Charles Tennant
Charles Tennant (born May 3, 1768 in Laigh Corton , Alloway, Ayrshire, † October 1, 1838 in Glasgow ) was a Scottish chemist and industrialist.
Tennant first produced chlorinated lime on an industrial scale in 1799 . The chlorinated lime industry then developed in close connection with the soda industry , as this made it possible to make advantageous use of the hydrochloric acid , which appeared in large numbers as a by-product and had been very troublesome until then .
life and work
Tennant was born the son of John Tennant (1725-1810) and his second wife Margaret McClure (1738-1784), the ninth of sixteen children. After attending school he was trained as a weaver by his father . The bleaching at that time was an important aspect of the craft and was carried out by primitive methods in so-called cloth bleaching. After treatment with stale urine , the cloths were bleached in the sun for several months.
Due to the high demand, he founded his own cloth bleaching company in Darnley near Barrhead , East Renfrewshire in 1788 , where he also met his wife Margaret, with whom he was married for 43 years and had nine children.
Through experiments with chlorine and lime he finally succeeded in developing a bleaching process for which he was awarded a patent in 1798. Further attempts led to the development of a bleaching powder for which he applied for a patent in 1799.
The patents formed the basis for the establishment of a production facility north of Glasgow for bleaching powders and baths. The production volume rose rapidly from 53 tons in the first year to 9200 tons within five years. A little later a second plant was founded in Hebburn , with which the total output could be increased to over 20,000 tons per year. In the years between 1830 and 1840, his company was considered the largest chemical plant in the world.
literature
- Robert Bancroft, Francis Bancroft: Tall Chimney Construction . Farncombe and Co, Lewes 1885, pp. 37-40.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry on chlorinated lime. In: Römpp Online . Georg Thieme Verlag, accessed on June 15, 2014.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tennant, Charles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish chemist and industrialist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 3, 1768 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Laigh Corton , Alloway, Ayrshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 1, 1838 |
| Place of death | Glasgow |