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By C. H. Aldrich

For many years the City of Prescot, about 8 miles northeast of Liverpool, has been the home of British Insulated Cables, Ltd., one of the largest wire mills and manufacturers of electrical equipment in England. Since this location is close to the industrial center of the country and the seaboard, with good railroad transportation facilities, it was a logical site for the new refinery. Early in April, 1932, the writer was called upon to prepare a preliminary layout and estimate of cost of the proposed plant, and shortly afterward, following a discussion of these figures with officials of British Insulated Cables, in England, the decision was reached to proceed immediately with construction of the plant. The refinery was built by British Insulated Cables, Ltd. Designing of the plant was started early in May, 1932, orders for equipment being placed as rapidly as possible. On July 18 the first steel was erected and the first charge was cast on Jan. 5, 1933. No difficulties of any consequence were experienced in starting the plant and the grade of copper produced was quite satisfactory after the first charge. The initial capacity desired was 2500 tons of refined copper per month. Since only one furnace was to be built, it was necessary that it should have sufficient reserve capacity to catch up after unavoidable shutdowns. It was also necessary to lay out the plant so that it would operate efficiently at this tonnage and at the same time permit expansion in the future, if necessary, to several times its original capacity. In order to meet these conditions and also to take full advantage of the space available, the layout shown in Fig. 1 was adopted. The principal plant structures are a blister storage aisle, casting building, wire-bar storage building and a coal-pulverizing building. Additional smaller structures include a brick and charcoal shed, pumphouse, drill room, water-cooling tower, clay-preparation shed, substation and plant office. Incoming blister is received in either broad-gage railway cars or steam motor lorries in the blister storage aisle, unloaded by overhead electric crane to narrow-gage cars, weighed and sampled, then either sent directly to the furnace or placed in storage. After refining, the copper is cast on the wheel, passes through the cooling bosh and is

Jan 1, 1934

Spencer Gulf takes off from the Great Australian Bight cutting a 200 mile deep wedge of water into the South Australia coastline. A pale winter sun shines yellowly on the choppy surface of this body of water which is progressively more salty as it approaches Port Augusta at the head of the Gulf. Once Port Augusta thrived as a grain port and the speedy clipper ships began or ended their legendary races there. On the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, farm land spreads away from the water's edge. The western side of the gulf meets marginal grazing land of acacia tree and salt bush. Part way down the gulf, there are two industrial towns facing each other from opposite shores; Port Pirie on the east and Whyalla on the west. These towns are like half brothers, the common parent being the founders of Broken Hill Pty. Ltd., (BHP) who began lead smelting at Port Pirie and discovered iron ore near Whyalla needed for the lead smelting process. The iron deposits later became the inspiration for BHP's iron and steel business.

Jan 10, 1964

By H. F. Easter

(San Francisco Meeting, September, 1915) THE lead department of the El Paso Smelting Works at El Paso, Tex., is operated strictly oil a custom basis. The ores treated are drawn from the surrounding territory, comprising New Mexico, Arizona, western Texas, and northern Mexico. Ores received from the last-named section originally amounted to a very large tonnage, but of recent years have dwindled into comparative insignificance so far as this plant is concerned. This has been clue partly to the establishment of a lead-smelting plant at Chihuahua, which is much closer than El Paso to most of the important mines, and partly to the recent revolutionary troubles in Mexico. There are no mines of either lead or copper in the immediate vicinity of El Paso. In general, it may be said that the lead-ore supply of recent years has been uncertain and precarious, with a general tendency toward an excess of silica and a shortage of iron. This latter requirement has been met in large part by the use in El Paso lead furnaces of considerable amounts of roasted heady copper matte from the Chihuahua smeltery and of converter slag from the El Paso converters. These two materials, coupled with complex lead-copper ores from Bisbee, Ariz., have introduced into the lead-smelting operations a most unusual amount of copper, which has had an important bearing upon the smelting practice of the plant. This matter will be discussed later. The ore, loaded in either box cars or gondolas, enters the storage yard on four tracks elevated about 8 ft. above the ground. As all unloading is clone by hand, unloading platforms at the height of the car floor parallel the tracks on each side to afford a runway for wheelbarrows. At frequent intervals these lengthwise platforms are joined together by others running crosswise to facilitate the distribution of the ores evenly over the beds, which are located below and between the tracks. At present much of the bedding space formerly used for lead ores is given over to the copper department, but 20 bins of various sizes are retained for the use of the lead furnaces and the Huntington & Heberlein roasting plant. The largest of these holds about 1,000 tons, while the smallest holds not over

