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Charles Corydon Hall

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Charles Corydon Hall
C C Hall 1921.jpg
Hall, circa 1921
Born(1860-07-03)July 3, 1860
Sandisfield, Massachusetts
DiedAugust 19, 1935(1935-08-19) (aged 75)
Alexandria, Indiana
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBusinessman and manufacturer
Known forFather of the rock wool industry

Charles Corydon Hall (July 3, 1860 – August 19, 1935) was an American businessman, chemist, engineer and industrialist. He developed a process of converting molten limestone into fibers that would become an insulation material. He initiated the rock wool insulation industry in America and is considered its progenitor. Rock wool was commonly used in refrigerator insulation.

Hall founded the Chemical Crystal Company and the Banner Rock Products Company, which manufactured different styles of mineral wool insulation. Prior to his innovations in the field, mineral wool was made of steel slag which deteriorated quickly, especially when moist. It did not make a good building material. His product avoided this problem and was used extensively in the commercial construction field worldwide. It was also fireproof, a desired feature especially in wooden buildings. One of their products resembled cord and all were vermin-proof.

Early life[]

Hall was the son of Theodore Hall and his wife Jennie Clemmons. He was born on a farm in Berkshire County, Massachusetts (near Sandisfield) on July 3, 1860.[1][2] Soon after his birth, the family moved to Norfolk, Connecticut.[A] He attended the local public elementary school. Hall's father died in 1870 when he was ten years old and his widowed mother was a schoolteacher to support Hall and finance his education.[3] In his early teens he went to an academy at Marlboro, Massachusetts, and from there to a high school in Westfield, Massachusetts. After graduation he entered Worcester Polytechnic Institute and earned a degree of Chemical Engineer in 1882.[1] A classmate at Worcester was the inventor and automobile pioneer Elwood Haynes.[1][2][3]

Career[]

Original 1897 Alexandria rock wool plant, picture signed by inventor C. C. Hall (with the hat)

Soon after completing college, Hall took a position as a chemist at St. Louis Ore Steel Company in St. Louis, Missouri. He worked there for five years and then took on a management position at a small steel plant in southern Ohio. From there he went to another steel plant and rolling mill company in Belleville, Illinois, to take a management position.[4] In the early 1890s there was a large supply of natural gas in Alexandria, Indiana. The steel plant wanted to take advantage of this cheap fuel, so it sent Hall to that city to investigate the possibility of operating a steel mill plant there. After his conclusions were reported back to the Belleville plant it concluded that it was a good idea to move to Alexandria and in 1895 had Hall start the disassembly and reconstruction of it plant facilities there. Hall then moved with his family to Alexandria permanently at that time to work there at the relocated factory. Ultimately however, it never made any steel in Alexandria and was merged in 1898 with Republic Iron and Steel Company of Youngstown, Ohio, and transferred its facilities there.[3][5][6]

Hall went on a business trip to Pittsburgh in 1897 for the Alexandria plant and while there observed mineral wool being made from steel slag. He noticed that the mineral wool soon disintegrated into powder and that it was unstable when moist.[7] Hall thought that Alexandria's abundant limestone could be used to produce a rock wool product similar to the steel mineral wool.[3] He then located a run-down sheet metal building next to the Alexandria plant which he could use for research and development. Using his chemical engineering background, he began exploration of the bedrock material features and what it consisted of.[8][9]

Hall observed that the Alexandria limestone had a melting point near that of glass, a peculiar chemical makeup feature not found in most limestone.[10][11] Testing this molten stone in steel cupola furnaces, he blew blasts of air through it and drew out fiber strings.[12][13][14] The rock wool fibers resembled clumps of sheep wool and were similar to steel slag mineral wool fibers.[15][16] His product, however, did not have sulfur in it, which he considered the cause of the deterioration problems with steel mineral wool.[15] He ascertained that his rock fiber material was an excellent insulator against extreme temperatures. Hall then decided to go into business himself and obtained some investors in 1897 and with $600 started a plant to produce this insulating material in Alexandria.[6][17] He began his selling of rock wool by taking bags full of the material on his bicycle searching for potential customers.[3]

