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By Robert M. Dreyer

AGGREGATE With an annual domestic production of over 1.6 billion tons at a value of over $2 billion (see Table 15.1.1), the production of aggregate (crushed rock, sand, and gravel) is a basic industry of utmost economic importance. Because of the role of aggregate materials as essential ingredients of concrete, asphalt surfacing, and plaster, their delivered prices are major factors in determining the cost of construction. The annual domestic production comes from nearly 10,000 plants. About 15% of these plants account for over one-half the production. In a rapidly inflating economy, the average mine sales price of aggregate has remained relatively stable. The actual mine sales prices, however, vary greatly depending on quarrying costs in various parts of the country. Of much more importance in construction costs, however, is the delivered price of aggregate. This varies for each job, depending on the distance from the quarry and resulting transportation costs, as well as the initial cost at the mine. Because of a proliferation of regulations limiting new quarries in the vicinity of the encroaching urban sprawl, the average distance which aggregate must be transported has been increasing rapidly. Although it is impossible to derive an average delivered cost for aggregate, it should be noted that even an increase of only $1 per ton in average delivered cost over the last decade (probably a minimal assumption) would mean an annual cost $1.5 billion higher than ten years ago. In recent years, structural engineering considerations, as well as an increasing use of lightweight concrete blocks, have resulted in a rapidly increasing demand for lightweight concrete and plaster, the essential ingredient of which is lightweight aggregate. Principal lightweight aggregates are: pumice, slag, perlite (thermally expanded hydrous volcanic glass), vermiculite, and expanded shale, formed by the thermal expansion of shale and slate. The United States now has the capacity to expand, annually, over 13 million tons of shale and slate and to expand over 600,000 tons of perlite. In locating a site for aggregate production. the following factors must be considered: (1) tonnage available; (2) quality of aggregate (including local variations); (3) distance from major use areas; (4) transportation costs, including those resulting from present and possible future haulage restrictions; (5) zoning regulations; (6) operating costs, including the cost effects of compliance with local regulations governing blasting, air pollution, water pollution and drainage, noise levels, and operating periods. At one time, locating a suitable site for the production of crushed rock, sand, or gravel, in most areas, was regarded as an extremely simple task. In the past few years, however, finding a site for profitable production of aggregate has assumed ever-increasing com-

Jan 1, 1976

By ARTHUR S. DWIGH

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

Jan 11, 1914

By W. E. D. Stokes

The application of aviation to mining and petroleum operations, on the basis of economy and attainment, has become a demonstrated fact. According to Dominion Government rccords, 30 Canadian companies engaged in air transportation with northland mining camps, carried 13,000 tons of freight in 1935, and in 1936 carried 16,000 tons. In addition, many mining companies used planes to transport prospectors with canoes, outboard motors, gasoline drums and supplies to remote locations, and one company maintained a plane to take radium-bearing ore from its mine on Great Bear Lake nearly 1000 miles south to the railway at Waterways, Alberta. Heavy pieces of mining machinery weighing 2 tons are being carried by Ford trimotor planes over the Andes, at an altitude of not less than 15,000 feet. At Bulolo, New Guinea, 17,500 tons of disassembled gold-dredging equipment has been flown over inaccessible terrain, while supplies and building materials for a community of 1000 whites have been transported by airplane. A 31/2-ton shaft was carried on one notable trip, while at another time an automobile, 2 tons of rice and a large safe went over the mountains in one plane. Fig. 1 shows an electric generator that was carried by plane to Bulolo. Many large American oil companies operated fleets of planes during 1936, ranging from fast, luxurious air liners for executives to elaborate geological prospecting units, ambulance planes, freight carriers and pipe-line repair crews. According to the U. S. Geological Survey, commercial firms photographed 16,291 square miles during 1935, while the Government compiled from aerial photographs by the Geological Survey in the United States 85,544 square miles. It was found that information could be determined in a fraction of the time required by surface methods. However, sounding a word of caution, a Commonwealth of Australia government report on aerial survey operations had this to say: It is necessary to repeat ad nauseam that aerial photographic survey is in no sense a substitute for geological investigation, though it is a very valuable adjunct thereto, and greatly facilitates and aceeleratcs geological mapping. There are many details

