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By AIME AIME

WTHIN the next month all members of the Institute will be given an opportunity to vote for a new President, two Vice-Presidents, and five Directors. All of the candidates nominated by the official committee are well known to certain groups of the Institute membership but a brief record of their professional lives will be given here for the information of those that will vote. Not since 1927, when Everette DeGolyer guided the destinies of the Institute, has a member of the Petroleum Division been a candidate for President. John Meston Lovejoy has been a Director since 1930, and a Vice-President as well for the last year: In the three years 1932-4 lie was also chairman of the Admissions Committee. Dir. Lovejoy graduated from the Columbia School of Mines in 1911, just before lie was 22 years old, and began his professional career as a copper miner at Chuquicamata. Chile. Silver and gold mining later claimed his % attention, and it was not until 1914 that lie gut into the oil business, as geologist for the Standard Oil Co. of N. Y. This took hint to China and he later worked for the company in Wyoming. In 1917 lie joined the Army where lie rose to be captain of Field Artillery. Upon his return to the United States he went to work for the Amerada Petroleum Co., of which he later became vice-president and general manager, with headquarters in Tulsa. Since coining to New York he has been president of the Petroleum Bond & Share Cu.. and is currently president of the Seaboard Oil Co.

Jan 1, 1935

By JOHN JANNEY

STABILIZATION of the adjustment of normal consumption to normal production of world commodities is quite different from reducing production until visible surpluses are consumed. The first means restoration and maintenance of prosperity, the second means merely a temporary alleviation of a condition with the prime cause remaining uncorrected. Overproduction of foodstuffs in some sections of the world while millions starve in other sections represents not so much overproduction of foodstuffs as mal-distribution of foodstuffs. The flour mills of Washington and Oregon normally ship quantities of flour to China. Now, the wheat that would make this flour goes East instead of West. Is this overproduction, or is there something wrong that calls for study, analysis and correction? Can the plan used by the ostrich of hiding its head in. the sand get us by this present world tragedy, or must the challenge to solve this problem be met, constructively? Can we not make out of this breakdown in the world's economic system an opportunity? And use it as the stimulus for remedying the basic cause of the trouble and not content ourselves with devising temporary expedients that aim at remedying this or that of the obvious conditions, in themselves not causes at all but rather the evidence of causes, or that are the symptoms of the real trouble.

Jan 1, 1931

By Cyril S., Smith

WE cannot but marvel at the fact that fire is necessary for almost every operation. It takes the sands of the earth and melts them-now into glass, now into silver, minium or other lead or some substance useful to the artist or physician. By fire, minerals are disintegrated and copper produced; in fire is iron born and by fire is it subdued; by fire, gold is purified; by fire, stones are burned for the binding together of the walls of houses.... Fire is the immeasurable, uncontrollable element, concerning which it is hard to say whether it consumes more or produces more." Thus wrote Pliny in his "Natural History," that great collection of fact and error which constitutes the principal contemporary description of Roman technology and which until the seventeenth century was the authority most often quoted and requoted by those who wrote on metals, as on many other subjects.

Jan 1, 1940

By CHARLES W. BENTON

THE following paragraphs comprise such information as the Secretary has been able to obtain concerning the members and associates whose deaths have been reported. Further particulars or corrections of errors, and biographical data concerning deceased members or associates not already noticed in this way, are solicited. Charles IV. Benton was born at Kezar Falls, Maine, Nov. 12, 1843. We have no accurate knowledge concerning the early part of his career. In 1871 he engaged with the N. Y. Honduras Rosario Mining Co., at San Juancinto, Honduras, C. A., and later was employed at the Monserrat mine at Yuscaran, and at Santa Lucia, Honduras, with the Tenero Mining Milling Co. of Pennsylvania. In 1897 he became a member of the Institute. At the time he was stricken with his last sickness he was employed at the Paymaster mine at Tucson, Ariz. He died at Fairmount, Denver, Colo., Sept. 9, 1907. William R. Boggs, Jr.-The notice in the Bulletin for January was incorrect in saying that the murder of Mr. Boggs occurred while he was employed as metallurgical. manager by Mr. W. B. A. Dingwall, at La Maroma, San Luis Potosi, Mex. Mr. Dingwall writes that in March, 1907, Mr. Boggs left him, to return to his home at Winston, N. C., whence he. subsequently went to Durango, Mex., to take, with the Topia Mining Co., a position which he occupied at the tine of his death, Nov. 17, 1907. Mr. Dingwall says that, while in his service, Mr. Boggs never had any trouble with the workmen, but was esteemed and liked by them, as by all who knew him ; and adds, injustice to the State of San Luis Potosi, that the population, even in the mining-camps of that State, is orderly and law-abiding, and that the authorities are vigilant and just. Our

