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By G. L. Oldright

THE upper limit of richness of concentrates that can be smelted by means of the blast furnace without added diluents is fixed by the opera-tion of sintering. A sinter feed with normal gangue constituents, con-taining more than about 50 per cent of lead, tends to fuse; as a result, air does not come sufficiently into contact with the sulphides at roasting temperatures, and sulphur elimination is poor. Since most lead con-centrates now contain 55 to 80 per cent lead, it is necessary to add diluents to lower the grade of such sinter feed to about 50 per cent or less. This not only entails the expense of providing barren diluents when adequate diluents containing precious metals are not available but also appreciably lowers the capacity of the blast furnace to produce lead and increases slag losses. Attempts to desulphurize rich lead concentrates by methods other than sintering have not proved successful. Flash roasting, for example, converts much of the lead sulphide to lead sulphate rather than to oxide. However, this suggested the possibility that deliberate flash roasting of the concentrates to sulphate, followed by sinter roasting of the resulting product, might prove promising, particularly inasmuch as the elimination of sulphur from lead sulphate requires heat alone and not contact with atmospheric oxygen. The sintering of lead sulphate products has additional interest because important amounts of such products are now treated by lead smelters. Considerable quantities of lead sulphate are present in rich lead flue dusts and other by-products; lead-chamber sulphuric acid plants and other

Jan 1, 1940

FOREWORD A SERIES of papers on strategic and otherwise important mineral products was prepared some ten years ago under the joint auspices of the Committee on Foreign and Domestic Mining Policy of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America and the Committee on Industrial Preparedness of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. These papers were later published in a joint volume entitled International Control of Minerals (1925). Amongst them was one on manganese. The Subcommittee on Manganese prepared its paper in two forms. One was intended for inclusion with the series above referred to and approached its subject more particularly as an international problem. The other dealt more definitely with manganese as an element in the problem of national defense. This last was first written under date of January 24, 1924 as a confidential report, for and at the request of the War Department. It was later released and published, in slightly modified form, as a separate pamphlet by the Industrial Preparedness Committee of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. After the lapse of eight years, in view of the vital position of manga-nese in the problem of industrial preparedness against a war emergency, the War Department made a request to have the conclusions of 1924 reviewed and brought up to date. To comply with this request the manganese subcommittee was reconvened (with a somewhat changed personnel) and exhaustive studies were once more made of the entire subject of manganese. A new report, with specific recommendations, was submitted to the War Department in February, 1932. This second report is now herewith released for publication. Certain specific conclusions and recommendations as expressed to the War Department are omitted. Otherwise the report stands as prepared and submitted by the manganese subcommittee of 1931. The members of this committee were: C. Minot Weld, Chairman, R. C. Allen, Arthur S. Dwight, J. W. Furness, D. F. Hewett, Reno H. Sales, Theodore Swann and Scott Turner. ARTHUR S. DWIGHT, Chairman, Committee on Industrial Preparedness.

Jan 1, 1933

By Jack A. Simon, M. E. Hopkins

GENERAL GEOLOGY Coal is defined as a combustible rock that originated in the accumulation and physical and chemical alteration of vegetation. Coal can be ignited and burned like the wood that was man's earliest fuel, but coal gives more heat than the same amount of wood and has many industrial uses. Unlike wood, coal is not generally found on the surface of the ground but is mined from the solid rock of the earth. Before taking up the occurrence, formation, and the unique character of coal in the rock sequence, let us briefly consider the general character of all rocks in the crust of the earth. Relatively little is known about the very earliest history of the earth, although a number of logical theories have been developed. Manned exploration of the moon and the rocks returned to earth continue to provide some answers to questions concerning the earth's origin and history. The period of earth history with which we concern ourselves here begins after great areas of water had evolved on earth and substantial land areas of once molten (igneous) rock existed. Weathering and other processes that attacked the surface of the rocks reduced them to small particles. Water provided by rainfall transported this material, ultimately, to large bodies of water where it was deposited. Thus was initiated the geologic sequence of sedimentary rocks that lie above the once molten igneous rocks. The crust and upper mantle of the earth are made up of several large plates along which differential movement (primarily horizontal) takes place. Such movements, although small, are occurring today. These horizontal movements are accompanied by vertical movements causing important changes in the relative position of the continents and oceans. Low-lying coastal swamps with favorable climates are ideal locations for coal accumulation and burial by river-borne sediments, and large areas

