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Jan 1, 1932

By Roy Lindgren

Since the year 1643, when the first blast furnace in America for treating iron ore was built at Saugus, Mass., out of mica schist quarried in the neighboring district, the procurement of a suitable refractory for furnace lining has been a problem of concern to the operators of furnaces. The stacks built of mica schist continued to smelt iron ore until about 1836, when, according to F. H. Norton, the first firebrick were produced1, at Queens Run, Pa. Other writers speak of brick having been molded and burned in Massachusetts about the year 1834. In 1841, Andrew Russell began to produce medium refractory plastic clay brick near East Liverpool, Ohio, that were used for lining blast furnaces1. The well-known Kentucky clay-producing district was not opened up until the year 1871, but since then it has produced a large percentage of the linings for iron blast furnaces. While some strides have been made by the refractories industry during the 100 years that have passed since the first firebrick were produced, it has been only during the last two decades that any real progress has been made towards bettering the product, even though the method of production had improved. Perhaps the fault lies with the user of the brick rather than with the producer, for not sooner demanding a supe¬rior product. During the past 15 years the tonnage produced per lining has increased from 500,000 gross tons to 1,000,000 gross tons, and now some furnaces are producing 1,600,000 gross tons and better on a single lining. It is true that enlarged capacity of furnaces and improved practice have accounted for some of this increase in tonnage, nevertheless better quality in firebrick must be given credit for its share. However, we are not yet ready to say that we have reached a maximum life of furnace lining. We believe that a better product can be produced and that the refractories industries of America will, through their extensive research depart-

Jan 1, 1936

By Rex B. McLellan, M. L. Rudee, T. Ishibachi

A modelfor dilute quasi-regular interstitial solid solutions is proposed in which the solute atoms can occupy both the octahedral and tetrahedral interstices in the bee solvent lattice. The distribution function, according to which the solute atoms are apportioned between the two kinds of sites, is calculated. The partial thermodynamic functions of the solution are calculated from the distribution function. It is shown that such a solution model can explain the deviation from linearity of the Arrhenius plot of the temperature variation of the diffusivity of carbon through a iron. The published difiusivity data is analyzed to obtain numerical values for the distribution function. Finally it is shown from the numerical values of the distribution function that the possibility of dual-site occupancy will have a negligible effect on the solution thermodynamics for this system. DeSPITE the large amount of experimental data available on the thermodynamics and diffusion kinetics of dilute solid solutions of carbon in a iron, many of the elementary properties of these solutions are not understood due to real or apparent discrepancies in the experimental data. Basically there is a lack of agreement between the solubility and diffusion data obtained by anelastic damping techniques and by bulk chemical thermodynamic methods. SPecifically the heat of solution of cementite in ferrite estimated from thermodynamic measurement1, 2 is about twice as high as that determined from anelastic damping measurements.3 Furthermore the diffusion coefficient D of carbon in a iron in the range -40" to about 150°C (covering about ten orders of magnitude) determined from anelastic damping techniques is such that an Arrhenius plot of In D vs 1/T is linear. However in the range of about 300o to 850°C where mass flow measurements of D have been made (covering about four orders of magnitude), although the data merges with the low-temperature data, the Arrhenius plot departs from linearity. The object of this paper is to present a more refined model of dilute ferrite solutions in which the solute atoms can occupy two kinds of interstitial sites. The experimental data is analyzed in the light of this model and it is believed that thereby some of the anomalies can be resolved. snoek4 explained the room-temperature internal-friction peak (usually referred to as the Snoek peak) in iron as the stress-induced ordering of interstitial carbon and nitrogen atoms occupying the octahedral (0, 0, 1/2) interstices in the bee lattice. From the consideration of a hard-sphere lattice model the (0, 1/4, 1/4) tetrahedral interstices are larger than the octahedrons but their symmetry would not produce the strain dipole necessary to give rise to the Snoek peak. Thus the presence of the Snoek peak is direct evidence that the octahedrons are occupied. Since the publication of Snoek's explanation, most workers have assumed that all of the carbon and nitrogen in the a solid solution was located in the octahedral sites. This assumption of universal octahedral occupancy has been implicit in the theory of wert5 for interstitial

