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By R. H. Richards

In October, 1891,I read a paper before the Institute on a "A HandTelescope for Stadia-Work" (Bans., xx., 732), and promised to report at an early date some results showing the degree of accuracy attained with the instrument. I am now able to report on these results and also on certain improvements that I have made in the target since the first paper was read. I may say that I prefer the title, "Prismatic Stadia-Telescope," to that used in my earlier paper, for while the instrument can be used with perfect satisfaction for short sights up to, say, 300 to 600 feet when held in the hand, it is impossible to read milch longer distances without the use of a tripod, as a steady support for the instrument. Results are here given upon four combinations of prism and telescope. No. 1. A telescope made by Alvan Clark & Sons, 3-inch objective, 28 inches focal length, magnifying 60 diameters, the prism covering half the objective: Feet measured Reading of Distance reduced Reeding of rod pro by tape. the rod. to feet. portional to 100 ft. 127.66 1.1825 100 .92629 211.35 1.9585 100 .92666 326.59 3.0265 100 .92669 484.88 4.4925 100 ,92652 606.91 5.6225 100 .92641 Average,,92651 The value of this prism therefore is .92651 feet on the rod for 100 feet of distance, or 1 foot on the rod corresponds to 107.931 feet of distance. No. 2. A Bardou telescope having a 1-inch objective, magnifying 20 diameters, and a prism covering half the objective:

Jan 1, 1893

By J. D. Pennock

About a year and a half ago, Mr. Morris, an engineer of the Solvay Process Company, was sent to Belgium and France to study the manufacture of coke in the Semet-Solvay ovens, which were in operation at Havre. With complete plans of construction and a good understanding of the methods of running the ovens, he returned to Syracuse. Work on twelve Semet-Solvay ovens was immediately begun. These ovens, with plant for crushing and washing coal, and the necessary condensers, scrubbers, and concentrator for the recovery of the byproducts are nearly finished, and will soon be in operation. As the work approached completion it became necessary to determine what coal should be used. Accordingly, a chemical investigation of the various bituminous coals was made. I. Investigation of Coals. The samples of coal taken for analysis were: I. A sample of Reynoldsville coal that had been exposed to the weather for a year; 11. Reynoldsville coal taken from a car direct from the mine; 111. Morris Run lump coal; IV. Morris Run fine coal; V. Coal from the Fairmount Coal and Coke Company; VI. A special enginecoal from Pardee colliery, Phillipsburg, Pa.; VII. South Fork, Pa., coal; VIII. Coal from Laceyville, Ill.; IX. Pittsburgh bituminous coal from Ocean mines (gas-coal); X. Steubenville, Ohio, coal; XI. Evansville, Indiana, coal; XII. Coal from the Ohio Coal Company. Proximate Analysis. I. 11, 111. IV. V. VI. Water at 90° C.,* ..................................... Volatile,. .. 31.14 33.00 17.73 18.12 37.20 23.86 Fixed Carbon,. . 64.49 58.07 71.92 71.89 56.68 73.00 Ash,. .. 4.37 8.93 10.35 9.99 6.12 3.14 Coke,. .. 68.86 67.00 82.27 81.88 61.88 76.80

