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By W. H. Blauvelt

THE subject of fuel-briquetting has attracted much attention on the part of engineers and investors for the past 15 or 20 years, and especially in recent years, during which a number of plants have been built, with more or less commercial and technical success. Our technical literature contains numerous descriptions of certain processes, and discussions of the industry in general. For a history of the development of the art in the United States, and for descriptions of many of the processes which have been tried, reference may be made to the files of our Transactions, and, for more recent information, to a paper by C. T. Malcolmson, read before the First Annual Convention of the International Railway Fuel Association in June, 1909. The purpose of the present paper is to describe the briquette-plant of the Solvay Process Co. and the Semet-Solvay Co. at Detroit, Mich., which, after a period of long and costly evolution, is now operating satisfactorily on a commercial basis. I believe that it will be of interest to some of our members to have the details of operation, lower-consumption, labor, etc., as worked out on a practical and commercial scale in a going operation. The briquette industry has had a somewhat checkered career in the United States, and much the larger portion of the failures has been due entirely to commercial causes. It seems axiomatic to say that before undertaking the installation of a plant for manufacturing briquettes it is necessary that the local situation should be carefully examined : First, to determine the kind of briquettes, if any, the local market will consume; that is-to say, whether the available fuel-supply is such that briquettes would be a welcome addition, and whether the most promising field is the industrial or the domestic market. Second, if there is an available supply of raw material, as coal,

Mar 1, 1910

By John Hays Hammond

This is an era of " expansion; and, conformably with the change in commercial conditions, the function of the mining engineer, as well as that of his confreres in many other professions, has also expanded. From the position of an engineer, limited to the determination of technical questions, the engineer of to-day has come to assume an economic importance in those branches of industry dependent upon engineering skill for their development. He is indeed an engineer of limited usefulness who does not go further professionally than to submit a purely technical report on subjects presented for his consideration. While he has the same responsibility as formerly in the solution of the technical problems involved, he is further expected to supplement his report with advice on the financial and commercial aspects of these problems. For the great majority of problems presented to the engineer ultimately involve the determination of the pecuniary, relations of the propositions under consideration. The great corporation lawyer no longer earns his fee by merely submitting his opinion as to the legal issues involved in law-suits affecting the corporation; he now assumes charge of the entire legal work, including both the organization of the corporation and the maintenance of its legal status thereafter. In like manner, the engineer, whose report was, as I have said, formerly confined to the determination of the geological and other cognate features of a mining enterprise, is now expected, not. only to embody information on these subjects in his report, but also to give his opinion whether the property offered for sale in pursuance of such an enterprise is worth the price asked for it. Moreover, if he recommends the purchase of a property, he incurs a certain moral responsibility for its efficient manage-

Nov 1, 1908

By J. J. Mulligan, F. F. Colcord, E. F. Kern

The electrolytic separation of silver and gold has been practiced by the refineries in the United States for a good many years, and probably because of frequent visiting between officials of plants and the consequent exchange of views, operations in the various silver and gold refineries are very similar. We find, for instance, they practically all use electrolytes of approximately the same composition, which, no doubt, is more the result of experience than of studies of electrolytes. At the new electrolytic parting plant of the U. S. S. Lead Refinery, Inc., East Chicago, Ind., considerable attention has been given to the composition of electrolytes, especially to their conductivity and their effect on the character of the silver deposit. We are not aware that anything has been recently published on this subject and are, therefore, presenting such data as we have with the idea that, although it will not be wholly new, it may stimulate interest in the subject. Effect of Copper Content on Conductivity The first work was to determine the specific conductivity of silver nitrate and copper nitrate solutions. Concentrated solutions of silver nitrate and copper nitrate were prepared by dissolving analyzed chemically-pure salts in distilled water, and determining the silver and copper in each. Definite amounts of the concentrated solutions were taken, mixed and diluted to a definite volume. The silver and the copper were determined in each of these solutions and the conductivity was then determined. The plotted results are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The effect of increasing quantities of silver and copper is readily seen. A comparison of the two sets of curves shows conclusively the benefit of holding the copper content of the electrolyte above 5C g. per liter, as its effect is to increase greatly the conductivity in an approximate propor-