Jan 1, 1965

By Langtry E. Lynd

The predominant tonnage use of titanium is as a white pigment, in the form of rutile or anatase, which are allotropic modifications of titanium dioxide. Because of its whiteness, high refractive index and resulting light scattering ability, titanium dioxide is unequaled as a white pigment for paints, paper, rubber, and a wide variety of other materials. Consumption of titanium dioxide pigments for these uses has been rising steadily for many years, United States consumption in 1956 amounting to about 486,000 tons, worth $250,000,000. Production was off a little in 1957 and 1958. An outstanding development in the titanium field in recent years is the expansion of titanium metal production. Virtually nonexistent before 1948, United States production of pure titanium metal sponge reached a high in 1957 of about 17,200 tons, worth about $77,000,000. United States titanium sponge metal production in 1958 was cut back to about 4,600 tons because of reductions in military requirements. Another major use of titanium, in the form of the mineral, rutile, is for welding rod coatings. United States consumption of rutile for this purpose in 1958 amounted to about 11,000 tons, worth $1,100,000. Titanium-Bearing Minerals Although several minerals contain titanium as a major constituent, only a few of these occur in sufficient quantities and concentrations to be of commercial importance. These are ilmenite (FeTiO3), rutile (TiO2), and alteration products of ilmenite which have been referred to as weathered ilmenite, leucoxene, or arizonite. The other polymorphs of titanium dioxide, brookite and anatase, occur in a few deposits, of which only one has been of even minor importance. Considerable concentrations of titanite or sphene (CaTiSiO5) and perovskite (CaTiO3) are known, but do not compete with ilmenite and rutile deposits in grade or size. Rutile is very widely distributed as an accessory mineral in most rocks, but large deposits of commercial importance are rare. A few rock deposits have been worked for rutile but only one, in Virginia, is in operation (1959). Development of one in Mexico was discontinued recently. At present, the main sources of rutile are the beach and dune sands of Australia and Florida. A major use of rutile is for the manufacture of titanium tetrachloride, which is the intermediate compound universally used in titanium metal manufacture. Another main use of rutile is for welding rod coatings. Although the whiteness and brightness of titanium dioxide pigment is due to the high refractive index of rutile or anatase, natural rutile is too impure to be used directly as a white pigment, is too expensive to use for manufacturing pure oxide pigment, and is too scarce to provide the required tonnages. Instead, the cheaper, more abundant, mixed oxide of iron and titanium, ilmenite, which is readily decomposed by sulfuric acid, is used for manufacture of rutile and anatase pigments. Ilmenite is mined from both rock and sand deposits. Rock deposits contain ilmenite in massive or heavily disseminated form along with magnetite or hematite and are almost invariably associated with anorthositic and gabbroic rocks. Ilmenite also occurs as an accessory mineral in a great many igneous and metamorphic rock types. Concentrations of

Jan 1, 1960

By Henry J. Miller, Marcella Lindeman

DURING some experiments made by Henry J. Miller, partly in Germany and partly in the United States, in which it was found necessary to melt metals in quantities up to 60 kg. in a vacuum or under low pressures of hydrogen, molybdenum was tried as the resistor in the electric melting furnaces. Molybdenum ribbons 16 by 0.55 mm. and 18 by 0.45 mm. were used as resistors. The furnaces were of the type shown in Fig. 1. [ ] About the heating tube, Y, are wound parallel resistors of molybdenum ribbon from the water-cooled electrodes, E1, E2. The whole is within a copper container having outlets for the removal or introduction of gases and a window, W, for observation, the space about the heating tube and electrodes being filled with insulating material. The life of the molybdenum used as the resistor was found to depend very much on the manner of using it, its failure being due in some cases to thinning by evaporation or chemical reaction and in others to hardening, which prevented it from following the expansions and shrink¬ing of the heating tubing without cracking. As such failures are often rather expensive in commercial work, it was thought worth while to determine the causes. The factors influencing the behavior of molybdenum resistors used in this manner may be briefly stated as follows:

Jan 1, 1928

By M. H. Merriss

In the last few years, there have been developed at the plant of the Nichols Copper Co., Laurel Hill, 'Borough of Queens, New York City, improvements in electrolytic copper refining by the series system that have materially increased the flexibility and economy of that system. The purpose of this paper is to discuss, as of interest to refiners and to those who have copper to refine, as well as to the engineering profession in general, the changes' that have taken place resulting in wider application and increased efficiency of the series system. Copper is electrolytically refined in two ways, which are spoken of as the "multiple system" and the "series system." In both systems, the electrolytic tanks are in series electrically. In the multiple system the electrodes in a single tank are in multiple or in parallel, thus: There are two important adaptations of the series process, one represented by the series electrolytic tank room at the Baltimore Copper, Smelting & Rolling Co., Baltimore, Md., and the other by that of the Nichols Copper Co.'s plant. At Baltimore, the anode is rolled to perfect

Jan 1, 1926

By W. F. Holbrook, T. L. Joseph

The problem of sulfur control is important in all blast-furnace operations but particularly for certain grades of steel because of the rigorous specifications. During the past decade the tendency has been to produce pig iron and hot metal of lower sulfur content. As most of the sulfur in the iron originates in the fuel, the use of high-sulfur coke demands modifications in practice to meet sulfur specifications. While it is generally known that high temperatures and more basic slags favor desulfurization, operators as a rule produce the most acid slag that will permit proper desulfurization. The viscosity of blastfurnace slag has been thought to be related to desulfurization and has been investigated by Feild and Roysterl, also McCaffery and his associates*, but apparently no systematic effort has been made to determine the relative desulfurizing powers of slags over the range of composition encountered in practice. Development of Testing Method Because slag and metallic iron are immiscible, the desulfurization reaction is heterogeneous, occurring only at the interfaces between slag and metal bodies. In the blast furnace the newly reduced iron, containing FeS, descends through the slag bath probably either as small drops or streams, at the interfaces of which desulfurization occurs. After its descent through the slag the iron collects to form a bath of metal, at the top surface of which desulfurization reaction probably occurs. These two steps have been thought to account for all desulfurization in the blast furnace. Kinney3 found that metal removed from the blast furnace just above the tuyeres contained three to four times as much sulfur as the iron at cast. Herty and Gaines4 conclude that most of the sulfur is removed while the metal is passing through the slag. Mund, Stoecker

Jan 1, 1936

By W. F. Holbrook, T. L. Joseph

The problem of sulfur control is important in all blast-furnace operations but particularly for certain grades of steel because of the rigorous specifications. During the past decade the tendency has been to produce pig iron and hot metal of lower sulfur content. As most of the sulfur in the iron originates in the fuel, the use of high-sulfur coke demands modifications in practice to meet sulfur specifications. While it is generally known that high temperatures and more basic slags favor desulfurization, operators as a rule produce the most acid slag that will permit proper desulfurization. The viscosity of blastfurnace slag has been thought to be related to desulfurization and has been investigated by Feild and Roysterl, also McCaffery and his associates*, but apparently no systematic effort has been made to determine the relative desulfurizing powers of slags over the range of composition encountered in practice. Development of Testing Method Because slag and metallic iron are immiscible, the desulfurization reaction is heterogeneous, occurring only at the interfaces between slag and metal bodies. In the blast furnace the newly reduced iron, containing FeS, descends through the slag bath probably either as small drops or streams, at the interfaces of which desulfurization occurs. After its descent through the slag the iron collects to form a bath of metal, at the top surface of which desulfurization reaction probably occurs. These two steps have been thought to account for all desulfurization in the blast furnace. Kinney3 found that metal removed from the blast furnace just above the tuyeres contained three to four times as much sulfur as the iron at cast. Herty and Gaines4 conclude that most of the sulfur is removed while the metal is passing through the slag. Mund, Stoecker

