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H. H. Campbell, Steelton, Pa. (communication to the Secretary) : I wish to thank Mr. Webster for the copious quotations he has made from my writings, as he has given nearly all the arguments I wish to advance. It is necessary to note, however, his statement that most of his experiments were made on universal-mill plates, and that these were not subject to my condemnation of irregularity. I think this is a mistake. It is well known that universal-mill plates are finished under very different conditions of temperature, with the express purpose of regulating the tensile strength. This is a perfectly legitimate practice; but it renders almost worthless any calculations on the relations of the chemical and physical equations when the influence of such finishing is omitted. Another important point Mr. Webster has not answered at all. I have shown by an excerpt from his own table that two entirely different formulæ may be constructed; and it is undeniable that one is as valid as the other, since Mr. Webster started with no premise at all save an assumption that the effect of carbon was constant. This was an assumption pure and simple, and hence has no special virtue. The whole result of Mr. Webster's investigation is not that the effect of carbon is a constant, and that those of phosphorus and manganese are variables. On the contrary, there are two answers, with nothing to show which is right. We learn that if carbon is a constant, then phosphorus and manganese are variables; but that if phosphorus and manganese are constants, then carbon is a variable. This is a distinct advance over complete ignorance, but it is not final and satisfactory from either a mathematical or metallurgical standpoint. Regarding my own formulæ, I would say that they are used regularly in the testing-laboratories of the Pennsylvania Steel Company. The tensile strength of every heat is calculated

Jan 1, 1899

By H. W. Gillett

UNLIKE most previous Howe lecturers, I had not the good fortune to be associated with Henry Marion Howe, nor to be directly one of his students. Yet, through his writings, he has been my teacher, as he has of all American metallurgists. Instructive as his writings are-I use the present tense because Howe thought so keenly and reasoned so surely, seeing clearly, as if by intuition, what was hazy to lesser minds, that his writings are still vital-it is not, those books and papers, nor even the minds he trained in his classes, that were his most outstanding service. It was the spirit of Howe in his: approach to the problems of metallurgy, his broad-mindedness and fair-ness, his recognition of the need for theories and hypotheses to explain metallurgical phenomena, his willingness to use them as servants, as well as his questioning attitude-his refusal to accept them as masters-that comprise his greatest service. This most thoroughly warrants the honor the Institute pays each year to his memory. These traits I so respect and honor in any man that I glory in this opportunity to do reverence to him in whom they were so notably united.

Jan 1, 1939

By Lawrence A. Soltis

Senior engineering or executive management positions are filled by engineers who are evaluated on their performance, knowledge, skill, and maturity. Not only is technical expertise required but a knowledge of sales and marketing, finance, law, industrial relations, and public affairs is necessary. The University of Wisconsin-Extension offers an innovative post-baccalaureate degree program blending technical and professional subjects the Professional Development Degree in engineering (PDD)-designed to bring various opportunities for learn-

Jan 4, 1978

By George F. Weaton

Although an almost continuous campaign had been carried on by various experimenters since 1885 to find a commercial process of smelting zinc by electrothermic means, no commercial success was attained in the United States. The St. Joseph Lead Co., appreciating the theoretical possibilities of such a process, such as the ability to construct units of large capacity, quality control, and the possibility of treating complex and refractory ores, decided in 1926 that the process was worthy of further investigation, and in that year, at one of its southeast Missouri plants, began the development of the electrothermic zinc-smelting process according to the invention of the late Earl C. Gaskill. Late in 1929 the process reached a stage of commercial significance, and in 1930 the erection of a modern electrothermic zinc smelter was begun, at Josephtown, Beaver County, Pa. The site is 3 miles from Monaca, which is on the main line of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, and a spur of the railroad has been constructed to the plant site. The site borders upon the Ohio River, which is navigable for 600 to 800-ton barges. This district was selected for the plant after an economic survey involving such questions as cost and availability of electric power, reduction fuel, transportation facilities, and the transportation charges on raw and finished materials, labor conditions, and taxes. The initial unit of the plant was designed to treat daily 120 tons of 58 per cent zinc sulphide concentrates from the company's mines in St. Lawrence County, New York. The plant equipment is housed in seven modern steel-frame buildings, and includes: Roasting and Acid Plants 3000-ton concentrate storage. Two Nichols-Herreshoff 21 ft. 6-in. diameter, 12-hearth roasters with usual cast-iron airshaft supporting chromium-alloy rabble arms and rabbles. SO2 gas purification system consisting of: One double-compartment hot-dust Cottrell precipitator. Cast-iron sinuous air-contact gas cooler.

