The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-17
The Chemical Engineer

| Only IN recent years mas cnemlcal
engineering been a familiar term.
! Military engineering is an old pro-
fession, and from it naturally devel-
oped the civil engineer of modern
times. 1t was not until near the mid
| die of the last century that the
mechanical engineer was added to the
i chronological professions. Since then
engineering has been specialized in
many directions, and the electrical
engineer and the chemical engineer
are today among the most important
factors in industrial and commercial
progress. To few scientific or tech
nically educated men is civilization SO
much indebted as to the chemist. He
has been the mainstay in nearly every
| branch of industrial development, and
now the chemical engineer has come
to be as indispensable in large indus
trial operations as the mechanical
engineer or the electrical engineer.
In the current number of the Balti-
more Manufacturers Record r. How
ard Eisenbrey, chemical engineer of
Philadelphia, contributes an article of
great interest on the influence of his
profession in southern development.
1t is free from technicalities, and is
written in most pleasant style. AS
it is not long article, it should have
wide and general reading. Mr.. Eisen-
brey in his Introductory paragraphs
gives this brief account of engineering
expansion:
The workings of the law of supply and
demand make themselves felt far outside
of the lines of the mercantile industries.
Twenty years ago the term chemical engi-
neer was practically unknown. Only one
of the technical schools of this country
gave a course in this subject, and it's
graduates were not numerous. The few
men following this profession were those
who, having an education in chemistry,
engineering applications, or mechanical
engineers who had later acquired special
knowledge of chemical industries.
The rapid development of more scien-
tific methods of manufacture. metallurgy
and agriculture with the consequent
spread of knowledge of the facts that so
many of the materials of daily use are
bought, made and sold upon a basis of
their chemical constituents, brought about
demand for men who had qualifications
not possessed by the chemist or the engi-
neer alone. The manufacturer found that
the chemist could analyze his raw mate
rials or his product. but could not per-
feet his machinery in a practical way, and
the engineer proved similarly hampered
by lack of definite knowledge of ingredi-
ents, reactions and processes. The mining
or metallurgical industries met with the
same troubles, and scientific agriculture
required not only a knowledge of fertilizer
and soil ingredients, but the development
of improved machinery for their produc-
ton and use
Mr.. Eisenbrey points out the fact
that nowhere is there a greater op-
portunity or greater need for the
chemical engineer than in the south.
containing a wealth of raw ma
terials, the SOUTH" he says, ''is in the
midst of period of progress which
is resulting in establishing within her
borders the manufacturing plants for
producing, processing and combining
these raw materials into the finished
products"
Speaking of agriculture, the phos-
phate rocks and mari and chemical
wastes are being worked up into fer
tilizer, says Mr.. Eisenbrey, and there
is ground for belief that chemical en-
gineers will soon make possible the
manufacture of a fertilizer contain
ing American potash from an Ameri-
can feldspar instead of imported
potash from Germany. Cotton seed
oil, turpentine, alcohol and similar
industries are touched upon in the
call for the construction and operation