Jan 1, 1926

New York Meets first Wednesday after first Tuesday of each month. J. E. JOHNSON, JR., Chairman. EDGAR RICHARD, Vice-Chairman. D. M. LIDDELL, Secretary, 7 Wall St., New York, N. Y. C. A. BOHN, Treasurer. JOHN V. N. DORR, LEWIS W. FRANCIS. Boston Meets first Monday of each winter month. R. L. AGASSIZ, Chairman. JAMES G. CARLETON, Vice-Chairman. E. E. BUGBEE, Secretary-Treasurer, Mass. Inst. of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., W. E. C. EUSTIS. G. A. PACKARD. Columbia Holds four sessions during year. Annual meeting n September or October. W. H. LINNEY, Chairman. OSCAR LACHMUND, Vice-Chairman. LYNDON K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, P. O. Drawer 2154, Spokane, Wash. STANLY A. EASTON, S. SHEDD. Puget Sound Meets second Saturday of each month SIMON H. ASH, Chairman. I. F. LAUCKS, Vice-Chairman. CHARLES SIMENSTAD, Secretary-Treasurer, 425 Lyon Bldg., Seattle, Wash. GLENVILLE A. COLLINS, JOHN N. POTT

Jan 7, 1917

New York Meets first Wednesday after first Tuesday of each month. J. E. JOHNSON, JR., Chairman EDGAR RICHARD, Vice-Chairman D. M. LIDDELL, Secretary, 7 Wall St., New York, N. Y. C. A. BOHN, Treasurer JOHN V. N. DORR LEWIS W. FRANCIS Boston Meets first Monday of each winter month. R. L. AGASSIZ, Chairman JAMES G. CARLETON, Vice-Chairman E. E. BUGBEE Secretary-Treasurer, Mass. Inst. of. Technology, Cambridge, Mass. W. E. C. EUSTIS G. A. PACKARD Columbia Holds four sessions during year. Annual meeting in September or October. W. H. LINNEY, Chairman OSCAR LACHMUND, Vice-Chairman LYNDON K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, P. O. Drawer 2154, Spokane, Wash. STANLY A. EASTON S. SHEDD Puget Sound Meets second Saturday of each month SIMON H. ASH, Chairman I. F. LAUCKS, Vice-Chairman PERCY E. WRIGHT, Secretary-Treasurer, 2012 L. C. Smith Bldg., Seattle. Wash. GLENVILLE A. COLLINS JOHN N. POTT

Jan 11, 1917

By Alistair Frame

INTRODUCTION In April 1988 discussions were about to start with BP on the possibility of buying their- mineral interests, and it took a long time to arrange a deal. I will talk about RTZ without BP Minerals, look at the new RTZ with BP Minerals, discuss the outlook for metal prices, and review the problems in South Africa and develop the case against sanctions on that country. RTZAT THE END OF 1988 Late in 1987, after completing a worldwide review of our strategic thrust, we decided: 1. That the business focus would be to remain a major diversified natural resource group with interests in related industries. 2. To divest non-core and low growth businesses. 3. To develop a logical acquisition plan. 4. To emphasise organic growth and, most importantly, to enhance shareholders' wealth by capital increase and a progressive dividend policy. Subsequently, we concluded that we should sell our oil and gas business and dispose of several assets for which we saw little growth potential. The disposal programme raised some U.S.$ 1,600 million, representing a significant capital gain on our various investments. All transactions were carried out by our small Head Office staff in London, without the help of merchant banks and lawyers, and we were able to safeguard the employment of our staff in all these operations. The most interesting disposal was of our oil and gas interests. Before the 1987 strategic review, we had ambitions to develop our oil and gas interests and to become the leader in the second division of European oil companies. Our interests, which were purely in exploration and production of oil and gas, consisted of the 100% owned RTZ Oil and Gas company, and 29% of LASMO, a publicly quoted U.K. oil and gas company with extensive worldwide interests. LASMO, in turn, owned 25% of Enterprise Oil, one of the more successful of the North Sea oil exploration and production companies. Prior to the end of 1987, our intention was to acquire control of both LASMO and Enterprise. However, when we evaluated the net asset value of these two companies based on our oil price assumptions, which were pessimistic for the next five years or so, we concluded that they were both trading in the market at significant premiums. This, taken with the additional premium required for acquisition and the high cost of exploration, led us to conclude that, since funds could undoubtedly be used to better effect, we should sell our interests. Turning to the other major achievements in 1988, we commissioned, and built up to design levels in a very short period of time, the Morro do Ouro gold mine in Brazil. This mine reached its design output of 100,000 ounces of gold per year within three months of start-up, which was on time and under budget. We are now considering a possible expansion of this property. In South America, Utah International, Mitsubishi and RTZ arranged non-recourse finance, with post completion guarantees, for the giant Escondida Project in Northern Chile. Financing came from a group of banks in Japan, Germany and Finland -- the countries to which most of the concentrates will be sold -- and from the LEC. The average output of the mine for the

