Search Documents

By Dorsey Hager

The possibilities of finding new oil pools in Oklahoma and Kansas are far from promising. In 1916, the only new pools of importance were the Franchot pool near Bixby, the Garber, and the Billings pools in Oklahoma, and the Virgil and Utopia fields in Greenwood County, Kansas. In the first 8 months of 1917, a small pool of unknown extent was opened south of the Stone Bluff pool in Oklahoma, and a pool near Casey, Paunee County, Oklahoma. In Eastern Kansas, interest has been caused by the sinking of new wells near the old Iola pool, but nothing of magnitude has yet been found. The outlook for new pools is far from encouraging, especially as geological surveys have covered all of Oklahoma and Kansas. There are a few areas where geological surveys throw little or no light on the subject, as exposures are poor, but the chances of finding new pools in such areas are slight indeed, if one can judge from the past history of such areas. So far the geologists have based their opinions largely upon the presence or the absence of geologic structure, such as anticlines, domes, and terraces, but some pools will most certainly be found where no surface structure exists, but where local changes in the sand body favor oil accumulations. However, the possibilities of new pools off structure are small, as fully 90 per cent. of the oil pools are on definite structure. In the past, it is estimated that one test in 150 "wild cats" or new tests has brought in a new field. The writer feels safe in asserting that the proportion will decrease still further, so that but one out of 500 new tests may bring in a pay well in a new area. Prom now on the principal field of work in Oklahoma and in Kansas will consist in developing the present pools. The years 1915, 1916 and 1917 saw the high peak of Oklahoma and Kansas oil production. The Eldorado and the Augusta oil fields present the largest possibilities for continued production in Kansas. These two pools have been scarcely more than one-third developed, and have greater potentialities than any of the present Oklahoma pools. In Oklahoma, pools of magnitude should

Jan 1, 1918

By Waldemar Lindgren

Introduction To the miner, as well as to the geologist, the eastern part of Cuba is a most interesting region. Here we find, in contrast to the moderate relief predominating elsewhere in the island, an imposing mountain range, the Sierra Maestra, extending east and west parallel to the coast, its precipitous front facing the blue Caribbean Sea.. In a geological sense this range is largely an unknown land, the only well-explored region being that in the vicinity of Santiago. The range also contains the most important mineral deposits of the island. They comprise, first, a series of iron deposits yielding a partly hematitized magnetite with low content of phosphorus; second, a remarkable copper-bearing vein at El Cobre; and third, various manganese deposits. Probably more deposits will be found, for the larger and western part of the range is as yet little explored and its slopes are covered by a thick tropical jungle. The following notes are based on a short visit by the senior author in January and February of 1914 to the mines at Daiquiri, El Cobre, and Mayari. For many courtesies and great assistance he is deeply obliged to Charles F. Rand, President of the Spanish-American Iron Co.; to George W. Pfeiffer, General Manager, and to the several members of his staff.

Jan 10, 1915

By Ernest R. Lilley

While American scientific literature contains much information upon geologic conditions controlling the production of oil in Rumania, copper in Chile, and other fuel and metallic resources in many foreign countries, it is singularly lacking in data about the nonmetallics outside of the United States. Thus, though the United States is the outstanding market for European high-quality refined kaolin, and for the chinaware, porcelain, and other products of the European ceramics industries, American literature contains only the briefest references to the deposits from which the raw kaolin utilized is obtained. To the writer, to whom has come in the past year the opportunity of visiting a number of these deposits personally, they have proved of extreme interest both commercially and geologically. It is the latter phase that is discussed in this paper. The older and now largely crystalline rock areas of France, Germany, and other parts of western Europe contain numerous pegmatite dikes of which the upper portions have been subjected to surface weathering and kaolinization in much the same way as those of the eastern portion of the United States. Like the latter, the European pegmatite kaolins have long been known for their freedom from iron and other impurities offensive to the china and porcelain manufacturer. Unfortunately, they are also, like the American deposits, individually of small size and noted for their high costs of production. Deposits of sedimentary clay similar in many respects to the high-quality sedimentary kaolins of Georgia and South Carolina are known and worked, notably in southern Germany and in the Newton Abbott district of Devon and Dorset in England. In general, their relationship to the parent rock from which they were derived is more evident than in the United States and the individual deposits are of smaller areal extent and less regular in outline. While these deposits are of considerable economic importance they did not, because of their similarity to deposits in America, attract and hold the interest of the writer to the extent that several other types of deposits did. It is to the latter, which are so different from the kaolin