Jan 1, 1893

By W. S. Gresley

The object of this communication is to give a description of some remarkable spheroidal specimens of anthracite coal recently encountered in stripping the Mammoth seam at Milnesville, Luzerne county, Pa. Somewhat similar forms of coal, occurring in France and in Australia, have been described already. In vol. xxxvii. (1888) of the Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, under the title "Coal Nodules from the Borehole Seam at Newcastle, New South Wales," Mr. T. E. Forster describes and illustrates, with two plates of specimens, a series of " nodular " forms of anthracite coal taken from a depth of 300 feet beneath the town of Newcastle, and possessing the following characteristics : The lines of cleavage of the coal-seam are more or less curved, giving a rouuded appearance to the blocks. Dikes of intrusive dolerite intersect the coal, and the coal-nodules occur with with greatest frequency where the seam is most disturbed. They are easily separated from the surrounding coal. "The seam at this point is remarkable, not only for its splendid proportions but also for its extremely bright and rich appearance, which gives the working-places x strong resemblance to those in the Pennsylvania anthracite mines.....The cleavage of the coal is, in some park of the pit, noticeable for a series of small impressions or concavities about the size of, and resembling roughly in shape, a mussel-shell raised vertically on its longest edge.....To some extent the nodules appear to have a more or less concretionary structure, and to be, roughly speaking, composed of several concentric layers, through which the ordinary cleavage of the coal passes, while in others thin layers may be observed, resembling the coats of an onion!' The chemical composition of one of the nodules, as well as of the seam inclosing them, is as follows:

Jan 1, 1893

By E. E. Russell Tratman

The use of dynamite in cold weather is attended with some difficulty, owing to the freezing of the material and its consequeut liability to fail to explode when the fuse is fired. With proper methods and care the dynamite can be thawed with reasonable safety, but numerous accidents occur (more than get reported in the public press), due to carelessness in the operation and to the treacherous nature of the material, or a combination of both conditions. Dynamite will stand treatment at one time which at another time will result in explosion. An expert on explosives says that the most dangerous means of thawing cartridges are ingeniously devised by ignorant laborers; baking, boiling and toasting being favorite methods, while at a stone-quarry, in one instance, an apparatus was arranged for steaming the cartridges over a pot of boiling water. In this latter case the nitro-glycerine leaked through the canvas cover and settled on the bottom of the pot, with the result that an explosion occurred, the water acting as a tamping to the charge. The fact that small quantities of explosives containing nitroglycerine will burn quietly and without explosion if ignited by direct contact with a flame, has led to the dangerously mistaken reasoning that merely heating the explosive can produce no ill effect. If . a dynamite cartridge is ignited or placed in a fire it will probably burn harmlessly away, but if placed on a stove or in an oven and

Jan 1, 1893

By H. C. Babbitt

The Effect of Arsenic.—A question involving the temperature of precipitation of ammonium phospho-molybdate, which was brought to my attention some time ago, led to the following experiment :*

Jan 1, 1893

By Ernest Wiltsee

The Half-Moon mine, situated three miles west of the town of Pioche, exhibits geological features which are peculiar and interesting. The general formation in the vicinity of Pioche consists of a quartzite, usually covered with an overlying limestone containing strata of shale. In the camp itself, where the original mines are situated, the quartzite has been denuded, and the principal veins outcrop in this formation; to the west, the quartzite is again covered with limestone, containing thin strata of shale.

Jan 1, 1893

By Benjamin B. Lawrence

The lease-system is the gradual result of the development of our larger producing mines throughout the State of Colorado. The operation of a mine, or group of mines, by corporations has been attended, in many cases, by disaster, owing to the difficulty of securing a fair day's work from the men employed in the mine, and the loss entailed by careless mining and sorting of high-grade ores, or by lax or inefficient management on the part of superintendents and foremen. Given, therefore, a mine that has been practically abandoned by its owner, for the reasons given, but still possessing merit, the lessee appears on the ground and secures a lease for a year, or term of years, from the owner, upon the payment of a royalty upon the gross smelter- or mill-returns of the ore which he mines. In this way many of our abandoned mines have been re-opened by the miner, who, with two or more associates, has been enabled, by careful attention, to obtain profitable results.

