Search Documents

DURING the past year the Committee on Coal and Coke has been collecting data concerning various points in the bituminous industry about which a large amount of misinformation circulates through the press and, in some cases, through the coal trade papers. The data presented have been compiled by various members, from the most authentic sources available, and where possible cover the period 1913-1924. They will enable comparisons to be made within the industry, and of this and other industries, and will explain some of the differences between conditions existing now and in the prewar period. CAPACITY AND OVER-DEVELOPMENT The capacity of bituminous mines is frequently stated at figures ranging between 800,000,000 to 1,400,000,000 tons per year. Table 1 shows statistics for the industry, mainly from U. S. Geological Survey sources but partly from U. S. Coal Commission reports. Column 3 gives the mine capacity with equipment and labor as of given date, as estimated from the data published by the U. S. Geological Survey. This is calculated for each State by obtaining the total man days worked as. reported by the operators (multiplying average men employed by total days worked at each mine) and dividing this figure into the total production, getting the production per man day; this figure times number of men employed times 308 (a theoretical full working year) equals estimated- full-time capacity. Two major objections are made to this method-one that the total number of men employed is used, instead of the number actually working, and the other that the number of days used only deducts Sundays and five holidays. The first objection is answered by the fact that the same number of men is used in estimating capacity as is used in actual production, and while this number is always from 12 to 20 per cent. more than are actually working, this condition exists at all times, although it is worse at times of maximum output. Few coal men will agree with the conclusion that the use of 308 days is correct, as it is practically impossible to keep any mine working full time at the same

Jan 2, 1926

By C. D. Looker

Common salt is mentioned in the most ancient writings as an important article of diet. It is fairly certain that it was used by men and animals long before the dawn of civilization. Its presence in natural springs has often been the determining factor in colonization; wars have been fought for possession of salt deposits; trade routes have been established expressly for the purpose of traffic in salt. Naturally this led men into adventures and discoveries that altered history and advanced civilization. In the early days the uses for salt were few and the methods of manufacture were crude and the purity low when compared to salt of the present day. Then the salt came largely from springs, shallow wells or the ocean, while today deep wells must be drilled to the natural brines or beds of rock salt and spacious shafts sunk so that the ancient deposits may be made to yield their supply of stored mineral. Mining and Purification The quantity of available salt seems inexhaustible. It occurs in practically every country of the globe. About 20 million tons is produced and consumed annually in the world. Of this amount about 7 million tons is produced in the United States; 13/4 million tons of rock salt, 2 1/4 million tons as evaporated salt and 31/2 million tons in brine used in the chemical industry. Mined rock salt is used in its natural state without purification. It is classified for the trade by crushing and screening. The average purity of rock salt mined in the United States is about 98.3 per cent pure sodium chloride1. The usual impurities are gypsiferous shale, anhydrite and silica, with traces of potassium, magnesium and calcium compounds. Refined or evaporated salt is made by crystallizing the salt from brine in open pans or vacuum pans. A comparatively small amount of salt is made from ocean water or the brines of inland lakes or seas, sometimes by solar evaporation. By far the larger amount of brine is obtained by drill-

Jan 1, 1938

By Carl F. Dietz, Dyke V. Keedy

The problem of drying ores is one that most mill-engvineers are sooner or later called upon to meet, and it may be timely to point out some of the difficulties resulting from such operations from purely a metallurgical and economic standpoint. We mean, in the following pages, to discuss primarily the effect of such operations on the ore. itself, without particular reference to the mechanical or cost features of the subject. That an appreciable tonnage of the ore fed to the usual form of drier, either rotary or stack, is lost, is fairly well appreciated, but we believe that only a few mill-managers know just what their drier-losses amouilt to, and we have found that in most cases they console themselves with the fact that the drier-smoke is not very much discolored, and it is generally believed that the draft is not sufficient to carry away more than a negligible percentage of the values.