Jan 1, 1932

By T. G. Madgwick, A. Beeby Thompson

FoR more than 2500 years, natural gas issues in the Surakhany district of the Apsheron peninsula were the object of pilgrimages by fire worshippere and Hindoos from Burma and India. Even as late as 1890, Hindoo priests conducted ceremonies in a temple at Surakhany, which probably replaced a more ancient one; but later, the visits of the pilgrims were prohibited in order to check the spread of Asiatic diseases in that region. For centuries, limited supplies of oil have been abstracted from shallow excavations in the Caspian oil belt and dispatched into the interior of Asia and elsewhere for medicinal and industrial purposes. Statistics show a yield of 37,400 bbl. in 1863, but only since 1869 has there been serious development; in that year the yield was 203,000 bbl. At that time, hand digging was supplanted by drilling, and the enormous wells that resulted from tapping sources hitherto beyond the reach of operators completely demoralized the industry for a time, owing to inadequate outlets for the products. The early activities in this area were greatly hindered by annoying taxation, monopolies, imperial land grants, etc., but when these were revoked or adjusted, in 1877, the industry sprang into prominence and, between 1898 and 1901, the Baku fields produced practically one-half of the world's supply of oil. Within a few miles of Baku lie the two richest oil fields in the world; viz., the Balakhany-Saboontchy-Romany and the Bibi-Eibat, the latter constituting almost a suburb of the city. For many years the gasoline obtained in the refineries of the Baku area was burned in pits, being considered an undesirable product, and until 1870 the residue also was destroyed, its value as a fuel not being recognized. Kerosene was the main product sought by the refiners. It was shipped across the Caspian Sea and up the Volga to the industrial centers of Russia. Only on the completion of the Baku-Batoum railway did the Baku oil fields secure important commercial communication with the outside world through the medium of the Black Sea. The first tank steamer was successfully launched on the Caspian in 1879, by Messrs. Nobels, for transporting oil in bulk instead of in barrels. In 1905, an 8-in. pipe line to Batoum was completed; this was capable of transporting to seaboard 8,000,000 bbl. of kerosene per annum.

Jan 1, 1921

By Dorsey Hager

THE possibilities of finding new oil pools in Oklahoma and Kansas are far from promising. In 1916, the only new pools of importance were the Franchot pool near Bixby, the Garber, and the Billings pools in Oklahoma, and the Virgil and Utopia fields in Greenwood County, Kansas. In the first 8 months of 1917, a small pool of unknown extent was opened south of the Stone Bluff pool in Oklahoma, and a pool near Casey, Paunee County, Oklahoma. In Eastern Kansas, interest has been. caused by the sinking of new wells near the old Iola pool, but nothing of magnitude has yet been found. The outlook for new pools is far from encouraging, especially as geological surveys have covered all of Oklahoma and Kansas. There are a few areas where geological surveys throw little or no light on the subject, as exposures are poor, but the chances of finding new pools in such areas are slight indeed, if one can judge from the past history of such areas. So far the geologists have based their opinions largely upon the presence or the absence of geologic structure, such as anticlines, domes, and terraces, but some pools will most certainly be found where no surface structure exists, but where local changes in the sand body favor oil accumulations. However, the possibilities of new pools off structure are small, as fully 90 per cent. of the oil pools are on definite structure. In the past, it is estimated that one test in 150 "wild cats" or new tests has brought in a new field. The writer feels safe in asserting that the proportion will decrease still further, so that but one out of 500 new tests may bring in a pay well in a new area. From now on the principal field of work in Oklahoma and in Kansas will consist in developing the present pools. The years 1915, 1916 and 1917 saw the high peak of Oklahoma and Kansas oil production. The Eldorado and the Augusta oil fields present the largest possibilities for continued production in Kansas. These two pools have been scarcely more than one-third developed, and have greater potentialities than any of the present Oklahoma pools. In Oklahoma, pools of magnitude should