Jan 1, 1936

By Thomas Darlington

The obligation of an employer to the State requires certain things of him as matters of good citizenship: for instance, that his workmen shall have a living wage, that child labor shall not be employed, that injuries from accidents shall not make workmen a charge upon the State, and that the laborer's children shall have opportunity for education and to become good and useful citizens. Affairs of this kind are not taken up as philanthropy, for the officials of a corporation or a large manufacturing concern may not feel at liberty to spend the funds of their company as prompted simply by motives of kindliness; but they may spend company money on such matters because it is good business. For years, the poisonous effects of lead, phosphorus, and dust have been emphasized in books on industrial hygiene and their elimination has been urged; but the more important and everyday physiology of the workman himself has been neglected. Part of my object in writing this paper is to show how our knowledge of physiology may be applied to working conditions in everyday life. In the interest of industrial laborers, accident compensation laws have been enacted in 33 States. This has been carried forward rapidly, because it has been shown that it pays both employer and employee. A further step is the recognition of sickness and disablement independent of accidents, not only because of their immediate cost to the worker and to the employer, but because continued efficiency in work and business depends largely upon health. Some measure of the importance of health in industry can be gained by the knowledge that records kept by some companies which now make this the subject of careful inquiry show that the time lost by employees, through illness, is several times as much as that lost as the result of industrial accidents. It is true that accidents frequently result in permanent disability or death, but it is equally true that illness is also a cause of permanent disablement or death. Thus the chief difference is that the loss to the employee through accidents occurring in the course of his employment is now generally recognized as a cost

Jan 1, 1918

By Carl A. Allen

Page Introduction................... 367 FactoRs Affecting the Choice of Method......... 367 Review of Stoping Methods.............. 368 Underhand Stoping................ 368 Overhand Stoping................ 370 Longitudinal or Flat-Back Stoping........... 371 Rill-Cut Stoping................. 372 Saw-Tooth Back Stoping.............. 372 Shrinkage Stoping................ 372 Combination Stoping................373 Side Stoping.................. 374* Breast Stoping................. 374 Sublevel Stoping.........,....... 374 Square-Set Stoping................ 376 Filling Methods................. 376 Caving Methods of Mining......... 376 Top Slicing.................. 377 Sublevel Caving................. 379 Block Caving ................. 380 Back Caving into Chutes.............. 381. Costs of Mining Methods.............. 382 Costs of Willing and Blasting. Comparison of Stoping Methods ... 383 Lighting................... 386 Timbering and Handling Ore in Stopes.. A Comparison of Square-Set and Top-Slicing Methods..............386 Tramming.................... 380 Mining oF the Massive Porphyry CoppeR Deposits ....390 Utah Copper and Boston Consolidated Mines.....391 Ray Consolidated Mine.............. 392 Miami Mine.................. 392 Inspiration Mine................ 395 Ohio Copper Mine...........395 Development.................... 398 Appendix..................... 399 Costs of Mining................. 399 Costs of Development............... 406

