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By Roy E. Dickerson

CUBA differs considerably from the other Greater Antilles in many geologic fundamentals. Cuba is geosynclinals; whereas Jamaica, Hispaniola. (Haiti), and Puerto Rico are geoanticlinal. (Scliuchert, Chas., Historical Geology of the Antillian. Caribbean Region, p. 13, 1935.) Rocks of lowermost Cretaceous age exist in large volume in Cuba, where- as they are generally absent in the other islands. Since many of the surface indications of petroleum are intimately associated with lowermost Cretaceous rocks, the Vinales limestone,, this difference is most important. The Vinales limestone in many places in Pillar del Rio and Santa Clara provinces reeks with light tars when broken with a hammer. The late David White and his associates on the U. S: Geological Survey studied

Jan 1, 1937

By Charles E. Glass

A steadily growing body of evidence indicates that earthquake ground motions can cause failure of rock slopes that are otherwise stable under static loading conditions. As a result, the economic optimum working slope angle is reduced when earthquake shaking is considered in surface mine design, especially in regions of high seismicity. When designing surface mine slopes to withstand seismic motion it is as important to consider the probability of experiencing various levels of ground shaking as it is to consider the characteristics of the ground motion. For most slope designs, simple probabilistic techniques such as extreme value or maximum likelihood techniques are appropriate. These techniques, however, should be applied in such a way that a probability value is assigned to characteristic ground motion parameters at the mine rather than to nearby earthquake magnitudes. Several techniques have been developed to analyze rock slopes subjected to dynamic loads. Most of these techniques do not adequately account for the ground motion parameters of concern. The best technique appears to be one that utilizes actual earthquake time histories. A simple technique that calculates block displacement for any input accelerogram, using a linear acceleration approximation between time steps, has been developed that accurately accounts for rock block response. Results using this technique indicate that the following factors are important for assessing rock slope stability in earthquake regions:

Jan 1, 1983

By R. E. Zimmerman

The separation of fine sizes of coal from its impurities by means of various flotation methods has become of increasing importance in the coal industry. This, no doubt, will be even more so in the future as the quantity of high grade coal is depleted, particularly that used for metallurgical purposes. The purpose of this paper is to describe and report the results of research work done under the auspices of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. to determine the amenability of their bituminous fine sizes of coal to flotation, to investigate the value of various reagents and factors affecting their use, and compare the results between froth flotation and bulk oil flotation. Compared with the preferential flotation of complex minerals, or ores, the flotation of coal is comparatively easy. However, this statement should not lull one into the feeling that there are no special problems involved. For instance, the separation of coal from pyrite in high sulphur coals is still far from being 100 pet successful. Size consist has considerable effect on reagent consumption and recovery. Other factors will be described and finally it must be remembered that in the flotation of coal a low priced material is being treated and thus economic considerations govern more closely its application than is generally the case in treating other minerals. As a result of the research work done by the Pittsburgh Coal Co. on the flotation of coal, it was concluded that it was practical to clean the —48-mesh coal commercially by froth flotation and after several different types of flotation units and circuits were investigated by means of pilot plants, large scale units were installed at their Champion Nos. 1, 4 and 5 Preparation Plants for the cleaning of —48-mesh slurries. These large scale operations have been recently described by D. H. Davis.' C. P. Proctor and C. B. Carlson2 in their chapter on Froth Flotation of Coal in the AIME Seeley W. Mudd series book on Coal Preparation describe some of the practical applications of our Pittsburgh Coal Co. laboratory work in actual plant practice as well as summarizing part of the investiga-tional work. The author presents this paper, however, as a supplement to their reports, and records the basic research accomplished in the laboratory investiga-tional work as well as the results of experiments using bulk oil flotation. In presenting this work the author wishes to state much more work must be done in applying the principles of flotation to cleaning coal, especially in view of recent studies and practices in other mineral beneficiation fields. Methods of Conducting Laboratory Tests The bulk of the research work was conducted in the laboratory of the Champion No. I Preparation Plant. This plant has elaborate facilities for sampling and analyzing coal and proved to be an admirable location for the investigational work. Four types of laboratory flotation ma-

