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By AIME AIME

AT the seventeenth National Metal Congress, held at Chicago, Oct. 1-3, the Iron and Steel Division and Institute of Metals Division participated with the American Society for Metals, American Welding Society, and the Wire Association in one of the most successful meetings ever held. The total attendance at the technical sessions and the scope of and interest shown in the exhibits at the Exposition were greater than at any of the "Metal Weeks" since the depression began. The Iron and Steel Division held two all-day symposia and one general session. The latter, at the International Amphitheatre, Wednesday afternoon, was the only one poorly attended. This was attributable, at least partly, to the location of the meeting roan.

Jan 1, 1935

By H. Foster Bain

FROM time to time geologists and mining engineers, impressed by the heavy demands made on our mineral reserves' by modern industry, and particularly by the steadily mounting rate of production necessary to meet that demand, have issued warnings as to the danger of exhaustion. There can be no dispute as to the fact that mineral deposits are exhaustible. New mineral, is not created to replace that taken from the earth and when a crop of mineral is once harvested another cannot be grown in the same area. The evidence of exhaustion 'of particular oreshoots, deposits, or even of whole districts is familiar to all who have mined. If one were to judge solely from the abandoned mills and prospect holes he would rightly conclude that mining is but a short-lived industry. If one were, furthermore, to assemble the data as to known reserves of almost any of the commonly used minerals, and divide them by the annual tonnage mined, he would come to the same conclusion. If, again, one were to consider the most carefully made estimates of competent men seeking to measure the earth's reserves of minerals and plot against them a projection of the curve of past consumption, he would be justified in viewing the situation with alarm.

Jan 1, 1930

By George T. Hansen

WHY try to find oil in Utah? Why try to find oil anywhere? Isn't there too much oil already? Answers to these questions involve general oil conditions but are pertinent to my subject. In the first place oil produced in Utah up to the total amount of local consumption would not be subject to nor concerned with the national oil situation. An oil field in this State capable of producing up to 15,000 bbl. per day would have a large value and prompt realization. In the sec¬ond place, there is not too much oil nationally although the markets have been upset temporarily from time to time. Petroleum is so necessary and is in such general demand that an oil field anywhere, anytime, is a valuable and live asset. The oil business in general shows the best condition of any major industry. It has never been hit as hard as most industries and 1932 was a large improvement over its low spot of 1931. It can be and probably will be the one to lead the country back into business stability. Consumption of its products has been reduced less than that of any other important commodity. There are good and valid reasons why it should have been making a normal profit continuously. It has the oil and the processes and the facilities and the policies and the consumption of its products. There is only one reason why it has not been profitable recently and that is the lack of intelligence of from five to ten per cent of the producers. An op¬erator lacks intelligence when he cannot see that it is better for him to sell one barrel of oil at $1 than two or three barrels at 25 or 35c. per bbl.

Jan 1, 1933

By AIME AIME

WHEN Vice-chairman Calvert Townley calls the next meeting of the Executive Board of the American Engineering Council of the Federated American Engineering Societies to order in Washington on Sept. 30, it will be the first meeting in that city for almost a year. It is probable that the Board will decide at this meeting whether future board meetings will be held regularly at the headquarters in Washington or whether the plan of meeting at various engineering centers throughout the country, as has been done during the past year, will be followed. The most important business coming before this .meeting will be the election of a president to succeed Herbert Hoover, who resigned after he became Secre¬tary of Commerce. Nominations to fill this vacancy were ordered 'at the last meeting of the Executive Board, to be reported at the September meeting. Special attention will be given the plans for the engineering assembly, extension of employment service, question of licensing and registration of engineers. The engineering assembly, committee has been appointed, with A. P. Davis as chairman, the other members being Philip N. Moore, L. P. Alford, John C. Hoyt and F. A. Vaughn. This committee will work out detailed plans for an assembly to be held in con¬junction with the annual meeting of the American Engineering Council in, January. Tentative plans provide for a three-day session; one day to be given to special meetings of the executive boards of member organizations and committees of the American Engineering Council; one day to the sessions of the American Engineering Council; and at least one day to discussion of some, special topic.

