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By M. B. Hopkins

FOR years the expression "except rubber, tin, and manganese" has appeared in practically every discussion of the natural resources of the United States. Knowledge that natural rubber is not produced in the United States has now spread from the relatively few who have reason to be interested in the country's basic raw material supplies to all those who ride in automobiles, which means everybody. This "everybody" reads in the daily papers that we have a stock pile of natural rubber and that plenty of synthetic rubber is just around the corner. Statistics as to the United States' rubber requirements and sources of supply are of interest to him only to arrive at an answer to the question : "After taking care of rubber requirements for military purposes, will there be rubber for my automobile and the many other rubber articles I want?" More than 30,000 different rubber articles are manufactured in addition to the tires and tubes which use up about 70 per cent of the rubber supply.

Jan 1, 1942

By Scott Turner

MY YEAR OF SERVICE as president of the A.I.M.E. came at a time when the mineral industry had suffered severely because of disturbed economic conditions throughout the world. The Institute, an integral part of this industry, had been similarly affected. Its membership and revenues decreased; it was confronted by problems of retrenchment at a time when its vigorous operation was especially important to its members, of some moment to the mining industry, and of value to the nation. Throughout the last year, the recession of activity in our industry continued with slight abatement. Your Board accordingly exercised such economy within the Institute as was possible without impairment of essential functions. It endeavored to aid in sustaining the morale of members, their sense of professional unity, and their interest in maintaining research and the interchange of scientific and technologic data upon which the progress of our industry depends. Effort was made to assist in the difficult task of finding employment for needy members; our endeavors have met with some success.

Jan 1, 1933

By F. S. Norcross

DEVELOPMENT of the manganese deposits of Cuba is a matter of importance not only to those involved in this industry on the Island but to the United States steel industry and to our Nation as a whole. For years our domestic resources of manganese have been wholly inadequate, but the recent Cuban development points the way toward solution of this strategic mineral problem.

Jan 1, 1939

By C. A. WARNER

AN OIL and gas mining lease contract, as entered A into by and between 'the lessor and the lessee, contains certain express covenants stipulating, in part at least, the exact performance thereof; it also contains certain implied covenants, among which may be included that of protection of the leased premises against drainage by the drilling of necessary offset wells. In the drilling for, and production of, oil and gas, however, it not infrequently happens that the lessee, acting in good faith, does not deem it prudent to, drill a test thereon even though the location for such test is offset by a producing well on an adjoining lease. Such conclusion, on the part of the lessee, is generally construed by the lessor as constituting a breach of the implied covenant mentioned above, and he may take proper action to secure satisfaction therefor. The action against the lessee is generally for cancellation or relinquishment of the lease, together with, or apart from, claims for damages allegedly sustained through failure to properly protect against drainage of the leased premises.

Jan 1, 1931

By G. B. WATERHOUSE

THE year 1929 was exceedingly busy and prosperous for the iron and steel industry in the United States. The lake shipments of ore were approximately 65,000,000 tons, steel ingots produced were about 57,000,000 tons. Plants were very active. operating for many months well over their rated capacity, slowing down during the last quarter following the severe break in the stock market. The ore tonnage mentioned above was the greatest ever shipped by lake from the Lake Superior region. The trend at the ore mines has been to supplement manual labor by mechanical appliances as much as possible. Mining methods have been greatly improved along the lines of safety as well as to increase the percentage of ore recovery. Crushing and grading of iron ores continued to gain in popularity inasmuch as remarkable blast-furnace operations and records were obtained with sizing and uniformity of raw materials. Progress was made along other lines. The Bradley process for the separation of manganese osicle and iron oside from siliceous manganiferous iron ore was cleuelopecl; also considerable work was clone on a process for the beneficiation of the Cuban laterite ores. Sintering of ores and concentrates increased in popularity. A new analytical method for the deter- mination of sulfur in iron ore was worked out which reduced the time required appreciably. The ore re- serves of the Lake Superior district continued to receive considerable attention and played an important part in the recent mergers which have taken place in the iron ancl steel industry.