Jan 1, 1981

By I. N. Knapp

I Herewith present some notes on the use of Portland cement to cement in the casing, and for plugging, to exclude water from oil and gas wells, and the methods employed. I have used my best efforts to. make each step of the operation of cementing wells perfectly clear. The information is the result of actual experience and observation. The illustrations are from original drawings made especially for this paper. Portland Cement It is not necessary to discuss here the manufacture of cement. Any established brand of the slower setting Portland cements may be purchased with the confidence that it will harden, if properly used, and exclude water from and plug wells efficiently. Setting.—By the setting of cement is meant its initial change from a soft or plastic mortar to a friable solid. After the cement has become thoroughly set it is still very weak and can be readily pulverized in the fingers. Setting is thought to be effected by the crystallizing out of the silicate and the aluminate of lime, which are soluble in water in their anhydrous form. After dissolving in the water they pass to the hydrated state, in which they are insoluble, and hence are precipitated in a crystalline form. Ordinarily neat Portland cement mortar remains perfectly plastic for from 1 to 1 1/2 hr. after mixing with water at about 70" F. A higher temperature accelerates and a lower retards setting.. Hardening.—This is due to a continual crystallization of salts from solution, and to further chemical and physical changes which develop slowly, but which continue for long periods of time. Testing.—It is no more necessary for an operator to go into the scientific testing of cement to be used in a well than to so test the pipe used. He must depend for the quality of each on the tests and reliability of the manufacturer. Cement or pipe may be damaged in shipment so

Jan 1, 1915

By George S. Evans

CERTAIN American operators believe that desulphurizing in the ladle offers a means of increasing blast-furnace and open-hearth yields with the possibility of improvements in quality of the steel. In fact, several producers have experimented with practically all of the known desulphurizing agents, including both standard grades of the alkalies and special preparations that have been offered from time to time during the past several years. Some of these are regularly being used today in large-scale commercial operations, with good results. Also, it is the practice to treat off-sulphur casts in the blast-furnace ladle at a number of plants. It is not known, however, that anyone in the steel industry (American) has ever adequately equipped a plant for desulphurizing blast-furnace metal in an efficient manner as regular operating practice. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance of correct equipment and proper handling for obtaining uniform and efficient results. As will be shown, at the temperature of molten iron the alkalies are instantly neutralized by any free slag present, dissipating their desulphurizing value. Entrained silicates are rapidly washed out of the metal bath by the highly basic soda slags and will be satisfied ahead of desulphurizing reactions with FeS. More or less of the reagent will always be used up through reactions with the refractory lining. Desulphurization will be limited to the action of the free alkali then remaining in the slag. Causes for the erratic results generally found with desulphurizing tests in blast-furnace transfer ladles would include, among other things, variations in the quantity of furnace slag coming down with the metal, and differences in the percentage of kish and entrained silicates in the different casts. As the alkalies instantly unite with any free slags or silicates present, these, with any kish coming off, both dilute the reagent and reduce the surface contact between the slag and metal, thereby retarding the desulphurizing reactions.

