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By E. W. Davis

If the tonnage of merchantable iron ore remaining in the Lake Superior district is divided by the average of the annual shipments for the past 20 years, it will be found that this ore supply will be exhausted in approximately 35 years. This computed exhaustion period would be an indication of the future activities of the iron-mining industry if it were not for the fact that merchantable ore is being manufactured from low-grade ore, of which there is an almost inexhaustible supply in the Lake Superior district. It is true that at present only the simplest of these low-grade ores are being concentrated to any considerable extent, but progress is being made with the treatment of the more complex ores, and now, in addition to 20 washing plants on the Mesabi Range, three plants are equipped with jigs for the treatment of ore that cannot be concentrated simply by washing. The latest addition to the ore-treating plants of the Mesabi Range is a magnetic roasting and concentration plant at Cooley, Minn., in which ore that cannot be concentrated either by washing or by jigging is roasted to the magnetic state and concentrated on magnetic separators. This plant is beginning its third season of operation, and while it is too soon to make definite predictions, there are strong indications that this new process may make commercially possible the manufacture of high-grade, merchantable iron ore from large quantities of low-grade ore now considered worthless. After the iron oxide contained in an ore has been converted to magnetite, almost any desired grade of concentrate can be produced, using magnetic-concentration equipment of the types now in general use for the concentration of the natural magnetites of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The conversion of hematite (Fe203) to magnetite (Fe3O4) is easily accomplished by heating the ore to a dull red temperature in a reducing atmosphere. The reaction is slightly endothermic, and while it requires 200 B.t.u. to heat to 900' F. one pound of hematite ore containing 45 per cent Fe, it requires only 100 B.t.u. to convert the oxide into magnetite. In the laboratory, using small quantities of ore, this conversion is very simple, but large furnaces suitable for commercial

Jan 1, 1939

By E. W. Davis

If the tonnage of merchantable iron ore remaining in the Lake Superior district is divided by the average of the annual shipments for the past 20 years, it will be found that this ore supply will be exhausted in approximately 35 years. This computed exhaustion period would be an indication of the future activities of the iron-mining industry if it were not for the fact that merchantable ore is being manufactured from low-grade ore, of which there is an almost inexhaustible supply in the Lake Superior district. It is true that at present only the simplest of these low-grade ores are being concentrated to any considerable extent, but progress is being made with the treatment of the more complex ores, and now, in addition to 20 washing plants on the Mesabi Range, three plants are equipped with jigs for the treatment of ore that cannot be concentrated simply by washing. The latest addition to the ore-treating plants of the Mesabi Range is a magnetic roasting and concentration plant at Cooley, Minn., in which ore that cannot be concentrated either by washing or by jigging is roasted to the magnetic state and concentrated on magnetic separators. This plant is beginning its third season of operation, and while it is too soon to make definite predictions, there are strong indications that this new process may make commercially possible the manufacture of high-grade, merchantable iron ore from large quantities of low-grade ore now considered worthless. After the iron oxide contained in an ore has been converted to magnetite, almost any desired grade of concentrate can be produced, using magnetic-concentration equipment of the types now in general use for the concentration of the natural magnetites of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The conversion of hematite (Fe203) to magnetite (Fe3O4) is easily accomplished by heating the ore to a dull red temperature in a reducing atmosphere. The reaction is slightly endothermic, and while it requires 200 B.t.u. to heat to 900' F. one pound of hematite ore containing 45 per cent Fe, it requires only 100 B.t.u. to convert the oxide into magnetite. In the laboratory, using small quantities of ore, this conversion is very simple, but large furnaces suitable for commercial

Jan 1, 1939

By James E. Mills

In the work of exploring certain gold-bearing gravels in the American Valley, Plumas Co., California, entrusted to my charge by Prof. A. Agassiz, of Cambridge, and Q. A. Shaw, Esq., of Boston, it became necessary to sink a shaft through loose materials containing in some layers large quantities of water, and I have been compelled to devise a new method which has proved successful and may be of service elsewhere.

