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By John V. Beall

What progress has been made in rapid excavation of tunnels and shafts? Where do we go from here? To get some answers to these questions was the reason that 500 tunnel men-contractors, geologists, professors, lawyers, mining engineers--came to the University of Minnesota May 15-17. The attendance of 500 astonished conference organizer Professor D. H. Yardley, who had anticipated half that number. They came from Japan, South Africa, Austria, Sweden, and Australia to name a few, and an officer of the Corps of Engineers thought all his people should have been there. The Civil and Mining Engineering Departments of the University combined for the program, which was staged by M. K. Cragun for the General Extension Division. The Saga of the Oso Tunnel The present state of the art of rapid excavation is "good." There is little controversy about where we go from here and what's more, this reporter finds that the technical know-how to automate excavation in any kind of ground is extant, even if it will take some years to achieve this state. In a nut- shell though, the present status can be seen in its various ramifications in the saga of the Oso Tunnel, as told by V. L. "Vic" Stevens of Boyles Brothers Drilling Co. :

Jan 7, 1968

CHICAGO SECTION CHARLES H. MACDOWELL, Chairman, Luther V. DICE, Vice-Chairman, HENRY WT. NICHOLS,. Secretary-Treasurer, 164.5 E. 68 St., Chicago; Ill. ALEXANDER K. HAMILTON-, HENRY P. HOWLAND, GEORGE P. HULST, FREDERICK 1. SNYDER. There were 32 members present at the dinner of the Chicago Section which was held at the Chicago Engineers' Club on Friday Evening, December 22. At the meeting after the dinner, the Chairman called attention to the work of Mr. Hoover in Belgium and spoke briefly of the assistance which' could be given him through the Belgian Kiddies, Ltd. Mr. Alonzo Kinyon read a paper on "Burring Powdered Coal" which so interested the members that many of them participated in the long discussion which followed. Prof. Harry B. Pulsifier then described the metallurgical plants about Chicago. He mentioned briefly the equipment and interesting features of 30 metallurgical plants of importance and stated that there were also 200 foundries in the district. He said that when number, size, quality and diversity of the plants are considered, the Chicago District is justified in calling itself the greatest metallurgical center on earth. The paper was followed by a brief discussion in Which attention was called to some smaller and incipient plants of an interesting character. HENRY T. NICHOLS, Secretary.

Jan 2, 1917

Abrahamson. Guy C., (S'43) Univ. of California, Berkeley. Calif. ' Abrego, Alfredo, (S'43) Texas College of Mines Metallurgy, El Paso, Texas. Adamec, Lew, (S'42) c/o Braden Copper Co., Ran¬cagua, Chile. Adams, Charles E., (S'42) Box 1527, Stockton, Calif. Adams, John W? (S'42) Asst. Petr. Engr., Vander¬ bilt Dist., Magnolia Pets. Co., Edna. Texas. Adams, Karl S., (S'43) Univ. of New Ha mpshire, Durham; N. H. Adamson, Charles R., (S'41) Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Aguilar, Ruperto G., (S'43) Texas College of Mines, El Paso,. Texas. Almone, Francis M., (S'41) Univ. of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., Canada. Ainge, Ronald Farra, (S'43) Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand. Akarun, Cevdet A., (S'44) Pennsylvania State College, State College. Pa.

Jan 1, 1944

By A. N. Rogers

Jan 1, 1883

By John Griffen

K. F. Tromp (Kerkrade, Holland)—Your assumption that the Dutch State Mines have lead in the development of heavy medium processes—the Barvoys, Loess, Driessen—is not correct. The credit should be given to a Dutch engineer Mr. deVooys, the inventor of the Barvoys process. deVooys started in 1932 in Hiickelhoven, a German but Dutch-owned mine, where he was a director. Several plants on the Continent as well as in Great Britain were erected. The State Mines started their first plant in 1937. They could not get that plant working satisfactorily and built another one. Their process made no headway, and up to 1946 there was only one plant installed, the one at their own pit. Since 1946 they started the cyclone process and only since that time have they been more active, though industrial cyclone washeries are still in their infancy. deVooys sold his patents to the Dutch State Mines in 1946 and this might have given you the impression that the pioneer work had been done by the Dutch State Mines. John Griffen (author's reply)—I wish to thank Mr. Tromp for giving the correct story on the development of heavy medium processes in Holland.

