However, there was a problem.
The production of ethanol could not be patented and therefore their sale could not generate much profit.
But lead was a poison whose toxicity was well documented.
As early as 2nd century, the Greek botanist Nicander described the colic and paralysis seen in lead-poisoned people.
He noted that lead fumes rob the limbs of the virtues of the blood.
Gout, one symptom of lead poisoning, was common in affluent Rome.
People from the 20th century fared no better.
Symptoms of lead poisoning.
Image credit: Wikimedia
Lead is a neurotoxin that accumulates in soft tissues and bones.
Lead also affects general health, cardiovascular, and renal systems.
They called their additive simply ethyl, dropping lead from the name to make it sound more benign.
Leaded gasoline allowed the use of higher compression ratios for greater efficiency and peak power.
Particularly in aviation, leaded gasoline allowed companies to produce supercharged engines such as the Rolls-Royce Merlin and Griffon.
However, problems began to start at Ethyl Corps manufacturing plant almost immediately.
The company tried to hush the news, but at times it became impossible.
William Kovarik reported in an article:
Several workers had to be subdued and put into straightjackets.
They were black and blue from uncontrolled muscle spasms.
They exhibited paranoid and delusional behavior such as cringing from phantoms or snatching at imaginary winged insects.
The afflicted workers could be suddenly violent or suicidal.
A gasoline station selling Ethyl-mixed gasoline.
His statement carefully avoided any mention of ethanol as an effective, clean-burning anti-knock additive.
Midgleys next major invention was equally disastrous.
General Motors refrigerators at that time were becoming a popular household appliance in the twenties.
Others were highly toxic if inhaled, and were also flammable.
Dichlorodifluoromethane was highly volatile (a requirement for a refrigerant) and also chemically inert.
Soon CFCs appeared in a dozen applications including air conditioners, aerosol spray cans and in asthma inhalers.
Millions of these units got sold, and Midgley added another feather to his capthe Perkin Medal in 1937.
Besides, CFCs are greenhouse gases too, and ten thousand times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Bill Bryson, inA short history of nearly everything, called it the worst invention of the twentieth century.
His death itself was a curiosity.
After contracting polio at the age of 51, Midgley became crippled and bedridden.
He devised an elaborate system of ropes and motorized pulleys that automatically raised or turned him in bed.
In 1944, he became entangled in the cords as the machine went into action and was strangled.
Many countries agreed to completely eliminate CFCs by the year 2000.
Tetraethyl lead was also phased out by the early 2000s by most countries.
The last country to sell leaded gasoline is Algeria, which halted sale only very recently in July 2021.
