Background
Robert was born on August 1, 1876 in Little Falls, New Jersey, United States, the son of Thomas B. Stanley and Ada Crooks Stanley.
Robert was born on August 1, 1876 in Little Falls, New Jersey, United States, the son of Thomas B. Stanley and Ada Crooks Stanley.
He first studied at Montclair High School. Then he began his career in metallurgy at the Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, New Jersey), where he received his degree in mechanical engineering in 1899. The Columbia University School of Mines granted him a mining engineering degree in 1901.
As his career unfolded, a host of honourary degrees followed from educational institutions including Stevens Institute of Technology, Queens University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
While working at Stevens Institute of Technology, Stanley was also an instructor in manual training at Montclair High School, from which he had graduated.
Stanley was first employed in Philadelphia by the S. S. White Dental Company, for which he conducted experiments testing the strength of platinum and gold alloys. He then went to the Orford Copper Company, a constituent of International Nickel Company of Canada, Ltd. (INCO), in Bayonne, New Jersey, where in 1904 he became assistant general superintendent.
In this post he discovered and patented Monel (1905), a white nickel-copper alloy noted for great tensile strength, resistance to corrosion, and a silvery appearance.
He began producing it in 1906 by direct roasting and reduction. In 1908, 264, 000 sheets of Monel were used for the roof of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in New York City. His greatest contribution to the science of metallurgy stemmed from his early work with Monel.
In 1925 he patented the Stanley process for recovering nickel by electrolytic refining. This method reduced the costs and time required for the separation of nickel and copper from nickel-copper ore and increased the amount of metal recovered.
On June 14, 1912, Stanley married Alma Guyon Timolat; they had two children. As general superintendent of the Orford Works from 1912 to 1917 and as first vice-president in charge of all operations of International Nickel from 1918 to 1922, Stanley was largely responsible for the increase in nickel production stimulated by wartime demand.
After World War I, however, the demand for nickel began to drop sharply. Stanley, who had anticipated this problem, sought new uses and civilian markets for nickel. This entailed building a new rolling mill in Huntington, West Virginia, committing large sums of money for scientific research and development, and launching a sizable advertising campaign. His program was successful and nickel became an indispensable industrial product, especially in the automotive industry.
In 1922 Stanley succeeded W. A. Bostwick as president of INCO, a position he held until his retirement in February 1949. By 1939 approximately 85 percent of the world's nickel supply had peacetime uses, in large measure due to Stanley's efforts.
In 1928 he supervised the consolidation of the International Nickel Company of Canada, Ltd. , and International Nickel Company, Inc; the latter became a subsidiary of its Canadian parent. This merger united two companies that in 1949 supplied 75 percent of the world's nickel. Stanley also published Nickel.
During World War II, he developed a series of advertisements based on the idea that industry was helping to win the war, but that its major duty was to help to build a peaceful world. They contained no mention of INCO's products, were widely published, and received international recognition.
He died in 1951.
Robert Crooks Stanley provided the leadership through which The International Nickel Company of Canada, Ltd. , has emerged as one of the world's leading mining and metallurgical enterprises. Under his guidance ores with which metallurgists had long struggled in an effort to separate the nickel contents, have been made to yield this metal in ever-increasing quantities, as well as copper, platinum, and many by-product metals. His life is the history of INCO. He developed a world nickel-supply industry by means of a talent for organization, innovation, and unusual foresight. Mr. Stanley's outstanding achievements in the nickel industry brought him wide recognition in other fields. He was a director of a number of prominent United States, British, and Canadian companies and recipient of four honorary degrees in engineering, science, and law.
On June 14, 1912, Stanley married Alma Guyon Timolat; they had two children.
