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A filled stope is one in which the support for walls and men and, at times, for the back of ore, is furnished by waste rock or sand tailings. The filling may be rock sorted out in the stope or from the walls, develop-ent, or the surface. The orebody is mined in sections, each practically an open or timbered stope, filled wholly or in part before adjacent ground is attacked. As a rule, the filled-stope method is limited to overhand flat-back, stepped-face, or rill stopes. The examples given are Copper Range, Iron Cap, Verde district, Zaruma district, Lucky Tiger, and Silver King Coalition.

Jan 1, 1925

By William Cruger

OUTLINE SUMMARY A. Brief Description B. Characteristics 1. Can be highly cost effective 2. Restricted in usage 3. Political Controversy 4. Volume of Transactions 5. Users C. Mechanism 1. Five steps D. Investor issues 1. Application 2. Restricted usage 3. Discount 4. Formal or informal process 5. Restricted benefits 6. Recompense 7. Window of opportunity THE VARIOUS PROGRAMS1 A. Brazil B. Chile C. Venezuela D. Argentina E. Mexico USAGE IN THE MINING, METALLURGICAL, AND PETROLEUM INDUSTRIES

Jan 1, 1990

By Persifor Frazer

At a time when all those interested in the iron trade are carefully scanning the horizon for new sources of the raw material, a few words concerning a field, which though not new, has not been hitherto fruitful of statistical information, may be deemed appropriate at this meeting. The district alluded to is the belt of the Middle James River, or in other words, that portion of the ferriferous belts of Virginia lying between Josua Falls and the little settlement of Norwood, in the counties of Amherst and Nelson, and on the left bank of the James River. This region shows unmistakable signs of developing a very considerable market for iron ores and for iron in the future, as well as a tempting appearance of possible productiveness in the former. It, is extremely hazardous to deal in generalizations as to the productiveness or non-productiveness of these measures without a more thorough development than has yet been attained. It is true that they probably constitute an horizon whence comes a part of the marvellous mineral wealth of the northern peninsula of Michigan. But

Jan 1, 1883

By Arne F. Westgren

X-ray analysis and single-crystal study have been utilized in recent years as a new means of following constitutional changes in alloys. If such transformations can be suppressed by rapid cooling, they can be followed at room temperature in a particularly convenient manner. In the following we shall consider changes in solubility and polymorphic transformations with particular reference to phenomena of the age-hardening type. Finally a thermodynamic viewpoint is developed for examining such transformations. Changes in Solubility 1. Determinations of solubility limits in the solid state which show decreasing solubility with falling temperature are made as follows: A series of alloys extending into the heterogeneous region is prepared and quenched fromas high a temperature as possible, whereupon their lattice parameters are determined. Then one or more alloys are quenched from temperatures at which they are heterogeneous and their lattice parameters likwwise determined. For the purpose of determining the parameter the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 has been very useful for it produces sharp films in a short time which can be accurately read. High-order reflections (interferences) from the object are recorded on a film which is placed exactly perpendicular to the X-ray beam. The specimen usually has the shape of a small round bar.l Fig. 2 shows a selection of such exposures of silver-rich Cu-Ag alloys, and Fig. 3 gives the measurements made from these films. Fig. 4 gives the solubility curve which results.2 This curve is shifted to lower concentrations than the curve that is obtained from metallographic or physical methods. The X-ray method unquestionably gives more reliable data