Jan 1, 1937

By William Glenn

That basic slag will rapidly destroy ordinary (i.e., siliceous) fire-bricks is known to every smelter; and the smelter of copper-ores in particular knows that any kind of slag occurring in his practice is destructive. From this fact arises the chief distress of those who attempt to smelt copper-ores in any manner of furnace constructed of bricks or stone, or other similar material. We have passed the fire-brick stage of our experience; and now, having entered upon the period of the water-jacketed cupola, we will employ no furnace other than that having steel walls, kept cool by water. But,, unfortunately, the bottom of a water-jacketed cupola, kept cool by another water-jacket, fails of its purpose, being thereby made so cold as to chill both slag and regulus to a degree not bearable. The situation is more or less ameliorated when the upper surface of the water-jacketed bottom is covered with fire-bricks, since, so long as they last, they prevent the molten material from contact with the cold bottom. My own observation leads me to suppose that most smelters construct cupola-bottoms of iron slabs, which are covered, to a greater or less depth, with fire-bricks. There are cupola-bottoms which

Jan 1, 1902

By R. M. (Mike) Robb

Introduction The requirements to investigate a wide range of alternatives and analyze a variety of ‘what if’ questions make the automation of pit design a requirement in today’s rapidly changing mining industry. The wide-spread application of computers has relieved the engineer of much of the tedious and error-prone work related to mine design. He is thus free to do the creative and innovative thinking for which he is trained. It is now possible to investigate a large number of alternative pit designs in a reasonably short time period. In the past it was very easy for a team of engineers to consume 12 to 14 man-months in the detailed hand design of a large open pit. The pressure of today's mining industry, the desire to investigate a variety of alternative designs, and the shortage of qualified engineers make the slowness of hand design less preferred.

Jan 1, 1979

By Clarence Zener

THEORETICAL considerations by one of the authors have led1 to the prediction that the dynamic internal friction of annealed metals has a broad maximum at a certain grain size. This prediction they have veri-fied2 for alpha brass. In the present paper the theory is extended to include the precise manner in which the internal friction varies with grain size on either side of the maximum. New experimental data are pre¬sented to test this extended theory. The physical basis for the type of internal friction that is being investi-gated lies in the interplay between stress and temperature. Just as local fluctuations in temperature give rise to local fluctuations in stress, so like-wise fluctuations in stress give rise to fluctuations in temperature. But temperature gradients give rise to necessarily irreversible thermal cur-rents, and hence to internal friction. The theory for this type of internal friction has been developed quantitatively,3 and has been experimentally verified,4,5 for the particularly simple case of the transverse thermal cur-rents accompanying transverse vibrations. Of more fundamental impor-tance are the intercrystalline thermal currents accompanying all types of vibration. The variation in stress across grain boundaries arises from the elastic anisotropy and at least partial random orientation of the individual crystallites. An exact quantitative treatment of the internal friction due to these thermal currents is of course out of the question. However, much information can be obtained from general arguments.1,6 Thus when the frequency of vibration f is low, or when the grain size d is small, adja-cent grains remain nearly in thermal equilibrium, and vibration proceeds isothermally with little internal friction. Again, when the frequency is high, or the grain size large, the heat flow per cycle is small, the vibration proceeds adiabatically with little internal friction. The internal friction will become a maximum in the transition region. The degree of adiabatic-

Jan 1, 1940

By John C. F. Randolph

This establishment being now in full working order, it has seemed of considerable professional interest to collect together, in a concise form, the various points as to its plan, method of dressing, and equipment. The data contained in this paper have been largely drawn from the able paper of E. Kutscher, constrnoting engineer of the works, contained in the Zeitschrift fur Berg-HÜtten-und Salinenwesen im Preussischen Staate, 1873, supplemented by some personal memoranda made while the works were under construction and by memoranda on the works appearing in various German technical papers from their completion up to date. This is probably the largest dressing works in the world devoted to the beneficiation of argentiferous lead ores, and it is doubtful if any establishment for the concentration of mineral of any description can compare with it in size. As showing the final practice adopted in an old and very conservative mining region, in which the concentration of ores has been a matter of constant practice and experiment for a very long period, these works are of peculiar interest. The fact that the Clausthal ores strongly resemble a very large and abundant class of ores found in the United States has always attracted the attention of American mining engineers and mine owners to the methods employed in dressing and smelting them. The study of their methods of concentration of ores has, however, always been full of difficulty,

