James Cloyd Downs
James Cloyd Downs ( November 6, 1885 - December 18, 1957){{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/j-cloyd-downs-24-5blfgw? |title=J. Cloyd Downs |author= |date= |website=www.ancestry.com |publisher= |access-date=November 4, 2024 |quote=}} {{cite web |url=https://localwiki.org/hsl/J._Cloyd_Downs|title=Historic Saranac Lake - J. Cloyd Downs |author= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date=3 November 2024 |quote=}}{{cite journal |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date=December 21, 1957 |title=Obituaries |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_icis-chemical-business_1957-12-23_172_26/page/51/mode/1up |journal=Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter |volume=172 |issue= |page=51 |doi= |access-date=3 November 2024 }} was an American Electrical Engineer who designed the Downs cell, the most common method of manufacture of sodium metal.{{cite book |last=Hardie |first=D W F |date=1959 |title=Electrolytic manufacture of chemicals from salt |url=https://archive.org/details/electrolyticmanu0000dwfh/page/2/mode/1up |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=2 |isbn= |quote=Practically all sodium cells are now of the Downs type. |author-link= }}{{cite book |author= |title=Gale Encyclopedia Of Science |edition=5|url= |location= |publisher= |volume=7|page=4014 |date=2014 |isbn=}}
Life
Downs was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1885, attended Trinity School (New York City), graduated in electrical engineering from Cooper Union in 1904. {{cite news |author= |title=Wins Chemistry Prize James Cloyd Downs |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times_1934-05-27_83_27882/page/n35/mode/1up |work=New York Times |location=New York |date=May 27, 1934 |access-date=November 5, 2024}} He married Mabel Lehmann, and they had five children.{{cite web |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/atlanta/name/ray-downs-obituary?id=13088019 |title=Ray Downs Obituary|author= |date=December 15, 2006 |website=www.legacy.com |publisher=Atlanta Journal-Constitution |access-date=November 4, 2024 |quote=}} He died December 18, 1957 in Eugene, Oregon.{{cite news |author= |title=Inventor Succumbs|url=https://archive.org/details/stroudsburg-daily-record-1957-12-19 |work=Stroudsburg Daily Record |location= |date=December 19, 1957 |access-date=November 4, 2024 }}
Work
He worked for New York Edison Co., Acker Process Co., and Niagara Electrochemical Co,, which was absorbed by DuPont. In 1924 he published his key patent 'Electrolytic process and cell'.{{cite patent |country=US |number=1,501,756 |status=Expired - Lifetime |title=Electrolytic process and cell |pubdate=1924 |gdate= |fdate=1922-08-18 |pridate= |inventor= |invent1=James Cloyd Downs |invent2= |assign1= |assign2= |class= |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US1501756A/en}}
Award
In 1934 he won the Schoellkopf Medal of the American Chemical Society for producing sodium directly from salt. The society announcement said "The use of sodium has been greatly extended by the introduction of the Downs Cell. It is employed in making sodium cyanide for heat treating steel, TEL for making ethyl gasoline, and sodium peroxide for bleaching silk, wool and cotton. Sodium also enters into numerous metallurgical processes and into the making of indigo, dyes, perfumes and pharmaceuticals.