Jan 1, 1938

By E. I. Larsen, E. F. Swazy, F. R. Hensel

Experience has indicated that hard bronzes are not suitable for bearing applications where high bearing loads and speeds are involved. It is the general practice to utilize softer materials for these purposes, such as copper, lead, silver, babbitt, lead-base alloys, and more recently aluminum-base alloys, preferably supported by a steel backing. It was the objective of the present investigation to study a new material produced by powder metallurgical methods susceptible to precipitation-hardening. Test MAteriaIs Preliminary tests were made with compacts containing copper, nickel and silicon in quantities sufficient to form 3 to 5 per cent nickel silicide. It mas found that this type of alloy was susceptible to the formation of a soft surface shell when sintered in tank hydrogen. The depth of the shell depended On the length of sintering time and sintering temperature, and varied in thickness from a few thousandths to as much as One eighth inch. This soft shell resulted from the preferential oxidation of silicon, thereby reducing the efficiency of age-hardening by the nickel silicide compound. The body of the sintered compacts below the soft shell could be precipitation-hardened to a hardness of 70 to 85 Rockwell B, by quenching from goo°C. and age-hardening at 450°C. A series of tests was made with various addition agents, in order to decrease the rate of preferential oxidation, and it was found that phosphorus was most beneficial in this respect. After considerable experimentation, the following nominal com-position was accepted as standard: 2.4 per cent nickel; 0.8 silicon; 0.3 phosphorus; balance copper. The physical propertties and certain bearing properties of this alloy are described in the present paper Preparation of Compacts Several methods of incorporating the hardening ingredient (nickel silicide) were studied. Compacts formed from copper, nickel and silicon powders were found to be inferior to those fabricated from prealloyed nickel silicide master alloys, because of the rapid oxidation of pure silicon during sintering. The use of a prealloyed nickel silicide hardener containing 25 per cent silicon and 75 per cent nickel could be further improved by preparing a master alloy, incorporating nickel, silicon, phosphorus and copper, having the following nominal composition~ 25 per cent nickel; 7 silicon; 3 phosphorus 64 copper. This alloy is brittle in the cast condition and can be readily powdered. Sintering Procedure The blended powders were pressed at '5 to 40 tons per sq' in., the pressure depending on the size and shape of the compacts. Sintering was carried out in hydrogen or cracked ammonia atmospheres at

Jan 1, 1946

By D. J. Carney, R. R. Burt, E. J. Whittenberger

Hardenability (multiplying) factors for carbon, mongonese, silicon, chromium, nickel, and molybdenum have been developed for hypereutectoid low-alloy steels in which bainite is the first subcritical transformation product. These factors permit the calculation of 95, 80, and 50 pct martensite hardenability from chemical composition when steels with spheroidized structures are quenched from 1475°, 1525°, and 1575°F. The strong contributions to hardenability of the less expensive elements, silicon and manganese, suggest their use to obtain additional hardenability in hypereutectoid low-alloy steels. DURING the past decade a number of investigators'"11 have carefully developed information which permits calculation of the hardenability of medium -carbon low-alloy steels from chemical composition and grain size. These data have been especially valuable in developing less costly low-alloy steel compositions with equivalent or Improved

Jan 1, 1957

By William E. Ford, Edward Salisbury Dana

THIS Appendix contains a series of tables, more or leas complete, of minerals arranged according to chemical composition or to certain prominent crystallograhic or physical characters. These, it is believed, will be of service not only to the student, but ago to the skilled mineralogist. The type used in the printing of the mineral names indicates their relative importance. Table I is a complete list of the species named in this book arranged fist according to the prominent basic elements which they contain and secondly according to their acid radicals. Table II is of Minerals arranged according to their System of Crystallization The other tablets make no claim to completeness, being limited often to common ah important species. For an exhaustive system of Determinative Tables based particularly upon blowpipe and chemical characters, the student is referred to the work of Professors Brush and Pen- field, mentioned on p. 330.

Jan 1, 1922

By S. F. Urban, G. Derge

At the time this investigation was initiated variations were observed in the quality of different heats of basic electric-furnace steels, although they had been made under purportedly similar conditions. This indicated that these variations were related to normally unobserved variations in the character of the bath, especially during the "refining" period. Although the slags used for this operation are commonly referred to as "reducing" slags, and are regarded as having a "deoxidizing" action on the bath, no reliable measurements of this action were available. It was decided, therefore, to study the behavior of oxygen in the metal for ' large enough number of heats to learn its normal variations and to relate these variations to regularly observed conditions of operation. The most important general conclusion reached was that the time a heat is held under a reducing 'lag should be reduced to a minimum, which was about an hour and a half under the conditions studied. Beyond this time no observable beneficial effects are obtained from the reducing slags, insofar as oxygen and sulphur content of the bath are concerned. It is likely that added time may increase hydrogen content as well as heat costs. The oxygen content of the bath is never reduced below the amount in equilibrium with the carbon. Concurrently with this work, J. S. Marsh1 presented data that supplement and support many of the results of this paper. Procedure The work was done in two different electric-furnace shops of the same plant. The selection of heats was made primarily with regard to the convenience of heat schedules. companion slag and metal samples were taken just prior to slag-ofi and throughout the refining period for an initial set of 17 heats, and before slag-off and near tap for an additional I3 heats. slag Sampling presented no particular problem; a spoonful of slag was poured onto a metal plate and when sufficiently cool was sealed in an airtight container. Sampling the metal for oxygen presented a more complex problem. Because of the lack of previous experience in sampling electric-furnace baths, a number of methods were compared. Chilled Wedge Samples2 An unkilled metal sample is removed from the furnace in a well-slagged car-bometer spoon and poured immediately into a heavy copper mold designed to provide rapid freezing. Three different types of molds were used to determine the optimum for electric-furnace hats. The Big wedge Mold (a) was a 4 by 4 by 4-in. split copper mold, yielding a wedge-shaped casting I in. wide, 1 1/2 in. long, and 34 in. maximum thickness, and was finally adopted as the most satisfactory design.

