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By Thomas H. Sheldon

In the zeal for opening up new ore-bodies, or for extracting the ore from attractive bodies already opened up, we very often lose sight of the fact, that, after all, the operation of a mine is a business proposition, pure and simple, and, for the best working-results, should be treated upon a strict business basis. Of course, in every mine of consequence, a record is kept of expenditures and receipts, and such glittering generalities as " gross receipts," " net receipts," " mining expenses," and a per cent. profit," can be told to the cent; but does this record show economy of management, as compared either with the same record of other months, or with the record of other mines of the same class ? Moreover, if such a record shows that the cost of mining is high, does it in any way enable the manager to put his finger on the leakage ? Does it necessarily follow that a mine which makes a profit of, say, 40 per cent. on 25-dollar ore, is doing less economical mining than one which saves 60 per cent. on 80-dollar ore ? Of course the figures in the latter case look the more attractive; yet when it comes to the point of saving everything which can be saved, and of cutting down expenses to the lowest possible cost of operation, the former mine is doubtless on the firmer and more economical financial basis. But as to the relative merits of the system of mining in the two cases, nothing could be decided without a basis of detailed comparison ; if one system is more economical than the other, why is it so, and wherein does the advantage lie ? This can be shown only by keeping accurately the cost of each mining operation. And no matter how dissimilar two mines may be in character and operation, yet there are a few general heads common to all mining operations. In the first place, it is necessary to break the ore from the solid ground;

Jan 1, 1907

By ARTHUR S. DWIGH

Discussion of the paper of W. W. NORTON, presented at the Salt Lake meeting, August, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 92, August., 1914, pp. 1993 to 1999. ARTHUR S. DWIGHT, New York, N. Y.-Mr. Norton's chief argument is directed against the idea that the D. & L. sinter is any better material for the blast furnace than the H. & H. product. He supports this by citing two experimental furnace runs. Reducibility.-To discuss a furnace record like that quoted by Mr. Norton for the five days' run in August, 1912, is manifestly difficult for an outsider, but a possible explanation for the poor reduction on Furnace No. 5, smelting D. & L. sinter, may lie in the fact that both sets of furnaces carried the same fuel charges. Other things being equal, if 11 ½ per cent. coke was right for the furnaces smelting H. & H. product, it Was too much for the furnace smelting D. & L. product, as I shall endeavor to show later, and incipient overfire, accompanied by higher leads in slag and matte, was induced. It may sound like a paradox to say that excessive fuel sometimes produces poor reduction, but it is a sad fact. In certain plants where practically the entire charge to the blast furnaces receives a preliminary treatment by being sintered on the D. & L. machines the peculiarities of this problem have had to be very carefully studied, for serious metallurgical difficulties presented themselves when the change was first made to D. & L. sinter in large quantities. Some of these plants had blast pots before they had D. & L. machines, and many opportunities were afforded for comparative study of this very point. There is reason to believe that, clue to the long period of blowing and the higher temperatures developed in the pots from greater mass action, the iron in the H. & H. product is present chiefly as Fe203, perhaps in the form of ferrites, while in the D. & L. product the iron is present as FeO. The fuel charge in the blast furnace must be so proportioned as to exactly meet the chemical and thermic requirements of reduction and melting. If ally of these functions have been performed before the material enters the furnace, a corresponding allowance should be made or the fuel balance will be disturbed and bad work will result. One of the functions of the coke is to reduce enough metallic Fe for the matte requirements, leaving the remainder of the iron as FeO to go into the slag. In smelting almost any other material than D. & L. sinter the iron must-be reduced from the higher oxides, Fe203 or Fe304, to the protoxide, FeO, before a true comparative basis is reached. Experience has shown that with about one-half D. & L. sinter on the charge the coke should-be cut about 10 per cent. This theoretical benefit is borne out by the practical blast-furnace results on a large scale in numerous plants. In fact, wherever this very important factor is ignored the evil symptoms of excessive fuel will be indicated,

Jan 11, 1914

By J. P. Smith

Permian salt measures carry extensive lenses of soluble potash salts in north central Germany. Potash deposits of Oligocene age are found in the Upper Rhine Graben of Alsace (France), and in the Catalonian Basin of Spain. These deposits are found in a wide range of structural settings. Reserves are large, and the production of potash salts is an important phase in the economy of each of these countries.

