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Today, the employment of the modern hammer drill, using hollow steel, with air or water to expel the cuttings from the drill hole, is the rule rather than the exception in practically all rock-drilling operations. There is considerable carelessness in the matter of keeping the hole in the drill steel properly opened. Plugged steels wholly or partially, prevent proper operation of the drill, whereby drilling speed is retarded, water tubes are bent or broken, and time is lost in tink-ering, or, as often happens, the drilling gang is idle while someone makes a trip to the shop after another drill steel or water tube. To relieve this condition, the Ingersoll-Rand Company has developed, as an auxiliary to the Leyner sharpener, a new device-the Leyner shank and bit punch.

Jan 4, 1918

W. G. MATTESON, Houston, Tex.-I think that Mr. Powers has given us some very valuable information on the Healdton field, which is of material interest in view of the fact that the Healdton field has passed Cushing in the point of production, and if not leading, stands second only to the new El Dorado field in the point of production of the oil-in this country. Mr. Powers says that the deepest producing sand at Healdton is 1860 ft. Within the last 3 or. 4 months they have drilled to 2700 ft. there and found a sand which is producing very high-grade oil, if I remember correctly, about 42 gravity. Another very important point brought out by Mr. Powers is the fact that the Pennsylvanian beds and the Permian beds are conformable according to his interpretation. He seems to have based his interpretation upon the gathering of a number of well logs and a very careful study of them, but it seems to me the information furnished by the, well logs is really insufficient to justify such an important conclusion. In the first place, the difficulty of interpreting the line of demarcation between the Permian "Red Beds" of Oklahoma and the top of the Pennsylvanian is apparent, for the reason that sometimes the uppermost Pennsylvanian formation has a reddish phase and the line of demarcation is not very sharp.

Jan 4, 1918

KARL A. PAULY,* Schenectady, N. Y.-We are deeply indebted to Mr. Hobart for a record of the actual experience of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. with electrification. One of the essential features of this test is that it was made under actual operating conditions. In one of the western mining districts I was once discussing the electrification of a large hoist with a mining operator, who told me that they had made a very thorough test and that the results were such as to indicate that electrification was not warranted. When questioned regarding the test, he said that they had called on the mining college in the Territory for assistance, and one of the instructors and a group of students had made the test. They first cleaned the boilers and then operated them at a' continuous load, using the maker's guaranteed steam consumption per indicated horsepower as a guide in estimating the steam consumption under actual hoisting conditions. Such a test is absolutely valueless. The efficiency of the boilers 'is affected by the intermittent demands on the steam. The standby losses, as indicated by Mr. Hobart's paper, are quite equal to the actual fuel consumption required to do the work; very frequently, also, the cost of repairs is either omitted or underestimated. One noticeable feature of Mr. Hobart's tabulation is that there is no mention of steam consumption. Intentionally or otherwise, the steam-hoist builders have befogged the question by making a great point of the steam consumption of hoists. The operator is not at all concerned in steam consumption; it is the actual cost of operation that he is interested in, and it is a comparison between the cost of operation of the two systems, all factors being considered, that should determine the choice. The steam consumption, or its determination by test, is only one step in the problem of estimating the fuel consumption, which, in an actual installation, can be directly measured much more accurately, as was done by Mr. Hobart.

