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By George Smith

THE discussion of production control at the Insti-tute's annual meeting was profitable in that it started some thinking. One pertinent question there raised was how the opening of new mines, whose now unneeded output would inevitably react on prices, could be postponed until the market was ready to ab-sorb their output. In transportation some restraint is being exercised on building new and unneeded fa-cilities, but in production no general solution of the problem has been offered. Yet in a special field of new development of increasing importance a quick and easy solution has been suggested. I refer to the leasing of mineral deposits on the public domain. The report of the United States Coal Commission says: "In its possession of approximately 60,000,000 acres of public coal lands the Federal Government has its own responsibility in restraining overdevelopment. The Department of the Interior, which has control of these lands under the leasing law, construes the law as giving the department no discretionary right to refuse applications for leases regularly made by qualified citizens or corporations for coal deposits on the pub-lic domain. It presumes, that the applicant believes there is a need for an additional coal mine in his local-ity and expects to find a market for the coal produced. Overdevelopment, however, is a fact in the West as well as in the East, and wherever present involves needless investment and excessive costs of operation. Plainly, the leasing law should be so amended as to give the executive department full discretion in its approval of the opening of a new coal mine on the, public domain, making that approval contingent on the showing that the new mine would serve the in-terest of the consuming public." A similar view of the Federal Government's re-sponsibility in restraining overdevelopment of its oil lands has been presented by the Federal Oil Conser-vation Board. The leasing law vests little or no dis-cretion in the Secretary of the Interior, who must grant a lease to a qualified applicant regardless of any obvious country-wide condition of surplus produc-tion. This wide-open invitation to exploit and dissi-pate the people's own oil resources could be restricted by simple legislation, although as remarked by the board, such a legislative remedy for a plain economic ailment "does not evoke popular support when its purpose is avowedly to put the brakes on development of natural resources."

Jan 5, 1928

By Archiblad MacMartin

The Kunigin-Marien-Hiitte is the only works in Germany where the Bessemer process is carried on by the direct method. The Besserner plant there, is arranged after the true English type, and the only resemblance to the Swedish mode of 'procedure is the dispensing with the use of spiegeleisen at the end of the "blow." In a new department of the establishment, started within three years, each of the converters is turned by means of a very neat and compact reversible engine, the steel shaft of which is an endless screw, which turns against the oblique cogs of a large wheel attached to the shaft of the vessel. An advantage which this arrangement possesses over the ordinary English hydraulic arrangement, is the fact that the endless screw suffices to turn the vessel, in either direction, any number of complete revolutions; while even the latest American improvements, so clearly explained to us by Mr. Holley at the opening session of this meeting, do not secure even one complete revolution without changing the angle of inclination of the hydraulic piston. In the endless screw arrangement, there being no limit to the working of the motor in either direction (no return-stroke necessary), the vessel can always, unless outside reasons demand the contrary, be turned around to any desired position by the shortest cut, whether backwards or forwards. Also, the diameter of the cogwheel attached to the vessel can be made sufficiently great to avoid all unevenness of motion. In the old department the motive-power still continues to be hydraulic. If reports be true, the new department produces spiegelized steel, for the manufacture of all-steel rails. But the old department is still, as from the beginning, devoted to the production by the direct method of steel for steel-headed rails. The most remarkable fact connected with this direct steel is the ease with which it welds to the iron 'of the rail-packets, although no borax or other fluxing agent is used to facilitate the welding. It is very rarely that an exception occurs, and an ingot or a charge is discarded by the rail-mill. The mixture of pig-iron used for the production of this steel is melted in cupolas of very interesting construction (not to be de-

By Chas. B. Dudley

WHILE working, during the summer of 1877, upon the "Chemical Composition and Physical Properties of Steel Rails," the results of which are given in my report with this title, I was struck with the surprising wear which some of the rails, which would ordinarily be called soft rails, had endured. At that time I knew of no chemical measure of softness except low carbon, and I found that a number of rails with low carbon had endured as high or higher tonnage, with apparently as little loss of metal by wear, as those with higher carbon. My own work on steel rails that summer did not embrace any definite experiments as to the amount of metal worn off the rail per million tons which had passed over it; and so I could get no more definite answer from that work, to the question at the head of this paper, than was given by comparing the appearance of the worn section of the rail with its tonnage. This comparison, however, served to arouse in my mind the query, whether the commonly received opinion as to the relation between the hardness and wearing power of steel is correct, as applied to steel rails. This opinion, if I am right, is: the harder the steel, the better will be the wear, and the limit of hardness is simply one of safety ; hard, brittle steel being, of course, more liable to break than soft, tough steel. The query, although aroused, did not bear any immediate fruit, and, as will be evident to any one reading it, the report above referred to was written with the commonly received opinion in mind. Since that time I have collected a little information upon this subject, which I should be glad to submit to the Institute, if for no other purpose, for the sake of arousing attention, and directing study to the question of hardness versus wear in steel rails. Before making known this information, however, permit me a few words in reference to hardness. How shall we measure the hardness of steel ? Of the various ways of getting indications as to the hardness of steel, which are known, three will serve our present purpose. These are: 1st. High carbon. It is generally agreed, I think, that at least within proper limits, the greater the amount of combined carbon in a piece of steel, the harder the steel, and I need not do

