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By J. L. Rodda

The desirability of a uniformly sized abrasive for metallographic polishing has probably been recognized in a general way for a long time. Certainly all metallographers have recognized the damage that can be done to a polished surface by a piece of grit, especially if one of the softer metals, such as zinc or aluminum, is being polished. It is to be doubted, however, whether many metallographers have had any adequate idea of the particle size of the abrasives they were using or of the range of sizes encountered in any given grade of abrasive. At any rate, the descriptions of abrasives for metallographic work found in the literature are generally very meager. It was with the idea of securing an abrasive with a limited range of particle size that a study of this problem was commenced. Commercial abrasives, even when recommended for metallographic work, are made up of particles of varying sizes. One such abrasive contains some particles so fine that they remain in suspension for days and other particles so coarse that they settle at the rate of 3 in. per minute. It is evident that the coarsest particles are over 100 times the diameter of the smallest ones, or over 1,000,000 times the volume. The hopelessness of avoiding scratches under these conditions is evident. Vanderwiltl has described a laboratory method for grading abrasives in which the elutriator is used. Le Chatelier's method, described by Goereq2 also makes use of an elutriator. However, the elutriator is too slow for this purpose and requires too delicate a control for the range of sizes desired. The method of stirring up the abrasive in water, allowing it to settle for a given time, then drawing a measured depth off the top of the suspension, has been finally adopted as the simplest procedure. The largest particle in a given portion is then determined by Stokes' law:3

Jan 1, 1932

By Stephen Taber

INTRODUCTION THE term asbestos, as commonly used, includes half a dozen minerals all having a well-developed fibrous structure, but differing in chemical composition and in some of their physical, properties. In its strict application the name is limited to the fibrous varieties of the monoclinic amphiboles. Commercially, however, the most important of the asbestiform minerals is chrysotile, a fibrous variety of serpentine. About 95 per cent. of the asbestos used in manufacturing is chrysotile, and it commands a much higher price than any of the other fibrous minerals now on the market. Although the production of asbestos has increased rapidly in recent years, comparatively little has been published concerning its origin. The present paper is preliminary in its nature, and therefore does not pretend to exhaust the subject. The ideas herein developed are the result of field investigation, laboratory experiments in the growth of fibrous

Jan 10, 1916

By Ben L. Seegmiller

Artificial support of rock slopes in mining applications may consist of rock anchors with and without auxiliary support systems, but- tresses or shotcrete. The use of artificial support systems is not applicable in all cases of slope instability. Some pit slope problems simply cannot be cured with a support system. In other cases, a sup- port system which would solve the problem would be uneconomical. Rock anchor design may be undertaken using an active or tensioned system or a passive or untensioned system. Failure problems to which artificial support systems are most commonly applied include planar, wedge, rotational and toppling failures. Design of auxiliary support systems and rock anchor peripheral items may be initially estimated using analytical concepts, but field trials are commonly used to determine final requirements. Field procedures usually require a close coordination between mining personnel and the support installation team. Great care must be exercised during installation to prevent numerous potential problems including poor anchorage, excess bearing and corrosion. Displacement monitoring of the completed system is a must if the effectiveness is to be closely judged by means other than total slope and/or support system failure. The cost of a support system is relatively high when compared to other remedial measures that may be taken to solve a slope instability problem. Therefore, the system costs play a vital role in determining whether or not artificial support should be considered beyond the initial assessment stage. Case histories are few, but do include examples of each type of support system.

Jan 1, 1983

By T. L. McCall

THE late Walter Herd1 in 1929 gave a full description of past and present conditions in No. 2 mine, Springhill, Nova Scotia, developed theories regarding the cause of these bumps and made certain suggestions regarding possible methods of future development. Recapitulating briefly from Mr. Herd's paper, the seam is bituminous coal, averages 9 ft. in thickness and has a well defined parting containing fusain about 14 in. from the roof. This roof coal is somewhat stronger than the rest of the seam and has a tendency to cling to the roof. The pitch of the seam where it is now being worked is about 20°. The first manifestations of bumps began when the room and pillar workings had reached a depth of cover of 1900 ft. and under continuously increasing depth of cover these bumps increased to such an extent, both in number and severity, that in the year 1924 it became apparent that some change in the system of extraction was necessary. After closely studying all the factors involved and benefiting largely by valuable out-side advice obtained by the Provincial Department of Mines of Nova Scotia,2 the system of working was changed from room and pillar to longwall retreating. Mr. Herd's paper described in detail three remarkable bumps in the year 1928 in April, July and October that affected the 5700-ft. and 5900-ft. East levels, the last bump being so severe both in intensity and in extent of damage done that this district was abandoned. The longwall workings to the west of the slope had been stopped in the year 1926 owing to an inbreak of water, coming from the flooded waste of No. 3 seam lying some 400 ft. vertically overhead. This inflow was not excessive, but a large quantity of water being impounded in the old workings it was considered advisable to take the prudent course and not incur the risk of possibly increasing the flow by further working. This district has remained idle ever since.

