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By M. Albertson

UNITED STATES petroleum pro-dU6tion during 1937 materially exceeded? that of any previous year. Firm control of the production rate was maintained under State and Federal laws and aided by the' Interstate Compact. During the first ten months," crude oil prices were stable, except for a slight increase early in the year. Toward the end of the year, uncertainty of price structure be-came evident and a sharp reduction in allowable production was under way. Exploration for new pools and development of .pools already discovered continued active throughout the year. Production control agencies in Texas, and to a less extent in New Mexico and Louisiana, appear to have had increasing difficulty in holding crude oil output to allowable limits. The situation elsewhere is less well known but probably the same condition exists in other important producing States whether control is by State commissions or by unofficial bodies.

Jan 1, 1938

By V 9. 0 / 300 dpi

ATHOUGH turquoise mining was, so far as we know, the first large, well-organized mining operation,' gem mining, from the Roman con-quest of Egypt until the opening of the South African pipe diamond mines some 50 years ago, was largely carried on' by individuals 01' small companies in a relatively primitive way. Now" however" gem mining does not yield in efficiency or in scale of operations to the mining of other mineral products. In 1926 the diamond mines of the world milled some 9,000,000 cu. yd. and produced 0,43 cu. yd. diamonds, a remarkable example of concentration. The Premier Diamond Mining Co. up to Oct. 31, 1927, had milled 116,455,550 loads (each of 16 cu. ft.) from which 26,-217,144 carats of diamonds" worth £29,897,971 2s, 9d., were recovered. The Burma Ruby Mines, Ltd., operating sever-al alluvial mines in Burma in 1911-12, mined and milled 1,479,845 truckloads of gemmiferous earth for 15c. per load. We of the industry can there-fore, with good grace, disclose some of the myths and also describe some of the primitive mining methods of the, dark ages of our industry. The methods, so far as I know, were not patented, and if they were, the patents have expired, so that engineers in other branches of the art are free to use them if they see fit.

Jan 1, 1928

In order to assist in the building up of the industries and commerce of France, by cooperating with the Congres General du Genie Civil, the four Founder Societies have appointed the following committee: E. G. Spilsbury and Arthur S. Dwight representing the American In-stitute of Mining and. Metallurgical Engineers; George F. Swain and Nelson P. Lewis to represent the American Society of Civil Engineers; Charles T. Main and George W. Fuller to represent the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Lewis B. Stillwell and Andrew M. Hunt to represent the American. Institute of Electrical Engineers.

Jan 12, 1919

By B. M. Burchfiel

CALIFORNIA possesses such an abundance of ceramic materials other than clays, that she is quite independent of other states and foreign countries so far as these materials are concerned. Certain users import some feldspar, silica, and allied minerals, but they do so from choice and not necessity. Production is largely for home consumption, so the total volume of ceramic materials produced is comparatively small. Many small deposits of the materials here under discussion are worked by individuals, and their output sold to individual grinding companies or users. The data given here shall be confined to the larger deposits and developments because they give a truer picture of typical deposits, operations, and materials.

Jan 1, 1936

By W. R. Ingalls

IF, in this study of the outlook for the copper industry of the United states, I find myself assuming to be prophetic in some respects I shall express myself with hesitation and with the foresight that after the end of the war with Germany the war with Japan may continue; anyway there is sure to be an uneasy period before copper and the other metals begin to flow smoothly through the natural channels of consumption. It is mainly my purpose to survey conditions and suggest some probabilities, or possibilities, rather than to prophesy. In interpreting them it will be necessary to make certain aasurnptions, among which will be (1) expectation of a rise in the general price level,, which so far has been one-sided; (2) continuance of the k. tariff on copper imports; and (3) lock-up of government-owned copper as a military re- serve. Of these assumptions the first is indicated by the lessons from economic history, and by current symptoms. The second and third depend upon political action by Congress.

Jan 1, 1944

By Samuel S. Wyer

THE following abbreviations have been used in, the text: Cassier's, Cassier's Magazine. Eng. Lond., The Engineer (London). Eng. Mag., Engineering Magazine. Eng. and Min. Jour., Engineering and Mining Journal. Eng. News, Engineering News. Eng. Rec., Engineering Record. Engng., Engineering. Engr., The Engineer (Chicago). J. I. and S. I., Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute. Jour. F. I., Journal of the Franklin Institute. Jour. Assn. Eng. Soc., Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies. Mar. Eng., Marine Engineering. . Mem, Soc. Ing. Civ., France, Memoires de la Society des Ingenieurs Civils, France. Prac. Eng., Practical Engineer. Proc. Digs. Soc. of W. Pa., Proceedings of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania. Proc. I. C. E., Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers. Proc. I. 1M. E., Proceedings Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Trans. A. I. M. E., Transactions of the American Institute Mining Engineers. Sci. Am., Scientific American. Sci. Am. Sup., Scientific American Supplement. Zcitschr. d. V. D. Ing., Zeitschrift des Vereines Dentscher Ingcnieure.