Jan 1, 1879

Discussion of the paper of S. E. Bretherton, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 80, August, 1913, pp. 1481 to 1487. S. E., BRETHERTON, San Francisco, Cal.:-Since preparing my paper, our chemist, F. L. Wilson, has been experimenting with Leadville, Colo., oxidized zinc ore and Leadville zinc sulphides containing lead, operating upon 40-1b. lots at a time. His results on Leadville sulphides are as follows: The raw ore contained a trace of gold, 5.04 oz. of silver, 19.1 per cent of zinc, and 7.24 per cent of lead. After roasting the ore contained a trace of gold, 5.72 oz. of silver, 0.75 per cent of copper, 21.7 per cent of zinc, and 8.29 per cent of lead. The loss in weight by leaching was 38.8 per cent. The extraction was 42.8 per cent of the copper, 80.6 per cent of the zinc, 7.1 per cent of the lead, 0.64 per cent of the silver, and no gold. The little .silver that is extracted would be thrown down with the copper when precipitating it from the zinc and both thrown hack into the residue to be smelted. There would be no trouble in smelting the residue with nearly all the sulphur eliminated and containing less than 7 per cent. of zinc. On zinc carbonates containing silicates the results are not satisfactory. H. O. HOFMAN, Boston, Mass. (communication to the Secretary*) :¬The paper by Mr. Bretherton upon the application of ammonia and carbonic acid to the recovery of zinc as oxide from roasted sulphide ore is of interest to me, as the first installation of the Schnabel process for the extraction of zinc from a mixture of zinc oxide, lead oxide (with some cupric oxide), and pellets of enriched lead, produced in steaming liquated zinc-silver-lead crust of the Parkes process, was made at Lautenthal, Harz mountains, where I was chemist. In that capacity I carried out numerous experiments on the Schnabel process, was active in the erecting of the plant, and later had charge of it. After the Lautenthal plant had been in operation for some time a similar one was built at Hoboken-les-Anvers, but both have been abandoned, as the wet process could not compete with the distillation of the liquated zinc-silver-lead crust, now used universally in the Parkes process.

Jan 11, 1913

By Louis A. Riley

I DESIRE to submit, for the consideration and information of the members of the Institute, the following data, drawings, and tables, showing what I believe will be interesting information with regard to the diamond drill, and its uses in developing mineral lands. I would first say that the results given have been obtained during the past two years by means of two drilling machines belonging to the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, operating on their coal lands in the Mahanoy, Lehigh, and Wyoming regions. 1st. A tabulated statement, giving location of borings, date, progress, total cost, itemized cost per foot, etc. 2d. Section showing strata bored in Nos. 5 and 10 holes at Mt. Carmel, see Plate VI. 3d. Section showing strata bored in No. 19 hole at Hazleton, see Plate VI. 4th. Photograph and description of drill No. 2. From the first it will be seen that the total number of test-holes bored up to May 1st of this year is 24; 9 of these are in the Mahanoy region, 6 in the Lehigh region, and 10 in the Wyoming region, in all of which cores have been taken for the whole distance. The total distance bored is 9902 feet. The majority of the holes have been put down for the purpose of proving the lower veins of the coal series, and have had to encounter the harder rocks of the coal formation. Much of the distance has been through the lower conglomerates, going in some cases through the coarse egg conglomerate, the foundation of the coal deposit, and to the green sandstone and red shale which underlie it. These lower sandrocks and conglomer¬ates are among the hardest known to geologists, and present a formidable resistance to the exploring drill. This fact must be taken into consideration in comparisons of cost of drilling, and when considered will still further improve the very favorable results I am able to show in my statement of costs. In illustration, I will cite the work of one bit when boring in the upper or softer rocks of the Wyoming region, where 280 feet were obtained without resetting, while in the Lehigh and Mahanoy regions, in the lower and harder rocks, bits set with the same quality of diamonds would only bore from 3 to 20 feet before being worn out. In this connection it may

