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By AIME AIME

In the present number of Mining and Metallurgy, issued on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Institute, it appears appropriate to chronicle a few of the interesting incidents respecting its early life. We are fortunate in being able to cull the following notes from unpublished manuscripts of Doctor Raymond and Doctor Drinker, than whom no other members could have written with greater exactness and fidelity. THE seventh decade of the 19th century may be said to have marked an. era in the history of the world. Industrially and .commercially it was marked by the wide application and utilization of discoveries already made, which came to their full effect at this period in steamships, railways, telegraph and cable lines; the standardization of parts in machines, from watches to locomotives; the use of 'dynamite, antiseptic surgery, the open-hearth steel process, the compressed-air rock-drill, the electric generator, and the Gatling gun. Through the opening of the Suez canal in 1870 the maritime trade of the world was revolutionized, sailing vessels were supplanted by steamers, while ocean cables and ocean "tramps" brought about far more rapid movement of commerce than had before been experienced. Politically, this period was marked by the sudden birth of the German empire and the beginning of that intensive internal development of the national resources of that empire in preparation for colonial extension and war, the amazing result of which has been made evident by the recent world conflict. In the United States, the significance of this decade was peculiarly important. The re-admission to the union of Virginia, Mississippi, Texas and Georgia in

Jan 1, 1921

An appropriate change in Art. I, Sec. 9, of the bylaws was voted by the Board on April 16 whereby, in the case of Student Associates applying for change of status to Junior Member, only two endorsers are needed instead of three, provided one of them is the same member who endorsed his original application for Student Associateship.

Jan 1, 1952

By Charles Will Wright

ALTHOUGH the United States has long led all other countries in both the production and consumption of mineral products, the trend seems definitely toward an increasing dependence upon foreign sources of supply. This is not to take the position that we are either a have or a have-not nation. For years we shall continue to secure a large proportion of our needed minerals: from our own mines, but we must face the fact that this century has seen "a more thorough and intense development of the mineral resources of the United States and a greater depletion of its irreplaceable mineral reserves than has occurred in most other countries. An audit of our mineral production given in the attached charts discloses the extent of our deficiencies. Because of these facts, low-cost foreign sources offer a promising field for the investment of a portion of our mining capital and an opportunity to obtain for the United States a greater supply of strategic metals and minerals. How. ever, to reach this end, the industrialist investing in the foreign field must have the full co-operation and strong backing of the Federal Government and the involved Federal agencies.

Jan 1, 1947

By GEORGE D. RAMSAY

WHEN the Ironton blast furnace of the Columbia Steel , Co. was first put into operation the iron ore was mined frol11 the deposit near Iron Springs, Utah. This is principally a hematite with 12 to 20 per cent of magnetite finely disseminated throughout the ore. It varies from a fairly soft broken rock structure to that which is hard and compact. In the broken form it will weigh about 150 lb. per cu. ft., and in place the density is approximately 250 lb. per cu. ft. The first ore received for the blast furnace was crushed so as to pass through approximately a 4-in. square opening screen. A typical screen test of this ore is shown in Table 1.

Jan 1, 1935

By Thomas T., Read

SUGGESTIONS that existing schools give instruction bearing on the mineral industry, or that schools for that purpose should be established in the United States, began to be made early, and it would require too much space to catalogue them all. Some of the more important may be mentioned to indicate their general character. In the "advertisement to such parents as have now (or expect to have) children prepared to be educated in the College of New York," which appeared in the New York Mercury of June 3, 1754, Samuel Johnson, the first president of King's College, the predecessor of Columbia, said that it was the "design of this college to instruct and perfect the youth," among other things, "in the arts of Numbering and Measuring of Surveying, and Navigation and Geography. . . . and in the Air, Water and Earth around us, and, the various kinds of Meteors, Stones, Mines and Minerals, Plants and Animals; and in the knowledge of all Nature in the Heavens above us, and of everything useful for the Comfort, Convenience and the Elegance of Life . . . " Though the concept that natural science should be used to enlarge the bounds of human life was thus implicit at Columbia from the very beginning (John Stevens graduated from it in 1768, James Renwick in 1807, Horatio Allen in 1823, and A. W. Craven in 1829), it was only during the period of Renwick's professorship of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and Chemistry (1820- 1853) that much attention was given to applied science.* Among the Austin papers, published by the American Historical Association,2 there is a draft in Stephen F. Austin's handwriting of a proposed memorial from the legislature of Missouri to Congress, not only urging "the propriety and utility