Jan 1, 1921

By Frank C. Smith

THE following article covers the history of a metallurgical campaign, commenced in March, 1905, at the mines of the Socorro Gold Co., in the so-called desert region of Yuma county, Arizona. The results obtained were simply a function of necessity, as will be seen from the description of the local economic conditions and the character of the ores treated. The mines and mill of the Socorro Gold Co. are located near the small village of Harrisburg, about 60 miles from Congress Junction, Arizona, which, at the time this work was undertaken, was the nearest railroad station, and from which all supplies were brought by wagon through the desert, at a cost varying from $10 to $15 per ton in addition to the railroad freights. Wood, the only available fuel, cost $7 per cord. Water for all purposes was pumped to the plant from a well in the valley about 4 miles away. Under the Arizona law, a working-shift is 8 hr. Wages were $6 per day for foremen and mill-men, $4 per day for blacksmiths and engineers, $3.50 per day for miners, and $3 per day for shovelers and trammers. The ore consisted of quartz, in which, above the 250-ft. level, the iron-minerals were largely oxidized and some free gold was visible; below that level few traces of oxidation occurred, and pyrite constituted the principal mineralizer in the quartz, together with occasional pockets of galena and a few eccentric specks of covellite. The 20-stamp mill was equipped with plates for amalgamation, and three Standard tables for concentration. The tails from the tables were elevated by a centrifugal pump to a launder, by which they were conveyed to a 60-ton cyanide-mill for further treatment. The cyanide-mill was erected at so great a distance from the stamp-mill that a separate crew of workers and a separate power-plant were necessary. No arrangement had been made for the treatment of the concen-

Jan 1, 1907

By N. H. Emmons

THE work of a consulting engineer or manager, when controlling mining-operations, requires that he have all the information concerning the mine in as concise a form as possible, and as the ore-reserves and their depletion and enlargement are the vital points to be studied, it is well to have them kept up to date and in some convenient form. The present paper describes a method adopted by me, which shows in a very clear manner the ore-reserves in a mine. The case illustrated is that of a vein near enough to the vertical for the vertical elevation of the mine to be the main working-map. A flat ore-body would be represented on a similar plat, but instead of the horizontal thickness of the vein being shown in the circles, the vertical thickness would be inserted. Fig. 1 represents an ideal longitudinal elevation of a mine, plotted in the ordinary way, using 100-ft. blocks and section-lines. In a mine where the block-numbers are posted by the engineer underground, the system of keeping the ore-tonnages extracted from the different blocks is easily maintained, and the actual tonnages of ore extracted can be kept so that the surveyor can have a check on his estimate from time to time. The ore-reserve sheet, Fig. 2, should be the same size as the map it is to accompany. Each square is used for the description of the ore-reserve in the block it corresponds to on the elevation. Where the section-lines cross the levels a circle is drawn, in which are written the widths of ore at that point, these widths being used in the calculations of each block cornering in the circle. It has been found convenient to show the figures in black in the lower half of the circle when the actual widths of ore are known, and when it is necessary to make up the figures of probable ore, as at the time of making

Jun 1, 1912

By COREY C. BRAYTON

OUR first air travel began at Barranquilla on a trip to the platinum dredging-operations at Andagoya. The fare is based on a minimum weight of passenger, and I will have to admit that the minimum is too low. To make this trip by boat would have necessitated going back to the Canal, thence down to Buena Ventura, and up the San Juan river, which would have taken, counting delays, two or three weeks. The time by Scadta airplane was six hours. We stopped at Cartagena for a day to look over that historic city. The route from there lay along the north coast to the mouth of the Atrato river, then up this river, over the jungle, and over a divide some 300'ft. in elevation and down the San Juan river a few miles to Andagoya at the junction of the Condoto. The General

Jan 1, 1930

W. L. Saunders, New York, N. Y.:—Mr. Parker's paper, though entitled Conservation of Coal, might also be called the Conservation of Life in the Coal-Mines of the United States. No subject is of greater importance to mining-men at the present time than information from experts as to how to save coal and how to save human lives in mines. That the casualties in the coal-mines should exceed 3,000 in the year 1907 is simply appalling, and that 1,000 men should have been killed in a single year through explosions alone, and that so good an authority as Mr. Parker should say that " a prolific cause " is an "improperly-prepared blast" or "the failure on the part of the miner to undercut his coal," points to the importance of activity not only among mining engineers but also, through experts, by the legislatures of the respective States. There is but little doubt that nearly all the serious coal-mine

