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By Sylvain Pirson

THE number of seismograph field crews employed in the active survey of potential oil territories is still on the increase, owing to the ever pending threat of a shortage in the supply of crude oil. It is to be expected that for years to come the seismograph will be responsible for discovering many new oil fields, both in wildcat territories and in deeper formations, and that the seismographic campaign will go on unabated. Yet improvements in instrumental design, in the field and interpreta-tive techniques, are brought about year after year, and lead to the reshooting of areas many times surveyed previously. Notwithstanding the experience gained by the past eight years of active work in reflection seismographic surveys, the results given by this method of mapping deep formations have in many instances been at variance with the information subsequently obtained by the drill. To overcome this shortcoming, geophysicists have used closer spacing of the shot points and closer control of the depth points. The method dis-cussed here is being used actively in the Mid-Continent region and endeav-ors to reduce the interpretation work to a mere mechanical technique, leaving as little as possible to the opinion of the interpreter.

Jan 1, 1937

By Willard P. Ward

IT is the object of the present paper to bring to the notice of members of this Institute, the results of experiments made during the past six months in the manufacture of the alloys of iron and manganese in the blast-furnace. The ores at hand and available for the purpose were brown hematites, containing but a very small percentage of manganese, and various manganese ores containing a small percentage of iron. It is hardly necessary here to call attention to the statements regarding the production of iron-manganese alloys from such ores, which are given by all the well-recognized authorities on metallurgy. Suffice it to say, in a few words, that they hold that the operation is practically impossible, and that in the use of oxides of iron and manganese, mechanically intermixed in the same ore, much difficulty has been found in producing spiegeleisen. Spathic ores, containing manganese chemically combined, are alone recommended for the production of spiegel, and even then it is said that well-managed furnaces produce only about 75 to 80 per cent. of spiegel, the balance of the production being white laminated pig or gray iron.

Jan 1, 1876

Jan 1, 1882

By John H. Hearding

Induction heating, together with automatically controlled tempering and hardening is giving Oliver faster and more accurate bit sharpening, while experiments with bit taper promise to offer increased footage per bit.

Jan 10, 1953

By S. K. Kawatra

In order to take full advantage of the use of manipulatable variables to effectively control the response of coal flotation circuits to disturbances and to optimize circuit performance, the effects of each manipulatable variable must be understood with respect to the mechanisms responsible for particle recovery. This paper pays particular attention to the critical role of the froth phase and its effect on circuit behavior and control and emphasizes that in order to optimize the separation of coal from gangue by flotation it is necessary to consider particle behavior in both the pulp and in the froth while developing a control strategy. Data obtained from the extensive sampling of the flotation circuits in two coal preparation plants are used to illustrate this concept; by showing first the effects of reagent addition levels on the mechanisms responsible for particle recovery and second how this information can be used for control strategy development.

Jan 1, 1984

By A. H. Tousley

Current problems in the cement industry are discussed and suggestions for solving them by modernization are made. Cement facility modernization is discussed in considerable detail with examples illustrating before and after conditions. Itemized are the improvements realized in better working conditions, better efficiency, higher production, lower costs, and better community relations. These improvements are related to the overall profitability of the particular plant or facility.

Jan 1, 1972

By Benjamin F. Tillson

THE past seven years, and 1937 in particular, have witnessed the return of New Jersey iron mining to a place of importance. Following the World War period, little mining was done for several reasons. The properties were operated by small merchant furnaces whose demand was not sufficiently large to warrant large-scale methods with their attendant low operating costs. Under those conditions, the ore produced could not compete with that from the Great Lakes. However, when on Nov. 1, 1.929, the Alan Wood Steel Co., of Conshohocken, Pa., leased the Scrub Oak and Washington properties at Mine Hill and Oxford respectively, they made radical changes in the mining and milling processes which greatly reduced the cost of production and pointed the way to a renewed interest in mining in New Jersey. The following factors have been advanced as influencing the reopening of New Jersey mines:

Jan 1, 1938

By R. Varbanov, D. Nikolov, I. Nishkov

An interesting new flotation technique which reportedly improves mineral recovery over an extended particle size range-from 3 mm to 5 microns and below-has been developed by the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Designated the "static" flotation technique, it is suited for upgrading tin, molybdenum, tungsten, uranium, gold, copper, lead, zinc, and other metallic ores. Recoverable nonmetallics include feldspar, sulfur, and phosphorite. Characteristic of the static flotation process are: •longer contact period (up to 1000 times longer between particles and bubbles, •low collision velocity and inertial forces between the contact and aeration in a thin pulp layer, • aeration without the harmful hydrodynamic repulsion upon particles below 5 microns (the pulp layer is only a few millimeters thick and rising bubbles collide with the particles either directly or in the thin foam films formed), •option to conduct the process with or without froth by film flotation at equilibrium contact angles, and • the use of inexpensive frothers and/or unstable froth with separate regulations of froth stability by hydrodynamic, ultrasonic, or electrostatic means.

