Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-09-28

SIS a ton. In that year a company for
State, a tariff of IS a ton having been
imposed. The price soon fell to S2s a
ton, thus saving to the country three
millions of dollars
Well, what of all this? Does Mr.. Stew
art wish to say that the price of soda
ash fell $40 becau e of the duty imposed
of So? Or what is the point of this in
lection of soda ash into his speech? We
would have been much obliged to Mr..
Stewart if he had told us further the his-'
like to know why it went down $40 a tom
between 1884 and 1888. The first part of
Mr.. Stewards statement-that prior It'd
1SS4it was not made in this country-is al
mistake, as will be seen directly.
Mr.. II. B. Cornwall, professor of chem1
istry at Princeton college, who is now
stopping at Bread Loaf Inn, has kindly
furnished us the following information
concerning soda ash:
before accepting the statement that
any present reduction of the price of SOD
da ash is due solely or In part to the dut1
on that article, we would have to invesl
tigate the effect of several causes, all Of
them likely to have a great influence cd
the cost of soda ash.
SIN the first place, the old Leblanc
process of making soda ash from comb
mon salt through the action of sulphurid
acid has of late years met with a formidI
able rival in the ammonia or Solvay prol
cess, which has made great progress o1
the continent.
"Secondly: In order to meet this ri|
val the English manufacturers needed 4
cheaper supply of sulphuric acid, which
they found in the enormous supplies oi
low-grade sulphuret of copper ores oI
Spain.
"Thirdly: The decrease in the pric@
of salt of late years has necessarily en|
tailed a lessening in the cost of making
soda ash.
%"Fourthly: The great natural deposI
its of sulphate of soda and other sodd
salts in the West are rapidly being open|
ed up by increased facilities of transport
tation and even now these deposits arr
replacing the soda ash in some of thu
glass factories of the far West"
To further questions regarding thi|
matter Mr.. Cornwall writes:
'PRINCETON, n. j., Sept. II, 1888.
/ JOSEPH BATTELL, ESQ,
Dear SRI have been too busy witt
the opening work of college to answe
your letter of the Sth inst. sooner but
. now take much pleasure in furnishing
l the following statements:
SIN 1864 |, with the rest of the senio
! %conpanied Prof. JOY Oh IL visit to tn
! chemical works of Martin kalbleisch
Sons. and there saw soda ash made as
{ regular part of their business. l do no
know how much they made, nor how
long they continued to make it, but sine
they manufactured constantly larg
quantities of muriatic acid, which is
l necessary product in the manufacture o
&. ONth ASH ny VI LClDldDC llClilOu MulCl
= they employed, | have no doubt the!
. were regularly producing soda ash TO
many years.
! soda ash was formerly made by tn
action of sulphuric acid on common salt
This yielded sulphate of soda and muriat
! ic acid. The sulphate of soda was mex
, fused with carbonate of lime and fin
. coal, yielding black ash The SOLUBLE
I. salts from this were washed out with wa
l ter and the soda ash obtained from thi
by evaporation. After being properl1
.. refined it was sold. The process is know
l as the Leblanc process and is still use(
: largely in Great Britain; but it has found
a very formidable rival in the ammonia
!. soda process, commonly known as thu
! Solvay process. In this process commoI
salt is ~decomposed by the action of b1
carbonate of ammonia various modifica
l tions EXIST, yielding %bicarbonate of soda
This is changed to ordinary carbonate o.
soda by heating, and the ammonium
+, chloride which is also formed is used ID
! obtain a fresh supply of bicarbonate o.
ammonia. The process yields a yer!
: pure article, replacing the old soda asl
> very readily. For instance, in Grea
Britain in 1880 there were produced 266,
> 093 tons of Leblanc soda ash and 1850
of the ammonia soda, but in 1856 the fig
i. ures were l65, 1872 tons of the former anC
, $1,000 tons of the latter. Moreover. tn
: Solvay process has been introduced very
widely on the continent, cutting out thu
British article. Thus, in 1850 German,
imported 20,512 tons of foreign soda
while in 1886 she exported 10,204 tons.
1.-The price of 9s per cent calcined sod
in Germany is now only 40 per cent of it
: price in 1873.
1.-THE Solyay process has been intro
duced on a large scale at Syracuse, n. Y.
where the abundant supply of salt is yer,