Jan 1, 1931

By R. H. Landshof, Reynold Q. Shotts, James A. Redding

GENERAL INTRODUCTION by R. Q. Shotts The sizing of coal particles is one of the most important beneficiation operations performed from the time coal is broken at the face until it is delivered to the customer. Indeed, in many cases it may be virtually the only such operation performed in that interval, although it is most often accompanied by some comminution. Sizing, as the term implies, is a separation of the broken coal particles into arbitrary groups, each group containing particles within restricted mass, volume or size limits. Size itself is not a rigidly defined property, but is actually determined more by the operating principles of the sizing device than by unique properties of the particles themselves. Particle size cannot be uniquely defined independently of particle shape. Taggart l says, "In fact, it is not possible to state the size of a single irregular body by means of a single dimension; such possibility exists only for regular polyhedra and their limit, the sphere." In view of the scarcity of regular polyhedra among coal particles, even though most appear to approximate a cube, we actually define size in terms of a surface opening through which the particle barely will or will not pass, or of two openings, the smaller of which retains all particles of the group under study and the larger of which passes all of them. Alternatively, size is expressed in terms of rate of settling of particles in a fluid under closely controlled conditions. Historical Sketch2-Taken from Coal Preparation, 2nd Ed. "Sizing is the process of separating mixed particles into groups of particles all of the same size or into groups in which all particles range between certain definite maximum and minimum sizes. In coal preparation, sizing is generally accomplished by passing the coal over screens. Separation by differential settling in air or water currents has been adapted to the special field of separating very fine sizes, and these processes are in commercial use to a relatively small extent in the coal industry. Separation with screens is a very old industrial practice. Agricola described the use of screens for ore treatment in the middle ages. In the literature of the British coal industry references were made to the screening of coal as early as 1589, but the practice of extensive sizing for the market did not become general until the last half of the nineteenth century. "In America, the practice of sizing developed first in the Pennsylvania anthracite region, beginning with the use of rakes in the mine working places to recover coarse coal. The mining procedure left the fines in the mine.

Jan 1, 1968

By J. D. Livingston

THE hardening of alloys by the precipitation of a second phase has long been an important technological process. One approach towards improving our understanding of this phenomenon has been a correlation of mechanical properties with such parameters as particle size and inter par ticle spacing.' Several reviews of such data have appeared.2-4 A major limitation to this approach has been that for most alloys the particles are submicroscopic in size in the range of optimum hardness. Precipitation-hardening copper-cobalt alloys, therefore, are of interest, because the ferromagnetic properties of the precipitate make it possible to measure particle size, number of particles, and so forth, from magnetic measurements alone.5, 6 Livingston and Becker7 have applied these techniques to a study of precipitation hardening in an alloy of 2 pct Co in copper. It was found from magnetic measurements that nearly all the cobalt to be precipitated was out of solution within a few minutes at 600°C, whereas the peak in tensile yield stress was not attained until a much longer aging time. Thus during the first 1000 min of aging time at 600°C the Yield stress was increasing while a constant volume of precipitate was coarsening, i.e., while particle size and interparticle spacing were increasing. Peak yield stress was reached at an average particle radius of about 70A. The earlier study was confined to one alloy at one aging temperature, so that the volume fraction of precipitate was fixed and, therefore, particle size and interparticle spacing could not be independently varied. The work has now been extended to several alloys of varying percentage cobalt in copper, and to aging at various temperatures. It was hoped that such a study might clarify the relative importance to precipitation hardening of particle size, interparticle spacing, and volume fraction of precipitate. EXPERIMENT The alloys studied contained 0.7, 1.3, 2.0, and 3.2 wt pct Co in copper. They were prepared from electrolytic copper and electrolytic cobalt in a vacuum -induction furnace, worked to 3/8-in.-diam rod, and machined into tensile specimens with a gage section 1 1/2 in. long and 3/16 in. in diam. All specimens were given a solution treatment consisting of a 30-min anneal in nitrogen at 1000° C followed by a quench into iced brine. Subsequent aging was done in nitrogen and followed by a water quench. Average grain diameter was approximately 0.01 in.

Jan 1, 1960

By E. P. Pfleider

IT is generally believed that the amount of diamond drilling will increase appreciably in the next decade, as the search for minerals throughout the world becomes more difficult and intense. An attendant problem may be one of short diamond supply, resulting in higher bit and drilling cost. With this background, the U. S. Bureau of Mines1 and the School of Mines at the University of Minnesota2 have established comprehensive research programs in diamond drilling. One of the several aims is the design of a more efficient bit, which would lower diamond consumption and increase rate of advance, both essential in reducing drilling costs.

