USA

Fluid Bed Reactor

Era: 1940sDateCreated: 1942Baton Rouge RefineryBaton RougeState: LACountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/fluidbedreactor.htmlCreator: Standard Oil Corporation of New Jersey [now Exxon Corporation]

The first commercial circulating fluid bed reactor, PCLA #1 (Powdered Catalyst Louisiana), went on stream on May 25, 1942, in the Baton Rouge Refinery of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil Corporation). This first use of powdered catalysts in continuous operation allowed the efficient cracking of heavy gas oils to meet the growing demand for high-octane fuels. Today, fluid bed reactors are in use worldwide for the manufacture of fuels, chemical intermediates and plastics.

The plaque commemorating the development reads:

YearAdded:

1998

Image Credit: Courtesy ACS/Keith LindblomImage Caption: National Historic Chemical Landmark plaque installed at the site of the PCLA #1 at ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Refinery.

Flavor Chemistry Research at the USDA

Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalDateCreated: 1956Western Regional Research CenterAlbanyState: CACountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/usda-flavor-chemistry.htmlCreator: Western Regional Research Center

Flavor—encompassing both aroma and taste—provides the defining characteristic of how we experience food. Flavor has long been an enigma to scientists: Aristotle described two categories of taste, sweet and bitter. Today we recognize five basic tastes in food: sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness and umami (savory). But what are the scientific components of flavor, and how can flavor be studied, quantified and replicated?

YearAdded:

2013

Image Credit: Photo by USDA-ARImage Caption: Roy Teranishi samples the headspace over fresh grapes before injecting a sample into a gas chromatograph.

Discovery of Ivermectin

Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: MedicalDateCreated: 1987Merck & Co., Inc.RockvilleState: MDCountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/ivermectin-mectizan.htmlCreator: Merck Research Labs

The story is so improbable it defies belief: a soil sample from Japan stops suffering in Africa. It starts when a scientist discovers a lowly bacterium near a golf course outside Tokyo. A team of scientists in the United States finds that the bacterium produces compounds that impede the activity of nematode worms. It is developed into a drug that wards off parasites in countless pets and farm animals, averting billions of dollars in losses worldwide.

YearAdded:

2016

Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/현태웅 (CC BY-SA 4.0)Image Caption: A young man affected by onchocerciasis - river blindness

Development of the Pennsylvania Oil Industry

Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: Industrial AdvancesEra: 1850-1859DateCreated: 1859Drake Well MuseumTitusvilleState: PACountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/pennsylvaniaoilindustry.htmlCreator: Drake, Edwin

Long before Texas gushers and offshore drilling, and a century before oil wells dotted Arabian sands and rose out of Venezuelan waters, the center of petroleum production was western Pennsylvania. In the middle of the 19thcentury two developments occurred that guaranteed Pennsylvania’s dominance: The construction, in Pittsburgh, of the first still to refine crude oil into kerosene for use in lighting, and the drilling of the first oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania.

Image Caption: A retouched photograph showing Edwin L. Drake, to the right, and the Drake Well in the background, in Titusville, Pennsylvania, where the first commercial well was drilled in 1859 to find oil

DayGlo Fluorescent Pigments

Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalEra: 1930sDateCreated: 1936Day-Glo Color Corp.ClevelandState: OHCountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/dayglo.htmlCreator: Switzer, Robert and Joseph

DayGlo fluorescent pigments, a new class of pigments based on fluorescent dyes and polymeric materials, were developed between the 1930s and 1950s by scientists at Switzer Brothers, Inc. (now Day-Glo Color Corp.). These pigments absorb various light frequencies (visible and invisible to the human eye) and reemit them, producing intense visible colors that appear to glow, even in daylight.

YearAdded:

2012

Image Caption: Signs are one common use for DayGlo fluorescent pigments.

Cotton Products Research

Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalEra: 1960sDateCreated: 1970sSouthern Regional Research CenterNew OrleansState: LACountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/cottonproducts.htmlCreator: U.S. Department of Agriculture ARS Southern Regional Research Center

By the 1950s, synthetic fabrics - often wrinkle resistant and flame retardant - began to overtake cotton as the dominant U.S. textile fiber. To reverse this trend chemists and chemical engineers at the Southern Regional Research Center initiated research to modify cotton chemically. Their efforts in developing agents that crosslinked the cellulose fibers and in establishing crosslinking mechanisms led to improved durable press fabrics. SRRC studies also developed new agents that improved the durability of flame retardant cotton to laundering.

