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By Marie Kinzel

LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, the birthplace f the atomic bomb, is one of the most famous-and mysterious-places in the world. It leaped into fame on Aug. 6, 1945, when the first atomic bomb burst over Hiroshima. Unheard of until that day, its present life is as hidden from most people as was its very existence in pre-Hiroshima days. Then, those who did know of it dared not breathe their knowledge. "What do you tell your wife when you go to Shangri La?" was the favorite quip of the few consultants who made regular trips from east or west to Los Alamos during the tense months when the bomb was in the making. Security regulations made it impossible even to hint at the rigid secrecy surrounding the project. The puzzled wives in question knew only that their husbands had top priority on airplane flights to Albuquerque. When they had verified the safe arrival of the flight, they undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief. If they could have visualized the rest of the trip, the sigh of relief would have been replaced by a state of tizzy, until a telegram came saying "Arriving home on Flight X" (on a nice safe airplane).

Jan 1, 1946

By W. D. BRENNAN

AS a rule the thoughts of engineers are more often directed toward the mechanical and physical conditions of mining practice than they are toward the disposition and the marketing of the product. This, I think, has been true of the coal industry to the present time not only among the engineering force but also generally true of operators. There has been a tendency to place the sales department in a rather secondary position; for a great many years there was a greater demand for coal than the supply would meet, so it was only necessary to increase production: either by expansion of operating mines, or opening new mines of greater capacity. While the production of coal is still a highly important phase of the industry, its enormous development throughout the country, the great advance in fuel, efficiency and economy, and the discovery of new reserves of competitive fuels have combined to create a buyers' market and force the present-day attention upon merchandising in modern ways. A buyers' market has a natural tendency to develop the keenest competition, frequently unscrupulous and nearly always profit-wrecking. Under such conditions bad practices are bound to grow and to extend until the industry is wrecked, or until wiser heads get together to reduce or eliminate unfair methods of competition. This is not so recent a condition as one might believe.

Jan 1, 1931

By H. R. Wheeler

CREATION of a "committee on promotion of student interest in coal mining" has an encouraging implication for the coal industry. It is indicative that mining men, both in the field and in the educational centers, realize that the problems of the industry require the best talent available. Young men are being invited into coal on the premise that it needs them, that it offers opportunity for creative work and the realization of their objectives. In initiating a movement which purports to meet the objectives of any young man who spends four or five years of his life in college, the industry does so with a full realization of its obligations.

Jan 1, 1940

By C. O. Lee, Z. W. Bartlett, R. H. Feierabend

DESPITE the fact that American brimstone production has increased 2 ½ times since the prewar period 1935-1939, the demand for sulphur exceeds the supply. To alleviate this situation efforts are being made to increase the production of sulphur and bring the shortage to an end. The most important developments are being undertaken on the Gulf Coast. One new brimstone mine has been put into operation and three others are being developed. These projects are expected to account for a large part of the additional sulphur production now anticipated for the free world.1,2 Except for a small amount of byproduct sulphur from sour natural gas and refinery gases, American brimstone is produced by the same process devised by Frasch 60 years ago, consisting essentially of the injection of superheated water at about 325°F into sulphur-bearing formations through wells which are drilled from the surface by standard oilfield methods. Sulphur deposits vary in depth from a few hundred feet to 2500 ft from the surface; in a typical deposit the sulphur occurs as crystalline aggregates in porous limestone and gypsum in concentrations varying from 5 to 40 pct, the thickness of the formation ranging from a few feet to several hundred.3 The deposits are usually surrounded by formations impermeable to the flow of hot water, the top and sides being enclosed by impermeable sediments and the bottom by dense impermeable anhydrite. As the hot water leaves the well bore, it percolates through the formation and transmits its heat to the rock and sulphur. When the sulphur reaches 240°F it melts, separates from the rock, and flows through the hot channels downward to the bottom of the well. Here it is freed from incoming water and from formation water, which saturates the porous rock, by gravity separation, liquid sulphur being 1.8 times as heavy as water. It then is pumped to the surface in a relatively pure state, 99.5 pct or better. Chief contaminants are organic impurities, such as petroleum residues, which are soluble in sulphur and tend to discolor it.4 Sixteen deposits of commercial magnitude have been discovered in the Gulf Coast area. Five of these deposits have been depleted and abandoned with production totalling more than 26,886,000 tons. Eight properties are operating and have produced 65,875,000 tons to Jan. 1, 1952, for a total Frasch-type production of 92,761,000 tons. Three new deposits are under development. Aforementioned deposits are listed in Table I. Each of these deposits has been found in the caprock overlying shallow intrusive salt plugs or domes and buried in several hundred to as much as 2500 ft of sediments. All salt domes do not contain sulphur; only 16 sulphur deposits have been found in a total of 231 salt domes which are known to exist in the Gulf Coastal states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Ten of the salt domes lie in the Gulf of Mexico offshore from the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Additional offshore domes may be found, but their value as a sulphur potential is questionable owing to the great hazard and high cost that can be visualized at these exposed locations where depths of water reach 50 ft. Marsh operations of Freeport Sulphur Co. are in the southeast section of Louisiana. In general, the country is low, flat, relatively uninhabited marshland broken by many shallow lakes and bayous which extend for irregular distances inland. Geologically, the coastal area is of sedimentary origin, having been built up gradually under the sea by deposition of material carried down by large streams to their deltas. Offshore bars were formed enclosing