Jan 8, 1915

For the year ending February, 1918 PRESIDENT PHILIP N. MOORE, ST. Loves, Mo. PAST PRESIDENTS , WILLIAM L. SAUNDERS NEW YORK, N. Y. L. D. RICKETTS, . NEW YORK, N. Y. FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT SIDNEY J. JENNINGS NEW YORK, N. Y. TREASURER GEORGE C. STONE, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY EMERITUS ROSSITER W. RAYMOND NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY BRADLEY STOUGHTON, NEW YORK, N. Y.

Jan 10, 1917

For the year ending February, 1918 PRESIDENT PHILIP N. MOORE ST. Louis, Mo. PAST PRESIDENTS WILLIAM L. SAUNDERS, NEW YORK, N: Y. L. D. RICKETTS NEW YORK, N. Y. FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT SIDNEY J. JENNINGS NEW YORK, N. Y. TREASURER GEORGE C. STONE, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY EMERITUS ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY BRADLEY STOUGHTON NEW YORK, N. Y.

Jan 1, 1918

For the year ending February, 1918 PRESIDENT PHILIP N. MOORE ST. Louis, Mo. PAST PRESIDENTS WILLIAM L. SAUNDERS NEW YORK, N. Y. L. D. RICKETTS NEW YORK, N. Y. FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT SIDNEY J. JENNINGS NEW YORE, N. Y. TREASURER GEORGE C. STONE, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY EMERITUS ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY BRADLEY STOUGHTON NEW YORK, N. Y.

Jan 12, 1917

By W. M. Weidel

While electric lamps both of the cap and hand type are being introduced into many mines requiring the use of safety lamps, the oil-burning safety lamp is still used in the great majority of cases, and even where the former are used the latter must continue to be employed when testing for gas. It is not the intention to discuss here the relative merits of the two types, but simply to give a comparison of the illuminating effect or candlepower of several kinds of ordinary safety lamps used for general work and for testing. Few data have been published in recent years on this subject and because of this it is hoped that the following information may be of some interest and value. The lamps tested were in all cases of standard size and in good condition, all practically new, and were selected from a collection of about 100 with a view to obtaining results on as many different common types as possible. With the exception of the gasoline-burning lamps, five different oils were used in each lamp to determine whether particular oils were suited to particular lamps and whether there was any great difference in the illuminating power of the different oils, or whether some oils would maintain their illuminating power better than others throughout a working period of 8 hr. No attempt was made to determine the amount or cost of oil burned by each lamp, but the condition of the lamp, wick, glass, and gauzes was noted after each test. Description of Apparatus Used The candlepowcr was determined with a Weber photometer, Fig. 1, which consists of a tube A containing a movable milk-glass screen adjustable by the milled screw B. The distance of this screen from the standard light at C is read on the scale attached to A. The standard light consists of a benzine lamp so arranged that the height of the flame may be adjusted exactly by observing it against a scale in the lamp box through an opening in the front. The lamp to be tested is placed at D so as to illuminate a milk-glass screen in the holdcr at E. At the intersection of the axes of tube A and sight-tube F are placed two 45' prisms with their surfaces in contact so that the light from D may pass through with-

Jan 1, 1917

"Located on the Big Hole River, three miles from Divide, Montana, and 21.75 miles from Butte.Built in 1899.DAM: Rock-filled wooden crib, 512 ft. long and 57.5 feet high.SPILLWAY: Equipped with flash-boards 189 ft. long, 8 ft. 10 inches high.PENSTOCKS: Two 8 ft. diameter of steel, each branching and supplying two wheels.WHEELS: Four double horizontal, double discharge turbines, made by The James Leffel & Co., 1,000 h-p., 180 r. p. m., direct connected to generators, operating at 60 ft. head. GENERATORS: Four G. E., revolving field, 750 k-w., 180 r. p. m., 800 volt, 3 phase, 60 cycle alternators.EXCITERS: Two water-wheel driven exciters.TRANSFORMERS: 12 250-k-w. G. E. air blast, primary 15,000 volts, Secondary 800 volts.OPERATION: The plant operates essentially as a peak load plant. Except in flood period, there is insufficient water to operate at full load continually. In December its average output is about 500 k-w."