Jan 1, 1950

By C. H. Hitchcock

The puiblication by the Institute of a small geological map of the United States calls for an explanation of its peculiarities. The title intimates that it is intended "to illustrate the schemes of coloration and nomenclature recommended by the International Geological Congress." By way of further explanation it is said to be "based, by permission of the Director of the United States Geological Survey, upon the map published in his Fifth Annual Report, the portions not colored in that map being here supplied from other sources." The map referred to was prepared by W. J. McGee, and in the text of the report containing it he has given a list of the authorities employed in the compilation. The scheme of coloration used for the map was the one proposed by the Director, in the Seeond Annual Report, for the publications of the United States Geological Survey, which differed materially from those employed by the older American geologists. Because of the increasing diversity in the particular colors employed to represent rocks by geologists in different countries, and of the existence of very dissimilar schemes of nomenclature, it seemed best to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its Buffalo meeting in 1876, to appoint an international committee of geologists, who should consult together, and, if feasible, to call an International Congress to discuss these subjects. The proposition met with favor, and the meeting was called. The first session was held at Paris, in 1878, when geologists were present from twenty different countries. Once organized, the Congress has perpetuated itself, enacting regulations for its conduct, choosing the French language for its medium of communication, and arranging for the compilation of a geological map of Europe upon which the perfected schemes of coloration and nomenclature will be delineated. The American Association maintains a standing committee to represent it at the international sessions, and to report their proceedings. Sixteen countries were represented at the second Congress, at Bologna;

Jan 1, 1887

By B. Wilshire, W. J. Evans

W. J. Evans and 8. Wilshire SEVERAL recent investigations1-6 have shown that the strain, c, during transient and steady-state creep is well-represented by the expression: € = e0 + et(l - e-mt) + Esl [l] where Eo is the instantaneous strain on loading, ET the total transient strain, C, the steady creep rate! and m a constant relating to the rate of exhaustion of transient creep. However, it has been noted6 that deviations from this equation occur over the first 10 to 15 pct of the transient stage, when the creep rate, (. decreases more rapidly than is predicted by this equation. This rapid decrease has been attributed to a large change in work-hardening coefficient. It 1s widely accepted that steady-state creep results from a balance between the rate of strain hardcning h and the rate of recovery r (=-s(st) as: dE/dt = Es = r/h [2] Comparison of values obtained for h at the end of the initial extension and during steady creep suggests that h increases several fold during the transient stage. which has the effect of reducing the creep rate proportionally.7 To examine the dependence, on r and h, of the deformation behavior during transient and steady-state creep. a series of constant-stress creep tests was carried out at 413°C at 6000 psi using 70-30 a brass. Prelinlinary investigation showed that. with this material. the transient stage constituted a significant portion of the total creep life (-0.4tf. where tf is the time to fracture). The alloy. obtained from Metals Research Limited. was made from high-purity copper, 99.999 pct. and zinc. 99.99 pct. Heat treatment at 675°C for 4 1/2 gave a uniform grain size of 5 mm-1. Details of specimen preparation and creep testing procedures have been given previously.6 Values of h (?s/?E) were determined by measuring the instantaneous strain. ?E. which occurred on increasing the stress during creep by a small amount. ?s. Similarly. v (= -?s/ ?t) was derived from the incubation period. At, after a small decrease in stress.' Several values of v and h were obtained throughout duplicate creep tests. using different stress increments in the range 300 to 800 psi. The accuracy with which Eq. [I] represents the present creep curves was established by determining the best value of the constants Es, Et, m , and 6, using a digital computer program based essentially on the graphical solution for this equation devised by Conway and Mullikan.9 About 40 strain/time readings were taken during transient and steady-state creep. Over most of the creep curve, the average difference between the measured reading and the calculated strain at the appropriate time was less than 0.0001. However.