Jan 1, 1952

By J. E. Breen, J. Weertman

The creep rate of polycrystalline tin was studied as a function of temperature and stress in constant stress experiments. The temperature was varied from room temperature to almost the melting point of tin. Activation energies were calculated from tests run at the same stress. It was found that on a log creep rate vs inverse temperature plot the experimental points did not fall on one straight line but on a line which changed its slope in the 90° to 160°C region. Two activation energies for the creep of tin can be calculated from the data: a value around 26,000 cal per mol at high temperatures and a value around 11,000 cal per mot at low temperatures. It is suggested that the discrepancies between the creep activation energies and those of self-diffusion can be accounted for if self-diffusion takes place predominately by Zener's ring mechanism rather than through vacancy or interstitial movement. SHERBY, Orr, and Dorn' and Dorn' have recently reviewed some of the data on high temperature creep of metals. -The data show that the activation energy of high temperature creep is approximately equal to the activation energy of self-diffusion. This same correlation has also been successfully made between the activation energy of grain boundary relaxation and that of self-diffusion.3,4 The metal tin does not fit into this simple picture. Its activation energies of self-diffusion differ appreciably from that of grain boundary relaxation and of creep. Fensham,5 from a precisely performed experiment, has determined that the activation energies of self-diffusion of tin are 10,500 and 5,900 cal per mol along the C and A axes, respectively. There are two energies because of the anisotropic nature of tin. Rotherham, Smith, and Greenough6 have shown that the grain boundary relaxation activation energy is 19,000 cal per mol (measurements made from room temperature to 100°C). Puttick and King7 found the same activation energy for grain boundary slip in bicrystals of tin (180° to 225°C region). Until recently, there was no high temperature large strain creep data on tin suitable for activation energy calculations. At rather small strains (up to 0.01), Tyte8 had made a series of measurements on tin from which activation energies can be calculated. In Fig. 1 are plotted some of his data on a log creep rate vs inverse temperature graph. It can be seen that Tyte's work indicates that at a relatively low temperature the activation energy is around 7,400 cal per mol but at higher temperatures the activation energy increases. Since Tyte measured the creep only for small strains, it is doubtful if a

