Precursors of the modern chemical industry began to emerge in Northern Europe in the middle of the eighteenth century. The Industrial Revolution boosted activities such as soap-making, glassmaking and textiles production, which required increasing quantities of chemical products. The Lead Chamber process for the manufacture of sulphuric acid, required for the production of dye, was developed in the 1740s by John Roebuck then based in Birmingham. Production of this key commodity rose steadily. By the 1820s, British annual production had reached 10 000 tons of 100% acid. By 1900, Britain was producing one quarter of the world's output with an annual production approaching one million tons. Demand for alkalis for glassmaking and soap-making, for textile dyes and for bleach was also growing rapidly in the second half of the eighteenth century, and it became clear that existing sources of these materials would not be sufficient. In response to a prize established by the Academie des Sciences, Nicholas Leblanc had devised by 1791 a method for converting common salt into soda ash, which was to become the central operation of the world alkali industry for about one hundred years.

`Scaling Up is an excellent history of the chemical engineering profession in Britain and the development and growth of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. It is well laid out and the text is generally easy to read. Overall, it is a highly recommended book for anyone interested in the history of Chemical Engineering.'
Bulletin for the History of Chemistry, 27:1 (2002)

Klappentext

Chemical engineering - as a recognised skill in the workplace, as an academic discipline, and as an acknowledged profession - is scarcely a century old. Yet from a contested existence before the First World War, chemical engineering had become one of the 'big four' engineering professions in Britain, and a major contributor to Western economies, by the end of the twentieth century. br/ The subject had distinct national trajectories. In Britain - too long seen as shaped by American experiences - the emergence of recognised chemical engineers was the result of professional aspirations and contingency, and shaped by a shifting ecology of institutions, firms and government. Drawing upon extensive archival research, this book examines the evolution of technical practice, working environment and social interactions of chemical engineering. It will be of considerable interest to historians, sociologists of the professions, and to practitioners themselves.

Inhalt
1: Introduction: An elusive profession.- 2: '... That doubtful and indescribable person, the chemical engineer ... '.- 3: Catalysing an identity, 19151925.- 4: Designing professionals.- 5: Dampened aspirations.- 6: Rapid expansion.- 7: Unstable equilibrium.- 8: Institution versus profession.- 9: Conclusions: Distilling an identity.- Appendices.- Early organisers of chemical engineering in Britain.- Institutional statistics.- Comparative membership growth.- IChemE membership by grade.- Female membership.- Professional affiliations.- Membership by employment sector.- Qualifications versus time.- Institutional organisation.- Regional branches of the IChemE.- Subject groups of the IChemE.- Teaching statistics.- Chemical engineering programmes and chairs in British teaching institutions.- Annual production of chemical engineers in Britain.- Occupational statistics.- Census returns.- Salaries.- The literature of chemical engineering.- Structure, content and role.- Periodicals.- Note on archival sources.- Periodicals employed as primary sources.- Other published works.