Mar 1, 1905

By Edward B. Cook

INTRODUCTION. THE installation of the Gayley Dry-Air process appealed specially to the management of the Warwick Iron & Steel Co., for the. reason that for fifteen years records had been kept at the works of the company, showing the amount of water entering the furnace in the form of aqueous vapor, and careful observations had been made of its effect upon the working of the furnace. Some years had proved much worse in their effect than others, on account, not only of excessive moisture, but also of great variation in the moisture from day to day, and sometimes within a few hours. It had been found impossible to. make a satisfactory percentage of high-silicon foundry-iron in summer, even on high fuel; and for some years the endeavor had been made so to arrange the sales that, during July and August, only a small percentage of the iron produced would be required to carry more than 2 per cent. of silicon. Our larger furnace, running on basic iron, year after year, produced in February a tonnage 20 per cent. higher than in August, on a much lower fuel-consumption, while, at the same time, the summer months were marked by ? messes," tuyeres closed by slips, and other irregularities, constituting serious additional business losses. It will be easily understood, therefore, that the records made at the Isabella furnace after the installation of the dry blast in 1904 possessed special interest, and were closely watched by us. On the basis of our own experience, we argued that if the moisture could be kept low, and also uniform, the cost of installation would be more than justified. The subject was brought before our Board of Directors in the fall of 1905; and in the spring of 1906 it was decided to install a plant of sufficient capacity to treat 70,000 cu. ft. of air per min., an amount

Nov 1, 1908

By AIME AIME

Annual net production of crude oil from the Anglo-Iranian, Oil Company's fields in Iran for the years 1940 through 1945 amounted to: YEAR TOTAL PRODUCTION (Long Tons) 1940 8,626,639 1941 6,605,320 1942 9,399,231 1943 9,705,769 1944 13,274,243 1945 16,835,000 (preliminary figure) All developed fields were on almost continuous production throughout the war, though their operation naturally was hampered by war conditions, which affected particularly supplies of equipment.

Jan 1, 1946

MRS. SIDNEY J. JENNINGS, President, MRS. ARTHUR S.. DWIGHT, First Vice-President, MRS. KARL EILERS, Second Vice-President, MRS. H. W. HARDINGE, Third Vice-President, MRS. BRADLEY STOUGHTON, Recording Secretary, MRS. AXEL 0. IHLSENG, Corresponding Secretary, MRS. ARTHUR S. DWIGHT, Acting Treasurer. Welfare Committee MRS. C. C. BURGER, Chairman, Sub-Committees Americanization Belgian Relief MRS. LEVI HOLBROOK, Chairman, MRS. HENRY H: KNOX, Chairman, Emergency MRS. HERMAN A. PROSSER, Chairman. Since the annual meeting held in February, 1917, when the Woman's Auxiliary to the A. I. M. E., was formed, the work of organization, which of necessity must be slow, has steadily gone forward. Under the Chairmanship of Mrs. C. C. Burger of the Welfare Committee, three active sub-committees have been formed: that of Americanization; under Mrs. Levi Holbrook, who is eminently fitted for such a position, by her active and valuable work in a number of the fine patriotic societies of our country; the Belgian Relief Committee, under Mrs. Henry H. Knox, which has clone phenomenal work in the three months of its existence, and whose report is later given in detail; and the Emergency Committee under Mrs. Herman A. Prosser, which has a fund already established, and is. in close touch with Major Arthur S. Dwight, ready to act when necessity arises. The officers of the Auxiliary feel more than gratified at the response so far received, and in a later issue will print extracts from letters, if permission can be gotten from the writers, showing the interest and enthusiasm that have beer aroused by the formation of a Woman's Auxiliary. Answers have even come from far Korea "the hermit nation," from Australia, from South America, showing what a bond of sympathy and, helpfulness is in process of growth. It is our sad duty to announce the death of our Treasurer, Mrs. George D. Baryon, who, from the very inception of our plan to organize, was an inspiring and valuable co-worker. Her place will be difficult to fill. Mrs. Arthur S. Dwight is Acting Treasurer at present. The Auxiliary wishes to express its heartiest thanks to Mr. Stoughton, the genial and efficient Secretary of the A. I. M. E., for his cooperation and valuable suggestions in the difficult work of organizing. He has indeed been "a guide, philosopher and friend." SUSANNE M. IHLSENG (MRS. AXEL 0.), Corresponding Secretary.