Styles of mineral wool

Hall negotiated the purchase of several hundred acres of land that contained limestone that could be used for making rock wool. At the time he was manufacturing this insulating material, the chief users of insulation were breweries, distilleries, and cold storage facilities. For their insulation they used cork that was imported from Spain and Portugal. These firms were skeptical of Hall's new insulating material because it did not look like cork. He then made board-like sheets of his fiber material under the brand name Rock Cork.[3] In 1902, Hall created the Crystal Chemical Works company, and it was the first U.S. company to make this product.[18][19] Hall's product was cheaper than imported cork, and it was fireproof and vermin-proof.[3]

A few years after Crystal Chemical Works was founded, the natural gas supply of the area had been used up.[20] All the local industries moved out, including the original investors of Hall's company in 1906. Hall then disbanded his company and organized Banner Rock Products Company with another group of investors.[6][13] It operated the same plant in Alexandria.[21] The new company had the first factory to make commercial insulation profitably.[15] It used coke as a substitute fuel to raise the temperature of the furnaces to 2800 degrees to melt the rock to produce the rock wool fiber material. One of the first uses of the rock wool was for industrial insulation of boilers and pipes.[22] Other uses were for coating industrial ovens, for heat barriers in vehicles, for noise reduction in motors, and for small home appliances.[15] The Frigidaire Appliance Company used much of what was produced for insulating their refrigerators that they built in Dayton, Ohio.[23]

The Banner Rock Products Company was first to commercially make stone wool insulation for buildings and was the leader in the field by 1920.[24] Hall then acquired additional lots in Alexandria for building.[25] A second plant was built and Cordy, his son who had attended Purdue University,[26] became the sales manager. Cordy went on to develop a sales team described by historian Jack Donahue as "the hottest and brightest bunch of salesmen anyone ever got together", to sell the insulating products throughout the United States, Mexico, and South America.[3][27] Eventually two additional plants were constructed.[2][14] Alexandria became known as the local home of rock wool according to the town's newspaper.[15][3] Hall initiated the rock wool insulation industry in America and is considered its progenitor according to the Alexandria Monroe Township Historical Society.[19][28][29]

Personal life[]

Hall met his future wife, Julia Stith, while living in St. Louis.[3] They were married in 1885 and had five children. One died at four years of age and the others grew to adulthood.[30] Julia died in 1910. He married Carrie Scott in 1914 and they had no children.[31] She died in 1934. He was affiliated with the Alexandria churches and played roles in the town's musical comedies.[15] Hall served one term on the Alexandria city council.[32] He was known for smoking a meerschaum pipe.[3]

Later life[]

Hall sold Banner Rock Products Company in 1929 to Johns-Manville Corporation[33] and retired after 47 years in the manufacturing business.[31] He ran C. C. Hall Sales Corporation, a roofing company, from his retirement to his death.[30] Hall died of heart disease after a lengthy sickness at his home on North Canal Street in Alexandria on August 19, 1935.[34] He is buried at the family plot in Odd Fellows Cemetery.[31] At the time of his death, four of his children were living. He also had thirteen grandchildren and one great granddaughter.[5]

References[]

Explanatory notes[]

  1. ^ According to some sources Hall was born in Norfolk, Connecticut, and soon afterwards the family moved to Sandisfield, Massachusetts.[3]

Citations[]