Jan 1, 1948

By Howard Eavenson

IN a discussion in the Transactions of the Institute (vol. xl, page 835 et seq.) the writer gave some data about explosions of gas and dust in the coal mines of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, among which was a table showing all explosions in the countries mentioned, in which five or more fatalities occurred, which had been reported from Oct. 2, 1871, to Mar. 28, 1908. Since the elate of publication of this discussion, as opportunity has presented, this table has been extended by the addition of explosions occurring since that time, by including several explosions which occurred prior to 1871, and by adding to the list all explosions of gas or dust in which less than five fatalities occurred, this having been clone by a search through the various mine reports, partly by the author and partly by the Librarian of the United Engineering Societies, and by correspondence with mine inspection officials of the various States, to all of whom acknowledgment of assistance is made: The accompanying list, Table I, is believed to be as nearly correct as such a statement can be made, and, while only extending to Dec. 20, 1912, contains all of the data now available in reports. An analysis of Table I, showing the occurrence by months of all explosions of gas or dust, including those in which less as well as those in which more than five fatalities occurred, is given in Table II. The statements are frequently made, in technical papers, that the number of explosions, particularly the larger ones, is increasing more rapidly than the number of mines, and that the number of fatalities caused by mine explosions, particularly the more disastrous ones, is increasing faster, proportionally, than the production of coal. To investigate the correctness of these statements Table III was prepared, in which the number of accidents and fatalities is taken from Table I, using those in the United States only, on account of lack of other data for Canada and Mexico; the production is from the records of the U.S. Geological Survey, and the number of mines, from 1909, from the same source; previous to 1909, the number of mines, for the decennial periods, was furnished by the U. S. Census records.

Jan 10, 1914

By J. E. Pollock

IN the oil-refining industry, steel comprises by far the greatest proportion of the materials used in construction work, but with an enormous number of alloy steels and nonferrous alloys available, and a greater knowledge of their properties and corrosion resistance; a substitu-tion first in the "hot spots" and then in locations of moderately severe corrosive conditions will be made as the greater expense can be justified. In new construction work, advantage is taken of the experience already gained and appropriate materials used, whether for high temperatures and pressures demanding additional strength or for corrosive conditions. The locations, however, where equipment in operation constantly requires replacement will soon become evident, as will the necessity for replacement in more resistant materials, if considerable down-time is to be avoided. In what direction and how far to go in the matter of alloys then becomes a question of the highest importance. Obviously, any replace-ment with more costly material must be. justified economically by the promise of longer life, thereby saving both material and installation costs besides the reduction of loss of production. Where the equipment is overcapacity and a regular schedule of cleaning periods is in force, the last item frequently must be ruled out and justification made on the basis of the first two only. Installation of material that will outlast the remainder of the equipment and have no recovery value must also be avoided; this is particularly important in temporary construction or in old equipment that will soon become obsolete.

Jan 1, 1935

By St. John, JOHN Ancel

AT THE New York meeting of the Institute of Metals Division in February, 1927, Jeffries and Tarasov presented a paper on Tungsten and Thoria,1 in which the experimental facts were interpreted in accordance with the prevailing point of view that the thorium is present as the oxide, thoria. In discussing that paper the writer of this article stated that his own investigations, which had been unavailable to Messrs. Jeffries and Tarasov, showed that the so-called "thoriated" tungsten filament failed to disclose any sign of the oxide when subjected to X-ray diffraction analysis, but did give plenty of evidence of the presence of metallic thorium and, in certain cases, of a material believed to bean alloy of tungsten in thorium. Since these results were completely at variance with the results reported in the paper under discussion and with other papers which had preceded it from time to time in the past, it was felt that further discussion should be withheld until the new evidence could be presented adequately. Arrangements were therefore made to present that evidence at this meeting. MATERIAL EXAMINED The material examined was high-emission filament such as is used in radio tubes, supposed to contain about 0.75 per cent. thoria. The actual analysis was not stated.