Jan 1, 1877

By H. E. Doerr

The writer has been unable to find much information relative to tests made to determine the effect of forging on the specific density of steel. The opinion, however, among men engaged in the business, seems to be that forging greatly compresses or consolidates the steel. While such is doubtless the case with spongy or porous steel, the following experiments indicate that there can be little or no change in the density with steel initially free from cavities. Ten ingots of basic open-hearth steel cast as shown in Fig. 1 were used in the experiments. All the specimens were 0.53 carbon with all other elements the same, the analysis being determined from drillings taken midway between the center and outside of the upper end, as shown in Fig. 2. The specimens were selected from over one thousand ingots so that the tests could be comparative for the work done in forging only, but no two of the ingots were cast in the same heat. Each ingot remained in the mold approximately 30 min., when it was removed and sir-cooled. About 12 hr. later, when the temperature had been reduced to approximately that of the surrounding atmosphere, the head was discarded and the ingot heated in an oil furnace to approximately 2250" F. (1235" C). Approximately 1 min. was required to forge under the steam hammer to 1 1/4 in. (31.75 mm.), rough diameter, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. All ingots were allowed to air-cool after forging. Cylinders 1/2 in. (17.7 mm.) in diameter and 1/2 in. high were then turned from the forged and unforged parts of the ingots and numbered. The ten pairs of specimens were submitted to Louis E. Endsley, Professor of Railway Mechanical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh; A. N. Talbot, Professor of Applied Mechanics, University of Illinois; L. Z. Slater, chief chemist, Scullin Steel Co., St. Louis, Mo. NO information was furnished as to which specimens were forged or unforged and each laboratory used the same specimens, submitting the average of three independent determinations, a tabulation of which is shown in the accompanying table in which the laboratories are designated by the letters A, B, and C. While there is considerable difference in the individual determinations for a number of the specimens, the averages

Jan 1, 1920

By David Reger

LITTLE new oil was found in West Virginia, during 1923, but there were important discoveries of gas. Most of the large oil producers have contented themselves with pumping old wells or in drilling only enough new wells in defined territory to maintain a fairly constant production, the attitude being that no, profit is made in producing high-grade oil at a low price and that an eventual loss is sustained by draining the reserves of a limited commodity that, at some more favorable time, will be of much value. The representative of one large company said: "We have done nothing but pump old wells during 1923 and we have made no plans for 1924." Careful attention to producing wells has been the rule, there having been few abandonments; the belief is prevalent that small wells will eventually become profitable under more favorable marketing conditions. In natural gas, the opposite point of view prevails. Because of the vast capabilities of the state for producing gas, its output being ahead of all others, great systems of transportation and distribution into the markets of four adjoining states have been built and a demand has been created that no present, or apparently potential, production can satisfy. This demand has become so great that large distributing companies not only discourage new applications for service but advise old customers to install coal furnaces for auxiliary fuel; some have requested public-service commissions to grant higher 'rates against large industrial consumers than those allowed for domestic heating. The response to this known market has been a rapid increase in price, both at the well mouth and at the door of the ultimate consumer, and the industry has become so stable that the only uncertainty, or hazard, appears to be the question of the presence of gas in fair quantity in a given territory under consideration. Several oil companies have now forsaken their policy of selling gas, wells outright when drilled and ;have organized gas departments to drill for gas and to dispose of the daily output by meter to distributing corporations. With such companies and with other producers whose interest is chiefly gas, the year has been busy and profitable. Some new territory of apparently large value has been proved and deeper producing sands in old fields have been tapped.