Jan 10, 1979

By Willard P. Ward

It is the object of the present paper to bring to the notice of members of this Institute, the results of experiments made during the past six months in the manufacture of the alloys of iron and manganese in the blast-furnace. The ores at hand and available for the purpose were brown hematites, containing but a very small percentage of manganese, and various manganese ores containing a small percentage of iron. It is hardly necessary here to call attention to the statements regarding the production of iron-manganese alloys from such ores, which are given by all the well-recognized authorities on metallurgy. Suffice it to say, in a few words, that they hold that the operation is practically impossible, and that in the use of oxides of iron and manganese, mechanically intermixed in the same ore, much difficulty has been found in producing spiegeleisen. Spathic ores, containing manganese chemically combined, are alone recommended for the production of spiegel, and even then it is said that well-managed furnaces produce only about 75 to 80 per cent. of spiegel, the balance of the production being white laminated pig or gray iron.

By Terkel Rosenqvist

J. Chipman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.)—The fact that the experimental work has been applied to copper rather than iron and that the paper is presented to the Iron and Steel Division, I regard as rather significant. It shows the unity of metallurgy and the fallacy of trying to cut it up by metals. This result for the solubility of sulphur in molten copper correlates with Professor Schuhmann's finding that the published data on the other side of the copper-sulphur miscibility gap are also in error. I should like to ask the author to say a little bit more about the sulphur capacity of the slag. T. Rosenqvist (author's reply)-—I hope that Dr. Chipman will find the derivation of the expression for sulphur capacity more clearly explained in the printed version of the paper than in the oral discussion at the meeting. I feel that this quantity, which actually is the ratio of two activities, can be measured more easily than the individual activities. Even if the ratio CaO/CaS is chosen as the standard state, the expression can be used for any slag, even for slags completely free of lime, and it represents a way to put the desulphurizing power of all slag constituents into one bag. Some doubt has been expressed as to whether oxygen ions really exist in calcium oxide and in molten slags. From a thermodynamic view point that question is of minor importance. The term oxygen ion activity, or any activity for that matter, is defined rigorously by the equation: activity = exp p/RT, where p is the change in free energy connected with the transfer of one mol of ions from the standard state into the slag. Whatever happens to the ion in the slag is of no concern to the thermodynamicist. Regardless of whether the ion is "free" in the slag or not, or whether it is present in a very small amount, its activity can always be expressed, and for a thermo- dynamic calculation that is all we need. However, ionic activities will only be of some real value if they are simple functions of the slag composition, or can be measured easily. Concerning the real nature of the oxygen in the slag, my feeling is that the oxygen atom has a rather multiplex nature depending on how strongly it is tied by covalent forces or polarized by the other atoms or ions present. The oxides of iron, cobalt, and nickel differ from calcium oxide and blast furnace slags as to the amount of free electrons that can give rise to electronic conductivity. In slags we know that the conductivity is mostly ionic. The fact that reversible emf's can be obtained with oxygen electrodes in certain salt melts, indicates a significant amount of oxygen ions in these melts. But extended work, e.g. polaragraphic studies and measurements of transference number; are needed to obtain quantitative information about the real structure of the slags. D. E. Babcock (Republic Steel Corp., Youngstown, Ohio)—-With reference to the ion, it might be well to remember Dr. Moses Gomberg. All of his life he had no use for the ionization theory and he contributed greatly to the field of chemistry on the assumption there was no such thing as ions. I do not think we have to worry about whether the oxygen is ionic or not. I think one thing specifically should be brought to your attention and this I think is one of the important contributions of Dr. Rosenqvist. He pointed out what we know as oxygen potentials or what is described as oxygen potentials. I have used this concept for a long period of time and I want to state that if this concept is properly applied, it vitiates much of what we have in the literature, or makes our usual ideas regarding oxidation seem primitive. That one thing is more valuable than almost all the rest of the discussion as a fundamental basis on which to build a reasonable in-