Jan 7, 1917

By Robert Linton

THE PURCHASE of silver by the United States Government under the provisions of the Pittman Act is practically completed. Producers of silver in this country will now have to market their silver in competition with the rest of the world. It therefore becomes of interest to study such data as are available and endeavor to obtain such suggestions as may be afforded therefrom as to the probable future market position of the metal. Conditions influencing the marketing of silver are numerous and complex. It is a commodity entering. into the arts and manufactures, and therefore influenced by the condition of various lines of business which make use of it; it is currency-being used by all countries for subsidiary coins and even as the founda-tion of the system by a very few; and it serves as a frequent basis for speculation. The various factors involved can easily set up so many cross-currents in the flow of the metal that predictions in regard to the market position of silver can never be safely made, although it may be possible to form some idea of prob-able trends over a sufficiently long period. Of course price is determined, as is the case with all commodities, by the inexorable workings of the law of supply and demand.

Jan 6, 1923

By Edgar Bain

SUMMARY THE results of an enquiry into the structural nature of some 70 iron alloys containing both nickel and chromium over a considerable range of concentration 'are briefly described in this paper. This study is a part of a comprehensive program of investigation into alloys involving chromium in progress at the Union Carbide and Carbon Research Laboratories. All the compositions studied contained carbon in amount comparable to commercial alloys.

Jan 3, 1927

The Committee on Technical Nomenclature, of which John T. Faig, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, is Chairman, appointed by the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, has recently issued a report advocating uniformity in the use of symbols to designate engineering and mathematical terms: The selection of the symbols was based upon a canvas of a considerable number of engineers, editors of engineering papers, and professors of engineering throughout the United States. The list, as finally accepted by the Committee and recommended for universal adoption, is as follows: Concept Symbol I Concept Symbol Acceleration due to gravity 'g Length L Acceleration, linear a Mass m Area A Modulus of section Z Breadth b Modulus of elasticity, Young's... E Center of rotation 0 Moment of force M Coefficients and constants C, K Moment of inertia, polar J Deflection of beam y Moment of inertia, rectangular.. I Depth : d Quantity of liquid flowing Q Diameter D . Radius r Distance passed over s Radius of gyration k Distance of extreme fiber from Reactions R neutral aids C Revolutions per unit of time.... N Eccentricity of application of load e Stress, unit S Efficiency (hydr., mech., vol.)...er,.em, e9 Time t Force F Torque T Friction, coefficient of f Velocity, angular :. W Head H 'Velocity, linear V Height h Volume V Horsepower : Hp Weight W Hydraulic radius Re Previous lists of symbols have not secured wide acceptance in, this country; some that have been proposed by prominent writers are familiar to very few engineers. The above list is presented in the hope that it will assist in the evolution of a standard list. It is short; it contains no Greek letters; it is mnemonic to a considerable degree, though not by

Jan 1, 1918

By John S. Alexander

THE spirit of this age encourages the substitution of mechanical for hand labor wherever possible, experience proving that the employer, employer and consumer share alike in the resulting benefits. Through the efforts of the inventor, millions of the laboring class have been raised from being mere contributors of muscular force to be brain workers and directors of those ingenious contrivances now so widely used in the various branches of agriculture, manufacturing, printing, etc. While the genius of invention has accomplished so much in other departments, it seems remarkable that she has not long ere this descended into the coal mine with her wheels, levers, and eccentrics, and provided the toilers there with some device by which their unusually laborious work could be lessened. Until within a very few years, however, little special attention was given to this subject, owing largely, no doubt, to the fact that coal miners as a class were prejudiced against innovations of this kind and ignorantly clung to muscle as the only means of wresting from nature her treasures stored within the coal measures. Thanks, however, to the enterprise and skill of some Scotch and English mine proprietors and inventors, the present decade has seen rapid strides in the right direction, and mechanical coal mining has become a fixed fact in some portions of Great Britain. Making her acknowledgments to the mother country for these earnest and successful efforts, America now comes forward with the Monitor Coal-Cutter as the result of a trial on her part to advance the common cause of economical coal production; for upon cheap fuel the future greatness of both nations largely depends. The object of this paper is to give a few items in regard to this Monitor Coal-Cutter, which, so far as the writer is informed, is the