Jan 1, 1949

By Thomas T. Read

THE official title of our topic for today is "Resources of Metals and Other Strategic Minerals," but in accepting the invitation to open this discussion I claimed the privilege of being allowed to talk about problems other than resources for the two reasons that a great deal has already been said about resources and because we can never discuss them with the degree of certainty that an engineer likes. Resources are uncertain for many, reasons. One is that we do not know what is in the earth. It is four thousand miles to its center and although oil wells 1 ½ miles deep are becoming common and engineers are now talking of drilling holes 2 miles deep, even when they do they will have advanced only one two-thousandth part of the total distance. Only a relatively few mines are over a mile deep as yet. We know certainly that it is comparatively expensive to work at such great depth, but it would be a very foolish man who would assert it will be' impossible, one or two hundred years from now, for engineers to obtain from great depths mineral supplies that are now being obtained at or near the surface. As long as- I can remember I have been hearing that our petroleum resources were in imminent danger of speedy exhaustion, and yet the yearly output is now of the same order of magnitude as the total resources were once estimated, with ' the cry of over-production the loudest it has ever been. Tapping progressively deeper and deeper sources of supply, has produced this result. Even in the thin layer that we are now working much-exploration still remains to be done. .

Jan 1, 1929

By W. H. Meyer

During the seventeen years Fairchild has been making aerial surveys and aerial photographic equipment many changes and improvements have been made in the equipment and in the technique of using it. Aerial photographic operations have been developed from the crude methods and apparatus of wartime to a science upon which exact engineering calculations can be based. In the early days there was no airplane specially designed to meet aerial photographic requirements. One type of camera was used in all types of operations. Projects were made to conform to the products we could make and deliver. Obviously this entailed definite limitations. We now have airplanes designed specially for aerial photographic operations in accordance with the conditions encountered in actual service experience. We have cameras for every photographic purpose and our laboratory technique and equipment have been developed to the point where it is possible to make contour maps from vertical aerial photographs with contour intervals as close as five feet. Therefore, the selection of equipment now can be made in accordance with the time at our disposal, the justifiable cost, the scale desired, and the general requirements of the client. This does not mean, however, that arbitrary deliveries can be set for aerial photographic products. The factors in each project vary and each job must be considered in accordance with the factors involved. This accounts for the fact that products of aerial surveys may readily vary from $1.25 to $200 a square mile. Sherman M. Fairchild became interested in the design of a radically different aerial camera during the war. At its close he was about ready to demonstrate his design to the War Department. By 1920, he was able to bring out his first completed model. It had a number of radical features, one of which was the first dependable high-speed between-the-lens shutter, which makes for accuracy in aerial photographic work. Another feature was the use of metal throughout, eliminating the wooden parts that had been employed in wartime cameras. Another feature was the interchangeability of parts.

Jan 1, 1937

DR. PeRsifor Frazer, Philadelphia, Pa. (communication to the Secretary):* Mr. Campbell's very interesting contribution, after complimentary mention, finally decides against the acceptance of the classification proposed by me in a paper bearing the same title and read at the Wilkes-Barre meeting, May, 1877.2 That paper was written primarily for the Second Geological

Jan 1, 1906

By William Wraith

At the Washoe smelter, Anaconda, Mont., the blister-copper from the converters is transferred, by means of a crane, to a re-fining-furnace, in which it is brought to proper pitch by means of air and poles. From this furnace the refined copper, containing gold and silver, is poured into cast-iron molds placed on a platform-convejor, giving an anode 36.75 in. long, 35 in. wide, and 2 1/16 in. thick. By reason of a disagreement between the smelter and the refinery, in reference to the silver-content of the anodes, it becanle necessary to investigate the methods of sampling used. 11. SMelter Method of SampliNg. At the smelter the sampling is done by " shotting " into water a small portion of the molten stream of copper as it flows from the furnace, by " batting " the stream'with a wooden paddle. The first sample is taken 30 min. after the pouring i.: started, three other samples being taken at 1-hr. interrals, each sample Weighing from 4 to 6 oz. The samples are dried, esamined for particles of burnt wood, screened on a 10-mesh screen of NO. 8 wire to remove the fines, the oversize then screened on a 4-mesh screen of No. 20 wire to remore the coarse, the undersize of this screen being taken as the sample. The four portions thus obtained are thoroughly mixed and split in half by passing over a 16-slot splitting-device, slots being 0.5 in. wide. One-half of the sample is sent to the laboratory for analysis and one-half kept as a duplicate. 111. Refinery Method of Sampling. The method used at the refinery and also used in this in1-estiyation is the one developed by Dr. Edmarcl Keller, of

