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ALBERT Ladd Colby, who died suddenly of influenza at Torquay, England, on Apr. 30,1924, was born in New York City, on June 26,1860. He was educated in the public schools of New York, at the College of the City of New York, and received the degree of Ph. B. from the Columbia School of Mines in 1881. He continued his studies at Columbia, acting occasionally as assistant to Prof. C. F. Chandler, until 1883. For the next three years he was Assistant Professor of Chemistry in Lehigh University; then head chemist and metallurgical engineer of the Bethlehem Steel Co., at Bethlehem, Pa., occupying the latter position until 1903. As head chemist his active and inventive mind devised several improvements in apparatus for increasing the rapidity and accuracy of the analytical work; as metallurgical engineer, he was, from time to time, in charge of the blast-furnace, open-hearth, bessemer, and puddling departments; he had entire charge of the inspection, assignment, and economic use of all metallurgical materials, and he early gave his attention to the formulation of specifications for metallurgical materials—an activity in which he long held a distinguished part in this country, and as a representative of his own country in England and Europe. He also sewed as expert for his company in patent suits, again laying the foundation for valuable service later as a consulting engineer. In this latter capacity he was excelled by few, if any, contemporaries in the iron and steel industry. His mind was ingenious, thorough, clear, and keen, both in the preparation of evidence and its presentation to the Court. He very quickly appraised the value of evidence, or of an answer to a question, and knew how to secure the infermation, either from the available literature of any language, or by special researches or plant studies. In the executive control of literary research for patent purposes, his long training, infinite capacity for digging through long series of articles in English, German or French, and clear formulation of the vital subject matter for the guidance of assistants, made him invaluable. He was also an adept in collecting information on special branches of his profession. For example, when the science of metallography began to assume importance, he made the first really comprehensive bibliography covering the literature of all siderurgical countries; for the newly formed International Nickel Co. he gathered all the information extant on the subject of nickel steel, both in the literature and in the minds of experts in America and Europe. Two books testify to the thoroughness of his work in this capacity, vie.: "American Standard Specifications for Steel,"

Jan 1, 1924

By J. Gurland

THE microstructure of sintered carbides consists of particles of metal carbides, such as WC and TiC, embedded in a metallic binder which is usually a cobalt—or nickel-rich solid solution. One of the important factors influencing the strength of the alloys is the degree of dispersion of the carbide particles in the binder matrix. While it is generally accepted

Jan 1, 1960

R. F. MCELVENNY.- Over 20 years ago I went back East on a little tour of copper companies to see how copper was handled and fabricated, and I met a Mr. Bassett who took me through the Waterbury branche of the American Brass Co. I have not seen this gentleman for 20 years, but I have a letter from him that I would like to read to you. 'The American Brass Co. Waterbury, Conn. May 19, 1930. To the-Salt Lake City Conference on Reverberatory Smelting Practice: Through the courtesy of Mr. Scott Turner, Director of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, Mr. G. L. Oldright has been temporarily released from his regular duties to act as your secretary. We have asked him and Mr. McElvenny to make the necessary preliminary arrangements and to present to you at the opening session the greetings of the officers and' directors of the Institute. I am very glad that it has been possible for you to come together under the auspices of the Institute and that the acceptance of our invitation has been so very unanimous. Such an acceptance of the invitation to this meeting indicates your interest in getting together for an exchange of technical data and ideas. We anticipate that this meeting will be of real service to the smelting industry through your open discussion and exchange of ideas, and we sincerely hope that you will form an organization which will arrange for future meetings of a similar nature. While it probably may not be desirable to. distribute the minutes of this conference except to the members who take part in it, we hope that later the Institute publications may be enriched by such matter as you think it desirable to have published; and also, that some of you may be able to offer technical papers for the Institute publications. I hope that you will find a permanent organization desirable and trust that it will be possible for you to form such an organization so that conferences may be regularly called. We hope that you can make use of the Institute organization and that we can be of real service to your industry. With best wishes for your success in this undertaking, I am Most cordially yours, W. H. Bassett, President.

