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By Richard C. Wang

The U.S. Bureau of Mines established a wire rope research laboratory to examine the factors that affect the safety and the useful life of wire rope. In the most recent work, two 32-mm 6x27H flattened strand ropes were degraded on a bending fatigue machine. The two tests were run at constant loads of 285 and 347 kN or safety factors of 2.5 and 2. Nondestructive and tensile strength tests were performed on samples of the ropes to determine the relationship between rope deterioration and rope breaking strength. Neither the area loss nor the number of broken wires measured from nondestructive tests could be used as clear indicators of the loss of strength. However, it was found from the tensile tests for both rope specimens that the strength loss was associated with the reduction of breaking strain. This suggests that measuring the strain of many short sections of a rope in the elastic region may locate the high stress sections and thus delermine the condition of the rope.

Jan 1, 2010

By K. B. Nowels

"INTRODUCTION For the last several years the oil industry has been turning more and more toward conservation arid the study of related production problems. It is generally conceded that ultimate recovery is increased by holding the natural gas in thy sand which is net needed in lifting the oil. The retained gas lowers the viscosity and surface tension of the oil and helps flow the oil from the sand. Lewis states that ""while the operator can not control the original conditions of energy and resistance in the sand, he can partly control the efficiency of expulsion. As it is the energy contained in the compressed and absorbed gas rather than the oil that is exhausted, it is but logical to judge the efficiency of a producing method largely by the relative quantities of gas produced with each barrel of oil. If by a change in method the producer lessons the proportion of gas with each barrel of oil, he should increase the total recovery- of oil correspondingly, even if the rate of production is temporarily reduced somewhat.""The effect of ""pinching in"" or controlling the flow of oil wells in an effort to lessen the proportion of has never been definitely known. The general belief has been that ""pinching"" a flowing well causes the oil and gas volumes to be reduced proportionately, maintaining the same gas-oil ratio as before the reduction in flow was made. Studies of gas-oil ratios in many fields have shown that much gas has been wasted, insofar as its effectiveness in oil production is concerned. Swigart and Bopp carried."

Oct 1, 1927

By D. A. Hill

A survey of the literature on ELF and VLF atmospheric noise has been made. Most measurements have concentrated on the vertical electric field and the horizontal magnetic field rather than the vertical magnetic field which is of interest in transmission between horizontal loops. The limited vertical magnetic field data indicates that the vertical component is generally 10 to 20 dB below the horizontal component. Three laterally inhomogeneous earth models have been analyzed for conversion of horizontal to vertical magnetic field. The rough surface model examines surface effects, the inhomogeneous thin sheet model treats volume effects, and the buried cylinder model treats localized man-made effects. All three models predict the possibility of significant conversion from horizontal to vertical magnetic field. A thin sheet model has also been used to examine transmission from a buried magnetic dipole source. It is found that the predicted fields more nearly model the measured data than does the homogeneous half-space model.

Jan 1, 1982

By Jack O. Jones

The Furnish mine, Caharrus County, W. C., was operated intermittently until 1905 as a gold mine. Scheelite was discovered by A. L. Mash in the mine dumps of the Furniss and Phoenix mines, and he later informed the Bureau of Mines of his discovery. The Bureau of Mines, in two projects at the deposit in 1948 and in drilled 12 holes totaling 1,706.6 feet, examined and sampled the underground workings, excavated by bulldozer and hand, 3,155 linear feet of trenches and collected numerous samples for assay. The best scheelite shown; was found in the underground exposure of the Furniss mine.

Jan 1, 1950

By E. D. Gardner

This paper on the square-set system of mining embodies the results of a special study of the subject made as a part of the Bureau of Mines general investigation of mining methods and costs. Data for the paper were gathered by the authors during visits to mines using square-set mining, from Information Circulars prepared by consulting engineers to the Bureau on mining methods at individual mines, and from articles in the technical press and the Transactions of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. The square-set system of mining is very widely applied and is one of the oldest methods in use in the United States. It is mainly employed for extracting relatively high-grade ore in heavy ground. It is also useful in taking out pillars left in mining by other methods. It is used to some extent as an auxiliary method with many underground systems and as an alternate with cut-and-fill, shrinkage, and open-stope methods when heavy ground is encountered. In some cases as much as 50 per cent of the ore may be extracted by square-setting at mines listed as using some other method of mining. A large tonnage is mined yearly by square-setting, principally in the Western States.

