THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



lOcTOBKR 1, 1916. 



The Chemical Convention and Exposition. 



THE lilty-third annual meeting of the American Chemical 

 Society was held in New York City the last week of Sep- 

 tember, and in point of attendance and interest far exceed- 

 ed any previous meeting. More than 2.000 members registered at 

 the Chemists' Club during the week. Meetings were held on the 

 tirst five days of the week, some of them being at Columbia 

 University, others at the Chemists' Club, the New York College 

 of Pharmacy, and the Grand Central Palace. At this latter 

 building was held during the week the Second National E.xposi- 

 tion of Chemical Industries, 200 firms and companies making 

 exhibits. 



During the forenoon of Monday, at the Chemists' Club, a com- 

 mittee was bu.sy registering the names of visiting members, a 

 large number of whom were accompanied by their wives. To 

 each was presented a badge which was an open sesame to most 

 of the functions on the program. At this club, rooms were set 

 apart for visiting ladies, a large committee of ladies having 

 charge of this portion of the program. Here also the reception 

 rooms and the large dining room were thrown open to members 

 and visitors, while the chairmen of the various committees were 

 on hand to i'ulfil the duties assigned to them. 



The formal opening of the exposition was held at the Grand 

 Central Palace on Monday afternoon, the opening address being 

 by President Charles H. Herty, and other speeches by Dr. 

 Francis A. J. Fitzgerald and Dr. Arthur B. Daniels. 



On Tuesday, at the general meeting of the society at Horace 

 Mann Auditorium, Columbia University, J. Merritt Mathews, 

 president of the New York section of the American Chemical 

 Society, presided, and addresses of welcome were made by Dr. 

 Haven Emerson, Health Commissioner of the City of New 

 York, and President Butler, of Columbia University. 



In accordance with the general program the various divisions 

 held meetings at which papers were read pertaining to that special 

 portion of the industry to which the division was devoted. 

 Among the papers read in other divisions than the Rubber 

 Section which would be of interest to the readers of this journal, 

 and which, therefore, may be accorded attention in the coming 

 number, are: "Showerprooling," by E. L. Mack; "Vulcanization 

 of Rubber," by D. Spence; "Aniline and Other Coal Tar Prod- 

 ucts," by George P. Adamson, and "Bureau of Mines Studies on 

 Occupational Diseases," by Dr. W. .\. Lynott, Washington, D. C. 

 The evenings were set apart mainly for social functions. On 

 Tuesday a reception was held at the Hotel Astor, where members, 

 guests, and members of the American Electrochemical Society 

 and Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry were 

 present. On Wednesday evening the Electrochemical Society 

 held a smoker, members of the American Chemical Society being 

 their guests. Thursday evening a grand banquet was held at the 

 Waldorf-Astoria. Friday afternoon and evening were devoted 

 to visiting the exposition at the Grand Central Palace. Mean- 

 while a special program was laid out for the visiting ladies, this 

 being in charge of an able and efficient committee. 



Taken altogether, the convention was most assuredly the 

 best in the history of the society. In the completeness of 

 arrangement, great credit is due to the officers and com- 

 mittees having the details in charge, including President 

 Charles H. Herty, Secretary Charles L. Parsons, the chairmen of 

 the various meetings ; Carl L. Alsberg, Edward Bartow, J. E. 

 Breckenridge, C. G. Derick, H. E. Howe, Irving Langmuir, J. H. 

 Long, L. M. Tolman and L. E. Weber, and the fullmving 

 committees : 



Executive. J. M. Matthews, chairman ; Frank Hemingway, 

 treasurer; L. H. Baekeland, H. R. I\Ioody, P. C. Mcllhiney. E. 



(.. Love, T. J. Parker, Alkn Rogers, T. B. Wagner, A. E. Hill, 

 C. M. Joyce, Chas. F. Roth, secretary. 



FiN.ANCE. L. H. Baekeland, chairman; Carleton Ellis, J. B. F". 