Jan 1, 1956

By J. F. Haseman, J. E. Davenport

IN the brown rock phosphate fields of Tennessee there are large deposits of phosphate matrix in which quartz is a major constituent of the gangue, and which cannot be beneficiated by the conventional washing process to yield a concentrate of suitable grade for use in the electric furnace. A huge tonnage of high-grade phosphate concentrate is produced in the Florida pebble district from low-grade siliceous feed. However, the characteristics of the low-grade siliceous Tennessee ore are such that flotation under the conditions employed in treating the Florida ore1-2 results in inadequate beneficiation. INVESTIGATION OF FLOTATION METHODS Flotation has been used in Tennessee primarily to produce a concentrate of premium grade by moderate enrichment of a marketable grade of phosphate.3,4 A secondary use was to increase the recovery of phosphate from the fines (down to approximately 200 mesh) from medium-grade ores with a concomitant moderate increase in over-all grade.3,5 It was considered desirable to investigate methods of improving the grade of washed products from low-grade siliceous Tennessee ore when these products were substantially below the requirements for use in the electric furnace. The present paper describes the results of a laboratory-scale study of factors that affect the beneficiation of such siliceous phosphate ore by flotation. The primary objective of the investigation was to ascertain the conditions under which the ore could be made to yield a concentrate suitable for reduction in the electric furnace. It was assumed that a phosphate concentrate for electrothermal reduction should contain at least 26 pct P205 and should have a weight ratio of silica to lime of not more than 0.80. Since a concentrate of moderate grade can be used in the electric furnace, and since, as Grissom4 has shown in detail, the ore will not bear the cost of expensive treatment, the study of collectors was limited to the relatively inexpensive fatty acids. A secondary objective was to determine whether a portion of the phosphate could be recovered in a grade suitable for treatment with phosphoric acid to produce 45 pct superphosphate. The ore consisted of variably cemented sand interlayered with clay. The sand layers were composed of grains of quartz, phosphate, and clay embedded in a matrix of clay and phosphate. Some clay was finely disseminated in the phosphate grains. Little massive high-grade phosphate was present. The material used in the flotation tests was a washed sand that had been separated from the ore in a bowl classifier at the TVA phosphate-washing plant. The percentage composition of the sand was as follows: P205, 20; Si02, 40; CaO, 29; Fe203, 2; A1203, 3; F, 2.3. The particle-

Jan 1, 1947

By W. David Menzie

An inventory of the mineral resources of a region is a most desirable basis for planning their systematic development. In the absence of appropriate samples upon which to base a reliable estimate of this inventory, investigators have resorted to a number of indirect approaches; the unit regional value concept forms the basis for one such approach. The produced resources of a region are a function of the inventory multiplied by the degree of intensity (some fraction between zero and one) of development of the resources. A convenient means of expressing this amount is to accumulate the weight and value of resource and to prorate the totals over the area represented by the unit sampled; i.e., weight and value per unit area or tonnes/km.2 and U.S. 1967 $/km.2. When this approach is used for the U.S.A., South Africa and Rhodesia the average value of (log.) U.S. 67$/km.2 for the states of the U.S.A. and South Africa are similar ($55,176 U.S.$67/km.2 and $52,538/km.2 respectively); whereas, Rhodesia is relatively underdeveloped (10,301 U.S.67$/km.2). On the other hand if the individual commodities are used as a basis for comparison, the U.S.A. shows the greatest diversity (67 commodities out of a possible total of 75) with South Africa next (50 commodities) and Rhodesia last with only 26 commodities. Since it is known that area and value are not simply related perhaps diversity is directly related to area. Again the kinds of commodities which have contributed the greatest value to the totals differs, with fuels (petroleum, coal and natural gas) predominating in the U.S.A. totals; whereas, South Africa and Rhodesia obtain their greatest contributions from gold, diamonds (S. Africa) coal and asbestos. In each case the greatest value of resources is produced from sedimentary rocks. As a somewhat different kind of example, consider a single resource (petroleum, the most valuable in the U.S.A.) over a large area (number of sampling units) the U.S.A. by state. Furthermore, assume that the model frequency distribution of the amount of petroleum (tonnes/km.2) is log normal. Then the present production fails to match the model first because 17 states (34% out of 50) have not produced petroleum. Of the remaining 33 states, Louisiana has produced the most (15,177 tonnes/km.2) and the frequency histogram is still skew. A spatial analysis of the distribution of the amount of petroleum by state shows that the samples (i.e., states) are not random; the non-producers and producers tend to cluster. It remains to be seen if this is indeed a true representation of the incidence of petroleum or is a function of the exploration philosophy currently in vogue.