Jan 4, 1918

By Chung Wang

CHINA now leads the world in antimony production, having contributed during recent years something over 60 per cent. of the world's production. The history of the antimony industry of China dates back to 1897 when the Tai Shing Co. was formed, under contract with the Hunan. Bureau of Mines, for the smelting of the ore to crude; and in 1908 the Wall Chang Mining & Smelting Co. was formed for the smelting and refining of the ore and crude to regulus. The writer was then asked to take charge of the erection and control of this first plant for regulus production in China and has, since then, been more or less connected with the antimony industry in this country. This paper contains the results of many years' experience in connection with the Wah Chang Mining & Smelting Co., Changsha; the Pao Tai Mining & Smelting Co., Wuchow; the Loong Kee Smelting Works and the To-Cheng Smelting Works, Hankow; as well as information gathered from various other small smelters, scattered in different parts of the Provinces of Hunan, Hupeh, Kwangsi, and Kwangtung. An idea of the growing importance of regulus production in this country can be gleaned from the fact that, within a period of about 8 years, the export of regulus from Hunan alone jumped from 3 tons in 1908 to about 6000 tons in 1915; that a production of about 23,000 tons of regulus per year could easily be effected from all the smelters, as tabulated below, most of which were erected a year or two ago under the stimulus of the war booms, if the price at Hankow were to stay somewhere about $900 (Mexican) per ton, half of what it was at its height, thus enabling the utilization of ores from the hinterlands of the provinces; and even under the present ruling of prices and the closing of the less-favored smelters, the production of regulus should not be less than 12,000 tons per year.

Jan 4, 1918

Draftsman and transitman for coal mine work in Middle West. Salary $125 per month. No. 277. Mechanical draftsman familiar with mill and machinery design for metallurgical and chemical plants. Advise experience, salary expected, and references. No. 289. Two cyanide shift bosses, one cyanide mill supt, and one assayer, for work in South America. Expenses clown and return if two year contract is made. No. 290. In assay laboratory of University in the Middle West, man to take charge of ore-dressing and. help in assay laboratory work. Willing to give right man assistant professorship. No. 291. Experienced appraisers familiar either with field or office methods, capable of field survey of the physical properties and able to check up their survey on the books of the company, which require a very intimate knowledge of accountancy. Salary $2000 to $2700. No. 292. Young man trained in chemistry and engineering to conduct experimental work on storage of coal. No. 293.

Jan 4, 1918

ROSWELL H. JOHNSON,* Pittsburgh, Pa.-The industry, I think, has suffered very severely from the lack of just such work as has been done by Messrs. Lewis and Beal. I think we owe a great deal to the Bureau of Mines for at last undertaking this much needed work, even though it is so belated. It could have been of very great assistance in so many properties where its usefulness has now passed. I think it is perhaps well to sound a note of caution, owing to the fact that so much of this information was derived from eastern Oklahoma; but with the new bulletin giving the decline for many fields, there will be far less danger of falling into error through assuming too much uniformity. The cumulative percentage curve seems to 'me to be a. particularly splendid idea. It should have a very important -influence, especially as the authors have themselves pointed out several variables that ought to be taken into consideration. The thickness, I think, is going to be an especially important one to work out along the general lines of method that they have advanced. Probably the most surprising thing in the paper is the general rule that the decline of a well is more correlated with its size than with its age. I can't help but think that that generalization, important as it is, is rather rough and will not apply so clearly when we have a larger number of fields before us. Still the generalization, rough as it is, is of very great importance, since the industry has been very largely basing a great many of its ideas on the ignorance of that principle. It leads to certain corollaries that are of great consequence. The first is that the undrilled portion of the property must be appraised on a. different basis from that used for the drilled portion.