Jan 3, 1924

By R. R. Wilson, Robert Henderson

The Cassidy Colliery operated by the Granby Consolidated Mining Smelting & Power Co., Ltd., is situated about 9 miles in a southerly direc tion from the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The coal seam worked, which is called the Douglas bed, outcrops in the western part of the property, dipping easterly, and is opened by a slope 7 by 14 ft. in the clear, and is timbered by 12 to 14-in. framed sets of timber, 4 ft. center to center. A separate manway provides for a traveling road and at the same time forms an intake airway. The general average of the dip of the seam at Cassidy is 18º, and varies in thickness from 1 to 25 ft., averaging about 8 ft. The main slopes follow straight down the dip a distance of 4845 ft. At the bottom of the main slope two rock tunnels were driven a distance of 1500 ft. to the south, cutting through a fault, and opening up an area in the same seam which is known as No. 7 South Section. The coal is found in this section at a vertical depth of 1560 ft., and is very soft and friable. The immediate roof is a strong, sandy. shale overlain by massive sandstone while the floor is a light-colored shale, hard when freshly exposed. It does not soften materially on exposure. In the folding of the coal measures a great thrust caused a movement along the coal seam as indicated by the slickensided nature of the coal. The floor has buckled and this has rolled and squeezed the coal so that with rare exceptions it shows no normal bedding but curved slip planes, which frequently start at right angles to the floor, curving upward and then in the direction of the dip. As such planes are slickensided it is probable that there is a coating of clay which is more or less impervious to gas. Outbursts of Gas and Coal Outbursts of gas and coal have occurred in this mine previous to 1921, but not until June 14 of that year was a complete record kept of them. No outbursts occurred above the fourth levels, or, in other words, until a vertical depth of about 900 ft. was reached. Since that time quite a

Jan 1, 1927

By A. W. Allen

The technological study of the treatment of gold and silver ores has been largely responsible for the phenomenal strides which have marked the progress in this branch of metallurgy during recent years. In no other application of science to industry is system more imperative at every stage; correct formulation of result is only second in importance to efficiency of operation. Progress in method, on the other hand, is mainly due to individua1 initiative aided by the work of technical journals and metallurgical societies. There still remains a field for profitable discussion, and it is my intention to deal with some inconsistencies of expression common to a number of writers on the subject; and also to draw attention to the false impressions created by a statement which may, possibly, be only unintentionally misleading. I also take the opportunity of tracing the source of both metallurgical and economic result; and would question the desirability of the methods usually employed in arriving at a final statement. In the first place, I wish to deal with the question of extraction. This term may mean anything or nothing, and it is often used to mislead. In a report of a mining engineer as to the result of operations subsequent to the remodeling of a treatment plant prominence was given to the statement that the extraction had amounted to 91 per cent. On examination it was found that only a small percentage of the so-called extraction was calculated on actual bullion return, a proportion being figured from the gold left in the zinc boxes, and not recovered. In addition to this, a proportion of the extraction was said to be due to gold in concentrate. As there was no conrcentrating apparatus on the property and as concentration did not form a part of the scheme of treatment the matter was investigated, with the result that the concentrate, of lower gold content that the original ore, was found to be the result of an inegcient pumping system which failed to provide for the whole of the battery product delivered to it. The balance was stacked and, although itself of no marketable value, the gold content was allowed to form a basis of extraction figures. The illustration may be extreme, but it will serve to show to what lengths an engineer may go in the mutilation of the most vital term in metallurgical technology.

Jan 1, 1915

By Charles N. Bell

The Telluride mining district of southwestern Colorado is defined by the 37" 45' and 38" parallels of latitude and 107" 45' and 108" meridians of longitude. Telluride was never a boom camp, but has had a steady growth. In recent years, notwithstanding the business depression of 1920, the business has been the same as in normal years. The first prospector is said to have appeared in 1875, in which year locations on the Smuggler vein were made. Shipments were made in 1877 and 1878, and in 1879 milling the ores was attempted. While the district produced high-grade ores, it did not become important until 1890, when the Rio Grande Southern R. R. was completed from Ridgway to Telluride. The railroad has since been extended to Durango. In the fall of 1896, 400 stamps were in operation, and the annual production was $3,000,000.00, two-thirds of which was gold. The total production from 1875 to 1923 was: gold $58,274,527; silver 41,-830,920 oz., valued at $31,016,893; copper 15,258,866 lb., valued at $2,533,291; lead 166,056,484 Ib., valued at $8,324,910; zinc 18,141,182 Ib. valued at $1,323,787; or a total production of $101,473,408. All claims are held in fee. Most of them are 1500 by 300 ft. but claims located within the last few years are 1500 by 600 ft. General supplies are obtained at Telluride, Denver, and Salt Lake. The largest mines are within 6 miles of the town of Telluride. Denver is 422 miles and Salt Lake is 439 miles, by rail, from Telluride. One-half of the distance to Denver and one-sixth of the distance from Telluride to Salt Lake is by narrow-gage railroad. The labor is efficient. The best miners are Italians and Austrians, then Slavs, Greeks, and Mexicans follow in the order mentioned. There are no labor unions. There are no serious mine pumping problems, the drainage being through adits. The Tomboy and Smuggler companies pump water from their reservoirs, the former for milling and domestic purposes and the latter for milling, power, and domestic purposes. BIBLIOGRAPHY A partial bibliography of the Telluride District is: Geologic Atlas Telluride No. 57; Preliminary Report on the Mining Industries of the

