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By Mervin D. Marshall

A quick-reaction, mine permissible rescue vehicle (MERV) was developed for use by rescue teams. The MERV is a 6-wheeled, battery-powered unit with life support equipment and instrumentation; designed for a two-man team, with provisions for handling two victims or tools in a trailer. The vehicle is 100 inches long, 56 inches wide, and maximum height of 34 inches. It can be lowered down most mine shafts and has clearance to travel mine railways. The vehicle has power to all six wheels with power transmitted separately to either or both sets of wheels. Low-pressure, high-traction tires give the vehicle the ability to handle soft, muddy mine floors, flooded areas and significant obstacles, and can negotiate a 45% grade. Power and life support are sufficient for a 4-hour mission. The life support system is a commercially-available, approved unit currently used by MESA rescue personnel. A payout wire system provides communication between the vehicle and home base over a distance of 10,000 feet. On-board monitoring of carbon monoxide, methane and oxygen is provided, with master and individual alarms to warn of gas concentrations outside pre-set limits. A lightweight, water-tight trailer was developed for carrying victims or hauling tools and equipment.

Jan 1, 1979

By O. H. Metzger

This is the second of two papers dealing with the construction and use of aerial tramways in the metal-mining industry. The first paper3/described aerial tramways in a general way and discussed the engineering principles used in tramway design. The purpose of this paper is to give a more detailed description of equipment and material rind to discuss construction and operating costs. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The paper is based largely on data from actual operations. Metal-mine operators from many parts of the United States, Canada, Alaska, and Mexico contributed liberally.

Jan 1, 1940

By A. Monomakhoff

If a conductor traversed by an electric current is broken, a conduction forms in the air between the two broken ends of the wire. This conduction manifests itself in an initial phase by an electric spark and, in a second phase, by an arc if the the circuit continues to supply sufficient power. This arc goes out when the distance between the two ends of the conductor becomes sufficiently large. If the break occurs in an explosive atmosphere, the energy contributed by the arc can cause an explosion. To avoid such accidents, electric circuits that may be utilized in hazardous atmospheres can be made "intrinsically safe". The investigation which we conducted is part of a research project on the intrinsic safety of arcs of high intensity but short duration, in the case of resistive circuits. We developed an electronic system which makes it possible to limit the duration of an arc at the level of the break of a conductor traversed by a current with a possible maximum intensity of 80 amperes. This experimental device for monitoring and measuring the parameters of the arc has shown that arcs of high intensity but with a duration limited to a few microseconds do not ignite an explosive methane-air mixture.

Jan 1, 1975

By F. D. Stevenson

Thermodynamic properties of metal halides and, in particular, vapor pressures have become of great importance in recent years owing to increased application of chemical processing to extraction of metals from their ores. Vapor pressure data serve not only as a valuable source of latent heat of vaporization and fusion values but also differences in metal-halide vapor pressures often provide the basis for their separation by conventional mass transfer operations. This literature search was made to provide a ready reference to experimental vapor-pressure data of metal halides and oxyhalides. Results are reported in two main sections: (1) A tabulation of vapor- pressure references for each of the metal halides (listed by metal) for which actual experimental data are reported (table 1), and (2) a bibliography of the citations. Metal halides and oxyhalides are listed by chemical formula and chemical name, based on the stock4 system. To facilitate location of the references, a listing of the journal titles and their abbreviations follows the bibliography.

Jan 1, 1963

By Albert L. Toenges

The State Division of Geology Arkansas Resources and Development Commission, and the Arkansas-Oklahoma Coal, Operators Association requested assistance from the Bureau of Mines in a study of coal-mining methods and practices in .Arkansas coal mines with the objective of reducing production costs. On October 7, 1946, a joint meeting was held by representatives of the Arkansas Resources and Development Commission, approximately 30 coal-mine Operators of the Arkansas -Oklahoma Coal Operaters Association, and representatives of the Bureau of Mines. The many problems confronting the coal industry in Arkansas, including mechanical mining in thin beds, costs, labor, and working time were discussed. Following this Meeting, a joint letter from Harold B. Foxhall, State geologist, and -P. R. Stewart, commissioner, Arkansas-Oklahoma Coal Operators Association, was addressed to Dr. R. R. Sayers; former ,Director of the Bureau of Mines, requesting that mining conditions in Arkansas be studied.