Jan 1, 1893

By James M. Hodge

The Cumberland Gap extension of the Louisville and Nashville railroad, recently completed from Cumberland Gap to Norton, 71 miles, connects at the latter point with the Norfolk and Western, making a direct through line from Louisville to Norfolk. The whole of this connecting link skirts the southern boundary of the southwest Virginia coal region, but for the first 57 miles of its course it is separated from the coal by a mountain range (Cumberland mountain and its extension, Stone mountain), which bars entrance to the field from that direction, excepting at Pennington Gap, where access may he had to a small area only, which has not yet developed any very satisfactory coal. The railroad passes through the range at Big Stone Gap, and for the last 14 miles of its course to Norton is in direct contact with that part of the coal region known as the Big Stone Gap coal-field. By this road a western and southwestern outlet from the field is secured; the Clinch valley extension of the Norfolk and Western railroad gives exit eastward from Norton, and the South Atlantic and Ohio railroad, built through Big Stone Gap simultaneously with the L. & N. R. R., delivers the coal to points south and southeast. Besides these lines already built, an early connection with the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia railroad, via its Rogersville branch, is probable, and connections with the railroads of eastern Kentucky are projected. The Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago railroad has already done some grading on one of the latter, but the rugged country intervening will prevent its construction till the demand for it becomes urgent. The coal-field embraces in Virginia about 120 square miles, to which should be added some 30 square miles in Kentucky, also tributary to Big Stone Gap, the whole of it underlaid by coal, probably of workable thickness, and much of it by two or more such beds. The determination of the boundaries of the field, however (except on the south, where Stone mountain forms a natural limit beyond which only a small, isolated tract of coal is found), is involved in much

Jan 1, 1893

By J. T. Jones, H. V. Winchell

In the history of mining in this country there has been nothing exactly similar to the Mesabi iron-range in Minnesota, and the conditions there prevalent. Soft-ore mines are found in many parts of the country. In some the deposits are vertical, and are worked in open pits, or have been so worked, until it was found cheaper to go under ground. In other localities, the ore is scattered through clay beds in the form of hard lumps. These clay beds are sometimes excavated in open pits, and the ore separated by washing. On the Mesabi, the ore itself occurs in strata, and these strata appear quite flat to one standing upon the ground. The ore is soft in the main, and does not require much sorting to free it from foreign or deleterious substances. It is usually covered by the glacial drift-mantle, but occasionally passes beneath a capping of jasperoid rock called " taconite." The ore is twice or three times the thickness of the layer of drift lying upon it. This drift consists of clay, sand, and gravel, with occasional beds of large boulders. There is great difference of opinion among competent miners as to the cheapest methods of mining this ore. It is admitted that local conditions will govern largely ; but there is such a similarity among many of the mines that it seems possible to arrive at some general conclusions on the subject. A typical example of a Mesabi mine is found in the Biwabik. It is one of the largest, and is the most advanced in development. Not a single ton of ore has yet been shipped from this mine, but the expense of the explorations upon which the following description is based has exceeded $60,000. It is seldom that such accurate and complete exploration of a deposit of this magnitude has been possible in the space of time which has elapsed since the discovery of this ore-body. It lies in a new. region, and was remote from railroads until last August, yet, not only the width and length but the depth and quality of the ore-deposit have been learned, and the probable expense of' mining its 20,000,000 tons of ore has been closely figured. After careful consideration, the method of stripping and

Jan 1, 1893

By John A. Church

In a recent paper read before the Institute it was said of faults that "the sensible expression of the fracture is an earthquake." This notion, which has been expressed before, though usually as a theory and not as an admitted conclusion, is based upon the early belief that faulting is a violent rupture of the earth's crust. Faults are of different kinds, from great dislocations of the earth —hundreds of miles in length—down to the still more mysterious displacements with which miners have to deal. The latter are usually quite short, from 1000 to 20,000 feet in length, but are distinguished even above their greater brethren by the excessive pro-