Jan 1, 1934

By Clarence E. Sims, Donald W. Williams, George A. Moore

INTRODUCTION DURING the past several years, the steel casting industry has made studies of heavy castings in which the test bar has been taken from heavy sections rather than from attached or separately cast coupons. It has been noted that the ductility properties of these heavy sections are often lower than those normally expected. Such lowered ductility is usually accompanied by a spotty test bar fracture, and the ductility values can often be greatly improved if a low-temperature aging treatment is given to the casting. A loss of ductility of this type is considered "abnormal," since it is not accompanied by an increase of tensile strength or hardness, and "temporary" when the ductility can be restored by aging. The cure of such an abnormal condition represents a real improvement in the quality of the steel, Several types of abnormal loss of ductility can be distinguished, of which those caused by excessive amounts of inclusions of undesirable type and those caused by unsuitable grain size and ingot structure are well known. The particular type of abnormal lowered ductility currently under consideration may be distinguished by the fact that the low-temperature aging treatment necessary for its relief is insufficient to cause any visible change in the microstructure as ordinarily observed. As this aging will in fact eventually occur at room temperature, the phenomenon of present interest may be given the symptomatic definition, "Temporary Abnormal Low Ductility." Some hundreds of previous investigations, largely qualitative in nature, have established, beyond reasonable doubt, that hydrogen is normally present in newly manufactured steel and that this gas, in small amounts, can cause a temporary abnormal loss of ductility. The commonly observed association of high gas content and low ductility has given strong evidence for the presumption that hydrogen-, possibly assisted by other gases, is the primary cause of the low ductility observed. Accordingly, The Steel Founders' Society of America has, since Nov. 1, 1944, sponsored investigations at Battelle Memorial Institute whose primary objective is to obtain quantitative information on the relation of the amount of hydrogen and nitrogen in steel, together with associated methods of steelmaking and treatment, to low-ductility effects and porosity. The interest of this investigation thus extends to permanent abnormal losses of ductility, such as are caused by the inclusions which sometimes result from special deoxidizing practices and possibly from metallic nitrides, but as these can be distinguished from the temporary effect of hydrogen, they have been excluded from the work reported here except when they

Jan 1, 1948

By C. H. Li, R. J. Stokes, T. L. Johnston

A portion of the Ni3Cr-Ni3Al phase dzagram has been investigated, including the precipitation of 1 (Ni3Al) as well as the existence of ordered Y (Ni matrix), Extensive metallographic studies by electron microscopy have been carried out and X-ray diffraction diagrams have been taken at both elevated and ambient temperatures, No long-range ordering of the phase was found above 893°C (1639°F) in the compositional range investigated. The high rate of formation of the ordered ?1 phase upon quenching has been confirmed, a phenomenon which up to the present Lime has retarded the understanding of this phase diagram, Specimens with controlled amounts of ?1 exhibited up to a six-fold improvement in yield and creep strength compared with single-phase Ni-Cv-A1 alloys. MOST of the important high nickel heat-resistant alloys are related to the nickel-chromium-aluminum system. One of the important functions of the aluminum, often accompanied by titanium, is to produce a precipitate of the very fine ?1 phase (Ni3A1, X) where X may be Ti, Cr, or other elements. A number of investigators1-" have demonstrate the presence of y' in these alloys but most of their materials contained large amounts of other elements resulting in appreciable amounts of con- fusing phases such as carbides. Further clouding of the precise role of y' has been the suspected existence of an ordering reaction in the y matrix itself, ro-3,12-17 It appeared from these investigations that aluminum in Ni-Cr alloys would raise the ordering temperature of the matrix from 540°C at NisCr to 1300°C at Ni,Al. In support of this possibility, the matrix phase in the parallel Ni-Fe-A1 system is ordered to very high temperatures.1 OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH From this survey of the literature it appeared desirable to conduct an investigation of the simple Ni-Cr-A1 system using the alloys of the highest available purity to avoid the complication of foreign phases and thereby isolate the structures in the Ni-Cr-A1 system. Procedures were developed to study ? - ?o and ? - ?1 equilibria. Preliminary mechanical tests at elevated temperatures were also conducted.