Jan 1, 1933

By P. R. Jones

A computer program was written for the design of a shell and tube type heat exchanger on a price optimum basis. The program was designed to meet the following requirements: (1) Triangular pitch; (2) single or multiple pass; (3) heating or cooling; and (4) no change in phase. Price optimum design was obtained for four standard tube sizes and standard pitch. Pressure drop both inside and outside were computed and the nearest standard shells having at least the required area were listed. With this information, the estimator can select the heat exchanger best suited for the need. The program was made adaptable to various fluids and to various tube sizes and spacing by reading in much of the required data such as physical properties of the fluids, tube data, and standard shell data in tabular form.

Jan 1, 1967

By John C. Edwards, Gene F. Friel, John J. Opferman, Robert A. Franks

A series of diesel fuel fire experiments were conducted in the Pittsburgh Research Center's Safety Research Coal Mine (SRCM) to determine products-of-combustion (POC) spread rates along a single entry under zero imposed airflow conditions. Six experiments with an average fire intensity of 330 kW and three experiments with an average fire intensity of 30 kW were conducted in a 1 80 m long entry which had an average 2 m height and 4 m width. POC spread rates were measured by the response time of diffusion type CO detectors, positioned at 30 m intervals, to CO concentrations 5 ppm above ambient. For the 330 kW fires, average POC spread rates of 0.22, 0.13, and 0.06 m/s were determined at 30.60, and 90 m distances from the fire. For the 30 kW fires these average spread rates were reduced to 0.08, 0.04, and 0.04 m/s. The measured maximum roof layer temperature 30 m from two of the 330 kW fire was 30 and 36"C, which is less than the 57°C alarm point of a typical mine thermal sensor. It was determined that smoke detectors can be more effective for mine fire detection than CO detectors. The experimentally determined POC spread rates can be used to provide guidance for specification of sensor spacing to improve early fire detection at zero or very low air flows.

By James J. Dowd

The investigation to evaluate the reserves of coking coal in the United States suitable for the manufacture of metallurgical coke is being made by the Bureau of Mines in three parts: (1) To estimate known (measured plus indicated) recoverable reserves of all coking coal; (2) to upgrade marginal coals through effective preparation; and (3) to study the carbonizing properties of coals and coal blends not now widely used for metallurgical coke making. This is the sixth of a series of reports giving the results of studies by counties under part (1) of the investigation. (See appendix.) This report covers Fayette County, Pa., which comprises the Uniontown and parts of the Brownsville, Connellsville, Donegal, Waynesburg, Masontown, and Confluence, Pa., Morgantown and Bruceton, W. Va., and Accident, Md., quadrangles. (See fig. 1.) A short resume of the chemical and carbonizing properties of the coals ar.9 included. Data on the coal beds in this county were obtained from mining companies, land companies, individual landowners, and other sources of authentic information.

Jan 1, 1951

By O. C. Blade

"INTRODUCTION This report on the properties of motor fuels sold through service stations in the United States is a continuation of a series of reports made in accordance with a cooperative agreement between, the Coordinating Fuel Research (C.F.R.) Committee of the Coordinating Research Council (C.R.C.) 3/ and the Bureau of Mines of the United States Department of the Interior. The first of these reports presented data on motor gasolines sold during the winter of 1935-36.-4/ Further reports have been issued describing motor gasolines sold during the succeeding summers and winters to the summer of 1941 and during the winter of 1942-43 and the summer of 1943 5/ No reports were made on motor gasolines sold during the winter of 1,) 41-42 and during the summer of 1942. The present report presents analytical data for 1,356 samples, representing the products of approximately 103 companies. As in previous surveys, the companies covered by the survey include both large and small suppliers. Conforming to former reports, the data cover three groups of samples - regular-price, premium-price, and third-grade gasolines - and each group has been averaged separately. The number of samples, items and brands comprising each group is as follows: Regular-price, 770 samples, 286 items, and 94 brands; premium-price, 537 samples, 236 items, and 72 brands; third-grade, 49 samples, 31 items, and 18 brands. The meanings of these terms as used in the surveys are as follows:"