Jan 1, 1910

Charles Catlett, Staunton, Virginia (communication to the Secretary*): I have had occasion to examine a few of the irondeposits in the immediate section of which Mr. Watson speaks, but have not had an opportunity to visit any of the well-known manganese-deposits. I find the former can be very safely read in light of the information which it is possible to get from the same measnres farther. north, where they are less completely decomposed. In the same way all of his conclusions in regard to the geology of the manganese-deposits bear out their occurrence in Virginia, when we allow for the far more complete decomposition in the section he has so carefully studied. Judging from the same measures farther north, I think he will be safe in agreeing even further with Penrose as to the origin of these ores. Some years ago I carried on prospecting work in these measures in Virginia, in which the iron-ore and manganese-ore were followed down to undecomposed material, and in which their occurrence along a definite line of stratification, and apparently a part of the original bedding, was plainly shown. This is unusual, however, even in the section of which I speak. At Crimora, Virginia, the decomposition is quite complete; at the same time the results of some hydraulic work, which has been done there, disclosed, at the time of my last visit, the manganese interbedded in the residual clay along a definite and distinct plane parallel to the bedding of the underlying quartzite, and which, as is shown at other points, corresponds with the plane of the original material. In view of the phosphorus reported by Mr. Watson as existing in the Cartersville ores, and the not uncommonly prohibitive amount in southern ores, I am interested to know whether

Jan 1, 1904

By Charles H. Jones

Jan 1, 1905

By W. R. Phibbs

THE Columbia Steel Corporation, organized in 1922, and taken over by the United States Steel Corporation on Feb. l, 1930, is operating one blast furnace at Ironton, Utah, which was started on April 30, 1924, and is producing approximately 14,000 tons of pig iron per month. Half of the pig iron produced is basic iron and is used in its own plants at Pittsburg and Torrance, Cal. The ore for the blast furnace is shipped from Desert Mound, Utah, near Cedar City, in the southern part of the' State, approximately 231 miles from Iroaton. The ore is a hematite, disseminated with magnetite, the chemical analysis showing approximately 12 to 20 per cent magnetite, and under the micro- scope the ore has the appearance of a magnetite.

Jan 1, 1930

R. W. Raymond, New York City: As was announced in the Secretary's note, appended to the pamphlet edition of Dr. Ledoux's paper, I have undertaken to superintend the preparation of the samples required by his plan, and the ollation for publication of the results reported. Promises of cordial co-operation hare been received already from a number of leading assayers;? and it is to he expected that the data thus collected, and the discussion to be based upon them, will shed much light upon the important question raised in this paper. Although a detailed discussion of methods on the present occasion might be deemed premature, I am sure that suggestions on the subject from members engaged in assaying would be timely and valuable as a preliminary to later and more detailed criticism. Herbert G. Torrey (U. S. Assay Office), New York City : I may say in relation to the losses in the furnace that I have made a number of experiments, and on my little blank form years ago I put down a place for the losses in the cupel. It met with a good deal of opposition among the smelters, but I claimed that it was my duty to give the full amount of the gold and silver present, and that it

Jan 1, 1895

By Ta M. Li

Expanded mine-mill capacity and greater operating flexibility are part of the dramatic changes taking place in the Tennessee mining operations of Asarco, Inc. Climaxed by the recent start-up of the $6.3 million Young mill in September 1975, Asarco has pushed Tennessee back into number one position as the leading zinc mining state. Furthermore, start-up of the Young mill is expected to insure a much-needed and continuing domestic zinc supply, at a time when US mines can only supply one-half of 1975 domestic consumption.

