Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-05-14
The Model Scientist
BY Frederic j. Haskin.

gwen aWaE the wealth oil ms Drhil, ilhS
produced knd continued TO worls. Tor the
modest stib pend Of Federal efnploye, has
been appointed the chief Of one OF the
government greatest scientific agencies
the Bureau OF Mines.
In that group Of scientists which re-
wolves around the Cosmos Club In Wash
| ington, there a much satisfaction over this
| appointment. Too often the man al the
| head Of government scientific bureau ~
| more Of n politician than a scientist. But
! this cannot be said OF DR. Cottrell
| lie haa many claims to the appreciation
/ of his fellows He is a man who does things
and says little lie is that rare thing, an
| American who cares little for either money
/ or publicity.
The clearest proof Of the possession of
| the qualities Of the true scientist 1nt his
/ man has ever given, q demonstration
| deemed n model to be followed by those oi
| his kind. came decade ago when he
made discovery of such practical value
| that il was obviously capable Of heing
/ made 10 weld ali the riches any man might
] desire After having demonstrated ITS
| possibilities DR.. Cottrel gave u away lie
| nave IL to the cause of science. He gave Il
/ ma an endowment TO bc used Ia ad other
! scientific research. lie gave away these
| millions despite the fact that he had never
| known more prosperity than that which
comes IN n modest college professor or
government scientist He continued ms
work for the government
| DR.. Guttrells invention If device
which may be put INTO a smokeefack of
/ factory, or n srnelteT, or even the chimney
| az vo,ir own house and which preeipitates
the PARTICLES that make up smoke, thus
ntevcntihe them from emerging 10 smlrch
/ The country, and also obtaining valuable
/ by-produeta
uE MADE coon.
| The first demonstration Of Dr Cottrell's
/ invention came more than "a decade ago
/ when he was Young professor ~ the
/ University Of California There was =
smelfer nearby, and the fumes from thus
stneltcr were a nuisance 10 the community,
making il unpleasant for tho residents and
/ bhghting the vegetation I1r. 1oitreil
| worked in his laboratory and developed
bia nlan for preventing tins ohense on the
nort az the smelter The device which ho
nventrd wns electrical and consisted oi j
metal plate. and near II and parallel 70 II,
metal wires These were charged with
electricity. one Icing positive. and me
other negative A. the fumes passed ~ bo-
tween these electrodes the result was that
All suspended PARTICLES m them were de-
posted upon these plates
DIR Cotfrel won local fame nv tins
invention. At Rlverdale, town not far
away. there was q huge cement factory
,vhieh had likewise become a nuisance IN
the community because tho dust from II
fonnd It's way into tho blossoms oi orange
groves nearby and interfered with the
development Of the fruit The orange
growers brought suit against the cement
factory and the litigation whlch ensued Il
said 10 have cost million dollars. Even
tlally the cement people heard OF the local
ror,,,,r of the scientist at the | niversity 1T
California and of his ability to precipltate
the materials in snokestacks. pr C0ttreli
went 10 Riverdalc and installed his APP
paratus. The result was that the nuisance
was ahated and il was necessary that the
community sacrifice neither its cement
plant nor It's oranges.
, SMOKE TRAP.
The electrodes il the smokestaeks of
this company Welded every day hundred
toms of the minute particles which would
atberW.Ise have been spread out on the
community. At the suggestion 81 l)r.
Cottrel tins company examined INTO the
; quality Of he material thus precipitated.
they found that IL contained large guam
titles Of potash, and potash i the basis q
ore of tic most valuable fertilizers III tnc
!, world Il il for potash that America mas
naid tribute To Germany for many de-
rades - valuable became the potash
produced bv this cement company that d
one time during the war II considered
itsen IN reality D potash factory and &C.
tneuf is bv-product The value ot If
nataSh amounts 10 millions oi collars 9
TbiS ACCOMPLISHMENT was back 81 him
hen The Young scientist gave up hi,
I work as 4 teacher and came 70 Washing
. ton IL enter the government service
The idea Of an application OF his tindlng
slnmbered for wears, but today thus dc
,.ice has been installed in scores OF grea
nIents throughout the lnited States
MANY of them are smelters, but oil com
nanles. zlnc companies, steel companies
copper works and other factories hav'
found II to their advantage 10 equip them
selves with this trap for the material
that would otherwise 60 up their chHm
neys.
rr GAVE AWAY MILLIONS.
DR.. Cottren gave his patents on thi
nraeess to science He turned them oye
to thc Smithsonian Institution to demon
strate. 4 research corporation was after
ward formed and this corporation Is mar
ketine the patents and realizing royaltle
from them The war materially interfere,
with the installation OF these devices bU
as far back as 1915 the net profits weu
running up to Sl00, 600 year. Now tha
the war is over, it Is thought that the de
vice will be generally applied throughoo
industry and there would be no surprise o.
the part of the research corporation # /
should. in a wear or two be yielding
million dollars year in clear profits.
The scientist like the artist. is prover
biaIIv poor. and those ideas IN which he
most interested usually lalfpui~h for lac
Of funds with which - develop them. In
purpose Of the corporation which Dl
Cottren has endowed Is 10 furnish fund
for research work and research scholar
ships The vision OF the future Is a
Z abundance OF money for these purpose
! because OF the action OF one man OF sclenc
I and his refusal TO accept personal prom
/ This precipitation Of particles IN chm
I ney and smokestacks Is not the sole clam
I of DR.. Cottreli to fame. During the +
I cent war there was no discovery whic
/ stood out more boldly than did that Of th
I possibility of using the gas, hehum, K
1 the imitation Of balloons. For this purpos
I hydrogen had always heen used Hclnm
/ aboutsas light as hydrogen and therefor
! an efficient competitor with II as Utter
! weights Hydrogen i highly intlammah
I aud therefore IN warfare vulnerable
7 attarl. and liable to he ipnltpi bN clCl