Jan 1, 1969

By W. A. Scheuch, J. Walter

Ordinarily secondary copper, unless electrolytically refined, is reclaimed directly as foundry ingots used in the manufacture of copper-rich alloy castings. This use does not require the elimination of the impurities to the degree required if the recovered'metal is to be used for electrical purposes where a high electrical conductivity is of prime importance. However, as a part of the general policy of reusing its own scrap and by-products wherever possible, the Western Electric Co. at its Hawthorne Works is recovering its secondary copper as wire bars which are delivered to its own rod and wire mill and there processed into wire of high electrical conductivity. This departure from the usual recovery scheme has been accomplished through the careful classification and sorting of the material entering the furnace charges and the careful control of the subsequent melting and refining in a reverberatory furnace. Tests conducted over a period of approximately four years have shown that the quality of wire bars produced from selected secondary copper is equal to that of wire bars produced by the electrolytic refineries. The interest which has been exhibited in the process by those who have seen it has prompted the following general description. It is the authors' opinion that the recovery of secondary copper will become more and more an important factor in the copper production industry. The description is largely of the refining furnace and its operation, but it must be remembered that careful classification and sorting of the scrap materials to eliminate impurities are just as important as the furnace operation toward obtaining a satisfactory final product. Classification and sorting do not lend themselves easily to description; they must, just be done. It should also be recognized at the outset that constant intelligent supervision is requisite to the success of the process because there are so many ways in which impurities can find their way into the final product. Secondary Copper Used for Wire Bars Only clean secondary copper of the grades known to the trade as Numbers 1 and 2 are melted for wire-bar manufacture. This material, supplemented by that obtained from various manufacturing processes

Jan 1, 1930

By William E. Bruce

In recent investigation of drilling processes, the U.S. Bureau of Mines measured the operating characteristics of two percussive drills. Basically, this entailed measuring maximum piston velocities while drilling. The maximum piston velocity is not necessarily the same as the striking velocity. The latter is usually somewhat lower1 because most commonly used drills provide an air cushion which slows the piston just before it comes in contact with the drill rod. Penetration rates for the two drills were determined in nine rock types, and the physical properties of the same nine rocks were measured and tabulated. Then the penetration rates were plotted against the individual properties to determine the general relationships on which methods for predicting drilling rates could be based.2

Jan 1, 1970

By J. S. Dodge, I. M. Krieger

The laminarturbulent transition was studied for monodisperse rigid polymer latices as functions of particle diameter and concentration at several tube diameters. Breaks in the graph of friction factor US Reynolds number were used to characterize the transition; rates of shear were sufficiently high so that Newtonian behavior at the high shear limiting viscosity could be assumed. No abnormal behavior was noted at concentrations below 30 volume percent. At higher concentrations, suppression of turbulence was observed with critical Reynolds numbers rising to as high as 5,500 at 50 volume percent. No definite effect on the transition was noted due to variation of particle size or tube diameter. The type of surfactant used to stabilize the latex was found to have an important influence on the critical Reynolds number. INTRODUCTION For some polymer solutions and solid-in-liquid suspensions, the transition from laminar behavior to turbulence in pipeline flow has been reported to take place at unusually low1-5 and in some cases at higher than normal6,7 critical Reynolds numbers. Extreme values of critical Reynolds numbers (NRe*) have been found to range from 1 to 6,000, as opposed to the values of 2,000 to 3,500 which are obtained for ordinary liquids. Observations have also been reported of drag reduction in fully developed turbulent flow, i.e., a decreased value of the friction factor in the Reynolds number-friction factor plot6*10-14 in colloidal and polymeric fluids. In some cases, turbulence suppression (unusually large values of Nre*) was noted to occur preceding the drag reduction,6 while a normal transition was noted in other cases of drag reduction.14 To relate the occurrence of turbulence suppression and drag reduction to the molecular or particulate structure of the fluid, it is desirable to characterize the structural variables with some precision. For most colloidal dispersions and polymeric fluids, this is very difficult; particle sizes, shapes and stiffnesses may vary over wide ranges in the same sample. Recently, however, a colloidal fluid has become available which consists of rigid spherical particles of highly uniform diameter dispersed in a simple Newtonian liquid. These are monodisperse polymer latices, prepared by carefully controlled emulsion polymerization reactions. The purpose of this research was to study the transition to turbulence in these well-characterized colloidal fluids as a function of concentration, particle diameter and tube diameter. Typical flow curves of latices of high solids content are shown in Fig. 1. While these curves were obtained with monodisperse latices, the general shape of the curve is also typical of a polydisperse latex. It is observed that a shear-thinning region occurs for low to moderate rates of shear. At sufficiently high shearing rates a limiting Newtonian viscosity is reached. The viscosity µ diminishes with decreasing volume fraction 4 at all shear rates. For 4 less than 0.25, latices are Newtonian at all rates of shear.15 An increase in average particle size (at a given extends the Newtonian viscosity region to lower rates of shear. A third factor which influences the

