Talk:Roy J. Plunkett
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[edit] Disputed
[Errors in Main ArticleS] The main article for Polytetrafluoroethylene says, "PTFE was invented accidentally by Roy Plunkett of Kinetic Chemicals[1] in 1938.[2]" Every other source I have checked says that Plunkett worked for DuPont at their Jackson Laboratory in Deepwater, New Jersey when he encountered the faulty cylinder of TFE. Kinetic Chemicals was a joint venture that probably provided the TFE to DuPont. Furthermore, some might argue that Plunkett DISCOVERED PTFE in the bottle and that he did not INVENT PTFE.
The main article for Polytetrafluoroethylene cites US Patent 2,230,654. This patent was "assigned to" Kinetic Chemicals which might have misled the contributor to think that Plunkett worked at Kinetic Chemicals. See a discussion of patents for an explanation of "assignee".
In addition, this main article on Roy J. Plunkett says, "On April 6, 1938 Plunkett checked a frozen, compressed 100 pound (45 kg) container of tetrafluoroethylene, used in chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant production." Numerous written accounts and photographs, e.g., this one, of a reenactment of the discovery say that Plunkett was working with a "lecture bottle" or small cylinder of tetrafluoroethylene, not a "100 pound container". A lecture bottle such as the one in the photo might weigh 10 pounds or less.
Furthermore, "frozen" as used here is misleading. It implies that they chilled the cylinder before working with it. The TFE had polymerized into a solid and would not come out of the cylinder. The cylinder was frozen in the sense that nothing is coming out; it was frozen in the "locked up" or "stuck" sense of the word, NOT the "chilled below the freezing point" sense.
"When he opened the container to remove an amount [...]". One carefully opens a VALVE on the properly piped cylinder to remove some of the Tetrafluoroethylene gas. One doesn't open a gas cylinder like a jar of mayonnaise or a bottle of soda.
"[...] he discovered that a white powder had formed which did not adhere to the container." Other accounts stipulate that there was no powder but a thick solid film of PTFE that conformed to the shape of the cylinder (and may have been stuck by interlocking with the rough surface) that had to be scraped out.
I hope someone can corroborate these claims and correct both (Roy J. Plunkett and Polytetrafluoroethylene) main articles.
Thank you.AdderUser (talk) 01:06, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