Jan 4, 1918

NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the period of Feb. 10, 1918, to Mar 10, 1918. ADKINSON, HENRY M., Min. Engr Walker Bank Bldg., Salt Lake City, Utah. BARKE, A. C., Min. Engr., United States Smelt., Refin. & Min. Exploration Co., 1503 Hobart, Bldg., San Francisco, Cal. BARKER, F. L., Prof. of Min. and Geol., Pei Yang University, Tientsin, China. BEASLEY, ALFRED F., Supt. Of Refinery, Bunker Hill & Sullivan Min. & Cone. Co., Kellogg, Idaho. BEEKLY, A. L Chief Geol., Cosden & Co., Tulsa, Okla. BELLIS, ARTHUR E Met., N. E. Westinghouse Co., Springfield, Mass. BRAIN, ELMER C Mgr., United Gold. Min. Co., Granite, Ore. BRUNER, CRANE S., Engr., American Zinc, Lead & Smelting Co., Carterville, Mo. COLLINS,. HARRY R Mech. Engr., Fuller Engineering Co., Allentown, Pa. CRANKSHAW, ALDEN, Experimental Met., New Jersey Zinc Co. (of Pa.), Palmerton, Pa. GALLIGAN, EMMET F., Mine Supt., Homestead-Iron Dyke Mines Co., Inc., Homestead, Ore. GREENE, FRANK C Geol., Cosden Oil & Gas .Co., Tulsa, Okla. HALSEY, HOWARD G Field Engr., 0. M. Bilharz Min. Co., Miami, Okla. HARROUN, DOUGLASS HOUGHTON, Supt.., Aguascalientes Metal Co., Asientos, Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Jan 4, 1918

E. E. BACH, Ellsworth, Pa.-A personal interview with a man is one factor in reducing labor turnover; his working conditions is another, while the conditions under which lie brings up his family is still another; all have much to do with the reduction of labor turnover. A man well placed, happy in his work and happy in his home, will stay put and incidentally decrease the labor turnover in any industry. C. R. HOOK, Middletown, Ohio.-I am so deeply and sincerely interested in the employment problem, that it is very difficult for me, once I get started, to know when to, stop. In the first place, I want you to understand that I realize that what may be a possible accomplishment in the plant with which I happen to be connected, may not be possible of accomplishment in the same way in your plant. Our problems might be quite different; our location might be quite different, and therefore our employment problem would be very much affected by the community conditions. Two of our plants happen to be located in a town of about

Jan 4, 1918

[This paper was presented for the author, who is now in the National service, by H. M. Chance, and was illustrated by a working model built to the plans shown in the Bulletin, for February, 1918, p. 268. For more convenient operation, a small motor-driven centrifugal pump was attached to the overflow outlet (5, Fig. 1, p. 267) delivering to the inlet, 4. The pressure of ingoing water was then adjusted by a valve at 4, and was indicated by the column of water in a vertical glass tube connecting with the pressure chamber; an average pressure of 15 in. of water column was maintained during the demonstration. The sand used in the test was beach sand, which had simply been passed through a 20-mesh screen; about 45 per cent. was finer than 80 mesh. The circulation of water was at the rate of about 5 gal. per square foot per minute, and the rising velocity of the water in the box as a whole (not the velocity of the jets) was 6 in. per minute. At this consistency, the specific gravity of the fluid mass was between 1.55 and 1.60. Mr. Chance estimated that it would be possible to maintain a fluid mass of this consistency, 3 ft. deep, and with an area of 50 by 60 ft. with an expenditure of 15-hp. Mr. Chance then showed how a lump of coal would float on the fluid mass, and also made a separation of slate from coal on a small scale in a wire cage submerged momentarily in the fluid. The following demonstration relates to a matter not contained in the original paper, and was presented as of interest to the operators of cyanide and other lixiviation processes dealing with fluid mixtures of varying specific gravity.-Ed.]

Jan 4, 1918

FRED. MACCOY, Raton, N. M. (written discussion *).-In the review of the Chilean nitrate industry presented by Messrs. Rogers and Van Wagenen, the most critical point relating to the future of the industry has been summed up in the last paragraph: when nitric acid can be produced synthetically cheaper than from the Chilean deposits, the Chilean industry will cease. A study of the prevailing mining methods and extraction process leads one to suspect that much can be done to reduce the present cost of the finished product; and a reasonable reduction of the cost would make available immense reserves of low-grade caliche, the locations of which are fairly well delimited. In a study of costs, one finds that actual data are very hard to procure. The average operator does not know, with any degree of reliability, his "head assay," what percentage of the caliche is lost in mining, nor what tonnage of caliche he is putting into the maquina. One manager remarked to me, "We are not concerned in what it costs to treat a ton of caliche, we are interested only in what it costs to, produce a quintal of' finished nitrate." Apart from the crude methods of mining, and the inefficient work in extraction, attention is at once drawn to the fact that the 40d., stated as the cost of the nitrate at the plant, has become 80d. by the time it is on board ship. Of this 100 per cent. increase in value, 70 per cent. is