Jan 1, 1930

By John Wellington Finch

WHAT is an engineering opportunity? To the mining .engineer the natural assumption is that the first requisite 'is a mineral deposit, but, of course, it is not so simple as that. There are at various points on the earth really very great mineral deposits which, on account of geographic location, backwardness of the country, or hostility of its natives, are now, and for a long time to come will be, quite valueless. The mining engineer, and for that matter the civil engineer, is more dependent upon the decisions of capital than upon any other factor in his profession. Ordinarily it is to be assumed that money will go to any place where it is clear that an adequate return upon its investment can be secured, but for many years it has not been safe to depend upon this. ' As already stated, there are many places where local conditions are such that mining is not safe to engage in and there are still other places in which conditions have been so aggravated by the Great War and by the social unrest which has upset the Asiatic region that capital is naturally most reluctant to venture, even when engineering data makes the undertaking appear attractive. It will be evident, I. believe, that there are many factors vital to the success of a mining enterprise in some of the remote countries which we do not have to consider in the United States and which do not, in fact, exist here.

Jan 1, 1924

By John Wellington Finch

THE- impression which the public has of northern Canada is that it is a' vast wilderness of forests; river's, and. lakes, sparsely inhabited by. a few Indians and `containing a few, scattered trading posts of the Hudson Bay Co. This is far from the facts. The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway led to the discovery, in 1883, of the nickel deposits of Sudbury, Ont.; these are the largest known nickel deposits in the world and produce about 90 per cent. of the world's output of nickel. The building of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway north, from North Bay, to open up farming lands along Lake. Temiskaming, resulted in the discovery and development of the great silver deposits of the Cobalt area, Ontario. Since the discovery of these deposits in 1903 to Dec. 31, .1923, Cobalt has produced a total of ' 327,301,897 oz. of silver, valued at $212,668,434, and paid in. dividends $88,338,185. In 1923 the production of Cobalt amounted to 10,285,247 oz. of silver. Just south of Cobalt, in South Lorrain,. a. new silver district has recently been developed and mills have started production. These deposits are of such extent that 'a branch railroad is under construction from Cobalt to that area. Northwest of Cobalt is the Gowganda silver area which is also a producer of silver ore and is now attracting outside attention. This area is not connected by railroad.

Jan 1, 1924

By J. W. JESSUH

TO certain people the name of Northern Rhodesia brings only a vague recollection of a distant country somewhere in Africa; to others, it means a big game territory and the opportunity for excellent shooting; to some, a land of sunshine and peace; but to mining men the name signifies the land where the latest discoveries of copper ore are astonishing the mining world and bid fair, in a few years, to make Northern Rhodesia one of the largest copper- producing countries. There is a fascination about this part of the globe that is somewhat similar to southern California, and at the same time there is that feeling of mystery peculiar to a tropical climate. Perhaps it is the isolation, the fear of wild animals, or the influence of an undefinable something which cannot be expressed.

Jan 1, 1931

By E. W. Davis

DURING late years, the proportion of beileficiated iron ore shipped from the Lake Superior District has increased very rapidly. By benefication is meant washing, screening, drying, sintering or any process by which the grade or structure of the crude ore is improved before shipment. In 1915, only 3,000,- 000 tons, or 9 per cent, of t6e total Minnesota shipment was beneficiated ore, compared with 13,500,000 tons, or 35 per cent, of the total Minnesota shipment in 1925. This increase is, of course, due to the fact that iron and steel can be made more cheaply after beneficiating these ores than they could have been had these ores not been so treated. Fundamentally, however, several causes contribute to the necessity for beneficiating iron ores, such as depletion of the reserves of high-grade ores, the iron ore leasing systems and taxation methods and, at the smelting plants, a better understanding of blast-furnace operations, increased operating costs and increased sulfur content of blast-furnace coke. As economic conditions change, it is by no means certain that the proportion of beneficiated ore shipped each year is going to continue to increase. Undoubtedly some of the beneficiation operations are not economically sound at the present time and what the future has in store for the iron ore industry is problematical. Generally speaking, the cost of fuel for blast-furnace operations will increase as time goes on and in order to continue to produce cheap iron and steel, some of the other costs must be lowered. Freight and labor rates probably can- not be reduced. The cost of producing iron ore cannot be reduced much below the present price. It therefore appears that the best opportunity for maintaining iron and steel prices at their present level in spite of in- creased costs of labor and raw materials is to use. less or cheaper raw materials. This, of course, contemplates an improvement in metallurgical processes all along the line and, as a matter of fact, we can confidently expect these improvements because scientific investigations will undoubtedly be even more productive in the future than they have been in the past.