Jan 1, 1911

By Joseph Hays

MORE years ago than I care to admit I conferred the title of "combustion engineer? upon my-self since nobody else would confer it. I thought at the time, and for some, years thereafter, that my field was limited to the precincts where the fuel was being burned, but I found that I could stand in the door of the furnace room and hear distressed heat units calling for help all over the plant. Some of them were over-worked, others were compelled to do useless work, and still others, anxious to render a proper account of themselves, were not permitted to do any sort of work at all and were utterly wasted. The combustion engineer has something to do at that interesting occasion when the heat unit is being born in the furnace, but his responsibility does not end there. He must follow the little fellow throughout the entire period of its hectic existence in the plant and see that it gets a fair chance and a square deal everywhere. I fear that the general impression of the combustion engineer's duties is much as mine was in the beginning; that his job is limited to the implements and processes incident to the specific operation of converting fuel into active, heat energy and of applying it to the boiler, the still, or what-not, with the least possible waste. But is it not true that a heat unit saved in a remote corner of the plant means just as much to the fuel account as another saved at the furnace? And if nobody else is looking after the heat units out on the range why should the combustion engineer spend all of his time hanging around the corral? If combustion engineer is not a broad enough title to cover the man in charge of a general heat unit rescue campaign call him any-thing else you please. The job is all that counts. The name means nothing. A skunk by any other name would smell as bad. The greatest field I have ever found for general "heat rescue" work is the oil refinery. In refining we first put heat into the oil and then take it away from the vapor. The greatest heat losses occur during the cooling operation, but there are losses, many of them preventable, either wholly or partly, at every step of the several processes in oil refining.

Jan 3, 1928

By H. Kreye, E. Hornbogen

An increase in electrical resistivity during aging or after quenching from high temperatures is known in a large number of alloys. Plastic deformation of alloys in this condition leads to a decrease in resistivity. This anomaly has been called the K effect. This effect has been reported in Ni-A1 alloys by several authors.'-4 The nickel-rich solid solution y is in equilibrium with Ni,A1 (y') with CkAu structure. With this alloy it is therefore possible to produce a homogeneous solid solution as well as a coherent mixture of y and y. The changes in resistivity should be determined for these two conditions. In the present literature on the K effect no distinction is made between them, because of experimental difficulties to determine small coherent particles. In the present work transmission electron microscopy and image formation by (100) and (110) superlattice reflection of the y' phase was employed for a detailed determination of the temperature dependence of solubility of aluminum in nickel and the resulting microstructures with alloys up to 15 at. pct Al. The solubility line follows the equation indicating a smaller solubility than given in the literature at temperatures below 700°C. X-ray scattering was used to get evidence for short-range ordering in the homogeneous solid solutions.5 Parallel to the determination of the microstructure electrical resistivity was measured as a function of aging tempera- ture, time, and aluminum content, which led to the following results: 1) Resistivity increases slightly during aging of a homogeneous solid solution which was quenched from a high temperature as a consequence of short-range order, Fig. 1, curve c,. 2) Resistivity shows a maximum during aging of all alloys which are heterogeneous according to the phase diagram, but which were obtained as a supersaturated solid solution by quenching, Fig. 1, curve c,. The increase in resistivity is mainly due to coherent precipitation of y'. In Fig. 2 the effects due to short-range order pN and due to precipitation of particles APT are shown for an aging temperature of 450°C and different aluminum contents. 3) The increase in resistivity depends on the size !f the coherent particles. A critical diameter of 15 5A for the maximum was found for all alloys and aging treatments by extrapolating particle sizes determined by electron microscopy. 4) The maximum of resistivity of the heterogeneous conditions does not occur if particles, larger than the critical size, have formed already during quenching. 5) Plastic deformation destroys short-range order as well as small coherent particles. Therefore a decrease in resistivity is observed if the increase in resistivity caused originally by these phenomena is