Jan 1, 1913

THE Nominating Committee appointed at the Division meeting in October and consisting of Frank A. Herald, A. W. Peake, C. R. McCollom, Joseph Jensen, H. W. Camp, C. P. Watson, F. Julius Fohs, George Otis Smith, J. B. Umpleby, J. M. Lovejoy and A. W. Ambrose, have presented the following ticket for the year 1929: Chairman, Joseph B. Umpleby; associate chairman, A. C. Rubel; secretary-treasurer, R. Van A. Mills; vice-chairman for Economics, Warren A.. Sinshein~er; vice-chairman for Engineering Education, H. C. George; vice-chairman for Engineering Research, Harry H. Hill; vice-chairman for Production, C. P. Watson;vice-chairman for Refinery Engineering, A. D. David. For Production Engineering Charles V. Millikan. is named vicechairman, with ,Charles E. Beecher, Glenn D. Robertson and W. W. Scott as associate vice-chairmen. The Executive Committee named is to consist of Joseph B. Umpleby, chairman with A. W. Ambrose, Charles E. Beecher, A. D. David, Glenn D. Robertson, H. C. George, Harry H. Hill, John M. Lovejoy, Charles V. Millikan, R. Van A. Mills, Earl Oliver, A. W. Peake, A. C. Rubel, W. W. Scott, Warren A. Sinsheimer and .C. P. Watson, members. Ballots will be mailed to members of the Division.

Jan 1, 1928

For the year ending February, 1918 PRESIDENT PHILIP N. MOORE ST. Louis, Mo. PAST PRESIDENTS WILLIAM L. SAUNDERS NEW YORK, N. Y. L. D. RICKETTS NEW YORK, N. Y. FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT SIDNEY J. JENNINGS NEW YORK, N. Y. TREASURER GEORGE C. STONE, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY EMERITUS ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY BRADLEY STOUGHTON NEW YORK, N.Y.

Jan 9, 1917

For the year ending February, 1918 PRESIDENT PHILIP N. MOORE, ST. LOUIS, Mo. PAST PRESIDENTS WILLIAM L. SAUNDERS, NEW YORK, N. Y. L. D. RICKETTS, NEW YORK, N. Y. FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT SIDNEY J. JENNINGS NEW YORK, N. Y. TREASURER GEORGE C. STONE, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY EMERITUS ROSSITER W. RAYMOND, NEW YORK, N. Y. SECRETARY BRADLEY STOUGHTON NEW YORK, N. Y.

Jan 2, 1918

By Walter Dake

THE mining engineer is being more generally called on to examine and report on properties where the introduction of mechanical loaders is proposed, and as the use of these labor-saving devices presents an entirely different problem from that of hand-loading, an outline of procedure is herewith pre¬sented based on five years of intensive field experience in making such studies. It is impossible to outline an examination which will cover every condition but the most important variables are noted and the re¬port may be amplified or abridged to suit individual mine requirements. There are, of course, exceptional cases in which a single minor variable will determine the final conclusion; the result of mechanical loader application can be, estimated within close limits by considering all variables listed and taking into account the sum of all those found to be applicable to the property under examination. It is necessary that a high degree of accuracy be exercised in the analysis of conditions, and that a relatively narrow margin be figured on all estimates of tonnage outputs and costs. In making an examination for this purpose the data as to company name, business address, name of mine, geographical location, rail or water connections, type of mine (whether shaft, slope, or drift), and the name of seam should, of course, be included, to be followed by the minimum, maximum, and average thickness of seam, a brief description of the charac¬teristics of the coal, the impurities contained, location of regular impurities or partings, together with nota¬tion as to quality, uses, and-markets for the coal. It is also necessary to make cross-sections of the seam so that face preparation may be studied in an effort to eliminate all regularly-occurring impurities at the working place. The possibilities for further cost re¬ductions by the removal and gobbling of partings under¬ground before mechanically ? loading out a face are sufficiently great to warrant careful study and analysis. The classification of the mine from the standpoint of gaseous or non-gaseous operation will determine the general type of electrical equipment needed. A notation regarding the power whether generated at the mine or purchased, together with the amount, voltage, and type of current available is necessary since these matters determine the exact type of elec¬trical equipment to be used. A brief description of the ventilating system, giving type of fan, amount. of air delivered, water gage, and whether force or ex¬haust type, will enable the engineer' to figure venti¬lating requirements per man under mechanical loading practices. The pitch of seam in degrees, the pitch of working faces, and a brief description of rolls or horsebacks should be included, as these affect the efficiency of mechanical loading and, therefore, the economic re¬sults obtainable. -Notations should be made as to the amount of water found in working faces, and whether pumping, sprinkling or rock-dusting methods should be considered. As the character of the floor affects the operation of the machine at the face if a cater¬pillar-tread type, its hardness should be determined, and also whether impurities consisting of floor ma¬terial are likely to be loaded with the coal. The char¬acter of the roof and overlying stratification determine the mining system and width of roof span at work¬ing faces. It therefore directly regulates the amount of tonnage to be loaded by machines without a move from one place to another.