Jan 1, 1915

By J. Moore Samuel

Before the year 1909, no measurements of dust losses and flue gases had been made at the Copper Queen Reduction Works, at Douglas, Ariz. At that time the "unaccounted" loss of the smelter had reached a figure that drew attention to the possibility of large stack losses. The measurement of dust losses had not been studied much at that time, and estimates of dust losses, with a few exceptions, were the results of tests by what has been termed '(chemical methods," that is, the aspiration and filtration through cotton, wool or some similar medium of a few liters of gas, the dust being weighed on a chemical balance, and the volume of gas computed from the volume of aspirator water. The possible error of this method is enormous, and the probable error much too large for reliable results. Since the object of these tests was to discover not only the extent of the dust losses, but also the possibility of profitably reducing them, it was decided that the method adopted must have the following characteristics: 1. The sample of gas taken for filtration must be representative of the whole volume of gas, that is to say, it must have the same dust content. This condition will be fulfilled in all cases if the gas sample is drawn off without change of rate of flow. Then it will contain the same proportion of entrained or suspended particles of dust as the original gas. In the case of flue gases which contain only fume, at a temperature above or near the sublimation point, this condition need not be adhered to since the fume will not behave as entrained particles, but more nearly as a true gas. Consequently the gas sample in this case only may be drawn off at any rate of flow. 2. The gas sample taken must be large enough (a) to yield sufficient dust to permit of accurate chemical and physical examination; (b) so that the ratio of the total volume of gas passing through the flue to the volume of gas sample taken shall not be too large.

Jan 1, 1917

Discussion WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, FEBRUARY 21, 1951 Ralph E. Grim presiding R. E. GRIM, CHAIRMAN-Has anyone a particularly fruitful point to make or question to ask on any of the papers that have been presented at the two sessions held on Monday and one held this morning? GENESIS OF ENDELLITE T. S. LOVERING-I think we are all a little bit embarrassed when we are asked if we have any particularly fruitful point for discussion; I just have a point. I believe that yesterday Bates said that he had found endellite in only hydrothermally altered rocks-he did not find it in sedimentary rocks-but this morning I heard Victor Allen say something about it as the normal product of weathering, and I am confused. My question concerns the genesis of endellite. I want to know whether endellite is found as a normal product of weathering. I understood from the paper by Bates that it was not a product of weathering and in the paper by Victor Allen* endellite was said to be a product of normal weathering. Did I misinterpret these two papers? T. F. BATES-I did not intend to state or imply that endellite is formed only under hydrothermal conditions. We have been studying the North Carolina deposits extensively and I feel that they illustrate very well the result of normal weathering processes acting on pegmatitic material. The resulting clay seems to be largely endellite or halloysite, almost to the exclusion of kaolinite. I may have misled you in the statement I made toward the end of my talk, to the effect that of all the kaolinic clays we have investigated with the electron microscope, we have not yet found halloysite or endellite in samples from clay deposits that are definitely sedimentary in origin. R. E. GRIM, CHAIRMAN-Professor Allen, have you anything to say on the matter of bauxite?