Jan 1, 1952

Jan 1, 1887

By Arthur F. Wendt

In the manufacture of charcoal-blooms, washing or cleansing of the ore from adhering gangue has been practiced for many years. A sluice-box is even to-day used for that purpose in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. For the Lake Champlain bloomaries hard magnetic ores are crushed with stamps and then sluiced or jigged in hand-jigs. The stamps used in the Lake Champlain region are of the most primitive kind. They consist of a trip-hammer, dropping on a perforated cast-iron plate, through which the crushed ore escapes. Only friable rock can thus be successfully treated. To render the raw ore friable, a calcining or burning in piles on a bed of cordwood is resorted to. An expense of 35 cents per ton of crude rock treated is thus incurred. The crushed ore is shovelled or otherwise fed into jigs without previous sizing, except such as is incidental to crushing through the perforated bottom of the stamping-machine. In jigging this ore, it is allowed to pass through the bedding into the "hutch." The tailings are scraped off and wasted. They contain a large percentage of fine ore. In many instances, this is regained by subsequent sluicing. Such was the condition of the industry, when the writer's attention was first called to it in 1882. No attempt had been made to introduce into thiS branch of ore-dressing the notable improvements adopted in concentrating the ores of other metals. The result of the writer's investigations was the building in 1882 of the "Crown Point Separator." At the Crown Point Mines, N. Y., lean ore unfit for the blastfurnace (containing less than 331/3 per cent. of iron), was concentrated and used in the bloomary connected with the mines. The ore was burned here as elsewhere, and treated as described. The plant designed by the writer for Crown Point, is nearly a counterpart of that since erected by Messrs. Copeland and Bacon, contractors, for the Theal mine, Putnam County, New York, which is illustrated by the accompanying plate. The only difference is in

Jan 1, 1885

By A. W. Fahrenwald, Lewis S. Prater

BY taking advantage of the fundamental difference between screening and classification-namely, that specific gravity has no effect on screening but is one of the important factors in classification-a combination of the two may be used as a process of mineral concentration. Although this fact is not new, so far as is known it has had little or no commercial application. The scheme is not presented now as a process for producing finished products but rather as a preliminary operation rejecting part of the barren material from an ore before it is subjected to more costly treatment. That is largely the function of the new heavy-media concentration processes that have been widely accepted. Original installation costs for the present sink-float processes are relatively high, however, which confines their use to operations where large tonnages are handled. Sink-float has been successful on only the relatively coarse (approximately plus 10-mesh) portion of an ore, and it is in this same range that classification screening can function most satisfactorily. Theoretically, there is no upper limit to the size of particles that can be handled in a sink-float operation, but the degree of liberation in the very large pieces usually limits this. With classification screening, particles from 3/8 to 1/2 in. would be the largest that could be handled, but the lower range could be extended somewhat below 10 mesh. In order to take full advantage of the difference in specific gravities of the minerals being separated, sorting in the classifier should be under as extreme hindered-settling conditions as possible. Laboratory tests have been made on a galena ore and on an artificial mixture of quartz and magnesite to determine the separations that may be expected. Although more than one scheme may be followed, in these tests the separations were made by cutting the underflow from the classifier as a concentrate and then screening the overflow. The screen oversize was rejected as a tailing. Classification was done in a hindered-settling teeter column and screening was done by hand, using the standard [v2]series. The accompanying flowsheet gives the testing procedure followed. [ ]

Jan 1, 1945

The program of 'the Chicago meeting, which is to be held Sept. 22-26, is as follows: Monday. Morning-Registration. Afternoon-Technical Session. Evening Smoker. Tuesday. Morning and Afternoon-Excursion by boat to Gary and trip, through United States Steel Co's. plant. Evening-Technical Session. Wednesday. Morning- Technical Session. Afternoon-Technical Session. Evening-Banquet, Congress Hotel. Thursday. Morning and Afternoon-Special train to La Salle and De Pue, Ill., Inspection of Zinc Smelters, Cement Works, and Coal Mines. Trip to Starved Rock and points of historical interest. Evening-Return by train to Chicago. Friday. Morning-Optional trips. 1. East Chicago Metallurgical Plants and Oil Refineries at Whiting, Ind. 2. North Chicago and Milwaukee. 3. Local Chicago Plants. 4. Coal trip to Franklin and McCoupin Counties.

