TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



4^5 



amount of moncj at its commaiiri, 

 through its employment of expert 

 chemists and through its extensive or- 

 ganization, has had a big advantage 

 over the independents in the production 

 of gasoline, this company having a 

 patented process that obtains for it as 

 much as three times the amount of 

 gasoline from a given quantity of pe- 

 troleum as the independents now ob- 

 tain. There are two or three other 

 large corporations that have an etifi- 

 cient process for the manufacture of 

 gasoline, but the independents, as a 

 whole, have never been able even to ap- 

 proach the results obtained by the 

 Standard Oil Company. Now the fed- 

 eral government, through the efforts of 

 Dr. Rittman, proposes to make free for 

 the use of all of the people of this 

 country who wish it, a process that is 

 confidently expected to increase their 

 yields of gasoline from crude petroleum 

 fully 200 per cent, and perhaps more, 

 such results having repeatedly been ob- 

 tained in the laboratory. It is claimed 

 by Dr. Rittman that his process is 

 safer, simpler and is more economical 

 in time than processes now in use and 

 these are economic factors of great 

 importance. With a steadily increas- 

 ing demand for gasoline for automo- 

 biles, motor boats and engines, this for- 

 tunate discovery comes at the proper 

 time. It is but two years ago that the 

 automobile industry, fearful that the 

 supply of gasoline might not be ade- 

 quate for its rapidly expanding busi- 

 ness, offered through the International 

 Association of Recognized Automobile 

 Clubs, a prize of $100,000 for a substi- 

 tute for gasoline that would cost less 

 than gasoline. Happily the urgency of 

 this situation has passed and at the 

 present time there is a plentiful sup- 

 ply of motor fuel to meet immediate 

 demand. This new process adds to the 

 hope, that in spite of the wonderful 

 growth in the use of gasoline, there 

 may not be any shortage in the future. 

 It indicates an increased production of 

 gasoline from the present production of 

 petroleum — an output of 50,000,000 

 barrels instead of 2.5,000,000, as under 

 the present methods. It will render 

 free for use to all, the results of that 

 efficient and intelligent research which 

 has heretofore been only at the com- 

 mand of the wealthy. I am led to be- 

 lieve that it will not only be of in- 

 estimable value to the refiners com- 

 manding but limited capital as well as 

 those of wealth, but also to the hun- 

 dreds of thousands of users of gasoline. 

 When it is realized that the gasoline 

 industry each year in this country 



vields products amounting in value to 

 between $100,000,000 and $150,000,000, 

 the importance of this discovery is 

 seen. 



The second process discovered by Dr. 

 Rittman may prove of much more value 

 to the country than the first, in that it 

 suggests the establishment of an in- 

 dustry in which Germany has heretofore 

 been preeminent — the dye industry, 

 and also promises indirectly a measure 

 of national safety of incalculable im- 

 port. Among necessary ingredients of 

 high explosives used in modern war- 

 fare toluol and benzol are in the first 

 rank. Heretofore these products have 

 mainly been obtained in Germany and 

 England from coal tar, and the ex- 

 plosives manufacturers have had to de- 

 pend largely on the supply from these 

 sources in the making of explosives. I 

 understand that some toluol and benzol 

 have been obtained from American coal 

 and water-gas tars, but this supply does 

 not begin to satisfy the present de- 

 mands. The federal government now 

 proposes to obtain the toluol and ben- 

 zol from crude petroleum also. I am 

 further informed that these produces 

 can be produced from practically any 

 American petroleum and that the sup- 

 ply can be made sufficient not only for 

 the entire American trade but also for 

 other purposes. This process has gone 

 far enough to indicate that the two 

 products can be produced at a reason- 

 able cost. The real comforting thing, 

 however, is that we have the knowledge 

 that this new source of supply is at 

 the command of our people, and that in 

 time of great national stress, if the na- 

 tion is ever called upon to defend itself, 

 we shall be able to manufacture the most 

 efficient and most powerful explosives 

 known in warfare. Were it not for this 

 discovery, it is possible that in such an 

 emergency, we might be compelled to 

 rely largely on the greatly inferior ex- 

 plosives that were used in the time of 

 our civil war, and this would spell na- 

 tional disaster. 



Dr. Rittman concludes from his ex- 

 periments that this process may become 

 more economical than the German 

 method of obtaining these products 

 from coal tar, as this process not only 

 makes toluol and benzol, but also gaso- 

 line in considerable quantities. He in- 

 timated to me the possibility of the 

 value of the gasoline being an impor- 

 tant factor in paying the costs of the 

 process. If this should prove to be 

 true, it may result in eventually giving 

 the United States a supremacy in the 

 dye-stuffs industry that has for some 

 time belonged to Germany, since toluol 



