598 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August 1, 1914. 



after he had proved by actual competition with them that by 

 this means only could they get a salable product from the oils 

 of Ohio and Canada. It would probably have been less ex- 

 pensive for the Standard managers if they had recognized 

 his abilities and paid liim a salary that would induce him to 

 stay -with them rather than go out and become a competitor, 

 but it is often necessary to sell brains with a club. He was 

 paid in stock worth then 168, half of which he sold after his 

 process was applied for at 820 a share, as this was the market 

 price which had been created by the profits of his process. 



It was in 1890 that Herman Frasch applied for his patent on 

 the production of sulphur which has made this country the 



Bi.NS FOR Collecting and Cooling Sulphur. 



greatest sulphur producer in the world and promises to make 

 it the sole producer when in the future it decides to go after 

 the trade of the world. 



It had long been known that there was a large deposit of 

 sulphur in Calcasieu parish in Louisiana at a depth of about 

 a thousand feet, but as this deposit was covered with quicksand 

 for nearly the entire depth no one had yet succeeded in mining 

 it on a commercial scale though there had been many efforts, 

 especially during the war, when it was needed desperately by the 

 south for use in making powder. 



Mr. Frasch evolved the idea of melting the sulphur in place 

 by means of superheated water forced down a bore hole from 

 a large battery of steam boilers and forcing the melted sul- 

 phur uptwith the water through an inner tube. He had had 

 mucli c.^erience in drilling oil wells and had also been inter- 

 ested in the production of salt whera a well is driven and 

 water is forced down the hole to the salt, which it dissolves, 

 the resulting brine then being pumped to the surface. But 

 nobody had ever before run a large set of boilers where the 

 feed water was pumped in through the steam pipe and the 

 water continually drawn off through the blow off. This re- 

 versal of procedure is what makes it revolutionary in its con- 

 ception. 



Of course, a method of proceeding so radically different 

 from the orthodox was sure to bring out criticism and proph- 

 ecies of failure, and Mr. Frasch himself told a story to illus- 

 trate the sentiment in the neighborhood. He described how 

 the hot water was first turned into the wells and how they 

 feared that it would cool down and let the sulphur freeze in 

 the pipes before it got to the top of the ground, but after 

 forcing in the hot water for twenty-four hours they decided 

 to begin pumping and soon there came a stream of sulphur 

 from the pressure vessels into which the water and sulphur 

 were pumped. It filled 40 barrels in 15 minutes and having no 

 more barrels they threw -up embankments to hold it;- ^nd since 



that time no barrels or movable vessels have been used to hold 

 the melted sulphur. 



When everybody had gone home Mr. Frasch mounted the 

 pile of solidified sulphur and listened to the noises produced 

 by contraction of the cooling sulphur, which he regarded as a 

 greeting from below — proof that his object had been accom- 

 plished. 



To show the success of this method of pumping sulphur it 

 is only necessary to quote the figures of imports and exports 

 of sulphur from the United States. 



In 1903 the United State imported 188,000 tons of sulphur 

 and exported none. In 1907 we imported 20,399 tons and ex- 

 ported 35,000, showing that we then produced a little more 

 than we consumed. At present this country is supplied with 

 sulphur from these Louisiana deposits, using the Frasch 

 process, and it might supply large quantities to Europe were 

 it not that the broad-minded and large-hearted men in control 

 could licit be induced to bring starvation and ruin on tlie 

 two hundred and fifty thousand miners in Sicily. To illus- 

 trate the difference in labor it may be mentioned that now 

 700 laborers produce 250.000 tons of sulphur per year in 

 Louisiana. 



To give some conception of the magnitude of this industry 

 and to illustrate the methods of work — as well as can be 

 shown in above ground views — three photographs are here- 

 with reproduced, the first showing a well discharging 500 

 tons of molten sulphur per day with its derrick prominent 

 in the foreground, and in the rear a boiler house for supply- 

 ing the hot water. The row of smokestacks gives an idea of 

 the magnitude of the boiler installations. The sulphur de- 

 posit seems to be circular and about one-half mile in diam- 

 eter, and the sulphur beds extend to a depth of about 1,100 

 feet and consist of approximately 70 per cent, sulphur and 30 

 per cent, limestone. 



The installation comprises 25,000 H.P. of boilers, making 

 it cue cif the largest in the world, but as oil only is used, it re- 

 ([uires but three men on each shift to attend them. They 

 consume a million barrels of oil per year and use 7,000,000 

 galliiiis of water per day. wliich is pumped seven miles. Tlie 



Blasting tiik Sii.rHUR To Load Onto Flat C.\rs. 



wells are sunk in groups and will run for several months, 

 producing sometimes 500 tons per day, but after a time they 

 fill up, when others take their place. 



It was early discovered that while it was easy to force the 

 hot water from the boilers down the outside pipe and that it 

 would melt the sulphur in llie ground, yet to pump up this 

 water and melted sulphur was difficult, as nearly every metal 

 was soon eaten out. The method of pumping with an air 