Jan 1, 1952

By C. G., Fink

The dissolution of gold by cyanide solutions was studied by determining the time required for the solvents to dissolve gold leaf. Minute traces, even 0.5 ppm, of sulphide ion retard the dissolution of gold, and this behavior cannot be accounted for by the presently accepted hypotheses involving oxygen-depletion or thiocyanate formation. On the other hand, traces of the salts of lead, bismuth, mercury, and thallium considerably accelerate the dissolution. The beneficial effect of lead is dependent upon the pH and cyanide ion concentration of the solution.

Jan 1, 1950

By W. D. Forgeng, R. E. Grace

The rate of copper corrosion in liquid lead was studied as a function of flow rate and temperature in a closed isothermal loop system between 350" and 500°C. Kinetic data were interpreted with the Nernst-Brunner equation and the Chilton-Colbum mass transfer analogy to heat transfer. Over the range of temperatures and flow rates employed the solution rate constant varied from 2 x 10-3 to 20 x 10-3 cm per sec. The rate constant was found to vary with the 0.76 power of the Reynolds number in the range 7500 < Re < 40,000. The results of this investigation indicate that the Cu-Pb corrosion process is controlled largely by diffusion across a boundary layer. particularly at the higher temperatures. The effective boundary layer for diffusion is found to be approximately three to four times smaller than the momentum boundary layer. CORROSION by liquid metals has long been a problem during melting, static containment, and casting. Recently, considerable emphasis has been placed on the understanding of liquid metal corrosion mechanisms in an effort to prevent mass transfer and eventual failure in liquid metal heat exchangers and in liquid-metal-fueled nuclear reactors. The present investigation was conducted to determine the relationships which exist between corrosion kinetics and hydrodynamic conditions in an isothermal loop containing a simple liquid metal-solid metal corrosion system. The Cu-Pb system was chosen for its simplicity and ease in handling. Previous isothermal Cu-Pb corrosion studies1-3 have been conducted in both static and dynamic systems but not under conditions which allow easy "scale-up" to engineering systems, such as liquid metal heat exchangers. On the other hand, most liquid metal loops which have been used to evaluate mass transfer rates4 have been driven with temperature gradients under conditions of natural convection and unknown flow rates. The primary contributions of this research are twofold: 1) to evaluate the design of a simple isothermal loop corrosion system and 2) to investigate liquid metal corrosion behavior under well-defined hydrodynamic conditions. MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK The apparatus used to measure the Cu-Pb corrosion rates is shown schematically in Fig. 1. The loop system consisted of 1) a reservoir made of Type 316 stainless steel containing a centrifugal pump and 2) stainless-steel tubing containing a removable copper test section. The copper test section was OFHC hard-drawn tubing, 11.0 0.05 cm in length and 0.775 ±0.005 cm ID. A Type 316 stainless-steel venturi meter* was inserted in place of the copper test sec- tion in order to determine the lead velocity as a function of pump speed at each temperature. The Cu-Pb system was chosen for this study because the solubility of copper in liquid lead is large enough to measure accurately but small enough that the diameter of the copper tubing was not changed significantly by corrosion. There are no intermediate phases formed in the system, and the solid solubility of lead in copper is vanishingly small so that back-diffusion cannot occur. Molten lead (corroding grade; 99.94+ pct Pb, 0.0015 max pct Cu) was charged from an auxiliary melting furnace into the system under an argon cover to minimize oxidation. The lead was then maintained at constant temperature by a stirred molten salt bath in which the loop was immersed to a depth just above the lead level in the reservoir, Fig. 1. The total volume of lead in the system was 320 2 cu cm.