Jan 1, 1949

By D. E. Wolfson

As part of its overall program of coal carbonization, the Bureau of Mines is studying the coking properties of coals that may be used for metallurgical purposes. The objectives of this study were given in detail in a previous report.2/ The suitability of coal for metallurgical use depends primarily on (1) chemical composition, (2) preparation characteristics, and (3) carbonization behavior. The first two factors, as well as the available reserves, are considered in selecting coals for carbonization tests. According to the estimate of reserves by Dowd,3/ the recoverable coal in Raleigh County in beds 28 inches or more thick, in thousand tons, is: [ ]

Jan 1, 1957

By William T. Reid

Low-temperature carbonization of coal in Japan served as an important source of liquid fuels during the war. Six plants operating in Japan Proper produced 203,069 KL (53.7 million gallons) of liquid fuel from 1940 until the end of the war in August 1945, while four additional plants in Karafuto and Korea produced 211,943 KL (56.0 million gallons) for a total of 415,012 KL (109.7 million gallons) of liquid products. Semicoke produced in these plants was used for domestic fuel, for gasi- fication in portable gas producers on automotive vehicles, and to replace imported low-volatile bituminous coal in the manufacture of metallurgical coke. Since 1936 one plant had produced more than 300,000 metric tons of semicoke for blending with bituminous coal to form coke, while the total production of semicoke since the beginning of the industry in 1923 is approxi- mately 2,000,000 metric tons. Despite an apparent annual carbonizing capacity of about 2,000,000 metric tons of coal for the entire country, the maximum amount of scmicoke produced during the peak year, 1943, was 468,446 metric tons. The equipment used is primarily of Gorman design. Just before the end of the war, 6 plants using 20 Lurgi carbonizers were operating with a total rated capacity of more than 1,500,000 metric tons of coal per year, while 2 Koppors units had a combined annual rated capacity of 400,000 metric tons of coal. One plant using the Japanese-designed Mimura system was in service but with so much mechanical trouble that its output was small, while in another plant 4 Wanisht carbonizers of Japanese design but based on an early German development were running satisfactorily, and carbonizing about 100,000 metric tons of coal per year. A single installation of 15 American-designed Knowles ovens was operating near Tokyo but was carbonizing pitch for electrode carbon. ..! No true low-temperature process used in Japan could carbonize strongly. caking coals satisfactorily. The Mimura process designed for this purpose was unsuccessful, as was the Shimomura process before it, while the Lurgi, Koppers, and Wanishi systems operated only with noncaking or very weakly caking coals. The Knowles ovens, really a medium-temperature process, could carbonize-caking coal without difficulty...

Feb 1, 1948

By William E. Eckard

Production of oil from a narrow shoestring sand presents problems unique in the oil industry. Especially important, from both an engineering end an economic standpoint, are the limitations imposed upon well patterns and spacings by the shape of the field. This report concerns a study of the Paola shoestring, Miami and Franklin Counties, Kane., where well density of 0.85 acre per well was not uncommon to insure profitable primary recovery in a reasonable time. However, such a great number of wells increased the operator's investment and reduced his profit considerably. It was the purpose of this study to investigate various well patterns and spacings applicable to water-flooding a shoestring reservoir and the effect of these factors upon recovery of oil and the most profitable operation of the pool. The designer of well patterns for a shoestring sand should evaluate carefully the edges of the shoestring, even though they may be considered too thin to drill. These comparatively thin edges contain large quantities of recoverable oil; moreover they are resaturated with oil as the pool is water-flooded.

Jan 1, 1951

Advances were made during 19b5 in many phases of a broad program designed to increase efficiency in the mining, preparation, and utilization of coal. Also recorded were achievements in activities devoted to mine health and safety, coal resources, and mine explosives. Featured in this report is a review of progress in environmental studies relating to coal mining and utilization. Environmental projects comprise a comprehensive program to facilitate mine reclamation and reduce air and water pollution associated with extraction and use of coal. Publications cited throughout this report present results of the coal program in greater detail. Organizations, institutions, and companies contributing to the program are listed in appendix A. Centers and laboratories conducting the coal research and related investigations appear in appendix B.

Jan 1, 1966

Advances were made during 19b5 in many phases of a broad program designed to increase efficiency in the mining, preparation, and utilization of coal. Also recorded were achievements in activities devoted to mine health and safety, coal resources, and mine explosives. Featured in this report is a review of progress in environmental studies relating to coal mining and utilization. Environmental projects comprise a comprehensive program to facilitate mine reclamation and reduce air and water pollution associated with extraction and use of coal. Publications cited throughout this report present results of the coal program in greater detail. Organizations, institutions, and companies contributing to the program are listed in appendix A. Centers and laboratories conducting the coal research and related investigations appear in appendix B.