Jan 1, 1930

By Enrique Touceda

For a number of years prior to the world war, the firm of Geo. H. Thacher & Co., of Albany, N. Y., was engaged in the manufacture of marine and other gray-iron castings. At the outbreak of the war the firm decided to specialize in the manufacture of propeller wheels. It attacked the problem, therefore, from a foundry point of view, seeking to produce a casting that would be so accurate that no subsequent machining would be required on the blades, also from the point of view of the ship builder. There were two general methods of manufacture, the shortcomings of which have been freely acknowledged. In the sweep method, the nowel, or bottom half-mold, for each blade is swept up by a spindle beam and pitch race, while the top half-mold for each blade is built up individually. In the pattern method one individual blade, with the hub or hub portion, is mounted on a spindle and the individual blade mold formed, the pattern is then rotated on the spindle to the position for the next blade, etc. In rare cases wheels were made from a solid pattern. Owing to the cost of the pattern, its failure in many instances to be correctly made, and (when made of wood) its early and sure distortion the disadvantage of this pratctice is obvious, while metal patterns in most instances were prohibitive in cost. In these methods both green-sand and loam molding was practiced. The casting produced by either method can be considered only as a blank from which the propeller must be machined. The back surface of each blade must be chipped to the templet and through this procedure chipped to such accuracy as will be required for a static balance. Inasmuch as the work done by the machine tool is confined to the driving face of the blades, not only is perfection most difficult, but corrosion will be greater because of the removal of the dense skin of the casting and the local strains set up by the pneumatic tool in chipping. To produce a finished 9-ft. propeller for a Navy destroyer required from 8 to 21 days of foundry work and about the same length of time for the machining. Through the use of the Thacher process, only as many hours are required, besides it is possible to produce a finished casting in perfect conformity with any particular propeller-wheel design.

Jan 1, 1922

By Enrique Touceda

For a number of years prior to the world war, the firm of Geo. H. Thacher & Co., of Albany, N. Y., was engaged in the manufacture of marine and other gray-iron castings. At the outbreak of the war the firm decided to specialize in the manufacture of propeller wheels. It attacked the problem, therefore, from a foundry point of view, seeking to produce a casting that would be so accurate that no subsequent machining would be required on the blades, also from the point of view of the ship builder. There were two general methods of manufacture, the shortcomings of which have been freely acknowledged. In the sweep method, the nowel, or bottom half-mold, for each blade is swept up by a spindle beam and pitch race, while the top half-mold for each blade is built up individually. In the pattern method one individual blade, with the hub or hub portion, is mounted on a spindle and the individual blade mold formed, the pattern is then rotated on the spindle to the position for the next blade, etc. In rare cases wheels were made from a solid pattern. Owing to the cost of the pattern, its failure in many instances to be correctly made, and (when made of wood) its early and sure distortion the disadvantage of this pratctice is obvious, while metal patterns in most instances were prohibitive in cost. In these methods both green-sand and loam molding was practiced. The casting produced by either method can be considered only as a blank from which the propeller must be machined. The back surface of each blade must be chipped to the templet and through this procedure chipped to such accuracy as will be required for a static balance. Inasmuch as the work done by the machine tool is confined to the driving face of the blades, not only is perfection most difficult, but corrosion will be greater because of the removal of the dense skin of the casting and the local strains set up by the pneumatic tool in chipping. To produce a finished 9-ft. propeller for a Navy destroyer required from 8 to 21 days of foundry work and about the same length of time for the machining. Through the use of the Thacher process, only as many hours are required, besides it is possible to produce a finished casting in perfect conformity with any particular propeller-wheel design.