Jan 10, 1917

By J. R. Martson

The arrangement of the larger furnace at the United Verde smelter, together with the boiler layout and connecting flues, is shown in Fig. 1. The important dimensions are given in the figure, and cross-sectional areas of combustion space, flues, etc., are recorded. The location and extent of the baffling in the boilers also are shown because of their importance in the interpretation of the data. Two boilers serve each reverberatory furnace. They are of the class M-26 Stirling type (rated at 713 boiler hp. each). Steam is generated at 178-lb. gage pressure at a total temperature of 528" F., from feed water at a temperature of 113" F. The feed water is condensate from turbogenerators plus make-up softened by the lime-soda process. The make-up is rather large in amount as it must match the amount of steam consumed in reciprocating blowing engines and the like, which are not served by surface condensers. As a result the boiler feed water has a hardness of 1.5 to 3.0 grains per gallon, but this results in the formation, during six months to one year of boiler operation, of scale only of "eggshell " thickness or less. The boilers are set at the same elevation as the tapping floor of the furnace, which results in the introduction of the waste-heat gases at the top of the front bank of tubes and necessitates the inversion of the usual baffling arrangements. The boilers are equipped with valve-in-the-head soot blowers, which keep most of the dust blown off the surface of the tubes, but it is necessary to supplement the soot blowers by high-pressure air lances, inserted by an attendant through side doors in the boiler setting. Deposits of coal ash and of dust from the furnace charge accumulate in the flues between the reverberatory furnaces and the boilers and this necessitates cleaning of these connecting flues by hand during the greater part of one of the three 8-hr. shifts during each 24 hr. This cleaning operation requires the opening of clean-out doors, which, of course, has some effect on the yield of steam. Revebberatory Furnace Practice The United Verde furnaces are fired with pulverized coal of sub-bituminous type of which the screen and chemical analyses are given in Table 1.

Jan 1, 1934

By B. Chalmers, S. Wojciechowski

THE structure of the equiaxed zone of several A1-Cu samples mechanically stirred during unidirectional solidification was examined. The stirring was produced by rotary oscillation of the mold about its vertical axis.' It was found that in Some samples the structure is not of the same type over the whole of the equiaxed zone; it consists of regions with two different etching responses. Fig. 1 shows this structure in a Al-1 wt pct ku sample. The lighter etching regions with a coarse structure form something like a network and the darker etching regions with a finer structure can be observed as the continuation of the coarse structure inside this network. The difference in size and shape of the dendrite branches (they are rounded in the coarser structure) is similar to that found by Williamson and Chalmers in ice crystals solidified in undercooled water: when the amount of undercooling was small, the ice crystals were more rounded and coarser than these solidified with a larger amount of undercooling.' It seems justified to conclude that the observed structure resulted from solidification under different thermal conditions: the coarser structure solidified first out of the "purer" liquid and with a smaller amount of undercooling and the finer was formed later out of solute-enriched liquid under conditions of much more rapid heat extraction. A considerable change in the heat flow conditions at the later stages of solidification can be easily understood by taking into account that the coarser crystals form a continuous network and the amount of trapped liquid is relatively small; hence the contribution of latent heat is much smaller in the later stages of solidification. The difference in structure and etching characteristic reflects a difference in composition between these two regions. It was found that the darker etching re- gions are harder (30.4 to 31.3 HV5) than the lighter etching ones (25 to 26 HV5). A similar type of structure was found in a A1-4 wt pct Cu sample grown by Czochralski method. Fig. 2 shows the structure in the lower part of a sample grown slowly and then decanted by a rapid removing of the sample from the melt. In a few places trapped liquid solidified in the same manner as in the sample shown in Fig. 1.