Jan 1, 1875

R. F. McELVENNY.- Mr. Oldright has just given me a letter to read to you, which I think it may be of interest. It is headed, "Silver Meeting Dinner". The letter is as follows: "To Members of the A. I. M. & M E.: The annual business meeting and election of officers will take place at the University Club, Wednesday, May 28th, 1930 at 7 p.m., at the Silver Meeting Dinner. The Nominating. Committee for next year's officers have proposed the following names: Chairman, Robert Wallace; Vice-Chairman, G. W. Crane; secretary, C. T. Van Winkle, Other nominations can be made at the meeting. Utah being the leading silver producer of the United States, constructive suggestions regarding the silver situation will be made at this meeting which are new and of general interest to the members. The speak¬ers will be followed by a Round Table discussion of the silver situation and proposed remedies. Speakers will be - W. M. Ferry, President of the Silver Producers' Association, 'Recent developments in the Silver Question'.. Senator Frank J. Cannon, 'The Cannon Plan'. George W. Snyder, 'The Manufacture of Sterling Silver.' Discussion by J. J. Beason, G. W. Crane, J. 0. Elton, J. W. Wade and others. Members of the Conference on Copper Reverberatory Smelting are invited to be present. Chairman J. A. Norden will preside. C. T. Van Winkle, Secretary. Dinner will be $1.50 per plate." The next subject is "Boilers: Proper construction of, so as to secure best utilization of heat from gases, and facility in removing dust and clinker with minimum losses in operation." Who is particularly interested in that subject? The type of boilers is practically a standard practice now. I do not know of anybody that is using the tandem system now. No one is building a plant with a tandem system in it.

Jan 1, 1930

By Herbert Clark Hoover, Lou Henry Hoover

As stated in the preface, the nomenclature to be adopted for weights and measures has presented great difficulty. Agricola uses, throughout, the Roman and the Romanized Greek scales, but in many cases he uses these terms merely as lingual equivalents for the .German quantities of his day. Moreover the classic language sometimes failed him, whereupon he coined new Latin terms adapted from the Roman scale, and thus added further confusion. We can, perhaps, make the matter dearer by an illustration of a case in weights. The Roman centumpondium, composed of zoo librae, the old German ceniner of 100 pfundt, and the English hundredweight of 1112 pounds can be called lingual equivalents. The first weighs about 494,600 Troy grains, the second 721,900, and the third 784,000. While the divisions of the centumpondium and the centner are the same, the Libra is divided into 12 unciae and the pfundt into 16 unizen, and in most places a summation of the units given proves that the author had in mind the Roman ratios. However, on p. 509 he makes the direct statement that the centumpondium weighs 146 librae, which would be about the correct weight if the centumpondium referred to was a ceniner. If we take an example such as " each centumpondium of lead contains one uncia of silver", and reduce it according to purely lingual equivalents, we should find that it runs 24.3 Troy ounces per short ton, on the basis of Roman values, and 18.25 ounces per short ton, on the basis of old German. If we were to translate these into English lingual equivalents of one ounce per hundredweight, then the value would be 17.9 ounces per short ton. [ ]

Jan 1, 1950

By J. K. Gustafson

Since prehistoric times, gold has been sought for its beauty and its unusual physical and chemical properties. Early in the dawn of civilization it became the ultimate unit of value, and for at least 6000 years it has been used to barter for other commodities. It has been prospected for, treasured and made into works of art and personal adornment. From time to time, it has even been the object of conquest. Because of its predominant role as a basis for money in recent centuries, economists have come to think of gold solely in these terms. Gold, however, has physical and chemical properties that make it one of the most useful metals in the modern world. It is the most ductile metal known. An ounce of it can be drawn into a continuous wire over 35 miles long. It is also so malleable that an ounce of it can be beaten into films 0.00001 in. thick covering 68 sq ft of surface. It has a density of 19.3 and is so heavy that 1 cu ft of it weighs more than half a ton. Gold is nonmagnetic and has a high electric conductivity that is only slightly less than that of silver and copper. Gold is so inert to all the chemicals found in nature that gold coins and jewelry buried beneath the soil or at the bottom of the sea for thousands of years appear to be as bright and perfect as when they were first immersed. Finally, gold has an extremely high reflectivity of both light and infrared rays.

