The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-09-13
New York SUM-

might have been rich but for the rap
acity of others is all too common; but
the tale of an inventive genius who
willingly subscribes the fruits of his
cunning in order that others might
be the sole beneficiaries is, indeed, a
decided rarity. And yet such, in brief
is the true account of the generosity
Of Frederick G. Cottrell. In Its an
nual report for 1912 the Smithsonian
institution at Washington contains the
following paragraph:
'Dr. Frederick G. Cottrell of the
United States bureau Of mines, having
generously offered 10 present to the
Smithsonian institution a valuable set
of patents relating to the electrical
precipitation of dust, smoke and chem
zeal fumes, it seemed to the regents
advisable, for various reasons incident
to the business management Of the
patents, that there be organized a
stock corporation which could take
title to the patents and in which the
institution should be indirectly repre-
sented by the secretary as an individ-
ual and not in his capacity as secre-
tary The recommendation of the re-
gents being acceptable to DR.. Cottrell
the Research corporation of New
York was accordingly organized and
incorporated by certificate executed
February 16, 1872"
The purpose of this munificence on
DR.. Cottrells part was that any profits
resulting from the practical application
of his patents should go to the up
building of fund to aid In the ad
vancement of scientific research. In
short, to help genius and to develop
inventions where the needful financial
aid might otherwise be lacking The
donor believed that by thus dedcating
his patents 1t would be possible to
make sure Of an adequate business ad-
ministration. What has followed since
then is another example of the unex-
pected, for in some directions the util-
ization of this electrical curb upon
dust and smoke-the abatement of b
nuisance-now bids fair to be the pri-
mary reason for the running of GER
tain of our industries.
More than thirty years ago Sir Oil
yer Lodge read a paper before the
Royal institution dealing with the sci
entific aspect of the electrical precipi
tation of suspended particles. That
essay became a classic in the art, and
was familiar to most students or
physics. Beyond that, however, 1t
achieved little in the way OF inspir-
ing the practical application OF the
physical principles involved. So much
for the decades gone. In 1905 DIR.
Cottrell was one of the staff of the
University of California, and to his de-
partment of chemistry was referred the
problem OF helping smelter at VAL
lejo Junction, on San Francisco bay,
Cal. There the waste gases and vapors
from the sulphuric acid parting process
engaged in treating gold and silver
bullion were declared a nuisance by
neighboring farmers and were in fair
way to provoke costly litigation and
possibly lead to a shutdown of the
plants
Discharged Acid in Air.
The gases discharged into the air
amounted to substantially 5000 cubic
feet per minute and held in suspension
an important proportion Of sulphuric
acid in the form Of fine mist. The
corrosive action of the sulphuric acid
was shown throughout the entire zone
swept broadcast by the shifting winds,
and both the agriculturists and the
people generally had ample reason for
complaint. The smelter was pro-
fitable one and the management was
anxious to find some way to abate
nuisance that was both a menace to
health and hurtful to vegetation. In
deed, in order to continue in business
at that point it was necessary to dis
pose Of the sulphuric acid mist be-
fore it could pass into the air.
1t was only natural that DR.. Cot
trell should recall Lodges earlier work
and as first step repeat that physi-
cst's pioneer experiments. But the
experiments at the University of Cali
fornia brought to Cottrell certain un-
suspected revelations and pointed out
to him broadly how modern engineer
ing practice and equipment might turn
the work of the laboratory into COM
mercial realities. Such were the fruits
Of the march of technical progress,
and DR.. Cottrell achieved results from
the start that would probably have
been quite out of the question when
Lodge made his original attempts.
The preliminary work at the Uni
versity of California brought out some
puzzling situations. UP to a certain
stage matters went we'll enough on the
fairly miniature scale Of the investi-
gational tests, but beyond this was the
question Of meeting the practical sit
uation presented by large CONNER
cial smelter A big part Of DR.. Cot
.trell's achievement lay in spanning the
gap between the laboratory and the
industrial plant and IN finding ways
to control the enormous current
mounting up to 100000 volts. Again
the inventor tells us how he blazec