Jan 1, 1913

By Thomas Cox

The following compilations are made from a series of investigations and are used to present the subject in an unbiased manner, as the writer does not represent any company or financial interest. The present situation is complex. The producers are hard pressed by reason of the low price of crude, while the independent refiner is little better off, because of the corresponding cut in price of refined products, except on occasional contracts. If the real costs are analyzed, it will be seen that the land speculators and the lessors—royalty owners—make the larger profits and not the struggling legitimate operator or independent refiner. The present-day (October, 1922) posted prices per barrel for crudes are Kansas, Oklahoma, Mexia, Gulf Coast, and Louisiana..... $1.25 Healdton............................................. 0.75 Northern Texas and Central Texas...................... 1 . 50 Pennsylvania......................................... 3.00 Wyoming, Elk Basin.................................. 1.25 Wyoming, Salt Creek................................ 0.70 California Base..................................... 0.60 These prices are at the well. In addition, crudes must be gathered and transported to refinery (by pipe line or tank cars), refined, and the refined products marketed. These crudes are of various gravities, ranging within a narrow margin for each field or district, so that averages are not difficult to deduce, and it is these averages that really determine the average operating conditions. In order to show the present realizations, the prices and costs now obtaining are listed against the average yields; the figures are also adjusted VOL. urn.----71

Jan 1, 1923

By J. E. Jopling, J. R. Chenneour, E. L. Derby, S. R. Elliott

The Marquette range, on which are situated the iron mines of Mar-quette County, together with a few in Baraga County, Mich., extends from a point 10 miles southwest of Marquette westward for 30 miles. The tracts are usually a multiple of the standard 40-acre parcel, which is the smallest government subdivision of a square mile or section. About half of the mines are held in fee, these being owned by the older mining companies. Some of them date back to about 1880, and a few are as early as 1850. During the past 40 years most of the mines opened have been on leased lands, the royalty being either for a stated amount per ton or a percentage of the selling price of the ore at the lower lake ports, or the selling price on board of cars at the mine. The first merchantable body of ore discovered in the Lake Superior district was found, in 1845, at what is known as the Jackson mine, near Negaunee. This ore was hard hematite. After unprofitable attempts had been made, in 1848, to smelt it in forges, shipments were begun to lower lake ports, which increased rapidly upon the completion of the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, in 1855, and the railroad from the mines to Marquette, in 1857. Beginning with the Pioneer, in 1858, a number of small charcoal furnaces were built to smelt a part of the product. At various points in the upper and lower peninsulas, large charcoal furnaces are still making iron from the ores of the Marquette range. In connection with these furnaces are byproduct plants. As the deposits were opened up, soft ore was encountered, but for a few years this was disregaided, as only the hard ore was used. Underground mining was begun about 1880 and during the next few years the open-pit mines producing high-grade ore were exhausted. The first mines in the district were owned by the Jackson, Cleveland, Lake Superior, Lake Angeline, Champion, Iron Cliffs, Humboldt, Republic, and Michigamme companies. Many of these companies have been merged in the holdings of The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., which controls most of the tonnage of the district.

Jan 1, 1925

By Gustav Egloff

THE treatment of emulsified crude oils has been a problem for years in the petroleum industry. Until comparatively recently various methods of settling with and without chemicals have been used with indifferent success. Since wells have been acidized, emulsified crudes have been produced, which acid considerably to the need for improved methods of treatment. The presence of large quantities of salts in the oils from acid-ized wells has presented several new problems to the industry. The use of hydrochloric acid in well treatments has caused the formation of sodium, magnesium, and calcium chlorides by interaction with the dolomitic limestones. These salts dissolve readily in the water normally present in the oil, and they are therefore incorporated in the emulsified oil. The crystalline salts have also been found in the oil, prevented from settling by protective films such as asphalt, resins and petrolatum. In, some instances, free hydrochloric acid has been found. The salts may be present in crude oil in amounts ranging from a few pounds to over 1000 lb. per 1000 bbl. of oil. The transportation of these crude oils through pipe lines has led to erosive and corrosive effects, which are a tremendous cost to the petroleum industry. During 1937, more than 1,200,000,000 bbl. of crude oil was transported through pipe lines. Of this quantity approximately 10,000,000 bbl. was water, and considerably more than 50,000,000 lb. was salts. If the crude oils were treated at the producing wells to remove the salts and water, an appreciable saving would be possible. The treatment would not be difficult, since it has been found that these oils are more easily treated at the time they are produced than after the aging and more stable emulsification that occur before they reach the refinery. Since great costs are involved in the use of these salty crudes at the refinery, treated oils essentially free of salts would naturally command a premium.