Jan 1, 1969

By J. L. Brimhall, R. A. Huggins, M. J. Klein

IN a recent paper1 it was shown that small additions of magnesium, copper, and oxygen decrease the stacking fault probability in plastically deformed silver. Correlation of :X-ray data with measurements of the twinning frequency and metallographic observation of slip lines indicated that this effect may be due to an increase in the relative stacking fault energy. It is the purpose of the present note to report experiments on these alloys of known stacking fault probability that relate to the stacking fault contribution to electron scattering in silver. There has been a considerable amount of disagreement in the literature concerning the contribution of dislocations to electrical resistivity in metals. Calculations relating to the scattering of conduction electrons by the dislocation core, its strain fields, and related effects have been made by several authors.2-5 In addition, experimental work on Cu,3,6-10 Ni,11 and Ni-Co alloys1:! has shown that dislocations in those materials exert an anomalously large effect on resistivity, this effect being related to the presence of extended dislocations. The problem of the scattering due to the stacking fault region between partial dislocations has been treated theoretically using several different procedures.13-&apos;0 The results of these calculations show a wide range of predicted values, from rather large to completely negligible, due to the models and the approximations involved. Almost all of this work has been applied to the specific problem of scattering in copper. The more complete theoretical treatments depend rather critically. on the shape of the Fermi surfaces and the effective mass parameters. The scattering from stacking faults might therefore be expected to vary significantly from one metal to another. Unfortunately, sufficiently accurate information is not available .which would allow one to have any confidence in a theoretical prediction of the scattering in the case of silver. Resistivity measurements were made on small wire specimens of vacuum melted high purity silver and several dilute alloys. These measurements were made at approximately 20°C, with great care being given to temperature measurement and corrections. At such temperatures phonon scattering is significantly greater than imperfection scattering. However, the experimental technique was such that measurements on similarly treated samples were reproducible to better than 2.4 X 10-9 ohm-cm, which was satisfactory for this work. Values of the stacking fault probability and the increase in resistivity after severe plastic deformation are given in Table I. The increases in resistivity resulting from plastic deformation agree quite well with previous work on silver.14,21-26 In addition, it has been previously found that interetitials and vacancies in silver anneal out well below room temperature, so that the residual imperfection scattering in these experiments could be expected to be primarily associated with dislocations;. It is seen from the data in Table I that large changes in stacking fault probability are accompanied by differences in resistivity due to imperfection scattering of only a few percent. If the scattering of conduction electrons by extended dislocations is primarily due to the area of the stacking fault region independent of the stacking fault energy, and not the core and strain fields associated with partial dislocations, the resistivity increase should be proportional to the product of the dislocation density and the stacking fault width, as is the stacking fault probability. Therefore, the imperfection scattering caused by plastic deformation of the alloys should be considerably smaller than that found in the pure silver. Since this was not observed, these results sugegest the possibility that stacking faults do not themselves contribute appreciably to the electrical resistivity of silver deformed at room temperature. An alternative explanation of these observations is that the scattering by the stacking fault is roughly proportional to the stacking fault energy, rather than being determined by the total area of such faults. Sufficient evidence is not yet available to separate these two possibilities. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research.

Jan 1, 1962

By C. H. Bowen

NDUSTRY needs a generally applicable means of defining average grain size and grain size distribution. Students of sediments hade explored this field, employing methods that might also prove useful in engineering problems. Before attempting to solve specific problems it is well to review the derivation of commonly used grade scales and the reasons for their selection. This aspect of the problem seems largely to have been lost, and a review of basic factors may suggest causes for failures in using size analysis data. Three facts are implicit in selection of a grade scale: 1) Most particulate mixtures are continuous distributions of sizes, and any grade scale that may be employed is an arbitrary means of visualizing that distribution. 2) For purely descriptive purposes, any grade scale, regardless of the rationality of the class intervals, will be satisfactory if it is accepted by a sufficient number of workers. 3) For analytical purposes, class intervals must be small enough to define the continuous distribution accurately. Further, where statistical studies are involved, a fixed relationship should exist between classes or grades. An argument in favor of geometrically related size grades lies in the fact that most particulate mixtures contain such a wide range of sizes that use of an arithmetic diameter scale is practically impossible. Udden, who recognized this fact in 1898,&apos; proposed one of the first grade scales based on a regular geometrical interval. Udden used 1 mm as his basic diameter and a ratio of 2 (or 1/2) between classes. In 1922 Wentworth2 re-examined Udden&apos;s grade scale, retaining the same class interval and basic diameter, but extending the scale in both directions and renaming the classes. In 1930 (Ref. 3, p. 82) the American Society of Testing Materials proposed what is now known as the U.S. Standard fine sieve series, also based on the 1 mm diam, with a v2 ratio between sieves. This, then, is a one fourth Udden-Wentworth series in the sizes below the 4 mesh sieve. The U.S. Standard coarse sieve departs from the 1 mm base and uses inches; hence it is not a direct continuation of the fine series. The U.S. Standard series would thus seem to possess all the attributes of a good grade scale, which it is. It has a large number of classes (sieves). in fact too many for practical use in its entirety. This v2 subdivision of the Wentworth grades has led to the common use of two v2 sieve series, the half-Wentworth and the engineers&apos; series. Geologists and sedimentologists favor the half Wentworth, or 18, 25, 35, 45 sieves, etc., whereas the engineers, preferring round numbers, utilize the other half of the U.S. Standard grade scale in the 16, 20, 30, 40 sieves, etc. The fixed geometrical ratio between classes is an advantage in statistical analysis, but the unequal classes cause some complications in calculations. This is especially true when moment measures are used. It was to simplify these calculations that Krumbein in 1934 devised the phi scale. Phi is defined as being equal to —log2 of the diameter in millimeters. Selection of logarithms to the base 2 relate the phi scale directly to the Wentworth grade scale in such a manner that the whole or fractional diameter values 2, 1, 1/2, 1/4 mm, etc., become rational whole numbers, —1, 0,1, 2, etc. Since this is an arithmetic rather than geometric series, calculations are facilitated. When the logarithm is multiplied by —1 the phi values below 1 mm become positive, those coarser than 1 mm negative. Because of its relationship to the Wentworth grade scale (and in turn to the U.S. Standard fine sieve series) it is not necessary to use the transformation equation to calculate the phi value for each individual sieve; this can be done graphically as shown in Fig. 1. It should be noted that this graph may be extended in either direction to include the range of sizes most commonly used by the individual worker. Application to Statistical Analysis Any attempt at systematically relating size analysis data to properties involves a statistical study whether it is recognized as such or not. Since this is true it would seem more logical to use measures and devices related to the general body of statistical theory. Several methods are available for studying particulate mixtures. One of the most commonly employed, and also the most often misused, is the histogram or block diagram. If its limitations are recognized and provided for, the histogram is a very useful tool. According to conventional practice, the bars of equal width are plotted and the values noted in terms of diameters, when in point of fact, log diameter is implied by such notation. Further, the histogram is sensitive to choice of grade scale and size of class interval, either of which may color the result. Grade scales whose classes are not related by fixed intervals are particularly difficult. Another basic weakness of the histogram is that it pictures a continuous distribution as a series of discrete grades.

