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DESPITE strikes, domestic production of copper and zinc in 1951 rose about 3 pct and 10 pct, respectively. Lead output fell only about 7 pct. Primary refined, including processed scrap and imported concentrates, was somewhat higher for zinc, and slightly lower for copper and lead. Prospects are for moderately larger mine and refined production in 1952 according to Standard & Poor's analysis of nonferrous metals. The survey goes on to report domestic copper prices averaged 14 pct higher in 1951, lead prices 30 pct higher, and zinc prices 32 pct higher. The 2¢ rise in zinc and lead ceilings in October will lift the average price in 1952 over 8 pet, assuming no further price change. Currently, OPS appears opposed to raising the 24 ½ ¢ copper ceiling to the 24 ½ ¢ maximum on imported metal. The steep premiums in world markets are likely to be reduced in 1952. Sales in 1951 were at new peaks. A further moderate rise is indicated for 1952. Earnings of the industry were at a new high in 1951. The increase for companies covered in the survey was perhaps 25 pet, despite a tax rate of about 53 pet, against about 40 pct. in 1950. Relatively maintained to moderately higher earnings are currently indicated for 1952. About two thirds of the companies covered in the survey raised dividends, including extras, in 1951. In general, maintained payments appear probable in 1952.

Jan 1, 1952

By J. F. K. Brown, E. E. Roecker

For three years The Hudson Coal Co. has used egg anthracite instead of coke in its foundry cupola. It has long passed the stage of being told it cannot be done—the metal would be cold, of poor quality, or the speed of operation would be low. From observation, from use and from test. we know that our metal is about average; the cast iron invokes no adverse comment from the machine shop and the speed suits our foundry requirements. We have there-iore resolved into practice anthracite combustion processes in an industrial furnace formerly using coke, under conditions suitable to our needs. When it comes to translating what we know into use in another cupola, however, where operating conditions may be different, or to explaining why, with seemingly the same conditions in our own cupola, we have attained sometimes a temperature of 2800° in the metal and at another time 2600°, or a speed of 5 tons per hour against 2 35 tons per hour, we cannot do it. We cannot do this because there seems to be an unbridged gap between laboratory ideas on combustion and practical ideas on com-bustiqn, which we have been unable to cross in terms understandable to us as practical consumers. This gap or bridge centers around the problem of how combustion actually takes place; and we believe it is controlled by two factors: (I) the character of the surface of the fuel and (2) the space provided and needed within which the oxygen of the air is allowed to or can act on that surface. It has long been contended on behalf of coke that porosity is an important factor in combustion, although, admittedly, there are two schools of opposing thought on this question, as revealed in technical literature. It has been understood generally that a light, porous coke is the best metallurgical fuel because there are more square inches of carbon exposed to the blast of air, therefore more useful carbon-dioxide reactions can take place in the given space between the entrance of the air and the point where useful work is done. It is now our general idea that the heavier and the harder the coal, the better the metallurgical fuel, provided the surface of that fuel is suitable for fast reaction with the oxygen. Time and Space A cupola is loaded in layers of fuel and iron. The horizontal line where the first charge of iron rests on the coal is the top of the bed coal. With us that is 22 in., usually, above the tuyeres where the air enters. This means 600 lb. of coal. Every subsequent coal layer is 100 to 125 lb. of coal, and that 100 to 125 lb. of coal melts 1000 lb. of iron at around 2700° in the ladle. This quantity of coal represents a 3-in. layer spread across the cupola. The question arises: If this 3 in. of coal will melt 1000 lb. of metal, why was it necessary to use 600 lb., or 22 in., of coal beneath and between the first charge of iron and the air entrance?

