Charles Corydon Hall

Charles Corydon Hall (July 3, 1860 – August 19, 1935) was an American businessman, scientist, 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 it progenitor. Hall founded the Chemical Crystal Company and the Banner Rock 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, therefore was not a good construction material. His product is used extensively in the commercial construction field worldwide because it doesn't disintegrate under similar conditions and is fireproof.

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

Early life

Hall was the son of Theodore Hall and his wife Jennie Clemmons.[1] He was born on a farm at Norfolk, Connecticut July 3, 1860. The family soon after moved to Sandisfield, Massachusetts. He grew up and went to the local elementary public schools there while a young boy. His father died in 1870 when he was ten years old.[2] Later he went to an academy in Marlboro, Massachusetts. Hall then went to Westfield High School in Westfield, Massachusetts. After graduation he attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute and obtained a degree of Chemical Engineer in 1882.[3]

Mid life and career
Original 1897 Alexandria rock wool plant, photograph signed by C. C. Hall

Hall then, soon after completing college, took a position as a chemist at St. Louis Ore Steel Company in St. Louis, Missouri, for five years.[2] He then took on a steel plant management position at Belleville, Illinois.[4] In the early 1890s it was discovered that Alexandria, Indiana, had a large supply of natural gas. The steel plant wanted to take advantage of this cheap fuel, so sent Hall to that city to investigate the possibilities of operating a steel mill plant there. He started the disassembly of the Belleville plant in 1895 and reconstructed it in Alexandria. Hall moved with his family to Alexandria permanently in 1897. The plans of operating this plant in this city fell through when it merged with Republic Iron and Steel Company and moved to Youngstown, Ohio.[5]

Hall was on a business trip in Pittsburgh in 1897 and saw mineral wool being made from steel slag. Some of the drawbacks he noted were that it soon disintegrated into powder and was unstable when moist.[6] He thought that perhaps Alexandria's abundance of limestone to make a rock wool product similar to the steel mineral wool might be something to work on.[2] Hall, using his chemical engineering background, experimented with the bedrock material.[7][8] He discovered that it had a melting point near that of glass.[9] He played with this molten stone in steel cupola furnaces and drew fibers out of them with blasts of air.[10][11]

The result of this molten stone experimenting was a wool-like substance similar to that of the steel slag mineral wool.[12] His product however did not have sulfur in it, which he considered caused the problems with steel mineral wool. He eventually determined that his material was an excellent insulator. Hall organized some investors in 1897 and with $600 started a plant to produce this insulating material in Alexandria.[5]

Styles of mineral wool as mat and roll

Hall negotiated the purchase on several hundred acres of land that contained limestone that could be used in the future 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, so he made board-like sheets under the brand name Rock Cork. Hall in 1902 created the Chemical Crystal Company to produce this product as the first factory in the United States to do so.[13][14] Hall's product was cheaper than imported cork, fireproof, and vermin-proof.[2]

A few years after Crystal chemical Works started the natural gas supply of the area had been used up.[15] All the local industries moved out, including the original investors of company and it then ceased to exist.[5] Hall in 1906 organized another group of investors for the Banner Rock Company. It operated the same plant in Alexandria.[10][16] They used coke then as a substitute fuel for the furnaces to melt the rock to product the rock wool material.[5] It was first to commercially make stone wool insulation for the construction industry and by the 1920s the business was very productive.[17] Hall then acquired additional lots in Alexandria for building.[18] A second plant was eventually built and later two additional plants.[3][11] He thereby initiated the rock wool insulation industry in America and is considered its father and progenitor.[14][19][20]

Personal life

While living in St. Louis Hall met his future wife, Julia Stith. They were married in 1885 and had five children. One died at four years of age and the others grew to adulthood.[21]

Organizations and affiliations

Hall was affiliated with the Alexandria Presbyterian church while living in the town.[21]

Later life and death

Hall sold Banner Rock Company in 1929 to Johns-Manville Corporation and retired. He ran C.C. Hall Sales Corporation, a roofing company in his retirement, which he ran to the end of his life.[21] Hall died of heart disease at his home on North Canal Street in Alexandria August 19, 1935.[22] At the time of his death he had four of his children still living. He also had thirteen grandchildren and one great granddaughter.[4]