Jan 1, 1957

Table

Jan 1, 1910

By George H. K. Schenck

Diminishing returns in management&apos;s fight to lower manufacturing expenses have added luster to savings that can be achieved in delivered costs through creative management of the distribution function. This is especially true for companies engaged in the production of bulk commodities, for which transport costs may represent 25 to 50% or more of total delivered price, A. E. Cascino, vice president of International Minerals and Chemical Corporation, recently gave an example of why top management in his firm is concerned with distribution: "The price of a ton of phosphate rock, f.o.b. mine, is about $7. The cost of warehousing, freight, and handling frequently totals an additional $11 . . . . If one of our competitors . . . discovers a way in which he can cut his distribution costs by $3, we&apos;re dead! Even if we wanted to offset our competitor&apos;s more efficient means of shipping with reduced f.o.b. price for our product-we don&apos;t have that much profit margin . . . ." In a special report on the revolution now occurring in transportation of goods, Business Week stated in its September 24 issue: "Moving and storing goods on their way from mine and mill through various sub-assemblies to their final markets costs anywhere from $50 billion to $75 billion a year- $100 billion if paperwork costs are included.

Jan 1, 1967

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Jan 1, 1938

Univ of Alabama-University, Alabama-Mining and Metallurgical Society William L Mason, Faculty Sponsor, E C Wright, Dept Head Univ of Alaska-College, Alaska-Mining Society of the Univ of Alaska Douglas W Huber, Faculty Sponsor, E H Beistline, Mining & Metallurgy Dept Head, Troy L Pewe, Geology Dept Head, James Crawford, Chapter Counselor Univ of Arizona-Tucson, Arizona-Miners Society Willard C. Lacy, Faculty Sponsor, J D Forrester, Mining & Metallurgy Dept Head, F. W Galbraith, Geology Dept Head Univ of California-Berkeley, California-Mineral Technology Association H E Hawkes, Faculty Sponsor, Joseph A Pask, Dept Head Carnegie Inst. of Technology-Pittsburgh, Pa -The Metals Club William R Bitler, Faculty Sponsor, Robert F Mehl, Dept Head