Jan 1, 1879

By Arthur Zentner

The electrolytic zinc plant of today is foreshadowed in the patents issued to Léon Létrange of Paris in 1881 and 1883l. He proposed roasting zinc blende to make the zinc soluble in water or sulphuric acid, thus obtaining a sulphate solution. His purification was apparently that used in the lithopone work of the day. For electrolyzing he proposed anodes of carbon or lead, for cathodes zinc, copper or brass. Numerous patents by other workers were taken out in the first 10 years, most of which dealt with sulphate solutions. It is easy to presume that the formation of chlorine gas in zinc chloride electrolysis caused early emphasis on sulphate work. Lack of success with this invited further work with chloride solutions. Efficient and cheaper oxidizing agents for use in the chloride processes were more generally available. Carbon anodes could be used instead of lead anodes, which were blamed for much of the early electrolyzing troubles and remained in disfavor for many years. Carl Hoepfner received his first zinc patents in 18902. He was the most persistent of those who worked with chloride solutions and met with the largest measure of success. Hc built three plants, only one of which remained in operation. This was built in 1896 at the plant of Brunner, Mond & Co., Winnington, England, now part of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. It leached with by-product calcium chloride from the company's Solvay alkali plant and returned to it the chlorine formed in electrolyzing. The zinc plant had a capacity of 5 long tons of zinc, said to have been doubled later, and remained in operation until 1924. No commercial plant using chloride solutions has operated since then. E. A. Ashcroft experimented in the middle nineties with chloride, alkaline and sulphate solutions on materials from Broken Hill, Australia. He built a plant with a rated capacity of 10 long tons of zinc per day, at Cockle Creek, New South Wales, in 1898. This figure was never approached nor was cyclical operation achieved. The work in the plant appears to have been largely with sulphate solutions. The plant suffered from a multitude of troubles: poor roasting, gclatinous silica, liberal use of live steam in solutions to combat the gclatinous silica with considerable

Jan 1, 1937

By Malcolm Wilson

THE year 1923 was one of great importance in northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, so far as the' development and expansion of previously discovered oil and gas fields were concerned. However, the search for new fields failed to produce a single discovery that led to important development during the period; in this respect, the year was one of discouragement to the prospector. During the winter and spring months, an especially active "wildcat" campaign was in. progress in southern Arkansas, and a large number of tests were drilled in northern. Louisiana but this activity subsided during the summer and fall. By the close of the year, only routine drilling was in effect in the fields; and only two new areas-Cotton Valley, in Webster Parish, and an area in Union Parish, La.-were showing any important activity because of favorable oil showings. Further drilling is contemplated in both of these areas, and the present feeling is that one or the other may produce the next oilfield in this territory. Briefly, the development of the Smackover field was the overshadowing event of the year. In. southern Arkansas, important development also took place in the East El Dorado, Stephens, and Irma fields; but all of these were relatively small. In northern Louisiana, many new oil wells were drilled in the Bellevue field, and many new gas wells in the Monroe field. In the old Caddo field, a large number of the deep Woodbine wells were plugged back to the "chalk rock," where a high gravity oil is obtained. In the other fields, only a few small wells were drilled. Therefore, Arkansas, furnished the real development of the year in this area. The production for the year showed a material increase over that of 1922, due, chiefly, to Smackover, and practically altogether to the Arkansas fields. In Louisiana, every field, except Caddo, Bellevue, and Elm Grove, showed slight to marked declines; while in Arkansas, El Dorado was the only field that declined throughout the year.