Jan 1, 1968

By W. R. Ingalls

In reviewing the history of the metallurgy of zinc, I shall pass hastily over what is only of antiquarian interest. That has been excellently treated by Dr. Bernhard Neumann in "Die Metalle" (1904) and has been described briefly in my "Production and Properties of Zinc" (1902), in my "Lead and Zinc in the United States " (1908), and in other metallurgical works of more or less the same date. In this present monograph, I have it in mind to confine myself mainly to technical practice, especially to that of the last 75 years, prior to which period advance was slow and of no great moment. The ancients made brass by the cementation process, i.e., embedding copper in a mixture of calamine and carbon and heating, whereby zinc oxide was reduced and zinc was vaporized and combined with the copper. Zinc was isolated by some of the alchemists, who named it and knew something of its properties, but made no use of it. Long before then, however, zinc was produced in India. Later it was produced in southern China. Possibly the Chinese obtained their knowledge from India. The Chinese in remote places still produce small quantities of zinc. I have seen photographs of their furnaces; or pots, for they hardly deserve the dignity of being called furnaces. I imagine that they are the same that were used centuries ago, for I cannot conceive of anything more primitive. Anyway, it is certain that the idea of a commercial production of zinc in Europe was imported from the Orient, where the metal was known in commerce as Speauter and Spiauter, whence speltrum and finally our term spelter. Tutanego and Tuteneague are other old names. Dr. Isaac Lawson went to China about 1730, expressly to discover the method of its production. What connection there was between Isaac Lawson and John Champion we do not know, but the latter obtained in 1739 a patent for a process of distillation downward and at some time between 1740 and 1743 erected a works at Bristol and actually began the manufacture of spelter. A production of 200 tons per annum is mentioned. In about the year 1766, Rishop Watson visited the Champion works and saw the process in operation, which previously had been

Jan 1, 1937

SULPHUR is a very well known mineral and apparently is produced in many places. It is engendered from an unctuous earthy and powerfully hot substance so that it is considered among experienced workers to bear a resemblance to the element of fire. This is called by these same men the masculine seed and the prime agent of Nature in the composition of metals. Because of its great dryness and heat it has, as experience shows, affinity with fire, which is easily introduced in it when brought near. And once introduced the fire is quenched only with difficulty before its unctuousness is wholly consumed. Although it shows itself to us of such a hot and dry nature, we must not think that sulphur is a substance so pure that it can stand by itself or that in order to attain its form it has no need of its portion and part of moisture like every other mixture. This is shown to us by its easy fusion, in which it resembles the metals. This thing is found in many places and in many varieties of color; some are white, others yellow and orange, and some others between gray and black. They also say that some red is found. It does not occur in that arrangement of veins like other minerals, but most liberal Nature makes whole mountains of it as is seen in the Aeolian islands, [26] near Sicily, in Etna or Moncibello which is the island of Sicily, at Pozzuoli, in the territory of Rome, in the Sienese domain at San Filippo, and in many other similar places. It is a substance that has a very strong odor and is most unpleasant to smell. It is very fixed in its substance so that it is never corrupted by time, by boiling, or by the moisture of water. For although it may stand in water a long time it never becomes soft nor does it ever decrease or increase in weight. It is brittle and easily crushed very fine. It is said that a trace of garlic rubbed on the mortar helps anyone who wishes to reduce it to impalpability. Its ores have a form more like earth than like stone although they some¬times have the color of a certain soft rock. The places where it is found are easily recognized by the great odor that they give out and by the very hot baths that often spring forth near it. What I have already told you about quicksilver that is contrary to the

Jan 1, 1942

By Max Roseler

THE CHAIRMAN (WILLIAM KELLY, Vulcan, Mich.).-Some 8 or 9 years ago I was at Daiquiri, only a. few miles east of Firmeza, where there are deposits of iron ore of the same general character. There is a great conical hill, perhaps 800 or 1,000 ft. in height and the ore deposit appears to be somewhat in a canoe shape on one side of the hill. The mining has been done by quarrying the ore in benches. These are called levels and to go to the 10th level it was necessary to take mules and ride to the top of the hill, which was to me an upside down arrangement of numbering levels and a novel method of entering and viewing a mine. A little copper ore can be seen in places, and not being a geologist I thought the deposit might possibly be a gossan, but none of the geologists who have written on the subject approve of this hypothesis and the great question seems to be what part, if any, the limestones have played in the origin of ore; whether these deposits are replacements of limestone and whether they are contact ,deposits between the limestone and the other rocks. Examinations have been made by many eminent geologists and the problem has been discussed vigorously on both sides. The deposits are exceedingly interesting from a commercial standpoint and although they have been studied for a number off years the origin of the ore is still a difficult and somewhat controversial question. J. T. SINGEWALD, JR., Baltimore, Md.-I have had the privilege of visiting these deposits and have been very much interested in this paper, of Dr. Roesler's; having been on the ground, I can easily appreciate the difficulties under which he labored in attempting to work out the geology of that region, and he certainly deserves considerable credit for the way in which he has deciphered the geological relations of the Firmeza district. There are several points in his paper 1 ,would like to discuss; first, in regard to the geological interpretations. His differs from previous interpretations in the relative age of the diorite and the granite, but you will note that Prof. Lindgren suggests the probability. that those two rocks are very closely of the same age, and Prof. Kemp actually suggests, although he does not-accept the idea, that the granite is probably later than the diorite, so that there seems to be no particular reason