Jan 4, 1918

[Instead of presenting his paper, as printed, Mr. Rice gave a brief illustrated lecture on the subject, the illustrations being largely maps of the coal fields in several parts of Europe, and graphic diagrams illustrating the production and consumption of coal throughout the world.

Jan 4, 1918

THE CHAIRMAN (G. H. CLEVENGER, Stanford University, Cal.).¬I would like to ask Mr. Pyne if he has had any experience inn the use of chromite as refractory under conditions that are highly reducing? I am reminded of an experience I once had with an electric furnace. I imagined that chromite would form a splendid lining, but it soon disappeared; hence it seems probable that, under highly reducing conditions at a high temperature, chromite is a very poor refractory. F. R. PYNE.-In copper smelting the atmosphere is generally neutral, or slightly oxidizing; we do not use highly reducing atmospheres at all, not even in the matting furnace. You can take the chromite brick and treat it as you would an iron ore, obtaining ferro-chrome very readily, from which the copper will separate. We have done this; in fact, at one time we considered installing a small electric furnace for the production of ferro-chrome. FOREST RUTHERFORD, New York, N. Y.-During the time I was general superintendent at the smelter of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Co., at Douglas, Ariz., a great many experiments were made on the furnaces and settlers with different kinds of brick, and I agree with Mr. Pyne's statements about chrome brick. Their power to absorb metals is very great, and as they cannot be smelted at any temperatures obtainable in a copper furnace, to get rid of the bats and extract the metal from them is quite a problem. We finally got down to using chrome brick only for lining the settlers, out of which we often got a life of upwards of 2 years, and for lining the blast-furnace bottoms, for the reason that chrome brick can be heated and wet, or wet after being heated, without going to pieces, whereas under these conditions magnesite brick will break down very rapidly. We also used a layer of chrome brick above and below an 18-in. band of magnesite brick put on the slag line of the reverberatories, in order to separate the magnesite from the silica brick, fearing that they would slag each other and let the wall drop. The idea worked, but became unnecessary on account of a change made in the method of feeding the furnaces. Chronic brick will not stand up under pressure so well as a good Grecian or Austrian magnesite brick, on account of the poorer bonding properties of the materials from which the chrome brick is made.

Jan 4, 1918

HUDSON MAXIM, Brooklyn, N. Y.-Immediately after the creation of the Naval Consulting Board, Admiral Strauss, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance of the Navy, told members of the Board that the most important problem for the scientists to solve was erosion in large guns. The Navy, for years, had been working on the problem with marked suceess, but there was much yet remaining to be accomplished. As Chairman of the Committee on Ordnance and Explosives of the Naval Consulting Board, I communicated with several experts in the manufacture of steel, principal among whom was Prof. Howe. He generously agreed to help in every way possible, and the work that he has done and the time that he has spent upon it can he appreciated only by reading his paper. Prof. Howe asked for some rings. from a, certain 14-in. gun which Admiral Strauss had mentioned in particular, and in which, he had informed us, at each shot the bore of the gun, was enlarged about 0.001 in.,' and that after a relatively small number of rounds it was considerably eroded. It has puzzled scientists for a long time to account for the peculiar erosive effect produced by the powder gases in a gun, arid: what Prof. Howe has done in his paper is worthy of Sherlock Holmes. He is a veritable Sherlock Holmes of science.