Jan 1, 1962

By Arthur B. Yates

DIAMOND drilling has advanced and expanded during the past few years. Along with this increase there has been a marked trend to rely more and more upon drilling for the outlining of ore for reserve purposes. This is especially true underground, where men have not been available for opening up ore by crosscuts, drifts and raises. During the recent heavy call upon known ore reserves, more drilling has been done for exploration and it has become expedient to drill longer lateral holes from underground and deeper holes both from surface and from exploration headings in the mines. Furthermore, these deeper holes have to be drilled closely enough to warrant calculation of "probable" if not "proven" ore, from the results obtained therefrom. Interpretation of diamond-drill results has become more precise and reliable with the growing knowledge and understanding of the geologic structures that control the geometry of ore distribution, and this has broadened the field of usefulness of the drill. All of this has created a necessity and a demand for more accurate control of the hole as to direction, a more precise and reliable method of surveying for position, and a need for better and more complete core recovery, as well as larger cores, to provide an adequate sample. At depth the control becomes more difficult and, at the same time, more important. CONTROL A close study of drilling in various parts of the world for a period of more than 20 years has brought to light one definite rule, practically invariable; namely, that diamond-drill holes tend to deviate into a position normal to any structure existing in the rocks, such as bedding, schistosity, gneissosity, or even parting or jointing-even if the hole is started at almost any angle other than parallel with the structure. It also appears that the better developed the structure is, the more quickly will the hole get into a position perpendicular to it. It has often been said that there is a tendency for holes to "drift" in the direction of rotation. This is obviously untrue, for in a vertical hole the measure of deviation would depend upon the azimuth chosen as zero, and there is an infinite number of choices. It has been proved, however, that in homogeneous rocks there is a tendency for the hole to corkscrew, and that the direction of the spiral is the same as the direction of rotation. This may account for the belief that holes drift in that direction. Some tests have been made using right-hand and left-hand rods, and these show that no matter what the direction of rotation the hole will swing into a position perpendicular to the structure. Methods of Control The foregoing empirical rule may be used as an indirect method of control. If the prevailing structure is known, it may be advantageous to start the hole as nearly normal to it as possible, for the nearer the direction of the hole is to this ideal, the straighter it will remain. This, of course, is not always practical and in some cases is impossible. Usually such a

Jan 1, 1946

By C. P. Proctor, J. T. Crawford, John Griffen

TROUGH washers were among the earliest methods used for concentrating ores; they are referred to by Agricola about the middle of the sixteenth century as already being used while the hand- operated jigging sieve had only recently come into use. For cleaning coal the trough washer apparently was first used in France and Belgium about 184.1. The early trough washers were intermittent and the refuse at least was shoveled out by hand. The invention of a continuous jig washer, by a Frenchman, Berard, in 1848, acted as a stimulus to coal washings in jigs and retarded progress in trough washing in the nineteenth century. Chapman and Mott 1 describe a number of trough washers developed in England and on the Continent from 1850 to 1900, such as the Bell and Ramsay, Ramsay, Bell and Green, Wunderlich, Scaife, McLellan, Lodge, Elliott, Blackett, and Murton. The later of these removed the refuse mechanically, either intermittently or continuously, but in ways that interfered with stratification. THE RHEOLAVEUR A Belgian engineer, Antoine France, is responsible for the development of means to remove refuse materials continuously from a trough washer, while preserving stratification and preventing the loss of coal with the refuse. The methods and equipment devised, which have become known throughout the world as rheolaveur, were initiated at the St. Nicholas mine near Liége, Belgium, about 1912. This installation consisted of two units to wash 20 to 8-mill. (3/16 to 5/16-in.) and 8-mm. to 0 (5/16-in. to 0), each having only two superimposed inclined troughs. The first few "Rheo" boxes on the top trough removed refuse directly and the remaining Rheo boxes discharged impure refuse to the lower trough for rewashing. On the lower trough the first few boxes removed refuse and the following boxes removed a middling product used for boiler fuel or other purposes. The overflow of both troughs was joined to form the washed coal product.

Jan 1, 1950

By P. A. Young

The historical background of on-strand cooling is given, together with a resume of recent practical developments. Laboratory test procedures are then considered in detail, for both productivity and quality parameters, with particular reference to the design of the Ravenscraig No 3 machine (Scotland). A heat transfer model is presented for a porous sinter with propagating cracks. The influence of cooling/sintering area ratio, sinter strength, granulometry, return fines, coke consumption and FeO levels are examined in relation to economics. A detailed comparison of capital and running costs for two different strands, designed for identical duties, but with off or on-strand cooling, is then given.

