Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 May 1937 — Page 11

.

"FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1937 .

Government ‘Factory’ in Texas Makes All of World's Carefully Guarded Helium

In this $800,000 U. S. Helium

SLL:

all the

PATRI IRR EP

plant at Amarillo, Texas,

helium gas in the world is produced. Extracted from natural gas, the noninflammable helium is controlled by the Government and stringent-

@

Rare Element Cannot Be Sold Even for Medical Use in u. S.

AMARILLO, Tex., May 14— (NEA) —An English physicist, studying the sun's eclipse of 1863, found the sec- | ret of preventing explosions such as destroyed the dirigible Hindenburg. That physicist, Sir William Lockver, discovered helium, a noninflammable gas in the sun’s spectrum. | The United States, as far as present exploration has shown, has the world monopoly on the little helium in existence. A zeppelin, filled with helium, could not explode, but the war-time act of 1917 bars the selling of helium for medical, commercial or export purposes. Only operating plant for extraction of the helium in the United States is here at Amarillo, which, since its installation in 1928, has produced 75,000,000 cubic feet of gas. The plant is operated by the United States Bureau of Mines.

Produced at Low Cost

With the United States’ virtual withdrawal from the use of lighter-than-air craft, production of helium has been small. But in the Cliffside structure, where the helium content is 1.75 per cent, there is enough of the precious gas to last this country a century, says Dr. C. W. Seibel, supervising engineer of the Amarillo plant. It is assumed that commercial export would exhaust the supply quickly. Helium is a noninflammable, nonexplosive gas with great Ilifting power, and is produced at a comparatively low cost. Its uses are varied. According: to Dr. Alvin L. Barach of Columbia University, and Dr. R. R. Sayers of the United States Public Health Service, testifying before the House Military Affairs Committee recently, helium is of great necessity in the treatment of respiratory diseases. Dr. Barach said several cases of asthma, threatening to be fatal, were imprevved by use of helium. Dr. Sayers named it great aid i in 1 treatment

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of tuberculosis, and in helping babies whose lungs failed to expand normally at birth. Helium is important in deepsea diving, or those who work in cais-

sons, or under great physical pres-

sure. The men who will attempt to enter the sunken Lusitania, off the coast of Ireland this summer, plan to use helium in their diving suits. Found Gas Around Sun

The history of helium, named from the Greek word for sun, ‘“helios,” is romantic. Long before it was discovered, it was known to exist. Astrophyscicist Lockyer, peering at

a total eclipse of the sun through a spectroscope, recognized the existence of a continuous stratum, or envelope of atmosphere surrounding the sun. By the sun’s eclipse, when its blinding rays were obscured, this atmosphere was thrown into relief, presenting an ideal condition for its inspection, together with the magnificently red and violet colors, which were observed in all their fiery glory extending far into space. He arrived at the conclusion that there were immense volumes of gas shooting out from a solar envelope and became convinced that it was due to some substance in the sun then unknown on earth. The search began for the “helium” on earth, but it was 27 years later, in 1893, that Sir William Ramsey, professor of chemistry at University College, in London, discovered helium in mineral clevite and extracted it by chemical process.

First Found in Kansas

It was on the Kansas prairies that the first helium was discovered in gas wells. In the early ’90s, natives of Dexter, Kas, staged a huge celebration to honor the discovery of gas in their community. But the gas put out the bonfire they planned as part of their celebration. And the gas didn’t hold out. Dr. Seibel, known as one of the greatest authorities on helium, made his first contact with the gas. As instructor in the Kansas University chemistry department in 1913, he elected to write his thesis for a doctor’s degree on helium. After continued experiments he read a paper before the American Chemical Society in Kansas City in 1917, regretting that the gas had no prac-

tical application because of the high cost of extraction. But Seibel was wrong. The World War was on. Germany had used zeppelins to great advantage, but already it had been found that tracer ‘bullets from allies’ planes could immediately ignite the hydro-gen-filled bags. The allies sought some noninflammable gas, even though it be immensely costly, for their lighter-than-air craft. Seibel’s figures showed helium extraction would cost $2500 a cubic foot. By late in 1918 the Cliffside structure, west and north of Amarillo, had been discovered. The Governmeént leased 50,000 acres. A plant was built here.

Must Be Extracted

The cost of extraction has been steadily and unbelievably lowered since, until now the cost is little more than 1 cent per cubic foot. It would cost $35,000 to fill a dirigible the size of the Hindenburg. Helium is a natural element and cannot be produced. It must be extracted from natural gas. At CIliffside it flows under well pressure in a

6-inch pipeline and is extracted by special equipment, most of which is made in the plant. The separation of helium from the other substances found in natural gas involves liquifying all the constituents of the gas except helium, trapping off the

liquid at the bottom and removing |

the helium from the top. The gas enters the plant at a pressure of about 650 pounds per square foot.