May 1, 1944

On 26 August 1971, the Bureau of Mines, through the Spokane Mining Research Center at Spokane, Washington, approved initiation of the evaluation of oscillatory energy toward enhancing flow of polymer into shale. The effort was an outgrowth of work performed under Bureau of Mines Contract H0210055, "Feasibility Study of Surface Impregnation equipment for the Chemical Stabilization of Coal Mine Structures," wherein feasibility of the impregnation concept was expressed and the detailed design of a machine for impregnation of coal mine roofs with polymer (under static pressure head) accomplished. Under these efforts, the potential enhance¬ment of polymer uptake into the shale thru superposition of oscillatory energy on the static impregnation pressure was suggested. A proposal for investigation of this phenomena entitled "Feasibility Study of the Application of Oscillatory Energy as an Aid to Afford Chemical Stabilization" was presented to the Bureau whereupon a three month program for initiation of investigation was approved.

Jan 1, 1972

By K. K. Kelley, W. W. Weller

Heat capacity measurements of akermanite ( Ca,MgSiO ) , cordierite (Mg2A14 Sig018 ) , gehlenite ( Ca₂Al₂ SiO ) , and merwinite ( Ca ,MgSiO ) were conducted over the temperature range from 50 ° to 298.15 ° K. The entropies at 298.15 K ( expressed in cal / deg mole ) were evaluated as follows : Akermanite , 50.0 ± 0.5 ; cordierite , 97.3 ± 0.9 ; gehlenite , 47.4 ± 0.4 ; and merwinite , 60.5 ± 0.5 . All four compounds have positive entropies of formation from their constituent oxides at 298.15 ° K ; the values range from 4.6 cal /deg mole for akermanite to 10.1 cal / deg mole for cordierite .

Jan 1, 1963

By W. W. Adams

[S,1.1.8'"' of explordves -permissible explosivos,21 other high explosives, and black blasting povrder -in the Uni ted States during the caJ.endar yenr 1937 reached a ~ombined total that slightly exceeded the quantity sold in 1936. A larger output was re orted. for permisAiblA and other hig! explosives but asmal-ler for black po~~er. Production of the three classes of explosives totaled 404, 744,294 pounds, more than 3 pel'CGnt over 1336. The total qrumti ty produced included 49,579,441 pounds of perminsibles, 2~8,924,253 pounds of other high ex-plosives, 36,403,950 pounds of black powder in pellet form, and 29,836,65q pounds of bla~k powder in granular form.]

Jan 1, 1938

By John H. Hild

"INTRODUCTION Alunite occurs within a radius of 10 miles of Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, in veins and as replacements of igneous rocks. A number of each type of deposit was explored by the Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the Geological Survey, under the Strategic Minerals program during 1942. The exploratory work comprised geologic and topographic mapping, diamond drilling,,bulldozer and hand trenching, sinking test pits, rehabilitation of old workings, sampling alunite exposures, and constructing and repairing roads.ACKNOWLEDGNENTSIn its program of exploration of mineral deposits; the Bureau of Mines has as its primary objective the more effective utilization of our mineral resources to the end that they make the greatest possible contribution to national security and economy. It is the policy of the Bureau to publish the facts developed by each exploratory project as soon as practicable after its conclusion. The Mining Branch, Lowell B. Moon, chief, conducts preliminary examinations, performs the actual exploratory work, and prepares the final report. The Metallurgical Branch, R. G. Knickerbocker, chief, analyzes samples and performs beneficiation tests. Both these branches-are under the supervision of Dr. R. S. Dean, assistant director.With particular reference to this publication, acknowledgment is given to Richard E. Mieritz and William E. Young, who assisted on the project at various times; P. T. Allsman, chief. Salt Lake Division, Mining Branch, who advised on exploratory problems and gave valuable assistance in preparing the report and illustrations; A. P. T. Schumann, for preparing the illustrations; and to Gordon L. Bell, Max Willard, and Eugene Callaghan, of the Geological Survey, who cooperated as representatives of that agency."