Jan 1, 1941

By V. C. Perini

The 1943 designation of districts for the Transactions† has caused some confusion because of the elimination of the West Central Texas district and the allocation of the counties of this district to the North Texas district and the North Central Texas district. The North Central Texas district as herein defined includes the counties of Brown, Callahan, Cole-man, Comanche, Coryell, Eastland, Erath, Fisher, Hamilton, Hood, Jones, Lampasas, Mills, Nolan, Palo Pinto, Parker, San Saba, Shackelford, Stephens, Stonewall, Summerville, Taylor, Throckmorton and Wise. These counties as listed are the counties of District 7B, State Railroad Commission. This district covers the south central crest and the west flank of the Bend flexure north of the Llano uplift. The west flank of the Bend flexure is on the east boundary of the Permian Basin of West Texas. The North Texas district, District No. 9, State Railroad Commission, includes the counties of Archer, Clay, Cooke, Foard, Hardeman, Jack, Knox, Montague, Wichita, Wilbarger and Young. The area of this district covers the crest and south flank of the Red River uplift and the north central crest of the Bend flexure. The greater part of the oil and gas produced in the past from the North Central Texas district has been from Pennsyl-vanian strata. Some oil and gas has been produced from the lower Permian (by the latest selection of the Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary') and minor amounts from the Mississippian and Ordovician sediments. Increasingly important quantities of oil and gas are to be expected from the older sediments by deeper development in proven fields and by new discoveries. Most of the oil and gas in the district has accumulated in localized, well-defined structural traps in limestone and sandstone reservoirs and in traps due to stratigraphic changes in sedimentation, mainly porosity traps in limestone and sandstone lenses, both usually associated with some structural feature. The Stripper Well Premium Plan as adopted by the office of the Federal Price Administrator has been an aid to the producers of stripper wells. The producers are pleased to receive the subsidy to prolong the plugging of wells, but they are not too pleased with the subsidy plan in principle. Most independent operators are in favor of, and think they are entitled to, an increase in the market price for oil. The price is not adequate to meet the requirements of the average independent operator with the continued advance in production, development and wildcatting costs. Old and new pipe lines for oil and gas leading out of the state are removing reserves at an alarming rate. Curves showing the rate of discovery versus production and pipe-line deliveries in and out of the state make a cross that sooner or later will be fatal to the state. Wildcatting not only needs a price increase but every other available incentive and encouragement.

Jan 1, 1945

By George S. Rice

Ten years ago: October, 1914, the author had the privilege of giving an illustrated address on investigations of coal-dust explosions1 to this Institute at one session of its fall meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa,. On the following day, the members had the opportunity of seeing a large-scale explosion test at the Experimental Mine near Bruceton, in which the explosion was made to follow a predetermined path by means of rock-dust barriers of various types, which had prevented the explosive waves from reaching the outlets of the mine by the shortest paths.2 There was also shown a ((home-made" rock-dusting machine discharging the dust from a flexible nozzle, and a cement gun operated for the quick erection of a fire or ventilation stopping, such as might be put up after an explosion. Following that paper, there was presented a paper by J. Taffanel, Director of the Lìévin testing station in the Pas de Calais, which reviewed the French coal-dust investigations.3 A paper4 by Howard N. Eavenson contains lists of explosions that occurred in North America and Great Britain, from early in the 19th century to 1912; in France to 1903, and Belgium to 1909. Although explosions still occur, we are hopeful that we have entered a happier freedom from these visitations, as the result of increased knowledge of the causes and means of prevention. Looking back over coal-dust investigations, there appear to have been periods of advance and of stagnation. Coal-dust Investigations From the earliest times of coal mining, which chiefly affected Great Britain as the first nation to take up coal mining on a large scale, to the beginning of the 19th century, no one thought of coal dust as an explosive agency; firedamp was the cause dreaded. It was believed, when Sir Humphrey Davy invented his safety lamp in 1815, that a solution had been found for the prevention of mine explo-

