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By Mark R. Lamb

The treatment of slime is of special interest to those engaged in cyaniding gold- and silver-ores. The usual practice is to make as small a percentage of slime as possible. In many instances the slime is given no treatment, but is impounded in dams in the hope that the future will develop some method of economically treating this product. The filter-press was the first step upward from ordinary decantation, but, on account of heavy labor-charge and high cost, its use has been limited to high-grade material. The slime at the Combination mill at Goldfield averages perhaps $20 per ton, and although the values are quickly dis solved the filter-press installation was not entirely satisfactory, resulting in the erection of the canvas-cell filter, developed by Chas. Butters and his staff. This filter is a great improvement over the filter-press, and the following description of it will be of interest to those engaged in treating slime produced in crushing ores, especially in view of the fact that, by the use of this filter, slime can be treated at a lesser cost and with a higher percentage of gold- or silver-extraction than in the ordinary treatment of sand; and, moreover, the initial outlay for an all-sliming plant is less than that for the ordinary sand- and slime-plant. The economy of construction of the Butters filter-plant is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, which illustrate the 20-frame filter of 40 tons capacity, now being installed by the Nevada Goldfield Reduction Co. In this construction the slime-pump is so connected that it call pump to or from either tank or the filter by changing the valve-settinga—a combination which is necessary in this particular installation, since sufficient fall is not available for filling and discharging the filter by gravity. Ordinarily, a slime-plant comprises: a filter-box with frames

Jan 1, 1908

By James Douglas

Though liberality is not supposed to be a prominent trait of the Scottish character, Canada owes to a Scotchman, Sir Wm. Macdonald, more than to any other of its people, not only wise ideas, but pecuniary help towards extending education: and another Scotchman, in New York, has sumptuously housed under one roof three branches of the engineering fraternity, of which we are one. Having thus created us members of the same family—for the metaphorical meaning of house and kinship is identical—Mr. Carnegie expresses more emphatically than even he could in words, that, by aff'ording facilities for closest intercourse, he invites the mechanical, electrical and mining engineers to participate in the freest interchange of idea and experience, and to correlate and combine the results of their studies and activities; and, being members of the same household, to banish reserve and secrecy. And now we, the members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, meet as though we were at home in a neighboring country. For whether we meet in Canada, in England, or elsewhere, the Institute is always received as though no political or geographical divisions separated its members from those of congenial associations in the land of its host. In truth, the title which we have assumed claims for the sphere of our activities the whole American continent, regardless of such trifling details as boundary-lines. The fact that we meet to communicate each other's experience, to discuss our difficulties, and to seek each other's aid in solving the intricate problems that so often present themselves in the course of our professional life, is an acknowledgment of our individual helplessness; and therefore an argument for united effort. But no effort can be of any value if there is an underlying suspicion

Jan 1, 1908

Jan 1, 1908

Jan 1, 1908

By William P. Blake

The salt-beds at Salton, on the line of the Southern Pacific railway, in San Diego county, California, have been successfully worked for many years by the corporation known as the East Liverpool Salt Co., and the salt has been largely used upon the Pacific coast generally and in the interior. But the industry has lately been destroyed by the overflow from the Colorado river. The salt is dissolved, and the waves of the Salton sea now roll 50 ft. above the site of this once thriving and growing business. The salt-bed was evidently the residual accumulation from the waters of an ancient lake, which I have named Cahuilla, from the name by which a large part of the valley—the home of the Cahuilla tribe of Indians—is known. The deposit covered a comparatively small area in the lowest part of the valley, 280 R. or more below the sea-level. This depressed area is now generally known as the Colorado desert, but has a soil of wonderful fertility wherever water can be had on its surface. The deserted beaches, and the water-lines, only a few feet above tide-level, upon the rocks of the bordering mountains, as well as a great abundance of shells in the soil, all bear decisive testimony to the former occupation of the valley by water. The depression is topographically the northern end of the Gulf of California, from which it is now separated by the delta of the Colorado river, extending practically from the mouth of the Gila river across the valley to the coast mountains on the