Jan 1, 1977

By Paul Weir

PRODUCTION METHODS in the bituminous coal mines in the United States are undergoing many changes. Although the primary object of these changes is the production of a better product at a cheaper cost there are other considerations such as the improvement of conditions under which miners live and work. The almost complete unionization of the manual workers in the industry during the past four years has 'brought with it a stabilization of wages on a relatively high basis and of hours of work per day and per week on a relatively low basis. With differentials in wages between producing districts firmly established, and with a nation- wide and uniform application of in-

Jan 1, 1937

By AIME AIME

T HE Executive Board of the American Engineering Council held its fourth meeting at St. Louis on the first anniversary of the organizing conference which met in Washington on June 3,1920. Representatives of a number of the leading engineering organizations in the vicinity of St. Louis were present by invitation. The members of the Executive Board were guests of the Associated Engineering Societies of St. Louis. They were given a delightful ride about the city and were entertained at the Glen Echo Country Club at dinner. The special committee that had been appointed to draft resolutions to Mr. Hoover submitted the following, which were adopted : WHEREAS, our President, Herbert Hoover, has been appointed Secretary of Commerce in the Cabinet of the President of the United States, and WHEREAS, in consequence of his acceptance of this high public office, he has deemed it necessary to tender his resignation as President of The Federated American Engineering Societies.

Jan 1, 1921

By C. H. Mahoney, A. L. Tarr, P. E. Le Grand

Magnesium, it is now generally realized, differs in some important aspects from most other structural metals, not excepting even its close neighbors, the aluminum-base alloys. This is particularly true with respect to the effects of elevated temperatures on the two light metals when in the molten state. Aluminum, 0' the one hand, should not be raised above its melting point any higher than is absolutely necessary if one is to avoid danger of gas absorption and a tendency toward grain growth in the resultant casting.' Magnesium alloys, in sharp contrast, actually benefit by being heated to temperatures considerably above their melting point, It is a commonly accepted practice to establish the desired fine grain in the industrial magnesium alloys of the aluminum-hearing group by raising the temperature of the melt after the refining treatment to some 250°C (482°F.) above the melting range. To recall briefly the typical practice for magnesium alloys, the molten metal is refined by fluxing at about 730°C. (I350°F.), and after the melt has been covered with a suitable flux, the temperature is raised to between 870°C. (I600°F.) and 930°C. (1700°F.). It is then cooled as quickly as possible to the casting temperature. This superheating, as it is called, results in a fine-grained cast metal structure which has superior mechanical properties, enhanced amenability to 'solution heat-treatment, and better machinability than cast metal that has not been superheated. The minimum temperature of superheating varies to some extent with the composition of the alloys to be treated and usually increases with the percentage of magnesium in alloys containing the same constituent metals.' It should be noted that the grain-refining effect of superheating is markedly apparent only in connection with the alloys containing aluminum as an alloying Constituent—the binary alloy containing 1.5 per cent manganese, for example, is not refined in grain to any noticeable extent by a superheating effort. While the phenomenon of superheating is well known in the magnesium industry, the mechanism of the process has remained a mystery During the superheating cycle something occurs that forces a fine grain upon the solidifying metal. The process has been controlled in an empirical manner, and occasionally, especially on large-scale melts, and for no apparent cause, no grain refinement is obtained from a superheating treatment. Only a few papers of importance have been published on the subject. Of these, one of the most helpful is the paper by Achenbach, Nipper and Piwowarski,3 which gives considerable data concerning the effect of superheating on various properties such as fluidity, shrinkage and hot crack