Jan 1, 1952

By S. Feuerstein, L. Rice

The effect of low pressures on the flow and fracture behavior of molybdenum is described. For poly crystalline samples, room-temperature tensile tests indicate greater ductility under 10 Torr than under intermediate pressures up to and including atmospheric pressure (760 Torr). In addition, tests conducted at 760 Torr under atmospheres of air, dry nitrogen, and purified argon exhibited no apparent difference in mechanical properties. Critical tests involving baking in situ as well as those involving single-crystal deformation further imply that the ductility effect is a pressure-dependent phenomenon related only to the fracture process. This dependency is discussed in terms of adsorption and diffusion contributions. THE effect of very low pressures on material properties has heretofore been presumed to be important only for substances possessing relatively high vapor pressures at ambient temperatures. Research has therefore been concentrated primarily on organic solids and liquids, and in some instances on metals such as zinc and cadmium. Most vacuum-effect studies' on the mechanical behavior of metals have been performed under conditions of either cyclic loading or creep rupture at elevated temperatures, i.e., over extended time periods. These studies were not restricted to high vapor pressure materials but also encompassed such metals as gold, copper, and nickel. Very little concern, however, was placed upon the importance of a vacuum environment on the mechanical behavior of metals subjected to a simple unidirectional deformation at ambient temperatures. A tension test is generally of short duration as compared to a creep test, and at room temperature vacuum effects if any would be expected to be surface-limited. In early 1963, Kramer and podlaseck2 reported a change in the bulk flow behavior of aluminum single crystals during room-temperature tension tests. The deformations were performed under pressure conditions of 760 to 3.4 X 10-8 Torr and indicated for the first time a vacuum surface effect contributing to the bulk tensile behavior of metal specimens. As a consequence, an experimental program was initiated in this Laboratory to study the effects of ultrahigh-vacuum conditions on the mechanical behavior of metals. The results of a preliminary study on poly-crystalline molybdenum3 revealed, unlike Kramer's observations of changes in the stress-strain behavior, only an increased ductility under ultrahigh vacuum. Flow behaviors were nearly identical for all tests re- gardless of pressure. This paper presents comprehensive results obtained in this area of research. 1) EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Three material categories were used in this study: sintered and are-cast polycrystalline molybdenum of nominal purity 99.93+ pct and single-pass electron-beam zone-refined molybdenum single crystals having a nominal purity level of 99.99+ pct. The interstitial levels (weight percent) as determined by the Materials Testing Laboratories, Division of Magnaflux Corp., were as follows: sintered molybdenum (C— 0.005, H—0.0004, O—0.015, N—0.008); and arc-cast molybdenum (C-0.0038, H-0.0003, O-0.015, N-0.023). Single-crystal molybdenum obtained from Materials Research Corp. had a typical interstitial analysis of C-0.0015, H-0.00007, O—0.00045, and N-0.0001. Tensile specimens having a 5 mm diam by 50.8 mm length were prepared from these materials. An average grain diameter of 0.059 mm was obtained for the sintered specimens following a 4-hr, 1600°C heat treatment. Grain sizes from 0.019 to 0.149 mm were obtained in the arc-cast specimens following heat treatments from 1100° to 1600°C for 1 hr. This series of specimens was used exclusively for the grain-size effect studies. All samples were electrolytically polished in 97 pct sulfuric acid solution prior to testing. Experiments were performed at room temperature in an ion-pumped ultrahigh-vacuum system positioned in an Instron tensile machine, Fig. 1. A constant strain rate of 4.2 x 10-4 sec-1 as derived from crosshead displacement was assumed for the deformations. Starting vacuums ranged from 2 to 0.5 X 10-10 Torr. These pressure measurements were made using corrected values4 of an NRC Redhead gage. Comparative readings were also made against a G.E. triggered dis-

Jan 1, 1967

By G. Donald Emigh

Nothing is more important to life-plant and animal-than phosphate. Its compounds are essential to the energy functions of all living systems and for the formation of bones and teeth. Animals get their phosphate from eating plants and other animals, or domestically from feed supplements. Plants get their phosphate from the soil. Man's most important use of phosphate is for fertilizer; however, he is also a heavy user of many industrial phosphate chemicals. Phosphate occurs in all igneous and sedimentary rocks, and in all fresh and saltwater. The average content in rocks is 0.1 to 0.2% P2O5, as documented recently by McKelvey (1973). About 200 minerals contain more than 1 % P,O,. However, the important one in igneous rocks is fluorapatite, (Ca,(PO,) ,F) containing about 42% P,O, and 3.8% F,; in sedimentary rocks the one important mineral is francolite, a carbonate fluorapatite containing up to 2% molecular CO,. Both are in the apatite family of minerals. The mineralogy of phosphate minerals was reviewed recently by Altschuler (1973). Although phosphate occurs in nearly all rocks, economic recovery is limited to deposits where natural concentration of the phosphate mineral has occurred. Occasionally natural concentration is great enough that the material can be used as mined; generally, however, the ore is low grade and must be concentrated.