Jan 1, 1977

By R. Q. Shotts

Nitric acid oxidation rate analyses of three coals, previously studied microscopically by the Bureau of Mines, revealed three components. Relative quantities agree with those found for the four components given by the Bureau and results are consistent with current ideas of coal constitution. Possible multi-component composition for bright coal and a reactivity-rank relation are suggested. THE physically dissimilar components of bituminous coals often are easily recognized mega-scopically. Under the microscope, reflected light or light transmitted through thin sections reveals the presence of the different components, even when these are intimately mixed. Optical methods for the quantitative estimation of the relative abundance of the various components, both by means of thin sections and by particle count, have been fully described.'. ' It has long been recognized that there are chemical and physical differences between the various petro-graphic components of bituminous coals, although analytical differences usually are small.:'. ' Only in the case of fusain have chemical differences been used for quantitative determination of a component. C. C. Hsiao and associates, at the Mineral Industries Experiment Station of the Pennsylvania State College, have described a method of analysis which is based upon the differences in the rate of nitric acid (8N) oxidation, fusain, and the other components of coal."," The reproducibility of their method and its applicability in checking microscopic determinations of fusain content have been supported by several independent investigations.'. " The writer has proposed the use of differences in oxidizability for the estimation of other components." "' The results of the oxidation of whole coals and of float-and-sink fractions of coals were reported. In most cases the plots of the logarithms of the percent dry, non-fusain, organic residue from oxidation, against time, revealed the presence of at least two distinct components. Both components appeared to oxidize according to a first order law, but the reaction constants for the components were distinctly different. One or more of the dull density fractions were found to contain but one component, and some of the lower rank coals oxidized in such a way as to suggest the presence of three components. A suitable way to check the identity and significance of the components delineated by oxidation would be to analyze a sample of coal both by the nitric acid oxidation procedure and by a microscopic method. The writer was wholly unfamiliar with either of the microscopic techniques commonly used, and to make such a comparison it was necessary to rely upon microscopic analyses made by someone else. It is hoped that some laboratory which is equipped to make both types of analyses will some day make them upon identical samples. During the past 20 years, four Alabama coals have been analyzed petrographically and the results published by the United States Bureau of Mines. They are: 1—Flat Top mine, Mary Lee bed; 2—Empire mine, Black Creek bed; 3—Wylam No. 8 mine, Pratt bed, all in the Warrior field; and 4—Soot Creek mine, Fairview bed, in the Coosa field."-" Of these, only the Flat Top mine is still operating. Because of the closing of these mines, it first appeared necessary to rely upon the indirect and unsatisfactory procedure of sampling the beds in other mines located as near to the closed mines as possible. Upon investigation, however, it was found that the Bureau of Mines still had, in storage, the very same samples which had been used in the published petrographic studies. The Bureau very generously furnished about 2000 g each of the Pratt, Mary Lee, and Fairview bed coals, largely lumps but with some fines. The blocks of coal, when received, still were covered by the paraffin coating which had been placed on the polished surface, in the case of the Mary Lee coal almost twenty years ago. Procedure The procedure for oxidizing the coal sample and removing the alkali-soluble humic acid has been described. In the present study, oxidation periods of 1/6, 1/3, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 2, 3, and 4 hr were used. All oxidations were made in triplicate. After the paraffin had been removed in boiling water and the coal washed carefully with cold benzene, the entire sample of approximately 2000 g, obtained from the Bureau of Mines, was crushed to pass a No. 4 sieve. About 200 g of this material was pulverized to pass

Jan 1, 1954

By M. Prats

The effect of a sand-filled vertical fracture of limited radial extent and finite capacity (fracture capacity is the product of the permeability and width of the fracture) on the flow behavior of a cylindrical reservoir producing an incompressible fluid through a centrally located well has been investigated mathematically. The shape of the lines of equal pressure near the fracture is essentially independent of the size of the reservoir, provided that the field radius is of the order of the fracture length or larger. For reasonable values of production rates and of fluid, reservoir and fracture properties, the total pressure drop between the end of the fracture and the well is gelrerally negligible compared with the pressure drop in the reservoir. With regard to production response, the effect of vertical fractures can be represented by the production response of an equivalent or effective well radius. For a high-capacity fracture, the effective well radius is a quarter of the total fracture length, decreasing with the fracture capacity. When invasion effects are simulated by decreasing the width of the damaged zone with distance from the well, the effect of formation damage around a fracture on the production response is not so seriolls as indicated by the literature. This suggests that frac fluids with a conventional filter-loss response are better than high-spurt-loss frac fluids, provided the effective permeability of the damaged zone is the same. INTRODUCTION This paper considers the effect of the fracture capacity, as well as the formation damage which can result from fracture treatments, on the productive capacity of vertically fractured wells. Other publications, notably those of van Poollen,l,2 consider these same effects. In addition to providing more general results for vertical fractures than are available from the liter- ature, the present paper gives the equivalent well radius of fractures having different lengths and capacities and, also, includes pressure distributions in and around the fractures. The effect of a damaged zone around a fracture on the production response was not found to be so great as that reported by van Poollen. 2 This difference probably stems from the fact that we consider a damaged zone which is widest (but is still small) near the well and thins out toward the extremities of the fracture, whereas van Poollen considers a damaged zone having a uniform width for the entire fracture length. Simple, but adequate, equations which describe the effect of these variables on production response are presented (in Appendixes A and B). Thus, results can easily be extended to values of the variables not specifically considered here. IDEALIZATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE FRACTURED SYSTEM It is assumed that a horizontal oil-producing layer of constant thickness and of uniform porosity and permeability is bounded above and below by impermeable strata. The liquid is incompressible. It is assumed that, after the well is fractured, the cylindrical outer "boundary" is at a uniform potential, provided that it is not too near the fracture. The fracture system is represented by a single, plane, vertical fracture of limited radial extent, bounded by the impermeable matrix above and below the producing layer (reservoir).3 Fig. 1 indicates the general three-dimensional geometry of the fractured reservoir described above. If gravity effects are neglected, the flaw behavior in the reservoir will be independent of the vertical position ill the oil sand. This means that the flow behavior in the fractured reservoir can be described by the two-dimensional flow behavior shown in the horizontal cross section of the reservoir, Fig. 2. PARAMETERS The effect of a fracture on the pressure distribution in the fracture itself and in an otherwise undamaged (no skin) reservoir indicates that the pressure distribution is a function of three parameters.

