Calcium carbide process patentIn 1895, Thomas L. Willson received a U.S. patent on the “Calcium-Carbide Process” (No. 541,137) that he had accidentally discovered on 2 May 1892. The patent describes the use of an electric arc furnace to produce calcium carbide from a mixture of finely divided coke and lime. It is produced in molten form, which is then tapped and allowed to cool into a crystalline mass. On the same day, he was granted a patent for his “Product Existing in Form of Crystalline Calcium Carbide” (No. 541,138). When his priority was changed in court by Wöhler, who had discovered a less practical method to make calcium carbide, it was Willson's patent for the crystalline form than won, on appeal. He assigned the patent to the Electro Gas Co., which eventually became Union Carbide Corp.« |