Jan 1, 1927

By F. C. Blickensderfer

THE CHAIRMAN (B. B. GOTTSBERGER, Miami, Ariz.).-On your trip today through the Inspiration and Miami mills you have seen in actual operation the machines which represent the changes adopted in grinding methods in the Miami district from the beginning of operations in March, 1911. In one section of the Miami plant are three Chilean mills not yet discarded, representing the first machines adopted. In another section, pebble grinding is still in operation, while in the balance of the plant, pebbles have been replaced with iron balls. In all cases these machines are handling a feed which is the product of roll, grinding down to about ¼ in. in, size. The latest step in grinding in the district, You saw at the Inspiration plant, where in Marcy mills a filed, the larger pieces of which remain on a 2-in. opening, is being reduced in one operation to a product of which only about 3 per. cent. remains on the 48-mesh screen. A detailed comparison of the methods used at the two plants would be very instructive but our own work at Miami has not yet reached a point where such a comparison is possible, the reason being that our final product is not yet fine enough. By means of larger Hardinge mills operating in closed circuit with Dorr classifiers soon to, be installed in one section of the plant, we hope to obtain, under properly balanced operating conditions the same end result as at Inspiration. It, might interest you, however, to know some of the results we have obtained here by the substitution of balls for pebbles. With pebble grinding, using three 8-ft. by 22-in. mills, followed by one 8-ft. by 66-in. mill for regrinding the coarse product of the primary mills, we handled 636 tons per 24 hr. in one section of the plant. Substituting balls for pebbles in the first operation and using two mills in place of three we obtained a tonnage of .714 tons to the section. With the use of balls both in the primary mills and in the regrinding mills, the tonnage for one section was raised to 822 tons per day. Coincident with this increase in tonnage, we also obtained a greater efficiency. The use of pebbles in all mills showed 21.5 per cent. plus 48-mesh material in the final tailing, which figure was reduced to 13.9 per cent. for balls followed by pebbles, and to 4.6 per cent. with the use of balls both in the primary and regrinding mills.

Jan 12, 1916

By Harry L. Washburn, Robert L. Llewellyn, W. J. Halvorsen

Many of the problems that occur in the preparation plant originate from practices in the mine. Impurities in raw coal can be in the seam itself or from extraneous material taken in mining from the roof or bottom. In the case of underground mines, the choice of mining equipment will affect the size consist and the amount of extraneous material included with the coal. Also, governmental regulations concerning the degree of rock dusting, gobbing underground, and cleanup have increased the dirt in raw coal. Sulfur dioxide emission standards, on the other hand, are pressuring the coal industry to clean coal more thoroughly. Coal supplied for coking purposes is nearly all upgraded by washing, while for the largest market, electric power generation, a high proportion is shipped as a raw product with processing, in whole or in part, only necessary when excess impurities are mined with the coal. This chapter will deal primarily with plants that process or wash coal to some extent (Fig. 1) and only incidentally with mines shipping raw run-of-mine coal crushed to a top size of, usually, 51 to 102 mm (2 to 4 in.), with little, if any, other treatment. JUSTIFICATION FOR COAL PREPARATION During the past decade, major changes have occurred affecting the market, profit, and long-range planning of the coal industry. Mining companies have become "partners" with consumers at many new and some old mines, both for steam and metallurgical coals. Coal properties have become "assigned" tonnages at mutually agreed upon conditions and prices. Lower unit-train tariffs have been instrumental in helping coal markets to compete against oil and nuclear energy. Coal prices for power plants are still on a Btu (British thermal unit)