Jan 1, 1922

By Richard J. Lund

Stock piling-and by that I mean well-organized stock piling on a substantial scale-is almost as old as the hills themselves. It was back in early Biblical times, as recounted in the Book of Genesis, that Joseph was charged by Pharaoh with the responsibility of stock piling food during the seven years of plenty to guard against the seven subsequent years of famine that were revealed by the Pharaoh's dream. And this same policy of storing up food or materials to provide for future anticipated emergencies can be traced repeatedly down through the ages. So our own efforts are anything but new. Our modern concept of stock piling-the purchase and storage of strategic materials to assure supplies needed in time of some future war- stems from our experience in World War I. In 1920, the War Department was charged by Congress with the responsibility of procuring all War Department supplies and mobilizing industry in the event of another war. During the two decades that followed there were many authoritative studies made of our deficient mineral problem, all of which pointed out the urgent necessity of stock piling certain strategic materials as a reserve against future war. One such study, made in 1925 through the combined efforts of the Mining and Metallurgical Society and the AIME, was done at the ex- press request of the War Department. Eight years later another more de-

Jan 1, 1949

By Roland Blanchard

Recent discovery at Mount Isa of copper mineralization in commercial amount at a depth of 1000 ft., coinciding with downward termination of ore at about the same depth within the larger silver-lead-zinc lenses that have been the standby of Mount Isa's production to date, has been cited as an example in support of mineral zoning. A previous paper by the author and Graham Hall1 furnished a detailed description of the geology of the ore at Mount Isa as exposed up to that time, but necessarily dealt mainly with the silver-lead-zinc mineralization. Most of the geologic facts that constitute the first half of the present paper were set forth in the previous one in much greater detail, with full supporting evidence for the facts cited. The large amount of underground development (approximately 20 miles) and the extensive exploration carried out by diamond drilling (100,000 ft.) at Mount Isa, added to extensive microscope work conducted over a period of years, both by the company's staff and by others, had made possible the calculation within fairly close limits of mineralogical composition of the principal mineralized block of ground down to 1000-ft. depth, and had established closely the mineral succession, with reasons for deposition of the various minerals in the patterns now occupied by them. The geologic facts as outlined in the previous paper remain as stated; but because substantial development within the new copper ore body and further exploratory diamond drilling within the new silver-lead-zinc area (Racecourse) have taken place since that paper was written, statements and figures relating to those two areas in the present paper supersede those furnished in the previous one. The recent work likewise has established more clearly the paragenetic relationship between the chalco-pyrite and galena. Evidence confirming the relationship is furnished in the present paper. The facts of ore occurrence at Mount Isa show Accepted Zonal Succession Silver sulphantimonides Galena Sphalerite Tetrahedrite Arsenical sulphides Chalcopyrite Pyrrhotite Mount Isa Succession I In the main but prob- Silver sulphantimonides ably not wholly Tetrahedrite I contemporaneous Galena Pyrrhotite Sphalerite Arsenical sulphides They show further: (I) that instead of the silver-lead minerals yielding to increased zinc in depth, the zinc yields to increased silver-lead; (2) no dovetailing of the silver-lead-zinc sulphides into chalcopyrite takes place; (3) despite the large amount of pyrrhotite deposited in the district (estimated at upward of 100,000,000 tons), its deposition took place under moderately low temperature conditions; (4) no evidence has been found for increase in temperature of deposition, with depth, to deepest exploration in ore (1475 ft.). The anomalous condition at Mount Jsa, both as to the unorthodox mineral succession and the largely unorthodox patteru of mineral distribution, is explained in the present paper,