  1. ^ a b c "Rock Wool Founder is Dead". The Alexandria Times-Tribune, page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. August 20, 1935 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  2. ^ a b c "C. C. Hall Tells Story of Rock Story of Rock Wool Pioneering Days". The Alexandria Times-Tribune, page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. August 21, 1935 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jack Donahue (July 28, 1976). "Inventor of rock wool 'genius' in many fields". The Alexandria Times-Tribune, page 14. Alexandria, Indiana – via Newspapers.com open access.
  4. ^ "Rockwool founder tells his own story". The Alexandria Times-Tribune. Alexandria, Indiana. June 25, 1986. p. 19 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  5. ^ a b "Hall Funeral Rites". The Alexandria Times-Tribune - page 4. Alexandria, Indiana. August 20, 1935 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  6. ^ a b c Rohn, Randy (February 15, 1972). "Rock Wool Industry Growing". Anderson Daily Bulletin - page 18. Anderson, Indiana – via Newspapers.com open access.
  7. ^ Modern Productions 1974, p. 5.
  8. ^ Indiana Academy of Science 1937, p. 162.
  9. ^ Thornbury, William D. (1938). "Mineral Wool Industry of the United States". Economic Geography. 14 (4): 398–408. doi:10.2307/141533. JSTOR 141533.
  10. ^ "Wool from Limestone". Mersersburg Journal. Mersersburg, Pennsylvania. March 16, 1900. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  11. ^ "To Make Wool from Rock". The Seattle Star. Seattle, Washington. April 5, 1899. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  12. ^ To Make Wool From Rock
  13. ^ a b Phillips 1968, p. 208.
  14. ^ a b "Hines Describes How Rock Wool Is Manufactured". Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. Lancaster, Ohio. July 3, 1948. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  15. ^ a b c d e f Lamb, Danny (18 March 2014). "Rock Wool Industry - CCHall". Alexandria Monroe Historic Museum. Alexandria Monroe Township Historical Society. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  16. ^ Rom 2007, pp. 332–334.
  17. ^ "C.C. Hall dies at Alexandria". The Star Press. Muncie, Indiana. August 21, 1935. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  18. ^ "Book of First Facts Will Honor Pioneering Work of Late C. C. Hall". The Alexandria Times-Tribune, p. 8. Alexandria, Indiana. March 28, 1940 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  19. ^ a b Kane 1997, p. 91.
  20. ^ Indiana History Bulletin 1949, p. 249.
  21. ^ "Gas Boom Brought Burst Of Growth to Alexandria". Anderson Herald - p.39. Anderson, Indiana. July 4, 1976 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  22. ^ Rom 2007, p. 331.
  23. ^ "Factory is sold at Alexandria". Muncie Evening Press. Muncie, Indiana. January 19, 1943. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  24. ^ "Rock Wool Industry-CC Hall". Alexandria Monroe Township Historical Society. 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  25. ^ "Real Estate Transfers". The Alexandria Times-Tribune, page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. September 3, 1928 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  26. ^ "West Lafayette and Purdue University". Journal and Courier. Lafayette, Indiana. March 19, 1943. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  27. ^ "High praise for Alexandria boy". The Alexandria Times-Tribune. Alexandria, Indiana. March 10, 1920. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  28. ^ "Rock Wool Industry- CC Hall". Alexandria Monroe Township Historical Society. 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  29. ^ "Insulation New in Homes Here". Reading Times - page 4. Reading, Pennsylvania. April 17, 1937 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  30. ^ a b "End Came Peacefully". The Alexandria Times-Tribune - page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. August 20, 1935 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  31. ^ a b c "Hall Funeral Rites to be at family home Thursday afternoon". The Alexandria Times-Tribune - page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. August 20, 1935 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  32. ^ "Father of rock wool succumbs". Muncie Evening Press. Muncie, Indiana. August 20, 1935. p. 23 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  33. ^ "Sell Elwood plant to N.Y. company". Muncie Evening Press. Muncie, Indiana. February 5, 1929. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  34. ^ "Laid to Rest Today". The Alexandria Times-Tribune - page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. August 22, 1935 – via Newspapers.com open access.

Sources[]

  • Phillips, Clifton J. (1968). Indiana in Transition, 1880-1920. Indiana Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87195-092-5.
  • Indiana Academy of Science (1937). Proceedings of the Indiana Academy.
  • Indiana History Bulletin (1949). Indiana History Bulletin. Indiana Historical Bureau.
  • Kane, Joseph Nathan (1997). Famous First Facts. H.W. Wilson Company. #2047 - The first rock wool insulation factory was the Crystal Chemical Works, Alexandria, Indiana, opened on June 1, 1897, by Charles Corydon Hall, who melted limestone rock in a specially designed water-jacketed cupola. The rock was blown by steam pressure into fine wool-like threads for use as insulating material. The Johns Manville Corporation acquired the works in 1929.
  • Modern Productions (1974). Forest Industries Review. Modern Productions.
  • Rom, William N. (2007). Environmental and Occupational Medicine. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 978-0-7817-6299-1.
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