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By S. Kraemer

Consumption of plastics has been growing in both the U.S. and world markets since the mid-1930s. This growth is due to plastics being used to make new products and as a replacement material for existing products. This paper develops an understanding of the replacement process by looking at the use of plastic, specifically PVC, in the construction pipe industry. History details the growth of the plastics industry and a discussion of the material selection process indicates the advantages and disadvantages of plastic pipe. Analysis shows that the use of plastic, as an alternative material for pipe, is having a significant effect on the cast iron, copper, clay, and steel industries. For the purpose of understanding the replacement process, three example residential systems were examined with a lifecycle cost analysis being performed. PVC was the material of choice in 1988 for all systems. Even though disposal cost was the one area where PVC was not the most cost effective, disposal costs were not sufficient to offset the overall advantage of using PVC on an economic basis. That plastic competes effectively with other materials, in terms of material properties and cost, indicates that further work should be performed to understand the impact plastics have on other material markets.

Jan 1, 1991

By R. L. Marek

"The number of persons fatally injured in the petroleum industry in California in 1930 was 50, a decrease of 20.6 per cent from 1929, when 63 men accidentally lost their lives. The decrease in the number of fatalities for 1930 has caused the first downward trend in the fatality curve of the California petroleum industry since 1927 and is coincident with a period of little active development in new fields, the shutting in of many wells, and reduced activity in the older fields of the State. That a direct relationship exists between the number of accidental deaths and the rapidity of new field development is particularly emphasized by the fact that in 1929, a year of intensive field development in California, 48 men were killed in the drilling and producing division, whereas in 1930, a year of less development work, only 25 men were killed in this division,The figures for the average number of drilling and producing wells in 1930 decreased appreciably from comparable figures for 1929 and a greater percentage of producing wells were shut—in in 1930 than in 1929."

Dec 1, 1931

By A. G. Starliper

The report covers studies by the Bureau of Mines on the removal of metallic values in two waste products from the Longhorn tin smelter at Texas City, Tex. One product was a slag that contained tin, tungsten, iron, tantalum, and columbium. The other product was a spent acid solution that contained tin, tungsten, iron, lead, copper, zinc, and silver and that came from presmelting treatment of impure tin concentrates. Molten slag was treated with sulfur or sulfur compounds and with coke, calcium carbide, or gaseous reductants to form tin sulfide that volatilized from the charge and to reduce tungsten along with iron and silicon to form a carbon-bearing metallic layer. The metallic layer was treated by an oxidizing alkali roast and then was water-leached to extract the tungsten. The waste acid was used in other experiments to dissolve an iron-tin- tungsten alloy (hardhead) obtained by direct reduction of the slag. An insoluble fraction containing tungsten, silver, silicon, columbium, and tantalum was removed, and copper was cemented on metallic iron, Tin was recovered by cementation on zinc plates, and lead was precipitated by adding sulfate ion. Iron was precipitated by increasing the pH which left a solution containing principally zinc. Slabs of hardhead were electrolyzed in an electrolyte consisting of waste acid to plate out groups of metals at different pH?s. The time did not permit thorough exploration of this method of treatment.

Jan 1, 1962

By R. S. Dean

A large metallurgical experiment station at Salt Lake City to house the works of the Bureau of Mines in the intermountain area properly has long been projected. It finally became possible when a Public Works Allotment of $300,000 was set aside for building and equipment. With the new building assured, the Bureau of Mines decided to move the headquarters of its Metallurgical Division from Washington, D. C., to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was felt that this move would simplify they administrative work of the chief engineer of the division, as all stations devoted primarily to metallurgical work are west of the Mississippi. These include Rolla, Mo.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Pullman, Wash.; Reno, Nev.; Berkeley, Calif.; Boulder City, Nev.; and Tucson, Ariz. In addition to these stations will groups, of investigators working on metallurgical problem, are maintained at Pittsburgh, Pa., and College Park, Md. Salt Like City was clearly a more central point for the direction of this scattered work than Washington, D. C. The building (fig. 1, A and B) was designed from general plans worked out by the authors of this paper. Contraction was begun in March of 1939, and by the end of the year the Metallurgical Division had moved, into its now quarters.