Jan 1, 1981

By John E. Dorn, Oscar E. Harder

The phenomenon of diffusion, according to the most prevalent conceptions at the present time, undoubtedly played an important part in the formation and distribution of metals and minerals in the earth's crust. Apparently there is good evidence that in the geological rate of cooling diffusion caused numerous materials to separate into individual masses or into duplex structures. As is well known, the early steels were made by cementation; that is, by heating wrought ferrous metal in contact with carburizing materials so as to produce a relatively high carbon content on the surface. If the process was continued long enough, the carbon diffused throughout the piece. A more homogeneous product depended upon further heating and forging, so that the carbon diffused to a fairly uniform concentration throughout the metal. In the modern metallurgical industry, diffusion is the basis for many operations; for example, the production of hard surfaces on steels by carburizing, nitriding, cementing with chromium, silicon, boron and beryllium. Castings or ingots as they solidify do not have homogeneous structures, but these structures are made largely homogeneous by suitable process of heat-treating and the resulting diffusion. It is in modern physical metallurgy, however, that we become greatly concerned about the mechanism of the phenomenon of diffusion. The rates of diffusion, effect of temperature and time on diffusion, and the relation of diffusion to the many properties of the parent metal and the diffusing metal have become important; also, we are concerned with the diffusion of a single metal into a complex alloy. For example, what is the mechanism whereby carbon and nitrogen travel into steel? What is the effect of alloying elements in the ferrous material on the rates of diffusions? What is the effect of simultaneous diffusion of carbon and nitrogen? How does chromium, beryllium, boron, or the like, diffuse into the steel, and what are the effects of alloying elements in the steel previous to the cementation process? These inquiries are by no means limited

Jan 1, 1938

By H. F. Moore

Jan 1, 1936

By P. V. Martin

Shortly after the middle of the nineteenth century, the invention of the regenerative open-hearth furnace and the development of the Bessemer process stimulated a rate of steel production whose magnitude created an unprecedented demand for pig iron. Revolutionary improvements in furnace design, auxiliary equipment, and operating technique enabled the blast furnace to keep abreast of the constantly increasing requirements of the steel mill. The development of improved blowing equipment, more adequate facilities for material handling, and particularly the general use of anthracitc and coke to replace the physically weaker charcoal, led to a rapid expansion in both the height and volume of furnaces. Beyond a doubt, however, the greatest single factor in blast-furnace improvement at this time was the use of the higher blast temperatures made available by the replacement of the recuperative iron pipe stoves by the regenerative Cowper brick stove. The increased blast temperature not only resulted in greater output but also reduced fuel consumption . far more than could be explained by the additional heat content of the blast. The progress of iron manufacturing was thus largely mechanical and thermal. Little attention was given the chemistry of the process until the publication of the investigations of Sir Lowthian Bell.1 Bell's painstaking experiments and investigations gave to the blast-furnace man his first real scientific conception of blast-furnace chemistry. Bell's recognition of the dual function of the carbon, the technical importance of reversible reactions and chemical equilibria, and his conception of the degree of oxidation of the carbon as shown by the analysis of the outgoing gases as a criterion of furnace efficiency, laid the foundation upon which has since been erected the structure of blast-furnace theory. Prominent among those availing themselves of Bell's data as .a basis of further study was M. L. Gruner,2 professor of the French School of Mines. His "Blast Furnace Phenomena," published in 1870, presented

Jan 1, 1940

By G. B. Gould

Every mathematical statement of a measure of anything (as distinguished from a count') is followed by a qualification—always implied if not explicity stated—-that the statement is only an estimate, which may vary from absolute accuracy within certain limits, according to the accuracy of the measuring instrument. This basic fact, so obvious to engineers, is not so well understood by many that make use of laboratory coal tests. The tolerances that must be allowed in measurements of coal quality are very important in both their commercial and engineering applications—and the significance of these tolerances depends upon the use made of the laboratory coal test. Only in recent years has there been any intensive study of this question of tolerances as applied to measurements of coal quality. There is very little in our published literature on the subject, and what has been published is not readily comprehended by those who sell coal, or buy coal and use it, unless they happen to have made a study of the subject themselves. There is great need for more widespread understanding of what lias been discovered and how it applies to the use of laboratory coal tests. What follows is an attempt to condense into a few pages the results of the major investigations so far reported, and to explain their meaning in simple nontechnical language, with the addition of some recent illustrative experiments. Determining Deviations in Quality It is necessary at the outset to distinguish between: (I) the accuracy with which one test indicates the quality on one lot of coal; and (2) the accuracy with which a test of one lot of coal represents the average quality of a commercial product, of which the buyer will presumably receive a series of shipments—perhaps many thousands of tons. It is necessary to make this distinction because coal is a variable material—a heterogeneous mixture of a variety of components—the quality of which will vary from one lot to another. Therefore an absolutely accurate determination of the quality (if that were possible) of one lot of a coal is an

