By Richard T. Cartwright, PE, CHMM, (IHMM, AHMP and APICS) Fellow
The saying, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” is more than a cliché. It is a reminder that we must constantly be learning from the past. Here’s a look back at major historical events that happened today in the world of hazardous materials.
February 21, 2008
The U.S. Navy destroyed a disabled and potentially hazardous spy satellite. The spy satellite was shot down 153 nautical miles above earth using a missile fired from a warship west of Hawaii.
February 21, 1994
Whirlpool Corp. first began producing an energy efficient refrigerator that did not use Freon. Its efficiency was 25% better than what the U.S. law required. By removing Freon, its destructive effect on ozone in the stratosphere was eliminated.
February 21, 1931
Alka Seltzer was introduced in the U.S. with a heavy radio advertising campaign. During a severe flu epidemic, Hub Beardsley, president of Miles Laboratories, visited a local newspaper office in Elkhart, Ind. He learned from the editor that his staff seemed to be resistant to the illness. The newspaper editor explained that at the first sign of illness, he treated his staff members with a combination of aspirin and baking soda. Beardsley then asked his chief chemist to develop an effervescent tablet with aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and sodium bicarbonate as the main ingredients.
February 21, 1887
Herman Frasch, a former Standard Oil chemist, applied for a patent on his process to eliminate sulfur from “skunk-bearing oils.” Earlier discoveries near Lima, Ohio, had produced a thick, sulfurous oil of little practical value. However, John D. Rockefeller saw an opportunity and accumulated a 40-million-barrel stockpile of the cheap, sour Lima oil. His Standard Oil Company rehired Frasch and bought his patent. With Frasch’s copper-oxide refining process used to sweeten the Lima oil, the odorless result multiplied its value, adding substantially to the Rockefeller fortune.
February 21, 1811
Humphry Davy, an English scientist, first introduced the name chlorine. It came from the Greek word for green, for the bright yellow-green gas then known as oxymuriatic gas. In his paper, On a Combination of Oxymuriatic Gas and Oxygene Gas, Davy reported his experiments with oxymuratic gas, which appeared to have many of the reactive properties of oxygen. Hydrochloric acid was then known as muriatic acid. And when chlorine was first obtained from a reaction with the acid, the yellow-green gas had been thought to be a compound containing oxygen. Davy’s later work showed that chlorine gas was in fact an element, unable to be decomposed into any simpler substances.
February 21, 1804
The first self-propelled steam engine or steam locomotive on rails was demonstrated by Richard Trevithick in Wales, England. His engine was able to pull a 15-ton load at 5 mph. However, adhesion was a problem as the iron wheels slipped on the iron rails. Cast-iron rails of the tramways were not strong enough to support the weight of Trevithick’s new machine, so the experiment was soon abandoned.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