Jan 1, 1938

By W. F. Rochow, W. C. Burke

Numerous designs of linings and accessories, including dams, lifters, and heat exchangers, contribute greatly to kiln efficiencies. Greater conductivity is achieved with basic brick than with fireclay and high-alumina refractories, depending largely upon the use of steel plates in radial joints between adjacent brick to increase heat transfer through the lining. Refractory lifters expose all portions of the load to radiant or convective heat and raise some portions to higher temperatures by cascading the load down through the path of the hot gases. AMONG the many factors involved in rotary kiln efficiency, advantageous use of refractories is of major importance. So far as kiln lining alone is concerned durability is most significant, as shutdowns for repairs are costly in fuel consumption and production losses. Aside from selection of refractories best suited to the widely varying conditions under which rotary kilns are operated, lining design and accessory constructions within the kiln are highly important. The refractory most economical for any combination of operating conditions can be selected from a wide range of alumina-silica and basic refractories, including insulating, castable, and plastic fire bricks. In several cases silica brick can be used to advantage. Alumina contents of alumina-silica refractories range from 35 to 90 pct in increments of 5 to 10 pct. In general, bricks of relatively low alumina content are best for abrasion resistance, an important property for the brick used in chain sections of cement kilns or in feed end sections of limestone kilns. High-duty fireclay bricks of approximately 40 pct alumina and 55 pct silica are used to line the intermediate zones. Super-duty fireclay brick at slightly higher cost is warranted in operation of kilns with high intermediate zone temperatures and severe spalling conditions. Alumina-silica refractories with an alumina content of 50 pct and higher, termed high-alumina brick, are available in commercial classes of 50, 60, 70, 80, 85, and 90 pct alumina content. These refractories are generally used as high temperature zone linings or placed adjacent to the basic brick-lined sections when the treatment they are required to withstand is excessively severe. Use of basic refractories is confined mainly to zones of maximum temperature and most severe chemical action. Basic refractories ordinarily employed for high temperature zone linings of many rotary kilns comprise the classes shown in Table I. Each class is peculiarly well suited to various particular combinations of working conditions. The approximate chemical analyses of these classes also illustrate differences in compositions with respect to the major components.

Jan 1, 1956

By Simon D. Strauss

INTRODUCTION The changes in ownership, management, and operation of the non-fuel minerals industry since the Second World War have been dramatic. World-leading enterprises have lost their identity; host countries have taken over operations from multi-national firms; marketing practices have been drastically altered - and yet the world industry is supplying minerals on a scale far greater than had been anticipated in projections made at mid-century. The world's known mineral resources have been enormously expanded, despite the doom sayers who for decades have been predicting that depletion of non-renewable resources would impose limits to growth. PALEY REPORT One can set the stage by reviewing how the minerals outlook was regarded in a thoughtful and comprehensive analysis made in the years 1950 and 1951. During the War years, President Harry Truman of the United States had come to appreciate the decisive role played by minerals resources through his chairmanship as a U.S Senator of a committee that investigated the procurement and allocation of natural resources. In 1950, in the Cold War era that resulted in actual military conflict in Korea, he appointed a prestigious five-man commission to study the problems of Materials Policy over the following quarter century. Their findings, published in five impressive volumes in early 1952, became known as the Paley report. The text was prepared by expert scientists and economists who spent 18 months assembling statistics, making projections of future demand, and interviewing leaders in industry, academia, and government. [ ] The Commission had correctly foreseen that aluminum would replace copper as the largest volume non-ferrous metal, but it had fallen short of reality by a wide margin indeed for all three materials. Even though the Commission's expectations for growth proved to be extremely understated, it had concluded its report with grave foreboding about the effect of its estimates of demand in relation to supply, as follows: "Consumption of almost all materials is expanding at compound rates and is thus pressing harder and harder against resources which, whatever else they may be doing, are not similarly expanding. This materials problem is thus not the kind of 'shortage' problem, local and transient, which in the past has found its solution in price changes which have brought supply and demand back into balance. The terms of the materials problem we face today are larger and more pervasive." With respect to some minerals, the Paley Report expressed scepticism that, in fact, supplies would be forthcoming regardless of price. Because the Paley demand forecasts understated the actual growth in demand for virtually every mineral, one could logically have expected frequent and protracted shortages in the years since 1950.