Jan 1, 1990

By GEORGE O. SUMAN

IN THE operation of oil properties there are various difficulties with pumping wells which can often be overcome or greatly lessened if sufficient attention is, directed towards pump and tubing problems. The difficulties referred to are the wearing out of pumps, sanding up of pumps, and the sanding up of the hole. As the perforations in the oil strings are large and the oil and sand loose and unconsolidated considerable trouble is often encountered in pumping wells due to the ease with which' the sand can come into the holes. DETERMINING FLUID LEVEL In determining the proper depth at which to tube a well it is essential to first find out something about the behavior of the fluid in 'the hole: Facts in regard to this natter can be obtained by finding the fluid level on pulling the tubing, by making a pumping test on the well tubed to various depths, and by bailing tests during cleaning out work. In ordinary oil field operations it is customary to take the fluid level at the time of pulling the tubing. This 'can only be done when the pump is not sanded up. There are two methods used in obtaining the fluid level. One method is to note where the outside of the tubing starts, to be covered with fluid when pulling the

Jan 1, 1925

By W. C. Hagel, H. J. Beattle

DURING an earlier examination of high-temperature alloy, A-286, the presence of an unknown intermetallic compound was verified by X-ray diffraction. Owing to its prominent appearance at grain boundaries, the arbitrary name of G phase was assigned.' Low-silicon, vacuum-melted heats were found to contain no G phase, and this investigation was initiated to determine the influence of silicon on G-phase formation; additional work was undertaken to extend existing data on other intermetallic compounds and the aging reactions in this group of alloys. Taylor and Floyd2-4 observed that the Ni3Al phase (y') and the Ni8Ti phase (7)) are the only equilibrium intermetailic compounds in nickel ternary alloys containing up to 25 pct Cr and 10 pct Ti or Al. They found that y' can dissolve considerable nickel, chromium, and titanium, although the stoichio-metric composition of 7 remains fixed. Nordheim and Grant5 confirmed that age hardening of 80 pct Ni-20 pct Cr alloys of the Nimonic-80 type is due to precipitation of y', where aluminum is partially replaced by titanium. They suggest that optimum hardness and ductility result from increasing the titanium to aluminum ratio toward the end of the y' solubility range and from increasing total titanium and aluminum content to the maximum limit permitted by processing. Such information is necessary for those seeking to improve the service-temperature range and long-time structural stability of high-temperature components. Experimental Methods Compositions of materiais studied. are listed in Table I. Alloys D, E, and F possess representative A-286 analyses; silicon increases from less than 0.02 to 1.75 pct in alloys A to H; in alloys I to K, titanium decreases from 2.24 to 0.39 pct, and aluminum increases from 0.1 6 to 240 pct. Alloys A and D were solution heat treated for 4 hr at 1700°F, oil quenched and aged for 0.5, 2, 6, 12, 30, 70, 200, and 1000 hr at 1200°, 1300°, 1400°, and 1500°F. Therefore, a total of 33 specimens was required for each

Jan 1, 1958

By Comfort Adams

WHEN this country went into the war, but two concerns, The Bethlehem Steel Co. and The Midvale Steel and Ordnance Co., knew how to make steel fit for great cannons and at these concerns there were relatively few men who knew the whole art. Fortunately, certain of these men put their knowledge at the service of the Government, and proceeded to instruct the metallurgists at the arsenals and at various steel works. The then chairman of the Engineering Division of the National Research Council, Doctor Howe, suggested that this work might be facilitated, and the number of effective gun-steel makers thereby increased, if a detailed description of the best practice could be written, giving the reasons for the various steps, and issued with the endorsement of a committee composed of those who were evidently the most competent authorities. It was thought that something would be gained by clarification of the subject, and something by the eminent authority' of the members of the committee. To that end, the Engineering Division appointed-a committee, consisting of the gentlemen whose names follow, to mention only those who retained their connection with it. At, this time there were serious difficulties in the manufacture for the Government, of aircraft and high-speed engine crankshafts, of certain ordnance forgings, and of shells for both the Army and Navy. This Committee was asked to study and report upon these, with a view to betterment of practice. There were indications that the source of some of the difficulties went back to the melting of the steel and the production of the ingot. Hence, the committee first studied steel melting and ingot production, in order to guide the wartime manufacturers to an even larger percentage of useful production from the steel initially melted.