Jan 1, 1949

By Roland Blanchard

Recent discovery at Mount Isa of copper mineralization in commercial amount at a depth of 1000 ft., coinciding with downward termination of ore at about the same depth within the larger silver-lead-zinc lenses that have been the standby of Mount Isa's production to date, has been cited as an example in support of mineral zoning. A previous paper by the author and Graham Hall1 furnished a detailed description of the geology of the ore at Mount Isa as exposed up to that time, but necessarily dealt mainly with the silver-lead-zinc mineralization. Most of the geologic facts that constitute the first half of the present paper were set forth in the previous one in much greater detail, with full supporting evidence for the facts cited. The large amount of underground development (approximately 20 miles) and the extensive exploration carried out by diamond drilling (100,000 ft.) at Mount Isa, added to extensive microscope work conducted over a period of years, both by the company's staff and by others, had made possible the calculation within fairly close limits of mineralogical composition of the principal mineralized block of ground down to 1000-ft. depth, and had established closely the mineral succession, with reasons for deposition of the various minerals in the patterns now occupied by them. The geologic facts as outlined in the previous paper remain as stated; but because substantial development within the new copper ore body and further exploratory diamond drilling within the new silver-lead-zinc area (Racecourse) have taken place since that paper was written, statements and figures relating to those two areas in the present paper supersede those furnished in the previous one. The recent work likewise has established more clearly the paragenetic relationship between the chalco-pyrite and galena. Evidence confirming the relationship is furnished in the present paper. The facts of ore occurrence at Mount Isa show Accepted Zonal Succession Silver sulphantimonides Galena Sphalerite Tetrahedrite Arsenical sulphides Chalcopyrite Pyrrhotite Mount Isa Succession I In the main but prob- Silver sulphantimonides ably not wholly Tetrahedrite I contemporaneous Galena Pyrrhotite Sphalerite Arsenical sulphides They show further: (I) that instead of the silver-lead minerals yielding to increased zinc in depth, the zinc yields to increased silver-lead; (2) no dovetailing of the silver-lead-zinc sulphides into chalcopyrite takes place; (3) despite the large amount of pyrrhotite deposited in the district (estimated at upward of 100,000,000 tons), its deposition took place under moderately low temperature conditions; (4) no evidence has been found for increase in temperature of deposition, with depth, to deepest exploration in ore (1475 ft.). The anomalous condition at Mount Jsa, both as to the unorthodox mineral succession and the largely unorthodox patteru of mineral distribution, is explained in the present paper,

Jan 1, 1949

By James P. Kimball

Jan 1, 1881

By B. Foley

IN THE first report1 disks of steel of known composition and history were exposed, under carefully prescribed conditions, to impacts of explosion products resulting from the explosion of 50-gm. charges of explosives having well-determined rates of detonation, or to impacts of a weight of known mass, falling through measured distances. There were available at the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station five explosives, having rates of detonation of 5716, 4470, 3190, 2296, and 1523 meters per second. It being desired to continue this exposure downward, and no explosives with a lesser rate of detonation being at hand, resort was had to the impact of a falling weight, the differences in the velocity of impact being attained by varying the height from which the weight was allowed to fall. It was expected by this means to demonstrate experimentally that the development of Neumann bands was determined by the suddenness of the deformation of the metal in which they were produced. But while progressive deformations were obtained with the explosive arges, the falling-weight method failed because the tup was ogressively deformed, also the disks were so flattened as to be unfit for metallographic examination. A return, therefore, has been made to the use of explosives as the source of energy, an air-gap being interposed between the charge of explosive and the disk, as the effect diminishes as the function of the distance between the charge and the object on which the products of its explosion, or the shock wave from its detonation, impinge. The details of the arrangement of the tests by the air-gap method were the same as those described by Foley and Howell,2 except that after the system had been set up and the desired apparent specific gravity for the explosive