Jan 3, 1924

By W. T. Thom

All engineering education is faced by certain basic problems, three of which seem to have particular present importance in geological engineering training in general, and in respect to training for oil field geo-exploratory work in particular. Problem i The first of these problems has to do with present and future educational objectives and with the numbers and qualities of the men who should be coming out of our geo-exploratory training programs. Before the war we needed ever-increasing numbers of graduates at the Bachelor's level and a very much smaller number of men who had reached the Doctorate degree. Now, with more difficult, more extensive, and more costly exploratory work; with a rapid expansion of company "staff" activities, and with the initiation of many new research organizations and laboratories; it is clear that men of exceptional ability will be more and more in demand, and that the schools will need to carry a greater proportion of their students through to the Ph.D, degree. Problem 2 Assuming that the mineral industries will need an increasing supply of well-qualified Ph.D.s for future geoexploratory work (staff, line and research), can the schools expect to provide this supply of able Ph.D.s merely by expanding the proportion of B.S. and B.A. majors who go on through to the doctorate stage of training? And the answer is definitely "No"—as the situation stands at present. Most A.B. graduates are years short of the preparations in basic science and elementary engineering prerequisite to effective graduate study in the geoexploratory fields (paleontology ex-cepted), and similarly many of the annual crop of B.S. graduates lack adequate training in English; in ancient and modern history; and in the modern principles of labor and public relations. Indeed, several basic problems of undergraduate curricular organization and integration remain to be solved before most recipients of a Bachelor's degree will have that sound and broad educational foundation prerequisite to graduate training on a really effective basis. It is for these reasons that we have continued to experiment with our geological engineering program at Princeton, in an endeavor to provide a pilot-plant demonstration of a suitably broad and flexible undergraduate curriculum. Problem 3 But assuming that the schools can and do get undergraduate curricula set up in proper phase and scale to meet needed enrollment quotas for graduate training, what about the most urgent part of our whole mineral-industry educational problem? What about finding and bringing into mineral-industry training those youngsters of superior ability who are, by potential or known inclination, especially well-qualified for geoexploratory work?

Jan 1, 1949

By Arthur F. Taggart

THIS paper proposes two units (believed to be new) for designating, respectively, capacity and efficiency for primary and intermediate crushers. CAPACITY Operators know that the tonnage of rock that can be put through a particular crusher in a given time depends primarily upon the crusher setting (open setting for jaw and primary gyratory types; closed setting for cones and rolls), and secondarily on the lithological character of the feed, its maximum size, the amount of fines that it carries, its moisture content, and the method of feeding. The proposed capacity formula states a relationship between all of these factors in one empirical equation, as follows: TR = TR80KK'K" [I] in which TR, called "reduction tons per hour" is the new capacity unit; T = tons of feed per hour requiring crushing; R50 = "80-per cent reduction ratio"; and K, K', and K" are constants that approximate quantitatively lithological character, moisture content and method of feeding, respectively. T is the hourly weight of material in the feed that is coarser than the coarsest discharge of the crusher. (For marked departures from the normal specific-gravity range-2.5 to 2.7-T should be adjusted to corresponding volumes.) In the crushers under consideration, discharge from the crushing zone is limited by the minimum dimension of a particle. Passage of the particle through a square-mesh screen is limited by its intermediate dimension. Sheppard' has shown that the ratio of maximum: intermediate: minimum average dimensions of broken rock fragments may be taken as about I.5: I: 0.6 for nonslabby rocks such as are normally crushed, while for slabby rocks, such as thin-bedded sedimentaries, foliated schists and gneisses, and the blocky metamorphics, the ratio is of the average order I.3:I:0.3, with the possibility of an even smaller relative value for the thickness. Gaudin2 finds the corresponding ratio for -150 + 200-mesh pyrite to be I.4: I : 0.6. The hourly tonnage of crusher-plant feed, therefore, should be diminished by the amount thereof that would pass a square-mesh screen of which the aperture is S times the crusher setting, where S is a shape factor with the value I.7 for rocks that break exceptionally cubic; 2 for ores and rocks that exhibit no appreciable tendency to slabbiness; and 2.5 to 3, or, in exceptional cases, even larger, when the tendency to slabbiness is marked. R80 is the quotient of the theoretical square-mesh aperture that would pass 8o per cent of the feed, divided by the aperture that would pass S0 per cent of the product. It is best determined from screen tests.