Jan 1, 1885

By F. P. Dewey

Bone-ash cupels have been used from time immemorial to absorb litharge, and accompanying oxides, in assaying. Doubtless, also, from the earliest days cupels have been most unjustly blamed for much poor assaying. It has long been known that the precious metals go with the litharge into the cupel. This occasions a loss of precious metals and reduces the results of the assay. There have been many investigations of cupels and the most diverse views have been expressed, the extremes being the statements of Lodge1 that every cupel has some effect upon the loss in assaying telluride ores and of the Campredons2 that coarse and fine and hard and soft cupels all give the same loss of silver when cupelling the same weights. The truth lies between these statements and much nearer the latter. In a vast majority of cases the influence of the cupel is not dominant and is outweighed by other conditions, particularly the temperature of the cupelling bead. At the Spokane meeting of the Institute I presented a paper on the Assay and Valuation of Gold Bullion,3 which recorded the results of many hundreds of assays made in the Mint service under everyday commercial conditions, which of necessity differ from scientific conditions. In following this matter up, for the purpose of increasing the accuracy of our commercial methods of bullion assays, the question of the absorption of gold by the cupel was found to be a most important one and was taken up for investigation. In a lesser degree, the silver absorption is important and interesting, but at resent it appears to be far more complicated and, while many figures showing silver absorption may be found through this paper, much further investigation is required to put the subject upon a satisfactory basis.

Jan 1, 1918

By E. T. Dumble

In the Bosquejo Geoldgico de Mexico, published in 1897 by the Secretaria de Fomento as Nos. 4, 5 and 6 of the Boletin del Institute Geologico de Mexico, the Director, Jose C. Aguilera, after a detailed account of the geological observations made by himself and his assistants on their several trips through the various districts of the Republic, gives in Part 2 a synopsis of the geology of Mexico, describing . al1 the formations recognized, the rocks comprised in them, their geographical distribution, disturbances, principal eruptions and economic features, as explanatory of the Geological Map of Mexico. In Part 3 Prof. Ordonez describes many of the interesting eruptive rocks of Mexico." This work brings together in a very satisfactory way about all of the published results of geological investigations in Mexico; and although the determinations of the authors with reference to some of the sedimentary deposits are very different from those of other writers, they seem to be based upon good paleontological grounds in each instance. From the map and the text of this paper it appears that the condition of knowledge in regard to the geology of the State of Sonora, at the time of its publication, was about as follows: The western portion of the State, lying between the coast line of the Gulf of California and the foot-hills of the Sierra Madre mountains, is largely Quaternary, interrupted by areas of Azoic rocks and of later eruptives, with two or three limited exposures of limestones of the Cretaceous; while the eastern or