Jan 1, 1975

By G. M. Kirwan, Joseph B. Perry

MagnEsitE is found in 22 California counties, but many of the deposits are too small or too impure to be of commercial value. Several of substantial size and quality were entirely exhausted by wartime operation. At present, three properties comprise the only known workable deposits in the state. Of these, the Western mine and the Patterson mine have been known and worked for many years, and have been described in considerable detail in various publications, therefore need only brief mention here, because of their proximity to the Bald Eagle mine. The latter, recently developed, is unusual in type of ore deposit, plant design and operation, as well as products made, and very little has been written concerning it. WESTERN MINE The Western mine, 32 miles south of Livermore, Calif., was formerly operated by C. S. Maltby. It has been a consistent producer for many years.l The ore is of amorphous variety, occurring along fracture zones in serpentine. The veins vary greatly in width, the average being perhaps 8 ft., with the maximum indicated in one early stope of 40 ft.; 2 ft. is considered the minimum for economical mining. The strike of the veins is predominantly north and south, with dip to the west varying from 40" to 75". Walls are well defined and as a rule firm and easily supported. Veins range in length from a few hundred feet to 1000 or more. Their maximum vertical extent is about 350 ft., but many run less. Early mining consisted of open-cut and glory-hole work on the larger outcrops. This was followed underground by a modified shrinkage system, the waste and low-grade horses being removed by hand sorting on the tramming levels and transported to surface dumps. Filled-stope mining is used now, in order to eliminate the handling of waste, which has

Jan 1, 1942

By M. A. Whiting, H. Kenyon Burch

One of the advantages presented by electric drive in many classes of work is the ease with which the electric motor can be controlled automatically. In a large number of cases certain features of the control are automatic—for example, the rate of acceleration may be limited automatically or the equipment may be stopped automatically at the limit of travel—but the equipment is started and ordinarily is stopped by hand. In other cases the motion of the machinery is utilized to start, control the speed, and stop the motor automatically, independently of any operator. A considerable proportion of the large mine hoists now in use have certain automatic features, particularly protective devices against overwinding, and, in some classes of electric hoists, devices for preventing excessive acceleration or retardation. The large automatic hoists discussed in this paper, however, are completely automatic, i.e., capable of making their trips without the presence of an operator at the control levers. According to circumstances, various advantages may be obtained . by automatic control, chief of which are decreased power consumption, increased precision and safety of operation, and decreased cost of attendance. The first step in the analysis of a prospective automatic mine hoist is to determine whether automatic operation is feasible at all. If men are to be hoisted, or levels changed, the attention of an operator is required for these purposes; but under some conditions it may be entirely practicable and advantageous to build the equipment so that, while provision is made for hoisting men or changing levels, ore can be hoisted automatically from any one level. If, however, an operator's attention is required every few minutes for changing levels, handling men or drills, or other work requiring hand control, it is obvious that automatic operation between times will not be of any practical benefit.

Jan 1, 1917

By Joseph B. Perry, G. M. Kirwan

MagnEsitE is found in 22 California counties, but many of the deposits are too small or too impure to be of commercial value. Several of substantial size and quality were entirely exhausted by wartime operation. At present, three properties comprise the only known workable deposits in the state. Of these, the Western mine and the Patterson mine have been known and worked for many years, and have been described in considerable detail in various publications, therefore need only brief mention here, because of their proximity to the Bald Eagle mine. The latter, recently developed, is unusual in type of ore deposit, plant design and operation, as well as products made, and very little has been written concerning it. WESTERN MINE The Western mine, 32 miles south of Livermore, Calif., was formerly operated by C. S. Maltby. It has been a consistent producer for many years.l The ore is of amorphous variety, occurring along fracture zones in serpentine. The veins vary greatly in width, the average being perhaps 8 ft., with the maximum indicated in one early stope of 40 ft.; 2 ft. is considered the minimum for economical mining. The strike of the veins is predominantly north and south, with dip to the west varying from 40" to 75". Walls are well defined and as a rule firm and easily supported. Veins range in length from a few hundred feet to 1000 or more. Their maximum vertical extent is about 350 ft., but many run less. Early mining consisted of open-cut and glory-hole work on the larger outcrops. This was followed underground by a modified shrinkage system, the waste and low-grade horses being removed by hand sorting on the tramming levels and transported to surface dumps. Filled-stope mining is used now, in order to eliminate the handling of waste, which has