By J. P. Timmons, J. H. Moran, G. K. Miller, M. A. Coufleau

A prototype equipment has been designed and built for the digital recording of well logs on magnetic tape at the same time that the regular film recording is made. The format of the digital tape produced is such that it can be used directly at the input of the ZBM 704, 7090 or other models of ZBM computers which accept digital magnetic tape. This apparatus has been used for the experimental field recording of dipmeter tape logs which were subsequently computed by means of an ZBM 704 or 7090. In this paper the equipment and the digital tape are described briefly, and their application to the computer-interpretation of dipmeter data is discussed. A principal element in the interpretation of the dipmeter log is the correlation of the three microresirtivity dipmeter curves to determine the depth displacements between them. Several correlation methods for computer use are considered, with particular attention to their sensitivity to error and their consumption of computer time. The tape data were used to compute information content of the dipmeter microresistivity curves in terms of their frequency spectra. The results show that the sampling rate used in recording the digital information is quite adequate and illustrate a use of the digital tape in evaluating the characteristics of new tools. Some examples of field results are shown. It can be foreseen that, when digital tape recording becomes available for general field use, a whole new realm of possibilities will be opened up for the processing of other well logs through computations, which hitherto were not feasible because they were too laborious and time-con.sunzing. INTRODUCTION The last few years have seen a revolution in the design and production of data-processing equipment. Stored-pro-gram digital computers have progressed from a research curiosity to the basis of a major industry. There are now hundreds of such machines in daily use in the United States. With the acceptance of a technique that was, in fact, already clearly described by John von Neumann in 1945, the last decade has seen great strides in the development'of components, reliability, programming systems and, most spectacularly, in the sheer number of machines built and in use. In 1957 there were enough digital computers available to the oil industry to justify the suggestion that it would be worthwhile to investigate the possibility of using these machines in processing well log data.' The first result of this investigation was the appearance of what may be referred to as the input-output bottleneck. Well logs are customarily recorded on film. To get these data into a machine required then (and still does): a time-consuming semi-automatic reading of the film; conversion of the log data to digital form; and recording these digital data in some medium acceptable for computer input, such as cards, magnetic tape, or punched paper tape. However, the recording, reading, and re-recording could only result in deterioration of the data. Therefore, it was concluded that the fist step should be the development of a new, more direct recording technique supplemental to the film recording, which would provide easy access to the digital computer. There are many solutions to the problem of recording log data in an easily recoverable form. After careful consideration it was decided to adopt the boldest solution which, it was felt, was also the most elegant. It was decided to record well logs directly, in the field, on magnetic tape in such a way that this tape could be used without further modification as an input to the IBM 704 or 7090 computer. To realize practical field recording of magnetic tape logs, it became necessary to develop in a rather small package, an analog-to-digital converter, a tape recorder, and the necessary multiplexing and control circuits to allow the simultaneous recording of a multiplicity of logging signals. The magnetic tape recording was to be made simultaneously with the conventional logging operation in such a way as not to interfere with it. Along with the development of hardware, it was necessary to begin development of interpretation techniques and machine programs that would exploit the power of the digital computer. Here, again, there is a long list of possible applications. After much consideration it was decided to concentrate on the interpretation of the dipmeter log as a first application. It is the object of this paper to describe in some detail the developments sketched in the last three paragraphs.

By S. H. Gelles

Samples of poly crystalline zinc of 99.999+ pct purity were observed metallographically after having been exposed to hydrostatic pressures of up to 27 kbars. The deforrnation produced by this treatment was analyzed using X-ray and metallogaphic techniques. Basal-plane slip occurred universally in all grains exumined at the lowest pressure used (8 kbars). At pressures of >23 kbars, {1012} twin nucleation and growth were noted as well as slip. Formation of bend planes, complex kink bands, and recrystallization at the gain boundaries were also observed in this pressure range. These observations are discussed in reference to the expected deformation behavior of zinc under high hydrostatic pressure. It has been shown over the past few years1'3 that anisotropic, poly crystalline metals can be made to deform plastically by the application of a hydrostatic pressure. The effect is greater 1) the larger the anisotropy of linear compressibility and 2) the smaller the stress level needed to produce plastic deformation. Zinc having both very anisotropic linear compressibilities and a very low critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) for basal-plane slip has been shown to exhibit large amounts of plastic deformation when subjected to a hydrostatic pressure.2,3 At pressures up to 15 kbars, grain boundary migration and slip on one set of glide planes have been reported.' After exposing samples to 20 kbars pressure, grain boundary migration, single slip, multiple slip, and twinning have been noted.' The identification of the deformation modes operative under these conditions has not been reported. It was the purpose of this research to identify the deformation modes induced in poly crystal line zinc by the action of a hydrostatic stress and to study the strain accommodation at grain boundaries. Hydrostatic pressure could affect the operational modes of deformation by altering the Peierls-Nabarro stress. This may be roughly approximated by the relationship4