Jan 1, 1925

By L. C. Graton

At the Tenth International Geological Congress, Mexico, 1906, Waldemar Lindgren presented "The Relation of Ore Deposition to Physical Conditions." Retrospect ranks it as the outstanding offering at that Session and as the most fundamental contribution up to that date on the philosophy of ore deposition. Elaborating thereon in his text-book "Mineral Deposits," Lindgren analyzed ore-forming processes under conditions prevailing from great depth up to surface; explained the nature of deposition in each environment; and developed a comprehensive genetic ore classification, which brought wide acceptance and enriching contributions by many. Since Lindgren's latest edition (1933), have come wealths of material relevant to ore genesis, particularly through amazing renaissance and proliferation throughout science. Current publication regarding ores now emanates largely from a generation caught in pressures of the breathless modern tempo, which tempts scant reflection upon earlier truths. Consequently, today's thrilling output contains not a few offerings that need challenge because supplanting interrelationship and system by what seems, collectively, an assemblage of strange, ad hoc and often self-contradictory concepts. From these latter some merit may eventuate but at the probable cost of present confusion and delayed progress. The following pages, naming numerous post-Lindgren advances, record the conviction, held by many, that Lindgren's philosophy, progressively improved, remains the soundest approach to understanding ore genesis.

Jan 1, 1968

By Michael Perch

The fact that coal is a complex organic material and heterogeneous in composition has made its study extremely difficult, particularly in regard to obtaining a fundamental concept of the processes involved in the formation of coke. It has been stated recently that coals are natural polymers and that in a complex reaction such as occurs during carbonization the differences between coals are quantitative and not qualitative. Such being the case, it would be expected, therefore, that a series of coals subjected to exactly the same conditions of coking would produce results that should be related quantitatively to the chemical analyses of the individual coals. In the past, however, this fact was not generally recognized and consequently many empirical test methods were devised for testing coals. The interpretation of the results obtained depended upon comparing a set of data with other data on coals of known characteristics. The testing procedure had to be con- ducted in precisely the same manner each time and not the least requirement in making the interpretation was experience. The test methods varied from those utilizing a gram of coal to the plant-scale tests in which one or more ovens were charged with the test coal. The aim had been principally to find some simple, inexpensive means by which the coke-making and other properties of coal could be predicted. It is not necessary to emphasize the importance of these endeavors, for anyone acquainted with the problems involved in the selection of coals for making coke is well aware of the time and expense involved in making a series of definitive tests.