Jan 1, 1925

By W. H. Hough, P. B. Leavenworth

Development in the upper Texas Gulf Coast during 1944 resulted in the discovery of 19 new fields as compared with 11 during 1943. These discoveries include 10 oil fields, one dry gas field, and eight gas-condensate fields. Drilling During the year 590 wells were drilled as compared with 418 drilled during 1943. Of these operations, 485 wells were drilled in proven fields, with the following results: 281 oil wells, 22 condensate wells, one dry gas well and 141 dry holes. The remaining 105 wells were wildcats, of which 19 were producers. The geological distribution of these discoveries was as follows: In 1944, production amounted to 178,-522,630 bbl., which was an increase of some 31,670,384 bbl. over the 1943 figure of 136,852,246 bbl. These figures include both condensate and oil production, as separate figures are not available. Wildcatting in the area was more successful during 1944 than in 1943 as the following comparison of number of wells drilled illustrates: Discoveries during 1944 Smith Point, Chambers County.—Standard Oil Company of Texas completed its No. I State, sec. 109, on Feb. 15, 1944, in a Frio sand at 8135 to 8146 ft. The well flowed 250 bbl. of 42º gravity oil through an 1/8-in, choke. Gas-oil ratio was 800 to I; tubing pressure, 1100 bbl. Four other oil wells and one gas well were completed during the year. This discovery does not appear to be of major importance. The producing area lies on the upthrown side of a large fault. North Winnie, Chambers County.—Sun Oil Co. completed No. I P. E. Dougherty on Apr. 27, 1944, from the Frio, through perforations at 8757 to 8759 ft. The initial production was 154 bbl. of 38.3º gravity oil through an 1/8-in. choke. Gas-oil ratio Was 2526 to 1; tubillg Pressure, 2280 1b.; casing Pressure, 1225 lb.; total depth, 9519 ft. Three other wells were drilled during the Year. This discovery is on the downthrown side of the major Winnie Stowell fault, and increases in magnitude the already large producing area along this fault. Mayes Field, Chambers County.—Humble Oil and Refining Company's No. I Mary Etta Mayes was completed on Dec. 24, 1944, in a Frio sand, at 8166 to 8169 ft. through 1/4-in. for 768 bbl. of 40.3º gravity

Jan 1, 1945

By Charles Russell

PRESSURES developed by the coal during the coking process have been responsible for serious trouble to many companies that operate or build by-product coke ovens. The insidious nature of this trouble is indicated by the fact that oven operators, unless they have ascertained the charac-teristics of the coals they use, cannot determine the existence of dangerous pressures until after the damage has been done. A rather popular mis-conception is that ease of pushing of the charge at the completion of the coking period indicates that no dangerous pressure has been developed, but this is far from the truth; pressures developed during the coking period are often completely dissipated by the shrinkage of the charge in the completion of coking, and so any criterion based on the ease of pushing is futile. However, methods of testing coals are available that will definitely distinguish the dangerous coals from those that are safe, and such methods have been brought to a high degree of certainty. The operator should take no risk that involves either a lack of knowl-edge of the behavior of coals during coking or the failure to believe that certain of the coals or coal mixtures can cause damage to the oven struc-ture. This merely tends to minimize the problem and leads to claims that coking coals of all kinds may be carbonized with no danger of damage to the oven structure provided some particular kind of by-product oven is used. This lack of appreciation of the true situation is in itself one of the main factors leading to damage of coke-oven structures. Coals that develop more than a certain safe pressure cannot be used in by-product coke ovens without causing damage to the side flue walls. The following paper presents a highly certain method for the measure-ment of the pressures developed during the carbonization of coal-a method that is the culmination of many years of work on the problem in which a number of methods for the purpose were investigated and used. While actual pressures found may appear to be small when expressed in pounds per square inch, the number of square inches in each oven wall is so large that the total pressure on the oven wall becomes an enormous load.