Works
  • The Storage of Coal: Its Feasibility and Advantages[23]
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References
  1. "Rock Wool Founder is Dead". The Alexandria Times-Tribune, page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. August 20, 1935 – via Newspapers.com .
  2. Jack Donahue (July 28, 1976). "Inventor of rock wool 'genius' in many fields". The Alexandria Times-Tribune, page 14. Alexandria, Indiana – via Newspapers.com .
  3. "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 . The death of Charles Corydon Hall, father of the rock wool insulating industry, serves to justify publication of part of a letter which the late industrialist once wrote to a representative of The Times-Tribune, who was then a student of the University of Wisconsin.
  4. "Hall Funeral Rites". The Alexandria Times-Tribune - page 4. Alexandria, Indiana. August 20, 1935 – via Newspapers.com .
  5. Rohn, Randy (February 15, 1972). "Rock Wool Industry Growing". Anderson Daily Bulletin - page 18. Anderson, Indiana – via Newspapers.com .
  6. Modern Productions 1974, p. 5.
  7. Indiana Academy of Science 1937, p. 162.
  8. Thornbury, William D. (1938). "Mineral Wool Industry of the United States". Economic Geography. 14 (4): 398–408. C. C. Hall, a chemical engineer for a St. Louis firm which operated a steel plant there, discovered in the course of his search for a suitable rock for fluxing purposes the particular properties of the rock around Alexandria.
  9. To Make Wool From Rock
  10. Phillips 1968, p. 208.
  11. "Hines Describes How Rock Wool Is Manufactured". Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, page 10. Lancaster, Ohio. July 3, 1948 – via Newspapers.com . Mr. C. C. Hall, a chemical engineer, is credited with being the "father" of the Rock Wool industry in this country. He erected the first sizable plant in which to manufacture the product in Alexandria, Indiana, in 1897.
  12. Rom 2007, pp. 331-334.
  13. "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 . In the United States-the FIRST-Rock Wool (Insulating Material) Factory was the Crystal Chemical Works, Alexandrie, Indiana, opened June 1, 1897, by Charles Corydon Hall who melted linestone rock in a specially designed water jacketed cupola which blew it into fine woolike threads by steam pressure.
  14. Kane 1997, p. 91.
  15. Indiana History Bulletin 1949, p. 249.
  16. "Gas Boom Brought Burst Of Growth to Alexandria". Anderson Herald - p.39. Anderson, Indiana. July 4, 1976 – via Newspapers.com .
  17. "Rock Wool Industry-CC Hall". Alexandria Monroe Township Historical Society. 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  18. "Real Estate Transfers". The Alexandria Times-Tribune, page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. September 3, 1928 – via Newspapers.com .
  19. "Rock Wool Industry- CC Hall". Alexandria Monroe Township Historical Society. 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2017. An Alexandria man, C.C. Hall, is considered the “father of the rock wool industry” in America.
  20. "Insulation New in Homes Here". Reading Times - page 4. Reading, Pennsylvania. April 17, 1937 – via Newspapers.com . This "wool" is thought to have come from Alexandria, Ind., plant of the late C. C. Hall, who was really the father of rock wool in this country as we know it today.
  21. "End Came Peacefully". The Alexandria Times-Tribune - page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. August 20, 1935 – via Newspapers.com .
  22. "Laid to Rest Today". The Alexandria Times-Tribune - page 1. Alexandria, Indiana. August 22, 1935 – via Newspapers.com .
  23. Gas Publishing 1914, p. 85.

Sources
  • Phillips, Clifton J. (1968). Indiana in Transition, 1880-1920. Indiana Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87195-092-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gas Publishing (1914). The Gas Record. Gas Publishing Company.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Indiana Academy of Science (1937). Proceedings of the Indiana Academy.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Indiana History Bulletin (1949). Indiana History Bulletin. Indiana Historical Bureau.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Modern Productions (1974). Forest Industries Review. Modern Productions.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Rom, William N. (2007). Environmental and Occupational Medicine. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 978-0-7817-6299-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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