Jan 1, 1985

By J. E. Chappelear

We are concerned with the problem of calculating the forces produced by passing waves on a submerged object (in particular a drilling barge) located on the ocean floor. We employ the linearized theory of waves (the Airy1 theory), since solutions are generally more easily obtained in such a theory. It will be indicated how an approximate solution to the problem can be obtained for waves of finite height by use of a linear combination of Airy waves. We shall assume the submerged object has an infinite length, thus neglecting diffraction and making the problem two-dimensional. We find that there is not a considerable difference between our solution and the usual engineering solution. The force, as a function of time, is plotted in Figs. 4 and 5, together with the usual solution for easy comparison. So far, no experiments have been found to compare with the results. As will be shown, the calculations can be extended to waves of finite height (Stokes2-Struik3 waves) in an approximate fashion. This can be done by calculating the force produced by each Fourier component of the wave, separately, and omitting the coupling between the various harmonics produced by Bernoulli's theorem. The problem and its boundary conditions will be briefly stated. We seek a function, +, the velocity potential, which is harmonic, ?2?=0...........(1) and which satisfies the boundary conditions ??/?n =0 .......(2) (the normal derivative of + is zero) on the ocean floor and the sides of the barge, and s??/?y = ?..........(3) on the ocean surface, where s = g/w2........(4) The physical reasons for these choices and an interpretation of ? are given by Lamb.' As previously stated, we assume also that the problem is two-dimensional. We set up our coordinates such that x = 0 is the center of the barge and y = 0 is the ocean floor. The coordinates are shown in Fig. 1, together with the location of the barge on the bottom. Our solution may be decomposed into a function which is symmetric about x = 0,?e, and one which is antisymmetric, +,, ? = ? + ?o...........(5) Thus directly above the barge we have as boundary conditions that for x = 0, ?o = 0, ...........(6) and ??e/?x = 0........(7) Now, far from the barge, we have that (for x positive and assuming the waves are incident from the left) ?e ? Ae cosh ky cos k (x + a) , . . . (8) and ?e ? Ao cosh ky cos k (x + ß) . . . . (9) where + means ". .. approaches ... for x large." Let us put Ae, Ao, and k equal to one, and remember that, in accordance with the derivation of Eq. 3, a sinusoidal time factor is to be supplied. Then we may rewrite Eq. 8 for ?e, and we find that

Jan 1, 1958

By M. L. Bleiberg, L. J. Jones

THE changes induced in metals by subjecting them to heavy particle bombardment have received widespread attention in recent years and results of such investigations have been reviewed by Slater, Dienes, Seitz, Siegel, and Seitz and Koehler.1-5 Of particular significance are the property changes that occur in uranium-base alloys due to neutron bombardment. These changes are generally very severe since fission occurs within the sample, resulting in the formation of heavy, highly energetic fission fragments, as well as additional neutrons born in fission, which serve to intensify the damage generally associated with fast neutron bombardment of nonfissionable metals. The property changes in uranium and uranium alloys due to neutron bombardment have been summarized by Paine and Kitte16 and Billington.7 It has also been shown that neutron bombardment of

