22. Testing Gaseous Mixtures, United States Patent Office, No. 830,225, Patented
04.09.1906.
23. This is a reference from Haber’s Hurter Memorial Lecture in 1913. Hurter
Memorial Lecture, University of Liverpool, Wednesday 26 November 1913.
Published in J. of the Society. of Chemical Industry, 2, XXXIII, (31 January
1914).
24. The New Monthly Magazine, 13, (1820).
25. ‘Conical screw down valve with an angle of inclination between 85° and 90°’.
Submitted in Germany on 16 March 1908. Application submitted in the UK
on 16 July 1908, accepted 01 April 1909, UK Patent No. 15,065. The
German Patent Office records also provide details of this later application.
26. Largely because of Robert’s work, from 1907 onward Karlsruhe began to
develop a reputation as the centre for German high-pressure chemistry,
eventually leading to high pressure syntheses of methanol and benzine from
coal (Chap. 16), this in turn attracted capable physical chemists to Haber’s
department. When Bergius conceived the idea of hydrogenating coal under
high pressure, it was to Karlsruhe he came in 1908. J. E. Coates, ‘The Haber
Memorial Lecture’, J. Chem. Soc., 1642–1672, (1939), p. 1653.
27. For example, G. Brauer and P. W. Schenk, Handbook of Preparative Inorganic
Chemistry, 1, Academic Press, (1963). Indeed, a personal communication
with Dr. Graham Holmwood of Bayer (by email) extends the life of the ‘Le
Rossignol valve’ to even later. When Dr. Holmwood began his career with
Bayer AG Pharmaceuticals Division in Wuppertal, Germany in 1974, he
discovered the name ‘Le Rossignol’ in the company’s internal equipment
catalogue. This catalogue was subsequently replaced by an online version in
which his trace was lost, but in the last paper version (1995) he was still in
there, with a soft lead (Weichblei) seal for a ‘Rossignol valve’. Dr. Holmwood
is sure that the ‘Rossignol valve’ was still used in the 70s and 80s for
ammonia and (probably) chlorine ‘bombs’. Even in 2011 some could still be
found in cupboards at the Bayer Labs, a remarkable longevity.
28. Described as such for example in 1915, in Manuals of Chemical TechnologyIII, Martin, op. cit. (note 17), p. 55.
29. ‘Hydrogen attack’ was quickly discovered by Bosch. At such high pressures,
decarburisation of the steel occurred leading to a brittle iron hydride, a point
we discuss in Chap. 11.
30. Carl Bosch Nobel speech; ‘The Development of the Chemical High Pressure
Method During the Establishment of the New Ammonia Industry’, available at;
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1931/boschlecture.html and also from, Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1922–1941, Elsevier
Publishing Company, Amsterdam, (1966).
182
D. Sheppard
04.09.1906.
23. This is a reference from Haber’s Hurter Memorial Lecture in 1913. Hurter
Memorial Lecture, University of Liverpool, Wednesday 26 November 1913.
Published in J. of the Society. of Chemical Industry, 2, XXXIII, (31 January
1914).
24. The New Monthly Magazine, 13, (1820).
25. ‘Conical screw down valve with an angle of inclination between 85° and 90°’.
Submitted in Germany on 16 March 1908. Application submitted in the UK
on 16 July 1908, accepted 01 April 1909, UK Patent No. 15,065. The
German Patent Office records also provide details of this later application.
26. Largely because of Robert’s work, from 1907 onward Karlsruhe began to
develop a reputation as the centre for German high-pressure chemistry,
eventually leading to high pressure syntheses of methanol and benzine from
coal (Chap. 16), this in turn attracted capable physical chemists to Haber’s
department. When Bergius conceived the idea of hydrogenating coal under
high pressure, it was to Karlsruhe he came in 1908. J. E. Coates, ‘The Haber
Memorial Lecture’, J. Chem. Soc., 1642–1672, (1939), p. 1653.
27. For example, G. Brauer and P. W. Schenk, Handbook of Preparative Inorganic
Chemistry, 1, Academic Press, (1963). Indeed, a personal communication
with Dr. Graham Holmwood of Bayer (by email) extends the life of the ‘Le
Rossignol valve’ to even later. When Dr. Holmwood began his career with
Bayer AG Pharmaceuticals Division in Wuppertal, Germany in 1974, he
discovered the name ‘Le Rossignol’ in the company’s internal equipment
catalogue. This catalogue was subsequently replaced by an online version in
which his trace was lost, but in the last paper version (1995) he was still in
there, with a soft lead (Weichblei) seal for a ‘Rossignol valve’. Dr. Holmwood
is sure that the ‘Rossignol valve’ was still used in the 70s and 80s for
ammonia and (probably) chlorine ‘bombs’. Even in 2011 some could still be
found in cupboards at the Bayer Labs, a remarkable longevity.
28. Described as such for example in 1915, in Manuals of Chemical TechnologyIII, Martin, op. cit. (note 17), p. 55.
29. ‘Hydrogen attack’ was quickly discovered by Bosch. At such high pressures,
decarburisation of the steel occurred leading to a brittle iron hydride, a point
we discuss in Chap. 11.
30. Carl Bosch Nobel speech; ‘The Development of the Chemical High Pressure
Method During the Establishment of the New Ammonia Industry’, available at;
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1931/boschlecture.html and also from, Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1922–1941, Elsevier
Publishing Company, Amsterdam, (1966).
182
D. Sheppard