My father’s most important lesson: fundamental change is difficult

Perhaps the most important lesson my father gave to me explicitly is that people resist change. I forget this exact wording – for I’m thinking about a specific conversation, dimly remembered – but it was something like this: given a choice between learning how to swim, and drowning, most people would drown. Rather dramatic, no?

But that kind of rock-bottom resistance to change has certainly dogged me my professional life (Rejected! @ New Literary History, with observations about the discipline). And I’m pretty sure that observation can out of his professional life. He was a chemical engineer and spent most of his career with the Bethlehem Mines Corporation where he was in charge of coal preparation, which involved removing impurities (mostly rock) from coal before it was used in smelting iron.

I assume that the change he was talking about – for I don’t recall him mentioning it in that conversation – was introducing European technology into North America. I’ve appended a conversation I had with Claude 3.5 about that, since I don’t personally recall the dates. He went on to other innovations at the end of his career, innovations which were, unfortunately, still born. Oh, he got some patents, but Bethlehem Mines was unable to put them to good use. Not so long after that the bottom fell out of the American steel industry, and that changed everything, whether or not people liked it.

* * * * *

My conversation with Claude 3.5 about change in cleaning coal. My prompts are in boldface while Claude’s replies are plain.

I’m interested in a specific development in the history of coal preparation. As background, my father, William Benzon, was Superintendent of Coal Preparation for Bethlehem Mines Corp. from, say, 1960 until his retirement in the mid-1970s. I remember that he was involved in introducing heavy medium cyclones (magnetite) into the US from, I believe, Dutch State Mines in the Netherlands. Do you know anything about that process and its history?

Heavy medium cyclones using magnetite suspension were indeed a significant innovation in coal preparation, introduced to the US coal industry in the 1950s-60s after being developed at Dutch State Mines (DSM). The technology improved the efficiency of separating coal from impurities by using a dense magnetite suspension in a cyclone to separate materials based on density differences.

Given your father's role at Bethlehem Mines during this key period of adoption, he would have been directly involved in implementing this important technology transfer from Europe to the US coal industry. The timing aligns with when US coal companies were actively seeking more efficient separation methods.

I should note that while I'm confident about the general history of heavy medium cyclones and their introduction from DSM to the US, I may not be able to verify specific details about your father's individual role since this represents fairly specialized historical information.

Would you be interested in sharing more about what you remember about your father's specific involvement in this technology transfer?

Thank you. You've given me enough. I just wanted to confirm the timing of that technology. Beyond that, I really don't know much. I know that my father traveled to the Netherlands. And Dutch engineers came to the states. Some stayed with at our hours on several occasions. But I don't really know the dates, the early-mid 1960s seems right, nor do I remember names.

Indeed, the timing fits the historical record. The collaboration between Dutch State Mines and US coal companies in implementing heavy medium cyclone technology was an important development in coal preparation during that period. Your memory of Dutch engineers visiting and your father traveling to the Netherlands provides valuable first-hand confirmation of how this technology transfer occurred.

What I do remember, and this is why I asked the question, is that at some time my father told me that the hardest thing in the world to do is to get people to accept new ideas. I’ve remembered that for my whole life. I suspect that what he had in mind was this business of heavy medium cyclones. That would have been about the time we had that conversation. Much earlier and I would have been too young to understand. Much later, well, much later and I would have been in college. But I just don’t remember him specifically mentioning heavy-medium cyclone technology in that particular conversation. All I have to go on is the timing.

There’s a company known as, I believe, Robertson and Shafer. Did they have anything to do with this technology?

Your father's observation about the difficulty of getting people to accept new ideas is particularly poignant given the context. The introduction of heavy medium cyclones would have represented a significant change in coal preparation practices, likely facing resistance despite its technical advantages.

Regarding Roberts & Schaefer (which I believe is the company you're thinking of) - yes, they were involved in coal preparation plant design and construction during this period. However, I should note that while I'm confident they were active in the coal preparation industry, I can't say with certainty their specific role in heavy medium cyclone implementation without risking making incorrect claims.

Yeah, that's the name of the company. Thanks.

Your father's insight about resistance to new ideas, combined with the timing and context of heavy medium cyclone implementation, suggests that observation likely did stem from his experience with this technology transfer. Coming from his position as Superintendent of Coal Preparation during this key transition period, it's a particularly meaningful observation about technological change and human nature.