NORTH AMERICA ALASKA Anchorage.-Ames, M. B. Culver, H. W. Fiedler, H. L. Geehan, R. V. Langneas, O. O. Layfield, R. A. Parent, A. Saarela, L. H. Strandberg, H. Candle.-Robbins, J. S. Chichagof.-Russell, J. C. College.-Fox, E. F. Joesting, H. R. Lyman, R. F. Smith, M. C. -Wilcox, H. G. Douglas.-Cahill, W. E. Fairbanks.-Adams, J. M. CANADA Canadian Army Overseas.¬Ball, H. D. Bridges, O. Butterill, H. J. M. Lane, H. C. Millar, W. A.

Jan 1, 1942

By A. E. Nash

This title is somewhat of a misnomer, because it does not accurately describe the phase of heat generation and application coming within the scope of this discussion. This paper is concerned primarily with that particular phase of radiant-heat transfer sometimes erroneously referred to as "shielded" radiant heat, to differentiate it from the open radiant heat of either flame or settings, in which the actual source of the radiant heat is a small incandescent furnace composed of a highly conductive superrefractory, within whose walls the combustion of the fuel is completed. This small furnace is usually located directly in the furnace proper, and although its refractory walls do shield the heat-absorbing surfaces from contact with the gases of combustion, there is no interference with the radiant heat given off by the furnace itself. We do not believe it either necessary or advisable to shield or screen radiant heat when properly controlled and applied. We do believe it essential to prevent the excessively hot gases of combustion from coming in contact with those parts of the heat-absorbing structure that are already receiving heat at high rates by radiation. In connection with any process for the refining of oil with which we are familiar, we are convinced that it is most advantageous to transfer the maximum of the heat generated in the form of radiant heat, applied directly to the heat-absorbing surfaces without the interposition of any form of shield or screen to prevent or reduce the radiant-heat transfer. While the term radiant heat is broadly used to cover all heat energy transferred from one body to another by radiation, in contradistinction to heat given up by gases in direct contact with the heat-absorbing structure (convection) or transmitted simply by conduction, in furnace work it is perhaps more often limited to the heat rays given off either by

Jan 1, 1928

By AIME AIME

The following financial report of the Treasurer of the United Engineering Society is published for the information of members NEW YORK, February 15, 190S. To the Board of' Trustees, United Engineering Society I beg to submit herewith the report of the Treasurer as of December 31, 1907. Your attention is called to the fact that the resources and liabilities, receipts and disbursements statements cover all the financial transactions of the United Engineering Society from its organization up to December 31, 1907. The income and expenses of operating the building during the whole operating period from December 1 to December 31, 1907, somewhat in excess of twelve months, are given. Included in the expenses, amounting in all to $52,647.11, will be found an item entitled "Building Equipment (construction account)." The expenditures under this item were not made for the operating expenses of the building, they represent a construction account, properly speaking, covering expenditures for furnishings and equipment of the building. The Founders' Agreement specifically provides for this class of expenditure under the provision that the Founder Societies shall each be liable for a charge not to exceed $200,000 of principal, which shall include the land and building completed and ready for occupancy, together with the " furnishings, equipment and personal property therein." Certain details of equipment are yet to be supplied, and it. is proposed in the near future to call upon the Founder Societies for an assessment on their respective land and building funds to cover this item of building equipment. Such action would enable the item of $10,039.85 to be transferred to the income account and reduce correspondingly the assessment

