Tombstone epitaph., 1915-05-02
G0y Holf1svooo H
 Hr1ESkt100 -

neering work, both in chemical and mechanical lines.
 In the fall of 1912 he came to co lumbia university to do the worH which got for him, in June. lsi4' tne degree of doctor of philosophy. The research work for this degree was car ried out in the industrial laboratories of Havemeyer hall, Columbia, unoes the direction of Prof. NJ. c. Whitaker. The results of these investigations were published in the May and June' 1914. numbers of the Journal ot lnous- trial and Engineering Chemistry, anu were upon the subject ''ThermoReac- lions in Carbureting Water Gas" In this research work was laid the fouh- dation for the work which led to his discoveries. This piece of researcn was so much praised that he was asked to take position with the Unit' ed States bureau of mines at Pitts burgh as chemical engineer. Alter accepting this position he continued to study the problem of obtaining larger yields of gasoline in the distil' iation of crude oil.
 He found that at the laboratories in Pittsburgh there was not the kind of apparatus that was required for the work which he had in mind. The work which he had done in studying the thermal reactions in the carburet- ing of water gas required special piece of apparatus. and this had been designed and built in the laboratories in Havemeyer hall, so that it was de- sirable that in the continuance of his researches he be able to use this ap- paratus. Through the courtesy of the university authorities he was able to take up his investigation for the bu- reau of mines in one of the private laboratories of the department of chemistry, where he could make use of the apparatus which he had for merly used as a graduate student.
 While his experimental distillation apparatus is not large enough to be called factory size, it is much larger than the ordinary laboratory size, and he was enabled to get results which gave indications that the process was feasible on a commercial scale.
 Doctor Rittman is modest in his claims and desires to have time to perfect his processes in larger size units before making any statements as to the cost of the production.
 The apparatus which has been used in all of the experimental work is prac- tically the same as that used in the research which won for him his Ph. D. from Columbia university last June. The oil, which may be a crude oil, and which by the ordinary process of dis tillation might yield no gasoline at all. is introduced into the apparatus by a feeding device which controls the rate at which it is led into the furnace. Besides crude oil it is possible to use residues which remain from former Installations by the old process, and even the oils from the California oil fields. which yield practically no gaso- line. As the oil enters the top of the furnace it comes in contact with mass of hot steel balls which vapor- izes the oil. The furnace itself, into which the oil vapor next passes, Is simply . piece of iron pipe heated by an electric current which passes through a coil of resistance wire sur rounding the pipe but separated from it by asbesto<.
 What actually takes place in the distillation prc<ess is no doubt breaking down of the larger and more complex molecules of the oil used, into the gasoline molecule or the benzol moIecule as the case may be. This process is technically known as crack. ing" the oil.
 The foreign patents which Doctor Rittman is taking out will. of course, be his own personal property. The entire rights of the American patents vii be vested in the public, however. and he will receive no compensation except his salary.