YearAdded:

2004

Image Credit: Photo courtesy National Archives and Records Administration. (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: The Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana in August 1985.

Columbia Dry Cell Battery

Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalEra: 1890-1899DateCreated: 1896Energizer Holdings, Inc. corporate headquartersSt. LouisState: MOCountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/drycellbattery.htmlCreator: Lawrence, Washington H.

Imagine a world without batteries. It would be a much different world, in which the automobile and the telephone would have developed differently and probably later, a world without many of the conveniences of modern life and without some of the necessities. The battery, ever smaller and more powerful, defines much of our modern comforts and advances. There were many scientific and technological advances on the way to those smaller and more powerful batteries.

YearAdded:

2005

Image Credit: Courtesy Duke UniversityImage Caption: Columbia Batteries: The World's Standard

Chemistry at Jamestown

Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: Cradles of ChemistryEra: 1600sHistoric Jamestown SettlementWilliamsburgState: VACountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/jamestownchemistry.html, https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/jamestownchemistry/chemistry-at-jamestown-commemorative-booklet.pdf

Recent archaeological evidence reveals early Virginia, which included both the Roanoke and Jamestown colonies, as the birthplace of the American chemical enterprise. Chemical processes first applied experimentally at Roanoke were re-introduced at Jamestown twenty years later.

YearAdded:

2007

Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/bootbearwdc (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: Housing within James Fort at Jamestown settlement, Virginia

Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)

Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: Cradles of ChemistryEra: 1900sDateCreated: 1907Chemical Abstracts ServiceColumbusState: OHCountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/cas.html

The Chemical Abstracts Service, a division of the American Chemical Society, has provided the most comprehensive repository of research in chemistry and related sciences for over 100 years. CAS innovations have fueled chemical research through development of the CAS RegistrySM and CAS databases which contain invaluable information for chemical scientists, including SciFinder® and STN®.

YearAdded:

2007

Image Credit: Courtesy CASImage Caption: Chemical Abstracts volume 100, 1984.

Savannah Pulp and Paper Laboratory (Charles Herty)

Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: Industrial AdvancesEra: 1930sDateCreated: 1932Herty Advanced Materials Development CenterSavannahState: GACountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/savannahpaper.htmlCreator: Herty, Charles Holmes

When Georgia chemist Charles Holmes Herty found a way to make quality paper from pine trees in 1932, he also founded an industry that brought much-needed jobs to the depression-crippled south. Paper producers had deemed the plentiful pine too gummy—until Herty's Savannah Pulp and Paper Laboratory wrote a new chapter in the ancient craft inspired by insects who built paper nests while dinosaurs roamed the earth. At its root, however, the papermaking process remained the same: the bonding of cellulose, a polymer whose long chains support plant cell walls.

YearAdded:

2001

Image Credit: Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress. Image Caption: Portrait of Charles Holmes Herty in 1925.

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Innovations

Grand Coulee Dam

The massive Grand Coulee Dam, on the Columbia River, is the largest concrete structure in the U.S., the largest hydroelectric facility in the U.S., and the sixth-largest hydroelectric facility in the world. It provides irrigation for up to 1.1 million acres of agricultural lands and the…

Graue Mill

Designed and built by Fred Graue, a German immigrant, together with William Asche, the Old Graue Mill began operating around 1852 and served the village of Brush Hill (Hinsdale) until World War I. Its undershot waterwheel, wooden gearing system, belt power transmission, bucket elevators, and… Read More

Gravimetric Coal Feeder

A variety of mechanical feeders, including drag-chain conveyors and rotary pocket feeders, historically have been used to volumetrically control the flow of fuel to coal pulverizers on power generators. Most power generation in the United States has relied on burning fossil fuels in steam…

Greens Bayou Generator Plant

On April 21, 1949, a completely outdoor turbine-generator was placed into commercial operation at the Greens Bayou electric power plant--the first fully outdoor unit to operate in the United States. The demand for unprecedented quantities of electricity after World War II pressed utilities to…

Victoria Dutch Windmill

This is an old technology brought here by new immigrants. It represents the beginning of modern life in a hard wilderness. This wind-powered gristmill was built in 1870 by Fred Meiss, Jr., and Otto Fiek near Spring Creek, from parts of the first windmill in the new state of Texas, erected by E.G…

Gunnison Tunnel

At its completion, the 5.8-mile Gunnison Tunnel under western Colorado's Vernal Mesa was the longest irrigation tunnel in America. It carried water from the Gunnison River to the Uncompahgre Valley to irrigate 146,000 acres of cropland.