Jan 4, 1918

W. E. RUDER, Schenectady, N. Y. (written discussion?).-To many members of the Institute, papers like this one by Prof. Jeffries, and that on "Reversal of Inheritance" by Prof. Howe, may seem highly academic. Aside from their direct application to all heat-treating processes, to my mind, the establishment of a physical fact and the correlation of facts into a definite law are in themselves ample justification for immense effort. A law, once established, cannot be ignored by those who carry the work along to practical ends. In studying both papers, it seems to me that each author is more concerned with defending a theory than with explaining the individual results as published by various investigators. Take, for example, my sample of pressed electrolytic iron, frequently referred to by both. Prof. Howe, defending inheritance, says that the grains on the second (1300° C.) heating inherited their size from the mother austenite. Prof. Jeffries, defending reversed inheritance, elabor-.

Jan 4, 1918

By Albert Brokaw

THE so-called ?paraffin dirt" of the Gulf Coast oil fields has been con¬sidered an indication of the possible presence of oil and gas, and not a few wells have been brought in solely on the basis of such evidence. In a sense, it may be empirically justified as evidence of the presence of oil or gas, though it cannot be said to be infallible. If the writer is correctly informed, its association with oil and gas was pointed out by Lee Hager some years ago, and while it is commonly mentioned by geologists and operators in conversation, no discussion seems to have found its way into print. The present interpretation is based on laboratory study rather than on field investigation, and is put forth with the hope of stimulating discussion which shall lead to more complete understanding. The term "paraffin dirt" has been applied to soils with a peculiar texture, which has been described' as "curdy" or "rubbery." When moist, the material breaks much after the fashion of "green" cheese. It is rubbery under compression, but does not resemble rubber in tenacity or cohesion. When dry, the material ranges from hard clods to a horny mass of high tensile strength. The shrinkage in drying is very great, especially in the hornlike matter. The moist material ranges in color from dark brown in the specimens rich in organic matter to grayish in specimens containing more inorganic matter. All of the specimens studied were readily attacked by molds, which in some cases grew in great profusion on the samples. Samples exhibited a rather characteristic "swampy" or "mucky" odor when wet, and a characteristic odor of humic soils when moist.

Jan 4, 1918

D. J. DEMOREST,* Washington, D. C. (written discussion ?).-This paper is a real contribution to technical science; it will make it' easier to think accurately about the inner workings of a blast furnace. I was rather surprised to read that the authors regarded as a new discovery the idea that a molten mixture of CaO, A1203, and Si02 is a molten solution of the compounds of these oxides rather than of the oxides in each other. Surely no. chemist with an active respect for the known facts of chemical affinity could believe that these oxides could be melted together without forming compounds, and that these compounds would then dissolve in one another. This work does, however, help to establish what it was supposed must be true. I think it is worth while, in the light of the work of the Geophysics Laboratory, this work of the Bureau of Mines, and that of previous investigators, to visualize what happens as a charge passes down through a blast furnace, thinking especially of the slag-forming materials. These are chiefly kaolin (Al203.2SiO2.2H2O), quartz, and limestone. These substances do not undergo much change until the limestone decomposes at about the middle of the furnace, whereupon the chemical affinities of CaO and SiO2 must begin to he active; especially if there is any amorphous Si02 present. This forms CaSiO3, and the SiO2, CaSi02 and Al2-032SiO2 then come together to form the binary and ternary eutectics so well located by the work of the Geophysics Laboratory. No matter how much lime has been charged into the furnace, the formation of this eutectic will start it about the same height in the furnace and the gangue will start to get pasty at the same height. If the charge is such that the

Jan 4, 1918

Feb. 18 to. 21, 1918 Committee on Arrangements J. E. JOHNSON, JR., Chairman BRADLEY STOUGHTON, Vice-Chairman A. R. LEDOUX RALPH W. DEACON F. T. RUBIDGE L. W. FRANCIS E. M. SHIPP MRS. S J. JENNINGS J. V. N. DORR A. L. WALKER G. D. VAN ARSDALE R. M. RAYMOND Finance Committee ALBERT R. LEDOUX, Chairman WALTER H. ALDRIDGE J. H. JANEWAY GEORGE D. BARRON CHARLES F. RAND WALTER DOUGLAS BENJAMIN B. THAYER