Jan 1, 1939

By Charles C. Russell

Pressures developed by the coal during the coking process have been responsible for serious trouble to many companies that operate or build by-product coke ovens. The insidious nature of this trouble is indicated by the fact that oven operators, unless they have ascertained the characteristics of the coals they use, cannot determine the existence of dangerous pressures until after the damage has been done. A rather popular misconception is that ease of pushing of the charge at the completion of the coking period indicates that no dangerous pressure has been developed, but this is far from the truth; pressures developed during the coking period are often completely dissipated by the shrinkage of the charge in the completion of coking, and so any criterion based on the ease of pushing is futile. However, methods of testing coals are available that will definitely distinguish the dangerous coals from those that are safe, and such methods have been brought to a high degree of certainty. The operator should take no risk that involves either a lack of knowledge of the behavior of coals during coking or the failure to believe that certain of the coals or coal mixtures can cause damage to the oven structure. This merely tends to minimize the problem and leads to claims that coking coals of all kinds may be carbonized with no danger of damage to the oven structure provided some particular kind of byproduct oven is used. This lack of appreciation of the true situation is in itself one of the main factors leading to damage of coke-oven structures. Coals that develop more than a certain safe pressure cannot be used in by-product coke ovens without causing damage to the side flue walls. The following paper presents a highly certain method for the measurement of the pressures developed during the carbonization of coal—a method that is the culmination of many years of work on the problem in which a number of methods for the purpose were investigated and used. While actual pressures found may appear to be small when expressed in pounds per square inch, the number of square inches in each oven wall is so large that the total pressure on the oven wall becomes an enormous load.

Jan 1, 1940

By Thomas W. Dawson

THE H. C. Frick Coke Co. has used belt conveyers for handling coal for the last eighteen years but, until recently, only for small tonnage and over short distances. The first installations were outside the mines for distributing coal to various parts of plants. A belt conveyer was put in service at Colonial No. 4 Mine in November, 1906, to carry coal from the main hoisting shaft to a storage bin serving two blocks of beehive ovens on the other side of the valley; it was in constant service until the Colonial No. 4 ovens were abandoned less than a year ago. This conveyor was in an overhead gallery that spanned our sidings and yard tracks and the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was a crude installation, from the viewpoint of present conveyor engineering practice. It had no mechanical feeding device, the coal simply ran through a gate in the side of a bin on to the belt; but one belt on this conveyor lasted eleven years. This conveyor is about 300 ft. long center, to center of pulleys. It operated at a speed of 250 ft. per min. and carried about 400 tons per day. On this basis, the belt life of eleven years means that not over a million and a quarter tons were carried by the belt. While this is not a large tonnage, the cost per ton was much less than by any previous method in use for supplying coal to ovens located at a distance from the main shaft. The next belt conveyor was installed at Bridgeport Mine in 1907. It carried about the same daily tonnage as the first, delivering from the hoisting shaft to a coke-oven bin. Very few data were kept on this conveyor. It also operated until the coke ovens at the plant were put out of blast and the coal taken to the Clairton byproduct plant by river. In 1916, work was started to equip the Bridgeport, Palmer, Gates, and Ronco mines to load their entire output on, the river for transportation to the Clairton byproduct plant, which was then being built. These mines were all operating at that time and had a large area of coal available for river shipment. The Monongahela Railroad was located between the hoisting shaft and the river at each of these plants and,, therefore, had to be crossed at each location to deliver coal to the river.

Jan 6, 1925

By Vernon Taylor

CANADA'S oil production is obtained almost entirely from the Turner Valley gas and oil field, in the Province of Alberta. This field, about 30 miles southwest of the city of Calgary and approximately 115 miles north of the United States border, supplied 92 per cent of production in Canada during 1937. In 1938 considerable development took place in this field and total production for the year amounted to 6,688,716 bbl., an increase of 3,922,146 bbl. over the production in 1937, which increased the percentage of production to approximately 97 per cent of Canada's total. In the British Empire, Canada's production is thus comparable to that of Bahrein Island and Burma, each of which produced approxi-mately 7,800,000 bbl. in 1937, being second to Trinidad's production of 15,500,000 bbl. The total production of the British Empire in that year amounted to 2.07 per cent of the world's total. HISTORY Development of the Turner Valley field commenced in 1913, when a well was started near a gas seepage on the banks of the South Fork of Sheep River in the central part of the Valley. This well found small quantities of a light crude oil in beds of Upper Cretaceous age and pre-cipitated a wild boom in 1913-1914 which ended with the beginning of the Great War in 1914. A small amount of drilling was done in the years from 1914 to 1922 and a few wells found small crude-oil production in the upper sands. In 1922 a few wells were started, including the Royalite Oil Company's No. 4 well (R, Fig. 1), which became the discovery well of naphtha pro-duction from the Paleozoic limestone. In October 1924, this well was completed at a depth of 3740 ft., being approximately 300 ft, in the lime-stone, with an initial flow of 600 bbl. of 72° A.P.I. gravity naphtha and 20,000 M cu. ft. of gas per day. Intense activity was not started until the latter part of 1928, when the Okalta No. 1 well (Q, Fig. 1) was drilled, with an initial production of 500 bbl. of naphtha per day. This well was only 1 ¼ miles from Royalite No. 4, but it was approximately 1300 ft.

