Hooker Chemical Company (or Hooker Electrochemical Company) was an American firm producing
chloralkali products from 1903 to 1968. In 1922, bought the S. Wander & Sons Company to sell lye and
chlorinated lime. The company became notorious in the 1960s, when residents near its chemical waste site,
Love Canal, reported extraordinarily high incidences of
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
, birth defects, and other injuries. Although Hooker had sold its old chemical waste dump site in 1953, the company was held responsible as a result of a lawsuit thereafter.
History
Founding
Founded in 1903 as "the Development and Funding Company" by
Elon Huntington Hooker, of Rochester, NY, the company used the Townsend cell to electrolyse salt into chlorine and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), also known as "caustic soda" and "lye," in a
chloralkali process
The chloralkali process (also chlor-alkali and chlor alkali) is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. It is the technology used to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which are commodit ...
. Elmer Sperry, founder of
Sperry Electric, and
Leo Baekeland
Leo Hendrik Baekeland (November 14, 1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian chemist. He is best known for the inventions of Velox photographic paper in 1893, and Bakelite in 1907. He has been called "The Father of the Plastics Industry" ...
, inventor of
Bakelite and Velox photographic paper, consulted Hooker to improve the design of the cell.
The company was sited in
Niagara Falls, NY foremost because of the low-cost electricity from the
Niagara Falls power project, but also because of the abundance of salt from nearby mines, and availability of water from the Niagara River.
First product lines
Chlorine, used for sanitation and the chlorination of drinking water, was sold as chlorinated lime and
chlorobenzene
Chlorobenzene is an aromatic organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5Cl. This colorless, flammable liquid is a common solvent and a widely used intermediate in the manufacture of other chemicals.
Uses
Historical
The major use of chlorob ...
, which was an ingredient for an explosive used in World War I. Later, solvents like trichloroethylene and phenol were sold for use by the subsidiary degreasing and dry cleaning company Detrex. Hooker licensed his diaphragm cell technology to other chloralkali producers.
In 1918, Hooker formed a company to hydrogenate vegetable oils, while Hooker Chemical also began producing sulfur chloride and
sodium chlorate
Sodium chlorate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Na ClO3. It is a white crystalline powder that is readily soluble in water. It is hygroscopic. It decomposes above 300 °C to release oxygen and leaves sodium chloride. Sever ...
.
In 1922, Hooker bought the S. Wander & Sons Company for the retail sales of lye and chlorinated lime. Samuel Wander had a retail store at 105 Hudson St, New York, NY, and factories in Albany, NY. Hooker sold the business in 1927. Hooker built a new chloralkali plant in
Tacoma, WA
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Par ...
in 1929. Additional products, including
sodium sulfide,
sodium sulfhydrate,
sodium tetrasulfide, and
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
chloride were produced by the company.
World War II
In World War II, Hooker was a leading supplier of dodecyl
mercaptan for the synthesis of rubber. The company also produced
arsenic trichloride,
thionyl chloride
Thionyl chloride is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a moderately volatile, colourless liquid with an unpleasant acrid odour. Thionyl chloride is primarily used as a chlorinating reagent, with approximately per year bein ...
, and
hexachlorobenzene. Hooker expanded into plastics manufacturing, developing epoxy
vinyl ester resin Vinyl ester resin, or often just vinyl ester, is a resin produced by the esterification of an epoxy resin with acrylic or methacrylic acids. The "vinyl" groups refer to these ester substituents, which are prone to polymerize and thus an inhibitor is ...
s, and in 1955 acquired a thermoset plastic phenolic resins business, called Durez Corp.
Sale to Occidental Petroleum
Occidental Petroleum Corporation purchased Hooker Chemical Company in 1968. Since then, owners have renamed the company several times.
Documentaries
In 2002, filmmaker David J. Ruck told the story of the Hooker Chemical Company and its environmental negligence in Montague, Michigan, in the documentary film,
This is Not a Chocolate Factory'
The films, ''
The Killing Ground'' and ''A Fierce Green Fire,'' also explore the history of several of Hooker Chemical's dumping sites and the
Love Canal tragedy.
References
{{Authority control
Chemical companies of the United States
Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York (state)
American companies established in 1903
1968 disestablishments in New York (state)
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1968
Love Canal
Chemical companies established in 1903
1903 establishments in New York (state)
1968 mergers and acquisitions
External Links
''A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet''- Documentary film directed and written by Mark Kitchell. Explores 50 years of environmental activism in the USA. Inspired by the book of the same name by Philip Shabecoff.