Jan 2, 1926

By George F. Kunz

THE recently discovered occurrence of diamonds near Murfreesboro, Pike county, Ark., was brought to. our attention by Mr. Samuel W. Reyburn (Trustee for Messrs. C. S. Stifft, A. D. Cohn, August Zinsser, Jr., and himself, owners of the property), through whose courtesy we investigated the locality of the deposit. Prospecting with the diamond-drill is now in active progress ; but mining operations on a large scale have not yet been ordered. Geology.-The geology as well as the petrography of this interesting locality has been well described by Messrs. J. C. Branner and R. N. Brackett.1 Briefly summarized, the igneous rock in which the diamonds are found is a vitreous peridotite, forming a stock or volcanic neck, which has broken up through the Carboniferous and Cretaceous quartzites and sandstones. After an extensive period of erosion, during which an unknown portion of the neck and presumably a previously existent volcanic cone have been removed, the surface was covered with thin beds of Post-Tertiary conglomerate. The volcanic intrusion was accompanied by the formation of several small dikes of a rock much like that of the main body. One of these dikes cuts across the stock, while another cuts the Cretaceous sandstone, but is overlain by the conglomerate, thus giving a datum for the period of intrusion. So far as known, there was little, if any, metamorphism of the country-rock by the igneous magna, which probably followed an approximately vertical course, so that a more or less vertical extension downward of the igneous body to indefinite depths may be expected.

Mar 1, 1908

By Frederick T. Williams

THE purpose of this paper is to discuss the relative merits of the large 31/8 in. machine and the small 21/4-in. tappett machine in driving development-headings ; and although the . data here presented were obtained from cross-cut headings alone, experience has shown that the results are equally true in drifting, raising and winning. Recently we drove two parallel cross-cuts through the same formation, using a 3k-in. machine at the breast of one cross-cut., and a 2k-in. machine of the same make at the breast of the other. The results of this work afforded an ideal comparison, since in both cases the headings were advanced through rock practically of the same hardness and breaking-properties ; the amount of sludging was equal, and there was no difference in the condition of the steel or the machines, in the air-pressure or in the experience of the operating-crews. Some operators in the Cripple Creek district contend that there is ground which cannot be handled with the small machine, the holes being too small to contain enough powder to pull the ground, etc. The results obtained in working the property of the Portland Gold Mining Co., however, show that the ground worked by them does not fall in this class. During a period of two years there have been driven, with the small machine, 4 miles and 308 ft. of development-headings, through a diversity of ground, including Pike's Peak granite (a coarsely porphyritic type of granite), highly indurated, andesitic or phonolytic breccia, true massive andesite, trachytic phonolyte, tuffas, and along dikes of decomposed basalt and hard phonolyte; in every instance a satisfactory record was made. The headings here described were driven through highly indurated, andesitic breccia, having a hardness of from 5.2 to 7.2

Mar 1, 1906

THE first session was held in the small hall of the Academy of Music, on Tuesday evening, February 18th, 1879. The proceedings were opened by the reading, by President Eckley B. Coxe, of the following Address : SECONDARY TECHNICAL EDUCATION. Technical education is a subject to which both the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers have of late years given much attention, and deservedly so. We all remember the admirable address of our former President, Mr. Holley, at the Washington meeting, upon this subject, and the very interesting reunion of the two societies in Philadelphia for its discussion. The problem to the solution of which the meeting devoted its attention was, "Shall the practical education of the engineer in the mine, in the rolling-mill, in the workshop, or in the field, precede, be contemporaneous with, or follow his theoretical studies in the technical school ?" I do not propose to add anything to what was so admirably said by so many of our leading engineers on that occasion ; but I shall ask your attention to another question in technical education, which seems to me equally worthy of our consideration, and which, I am sorry to say, has as yet attracted but little attention in this country. It is, "Shall the apprentices (I call them so for the want of a better general name), who are growing up and learning their trades in and around our mines and works, and from whose ranks the master mechanics and foremen of the future must be taken-shall they be provided with some means of obtaining as much theoretical training as may be necessary to enable them properly to understand the various processes and operations that they may be called upon to superintend, and not be obliged to pick up, as best they may, here a little and there a little truth mingled with much error?" In the former case, those who have the ability and industry to avail themselves of the advantages that should be offered to them would fit themselves to become real foremen, men who would understand and appreciate the true engineer and his methods. Of late years the young men of this country who have wished to enter our profession have had great facilities offered to them for so doing ; there have been undoubtedly great improvements in the methods of instruction; and although I am very far from imagining that no further progress can be made, or is demanded, yet I feel sure that