Jan 1, 1959

By J. B. Dilworth

The word ".development," as used in connection with mining, is a rather general term and in most instances must be qualified or explained before the exact thought in the mind of the user is made clear. For instance, by the development of a mining district is often meant its entire facilities of mineral production, such as railroads, towns, mine plants, etc. In speaking of the development of a property its prospecting by test pits or diamond drill borings may be referred to; or it may be the mines, strip pits or quarries from which the coal, ore or rock is won. Rut, as a rule, when the development of an individual mine is spoken of the idea in mind is the system of underground workings by means of which the mineral is recovered and transported to the surface. It is this character of development that is considered here. The discussion will be confined to the ordinary room-and-pillar system of mining practically horizontal coal seams that is used in most bituminous coal mines in this country, and to only two phases of this subject; viz., what is properly included under the head of "Development" as it appears on the books of a coal company or the inventories of an examining engineer, and how its " value " should be determined by the accountant or engineer. No absolute rule or definite agreement covers these points, yet these questions are far more than academic. Development is often an important part of a mining company's assets, affecting the amount of its invested capital (and hence its rate of taxation under present Federal income tax laws) as well as the value of its total assets and the amounts chargeable to cost of coal and to depreciation. Mine Development Account Perhaps the majority of mine accountants will agree that the mine development account is that capital account which shows the extraordinary expenditures incurred in opening and expanding the underground workings of a mine until it has reached its normal production, the expenditures being those made for shafts, slopes, rock tunnels, drift mouths and such relatively permanent work; also payments over and above ordinary mining costs made for driving entries, air courses and break-through; for

Jan 1, 1922

By Otto F. Pfordte

The silver-ore-deposits of the famous district of Cerro de Pasco were discovered in 1630 by Huari-Capcha, an Indian shepherd. In the early part of its history, the district yielded enormous riches. The records from 1784 to 1846 (excluding five years, 1821-25, during which civil war prevailed) show a product of 2,323,526 lbs. of silver; and the value of the total product since the discovery may be estimated at about $565,000,000. The town of Cerro de Pasco is situated in the province of the same name, department of Junin, Peru, 14,250 feet above sea-level. The nearest railway station is on the line of the Callao and Cerro de Pasco R.R., at a distance of about three days' travel on horseback. The population of the town numbers about 6000, mostly native Indians. Mines.—The mines are mainly located in the immediate neighborhood of the town and partly even under the principal streets, being distributed in several very large open cuts 250 to 350 feet deep called tajos, which extend in a nearly direct north and south line west of the town and are known as Tajo de Santa Rosa, Tajo Tingo or Portachuelo, Cajac Graude, Cajac Chico, Salsipuedes, Avella Fuerte, and several smaller ones. Tajo de Santa Rosa, the largest and most southerly, is closely connected on its north side with Tajo Tingo; while the others are entirely separate and lie northward in the order given ; the extreme ends of the series being about a mile apart. Besides these, there are Tajo Descubridora a short distance east of Sta. Rosa and Tajo Matagente, about half a mile north of the main plaza in the town of Cerro de Pasco. The argentiferous deposit consists mainly of a ferruginous sandstone, while the neighboring country-rock is limestone, conglomerate and slate. The judicial fixed point from which all mining claims are measured, is a cross erected on a small elevation east of, and between tajos Sta. Rosa and Tingo, called Santa Catalina. This important

Jan 1, 1895

By H. Ries

THE term "clay" is applied usually to certain earthy rocks whose most prominent property is that of plasticity when wet. This permits them to be molded into almost any shape, which they retain when dry. Furthermore, they harden under fire. Clays contain hydrous aluminum silicates-the clay minerals-in appreciable amounts, but aside from this a number of other mineral grains, particularly quartz, may be present. Texturally clays are fine grained, and the so-called true clay particles are usually under 2µ in diameter. MINERALS IN CLAY Certain hydrous aluminum silicates that predominate in many clays are known as the clay minerals"." and are grouped by Kerr41 as follows: [ ] The kaolin group has been found to consist of a number of minerals with the same chemical composition but different crystalline structures .83 Kaolinite is commonly formed by the weathering of other mineral particles, particularly feldspar, but some deposits, like those in Cornwall, England,36 and others in the Washington-Idaho district, are thought by some to be of hydrothermal origin. Dickite and nacrite are thought to be due usually to waters of