Mar 1, 1908

By H. W. Gillett

UNLIKE most previous Howe lecturers, I had not the good fortune to be associated with Henry Marion Howe, nor to be directly one of his students. Yet, through his writings, he has been my teacher, as he has of all American metallurgists. Instructive as his writings are-I use the present tense because Howe thought so keenly and reasoned so surely, seeing clearly, as if by intuition, what was hazy to lesser minds, that his writings are still vital-it is not, those books and papers, nor even the minds he trained in his classes, that were his most outstanding service. It was the spirit of Howe in his: approach to the problems of metallurgy, his broad-mindedness and fair-ness, his recognition of the need for theories and hypotheses to explain metallurgical phenomena, his willingness to use them as servants, as well as his questioning attitude-his refusal to accept them as masters-that comprise his greatest service. This most thoroughly warrants the honor the Institute pays each year to his memory. These traits I so respect and honor in any man that I glory in this opportunity to do reverence to him in whom they were so notably united.

Jan 1, 1939

By P. Nicholls

THOUGH the burning of fuels extends far back into antiquity, and though fuel beds are the most common and widely distributed example of chemical actions and engineering practice, there has been little attempt to group fuel beds by types or to define the principles associated with them. This paper does not profess to cover completely the subject of fuel beds. It suggests some of the over-all principles of the two more com-mon types. No new investigational data are included, but the deduc-tions are largely based on a recent publication of the U.S. Bureau of Mines1. DEFINITION OF TYPES There are three primary types of fuel beds: (1) Underfeed, in which the fuel and the air move in the same direction; (2) overfeed, in which the fuel and the air move in opposite directions; (3) crossfeed, in .which the fuel and the air move at right angles to each other. The principle that fixes the type is the relation between directions of the flow of fuel and of air. Fig. 1 shows the three types diagrammatically. All other types are compounded of these three in a simple or more or less complex manner. It does not follow that these three type designations are limited to the methods used in representing them in Fig. 1; they may be turned in any direction, and as long as the relative directions of the fuel and air are the same the type is not changed. For example, A as shown resembles a pot-type stoker, but the air and fuel can move downward as in the so-called smokeless heating boiler furnace. Also, C can be placed hori-zontal, as in chain-grate stokers. For this reason, the terms used to designate the three types are not all that could be desired; more logical ones could be coined, but those used probably are satisfactory until the discussion of fuel-bed types becomes more common.

