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Hull Cell Introduction

Richard Hull invented the Hull cell in the 1930s, which became a universally used test method in the metal finishing industry. The simple design of the Hull cell allows operators to easily test how electroplating processes are affected by varying current density and additive concentrations. It revolutionized the optimization and quality control of electroplating. The Hull cell helped Hull's company identify effective corrosion inhibitors and became their most important product. Although Hull later lost control of the company, the Hull cell remains the most significant test method developed for the electroplating industry.

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218 views

Hull Cell Introduction

Richard Hull invented the Hull cell in the 1930s, which became a universally used test method in the metal finishing industry. The simple design of the Hull cell allows operators to easily test how electroplating processes are affected by varying current density and additive concentrations. It revolutionized the optimization and quality control of electroplating. The Hull cell helped Hull's company identify effective corrosion inhibitors and became their most important product. Although Hull later lost control of the company, the Hull cell remains the most significant test method developed for the electroplating industry.

Uploaded by

R.Subramanian
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Loughborough University

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Hull and his cell


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by the/an author.

Citation: GABE, D.R., 2007. Hull and his cell. Transactions of the Institute
of Metal Finishing, 85 (6), pp. 285-286

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• This article was published in the journal Transactions of the Institute of


Metal Finishing [ c Maney Publishing / Institute of Metal Finishing] and

is available at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/imf

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Hull and his cell
D. R. Gabe*
Richard O. Hull can almost be said to be
a one invention man, but the invention
is such that he is known universally in
the metal finishing field for it. As a
businessman, he can be said to have
had his greatest influence through a
technical invention.
Born in the USA, he was groomed for
a position in the family chemical
company which had been established in
Cleveland, Ohio to manufacture and
stock speciality chemicals for what we
now know as the surface technology
industries. By 1935, the company was
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Institute of Metal Finishing

The Hull cell


supplying additives for the surface
engineering industries under the name
of R O Hull and later RohCo. The
company was best known for supplying
corrosion inhibitors to the chemical and Business instinct told him that he originator.5 A patent from the same period,
oil industries: such chemicals had needed a test to assess ‘macro throwing for a corrosion testing rig utilising salt spray
surface-active characteristics and it was power’ or current density ranges for mists,6 shows that corrosion inhibitors
not long before Hull realised that they optimum performance. The same were an equally vital part of the business.
could be used as additives for instinct took him to a simple plating cell Although Hull clearly recognised the
with a varying anode–cathode spacing cell’s limitations, for example in an
electrochemical processes notably
and its launch in 1939 was first, as a adaptation to allow suspension of the
electroplating and this discovery was the
patent,1 and then, as a conference cell in the plating vat,3 the
driving force for most later activities.
technical paper for the American developments to meet the need for a
Electroplaters Society.2 Its simplicity as a linear distance/current density scale on
test which operatives could use was the panel and the need to incorporate
obvious and soon its virtue was being heaters and agitation, etc. have been
widely extolled. It can be made of taken up by many others.7,8
Perspex, Lucite or polypropylene and the Richard Hull himself lost control of the
dimensions are Imperial not Metric; the company in the 1950s when it was
depth was chosen such that its volume bought by the Lubrizol Corporation,
allows for a 1 g addition of additive being whereupon the business became
equivalent to the following in a large tank: redirected towards the oil and chemical
industries. The electroplating interests
267 ml cell (21=2 ’’ in depth)~1 oz
were merged as McGean-Rohco Inc.
per US gallon which in turn was absorbed into Atotech
in the 1990s. Richard Hull’s lasting legacy
320 ml cell (3’’ in depth)~1 oz is the most important test method the
electroplating industry has ever had.
per Imp: Gallon
The claims for the Hull Cell were References
fourfold:
a. to optimise current density range 1. US Patent 2149344, March 1935.
b. to optimise additive concentrations 2. R. O. Hull: Proc. Amer Electro-
c. to recognise impurity effects platers Soc. 1939, 27, 52–60.
d. to indicate macro-throwing power 3. R. O. Hull and J. B. Winters. U.S.
capabilities. Patent 2801963, August 1957
At first the company made the cells itself 4. US Patent 3121053, February 1964.
but, as its business focus was always 5. W. Nohse: ‘The Hull cell’; 1966,
Richard Hull chemicals, not hardware, manufacture London, Robert Draper.
was licensed so that they have become 6. US Patent 3273802, 1966.
available from a number of suppliers. 7. D. R. Gabe and G. D. Wilcox: Trans
IPTME, Loughborough University, Nevertheless, updating patents were IMF 1993, 71, (2), 71–73.
Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK taken out 3,4 but the definitive book of its 8. D. R. Gabe: ‘Test cells for plating’, Met.
*Email [email protected] time was written by a user and not the Fin. (USA) Guidebook. 1995 et seq.

ß 2007 Institute of Metal Finishing


Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
DOI 10.1179/174591907X246429 Transactions of the Institute of Metal Finishing 2007 VOL 85 NO 6 285
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Institute of Metal Finishing

R. S. Briggs IEng, FIMF, JP, President 2007–2009

286 Transactions of the Institute of Metal Finishing 2007 VOL 85 NO 6

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