Jan 1, 1922

By Orville R. Lyons

DISCUSSION Judson S. Hubbard (The Humphreys Investment Co., Denver)—In this very interesting paper several brief references are made to the Humphreys spiral, a device used for cleaning fine coal. In Table I, Plants 76 and 77, data are given on spiral performance treating Raton and Trinidad coal. The fine coal, as fed to the spiral in these instances, is actually a table middling, hence the more easily treated material was previously removed and a large number of particles were present which were difficult to clean. Mr. W. M. Bertholf of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. presented a paper in February, 1946, Cleaning Table Middlings from a Coal Washery with the Humphreys Spiral Concentrator, from which I quote: "In considering the results of our tests it should be noted that the feed was our table middling, and that any real separation is a 'moral victory' as there is little material that could properly be called coal and practically no heavy rock, the consequences being that previous attempts to clean the middling have not at all been successful." Referring again to Table I, Plants 72, 73, 74, and 75, these data were obtained by Yancey and Geer and others and presented at the February 1950 Meeting, AIME, in a paper entitled Laboratory Performance Tests of the Humphreys Spiral as a Cleaner of Fine Coal. Results shown for those tests involve all particles from 8 mesh through the colloids, which admittedly is not an ideal situation for spiral feed if much refuse is contained in the —80 mesh or —100 mesh size range. As an illustration of the effect of treating too broad a size range, let us consider Plant No. 75, Kentucky No. 9 seam. Spiral feed was 8 mesh x 0. Now had this been 8x100 mesh the percentage of misplaced material would have been 8.0 pct instead of the reported 15.26 pct. Similar comparisons can be made on the other data presented with respect to the spiral. Other types of equipment show a similar trend in that whenever too fine a size is treated in a given unit process the percentage of misplaced material increases. Since the spiral is working near the finer end of the size range, it will sometimes be advantageous to treat the entire range of —8 mesh material rather than to deslime and make a fair showing on, say, the +80 or + I00 mesh. Desliming is subsequently done in any case in the dewatering or thickening operation. Results obtained by spiraling any given coal depend on factors too numerous and complex to discuss here, but there are strong indications that proper preparation of feed to the spiral can improve results obtained on some of the raw coals tested. This is clearly pointed out at the end of the aforementioned paper by Yancey and Geer. "The spiral is an extremely simple device which involves no moving parts and is constructed almost entirely of unmachined castings. Since it is such an uncomplicated mechanism, operation is simple and virtually foolproof. These characteristics, which go far toward insuring low cost operation, are attractive attributes in any coal cleaning unit." Certain equipment used in conjunction with the spiral has resulted in a decrease in the percentage of misplaced material, notably in actual practice the launder screen which is used to remove objectionable high ash fines from a spiral-washed coal product. Private correspondence with the U. S. Bureau of Mines has intimated that an additional yield of coal is possible by flotation of the spiral middling. Possible future improvements and developments may result from other methods now under consideration. Finally, some compromise must be made between the best metallurgical performance and the best practical or economical results. Mr. Lyons emphasizes in his summary this objective of overall economy in selection of equipment. G. B. Walker (American Cyanamid Co., Stamford, Conn.)—I had the pleasure of reviewing the draft of this paper and my curiosity was aroused by the data given for Tromp plants, in that all of the examples shown appeared to be 2-product separations, whereas all the Tromp plants with which I am familiar have been 3-product units. The data given for plants No. 101 and 102 appear to be taken from Tromp's brochure on his process and represent the results obtained at the Dominale plant in Holland which was operated for many years by Mr. Tromp. The plant, which was designed to treat 58 tons per hr, was sampled while treating 35 tons per hr of 3Y4x-in. coal. Example 101 appears to conform to what would result if the middling product were calculated into the refuse product, while Example 102 represents the calculation of the middling into the coal product. It is believed that Examples 103 and 104 represent the operation of the Willem-Sophie Mine in Holland recalculated on the same basis. In checking the English examples given by numbers 14, 15, 16, and 17, the same procedure seems to have been followed. These results have, apparently, been taken from an article in Colliery Engineering in August 1941, describing the initial operation of the Williamthorpe Colliery of the Hardwick Colliery Co. Two vessels are employed in this plant, one to treat soft coal and one to treat hard coal. Example No. 14 presents the results that could be obtained from the soft coal bath if the middling were calculated into the refuse, and Example 15 the results when the middling is calculated into the coal. Examples 16 and 17 represent the same expedient in the case of the hard coal bath. Of interest to this discussion is the fact that during the past year the Simon-Carves Engineering Co. in England has installed in the Williamthorpe plant their new "Sim-Car" medium cleaning system which is based on magnetic extraction and control and which is licensed under the Heavy-Media Separation Processes patents by the American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Co. This system has been described in the December 1951, issue of Colliery Engineering. It is reported that since the Williamthorpe Colliery was changed from the Tromp system of medium cleaning to the Magneto-Motive method of medium control the opera-