Jan 1, 1967

By J. W. Snavely

THE high tension belt conveyor is introducing a new and tremendously expanded era of low cost bulk material handling. High tension belt conveyors are generally those installations involving very long centers, high lifts, or drops, in which the belts are stressed up to their maximum tension values, and further, where the belt construction provides tension capacity far beyond what is possible with conventional belt constructions. With these high tension installations, the magnitude of the forces involved demands careful refinement of accepted design practice in order to achieve optimum balance of all factors. No attempt will be made to evaluate the relative merits of belt conveyor haulage with other means of transportation. For present purposes, it is assumed this has already been done in favor of belt conveyor. Neither will any attempt be made to evaluate the various conveyor belt constructions now available or to balance the advantages of various types of mechanical equipment. It is also assumed that the basic haulage information on which the conveyor design is based is accurate and complete. A sustained maximum, uniform load on the belt at all times must be achieved through proper feed control and the use of adequate surge storage to level the peaks and valleys of any varying demand for the material being handled. General Belt Capacity Considerations The belt conveyor capacity tables published by various belting and conveyor equipment manufacturers vary to a considerable degree, and the ratings given are quite conservative. Of necessity, these published ratings are based on the handling of average materials under average conditions. In applying a high tension belt, all possible capacity from the belt must be obtained in order to hold its width to a minimum and thereby limit the initial cost. Two factors are involved, loading to maximum cross section area and traveling at a maximum practical speed. Belt Loading: Proper treatment of the loading of the belt will result in maximum cross section to the load, and published capacity ratings can be exceeded, sometimes by appreciable margins. On the 10-mile conveyor haul used in the construction of Shasta Dam, California, although the rated capacity of the belt line was 1100 tons per hr, at times the system handled peak loads of 1400 tons per hr, almost 25 pct better than the rated capacity. One of the large coal companies has been able to exceed rated capacity by as much as 50 pct. Loading conditions which must be controlled are: 1. Large lumps must be scalped off and rejected or the load must be primary crushed before being placed on the belt. 2. The material weight per cubic foot must be accurate, must be known for all the materials being handled, and must be known for the complete range of conditions of the individual material being handled. Long centers and high lifts magnify small differences into serious proportions. 3. Uniform feeding to the belt is most important. Various types of feeders are available, which can be used to place a constant predetermined volume of material on the belt, or, where an appreciable range of material weight exists, through electrical control actuated by current demand, to place a predetermined uniform tonnage on the belt. One long slope belt in a coal mine in Pennsylvania is being fed at three separate stations with the controls so arranged that whenever the maximum load is going onto the belt from the first station, the other two stations automatically cut out. Whenever the load from the first station drops back, the other two stations again automatically cut in. 4. Careful design of the chutes and skirts is necessary to get the load centered on the belt with a minimum of free margin along each edge. Some free margin at the edge of the belt is necessary to prevent spillage, but if the load can be kept accurately centered, this free margin area can be reduced, and more material can be carried on the belt. What can be accomplished in this respect will vary widely, depending on the nature of the material being hauled. The chute and skirt design must also protect the belt. 5. The design of chutes and skirts should also get the load traveling in the same direction and close to belt speed, so that the load comes to rest on the belt as quickly as possible. The design of the chutes and skirts is worthy of careful study, and after a system is put into operation it should be experimented with to get the best results. Belt Speed: High belt speeds should be used in high tension work. Obviously, high belt speeds enable haulage on a narrower belt, reducing initial cost. The major portion of belt wear takes place at the loading point and around the terminal pulleys. The

Jan 1, 1952

By Harry M. Mikami

Chromite is the only ore mineral of metallic chromium and chromium compounds and chemicals. Because of this fact, chromite and chrome ore are used synonymously in trade literature. In commercial market quotations, chrome ore is the term commonly used. Chromite per se, because of properties imparted by its chromium content, is used in refractories and in special purpose moulding sands for metal casting. There are many other minerals containing some, generally minor, amounts of chromium, but none are commercial sources of the element (Thayer, 1956, p. 15). Chromium and chromite have many diverse uses that, directly and indirectly, critically affect vast segments of our modern industrial system. Most important are probably the metallurgical applications wherein chromium is a component of heat, abrasion, corrosion, and oxidation-resistant, and high strength alloys of many types. Stainless steels are the largest volume category of chrome-bearing alloys. Chromium chemicals are used in leather tanning, in pigments, dyes and mordants, printing, :hemica1 process industries, photography, pharmaceuticals, metal plating, pure chromium metal production, and for many other purposes. Chromite is a necessary constituent in basic refractories indispensable for the production of steel, copper, cement, and glass. Under present economic-political conditions, he U.S. and for that matter, North America, has virtually insignificant ore reserves of chromite. There are chromite deposits, as will be described, but they would only be used under highly abnormal conditions if all outside sources were cut off. All chromite used in the U.S. is imported from the eastern hemisphere in which are contained the principal world reserves. As the main suppliers in 1971-72 were the USSR, Turkey, Republic of South Africa, Philippines, and Rhodesia, the strategic nature of chromite is obvious.