Jan 1, 1900

By W. A. Backofen, D. H. Avery, G. A. Miller

An evaluation has been made of the relative importance of yield strength (?) and stacking-fault energy (y) to the rate of fatigue-crack growth in materials of fcc structure. Pure copper and its solid-solution al-loys with aluminum and nickel were chosen for the study because they provided sufficient range in both quantities of interest that either could be varied independently of the other. Experiments involved alternating tension and compression of flat specimens which were prepared with sharpened internal notches so that most, if not all, of the crack-nucleation interval could be eliminated. Growth rate (dC/dN) was concluded to be proportional to the square of the plastic-strain amplitude (€,,) over a strain range of approximately 6x 10-4 to 6 x 10-3. The factor, k, linking dC/dN and ep in dC/dN = kEp2 increased and decreased with corresponding variations in y, but it did not respond syste?>/atically to change in ay, indicating that y is the significant variable in crack growth at constant plastic-strain amplitude. In polycrystalline material, k varied by a factor of 5 over the available range of y. In a few single-crystal experiments on Cu-A1 alloys the growth rate responded less strongly to change in y. It has been suggested that single crystals behave somewhat differently than poly crystalline material because there is more extetnsive substructure near the grain boundaries in the latter, and this facilitates crack advance by separation along subgrain boundaries. A point of some controversy in current work on fatigue relates to the effects of strength and stacking-fault energy on crack growth. In recent experiments a separation was made between the cycling intervals for crack nucleation and the subsequent growth that eventually ends a specimen's fatigue life.' The study was carried out on Cu-A1 alloys primarily, fatigued in alternating four-point bending to constant deflection. A nucleation interval of about 10' cycles (at a total strain amplitude = 0.2 pct) was found to be insensitive to aluminum content in the range 0 to 7.5 wt pct, while the growth period was increased approximately forty fold over the same compositional range. The increase was not in any sense linear, however. Rather, most of the change occurred below 4 pct A1 or a stacking-fault energy, ?, of about 15 ergs per sq cm. It was argued that the plastic-strain amplitude was approximately constant, and therefore the effect of composition must have grown out of the reduction in stacking-fault energy. Several studies have shown that, with high ?, cross slip is encouraged, subgrain structure is introduced during fatigue, and cracking is aided through propagation along subgrain boundaries.1-5 Therefore, lowering ? sufficiently to interfere with substructure formation would be expected to retard growth rate. On the other hand, it is a general rule that resistance to fatigue cracking increases as strength is raised. Accordingly, there might still have been some doubt that Y was the controlling variable, since strength would be increased as y was lowered by the aluminum additions. To help in dispelling that doubt, an experiment was made on a polycrystalline Cu-Ni alloy similar in strength to the Cu-A1 alloys but of higher ?; the crack-growth interval was found to be essentially that of pure copper.' Further support for this position on stacking-fault energy as it relates to crack growth is derived from work by Boettner and McEvily,6 in which the actual crack-growth rate was measured on samples previously notched so as to minimize the nucleation period. Unfortunately, it was necessary in isolating strength level to compare different alloy systems and grain sizes. Recognizing the complication, it was still concluded that growth may be retarded by a reduction in y, per se. A related study has also been made by Roberson and Grosskreutz.7 The zinc content of a brass was systematically changed to alter strength and stack-ing-fault energy, although not below the 15 ergs per sq cm at which pronounced change in growth interval was found in the earlier work. The results were limited to more or less conventional S-N diagrams so that nucleation and growth events could not be separated. No definite conclusions were drawn, but

Jan 1, 1967

By D. J. Carney, R. R. Burt, E. J. Whittenberger

Hardenability (multiplying) factors for carbon, mongonese, silicon, chromium, nickel, and molybdenum have been developed for hypereutectoid low-alloy steels in which bainite is the first subcritical transformation product. These factors permit the calculation of 95, 80, and 50 pct martensite hardenability from chemical composition when steels with spheroidized structures are quenched from 1475°, 1525°, and 1575°F. The strong contributions to hardenability of the less expensive elements, silicon and manganese, suggest their use to obtain additional hardenability in hypereutectoid low-alloy steels. DURING the past decade a number of investigators'"11 have carefully developed information which permits calculation of the hardenability of medium -carbon low-alloy steels from chemical composition and grain size. These data have been especially valuable in developing less costly low-alloy steel compositions with equivalent or Improved

Jan 1, 1957

By A. Blake Caldwell

Northwest frontier is here defined as Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and northern British Columbia. The mineral potential of this area is great and will unfold in the decade ahead but now the largest single producer is the Pine Point lead-zinc mine in the NWT about 1200 km north of Edmonton, Alta., close to the south shore of Great Slave Lake. The mill, initially designed for 4540 mtpd, was expanded to 7250 mtpd in 1969. This operation is described in detail in Mining and Concentrating of Lead and Zinc, Vol.1, Chapt. 17, SME/AIME in the article by W. H. R. Gibney.