Jan 2, 1953

By Cyril Stanley Smith

The method of thermal analysis, so important in the development of metallographie science, has of recent years been falling into disuse owing to the development of other physical methods which give result's easier of interpretation and which can be used for the study of either equilibrium or transitional conditions because they do not require a continuously changing temperature. Nevertheless thermal analysis remains useful in the study of reactions that take place rapidly, and the simplicity of the experimental technique and the general availability of the apparatus involved are point's in its favor. Theoretically, thermal analysis is capable of giving specific and latent hat measurements and therefore should permit the study of reactions on a more fundamental basis than any other method. It is, however,difficult or impossible to obtain quantitative heat measurements from cooling curves obtained in the usual way. Even if the furnace containing the sample is cooled or heated at a linear rate, or if a gradient furnaec is employed to maintain a constant rate over a large range of temperature, the heat flow from or to the specimen depends on its previous history, for the difference of temperature between the specimen and its surroundings varies. The emissivity of the specimen surface, moreover, is unlikely to be constant. The able mathematical analysis by Russrll,1 although it prevent,s misinterpretat,ion of data, has an effect rather the reverse of that intended, and leaves the reader doubtful of the possibility of ever obtaining quantitative results from thermal curves. Nothing can be done to apply thermal analysis t'o the study of equilibrium conditions of reactions that arc not completed at rates of temperature change above about 1° C;. per minute, and this unfortunatetly excludes most solid transformations in alloys.† For the determination of liquidus

Jan 1, 1940

By Cyril Stanley Smith

The method of thermal analysis, so important in the development of metallographie science, has of recent years been falling into disuse owing to the development of other physical methods which give result's easier of interpretation and which can be used for the study of either equilibrium or transitional conditions because they do not require a continuously changing temperature. Nevertheless thermal analysis remains useful in the study of reactions that take place rapidly, and the simplicity of the experimental technique and the general availability of the apparatus involved are point's in its favor. Theoretically, thermal analysis is capable of giving specific and latent hat measurements and therefore should permit the study of reactions on a more fundamental basis than any other method. It is, however,difficult or impossible to obtain quantitative heat measurements from cooling curves obtained in the usual way. Even if the furnace containing the sample is cooled or heated at a linear rate, or if a gradient furnaec is employed to maintain a constant rate over a large range of temperature, the heat flow from or to the specimen depends on its previous history, for the difference of temperature between the specimen and its surroundings varies. The emissivity of the specimen surface, moreover, is unlikely to be constant. The able mathematical analysis by Russrll,1 although it prevent,s misinterpretat,ion of data, has an effect rather the reverse of that intended, and leaves the reader doubtful of the possibility of ever obtaining quantitative results from thermal curves. Nothing can be done to apply thermal analysis t'o the study of equilibrium conditions of reactions that arc not completed at rates of temperature change above about 1° C;. per minute, and this unfortunatetly excludes most solid transformations in alloys.† For the determination of liquidus