Jan 1, 1971

By Frederic P. Dewey

The Bureau of the Mint of the United States Treasury maintains 13 ofEces for the purchase of gold-bullion, and this paper describes an investigation to establish the reasonable differences in the assay-results at the various institutions which may be commercially allowable in the settlements between them. Beginning with the comparative assay of proof-gold at the Philadelphia mint and the Utrecht mint, which shows 0.00002 as the closest agreement now possible, nine tables of comparative results, taken from the regular work of the service, are given..These tables begin with very fine gold, produced in an electrolytic refinery, showing close agreement in the assay-results, and follow through decreasing gold fineness and increasing amounts and complexity of base metals to very impure and complex bars produced at cyanide-mills, some of which give widely-varying results. Next is given a series of results on samples, prepared and sent out to various laboratories in the service, to test the influence of different metals and various combinations upon the agreement of the assay-results ; 11 samples were sent out and each one was assayed from 44 to 71 times, making a total of 623 assays. To these ire added 107 assays of identical samples of coin-gold. On a previous occasion,' I have endeavored to show the degree of accuracy that may be expected in the ordinary everyday analysis of various materials, and on another occasion,2

Jan 1, 1910

By M. E. Bell

The term "operational research" was probably first used to describe work started under E. C. Williams, now Director, SHAPE Air Defense Technical Center, late in 1937 or 1938, at the Bawdsey Research Station of the British Air Ministry, a laboratory center concerned with the development of radar equipment. After the practicability of the early techniques had been demonstrated, a large (for those days) program of development and installation was authorized. It was very soon realized, both by the Royal Air Force and by the scientists that almost as important as the gear itself was the way in which it should be used. Accordingly, it was decided that some scientists should cooperate to study the way in which the equipment should be deployed and operated in conjunction with the Royal Air Force. To distinguish this work from the normal work of a research and development establishment, the term "operational research" was coined. It merely meant at this time that this particular section of scientists was to be concerned with the use of the gear rather than with its technical development and it seemed natural to those concerned to adopt the word "operations" which has a specific connotation in the armed forces.' This method was later extended to peacetime business enterprise, government operations and other human activities. Operations research appears to have penetrated the extractive industries more slowly and less completely than other industries, the military, or the government. This may be due (1) to a difference in the attitude of management towards operations research, or towards research of any kind, for that matter; (2) to unsuitability of the extractive industries for application of the operations research method; (3) to inaccessibility of the data; (4) or to a lack of trained personnel who are interested in applying operations research to the mineral industries.

Jan 8, 1963

By Richard P. Sheldon

In the last several decades, techniques of data collection have been rapidly evolving. Automated spectroscopic techniques in the chemical analysis of rocks for example have advanced to the point that we can analyze samples faster than we can grind them. Remote sensors of LANDSAT give us intensity measurements in four color bands of every acre of the U.S. every 19 days. Common depth point seismic instrumentation systems used at sea for surveying and networks of seismometers arrayed around the country for earthquake studies likewise are generating vast amounts of data. These along with many other earth science data generating systems have caused a veritable data explosion. How do we deal with these enormous amounts of geologic data presently being produced as well as those produced in the past, and to be produced in the future? There is an immediate need to acquire and utilize past and present basic data in order to address today's national earth science problems. Also data being collected and stored now must be compatible with future data in order for us to be able to undertake the wide spectrum of analysis that must be made in the future. This is a big order! In order to organize and to be able to analyze these data, the USGS has embarked on a wide ranging program of compatible data base construction and the development of computer technology, based on interactive computing, to facilitate resource assessments and analyses. These activities are analogous to two sides of a coin. One side deals with the logic, philosophy, and mechanics of information storage and retrieval; and the other side deals with the sensible application of computer technology to the treatment of data. These

Jan 1, 1977

THE IRON HUNTER. By Chase S. Osborn, pp. 316, Ills. 10. The MacMillan Company, New York. 1919. An autobiography, the story of a Hoosier boy who fought his way to manhood and power through early misfortune and poverty, from street urchin and newsboy, to editor and author; from lumberjack and dock walloper to statesman and Governor of Michigan. The reader has the measure of the man in the first chapter, a dramatic recital of how the fighting boy editor cleaned up a lawless mining camp of 40 years ago. The thread of the narrative is the author's life-long devotion to outdoor living, ex-ploration and travel. Residing in Sault de Sainte Marie, Mich., in the heart of the Lake Superior country, he took his delight and, incidentally, found his fortune in prospecting the north woods for iron ore; eventually, extending his travels to the continents and many of the islands of the world, he discovered what, he believes-to be a great iron range in Madagascar. In this book there is plenty of anecdote, a great deal of wholesome social and po¬litical philosophy and some interesting sidelights on the characters of some of the author's prominent contemporaries in the political life of Michigan. The style is direct and animated, flavored and illuminated with the vernacular of Hoosierdom and the woods country of the North. The author levies on the vocabulary of the sciences and the classics for many a noun and adjective and, with Rooseveltian license, now and then coins a word. The reader's interest will be gripped from cover to cover, albeit he may occasionally need a dictionary. R. C. A.

Jan 11, 1919