Robert MacFarlan Cole (December 26, 1889 – January 18, 1986) was an American

chemical engineer In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

, and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. He helped develop many chemicals, including

freon Freon ( ) is a registered trademark of the Chemours Company and generic descriptor for a number of halocarbon products. They are stable, nonflammable, low toxicity gases or liquids which have generally been used as refrigerants and as aerosol prop ...

and its use as a

refrigerant A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the heat pump and refrigeration cycle, refrigeration cycle of air conditioning systems and heat pumps where in most cases they undergo a repeated phase transition from a liquid to a gas and back again. Ref ...

and an

aerosol An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or Human impact on the environment, anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog o ...

repellent, a substance to counteract poisonous gas in World War I, synthetic rubber and

pyrethrin The pyrethrins are a class of organic compounds normally derived from ''Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium'' that have potent Insecticide, insecticidal activity by targeting the nervous systems of insects. Pyrethrin naturally occurs in chrysanthemum f ...

insecticides in World War II, and

ethylene oxide Ethylene oxide is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula . It is a cyclic ether and the simplest epoxide: a three-membered Ring (chemistry), ring consisting of one oxygen atom and two carbon atoms. Ethylene oxide is a colorless a ...

as a hospital

germicide An antiseptic (from Greek ἀντί ''anti'', "against" and σηπτικός ''sēptikos'', "putrefactive") is an antimicrobial substance or compound that is applied to living tissue/skin to reduce the possibility of infection, sepsis, or putre ...

....

Biography

His education included studies at the Armour Institute (now part of

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

), the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he received his doctorate in chemistry. He married, on October 26, 1918, Wertha Pendleton, the daughter of

William Frederic Pendleton William Frederic Pendleton (March 25, 1845 – November 5, 1927) was the first Executive Bishop of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Biography Born in Savannah, Georgia, Pendleton was the son of Major Phili ...

, the founding bishop of the

General Church of the New Jerusalem The General Church of the New Jerusalem (also referred to as the ''General Church'' or just simply the '' New Church'') is an international church based in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, and based on the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the theo ...

(

Swedenborgian The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) is any of several historically related Christian denominations that developed as a new religious group, influenced by the writings of scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). Swedenborgian or ...

Faith). Their children included: William P. Cole, Dandridge M. Cole, Aubrey Cole Odhner, and the Rev. Robert H. P. Cole. He became the founder and first president of Hord Color Products in

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...

in 1920. There he helped pioneer color processes and products. In 1928, Mr. Cole went to work for the American Dyewood Co. in Chester, Pa., where he developed recycling of the paper in telephone directories. Cole reported to the

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

that he had witnessed

chlorofluorocarbon Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are fully or partly halogenated hydrocarbons that contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), chlorine (Cl), and fluorine (F), produced as volatile derivatives of methane, ethane, and prop ...

, considered a poisonous gas, being used safely in Germany. A duPont chemist, William Warren Rhodes, and Mr. Cole worked on the development of the gas, to which

duPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

gave the trade name Freon.''The Mark of the Scots'' 2001, p. 282 "I was there when the first seven cc's of Freon came out of the distilling apparatus in Sandusky, Ohio" He told a Pennsylvania newspaper. During World War II, Mr. Cole was a member of the War Chemical Board and pioneered the artificial synthesis of

, used as an insecticide by the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific. He died on January 18, 1986.

Bibliography

*''Stieglitz Theory of Color Production'' Chicago, 1937.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Robert MacFarlan American chemical engineers American science writers Illinois Institute of Technology alumni 1889 births 1986 deaths