Jan 1, 1945

By T. L. CONDRON

DURING the past fourteen months, this committee has had under consideration and study the subject of the licensing or registration of engineers. The fifteen members of the committee as appointed by Council, were selected from thirteen states, viz., Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, California and Washington, and therefore represent practically all sections* of the United States, as well as mechanical, electrical, mining, hydraulic, municipal, sanitary, railway and' structural engineering, and also colleges of engineering. The first work of the committee was to investigate the general subject and to collect, so far as possible, avail¬able material bearing upon the subject in hand,. in-' eluding opinions from many engineers as to the need or desirability of legislation, as well as copies of all state laws passed and proposed, having to do with licensing or registration of engineers, architects and surveyor, This preliminary investigation disclosed that very pronounced views were held by engineers throughout the country, both for and against state licensing or registration. The general sentiment one year ago was more opposed to such measures than it is today. The older members of the profession did not as a rule favor licensing nor did they feel there was need for state regulation of engineering practice, while among the younger men there was a feeling that licensing or registration by the states would add prestige to professional engineers and in many ways benefit -the profession, as well as individual engineers.

Jan 1, 1920

By Reginald Williams

THE amount or value of the precious metals consumed in dentistry is probably amazing to most people. It falls very little short of that which is consumed in jewelry. Inasmuch as the ultimate destination is in the human mouth, dental alloys enjoy some importance because life and health depend upon restorations made with them. Prosthetic dentistry has made wonderful progress in the last few years. The manufacturers who supply the metals also deserve commendation. This industry which deals with metals to go into people's mouths is comparatively new. There is no literature on the subject, and little or no precedent by which to be guided. It was only by close cooperation with the dentist or prosthetic technician that desirable physical properties were produced, as nearly as possible, in the metals which were available and permissible. It is true that there were and still are conflicting opinions among the dentists as to the physical properties they require. Sometimes they request the impossible, such as alloys which are exceedingly stiff and springy, yet will bend or adjust easily. Even in this latter instance, progress has been made by supplying methods of heat-treatment whereby metals may be softened or hardened at will. (Figs. 1 and 2.) The demands made upon manufacturers are extremely varied. They must supply metals of tensile strengths ranging from approximately 30,000 to 100,000 lb. per sq. in. and over. The latter metals must be workable and in many instances capable of extreme deformation. They must not be affected by mouth conditions, nor should they oxidize greatly when molten, at red heat, or during a soldering operation. In addition to physical specifications, color demands must also be met. The firm of which I have the most knowledge manufacturers 11,553 standard stock articles of precious metals, taking into consideration formulas, finenesses, grades, colors, gages, lengths, sizes and weights. If special demands are taken into consideration, the number would be in excess of 25,000. Wrought metals are manufactured in a great many alloys of different sizes and shapes, such as plate, bar, rod, wire, sheet, strip, mesh and foil. There are also other products of importance.