Jan 1, 1908

By Frank Firmstone

. In the early decades of the past century the method of starting iron blast-furnaces by " scatlolding-down" seems to have been in universal use for coke-furnaces and, at least in this country, for charcoal-furnaces also. It was likewise used at some of the early anthracite-furnaces, as is stated in the important " Reminiscences" printed by the late Samuel Thomas.' It had been generally superseded in Great Britain as early as 1850, by some variations of the plan now used, and was rarely used when Percy wrote.2 On the Continent it was still followed ill the 60's; and was elaborately described by Valerius in 1852. I have never read any statement as to when and by whom " scaffolding " was first dispensed with, but the following extracts from journals of my father seem to fix an authentic date for an instance in this country: " [Pittsburg] July 12, 1838.—Went with Major Wade to his foundry,etc., and he gave me a letter to D. Tyler, Esq., Farrandsville, Agent Boston Coke & Iron Co." " [Lockhaven, Pa.] July 18, 1838.—Heard there was a flat-boat going to take some gentlemen up to Farrandsville. Got on boat and to Farrandsville, 5 or 6 miles, in 1 hr. 30 min. Dined, and then delivered my letter to Ma Tyler, who showed me much attention, and everything belonging to the furnace, and had the water turned on the wheel that I might see the blowing-cylinders at work. There are two cylinders, 6-ft. stroke, -56 in. in diameter, but they find that one makes more than enough blast for the furnace. The furnace has 16-ft. boshes, 7-ft. tunnel-head, and is 47 ft. high, 3 tuyeres, and 3 heating-ovens [hot blast-ovens]. A

Jan 1, 1908

By H. O. Hofman

Lime-roasting is a term proposed by Ingalls' for the operation of forcing air under pressure through a mixture of galena and lime at the kindling-temperature with the object of oxidizing lead and sulphur and of fritting or fusing the charge. If finely-divided galena were treated in this manner without the addition of lime, the heat set free by the oxidation of part of the lead and the sulphur would be sufficiently great to fuse un-decomposed sulphide, and thus stop desulphurization. Besides the chemical action that the addition of lime, limestone or gypsum to the charge may have, the admixture has the physical effect that it keeps the particles of galena separated from one another and accessible to the oxidizing effect of the air. At present, three methods of lime-roasting are carried out on a working-scale,—the Huntington-Heberlein, the Carmichael-Bradford and the Savelsberg2 processes. In the last, which interests us here, an 8-ton charge is made up of galena, limestone and perhaps some siliceous or ferruginous flux; the whole is crushed to pass a screen with 3-mm. holes and moistened with 5 per cent. of water. It is fed gradually into a bowl-shaped converter, 6.56 ft. in diameter, supported by trunnions attached to a truck. On the bottom the converter has a grate with blast-inlet beneath. In starting, the truck with the converter

Jan 1, 1908

By Charles Catlett

An examination of the census reports' for 1880, which contain a large number of complete analyses of typical American iron-ores, indicates that the existence of barium sulphate in intimate association with iron-ore is rather unusual. Of 94 analyses reported there, but four show any barium sulphate, and the maximum content amounts to 3.04 per cent. The note of the occurrence of considerable quantities of barite in connection with certain iron-ores found in the Pinar del Rio Province of Cuba may be of interest. These deposits are found near the little village of Francisco, about 25 miles west of the city of Pinar del Rio on the Western Railroad of Havana. The principal ridges are anticlines, and consist of very thick deposits of sandy shales and slates containing a large number of little veins of white quartz, which, by the gradual disintegration of the mass of the material, is left covering the surface. This quartz occasionally shows sulphide, but is generally barren of any such indication. At times lenticular masses of a more or less pure limestone mere observed in these slates. The shales, which are of light color, are occasionally talcose. The formation would tentatively be classed as the Lower Cambrian, arid the heavy ridges of comparatively horizontal limestone found in the anticlinal valleys as the Upper Cambrian. Along the crest of these slaty ridges deposits of iron-ore are found which are apparently in place, and were probably formed by replacement of masses of limestone similar to those noted elsewhere. The ready disintegration of the slates, arid the

Jan 1, 1908

Jan 1, 1908

By John Birkinbine

Mr. Neilson was born Aug. 12, 1842, at Philadelphia, Pa., where he died Dec. 30, 1906. His business career began with his graduation, in the class of 1862, from the Polytechnic College of the State of Pennsylvania. For a short time after graduation he was instructor in mathematics at the college, and then became associated with Messrs. Booth & Garrett, chemists, of his native city. In 1867 he was sent to the Adirondack mountains to care for mining interests of the late Jay Cooke, and spent about three years there, operating the forges at Elizabethtown, Essex county, N. Y. He also prepared an interesting monograph on Catalan forges and their operations. In 1868 he published a chart showing the material progress of the United States, and the cost of certain staple products during a series of years, which is believed to be the first of its kind issued in this country. In 1870 he made a trip to the Pacific Coast, prior to entering the service of the Pennsylvania Steel Company.