Jan 1, 1938

By Frederick M. Becket

DoctoR Albert Sauveur, distinguished scientist and Honorary Member of this Institute, predicted in the first Howe Memorial Lecture that the privilege of delivering' this annual address would be considered a highly significant honor. The intervening years have well borne out Sauveur's prophecy. I wish to assure the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers that I also deeply appreciate this honor, recognizing at the same time the present and even more the future responsibilities with which it is accompanicd. Several of the previous lecturers had the good fortune to attend the classes of Professor Howc and to work in his laboratories. I was similarly favored, although in my instance and to my great regret the period was all too short. However, Howe's book, published in 1903, "Iron, Steel and Other Alloys," afforded me abundant opportunity to continue these studies. How well I remember the inspiration I derived from this famous book by Howe, the metallurgical master, pioneer, and educator! Remembering that Professor Howe contributed numerous papers to The Metallographist, a magazine supported from a technical point of view by the world's pioneers in metallography, I was curious a few days ago to learn the nature of Howe's early contributions to this magazine. The first paper by Howe in the first year of The Metallographist (1898) dealt with the allotropic theory; the second also treated of allotropy, and I quote the first sentence of that paper: The allotropic theory of the hardening of steel may, like so many other important theories, have to be accepted or rejected not on direct proof or disproof, but on the accumulation of circumstantial evidence for or against it. Howe's ability to stimulate others by his deep understanding and clarity of expression was truly remarkable; but just as striking was his intuitive judgment concerning the implications of metallurgical data in the arts and scienees. It therefore seems fitting that this lecture comprise a broad treatment of the subject chosen, rather than a closely documented thesis on any one phase of the problem; that in it attention be focused

Jan 1, 1938

By A. L. Foell

The development of the modern blast furnace began more than one hundred years ago, with the abandonment of the small hillside furnaces. Its development, especially during the past 50 years, has been accomplished through a rapid succession of enlargements and improvements. The remarkable growth in furnace output during this period is a tribute to the engineers and operators who have constantly endeavored to build larger and more efficient blast furnaces. The blast-furnace operators and their mechanical and electrical maintenance staffs have originated most of the furnace improvements as a result of their practical operating experience. Furnace Lines About 50 years ago furnaces consisted of hearths about 11 ft. in diameter, which merged into rather high flat boshes, with no cylindrical section between the bosh and inwall and no cylindrical section at the stock line. Since then the lines of the furnace invariably have included a cylindrical section above the bosh and a cylindrical section at the stock line. Notable increases have been made in both hearth diameters and furnace heights. During the past 10 years hearth diameters in new and replaced furnace stacks have rather consistently fallen within the range of 25 to 28 ft. while their heights have varied be- tween 100 and 106 ft. The lines of most large furnaces using Mesabi ores have followed a fairly uniform pattern (Fig. I) in which the principal dimensions for 25-ft. hearth furnaces are as follows: Hearth diameter............... 25 it. o in. Height of bosh................. 10 ft. o in. Bosh angle.................... 81 1/2º Diameter top of bosh........... 28 ft. 0 in. Inwall batter per foot........... 15/16 Stock-line diameter............. 19 ft. 6 in. Large-bell diameter............. 14ft. 6 in. Height from iron notch to top ring casting...................... 100 ft. o in. In determining the size of a new furnace for the replacement of an existing stack or for an addition to productive capacity, it is not possible to formulate a procedure that can always be followed. Local conditions, requirements as to capacity, available raw materials and prospects for future expansion dictate the size of such proposed improvements or additions. However, where the immediate requirements indicate a stack or furnace of a certain productive capacity, and the future prospects indicate that more capacity can be utilized, it is well to consider building the furnace ior the ultimate capacity rather than to install a smaller hearth with provision for future enlargement. The decision to build the larger hearth and stack for the ultimate capacity probably will require no greater initial investment, since the saving in the cost of brickwork will about offset the greater cost of the hearth jacket, tuyere breast and bosh bands. In the meantime. the furnace of larger hearth dimensions, while operating below its ultimate output, will yield a better coke rate and

Jan 1, 1943