Charles J.Plank Edward J. Rosinski Patent No. 3,140,249 Catalytic Cracking of Hydrocarbons with a Crystalline Zeolite Catalyst Composite

Dr. Charles J. Plank was born in Calcutta, India, where his American parents were Methodist missionaries, in 1915. The following year, the family returned to the United States and subsequently moved to his father's hometown, Lafayette, Indiana. In 1936, Dr. Plank received his BS degree in mathematics, chemistry and physics from Purdue University, and later M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physical chemistry, the latter in 1942.

He joined the Research Department of Socony-Vacuum Oil Company--the predecessor of Mobil Oil Corporation--in 1941, where practically all of his professional career has been in the field of catalysis. In 1970 he became Senior Scientist, the company's highest scientific post, at Mobils' Research and Development Laboratory in New Jersey.

Dr. Plank's research efforts have led to 83 U.S. patents and several hundred in other countries. He is the author or co-author of a dozen scientific publications.

Dr. Plank is a member of many scientific organizations and has held several offices in these groups. In 1970, he and co-inventor Edward Rosinski won the Outstanding Patent Award by the New Jersey Council for Research and Development, for the first commercially useful zeolite catalyst introduced in the petroleum industry for catalytic cracking.

Edward J. Rosinski was born in 1921 to immigrant Polish parents who located on a farm in Gloucester County, New Jersey. The early exposure to crisis problems on the farm had a significant influence on his inventive career. Another influence was his interest in chemistry a Paulsboro High School.

While in high school, he decided to become a chemical engineer and after graduation in 1939, he was employed by the Vacuum Oil Company in the laboratory of a petroleum inspector. In 1940, he enrolled at Drexel Institute of Technology Evening College. His education was interrupted by a 1942-43 enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Force as an aviation cadet.

After discharge from the army, he became an electronics test engineer at RCA, and later at Atlas Instrument Company. During this period, he studied at Drexel, Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Radio Electronics Institute.

In 1947, he returned to Socony-Vacuum as a lab technician, resumed his education, and in 1956 received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering at Drexel. In 1972, he was promoted to the position of Senior Research Associate, the company's second highest scientific post. Together with Dr. Charles J. Plank, he became involved in the pioneering discovery and commercialization of zeolite catalysts.

Rosinski is inventor or co-inventor of 76 U.S. Patents, many in the field of zeolite catalytic technology, leading to new and improved applications in hydrocarbon conversions. In recognition of his accomplishments, he has received many awards, and the paper he co-authored with Dr. Plank was selected as one of the twelve most important papers published in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry magazine during its 64-year history.

The above information was supplied by the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, Inc., Room 1D01-Crystal Plaza 3, 2021 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia 22202. Videotapes and printed materials are currently available. For more information, visit the Foundation's web site at http://www.invent.org

      

         

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