Jan 1, 1937

By N. Standish

By contrast with viscometry and sedimentation, no actual measurements of the applicability of Stokes' law to steelmaking have ever been reported; instead, the proof for and against Stokes' law has been inferred from the frequently observed phenomenon that inclusions collect in the top scum and the bottom of ingots. As such proof is unsatisfactory, continued reference to Stokes' law in steelmaking, even as a model for calculating the terminal velocities of rising inclusions, should be avoided. In fact, all conclusions that have been reached regarding size, density, and viscosity on the flotation of inclusions could be made more rationally without Stokes' law. A worthwhile exception is that of Mitsche1 who in 1934 used Stokes' law to show not only the expected effects of size, density, and viscosity on flotation but also the beneficial effects of i) melting under a slag layer (now Electro Slag Refining); ii) treating melts with synthetic slags (Ref. 2 gives recent applications); iii) bubbling an inert gas through the melt (recent applications in Refs. 3 and 4); and iv) altering the solid/ liquid interface characteristics. At this point, it should again be emphasized that the boundary conditions for which Stokes' law was derived place enormous restrictions on the law but its application, as noted earlier, can yield useful results in some fields under certain conditions and within well-defined limits. When compared with inclusions, which may be solid or liquid, spherical or irregular, dispersed or coagulated, interacting between themselves and the melt, floating in a liquid which is in a state of motion of varying intensity5 and contained in vessels of various shapes and sizes that may change with time as in a solidifying ingot, the conclusion is obvious-Stokes'

Jan 1, 1969

By J. R. Thoenen

IN five years mineral wool has grown to a thirty-million-dollar industry from one whose output was valued, in 1933, at $1,700,000. Ten years ago, in 1928, there were only seven producing companies, with an annual output of but 50,000 tons. By 1936 fifty or more companies were producing half a million tons. The industry is still growing vigorously and will profit from the expected activity in building in 1339, for two-thirds of this material is used for building insulation and to assist in fire-retarding, in both new and old homes. It is as useful in the South, to protect against heat, as in the North, to keep out the cold, if one may speak nontechnically. It is a concomitant of air conditioning, that new addition to the American standard of living that began in theatres, department stores, and railroad dining cars, and is rapidly progressing down to small homes. Here, then, is an industry that is only beginning to have a present, and one with an almost certain important future; one that depends upon mining and the by-products of mining for all of its raw materials; one that every progressive mining man should know something about.

Jan 1, 1939

By Augustus Locke

THE technical sessions at the Regional Meeting of the A.I.M.E. in San Francisco are to be de- voted LO changes, current or predictable, which may be expected to alter today's practices in mining and metallurgical engineering. Our present condition may be summarized as follows: Capacity to produce is excessive for domestic needs in molybdenum, copper, iron, and oil; sufficient in lead, zinc, and potash; deficient in aluminum, manganese, tungsten, chromium, and tin. Gold and silver are complicated by their use as money. Or, to look at it in another way, the "growth curles" of production, as C. K. Leith emphasizes, characteristically rise slowly at the beginning, show a second stage of rapid growth, and a third stage of leveling off. The third stage is already reached here in coal. copper, iron, lead, and zinc. But still in the second slage are oil, molybdenum, potash, and others.

Jan 1, 1939

By Clyde E. Williams

THROUGHOUT its history the American iron and steel industry has constantly striven to improve the quality and reduce the cost of its products. No one needs to be told how well it has succeeded. Its success in making steel products at such a low cost has been achieved mainly through large-scale production. While costs have gone down as the rate of production and the degree of mechanization increased, quality of product has been actually improved. Thus high-tonnage records are important only in the light of high quality of the steel. Quality is the watchword! Continual improvement in quality has come as a result of research, not only in the laboratory but in the large commercial units in the plant. In fact, so many operations of the industry are on such a huge scale that experimental work must be done under commercial operating conditions so every progressive steel plant is a research laboratory.

Jan 1, 1938

By Charles Jackson Abrams

MINING is one of the major industries of the Rocky Mountain region and since the United States became involved in the present World War, all mines have been called upon by the Government for the maximum production of the strategic metals necessary. Operating under the most adverse conditions, such as priority requirements, slow delivery of necessary material and equipment, labor shortages, and freezing of all wages, which still permitted some industries to pay higher rates than were allowable in the mines, thereby drawing labor from the mines; and the United States Employment Service continually giving mine labor certificates of availability; these and many other problems made mine operation particularly difficult. Yet, in spite of these obstacles, the mining industry, either through its own resources or through Government subsidies in the form of loans or premium prices for strategic metal, have and still are making an all-out effort to meet Government demands. They, without question, have played a major role in assisting the war effort.

