Industrial Research 



29 



chemists in concentrating, roasting, smelting, and re- 

 fining copper appreciated." Since tlioii their research 

 and their improvements in analytical methods have 

 made it possible greatly to improve the purity of the 

 metal so vital to the electrical industry .''' 



A slowly increasing number of chemists found a 

 demand for their services in such mdustries as pulp and 

 paper, glass, chemicals, corn products, soap, photo- 

 graphic supplies, fertilizer. Some of the more venture- 

 some individuals established commercial laboratories to 

 which industrialists could bring their chemical problems. 

 Most of these early laboratories have disappeared ; but 

 a few have survived, and many more have been 

 founded.'" 



Although it must again be said that today much of 

 the work done by these chemists would not be called 

 industrial research, their efforts, nevertheless, resulted 

 in better products at lower prices, new products from 

 former waste materials, and other accompUshments 

 which impressed the more foresighted industrial leaders 

 with the importance of the new knowledge that was 

 available to them, or could be made available if the 

 chemist were given time and opportunity to become 

 familiar with the requirements of industry. 



The Creation of New Industries 

 by Independent Investigators 



The results achieved by many independent investi- 

 gators, whose searches frequently gave rise to new 

 industries, also attracted the attention of industrialists 

 to the value of research. When John Wmthrop, Jr., set 

 up in Boston his curious chemical plant — "part drug- 

 gist's shop, metallurgist's workroom, chemist's labora- 

 tory, and alchemist's den" — and made experimental 

 batches of alum and saltpeter in an effort to provide the 

 colonists with chemicals, medicines, and gunpowder, 

 and to exploit the mineral resources of New England, he 

 was but the forerunner of thousands of individuals in 

 this country who have sought to apply then- knowledge 

 and skill in new ways. The records of the Patent 

 Office bear witness to the uselessness, inipracticality, 

 and absurdity of manj- such efforts, but they also bear 

 witness to accomplishments which have completely 

 altered the way in which human bemgs live and the 

 problems which they face. The names of Eli A^^litney, 

 OHver Evans, Robert Fulton, Elias Howe, Samuel F. B. 

 Morse, Obed Hussey and Cyrus McCormick, William 

 Kclley, Alexander Graham Bell, and Charles Goodyear, 

 immediately come to mind. For many years such 

 individuals as these were pointing out the ways of 

 technical progress. Most of them, although without 



" Herreshoa. J. B. F. Contributions of the chemist to the copper Industry. 

 Induxlual and Engineering Chemistry, 7, 274 (.\pril 1915). 

 " Contributions cf the chemist to the copper industry, p. 275. See footnote 44. 

 " This volume, pp. 72-75. 



the formal training that we now consider indispensable 

 for the scientist and the engineer, were, nevertheless, 

 possessed of "an mtuitive uisight which was unique, and 

 an insatiable curiosity and a dogged determination to 

 overcome all obstacles." Athough scores of men made 

 important contributions to our technical and industrial 

 development, the work of only a few of those whose 

 accomplishments hastened the transition from isolated, 

 unorganized research to cooperative, organized research 

 in industrial laboratories can be mentioned here in any 

 detail. 



Hyatt and Celluloid 



John Wesley Hyatt, a journeyman printer, working 

 in Albany, one day read of an offer of $10,000, made 

 by Phelan & Collander of New York, for a substance 

 that could be used as a substitute for ivory in billiard 

 balls. Undaunted by his scant knowledge of chemistry, 

 he began to experiment nights and Sundays in the hope 

 of gaining the reward. His efforts produced a number 

 of useful plastic compositions, but none of them was 

 suitable for billiard balls. One day his eye fell upon a 

 bit of dried collodion about the size and thickness of 

 his thumbnail, and as a result he began experimenting 

 with nitrocellulose. Eventually, by making a solid core 

 of another plastic material and covering it with nitro- 

 cellulose dissolved in ether and alcohol, he made a 

 billiard ball. Many difficulties, however, stood in the 

 way of a perfect product. A lighted cigar applied to 

 the ball at once resulted in a serious flame and occa- 

 sionally "the violent contact of the balls would produce 

 a mild explosion like a percussion guncap," a feature 

 that led one bUliard saloon proprietor in Colorado, 

 writing to Hyatt about his billiard balls, to say that he 

 did not mind very much personally but that it was a 

 bit dangerous, for every man in his saloon immediately 

 pulled a gun.^' 



Hyatt's experiments with nitrocellulose continued, 

 and he also designed special machinery for its manu- 

 facture and manipulation. In the winter of 1872-73 

 the Celluloid Manufacturing Company, in Newark, 

 N. J., began to manufacture the first of the modern 

 plastics. After 3 years Hyatt's financial backers 

 finally allowed him to hire Frank Vanderpoel, a trained 

 chemist, to sj'stematize the process and perfect a quick 

 and accurate method of determining the spent acids.'** 



Edison and the Electric Light 



From a baggage-car laboratory fitted up with retorts 

 and bottles discarded from railroad shops, Thomas A. 

 Edison's curiosity, persistence, and skill were to carry 



*' Hyatt, John W. .\ddress of acceptance. 

 iitry, 6, 159 (February 1914). 

 " .address of acceptance. Sec footnote 47 



Indmlrial and Engineering (Them- 