Jan 1, 1935

By R. E. Morgan, D. L. Douglass

The determination of phase relationships and solid-solubility limits can be performed by quantitative metallography in addition to the usual X-ray and metallographic techniques. For example, Beck and smith1 redetermined the ß/ß + ?, ß + ?/?, a/a + ß and a + ß/ß boundaries in the Cu-Zn system by measuring the volume fraction of second phase of several alloys and extrapolating the volume fraction-composition curves to 0 and 100 pct. A modification of this technique is suggested for certain alloy systems, in which it is not necessary to use several alloy compositions but merely one. A single two-phase alloy may be used to determine terminal solubilities in the following manner. The method consists of equilibrating samples of the alloy in a two-phase region adjacent to the desired solid solution, at three or more temperatures, quenching, measuring the volume fraction of second phase present, and applying an analytical treatment to calculate the unknown solid solution. However, two restrictions are inherent in this technique. They are: 1) only certain types of alloy systems are amenable to it, and 2) the general features of the system must be known. The first drawback to the new technique, i.e., that only certain types of systems may be studied, necessitates that the composition at one end of the tieline must either be constant with temperature or well established as a function of temperature. Either a pure metal or some intermetallic compounds fulfill the former. If it is assumed that the volume per gram-atom of a dilute solution is unchanged by the addition of element B to element A, the composition of the solid solution in equilibrium with the second phase may be determined by a material balance and is given by where X, = volume fraction of B in a solid solution Xc = volume fraction of B in compound c X = volume fraction of B in alloy f = volume fraction of second phase The composition by weight may then be determined by the use of tables in the Metals Handbook2 when the density ratio of the solid solution constituents is known. A possible alternative treatment involving the use of the lever rule is less precise than the above tech- nique. This may be used when the density of the solid solution is either known or may be calculated from X-ray data for several compositions. The following analysis is then made. The ratio of compound to solid solution (by weight) may be expressed as follows: x0 - x wc = xr-x = x0 - x r2i Xc -X where Wc = weight of compound w = weight of solid solution x, - alloy composition, weight percent x = unknown composition Xe = compound composition but where V, = volume of compound VA = volume of solid solution pc = density of compound p, = density of solid solution fc = volume fraction of compound fB = volume fraction of solid solution and fs = l -fc then If pc and xc are known, and f, is measured, then pB is the only unknown on the right side of Eq. [4]. The known densities of the solid solution can be plotted for various compositions and can then be expressed mathematically as a function of composition. The use of an expression of pB = f(x)reduces the equation to one unknown—the desired solubility. In the event that the densities are unknown, they may be calculated for various compositions from Vegard&apos;s law. The calculated values are then plotted and expressed analytically. The most accurate results are obtained for Eq. [4] when fc<< 1, i.c., when (x, -x,) - 0, &/l-f, - m; but as fc/l -fc - 0, (xl-x,)- (x, - x), and x - x,,. However, the accuracy with which fc can be measured decreases as f, decreases.3 Alloys for investigation must be selected by a compromise, which is based upon an error analysis of Eq. [4] and knowledge of the accuracy of volume fraction measurements. An examination of phase diagrams in the literature showed many which were amenable to the technique described here. The zirconium-copper system was selected in order to determine the solubility of copper in beta zirconium. Pieces of an alloy which was arc-melted three times were wrapped in tantalum foil and sealed under an argon atmosphere in Vycor tubes. The sealed samples were equilibrated at temperatures from 850" to 960°C for 3 weeks and quenched to room temperature by smashing the capsule in water. Several planes of polish were examined, and

Jan 1, 1960

By PAUL M. Tyier

NOW that analytical chemistry has gone so far to debunk early misconceptions about minerals, the fact that the light of exact knowledge still fails to illuminate many dark corners is often overlooked. By combining the skills of the physicist with those of a chemist, the identification of minerals has become an exact science and the presence of even minute traces of impurities and extraneous elements is readily revealed by spectrographic means, Granted that we can learn all there is to know about the composition of a substance and even about its physical propertied (which latter assumption is somewhat far-reaching) it still does not follow that we clearly understood its commercial designation or utility.

Jan 1, 1941

By R. J. Colony

MINING geology does not lend itself - very readily to a review embracing "improvements in methods," as perhaps do shop practices or laboratory procedures. The "methods" used in mining geology are simply the application of geology to mining; winning the ore, the handling of material, mechanical appliances, all belong strictly to mining proper, and have no place in a review of geology as applied to mining. A comprehensive review would necessarily cover a .very broad field, which could be subdivided into many -parts. Only a few of these can be discussed here. .Those that have been suggested to the chairman indude :

Jan 1, 1930

By Paul M. Tyler, Colin G. Fink

THE field of rare metals is so broad that progress can be reported upon many important fronts. Not satisfied with the 92 elements that Mendeleeff and his followers have accepted as legitimate, scientists are trying now to complicate matters by making new elements. Enrico Fermi announced the fabrication of "Element 93". Uranium, instead of being allowed to disintegrate slowly according to its normal habit, was bombarded with neutrons until some of them seemed to have stuck in the nucleus. To understand just what is alleged to have happened all one has to do is to line up the elements in their usual order of ascending atomic weight and imagine, as physicists do, that each atom is a little solar orbit comprising a central mass or planet about which other masses revolve like satellites. Ordinary hydrogen, being very light, consists of only one positively charged proton center, with only one positively charged electron revolving about it. Other atones are progressively more complicated until we come to uranium, which has a relatively big center and 92 particles revolving around it.

