The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-17
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFO r M ALTON
Blu RE AU
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. Director,
Washington. D. C
PRODUCING OUR OWN POTASH.

Washington, D. c., Oct. 13.-That
potash in unlimited quantities can be
produced here in the United States is
Il amazing fact recently brought to
light almost by accident At the be-
ginning of the war, practically our en-
tire supply of potash came from Ger
many. Since then, while we have
managed to struggle along with the
help of our brine lakes, it has been
understood that one of the blessings
of peace would be a large cargo of
potash from Potsdam. Now, quite I'M
expectedly. it has been demonstrated
that we Will never again be dependent
upon Germany for this substance.
When Germany refused to send this
country any more potash in 1914 on
+ the grounds that it was being used in
the manufacture of munitions, the
government Immediately started a
potash investigation. We consumed
over q quarter of million tons of pot
ASH annually in the form of fertilizer
and matches, and we could not get
along without it. The United States
bureau of mines, the department of
agriculture and the geological survey
were all called into consultation and
offered the privilege OF solving the
problem.
These bureaus put their experts in
the field. and it was not long before
potash was being produced from the
brine lakes of California and Ne
braska; from the large brown seaweed
of the Pacific coast, and from other
sources The scarcity of potash sent
the price up, and a new potash indus
try came into being. But from all
these sources not nearly enough pot
ash could be produced to supply the
demand. 1t is expected that $4,000
tons will be produced this year. but this
is only % per cent of our pre-war con-
sumption. Our brine lakes and sea-
y
German potash monopoly But there
is now another source of supply, and
this is the story of how it was dis
covered.
Several years ago. there was a pro-
lessor in a California university named
DR.. Frederick Cottrell His speciality
was metallurgy. but his hobby was
the abatement of the smoke nuisance
When he ceased teaching the youth of
California about the metals, the pro-
fessor hurried home and worked on a
smoke eliminating device. the princi-
pie of which had come to him as
sudden inspiration. For years he
worked on this device, constantly i'm
proving and perfecting it. Then Doc
tor Manning of the bureau of mines
who had occasion to know something
Of the professors ability, appointed
him. chief metallurgist of the bureau
Doctor Cottrell came to Washington
with very little personal property 9TH
er than his invention. He had hoped
to put it on the market in various
American cities conspicuously in need
OF some such device, but he found
that few manufacturers were interest
ed in installing an apparatus which
was largely for the benefit of other
people. The smoke didn't worry
them! Finally, the professor turned
his patents over to the Smithsonian
ha nd ryt1
that if the device were ever marketed,
the money should be used to aid other
inventors who were struggling as he
had struggled.
For a long time it looked as if the
device would never appear as any
thing but a specimen of the ingenuity
OF man, and that American inventors
WoH'h continue to struggle unaided.
che1., about year ago, a large cement
plant. situated in the vicinity of the
orange fields of California, began to
develop a smoke problem. The huge
clouds of alkaii dust issuing from this
plant were creating a tremendous
mortality in oranges. and the Califor-
mia farmers showed their resentment
by lodging a protest in court. Before
the litigation was finally settled, the
cement plant decided that a means
must be found of dispensing with its
smoke A representative was sent
east to investigate the question, and
when he returned to California he
carried Doctor Cottrells smoke-elimi-
mating device with him.
The device was Installed; it carried
orr the smoke, and when an analysis
OF the smoke was made It was discov-
cred that it contained potash. With
potash selling at price 500 per cent
OF its pre-war value, the cement plant
soon found that it could make enough
money out of this by-product not only
hn Ira
warrant the, elimination of the cement
end of the business. 1t has now stop
ped making cement until after the
war. and is combining itself to the
production of potash.
The news of this discovery Travelled
about the cement industry, and a few
months later a small plant in Mary
land wrote to the Smithsonian institu-
ton asking for particulars. 1t was not
interested in eliminating its smoke,
but 1t was interested in obtaining pot
ash out of it. Accordingly. the device
was installed, and this year this plant
has made 100000 profit out of the
potash it has put on the market 1t
is now estimated by government auth
critics that the cement mills of the
country alone can produce 100000
tons of potash annually as a by-pro-
duct.
When the Cottrell device proved
successful in the cement plants, the
steel industry became interested, be-
lieying that it could be used to carry
off the smoke of the blast furnaces
An experimental plant was established
in connection with the Bethlehem
steel works. and, again, altho the ma
terial used was iron instead of rock
potash appeared in the analysis of the
smoke A commercial plant for pro-
ducing potash is a by-product of steel
is going to be built by the Bethlehem
works as soon as the war is over.
Further investigation developed the
fact that the iron ores used in this
experimental plant were from certain
deposits in the state of Alabama,
known to contain a large percentage
of potash. The bureau of mines esti-
mated that if all the blast furnaces in
the United States could use these ores
which, of course, they can't-they
could produce over a million tons of
Lotash a year. The bureau also be-
v