Work on the 30,582-foot tunnel was first performed…

Hanford B Reactor

In the first nine months of operation, the B reactor produced fissionable plutonium for the world's first atomic bomb (the Trinity test on July 16, 1945), and for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945, killing 35,000 people. This, and similar destruction at…

Hanford B Reactor

The Hanford B-Reactor was the first plutonium production reactor to be placed in operation. Its success made possible the subsequent development of atomic energy. The research work, engineering, and planning required to make the reactor operate is one of our most advanced achievements. Much of…

Harris-Corliss Steam Engine

This 350-horsepower Corliss type steam engine is an example of a typical late nineteenth century steam engine. The essential feature of Corliss type engines is the valves that admit steam to and exhaust it from the cylinder. The Corliss valve gear made the engine extremely efficient in steam… Read More

Hart Parr Tractor

This landmark artifact represents the first commercially successful farm tractor in the world powered by an internal-combustion engine. It was invented and built by Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr in Charles City, Iowa, as their Model 3, following two prototype versions. Major accomplishments… Read More

Cranetown Triangulation Site

The precise system of measurements provided today by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey originated with an act of Congress under the administration of Thomas Jefferson in 1807 that funded work on "an accurate chart" of America's coastal waters. Intended to aid sea-going commerce, the first…

Havemeyer Hall

Havemeyer Hall was built between 1896 and 1898 under the leadership of Charles Frederick Chandler. It provided research and teaching facilities for faculty and students specializing in industrial, inorganic, organic, physical, and biological chemistry. Pioneering research done here led to the…

Polymer Research Institute

The Polymer Research Institute was established in 1946 by Herman F. Mark, a pioneer in the study of giant molecules. The Institute brought together a number of polymer researchers to create the first academic facility in the United States devoted to the study and teaching of polymer science.…

Hohokam Canal System

Developed by the Hohokam, a prehistoric group of Native Americans, the canal system in the Salt River Valley serviced more than 100,000 acres of mostly arid desert country in what is now southern Arizona. The prehistoric Hohokam constructed one of the largest and most sophisticated irrigation…

Holland Tunnel Ventilation System

The first long underwater tunnel in the world designed for motor vehicle use was built from 1920 to 1927. The 29.5-foot-diameter, 8,500-foot-long twin tubes of this tunnel were shield-driven by the pneumatic method through extremely difficult river-bottom conditions that were overcome by the… Read More

Holt Caterpillar Tractor

The first practical demonstration of this tractor took place in a peat field on Roberts Island on November 24, 1904, and was patented and in production by December of 1907. The existing machine represents the earliest gasoline-powered track-type tractors that were to help revolutionize…

Holyoke Water Power System

Known as the Paper City by 1877, this site was a major industrial center with extensive paper mills, textile mills, machine shops, and a water power system that had within a few decades transformed the fields of Ireland Parish into the manufacturing city of Holyoke. A group of Boston investors… Read More

Hoover Dam

In 1918, the U.S. Reclamation Service's director and chief engineer Arthur P. Davis proposed a dam of unprecedented height to control the devastating floods on the Colorado River, generate hydroelectric power, and store the river's ample waters for irrigation and other uses. A dam project of…

Houston Municipal Airport Terminal

The terminal, designed by noted architect Joseph Finger and built by the Works Progress Administration, is a rare remaining example of classic art deco airport architecture, featuring the distinctive design elements of that age: step forms, sweeping curves, and intricate geometrical patterns and…

Houston Ship Channel

The 50-mile Houston Ship Channel is a manmade port for ocean-going vessels, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Houston and Harris County, Texas.

The waterway was originally known as Buffalo Bayou and was swampy, marshy, and overgrown with dense vegetation. Steamboats and…

USA

Innovations

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