HISTORY. Ocher was the first to describe sul phuric acid as a spirit which can be produced from alum and which possesses solvent proper ties. From the year 1613 sulphuric acid was pre pared by the apothecaries by burning sulphur with access of air in moist vessels. In 1666 the addition of a little saltpetre was introduced by Nicholas Leff vre About 1740, at Richmond, near London, England. the first sulphuric acid works on a commercial scale were founded, producing oil of vitriol 'made by the bell' in contradistinc tion to that distilled from copperas. The birth of the modern method of sulphuric acid making, however, dates from Roebuck's installation of leach chambers in Birmingham in 1746, and his further installation at Prestonpans, in Scotland, in partnership with Garbett. As late, however, as 1800 the Prestonpans works only yielded 111 per cent. on the sulphur burned, with a consump tion of 13 per cent, of nitrate of soda (modern practice would yield 300 per eent, of the acid on sulphur burned with a consumption of less than 3 per cent. nitrate of soda). The chambers at that time were about 14 feet long, 10 feet high, and 4 feet 10 inches wide. (They are now com monly 50 feet to 100 feet long, 20 feet to 25 feet high, and 20 feet to 30 feet wide.) In 1827 Gay-Lussac introduced his towers for the re covery of nitric acid. Another important step was the introduction, in 1S59. by John Glover. of his denitrating and concentrating tower at the Washington Chemical Works, near Durham, in England. This completed the rational and eco nomical method of manufacture known as `the chamber process.' From that time on the his tory of the chamber process of manufacturing sulphuric acid has been largely one of minor improvements, economies, and investigations into the chemical reactions involved in the process.
In the meantime, however, as early as 1817, the catalytic action of platinum was discovered by Sir Humphry Davy. and this phenomenon was further investigated by Edmund Davy, Whereiner, and others. In 1831 Peregrine Phil lips. .Tr.. an acetic acid manufacturer, discovered and patented the application of the catalytic action of platinum to the production of sulphur trioxide. The matter remained dormant until
1S4S, when the Belgian Schneider claimed to have discovered in pumice stone a substance of great catalytic activity. From this time on the subject received the attention of many scientists in Europe. But it was not until the publication of the investigations of Clemens Winkler in Dingier's Jourid, in 1875. that the foundation of a commercial contact process can be said to have been securely laid. Subsequent work by Hanisch and Schroeder, Vessel and Lunge, and others, followed. Finally, about 1880, the matter was taken up by the Badische Anilin Soda Fabrik in Germany. and this firm, after a long, costly, and obstinate struggle, brought the proc ess to a commercial success. An output of 18, 500 tons of sulphur trioxide by this firm in 1888 had been increased in 1890 to 116,000 tons. Other manufacturers also have made the contact process an established success, the different manufacturers working on slightly different methods or different contact materials. As yet, however, the only contact material of demon strated commercial value is platinum in one or the other form or combination. In the United States the first contact plant was erected in 1899, at Mineral Point, Wis., by the New Jersey Zinc Company under the patents of Schroeder. This plant was almost immediately followed by others, all of which are in successful operation, and while this process cannot be said to have super seded the old chamber process, its advantages are such that its complete triumph is probably only a matter of time and improved methods.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Until the publication of GeorgBibliography. Until the publication of Georg Lunge's Nulphuric Acid and All in 1879 (3d Eng. ed., London, 1903), the literature on this subject was confined entirely to the scientific jour nals and Proccedinys of scientific societies. Consult also a lecture by Dr. Rudolf Kneitsch before the German Chemical Society, October I!), 1901, an English translation of which was published in the Hineral Industry, vol. x. Vols. vii., viii., ix., x. of the Mineral Industry also contain reports on "Progress in the Sulphuric Acid Industry."