Mar 1, 1908

By F. S. Young, K. E. Gray

Drilling tests with a 11/4-in. diameter roller bit were performed on Berea and Bandera sandstones and Leuders limestone using water and two conventional drilling muds as circulating fluids to evaluate the influence of dynamic filtration on penetration rate. The muds possessed widely differing API fluid-loss properties. Mud filtrate was constrained to flow beneath the bit; no filtrate flowed radially through the borehole wall. Rock pore pressure at three different locations ahead of the bit, cumulative filtrate volume, borehole pressure and bit location were monitored during drilling. The rock samples, cored in three orientations with respect to bedding planes, possessed a wide range of liquid permeabilities. and were drilled at borehole-to-formation pressure differentials of 0, 250, 500 and 1,000 psig. The effect on penetration rate of API fluid loss, borehole pressure and rock permeability was studied. Rock permeability damage and pore pressure gradients beneath the bit were evaluated. The importance of borehole-to-formation pressure differential was illustrated for each drilling fluid and rock permeability combination. Penetration rates decreased with increased borehole pressure and reduced fluid loss. The observed penetration rate reduction due to changing fluid Ioss was attributed to decreased filtrate flow and improved mud cake plastering hy the low fluid-loss mud. The reduction in filtrate flow could not be related to spurt-loss phenomena. Rock permeability influences penetration rate through particle invasion ahead of the hit, which damage leads to high pressure gradients. Penetration rate variance with sample orientation was evident for water-drZled samples but less obvious for mud-drilled rocks. Permeability damage beneath the bit ranged from 1 to 3 cm. Maximum damage occurred in the first 0.1 cm. Pressure gradients varied with API fluid 10.s.s and could be correlated with penetration rate. The pressure gradient was found to influence penetration rare in rocks of all permeabilities tested. INTRODUCTION Early microbit and small-scale drilling experiments proved to be invaluable contributions to understanding the mechanics of drilling at depth. For example, the effect of borehole-to-pore pressure differential on drilling rate was demonstrated conclusively by Murray and Cunningham', Eckel' and others .' However, the effects of various drilling fluid properties on drilling rate, particularly filtration, have not been studied extensively on a laboratory basis. Microbit correlations of penetration rate with different viscosity and API fluid-loss muds led EckelV o conclude that viscosity and density. more than API fluid loss, were the most important fluid properties in controlling drill bit penetration rates. Ferguson and Klotz6 studied filtration beneath the bit and stated that the maximum amount of filtrate which could conceivably flow beneath a drilling bit could be described by a potential function associated with flow from a moving disc source. and be characterized by a depth-of-filtrate invasion. Invasion depth is a function of penetration rate, formation porosity and permeability, flooding efficiency, pressure difference between borehole and formation and borehole radius, assuming that no filtrate flows through the borehole walls. Electric analog and experimental measurements were obtained, assuming no plugging of the formation pores. Theoretically, filtrate invasion was predicted to extend from 1- to 15-hole radii beneath the cutting surface; experimental results indicated that the extent of invasion was only Y2 in. Comparing these data with results of core-plugging experiments by Norwak and Krueger' led Ferguson and Klotz to state that the drilling operation apparently contributes to higher filtration rates than are observed in nondrilling core filtration tests in which the core face is jetted and scraped. Glenn and Slusser: in describing a linear filtering system in which a rotating bit continuously scraped mud cake from the surface but did not penetrate Alundum cores, stated that mud-solids invasion and permeability damage of the cores were most severe in the first 2 to 3 cm. The filtrate flow rate through the core was found to stabilize after sufficient time had elapsed for the formation of an internal mud cake whose effective permeability was estimated to be 50 to 300 times as high as that of bulk filter cake. Krueger and Vogel reported core permeability damage depths up to 12 in. during a 5-day exposure period in which filter cake buildup was prevented. Havenaar pointed out that the discrepancy between reported and calculated values of filtrate volume obtained in the experiments of Ferguson and Klotz was due, among other things, to failure of the reported API fluid loss to truly represent filtration beneath the bit. Williams," Pro-koplz and others"" have shown that dynamic filtration tests (where a flow of fluid parallel to the filter surface continually erodes the deposited filter cake until a dynamic equilibrium between wall-shearing forces and normally directed compaction forces is attained) yield higher filtration rates than do static tests. Cunningham and Goinss reported results of drilling tests in impermeable shales. They found that by reducing

By A. C. Milner

In a gold standard world which possesses insufficient metal to meet the every-day needs of all, confidence becomes the vital factor, the very foundation upon which the machinery for the expansion of gold into currency, and credit, rests. The gold supply, affected by many influences, moves constantly from one point to another, but not always to that point where it is most needed. In the period 1928-1930, the combined gold holdings of the United States and France increased $1,370,936,-000, and this with new gold adding only $600,000,000 to the monetary gold stock.Theref ore, the gold stocks of other countries must have been depleted during the period by $770,936,000. This uncontrolled shifting throws the delicately adjusted instrumentalities of both credit and commerce out of equilibrium. If a given nation's gold stock shifts so as to bring it substantially below the legal reserve ratio set up against it for currency issues, the effect can easily extend to the currency issues and banking credit volume of one or more nations which may have based their gold exchange standards upon the gold stock of such nation. Thus the substitution of paper based on gold in place of the actual gold is an inflation of the currency, which carries through into an uncontrolled pyramiding upon the entire machinery of credit based on gold. In 1929 Europe, South America, Africa and Asia had overissued currency based on gold. America, Oceanica and Japan, which have not overissued their gold currencies, would in normal times require their entire present gold stocks and, as Continental Asia is largely upon a silver credit basis, from a domestic standpoint, it would appear that the gold problem is not so much one of maldistribution, as it is one of inadequate supply. It would appear that some method of increasing greatly the velocity of gold, within the safe reserve point, should be devised, or that silver, of which estimates indicate that 7,000,000,000 oz. are available for