Jan 1, 1949

By Raymond Wilson

GRINDING costs are an important item in cement manufacture, and the cost of power is one of the large items in grinding costs. Even where power is of secondary importance, cost items dependent on mill capacity are influenced by the efficiency with which the mill uses power. Tube mills typify the grinding mills most generally used in cement plants, though other types are in use. Tube mills have been widely criticized as being extremely inefficient, and this feeling regarding them has led to many attempts to design more efficient grinding equipment. Other types may be an improvement over tube mills, but the improvement has certainly not been revolutionary, at least as applied to clinker grinding. The very fact that there is doubt regarding the relative efficacy of various types of mills is an indication that an adequate basis for an analysis of performance is lacking. The development of methods of analyzing mill performance has been hampered by the lack of a suitable method for measuring the work actually done in pulverizing. There has been no acceptable standard to which mill performance might be compared. As a consequence, it was not known whether the margin of possible improvement in pulverizing operations was large or small. Even direct comparison of different types of mills was seldom possible because most plants had only one type of mill for each type of service. Comparisons between plants were difficult because of differences in the grinding characteristics of various clinkers. Some recent developments complete a chain of circumstances that place the cement industry in a particularly fortunate position for the study of its clinker-pulverizing operations. Modern investigators of grinding phenomena have generally agreed that the best measure of mill performance is the production of new surface. For most materials this measure of performance is largely theoretical and has a rather remote connection with the practical aims of the grinding operation. In clinker grinding, on the other hand, surface area is intimately connected with the properties conferred on the cement by grinding. Moreover, the determination of surface area is rapidly coming into routine use as at test

Jan 1, 1937

By Charles H. Behre

UNDER the caption "fault," geologists intend to include all mass movements of solid rocks over adjacent rock masses. When these are studied long after their origin, however, circumstances make it possible to recognize as "fault" only formations showing clear evidence of actual movement of one side with respect to the other. Necessarily the chief evidence consists of the offset of a vein, bed, or other key structure. Planes of movement parallel to the bedding, or nearly so, are recognized with difficulty or are overlooked and hence many important faults are wholly unrecorded. Indeed, among standard American references on structural geology, one alone emphasizes the importance of bedding-plane movements and that one only briefly1. For some time the writer, cognizant of this difficulty, has paid special attention to such movements, both as observed in the field and as recorded in the literature. It is believed that enough data are now at hand to justify a short discussion. Its purposes are fivefold. It is desired first to briefly classify and describe at least the more common kinds of bedding-plane faults, and second, to examine the causes and manner of their formation, at least in instances where the subject has not yet been well covered by other investigators. Third, certain by-products of bedding- lane movements are of such conspicuous importance to the economic geologist and mining engineer as to merit mention. Fourth, concrete illustrations should be placed before the reader in order to lend reality and to furnish a basis of comparison with his experience; such illustrations will necessarily be scattered through the text of this paper. They are only in part from the writer's own field observations. The fifth and prime objective of this paper is to direct attention to the great importance of movements on the bedding planes, in the hope that the recognition of such movements and their significance may simplify mining problems.

