The lead chamber process was an industrial method used to produce sulfuric acid in large quantities. It has been largely supplanted by the contact process.
In 1746 in Birmingham, England, John Roebuck began producing sulfuric acid in lead-lined chambers, which were stronger, less expensive, and could be made much larger than the glass containers which had been used previously. This allowed the effective industrialization of sulfuric acid production and with several refinements, this process remained the standard method of production for almost two centuries. So robust was the process that as late as 1946, the chamber process accounted for 25% of sulfuric acid manufactured.
Read more about Lead Chamber Process: The Process, Chemistry, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words lead, chamber and/or process:
“For some years now, there has been proof that the devastating effects of the traumatization of children take their inevitable toll on society—a fact that we are still forbidden to recognize. This knowledge concerns every single one of us, and—if disseminated widely enough—should lead to fundamental changes in society; above all, to a halt in the blind escalation of violence.”
—Alice Miller (20th century)
“That’s where Time magazine lives ... way out there on the puzzled, masturbating edge, peering through the keyhole and selling what they see to the big wide world of chamber of commerce voyeurs who support the public prints.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)
“... geometry became a symbol for human relations, except that it was better, because in geometry things never go bad. If certain things occur, if certain lines meet, an angle is born. You cannot fail. It’s not going to fail; it is eternal. I found in rules of mathematics a peace and a trust that I could not place in human beings. This sublimation was total and remained total. Thus, I’m able to avoid or manipulate or process pain.”
—Louise Bourgeois (b. 1911)