Jan 1, 1931

By S. F. Emmons

Geological Sketch.-The rhyolite area near Silver Cliff includes what may be called the Silver Cliff plateau, with Round mountain and the intervening valley. The plateau is about 2 miles long and 1 mile wide. From its northern part rise the White hills, which have no special topographic importance, as their highest point is only 400 ft. above the northern edge of the rhyolite mass. Round mountain, on the other hand, is a quite sharply pointed conical hill, so steep-sided as to constitute an important topographic feature, although its elevation above the plains around it is barely 700 ft. The summit of Round mountain is dense banded rhyolite, with steep, irregular clip; the southern end is breccia containing fragments of the banded rock. There are slight exposures of glassy forms of rhyolite on the lower slopes. On the east, the Archaean rocks extend half-way up the side of the mountain, and the contact between them and the rhyolite is vertical, or dips steeply to the west. This mountain is supposed to be at the vent from which the rhyolite of the plateau was poured out. The Silver Cliff plateau occupies the site of a former basin, in which at one time there was probably a lake. At the time of the rhyolitic outburst of the Rosita hills there was a local eruption of the same character in this region, commencing with showers of volcanic ash and of rock-fragments, which filled the lake and built tip about it hills which have since been removed in great measure by erosion. At present the southern half of the plateau is capped by solid lava to a depth in places of 150 ft. The cliff of blackened rhyolite on the southern edge, where the main discovery of ore was made, is from 30 to 50 ft.

Jan 1, 1913

By B. Bernstrom

A 22-ft diam, 7-ft long, wet autogenous grinding mill was installed in the new Cretaceous plant of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. to prepare crude iron ore for concentration in spirals and flotation cells. The paper describes the flowsheet and gives a description of the operating and metallurgical results that have been obtained. These results include capacity, horsepower, operating problems and a comparison of pilot plant results with those obtained in commercial operation. The Cretaceous plant at the Hill Annex mine of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. was designed with a wet autogenous mill for grinding low grade iron ore so that it could be concentrated by spirals and flotation cells. The plant, on the west end of the Minnesota's Mesabi Range, went into operation in June 1961, and preliminary operating and metallurgical information describing the performance of this mill can now be given. The crude is lean ore from the Cretaceous iron foundation. This formation is a beach deposit of Cretaceous age that overlies the Precambrian direct shipping and concentrating ores. This rock in nature is not extremely hard but is quite resilient, resisting blasting in mining and size reduction in milling. It contains hematite as water-rounded particles and other fragments of the underlying iron formation and adjacent rocks cemented together by a high alumina-silica ferruginous matrix. It is interspersed with hard dense hematite agglomerates and also contains granite pebbles and boulders that were not cleaned off during removal of the surface. It has a 3.48 sp gr and in the stockpile the material consists of frag-

Jan 1, 1962

By A. H. Dierker

Next to the metal itself, molding sand is the most important raw material used in the manufacture of steel castings. There are no accurate figures available but probably it would be safe to say that the average steel foundry uses approximately 1000 lb. of new molding sand per ton of castings produced. With untreated sands costing from two to four dollars (in some extreme cases it may run as high as eight or ten dollars) per ton delivered at the foundry siding, molding sand is an important item in the cost of making castings, and any information that may help to reduce this sand consumption should be of interest to the industry. Fundamental Considerations In a general way, molding sand in the average steel foundry passes through the cycle shown in Fig. 1. This diagram indicates that if all of the sand could be returned from the shakeout floor to the mixer no new sand would be required from the stock pile and molding costs would be reduced accordingly. Unfortunately, for reasons to be discussed later, it has heretofore been necessary to dilute the used sand constantly with new raw sand in order to maintain the properties that are essential to the production of satisfactory molds.