Nov 1, 1946

By Robert M. Becker

This report (part 3 of a five-part series) presents computer programs for evaluating moments and moment relationships of the generalized probability distributions extended or developed in parts I and 2. The principal program is for evaluating the first three moments and moment relationships of the compound-multinomial distribution for finite as well as for infinite populations. This is the generalized distribution for sampling to some amount of items per sample. Another program is for evaluating the first four moments, the moments of the mean, and the moment relationships of the multinomial and generalized hypergeometric distributions. This is a general moment program in sampling to some number of items per sample or for sampling to some number of samples. This program will accept either ungrouped data, frequency data, or probability data.

Jan 1, 1965

By William W. Aljoe

This report summarizes the Bureau of Mines noise-control research program from 1972 to 1982. Each segment of the mining industry--under- ground coal, underground hardrock, surface mining, and processing plants--has different noise-control problems because of vast differences in working procedures, equipment, and workplace design. The Bureau has identified the most serious noise problems in each segment and has developed strategies for attacking these problems. This publication points out the need for noise control in the mining industry, discusses Federal regulations governing worker exposure to noise, and describes the Bureau's overall approach to mining noise- control research. It traces the history of noise overexposure in each segment of the mining industry and discusses the major noise sources. It provides detailed information on noise-control research efforts in the Bureau's major areas of emphasis, including the results of these efforts. Finally, the report discusses the Bureau's future role in research on mining noise control, emphasizing the need to expend more effort on long term in-house investigations into the noise problems that have been identified in past programs as the most serious ones.

Jan 1, 1985

By William T. Reid

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

Feb 1, 1948

By Wallace W. Key

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

Jan 1, 1965

By Wallace W. Key

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

Jan 1, 1965

By Jos. R. Guiteras

This paper is one of a series published by the Bureau of Mines on mining and milling methods and costs. It describes operations in the Alma district of Colorado in September 1937, supplemented by some additional data collected in July 1938. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express his appreciation of the friendly cooperation extended him by the mine operators in the district. The greater part of the information was obtained from mine and mill superintendents to whom individual acknowledgment is made in the text.

Jan 1, 1940

By Alton B. Cook

In the Scurry Reef field, Scurry County, Tex., a study was made to determine the physical properties of the oil in all parts of the reservoir by a new method developed for this study. The method involved correlation of data from a survey 1 of the gravity of the produced oil, from measurements of gas-oil ratios on key wells selected to give representative data for the entire reservoir, and from laboratory analyses of reservoir oil samples. A field survey was made of the API gravities of the produced oil by testing oil samples from 107 key wells. Precise gas-oil-ratio tests were made on 45 key wells that were producing under comparable separator-operating conditions. Subsurface-oil samples were obtained from seven wells, selected to provide reservoir oils ranging approximately from a minimum to a maximum in saturation pressure. The physical properties of the subsurface-oil samples were determined, and correlations were made of these laboratory data with the field gas-oil-ratio test data. These correlations were then used to estimate physical properties of the oil throughout the reservoir. A logical procedure of determining the variations in physical properties of reservoir oils in most fields is to obtain and analyze subsurface-oil samples from enough key wells to provide an ample coverage of the field. Under this procedure, data from a large number of samples would be needed to provide the desired information on the Scurry Reef field, as it is one of the largest known in the United States.

Jan 1, 1955