Jan 1, 1967

Located 19 km (12 miles) north of the Carlin gold mine and 43 km (27 miles) north of Carlin, Nevada, is Carlin Gold Mining Company's Bootstrap mine. This deposit is similar in character to the Carlin ore, except it occurs in the upper plate formation of the Roberts thrust fault rather than in the lower plate rocks. The deposit was discovered over 50 years ago and operated on a small scale in the early 1960s using vat cyanide leaching. Newmont Mining Corporation acquired the property in 1967, and from an open pit mined 650,000 mt (717,000 st) of ore which was trucked to the Carlin conventional cyanide plant. (See Gold and Silver Cyanidation Plant Practice by F. W. McQuiston, Jr. and R. S. Shoemaker, Society of Mining Engineers, AIME, 1975. ) With the same grade of ore, the gold recovery by conventional methods is somewhat lower than that of the Carlin ore, even with a finer grind. Leaching tests were first conducted by the United States Bureau of Mines in 1968; and in 1971, ‘72, Carlin conducted extensive cyanidation investigations by bottle testing, simulated heap leaching in tall columns, and small scale pad heap leaches. Gold extractions ranged from 55% to 95% with low reagent consumptions. In 1974, a 545 mt (600 st) heap leach test was made at Carlin on pit-run low-grade material assaying 1.37 g per mt (0.04 oz per st). In a six week period the extraction of gold was 47.57'0. Carlin uses atomic absorption analyses on cyanide leach liquors to determine potential leach ore grade rather than fire assaying because it gives a more practical assessment of leach recovery than does fire assaying, which accounts for the total gold content. Before open-pit mining was started, plans were made to heap leach, the ore at Bootstrap which was too low grade for transport to Carlin. The topsoil outside of the designed pit area overlaid ancient lakebed clays which were found suitable for compaction to form an impervious base on which the dumps to be leached could be placed. By using the cost of truck haulage and milling at the Carlin plant and the price of gold 'at that time, a cutoff grade was established which resulted in the gold content of the first 150,000 mt (165,000 st) of the heap leaching ore being 1.51 g per mt (0.044 oz per st). An additional 500,000 mt (552,000 st) of lower grade material, assaying 0.96 g per mt (0.028 oz per st), is available for leaching as economics permit.

Jan 1, 1981

By R. H. Jacoby, M. J. Rzasa

Experimental equilibrium vaporization ratios (K values) were obtained for nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, ethane and hydrogen sulfide in two natural gas-absorber oil mixtures and in two natural gas-Elk Basin crude oil mixtures. For each mixture of constant over-all composition, data were obtained at 100°, 150° and 200°F and at various pressures in the range 200 to 5,000 psia. Some effects of composition on the K values were obtained to serve as a guide in choosing K's for engineering calculations on other mixtures. The pressure cell used to obtain the data is a new type and is described here for the first time. INTRODUCTION The phase equilibria of complex hydrocarbon mixtures such as natural gases, crude oils and their mixtures have been studied previously for the purpose of finding equilibrium vaporization ratios for the hydrocarbon constitutents. In a few cases, such non-hydrocarbon.: as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide were included in the mixture. studied because they occur. in the fluids obtained from petroleum reservoirs. The increasing occurrerce. of these non-liydrocarbon.; antl their growing economic importance. make it necessary to account for them more accurately in engineering calculation.: than is now possible using the meager published data. The available data for non-hydrocarbons may he classified into two groups: namely, binary mixtures of a hydrocarbon and a non-hydrocarbon. and mixtures containing three or more components, only one of which is a non-hydrocarbon. Amon: the former. phase analyses are available for two nitrogen-HC mixtures, tve carbon dioxide-HC mixtures and three hydrogen sulfide-HC mixtures. Data for more complex mixtures are available as follows: Nitrogen-Methane-Pentane'; Nitrogen-Methane-Hexane,'; Nitrogen-Methane-Heptane'; Carbon dioxide-Natural Gas-Natural Gasorline": Carbon dioxide-Natural Gas-Crude Oil". These data have been used generally lor engineering calculations, often with little regard for their precise applicability because data for the non-hydrocarbons in the complex mixtures being dealt with were not available. The use of K values from binary data for calculation:; involving complex mixtures is open to criticism because such K's are not a function of composition and very often show large differences from the K's for the same components in a complex mixture. Thus the effects of composition must be evaluated when obtaining K's for components in complex mixtures. Poettmann and Katz " varied the carbon dioxide content of their mixture.; from about five to ten mol per cent and found substantially no effect on the K values due to this change. This was not surprising since one might expect that changing a minor com-ponent by * three mol per cent would have little effect. It is more important to find the composition change which have the largest effect on the K values. For example. varying the methane or heptanes — plus compositions over a wide rangr may have a large effect on the K'. of all components in the mixture. Interesting data to this effect were obtained by Eilerts and Smith." It was toward these problems that the experimental data presented here were directed. EQUIPMENT The pressure cell used to obtain the data i:. somewhat dif-ferent from those which have been described in the past. Photographs of the equipment are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 Shows. the front panel: from a .rated position at the right the