Jan 1, 1926

By Hans Lundberg

IN last year's report on the progress of geophysics, the airborne magnetometer was the featured new development. At that time only a relatively small number of surveys had been made. During 1947, the airborne magnetometer was used in making many surveys and is again one of the high lights of the year in geophysics. This report is mainly concerned with geophysics as applied to the search for minerals exclusive of petroleum. In 194,5 and 1946, the use of the magnetic method reached a peak, partly because of an active period of prospecting brought on by an active mining market, particularly in Canada.

Jan 1, 1948

Critical Shortage of Engineers M AN POWER commitments for defense, superimposed on normal domestic requirements, exceed the available supply of labor. The armed services, industry, and the professions are sizing themselves up man power-wise and are announcing that serious shortages are imminent or already in existence. The engineering profession is facing serious shortages. The main reason for this is the recall of engineering and scientific personnel to the armed services.

Jan 4, 1951

By A. M. Ribe

Briefly stated, the mission of the traffic manager (currently called a transportation services manager) is to enable his firm to utilize to its best economic advantage the various systems and modes of transportation available to it to bring in its raw materials and ship out its finished products. The function of the transportation services manager is perhaps of more relative importance in industrial minerals operations than in industry and trade generally.

Jan 1, 1970

By C. C. Whittier

CIVILIZATION'S PROGRESS, which has multiplied man's comforts, conveniences, a n d happiness, is based upon the extensive employment of natural minerals and sources of energy. Mineral resources are basic factors in modern economic development, machine industry, international trade and world power. A survey of mineral consumption shows that the United States leads the world in the production and consumption of energy materials, of metals, and of the large and diverse array of earth materials that fall in the nonmetallic mineral group. The use of nonrnetallic minerals exceeded both the metals and the fuels in the long period before the industrial age, but it is only in the last two decades that consumption of non- metals has kept pace with and approximated in value the output of metals. Although the data of production in the first half of the last century are meager and fragmentary, the record of the past fifty years-the period of most rapid growth-is available, and reveals an astounding growth.

Jan 1, 1933

By C. C. Whittier

PLANS are well matured for the joint meeting of the Coal Division and the Ohio Section of the Institute at Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 27 and 28, at which a large attendance is expected. The proceedings for a day and a half will be devoted largely to the uses of coal, the program providing for two technical sessions in the auditorium of Battelle Memorial Institute (505 King Ave.) on Friday, and various plant inspec¬tions on Saturday morning. By way of diversion on Saturday afternoon arrangements have been made for attendance en bloc at the football game between Ohio State and Northwestern, 100 seats having been reserved for the game at $2.40 each-as long as they last. An inventory of the high lights of the meeting would be incomplete without reference to the informal banquet at the Deshler-Wallick hotel on Friday evening, for which Eli T. Conner, Chairman of the Coal Division, is down for a talk, and Howard N. Eavenson, Vice-president of the Institute, will be the principal speaker. The program in detail is as follows:

Jan 1, 1933

By Augustus Locke

I WISH to urge on this Committee the task of evaluating mining geology. -My motive is as follows: It, is a. duty of the Institute from time to5 time, to establish the social perspective of the professions grouped within it, not simply to promote their use, but to determine with engineering definiteness their true powers and functions. This becomes the delegated duty, therefore, of this committee in respect to geology. Be- cause my own subject is mining, I shall confine my remarks to mining geology. But I believe that the evaluation should be made to include all of that geology termed economic. The perspective for such evaluation is shown in the nature of the public support given to geology. The federal Geological Survey, the leading organization on the economic side, is actuated by the zeal of a small group of devoted professionals who consider its work valuable, ' It proceeds, however, on a starvation ration of appropriations, and that implies that neither the corporations, the voters nor the vote getters consider it important. Altogether, in' the public consciousness, geology is negligible. That, at the same moment, .the profession should act with full confidence, while everyone else should act' with opposite motives, is not fitting. For us, as a committee, to remain incurious regarding such a disparity of beliefs is quite impossible.

Jan 1, 1931

By J. J. Jakosky

The strategic importance of the metallic minerals in our industrial economy, and the declining rates of discovery have focused attention on means of exploration for new mineral deposits. A consideration of exploration techniques leads to an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of geo- physics as a tool for mining exploration. One means of evaluation will be to compare the use of geophysics in petroleum exploration with its possible uses in mining.