Jan 12, 1927

US 4,181,703-Removal of magnesium impurity from phosphate rock. Crushed screened ore containing more than 0.3% by weight of magnesium is slurried with sea water, acidified with sulfuric acid to a pH value not lower than 2 5, and filtered and washed before the neutralization point is reached. W. Wengeler, F. Wolstein, and E. Hoffman, assigned to Uhde G.m.b.H. Jan. 1, 1980 4 pp (423-167) Filed: 11-18-77 (852,918)

Jan 1, 1982

Discussion of the paper of C. M. YOUNG, presented at the St. Louis meeting, October, 1917, and printed in Bulletin No. 129, September, 1917, pp. 1369 to 1384. CARL SCHOLZ, Chicago, Ill.-Mr. Young was kind enough to' allude to the development of a mine in which I am now engaged. Several months ago the Burlington Railroad decided to open a mine in the field Which they own in Franklin County containing some 15,000 acres .(6070 ha.) of coal, ranging in thickness from 8 to 12 ft. (2 to 3.6 m.). This proposition in itself is attractive to any mining engineer, but with the backing of a large company I saw an opportunity to do some novel work in the construction line, and for several months I have been investigating and working on the problem of developing what I hope will be the largest and best equipped mine in the State of Illinois. The shaft will be sunk at a place where the coal lies at a depth of 600 ft. (182 m.) and conditions both of the surface and of the coal are ideal in every way; the seam is almost level, and we had only 7 ft. (2 m.) of surface clay to go through. We are going to hoist by skips in order to reduce the rope speed. I believe that is a long step in the direction of economy, because we not only double the output of the mine by hoisting the contents of two cars atone time, but we reduce the proportion of dead weight. In our case there will be 20 tons of coal and 18,000 lb. of skip, or 55 per cent. net and 45 per cent. tare. That, of course, necessitates less than half the rope speed for the same tonnage, and we all know that speed means power and power means cost. Skip hoisting permits the use of solid-end gate cars, which is an advantage. The cost of these cars will be in the neighborhood of $250 apiece; They are well built, with roller-bearing wheels of the most up-to-date type, spring draw-bars, and refinements of-that character which are necessary to move the loads most advantageously.

Jan 1, 1918

By David S. Butts

There are many solution mining operations that use solar ponds as a mineral recovery step. Other locations in the world are now under investigation to recover minerals by solution mining but require the cheap energy of solar ponds to make the recovery viable. This paper shows a step-by-step material balance system that can be used in both simple and complex solar ponds. Use of this system will help the engineer determine if solar ponding efficiency can be improved or if solar ponding will work at all with a given set of conditions. Even the most complicated solar pond can be reduced to six flow streams. These are (1) feed, (2) exit, (3) leakage, (4) entrainment, (5) salts, and (6) evaporation. The equations developed in this paper will allow the solar pond engineer to easily evaluate the effect of each of the flow streams on the mineral production of a pond or pond complex.