Jan 4, 1918

ROBERT E. TALLY,* Jerome, Ariz. (written discussion ?).-Mr. Sherman's paper, entitled "Measures for Controlling Fires at the Copper Queen Mine," embodies two new and very important features: First, automatic closing of doors communicating with the dangerous area; second, the use of a portable storage-battery fan. His other procedures, such as giving a general fire alarm, getting workmen to the surface, etc., are equally important, but have long been in use in other places. Fire and ventilating doors in connections leading to shafts, air raises, and other large timbered areas, have been in use at other mines; but the method described by Mr. Sherman for operating these doors by compressed air, through a valve on the surface, is, so far as I know, original, and should be installed in every mine where there is danger of fire. Nearly all large mines are now using artificial ventilation, with the result that there are strong air currents in the shafts and other important workings. The most important feature in mine fires is a quick and positive control of the ventilation, for it takes but a few moments for smoke to travel over a large area, with the usual results of suffocation, and destruction of property. A strong air current in an upcast shaft acts as a draft in case of fire, and unless quickly cut off the fire would soon get beyond control. An upcast shaft usually changes to a downcast when large amounts of water are used. Human lives are in more danger from downcast currents, as the smoke travels into the workings.

Jan 4, 1918

H. M. BOYLSTON, Cambridge, Mass.-I would first like to ask what machine Capt. Bellis used to make his tests on impact strength. I have made some tests with the Charpy impact machine, the specimen being supported at both ends and nicked in the middle, and, find that the results do not always agree with those obtained by the Izod and other machines. I would also like to ask what effect the composition and heat treatment of the tool steel had on the drilling of his rifle barrels, as compared, with the heat treatment of the steel itself? I notice that the analysis of the composition of steel used shows sulphur 0.050 and phosphorus 0.065; I should like to ask how those high limits of sulphur and phosphorus came to be allowed? I have some data which lead me to feel pretty certain that those high limits make for very unsafe steel in rifle barrels. It has never been explained to the satisfaction of all of us, why the manganese is so high: 1.22 per cent. I believe several reasons have been stated; among them, that it is high in order to compensate for the high sulphur, and also to increase the elastic limit and improve other physical properties of steel. Lastly, I wish to ask whether Capt. Bellis has tried any different methods of heat-treating his steel rifle barrels? Apparently these were all heat-treated before machining; has he had any experience with heat-treatment after machining, especially after drilling? Those questions may seem somewhat outside of the range of this -paper, but they are important, and if Captain Bellis can give us any information, it will be very helpful. Dr. J. A. MATHEWS,* Syracuse, N. Y.-The same subject was discussed here last year, and the earlier papers by Dr. Carle Hayward seem to indicate that nothing was gained by the length of time of 'tempering. (It should be borne in mind that his results were based upon electrical and magnetic measurements and not upon tensile tests.) That idea has been accepted as gospel by steel workers, until late years, and particu-larly in connection with alloy steels, on which there is no question that the effect of time of tempering is very marked.

Jan 4, 1918

DR. E. E. SOUTHARD,* Boston, Mass.-As Director of a Psychopathic Hospital, I am a sort of "voice in the wilderness" speaking to mining engineers. I suppose that I am here because Major Gilbreth had prevailed upon me to speak on a kindred topic before the mechanical engineers at the annual meeting of their Institute. You might wonder why a psychopathic hospital, a state institution for the first care of mental cases and especially for incipient, acute and curable cases, should have any part or lot in the industrial problem. We have obvious contacts in our institution with the retarded and exceptional children of the schools, with the defective and non-defective

Jan 4, 1918