Jan 4, 1917

By AIME AIME

AT A meeting of the Boston Local Section of the Institute, on Oct. 3, approval was voted to the work done by its representatives on the Committee opposing the passage of a bill by the, Massachusetts Legislature to license engineers. The report is as follows: The Joint Committee on Licensing of Engineers, which included a Committee of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers and representatives of seven other societies,* submitted to the members of the respective societies, on Jan. 8, 1921, a report in which it was stated that on Jan. 4, 1921, a petition was filed in the Legislature of Massachusetts by the Boston Chapter of the American Association of Engineers accompanied by a bill to provide for the registration of professional engineers and land surveyors. This report also stated that at a meeting of this committee, held on Jan. 7, 1921, it was voted:

Jan 1, 1921

By E. S. Moore

The Kolar gold field has been for a long time the most important gold-producing area of India. It is situated in the Skate of Mysore, southern India, and not far from the City of Bangalore. The productive field is about 3 miles long and in it a gold-bearing quartz vein varying in width from 1 in. to over 10 ft. is worked. The vein carries high values to great depths and many of the mines have paid large dividends. Geological Formations In KolaR Region The rocks of the Kolar region are pre-Cambrian in age and bear a close resemblance to some of the pre-Cambrian formations of America. The oldest rocks seen are basic lavas, now mostly altered to hornblende-schists, with which is associated some banded iron-formation; these rocks are similar to the Keewatin schists and iron-formation in the Lake Superior region. The schist is cut by the gold-bearing quartz vein. In certain parts of the area there is also a conglomerate containing pebbles of granite, jasper, and schist. The matrix resembles a hornblende-schist and is intruded by small granite dikes, which in some cases have been pinched off by squeezing of the rock. This has led Dr. W. I?. Smeeth, Chief Inspector of Mines of Mysore, to whom the writer is greatly indebted for information regarding this area and for his hospitality while visiting the field, to regard this conglomerate as a breccia due to crushing of granite dikes in the schist. Dr. J. W. Evans has regarded the conglomerate as probably a squeezed glacial boulder clay. From analogy with pre-Cambrian conglomerates in America, the writer regards it as a metamorphosed rock similar to our basal Huronian conglomerate. However, the main bearing which it has upon the problem under discussion is the apparent fact that it is younger than the schist and that it indicates the presence of a syncline in the rocks cut by the quartz vein. Surrounding the area of schist and conglomerate is a large mass of granite-gneiss resembling the Laurentian gneiss of the Lake Superior region. Still later than the rocks mentioned above are basic intrusions which cut the quartz and schists; in the mines these are known as trap. One dike of this type is 50 to 60 yd. wide.

Jan 1, 1920

Society of Chemical Industry (London), American Section. Foster D. Shell, Secretary, 130 Clinton St., Brooklyn, N. Y. Publications of this Society are not of direct interest in this directory but the address of the Society is listed that the reader may have it on record for reference. Subscription to the Journal (A the Society costs £ 2 10s, or $12.50 at the normal rate of exchange. Individual copies are is 9d, postage extra.

Jan 1, 1933

By Freeman Bishop

Mercury is the latest ecological disaster. It was believed to be no pollution problem because it is heavier than water and expected to fall to the bottom of streams. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that mercury in a dozen states and several Canadian provinces was being ingested by fish. A Deadly Dose First to sound the alarm was Canada when a graduate student's research revealed that mercury contamination in Lake St. Clair had reached 1.4 pmm. which is almost three times the 0.5 ppm the FDA's allowable maximum.

