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By G. G. Campbell

The Bureau of Mines in cooperation with Quaker State Refining Corp. conducted two underground-combustion oil-recovery experiments in the Venango Second sandstone in the Reno pool, Foster-Rena-Oil City field, Sugar Creek Township) Venango County, Pa.) to determine the applicability of the process for reservoirs producing Pennsylvania-grade paraffin-base crude oil. Tests were terminated when analyses of produced gas showed that a self-sustaining combustion front did not exist. It was thought that insufficient fuel had been deposited in the formation. Laboratory retort tests made after the second field test was concluded showed that crude oil from the Reno area would deposit enough fuel to support combustion if air flux, temperature, and time were maintained within defined limits.

Jan 1, 1967

By Ronald T. Mayerle

In 1989, the U.S. Bureau of Mines conducted a mineral investigation of the Mallard study area near Elk City, Idaho. The study area comprises most of the original Mallard RARE II area (1-847) plus some additional lands. The investigation is part of an ongoing, multi-year study of north-central Idaho that is being conducted in cooperation with the Idaho Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The only identified resources are rock suitable for road metal. Five lode prospects and a pyrite-bearing rock quarry, which is operated by the Forest Service for aggregate, were examined for metals. One of the prospects warrants additional exploration for silver in quartz veins, but the chance of finding an economically minable deposit is limited. Several rock and stream sediment samples were anomalous in various metals. Two of the more promising localities for gold and/or other metals are adjacent to a unit of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness that the USGS classified as having a moderate potential for gold deposits related to fossil hot springs.

Jan 1, 1991

By James Paone

This report shows the feasibility of predicting drillability, analytically, by using regression analysis techniques. The approach is new in diamond-drilling research. Further, the study shows that this technique may be of value to drill manufacturers and others in mathematically delineating performance characteristics of new drills in specific rock types. Another application might be the prediction of penetration speeds in extraterrestrial material based on the physical properties of the materials as samples become available. Prediction equations for penetration rates are presented for 9 rocks drilled in the laboratory and for 20 rocks drilled under field conditions. The prediction equations are based on drill operating parameters and on characteristics of the rock penetrated. No single physical property appeared consistently in the best predictor equations, and all the physical properties were found to be highly correlated with each other.

Jan 1, 1966

By D. A. Larson

This is the second in a series of Bureau of Mines reports which de-scribe experiments designed to devise an efficient, economic mechanical fragmentation technique for hard rock. The previous study described the development of the ripper cutting technique to successfully cut hard rock with 3-to 6-in-wide drag cutters. This study was conducted to test the ripper cutting technique at full scale using 9-in-wide drag cutters. The experiments were conducted with a special test device that cut shallow, 6-by 6-ft openings in 9,200-lbf/in2 compressive-strength concrete blocks. The tests showed that ripper cutting can excavate large-scale openings of the type required by the mining industry at a production rate that outperforms the conventional drill-blast technique. Moreover, the system can produce openings of various sizes and shapes, is simple to oper-ate and maintain, and produces very little dust or noise during operation. The system appears to meet all of the criteria for a successful hard-rock mining machine.

Jan 1, 1987

By R. W. Van Dolah

An investigation was made of the distances over which sympathetic detonation of ammonium nitrate (AN) and ammonium nitrate-fuel oil (AN-FO) might be expected. Large-scale gap tests used two types of AN-FO donor charges in three sizes with AN, both at ambient and elevated temperatures, and AN-FO acceptor charges. Donor sizes were varied to test the validity of a scaling law commonly used in quantity distance tables. The up-and-down experimental design was chosen to determine the 50-percent initiation point efficiently. The acceptor charges were instrumented to indicate initiation and to determine detonation velocity. Other electronic techniques for measuring the rate of growth, stability of detonation, and detonation pressures were employed. Air shock and fragment velocities between charges were measured by electronic and photographic methods, and determination of side-on air-blast pressures and impulse duration were made for about half the shots. Separation distances between donor and acceptor were found to be larger than anticipated both for the AN and the AN-FO. With AN-FO acceptors and a 16-gage steel faced donor, one initiation occurred at a separation of 53 feet or nearly 16-charge diameters; with AN, initiation occurred at 4 to 5-1/2- charge diameters.