Jan 5, 1976

By H. H. Stoek

(Wilkes-Barre Meeting, June, 1911.) THE origin of the Mine-Rescue Service of the State of Illinois can be traced to two distinct sources, the work of the Rescue Station at Urbana and the Cherry disaster. During the early part of the year 1909, the Technologic Branch of the U. S. Geological Survey, now the Bureau of Mines, in connection with the Illinois Geological Survey and the College of Engineering of the University of Illinois, established at the University of Illinois, in Urbana, a branch rescue-station to supplement the work of the Pittsburg station of the Geological Survey. As a result of the work of training at the station in Urbana by R. Y. Williams, mining engineer, and James Webb, foreman of the Bureau of Mines, and the use of the helmets at several mine-accidents in the State of Illinois, . the people of the State were somewhat familiar with oxygen-helmets when the Cherry disaster occurred, in November, 1910. The oxygen-helmets were successfully used in connection with that disaster, and upon the recommendation of the Illinois Mining Investigation Commission, the Legislature of the State, assembled in special session during the winter of 1910, passed a bill appropriating $75,000 for the erection and maintenance of three rescue-stations, stipulating that they should be located in the northern, central, and southern parts of the State. The Act also provided that the stations should be in charge of a Commission of seven, two representing the United Mine Workers of Illinois, two the mine-operators, one the Federal Bureau of Mines, one the State mine-inspectors, and one the Department of Mining Engineering of the University of Illinois. This Commission was called together by the Governor of the State, Aug. 2, 1910, and since that time three stations have been located, built, and equipped: at La Salle for the northern

Dec 1, 1911

By Bain, Edgar C.

THE results are presented of an investigation to discover the fundamental atomic conditions existing in Corson's high-copper alloys hardenable by means of silicide solution and reprecipitation. The study attracted the writer because it offered a very convenient example of the general type of hardenable alloys exemplified by duralumin. Sykes' iron-tungsten and iron-molybdenum alloys and the hardenable lead-antimony. SUMMARY OF RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS In brief, the investigation shows that very perfect crystallinity exists in the solid solutions prepared at high temperature to contain as much dissolved silicide as possible. The lattice parameter of copper is altered very little by the amount of cobalt, nickel or chromium, and silicon dissolved. The hardening by drawing at a temperature to initiate precipitation of excess silicon and metal produces a remarkable change in the atomistics of the solid solution. The old perfection of crystallinity in the solid solution is destroyed and the new atomic spacings are of variable magnitude even in one grain, and a condition in a measure resembling that found in martensite is observed. Were no particles whatever precipitated by the drawing action, still ample causes for hardness would be in evidence in the solid solution alone. The lack of plane continuity in the crystal grains would oppose slip in a very effective manner. Complete annealing restores the crystalline perfection in large measure. In these alloys even the most sensitive methods failed to reveal the characteristic pattern of the silicide precipitated by the anneal, but this was largely to be expected as the amount is relatively small.

Jan 1, 1927

By John J. Porter

UNUSUAL problems have arisen at certain iron blast-furnaces in Virginia through the fact that the ore-supplies, derived from the Oriskany formation, contain from a trace up to 1 per cent. of zinc oxide. Since the technical literature bearing on this subject is very scant, the following notes, based on personal experience, will probably be of value to those of our members who are interested in iron blast-furnace practice. The course of zinc through the blast furnace is readily traced. Entering the throat as zinc oxide, finely disseminated through the ore, it descends unchanged to the fusion-zone, since a temperature of 1,000° C. or more is required for its reduction. At the fusion-zone, the zinc oxide is reduced by solid carbon to metallic zinc, which is set free as vapor and rises with the ascending gases to the cooler zones of the furnace. In cooling through the range of temperature from 1,000° to 500° C. the zinc is re-oxidized according to the reaction Zn + CO2 = ZnO + CO, and the resulting zinc oxide, being in a very fine state of division, is readily carried along by the ascending gases. Portions, however, deposit on the descending stock and are carried down, again to pass through the same cycle of changes. Still other portions deposit on the lining of the stack, and gradually form hard masses of "cadmia." Of the remainder of the zinc oxide, the greater part passes out of the furnace, and is either deposited in the down-comer, dust-trap, stoves, boilers and flues, or passes through the chimney into the atmosphere. A small portion escapes reduction and enters the slag as zinc oxide, while still another portion is absorbed into the lining of the furnace.