Jan 1, 1940

By H. C. Howard

Reaction of oxygen and bituminous coal starts as soon as the coal bed is exposed to air and, with some coals, proceeds with significant velocity even at normal temperatures and at normal oxygen partial pressures of one-fifth of an atmosphere. At higher temperatures, the reaction is greatly accelerated and ultimately a condition is reached where the process is very rapid and we then speak of combustion. It is the purpose of the present paper to discuss the reactions of oxygen and coal at temperatures below those of active combustion. It is these low temperature oxidation reactions which are responsible for heating in storage and for marked changes in agglutinating proper-ties. These reactions may also be employed for the preparation of organic acids, which are of direct interest to the chemical industry. For convenience in discussion, the low temperature reactions of oxygen and bituminous coal can be roughly divided into three stages though there is, of course, overlapping. Stage I is a surface oxidation stage, characterized by the addition of oxygen, with the formation of oxygen containing groups some of which have acidic properties. Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water may be formed con-comitantly and are always liberated at higher temperatures, and in cases where the oxidation is prolonged. Superficially, the coal is little affected by this primary stage of oxidation and usually only minor changes in ultimate composition result. There may be definite changes in coking and coking properties, and heat of combustion susceptibility to further oxidation. The presence of acidic groups can be demonstrated by specific reactions. These groups may show cation exchange properties like the mineral zeolites. The formation of oxalic acid has been reported. If the oxidation is continued, a large fraction of the organic material of the coal is converted ultimately into alkali soluble, acid insoluble products, which have been given the name "regenerated humic acids" and which are the characteristic products of Stage 2. These humic acids, in the solid stage, do not differ greatly in appearance from the original coal, but show large differences in chemical composition and chemical and physical properties. Along with the humic acids, carbon dioxide and some of the water soluble types of Stage 3, are also formed. If the oxidation is carried still further, the humic acids may be degraded completely to the simpler, lower molecular weight acids of Stage 3 which are characterized by solubility in acid as well as in alkaline media, and by their orange, yellow or white colors. Additional carbon dioxide is formed in the transformation from Stage 2 to Stage 3 and, for a number of American coals, a maximum yield of the water soluble types of acids is reached when about 50 pct of the carbon of the coal is converted to carbon dioxide. Primary Oxidation The initial step in the reaction of gaseous oxygen on coal, like that on carbon,

Jan 1, 1949

[NORTH AMERICA UNITED STATES ALABAMA Birmingham CORD, Richard H DISMUKES, Edward B Citronelle PERRIN, Huey P Fairfield PAGEL, Herbert Ervin Huntsville ENG, Harvard KELLEY, Dean W WAGGONER, J B Mobile HORNER, William L PETROUTSON, Peter C Montgomery GAMBLE, Halbert R Redstone RAWLINGS, William E Tuscaloosa MASON, William L University CUDWORTH, James R JONES, Walter B]

Jan 1, 1961

By A. B. Dyes

In the operation of a water-driven reservoir, a free gas saturation can he established by maintaining production rates fast enough to cause the reservoir pressure to decline below the bubble point. The benefit of such a procedure on the displacement efficiency of the oil by water is illustrated for two types of sandstone samples from one reservoir. Those rock samples showing the poorest recovery to water drive in the absence of a free gas saturation give the most improvement in the presence of a free gas saturation. Employing one type of reservoir fluid (low .shrinkage) the benefit of evolved gas on oil displacement is calculated at several reservoir pressures below the bubble point. This demonstrates the presence of air optimum pressure for water displace,rnent which is .several hundred pounds per .square inch below the bubble point. Displacement of oil at the optimum pressures results in the removal of 7 to I? per cent more oil than would be obtained by displacement at the bubble point pressure. In some instance. this magnitude of increase may be worthy of consideration in establishing the maximum efficient rate of production from many water-driven fields. INTRODUCTION For many years the belief that the use of gas could be combined with that of water to result in a better recovery operation than the use of either of these phases alone has been prevalent in the oil industry. This is evidenced by the several field trials which have employed the injection of gas and water in combination.1.2.v In most cases the small amount of any additional recovery, in combination with the limited knowledge available on the older reservoirs, has left uncertain the influence of gas on recovery in these earlier attempts to combine the use of gas with water. Research studies in recent years have demonstrated through laboratory. floods the magnitude of the benefit of the presence of gas on the displacement of oil from sandstones by water.5,6,7,8,9,10,11 In addition, studies of the distributions of the phases which are present during the displacement process have developed concepts concerning the mechanism by which this benefit is obtained."." It now remains for the engineer to incorporate these findings into the general technology of reservoir operations. It is the purpose of this paper to illustrate that the production of a water-driven reservoir at pressures below the bubble point is one such operation whereby improved oil displacement efficiency can be obtained as a result of gas evolution. The establishment of a gas saturation by evolution of dissolved gas was one of the techniques used by several investigators in the laboratory studies. The possibility of obtaining the benefit of gas evolution in water-driven reservoirs by producing at pressures less than the bubble point has 3150 been pointed out previously." The desirability of this operation has undoubtedly