Jan 1, 1970

By C. F. Park

Hog Mountain is in the north central part of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, about 13 miles northeast from Alexander City. The Hog Mountain Mining and Milling Co. controls 1658 acres of land and is the only company operating in the district. The principal mine workings are in sections 10 and 15, T.24N., R.22E. The region has been visited by geologists many times, has been briefly described in several papers,' and mentioned in many others. No detailed map of the mine or vicinity has been published. The field work for this report was started in March, 1934, as part of the Public Works reemployment program. About a month and a half was spent mapping both the surface and underground geology. The mine owners and operators have cooperated in every way possible to facilitate the work. N. 0. Johnson, the mine engineer, E. W. Ellsworth, J. E. McCoy and J. G. Englebert have acted as assistants for part of the work. The University of Alabama and the State Geologist's office have aided materially by permitting free use of their libraries and laboratory equipment. Geography Hog Mountain forms a conspicuous ridge that rises to a height of a little more than 1000 ft. above sea level, and about 400 to 500 ft. above the adjacent country. The ridge is composed of granitoid intrusive rock and silicified schist that are more resistant to erosion than the surrounding softer schist. The topography of the area around the ridge is gently rolling and is typical of the subdued forms of the deeply eroded Southern

Jan 1, 1935

By C. F. Park

Hog Mountain is in the north central part of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, about 13 miles northeast from Alexander City. The Hog Mountain Mining and Milling Co. controls 1658 acres of land and is the only company operating in the district. The principal mine workings are in sections 10 and 15, T.24N., R.22E. The region has been visited by geologists many times, has been briefly described in several papers,' and mentioned in many others. No detailed map of the mine or vicinity has been published. The field work for this report was started in March, 1934, as part of the Public Works reemployment program. About a month and a half was spent mapping both the surface and underground geology. The mine owners and operators have cooperated in every way possible to facilitate the work. N. 0. Johnson, the mine engineer, E. W. Ellsworth, J. E. McCoy and J. G. Englebert have acted as assistants for part of the work. The University of Alabama and the State Geologist's office have aided materially by permitting free use of their libraries and laboratory equipment. Geography Hog Mountain forms a conspicuous ridge that rises to a height of a little more than 1000 ft. above sea level, and about 400 to 500 ft. above the adjacent country. The ridge is composed of granitoid intrusive rock and silicified schist that are more resistant to erosion than the surrounding softer schist. The topography of the area around the ridge is gently rolling and is typical of the subdued forms of the deeply eroded Southern

Jan 1, 1935

Hog Mountain is in the north central part of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, about 13 miles northeast from Alexander City. The Hog Mountain Mining and Milling Co. controls 1658 acres of land and is the only company operating in the district. The principal mine workings are in sections 10 and 15, T.24N., R.22E. The region has been visited by geologists many times, has been briefly described in several papers,' and mentioned in many others. No detailed map of the mine or vicinity has been published. The field work for this report was started in March, 1934, as part of the Public Works reemployment program. About a month and a half was spent mapping both the surface and underground geology. The mine owners and operators have cooperated in every way possible to facilitate the work. N. 0. Johnson, the mine engineer, E. W. Ellsworth, J. E. McCoy and J. G. Englebert have acted as assistants for part of the work. The University of Alabama and the State Geologist's office have aided materially by permitting free use of their libraries and laboratory equipment. Geography Hog Mountain forms a conspicuous ridge that rises to a height of a little more than 1000 ft. above sea level, and about 400 to 500 ft. above the adjacent country. The ridge is composed of granitoid intrusive rock and silicified schist that are more resistant to erosion than the surrounding softer schist. The topography of the area around the ridge is gently rolling and is typical of the subdued forms of the deeply eroded Southern