Jan 1, 1935

By GEO M. FOWLER

AN appraisal of the activities of the mining geologists during 1936 clearly indicates the ever in- creasing utilization of geology in the search for ore. Few men with geo- logic training are idle at present; this is particularly true regarding recent graduates. Many have accepted employment in distant fields, such as the Philippines and South America, and greatly increased mineral production from these places reflects their activities. In North America, regions of intense mineralization formerly important are being restudied in greater de- tail and with better understanding; as a result, new mineral wealth is being found in many such districts. Much is being done by private companies and individuals, and it is to be hoped that mining companies will increasingly make available the purely scientific results of such studies by permitting their geologists to publish. On such generosity to a large extent will future advances in ore finding depend.

Jan 1, 1937

[RALPH ADAIR Ore Dressing Consultant Bull Mtn. d., Asheville, N. C. Phone 4-1693 JAMES A. BARR Consulting Engineer Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee Washington, D.C. BEHRE DOLBEAR & COMPANY Consulting Mining Engineers and Geologists 11 Broadway New York 4, N. Y. I. R. BERENT Engineering Consultants and Contractors Mineral Exploration, Mine Evaluation, Mine Designs and Mine Management 156, Ataturk Bulvarl-Ankara, Turkey BLANDFORD C. BURGESS Registered Professional Engineer Mining Consultant Monticello, Georgia GLENVILLE A. COLLINS Mining Engineer Uranium examinations Cable "Coins" 8 Howard-Canfield Bldg. Santa Barbers, Calif. COWIN & CO. Mining Engineers and Contractors Consulting Shaft & Slope Sinking Appraisal Mine Development Reports Mine Plant Construction I. 18th St. S. W. Wham, Ale., Phone 56-5566]

Jan 1, 1952

By C. W. Handy

ONE LAW cannot he evaded, the economic law of supply and demand. Silver, like any other commodity, is subject to this law; and its price in the long run is determined by existing conditions. I say "in the lone run because at times silver has appeared to mope contra to basic coalitions. Such movements, however, are, occasioned by the market&apos;s attempt to anticipate changes in these governing conditions. If the expected changes materialize then the new market level is justified, but if they do not then the market will revert to its previous status, A striking example of such a move occurred in November when the price advanced over 70, in ten days and then in the next two weeks lost more than it had gained. The reasons for this advance were that the speculative element interpreted certain events as favorable to silver namely, England suspension of the gold standard, higher shat prices, and the Chinese-Japanese crisis. When these expectations proved unjustified the inevitably, elapse followed became the governing conditions had not channel.

Jan 1, 1932

Q: It is May 1961 at Bill Wrather&apos;s Washington house. Bill, think back to your first job after college. Wrather: Perhaps I ought to go back a little bit further than my first job. I entered the University of Chicago with the idea of studying law. My intention was to take a 4-yr liberal arts course and superimpose a law degree on that. But during my undergraduate work I fell under the influence of R. D. Salsbury. He decided I had some talent as a geologist and influenced me to take a geological course. Nevertheless, I did not give up the idea of law. While in school I took a spell of typhoid fever and almost died. The doctor recommended outdoor exercise, so a geological job seemed logical. W. H. Emmons was a graduate student in the University and he interceded with Dr. Hayes of the USGS. I went on the payroll as assistant packer at $60 a month. I had one of the most glorious summers I ever spent in my life. That fall and the following year I took law courses and became thoroughly convinced that I was cut out for a geologist rather than a lawyer. I finished up my law work in 1908 while waiting for a job with Bill Emmons, who was doing a careful study of Goldfield and Tonopah.

Jan 4, 1964

By Harvey T. Gracely, Mark J. Woodhull

DURING the past few years a marked refinement has taken place in the design of electric power shovels for the mining industry, increasing their digging ability and speed of operation without adding to their total weight. The increase in pay load has been accomplished by a more rigid engineering analysis of shovel design, involving the adoption of new special alloy steels, new sections, and new welding methods. Emphasis has been placed on lightness with increased strength, which is most clearly shown in the front-end equipment where dipper, handle and boom are new in design, material, and construction.