Jan 1, 1949

By J. Mizrahi, A. M. Baniel, A. Mitzmager, S. Star

This article gives an account of the latest developments in the use of TBE for sink-float separation of silicate minerals. A number of minerals for which the process has been tested and found suitable are reviewed. Specific examples are discussed in relation to the particular problems of sink-float separation and recovery of TBE as compared with non-silicate minerals. The economic aspects are outlined. Silica and silicates comprise the most common and abundant group of minerals, and since they are present in variable amounts in most ores, they constitute an appropriate subject for the review and discussion of the recent developments in the use of TBE for mineral concentration. The silicates considered as a group have an extremely wide range of chemical and physical properties. Some of these properties, which are common to all minerals, are of importance to concentration by TBE and are discussed in some detail in this paper, as well as the development of methods and apparatus for concentration and recovery of TBE and several examples of concentration of silicates. PROPERTIES OF MINERALS WITH RESPECT TO CONCENTRATION BY TBE The properties considered as most important to concentration by TBE are specific gravity, structure, surface and shape. The specific gravity of a mineral is a fundamental property and is constant between very close limits for the same species of different sources if particles are pure and free from cavities or cracks. In many species, however, solid inclusions and changes in chemical composition due to replacement of elements cause variations in the specific gravity. The plagio-clase series of feldspars between albite and anorthite illustrate this point (specific gravity from 2.60 to 2.77). Fig. 1 shows the specific gravity distribution of some of the common silicate minerals.' The highest specific gravity is about 4.7 (zircon) and the lowest is 2.0 (sepiolite), with most of them ranging between 2.6 and 3.5. Although most of the silicates given in Fig. 1 are found as constituents of rocks, those generally considered as rock making minerals are comparatively few. They include quartz, feldspars, nephelite, sodalite, leucite, mica, pyroxenes, amphiboles, chrysolite, kaolin, talc and serpentine. These minerals may appear in igneous rocks as coarse crystals in granites, syenites and diorites or as very fine grained dispersions in basalt and felsite. When the latter rocks occur in an ore, their specific gravities depend on the minerals present and structure. The same is true for the sedimentary and metamorphic rocks (sandstones, shales, gneiss, slate, schists). A comparison of specific gravities for the minerals listed in Fig. 1 with that of TBE (see Table I) shows that the important rock-forming minerals, with the exception of pyroxenes, amphiboles and chrysolite (olivine), lie in the specific gravity range of less than 2.96 and can therefore be separated by TBE. The ore structure is important both in determining the apparent specific gravity and the efficiency of TBE recovery. The structure can be compact (as in

Jan 1, 1963

By AIME AIME

T HE Board of Directors of the A. I. M. E. held a meeting at Institute headquarters on Jan. 28, 1921. There were present 10 directors and 14 guests, the secretary and the assistant secretary. The following actions of the Executive and Finance Committees were approved: Wilkes-Barre Meeting, Sept. 12 to 17, 1921; authorization of Oregon Section; authorization of Upper Peninsula Section; appointment of Philip W. Henry and Thomas H. Leggett on special committee on Code of Ethics; and presentation of five copies of Raymond Memorial Volume to T. A. Rickard, who edited it. The By-Laws of the Ohio Section were approved. The resolutions in reference to the payment of certain contributions and assessments to the Library Board of the United Engineering Societies, adopted by the Board of Directors on June 27, 1919, were rescinded, and the resolution adopted that the income of the James Douglas Trust of $100,000 be paid over to the Library or otherwise applied by it for the purpose of maintaining the Scientific Library of this Institute in such manner as may be deemed advisable in furtherance of the purposes of such trust, and that said income shall be paid on account of and included in. the assessment levied by the United Engineering Societies on the Institute for the maintenance of the joint libraries of the Founder Societies.

Jan 1, 1921

By AIME AIME

IF the observation of our British friends is true that Americans put new records in bigness above everything else then the 150th meeting of the Institute was not the grand success it seemed to be. Just why the attendance slumped a little this year is anyone's guess, but the favourite explanation seemed to be that half the country is planning to come to the New York World's Fair this summer and that two trips from the hinterland to the me- tropolis, with another to San Francisco of course, can hardly be justified with the present condition of the stock market and the prices of the products of our mines. Certainly, some were pre- vented from coming too by the epidemic of respiratory afflictions that was rampant in February. Unfortunately. several succumbed after they had reached New York.

Jan 1, 1939

By AIME AIME

PRACTICALLY all the Section delegates as well as a sprinkling of Institute officers and mere members were on hand for the annual business meeting of the Institute on Monday afternoon of the Annual Meeting. President McAuliffe presided, with C. H. Mathewson as associate chairman. Americo Albala was first called on to discuss the work of the Pan American Institute of Mining Engineering and Geology. C. Will Wright said that the need for such an organization was evident, and a resolution was passed asking the incoming President to appoint a committee to investigate cooperation with that body, of which Mr. Albala is executive secretary.