Jan 1, 1930

By C. S. Samis, J. C. Mitchell

Sodion activity data have been obtained for the Na-A1 system for sodium concentrations in aluminum between NN, = 25 . 10-and 300 x 10'. This concentration intert-a2 encompasses those sodium concentrations nor1)zally encountered in aluminum reduction cell operation. The sodium activity data were measured by a two-phase equilibration of sodium between a lead and an aluminam rich phase. The Na-Pb system was emplojed as a reference for the determination of the actiz7itj 0.f sodium. The activity of sodiin in aluminuwz exhibits large positi2.e deviations frorn ideality and a strong dependence, on concentration below NN, = 100 x 1K6. The inteated data indicate that the activity of aluminium is equal to its mole fraction over the range of miscibility of the Na-A1 sgstem. The data on the Na-A1 binary have been combined with experimental data on the cryolite-A1 system at 1025°C to obtain the activities of Na F and AlF, in liquid cryolite oz2er the cornposition 1-ange encountered in aluminum cell operation. The results are in agreement with activities calculated from the NaF-AlF, phase diagram. ALUMINUM is produced commercially by the electrolytic reduction of aluminum oxide dissolved in molten cryolite. There is considerable controversy over the actual mechanism of the discharge processes, but sodium potentials in the systems appear to play an important role in the reduction mechanism. The metal-salt reaction involving NaF and aluminum to produce A1F3 and sodium is responsible for the presence of sodium in the aluminum metal phase. Additional sodium may be produced from the simultaneous deposition of sodium and aluminum at the cathode as a result of a cathodic overvoltage. runert' has suggested that sodium gas at atmospheric pressure would be the result of reaction between cryolite and aluminum at 1000°C. Subsequent investigations have shown that production of sodium at atmospheric pressure does not occur. These later investigations can be conveniently separated into two categories. The first involves sodium, aluminum, and cryolite, in which the sodium activity was measured. The second includes a lead phase for sodium activity measurement. Jander and errmann,' studied the reaction: at 1090°C in alumina crucibles under an atmosphere of dry, oxygen-free nitrogen. The equilibrium constant for the reaction was expressed in terms of concentration. Their results in Fig. 1 show an increase in sodium content of the aluminum with increasing NaF/A1F3 weight ratio. Pearson and waddington3 performed similar experiments at 1000°C. Their results are included in Fig. 1. Dewing and ollinshead have measured the sodium content of aluminum as a function of the NF/AF, ratio at 1025"C, Fig. 1, and ewin' measured the sodium content of the aluminum in a system involving the solid reactants NaF, cryolite, and liquid aluminum. This reaction is different from those discussed above. Two solid phases, NaF and Na3A1F6, and a liquid aluminum phase were present. The sodium concentration in the aluminum was determined by the temperature. Dewing's measurements covered the temperature range 679" to 896°C. Omo, Matsushima, and 1t02" investigated the equilibrium 6NaF ential thermal analysis. Stokes and Frank6 determined sodium activities by

Jan 1, 1970

Jan 1, 1923

Jan 1, 1923

By Robert Bosworth

THE liability for damages to the surface caused by subsidence is an ever present threat in all underground mining. In ordinary lode mining, this threat rarely materializes into an action, due to the method of mining metalliferous ores, the dip of the veins, and the nature of the ground itself. In the mining of coal, however, this threat is very real. The coal frequently lies close to the surface, in beds underlying large areas of land of which the surface is suitable for: agricultural or urban development. Furthermore, the coal is generally mined by the "room and pillar" method and when the pillars of coal are removed, the subjacent support is destroyed. This question of the duty of surface support has now become a very live one in Colorado. What was waste prairie land a few years ago has become valuable agricultural land dotted here and there with growing towns. Frequent references will' be made here to Colorado conditions and adjudicated cases, but those conditions and cases and the conclusions to be drawn therefrom are applicable to all coal-mining states. Briefly stated, the question is "Does the owner of the substrata or underlying mineral owe any duty of surface support to the owner of the superjacent strata or surface?" There is no absolute duty of support owed by the mineral owner and this assertion is made with full knowledge of numerous expressions to the contrary by courts of Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado and other coal-mining states. Whether or not any duty exists depends upon the circumstances surrounding each case, and since in the nature of things those circumstances are rarely identical, there can be no absolute rule.

Jan 1, 1928