Jan 1, 1966

By R. G. Travis

1. Reserve estimates have been made for eight coal beds in Monongalia County, W. Va., but only the Pittsburgh, Sewickley, and Upper Freeport beds are important at this time. The Pittsburgh, Sewickley, Waynesburg, and Upper Freeport beds contain the largest recoverable reserves. 2. Known measured and indicated reserves in all beds, based on a minimum thickness of 14 inches and 1,800 short tons per acre-foot of coal in place, are estimated at 3,526 million tons as of January 1, 1954. Of this total, 3,294 mil-lion tons is in beds 28 inches and more thick. Areas in each bed except the Pittsburgh were omitted from the estimate because available data relative to the bed characteristics are too meager for making an estimate that conforms with the definitions of measured and indicated coal adopted for this study. Should future drilling or development prove reserves in these areas, such reserves should be added to the total estimated reserves.

Jan 1, 1956

By O. C. Blade

This report is one of a series made by the Bureau of Mines under a cooperative agreement with the American Petroleum Institute on the characteristics of commercial aviation gasolines. The series of Surveys is a continuation of like work conducted under aimil.ar cooperative agreements with the Coordinating Research Council, Inc. by the National. Bureau of Standards from 1940 through 1946 and by the Bureau of Mines from 1947 through 1949. A completed list of the series of surveys is given at the end of this paper.

Jan 1, 1951

By T. E. Gray

This report describes the preparation characteristics of the signifi¬cant coalbeds in Preston County, W. Va. It is one in a series of reports planned to determine coals suitable for the production of metallurgical coke, either as mined or after beneficiation. Over 2 million tons of coal was produced in Preston County, W. Va. in 190, none of which was cleaned mechanically. Estimates as of January 1, 1959, indicate that more than 3 billion tons of coal remained in the county in beds 12 inches or more thick. The Bakerstown, Mahoning, Upper Freeport, and Upper Kittanning beds were selected by the Bureau of Mines for study based on current production and estimated minable reserves. Sample locations were selected after study of the literature, conferences with mining engineers and mining company offi¬cials in the field, and examination of available sites. Four samples were collected from the Bakerstown and Upper Freeport beds and one each from the Mahoning and Upper Kittanning beds.

Jan 1, 1961

By Abdo F. Bayazeed

A survey of the underground injection of steel processing waste pickle liquor (WPL) was made by Bureau of Mines engineers. Hydrochloric and sulfuric acids WPL are being injected into deep wells completed in the Cambrian age Mt. Simon Sandstone Formation in Illinois and Indiana. The Mt. Simon Formation ranges up to 1,800 feet in thickness. The average depth of WPL injection wells is 4,000 feet, and injection is mostly by gravity flow at rates as high as 4,000 barrels per day. The details of the design and operating history of a WPL well located near Gary, Ind., are discussed. Laboratory tests showed that the Mt. Simon Sandstone is sensitive to fresh water. The adsorption of iron and neutralization of acids by sandstone cores from deep wells and an outcrop were determined.

Jan 1, 1973

By Donald E. Redmon

This Bureau of Mines report examines the injury experience in the quarrying industry for the years 1964-65. Twenty-eight tables for each year are presented in which disabling work injuries are summarized by department, source of injury, extent of disability, part of body injured, and nature of injury. Correlative information on employment, worktime, and operating activity is also presented.

Jan 1, 1973

By E. G. King

Strontium sulfide and barium sulfide occur as intermediates in commercial treatments of the impure natural sulfates to produce pure strontium and barium chemicals. Thermodynamic considerations involving these sulfides have been hampered by lack of basic data, such as the entropies at 298.15°K. This paper reports the results of heat capacity measurements of strontium sulfide and barium sulfide in the temperature range 50°-298°K. The entropies at 298.15°K. were derived from the heat capacity values. Free energies of formation at 298.15°k. were computed from the entropies and literature values of the heats of formation. Strontium sulfide and barium sulfide are thermo-dynamically less stable than calcium sulfide, but more stable than magnesium sulfide.