Jan 1, 1943

By Paul M. Tyler

NOW that the dust of World War II has settled and we and our allies are faced with extravagant losses of men, money, and materials, virtually the only hope that the United States and Britain have in the way of reparations lies in the capture of industrial, technical, and scientific secrets. Even during the war American and British scientists and technicians gained access to German factories, questioned German personnel, studied German documents, and endeavored generally to keep pace with new discoveries in science, industrial technology, and process development. Under various agencies this work continued for two years after the war. Altogether at least 600 American scientists and industrialists have gone to Germany and brought back reports and several times as many British, Canadian, and. Australian investigators have been similarly engaged under co-operative arrangements designed to assure the maximum of coverage with a minimum duplication of effort. As a result of these investigations and document studies, about 500 or 600 reports have been prepared on metallurgical and allied subjects. Those by American authors or joint teams have been listed in the annotated Bibliography of Scientific and Industrial Reports, issued by the Office of Technical Services in the U. S. Department of Commerce. Many of the British reports are also available in this country through the same office or through a British representative in New York. Since it was my duty to read most of these reports for

Jan 1, 1948

Jan 1, 1880

By AIME AIME

ON Sept. 24, 1875, a remarkable deposit of silver ore was discovered by James Ryan and Samuel Hawkes at the east base of Grampian Hill in central Beaver County, Utah.. A shaft was begun and had been sunk about 30 ft. in ore when the claim was sold on Feb. 17, 1876, to A. G. Campbell, Matthew Cullen, Dennis Ryan, and A. Byram for $25,000. To them is due the credit of having developed the mine and started the district on the road to its present state of prosperity. Their development resulted in proving the vein to a depth of over 280 ft. and about 2500 tons of ore was extracted and turned into bullion. In February, 1879, the mine came into the possession of the Horn Silver Mining Co., and since then over $65,000,000 worth of ore has been taken from the mine. Two smelters were built in 1878, near the mine; 400 men were employed underground, and 1000 on the surface, burning charcoal, hauling wood from the surrounding hills, and freighting and hauling hay for the hundreds of horses used in the work. Ore was hauled thirty miles to the

Jan 1, 1936

By A. J. Mcintosh

PRICE changes in competing fuels in the last three decades have reflected the changes in the consuming habits of the people of the United States. Prior to World War 11 the importance of fuel oil and fuel gas increased almost constantly while the relative importance of both bituminous and anthracite coal decreased. During this same prewar period coal prices increased to a much greater extent than oil prices. In fact, in many years, oil prices declined and in most cases are now no higher than they were back in 1925-26. During the war natural economic trends were entirely upset because of the tremendous petroleum requirements of the Army and Navy. Under these conditions many industrial plants were converted to the use of coal and the new installations in home heating and industrial plants of all kinds which might have used oil were practically eliminated. Although petroleum prices were rigidly controlled by OPA coal prices increased several times during the war. An over-all statement as to the rela-

