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By Sheldon P. Wirnpfen

AN extensive study of German underground manufacturing experience is being undertaken by the Air Materiel Command. Headquarters officials consider completely underground facilities one of the most effective means of protecting aircraft production against air attacks of the strength and type employed in World War II. Advantages accruing to underground manufacturing installations other than protection are, perhaps, a smaller maintenance problem and the possibility of using gravity flow on some production lines. Offsetting these advantages are the high cost of construction, problems of ventilation, and poor acoustics. Excavation costs might well be less than the cost of enclosing the same area on the surface, as new and better methods of rock drilling and transportation are developed. Certainly the amount of building materials used would be far less than in constructing a surface plant of the same dimensions. A fewer number of skilled workers would be required to perform the labor of excavation. Underground construction would

Jan 1, 1947

By J. P. BONARDI, William F. Boericke

BOULDER COUNTY, Colorado, ranked during the war years and until the end of 1918 as one of the foremost tungsten-producing districts of the world. In 1919 production fell off drastically, due to heavy importations of foreign ores from China, Burma and South America. So large were the imports that even after the enactment of a protective tariff in 1922 of 45c. per lb. on tungsten metal, equivalent to $7.14 per unit (201b.) of tungstic acid? (WO,), the stocks of metal in this country were extensive enough to supply the demands of industry, and prevent general resumption of mining by domestic producers. Even today there are only two producers in the Boulder district though at one time as many as twenty separate companies were in operation. About the same ratio holds for other tungsten-producing districts in the country, including California and Nevada. Total consumption of tungsten concentrate in terms of 60 per cent WO2 in the United States amounted to approximately 3790 tons in 1928, according to Frank L. Hess.' Of this amount, domestic mines contributed 1290 tons, and the rest, 2500 tons, was imported. Yet in 1917, with tungsten concentrate selling at $20 per unit, the Boulder district alone produced 2707 tons, indicating the effect of enhanced ore price upon production. It is believed by American tungsten miners that, given a sufficiently high tariff, all the demands of industry can be met by domestic production without placing a prohibitive burden on consumers. For instance, in steel manufacturing the percentage of tungsten entering into the manufacture is so small that, ?regardless of cost, it can constitute but a small fraction of the cost of steel to the buyer.

Jan 1, 1929

By B. S. Old, E. R. Poor

PRODUCING more steel without major capital investment in new plants is one of the most perplexing difficulties which confront the nation's postwar steel industry. The lack of scrap at a reasonable price results in an especially heavy pressure being brought to bear on the pig-iron production facilities which consist of 245 blast furnaces scattered throughout the country but concentrated most heavily in the Pittsburgh-Chicago area. Present demands exceed the total optimum output of these existing blast-furnace plants. Management hesitates to authorize erection of new plants on a scale sufficient to satisfy 'the demand for pig iron for two main reasons: first, extensive building under the present high costs of construction would greatly increase . the over-all capital investment per ton of iron capacity; and, second, the amount of steel necessary for a major construction program would upset the already tight supply-demand situation. The answer to the problem would then seem to be the development and application of a method which would increase the capacity of existing blast furnaces with a minimum of alterations and expense. Experiments consisting of operating a blast furnace at higher-than-normal top pressures, as proposed by Arthur D. Little, Inc., were carried out by the Republic Steel Corp. initially during World War II, and much more extensively during the past twenty months. The results of the Republics trials indicate that pressure blowing is a solution to the problem of increasing pig-iron capacity without necessitating major changes to existing equipment.

Jan 1, 1948

By R. H. Ogburn

THE GROUND now being worked by the Fairbanks Exploration Co., near Fairbanks, Alaska, has been known to be gold bearing since 1901. In the early days it was worked by drift mining and other small-scale methods. In 1922, Hammond started prospecting the gold-bearing ground and obtaining options on the properties desired. Two years later the present Fairbanks Exploration Co. started taking up the options, and preparing to exploit the ground. For the prospect drilling Keystone drills were used, with holes at the points of equilateral triangles 600 ft. apart. Holes were also put down more closely spaced to determine the limits of dredging ground. In the first drilling casing was used to the bottom of the holes, but in later work the casing was put down only to the bottom of the thawed ground, and the rest of the hole put down without casing. The gold content was determined by panning, each 2 ft. of depth being determined separately. Where no casing was used the size of the hole was determined by using water to measure its volume. The greatest concentration of gold occurs at or near bedrock. All the gold-bearing streams head in one big dome. Gold, however, is not found clear to the head of the creeks, the pay being first found some distance downstream from the head.