Jan 1, 1952

By F. W. Newhall

DURING the latter part of the year 1931, the Republic mine of the Republic Steel Corporation, at Republic, about 4 miles south of Browns-ville, Pa., was mining coal along four rib or fracture lines. One of these lines, the west butt rib line, was retreating towards a concrete-lined air shaft, 320 ft. deep, which had been sunk in 1911 for ventilation purposes. With the normal rate of mining at that time, it was expected that this rib line would pass the shaft in three or four months and the shaft would then be abandoned and allowed to cave. Realizing the opportunity presented for the study of an unusual case of ground movement, the question of conducting the study was presented by the junior author to the chairman of the Institute's committee on Ground Movement and Subsidence, Mr. George S. Rice, who presented the matter to Mr. G. H. Morse, General Manager of the Northern Mines, Republic Steel Corpora-tion, and he agreed to cooperate with the Bureau of Mines in making the study, the results of which are presented in this paper. Acknowledg-ments are due to Mr. Morse for his full cooperation in this work and to Mr. G. S. Rice and Mr. J. W. Paul, both of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, for their advice and guidance during the course of the work. The authors are indebted to Mr. B. F. Herbert, mining engineer, Northern Coal Mines, Republic Steel Corporation, who assisted in all the surveys, and Mr. W. H. Smith, draftsman, U. S. Bureau of Mines, who prepared all illustrations for publication.

Jan 1, 1934

By Charles H. Eldridge, Robert J. Anderson

When a metal or alloy is poured into a mold, internal stresses are set up by the cont,raction in volume on passing from the liquid state at the temperature of pouring to the solid state at the ordinary temperature. It is assumed by the writers that all castings are internally stressed. That any casting is internally stressed is shown by its warping or distortion on maturing at the ordinary temperature, by warping or cracking on heating, or by cracking or distortion on machining. In the investigation made by the writers, the internal stresses in cast non-ferrous alloys were studied with a view to examining the effects of heat treatment (i.e., simple anneal) on the release of such stresses. Data have been obtained that show quantitatively that internal stresses can be removed by appropriate heat treatment. The investigation was limited to a study of the effect of heat treatment on stress release in cast rings of the 87:7:5:1 copper-tin-zinc-lead alloy. The writers are indebted to E. G. Fahlman for the method used for inducing stress in cast rings; to M. E. Boyd for microscopic examination and for other aid; and to G. B. Dalrymple for the chemical analyses. General Information While casting stresses have been discussed considerably, they have usually been treated in a general way, and so far as the writers know no measurements of the magnitude of internal stresses in castings have been reported. It has been suggested by many investigators, particularly in the case of steel castings, that castings are internally stressed, and that these stresses can be removed by annealing. In a casting, the internal