Jan 1, 1937

By Benjamin F. Tillson

Although portable fire extinguishers are valuable for fires in an incipient stage, some medium that will dissipate a large amount of heat is needed to fight a fire in mine timbers, because of the size to which the fire will probably have grown before it is discovered. Scaling off, or otherwise smothering such a fire with gases that will not support combustion, is often ineffective for the residual heat will cause reignition when the area is opened and fresh air reaches the hot charred timber. The most effective ways of fighting mine fires, therefore, are to drown and cool the hot zone with water, and to "load out" the partly burned material. Either of these methods requires a direct attack of water ; upon the inflamed material; therefore, every mine containing a large ' quantity of timber or other combustible should be as completely equipped with a fire-hydrant system as it is with compressed-air mains. Mine managers may object to the expenditure, especially if they have not suffered from mine fires. The cost of such preventative measures, however, is only a small portion of the possible losses, and the water pipes can be used for other purposes, which will pay the carrying charges. They can supply water to the rock drills, which will encourage more wet drilling with hollow-drill steel, for the trouble and expense of packing water to individual tanks at the drills will be removed. The carbon-tetrachloride hand extinguishers seem to have no place in mining except for fires that start in electrical equipment. They give off noxious gas, which may prove poisonous in confined quarters; and as it is heavier than air it is of no value for smothering fires overhead or in side timbers and would be dissipated by a good ventilating draft. The old soda-acid extinguisher or the more modern "foam" types ' are preferable. The former probably does not rely for its efficacy on the carbon dioxide generated but on the smothering and cooling effect of the water and the trajectory of stream that may be obtained because of the gas pressure developed. The production of a foam having a tough film to smother a fire, even on overhead surfaces, with the added

Jan 1, 1923

By Alden B. Greninger

In a recent study1 of the deformation of metastable beta copper-zinc and beta copper-tin crystals, it was established that the parallel markings that appear on the surface of these crystals after slight deformation represent lattice transformations. Stereographic analysis showed that in beta copper-tin, the poles of these markings deviated one or two degrees from poles of the form {133}. In beta copper-zinc the plane delineated by the markings corresponded to no one crystallographic plane of the matrix lattice; the marking poles deviated from 5° to 11° from poles of the form (110), and were displaced only a few degrees from (110) zones. Inasmuch as the new transition lattices produced as the result of the deformation are different for each alloy, it was thought at first that the habits of the markings might be the result of a cooperation between matrix lattice and transformed lattice. (Both matrix lattices arc body-centered cubic.) Such a cooperative effect is thought to obtain in the formation of Widmanstätten figures, for it is well known that the matrix lattice alone does not determine the habit assumed by a segregate phase. On the other hand, it is not inconceivable that the dissimilarity in marking habit might be due to differences in deformation characteristics of beta brass and beta bronze. Barrett and co-workers2 have shown that slip-line habits in pure iron are markedly different from those in high-silicon ferrite; and although it has been repeatedly demonstrated that plates of a segregate phase do not necessarily form on the slip planes of the matrix lattice, deformation characteristics may be more intimately allied with plate formation when a transformation is made to occur as a result of plastic deformation. However, there is the fact that the orientation of markings in metastable beta copper-zinc is the same whether the markings be produced by quenching, deformation, or liquid-air cooling; likewise, quenching and deformation markings in metastable beta copper-tin are oriented in the same way with respect to the beta matrix. During the course of the investigation referred to above, samples of 52:48 (stable beta) copper-zinc were deformed and examined micro-