Jan 1, 1940

By Clarence Karr

RESINS from a bituminous pitch, a bituminous coal, a lignite tar, a subbituminous pitch, and an electrode binder pitch wore investigated by the Bureau of Mines. The compositions of these resins were determined by four independent methods of structural detemination: (1) Molecular formula and ring analysis, including ring (2) infrared and ultraviolet spectra; (3) combined pyrolysis/gas chromatography, and (4) catalytic dehyrogenation followed by spectra and pyrolysis. The resin structure was correlated with coal structure, and it was concluded that pitch resins probably consist of essentially unaltered coal molecules carried over with the tar vapors in low-temperature carbonization.

Jan 1, 1966

By H. W. Kilau

The Bureau of Mines evaluated synthetic fluorspars as substitutes for natural fluorspar in basic oxygen steelmaking using a high-temperature rotational viscometer and a quarter-ton basic oxygen furnace (BOF). Consider-able variation in stability and BOF slag fluidizing properties were found when using the initial synthetic products, but improved synthesis methods produced synthetic fluorspars that were generally comparable to natural fluorspar in laboratory testing. Trials in the furnace showed the synthetic products to be operationally the equivalent of natural fluorspar. Higher sulfur and phosphorus contents in some of the synthetic materials did not adversely affect the steel chemistry. Analyses of wet scrubber samples showed evidence that the pelletized synthetic fluorspars experienced greater physical and chemical disintegration than did natural fluorspar. It was also found that operation of a BOF without fluorspar is possible when making low-carbon steels because iron oxide is intrinsically generated as the slag fluidizer.

Jan 1, 1981

By Charles E. McCarthy

Part 1 of this report is concerned with the electric-furnace production of calcium aluminate and iron alloy from a variety of siliceous ferruginous ores of aluminum. The furnacing research was directed, first, to determine the extent of the field in the CaO-Al2O3-SiO2 system, in which calcium aluminates with the optimum leaching characteristics are obtained; second, to produce suitable quantities of these aluminate mixtures for pilot-plant leaching tests; third, to investigate the physical chemistry of the reduction reactions during furnacing; and, fourth, to study the economics of the process. The third and fourth steps were not completed. Part 2 comprises another phase of the work and will appear as a second Report of Investigations. It deals with the extraction of metallurgical-grade alumina from the calcium aluminate slag produced in the electric furnace and includes the following steps: leaching, desilicating, precipitating, dewatering, filtering, and washing of the aluminum hydrate. No claim is made that the data are complete, nor has the chronological order of obtaining data been followed. Rather, it is emphasized that additional work is necessary if the full possibilities of the process are to be evaluated. and made available.

Jan 1, 1949

By W. P. Yant

[This report describes results of a study bf the carbon monoxide and particulate matter in the air of the Holland Tunnel and metropolitan New York made by the Bureau of Mines (which had participated in the development]

Jan 1, 1941

By Frank B. Fulkerson

This is the second of two interrelated studies of waterborne transportation. The first study discussed transportation of mineral commodities on the inland waterways of the South-Central States.2 Together, the two surveys describe and analyze the flow of foreign and inland waterborne commerce of the gulf coast. All the principal mineral-industry imports and exports of the gulf coast are mentioned in the report, including metals, nonmetals, and mineral fuel products, The gulf coast foreign trade in mineral industry products was determined to be composed of a small number of commodities.

Jan 1, 1971

By R. B. Stroud

Bureau of Mines studies of copper-bearing Permian red beds, which extend from north-central Texas through western Oklahoma to southwestern Kansas, indicate heretofore undefined commercial possibilities for low-grade, medium-volume, strip-mining operations. Potential ore bodies are indicated containing 0.5 to 1.5 percent copper in zones 6 to 12 inches thick. Cost analysis studies indicate a commercial operation is feasible for a hypothecated 1,000-ton-per-day ore mining and milling complex where a maximum of 60 feet of overburden can be stripped in mining a seam of shale 12 inches thick containing 1.2 percent copper

Jan 1, 1970

By Oliver Bowles

[The inorganic nonmetallics - that is, all minerals aid their primary products except metallic ores and fuels - have an important place in industrial life of any country. They are essential to a multitude of products and processes, and their development is closely related to general industrial activity. Several are classed as strategic, and many others are performing necessary functions in the military program. It may be of interest therefore to trace their history over a period of years and to correlate their progress with the circumstances and events that are shaping national]

