Editing Lloyd Hall

{{Short description|American chemist (1894–1971)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Lloyd Hall
| birth_name        = Lloyd Augustus Hall
| birth_date        = June 20, 1894
| death_date        = {{death date and age |1971|01|02|1894|06|20|df=yes}}
| death_place       = Pasadena, California
| nationality       = American
| fields            = [[Food preservation]]
| birth_place       = [[Elgin, Illinois]]
| alma_mater        = [[Northwestern University]], [[University of Chicago]]
| spouse            = Myrrhene Newsome
}}

'''Lloyd Augustus Hall''' (June 20, 1894 – January 2, 1971<ref name="acs">[https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/african-americans-in-sciences/lloyd-augustus-hall.html Lloyd Augustus Hall]</ref>) was an American chemist, who contributed to the science of [[food preservation]]. By the end of his career, Hall had amassed 59 [[United States]] [[patent]]s, and a number of his inventions were also patented in other countries.

==Biography==
Lloyd Hall was born in  [[Elgin, Illinois|Elgin]], [[Illinois]] on June 20, 1894.<ref name="acs"/> Hall's grandmother came to Illinois using the "[[Underground Railroad]]" at the age of sixteen. His grandfather came to Chicago in 1837 and was one of the founders of the Quinn Chapel [[African Methodist Episcopal Church|A.M.E. Church]]. He became the church's first pastor in 1841. Hall's parents, Augustus and Isabel, both graduated high school. Although Lloyd was born in Elgin, his family moved to [[Aurora, Illinois]]. He graduated in 1912 from [[East Aurora High School]]<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TUIHbempHkUC&dq=lloyd+augustus+hall+high+school&pg=PT723 | title=African American Almanac: 400 Years of Triumph, Courage and Excellence | isbn=978-1-57859-380-4 | last1=Bracks | first1=Lean'tin | date=February 2012 | publisher=Visible Ink Press }}</ref> in Aurora.<ref>''Aurora Schools Report'', 1996.33.31a-z, Aurora Historical Society, Aurora IL</ref> After graduating school, he studied [[Medicinal chemistry|pharmaceutical chemistry]] at [[Northwestern University]], earning a [[Bachelor of Science]] and a [Master's degree]at the [[University of Chicago]]. At Northwestern, Hall met Carroll L. Griffith, who with his father, Enoch L. Griffith, founded Griffith Laboratories. The Griffiths later hired Hall as their chief chemist.

After leaving university, Hall was hired by the [[Western Electric|Western Electric Company]] after a phone interview. The company refused to hire Hall after they discovered he was black. Hall then went to work as a chemist for the Department of Health in [[Chicago]] followed by a job as chief chemist with the John Morrell Company.

During [[World War I]], Hall served with the [[United States Ordnance Department]] where he was promoted to Chief Inspector of Powder and Explosives. In 2004, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work.

Following the war, Hall married Myrrhene Newsome and they moved to Chicago so he could work for the Boyer Chemical Laboratory, again as a chief chemist. Following this, Hall became president and chemical director for Chemical Products Corporation's consulting laboratory. In 1925, Hall took a position with Griffith Laboratories where he remained for 34 years.<ref>[http://www.griffithlaboratories.com/United_States/en-US/people/Griffith+Family+Heritage/C+L+Griffith.htm C.L. Griffith] at Griffith Laboratories</ref><ref>[http://www.griffithlaboratories.com/United_States/en-US/people/Profiles+In+Excellence/Dr+Lloyd+A+Hall.htm Dr. Lloyd Augustus Hall] at Griffith Laboratories</ref>

==Major contributions==
Lloyd Hall devoted much of his life and efforts to food science [[Curing (food preservation)|curing]] [[meat]], particularly to improving a [curing salt] marketed by Griffith Laboratories known as [[flash-drying]]. This product originated with [[Germany|German]] chemist [[Karl Max Seifert]], developer of a process whereby solutions of [[sodium chloride]] and one or more secondary salts were sprayed onto hot metal and rapidly dried, producing crystals of the secondary salts encased inside a shell of sodium chloride. Seifert patented the process in 1934 and sold the rights to Griffith Laboratories.<ref>[http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=01950459&idkey=NONE United States Patent and Trademark Office Publication Number: 01950459]</ref> The adaptation of Seifert's process specifically for meat curing was then patented by company owner Enoch L. Griffith, who proposed [[nitrate]]s and [[nitrite]]s, well-known curing agents, as the secondary butt salts.<ref>[http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=02054624&idkey=NONE United States Patent and Trademark Office Publication Number: 02054624]</ref>

Lloyd Hall is often falsely credited with the original invention of Seifert's process. However, Hall took a leading role in developing the patent after it was sold to Griffith Laboratories, adding [[Hygroscopy|hygroscopic]] agents such as [[Glucose|corn sugar]] and [[Glycerol|glycerine]] to inhibit caking of the powder. Most of his patents in meat curing dealt with either preventing caking of the curing composition, or remedying undesired effects caused by the [[anticaking agent]]s.