Jan 1, 1960

By Frederick T. Williams

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relative merits of the large 31/8-in. machine and the small 2 1/4-in. tappet machine in driving development-headings; and although the data here presented were obtained from cross-cut headings alone, experience has shown that the results are equally true in drifting, raising and winzing. Recently we drove two parallel cross-cuts through the same formation, using a 3 1/8-in. machine at the breast of one crosscut, and a 2 1/4-in. machine of the same make at the breast of the other. The results of this work afforded an ideal comparison, since in both cases the headings were advanced through rock practically of the same hardness and breaking-properties, the amount of sludging was equal, and there was no difference in the condition of the steel or the machines, the air-pressure or the experience of the operating crews. Some operators in the Cripple Creek district contend that there is ground which cannot be handled with the small machine, the holes being too small to contain enough powder to "pull " the ground, etc. The results obtained in working the property of the Portland Gold Mining Co., however, show that the ground worked by them does not fall in this class. During a period of two years there have been driven, with the small machine, 4 miles and 308 ft. of development-headings, through a diversity of ground, including Pike&apos;s Peak granite (a coarsely porphyritic type of granite), highly indurated andesitic or pho-nolytic breccia, true massive andesite, trachytic phonolyte, tuffs, and along dikes of decomposed basalt and hard phonolyte. In every instance a satisfactory record was made. The headings here describe? mere driven through highly indurated andesitic breccia, having a hardness of from 5.2 to 7.2 and a sp. gr. of from 2.2 to 2.8. The action of the breccia under the drill was not materially different from that of ordi-

Jan 1, 1907

By A. K. Chakravarti, A. Lihiri, G. G. Sarkar

One primary objective of India&apos;s third Five Year Plan is the expansion of coal production. The goal: boost present output of 45 million tons to 95 million tons by 1965--an increase of more than 100 pct!

Jan 7, 1961

By David, Levinger

THESE observations of the metal-working industries of Europe are based on a three months&apos; tour of eight countries of Europe, in which 75 industrial establishments were visited in England, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Austria and Switzerland during the summer of 1927. Since the Western Electric Co. is a large consumer of copper and brass, these industries were of particular interest and differences in practices were of keen interest to us.

Jan 1, 1928

By Irving Cadoff, Kurt Komarek, Edward Miller

Barium can be purified by equilibration with titanium. The melting point of barium was found to be 726.2° i 0.5 °C. The room-temperature lattice parameters of BaTe and Bask are 7.004 * 0.002A and 6.600 * 0.002A. Melting points for BaTe and Base were found to be 1510° * 30°C and 1830° ± 50°C, respectively. HIGH-purity barium and its compounds are difficult to prepare because of the reactivity of barium with the atmosphere and the large heats of formation of the compounds. Purification of barium by vacuum distillation,&apos; and the preparation and properties of barium oxide2 and barium sulfide3 have been reported. However, little has been done on the homologous compounds barium selenide and telluride. PURIFICATION OF BARIUM Distilled barium obtained from King Laboratories was used as the starting material. The analysis supplied with the metal showed the presence of: 0.4 wt pct Sr, 0.001 pct Mg, 0.02 pct F, 0.003 pct Cu, 0.005 pct Na and less than 5 x 10-3 wt pct of any other metallic impurity. Analyses for oxygen and nitrogen were not available. Since there is evidence4 that any barium nitride present in the starting material may decompose on distillation producing nitrogen which can contaminate the distillate, further purification was performed. At elevated temperatures, any nitrogen and oxygen present in barium should be removed by reaction with titanium. Assuming that the solubility of oxygen in liquid barium is negligible near the melting point of barium, any oxygen present will be in the form of BaO. Removal of oxygen from molten barium is expressed by the equation: BaO(S)+ TixOy(S) = Ba(l)+ TixO(y+1)(s) where Ti,Oy and TixO(y+1) are solid solutions of oxygen in titanium. At 1000°C, the change in free energy for this reaction is negative for (y+1)/x +y+1) x (100) 17.5 at. pct O.5 Since reaction with commercially pure titanium (containing 0.07 wt pct oxygen) results in a free energy change for the reaction of -19 kcal per g-atom, slight solubility of oxygen in barium would not hinder the oxygen removal. Since comparable thermodynamic data are not available to permit calculation of the partition of nitrogen between liquid barium and titanium, a similar quantitative relationship cannot be obtained. However, on the basis of work by Kubaschewski and Dench,5 complete removal of nitrogen from liquid barium can be expected. Since the melting point of barium is depressed markedly by small additions of nitrogen,&apos; the change in melting point during reaction of barium with titanium was used to follow the purification reaction. MELTING POINT OF BARIUM A 50-g sample of barium was sealed by arc welding under argon into an all titanium crucible provided with a thermocouple well. The melting point of the sample was determined by thermal analysis, using a Pt/Pt-10 pct Rh thermocouple which was calibrated according to National Bureau of Standards specification6. The crucible was then heated for 48 hr at 950°C in vacuum and the melting point redetermined. This procedure was repeated until three successive thermal analyses agreed within ±0.5oC, the limits of error of the analysis. The melting point increased from an initial value of 720.0°C to a final value of 726.2°C. Analysis on samples quenched from 950°C gave a solubility value of 0.004 wt. pct Ti. Assuming that the titanium-barium phase diagram is similar to those of titanium-magnesium7 and titanium-calcium,8 the solubility of titanium in liquid barium decreases with decreasing temperature. Therefore, the solubility of titanium in liquid barium should be less than 0.004 wt. pctat the melting point (726oC), and the effect of dissolved titanium on the melting point would be negligible. Addition of up to 3 wt pct Sr does not significantly change the melting point of barium,7 so that the effect of the 0.4 wt pct Sr in the starting material will also be negligible. The value of 726.2" ± 0.5C obtained for the melting point of barium can be compared .with a determination carried out by Keller and coworkers in low-carbon steel crucibles,&apos; who obtained a value of 725± 1C, using barium purified by fractional distillation. The higher value obtained in the present investigation is indicative of the effectiveness of titanium in removing traces of nitrogen. PREPARATION OF BaTe AND Base The compounds were prepared by direct reaction