Jan 1, 1955

By Orrin Peterson

THE decision of the Supreme Court of the United States not to review the findings of the lower courts closes an interesting chapter in the mining litigation that has arisen as a result of the extralateral feature of the mining law. The time seems opportune to record some of the important geological features, and also some of the legal features, of the controversy, in the hope that these will be permanently accessible to members of the mining profession. After many rumors of litigation, the Utah Consolidated Mining Co. sued its neighbor for the ore that had been, it was alleged, wrongfully extracted from its so-called Yampa limestone lode. This ore lay beneath Utah-Apex surface and was claimed by virtue of the extralateral rights conferred on the Utah Consolidated Co. through the ownership of certain specific mining claims, one of the principal claims being the Yampa. Previous to bringing suit, the Utah Consolidated Co. had strengthened its position by purchasing the Old Yampa mine and by making an agreement with the Utah Metal & Tunnel Co., which gave it clearer title to the outcrop of the Highland Boy limestone. Access to the workings of the Utah-Apex Co. was secured and reciprocal privileges gave Utah-Apex representatives the right to enter the properties of the Utah Consolidated Co. This resulted in the Utah-Apex immediately bringing countersuit for ore alleged to have been wrongfully extracted from under its surface in the Leadville country, see Fig. 4. Six cases came up for consideration: five related to the original suit and the countersuit, and one related to the Dana extralateral claims of the Utah-Apex Co.

Jan 6, 1924

THIS chapter and Chapter 19 deal with the heat quantities involved in open-hearth steelmaking, including the thermal efficiency of the furnace as a generator of high-temperature heat, the heat storage in the steel and slag produced and in the furnace walls, and the heats of the various chemical reactions involved in combustion, in the formation of slag, and the refining of steel. The fundamental laws to be considered are the first two laws of thermodynamics as applied to problems involving sensible and potential (or latent) heat only: 1. Heat input equals heat outflow plus storage. 2. Heat may be transferred only from a hotter body to a colder one. The first of these laws relates to the various heat quantities or the heat balance of the process. No one has as yet made an open-hearth heat balance that came out almost exactly balanced. The cause probably lies in the difficulties of accurate temperature and flow-rate measurements at the high temperatures involved and the inherent complexities in flow distribution and air leakage present in any real open-hearth furnace system. Some idea of the magnitude of the heat quantities involved can be obtained by a brief, crude outline of the heat balance of a 90-ton heat of steel. We will assume a 60 to 70 per cent hot- metal charge in a fairly fast working and only moderately efficient furnace, burning fuel oil, with a fuel consumption of around 4 million Btu per net ton of ingots produced. The time from start of charge to tap is 9 hr. During this period, the oil burned represents 360 million Btu and the sensible heat in the preheated air at the port ends is 117 million Btu, so that the total heat input at the ports is 477 million Btu. Heat stored in the steel and slag at the end of the heat, plus the various amounts absorbed by certain bath reactions, amounts to a total of 195 million Btu, but 120 million of this is supplied by the heat in the hot metal and by various heat-evolving reactions in the bath,