Jan 1, 1953

By Orville R. Lyons

DISCUSSION Judson S. Hubbard (The Humphreys Investment Co., Denver)—In this very interesting paper several brief references are made to the Humphreys spiral, a device used for cleaning fine coal. In Table I, Plants 76 and 77, data are given on spiral performance treating Raton and Trinidad coal. The fine coal, as fed to the spiral in these instances, is actually a table middling, hence the more easily treated material was previously removed and a large number of particles were present which were difficult to clean. Mr. W. M. Bertholf of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. presented a paper in February, 1946, Cleaning Table Middlings from a Coal Washery with the Humphreys Spiral Concentrator, from which I quote: "In considering the results of our tests it should be noted that the feed was our table middling, and that any real separation is a 'moral victory' as there is little material that could properly be called coal and practically no heavy rock, the consequences being that previous attempts to clean the middling have not at all been successful." Referring again to Table I, Plants 72, 73, 74, and 75, these data were obtained by Yancey and Geer and others and presented at the February 1950 Meeting, AIME, in a paper entitled Laboratory Performance Tests of the Humphreys Spiral as a Cleaner of Fine Coal. Results shown for those tests involve all particles from 8 mesh through the colloids, which admittedly is not an ideal situation for spiral feed if much refuse is contained in the —80 mesh or —100 mesh size range. As an illustration of the effect of treating too broad a size range, let us consider Plant No. 75, Kentucky No. 9 seam. Spiral feed was 8 mesh x 0. Now had this been 8x100 mesh the percentage of misplaced material would have been 8.0 pct instead of the reported 15.26 pct. Similar comparisons can be made on the other data presented with respect to the spiral. Other types of equipment show a similar trend in that whenever too fine a size is treated in a given unit process the percentage of misplaced material increases. Since the spiral is working near the finer end of the size range, it will sometimes be advantageous to treat the entire range of —8 mesh material rather than to deslime and make a fair showing on, say, the +80 or + I00 mesh. Desliming is subsequently done in any case in the dewatering or thickening operation. Results obtained by spiraling any given coal depend on factors too numerous and complex to discuss here, but there are strong indications that proper preparation of feed to the spiral can improve results obtained on some of the raw coals tested. This is clearly pointed out at the end of the aforementioned paper by Yancey and Geer. "The spiral is an extremely simple device which involves no moving parts and is constructed almost entirely of unmachined castings. Since it is such an uncomplicated mechanism, operation is simple and virtually foolproof. These characteristics, which go far toward insuring low cost operation, are attractive attributes in any coal cleaning unit." Certain equipment used in conjunction with the spiral has resulted in a decrease in the percentage of misplaced material, notably in actual practice the launder screen which is used to remove objectionable high ash fines from a spiral-washed coal product. Private correspondence with the U. S. Bureau of Mines has intimated that an additional yield of coal is possible by flotation of the spiral middling. Possible future improvements and developments may result from other methods now under consideration. Finally, some compromise must be made between the best metallurgical performance and the best practical or economical results. Mr. Lyons emphasizes in his summary this objective of overall economy in selection of equipment. G. B. Walker (American Cyanamid Co., Stamford, Conn.)—I had the pleasure of reviewing the draft of this paper and my curiosity was aroused by the data given for Tromp plants, in that all of the examples shown appeared to be 2-product separations, whereas all the Tromp plants with which I am familiar have been 3-product units. The data given for plants No. 101 and 102 appear to be taken from Tromp's brochure on his process and represent the results obtained at the Dominale plant in Holland which was operated for many years by Mr. Tromp. The plant, which was designed to treat 58 tons per hr, was sampled while treating 35 tons per hr of 3Y4x-in. coal. Example 101 appears to conform to what would result if the middling product were calculated into the refuse product, while Example 102 represents the calculation of the middling into the coal product. It is believed that Examples 103 and 104 represent the operation of the Willem-Sophie Mine in Holland recalculated on the same basis. In checking the English examples given by numbers 14, 15, 16, and 17, the same procedure seems to have been followed. These results have, apparently, been taken from an article in Colliery Engineering in August 1941, describing the initial operation of the Williamthorpe Colliery of the Hardwick Colliery Co. Two vessels are employed in this plant, one to treat soft coal and one to treat hard coal. Example No. 14 presents the results that could be obtained from the soft coal bath if the middling were calculated into the refuse, and Example 15 the results when the middling is calculated into the coal. Examples 16 and 17 represent the same expedient in the case of the hard coal bath. Of interest to this discussion is the fact that during the past year the Simon-Carves Engineering Co. in England has installed in the Williamthorpe plant their new "Sim-Car" medium cleaning system which is based on magnetic extraction and control and which is licensed under the Heavy-Media Separation Processes patents by the American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Co. This system has been described in the December 1951, issue of Colliery Engineering. It is reported that since the Williamthorpe Colliery was changed from the Tromp system of medium cleaning to the Magneto-Motive method of medium control the opera-

