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New mode of preparing formic acid and the formic ethers
B51 Translated for the Journal of the Franklin Institute.
Correction of Ship's Compasses a~ Sea. M. Faye suggests to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a method of determining at any time the error of the compass aboard a ship. This is done by attaching to the ship's log, which is suitably modified as to inclends and form, a compass so arranged that at any moment it may be stopped, and its direction thus registered. The log is towed in the wake of the ship, and at a sufficient distance to be out of reach of its magnetic influence, and when it has taken the true direction of the ship, which, if of proper shape, it will soon do, the compass is registered, hauled aboard, and read. The proposition assumes importance from the perpetual variation of the magnetic constants of iron vessels and sea, and the resulting impossibility of perfect correction of compasses. In the course of his communication, M. Faye records a curious experiment, which is worthy of repetition and study: Dissolve in an acid, soft iron devoid of any magnetic coercitive force, and then deposit it, by a galvano-plastie process, in a thin film upon a surface of a plate of copper, as is done in coating copper plates with iron, to give them greater endurance. This thin coating of iron, chemically pure, but hard and brittle, will possess so strong a coercitive power that I have heated a plate thus prepared to the melting point of copper without destroying the magnetism which I had before given it.
New Mode of _Preparing Formic Acid and the l~ormic Z'thers. By M. LORIN. Heat a mixture of oxalic acid with dehydrated or commercial glycerine. At 75 ° Centigrade (167 ° Fahrenheit) the reaction begins an4 is in full activity at 90 ° , (194 Fahrenheit.) At the same time that carbonic acid is disengaged, a watery liquid passes over containing formic acid. On adding a fresh quantity of oxalic acid, some time after the evolution of carbonic acid has ceased, more liquid passes over and richer in formic acid, and, by successive additions of oxalic acid, the liquid becomes richer and richer in formic acid, until it reaches a limit which is exactly given by crystallized oxalic acid. The equation CdH:Os, 4 H e ~ CzH~O 4 ~- 4 H e ~ C:04, shows that 126 grammes of oxalic acid give 82 grammes of aqueous formic acid, which ought to contain, and does in fact contain, 56 per cent. of absolute formic acid. This preparation of formic acid is so continuous and regular as to be one of the easiest of chemical operations. It is useless to observe the temperature, for the development of carbonic acid indicates the beginning and the end of the operation. To prepare formic acid of 75 per cent., I act upon glycerine satu. rated with dehydrated oxalic acid. But, in this operation, more care must be taken of the temperature, to avoid swelling, as the decomposition of the oxalic acid begins below 50 °, (112 ° Fahrenheit.) When, to the saturated glycerine, we add at the same time oxalic
352
.Franklin Institute.
acid, and the alcohol corresponding to the ether which we wish to obtain, and in about equivalent proportions, the reaction which I have before stated takes place, and the formic acid in its nascent state combines with the alcohol. It is better to condense the vapors within the retort, and not to distil until some time after complete decomposition of the oxalic acid. The ether is purified in the usual way. F R A N K L I N INSTITUTE.
_Proceedings of the Stated 3[onthly ~eetlng, October 18th, 1865. The meeting was called to order with the Vice President, Professor Fairman Rogers, in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. The minutes of the Board of Managers were reported, including the following points of general interest: Committee on Instruction have reported to the Board of Managers that the lectures will commence on Tuesday, 31st inst. Professor H. Morton lectures on Tuesday evenings on Mechanics, and Mr. Albert R. Leeds on Thursday evenings on Chemistry, for twenty weeks; and that arrangements are being made for some lectures to be delivered at the Academy of Music during the winter, of which due notice will be given. The Executors of the estate erA. S. Roberts have notified the Board of Managers that Mr. Roberts has devised to the Institute ~1000, to be paid in five yearly installments, to be appropriated to the purchase of books and the improvement of the library. The following donations to the library were also reported : From the Soeiety of Arts, London; the Board of Public Works, Chicago, Illinois ; the Mercantile Library Association, New York ; J. B. Lippineott & Co., and Professor John F. Frazer, Philadelphia. The minutes of the various Standing Committees were then reported. The Special Committee on Steam Expansion reported that their experiments had reached an advanced state of progress, and that a report embodying their results might be looked for at the next or following meeting. A paper was then read by Mr. Brown on "The Problem of Aerial ~avigation in its Mathematical Relations." The report of the Secretary on new discoveries and inventions was then read as follows:
SECRETARY'S REPORT.