Jan 1, 1933

By Arthur M. Miller

FROM the time of its establishment in 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority has been active in the field of phosphates. Under the T.V.A. Act it has a broad Congressional mandate to guide a unified development of the resources of the region for the long-range benefit of the people. As one phase of this function, it is directed to co-operate with farmers in the experimental large-scale use of improved fertilizers and development of better fertilizer practices. Following careful study, it was concluded that the objectives of this phase could best be attained by soil rebuilding through the use of phosphatic fertilizer and lime in an improved farm management sys- tem. This activity was launched through a program of test and demonstration on farms and simultaneous technical investigations to develop new and improved phosphatic fertilizers. Phosphorus has since become a keystone of the Authority's resource development and conservation program. Human effort is being conserved by phosphate utilization on the farm, and mineral conservation has been promoted by technical developments in phosphate mining and manufacturing operations.

Jan 1, 1944

By Emery R. Hayhurst

SILICOSIS has been described in a report of the American Public Health Association as a disease due to breathing air containing silica, characterized anatomically by generalized fibrotic changes and the development of miliary nodulations in both lungs, and clinically by shortness of breath, decreased chest expansion, lessened capacity for work, absence of fever, increased susceptibility to tuberculosis (some or all of which symptoms may be present), and by characteristic X-ray findings. ... The disease is divided arbitrarily into first, second, and third stages for convenience of description and possible compensation purposes. At least two distinct types of silicosis are recognized, acute and chronic. The acute form was reported as early as 1713, when a British patent for grinding flint by wet methods was granted because the dry powdered material "proved very destructive to mankind, so much that any person, ever so healthful, working in that business cannot possibly survive over two years."

Jan 1, 1936

By Arthur C. Spencer

IN extension of a suggestion already made to account for certain features observed in the Juneau gold-belt in southeastern Alaska,' it is the object of the present paper to indicate in detail certain conditions in which deformation of rocks under their own weight might lead to the production of fractures in which veins could be deposited. A direct, uniformly-distributed pressure of sufficient intensity applied to an elastic brittle mass offering strong resistance to deformation produces rupture. In a material of ideal properties the surfaces of rupture under such pressure would be shearing planes inclined at 45° to the line of force, unless there be preliminary deformation, in which case this angle would be greater than 45°. This general conclusion, resting upon ana¬lytical mechanics, is completely supported by the results obtained by Daubrée in experiments upon the deformation of wax and resin prisms under compression. Let us then first con¬sider one of Daubrée's diagrams. In the case illustrated in Fig. 1, four sets of fractures in two appproximately right-angled pairs (that is to say, in conjugate sets) were produced by end-wise compression of the square cross-sectioned prisms. These fractures cut the axis of compression at approximately equal angles, not varying greatly from 45°. The location of the four sets of fractures is obviously determined by the shape of the prism, since the material in each corner acts in a way as a buttress, permitting the bulging to take place most readily on the sides. By limiting the directions in which bulging may take place, results of a more simple nature could be obtained. Take, for instance, a square prism and place it between two fixed and

Nov 1, 1905

By E. C. Weichel

THERE have been many attempts at permanent roof support in anthracite mines, in some cases brick arches, in others concrete, and also combinations of brick or concrete walls with steel beams. These supposedly permanent roof supports have frequently failed when heavy pressure is brought to bear upon the structure, because they are so rigid that failure occurs because the structure is unable to adjust itself to the increased load. Roof pressure exerts a tremendous weight, and it is at times difficult to find any means of support which is strong enough to bear the entire pressure, unless this supporting structure has in itself the element of some flexibility which will enable the structure to hold the moving mass until it "arches" itself. If the supporting medium has flexibility enough so that it can adjust itself to the heavy initial loads, and so give the overlying material an opportunity to form a self-supporting arch, then such a roof support will be more useful than any rigid roof support. There has recently been introduced into the anthracite region a new form of gangway lining that is flexible enough to slightly adjust itself under heavy pressures, and so give the loosened material which is being supported a chance to form into an "arched" mass. This lining, manufactured under patents granted to Hans Schaefer of Essen, Germany, was introduced in the United States in the summer of 1928, at which time the Amercan licensee, Richard Howells of

Jan 1, 1930

By A. A. Brant

Mining men, quite as exploration minded as petroleum interests, are in the position where most of the exposed crustal portions of the earth have been examined, where the demand for metals is high and likely to continue so, and yet where, perhaps, the tools fail for the economic exploration of many of the possible mineral areas more deeply covered with drift, alluvium, and later formations. At the same time the incentive exists to create acceptable substitutes for many of the duties of metal. The problem of the economic exploration of possible mineral-bearing areas is hence a vital one. In oil exploration, the absence of surface or shallow occurrences and the high cost of test drilling has led to the intensive study of geophysical techniques. Hence the development of the seismic method with its high certainty factor and its adaptability to standardized procedure.