Jan 1, 1928

By Frank J. Markewicz, William Lodding

Greensand, greensand marl, and green earth are names given to sediments rich in the bluish green to greenish black mineral known as glauconite by the mineralogist. The word glauconite is from the Greek word glaukos, meaning bluish green. The term "greensand" as a rock name for a glauconite-bearing sediment is more appropriate than "greensand marl," a term that has been doggedly perpetuated in the literature. Because of its potash and phosphate content, greensand was dug and marketed as a fertilizer and soil conditioner for more than 100 years. The advent of prepared fertilizers with adjustable nutrient ratios led to the decline of green- sand for agricultural application. The material has since been recognized for use in water treatment. Unfortunately, in spite of large reserves and worldwide distribution, the mineral has not been utilized to any significant commercial extent because no major application has been found for a substance with its chemical composition and properties. This lack is probably due to a paucity of research on its potential commercial application. Extraction of potash received considerable attention during and just after World War I. Because of relatively high extraction costs and generally low potash content (up to 8%), glauconite lost its appeal as a source of this commodity. Historical Background Greensand was used as a fertilizer in New Jersey in the latter part of the 1700s. During the early 1800s its use became more common; applications of up to 100 tons per acre were sometimes made, although recommendations for agricultural use suggested 20 to 50 tons per acre (Tedrow, 1957). Many crops, especially the forage type, were said to improve with greensand application; however, because of slow release of potash, large quantities were required. Certain greensands that contain sulfur and sulfide minerals are harmful to plant growth, and these were classified as "poison," "burning," or "black marls." The availability of higher-grade potash salts from other mineral sources, and the manufacture of prepared fertilizers, displaced the agricultural use of green- sand during the later 1800s. During the mid-1800s the domestic greensand industry, centered in a small section of the eastern United States, grossed more than $500,000 per year. Toward the end of the century, annual production had dwindled to less than $100,000. By 1910 there were only six or eight greensand producers, grossing less than $5000 (Tyler, 1934). There was a small revival in the industry during World War I because of the curtailment of foreign potash, especially from Germany. During the later 1940s and early 1950s greensand was again recommended as a food nutrient for plants and farm crops. Agronomic studies discussed its potential as a soil additive that gradually releases potash and many trace- element nutrients essential for plant growth (Tedrow, 1957). Greensand was sold with the idea that it would condition soil and absorb and hold water while its base-exchange properties would release trace elements. For a short time glauconite was utilized in certain parts of New Jersey as a binding additive in the brick industry, and in the 1800s for making green glass (Cook, 1868). In the early 1900s the base-exchange property of glauconite was recognized for water treatment, and the mineral gained acceptance as a water softener. Mansfield ( 1922) does not mention base-exchange; however, the base ex-

Jan 1, 1975

By W. L., Yerkes

AN interesting study of the application of air-, conditioning to the problem of mine ventilation and cooling can be found on the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Here there are a large number of deep mines in a relatively small area. Due to the nature of the reef, many mines are working at a depth of 6000 ft. and some have gone down to 8000 and 9000 ft. below the surface. At such depths, even in a country geologically as old as Africa, the virgin rock temperature approaches 110°F. The flow of heat from the- rock to the ventilation air is tremendous though the shaft or drift may have been open to ventilation for some years. In addition, there is the heat produced by machinery, lights, and men at work and the heat of adiabatic compression of air introduced into the mine. The difference in atmosphere pressure between the collar of a shaft and a level 6000 ft. below is nearly 3lb. per sq. in., resulting in an increase in heat content of nearly four B.T.U. per pound of air delivered to the mine at surface. Further the exclusive use of wet mining to reduce the incidence of miner?s phthisis increases the latent- heat content of the air.

Jan 1, 1941

By H. W. Hardinge

DISREGARDING for the present the economic side of a new device, let us turn to that feature of the conical pebble-mill which is of interest from a scientific point of view, and consider the device as a puzzle in which the theories of the cylindrical type of mill have been increased. Many articles have been written on the theory of the tube-mill, and explanations have been made which do not explain.; but these have evolved suggestions of practice which have resulted in changes in the tube as to length, diameter, feed, discharge, speed of rotation, rotation on hollow trunnions, rotation on rings, and changes in the operation as to quantity and size of pebbles, charge of load above or below the axis, crushing by causing the larger pieces of the material of the charge to act as grinders, etc. The practical worker in crushing is first interested in the endeavor to reach an economic means of accomplishing a desired end; but the improvements in crushing-practice have been largely left to the manufacturer of machinery, who, as a rule, has little, if any, knowledge of the specific requirements-such as sizing for concentration without pulverizing the metals, instead of pulverizing the rock or gangue; the metals being the more friable, while the rock is tough and not so easily disintegrated. A reversal of this practice is the aim of sliming direct for cyanidation. In the ordinary cylindrical mill, having a diameter of 4 or 5 ft. and a length of from 15 to 27 ft., it has been found that the maximum size of the particles of the charge must not exceed 1 mm. (about 25 mesh), some of which, upon entering the mill, is immediately reduced to a slime. The work upon the individual particle having been finished, it should be passed out of the mill; but, instead of this, the finely comminuted material