Jan 1, 1944

By E. E. Roecker, J. F. K. Brown

For three years The Hudson Coal Co. has used egg anthracite instead of coke in its foundry cupola. It has long passed the stage of being told it cannot be done—the metal would be cold, of poor quality, or the speed of operation would be low. From observation, from use and from test. we know that our metal is about average; the cast iron invokes no adverse comment from the machine shop and the speed suits our foundry requirements. We have there-iore resolved into practice anthracite combustion processes in an industrial furnace formerly using coke, under conditions suitable to our needs. When it comes to translating what we know into use in another cupola, however, where operating conditions may be different, or to explaining why, with seemingly the same conditions in our own cupola, we have attained sometimes a temperature of 2800° in the metal and at another time 2600°, or a speed of 5 tons per hour against 2 35 tons per hour, we cannot do it. We cannot do this because there seems to be an unbridged gap between laboratory ideas on combustion and practical ideas on com-bustiqn, which we have been unable to cross in terms understandable to us as practical consumers. This gap or bridge centers around the problem of how combustion actually takes place; and we believe it is controlled by two factors: (I) the character of the surface of the fuel and (2) the space provided and needed within which the oxygen of the air is allowed to or can act on that surface. It has long been contended on behalf of coke that porosity is an important factor in combustion, although, admittedly, there are two schools of opposing thought on this question, as revealed in technical literature. It has been understood generally that a light, porous coke is the best metallurgical fuel because there are more square inches of carbon exposed to the blast of air, therefore more useful carbon-dioxide reactions can take place in the given space between the entrance of the air and the point where useful work is done. It is now our general idea that the heavier and the harder the coal, the better the metallurgical fuel, provided the surface of that fuel is suitable for fast reaction with the oxygen. Time and Space A cupola is loaded in layers of fuel and iron. The horizontal line where the first charge of iron rests on the coal is the top of the bed coal. With us that is 22 in., usually, above the tuyeres where the air enters. This means 600 lb. of coal. Every subsequent coal layer is 100 to 125 lb. of coal, and that 100 to 125 lb. of coal melts 1000 lb. of iron at around 2700° in the ladle. This quantity of coal represents a 3-in. layer spread across the cupola. The question arises: If this 3 in. of coal will melt 1000 lb. of metal, why was it necessary to use 600 lb., or 22 in., of coal beneath and between the first charge of iron and the air entrance?

Jan 1, 1944

By J. C. Branner

(New York Meeting, February, 1012.) DURING the past two or three years I have seen statements regarding the first discovery of fullers' earth in this country that seem to require correction or modification. One appears again in the Mineral Resources of the United States for 1909, part II., p. 738, where it is said that ? fullers' earth was first discovered in the United States at Quincy, Fla., in 1893." In this connection the following bit of unpublished history concerning fullers' earth in the State of Arkansas is worthy of attention. In April, 1891, when I was State Geologist of Arkansas, a Swede named John Olsen, formerly a copper-miner in Michigan, but then living south of Little Rock, brought me a sample of what he thought was fullers' earth. He reported that it was from near the town of Alexander, the locality being 1 S. 13 W., section 8, SW. quarter of the SE. quarter. My chemist, Dr. R. N. Brackett, analyzed the material, and reported: Per Cent. Silica, . . SiO2., . 63.19 Alumina, . AL2O3, . 18.76 Iron, . Fe203 7.05 Lime, . Ca0 0.78 Magnesia, . . MgO 1.68 Potash, . K2O 0.21 Soda, . . Na2O 1.50 Loss on ignition, . 7.57 100.74 Water at 110° to 115° C. = 7.84. Another sample from about the same locality, also brought by John Olsen, on analysis by Dr. Brackett gave

Jul 1, 1912

By Holt, Grover J.

PRIOR to :1937 any discussion of mining and transportation in the iron mines of Minnesota would have been limited largely to conventional methods which have been used for years in the iron ore industry. Today, however, an inspection trip to the crest of almost any open pit on the ranges will re- veal great progress underground mining and the transportation of underground ore have also developed rapidly and if and when underground mining of iron ore again becomes generally economically feasible; these mining methods will probably witness a transformation equal to that which has taken place in the open pits.

Jan 1, 1941

By Herbert W. Graham

IRON ORE is widely distributed throughout the world. Ores sufficiently high in iron content to be practical for the operations of iron and steel making occur in so many places that it is only by the accident of political subdivisions that any given nation does not have adequate and suitable iron ore. Data prepared by various authorities show that in the Lake Superior region alone there are reserves of 1,200,000,000 tons of iron ore of an iron content and at the level of production cost to which the industry has been accus tomed. At an annual consumption of 80,000,000 tons these reserves will last fifteen years. Taken alone these figures would be alarming, but over a considerable period of years the total reserve tonnage has been more or less steadily increased by improvement and extension of mining and beneficiation methods. The rate of depletion of reserves has been only about one third of the rate of consumption. On this basis the cheap high-grade ores of Lake Superior would last 45 years.