Jan 1, 1945

By WILFRED SYKES

THE story of the rolling of strip steel is not limited to any one plant or individual or group of individuals. It is a story with many ramifications. First of all, it should be understood that the strip mills we are considering are continuous mills, in that the steel passes directly from one mill to the other in a more or less straight line. Continuous mills are not new; in fact, they have been used for many years in the rolling of a few simple shapes. They were, however, driven by one motor through jackshafts, and as a result the speed of each roll stand had a fixed relation to that of every other stand in the series. This in turn fixed the reduction that could be made in each stand. The mill could produce simple things, but was not satisfactory for the production of the variety of strip now required. It was, therefore, necessary to get away from the restrictions of that kind of drive. To accomplish this, the designer could either separate

Jan 1, 1936

By W. L. Zeigler

THE year 1930 in the Ceur d? Alene district was one of curtailment in production. Many of the small properties were closed entirely and only three large. producers, the Bunker Hill & Sullivan, Hecla, and the Morning mines were left producing at capacity. No innovations in milling were evident, but progress was made in reducing costs as is always necessary in times of low metal prices. One new concentrator was constructed, a 500-ton daily capacity selective flotation plant for, the Jack Waite Mining Co. This mill uses coarse crushing, followed by hand sorting, for both a high-grade ship- ping ore and waste. The remainder of the ore leaving the sorting belt is crushed in a new type Traylor reduction crusher to %-in. size and stored in large capacity mill ore-bins. The grinding is done with ball mills, in closed circuit with a Dorr classifier to 75 per cent - 200 mesh. Minerals Separation 24-in. flotation machines are used both for a lead and a zinc concentrate, with double cleaning in each case. The concentrates are dewatered in Dorr thickeners and filtered on Oliver late-type filters.

Jan 1, 1931

By F. L. Bosqui, A. D. Wilkinson

EVEN though the world has not been crying for more copper for the last three or four years there has been some important mill and smelter construction. Discovery and development of large new high-grade copper deposits in Africa has led to the construction of extensive reduction facilities there, prominent among which is the concentrator and smelter of the Rhokana Corporation at N'Kana. Northern Rhodesia. The 3000-ton concentrator adjoins the central shaft. A little over half a mile to the southeast, at an altitude of 40,010 ft., is the smelter, designed on the site by 1. H. Wynne. It is arranged primarily to treat N'Kana copper concentrates, but can also handle concentrates and direct-smelting ore from outside sources. Excavations were started late in 1930; concrete was first poured on Jan. 6. 1931; and the first blister cop¬per was cast on March 1.9, 1932, less than fifteen months later. During this period, which included several months of heavy tropical rains, some 10,000 cu. yd. of concrete was poured and 41000 tons of structural steel erected under the supervision of construction engineer, A. Ek, with a labor force of 60 to 30 Europeans and about 300 natives. The steelwork was fabricated by Head Wrightson & Co. in England, and the boiler plant equipment furnished and erected by the International Combustion Co. Ltd.

Jan 1, 1934

By Charles A. Bohn

WHEN the need for war work was ended, the late Mrs. Sidney J. Jennings felt that the members of the Woman's Auxiliary, who had worked together so successfully, would profit by having a common permanent aim through scholarship work, financed by annual contributions from the Sections. Under her leadership the Sections responded generously and the educational fund was started. Mrs. Jennings became the first chairman of the executive committee and so remained until her death. It was planned to begin with an award of $500 each year, and to pot aside 25 per cent of all moneys re¬ceived from the Sections to establish an endowed fund. In 1921 the first scholarship of a value of $500 per annum was granted, and an award of the same value has been made regularly every year since. It is called the Subscription Scholarship. The 25 per cent, which is set aside each year and carefully invested, is called the Engineering Education Endowment Fund. Three years ago this fund began to yield around $300 annually and this income has been used each year since to finance a scholarship under that name.

Jan 1, 1937

By AIME AIME

MONDAY evening a reception, supper and bridge in honor of the guests of the Woman's Auxiliary was given by the New York Section in the Engineering Woman's Club. After supper, tables were made up for bridge. Some tried jig-saw puzzles, while others merely visited. On Tuesday morning the annual business meeting was called to order by President Bassett. Mrs. Bassett read a note from Mrs. Hoover regretting her inability to be present, and then gave her welcome and message: It gives me much pleasure to welcome you in this annual meeting, and I hope you will be able to come next year, and those who are not able to come this year I hope will be here next year.