Jan 1, 1879

By G. Derge, Lo Ching Chang

The chemical and physical propertties of slag systems are of special interest to metallurgists, for nearly all metals are in contact with molten slags during the primary reduction from their ores and then during the subsequent refining and alloying processes that determine their ultimate use. These processes are carried out at high temperatures and involve such complex chemical systems that funda-mental scientific knowledge of the Properties and behavior of these slags is inadequate. Various hypotheses have been Proposed to explain known slag characteristics. The commonest of these regard the molten slag as constituted of compounds that are dissociated in varying degrees into their constituent oxides, as illustrated by Schenckl and the recent Papers of Chipman and co-authors. Another proposal is that these compounds dissociate by com-plete6 or partial ionization, the evidence for which has been reviewed by Martin and Derge.? whatever hypothesis is favored, the exact formulation of these compounds is incomplete. It is based on three principal types of information: 1. Studies of solidified 51% samples by X ray diffraction, petrography, and similar methods that can be used at room temperature. The correlation of this information with the high-temperature properties of the molten slag is uncertain. 2. Studies of slag-metal equilibria, which have the advantage of providing observations on the molten slag at high temperature. However, even these data present problems of interpretation because they require a complete knowledge of the metal phase. 3. Direct measurements of properties of molten slag at the temperature of greatest metallurgical interest. Viscosity, electrical conductivity, specific heats, and similar properties have been measured, but the data of this type are widely scattered and frequently difficult to interpret. Additional direct measurements of properties of molten slag that can be interpreted in terms of chemical behavior are required, and this paper shows that the standard physical-chemical measurement of reversible electrode potentials, which measure the activity of specific constituents, is a fruitful source of such information. The purpose of this investigation, therefore, was to find an electrode combination that would yield reversible electromotive force measurements when dipped into the molten slag to be studied. Slags of the systems cao-sio2 and cao-120,-SiO2 were chosen for study because graphite containers could be used and the data could be correlated with those for viscosity, conductivity, and other proper-

Jan 1, 1948

By E. C. Harder, E. W. Greig

Bauxite is known mainly as the ore from which aluminum is smelted but it has large use also in the manufacture of artificial abrasives and in the production of a number of useful chemicals as well as of aluminous cement "ciment fondu." An important and growing use is in the manufacture of refractory products. Composition Dana and earlier mineralogists gave the mineral formula of bauxite as A1203.21120 and the composition as A1202, 73.9 pct; H2O, 26.1 pct. A specific mineral of this composition has, however, never been identified by either microscopic, chemical or X ray examination, and therefore it is concluded that bauxite is a rock consisting of one or more aluminum minerals together with impurities. The term is now used synonymously with aluminum ore and it embraces gibbsite (hydrargillite or alpha trihydrate), A1203. 3H20 (A1203, 65.4 pct; H2O, 34.6 pct); boehmite (alpha monohydrate), A1203•H20 (A1202, 85 pct; H2O, 15 pct) ; diaspore (beta monohydrate), A1203•H20 (A1203, 85 pct; H2O, 15 pct), and mixtures in various proportions of any two of them. Bauxite of the Mediterranean region in Europe is predominantly boehmite, as in France and Istria, subordinately a mixture of gibbsite and boehmite, as in Dalmatia, or of boehmite (or gibbsite) and diaspore, as in Greece. The bauxite of North and South America, tropical Africa, Asia, and Australasia consists largely of gibbsite, but boehmite in appreciable amount occurs in many places. Corundum (A1202) is not included un¬der bauxite, although gradations from bauxite to emery or corundum exist. All bauxite, irrespective of the aluminum minerals composing it, contains certain impurities in variable amount, including silica in the form of clay minerals (kaolinite, halloy site, and others) or quartz, iron oxide (as hematite or goethite), titania (as leucoxene or rutile), iron sulfide (as pyrite or marcasite), iron carbonate (siderite), and calcium carbonate (as calcite); the last three mentioned in minor amount and of local occurrence only. Bauxite belongs to a group of partly consolidated materials called laterites, formed by surface weathering. This group includes also impure siliceous, ferruginous, and phosphatic bauxite and siliceous and aluminous iron ores and manganese ores and nickel and chrome laterites. Phosphorus and manganese minerals locally form important impurities in bauxite deposits. Properties Gibbsite is white or light shades of gray, cream or pink. Its hardness is 2.5 to 3.5; specific gravity, 2.3 to 2.4; crystal system, monoclinic, crystals tabular parallel to 001, often fibrous, concretionary, stalactitic; luster, vitreous to pearly; generally translucent; cleavage, parallel to 001; disassociation temperature, approximately 300°C. Boehmite, a relatively new and important mineral described by J. Boehm15 in 1925, confirmed and named by J. de Lapparen64 in 1930, has some properties not yet definitely determined. It occurs in grayish, brownish, and reddish shades. Its hardness is between that of gibbsite and diaspore; specific gravity, 3.01 to