Jan 7, 1908

By M. W. Lightner

IN 1947 the steel industry rebounded from its wartime effort and produced a record-breaking peacetime tonnage of steel ingots. During the first six months of the year the industry produced 42,000,000 tons of ingots and expected to produce 85,000,000 tons for the year. With a rated capacity of some 91,000,000 tons, production was at a rate of about 93 per cent of capacity. Credit must be extended to the steel producers who have maintained this steady state of operations while faced with many problems, not the least of which was a continued shortage of satisfactory scrap. Furthermore, the steel industry started a record-breaking peacetime expansion program at a total cost of more than $1,000,000,000. This program will increase the ingot-making capacity of the country by 2,500,000 tons and should be completed in 1948.

Jan 1, 1948

By Bauer. Larry G.

The vast coal reserves in the Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota region are sufficient to supply the total energy needs of the United States for several hundred years. Not only is there an abundance of this sub-bituminous and lignite coal available, but it is easily obtainable by strip-mining . The overburden varies from several feet to several hundred feet. This western coal has yet another asset, namely, a low sulfur content. Whereas eastern and midwestern coal has a sulfur content of 2.5%, the upper Great Plains coal contains sulfur in the 0.5% range. The importance of the sulfur content of the coal is a direct result of federal government emission standards for sulfur dioxide (SO2). Hand (1) points out that "sub-bituminous coals and lignites have a propensity for retaining this sulfur in the ash under certain conditions which is not evident in higher rank coals." This would tend to reduce further the SO2 concentration in the combustion gases of boilers. Western coal is no panacea, however, in that it is far removed from most population and industrial centers. Furthermore, the moisture content of the coal varies from 20 to 40%. This moisture is almost exclusively inherent, that is, it is chemically and physically bound to the organic matter of the coal. It is believed that the water forms a part of the coal structure perhaps as water of hydration of organic salts or organic acids, perhaps by hydrogen bonding, or perhaps by simple adsorption (2). The primary market for this coal is the electric power industry. Lesser markets will be as coke for the steel industry and possible as a raw material for coal gasification and coal liquefaction plants.

Jan 1, 1983

By D. Harrington

ANNUAL or necessary inspections and investigations of coal mines for various purposes were made possible through the Federal Coal Mine Inspection Act of May 7, 1941, which authorized entry to the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Mines. Primary object of these inspections is to obtain information pertaining to health and safety conditions. Among the purposes for which the data are to be used, are annual reports to Congress, the publication of inspection reports, and the compilation and publication of statistics. The act states that inspections and investigations shall be made by employees of the Bureau of Mines, who shall co-operate with other bureaus of the U. S. Department of the Interior, as well as with the official mine-inspection, safety cr health agencies of the several states and territories. The act specifies that a coal-mine inspector shall have "the basic qualifica-

Jan 1, 1946

Jan 1, 1885

By C. A. Heiland

NOT only has the demonstration of progress in all fields of science been characteristic of the Chicago "Century of Progress," but the manner in which the fundamentals of these sciences have been displayed captivated the visitor's eye and ear at the same time. The average individual is interested most in progress which concerns his every-day life. He is fairly well educated in medicine, biology and certain aspects of physics. But how raw materials and chiefly minerals occur, how they are located, taken out of the ground and refined, is something which appears to be more remote from the every-day line of interest, and about which, therefore, the public knows comparatively little. This is particularly true of the oil industry, although it ranks in size second only to agriculture in the United States. In appreciation of the tremendous educational value which a complete exhibit on all phases of the mineral industries would have, both mining and metallurgical as well as oil inter¬ests took steps early to make these exhibits at Chicago a reality. The board of directors of the A. I. M. E. authorized an advisory committee to the Museum of Science and Industry early in 1932. It is divided into four subcommittees - for geology and petroleum, for metal mining, for coal mining, and for metallurgy respectively. The entire committee held its first meeting in Chicago on April 11 and 12, 1932, to advise with the Museum's officials and experts about the most advantageous arrangement of the minerals industries' and geology exhibits.

Jan 1, 1933