Jan 1, 1908

By H. O. Hofman

The object of refining copper in the reverberatory furnace is to obtain a metal which will have the highest attainable degree of malleability, ductility and electric conductivity, and present at the same time a level surface when it solidifies in the mold after casting. These desirable physical properties are governed by the character of the impurities and the forms in which they are present, by the amount of cuprous oxide retained by the copper, by the quantity of gas held in solid solution, by the casting-temperature, and by the thickness of the casting. The effects of impurities, of cuprous oxide and of gases upon the mechanical properties of copper have been studied by Hampe1 in his classical paper " Colitributions to the Metallurgy of Copper." The most recent research into the effect of metals upon the electrical conductivity of copper is that of Addicks. 2 The influence of cuprous oxide upon the electrical conductivity has been investigated by Walker3 and Addick. 4 The absorption of gases has received attention by Hampe: Stah16 and Heyn 7 The effects of casting-temperature have been noted by Stahl.8

Jan 1, 1908

By F. L. Clerc

The lead and zinc region of SW. Missouri is interesting, not only by reason of the value of its output, which ranges in the neighborhood of ten million dollars a year, but even more because of the facilities which it offers for the study of certain forms of ore-deposits, of' which the loci and genesis are somewhat obscure. Although the mineral species found in the region are few and of common occurrence, crystallization has taken place on a generous scale, and unusual forms abound in many combinations, presenting examples of pseudomorphism, para-genesis, metasomatic replacement and the action of mineral-depositing and mineral-dissolving waters. For the mineralogist, lithologist, and specialist in certain lines of metamorphism, it has peculiar attractions, while the systematic geologist will perhaps find its chief claim to attention in the simplified problem it presents, in the study of ore-deposits. In addition to the phenomena above enumerated, it presents instances of well-developed comb-structure in the ores, fissures and faults, and slickensides—features usually associated with extensive movements in the earth's crust, and believed by some authorities to prove the deep-seated origin of the ores. In connection with these occurrences, the absence of all igneous rocks from this region is noteworthy and significant. For that reason, the simplified case presented by the Joplin region, from which these rocks have been eliminated as a factor, is specially valuable. Having had unusual opportunities to watch the development of this district, I have been deeply interested in the bearing of the revelations of the Joplin mines upon questions of universal importance to the science of ore-deposits; and it was to my great regret that the project of a meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers at Joplin, proposed in 1892, was

Jan 1, 1908

By Luther Wagoner

Having given in a former paper1 the results of assays of sea-water, bay-mud, dredgings from San Francisco bay, etc., and believing it might be interesting to extend the work to include some deep-sea dredgings, I procured from the Smithsonian Institution six samples taken by the U. S. steamer Albatross, and marked as follows: Depth in No. station. Locality. Latitude. Longitude. Fathoms. 1. 2103. Off Delaware bay. 38' 47' 20" N., 72o 37' W., 1,091. 2. 2265 to Between Chesapeake 35° 37' N., 74O to 75O W., 49 to 70. 2297. bay and Hatteras. 3. 2420. Off Chesapeake bay. 37' 03' 20" N., 74O 31' 40" W., 104. 4. 2528. East of Georges 41° 47' N., 65o 37' 30" W., 677. bank. 5. 2572. SE. of Georges bank. 40° 29' N., 66O 041 W., 1,769. 6. 2681 South of Nantucket. 39' 43' N., 70' 29' W., 990. The above samples were assayed by the cyanide-method, described in my former paper (p. 807), about 30 g. of sample being used, and the following results were obtained: Value in Milligrams Per Metric Ton. No. Station. Gold. Silver. 1. 2103. 145 1,014 2. 2265 to 2297. 44 304 3. 2420. 15 353 4. 2628. 267 1,963 5. 2572. 125 377 6. 2681. 66 414 No. 4, Station 2528, consisting of red clay and volcanic ash, mas re-assayed ; 35 g. was roasted at a low heat for one hour and weighed 34.05 g. after roasting; the color was changed to a deep brick-red; and when assayed by the cyanide-method