Jan 1, 1933

By M. C. LYNN

RECENT completion of a $40,000 lubricating oil plant will make it possible for students in the School of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Oklahoma to carry out on a large scale the entire process of refining crude oil, from the time it is received in tank cars and pumped through the 1/4-mile University pipe line to storage tanks on the campus until the various products appear in finished form. This plant is part of a $100,000 expansion program which this school has been carrying out during the past year. Two years ago the Oklahoma State Legislature appropriated $50,000 for the School to use in improving its laboratory facilities. A few months later a $30,000 PWA grant was ob-

Jan 1, 1937

By Paul H. Hunt

MANY MISUNDERSTANDINGS have arisen regarding -Al the purchase by the Government of 24,000,000 oz. of domestically produced silver annually for the next four years at a price of 64 1/2c. to the producer. Some editorials have an¬nounced rather sarcastically that be¬cause of the strong western silver bloc in Congress, the Administration is paying a bonus of approximately $22,000,000 to a few large silver produc¬ers of the West, the amount being figured on the total purchase of about 100,000,000 oz. and the difference between the Government price and the world price for silver. Actually the Government will make a profit on this purchase, due to seigniorage, of something over $60,000,000. The 96,000,000 oz. of silver, for which the producers will receive approximately $62,000,000, will be produced in association with at least $100,000,000 worth of lead, zinc, copper and gold; the greater part of this $162,000,000 worth of metal will be produced at little profit to the mining companies, as will be shown later, because of the low prices for lead, copper and zinc. This amount of money will be spent largely for labor and supplies, thus greatly relieving the national burden of unemployment. Certainly, western mining, in the purchase of this silver, is not victimizing the Federal Government.

Jan 1, 1934

By D. K. Crampton

ON giving thought to the subject of this paper, my first reaction was that many and striking changes have come about as a direct result of the war. However, more careful analysis indicates that few, if any, of these changes can be wholly attributed to it. The actual situation is that all these changes were conceived and most of them at least partially executed in re- cent prewar years, it remaining the role of war to achieve results in a fraction of the time that might normally have been taken, lacking its driving impulse. The further discussion will therefore be with the premise that the individual changes have been greatly hastened rather than directly and primarily caused by any war conditions. Co-operation among copper alloy producers on production problems is agreed to be much worth while. The industry was too long noted for jealousy and secrecy as to equipment, methods, and even materials produced. Gradually, a more open and co-operative policy evolved but even just prior to the war the interchange of ideas was relatively cautious and limited. The need for a great increase in production in record time fostered a more co- operative attitude; exchange of ideas and experience concerning all phases of production increased tremendously to the benefit of the individual participants and thus the war effort, too. This more united effort has undoubtedly led to many specific improvements in process or equipment and these in turn to more rapid and economical operation than could have taken place on an each-for-himself basis.

Jan 1, 1944

By J. C. HEILMAN

THE Tri-State district, named from its situation in three States, lies in the northeast corner of Oklahoma, the southeast corner of Kansas and the adjacent part of Missouri east of the common corner of the above States. Production in the past eighty years has come from scattered mines within an area of some 35 miles east and west, by 25 miles north and south, although the actual area of the mined ground is but a small fraction of this territory. The land is leased from the individual land-owners, and the size of the tracts varies from 4.0 to 200 acres, the smaller sized tracts predominating. The leases usually call for a royalty of 7% to 15 per cent of the gross receipts of the concentrates, continuous operation during the life of the lease and specifically set out that no ores can be brought in from a foreign lease for custom milling nor can any ore be removed from the lease for milling. The ownership of the tailings remains with the land-owner.

Jan 1, 1931

By AIME AIME

ONE test is worth a thousand expert opinions, say the engineers of the John A. Roebling's Sons Co. of Trenton, N. J. Confronted with the job of building the cables for the new Hudson River Bridge between Fort Lee and upper Manhattan, the Roebling organization, in spite of its long and varied experience in building cables for suspension bridges of various sizes, recognized that old yardsticks would be of little value in estimating safety factors for the immense span across the Hudson.

Jan 1, 1929

By AIME AIME

HIS many admirers regard the "official"' candidate for president of the Institute in 1934 as far above the average in ability and capacity; but perhaps his outstanding characteristic is dependability. Some men of great brilliance succeed indifferently because they cannot be relied upon. When Howard Nichols Eavenson undertakes to do something he either does it, or he proves to his own satisfaction that the particular object is not attainable. And the latter outcome is exceptional because his judgment is so good that he generally foresees the impossibility and selects in advance a practical alternative. Though a tireless worker he is pretty sure that his energy is not spent futilely.

Jan 1, 1933