 HerreshofF, E. G. Mackenzie, T. B. Wagner. 



Ri:(;iSTK.\Ti()x. H R. Moody, chairman ; Chas. F. Bacon, D. D. 

 ISerolzheimcr. Charles A. Lunn, F. J. Metzger, A. Nagelvoort, 

 .\. C. Neish. 



Rkcei'tio.n-. p. C. Mcllhiney, chairman ; J. .'Alexander, S. R. 

 Church, H. M. Ittner, R. W. Moore, J. C. Olsen, Emil Schill, 

 M. Toch, H. A. Metz, H. Schweitzer, E. G. Nellis, V. G. Bloede, 

 J. G. Bergquist. 



Entert.mnment. E. G. Love, chairman; H. A. Baker, T. W. 

 Pritchard. 



Hotel. T. J. Parker, chairman; T. R. Duggan, J, M. Weiss. 



Press and Publicity. Allen Rogers, chairman ; Ellwood Hen- 

 drick, B. C. Hesse, T. J. Keenan, A. Nagelvoort, E. F. Roeber, 

 Charles F. Roth. 



THE RUBBER SECTION. 



""PHIS was the lirst meeting to be held by the rubber chemists 

 ■*■ for a long while, and the large attendance seemed to prove 

 that this section of the Chemical Society is capable of doing some 

 real constructive and research work in the rubber industry. 



The transactions of this section were held at Rumford Hall 

 at the Chemists' Club. Dr. L. E. Weber, of Boston, Massachu- 

 .'■.ctts, was chairman, and Dr. John B. Tuttle, of Washington, 

 D. C, secretary. The papers included the following : 



".\ Revision of Wesson's Method for the Direct Determination 

 of Rubber," by J. B. Tuttle and L. Yurow. 



"Wet Combustion in the Nitrosite-Combustion Method for the 

 Direct Determination of Rubber," by L. G. Wesson and E. S. 

 Knorr. 



"The Aniline IMethod for the Determination of Fillers in Rub- 

 lier Goods," by Otto H. Klein. 



"Increase of Resins in the Vulcanization," by L. E. Weber. 



"The Second Report of the Joint Rubber Insulation Commit- 

 tee," William E. Del Mar, secretary. 



"The Rubber Chemist and the Rubber Trade," by Henry C. 

 Pearson. Editor of The Ixdi.x Rubber World. 



. CHANGES OF RESINS IN VULCANIZATION. 



Dr. L. v.. Weber's. paper had been announced under the title 

 "Increase of Resins in the Vulcanization," but in his introduc- 

 tory remarks, he pronounced this somewhat of a misnomer, be- 

 cause, under the conditions under which the experiments were 

 carried out, an actual decrease in the resin content resulted in the 

 vulcanization process in the majority of cases. Dr. Weber said: 



It is a generally accepted fact that in the course of vulcaniza- 

 tion the resins show a material increase, the term resins being 

 a convenient abbreviation of what is more accurately referred 

 to as the organic acetone extract. The amount of this increase 

 is said to vary, but is usually in the vicinity of 1 to !■/ per cent. 

 That is to say, the rubber will show an actual resin content ot 

 somewhere between 4 and S per cent, whereas before vulcaniza- 

 tion its resin content was between 3 and S'A per cent. The nature 

 and cause of the increase is not understood, in fact the whole 

 subject has received very little attention. That this is so is 

 rather to be wondered at, especially when one considers the fact 

 that the resin content is our most reliable guide in recognizing 

 the presence of high grade rubbers. 



It has without doubt been observed on numerous occasions 

 that rubber compounds very rich in rubber do not show this in- 

 crease, their resin content being approximately the same before 

 and after vulcanization. It therefore seems reasonable to sup- 

 pose that certain of the mineral ingredients which are present 

 in the more Iiighly compounded stocks are responsible for the 