Jan 1, 1971

By C. E. Hottman, R. K. Johnson

Fluid pressure within the pore space of shales can be determined by using data obtained from both acoustic and resistivity logs. The method involves establishing relationships between the common logarithm of shale transit time or shale resistivity and depth for hydrostatic-pres-sure formations. On a plot of transit time vs depth, a linear relationship is generally observed, whereas on a plot of resistivity vs depth, a nonlinear trend exists. Divergence of observed transit time or resistivity values from those obtained from established normal compaction trends rinder hydrostatic pressure conditions is a measure of the pore fluid pressure in the shale and, thus, in adjacent isolated permeable formations. This relationship has been empirically established with actual pressure measurements in adjacent permeable formations. The use of these data and this method permits the interpretation of fluid pres.rure from acoustic and resistivity measurements with an accuracy of approximately 0.04 psilft, or about 400 psi at 10,000 ft. The standard deviation for the resistivity method is 0.022 psi/ft, and for the acoustic method 0.020 psi/ft. Knowledge of the first occurrence of overpressures, and of the precise pressure-depth relationship in a geologic province, enab1es improvements in drilling techniques, casing progroms, completion methods and reservoir evalzmtions. INTRODUCTION CENKRAL STATEMENT Operators engaged in the search for and production of hydrocarbon reserves in Tertiary basins are more and more frequently confronted with complications associated with over pressured (abnormally high fluid pressure) formations. This is particularly true in the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast area. The problems associated with these formations are of direct concern to the combined activities of all phases of operations, i.e., geophysical, drilling, geological and petroleum engineering.' - Knowledge of the pressure distribution of a given area of operations would greatly reduce the magnitude of many of these complexities and in some cases would completely eliminate specific problems. his pape; presents techniques developed for estimating formation pressures from interpretations of acoustic and electric log data. Specifically: the acoustical and electrical properties of shales, reflected by conventional acoustic and electrical surveys, can be used to infer certain reservoir properties, such as formation pressure, at any level in a well. It has been possible to develop these techniques because of a firm understanding of the basic principles that govern and apply to such overpressured provinces. NORMAL PRESSUKES Normal pressures refer to formation pressures which are approximately equal to the hydrostatic head of a column of water of equal depth. If the formations were opened to the atmosphere, a column of water from the ground surface to the subsurface formation depth would balance the formation pressure. On the Gulf Coast, the shallow, predominantly sand formations contain fluids which are under hydrostatic pressure. These formations are said to be normally pressured or to have a normal pressure gradient.* Experience has shown that the normal pressure gradient on the Gulf Coast is approximately 0.465 psi/ft of depth. OVERPRESSURES Formations with pressures higher than hydrostatic are encountered at varying depths in many areas. These formations are referred to as being abnormally pressured, abnormally high pressured, or overpressured. Formation pressures up to twice the hydrostatic pressure have been observed. These formations require extreme care and much expense to drill and to exploit. COMPACTION-FLUID PRESSURE RELATIONS THEORY The generation of overpressured formations in Tertiary sections of the Gulf Coast and several other Tertiary sedimentary basins is, in general terms, considered to be primarily the result of compaction phenomena.' This portion of the paper presents a brief review of the theory which associates compaction and fluid pressure relations, and should thus provide the necessary background for an understanding of the techniques presented. See Hubbert and Rubey' for a more comprehensive treatment of this subject. The theory of the consolidation of a water-saturated clay' has been well established by workers in soil mechanics. The concept is explained by a model with perforated metal plates separated by metal springs and water and enclosed in a cylindrical tube. Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of such a model (see Ref. 5, Fig. 27, page 74). The springs simulate communication between clay particles, and the plates simulate the clay particles. Mano-

Jan 1, 1966

By G. H. Clevenger

(Continuing the discussion of the paper of James Johnston, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 85, January, 1914, pp. 107 to 133.) This paper cannot fail of being of great interest and value to all who are interested in the cyanide process, on account of the important developments which it records. Mr. Johnston is to be commended for the large amount of detail which he gives, and the company and its management for permitting the publication of data of this character, which while of great value to others could well be considered private property. It might be discussed from a number of standpoints: First, as an example of recent practice in mill and cyanide plant construction; second, the mill practice; third, the cyanide practice; and fourth, the new features in cyanide treatment involved. Perhaps a more vivid way of expressing it would be : First, the equipment or tools with which the various operations are carried on, are they the best and most efficient which could have been selected for their respective uses; and, second, is the best use in every case made of these tools? It may be well inquired is the highest possible recovery of silver made at the lowest cost per ounce recovered? For after all, the making of the greatest ultimate profit is inseparably associated with successful metallurgical practice; there must therefore be at all times a careful balance maintained between recovery and cost of obtaining it. I wish to call attention in a very general way to the equipment used and to an anticipation of questions which are bound to arise in this connection. However, the. bulk of my discussion will be confined to the presentation of certain additional data, together with a more or less general discussion showing the line of development which leads up to the present practice and .the applicability of certain features of it to similar problems elsewhere. There are a number of vital points of broad general interest involved in Nipissing low-grade practice upon which metallurgists will by no means be agreed to which I wish to call particular attention in the hope that it will lead to the presentation of data y others of practice in other districts which will' assist in reconciling this divergence of opinion.