Jan 1, 1908

By J. Kent Smith

Vanadium is generally spoken of as a rare element; but, even in the light of our resources as known a couple of years ago, this description could be accepted in a qualified sense only. In fact, vanadium is very widely distributed, being a constituent of most clays, while even caustic soda has been shown to contain almost regularly a minute proportion of it, although the quantity in each case is so small as to render impracticable the extraction of the metal therefrom with profit. The opening-up of a large deposit of vanadium sulphide ore in South America has put a new phase on the commercial outlook of vanadium, the technical value of which for the improrement of steel has been proved by rigorous scientific investigation. This sulphide ore has the following analysis: Per Cent. Vanadium sulphide,.39.84 Molybdenum sulphide,.1.57 Nickel sulphide,.........1.49 Iron sulphide,.........4.07 Arsenic sulphide,.. nil. Copper sulphide,.. nil. Manganese sulphide,..nil. Free sulphur,..30.57 Phosphorus,...nil. Silica,....13.60 Alumina,..........2.46 Combined water, 5.00 Carbonic acid, Lime, magnesia, potash, soda and unaccounted for, 100.00 Being a free-burning ore it is calcined with ease, losing 45 per cent. of its weight in the process. The calcined ore has the following analysis:

Jan 1, 1908

Jan 1, 1908

Jan 1, 1908

By Henry M. Howe

Jan 1, 1908

By E. von Maltitz

In his highly interesting paper, Piping and Segregation in Steel Ingots,' Prof. Howe emphasizes the effect of successive phases of internal pressure in the ingot in the evolution of gas, and the consequent formation of blow-holes. From his statements in other places, it may be inferred that he does not here intend to ignore the other variable factor, temperature, but rather to discuss this one more particularly. At all events, it is my purpose not to engage in controversy with Prof. Howe, but, rather to contribute, towards the complete elucidation of this important subject which we all desire, my own views and experience. If, in doing so, I specially emphasize other factors than pressure, I need not be understood as denying what I do not think it necessary to discuss fully. Nor, in presenting my own original conclusions, need I be understood as claiming to be the first who ever reached or announced them. Many things are asserted or suggested upon inconclusive evidence; and to confirm such tentative propositions may be as valuable a service as to overthrow them. In the following passage, Prof. Howe adduces analogies, based upon the behavior of charcoal and of water, respectively, which seem to me questionable : "In general, the solvent power falls as the pressure falls ; and in general it rises as the temperature falls. Thus, to heat a solid, for instance charcoal, may expel part of its dissolved gas ; and a tumbler of water drawn cold from the faucet gradually evolves gas, as it stands and warms up on the sideboard." (p. 72.) Charcoal is a solid body, which has the property not only of absorbing gases in large quantities, but also of expelling the thus absorbed gases upon heating. A comparison between charcoal and iron as to the absorption of gases is scientifically not possible; the gas-content of charcoal is partly due to the

Jan 1, 1908

By Arthur S. Dwight

The profeseional career of Thomas Septimus Austin, who died at El Paso, Tex., Aug. 23, 1906, was contemporaneous with the growth of the silver-lead smelting-industry of the Far West, to which his talents and zeal contributed in no small degree. Born at Stratford, Conn., Dec. 7, 1853, he was the seventh son in a family of thirteen. His parents were well-to-do; and he received a thorough preliminary training at the Hopkins Grammar School, New Haven, Colin., passing thence to the Columbia School of Mines, in New York, where he was graduated in 1876. His first professional work was that of analytical chemist with a Cuban sugar company. In this position he spent a year, and, whatever else of benefit he may have acquired during that year in Cuba, he gained a facility of speech in the Spanish language which was of inestimable value in his subsequent work in Mexico and the southwestern United States. In 1877, he went to the Rocky Mountains, and, under the firm name of Murphy & Austin, opened an assay-ofice in Lead-ville, Colo., which was just then coming into public notice as a rich silver-lead camp. The next year, however, he entered the service of the Germania Smelting & Refining Co. at Salt Lake City, Utah, where he remained until 1882, first as assayer and chemist, and later as Assistant Superintendent. The Germa-nia bears the honorable distinction of being one of the first of the large " custom" lead-smelters erected in the West. Its founders may be called the pioneers of the modern lead-smeltr ing practice, and the Germania served, to a large extent, as a model for the many plants that sprang into existence during the next few years in Utah, southern Idaho, Colorado and other lead-producing districts. The formulation, for the first

Jan 1, 1908

Jan 1, 1908