Jan 1, 1935

By C. F. Park

Hog Mountain is in the north central part of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, about 13 miles northeast from Alexander City. The Hog Mountain Mining and Milling Co. controls 1658 acres of land and is the only company operating in the district. The principal mine workings are in sections 10 and 15, T.24N., R.22E. The region has been visited by geologists many times, has been briefly described in several papers,' and mentioned in many others. No detailed map of the mine or vicinity has been published. The field work for this report was started in March, 1934, as part of the Public Works reemployment program. About a month and a half was spent mapping both the surface and underground geology. The mine owners and operators have cooperated in every way possible to facilitate the work. N. 0. Johnson, the mine engineer, E. W. Ellsworth, J. E. McCoy and J. G. Englebert have acted as assistants for part of the work. The University of Alabama and the State Geologist's office have aided materially by permitting free use of their libraries and laboratory equipment. Geography Hog Mountain forms a conspicuous ridge that rises to a height of a little more than 1000 ft. above sea level, and about 400 to 500 ft. above the adjacent country. The ridge is composed of granitoid intrusive rock and silicified schist that are more resistant to erosion than the surrounding softer schist. The topography of the area around the ridge is gently rolling and is typical of the subdued forms of the deeply eroded Southern

Jan 1, 1935

By Richard J. Mainiero

INTRODUCTION Because of the hazards associated with flammable methane gas and coal dust, the shooting of mudcaps (adobes) or other unconfined explosive charges in underground bituminous coal mines is prohibited; all explosives must be fired in stemmed boreholes. However, there are situations where it would be advantageous from a safety standpoint to fire open shots. This would be in the areas of dislodging loose roof slabs, overhangs, rock-fall leveling, slab or boulder breaking, crib removal, and crevice shooting. The Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, has been developing an explosive charge that is non-incendive; that is, detonation of the charge will not ignite a flammable atmosphere. This explosive charge could be applied to the blasting conditions mentioned above. As of this writing, the explosive charge has not yet been certified as "permissible" for use in flammable atmospheres, but the necessary protocol is being finalized with the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), U.S. Department of Labor. The explosive charge described in this paper is merely a prototype sheathed rock-breaker charge (sheathed permissible explosive rock- breaker charge) demonstrating the feasibility of such a device. Industry may modify the design and composition of the charge in producing a commercial product so long as it is still safe, as defined by a testing schedule being developed by the Bureau of Mines and MSHA.

Jan 1, 1984

By Arthur Phillips, E. N. Skinner

DURING the course of an experimental program concerned with the hydrogen embrittlement of copper containing oxygen in concentrations within the solubility limits it became necessary to make a critical appraisal of the literature dealing with the solubility relationships of oxygen and solid copper. The latest determinations, and perhaps the only data obtained on "spectroscopically" pure copper, are those of Rhines and Mathewson1 who reported that the solid solubility increases from 0.007 per cent oxygen at 600°C. to about 0.015 per cent at 1050°C. Hanson, Marryat and Ford2 had previously placed the solubility limit at less than 0.009 per cent oxygen at 1000°C. and Allen and Street3 had suggested, on the basis of an unpublished research by T. Hewitt, not over 0.005 per cent oxygen at 500°C. In the introductory stages of the investigation indirect evidence accumulated to suggest that the solubility limits were significantly lower than those previously reported. For this reason it was deemed essential to clarify this point before proceeding with a program intended to establish a quantitative relationship between hydrogen embrittlement and oxygen concentrations positively known to be within the solid solution range. Furthermore, the increasing production and the highly selective applications of the commercial "oxygen-free" coppers inevitably direct attention to the practical necessity for exact knowledge regarding the effects of minute concentrations of the elements ordinarily found in the high-purity coppers now available. Of these elements oxygen occupies a unique position, not only by virtue of its specific effects on copper but more particularly in view of its important reactive tendencies toward the other impurities with which it is associated. Rhines and Mathewson considered several methods for measuring the solubility of oxygen and finally adopted the simple plan of saturating the specimens, obtained from redeposited cathode copper, by heating at the desired temperature in air. After the removal of surface oxide by mechanical and chemical means, the oxygen content was determined in the underlying metal. In general, this process of saturation, with a few modifications, was followed by the present writers. Although the procedure is direct and has obvious advantages, its effectiveness, unfortunately, is reduced by an excessive scaling of the copper, particularly at the higher temperatures. After saturation treatments above 900°C. the writers found that the specimens, necessarily rather thin in the original condition, consisted largely of scale and yielded too little metal for a satisfactory analytical sample. Furthermore, great difficulty was experienced in effecting complete removal of the scale. Needless to say, it is necessary to exercise extraordinary care in the preparation of the surface of the analytical sample in order to eliminate submicroscopic fragments of cuprous oxide which ordinarily are lodged in the crevasses and

Jan 1, 1941