Jan 1, 1923

By Robert J. Anderson, Charles H. Eldridge

When a metal or alloy is poured into a mold, internal stresses are set up by the cont,raction in volume on passing from the liquid state at the temperature of pouring to the solid state at the ordinary temperature. It is assumed by the writers that all castings are internally stressed. That any casting is internally stressed is shown by its warping or distortion on maturing at the ordinary temperature, by warping or cracking on heating, or by cracking or distortion on machining. In the investigation made by the writers, the internal stresses in cast non-ferrous alloys were studied with a view to examining the effects of heat treatment (i.e., simple anneal) on the release of such stresses. Data have been obtained that show quantitatively that internal stresses can be removed by appropriate heat treatment. The investigation was limited to a study of the effect of heat treatment on stress release in cast rings of the 87:7:5:1 copper-tin-zinc-lead alloy. The writers are indebted to E. G. Fahlman for the method used for inducing stress in cast rings; to M. E. Boyd for microscopic examination and for other aid; and to G. B. Dalrymple for the chemical analyses. General Information While casting stresses have been discussed considerably, they have usually been treated in a general way, and so far as the writers know no measurements of the magnitude of internal stresses in castings have been reported. It has been suggested by many investigators, particularly in the case of steel castings, that castings are internally stressed, and that these stresses can be removed by annealing. In a casting, the internal

Jan 1, 1923

By E. M. Wise

WHEN man became dissatisfied with the mere utilization of physical force and began to use weapons, he made a definite stride forward. At first he used sticks, animal bones and stones, often rudely shaped to some particularly lethal form. These devices, while crude, were moderately effective. How- ever, some of the brighter men of the tribe found that certain particularly heavy "stones" were somewhat ductile and could be hammered into more effective weapons than those previously known. Later, probably through the misuse of one of these weapons to stir the campfire, it was found that heating softened and perhaps actually melted the material. The process of annealing had been discovered! Smelting the more easily reducible metals was in all probability one of those fortuitous accidents which was followed up by thoughtful researchers who ultimately developed the technique of mixing various ores to produce bronze and even some of the nickel content alloys. The resulting products were at first lumps of more or less ductile material which could be hammered to shape, and were thus incidentally hardened by this process. The hardening of metals by alloying and cold working remained for many centuries the only known methods for improving their properties.

Jan 1, 1931

By AIME AIME

TWO papers, "Calcium, Strontium, and Barium Metals," by Charles Hardy and Paul M. Tyler, and "The Mining of Gems and Ornamental Stones by American Indians," by Sydney H. Ball, were presented before the Rare Minerals and Metals group at its session Tuesday afternoon in the Auditorium. Donald M. Liddell, chairman, presided. Mr. Tyler summarized the first paper, outlining the uses, history, occurrence, manufacture, production and trade, markets and prices of the three metals. In discussion, in response to the chairman's query on "what are they doing in Russia with calcium, strontium, and barium," Guy C. Riddell replied that nothing is being done on a production basis. The great rare metals plant in Moscow is active, however, on other elements. "They are making radium chloride, uranium oxide, vanadium, cadmium, tungsten, molybdenum, selenium, antimony compounds; and mercury, nickel and arsenic are under production at interior plants. The rare metals plant is busily conducting research on beryllium, rhenium, lithium, bismuth, strontium and zirconium. These are the main rare metal activities. Much hard-alloy work. for cutting and facing, is under way:

Jan 1, 1933

By AIME AIME

THANKS to the excellent preliminary work of: the Division officers and the local committee the fall meeting of the Coal Division at Bluefields was a brilliant success. West Virginia was at its best with its beautiful mountains, good roads and foliage, just beginning to turn to autumn colors. The meeting began on time and was kept on time throughout. The papers were-well prepared and, being on subjects of live interest, provoked 'lively discussion. One factor in bringing this about was that they were not too numerous and that with one exception copies had been submitted in advance a sufficient time to permit of them having been studied. The Friday morning session was presided over by John .J. Lincoln of the Crozier Coal and Coke Co. and president of the Pocahontas Coal Operators Association. After brief announcements by Thomas H. Clagett, chairman of the local committee, regarding plans for the two day's involved, and by Howard N. Eavenson, chairman of the Division, the reading of papers was taken up.