Jan 1, 1938

The Round Table on Qualities of Pig Iron, under the auspices of the Joint Committee on Qualities of Pig Iron, which is made up of members of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the American Foundrymen's Association, the American Society for Testing Materials, the Gray Iron Institute, and the Malleable Iron Institute, was held at the Palmer House, Chicago, III., on Oct. 1, 1935. Prcoeedings R. H. SwEEtseR,* New York, N. Y.—Seven years ago last June, in Chicago, we had a round table on qualities of pig iron1, and at that time the foundrymen were out with their battle-axes for the blast-furnace men, and the open-hearth men were doing the same thing. After that meeting there was really a determined effort to find out about the qualities of pig iron, and great progress has been made all along the line. This afternoon we want to have a frank discussion of the qualities of pig iron, whether it is the molten pig iron going into the steel plant, or cold pigs going to the different foundries. We ought to hear something from Dr. J. T. MacKenzie, who is chairman of the Joint Committee, and from Mr. R. E. Kennedy, the Technical Secretary of the American Foundrymen's Association. J. T. MacKEnzie,† Birmingham, A1a.—As a result of that meeting in Chicago, there was considerable agitation in the Foundrymen's Association to develop a set of tests for pig iron. One of the difficulties was that nobody talked the same language on shrinkage, draws, live iron, dead iron, and so forth, which were the main complaints against pig iron. By request of a committee of the Foundrymen's Association, the Bureau of Standards ran a comprehensive set of tests that did develop the principles governing the optical pyrometer as applied to cast iron and pig iron. Then the Bureau went on further with the fluidity test, and developed a method for the absolute changes of volume at the freezing point. There is one serious gap in the yardstick, which has never been developed, and that is the tendency to draws from heavy sections to light. Everyone who has worried about the differences of section, and sponginess in changes of section, realizes that the

Jan 1, 1936

By H. H. Lowry

Science attracts the attention and interest of an individual or an industry in general only in proportion to the apparent direct application to its immediate welfare or benefit. Engineering accomplishments, as aphlied science, therefore receive more recognition than the scientific discoveries on which they are based. Even self-evident truth needs endless repetition before recognition: engineering as applied science cannot advance beyond the science on which it is founded. Scientific research, and discovery, is sometimes forced by the limitations recognized by those active in its development for the use of society and industry and sometimes results from an apparently superficially illogical curiosity about natural phenomena. Research has received inadequate support except in industries born in the laboratory, the chemical and electrical industries, from which many lessons might well be drawn by their elder associates. The rapid growth of these industries has been largely due to close cooperation of scientists and engineers. Most rapid advance is made when the research worker and the engineer keep in close touch with each other's ideas and problems. Many of the developments of modern industry are based on discoveries buried for years in scientific journals because the "time was not ripe" at their discovery. The situation with regard to utilization of coal is quite the oppositre. The fundamental facts in regard to the scientific aspects of the problem of developing the energy from coal are scarcely known. The engineer, without much scientific cooperation, has accomplished much in increasing the number of kilowatt-hours per pound of coal from 0.31 in 1919 to 0.69 in 1934, in increasing the 1000 gross ton-miles of freight hauled from 12.2 to 16.4 per ton of coal in the same period, in fuel economy in production of coke, and in developing the production of motor fuel in Germany and England by hydrogenation of coal. This lack of scientific research on the utilization of our most important natural resource, coal, has been due undoubtedly in large part to the reluctance of investigators to study the interrelationships involved in the complicated processes in which coal is used. These complexities are made

Jan 1, 1936

By Dever C. Ashmead

FRom time to time metal-mine engineers have inquired why anthracitc mines and their preparators are rarely operated on the two or three-shift basis. The subject may be approached as affecting: labor, development, the underground workers, the preparator, the outside workers, capital, the supply account, power consumption, the storage of coal over various shifts, railroad car supply, and the market. Labor From the start, the adoption of a plan of three full-shift operations in a day would cause difficulty with the colliery employees, for they have never worked on that plan and would show their resentment by suspending work. Even if they could be induced to work according to this schedule they would not be as efficient, for they would be working more or less unwillingly at hours at which they are accustomed to rest. Operation on a three-shift basis would necessitate triple manning of each working place, and dissensions would arise between the men, for each shift would claim that the preceding shift had taken undue advantage and had not left as favorable conditions as it had found. To obviate these disputes it might be [necessary to let out the work to a contractor, who would hire his helpers to mine out the chamber, or breast. The state mining law requires that a miner be put in charge of each working place. To conform with this provision he would have to hire three helpers and two miners to mine the breast. The labor unions have been trying to abolish the subcontractor in mine work and any method of working that would cause his return, however innocent in purpose, would result in labor disturbances. It might be possible to form partnerships of three miners working a place together, but these men would be quite likely to have frequent dissensions as to the proportion of work performed by each shift. Only

Jan 1, 1923