Jan 7, 1914

HAVING produced one ton of concentrate that contains the copper that can profitably be saved or recovered from anywhere between 3 and 60 tons of mine ore, the ore-dressing engineer passes the result of his handiwork over to the metallurgist for smelting. Essentially, the concentrate is a damp mass of finely ground material consisting of copper sulphide minerals; pyrite, the sulphide of iron; and gangue, usually silica and silicates of aluminum. The purpose of smelting is to produce metallic copper and a slag containing the iron and siliceous constituents by pyrometallurgy-the kind of metallurgy that employs fire and heat to produce the chemical reactions through which it attains its object. Though blast furnaces have been used to smelt Porphyry-mine concentrates, notably at Braden, more than 90 per cent of [ ]

Jan 1, 1933

By H. P. Greenwald

Those interested in the early developments and experiments, both in the United States and abroad, that led to modern rock dusting, will find an excellent summary in a paper by George S. Rice,13 published in 1914. The period from 1914 to 1924 was one of intensive experiment on coal-dust explosions in the United States; abroad, war activities and rehabilitation stopped this work over a large part of that decade. American findings were published by the Bureau of Mines, particularly in Bulletins 167 and 268. It is convenient to consider that in the United States rock dusting to prevent coal-dust explosions in mines was initiated in 1924 with the publication of tentative specifications.17 This was followed in 1925 by an investigation of methods and costs12 and approval by the American Engineering Standards Committee of a Recommended American Prac-tice.18 Approximately 13 years have elapsed since this approval, and inasmuch as changes in rock-dusting practice in the United States have been evolutionary, it is necessary to consider this entire period as "recent" in some phases of the work. There have been no official changes in the Recommended American Practice since its approval. This paper reviews as briefly as possible knowledge acquired since the issue of the earlier papers mentioned, through experience in mines and experiments conducted by different organizations engaged in the promotion of mine safety. Size of Rock Dust The Recommended American Practice states that the dust shall be 100 per cent minus 20-mesh and 50 or more per cent minus 200-mesh. Results of large-scale tests on the relative effectiveness of rock dust of different sizes were published by the Bureau of Mines15 in 1933 and are reproduced here as Fig. 1. The limiting curve of this figure shows that

Jan 1, 1940

By H. P. Greenwald

Those interested in the early developments and experiments, both in the United States and abroad, that led to modern rock dusting, will find an excellent summary in a paper by George S. Rice,13 published in 1914. The period from 1914 to 1924 was one of intensive experiment on coal-dust explosions in the United States; abroad, war activities and rehabilitation stopped this work over a large part of that decade. American findings were published by the Bureau of Mines, particularly in Bulletins 167 and 268. It is convenient to consider that in the United States rock dusting to prevent coal-dust explosions in mines was initiated in 1924 with the publication of tentative specifications.17 This was followed in 1925 by an investigation of methods and costs12 and approval by the American Engineering Standards Committee of a Recommended American Prac-tice.18 Approximately 13 years have elapsed since this approval, and inasmuch as changes in rock-dusting practice in the United States have been evolutionary, it is necessary to consider this entire period as "recent" in some phases of the work. There have been no official changes in the Recommended American Practice since its approval. This paper reviews as briefly as possible knowledge acquired since the issue of the earlier papers mentioned, through experience in mines and experiments conducted by different organizations engaged in the promotion of mine safety. Size of Rock Dust The Recommended American Practice states that the dust shall be 100 per cent minus 20-mesh and 50 or more per cent minus 200-mesh. Results of large-scale tests on the relative effectiveness of rock dust of different sizes were published by the Bureau of Mines15 in 1933 and are reproduced here as Fig. 1. The limiting curve of this figure shows that

Jan 1, 1940

By Charles Barrett

THE experiments reported in this paper have been fruitful in disclosing the mechanism of the deformation of iron in compression. They have established the nature of "deformation bands," "etch bands," or "X-bands," that have been a recognized but little understood feature in the structure of cold-worked metals since the early days of metal-lography, and have shown the role of the bands in the development of preferred orientations by cold-working. The work has also shown the relation of the orientation of individual grains to the preferred orientation of the aggregate. Some of the methods previously used in the determination of the indices of slip planes and slip directions are shown to be untrustworthy in the presence of deformation bands. The conclusion is reached that many slip planes and slip directions must operate during each stage in the compression of a single crystal, and that theories failing to take account of this require revision. In conducting the experiments a method f compression has been used by which extreme reductions can easily be reached, even to the limit set by the metal's capacity to deform with-out fracture. The work is a portion of a research program on the plastic properties of iron and steel. It is being used as a foundation for studies of orienta-tions resulting from recrystallization and is being extended to other metals and other types of deformation.