Jan 1, 1938

By Richard A. Kesler, W. Michael Reed

Grindability or resistance to fine comminution is the fundamental issue involved in the application and sizing of grinding mills. Over the years, many theories for determining the amount of energy required for size reduction to a specified fineness have been proposed. The first published theory, introduced by P. R. von Rittinger in 1867, stated that the energy required for crushing or grinding is proportional to the increase in surface area produced. The surface area of a ton of particles of diameter (d) is proportional to (1/d), therefore the work input per ton for particles of diameter (d) would be proportional to (1/d). The second significant theory is that of F. Kick published in 1885. Kick said that the work required is proportional to the reduction in volume of the particles concerned. If (f) is the diameter of the feed particles and (p) is the diameter of the product particles, the work input relationship would be: [W =Ioq(f/p) 9] The "Third Theory" of F.C. Bond, introduced in 1951, states that the work required is proportional to the length of the new crack tips produced in particle breakage during crushing or grinding and equals work represented by the product minus that represented by the feed. This takes the form: [W=]

Jan 1, 1982

By Cyril Stanley Smith

ARCHEOLOGISTS, by use of the terms Bronze Age and Iron Age, indicate that metals have in the past determined the character of civilization. The relatively simple discovery by a primitive metallurgist that the addition of tin to copper both facilitated the production of castings and increased the durability of the product enabled hunter, warrior, and housewife alike to do things never dreamed of before. Similarly, the smelting of iron and the discovery of hardening methods greatly changed the arts of peace and war. Discoveries of low-melting-point alloys for joining and for making household utensils, and perhaps the adornment of a feminine form by sparkling precious-metal jewelry, have at times changed the destiny of a country. Bronze cannon, the cast and wrought iron Watt engine, copper transmission lines, and aluminum alloy aircraft, are cases of particular metals making possible the realization of an improved engineering design. Perhaps of the greatest influence of all upon civilization was the development of type metal. The rapid increase in the rate of dissemination of knowledge dates from the day that the technique of the pewterer was utilized in making rapidly reproducible and accurately sized letters for printing. It was not movable type, but metal type that was important, for metal castings could be made of identically the same shape and size at an enormous rate, and possessed excellent inking and wearing characteristics.

Jan 1, 1946

By JOHN A. FULTON

THE Comstock Lode is in Storey County, Nevada, and extends in a north and south direction through the towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill, with a total length of 4.27 miles. Its mines have produced silver and gold to a known value exceeding $400,- 000,000 since 1859, when the work first began. More than $126.000,000 was paid in dividends by the mining companies, although much more than this was probably realized from the ore, because many milling companies were independent companies owned by the directors and superintendents of the mines. The milling companies&apos; contracts called for an extraction of only 65 per cent and, as much of the ore was worth $100 a ton and up- ward, they must have recovered substantial amounts for their own accounts over and above this guarantee. Gold was discovered in the spring of 1850 by a party of Normons bound for California. The discovery was made at the mouth of Gold canyon near Dayton, on the Carson River, about 10 miles south of Virginia City.

Jan 1, 1929

By B. A. Rogers

IN addition to the usual methods of manufacturing steel, a number of special processes have been the subject of considerable experimentation-and use in manufacturing practice. A number of these methods have been of a type in which a rapid refining action has been secured through the intimate mixture of fluid slag with fluid metal. The persistence with which more rapid methods are sought is indicated by the current interest in the Aston&apos; method for producing wrought iron and in the Perrin2 process for dephosphorizing and deoxidizing steel. In the Perrin process, in particular, the mixing action is extremely vigorous and the reactions proceed with surprising speed.

Jan 1, 1936

By H. A. MEGRAW

THE meeting of the A. I. M. E. at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Sept. 12 to 15, inclusive, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute. It was at Wilkes-Barre, in 1871, that the foundation was laid for the great institution that now includes in its roster the greatest names. in mining engineering in every civilized country of the world. The founders of the Institute, with rare prescience, established a common ground upon which all mining engineers, whatever particular branch they might consider most pertinent, could stand securely, assured of a deep-seated interest from their brethren similarly minded in other localities. So wise and clear was the vision of the founders that every engineer connected with mining has found it beneficial, not to say indispensable, to maintain his connection with the Institute and to increase his technical enthusiasm through the medium of the valuable technical publications. The little coterie of 1871 has grown to a strong body of more than 10,000 members in 1921, reflecting the glory of the founders in the record of the accomplishments written on the pages of the fifty years of the

Jan 1, 1921