Jan 1, 1951

By C. Schlumberger, M. Schlumberger

The object of this paper is to clarify the idea, so important when exploring by potential methods, of the depth of investigation attainable by electrical measurements. After defining, with some precision, .the term "depth of investigation'' in geophysics, the authors show how it is possible to regulate this depth in potential methods and to obtain an 'electrical drilling" from surface observations. They consider also the difficulties encountered in deep measurements and indicate how it is possible to reach greater depths than those having an industrial interest. Depth of Investigation The term, depth of investigation, in its general sense, is easily understood. For instance, a driller who can pull cores from a depth of 2000 m. is capable of working, with accuracy, to that depth. By means of a properly placed drill, he may locate an orebody at a depth of 1999 m., however small this orebody may be. On the contrary, the term as used in geophysics requires precise elaboration. As a matter of fact, no geophysical method, irrespective of the physical property studied (density, magnetic permeability, conductivity), can discover a very small body at a great depth because, in practice, the physical parameter upon which such a geophysical method is based is never regular enough, throughout the ground, to distinguish the feeble anomaly caused by the small, deep-lying body from the numerous anomalies due to irregularities of the encasing terrains. Aside from this question of the ratio between the size of the body being hunted for and its depth of burial, a second factor plays its role in the possible depth of investigation; that is the difference, for the parameter under consideration, between the body and its surrounding material. The greater this difference, and the more homogeneous the encasing terrains, the greater is the possible depth of investigation. This being generally established for all geophysical methods, it is possible to distinguish two main classes of these methods, from this same point of view

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

FOR the development of a mine, a shaft of small cross-section is usually sunk, of no larger size than is absolutely necessary. After the mine has been developed and put on a production basis it is a common practice to sink a shaft of larger cross-section for hoisting and use the original shaft for the handling of men and material into the mine. While that ar¬rangement is usually expedient, the small size of the supply cages presents a problem in the handling of ma¬terial. Where a cage is, say, 4 by 4 ft., which is not an uncommon size, all lengthy and bulky material must be handled piece by piece several times from the supply department to the underground stations. Thus drill steel and timbers over 4 ft. long will be loaded on cars at the supply department and wheeled to the shaft, where each piece must be unloaded from the cars and stood up in the cage. They are then lowered to the shaft station, unloaded piece by piece and placed in cars, run to the supply station and again unloaded and stored until called for. In such a case handling becomes a major item in the cost of supplies.

Jan 1, 1930

By P. G. Winchell, J. K. Jackson

The strtcture of body-centered Fe-Ni-C alloys (0 to 16.5 wt pct Ni) containing less than 0.015 wt pct C was investigated by measuring the carbon-diffusion peak at low frequencies with a torsion pendulurrr. By determining the Snoek damping in ferrite and in quenched alloys of identical composition, the effects of nickel content and heat treatment were separated, and the existence of a structure in which Snoek damping is greatly reduced was revealed in the quenched ternary alloys. The relative amount of this structure increases with increased nickel content and cooling rate. It is proposed that this structure may be highly imperfect or tetragonal. In Fe-Ni-C alloys containing only ferrite the addition of nickel (0 to 5.1 wt pet) decreases tke area of the carbon-diffusion peak and shifts its position to lower temperatures but broadens the peak only slightljl. The decrease in peak area with increasing nickel implies that short-range interactions with the nickel atoms prevent some of the carbon atoms from participating in the relaxation process. The shift in the peak position indicates a long-range effect of nickel on the movement of carbon atoms so that at 300°K the diffisivity of carbon in -ferrite is increased by about 35 pct by the addition of 5.1 tut pct Ni. The results are presented as distributions of relaxation strength 072 the activation energy under the assumption that the frequency factor is invariant. BODY-CENTERED iron-base solid solutions dissolve carbon interstitially in the octahedral sites. The occupation of an octahedral site produces a tetragonal distortion of the surrounding lattice. These sites fall into three sets according to the orientation of the tegragonal distortion associated with each and may be identified by their lattice coordinates as: type 1/2 0 0, type 0 1/2 0, type 0 0 1/2. At low carbon levels in cubic ferrite the carbon atoms are distributed at random1 among these sites. In high-carbon body-centered iron-base solid solutions, which are unstable with respect to several two-phase mixtures, a tetragonal structure occurs as the product of the diffusionless transformation of austenite. This transformation is commonly accompanied by appreciable microstrain and its product is called martensite. The tetragonality of martensite, a supersaturated solution of carbon in a iron, is maintained prior to decomposition even though local diffusion of carbon occurs as evidenced by carbide precipitation. The tetragonality is taken as evidence that one set of octahedral sites is preferentially occupied by carbon. (This preferential occupation is called ordering below.) Support for this view is presented by the absence of strain-induced carbon-atom diffusion in high-carbon solid solutions (martensite). Such diffusion occurs in ferrite and produces the 40°C internal-friction peak observed at 1 cps frequencies.' Thus, there appears to be qualitative evidence favoring the view that at sufficiently high carbon levels tetragonality arises spontaneously as a result of the ordering of the carbon atoms; however, no experimental evidence exists concerning an equilibrium between cubic and tetragonal body-centered solid solutions. Moreover, attempts to estimate the energy of ordering7-' predict a value too low to maintain the tetragonality observed at medium carbon levels, 0.3 to 0.6 wt pct C. In the present work an attempt using internal-friction measurements is made to establish the presence or absence of tetragonality in low-carbon body-centered solid solutions formed by quenching austenite. Fe-Ni alloys containing about 0.01 wt pct and 0 to 15 wt pct Ni were selected for the study. While the work was in progress Gilbert and Owen10 reported that the transformation which occurs in these alloys during quenching at rates up to 5000°C per sec is not martensitic but is more properly categorized as massive. Thus, the solid solution