Jan 1, 1938

By Donald C. Barton

Success in the use of the Eötvös torsion balance method of mapping geologic structure depends largely on the accuracy in the interpretation of the observed results. Skill in that interpretation depends (1) on the knowledge of the types of the variation of gravity, the gradient of gravity horizontally, and of the differential curvature produced by bodies of different sizes, shapes, dimensions, and densities; (2) on the knowledge of the possible types of structural bodies which might produce the observed anomalies; (3) on the empirical knowledge gained by experience not only in the geological interpretation of torsion balance surveys, hut of interpretations of inadequate geological data; and (4) on a knowledge of the possible and probable types of geologic structures in the area of the survey. The knowledge of the anomaly which a known body will produce and conversely the knowledge of the body or bodies which will produce a known anomaly may be gained by empirical experience and by mathematical study. The knowledge gained by empirical experience is fragmentary and inexact. The geology of most structures actually is known very superficially. The surface geology may be known accurately. If the structure is petroliferous, the subsurface geology of the oil field will be known down to 3000, 4000, 5000 ft. or in a few oil fields down to 7500 ft., but the deeper geology will be unknown and the metamorphic, igneous, or massive limestone basement below the reach of the drill may contrast sharply in density with the overlying sediments. Away from the oil field, the subsurface geology is known only from scattered drill holes, which do not go to the basement. A fair but not necessarily accurate knowledge of the geology of the nonproductive area can be obtained by correlation of the wells but the degree of its accuracy in general is proportional to the density of the occurrence of the wells. The geology below the bottom of the wells however is unknown. An anomaly mapped by the torsion balance is the sum of the effects of the contrasts in mass of its whole geologic surroundings. If the dimensions of a body of abnormal density are large enough, depth or distance makes no difference in the effects on the gradient and differential curvature; and as a matter of fact, in many places, the basement and irregulari-

Jan 1, 1929

By T. N. Andersen, K. J. Richards, C. N. Wright

The kinetics of the important reactions occurring in an electrowinning cell have been determined. This information has been used to quantify relationships between the operating variables of current density, solution composition, agitation, and temperature and the resulting current efficiency and deposit quality. Analysis of these results has shown (1) the importance of dissolved iron in determining maximum possible current efficiency and corrosion rate at the cathode suspension loop, (2) the role of agitation, current density, inert salts and temperature in*determining deposit quality and (3) the effects of non-uniformity in the hydrodynamic conditions from the bottom to top of the cell. The significance of the results of this study to the operation of a commercial plant directly treating acid leach solutions is discussed.

