322  Manufacture  of  Chloroform.  {Amjui"imarn1, 
assumes  a  different  aspect.  Indeed,  as  was  testified  by  one  of  the 
witnesses  in  the  recent  patent  litigation  on  this  subject  (Michaelis  vs. 
Roessler),  this  process  "is  one  of  great  importance  to  the  manufac- 
turers of  chloroform,  and  of  great  value  to  the  public  for  the  reason 
that  it  enables  the  production  of  chloroform  at  a  price  which  is  nearly 
one-half  its  cost  by  any  other  method  practiced  by  manufacturing 
chemists  or  known  by  me." 
The  writer,  having  had  opportunity  to  thorougly  study  the  new 
process  in  practice,  desires  to  give  an  outline  sketch  of  this  recent  rev- 
olution in  the  manufacture  of  so  important  a  chemical  as  chloroform. 
The  manufacture  of  a  purer  grade  of  acetone  than  that  then  in  use 
for  solvent  purposes  having  been  begun  in  Germany  in  1881  on  the 
part  of  the  "  Verein  f  iir  Chemische  Industrie,"  Liebig's  old  suggestion 
for  the  manufacture  of  chloroform  from  acetone  was  taken  up  by  the 
"  Verein  Chemischer  Fabriken,"  Mannheim,  Germany,  in  the  beginning 
of  1882  and  a  year  later  by  the  first  mentioned  company  which  made 
the  acetone  for  both.  In  June,  1884,  Mr.  F.  Roessler  of  the  present 
Roessler  &  Hasslacher  Chemical  Company,  of  New  York,  visited 
Germany  and  studied  the  process,  which  his  company  are  now  carry- 
ing out  under  the  the  patents  of  Gustav  Rumpf  to  be  described  later. 
In  the  meantime  Prof.  G.  Michaelis  of  Albany  obtained  in  July,  1885, 
(application  filed  Nov.  18,  1884)  a  patent  for  distilling  crude  acetate 
of  lime  (preferably,  as  the  patent  says,  crude  "  brown  acetate  of  lime") 
and  using  the  liquid  products  of  their  distillation  in  connection  with 
a  hypochlorite  for  the  manufacture  of  chloroform.  Under  this  patent 
suit  was  brought  against  Roessler  &  Hasslacher  for  infringement. 
After  protracted  litigation,  Judge  Butler  of  the  U.  S.  Circuit  Court 
has  just  decided  that  in  using  pure  acetone  alone  the  defendants  were 
using  an  old  and  well-known  process  and  were  not  guilty  of  infringe- 
ment. As  both  the  production  of  pure  acetone  and  the  method  of  man- 
ufacture of  chloroform  are  covered  by  patents  issued  in  this  country, 
the  processes  can  be  given  in  outline  as  there  published. 
The  raw  material  with  which  the  beginning  is  made  is  the  "  gray 
acetate  of  lime."  While  this  is  distinctly  purer  than  "  brown  acetate"  it 
still  contains  both  moisture  and  tarry  matter.  To  free  it  from  these  and 
to  raise  the  percentage  of  actual  acetate  of  lime,  it  is  carefully  roasted 
before  being  submitted  to  dry  distillation.  This  roasting  forms  the  sub- 
ject of  patent  No.  393,079,  issued  to  Gustav  Rumpf,  of  Frankfort, 
Germany,  and  assigned  to  Roessler  and  Hasslacher,  of  New  York  As 