Jan 1, 1941

By AIME AIME

FREE competition, long the controlling ideal of domestic trade within the United States, has had the fundamental geographical advantage of functioning in the world's largest area of unrestricted commerce. Goods moved back and forth across state lines, unimpeded by customs, and industrial operations have developed rapidly to meet the expanding needs of a pioneer country richly endowed with natural resources. Fifty years ago, antitrust laws were adopted to protect the competitive private enterprise principle. It became illegal for one person to combine with another to restrain trade or commerce among the several states or with foreign nations. The original legislative measures defining this philosophy were the Sherman Act of 1890 and the Clay- ton Act passed in 1914. The development of Europe and other parts of the world was influenced by different conditions which led to a different theory of trade. Here were many small nations, with limited natural resources and a thin market, and they attempted to protect their national economy by tariff walls. International business arrangements for the purpose of diminishing the ups and downs of the more competitive system --crux of the modern cartel operations-seemed a logical device to stabilize production and guard the interests of both workers and consumers. European governments as well as European industrial interests became convinced that if com- petition could be held in bounds the danger of business depressions and un- employment could be reduced.

Jan 1, 1944

Discussion of the papers of DAVID H. BROWNE, Louis V. BENDER, and R. E. H. POMEROY, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 97, January; 1915, pp. 49 to 60, 73 to 81, and No. 98, February, 1915, pp. 445 to 453, respectively. E. P. MATHEWSON, Anaconda, Mont.-After hearing about the success of D. H. Browne with his furnaces, we in Anaconda decided we might venture into the field of pulverized coal for reverberatory smelting. We sent a delegation of investigators to see Mr. Browne and his work, and they returned, filled with enthusiasm, and said they would recommend it strongly. We thereupon asked for an appropriation, and after some delay obtained the same and fitted up one furnace to use pulverized coal. We copied Mr. Browne's practice and his selection of machinery for drying and pulverizing coal; and we also copied the burner he used, which was a standard article on the market. We got an expert coal-dust machinery man to design our plant, and were very glad we did so as we avoided some of the unpleasantness that had been experienced at other plants through fires and minor explosions.

