48 T H E C O T T O N O I L P R E S S (CHEMISTS' S]$C'TION)

had been continued somewhat longer. In the case of peanut , corn and cottonseed oils, the o ther four sol- vents were entirely removed, and in a general way these oils a re sat isfactory. The soya oils were not of f irst quality, a , d i t appears tha t these oils require a somewhat more severe t rea tment . Table V shows the percentage of free fa t ty acids in each finished oil.

TABLE V. PERCENTAGE OF FREE FATTY ACIDS IN T H E FINISIIED OILS.

Solvent.- �9 Carbon te t ra- L igh t Heavy chlo- Tr ichlor- aso- aso-

OIL Ether . Benzol. r ide. e thylene, i~ine. ~lne. Soya . . . . . . . . . 0.1(38 0.038 0.048 0.042 0.054 0.041 Peanut . . . . . . . 074 .034 .065 .041 .044 .045 Corn . . . . . . . . . . C33 .056 .029 .044 .055 .e52 Cottonseed . . .072 M~5 .~2 .044 .042 .051

General Condudons. i t is obvious froui the results obtained with the

four commercially pract icable solvents, namely, ben- ~)1, l ight gasoline and the chlor inated hydrocarbons, tha t not auy one of them excels to any considerable extent . Certainly the charac ter of the crude oil should not be a criterion, and since the refining losses and the ex tent to which the oils can be bleached do ,lot vary conspicuously, these four solvents must be considered practically of equal value. The removal of the l ight gasoline is considerably more difficult than that of the o ther three, however. Consequently, benzol, carbon te t rachlor ide and t r ichlorethylene may be considered practically of equal value in so f a r as performance is concerned. The removal of the solvent const i tutes an impor tant item of expeuse, and in this respect l ight gasoline is no doubt less desirable than the other three. I t does not follow, however, t ha t l ight gasoline is more costly in practice for this reason than the chlorinated hydrocarbons, since the initial cost of the gasoline Is much less. From the s tandpoint of costs, benzol and l ight gasoline are about on a par, but they have a dis t inct disadvantage, in t ha t they a re infiamnmble. I t seems that , a f te r all, the selection of solvents Is almost entirely a mat te r of cost. and tha t the ques t io - of performance is of secondary cmmideration.

MONTHLY LETTER ON CHECK MEAL WORK. There have been no new addit ions to our l ist of

contestants , and therefore th is is my first let ter since the s t a r t of the season in which I have not been able to report a growth in the work.

What, however, we have not gained in numbers we have gain~! iu Law & Co., Atlanta, set t ing a new low mark for an ammonia group, as by their results on Croup C, with a difference of s ix points for the eight s a m p l e , they have a t ta ined a percentage of 99.85. I f anyone bet ters tha t they certainly are doing some work.

The L. C. Moore Laborator ies were second with a difference of seven points, which is good enough to win second any time.

L. G. Yankey of the Southern Co t to , Oil Co., Savan- nah, wins the certificate for Group 6 wi th a different~, of 13 points for the four samples, or a percentage of !)9.75. While th is is good work, yet it is not up to the record of the sdason.

F. N. SMALLEY, Chairman.

"The good lmymaster is lord of ano ther man ' s purse," and the chemist who accepts his ass i s tan ts ' good suggestions is Imnker for the products of his brain.

S E C R E T A R Y ' S R E P O R T O N N E W M E M B E R S The new members reported to me by the Meml~,rship

Committee since December 15 are as follows : Claude Furman Inman, 210~ East Wdsh ing to , St.

Greenville. S. C. Dr. Parker C. McIIhiney, New York City. Dr. Will iam B. D. Penn iman , ' of l ' enn ima . &

Browne, 341 Court land St.. Baltimore, Md. Louis M. Roeg, care .Musher & Company, Baltimor~.

Maryiand. Associate Member.

Oscar l i inr ichs, care Rosebach Brazil Co., 55 Frank. for t St., New York.

THos. B. CALDWELL e Secretary and Trea.~urer.

DR. S H R A D E R W I T H B U R E A U OF CHEMISTRY. Dr. J. H. Shrader , for ~)me years chemic,d tech.

nologist in the Bureau of P lan t Industry, Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1). C., in the oltice of drugs, poisonous and oil p lant investigations, has beer t ransfer red to the Bureau of Chemistry, oil, fa t and wax laboratory, in associat ion with Dr. G. S. Jamie- son, where he will car ry on invest igat ions in the eco. nomics aud techuicology of the vegetable oil industry.

A D D I T I O N A L REFEREE CHEMISTS QUALIFIED.

Mr. Will iam J. Gascoy,,e, .It'., secretary Gascoyne & Company, Baltimore, Md.--(~'ottonsecd meal nml fer- tilizers.

Mr. H. S. Montague. the Delta Laboratories. Green. ville, Miss.--Cottonseed products.

Mr. P. ~ ' . Tompkins. Curt is & Tompkins, San Fran- cisco, Cal.

DAVID ~VESSON, Chairman Examining Board, Referee Chemists.

CORRECTIONS. "The Comment by Dr. Wesson.'" on page 43 of the

January "Chemists ' Section" refers to Mr. Priest 's ar t icle on the "Calibrat ion of Loviboud Glasses" and not Mr. Agee's discussion on the Pr ies t Photometer.

PRESSING OF PALM KERNELS. Mr. M. Neumunz, the well-known oil mill engineer,

wri tes as fol lows: " * * * The wr i te r crushed palm kernels in

some large oil mills in England as long ago as 1913, and tha t we were able to ex t rac t the oil from palm kernels in a single hot pressing, leaving never more than 5 to 6 per cent. of f a t in the pressed cakes. The equipment used c~)nslsted of two pair roller mills, 5-high crushing rolls and powerful cage presses with movable press ing cages, making cakes 18I/., inches square. The fn t s h i n g presses had r ams 23I/., inches la diameter , working a t 5200 pounds hydraul ic pressure, and the pressure exerted on one square inch of cake amounted to about three long tons, or 6720 poundek The meats were cooked to about 80* Cent igrade (176" Fahrenhe i t ) in 3-high 72-inch cookers, and the cakes, a f t e r a single pressing, never exceeded 6 per cent. fat, more often containing 5 to 5.5 per cent. of fat. The cakes manufac tured in these p r e s ~ s have hard edges and require very l i t t le or no t rhnming, and without a doubt cage presses a re the ideal equipment for express- lug oil from palm kernels.

"Similar hydraul ic cage presses are manufactured in this country by the French Oil Mill ~fachinery Co., Piqua, Ohio, and a descriptiou of the same will be found in an art icle wr i t ten by the undersigned in the May issue of the Oil Miller, Vol. XI, No. 3."

(End of Chemist Section.)