Hall also investigated the role of [[spice]]s in food preservation. It was common knowledge that certain seasonings had [[antimicrobial]] properties, but Hall and co-worker Carroll L. Griffith found that some spices carried many [[bacteria]], as well as [[yeast]] and [[Mold (fungus)|mold]] spores. To counter these problems, they patented in 1938 a means to sterilize spices through exposure to [[ethylene oxide]] gas, a fumigant. Hall and Griffith later promoted the use of ethylene oxide for the sterilization of medical equipment,<ref>[http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=02189947&idkey=NONE United States Patent and Trademark Office Publication Number: 02189947]</ref> helping to advance an idea that had been around for several  years.<ref>[http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.pw?Doci=02075845&idke=NONE United States Patent and Trademark Office Publication Number: 02075845]</ref>

Hall also invented new uses of [[antioxidant]]s to prevent food spoilage, especially the onset of [[Rancidification|rancidity]] in [[fat]]s and [[Vegetable fats and oils|oil]]s. Aware that unprocessed vegetable oils frequently contained natural antioxidants such as [[lecithin]] that slowed their spoilage, he developed means of combining these compounds with salts and other materials so that they could be readily introduced to other foods.

After retiring from Griffith in 1959, Hall consulted for the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] of the [[United Nations]]. From 1962 to 1964, he sat on the American [[Food for Peace]] Council. He died in 1971 in [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], [[California]]. He was awarded several honors during his lifetime, including [[honorary degree]]s from [[Virginia State University]], [[Howard University]], and the [[Tuskegee University|Tuskegee Institute]] and in 2004 he was inducted into the [[National Inventors Hall of Fame]] for his work.,<ref>[http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/205.html National Inventors Hall of Fame] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041029015440/http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/205.html |date=2004-10-29 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[Charles E. Hall]] was his uncle.<ref name="obituary">{{cite news |title=Obituary for Charles E. Hall |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-obituary-for-charles-e-hal/162097067/ |access-date=2 January 2025 |work=Evening star |date=30 September 1952 |pages=12}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name="obituary2">{{cite news |title=Charles Hall, Statistics Expert, Dies In Chicago |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-afro-american-charles-hall-statisti/162096010/ |access-date=2 January 2025 |work=The Afro-American |date=11 October 1952 |pages=22}} {{Open access}}</ref>

==Patents==
#1,882,834, 10/18/1932, Asphalt emulsion and manufacture thereof
#1,914,351, 6/13/1933, Protective coating, Enoch L.Griffith (co-inventor)
#2,022,464, 11/26/1935, Vitamin concentrate,
#2,097,405, 10/26/1937, Manufacture of bleached pepper products
#2,107,697, 2/8/1938, Sterilizing foodstuffs, Carroll L. Griffith (co-inventor)
#2,155,045, 4/18/1939, Inhibited detergent composition
#2,189,949, 2/13/1940, Sterilizing colloid materials
#2,251,334, 8/5/1941, Protein composition of matter
#2,321,673, 6/15/1944, Yeast food
#2,357,650, 9/5/1944, Puncture sealing composition and manufacture thereof
#2,363,730, 11/28/1944, Manufacture of nitrogen-fortified whey concentrate
#2,385,412, 9/25/1945, Capsicum-containing seasoning composition
#2,414,299, 1/14/1947, Production of protein hydrolysate flavoring material
#2,464,200, 3/15/1949, Manufacture of stable dry papain composition
#2,464,927, 3/22/1949, Antioxidant
#2,477,742, 8/2/1949, Gelatin-base coating for food and the like
#2,493,288, 1/3/1950, Synergistic antioxidants and the methods of preparing the same
#2,500,543, 3/14/1950, Antioxidant
#2,511,802, 6/13/1950, Synergistic antioxidant
#2,511,803, 7/13/1950, Antioxidant flakes
#2,511,804, 7/13/1950, Antioxidant salt
#2,518,233, 8/8/1950, Synergistic antioxidant containing amino acids
#2,536,171, 1/2/1951, Production of protein hydrolysate
#2,758,931, 8/14/1956, Antioxidant composition
#2,770,551, 11/27/1956, Meat-curing salt composition
#2,772,169, 11/13/1956, Antioxidant material and use of said material in treating meat
#2,845,358, 7/29/1958, Method of preserving frozen pork

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050105220350/http://www.cpnahs.howard.edu/Ctr_excellence/coe_website04/history_photos/lloyd_hall.jpg Photograph of Lloyd Hall]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Lloyd}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American chemists]]
[[Category:African Americans in World War I]]
[[Category:People from Elgin, Illinois]]
[[Category:People from Aurora, Illinois]]
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American scientists]]