Jan 1, 1985

By Wm. E. Milligan

DESPITE the zero weather of Monday, the morning meeting on nonferrous ore-reduction metallurgy got under way promptly under the efficient control of Arthur A. Center. The first and third portions of the paper on the Tri-State region were presented by B. M. O'Harra, with R. H. Lowe substituting for co-author Illidge on the second part. Attention was drawn to the compact design attainable when "Sink and Float" was employed as a means of primary concentration. The teaching profession should welcome this concise correlation of data from such a renowned center of lead and zinc production. H. R. Hanley and C. R. Hay¬ward were much interested in the mechanics of charging, manufacture, and life of the retorts.

Jan 1, 1943

By Cloyd M. Smith

B. F. TiLLson*— The manifold difficulties of accurate anemometry in irregular sections of mine passageways, the irregular distributions of velocities in cross sections of the same, and the disturbing influence of the observer upon the air flow, all indicate an undesirable inaccuracy of results obtainable by any standardized method of traversing the section by an anemometer. It seems obvious that another, and simpler, method should be used to determine the volume of air flow in mine passages, namely: 1. At appropriate locations cement or calked framework rings should be installed permanently to equalize the irregularities of sectional contour and provide a place and means of attachment for a temporary cloth brattice which bears a rigid orifice. 2. The measurement of the velocity of air flow through the orifice may then be by anemometer or, preferably, by Pitot tube measurements of the differential pressures on both sides of the orifice in accordance with the standard practices available in engineering 1iterature. † The constants may be determined for various measuring positions in relation to the resulting "vena contracta." 3. The position of the person who makes the measurements is behind the brattice out of the air stream. The Pitot tube does not offer as disturbing an obstruction as the anemometer. A recording gauge may be employed to integrate fluctuations in air flow through that portion of the mine. No traverses are required because the reading may be at a single central point. An anemometer can be used with an orifice flow. The orifice will increase the air velocity at the measuring point, with correspondingly more accurate measurements where the normal air velocity through the passageway is low. Portable brattices might be devised with the cushioning rims which would seal against irregular rock surfaces where permanent rings were not available or feasible. The development by the Ventilation Committee of standard procedures and devices for the orifice measurement of the flow of mine ventilating air might be a desirable project for this coming year. C. M. Smith (author's reply)—Thank you for your discussion of my paper on underground anemometry. Your suggested method of measuring underground air flow is a novel one which might be applicable in some situations. It should be tested along with other suggested methods in any investigation of this subject. G. E. McElroy*—In spite of the adverse publicity that vane-anemometer methods of air measurement have had in the past and that contributed by the present paper, I endorse Mr. Erickovic's statement that anemometer traversing "has proved to be widely applicable, expeditious and simple" and add that available methods are accurate enough for the purposes for which they may be used. The fact that the great majority of minor mine officials assess relative changes in rates of air flow by comparison of crude vane-anemometer measurements, known to average 20 to 30 pct high, has no important bearing on this subject, because state inspection standards were based originally on such methods of air measurement. Federal inspection standards are based on actual rates of flow as determined by traversing, and interest in traversing methods is rapidly increasing. In considering traversing methods, three aspects are of major importance: (1) the absolute accuracy of calibrations; (2) the degree of interference with normal flow conditions introduced by traversing methods designed for accurate measurement by shaft-mounted instruments; and (3) the proper "method" factor to use for approximate measurements by hand-held instruments. With respect to absolute accuracy of calibrations, we have always placed reliance on calibrations made by the National Bureau of Standards, with which manufacturers' calibrations have usually agreed very closely. It is therefore particularly disturbing to find7 that calibrations made previous to June 1947 are presumably about 5 pct in error because of excessive registry caused by the thin flat plates on which anemometers were mounted for calibration. Velocities corrected for calibration have therefore averaged about 5 pct low in all probability. In this connection, it is interesting to note that an anemometer calibrated against Pitot-tube measurement by a single-point method in the Bureau of Mines experimental coal nine in 1923 indicated this same difference of about 5 pct and that the same instrument calibrated by a traversing method in a metal mine some months later indicated a difference in the same direction of about 4 pct. These results are reported by the Bureau of Mines.8 Regarding the degree of interference, or changes in velocity distribution, caused by the position of the observer's body in traversing operations, misconceptions seem to be especially prevalent, resulting in increasing advocacy of methods, such as the "clear section" method outlined in this paper, that cause just the type of interferences that they are designed to avoid. The degree of interference for any method may be gauged easily by a few experiments with a velocity-pressure gauge connected to a Pitot tube or with an indicating velocity meter such as the Velometer. In an experiment cited by McElroy and Richardson,# a decrease of 5 pct was noted at ten widths upstream from a 6-in. plank, whereas an observer's body at about the maximum practical distance of 6 ft downstream from the instrument is only about four widths away. In the Bureau of Standards paper previously mentioned, it is recommended that supports used in calibrations be at least 16 widths downstream. In practice, therefore, a downstream position of the observer is ruled out as far as accurate measurement is concerned. Operation of the anemometer by rigid shaft support from a point outside the section is seldom practicable; however, accurate results can be obtained, with the anemometer rigidly attached to a short shaft and held at arm's length, by an observer advancing across the traversed section while he faces the opposite wall and stands sideways to the current, provided that he keeps the instrument at least 3 ft away from his body at all times and traverses the entire section with it. If the traverse can be started with the observer in a side recess, the entire section can be covered in one operation. Normally, it would be covered in two half-sections. The presence of the observer's body does not, as is commonly supposed, increase the average velocity throughout the remaining part of the section. Rather, the velocities 1 to 2 ft on either side of his body are increased, but the distribution of velocities throughout the rest of the cross section remains normal, and a traverse made as stated gives a true average velocity for normal-flow conditions. Regarding the proper "method" factor for accounting for interference in the approximate methods of traversing with hand-held instruments, here again confusion prevails, for which the writer must assume some of the blame. Comparison of consecutive traverses made by shaft-held and hand-held 4-in. anemometers in field work after the tests reported by McElroy and Richardson' gave method factors