In the first step the gas is brought !

to the carbon dioxide building where it is scrubbed with a solution of lye. Once free of carbon dioxide, the gas is cooled to about 300 degrees below zero and about 95 per cent is liquified. The result produced is crude helium which is compressed to 2000 pounds per square inch, and cooled by heat interchange with partly liquified nitrogen. The helium, 98.2 per cent pure,

is discharged to containers’ at a |

pressure of about 2000 pounds per square inch. Within a minute after any given cubic foot of natural gas is brought into the plant. the helium is extracted and the residue gas is on its way out. The plant cost about £800,000 to build.

BREAD ASSURED BY HEAVY RAINS

Weather Bureau Reports Wheat in Fine Shape, But Planting Late.

Times Special WASHINGTON, May 14.—Bread for the nation has been assured by the abundant rains of spring, the U. S. Weather Bureau's weekly summary indicates. Except in the still persistent drought area of the West, winter wheat is in excellent shape for the most part, and in the southern borders of its range is already heading. Spring wheat is also reported as in satisfactory condition. The past week's sunny weather, though still abnormally cool for the season, has permitted surface soli to dry out enough fo permit belated spring field work to begin. Over a great deal of the principal grain-raising areas spring plowing is from 10 days to two weeks behind schedule, .and ‘ farmers are hurrying to get the corn crop into the ground.

SHORTRIDGE HISTORY CLUB TO HOLD PICNIC

The Shortridge High School History Club is to have its annual picnic Monday at Camp Dellwood, according to Jack Lewis, club president. Jack Roberts is chairman of the { program committee and other mem{bers are Mary Jane Hodge, Robert Miller and Marjorie Glass. | Miss Kathryn Thcempson, instruc-

tor in the Shortridge physical edu- |

| cation department, has announced | that Mary Ann Rice, Martha Egger, | Norma Miller, Betty Woodbury- and Patsy Jackson have been initiated into the Philateron Club, an honor-

ary girls’ athletic organization.

| THE 1 DIANAPOLIS TIMES

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MAINE AROUSED T0 FEVER PITCH IN LABOR CRISIS

Six C. I. 0. Leaders Land In Jail in Their Invasion Of Nonunion State.

Times Special WASHINGTON, May 14.—Possibly the most interesting labor crisis, in a country that abounds with labor crises, exists in that citadel of conservatism, the State of Maine. A C. 1. O. invasion has Maine's large industrial section aroused to fever pitch. A half-dozen C. I. O. leaders, including a Boston lawyer, have been sent to jail for six-month terms for contempt of court, because they violated an antistrike injunction. The National Labor Relations Board has moved in, both to conduct worker elections and to charge Wagner act violations. Maine is a low-wage, nonunion state, comparable to some of the Southern states. Some of the industries, notably shoe manufacturing, which have been fleeing from Massachusetts and its unions and labor laws, have migrated to Maine. ‘Maine Gets Pretty Mad To protect its Massachusetts members and friendly employers, the C. I. O. went to work to organize the new Maine industry, and it made Maine pretty mad. More than six weeks ago the C. I. O. union of shoe workers struck 19 factories in the Lewiston-Auburn area. Justice Harry Manser of the State Supreme Court tied up the strike with a remarkable injunction forbidding strike activities by the C. I. O. men on the ground that they had not proved they controlled a majority of the workers. Manser argued that conducting a strike without proof of a majority violated the Wagner act. This is the first time a Court has thus interpreted the law, which contains a provision specifying that nothing in the act restricts the right to strike. Last week three of the 19 factories negotiated with the C. I. O. and reached an agreement under

which strikers were sent back to work. After 15 days an election will be held, as between the C. I. O. union and nonunion. The C. I. O, however, agreed to permit the strike-breakers who stayed at work to vote, which is an innovation in union tactics. (There is some doubt that the National Labor Relations Board, which is supposed to supervise the election, will permit this.) Complaints that four of the companies violated the Wagner act by discriminating against union men

alsa have been filed, and probably

| will resul? in the beginning of hear-

ings at an early date. Powers Hapgood, a C. I. O.

trouble-shooter and its secretary for New England, and six other “foreign” (to Maine) men were brought to trial for violating the Manser injunction, and were convicted by a jury “of farmers and housewives. Appeal bail is not permitted in such cases, but the jailed organizers are trying for freedom through a writ of habeas corpus.

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