commerce. In order to show the wonderful effects of fuller's earth on the color of oils, I have selected a series of samples showing (1) cylinder stock that was pumped into the filter, (2) the first oil that percolated through, (3) a sample when the percolation was half completed, and (4) a sample at the end of the percolation. At this point the clay must be restored. You will notice that I have described the cracking distillation of a mixed base crude and the fractional distillation of a paraffin base crude. Now, what would result if the mixed base crude had been put through the process of fractional distillation? The crude naphtha would of course distill off, then the crude heavy naphtha, then the natural lamp oil, then a distillate containing wax and lubricating oil corresponding to the lubricating distillate, leaving in the still a residue consisting of a soft pitch and amounting to about 15% of the crude oil. The maximum temperature in the still would be about 630° F. This residue has the property of being vulcanized by the action of air at about 500° F., or by sulphur at about 400°-450° F. This process is carried on in a still and consists in heating the residue to the desired temperature and pumping air through the mass for 1 to 2 days depending on the hardness desired. The resulting hard pitch is the petroleum road binder of commerce. DISCUSSION MR. IRISH. I do not believe that I could attempt to say very much in opening this discussion, except that those of us who spend our time in the industry described in Mr. Robinson's paper realize that it has been very ably put before you; it has been very lucid and very concise. He has been dealing with a difficult subject to present even to an audience of engineers and chemists, and while it may not have, in all its details, appealed to those who are not versed in the art, it has been the very best exposition of the subject that I have ever heard. I shall be glad to assist Mr. Robinson in the discussion and answer any questions that may come up touching the practical side of the operation, while he will attend to the chemical side. MR. PRICE. Is the future supply of fuel oil or gasoline going to decrease as you continue those different methods of distillation? Also, is the Mexican crude oil, which I understand is on the market now in New York, going to be converted by the same general method of distillation, or will that be available for some years to come only as fuel? MR. IRISH.-The supply of gas and fuel oils must necessarily be a function of the crude oil production of the world. While the amount of crude oil produced has within the past few years been greater than at any other time since the discovery of petroleum, and consequently indicates an ever increasing supply, we are at present and have been for the last two or three years, suffering from a falling off in our production. We are informed that the crude oil stocks in the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains, are decreasing at the rate of about 40,000 barrels a day. That means to us that the supply has fallen off and the demand has increased, until the demand has overtaken the production, and we are drawing on accumulated stocks, and so long as that continues, exhaustion of the supply of gas and fuel oil will of course come nearer. But the supply of those oils has been supplemented by the Mexican crude to which Mr. Price referred. In Mexico, as in California, there are great deposits of petroleum, which as yet have only been explored in a very superficial manner. We are told that at the present time the bulk of the Mexican petroleum is being produced from only two wells located about 150 miles apart. One of these wells will flow naturally, if allowed to, at the rate of 37,000 barrels of oil a day, and the other one is shut in, with possibly a similar capacity. The Mexican crude is new to the refiner, and it would be unsafe and unwise to predict what can be made from it. We know it has an asphalt base, and is limited in possibilities to the production of those things Mr. Robinson has described as being peculiar to the asphalt base crude oil. It means that a large proportion of such crude oil will find its way into the fuel oil market as rapidly as it can be brought into this country and used. MR. PRICE. In the steam distillation, about what is the lowering in temperature that you obtain-about 100° F.? MR. ROBINSON.-More than that, about 150° F. MR. PRICE. Well, when the natural lamp oil is distilled off with a cracking distillation, it would be about 630°, and with the natural lamp oil from the fractional distillate I think it is about 450°. Do you use a vacuum and save the steam? MR. ROBINSON.-Yes. MR. J. C. PARKER.—I would like to inquire what is the longest pipe line used? MR. IRISH. The pipe line system is complete from Oklahoma to the Atlantic coast, so that Oklahoma crudes are distributed in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The experience with the pipe lines in California I can not describe with any accuracy at all, as I know but little more than the other members of the Club. There was a device, as referred to, attempted for handling those crude oils which were semi-solid as they came from, the ground, and it was in part at least successful. Q.-I understand there is quite a lot of gasoline in natural gas wells. MR. ROBINSON.-The gas that comes with certain crude oils is technically speaking very wet, that is, it is very rich in hydrocarbons, such as pentane and butane. They separate those products and mix them successfully with heavier hydrocarbons in the refinery to produce gasoline. I do not know the amount, but I would say there is between 1,000 and 3,000 barrels a day. MR S. M. SWAAB.-Is this cylinder oil used without any admixture of animal oil in the cylinder? MR. ROBINSON.