Jan 1, 1960

By W. R. McDonald

Part of the U.S. Bureau of Mines mission is to supply the U.S. mineral industries with information that is useful in planning to meet the Nation's critical and strategic mineral needs if a national emergency occurs. The Bureau conducted laboratory research including operating a nominal 100 lblh pilot plant to demonstrate the recovery and concentration of chromite by gravity and flotation operations from three northern California mineral deposits. Gravity beneficiation test results show that concentrates contained as much as 52 pet chromic oxide (CrZ03) with recoveries of about 80 pet. Results from the bench-scale unit operations of mineral liberation, tabling, vanning, spiraling, pinch sluice, work index, and thickener area determination tests are presented in this report.

Jan 1, 1990

By E. C. Lane

[This is the eleventh in a series of reports on properties of commercial motor fuels made in accordance with a cooperative agreement between the Cooperative Fuel Research (C.F.R.) Committee and the Bureau of Mines of the United States Department of the Interior. The first report contained data, on motor gasolines sold during the winter of 1935-36.3/ The present report presents analytical data for 2,020 samples, representing the products of approximately 120 companies, which, as in previous surveys, include both large and small suppliers. In addition, the Pacific coast is represented by data averaged by the Pacific Coast Technical Group before being submitted and are published exactly as they were received. As in previous surveys, the data are divided into the three groups of samples of regular-price, premium-price, and third-grade gasolines, and each group has been averaged separately. The number of samples, items, and brands comprising each group, exclusive of the of the Pacific coast, axe as follows: Regular price, 1,071 samples, 29 items, and 77 brands premium Price, 608 samples, 235 items, and 72 brands; third-grade gasoline, 341 samples, 196 items, and 78 brands. The meanings of these terms as used in tae surveys are as follows: Sample: The individual sup of gasoline o1 obtained at the filling station and analyzed in the laboratory.]

Jan 1, 1941

By E. C. Lane

[This is the eleventh in a series of reports on properties of commercial motor fuels made in accordance with a cooperative agreement between the Cooperative Fuel Research (C.F.R) Committee and the Bureau of Mines of the United States Department of the Interior. The first report contained data, on motor gasolines sold during the winter of 1935-36.3/ The present report presents analytical data for 2,020 samples, reprecenting the products of approximately 120 companies, which, as in previous surveys, include both large and small suppliers. In addition, the Pacific coast is represented by data averaged the Pacific Coast Technical Group before being submitted and' are published exactly as they were received. As in previous surveys, the data are divided into the three groups of samples of regular-price, premium-price, and third-grade gasoline each group has been averaged separately. The number of samples, items, and old brands comprising each group, exclusive of the of the Pacific coast, axe as follows: Regular price, 1,071 samples, 29 items, and 77 brands; premium price, 608 samples, 235 items, and 72 brands; third-grade gasoline, 341 samples, 196 items, 78 brands. The meanings of these terms as used in tae surveys are as follows:]

Jan 1, 1941

By Marvin L. Whisman

This report describes the preparation of tritium-labeled organic compounds to be used by the Federal Bureau of Mines in studying the role of certain gasoline constituents in gum-forming mechanisms. The gasoline constituents that have been investigated boil within a range of approximately 90 to 230° C. and can be classified as paraffins. naphthenes, olefins, diolefins, monocyclic aromatics, polycyclic aromatics, and organic sulfur, nitrogen,: and oxygen compounds. The technique of Wilzbach has been applied to more than 50 samples. Purification techniques have been developed that accomplish rapid and effective purification as well as removal of labile tritium in a one-step operation. Data are presented to show the rate of exchange between tritium and hydrogen that can be expected for a variety of compounds common to a full-boiling-range gasoline. These values should be useful to other investigators using tracer programs involving tritium labeled compounds.