Jan 1, 1943

By J. M. Mutmansky, C. Lee

"This paper outlines some of the work associated with a research study into the relationship between the characteristics of coal mine dust and the incidence of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP). The project involves study of the chemical, mineralogical, and morphological characteristics of the dust. Early stages of the study have dealt primarily with the size analysis and elemental composition of airborne dust in continuous miner sections. This paper outlines the procedures and findings of the elemental analysis portion of the study.Most of the previous elemental analyses of coal were made available in the quest for information on the combustibility of coal dust or on causal agents and prevalence of CWP. However, no extensive studies have been performed to date, primarily due to the limitations of the analytical methods. A review of the analytical methods for elemental characterization of coal and coal dust particles is presented. TI1e comparisons are made based on the sample mass required, the sample preparation required, the destructivity of the test, and the capability of providing an easy multi-element analysis. The reasons for selecting the proton-induced x-ray emission spectroscopy (PIXE) method are outlined.The PIXE method was applied to both the airborne coal mine dust and channel samples collected from seven continuous miner sections in six different mines. Channel samples of the coal, roof and floor were collected and analyzed. Airborne dust sampling was performed using multi-stage cascade impactors and permissible 2.0 I/min pumps. Sampler locations were fixed in the sections with respect to the continuous miner and roof bolter or with respect to the intake and return airways. Sampling times varied from 45 minutes to 6 hours, depending on the dust concentration.The statistical analysis of the resulting elemental data is presented. Of particular importance are the analyses of the variation of elemental composition with size and the variation in elemental composition over the working section. One interesting finding is outlined showing the multivariate statistical analysis of the trace elements and its implications in the identification of the dust sources. The paper concludes with an analysis of the ramifications of the elemental data to related medical studies."

Mar 1, 1989

By F. S. Crawford

Safety devices and guards are often looked upon as the last word in safety by the men around the shop or large industrial plant . However , thorough knowledge of the details of their jobs and of the dangers attending them are even more important . It should be unnecessary for all men to go through the experience of the first man to meet an unknown danger , but that appears to be about the only way by which many learn . Practically every danger connected with the job around a mine , blast furnace , steel mill , foundry , coke oven , cement mill , or other operation , was encountered for the first time by someone , and if he was fairly fortunate he either got hurt or just missed being injured and lived to tell his " budaies " how it happened; he spread the knowledge of that particular danger . Sometimes , but not often , a man can foresee a danger . If he could always be on guard and remember everything he had ever learned and also know everything that had happened to the other fellow , and then let that knowledge keep him aware of the dangers in his own immediate " job , " so that he would work the safe way for both himself and the other fellow , he would have what safety engineers call " safety consciousness . " Being safety conscious is a fine attribute , as it really means knowing all about one's job . A man who is really safety conscious is one of the best and most efficient workmen in the whole plant . The boss wants men of that kindmen who want to learn and who try to learn every little detail about their jobwhere there is danger of spoiling the heat or getting burned by hot metal in a steel plant or of loading rock instead of coal or ore in a mine . Such men know how to do whatever job they are on easily and with the least amount of hard work and at the same time get it done as quickly as possible with safety . A man who is safety conscious has to nearly all intents and purposes developed eyes in the back of his head , if he is in a big mill where there if something going on all around him . These eyes are not real eyes , but they are what might be termed a sixth sense which he has developed by his experience in the mill as well as in other dangerous work which he may have done before in other plants . There may be occasions when a man's safety consciousness will leave him for just a short time ; this is likely to happen when he is thinking about a quarrel he had with his wife which has not been cleared up happily , or perhaps when he has bought too many things on installment and with sickness at home

Apr 1, 1931

By Frank T. Duda

A U.S. Bureau of Mines interactive FORTRAN computer program can screen explosion-proof enclosures intended for underground service. The program incorporates important information and criteria to assist enclosure manufacturers and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) personnel by providing a first-order approximation of rectangular explosion-proof enclosure characteristics prior to actual certification testing. The program uses information and data that can be retrieved automatically during program execution. The program also performs the calculations for a series solution algorithm and various equations to evaluate the enclosure for both a static internal pressure and an internal explosion. The program writes the intermediate and final calculations and information concerning the status of the screening process to a summary file on a floppy disk. One data base contains MSHA certification requirements given in the Code of Federal Regulations (30 CFR 18). A second data base contains material properties of acceptable construction materials and weld joint efficiencies. A series algorithm determines bolt and cover stresses for a simply supported rectangular cover with arbitrary bolt locations. Limit and yield line analysis is used to calculate the strength of body panels.