Jan 1, 1973

By F. A. Olson, J. S. Cho, M. E. Wadworth

An infrared study of the states of hydration of MgSO4 revealed a hitherto unreported metustable dehydration state in the temperature range just below that of the stable anhydrous salt. Infrared, thermogvavimetric, and X-ray studies indicated that the state had bisulfate and hydroxide characteristics. A formula fitting all of the experimental evidence is hydrogen-bonded Mg(OH)HSO4, or possibly the chemically equivalent 1/2 Mg(HSO4)2. Mg(OH)2 Infrared spectra of the 7, 6, 1, and OH2O states of hydration are given as well as the spectra of the newly found state which is called the bisulfate state in this paper. Thermogvavimetric studies as a function of water-vapor pressure gave an enthalpy value of 16 cal per mole, and 25 eu for the conversion of the bisulfate state to that of the anhydrous salt. The free energies of the transition varied from 1.76 to 0.18 kcal per mole as the transition temperature varied from 279° to 336°C. The bisulfate state is believed to be of importance in catalytic dehydration phenomena using MgSO4 and may be of interest because of properties in sulfating reactions differing from those of the monohydrate. Also, an analogous state may exist as a hydration state of other sulfates. ANHYDROUS magnesium sulfate is a catalyst with a high degree of specificity for the dehydration of secondary alcohols.1'2 The only product obtained at the usual operating temperature range of 360" to 400°C other than the corresponding olefin is water. Thus, the bonding of water to the anhydrous salt as well as an understanding of the hydration states of MgSO4 became of interest in attempting to understand the catalytic mechanism better. In the process of this study using infrared, X-ray, and thermogravimetric analyses a dehydration state not previously reported was found. Proof of its existence, the nature of the state, and its role, if any, in the catalytic mechanism then became of interest. This paper is concerned principally with the first two aspects of this problem. Magnesium sulfate forms many hydrates, of which the monohydrate and heptahydrate (Epsom salts)3 are most important. Other hydrates4 are known with 1-1/4,5 l-1/2, 5 2, 4, 5, 6, and 12 H2O's. The hydrates with 1-1/4, 1-1/2, 2, 4, and 5 HzO's are unstable. The anhydrous salt is very stable thermally and has a strong affinity for water. It can be heated without additional decomposition to about 800°C.' At 900°C noticeable decomposition takes

Jan 1, 1964

By A Allen, J. A. Garcia

The large increase in the wages of mine workers makes it imperative that all factors tending to limit production per miner be eliminated, if possible. The trolley and storage-battery locomotive, mining machine, hoisting engine, mining system, etc., have increased the possible output per man. But this output is still limited by the capacity of the hoisting engine and cable and by the size of the mine car. The superiority of skip hoisting in metal mining is shown by its almost universal adoption. By varying the size of skip and the rope speed, any desired tonnage can be secured and, since frequently only one kind of material is handled and breakage is unimportant, the loading of the skips can be easily and cheaply effected from bins into which the cars are dumped. The cars may then be designed to fit the conditions in the mine instead of being a compromise between hoisting and mining conditions, very likely suiting neither. In coal mines, the usual practice has been to hoist the car to the surface, either on platform or self-dumping cages. Of late years the number of skip-hoisting plants in coal mines has been rapidly increasing, but there is more or less inertia to overcome in establishing so radical a change in practice; also the earlier skip operations were not uniformly successful. As a result, it became evident that metal-mining practice would require radical modification before skip hoisting could be successfully used in coal mining. Objections to Skip Hoisting Breakage Except where coal is used for coking, or for other purposes whcre breakage is unimportant, breakage of the coal is vitally important all the way from the face to the railroad car. The average selling price is seriously reduced when the percentage of screenings is increased. Following metal-mining practice exactly, the coal would be dumped into a deep pocket, cut off into a skip load by a measuring hopper or other means, dumped into a deep, narrow skip, and dropped into a bin at the top, all of which would contribute to excessive breakage.

Jan 1, 1922

The ten-year "supply-demand relationship" tables in this chapter for various mineral and metal commodities have been adapted from Minerals in the U.S. Economy, compiled by the Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, published in 1975. Acknowledgment is made to the Bureau of Mines for compilation of the tables. [ ]

Jan 1, 1976

By Sam F. Carter

FOR some time melters and metallurgists have recognized the fact that steels may be made to identical compositions as ordinarily analyzed, but with considerable variations in physical properties. Good melting practice signifies a combination of furnace operations that will produce steel with consistently good physical properties after proper consideration of cost, production efficiency, and chemical control. In acid practice, these operations may be classified fundamentally as: (I) the oxidizing boil, (2) recarburization and deoxidation, (3) slag adjustment, and (4) final deoxidation. These operations affect the properties of the steel through variations in the minute quantities of several microscopic, submicroscopic, and dissolved constituents, which are out of reach of ordinary analyses but are very influential upon the crystallographic slippage and the molecular cohesion of the structure. One of these constituents is the FeO left in solution in the steel. Herty has shown that steels high in dissolved FeO have decreased ductility and impact and increased hardness and electrical resistance. There is also much evidence that FeO in solution affects carbon solubility and diffusion, and consequently abnormality and carburizing behavior.

Jan 1, 1947