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The Chemical Industry in Europe, 1850–1914 pp 261–280Cite as

Heinrich Caro and Ivan Levinstein

Uniting the Colours of Ludwigshafen and Lancashire

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Part of the book series: Chemists and Chemistry ((CACH,volume 17))

Abstract

The emergence of the synthetic dyestuffs industry during the second half of the nineteenth century is often presented as a tale of poorly exploited British inventiveness, followed by smooth and unhindered German successes. The British failed, according to the standard story, because they neglected appropriate education and legislation, were incompetent, and preferred to invest in profitable heavy manufacturing and colonial enterprises.1 The Germans succeeded because of their mastery of the use of formal knowledge, the introduction in 1877 of a comprehensive patent system, the inauguration of dedicated industrial research laboratories, and the application of business strategies based increasingly upon the power of ‘conventions,’ or cartels, and ‘communities of interests.’2

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References

  1. Some of these issues are addressed elsewhere in this volume by Harm G. Schröter and Anthony S. Travis.

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  4. Caro, Mannheim, to Meldola, London, 8 June 1886. Transcription by Geissler from Caro’s correspondence notebook, 1883–90 (original held in the Sondersammlung, Deutsches Museum, Munich, reference 8096) at BASF Archives, Ludwigshafen, section W1 (biographical) page no. 86a (Caro page no. 232). Hereafter cited as Geissler. Lothar Meinzer and Ruth Fromm of BASF Archives are thanked for assistance in providing copies of these transcriptions.

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  5. Meldola to Caro, 19 June 1886, uncatalogued item, general reference N93, Caro Nachlass, Sondersammlung, Deutsches Museum, hereafter SSDM. Elisabeth Vaupel of the chemistry department, Deutsches Museum, is thanked for assistance in locating relevant items of correspondence.

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  7. Journal of the Socie ty of Chemical Industry,10 (31 July 1891), 623. Cf. Fleischer, op. cit. (6), p. 122.

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  10. See M. Wyler, Ivan Levinstein - What I Know of Him (Manchester, 1937), reprinted in Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, 55 (1939), 142–146. Wyler and others have pondered over the reasons for Levinstein’s failure to win the fast red AV case.

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  15. For the significance of chemical analysis, and chemical analysts, see James Donnelly, `Structural locations for chemists in the British alkali industry, 1850–1920’, this volume.

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  20. There were 42 cartels, or syndicates, in Germany during 1887, and the number had grown to 77 at the end of 1889.

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  23. Leonhardt was mentioned in connection with naphthol yellow, and Geigy of Basle in connection with methylene blue and auramine.

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  24. Levinstein’s patents for nitroso-alpha-naphthol mono and disulphonic acids, Great Britain no. 5,692 of 30 November 1882, United States no. 28,9543 of 4 December 1883.

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  25. This is an excellent example of the tension between private and public knowledge, especially at critical moments in the history of a company, discussed further by James Donnelly in this volume.

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  39. Some of these patents correspond to marketed dyes: 28753/84 is Congo red (Böttiger), 39096/85 is Congo Corinth, and 41095/87 is Brilliant Congo G.

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  49. It is worth noting that fast red is still in extensive use as a textile colorant. Production of benzidine dyes declined from the 1960s, following conclusive evidence that their manufacture was linked with bladder cancer.

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Authors
  1. Anthony S. Travis
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rijksuniversiteit Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Ernst Homburg

  2. Sidney M. Edelstein Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

    Anthony S. Travis

  3. University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany

    Harm G. Schröter

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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Travis, A.S. (1998). Heinrich Caro and Ivan Levinstein. In: Homburg, E., Travis, A.S., Schröter, H.G. (eds) The Chemical Industry in Europe, 1850–1914. Chemists and Chemistry, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3253-6_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3253-6_15

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  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4971-1

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