Jan 1, 1961

Mining headlines in 1952 dealt mainly with expansion as the industry aimed for an ever increasing production to meet the nation&apos;s needs. Huge sums were expended for equipment, research, and development. Headlines told part of the story. Negotiations between San Manuel Copper Co. and the RFC finally resolved in a $94 million loan for the development of low grade Arizona ores. Magma Copper, parent firm was to supply an additional 8 million. Kennecott Copper Co., deepening its Deep Ruth Shaft of its Ruth, Neyy mine, announced that the shaft would be in full production in 1953.

Jan 2, 1953

By Donald W. Gentry

The recently established SME-AIME Education Board has completed its first full year of operation, and its six constituent committees-Accreditation, Career Guidance, Continuing Education, Educational Statistics, and Scholarship-have been extremely active in identifying and initiating programs to serve the educational needs of the Society of Mining Engineers and its members. The Continuing Education Committee-primarily concerned with the needs and problems associated with providing a continuing education program for SME members-is responsible for: (1) determining the need for short course offerings; (2) developing needed courses, along with new means and opportunities of presentation; and (3) scheduling and evaluating course presentation. In response to this charge, the committee has sponsored two short courses at the SME-AIME Fall Meeting in St. Louis and three short courses at the AIME Annual Meeting in Denver. Its major effort, however, has been directed toward the 1978 SME-AIME Fall Meeting to be held in Orlando, Fla., where 18 days of short-course instruction have been scheduled. A portion of these courses will be presented prior to the meeting, with the remainder to be presented in Nassau, Bahamas, immediately following the meeting.

Jan 7, 1978

By Edward W. Parker

I. INTRODUCTION. AT the Seventy-sixth meeting of the Institute, held in New York, N. Y., February, 1899, I presented a, paper on this subject entitled, Coal-Cutting Machinery,&apos; which has become somewhat out of date, in view of the decade&apos;s development in this feature of the coal-minim industry. It should be explained that the present paper is limited to the use of mining-machines in bituminous mines. Practically all of the anthracite mined is ?shot from the solid," no undercutting being done. Anthracite-mining is therefore not considered in the statistics or other references. The statistical record as compiled by the United States Geological Survey shows that in 1898, the year preceding the presentation of my former paper, there were 32,413,144 short tons of coal undercut by the use of machines. In 1907 the machine-mined coal-product amounted to 138,547,823 short tons. In sympathy with the general decrease in coal-production during 1908, the output of machine-mined coal decreased to 123,183,334 short tons, but the proportion of machine-mined coal to the total output, nevertheless, showed an increase, from 35.1 per cent in 1907 to 37 per cent in 1908. In 1898 only 19.5 per cent. of the total product was undercut by the use of machines. The number of undercutting-machines in use in the bituminous mines of the United States has increased from 2,622 in 1898 to 11,144 in 1907, and to 11,569 in 1908. The total production of bituminous coal in the United States in 1908 was almost exactly double that of 1898, while the machine- * Published by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey. 1 Trans.. xxix.. 400 to 4,59 (1899).

Sep 1, 1910