Jan 1, 1975

By Clyde Orr

INTRODUCTION Cracks, crevices, holes, and fissures -- here collectively termed pores -- occur in all manner of substances in sizes from those evident to the unaided eye to those well below electron microscopic levels of detection. Naturally occurring materials having varying degrees of porosity are represented by wood, rock, soil, and mineral formations. Man-made materials that are porous include ceramics, sintered metals, catalysts, adsorbents, filters, and various compacted objects. The extent of their porosity greatly influences the hardness, rigidity, integrity, and general usefulness of such materials, and assessing both their pore volume and size is becoming increasingly necessary. Means by which this pore information can be obtained is the subject here. No attempt will be made to include all techniques and variations of them that have been suggested, but, hopefully, those of most general applicability will be described in sufficient detail to enable a potential user to judge their merit for a particular need. The results of pore measurements are made useful by relating them through other tests to performance criteria such as weatherability, water penetration, frost damage, oil recovery, strength, or thermal or electrical conductivity. These tests, of course, are outside the bounds for inclusion here. A pore is variously defined in dictionaries as "a minute opening", "a small interstice admitting passage of liquid", and "an interspace between particles". Clearly any object through which it is possible to find a continuous path from one side to the other either for a liquid or a gas must be regarded as porous. Passageways are not necessary for porosity to exist, however. There are so-called blind

Jan 1, 1980

By G. S. Scott, H. G. Turner, W. L. Kleene

It is well known that different forms of carbon show differences in chemical behavior under apparently identical conditions. It is fairly well known that these differences persist, although to a lesser degree, in a single group of carbons, such as the anthracites of Pennsylvania. It is the purpose of this paper to show the extent of these variations for Pennsylvania anthracites from actual quantitative measurements of the amount of carbon dioxide reduced under the standardized test conditions employed. As the amount of carbon dioxide reduced to the monoxide (under comparative conditions termed, for convenience, the "reactivity") is important in combustion, gas production and metallurgy, it is hoped that this paper will be a useful contribution to the store of knowledge on these subjects. In carrying out the investigation, considerable time and thought were spent in obtaining what seemed to be the best possible design of apparatus. The next step consisted in making a number of trial runs on the same sample, varying temperature, particle diameter, etc. and then outlining a standardized procedure to be followed in testing all samples. Fifty anthracites were tested. As a matter of interest, some 10 miscellaneous samples were also tested. The data show initial reaction temperatures (abbreviated I.R.T.), reaction velocity constants at 900" and 950" C., some effects of added substances, and a few additional tests designed to throw some light on the causes of differences in reactivity. The sample of charcoal, as was anticipated, proved to be easily the most reactive of any sample tested. The anthracites as a group came second. The five samples of gas and by-product cokes, obtained from five different coke manufacturers, came third, and a single sample of Rhode Island anthracite ranked fourth, with respect to reactivity as above defined. Although the five coke samples do not necessarily represent the average market coke, and five samples constitute a rather small number of samples to serve as a basis for comparisons, the fact that none

Jan 1, 1934

By W. J. Rooney, James Fisher, W. O. Hotchkiss

During the summer of 1927, the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington joined with the Michigan College of Mining and Technology in conducting a series of earth-resistivity measurements in the Michigan copper country. The geological structure in this section is quite varied and fairly well known. The purpose of the investigation was to discover the correlation between the variations in electrical resistivity of large masses of soil and rock in place and the geological structure below the surface. The work done may be roughly divided into two parts: (1) Measurement and study of the variations in resistivity with depth, or with volume, to establish such general relations as exist between the two; and (2) the determination of the specific resistivity of various formations in order to make available more fundamental data which may aid in the interpretation of the results of the former type of measurement. A report by Mr. Rooney, which gives in detail the measurements made and the results obtained, forms the basis for this article. Measurement and Study of Variations in Resistivity The possibility of applying data from measurements of the physical properties of earth material to the study of the geological structure has long been recognized, and a number of methods for determining the position and character of concealed rock strata by means of seismic, gravitation, magnetic and electrical measurements made on the surface are being used with varying degrees of success. One physical property which varies widely for different materials, and hence affords an opportunity for distinguishing between them, is their electrical resistance. Locations • were selected where the geological structures were well known and where the depths to the water level and bed rock had been determined by drilling. The problem was to determine the value of measurements of resistivity and its variations as indications of the geological structure below the surface.

