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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Story of a specialty chemical company,
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This review is from: Rohm and Haas: History of a Chemical Company (Hardcover)
"Rohm & Haas: History of a Chemical Company," by Sheldon Hochheiser, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1986. This 231 page hardback is the story of Rohm & Haas Chemical Company, one of the preeminent specialty chemical companies of the US. The story of Rohm & Haas is indicative of specialty chemical companies. It demonstrates well that such companies must continually reinvent themselves as competitors eat into their markets and reduce profitability. Having hit on a major growing market such companies exploit them while they grow. But the inevitable maturing of markets means that new ventures must continually be undertaken to replace the old. Most are insignificant in the early stages, and many mature at levels too small to compensate for losses. The search for new winners is almost like panning for gold.
The story of Rohm & Haas begins in 1906, when two German friends, Dr. Otto Roehm, a chemist, and Mr. Otto Haas, a veteran of the German textile dye business, formed a partnership to market an improved leather tanning chemical, which had been invented by Dr. Roehm. The product was named Oroh, later Oropon, from the inventors names. It was based on the realization that leather tanning was an enzymatic process. They were able to provide a more reliable product than the traditional dog manure using enzymes extracted from the pituitary glands of butchered animals. From the beginning, their sales approach was to work closely with leather tanners to demonstrate that their product was superior to the alternative. The business prospered. They began manufacturing first near Stuttgart, and later at Darmstadt. In 1909, Otto Haas returned to the US to set up an American branch of Rohm & Haas in Philadelphia. The business prospered and was profitable by 1911. Gradually additional tanneries accepted the product, resulting in a regional office in Chicago that served tanneries in Milwaukee. Next business was extended into South America, in particular to Argentina and Chile. The outbreak of World War I in 1914, interrupted the supply of chemicals that had been imported from Germany. Based on his knowledge of the tanning industry, Haas began the resale of sodium sulfide, used as a dehairing agent. By 1917 other tannery chemicals had been added including a chrome tan, leather finishes, fat liquors, and Titanene, a mordant for dyeing. The Bristol, PA production site was purchased in November, 1916. During the war anti-German feelings ran high. American subsidiaries of two German chemical companies, Heyden Chemical Works and Bayer Chemical, were accused of cornering the market in coal tar derived phenol and converting it into aspirin to prevent its being used in the manufacture of military explosives. The Office of the Alien Property Custodian, the APC, monitored "alien businesses." Rohm & Haas was carefully monitored, and was forced to sell the Roehm portion of the business, which was replaced by the Tanners Council. Rohm & Haas became the first American producer of sodium hydrosulfite, a reducing agent used in dying textiles, under the name Lykopon in 1919. Research was carried on at Rohm & Haas almost from the beginning. Initially, Ph.D. chemists at the early plants had small research staffs. Their research was mostly in support of existing products and resulted in several publications. The first full-time researcher was a leather chemist named Harold Turley hired in October, 1924. An organic chemist was hired to investigate insecticides in 1926. The first successful product was Lethane, a replacement for pyrethrum in household fly sprays. Studies of high pressure catalysis resulted in two additional products iso-octane and dimethylamine. Both were manufactured at Bristol, beginning in 1932. Isooctane was the standard used for gasoline octane ratings; dimethylamine was a dehairing agent used in leather tanning. Acrylic acid, its esters and polymers, continued to be of interest at Rohm & Haas. Dr. Roehm in Germany had done his Ph.D. thesis on acrylates. In the 1920s, research was resumed. By 1926 he had a practical synthesis for acrylic acid. In 1928, Luglas polymethyl acrylate safety glass interlayer was introduced in the German market. Rohm & Haas followed up with Plexigum in the US in 1931. Both products were initially successful, but they were soon displaced by technically superior, less costly polyvinyl butyral. In 1929 hydrosulfites were the dominant line supplying 40% of Rohm & Haas revenues. Haas took great pride in being able to avoid layoffs during the Great Depression. Workers were kept busy painting, and otherwise improving the property during slow production times. Haas continued his interactions with German chemical companies looking for products he could introduce in the US market. One was a rosin