Jan 5, 1915

By N. J. Grant, B. C. Giessen, Paul Predecki

ALLOYS of gold, silver, and aluminum with elements of the groups BII, BIII, BIV, and BV were prepared by a rapid quenching technique (splat) and were examined by X-ray diffraction. Five new intermediate phases were found and will be described briefly herein. For the gold and silver systems, the concentration ranges having an electron/atom ratio e/a of 1.4 to 1.5 ("3/2 Hume-Rothery phases") were studied primarily. Master alloys were prepared from high-purity metals (99.9+ pct or better) by melting either in evacuated fused silica capsules or by nonconsum-able-electrode arc melting in an argon atmosphere. Small pieces, 20 to 50 mg, of each alloy were blast-atomized to form a splat, by a technique similar to that described by Duwez and Willens.1 The technique used for this study is described in detail in Ref. 2; it utilizes a resistance-heated graphite crucible with a small hole at the bottom, directed toward a metal substrate or quenching plate. The prepared alloy rests over the fine hole, through which it is expelled by an explosion shock wave in the form of fine droplets (1 to 50 µ) of molten metal onto a copper or silver substrate, which is maintained at about -190°C. The resulting very high cooling rates (see Ref. 2 for quantitative measurements) can prevent the process of nuclea-tion and growth in many instances, resulting in the formation of metastable phases. The splat particles were transferred to a GE-XRD5 diffractometer and maintained at -190°C, where they were examined with CuKa radiation. The samples were then allowed to warm to room temperature or were heated to higher temperatures until the equilibrium structures formed. Of fifteen alloy systems considered, nonequi-librium structures were encountered in six; these are described below and summarized in Table I. In the system Au-Sb a metastable £ phase (A3 type, hcp, a = 2.898 + 0.002A; c = 4.731 * 0.004A; c/a = 1.633) was found in the concentration range Au + 13 to 15 at. pct Sb. This phase is isomorphous with the stable phases in the systems Au-Cd, Au-In, and Au-Sn, all at an average e/a ratio of 1.4 to 1.5. The concentration range of one-phase metastable was deduced from the small amounts of supersaturated gold solid-solution phase present in the splat product. It was found that ? could also be retained by splatting onto a substrate held at room temperature: however, decomposed into the equilibrium phases Au + AuSb2 after heating to 200°C for 1/2 hr, or on holding the powdered splatted alloy at 20°C for several months. Calorimetric measurements will be made in an attempt to decide the question whether ? is metastable at all temperatures or whether it is a stable phase at low temperatures. There is evidence that another phase, possibly also close-packed but with a different stacking sequence, can be obtained by rapid quenching of alloys with a different antimony content. Klement, Willens, and Duwez3 reported the existence of an amorphous phase on quenching Au-Si alloys (25 at. pct Si) to - 196°C. They found that on heating to room temperature another phase of unknown crystal structure was formed. This was confirmed (see Table I); however, the new crystalline phase, designated as ?, could also be formed simply by rapid quenching to room temperature, and even was found to exist already in the as-cast Au + 20 at. pct Si alloy. It was found that ? decomposed into Au + Si on the specimen surface at room temperature. This behavior, and the question whether or not there is an equilibrium-temperature region for ?, have not yet been resolved. It is probable that ? (Au + 20 to 21 at. pct Si) is cubic of the -brass type (D81-3) with a = 9.60, + 0.01A and N = 52 atoms per cell [compare 6 (CU-Sn)4]. Except for two very weak lines, the powder pattern of about thirty lines could be indexed on this basis; however, a determination of the atom positions has not yet been attempted. For Au-Ge the C phase was observed at about 21 at. pct Ge as reported by Luo et at.5 Lattice parameters a = 2.876A, c = 4.73,A, c/a = 1.64 were found. In the Au-Pb system, formation of a ? phase was not observed, but in the lead-rich region at 75 at. pct Pb, broad peaks belonging to an amorphous phase were found. The maximum diffracted intensity occurred at 28 = 32.4 deg which is about 1 deg larger than the position of the (111) line of lead (Cuka). For Ag-Pb, an amorphous phase analogous to the one found in the Au-Pb system was observed; this metastable phase exists probably at about 75 at. pct Pb. Since no lead-rich alloys were tested, all alloys consisted of silver + amorphous phase at -190°C. In A1-Ge alloys, line-rich and complex powder patterns were obtained at about 30 at. pct Ge; they bear similarities to those of aluminum and germanium, but are of lower symmetry; the existence of more than one intermediate phase is possible. The authors are grateful to the Kennecott Copper Corp. for Fellowship support, and ARPA (Contract

Jan 1, 1965

By R. F. Mehl, R. W. Parcel

THE rate of the decomposition of austenite in eutectoid steels, forming only pearlite, may be expressed fundamentally in terms of the rate of nucleation and the rate of growth of pearlite nodules. This matter has received much attention in recent years. (The basic references are listed in ref. 1; references of particular import to the present work will be given separately.) Systematic data have been developed for plain carbon eutectoid steels.:! Although the physical factors affecting the rate of nucleation, N, in case of plain carbon steels have presumably been identified, they cannot as yet be evaluated quantitatively.' Several somewhat successful attempts, however, have been made to calculate the rate of growth, G. In the latter case the important factors determining the edgewise growth of pearlite have been assumed to be: 1—the interlamellar spacing; 2—the concentration extremes and concentration contours of carbon in austenite in front of the growing pearlite interface; and 3—the rate of diffusion of carbon in austenite.* The only systematic data on N and G for pearlite in alloy eutectoid steels are those for Co-steels;6 there are no data on alloy eutectoid steels in which the alloying element is known to decrease the rate of formation of pearlite, apart from a few scattering data reported earlier' for steels containing manganese. This paper reports a systematic study of N and G for eutectoid alloy steels containing molybdenum and nickel, respectively. In order to provide information of help in understanding the results, new data are presented on the effect of molybdenum on the interlamellar spacing of pearlite, So; data on the effect of nickel on So have already been published.' The alloys used were in five groups: 1—Pure Fe-C-Mo alloys (Table I) were supplied by the Climax Molybdenum Company of Michigan, Detroit. They were made from Armco ingot iron of standard analysis, Acheson graphite, and ferro-molybdenum, melted in silica-lined crucibles in a high frequency induction furnace. The ferromolyb-denum was added to the melted steel, followed in 5 min by 0.08 pct Al. The ingot as-cast measured 23/4x 31/4x10 in.; it was hot-forged at 1150°C to a bar 1 in. sq.

