Address—1972

The growth of the Lithium Polymerization Catalysts system has been an interesting and intriguing study. Abraham Lincoln, in one of his addresses, indicated that no one would long remember what was said or done there on that occasion. Thus unwittingly, he may have forecast the insignificance of this paper in its effect on the scientific world. It is presumed that none of you here, unless he may have been a Charles Goodyear medalist, can recall many of the important statements or thoughts expressed on this occasion by prior Charles Goodyear Medalists. Therefore, you need not recall anything that is said here today. When one starts a research project, the first thing that is done is to review the literature to find out what has already been done in that field. Thus, we find that in 1826, Faraday published his first analysis of rubber latex. He found that it contained water, rubber, vegetable matter rich in nitrogen and extractable material. He also established that rubber contained the elements of Carbon and Hydrogen. His was the first significant publication about rubber since that of de la Condamine in 1751 to the Academie of Science in Paris. There were several other publications prior to the end of that century, but they did not seem too significant from a scientific standpoint. A German scientist, Frederich Karl Himly, had been studying in Göttingen for a year and a half, about rubber and its destructive distillation products, and he discussed his findings in his Doctors dissertation in 1835. Himly's thesis was published in a small paper back booklet but it did not get wide distribution, possibly due to the fact that it was written in Latin, as was often the case in those days. A copy of this publication was found in the Research Library of The Firestone Tire & Eubber Company about 1922. Imprinted on the cover was the name of M. J. Sehleiden and written on the outside, the name of M. Prinzhom. Also there was the name of C. C. Goodrich, and H. W. Kugler, who later became the Chief Chemist of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company.

Thomas Percy Hilditch, 1886-1965

Thomas Percy Hilditch was born at Tollington Park, North Islington, London, on 22 April 1886. His father, Thom as Hilditch and his m other ( née Priscilla Hall) came from near Newcastle-under-Lyme, N orth Staffordshire. His paternal grandfather, Jo h n Hilditch, was a shopkeeper and tradesm an in boots and shoes at Audley and his m aternal grandfather, Frederick Hall, was cashier and office m anager at Apedale Colliery, Chesterton, until 1883 when he moved to London to become the London agent of Edwards and Company, Tile M anufacturers, of R uabon in N orth Wales. Hilditch described Frederick H all as successful in his business and a m an of culture and wide reading who before moving to London had organized and conducted am ateur brass and string orchestras in N orth Staffordshire. He played the ’cello and, in his early days, other instruments. Hilditch was always conscious how much he owed to Frederick H all’s example and encouragement. His m other was also musical and played the pianoforte competently. H ilditch’s secondary education began in 1900 at Owen’s School, N orth Islington, an establishment supported by The Worshipful Company of Brewers as Governors. His interest in science was first aroused in his prim ary school by F. R. Guglielmo, an enthusiastic young teacher, but his great debt was to A. E. D unstan who joined the Staff of Owen’s School in January 1901 soon after graduating from the Royal College of Science. D r Dunstan later became Chief Chemist to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Ltd. At Owen’s School Dunstan took a great interest in those boys who showed an interest in science and a particular aptitude for chemistry. He piloted them skilfully towards the type of university education which seemed best suited to their individual needs. Hilditch records that he, and some of his contemporaries, kept in touch with Dunstan long after they had left school.