Jan 1, 1953

By Lawrence A. Soltis

Senior engineering or executive management positions are filled by engineers who are evaluated on their performance, knowledge, skill, and maturity. Not only is technical expertise required but a knowledge of sales and marketing, finance, law, industrial relations, and public affairs is necessary. The University of Wisconsin-Extension offers an innovative post-baccalaureate degree program blending technical and professional subjects the Professional Development Degree in engineering (PDD)-designed to bring various opportunities for learn-

Jan 4, 1978

By H. O. Hofman

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, In deternlining experimentally the fusibility of clays, two kinds of methods may be distinguished—the direct and the indirect. Of the direct methods, that of Seger has found

Jan 1, 1899

AT the Non-ferrous Metallurgy session on Wednes-day afternoon, R. M. Roosevelt, vice-president of the Eagle-Picher Lead Co., presided. The paper "Sug-gested Improvements for Smelting Copper in the Rever-beratory Furnace," by G. L. Oldright and F. W. Schroeder, was presented by. Mr. Oldright. It was brought out that lessening of dusting of the charge would increase the life of the arch at present operating temperatures, but will not allow much higher tempera-tures to be used unless dusting can be entirely elim-inated. The best opportunity for improving rever-beratory practice lies in the use of still higher tempera-tures but this requires the development of refractories superior to those now used. There was an interesting discussion of the facts brought out. The paper. on the "Formation and Decomposition of Zinc Ferrite," by

Jan 3, 1928

By Willis H. Carrier

Particular interest in the ventilation of deep mines, especially those in South Africa, has been created by a very complete system of cooling of the world's deepest mine, the Turf shaft of the Robinson Deep in Johannesburg. The writer visited this mine in January, 1936, and again in 1937. During these visits and subsequently, a considerable part of the theory involved in rock cooling in tunnels was developed and this has been checked by practical observations of the rates of rock cooling made within mines. The purpose of this paper is to set forth the method of attack of the mine problem. The cooling or air conditioning of mines by the use of mechanical refrigeration was not wholly newl-5 when the Robinson Deep installation was made. The first mine to be cooled was the Morro Velho mine, in Brazil. The first installation in this mine was put into operation in December 1920, the refrigerant being ammonia.5 The surface cooling gave considerable benefit but it proved inadequate as greater depths were reached, therefore in 1929 two centrifugal refrigerating machines were installed at the 6000-ft. level. These were used in conjunction with the surface cooling system to furnish additional cooling at the lower levels. This later installation used Carrene as a refrigerant. This nonflammable refrigerant, having a boiling point of 104" at sea level, insured reasonable safety, since all parts of the machine operated at subatmospheric pressure. Very favorable reports have been received on the effectiveness of this installation, but no recent data are available. An interesting feature of that plant is that the condenser water is cooled by spraying it into the exhaust air from the mine at the base of the ventilation upcast, which permits the water to be cooled within a few degrees of the wet-bulb temperature of the air entering the upcast, and the only water that has to be supplied for condensing purposes is that lost by evaporation, or about 0.5 per cent of the volume circulating through the condenser. This plan affords an ideal means for the removal of the heat load from the refrigerating system, and of course also from the mine itself. In many mines, however, especially those in South Africa, there is no

Jan 1, 1940

By Willis H. Carrier

Particular interest in the ventilation of deep mines, especially those in South Africa, has been created by a very complete system of cooling of the world's deepest mine, the Turf shaft of the Robinson Deep in Johannesburg. The writer visited this mine in January, 1936, and again in 1937. During these visits and subsequently, a considerable part of the theory involved in rock cooling in tunnels was developed and this has been checked by practical observations of the rates of rock cooling made within mines. The purpose of this paper is to set forth the method of attack of the mine problem. The cooling or air conditioning of mines by the use of mechanical refrigeration was not wholly newl-5 when the Robinson Deep installation was made. The first mine to be cooled was the Morro Velho mine, in Brazil. The first installation in this mine was put into operation in December 1920, the refrigerant being ammonia.5 The surface cooling gave considerable benefit but it proved inadequate as greater depths were reached, therefore in 1929 two centrifugal refrigerating machines were installed at the 6000-ft. level. These were used in conjunction with the surface cooling system to furnish additional cooling at the lower levels. This later installation used Carrene as a refrigerant. This nonflammable refrigerant, having a boiling point of 104" at sea level, insured reasonable safety, since all parts of the machine operated at subatmospheric pressure. Very favorable reports have been received on the effectiveness of this installation, but no recent data are available. An interesting feature of that plant is that the condenser water is cooled by spraying it into the exhaust air from the mine at the base of the ventilation upcast, which permits the water to be cooled within a few degrees of the wet-bulb temperature of the air entering the upcast, and the only water that has to be supplied for condensing purposes is that lost by evaporation, or about 0.5 per cent of the volume circulating through the condenser. This plan affords an ideal means for the removal of the heat load from the refrigerating system, and of course also from the mine itself. In many mines, however, especially those in South Africa, there is no

