Day 12 - Lloyd A. Hall - Sterile and Preserved

Quinn Chapel AME Church

I haven't covered many industrial chemists. There is a good reason for this - in the old days, when these geniuses were busy creating wild compounds, we didn't really understand how they interacted with the human body.

So much of industrial chemistry has turned out to be really bad for us. Still, there is lots of good that comes from their work.

Today we meet Lloyd August Hall. (1894 - 1971) He was born in Aurora, IL.

His grandmother ended up in Illinois at the age of sixteen after being smuggled out of the South on the Underground Railroad. His grandfather founded the Quinn Chaple AME church in 1837. 

I am pleased to say that Lloyd and I share an alma mater! I too went to Northwestern University!

Go NU

Lloyd got a BS in Chemistry. Then he went off to the University of Chicago for a Masters in Chemistry.

After he graduated, he had a phone interview with Western Electric. They hired him on the spot. When he turned up for work they discovered he was black and unhired him on the spot.

What this man could have done to our electrical systems. Sigh. Alas, it was not to be. No matter, it turned out to be a blessing for the future of food preservation and a cleaner, safer world.

Lloyd found work as a chemist in the industrial food industry.

Over the course of his long career, he was granted over 100 patents nationally and internationally for processes primarily in the food preservation of meats.

Two of the discoveries he made revolutionized several different industries.

He created a chemical process to process meat that turned out to kill microbes but proved to be a carcinogen. I saw nothing that said they marketed it to people, but the company did realize they could not put it on meat. So, they marketed to the medical industry to sterilize their instruments. They still use it today.

Sterile!

The second patent that made a huge difference was the discovery of an Ethylene Oxide gas process that was used to sterilize spices.

Up until Dr. Hall tested them, people believed that spices were a sterile, natural preservative. Through experimentation, he discovered that they were full of yeast, bacteria, spores, molds. and fungus. He developed a process using ethylene gas in a vacuum chamber to sterilize the spices. This process worked so well, it was not only adopted by the entire food industry, it is still used in the sterilization of medicines and cosmetics.

So, Dr. Lloyd August Hall -

A chemist who gave us clean food, drugs, medicines, and surgical equipment.

Not a bad life's work!

Celebrate Black History!

Day 6 - David Crosthwait Jr. - Just Right - The HVAC Man

If you have ever had to share a house with someone, there is a chance you've had this fight...

It is too cold!

It is too hot!

source

Who touched the thermostat!

You can also have this problem if you go to a restaurant or a theatre.

Why is it so cold in here? I wish I'd brought a jacket.

Why is it so hot in here? I wish I'd worn short sleeves.

Yes, the temperature of a room or a building is a thing we deal with, but at least we have that option. It isn't like in the old days when it was always either boiling or freezing based on the outside temperature.

Modern-day airconditioning is a thing of beauty.

David Crosthwait Jr. made it even better.

Born in Nashville, TN in 1898, he grew up in Kansas City, MO. From an early age, the people around him noticed his keen interest in science. Both his teachers and his family encouraged him to do experiments on his own. Academically he was aces.

Purdue University offered him a full scholarship.

In 1913 he graduated at the top of his class with a Bachelors Degree in Science.
In 1920 he graduated from Purdue with a Masters in Engineering.

Armed with knowledge, he sallied forth into the world of heating and cooling.

Doubtless, in the 1920s people were still complaining about the temperature of buildings because most of them hadn't been built with central heating and cooling. There was plenty of new ground to break in this field, and David broke it with a vengeance.

He went to work as the Research Engineer, Director of Research Laboratories for C. A. Dunham Company which is now Marshall Engineered Products Co.

What did he invent?

Yeah, he designed the HVAC for Radio City

"David Crosthwait's expertise was on air ventilation, central air conditioning, and heat transfer systems. He created many different heating systems, refrigeration methods, temperature regulating devices, and vacuum pumps. For these inventions he holds thirty nine United States patents as well as eighty international patents. In the 1920s and 1930s Crosthwait invented a vacuum pump, a boiler and a thermostat control, all for more effective heating systems for larger buildings. Some of his greatest accomplishments were for creating the heating systems for the Rockefeller Center and New York’s Radio City Music Hall."

Crosthwait pioneered the foundational technology in this field.

He was passionate about his work. He contributed to engineering textbooks as well as writing a manual on heating and cooling with water with guides, standards, and codes for heating, ventilation, refrigeration, and air conditioning.

He retired from the business world in 1971.

Purdue asked him to teach a course on Steam Heating Theory and Controls Systems.
In 1975, Purdue awarded him an Honorary Doctorate.

He racked up other honors as well.

He was the first African American to be named a fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (1971)

He was fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science

David Crosthwait Jr.

He was a serving member of the American Chemical Society

He was also a serving member of the National Society of Professional Engineers

He died in 1975.

So, the next time you have that argument about the temperature of a hotel room - you have David Crosthwait Jr. to thank for the ability to alter it efficiently!