Jan 1, 1942

By Herbert Clark Hoover, Lou Henry Hoover

THE third book has explained the various and manifold varieties of veins and stringers. This fourth book will deal with mining areas and the method of delimiting them, and will then pass on to the officials who are connected with mining affairs'. Now the miner, if the vein he has uncovered is to his liking, first of all goes to the Bergmeister to request to be granted a right to mine, this official's special function and office being to adjudicate in respect of the mines. And so to the first man who has discovered the vein the Bergmeister awards the head meer, and to others the remaining meers, in the order in which each makes his application. The size of a meer is measured by fathoms, which for miners are reckoned at six feet each. The length, in fact, is that of a man's extended arms and hands measured across his chest ; but different peoples assign to it different lengths,

Jan 1, 1950

By J. W. Leonard, J. C. Anderson, C. T. Holland

PREPARATION CONTROL IN UNDERGROUND MINING Selective Mining According to district Depending upon the particular geographic location or seam characteristics modem raw coal preparation practices can be used to obtain improved product quality and uniformity. Nevertheless, certain coal markets may require only marginal quality while others may require very high quality and these objectives may be sought by commencing the preparation of coal underground at the "working face." Underground preparation involves choosing those portions of the bed which can be cleaned to satisfy predetermined market requirements involving (1 ) maintenance of uniformity in chemical quality, (2) elimination of removable impurities, (3) control of sizes and size ratios and (4) control of moisture. The methods employed to attain these objectives vary widely with the (1) seam under development, (2) mining equipment available and (3) changing trends in the consuming markets. When a mining property is opened and development progresses from one section to another the (1) petrography of the coal in the bed does not re- main uniform, (2) character of roof and floor are subject to change and (3) character and prevalence of mineral impurities are subject to considerable variation. The quality of coal shipped to market from any mine depends upon intelligent foresight, planning, execution and supervision. Mining becomes a highly technical art. The quality of coal as determined by chemical and petrographic analysis is without question one of the most important considerations in the development and life of any coal-mining property. Variations in such proper- ties as volatile matter, ash, sulfur, Btu content and petrography are of considerable interest and to a limited extent so are such properties as phosphorous content, free swelling index, plasticity, hardness, pressure formation during coking and ash composition. The maximum and minimum specifications of these characteristics as established by competitive market conditions place definite limits on the marketability of a coal. The prospecting and evaluation of any area containing one or more salable coal beds by means of channel samples taken from outcrop openings and/or from diamond-drill cores can yield valuable data on coal characteristics. By correlating the data developed from distinct petrographic sections of channel and/or drill core samples, the quality of the bed according to stratification will be evident. There are few coal beds that do not show wide variations of such characteristics as ash and sulfur

Jan 1, 1968

By H. S. Jerabek, Charles S. Barrett, Robert F. Mehl

The precipitation of the nitride Fe4N from the solid solution of nitrogen in a Fe and of the phosphide Fe3P from the solid solution of phosphorus in a Fe both lead to the formation of structures that may be easily identified as Widmanstatten figures, within the meaning of the term as used in this series of papers. A complete solution has been obtained for the figure formed by Fe4N. The structure of Fe3P, however, is not fully known and a complete solution of this figure thus cannot be obtained; nevertheless, a study of this figure has furnished some new information. Precipitation of Fe4N from Alpha Solid Solution of N in Alpha Fe Constitution of System Iron-nitrogen A knowledge of the constitution of the whole of the Fe-N system is unnecessary for this work, though the recent studies by Eisenhut and Kauppl and by Lehrerz have clarified most of the moot points; it is sufficient for our purpose to state that a Fe of high purity dissolves 0.42 per cent of nitrogen in solid solution at the eutectoid temperature, 591' C., and that this solubility decreases at first rapidly and then more slowly until at room temperature the solid solubility amounts to approximately 0.1 per cent nitrogen.3

Jan 1, 1934