Jan 1, 1893

By John Birkinbine

Through the partiality of my fellow-members I have been able, during seven years' service on the Council of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, to note the development of technical societies, a subject which commends itself as an appropriate theme for me, in retiring from the office of President, at a time when we meet in convention with Canadian technical societies. Our next assembly, called at Chicago at the time fixed for an International Engineering Congress, offers additional reason for the selection of this topic. If subsequent statements appear to give to the American Institute of Mining Engineers greater prominence than to kindred organizations, they may be excused upon the ground of long association with and loyalty to its members, and to a personal knowledge of their work. Besides, data as to its growth and development are more accessible; and at a meeting of the Institute features connected with it may be considered as of greater immediate interest than those affecting other organizations. The purpose of this address is, however, to use the record of the Institute as indicating a similar development of other technical societies, rather than to claim preeminence for any organization; the work of each must speak for it. There is a general tendency to form associations at the present time. Organizations have been created and are active in every profession and in all branches of labor, trade, industry, commerce, manufactures, science and art. A record of such associations and their aggregate membership would be startling, and would show how large a percentage of the population of North America is connected with one or more of them; but the figures cannot be even approximately estimated. The class of associations representing national, state, or local trade interests, such as boards of trade, chambers of commerce, etc., may be used as an illustration. A late report shows that in the

Jan 1, 1893

By J. W. Powell

A Federal statute, enacted several years since, provides for the preparation of a geologic map of the United States. There are three requisites for a geologic map. The first is a suitable base- or surface-map upon which the rock-formations may be platted by means of conventions ; the second is a classification of the rocks and formations, and the third is a system of conventions by which the rocks and formations may be represented on the map. When the work of the Federal bureau created to prepare the geologic map was commenced, a topographic survey of the country was undertaken for the purpose of making maps suitable for the use of geologists in the field and for the representation of the geology; and this work has ever since been continued. The surveys have now extended over about one-fifth of the national domain, and are mapped on a series of atlas-sheets, each constituting a section of the great map of the United States. About 700 of these atlas-sheets are completed. They are in extended use among engineers, miners, prospectors, map-publishers and educators, and are thus widely known; moreover, these base-maps have been exhibited, described and discussed at meetings of the Institute, and thus do not require detailed consideration. Classification of Bocks and Formations. Modern classification is designed to express natural relation. In the beginning of observational science, or natural science, objects were discriminated and grouped by differences and resemblances; but at first the differences and resemblances recognized in the classification were external, even superficia1,'and often confined to single features. Later, groups of features and characteristics, both external and internal, were recognized as the basis of classification ; and of recent years, throughout the entire domain of biology, and to a considerable extent in the kindred sciences, classification is based not

Jan 1, 1893

By F. Lynwood Garrison

There is probably no subject for study in the metallurgy of iron and steel of greater interest than the effect of manganese upon the properties of iron. Some of the peculiarities of iron and steel containing appreciable quantities of manganese were observed many years ago by Heath, Robert Mushet, and others; but it was not until the introduction of the Bessemer process, when a demand was created for large quantities of iron-manganese alloys, that such compounds of iron and manganese became articles of commerce. Since that time the demand for these alloys has steadily increased, the use of ferro-manganese not only becoming an absolute necessity in the ordinary Bessemer practice, but also essential to the manufacture of open-hearth, crucible steel and steel castings; in fact it is the only source of supply for all the manganese used in metallurgical opera-

Jan 1, 1893

By P. H. Griffin

The manufacture of iron in the Province of Quebec forms one of the most interesting subjects in the development of this great industry in America. It began soon after the first steps taken in the New England colonies, where iron was first practically made in America. In both cases the ores smelted were bog-ores. In Qaebec the first work was done in and about, the town of Three Rivers, and many interesting facts in connection with the development of this industry may be found in the paper read at the Halifax meeting, September, 1885, by Mr. James Herbert Bartlett, of Montreal,* which traces the industry from its inception, about 1730, down to 1883, at which time the St. Maurice forge is declared to be the oldest active furnace on the American continent. A few years later the Canada Iron Furnace Company, Ltd., became interested in the enterprise, the extent of which has been greatly enlarged beyond all former limits. In fact, the manufacture of this particular class of iron has never been attempted on the scale now practiced by this company. This work has been carried on for the purpose of supplying a grade of iron hitherto procurable only at heavy cost for Canadian consumption from the United States, and for English consumption from Sweden. The manufacture of iron in the Province of Quebec was based entirely on bog-ores during the period referred to; and as the supply of iron made elsewhere from cheaper ores became more abundant, the local manufacture, handicapped by want of shipping facilities, lack of capital, and other natural causes, was gradually discontinued. It was always admitted that for certain purposes the iron made in the Province possessed special value; but the demand for articles requiring such special virtue was limited, and cheaper grades were gradually substituted for general uses. Some years ago we were led to test, in our car-wheel shops at