Jan 1, 1939

By Charles C. Russell

Pressures developed by the coal during the coking process have been responsible for serious trouble to many companies that operate or build by-product coke ovens. The insidious nature of this trouble is indicated by the fact that oven operators, unless they have ascertained the characteristics of the coals they use, cannot determine the existence of dangerous pressures until after the damage has been done. A rather popular misconception is that ease of pushing of the charge at the completion of the coking period indicates that no dangerous pressure has been developed, but this is far from the truth; pressures developed during the coking period are often completely dissipated by the shrinkage of the charge in the completion of coking, and so any criterion based on the ease of pushing is futile. However, methods of testing coals are available that will definitely distinguish the dangerous coals from those that are safe, and such methods have been brought to a high degree of certainty. The operator should take no risk that involves either a lack of knowledge of the behavior of coals during coking or the failure to believe that certain of the coals or coal mixtures can cause damage to the oven structure. This merely tends to minimize the problem and leads to claims that coking coals of all kinds may be carbonized with no danger of damage to the oven structure provided some particular kind of byproduct oven is used. This lack of appreciation of the true situation is in itself one of the main factors leading to damage of coke-oven structures. Coals that develop more than a certain safe pressure cannot be used in by-product coke ovens without causing damage to the side flue walls. The following paper presents a highly certain method for the measurement of the pressures developed during the carbonization of coal—a method that is the culmination of many years of work on the problem in which a number of methods for the purpose were investigated and used. While actual pressures found may appear to be small when expressed in pounds per square inch, the number of square inches in each oven wall is so large that the total pressure on the oven wall becomes an enormous load.

Jan 1, 1940

By Otto Wartenweiler

After the phenomenal development of the new mine, the United Eastern Mining Co., with Mr. Frank A. Keith as President, decided to install a reduction plant. The character of the ore, closely resembling the product of other mines in the district, did not offer any particular metallurgical problems, since these neighboring mines had been operating milling plants very successfully for several years. Thus, with the general metallurgical treatment fairly well-defined, the matter of next importance was to design and construct a plant as economically as possible, that would give the best results obtainable. The ore consists of a mixture of calcite and quartz in about equal quantities, with some decomposed andesite, while the average value of mill feed was calculated to be $20 or more in gold, no silver being present. The tonnage to be treated at the start was fixed at 200 tons, but, in view of the favorable condition of the mine, it was considered advisable to arrange facilities for increasing the capacity to 400 tons. While it is best in some cases to adopt a distinct independent unit system where future enlargement is contemplated, in this instance the plans worked out differently. Summarized, the treatment adopted consists of coarse crushing, coarse grinding, fine grinding and cyanidation. For coarse crushing the selection of the No. 6 size gyratory crusher was governed not so much by its capacity as by the size of the feed openings to receive the run-of-mine material, which was too coarse for a No. 5 crusher. TO accomplish the coarse grinding to best advantage, a careful comparison was made between the modern steel ball-mill—the last word in crushing and grinding—and one of its older, and, at that time better-established, competitors, the rolls. The following conclusion was reached: While it is possible that for the sized plant under consideration the cost of operating rolls might be a little cheaper, it is preferable to use ball-mills because a simpler arrangement is possible, and because the handling of ball-mills is preferred by the operator. A marked departure was introduced for fine grinding. Instead of the long type of tube-mill, using pebbles, a mill of similar design was selected, but of much shorter length, using small cast-steel balls as grinding medium. For cyanidation, the Dorr continuous countercurrent process was

