Democratic messenger., 1904-01-09
.NEERS.
Jon THAT HAS
20 EXISTENCE.
physicist, Part Chemist and
eehanicai Engineer-Ae Must
&c the Countless Problems Which
Arise in the Great Industrial Plants.

a new profession has come into exist
ence-chemical engineering. for which
the Massachusetts Institute OF Tech
nclogy in Boston has apparently been
the first technical school. either in this
country or abroad. TO make adequate
provision.
The chemical engineer is part me-
chanical engineer. part physicist. part
chemist. In this combined capacity
he is responsible for about all our mod
ern advance in industrial processes
from the making &C rubber boots to
the production of crystaliZed sugar.
from oil refining TO the manufacture
o. armor plate. Wherever you see a
great plant for the manufacture of any
important chemical compound or the
utilization of any important chemical
process you may be sure that a
chemical engineer laid down the plans
problems necessary TO meet on a large
scale the demands of successful COM
mercial operation.
The necessity of this combination of
chemist and mechanical engineer for
the development of any large industri-
al enterprise that depends for results
upon the action Of chemicals becomes
evident when one realizes that pow
erful chemical agent acts upon other
materials with which il comes in con-
tact as well as upon the particular
substances with which il originally en-
ters into combination. The mechani-
cal engineer knows nothing of chem
ical reactions While he can tell to a
nicely the amount of wear and tear
to which an ordinary boiler or pipe
will be subjected when used to boil
water or conduct water. he faces an al
together different problem if his boil
er is to be filled with n corrosive acid.
Here the chemical knowledge of the
chemical engineer comes into play.
He is able net only TO fortell the ac-
ton of that acid on the material of
that boiler. but to choose material up
on which the acid will have the least
hurtful effect. and thus save time and
money as well as increase efficiency.
Moreover. his knowledge Of physics
solves countless problems in which
the physical properties of his chemi-
Gals play an important part in pro-
ducing the manufactured product.
The modern development of sugar
refining is good concrete illustra-
ton of the use of chemical engineering
in long line of industries. Not so
long ago the processes of sugar refin-
ing were carried on by hand. although
the chemical reactions on which they
depended were practically identical
with those now utilized. In the mod
ern refinery the crude sugar is un-
loaded direct from the vessel into the
lower story of the tall building which
the chemical engineer has designed
to receive It: here it is mixed with
water 10 be pumped TO an upper sto-
ry. where it begins mechanically and
on a large scale the same series of
changes which it formerly underwent
by hand and on a small scale. In the
top story it is first boiled and
skinned. skinned and boiled. with
certain chemicals added to coagulate
the impurities, until the whole is re-
duced TO a thick syrup. This syrup
flows downward into series of strain
ers that still further purify ii. Leav-
ing these strainers. it works itself
slowly through a purifying machine
some 30 feet high. From this machine
the sugar. onw transparent mass.
drops into the vacuum pans" where
more boiling reduces it to a mush of
crystals and molasses. Then the floor
opens beneath it and it falls of its
own weight to the mixer" where con-
tinuous stirring. once dcne with SHOW
els in the hands of negro laborers. re-
duces the crystals to more perfect con-
dition.
The vacuum pan in which the sugar
first crystallizes is one of the earliest
tr;umphs of chemical engineering as
applied to this special industry. The
vacuum under which the operation
gees forward lessons the time neces-
sary for evaporation. and SC lessons
the coal bill that runs the fires under
the boiler, and begins the process of
diminishing the cost Of the product
when it comes to the market. With
air, one pound of coal will usually
evaporate eight pounds of water; with
tie improved evaporator of big re-
fnery this same pound of coal will
eyaporate some 80 pounds of water.
The apparatus. invented by the me-
chanical engineer who has also a
working knowledge OF chemistry. has
economical the necessary heat by
nearly so percent. and has at the same
time saved the sugar itself from a
considerable amount of deterioration.
And in a smaller way the dropping of
the crystals into the mixer is another
triumph. Formerly this would have
been done by shovels. while the
whole mass would have had to be
turned over many times more during
the succeeding steps of the operation.
But in the refinery the sugar drops
from floor TO floor. each devoted to a
single process. until. by a final drop.
il falls into the barrels in which it
goes out to the market.
Tho chemical engineer. however,
does not stop with the construction.
maintenance. and operation CT his
plant Here ''tryerout" of inventions,
the man who decides whether a sug-
gestion looking toward the improve
ment of n product or the cheapening
OF the cost of manufacture is worth