Jan 1, 1953

By M. Earl Volin, M. Adnan Goksel

The hydro thermal agglomerating process described (U.S. Pat. No. 3,235,371, 1966)* is different from the cotzventional high-temperature processes. Green pellets or briquettes made with mixtures of moist iron-ore concen- trates and burned or hydrated lime fines are hardened in an azttoclave at 198°C and under steam pressure for 112 to 5 hr, with or without previous drying. Under the neutral conditiotzs, oxidation of magnetite does not occur as in the conventional processes. The resulting azzlomerates-- are hard and resistant to abrasion and weathering, and they do not disintegrate in the Under test. The equipment required for the process is not complicated, and favorable operating costs are projected because of the low temperamre and efficient heat recuperation. A low capital investment makes the process attractive even when the annual pellet production is below a million tons.

Jan 1, 1970

By S. P. Brown, J. E. Worthington

Increasingly, exploration geology seems to be growing into a practice overly separated from production geology, yet the eventual purpose of exploration is a producing mine. To help in the search for new deposits, exploration "lessons" will be drawn from the papers given at the Fall AIME Applied Geology Symposium. In addition, examples will be re-emphasized to show how early observation of matters now routine to mine work (for example, hydrology, rock mechanics, oxidation state) can help increase the effectiveness of exploration.

Jan 1, 1984

By Theron Wasson

No major oil-field discoveries were made County; the second in Marion township, in Michigan during the year 1940. Produc- Osceola County. Both are producing from tion for the year was maintained by the Stray sand at about 1350 ft. These discoveries made in 1938 and, as a result, is fields are on structures founci by core test-below the total for 1939. Several extensions ing through the glacial drift. The Six Lakes to old fields have been made, which have field, Montcalm County, discovered in helped to maintain production in the face 1934, is Michigan's largest gas-producing of rather rapid decline in the fields of the field. it has 195 wells producing from the southwestern part of the state. Important Michigan Stray sandstone and the Upper extensions were made in Overisel, Porter, Marshall sandstone. This field was devel-Sherman, and Adams fields. Important oil oped on a 40-acre spacing plan, and gas fields of the state are shown on the -map, Fig. I. WiI~dcat Drilling Michigan's production of 19,700,000 bbl. A test in sec. 29, Winterfield township, during 1940 was 3,800,000 bbl. less than Clare County, which is producing oil from the total for 1939, but about one million the Monroe of Devonian age at a depth of greater than 1938. This brings the total 3760 ft., and a well in sec. 31, Lincoln accumulated production for the state to a township, Osceola County, producing from little over 145,000,000 bbl. the Monroe at 3625 it., should be classed as wildcats that are sure to lead to further Active Oil Fields development in I94L The leading producer for the year was the At the end of the year the Gulf Refining Temple field, Clare County, where 29 new Company's deep test on the Kawkawlin wells were drilled. The Walker field, Kent structure in Monitor township, Bay County, was second, but drilled 183 new County, was preparing to drill deeper after wells in order to gain that position. In the having had a gas blowout from a depth of extension of the Overisel field in Allegan 7775 ft. This test is the most important one County, 115 new producers were drilled. drilling at the end of the year in Michigan, The Adams field, Arenac County, was for should it develop commercial produc- revived by several wells with initial production from deeper beds it will lead to deeper tions of over 1000 bbl. per day from the drilling on many well-known structures Dundee of Devonian age. that have been producing from shallower sands. Active Gas Fields Two important gas fields were discovered Exploration by Taggart Brothers during the year. The A small amount of reflection seismograph first was in Riverside township, Missaukee work was done in Clare, Osceola, and Glad-Win Counties during the year. Exploration Manuscript received at the office of the Institute March 28 1941 by shallow drilling for structural informa- tion on beds below the glacial drift con- 347