Jan 1, 1966

By BUREAU OF MINES

This report is submitted in accordance with the provisions or une Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act of April 5, 1944 (30 U.S.C. 321-325, as amended), which require that: "The Secretary of the Interior shall render to Congress on or before the first day of January of each year a report on all operations under this Act." Owing to the broad scope of the content and the diversity of interests represented, the Annual Report for 1951 has been divided into two separate publications. Each has been published by the Bureau of Mines as a Report of Investigations, and the respective titles follow: Oil from Coal. R. I. 4865, Part I - R. I. 4866, Part II - Oil from Oil Shale. Identical in each report, the introduction summarizes research progress made in 1951 under the entire Synthetic Liquid Fuels program. A free copy of these publications may be obtained by a written request to the Bureau of Mines, Publications Distribution Section, 4800 Forbes Street, Pittsburgh 13, Pa. The R. I. number and title of the publication desired should be indicated.

Jul 1, 1952

By Wallace W. Key

Mineral raw materials produced in California, other States, and foreign countries were purchased for consumption in quantities valued at over $60 million at 800 of the 1,200 chemical plants operating in California in 1960, according to questionnaires completed by company officials. These and other data received from mineral consumers, producers, dealers, and Government agencies formed the basis for this the first of a series of reports designed to present the intricate features and relationships controlling mineral raw material supply and demand in California industries. The results of this study indicated certain changes in use patterns of minerals in chemica 1 manufacturing; a shift in requirements from metals to nonmeta ls, from inorganics to organics, from natura 1 to synthet ic materia ls , and from distant to local sources of supply.

Jan 1, 1965

By C. H. Riggs, Kenneth H. Johnston

The application of modern secondary-recovery methods has made possible the the extraction of more than 13 million barrels of crude petroleum from the eastern part of the Delaware-Childers field Nowata County, Okla., over and above the production that might have :been expected by continuing primary production methods, including the use of vacuum. Foremost among the secondary-recovery methods used in this foil was the repressuring of the Bartlesville sand with air and gas through injection wells spaced on sym-metrical patterns. Between 1925 and 1945, about 51 billion cubic feet of air and gas were injected into the producing formation, and the total recovery was increased from, 25 million to about 40 million barrels of oil. To produce as much as possible of the 28 million barrels of recoverable oil remaining in the sand will require the initiation of systematic water-flooding projects on many properties and the continuation of air and gas injection on others.

Dec 1, 1946

By P. M. Ambrose, A. C. Fieldner

This , the 11th annual report of research and technologic work conducted by the Bureau of Mines on coal and coal products , is issued following the closing of the Bureau's war work on fuels and contains references to most of the published articles containing results of war investigations . The few remaining papers will be discussed in next year's report . The trend in coal research in the Bureau of Mines was discussed in Mechaniza- tion . This publication , covering the period from the close of armed con- flict to resumption of normal coal -research activities , includes a section never previously presented . There is included for the first time a discussion of the Bureau's activities in the Liquid Fuels and Lubricants and the Solid Fuels Subcommittees of the Technical Industrial Intelligence Committee . This report does not replace the more comprehensive ones prepared by individual authors and listed as footnote references in this publication . purpose is to bring to the reader a résume of the work for the fiscal year ended June 30 , 1946. The material presented herein is based largely upon publications , but the results of some research and testing, which would not otherwise be published in the near future, are presented in detail .

Jul 1, 1947

By David A. Monaghan

On January 14, 1974 a fire occurred in the 3 East mains of the Joanne Mine of Eastern Associated Coal Corp. in Rachel, West Virginia. The mine was evacuated without injury and sealed completely at the surface within 24 hours. It was decided by the coal company along with the U, S, Bureau of Mines, the West Virginia Bureau of Mints and MESA that remote sealing of the fire zone would be attempted. This report summarizes the remote sealing effort and those activities directly related to the remote sealing effort. This chapter provides a brief history of previous remote sealing attempts, a description of the recently developed remote sealing system and a description of the Joanne Mine operation as it related to and affected the remote sealing effort.