Jan 1, 1950

By S. J. Sindeband

Prior to discussing the metallurgy of sintered chromium borides, it is pertinent to outline some of the reasoning behind this investigation and the purposes underlying the work. This study was initiated as an aproach to the ubiquitous problem of a material for service at high temperatures under oxidizing atmospheres, and it was undertaken with a view to raising the 1500°F (816°C) ceiling to 2000°F (1093°C) or better. For the reason that no small, but rather a major, lifting of the high temperature working limit was being attempted, it was felt appropriate that a completely new approach be taken to this problem. A summary of the thinking behind this approach was published recently by Schwarzkopf.' In briefest terms, it was postulated that the following requirements could be set up for a material which would have high strength at high temperatures. 1. The individual crystals of the material must exhibit high strength interatomic bonds. This automatically leads to consideration of highly refractory materials, since their high energy requirements for melting are related to the strength of their atom-to-atom bonds. 2. On the polycrystalline basis, high boundary strength, superimposed on the above consideration, would also be a necessity. Since this implies control of boundary conditions, the powder metallurgy approach would hold considerable promise. Such materials actually had been fabricated for a number of years, and the cemented carbide is the best example of these. Here a highly refractory crystal was carefully bonded and resulted in a material of extremely high strength. That this strength was maintained at high temperature is exhibited by the ability of the cemented carbide tool to hold an edge for extended periods of heavy service. Nowick and Machlin2,3 have analytically approached the problem of creep and stress-rupture properties at high temperature and developed procedures whereby these properties can be approximately predicted from the room temperature physical constants of a material. The most important single constant in the provision of high temperature strength and creep resistance is shown to be the Modulus of Rigidity. On this basis, they proposed that a fertile field for investigation would be that of materials similar to cemented carbides, which have Moduli of Rigidity that are among the highest recorded. The cemented carbide, however, does not have good corrosion resistance in oxidizing atmospheres and without protection could not be used in gas turbines and similar pieces of equipment. It would be necessary then to attempt the fabrication of an allied material based upon a hard crystal which had good corrosion resistance as well. It was upon these premises that the subject study was undertaken and at an early stage it was sponsored by the U.S. Navy, Office of Naval Research. Since then, it has been carried on under contract with this agency. Chromium boride provided a logical starting point for such research, since it was relatively hard, exhibited good corrosion resistance, and, in addition, was commercially available, since it had found application in hard-surfacing alloys with iron and nickel. That chromium boride did not provide a material that met the ultimate aim of the study results from factors which are subsequently discussed. This, however, does not detract from the basis on which the study was conceived, nor from the value of reporting the results which follow. Chromium Boride While work on chromium boride proper dates back to Moissan,4 there has been a dearth of literature on borides since 1906. Subsequent to Moissan, principal investigators of chromium boride were Tucker and Moody,5 Wede-kind and Fetzer,6 du Jassoneix,7,8,9 and Andrieux." These investigators were generally limited to studies of methods of producing chromium boride and detennining its properties. Some study, however, was devoted to the chromium-boron system by du Jassoneix,7 who did this chemically and metal-lographically. This system is not amenable to normal methods of analysis by virtue of the refractory nature of the alloys involved, and the difficulties of measurement and control of temperature conditions in their range. Dilatometric apparatus is nonexistent for operation at these temperatures. Du Jassoneix made use of apparent chemical differences between two phases observed under the microscope and reported the existence of two definite compounds, namely: Cr3B2 and CrB. These two compounds, he reported, had quite similar chemical characteristics, but were sufficiently different to enable him to separate them. The easiest method for producing chromium boride is apparently the thermite process, first applied by Wede-