Jan 1, 1940

By E. A. Gulbransen, K. F. Andrew

Weight loss measurements were made using a sensitive microbalance operating in a high vacuum system. The Langmuir equation was used to Calculate the vapor pressures of the several metals and alloys. Aluminum lowered the vapor pressure of i9,on in a 5.4 Al-94.6 Fe alloy, and of iron and chromium in a 4.8 Al-21.5 Cr-73.7 Fe alloy. The influence of oxide films formed on the alloys on the effective vapor pressures of the alloys was also studied. These studies were used to aid in the inte9,pretation of the high temperature oxidation of alloys based on iron, chromium, and aluminum. RECENT studies on the oxidation of chromium1 and the heat resistant alloy 5 Al-22 Cr-73 Fe showed transitions in the rate of oxidation at 900o and 1050oC respectively. The transition for chromium occurred at a temperature where the rate of evaporation of chromium from oxide-free surfaces equalled the rate of chromium atoms reacting with oxygen. This paper presents new vapor pressure studies on iron, chromium, and the specially prepared alloys 5.4 Al-94.6 Fe, 21.9 Cr-78.1 Fe, and 4.8 Al-21.5 Cr-73.7 Fe. The ternary alloy is similar in basic composition to the patented heat-resistant commercial alloy known as Kanthal. The binary alloys were studied to show the individual effects of aluminum on the vapor pressure of iron and of iron on the vapor pressure of chromium. The purpose of the proposed studies was to test the influence of metal volatility on the oxidation behavior of heat-resistant alloys based on iron, chromium, and aluminum. Since oxide films formed on the metal may limit metal transfer to the surface, the influence of oxide films on metal volatility was also studied. LITERATURE A) Vapor Pressure. The vapor pressure of iron has been studied by Jones, Langmuir, and Mackay,' Dornte and Nrton. Edwards. Johnston. and Ditmar. and McCabe, Hudson, and Paton. Stull and SinkeT have calculated a heat of sublimation at 298° K of 99.83 kcalper g atom. The vapor pressure of chromium has been reported by Bauer and Brunner,' Speiser, Johnston, and Blakburn, Gulbransen and Andrew,'' Vintaikin,o McCabe, Hudson, and Paton, and Kubaschewski and Heymer.12 Good agreement was obtained except for the early work of Bauer and Brunner.' Stull and Sinke7 calculate a heat of sublimation at 298°K of 95.0 kcal per g atom. Vapor pressure measurements on aluminum have been made by Brewer and Searcy,13 Bauer and Brunner,aand Farkas.I4 Stull and Sinke,7 giving Brewer and Seary's' data the most weight, derive a heat of sublimation of 77.5 kcal per g atom at 298 oK. B) Method. Two methods15 are used for measuring the vapor pressure of metals: 1) The Langhuir free evaporation method, and 2) the Knudsen effusion method, In the Langmuir method, used in the present work, the vapor pressure of the metal P is given by the equation: Here M is the molecular weight of the vapor species. T is the absolute temperature. (dw/dt) is the rate of sublimation in g per sq cm per sec and a is the condensation coefficient. a is a measure of the efficiency of condensation of molecules striking the metal surface from the vapor. If condensation results from each collision a is unity. This coefficient has been found to be unity,a, le for metals. These results establish the general validity of the Langmuir free evaporation method as applied to metals. EXPERIMENTAL A) Vacuum Microbalance Method. A modification of the Langmuir free evaporation method was used. Strip specimens were suspended from a sensitive microbalance operating inside of a high vacuum system. For alloys, microbalance methods17 must be used on large area samples at relatively low temperatures to minimize composition changes. The