-Yes, the oil is a pure mineral oil. Certain users insist there shall be a small amount of animal or vegetable oil mixed with their steam cylinder oils, but it is never put in unless specified by the user. JOHN FRITZ (Honorary Member) Elected to Membership May 4, 1901 Died February 6, 1913 The industries at Bethlehem temporarily suspended operations, stores were closed, schools dismissed, and the entire community joined in showing respect to the memory of John Fritz, when his body was conveyed to its last resting place on February 12th, 1913, escorted by the entire student body of Lehigh University. Men prominent in the engineering profession, in technical societies, in advanced education, in financial, industrial, mercantile, manufacturing and transportation interests from various parts of the country gathered at Bethlehem to attend the funeral. This assemblage was not to recognize the achievements of a great general or a noted admiral, a distinguished judge, a prominent merchant or one who had won political preferment, but it was a tribute of respect and esteem for an American citizen, who from a most modest beginning had as an engineer won recognition by honors such as few have received and whose personality caused him to be loved by all with whom he came in close contact. The ninety-one years of life alloted to John Fritz covered most of the industrial development of the United States, for at his birth in 1822 transportation was largely confined to vehicles drawn by horses, the canal system being in its infancy and railroads a novelty. Iron was then made only by the use of charcoal in forge fires or in blast furnaces whose average yearly output is represented by the daily production of modern furnace plants. Manual labor, supplemented by that of animals and by water power, were employed in producing and fabricating metal. But in his life John Fritz was conversant with all the steps in the advance of the transportation problems up to the great vessels which plow the waters of the oceans, lakes and rivers, to the railroads whose powerful locomotives and metal cars travel on 100 pound rails at phenomenal speed, carrying millions of passengers and millions of tons of freight. It was his privilege to observe the iron industry of his youth, which in the United States was then gauged by tens of thousands of tons, reach proportions where the annual product is measured in tens of millions of tons; and he saw manual and animal labor displaced by power generated by the consumption of wood, coal, oil or gas; or the potentiality of falling water transformed into electrical energy for illumination and for operating industrial plants and railways. The introduction of the Bessemer, the open hearth and the electric steel processes, the continuous mills and all the manifold mechanical devices which have brought the iron and steel industry to its present controlling position, passed in review before his phyiscal vision, some of these developing from his fertile brain. The transit from the boy driving a horse to pull a canal boat to the engineer and iron master who had received recognition by medals. from the elevation to office in numerous scientific and technical societies demonstrate what may be accomplished by one without technical training who utilizes his best efforts and applies himself with a definite purpose. While John Fritz won these honors and recognitions by his ability, persistence and industry, he realized the assistance of technical training, and his services as a trustes of Lehigh University and his beneficence in erecting a mechanical laboratory and providing for its maintenance, representing probably $250,000, demonstrated his desire to give to others help which he had been unable to secure. FRANK BURNS Elected to Active Membership October 17, 1908 After an illness extending through four months, during which he showed remarkable uncomplaining patience, Frank Burns died on the eleventh of March. He was born in Philadelphia in the year 1844, the son of the late Charles Marquedant Burns and his wife, Eliza van Dyke, whose maiden name was Rousseau. He attended classes at the Episcopal Academy and at the University of Pennsylvania, then on Ninth Street, where the Post Office now stands, leaving at the close of the Junior year (Class of '62). Soon after, he enlisted in the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry ("Anderson Troop") United States Volunteers, and was present at the Battle of Antietam. For a time he was in business in New York and afterwards in Philadelphia. For the past fifteen years he has been a faithful employe of the Survey Bureau of the City of Philadelphia, mainly as draftsman and designer in the Bridge Department, where he was recognized as an indefatigable worker and an expert in perspective. He was of a most kindly and retiring disposition, having a great aversion to social prominence. He was unmarried. He was a member of St. Andrew's Society, the Naval Order, Manufacturers' Club, the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia, the Alumni Society of the University of Pennsylvania and the Geographical Societies of Washington and of Philadelphia. EUGENE E. DUNLAP (Active Member) Elected to Membership December 7, 1907 Died January 16, 1913 Eugene E. Dunlap, son of the late Charles W. and Elizabeth B. Dunlap, was born at Philadelphia, March 9th, 1878. He was educated in the public schoo's, graduated from the Philadelphia Central High School in 1897, and University of Pennsylvania, in 1901. In September, 1901, he associated himself with the N. Z. Graves Co., manufacturers of paints, varnishes, etc., as a chemist, and remained with them until his death Mr. Dunlap was a member of the Priestly Club, Ameri- Mr. Dunlap was a contributor to the "American |