Jan 1, 1941

By Theron Wasson

No major oil-field discoveries were made County; the second in Marion township, in Michigan during the year 1940. Produc- Osceola County. Both are producing from tion for the year was maintained by the Stray sand at about 1350 ft. These discoveries made in 1938 and, as a result, is fields are on structures founci by core test-below the total for 1939. Several extensions ing through the glacial drift. The Six Lakes to old fields have been made, which have field, Montcalm County, discovered in helped to maintain production in the face 1934, is Michigan's largest gas-producing of rather rapid decline in the fields of the field. it has 195 wells producing from the southwestern part of the state. Important Michigan Stray sandstone and the Upper extensions were made in Overisel, Porter, Marshall sandstone. This field was devel-Sherman, and Adams fields. Important oil oped on a 40-acre spacing plan, and gas fields of the state are shown on the -map, Fig. I. WiI~dcat Drilling Michigan's production of 19,700,000 bbl. A test in sec. 29, Winterfield township, during 1940 was 3,800,000 bbl. less than Clare County, which is producing oil from the total for 1939, but about one million the Monroe of Devonian age at a depth of greater than 1938. This brings the total 3760 ft., and a well in sec. 31, Lincoln accumulated production for the state to a township, Osceola County, producing from little over 145,000,000 bbl. the Monroe at 3625 it., should be classed as wildcats that are sure to lead to further Active Oil Fields development in I94L The leading producer for the year was the At the end of the year the Gulf Refining Temple field, Clare County, where 29 new Company's deep test on the Kawkawlin wells were drilled. The Walker field, Kent structure in Monitor township, Bay County, was second, but drilled 183 new County, was preparing to drill deeper after wells in order to gain that position. In the having had a gas blowout from a depth of extension of the Overisel field in Allegan 7775 ft. This test is the most important one County, 115 new producers were drilled. drilling at the end of the year in Michigan, The Adams field, Arenac County, was for should it develop commercial produc- revived by several wells with initial production from deeper beds it will lead to deeper tions of over 1000 bbl. per day from the drilling on many well-known structures Dundee of Devonian age. that have been producing from shallower sands. Active Gas Fields Two important gas fields were discovered Exploration by Taggart Brothers during the year. The A small amount of reflection seismograph first was in Riverside township, Missaukee work was done in Clare, Osceola, and Glad-Win Counties during the year. Exploration Manuscript received at the office of the Institute March 28 1941 by shallow drilling for structural informa- tion on beds below the glacial drift con- 347

Jan 1, 1941

By J. B. Rather

The use of sulfuric acid in refining illuminating oils antedates the beginning of the petroleum industry in America by many years. It was used as early as 1792 by Tower in refining "coal oil" in the British Isles, and by 1860 there were 53 refineries in the United States manufacturing "coal oil," most of them using sulfuric acid as a refining agent. Following the completion of the Drake well in 1859, many of the "coal oil" refiners began to use petroleum for manufacturing illuminating oil, and their methods and equipment were adapted so far as possible to this new raw material. The value of sulfuric acid in refining L'coal oil" having been established, this reagent was immediately tried and found to be satisfactory in refining petroleum. Notwithstanding the tremendous advances in petroleum technology since that time, sulfuric acid remains today the most valuable and most widely used means for refining petroleum products. Early Methods of Disposal of Acid Sludge With the almost immediate expansion of the petrolrum industry came the problem of disposing of the acid sludge produced in the refining operations. While in 1859, the year of the discovery of the Drake well, a patent was granted for sludge separation and separated acid concrntration, most of the earlier refiners, and rnany of their successors, felt that separation and recovery of spent acid was uneconomical. Accordingly, many of then) disposed of the sludge in any way that seemed expedient nt the time. It was huricd in the refinery grounds, harged and tlurnped at sea, run into neighboring streams, or dumped into sewers. Some optimists carted it to open pits in the hope that it would eithcr sink into the ground or evaporate. Not so many years ago, the superintendent of nn eastern refinery, who was using the open-pit method of disposal, lost, a sludge cart, with horse attached, in such a pit. The horse was recovred almost immediately, but its availability for further use was reduced to zero by the loss of its hair.

Jan 1, 1928