Ensign Hugh J. Adams (1889-1919):
New Airplane Fuel Invented by Local Man

"New Airplane Fuel Invented by Local Man. Prof. Rosanoff of Mellon Institute Discovers Method of Producing Gasoline. Was Demanded by Army." n. p., 25 January 1919.

One of the most promising contributions to the successful prosecution of the war by the Untied States and the allies was developed by Prof. Martin A. Rosanoff and his students at the Mellon institute, University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Rosanoff adapted a novel distillation process of his invention to the production of 300,000 gallons a day, or, if necessary, more, of an unusually powerful and efficient motor fuel, which was to be exclusively used in both observation and fighting airplanes, and give the American and allied airmen a decided advantage over their German adversaries.

Early in the war, and especially during the summer of 1917, French aviators arrived at the conclusion that a gasoline [is the better adapted for military] aviation purposes the more homogeneous it is. While the ordinary motor gasoline is a complex mixture containing a wide range of ingredients, from the lightest through a series of intermediate gravities to a very heavy material, a good aviation gasoline should contain nothing of the heavy ingredients, but only substances of intermediate lightness. The range of the ingredients contained in a good aviation gasoline must be narrowed down as far as possible, and the gasoline thus made as homogeneous as possible.

Slow to Take Up Idea
In the fall of 1917, in a conference held in Baltimore, Dr. Rosanoff was requested to take up the study of methods for preparing especially homogeneous aviation gasolines from American petroleum. In January, 1918, he entered into formal communication with the aviation section of the signal corps. His experience was at first similar to that of Colonel Burrell with his helium-filled balloons. In spite of the promising character of the French reports and even in spite of some promising data already furnished by Colonel Raymond F. Bacon of the Mellon institute, the army was slow in taking hold of the homogeneous gasoline idea. But after many consultations with specialists from different Government branches, the signal corps finally decided to undertake a series of systematic experiments, and in March, 1918, sent Dr. Rosanoff the first telegram demanding the immediate preparation of a quantity of narrow-range gasoline. From that time on the telephone and the telegraph wires between the research department of the signal corps and the pure chemistry department of the Mellon institute grew hotter and hotter.

But the period of really great tension was reached in July, when the Untied States bureau of standards discovered that the homogeneous gasolines advocated by Dr. Rosanoff possessed an advantage in power of not less than 20 per cent over the best aviation gasoline previously employed. At the same time the commanding officer of the research division of the signal corps arrived at the conclusion that the processes in common use were incapable of producing the homogeneous gasoline fast enough and in sufficient quantity, and that Dr. Rosanoff's process was the only one through which the American airmen could obtain an enormous and immensely valuable advantage over the Germans.

All Speed Is Made.
Then things began moving faster. The necessary priorities for building the first Rosanoff plant for Government's use were secured by the signal corps with all possible expedition. But in order to avoid even a day's delay through bureaucratic red tape, the signal corps provided Dr. Rosanoff with an extraordinary right-of-way, directing all manufacturers and constructors to supply him with everything required in his work without question or a minute's delay, in view of the great promise and urgency of his enterprise. His students had already been exempted from military service in order to remain at this work, and a number of skilled mechanicians were to be selected from among the uniformed men and placed at Dr. Rosanoff's disposal.

During all this time Dr. Rosanoff remained nominally in charge of pure science work in the Mellon institute, and for obvious reasons the aims and results of his work were, by agreement with the signal corps, kept as confidential as gas offensive work of the army chemical service. The plan of the signal corps was to build in Pittsburgh, either under Mellon institute auspices, or directly under army auspices, a plant large enough to produce all the fighting-gasoline likely to be required by the allies.

The end of the war came when the first Rosanoff plant was nearing completion. But the utility of homogeneous gasolines has not ended with the war. These remarkable gasolines will acquire a new and perhaps equally great importance for transatlantic and transcontinental flights, and Pittsburgh may yet be the birthplace of the finest aeroplane fuel in the service of mankind.

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