The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1920-06-16
New Chief Of the Bureau II
Mines Has Notable
Record.
GAVE WORLD SECRET FREE
invented understanding Dsvies
That Saved Many Valuable BY
Observation-Disclosures lnstl.
tuition Gets the Profits.

' X ]NAAS A1Ao USA44Sl44u DIOS
duced and continued toifwork for the
small stipend Of a federal employee,
has been appointed the chief OF one OF
the. governments greatest scientific
agencies-the bureau Of mines.
In the group OF scientists which re-
volyes4 around the, Cosmos club, In
Washington, there is much satisfac-a
ton over this appointment. Too often
the man at the head Of q government
scientific bureau Is more Of a politician
than q scientist. But this cannot be
said Of Doctor Cottrell.
He has many claims to the appreci-
alton Of his fellows. He is a man who
does things, and says little, He is that
rare thing, an American: who cares lit
tie for either money or publicity.
The clearest proof OF the. possession
Of the qualities Of the true scientist
that this man has ever given, a demon
stration deemed a model to be follow
ed BY. those Of his kind, came a decade
ago, when he made a discovery Of such
practical value. that it was obviously
capable Of being made to yield all the
riches any man might desire. After
having demonstrated its possibilities
Doctor C0ttrell gave it away. He
gave 1t to the cause Of science. He
gave it as an endowment to be used
to aid other scientific research. Doc
tor Cottrell's invention is q device.
which may be put into a smokestack
OF a factory, or a smelter, or even the
chimney Of your own house, and which
precipitates the particles that make up
smoke, thus p%reventing~ them from
emerging to sn9rch the country, and
also obtaining valuable by-products.
He Made Good Decade, Ago.
The first demonstration Of Doctor
Cottrell's invention came more than
a decade ago when he was q young
professor at the University Of Cali
fOrnia. There was a smelter near by
and the fumes from this smelter were
a nuisance to the community, making
it unpleasant for the residents and
blighting. the, vegetation. Doctor Cot
trell worked in his laboratory and de-
veloped his plan for preventing this
,pffense on the part Of the smelter.
The device which he invented was cleo
trical. AS the fumes passed up be-
tween electrodes the result was that
all suspended particles in them were
deposited upon these plates.
Doctor Cottrell won local fame. BY
this invention. At Riverdale, a town
not far away, there was a huge cement
factory, which had likewise become q
nuisance in the community because the
dust from 1t found its way into the
blossoms of orange groves near by and
interfered with the development Of
the fruit. The orange growers brought
suit against the cement factory and
the litigation which ensued is said to
have cos a million dollars. Eventual
ly the cement people heard Of the local
renown of the scientist at the Univer-
sity Of California and of his ability to
precipitate the materials in smoke
stacks. Doctor Cottrell went to River
dale and Installed his apparatus. The
result was that the nuisance was
abated and it was necessary that the
community sacrifice neither itsscement
plant nor its oranges.
SMOKE Contained Potash.
The electrodessin the smokestacks Of
this company yielded9every day a hum
dred tons Of the minute particles,
which would otherwise have been.
spread out on the community. AT tile.
suggestion 6f Doctor Cottrell this com-
pany examined into the quality Of the
material thus precipitated. They found
that. it contained large quantities Of
potash, and potash is the basis Of one
of the##most valuable fertilizers in
the world,
This accomplishment was back Of
him when the young scientist gave up
his work is a teacher and came to
Washington to enter the government
service. ssThe idea OF IA application
Of his findings slunbered for. years,
but today this device has been Install
ed II scores Of great plants through
out the United States.
Doctor Cottrell gave his patents on
this process to science. He turned
them over to the Smithsonian fRstitu-
.ton to demonstrate. A research cor
poraton was afterward formed and
this corporation ii marketing the pat
ents and realizing royalties from them.
The war materially interferedsWith the
installation sof these devices. hut as far
back as 1915 the net profits, were nm
sri,nGo SO ~ 49, n