Jan 1, 1962

By F. F. Colcord

THE electrolytic separation of silver and gold has been practiced by the refineries in the United States for a good many years; and probably because of frequent visiting between officials of plants and the consequent exchange of views, operations in the various silver and gold refineries are very similar. We find, for instance, they practically all use electrolytes of approximately the same composition, which, no doubt, is more the result of experience than of studies of electrolytes. At the new electrolytic parting plant of the U. S. S. Lead Refinery, Inc., East Chicago, Ind., considerable attention has been given to the, composition of electrolytes, especially to their conductivity and their effect on the character of the silver deposit. We are not aware that anything has been recently published on this subject and are, therefore, presenting such data as we have with the idea that, although it will not be wholly new, it may stimulate interest in the subject. EFFECT OF COPPER CONTENT ON CONDUCTIVITY The first work, was to determine the specific conductivity of silver nitrate and copper nitrate solution. Concentrated solutions of silver nitrate and copper nitrate were prepared by dissolving analyzed chemically-pure salts in distilled water, and determining the silver and copper in each. Definite amounts of the concentrated solutions were taken, mixed and diluted to a definite volume. The silver and the copper were determined in each of these solutions and the conductivity was, then determined. The plotted results are shown in Fig. 1 and 2. The effect of increasing quantities of silver and, copper is readily seen. A comparison of the two sets of curves shows conclusively the benefit of holding the copper content of the electrolyte above 50 g. per liter, as its

Jan 2, 1926

By John E. Lanning

During the last decade, since most smelters have included Cottrell plants as standard equipment for the removal of dust from furnace gases, it has become apparent that smeltermen have had a new problem slowly developing. This problem has manifested itself in accelerated destruction of, or serious injury to, the masonry of flues and chimneys. The masonry either spalls, if the material is of low strength, or acquires large major cracks, either of which conditions attains such proportions that renewals or reinforcing become necessary to maintain the structure in satisfactory condition. This paper describes the failure of a large modern brick chimney to such an extent that its safety was vitally impaired; the investigation of its condition; the methods of restoring satisfactory strength to the structure; and the installation of an acidproof lining. Plant History The Clarkdale smelter of the United Verde Copper Co., which was put in operation in 1915, was primarily a blast-furnace plant. The smelter at Jerome had utilized blast furnaces exclusively, and in the design of the new (1915) plant, blast-furnace smelting evidently was considered of major importance, the smelting equipment consisting of four blast furnaces 48 in. by 26 ft. 8 in. and three reverberatories, each 19 by 101 ft. The latter, supplemented by roasters, were intended mainly for handling dust and fine ore resulting from the crushing operations. The original roasting equipment consisted of six six-hearth Wedge roasters, six more being added in 1917. All gases from blast furnaces, reverberatories, roasters and converters were conducted by means of suitable flues and dust chambers to one central chimney. This chimney, 30 ft. inside diameter by 400 ft. high, is a self-supporting steel structure, lined with 4-in. brick supported on steel shelf angles, riveted to the shell, spaced about 15 ft. vertically. The bricks were of local manufacture, not particularly hard-burned, and were laid in ordinary cement-fireclay-sand mortar. No record is available to indicate that any particular effort was made to secure an acidproof mortar. The same materials were employed in the construction of the reverberatory and roaster flues, and the roaster dust chamber. Parenthetically, it may

Jan 1, 1934

COLORADO SECTION CHARLES M. MACNEILL, Chairman, GEORGE M. TAYLOR, Vice-Chairman, FRED CARROLL, Sec.-Treas., State Museum Bldg., Denver, Colo. WALTER W. CASE, H. E. COLLBRAN. The annual meeting of the Colorado Section was held on the evening of Jan. 24, at the University Club, Denver, Colo.; SO members and guests were in attendance and the meeting was considered one of the most interesting ever held by the local section. After the usual dinner, the officers whose names are given above were elected for the ensuing year. Dr. David T. Day and Dr. G. H. Clevenger, of the Bureau of . Mines, were present and enlightened us with short talks on oil shales and other work of the Bureau. Mr. J. V. N. Dorr was home from a visit to New York and Washington, and told us something of the war work now going on at our National Capitol. Retiring Chairman Loughridge had been insisting for months that this meeting should be given up chiefly to listening to someone who could give his personal experience in going "over the top" in western France; after a long search he succeeded in finding Sargt. F. C. Strickland, M . M., of the Second Canadian Mounted Rifles, who had very recently been discharged from the hospital with permanent disabilities and has accepted recruiting service rather than a discharge. The success of this plan was evidenced by the close attention accorded the speaker for almost two hours, during which he described conditions, hardships, successes and failures of warfare on the western front. Hardly a listener moved during this talk, and all left with a. feeling that they would have liked to hear more. FRED CARROLL, Secretary.

Jan 4, 1918