Jan 1, 1960

By Herbert Hoover

BOTH the directors of industry and your leaders have made great progress toward a new and common . ground in economic conceptions, which, I am confident, has had a profound effect upon our economic progress during the last few years. That is the conception that industry must be constantly renovated by scientific research and invention; that labor welcomes those labor-saving devices; that labor gives its full and unrestricted effort to reduce costs by the use of these machines and methods; that the savings from these reduced costs shall be shared among labor, employer and the consumer.

Jan 1, 1930

By Forest Mintz

Many oil and gas producers find it advantageous to borrow against the value of their hydrocarbon re- serves. This paper considers the requirements for a reserve based loan and the calculations that a bank would perform to arrive at a loan amount. Three of the most common loan structures, i.e. a term loan, a production payment, and a revolving credit/term loan will be discussed. A typical outline for each type of loan is presented. Finally, a comparison of major considerations in the three financing techniques is shown.

Jan 1, 1982

By James P. Kimball

AMONG the curious results of the recent advance of prices in the iron trade of the United States, one of them at least is to be regarded as of great importance. I allude to the utilization of mill cinder as a cheap and almost costless substitute for high-priced iron ores in many blast furnaces, situated within easy reach of such raw material. It has been, with but few exceptions, the practice in this country, based upon tradition rather than upon authority or European precedents, to waste this material on 'account of its high proportion of silicic and phosphoric acids, although known to contain more iron than most ores, and although also known to be sometimes applied to the blast furnace in greater or less quantities without serious detriment to the iron for specific purposes. While in use to a limited extent in the Hocking Valley and Hanging Rock iron regions of Ohio for several years, its use in Western Pennsylvania has only become general of late, under the exigencies of high prices and a short supply of ore. Especially has mill cinder largely entered into the stock of furnaces attached to rolling mills in and about Pittsburgh. Under such circumstances the cinder pig has been paddled on the premises, and the malleable iron produced has been unexpectedly good. Cautiously as at first mill cinder has been applied, it is evident that the temptation to use it freely is a strong one whenever the commercial rates for high-class ores are out of proportion to the general conditions of the iron trade, as sometimes happens in this country, especially as the free use of it is apparently justified by the quality of the iron produced from this cheap and abundant material. Indeed the consumption of cinder pig has., not been wholly confined to mills using up the production of furnaces belonging to the same plant. One furnace at least on the Ohio, at Covington, for several' months has been making foundry pig from "all cinder." The iron has gone into the general trade. It is probable that malleable iron of good quality can he made from the poorest cinder pig, but with what degree of economy will

Jan 1, 1881