Jan 1, 1961

By Henry E. Perlee

In a Bureau of Mines study two-dimensional mathematical equations were solved that describe the transient thermal response of a rock dust particle in a cloud of similar particles in a gas flame's preheat zone subject to a radiant field from the approaching flame. The description includes both radiant energy absorbed and emitted by the particle and thermal conduction inside the particle and into the surrounding gas environment moving relative to the particle. Two situations were studied; in one the radiant energy incident on the particle is converted to thermal energy at the particle surface, and in the other the radiant energy is converted to thermal energy uniformly over the volume of the particle. The result of the study showed that for a 10-µm-radius particle, a 200-mg 1-1 loading density, and a flame approach velocity of 30 m sec-1, the particle temperature rise was twice that previously calculated by Singer and Cook based on the model of Essenhigh and Csaba. It was further established that under the conditions examined a rock dust particle temperature never increases more than about 200 K before crossing the flame front.

Jan 1, 1976

By G. A. Brady

Laboratory tests were conducted to determine the technical feasibility of separating anthracite particles from a water-anthracite slurry by atomizing the water and removing the resulting mist in an air current. Products containing 21 percent or less moisture were obtained from slurries made with minus 60-mesh anthracite. Typical recoveries ranged between 67 and 79 percent of the feed when the slurries were atomized in air currents with velocities below 70 ft/min.

Jan 1, 1967

By R. L. Brown, H. G. Berger, E. F. Pohlman

"The Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the American Gas Association investigating the relation of properties of gas oils to the gum-forming properties of carbureted water gas. The present report deals with the effects of operating practice on the composition of the light oils from carbureted water gas. A general outline of the gummy meter problem has been presented in a previous paper.*Carbureted water gas is a mixture roughly of 80 per cent water gas by volume and 20 per cent oil gas. The latter, though small in relative volume, supplies more than half of the heating value of the gas under the present-day standard. Therefore, it is logical that the oil used in the carbureting process and the operating practices involved should be subjected to scientific study. Many investigations***** bearing on the aspects considered in this paper have been carried out in the past."

Oct 1, 1923

By R. S. Dean

The development of metallurgical processes may be divided into periods : First , the discovery of a basic reaction which brings about the production of the desired product from the available raw material ; second , a long stage of mechanical development during which little or no attention is paid to the reaction itself ; and third , a careful study of the reaction . Most metallurgical processes are to -day approaching the end of the second period . This we may illustrate by the steel process . The reaction of carbon with iron ore to produce pig iron and the subsequent refinement of the pig iron by an oxidation reaction is very old . Development in modern times has been almost entirely mechanical , the development of the blast furnace , furnace , the Bessemer process , the Siemens process , and even the Aston process for wrought iron being mechanical improvements almost entirely . Metallurgy is now entering a phase where the reactions are being considered . The question of how far can they be made to proceed is being repeatedly asked . As mechanical processes are improved , we approach a limit to which our basic reactions can be pushed which is determined by the nature of the reactions themselves . We want to know : How far can iron be decarbonized by iron oxide ? How low can the oxygen of copper be reduced by any given reaction? How efficiently can the fuel in a zinc reduction process be used ? The demand for purer metals and lower production costs has forced these and similar questions upon us . How are we to answer them ? The determination of these equilibria or end points of metallurgical reactions by direct means is fraught with difficulty because here we must overcome mechanical difficulties which too often become the limiting factors even in the laboratory and we do nottherefore get the actual limit to which the reaction itself may be carried . Further , there are so many reactions of metallurgical materials that to survey each separately is a job to give pause to any experimenter or group of experimenters .

Dec 1, 1930

By E. J. Lintner

This paper is one of a series being prepared by the United States Bureau of Mines describing cloy reining, crushing, and grinding methods and costs at various operations throughout the United States. These Toners are designed to disseminate technical information regarding methods used. The cost tabulations represent local operating expenditures only and not total production casts. Although the publication of total production cants might not be advisable in sore instances, yet a knowledge of operating costs is essential to the technical discussion end study of the methods employed. The attention of the reader is specifically coiled to this differentiation in order that no misunderstanding of the scope of the cost tabulations shall ensue. The following report deals specifically with the methods employed by the Clay City Fire Co., Uhrichsville, Tuscarawas County, Ohio.

Jan 1, 1936