Jan 1, 1947

By F. N. Rhines, A. S. Nemy

The mode of high-temperature tertiary creep of 523-0 aluminum alloy was found to be strongly stress dependent. The occurrence of necking and/or fissures during tertiary creep exhibited a sequence with varying stress, wherein fissures with no necking occur at a minimum stress and necking with no fissures occur at a maximum stress. At an intermediate stress, tertiary creep begins without necking but with fissures in a region just beneath the external surface, followed by necking and the development of fissures along the axis of the specimen. The results are interpreted in terms of grain boundary gliding and the hydrostatic stresses produced by restraints to grain boundary gliding. THERE appear to be two possible reasons for the existence of a period of accelerating elongation prior to rupture during high-temperature creep in metals; namely, 1) a change in the structure of the metal itself, leading to a change in its response to loading, and 2) a reduction in the cross section of the metal resulting in a higher unit loading. Howe,' by annealing and retesting broken low-temperature creep specimens, found that irreparable damage is done once a metal is subjected to creep. Andrade2 first pointed out the association between the reduction in cross section and the increase in creep rate. The present research was designed to investigate both of these factors by retesting specimens machined from material which had been subjected to high-temperature creep testing short of rupture. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD An aluminum alloy, 52s-0, was selected for these studies because it is constitutionally simple, is strong enough to be relatively insensitive to mechanical damage during machining,3 and undergoes accelerating creep in a convenient temperature range. This alloy is hardened by 2.6 wt pct Mg in solid solution and is not subject to overaging effects; it has a very small quantity of an insoluble impurity phase, Mg2Si, finely dispersed throughout its micro-structure. Creep specimens, similar in design to ASTM 0.252-in. tensile specimens, were machined from 3/4-in. round stock and the surfaces were electro-polished. A 24-hr anneal at 500°C was then applied to stabilize the grain size to an average diameier of 0.27 mm. Subsequent heating for as long as 700 hr at the intended test temperatures produced no change in the tensile properties, indicating a well-stabilized state of the material. Corresponding to each of the typical testing conditions listed in Table I, one creep specimen was tested to destruction and this test was employed as a guide in the selection of times for subsequent tests. Duplicate creep tests were then run to various points along the creep curve to produce specimens which were used to determine changes in mechanical properties and microstructures. The latter were examined at the midsections of the specimens. Other specimens were tested to various stages of tertiary creep, after which they were remachined to new cylindrical test specimens, electropolished and re-tested in creep. RESULTS The major findings of this investigation may be illustrated by a comparison of the results of three sets of creep tests. These were run at 400°C at three stress levels, namely 750, 1000, and 1500 psi. In presenting these results in Figs. 1, 5, and 8, the creep curves are given in pairs: That curve of each pair which is drawn through filled circles corresponds to the initial test, and the curve drawn through open circles (and designated by - R) represents the result of retesting the same specimen after machining to a new cylindrical surface. The load was readjusted to the original unit stress at the beginning of each retest.

Jan 1, 1960

By W. L. Saunders

IMPORTANCE OF ROCK DRILLING. IT has been estimated that the value of the mineral products of the United States is about $2,000,000,000 a year; that about $25,000,000 is expended. annually for explosives and that about double this sum is paid in wages where blasting is done. The value of the mineral products does not adequately express the importance of the industry involved in the excavation of rock and ore because of the enormous sums of money expended in tunnel driving, in quarries, and in open-cut excavation generally. We know that the Catskill Aqueduct in the neighborhood of New York, which is now nearing completion, has cost some $165,000,000 and that about one-third of this may be rated as rock excavation. These illustrations are given in order to call attention to the great importance of an industry the extension and development of which in our industrial life depend so much upon the economics of rock drilling. Reference has been made to the new Catskill Aqueduct. There are three aqueducts leading into New York, each built at periods separated by some 20 years of time. 'The first one, known as the Old Aqueduct, conveys the waters of the Croton river to New York City in a manner which reminds one of the old Roman aqueducts, the ruins of which are still in evidence. The engineers who laid out these old conduits sought to direct their lines around the hills and into the valleys, at all times avoiding the rock. When it was necessary to cross a river or a deep ravine, a bridge or causeway was constructed. High Bridge, over the Harlem river, is an arched masonry viaduct differing in no essential features from the aqueducts of the Romans. When the second Croton Aqueduct was built, about the year 1890, the art of drilling rock had been so far perfected, and the use of explosives, through the invention of dynamite, had become ,so general, that this waterway was planned and executed on straight lines, following rather than avoiding the rock. The second Croton Aqueduct is a tunnel through rock, about 32 miles in length; material gneiss, almost as hard as granite. Its construction was made practicable by sinking

Jan 9, 1913

By A. KROENLEIN

THE Cromwell 'Pool has been the outstanding development in Oklahoma during the year 1924. . Tonkawa contributed the deep "Slick Sand" bit apparently its 'peak has been reached and like other pools producing from below the Mississippi lime its decline' mill be rapid. After reaching a daily production of 67,000 bbl., the Cromwell Pool is declining because of a lull in -new completions, but a mile extension has revived activity and an area equal to that of the present producing' area is under development and will cause an increase in the present production of 38,000 bbl. This pool is seven months old, has three dry holes in one hundred twenty completions and is actually defined only on the southern extremity. This area has been one of the chief contributors to the .over-production of high gravity oil in the Mid- continent fields and will be such' for the remainder of ' the year. 1924 and first part of 1925.

Jan 1, 1924