Jan 1, 1964

By George Rice

THE A.I.M.E. Ground Movement and Subsidence Committee, pro-posed in 1920, held its first technical meeting in February 1923, under the able chairmanship of Mr. H. G. Moulton. The following list of papers and discussions, indicating the scope of the problems and relation to various conditions and method of mining, were given at that meeting by the distinguished mining engineers: J. Parke Channing, on Subsidence at Miami, Arizona; Howard N. Eavenson, on Mining an Upper Bitu-minous Seam after a Lower Seam Has Been Extracted; J. J. Rutledge, on Subsidence in Two Oklahoma Coal Mines; Benjamin F. Tillson, on Caving Cracks at the Franklin Mine, New Jersey; Dr. F. W. McNair, on the Dome Theory; William Kelly, on disadvantageous effects in Mining and Back-filling Working Upward a Steep-Pitching Iron-ore Bed; Eli T. Conner, on the good results of Back-Filling by Hydraulic Means in Preventing Destructive Subsidence in the Anthracite District; Thomas H. Claggett, on the merit of Systematic Pillar Drawing in Preventing Cracks in an Upper Seam; Henry H. Otto, successful results in the anthracite district in Mining Lower Seams before Upper Seams; Douglas Bunting, on Leading Factors Incident to Successful Mining of an Overlying Seam; Edwin Ludlow, on there being "less damage to buildings when there was complete removal of coal with complete packing than when room and pillar is used without extracting the pillars"; Edward O'Toole on "bumps" in eastern Kentucky mines, which he thought were the result of geologic stresses: H. A. Buehler, on Upheaval of Surface in an Illinois Case in Advance of the Face; and R. Dawson Hall, on The Mechanics of Subsidence from Mining. The author of this paper discussed various kinds of problems of ground movement and subsidence in both metal mining and coal mining; the production of great landslides by workings near an outcrop, as at Turtle Mountain, Alberta, Canada; and general

Jan 1, 1939

VARYING in thickness and in number from place to place, coal seams in the Canadian Rockies also range in pitch from nearly horizontal to vertical, sometimes with overturns. Over the entire coal-bearing area there are considerable differences of rank in coals of the same geological age, and there are marked differences in ash content and washability characteristics. Correlation of seams at mining operations within a few miles of each other has often proved impossible. These factors influence mining methods, and, of course, production results. The oldest coal formations of western Canada are of Lower Cretaceous age, as the carboniferous sediments are marine and contain no coal. Coal is also present in formations of Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary ages. The rank of coal varies from semianthracite in some operations in the Kootenay and Luscar formations of the Lower Cretaceous in the Rockies to lignite in the Tertiary fields of the Saskatchewan prairies. Fig. 1 shows the general extent of the formations.