J~nfflneerinff W'ork~.--On account of the great time which must yet be consumed before the Mont Cenis tunnel is finished, four and a half miles yet remaining to be executed, it is proposed to supply the break by a temporary track over the summit of the mountain. An experimental line of one and a fourth miles has been constructed on the most difficult portion of the route, with a view of testing the efficiency of this plan~ and~ as we see by the report of Captain Tyler~ of the Royal
Correction of Ship's Compasses a~ Sea. M. Faye suggests to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a method of determining at any time the error of the compass aboard a ship. This is done by attaching to the ship's log, which is suitably modified as to inclends and form, a compass so arranged that at any moment it may be stopped, and its direction thus registered. The log is towed in the wake of the ship, and at a sufficient distance to be out of reach of its magnetic influence, and when it has taken the true direction of the ship, which, if of proper shape, it will soon do, the compass is registered, hauled aboard, and read. The proposition assumes importance from the perpetual variation of the magnetic constants of iron vessels and sea, and the resulting impossibility of perfect correction of compasses. In the course of his communication, M. Faye records a curious experiment, which is worthy of repetition and study: Dissolve in an acid, soft iron devoid of any magnetic coercitive force, and then deposit it, by a galvano-plastie process, in a thin film upon a surface of a plate of copper, as is done in coating copper plates with iron, to give them greater endurance. This thin coating of iron, chemically pure, but hard and brittle, will possess so strong a coercitive power that I have heated a plate thus prepared to the melting point of copper without destroying the magnetism which I had before given it.
New Mode of _Preparing Formic Acid and the l~ormic Z'thers. By M. LORIN. Heat a mixture of oxalic acid with dehydrated or commercial glycerine. At 75 ° Centigrade (167 ° Fahrenheit) the reaction begins an4 is in full activity at 90 ° , (194 Fahrenheit.) At the same time that carbonic acid is disengaged, a watery liquid passes over containing formic acid. On adding a fresh quantity of oxalic acid, some time after the evolution of carbonic acid has ceased, more liquid passes over and richer in formic acid, and, by successive additions of oxalic acid, the liquid becomes richer and richer in formic acid, until it reaches a limit which is exactly given by crystallized oxalic acid. The equation CdH:Os, 4 H e ~ CzH~O 4 ~- 4 H e ~ C:04, shows that 126 grammes of oxalic acid give 82 grammes of aqueous formic acid, which ought to contain, and does in fact contain, 56 per cent. of absolute formic acid. This preparation of formic acid is so continuous and regular as to be one of the easiest of chemical operations. It is useless to observe the temperature, for the development of carbonic acid indicates the beginning and the end of the operation. To prepare formic acid of 75 per cent., I act upon glycerine satu. rated with dehydrated oxalic acid. But, in this operation, more care must be taken of the temperature, to avoid swelling, as the decomposition of the oxalic acid begins below 50 °, (112 ° Fahrenheit.) When, to the saturated glycerine, we add at the same time oxalic
352
.Franklin Institute.
acid, and the alcohol corresponding to the ether which we wish to obtain, and in about equivalent proportions, the reaction which I have before stated takes place, and the formic acid in its nascent state combines with the alcohol. It is better to condense the vapors within the retort, and not to distil until some time after complete decomposition of the oxalic acid. The ether is purified in the usual way. F R A N K L I N INSTITUTE.
_Proceedings of the Stated 3[onthly ~eetlng, October 18th, 1865. The meeting was called to order with the Vice President, Professor Fairman Rogers, in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. The minutes of the Board of Managers were reported, including the following points of general interest: Committee on Instruction have reported to the Board of Managers that the lectures will commence on Tuesday, 31st inst. Professor H. Morton lectures on Tuesday evenings on Mechanics, and Mr. Albert R. Leeds on Thursday evenings on Chemistry, for twenty weeks; and that arrangements are being made for some lectures to be delivered at the Academy of Music during the winter, of which due notice will be given. The Executors of the estate erA. S. Roberts have notified the Board of Managers that Mr. Roberts has devised to the Institute ~1000, to be paid in five yearly installments, to be appropriated to the purchase of books and the improvement of the library. The following donations to the library were also reported : From the Soeiety of Arts, London; the Board of Public Works, Chicago, Illinois ; the Mercantile Library Association, New York ; J. B. Lippineott & Co., and Professor John F. Frazer, Philadelphia. The minutes of the various Standing Committees were then reported. The Special Committee on Steam Expansion reported that their experiments had reached an advanced state of progress, and that a report embodying their results might be looked for at the next or following meeting. A paper was then read by Mr. Brown on "The Problem of Aerial ~avigation in its Mathematical Relations." The report of the Secretary on new discoveries and inventions was then read as follows:
SECRETARY'S REPORT.
J~nfflneerinff W'ork~.--On account of the great time which must yet be consumed before the Mont Cenis tunnel is finished, four and a half miles yet remaining to be executed, it is proposed to supply the break by a temporary track over the summit of the mountain. An experimental line of one and a fourth miles has been constructed on the most difficult portion of the route, with a view of testing the efficiency of this plan~ and~ as we see by the report of Captain Tyler~ of the Royal