Jan 1, 1947

By Lucien Eaton

INCREASED mining activity during the past year has brought to light changes in mining practice and advances in technique, born and incubated in the period of depression from which the mining industry is now emerging. Although the tendency toward large output from individual mines has continued, a salutary trend is evident toward greater efficiency at small mines, in which the gold mines of Canada have led the way. Improvement in excavating machinery and washing plants for small placers has continued, and knowledge of the possibilities and limitations of this kind of equipment has increased. Greater portability through sectionalization has been the keynote. Power, shovels and draglines mounted on caterpillar treads move from one deposit to another under their own power, and floating washing plants mounted on pontoons can be taken down, moved, and set up again by a small crew of men in only a few days.

Jan 1, 1937

By J. F. Poland

B. C. Burgess-—Prior to hearing this paper presented at the San Francisco meeting, I travelled by car from Yuma, Ariz., across south-central California and up through the San Joaquin Valley. After hearing the paper I returned by the coast route to San Diego then along the Mexican border to Yuma. The striking feature of these trips, related to this paper, was the dry river and creek beds at a time of year not the dry season. Contrasted with this was the wasteful use of water in irrigation canals and laterals. Poland says "at least 90 pct of the ground water pumped is used for irrigation." That being the case, it would appear that first consideration should be given to conservation of this use. Probably a small part of this is actually reaching the plants. Some measure of this loss between pump and crops would be revealing. Methods that might be employed to reduce this loss are pipe lines and spraying of some crops such as the banana planters are using in Central America. Another idea which might be investigated is to line canals and ditches with some water-repelling mineral like pyro-phyllite. Perhaps a comparatively thin sprayed-on

Jan 1, 1951

By J. F. Poland

B. C. Burgess-—Prior to hearing this paper presented at the San Francisco meeting, I travelled by car from Yuma, Ariz., across south-central California and up through the San Joaquin Valley. After hearing the paper I returned by the coast route to San Diego then along the Mexican border to Yuma. The striking feature of these trips, related to this paper, was the dry river and creek beds at a time of year not the dry season. Contrasted with this was the wasteful use of water in irrigation canals and laterals. Poland says "at least 90 pct of the ground water pumped is used for irrigation." That being the case, it would appear that first consideration should be given to conservation of this use. Probably a small part of this is actually reaching the plants. Some measure of this loss between pump and crops would be revealing. Methods that might be employed to reduce this loss are pipe lines and spraying of some crops such as the banana planters are using in Central America. Another idea which might be investigated is to line canals and ditches with some water-repelling mineral like pyro-phyllite. Perhaps a comparatively thin sprayed-on

Jan 1, 1951

By T. Katayanagi, J. Shimoiizaka, K. Nakatsuka

Feldspar has been separated from silica by cationic collector using hydrofluoric acid as an activator of feldspar (1,2). Recently, one of the authors developed a new flotation process separating feldspar from quartz without using hydrofluoric acid. Presently, some silica sand mills are operating to introduce this process in Japan (3). In this flotation, feldspar is floated from silica using normal alkyltri-methylene diamine acetate together with sodium petroleum sulfonate as collectors in a hydrochloric or sulfuric acid circuit of about pH 2. From fundamental studies, it was found that, though the aliphatic diamine by itself did not adsorb on feldspar sufficiently to give a satisfying flotation in acidic circuit., the adsorption of collector was promoted by the simultaneous use of petroleum sulfonate and resulted in sufficient flotation of feldspar. On the other hand, quartz did not float in this flotation process. The application of this flotation was attempted for some types of natural samples and satisfying results were obtained. Further, an example of practical plant was introduced and the advantages in the process are emphasized.