Jan 1, 1893

By G. W. Garside

In order to render my descriptions more intelligible, I have compiled a general map of this section of Alaska, showing accurately the relative positions of the most important districts where valuable deposits of minerals have been discovered (page 819). Upon inspection of this map, it will be observed that the chief metalliferous belt in this mineral field is in close proximity to the mainland shore, the trend of which it follows for more than a hundred miles in a northwest and southeast course, while the mineral croppings on the adjoining islands are much shorter in extent, and more irregular with respect to their strike and continuity. This principal metalliferous zone, which I will call the main-land system of lodes, contains gold, silver and lead, besides traces of copper, zinc and iron, gold being found extensively in a free state and also associated with sulphur, and with many of the sulphides of iron, lead and other substances. On the line of this belt, as shown on the map, there are a number of distinct mineral districts. Beginning at the southerly extremity, they are named as follows: Sumdum, Snettishham, Grindstone Creek, Sheep Creek, Gold Creek, Lemon Creek, Montana Creek and Berners Bay districts, each deriving its name from the hay or creek on which it is situated. Harris mining district, as legally organized under the local customs, rules and regulations adopted by the miners of Juneau, embraces, within its exterior boundaries, Grindstone, Sheep, Gold and Lemon Creeks, and all of Douglas Island. The limits of this immense metalliferous horizon are becoming definitely known through the exposures made by prospectors. The belt, as now recognized, varies in width from one to several miles, the lateral measurement being greatest at Juneau in Harris district, where the famous Treadwell mine, with its slate foot-wall, marks the westerly boundary of the zone, while the eastern side of Silver Bow Basin, with a granite hanging-wall, defines its easterly border.

Jan 1, 1893

By H. B. Small

The Ottawa river, the northeastern boundary of the Province of Ontario, and the dividing line between the latter and the Province of Quebec, has long been famous for the rafts of timber floated over its waters from the depths of the forest, and other poets besides Moore, have immortalized its beauties in verse. But with the ad vent of the railway which now pierces the forest solitudes, the days of rafting were numbered ; and the boat song is now heard no more on "Ottawa's tide," or at such long intervals only, that, when heard, it seems an echo of the past. The lumber trade is fast leav ing Ottawa City, the old headquarters of the business; and such square timber as is now cut is gradually finding other outlets than shipment to Great Britain, and other channels of transportation than the Ottawa river. Skirting the northern shore of this great river runs a vast chain of hills, assuming at times the altitude of mountains. Their geological character marks them as remnants of the earliest land of this conti nent. Following the course of the St. Lawrence from the Gulf of that name to the confluence of the river with the Ottawa, the course of which latter they then pursue, the range has been styled " the Lau rentians." Rolling in long undulations, with rounded, rather than rugged or pointed summits, they leave a margin of 8 or 10 miles, dipping in a gentle slope to the water's edge, rich for agricultural use, and dotted here and there with farms and settlements. Beyond this margin bold hills stretch northerly to blue mountains, rich in iron, lead, plumbago, and other minerals. The Apatite District.—One of these minerals is apatite, or phos phate of lime, the use of which as a material for the manufacture of superphosphate as a fertilizer has become the basis of the industry bidding Fair to prove ere long one of the chief elements of Canadian trade. So rapid has been the growth of this new industry that if the lumber business were to disappear from this mineral district, its void would be filled by that which has sprung up in connection with phosphate.