Jan 1, 1918

By R. M. Bird

Few persons outside of the foundry trade have any conception of the great variety of sands now regularly specified and furnished, nor of the differences in foundry practice frequently resulting from apparently minor changes in sands. Conditions in each locality where the sands are mined and prepared necessitate special equipment designed to perform the work efficiently. The description that follows of the foundry-sand producing operations is typical of the areas in New York and New Jersey, and particularly refers to the operations of the George F. Pettinos Co. A few years ago the so-called Albany sands were dug by simple methods and hauled by horsecart to railroad. Depletion of sand near railroad sidings and extended use of automotive power have appreciably extended the area from which sand is now being dug. It is not unusual to haul 5 miles to the railroad. As stripping is quite shallow, 6 to 18 in., and the banks of usable sand generally run from 12 in. to 4 ft., it is economical to work the bank by benches so narrow that the overburden can be thrown by hand shovel to the exposed bottoms. In effect the top soil goes back to where it was, but on a lower level. Consequently the general surface appearance of a mined acreage is the same as before. This condition is in fact cutomarily required when a farm owner sells his sand in the ground. After such replacement, in the course of 3 to 5 years the soil is no less fertile than it was before mining. The sand itself varies as to grain and bond vertically and also along the breast. No mechanical equipment has been developed to compete with hand shovels and no machine has as yet been devised that grades the sand as required. Uniformity of sand, as shipped, depends first, last and all the time on the man on the job. Mixing equipment can change the appearance of the sand and mask its lack of uniformity, but it will never correct wrongly graded sand, dug from the bank. Modern methods of testing are helpful in setting up standards against which the man in the bank can compare his sands, but a good bank foreman is the only assurance that the sand, as dug, matches the required sample.

Jan 1, 1926

By G. Ansel, J. P. Doan

THE important literature concerning zirconium in magnesium-base alloys is predominantly contained in patent references. Sauerwald, Eisenreich, and Holub1-4 discovered the profound grain-refining influence of small amounts of zirconium on cast magnesium and the attendant increases in strength, and ductility. They extended their work to reveal that limited amounts of certain other elements, including zinc, could be added for further improvement in strength and hardness. British. Patent 5111376 relates to the parent discoveries of Sauerwald, Eisen¬reich, and Holub. All of these references deal primarily with casting characteristics and properties in the cast state. Minor mention is made of desirable tensile strength, ductility, and toughness of wrought Mg-Zr alloys* modified by one or more additional elements. No extensive reference in the literature" has been found to the particular characteristics of wrought Mg-Zn-Zr alloys, with which the present paper is concerned. - The work to be discussed represents essentially an extrusion study of the Mg-Zn-Zr alloys and indicates that this system is highly interesting in the wrought state both academically and commercially. Accordingly, an important aim of this paper is to describe the hot-workability, tension and compression properties, metal¬lography, and toughness of these alloys. Compositional variations are limited to the ranges o to 7 per cent Zn and o to I per cent Zr. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Alloying and Casting Alloying ingredients were cell mag¬nesium, commercial zinc (intermediate grade), and a chloride salt containing approximately 50 per cent ZrCl2 and 50 per cent alkali chlorides. This salt is produced by Titanium Alloy Manu¬facturing Company. Melting, alloying, and pouring procedure essentially followed the crucible process as described by Nelson.6 The magnesium was melted using Dow No. 310 flux, and the temperature raised to 1350° to 1400°F for the alloying operations. After alloying of the zinc, the zirconium containing salt was added in small portions with vigorous stirring. This is an adaptation of the method described in British Patent 533264.7 The alloying efficiency of zir¬conium was approximately 30 per cent. During the alloying of zirconium, fluorspar was added in amount required as a flux¬inspissating agent. Next the melt was refined with Dow No. 310 flux and held quietly for 15 min. Finally billets were cast in a book-type permanent mold

Jan 1, 1946

By AIME AIME

ON May 5, the Washington, D. C., Section, A.I.M.E., devoted its meeting to the many-sided and perplexing question of mineral stock-piling for peace. Opening the symposium, Harry J. Wolf, of the War Production Board, outlined the problem under six heads: (1) Technical. Mechanical, chemical, or metallurgical importance of specified materials, emergencies that might arise, relative scarcity, and critical value of stock piles during emergencies. (2) Economic. Cost to Government, influence of Government stocks on commercial relationships and markets, effect of availability of items as a con¬structive influence on industry, Administration policies now and during postwar period. (3) Legislative. Need for immediate legislative action, need for legislation on postwar conditions as well as on current requirements, a constructive basic policy to prevent political manipulation. (4) Military. Consideration of re¬quirements and supplies bearing on national safety and needed for manufacture of equipment, and adequate reserves of scarce materials for research or experimentation by military agencies. (5) International. Interests of the United Nations in contradistinction to those of the United States; effects of nonisolation policy on nature, location, and administration of stock piles. (6) Negative stock-piling. Question of United Nations' legislation to prevent stock-piling by Axis nations after the war and who shall purchase stock-pile materials and during what periods.

Jan 1, 1943