feasible, easily understood, location independent and even though it would
demand the development of a whole new technology, to Bosch it seemed the
‘best show in town’. He had lost the race to discover the technology, but the
opportunity to develop it commercially was there. With great courage, Carl
Bosch faced Brunck and replied without hesitation, ‘I think it can work.
I know exactly what the steel industry can do. I think we should risk it’,
38 but
this would have been simply ‘posturing’ if Bosch had not proceeded to take on
the problem personally, which of course he subsequently did.
The matter was settled and according to Robert,
10
‘ … from that day on,
the directors looked at the experiments with more goodwill, but still sceptical
interest.’ Brunck boosted the BASF’s support for Haber, but only conditionally. No-one from the BASF had yet seen this miracle machine in action,
and even if it proved promising it would not only have to work in Karlsruhe
but in Ludwigshafen’s workshops as well. There could be no crooked
chemistry at Karlsruhe. Osmium too was a stumbling block. BASF realised
that even if all the osmium in the world were captured, there simply wasn’t
enough to form the basis of a viable industrial process. And so all those
present at Karlsruhe on 26 March 1909 agreed that if progress was to be made
there had to be a successful demonstration of the apparatus and a credible
movement towards a more sustainable catalyst. But just to be on the safe side,
BASF’s patent people re-appeared to protect this latest development and
Haber’s second patent—the ‘osmium catalyst’ patent—was filed on 31 March
1909. By 13 August, the ‘circulation’ and ‘osmium’ patents had been submitted in the United States
39 as well—naming Haber and Le Rossignol as
Assignors to the BASF.
8.5 The Final Push
Over the next few months there was a spring in everyone’s step and work
progressed rapidly; to perfect the amendments to the circulation machine, to
reduce its size, to find a replacement for osmium and to improve the cooling.
In this last respect, the collecting vessel of the liquefier was adapted to include
a ‘water glass’ gauge which provided a clear exposition of the amount of liquid
ammonia being formed. Shortly after, the two men examined uranium as
catalyst and this proved to be just as spectacular as osmium and although
expensive, much more readily available. Experiments with the uranium catalyst indicated yields of around 10% at about 100 atm and 500 °C,
undoubtedly a commercially appealing prospect. At the time the two men
were enamoured by the versatility of these new elements. Osmium for
174
D. Sheppard
demand the development of a whole new technology, to Bosch it seemed the
‘best show in town’. He had lost the race to discover the technology, but the
opportunity to develop it commercially was there. With great courage, Carl
Bosch faced Brunck and replied without hesitation, ‘I think it can work.
I know exactly what the steel industry can do. I think we should risk it’,
38 but
this would have been simply ‘posturing’ if Bosch had not proceeded to take on
the problem personally, which of course he subsequently did.
The matter was settled and according to Robert,
10
‘ … from that day on,
the directors looked at the experiments with more goodwill, but still sceptical
interest.’ Brunck boosted the BASF’s support for Haber, but only conditionally. No-one from the BASF had yet seen this miracle machine in action,
and even if it proved promising it would not only have to work in Karlsruhe
but in Ludwigshafen’s workshops as well. There could be no crooked
chemistry at Karlsruhe. Osmium too was a stumbling block. BASF realised
that even if all the osmium in the world were captured, there simply wasn’t
enough to form the basis of a viable industrial process. And so all those
present at Karlsruhe on 26 March 1909 agreed that if progress was to be made
there had to be a successful demonstration of the apparatus and a credible
movement towards a more sustainable catalyst. But just to be on the safe side,
BASF’s patent people re-appeared to protect this latest development and
Haber’s second patent—the ‘osmium catalyst’ patent—was filed on 31 March
1909. By 13 August, the ‘circulation’ and ‘osmium’ patents had been submitted in the United States
39 as well—naming Haber and Le Rossignol as
Assignors to the BASF.
8.5 The Final Push
Over the next few months there was a spring in everyone’s step and work
progressed rapidly; to perfect the amendments to the circulation machine, to
reduce its size, to find a replacement for osmium and to improve the cooling.
In this last respect, the collecting vessel of the liquefier was adapted to include
a ‘water glass’ gauge which provided a clear exposition of the amount of liquid
ammonia being formed. Shortly after, the two men examined uranium as
catalyst and this proved to be just as spectacular as osmium and although
expensive, much more readily available. Experiments with the uranium catalyst indicated yields of around 10% at about 100 atm and 500 °C,
undoubtedly a commercially appealing prospect. At the time the two men
were enamoured by the versatility of these new elements. Osmium for
174
D. Sheppard