Jan 1, 1976

By G. Kinder, R. Gilges, W. Stoker, R. Davey

The Bingham Canyon Mine, located 48 km (30 mi) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, is operated by Kennecott Copper Corporation's Utah Copper Division. This operation is the world's largest open-pit copper mine and produces 96 000 tons (106,000 st) ore and 327 000 tons (360,000 st) waste each day. This material is loaded by large electric shovels and transported by both truck and rail haulage. To meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act of 1970 (as amended), new facilities for the control of smelter emissions were required and are now nearing the final stages of construction. The facility will be capable of treating all the output from the mine, some 2,530 tons (2,789 st) per day of combined concentrate and precipitate. Costing $280 million and necessitating the replacement of reverberatory furnaces with continuous smelting vessels, the plant, with its massive and complex gas handling and acid-making facility, is required to remain on-stream with the minimum of pollution control equipment outages to conform with Federal Regulation 52.2325.

Jan 8, 1978

By AIME AIME

THE Wednesday morning session was devoted entirely to the consideration of the tentative code for coal mine ventilation. A. W. Hesse is chairman of this subcommittee. E. A. Holbrook presided at the session and assisted by A. W. Hesse and George S. Rice, gave the historical background of the movement for a ventilation code. They stressed the point that this was to be an engineer's code, and that it was hoped that it might serve as a valuable guide to operating companies in securing greater efficiency as well as safety in ventilation. The discussion was continued into the afternoon session, and by adjournment the entire' code had been covered.' Many sections were referred back to the Committee for further study and several new sections were suggested. The various opinions and new ideas brought out during the discussion proved very valuable and. contributed much to the progress being made in the preparation of this code.

Jan 1, 1929

E. Hill, South Norwalk, Conn. (communication to the Secretary*) :—The phenomenon described by Dr. Ledoux, involving an apparently abnormal high temperature in the air-cylinders of compressors, has not been, so far as I know, discussed in technical literature. The common formula for the adiabatic compression of dry air does not account for heat suficient to flash ordinarily decent cylinder-oils, nor do the text-books include in their theoretical statements any quantitative consideration of the effect of leaks in the ideal machines which they contemplate. This lack I have endeavored to supply by preparing, in the form of a circular, for the use of the customers and correspondents of the Norwalk Iron-Works, a brief mathematical

Jan 1, 1904

D. J. DEMOREST,* Washington, D. C. (written discussion ?).-This paper is a real contribution to technical science; it will make it' easier to think accurately about the inner workings of a blast furnace. I was rather surprised to read that the authors regarded as a new discovery the idea that a molten mixture of CaO, A1203, and Si02 is a molten solution of the compounds of these oxides rather than of the oxides in each other. Surely no. chemist with an active respect for the known facts of chemical affinity could believe that these oxides could be melted together without forming compounds, and that these compounds would then dissolve in one another. This work does, however, help to establish what it was supposed must be true. I think it is worth while, in the light of the work of the Geophysics Laboratory, this work of the Bureau of Mines, and that of previous investigators, to visualize what happens as a charge passes down through a blast furnace, thinking especially of the slag-forming materials. These are chiefly kaolin (Al203.2SiO2.2H2O), quartz, and limestone. These substances do not undergo much change until the limestone decomposes at about the middle of the furnace, whereupon the chemical affinities of CaO and SiO2 must begin to he active; especially if there is any amorphous Si02 present. This forms CaSiO3, and the SiO2, CaSi02 and Al2-032SiO2 then come together to form the binary and ternary eutectics so well located by the work of the Geophysics Laboratory. No matter how much lime has been charged into the furnace, the formation of this eutectic will start it about the same height in the furnace and the gangue will start to get pasty at the same height. If the charge is such that the

Jan 4, 1918

By E. N. Harshman

The Wind River Formation of Eocene age is the host rock for large high-grade uranium deposits in the Shirley Basin. The major deposits are in a northwest-trending belt of sandstones that were deposited in stream channels and that were lithologically favorable for uranium accumulation. Paleotopography influenced the character and position of the belt. The major deposits within the belt are at, or near, the margins of large tongues of altered sandstone formed in the most transmissive parts of thick sandstone beds. At least two tongues of altered sandstone are present in the belt, one of which is 5 miles long, 3 miles wide, and 70 feet thick; the other tongue is somewhat smaller. Ore bodies consist of a few hundred tons to several hundred thousand tons of material containing from 0.10 to about 2.00 per cent U3O8. The ore mineral is uraninite associated with pyrite, marcasite, hematite, and calcite. Deposition is believed to have taken place when neutral to slightly alkaline, oxidizing, uranium-bearing ground water, on entering the basin, encountered a reducing environment. The reductant may have been H2S of biogenic origin. Geology played an important role in discovery, exploration, and development of ore in the Shirley Basin.