Jan 6, 1919

By Kendall E. Born

Production of crude oil in Tennessee during 1940 was slightly more than 15,000 bbl., a decrease from 1939 of about 36,000 bbl. This sharp decline has been caused largely by curtailed activities in the shallow pools in Clay County, where approximately 3000 bbl. was marketed off the lease during the year as against more than 37,000 bbl. in 1939. The flashy production found in 1938 in the Celina area has been short-lived and the area is essentially abandoned. Failure to find steady production has been the major factor retarding developments in the northeastern Highland Rim area. The Mississippi lime production in Scott and Morgan Counties continued to show a steady decline. The Tennessee production by counties is shown in Table I. Table i.—Oil Production in Tennessee it1 1940 Production. Bbl. Number of County Wells Pumped 1939 1940 Scott............ 4 4,332 3.596 Morgan.......... I: 6,479 5,751 Fentress.......... 3 I,2XX 1,5xz Pickett........... 1 1.2XX Clay............. 8 37.200 3,XXX Developments There were 32 wells spudded in during 1940, four of which were drilling or only temporarily suspended on Dec. 31, 1940. Twenty-eight wells were completed during the year, four of which were commercial producers. The total footage drilled was 3I,214 ft. The more important wildcats are listed in Table 2; the distribution of 1940 oil and gas tests according to physiographic divisions is given in Table 3. Cumberland Platenu.—Thcre was one completion in the coal area of the state, a test that attempted to extend the Mississippi lime production in the Coon Hollow pool to the southeast in Morgan County. This test encountered only slight shows of oil in the producing horizons of the near-by Coon Hollow and Boone Camp pools. Some surface work was carried on by private interests during the year in Scott and Morgan Counties and two wells were spudded in early in 1941 The revival of interest in the Kentucky portion of the plateau will probably result in increased activity in this part of Tennessee during 1941. Several sizable blocks of acreage, some by major oil companies, are held in Scott, Morgan, and Cumberland Counties. Middle Tennessee.—The northeastern Highland Rim continued to be the most active area in the state with 20 completions, although this figure is about one third of the number drilled in 1939. Four oil wells, none with initial productions of more than I00 bbl., were completed in Clay, Fentress, and Pickett Counties. The producing horizons discovered in Pickett and Fentress Counties were in the "Sunny-brookJ' pays of Trenton age. The Clay County producer was an old test drilled deeper in which oil was found at 671 ft. in the upper part of the Stones River group of limestones, a common pay in this area. All four wells were drilled in or close to old shallow production. Deeper testing into the Knox dolomite group in this area was not particularly encouraging, although one well in Fentress County encountered some saturation at 1860 to 1869 ft. in the upper

Jan 1, 1941

By Kendall E. Born

Production of crude oil in Tennessee during 1940 was slightly more than 15,000 bbl., a decrease from 1939 of about 36,000 bbl. This sharp decline has been caused largely by curtailed activities in the shallow pools in Clay County, where approximately 3000 bbl. was marketed off the lease during the year as against more than 37,000 bbl. in 1939. The flashy production found in 1938 in the Celina area has been short-lived and the area is essentially abandoned. Failure to find steady production has been the major factor retarding developments in the northeastern Highland Rim area. The Mississippi lime production in Scott and Morgan Counties continued to show a steady decline. The Tennessee production by counties is shown in Table I. Table i.—Oil Production in Tennessee it1 1940 Production. Bbl. Number of County Wells Pumped 1939 1940 Scott............ 4 4,332 3.596 Morgan.......... I: 6,479 5,751 Fentress.......... 3 I,2XX 1,5xz Pickett........... 1 1.2XX Clay............. 8 37.200 3,XXX Developments There were 32 wells spudded in during 1940, four of which were drilling or only temporarily suspended on Dec. 31, 1940. Twenty-eight wells were completed during the year, four of which were commercial producers. The total footage drilled was 3I,214 ft. The more important wildcats are listed in Table 2; the distribution of 1940 oil and gas tests according to physiographic divisions is given in Table 3. Cumberland Platenu.—Thcre was one completion in the coal area of the state, a test that attempted to extend the Mississippi lime production in the Coon Hollow pool to the southeast in Morgan County. This test encountered only slight shows of oil in the producing horizons of the near-by Coon Hollow and Boone Camp pools. Some surface work was carried on by private interests during the year in Scott and Morgan Counties and two wells were spudded in early in 1941 The revival of interest in the Kentucky portion of the plateau will probably result in increased activity in this part of Tennessee during 1941. Several sizable blocks of acreage, some by major oil companies, are held in Scott, Morgan, and Cumberland Counties. Middle Tennessee.—The northeastern Highland Rim continued to be the most active area in the state with 20 completions, although this figure is about one third of the number drilled in 1939. Four oil wells, none with initial productions of more than I00 bbl., were completed in Clay, Fentress, and Pickett Counties. The producing horizons discovered in Pickett and Fentress Counties were in the "Sunny-brookJ' pays of Trenton age. The Clay County producer was an old test drilled deeper in which oil was found at 671 ft. in the upper part of the Stones River group of limestones, a common pay in this area. All four wells were drilled in or close to old shallow production. Deeper testing into the Knox dolomite group in this area was not particularly encouraging, although one well in Fentress County encountered some saturation at 1860 to 1869 ft. in the upper