Jan 8, 1954

By Harry C. Gatos, Frank J. Bachner

It was shown through high-pressure experiments that tin loss by volatilizatim is necessary for the degrada-tion of the superconducting transition temperature of Nb,Sn associated with high-temperature annealing. Crystallochemical analysis of the degraded Nb3Sn showed that it constitutes a new phase with ordered niobium-site vacancies, created by the migration of niobium atoms to vaccnt tin sites. This new phase was found to form when 4 pct Nb-site vacancies were present. It has a transition temperature of 6'K and a lattice parameter of 5.283A. A similar degradation effect was observed in Nb,Al. Its superconducting transition temperature dropped from 16.5" to 8" K following a high-temperature annealing. The superconducting temperature degradation in these 0-tungsten structure compounds is attributed to the disruption of the interchain d bonding by the periodic interruption of the niobium atom chains. By annealing the degraded Nb, Sn at 1000 C in nitrogen its normal superconducting behavior is restored most likely due to the incorporation of nitrogen atoms causing the elimination of the ordered vacancies. HANAK et al.' have observed low superconducting transition-temperature values (T, - 9"K) in some NbsSn samples deposited from the vapor phase. They attributed such low T, values to disorder in the 0-tung-sten structure. Much lower T values (down to 5.6"K) were reported by Reed et al.zC for NbsSn samples annealed at high temperatures. These authors also attributed this degradation effect to disorder (random occupation of the A and B sites by niobium and tin) but pointed out that such disorder could be brought about (by high-temperature treatment) only in samples containing niobium in excess of the stoichiometric composition NbsSn. Both groups reported that the normal superconductivity behavior could be rever-sibly restored by appropriate heat treatment. Courtney et al., also found that degradation in NbsSn requires excess niobium brought about by the loss of tin during the treatment. However, these investigators proposed that the degradation is due to niobium-site vacancies resulting from the migration of the niobium atoms to the vacated tin atom sites. They did not consider the reversibility of the effect. The present study attempts to establish the nature of the above degradation phenomenon. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES All compounds prepared for this investigation were made from the powders or filings of the elements which were intimately mixed, cold-pressed into a cylindrical pellet at approximately 50,000 lb per sq in., and then submitted to the desired heat treatment. The samples annealed under high pressure were placed in a MgO sample container which was mounted in a pyrophyllite tetrahedron designed for a tetra-hedral-anvil press. Details of the experimental arrangement are given elsewhere. This setup allowed heating at 1800°C or above under pressures in excess of 30kbars for 3 hr. The samples annealed in a vacuum were prepared in a high-temperature vacuum furnace which could reach temperatures up to 2400°C under a pressure of 2 x lo-' Torr. For annealing in a reactive atmosphere, a quartz tube was placed in a clamshell furnace and the desired gas ambient passed through the tube. Lattice parameters were determined using a Debye-Scherer 114.6-mm camera. Cohen's method, programmed for the IBM 7094 computer, was used to calculate the lattice parameter from the measured d spacings. X-ray integrated intensity measurements were made on several samples. These samples were ground to -400 mesh and the powder mixed with a solution of collodion in amyl acetate. The mixture was poured into a depression milled in a bakelite disc. When the mixture dried, the surface of the disc was ground flat leaving a diffraction surface defined by the face of the disc. The disc was mounted in a Philips rotating specimen holder which allowed the rotation of the sample in the plane of the diffraction surface and the integrated intensity measured using a scintillation counter and a pulse-height analysis sys-tem. The superconducting transition temperatures were determined by means of self-inductance techniques.' EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The Role of Tin Loss in the Degradation of Super-conductivity. The loss of tin during high-temperature annealing can be effectively suppressed by annealing under high hydrostatic pressures. Accordingly, a series of experiments were performed under pressures of approximately 30kbars. This pressure was the minimum under which high-temperature experiments could be safely performed in the particular pressure apparatus employed. Experiments were also designed to test high-pressure effects on the superconductivity behavior of NbJSn. The results of the high-pressure annealing experi-ments are summarized in Table I. All samples were prepared as described earlier. They were reacted and homogenized at 1000°C for 24 hr under argon at-

Jan 1, 1967