Jan 1, 1968

By G. R. Wilms

A study has been made of the structural changes in polycrystalline high purity aluminum during the tertiary stage of creep under conditions of constant tensile load. It appears that there is no basic modification in the particular mechanism of deformation that characterized the preceding secondary stage of creep, but that the changes in crystalline structure produced during the tertiary stage are only a consequence and not a cause of the accelerated strain. Intercrystalline fissures were observed on entry into the tertiary stage, and these might supplement the accelerated rate of strain owing to local stress concentrations. There is evidence that the formation of these fissures may be associated with the presence of surface imperfections, and it is suggested that a more generalized treatment of the results may explain certain creep characteristics of commercial alloys. IN previous work'-4 a study was made of the changes produced when specimens of annealed aluminum were deformed at various temperatures and rates of strain, especially under conditions leading to creep under constant tensile load. It was shown that, as the temperature was increased or as the rate of strain was decreased, elements of the substructure produced within the grains became coarser, and with the strain rate constant at a given temperature, their size tended to an equilibrium value. The preliminary process of the breaking down of the grains into a substructure was identified with primary creep.' The subsequent equilibrium, condition was associated with secondary creep. The question then arose whether the tertiary stage corresponded to any further significant change in the substructure. The question is also of interest in view of the opinion, expressed for instance by Andrade,5 that the tertiary stage is merely an accelerated rate of strain due to the reduced area of section of a specimen under continuous tensile load, and the other opinion, as suggested by the observation by Sully, Cale, and Willoughby6 of a tertiary stage in com-pressive loading, that this third stage is a real effect in its own right. The object of this paper is to record some observations on the tertiary stage of high purity aluminum. Experimental Procedure The material was aluminum of 99.98 pct purity as previously used. The specimens had a rectangular section of l/8 x l/2 in., and extensions were measured over a 1 in. gage length. After machining to shape, the specimens were annealed to give a standard grain size of 0.2 mm and then electropolished. The general procedure involved metallographic and X-ray diffraction examination at progressive stages of elongation (marked by arrows on the curves shown in Figs. 1 and 2), the specimen being extended to fracture under constant load at a given temperature. The X-ray tests were made by the back-reflection method from a stationary specimen, using CoK radiation. The longer edge of the micrographs in the paper corresponds to the direction of applied stress. Results The previous work showed that, in the secondary stage of creep in aluminum, three basic types of structure could be developed according to the temperature and rate of strain. These were: 1—slip, which predominated at the lower temperatures and higher rates of strain and produced the finest and least perfect substructure; 2—cell structure, which superseded slip as the temperature was raised and the rate of strain decreased and which was characterized by a coarser and more perfect structure and an absence of slip lines; and 3—a stage termed "boundary microflow," which predominated at still higher temperatures and lower rates of strain when the cell size had increased and become comparable

Jan 1, 1955

By ALEXANDER S. CORSUN

THE main orebody in the Hecla mine, Burke, Ida- ho, occurs along a nearly vertical shear zone in the Burke quartzite, with a substantial gouge and lamprophyre dike occurring in an irregular manner throughout the lode. The veins range from 3 to 40 ft. wide and dip from 70 deg. to 90 deg. There is 110 definite line of demarcation between the lode and the wall rock. Stringers of ore are often found in the wall rock for irregular distances. Horizontal but irregular quartz stringers are also found running into the walls and positions of the wall have a tendency to break to the quartz stringers and the accompanying gouge, which causes indefinite, uneven and extremely heavy side and top pressures.

Jan 1, 1930

By Charles H. Fulton

THE Engineering Education group began its sessions Tuesday morning, Feb. 16, as a Committee and wound up the day as the Institute's fifth " Division." C.II. Fulton presided. The first paper for discussion was entitled "Teaching Management in Engineering Schools,"' by Eugene McAuliffe, president of the Union Pacific Coal Co., space for which may be found later in these pages. In it, Mr. McAuliffe argued that an engineering student should be taught the knowledge of men, much as a medical school teaches surgery. He then went on to indicate, out of the wealth of his administrative experience, the problems an executive needs to be equipped to handle, and said that every student engineer should look on himself as a potential manager.