Jan 1, 1989

By R. T. MacMillan

Many bench-scale tests and studies have been conducted in developing and testing a chloride-volatilization procedure Ear treating low-grade manganese ore from the Maple Mountain-Hovey Mountain deposit of Aroostook County, Maine. The ore, averaging 10 to 12 percent Mn, contains manganese in several forms and is resistant to concentration or extraction by usual physical and chemical procedures. Over 90 percent of the manganese, content of the ore has been recovered using a chloridizing roast in which the ore was heated at 950°-9b0' C. in a circulating stream of hydrochloric acid gas. Chlorides of manganese and iron were volatilized and swept to a fume collector, where they were condensed and separated from the [as] stream. Operation of a small, 1-pound-per-hour shaft Furnace produced enough chlorides for studying other factors in an integrated process such as: (1) Conversion of the chlorides to oxides; (2) recovery of HC1 gas of suitable concentration Ear recycling to the chloridizer; and (3) control of the Mn-Fe ratio in the oxide product to produce a suitable feed for ferromanganese production.

Jan 1, 1956

By Oliver C. Ralston

[This paper is an expanded revision of a report entitled "Froth Flotation and Agglomerate Tabling of Nonmetallic Minerals, " published in Transactions of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (vol. 40, November 1937, pp- 691-726) and prepared a year previously. Revisions embodied herein brine the data up to January 1, 1938. References have also been added to make the earlier paper more complete for the period it covered.]

Jan 1, 1938

By Oliver C. Ralston

[This paper is an expmded revision of a report entitled "Froth Flota- tion and Agglomerate Tabling of Honmetdlic Idinerds, " published in Trans- actions of the Canadian Ir-stitute of Iriining and !,letdlurgy (vol. 40, November 1937, pp- 6? 1-726) and al'enared a year pr~viousl:~. Revisions en'oodied herein brinc the &ta I:T to Jn?uac"g 1, 193;. References have also been added to make the earlier paper more complete for the period it covered. This paper is an expmded revision of a report entitled "Froth Flota- tion and Agglomerate Tabling of Honmetdlic Idinerds, " published in Trans- actions of the Canadian Ir-stitute of Iriining and !,letdlurgy (vol. 40, November 1937, pp- 6? 1-726) and al'enared a year pr~viousl:~. Revisions en'oodied herein brinc the &ta I:T to Jn?uac"g 1, 193;. References have also been added to make the earlier paper more complete for the period it covered.]

Jan 1, 1938

By B. J. Moore

This publication contains routine analyses and related source data for 419 natural gas samples from 22 States collected during calendar year 1964 as part of a continuous survey of the United States for occurrences of helium in natural gas. This survey has been conducted by the Bureau of Mines since 1917. The analyses published herein were made by mass spectrometer and a special helium analysis apparatus, which are described in Bureau of Mines Bulletins 4863/ and 576.4/ Six previous publications have been made to present the results of 6,293 gas analyses made by the Bureau of Mines, Helium Activity, prior to 1964. The first three, Bulletins 486,5/ 576,6/ and 617,7/ contain analyses and related source data on 5,214 gas samples collected from

Jan 1, 1966

By L. B. Pankratz

Thermodynamic data on carbides, nitrides, and other selected substances were reviewed, evaluated, and compiled at the U.S. Bureau of Mines Albany Research Center. Values for Cp°, S°, H° - H°298, -(G° - H298)/T, ?Hf, ?Gf, and log Kf are given in tabular form. Cp°, H° - H°248, ?Hf°, and ?Gf° are also expressed algebraically.

Jan 1, 1994

By Michael Rieber

This study is an extension of our previous work in the area of coal transportation Its subject is the comparative costing of competing transport erodes. A wide range of costs and aspects of costs are dealt with in terms of engineering - economic analyses of the cost of the components which make up the facility and operating system descriptions of each coal transport mode. The cost comparisons, though analyzed, are not meant to be statements of policy but, rather, an input to decision making. The technical material presented in the succeeding volumes, alone with the earlier work cited above, forms the basis for the analyses. This material may also broaden the general understanding of coal transportation issues and problems. The project is divided into two main sections: (1) lone distance coal transport and (2) gathering and distribution systems. Within each section economic and technological comparisons are made of the available modes. These are used as the basis for comparisons among the modes. Inter-modal compatibility is studied with respect to both mixed trunk line shipment anti with respect to feeder to trunk line and trunk line to distribution systems. The engineering and technological data form the bases for the costing and economic analyses.

Jan 1, 1977