Sep 1, 1907

Albert Ladd Colby, New York, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary†):—I observed (Trans., xxxvii., 585) that to obtain tenders from several American mills, the foreign engineer should modify his maximum phosphorus to 0.10 per cent., not as Mr. E. Windsor Richards quotes me, that no American rail-maker can produce rails under 0.10 per cent. of phosphorus. Mr. Richards claims that no English engineer would agree to accept 0.10 per cent. of phosphorus on any terms whatever. Mr. Webster writes that only after an engineer has .been convinced that rails can be made in America equal in every respect to those he is getting abroad, should he be asked to modify ally conditions in his specifications. I know it to be a fact that during recent years in many cases, as, for instance, When delivery could be secured more promptly in the United States than in Europe, the consulting engineers of several British and colonial railroads have frequently agreed to modify their phosphorus requirement to a maximum of 0.10 per cent., and the rails delivered' under these modified specifications have, under like conditions, given just as satisfactory service and proved to be no more brittle than similar sections of 0.07 per cent. phosphorus rails, rolled in England under the same specification except without modification as to phosphorus. Furthermore, it would appear from the analyses of British rails, quoted by E. A. Dancaster,2 in his discussion of Mr.

Jan 1, 1908

By R. H. Sweetser

AT the Buffalo meeting in October, 1898 (Trans., xxviii., 865), our Secretary, Dr. Raymond, in speaking of the obstacles he had encountered in securing contributions to the Transactions from members in practice, said: "It is the disinclination of many members to communicate incomplete or partial or preliminary results. They are going to write, ' some day,' a thorough and monumental paper; and meanwhile they prefer to communicate nothing. . . . It is the difficulty to which I have just referred that I have encountered in a wide correspondence with members, undertaken for the purpose of securing contributions of fact and opinion concerning the special subject of this discussion. . . . Almost none of them seem to recognize the value of preliminary, incomplete and indecisive reports of practice, as laying the foundation for a thorough inquiry." This remark was made in immediate reference to a discussion concerning blast-furnace tuyeres ; but, notwithstanding this appeal from the Secretary, little has been recorded regarding the distribution, the penetration, and the pressure of the blast at the tuyeres and inside the iron blast-furnace. I am therefore encouraged to contribute the following incomplete and crude observations of the blast-pressure inside the hearth. At the suggestion of J. H. Frantz, the General Manager of the Columbus Iron & Steel Co., a test was made at the East furnace of the company to determine whether there was any difference in blast-pressure at the different tuyeres. The apparatus used for this test was not sensitive enough to give accurate results. It consisted of a small pressure-gauge mounted on a 3/8-in. gas-pipe. A hollow plug, fitting into the peep-hole of the tuyere-cap, prevented the blast from blowing-out during the test. The test-pipe was held in place by means of the handle on the outer end.

Mar 1, 1909

By K. J. Powers

The Mine Accident, Injury, Illness and Employment Database at the Mine Safety and Health Administration's Health and Safety Analysis Center is a computerized system that stores accident, injury, illness and employment data about all coal and metal/nonmetal mines in the United States. The paper discusses the system for collecting, storing, analyzing, and reporting this information and how these data are used in the ongoing effort to increase the health and safety in this nation's mines.

Jan 1, 1983

By Frank V. Hicks

THE following paper-in no sense a technical paper-is a summary of a safety campaign instituted by a coal-mining company to improve an unfortunate safety record. The experience should be suggestive equally to coal and metal-mining companies. With few precedents to follow in the beginning, the course was charted by trial and error. The endeavor, often disheartening, finally resulted in the capture of the most coveted safety trophy in the mining industry, "The Sentinels of Safety," awarded by the Hercules Powder Co. of Wilmington, Del., through the U. S. Bureau of Mines. The period described covers the 10-year interval, 1924 to 1933, the year 1933 being that for which the award was made. The coal company considered has produced annually for a number of years an average of 2,750,000 tons of coal, employing at various times from 1.800 to 3000 men. Prior to 1924, the

Jan 1, 1935