Jan 1, 1929

By J. S. Owens, R. W. Marsden, J. W. Emanuelson, R. F. Werner, N. E. Walker

The iron ores of the Mesabi Range occur in a 340 to 750-foot thick, Precambrian cherty iron formation termed "taconite." For about 65 years, extensive natural iron ore bodies were mined, and the ores either shipped as a direct ore or processed by gravity methods to a shipping grade iron ore. Since 1956, magnetite taconite ores, occurring in magnetite-rich horizons in the Biwabik iron formation, have been commercially concentrated and agglomerated. The transition from natural ores to concentrating-grade ores is progressing rapidly so that, in the near future, a major percentage of the iron ore shipped from the Mesabi Range will be as iron ore pellets produced from taconite. Natural iron ores of the Mesabi Range occur in the Biwabik formation as trough ore bodies in elongated channels and as irregular and tabular deposits in fractured areas associated with faults and folds. Ore bodies range in size from a few thousand tons to hundreds of millions of tons and may occur in any part of the iron formation. In some areas of strong ore development, ore was formed from the hanging-wall argillite to the footwall quartzite. The natural ores and beneficiating-grade natural crude ores were formed by the oxidation of the iron minerals, magnetite, greenalite, stilpnomelane, minnesotaite, and siderite, to hematite and goethite and by the removal of much of the silica in the cherty quartz and in the associated silicates by leaching. The ores are believed to have formed by the oxidizing and leaching action of surface waters. Magnetite taconite ores occur as stratigraphic zones in the Biwabik formation where it contains sufficient magnetite to be concentrated profitably, by magnetic methods, to give a magnetite concentrate that is agglomerated into a high quality product. Unoxidized taconite has an extensive distribution away from and between channels of oxidation and leaching but only a part of the unoxidized taconite is of ore grade. Two general types of magnetite taconite ore occur: ( 1) magnetite taconite of the Main Mesabi Range, generally west of Mesaba, which is composed of magnetite associated with cherty quartz, greenalite, stilpnomelane, minnesotaite, and carbonates and (2) magnetite taconite of the Eastern Mesabi, generally east of Mesaba, composed of magnetite associated with quartz, cummingtonite, actinolite, ferrohypersthene, hedenbergite, fayalite, hornblende, pyroxene, garnet, and biotite. The Mesabi taconite is a metasediment derived from an iron- and silica-rich chemical sediment that has been regionally metamorphosed and, on the eastern end, additionally metamorphosed by the Duluth Gabbro Complex.

Jan 1, 1968

By Rudolph G. Wuerker

MUCH descriptive matter has appeared on the subject of suspension roof supports, or roof bolting, as it is more commonly called. The widespread introduction of roof bolting into coal mines and metal mines is truly phenomenal. Mine operators were quick to recognize the advantages of supporting wide openings without hindrance to machine maneuverability and ventilation. Although suspension roof support has long been installed at St. Joseph Lead Co. mines in southeast Missouri,'" its application to coal mining presented new problems, such as proper anchorage and bearing for the bolts, bolt diameter, and spacing of bolts. After continuous testing and experimenting at the mines, standard roof-bolting materials were determined.'!' The study reported in this paper is not concerned with such details as bolt diameter, which may be considered already solved in practice. In the tests discussed here, small models patterned on actual bolts were found to function in the same way and as satisfactorily as their prototypes. The aim of these tests was rather to investigate the influence of roof-bolting systems on the stress distribution around mine openings and to study the fracture patterns obtained in actual testing. Little was found about this in the literature, as testing of suspension roof methods and quantitative measurements are only now coming to the fore. Several suggestions and actual measurements have been made to evaluate critically the functioning of roof bolting systems, single roof bolts, and parts thereof. Outstanding among them is Bucky's outline of structural model tests.'" Since none of the suggested testing equipment was available, however, for the experiments discussed below, a different approach was chosen. The response of a mine roof under stress has often been compared to that of a beam. The slow coming down and bending through of beam or plate-like banks of shale, sandstone, or top coal is a familiar occurrence, extensively cited in the literature." It was felt that testing of roof-bolt systems installed in a concrete beam which was loaded in bending would be a fair approximation of the behavior of a mine roof underground. Another school of thought considers the roof behavior over an underground opening in connection with the stress distribution all around a circular or rectangular opening. This is more accurate, and leads to the concept of a dome-shaped zone of material destroyed under tensile stress. This is likewise a common sight in unsupported roadways where the continuous fall of roof results in what has been called the natural outline of roof fracture. This theory could not be tested and is treated separately in Appendix B. It is important to note that according to both assumptions the immediate roof fails in tension; the use of a beam in these tests, therefore, should give information valid for either of the two theories. With the testing equipment at hand it was possible to load concrete beams 6xlx0.5 ft under two-point loading, giving an equal bending moment over the center part in which the model bolts were installed. A comparison was made of the ultimate loads needed to break plain beams and beams in which roof bolts were installed. Arrangements were made with: 1—plain beams; 2—bolts with plate washers, some with holes drilled at 90" angles and others with holes drilled at 45" angles; 3—bolts with channel irons underneath; 4—bolts in holes filled afterward with cement; and 5—bolts anchored in a stronger stratum. The foregoing arrangement is made in order of increasing strength, as assumed from the theory of reinforced concrete. Likewise, laminated beams with wooden model bolts and with combinations of the foregoing set-ups were tested. All in all, 21 experiments were made out of the much greater number of combinations possible. There were, too, some trial tests. Enough observations from this limited number were made to interpret the behavior of mine roof, supported by various types of suspension bolts, at fracture. In present-day concepts, which have been proved by mathematical derivations and stress analyses, any opening driven underground will change the distribution and magnitude of the stresses existing around it. It does not matter whether the stresses become visible, as in rocks whose strength is less than the forces acting upon them, or whether they are invisible, as in the gangways lacking evidence of rock pressure. In this latter case the rocks can withstand changes in stress-distribution. To consider the mine roof as a beam, there are, with transversal loading, tensile stresses in the lower fiber and compressive stresses in the upper layers above the neutral axis of the beam. Beams of brittle material such as rock and concrete fail exactly as shown in Fig. 1. Nearly all model beams showed the same fracture pattern as that of a tension crack. The influence of support, by roof bolting or conventional

Jan 1, 1954