Jan 1, 1950

By T. E. Kihlgren

SYSTEMATIC data are presented on the relation of composition of nickel silvers to color, tarnish resistance, hardness and liquidus temperatures, for alloys containing up to 30 per cent nickel and 50 per cent zinc, further modified at certain nickel and zinc contents by 0 to 8 per cent of tin and 0 to 10 per cent of lead. Attention has also been directed, using a still more limited range of alloys, toward a study of tensile properties and such casting properties and characteristics as fluidity, shrinkage and pressure tightness. In some of these, rather broad ranges of composition are dealt with; in others, it has been expedient to focus attention on the Federal Specification 20 per cent nickel silver casting alloy, WWP-541. INTRODUCTION The demand for an alloy essentially white in color, which could be cast and worked by simple methods and which possessed strength and corrosion-resisting properties superior to the usual brasses, led to the discovery and early use of cupronickel alloys containing zinc, and some-times tin, lead and other metals. This type of alloy was generally known as German silver until the war, when the term "Nickel Silver" became generally accepted. The element principally responsible for the white color of the alloy and for its strength and corrosion resistance is nickel, which may constitute from 8 to 30 per cent of the alloy. The functions of the other elements will be described later. The manifold uses of nickel silver are largely due to its color, corrosion resistance, ease of casting, fabrication, joining and rather moderate cost. In many instances the alloy is finished by grinding and polishing while in others it may be finished with a silver or nickel plus chromium plate. Electroplates

Jan 1, 1935

By Samuel Wyer

Over 8,000,000 people in the United States depend on natural gas for their cooking, heating and lighting service. This service has been made possible only by the investment of large amounts of capital in transportation lines connecting the gas wells to the various communities, thus combining a hazardous mining operation with a public utility service. The effect that making these lines " common carriers" will have on the present and future service to these 8,000,000 or more people is of far reaching ethical and economic importance, and deserves careful consideration. As an introduction, it must be conceded that: 1. Natural gas, although a mineral and obtained by a mining operation-with more uncontrollable and uncertain features to cope with than exist in the mining of coal or other minerals-when served to the public becomes a public utility service. 2. The governmental power to regulate all public utilities in the interests of the public cannot be successfully disputed. 3. Mere suggestion of inconvenience to the utility is wholly irrelevant, as it cannot be considered or allowed to influence in making a defense against governmental regulation. Unfortunately it is not generally appreciated that: 1. Legislative enactments are not necessarily laws, and cannot abrogate economic laws or alter engineering facts. 2. There is a clear distinction between "common carrier" and "public utility," although the terms are frequently confused. ' "A common carrier is one who undertakes for hire to transport persons or goods, or both, from place to place for all persons indifferently, the term implying indifference as to whom shall be served, and an equal readiness to serve all who apply, in the order of their application." On the other hand, property becomes a "public utility" only "when for a particular purpose the public have a right to resort to the premises and make use of them."

Jan 5, 1914