Jan 1, 1941

By J. E. Forciea, R. W. Salmi

Operating and research personnel at U.S. Steel's Pilotac concentrator have evolved specifications for magnetic separators suitable for use in beneficiation of Mesabi magnetic taconite. These specifications were developed as a result of investigations into the operating and metallurgical problems at the Pilotac concentrator over a period of some ten years. This paper discusses primary magnetic separator specifications, but much of the information is also pertinent to secondary and tertiary magnetic separators. Of particular significance is the proposal of a new basis for specifying the magnetic field which includes consideration of both field strength and field gradient. Other areas of discussion include flowsheet service, operating conditions such as drum speed and pulp level, tank configuration, magnet strength including field gradient, sleeve bearing design, designation of corrosion resistant materials and other details that result in a metallurgically efficient machine that has low repair and maintenance requirements. The mechanical and metallurgical design of magnetic separators at the Pilotac plant, Minnesota Ore Operations, United States Steel Corp. has progressed from the original single-stage, belt-type machines to the present multiple-stage, drum-type units, In ten years of operation, the plant operating and research personnel, in consultation with manufacturers, have made design changes to improve mechanical, electrical and magnetic features to meet process needs as flowsheet designs developed and to incorporate new permanent magnet materials as they became available. Separator specifications were an end result of this effort. The latest specifications which were developed for the Minnesota Ore Operations' plant were not all-inclusive listings; they covered only those points indicated by plant experience. For example, magnet pole piece design and dimensions were not stated. The manufacturers were given freedom to use any design as long as the field pattern was as specified. The selection of the items to be included in the specifications was undoubtedly influenced by particular conditions at Pilotac such as composition of plant water, concentration characteristics of the ore, repair and maintenance facilities available and the research programs that had been conducted. Only the developments leading to the specifications for a primary or "cobber" magnetic separator are presented in this paper. However, the same general concepts are used to specify secondary and tertiary separators. The areas of interest discussed include flowsheet service, tank configuration, magnet design, bearings, materials of construction, and some minor mechanical details. FLOWSHEET SERVICE The primary magnetic separators in the Pilotac Concentrator flowsheet are located after the first stage of grinding as shown in Fig. 1.

Jan 1, 1965

By W. H. Caruthers

ECONOMIC utilization of all by-products has long been the goal of American industry. One of the first groups that was popularly supposed to have achieved its aim was the meat-packing industry, which reputedly found a use for everything except the squeal of the hog. To the metallurgist, slag has always been the principal wasted by-product, representing a loss not only of material, but of heat. Slag does not possess many qualities that appeal to man's imagination or suggest a romantic influence on the daily life and progress of a community or nation. It is a bulky product, and space for its disposal within reasonable hauling distance of a smelter is not always available; the iron-ore smelter especially has been wont to find space for slag disposal at a premium. Therefore, the success that has been attained in recent years in finding a use for iron blast-furnace slag is notable. It has become a vital economic factor in the construction industry in areas where it is available. Its use may suggest further possibilities of an economic outlet for the slags from nonferrous smelting as well.

Jan 1, 1940

By J. F. Myers, F. M. Lewis

The paper reports the development of a large, slow speed ball mill closed circuited with a hydroscillator. This increased grinding efficiency 28 pct over conventional units.

Jan 1, 1950

By G. R. Green, R. C. McDonald

I n 1966 a major expansion program in Canada was undertaken by Inco to meet increasing nickel requirements. Coinciding as it did with a severe labor shortage, a large portion of this expanded production had to be accomplished through increasing productivity in tons per man-shift in every phase of the operation. In the mining section of the company the first step to this end was the adoption of load-haul-dump equipment for ore removal. Concurrent with the expanding use of this equipment, a program to improve drilling and breaking efficiency was also undertaken. The first drilling machine added in the program was 3-boom unit capable of drilling a complete cut-and-fill bench 28 ft wide, and 10 ft high with 12 ft horizontal holes from a single setup. Using one-pass steel, one operator could drill the complete face with- out leaving the controls except to change bits. The unit was mounted on a 4-wheeled, rubber-tired chassis powered by a 66-hp air-cooled Deutz diesel motor. When in position it was connected to min

Jan 6, 1972