August 1, 1914.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



597 



The Production of Sulphur. 



ASIDE from rul)bcr itself the most important constituent 

 of rubber goods is sulphur, and were it not for the 

 plentifulness of the substance and the ease with which 

 it can be obtained in a state of purity much more attention 

 would have been paid by rubber manufacturers to its pro- 

 duction and manufacture. 



Sulphur is found native in many parts of the world and 

 was known and used from earliest times, and its compounds 

 are among the most widely distributed, as it is found com-; 

 bincd in many classes of minerals. In fact so abundant is 

 sulphur that nearly as much expense is involved in prevent- 

 ing it from becoming a nuisance as in the small proportion 

 utilized; for it is safe to say that ten times as much sulphur 

 is burned up and wasted or lost every day as is used. This 

 is on account of the location of the sulphur bearing minerals, 

 which are usually found in sparsely settled parts of the west, 

 while the demand is in the east. Of late years, however, a 

 large amount of sulphuric acid has been produced from sul- 

 phur found in zinc and copper ores and is a by-product of the 

 manufacture of these metals. Still a large amount of sulphur 

 ores in the form of pyrites or iron sulphide is imported from 

 Spain for use in making acid in the east. Notwithstanding 

 the abundance of ores consisting of sulphides or sulphur-con- 

 taining ores, practically all the sulphur used in the world is 

 found in the native state and is purilied and brought into 

 market with little expense except for freight. 



Up to recent years the largest production of sulphur was 

 in Italy, and particularly in Sicily, where for ages it has been 

 mined and retincd in a crude and primitive way. The indus- 

 try was controlled and carefully watched over by the Italian 

 Government and prices were kept up, as the world was de- 

 pendent on this source. ."Vs illustrating the conditions in 1896 

 we may mention that an Anglo-Sicilian sulphur trust was 

 reported on in September of that year iri the United States 

 Consular reports stating that an export tax of 11 lire per ton 

 •was then in force. The United States then consumed about 

 one-third of the Sicilian product, or, say, 110,000 tons annu- 

 ally. Commenting on the situation at that time a mining 

 journal stated that the increase in price of sulphur owing 

 to the workings of the Sicilian combination had stimulated 

 the development of American supplies and that more devel- 

 opments might follow. It referred to a report of the opening 

 up of Texas deposits and expressed the hope that this work 

 might progress to such an extent that it would have some in- 

 fluence on the ttiarket. 



The above shows our dependence at that time on Sicily for 

 our sulphur and that we were at the mercy of a trust and a 

 government which was disposed to tax exports "all the traffic 

 will bear." 



The Sicilian method of extraction consisted merely in min- 

 ing the limestone with which the sulphur was mixed, piling 

 it in large stone kilns and setting it afire. .-Xbout one-third of 

 the sulphur was burned up in heating the rock, while the 

 remainder melted and ran out at the bottom. 



This method would never have succeeded in the United 

 States, where it has been found that many industrial methods 

 have had to be adapted to our peculiarities before we can 

 make the products made in the old world. Our method of 

 extraction is a striking illustration of the above, and we have 

 arrived at a point now where we have entirely revolutionized 

 the methods of producing sulphur and have not only become 

 able to supply our entire demand for this article, but we could, 

 if we wished, supply the entire world, the Sicilian industry 

 surviving only on our sufferance. 



riiis revolution in the sulijluir business has been brought 

 about practically by the efforts of one man — almost unknown 

 to the rubber trade — whose recent death makes appropriate 

 something of the story of his life and accomplishments. 



Herman Frasch came to this country as a boy of 16 in 1868, 

 getting a position with a pharmacist. In 1874 he established a 

 laboratory of his own and in 1876 invented a process of refin- 

 ing paraftine wax which was adopted by the Standard Oil Co., 

 with which he was afterwards employed. 



It was after he had left that company and had formed the 



Well Disch.\rgixg Molten Sulphur. 



Empire Oil Co. of Canada, and had built a factory there, that 

 his first epoch-making invention was completed, which, while 

 it related to sulphur, was for eliminating this element from 

 oils. It had been easy to refine Pennsylvania oil, as it con- 

 tained no sulphur, but when the Ohio and Indiana oils and 

 the Canadian oils were thus simply treated they were found 

 to be useless on account of the sulphur which they contained 

 and which clung to them. 



They sometimes contained as much as one per cent, of sul- 

 phur. Mr. Frasch studied out a method of purifying these oils 

 by using oxide of copper, which united with the sulphur and 

 held it back in the still while a sweet refined oil distilled over, 

 thus making the Ohio and Canadian oils as valuable as the 

 Pennsylvania oils had been. 



In 1888 he had a large plant established for %vorking this 

 process, which the Standard Oil Co. bought, with the patents, 