Jan 1, 1975

The 1963 Lignite Symposium was held on the University of North Dakota campus, Grand Forks, N. Dak., April 30-May 1, 1963, under the cosponsorship of the University of North Dakota and the Bureau of Mines. This symposium, the third in a series, had as a general objective the dissemination of information concerning advances in technology and utilization of solid fuels, with emphasis on lignitic coals. Approximately 150 representatives of industry, government, and educational institutions from 21 states and 3 Canadian provinces were present at the symposium. Those attending were welcomed by Marling J. Ankeny, Director of the Bureau of Mines, representing the Bureau, and Dean T. H. Clifford, Vice President of the University, representing the University.

Jan 1, 1964

The 1963 Lignite Symposium was held on the University of North Dakota campus, Grand Forks, N. Dak., April 30-May 1, 1963, under the cosponsorship of the University of North Dakota and the Bureau of Mines. This symposium, the third in a series, had as a general objective the dissemination of information concerning advances in technology and utilization of solid fuels, with emphasis on lignitic coals. Approximately 150 representatives of industry, government, and educational institutions from 21 states and 3 Canadian provinces were present at the symposium. Those attending were welcomed by Marling J. Ankeny, Director of the Bureau of Mines, representing the Bureau, and Dean T. H. Clifford, Vice President of the University, representing the University.

Jan 1, 1964

By J. E. Conley

[Available statistics show that the demands of the American chemical industry for sodium sulphate have been increasing slightly in recent years. The supply from domestic sources, particularly in the form of byproduct salt cake from the acid manufacturers, has been tending to decease due to the growing manufacture of synthetic acid. Both hydrochloric and nitric acids are being synthesized from their elements. The natural result has been that a smaller amount of salt cake is available. Simultaneously, the expansion of the Kraft-paper industry, especially in Lie South, has brought about greater demand for sodium sulphate in that section. This demand is being met by domestic byproduct salt cake, by imported German sodium sulphate made from potash waste liquors, and by favorably situated domestic deposits of Glauber salts and tile anhydrous salt, thenardite. No shortage of natural sodium sulphate exists in the United States, but usually such deposits occur in semiarid regions far re¬moved from transportation facilities and from markets. Moreover, the major portion of the natural deposits is Glauber salt or mirabilite (Na2SO4?10H20), which must be dried or dehydrated in order to most consumer requirements. The waters of hydration represents, roughly, 55 percent of tae total weight of the crude salts and therefore has a very important influence on transportation costs. In marry instances the cost of getting even the dehydrated product to market is the deciding economic factor. Therefore, the recovery or production of anhydrous sodium sulphate from plant-waste liquors or from natural brines of suitable composition might be economically feasible.]

Jan 1, 1936

This report is in fulfillment of Contract H0230031 awarded to Bituminous Coal Research, Inc., on May 23, 1973. The scope of work to be performed under this contract was divided into four phases: Phase I - Design, Phase II - Construction, Phase III - Field Demonstration, and Phase IV - Analysis and Final Report. During Phase I, an agreement was finalized with the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Co. for conducting field tests of the proposed shearer spray systems on a longwall panel in the company's Jane Mine in Indiana County, Pa. A drum was then designed which could be used on the Eickhoff shearer, Model EW170-L, being used on this longwall and which would utilize the following spray systems: 1. One spray nozzle located in front of each cutter bit with the jet directed at the cutting surface. 2. One spray nozzle located in back of each cutter bit with the jet directed at the back of the bit. 3. Standard Eickhoff nozzles located in a header along the drum scrolls. 4. A fixed header mounted on the shearer directly behind the drum to simulate the spray system originally used on the Eickhoff shearer.

Jan 1, 1976

By Thomas P. Mucho, Dennis R. Dolinar, Anthony T. Iannacchione

The Chestnut Ridge Anticline is a prominent structure in southwestern Pennsylvania, USA. This structure has brought two economically valuable limestone formations to the surface, where they are easily accessible to room-and-pillar mining. Nine active crushed stone quarries, an underground research facility, and one industrial facility currently operate along the linear trend that represents the axis of the anticline. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has identified significant variation in levels of horizontal stress within relatively short distances at shallow overburdens along the anticline. At one quarry, the horizontal stress is high enough to shear strata with a modulus of approximately 77 Gpa. Conversely, zones of extension were observed in parts of another quarry, indicating very low horizontal stress conditions. This study found that high levels of horizontal stress are to be expected in this very stiff rock formation and that local geologic and topographic structures are capable of altering the magnitude and possibly the orientation of the horizontal stress field.