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But it was not the color as later tests showed. Then Midgley and his men began the epic search for a practical anti-knock. There was nothing in the books, so with home-made theories and cut and try methods, they added thousands of things to gasoline and observed their effects. For years this went on - day and night. New chemical compounds were imported from overseas and many other new ones were made in our own laboratories. Meals were forgotten, sleep was lost and the happy families of the researchers ceased to be "happy." And just as everyone was becoming absolutely discouraged, an experiment produced a bare teaspoonful of a rare compound called - tetra-ethyl lead. Now how to make it, and how to use it and a dozen other very difficult problems came to the front. Midgley was not only an inventor - he also had the ability to reduce the invention to practical usefulness and sell and educate the public as to its advantages. The combination of these three things in an individual seldom occurs. He was a great crusader as well as a great scientist. |