Jan 1, 1932

Book Review MAN-TO-MAN: THE STORY OF INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. By John Leitch, Phila¬delphia, Pa. The B. C. Forbes Publishing Co., New York, 1919, 2.19 pp., 7 1/2 X 5 in. $2.00. "Man to Man" is a short, well-written, well-printed, easy to read and very interesting hook. It is an account of a method introduced into more than twenty industrial plants to give the workers a share in managing their own troubles. It is not a panacea for labor troubles and strikes, but neither have existed where the new method has been tried. The scheme is, in a word, to organize the working force like the government, having a cabinet composed of the executives, a senate composed of foremen, and a house composed of men elected by fellow workers from all departments. This governing machinery takes up all complaints of workers, investigates, reports, and settles. The increased profits due to economy and increased production from this cooperation are divided 50-50 between the company and the men. Experience has shown that, since inattention, tardiness, irregularity, and inefficiency tend to reduce their profits, all men very quickly, after once convinced of the sincerity of the management in their scheme of cooperation, eliminate them because it is for their personal profit. Astonishing results have been attained, including higher wages, greater output, lower unit costs, great reduction in labor turnover, elimination of waste, an increased loyalty and a waiting list of employees even in periods of labor shortage. Profit sharing as such and stock ownership as a benefit to industrial relations are discussed briefly and illuminatingly, although they are not believed by the author to he the best way to bring about the human relation between those who work,for and those who work with money. The author is not against unions but does not believe the union is the best medium for improving industrial relationship. The look is nowhere dogmatic but is always forceful and convincing and, being well written, is very entertaining. It is doubtful if "Industrial Democracy" is the right expression for the solution of the problem but certainly anything that will place on the shoulders of labor some of the responsibility of industry and will increase production is tine much-to-be-desired desideratum. It is a. contribution to the solution of our biggest problem and should be read by everyone who employs men and who has been worried by the labor turnover. P. E. B.

Jan 7, 1919

By B. Trentini

In the spectacular development of pure oxygen steel-making, the process using the vertical lance converter LD, is at the present time the most widely employed. Proper control of slag composition during the steel-making process appears to be essential in achieving satisfactory blowing from both the metallic yield and metallurgical points of view. The paper illustrates the primary importance of the presence of a large quantity of metal droplets in the slag during the process. In the case of both phosphorus and hematite pig iron, it can be deduced from the phase diagrams and confirmed by experimentation that nonhomogeneous slags are one of the causes of slag overflowing during the blow. The problem is however a complex one and further physicochemical studies appear necessary. Finally, the new continuous steelmakingprocess developed by IRSID is described. PEOPLE who knew Henri Marion Howe have said that he took great pleasure in speculating on the future of metallurgical processes. It is therefore not inappropriate to devote, in his memory, some description and discussion to processes unknown to the world of his time, in particular oxygen steelmaking and continuous steelmaking. The first industrial application to steelmaking of tonnage oxygen produced by air liquefaction was made in Germany just before the war and consisted in enriching the air blown through the bottom of a basic Begsemer converter in order to melt a higher proportion of scrap and to produce steels with lower nitrogen content than is achieved with conventional practice. While this process was being developed after the war, mostly in Western Europe, steelmakers were becoming increasingly familiar with the technique of blowing pure oxygen from the top, first by means of consumable steel pipes, with or without refractory shielding, and later by water-cooled lances, designed for the purpose and affording longer life. The field was then open for the wide use of pure oxygen in steelmaking, either in existing processes such as open-hearth or electric furnace, or in new processes. These new processes can be broadly classified according to the category of furnace employed. In the case of the vertical converter taken as the first category, bottom-blowing of pure oxygen causes extremely rapid wear of the refractory tuyeres, and although various expedients have been tried to overcome this drawback (such as mixing oxygen with CO2 or H2O or using high pressure oxygen), they have had to be abandoned. The solution for vertical converters has been found in top-blowing with a vertical water-cooled lance; this is known as the LD process or basic oxygen converter process.

Jan 1, 1969