modified phenol formaldehyde hard resin used in varnish manufacture. It had been developed by Chemische Fabrik Dr. Kurt Albert, under the name Albertol. This product was more consistent than the natural resins and was easier to use. A new company Resinous Products and Chemical Company was set up with the Albert company as an equity partner to manufacture the products which were renamed Amberol for the US market in 1926. Success of these products, specifically for fast drying varnish, was rapid and growth rates were high. A series of the plant expansions followed through 1932. As a result Rohm & Haas undertook research in the coatings area. Depressed prices resulted in the acquisition of 11,000 acres of Florida pine forests in 1931, organized under the name Southern Resin and Chemical Company as a source of rosin for Amberol. Several competitors evolved, but Rohm & Haas was the industry leader in hard resins for varnish. Paraplex plasticizer for nitrocellulose lacquers was developed in 1930. Duraplex alkyd resins (based on formulas purchased from IG Farben) soon followed. Oilsolate dryers for varnish and Uformite urea-formaldehyde resins were also introduced in the 1930s. Tego paper impregnated adhesives for plywood were added in 1934, replacing natural glues based on blood albumin or casein. Tego had been originated by Theodore Goldschmidt AG of Essen, Germany. Tego plywood was used in construction of Howard Hughes large plywood airplane, the Spruce Goose, during World War II. Liquid urea-formaldehyde adhesives for plywood were introduced in 1938. Research on acrylics continued both in the US and in Germany. In 1931, a first sample of polymethyl methacrylate was prepared. Its high hardness made it easily worked with standard tools. In Germany, Roehm licensed its acrylate technology to IG Farben so it could focus its limited resources on methacrylates. With improvements in processing and manufacturing, Plexiglas soon followed. Production of methyl methacrylate monomer began in Darmstadt in 1933 using a primitive acetone cyanohydrin/P2O5 process (referred to as the A process). (A similar process had earlier been used to make acrylic acid from ethylene chlorohydrin, for which IG Farben had developed a process in World War I as an intermediate for mustard gas.) In 1935, ICI in Britain was found to have developed an improved process (the B process, acetone cyanohydrin with acid cracking), which was licensed in return for cast sheet technology. In spite of restrictions imposed by the Nazi government, Haas learned sheet casting from Roehm, but was unable to license the ICI process for monomer manufacture until the mid-1940s. The first market for Plexiglas was canopies for military aircraft. Contrary to popular belief, bullets did not bounce off. They produced a clean hole, but the glass was light weight, easily shaped by warming, and did not shatter. Eventually methods for both blow molding and vacuum forming were developed. In March, 1943, an abandoned furniture factory in Knoxville, TN was converted to Plexiglas production. Butyl lactate was adopted as a plasticizer for Plexiglas to improve formability. Dr. Herman Bruson was a highly inventive chemist at Rohm & Haas. He invented Oilsolate driers, Paraplex plasticizers, and Triton surfactants. His experiments with polymers of long chain alcohol methacrylates resulted in the discovery of the Acryloid viscosity index improvers used to improve the low temperature properties of motor oils and hydraulic fluids. The Acryloids were the second most important products produced by R&H to aid the war effort. They made possible high altitude, low temperature flying. Bruson claimed that Acryloids in the Russian tanks and artillery were responsible for their ability to function in low temperatures in the Battle of Stalingrad, an advantage the Germans lacked. He also discovered Hyamine 1622, a quat bactericide, in 1939. In 1940, R&H was first to commercialize acrylonitrile, an important component of synthetic rubber in World War II (probably from ethylene chlorohydrin). In 1942, Rohm & Haas, Dupont, ICI, IG Farben and Rohm and Haas AG were charged under US law with price fixing of acrylic products. Rohm & Haas and Rohm and Haas AG shared technologies and had agreed not to sell in each others markets. Dupont and ICI had agreements to automatically license each others patents in their home countries. Rohm & Haas and Dupont ended up with patent conflicts. A cross licensing agreement was reached on Plexiglas and later dentures. In 1945, all defendants were acquitted by jury trial. In a damages trial that followed, R&H decided to settle. Patent licenses with IG Farben and Darmstadt were cancelled, but non-exclusive licenses were retained. The firm also agreed to give non-exclusive, royalty free licenses under its acrylic patents to any applicant. In World War II, APC again monitored the company. Its minority interest shares were seized and two directors were placed on the board. After the war, the... Read more ›
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