Jan 1, 1949

By Kefton H. Teague

Attempts to locate domestic supplies of sillimanite have been unsuccessful until recently. This paper describes recent discoveries of sillimanite-bearing schists in the Southeastern States, with emphasis on geology of the deposits, mineral composition, origin, and reserves. Statements concerning possible methods of mining, milling, and utilization of sillimanite are given. Results from refractory tests on a laboratory scale are summarized.

Jan 1, 1950

By Benjamin F. Tillson

THE past seven years, and 1937 in particular, have witnessed the return of New Jersey iron mining to a place of importance. Following the World War period, little mining was done for several reasons. The properties were operated by small merchant furnaces whose demand was not sufficiently large to warrant large-scale methods with their attendant low operating costs. Under those conditions, the ore produced could not compete with that from the Great Lakes. However, when on Nov. 1, 1.929, the Alan Wood Steel Co., of Conshohocken, Pa., leased the Scrub Oak and Washington properties at Mine Hill and Oxford respectively, they made radical changes in the mining and milling processes which greatly reduced the cost of production and pointed the way to a renewed interest in mining in New Jersey. The following factors have been advanced as influencing the reopening of New Jersey mines:

Jan 1, 1938

G. M. TAYLOR,* Colorado Springs, Co1o.-I do not think the plan outlined in this paper would work at Cripple Creek. Most of our men have had a pretty good education. The Cripple Creek district is a lessee district-I do not think there is one mine operating in Cripple Creek to-day that does not have the leasing system. We have as many men leasing on our property as we have mining and every plan who is working for wages is looking for n lease-everyman has mined for him- self, he has been his on7n boss on n lease, either on our own property or

Jan 1, 1919

By C. A. HEILANDG

THERE is a need for men well trained in geo- physical prospecting. Although the number of geophysicists required by the industry in the future cannot be expected to be very great, there will always be a demand for courses on the subject. A number of educational institutions are, therefore, interested in providing instruction in geophysical prospecting. Some institutions will be satisfied with courses in general geophysical prospecting designed to give the geologist fundamental concepts on the comparative merits of the methods and the interpretation of the results. Other institutions will want to give special instructions in theory, field procedure, and interpretation of any or all geophysical methods. In giving such special courses a number of problems will be faced, and it seems to me that such difficulties are easier to overcome in an engineering institution than in a university. A knowledge of basic engineering subjects, such as required of all students in an engineering school, seems to be the best foundation upon

Jan 1, 1930

By James E. Howard

AT the request of the Council of the Institute, I have the honor to submit the following remarks upon the Program of Tests under which the current work of the Watertown Arsenal Testing Laboratory is carried on, which comprises, among other items, the tests of steel ingot metal and derivative shapes. The intended scope of the tests may be illustrated by extracts from the descriptive part of the program as submitted by the Laboratory under date of April 17, 1907, and subsequently approved by the Chief of Ordnance, U. S. A. Under Item 1, Ingot Metal-Open hearth, acid and basic; Bessemer, acid and basic; crucible; fluid compressed and uncompressed-descriptive remarks were made as follows ; " A thorough, fundamental inquiry into the physical properties of steel necessarily begins with the ingot metal. Investigations, having for their object the improvement of steels, should also begin with the ingot. A knowledge of the ingot structure is essential for judging of the subsequent behavior or appearance of the metal. Under ordinary conditions, so little information is obtained from the ingot in individual cases that practically none of importance is acquired. These remarks have particular reference to the state of physical and structural soundness of the steel. Questions of chemical composition, segregation, piping and the grosser cavities have frequently been given attention. Defects of continuity of structure, which manifest themselves in the working; of the metal, and at the final stages cause distrust in the finished forging, have generally been neglected. ? The range in physical properties in a given composition of metal, as shown in Tests of Metals, 1902 and 1903, is very great. Tests are there found which, when the results are

Mar 1, 1908

By T. Egleston

AT the Dover meeting of the Institute, Mr. F. A. Canfield showed some of the members a machine which he had invented for dressing mineralogical and geological specimens, which he has since modified and brought to such a high state of perfection, that after having used it for several months in preparing specimens for the cabinet of the