Jan 1, 1949

By Edward W. Parker

THE agreement of September, 1922, between the anthracite operators and the United Mine Workers of America, which followed the 54.5 months strike during the summer of that year, contained the following provision : The parties unite in a recommendation to Congress that legislation be forthwith enacted creating a separate anthracite coal commission with authority to investigate and report promptly on every phase of the industry and the parties hereby ask the President to request the enactment by Congress of the recommended legislation. The continuance of production after Aug. 31, 1923, shall be upon such terms as the parties may agree-upon in the light of the report of the Commission.

Jan 1, 1924

By J. B. Morrow

BITUMINOUS COAL production for 1937 up to Nov. 27, was 400,000,000 ions, an increase of 3.43 per cent over the comparative period in 1936. The in- crease in consumption, however, was not so great as the increase in production. Stocks of coal, mostly in the hands of consumers, on Nov. 1 were 57,000,000 tons, compared to 44,400,000 tons at the same periods in 1936. The prospects were that both production and consumption for December, 1937, would be lower than for the corresponding month of 1936. , Anthracite production for the period ending Nov. 20 was 43,900,000 tons, com- pared to 48,500,000 tons for the corresponding period in 1936, or a decrease of 9.5 per cent. Production of mechanically loaded coal in. 1936 was approximately 57,000,000 tons, an increase of 17.5 per cent over

Jan 1, 1938

Payloader The Frank G. Hough Co. has made available another four-wheel drive tractor-shovel. It has a 1 cu-yd bucket with 60 hp Diesel or 54 hp gasoline power optional. The use of large pneumatic tires, same size all around, and drive on all four wheels gives this new Payloader traction to work effectively in sand, mud and snow, and travel on pavements with- [ ] out injuring the surface. Rear wheel steer with power booster plus short wheel base makes it easy to operate and highly maneuverable. Four speeds in both directions insure fast travel speeds for transport and fast operating speeds on shuttle loading or similar operations. Bulldozer blade, crane hook, fork lift and snow plow attachments are available, quickly interchangeable with the bucket to further increase its multi-purpose usefulness. Circle No. 1

Jan 1, 1952

By CHAS. A. R. LAMELY

In the extreme northeast corner of the State of Washington, on the Canadian border, lies the Metaline mining district. This district is old in history, but young in production. The Metaline district is a zinc-lead area of the replacement type in dolomite and limestone. The ore bodies of the Josephine horizon are in many ways similar to the ore bodies of the famous Tri-State zinc fields. The beds are faulted and folded and have varyng low dips in varying directions, and underlie large areas of the district. Production started in 1927 on a very limited basis. The property is now mining and milling 700 tons per day. The mine is opened by adit tunnels and a vertical shaft. As the ore horizons gained depth, it was necessary to sink inclines to follow the ore horizon (see Fig 1). From 1927 to date, approximately 600,000 ft of diamond drill was put down This work indicated that sufficient tonnage existed to justify a redesigning of the whole operation, surface and under- ground. After four years of general study, the following program was planned :

Jan 1, 1949

By Howard N. Eavenson

TWO months ago, just after the coal code hearing in Washington, one of our leading liberal weeklies printed a study of the coal industry made by an economist in the Administration, and on the outside cover bad it featured as "Coal-A Dying Industry." There are, of course, different opinions as to the accuracy of this characterization and I want to present some of the facts about the outlook for the bituminous industry for a short time ahead. In view of what has happened in the industry within the recent past it would be futile to attempt to make any prophecy about what is likely to occur in the future. We all know that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country, but it is likely that anyone undertaking this role about this industry would soon find himself in no man's land. One can, with some slight degree of safety perhaps, outline present conditions and tendencies and draw some inferences as to what the future may hold.

Jan 1, 1933

By Philip S. Mathews

THE tremendous stimulus given to the mining industry by the gold and silver policy of the present administration has found the capital market for mines ill prepared to afford practical means of financing. Particularly has this been true of the host of abandoned high-cost producers and prospects which increased gold and silver prices have made potentially profitable. In a comparatively short time, experience has demonstrated abundantly that valuable properties have frequently failed to secure capital, while questionable properties have drawn to themselves and their promoters more of the public moneys than their prospects justify. Singularly enough the fault is usually attributable to faulty financing. Discussion and study of this problem are vital to the industry.

Jan 1, 1936