Jan 1, 1931

By James P. Roe

I. INTRODUCTION. THOSE who deem the subject of this paper an old and super¬seded one may recall with advantage the words of the great proverb-maker, bidding us to seek the new in the ashes of the old. The manufacture of wrought-iron began with the small hearth built upon an eminence, and relying on the wind for blast. Next came, either the hearth about 12 in. in diameter by 2 ft. in height, blown by a man operating two goat-skins for bellows, or, a hearth of greatly varying diameter and about 10 ft. high, depending for its blast upon natural draft. The former appeared in India, the latter in Burmah; and both were in operation until quite recently, though their origin is lost in prehistoric times. The Catalan forge was the evolutionary descendant of the foregoing, and the parent of the Blase-ofen, which in turn led to the high bloomary or " Stückofen," the father of the blast-furnace, as a producer of cast-iron. The production of cast-iron checked the growth of the direct processes; and led to the introduction of various hearths, such as the Walloon, for low-silicon irons; and the South Wales process, combining the run-out fire with the finery, for higher-silicon irons. Some of these are still in operation in localities possessing the necessary raw materials; and their product is used for purposes requiring wrought-iron of exceptional quality, the supply of which is still smaller than the demand. We have to look back but a century and a quarter to see the introduction of the puddling process by Henry Cort; a process which, reinforced by the iron-oxide bottoms and fettling of Hall, was not less revolutionary in character, and more revo-

Jul 1, 1905

By Nelson P. Hulst

To those who have had the happy privilege of friendship with George W. Goetz, the announcement of his death has brought great sadness. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 17, 1855, and died January 15, 1897. In his boyhood days, when I first came to know him, his frank, trustful manner; his eyes brimming with truthfulness; his eagerness, never obtrusive, to gain knowledge from all whom he met; and his equal readiness to give without ostentation of his store, constituted a personality which at once commanded confidence and won friendship. I am told that as a scholar of five years he was conspicuous for brightness, a show-pupil, who was called on to recite when visitors were present at school. Yet this in no way spoiled him. His modesty was too strong a trait in his character to be overcome by any attention which might, be expected to arouse vanity. In his simple-heartedness he was pleased then, as he always was in his maturer years, to give of his knowledge for the gratification of his listeners, with never a thought of himself. So strong was this characteristic that in a brief autobiography, in the form of a letter to his wife and children, found among his papers, he excuses himself to them for recounting what he had accomplished in his life-work. As a preface to this autobiography (which, it seems, was prepared on the eve of a sudden journey to California, taken February, 1895, for his health) he says: " I am writing this rather hastily, and I

Jan 1, 1898

By T. H. Aldrich

(San Francisco Meeting, October, 1911.) THERE are two conditions generally prevailing upon the earth-those within atmospheric influence, tending towards oxidation, and those away from atmospheric influence, tending towards reduction. Practically all mineral substances from mines of any depth are in a reducing condition. Since the cyanide process, in order to dissolve silver or gold, requires that the prevailing conditions under which it operates shall be oxidizing, and the materials usually acted upon being of a reducing character, it becomes necessary to supply oxygen to the solution carrying the cyanide. This oxygen is usually supplied through the medium of dissolved air in the solution, or through the medium of various chemical compounds, which upon combining with the solution or the ore give off a part of their oxygen. Strange as it may seem, practically all mineral substances are partly soluble in water, especially water carrying alkali or cyanide. The greater the surface exposed and the finer the material is ground, the greater will be the rate of dissolving of the reducing agents from the ore into the cyanide solution. In most cases, if the solution carrying the ore particles is agitated with air, the air will dissolve into the solution faster than will the reducing-agents; but in some cases the reducing-agents will dissolve more rapidly on account of easy solubility or greater surface exposed. It is a dissolving race between the oxygen from the air and the reducing-agents from the ore, and if the reducing-agents predominate, cyanide will not dissolve the gold from the ore. In many cases it will dissolve some of the gold, because in a mass of irregular shape some of the gold particles might be exposed upon the outside surface of a particle of rock;' but if the solution had to penetrate through cracks, the side-walls of which were lined with reducing-agent-

Feb 1, 1912