Jan 1, 1876

Theo. B. ComstocK, Los Angeles, Cal. (communication to the Secretary*):—Mr. Blake's recent paper upon this topic undoubtedly partly explains the rationale of a part of the known facts bearing upon discolorat'ion and encrustation of rocks. His quotation from Humboldt, with reference to certain South American examples, may be questioned in the light of further facts, which do not appear to bear out the great traveler's theory of causation. There is no available evidence that the waters of the tropical rivers referred to by Professor Blake contain dissolved organic matter in the varying proportions required to demonstrate Humboldt's guess, nor do the concomitant facts in any manner bear out the hypothesis that the blackening in one case and its absence in the other may, perhaps, be traced to differences in the chemical reactions of the respective waters. Careful consideration of Professor Blake's illustrations, in connection with numerous personal observations extending over widely-scattered areas, convinces me that elements of

Jan 1, 1905

By T. Egleston

At the Dover meeting of the Institute, Mr. F. A. Canfield showed some of the members a machine which he had invented for dressing mineralogical and geological specimens, which he has since modified and brought to such a high state of perfection, that after having used it for several months in preparing specimens for the cabinet of the

By Lyon F. Terry

ACCEPTED current practice for A the valuation of mineral property is based upon Hoskold's theory and valuation tables first published in 1877, and popularized by Herbert Hoover's "Principles of Mining" issued in 1909. In more recent years the procedure has been developed further in the course of the extensive valuation work required for Federal taxation purposes. The 1-aluation of oil and gas properties and of mines is based upon the same principle-the estimation of the present worth of future net revenues. However, in valuing oil and gas properties the method used for discounting future revenues differs somewhat from that adopted for mines, owing principally to the nature of the re- source. production from oil and gas properties usually declines from year to year, whereas coal and ore de- posits are adapted to a more uniform rate of output.

Jan 1, 1940

By M. J. Coolbaugh

Mining of potash more than 3000 ft beneath the water-bearing sediments in Saskatchewan presented the unique challenge of designing stable mine workings and assuring protection from overhead water in a material that was believed to flow plastically, but whose behavior as a plastic material was not sufficiently known. Under the stress conditions ordinarily encountered in mining most rocks behave as elastic materials; that is, they compress slightly under pressure, and rebound when the pressure is released. Salt and potash, however, are different. Even under the relatively low pressures encountered at shallow depths, these materials become slightly plastic and yield to stress by flowing.* The plastic properties become more pronounced at greater depth and pressure, and the question arises as to whether or not the plastic flow will be rapid enough and exert enough pressure to destroy underground structures or interrupt the mining process.

Jan 5, 1967

By Charles R. Holmes

MORE than 70 igneous pipes and dikes are known to occur in Cambrian sediments throughout an approximately circular area of about 75 sq miles in southwestern Ste. Genevieve County and southeastern St. Francois County, Mo., across the southern portion of the Farmington anticline, which is outlined in fig. 1. From evidence obtained from fossil fragments taken from some of the intrusive, and from the similarity in composition of the more basic intrusives to those of known age in surrounding states, these pipes and dikes are believed to be at least post-Devonian and probably Cretaceous in age. As first postulated by Rust, these intrusives are believed to represent explosion tubes, or diatremes, punched through great thicknesses of solid rock by gaseous pressure. The particular intrusive studied is located about 1 mile north of the small town of Avon at an elevation of 880 ft in the EM SES NE% of sec. 2, T. 35N, R. 7E. Outcrop is through the Bonneterre dolomite in two separated exposures. The larger outcrop extends east and west for about 50 ft along a tributary in a small ravine (fig. 2). The smaller exposure occurs as a few scattered patches over an area 20 ft square about 100 ft to the north. The area between the exposures is covered, but scattered patches of the Bonneterre dolomite outcrop throughout the area surrounding the diatreme. Where exposed, contact relations show the surrounding dolomite to be shattered and metamor- phosed to a fine-grained rock for a distance of 15 to 20 ft from the intrusive. The igneous rock occurs as a dark greenish-gray porphyry near the center of the diatreme and as a fine-grained, greenish-gray material containing lapilli and metamorphosed fragments of dolomite near the contact with the country rock. The most abundant original mineral of the porphyritic rock is olivine now largely serpentinized as the result of extensive hydrothermal alteration at time of emplacement. The most common constituent of the fine-grained rock, which occurs near the border of the intrusive, is calcite. Mica is a common constituent of both types of rock, occurring as tufts or

Jan 1, 1950