For years U.S. chemical journals have discussed the violent and unpredictable explosive qualities of perchloric acid.* But 42-year-old Robert O'Connor did not read chemical journals. As secretary and manager of Los Angeles' O'Connor Electro-Plating Corp. he was chiefly concerned with sales and new business. He was delighted when a dark, bespectacled little man told him about a secret new electrolytic brew compounded of perchloric acid.
The little man's name was MageeĀ"Doctor" Robert Magee. He said he had a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He showed O'Connor some samples of aluminum he had treated...