Jan 1, 1893

By F. M. Drake

IN this paper I propose to describe a plant which I lately erected for the Mount Stewart Lead and Silver Mining Company of Leadville, New South Wales, Australia. I am indebted to Mr. W. F. Burrow, of the Roads and Bridges Department of New South Wales, for the drawings which I present herewith, he having reduced and assembled them from my working drawings. The works are situated on a sloping hillside, but sufficient fall mas not available to have the furnace as high as desired, and at the same time have a good slag-tip and sufficient depth on the ore-floor to store a supply of ore and flux. The ore is delivered on the ore-floor (which is of the full width of the furnace-building, and extends back into the hill a distance of seventy feet) by two overhead tramways (not shown in the drawings), one on each side. From these the ore-mixture is made up on one side, while it is being taken to the furnace from the other. The fuel also is delivered by these tramways. The fluxes are stored on a floor directly at the back of the boiler and engine room. The boiler is a Cornish one, 6 feet 6 inches in diameter by 25 feet long. Its flue is 3 feet in diameter and does not contain Galloway tubes. The working-pressure is 40 pounds per square inch. The engine is an old-fashioned one, with a cylinder 16 inches in diameter by 30 inches stroke. Both the engine and boiler had been part of the plant of a defunct gold-mining company. They were very extravagant in their consumption of fuel. The blast is supplied by a rotary pressure-blower, of the Baker pattern, made in England. It has a capacity of 60 cubic feet per revolution. The furnace, which has several novel points, is shown in detail in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The jackets are of cast-iron, and are higher than those generally used. They are different, too, in that the feedwater inlet is through a hand-hole plate near the bottom. This plate is fastened to the jacket by stud-bolts, and is provided with a baffleplate, which prevents the cooling water from impinging against the inner plate. The outlet is by a goose-neck at the top, which dis-

Jan 1, 1893

By Auguste J. Rosh

The use of titaniferous ores in the blast-furnace has been the subject of much controversy for many years. Divers objections have been raised against them, and, for one cause or another, the verdict

Jan 1, 1893

THE first session of the Institute was held on Tuesday evening, September 16th, in the William Molson Hall, of McGill University, Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, Chairman of the Local Committee of Arrangements, in the chair. Dr. Hunt introduced Monsieur S. Rivard, Mayor of Montreal, who spoke as follows : GENTLEMEN: We welcome you with pleasure to our city, and we are proud to find that you have deemed it worthy of your visit. I understand that your association was founded in 1871 with some thirty courageous members, and that so valuable has it been esteemed, and so attractive was it found, that nearly one thousand have now enrolled their names as members and associates. But we must regard your profession as dating back to the stone age and mingling therewith ; how remote that is none of us can tell. Much of civilization is due to the discovery of metals, and the magnitude of our works to their widespread abundance. If you have not accomplished what the alchemists aimed at, which was to turn the ruder materials into gold, you manage, by your subtle skill, to turn stones into gold value. Europe has long since been-dug into and perforated with shafts and galleries in search of metals, and great wealth, and power, and comfort have arisen there-from ; but by an increase of knowledge, and more than European enterprise and energy, America is following rapidly in the race, and by means of natural advantages of a geological character has out-stripped the Old World. We are pleased to see you, gentlemen, as an evidence of the unity of this continent. Maps may have various delineations, but the veins and arteries of commerce and the nerves of science knit all together into one social organism with the same vital functions. We live here on the margin of the world, and can claim but a modest share in. the great works of modern times, but such as we have that can interest you we gladly offer for your observation.' Our Victoria Bridge may he considered appropriate, for without mining engineers to precede the civil and mechanical, no bridge would be there to-day. In truth, the same may be said of all works of metal, and of all that are executed by tools and machinery made of metal. The Mont

Jan 1, 1880

Jan 1, 1880