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By D. Harrington

WHEN the word gas is mentioned in connection with mining, almost invariably it is inferred that the explosive gas, methane, is in mind and that it must refer to coal mining. While it is true that methane occurs, or is likely to occur, in almost any or all coal mines, it is also a fact that the metal mines of the world have in them by far a greater variety of gases than have the coal mines. In many cases the gases in metal mines are as dangerous to individuals as the gases likely to be found in coal mines; in some instances the metal mine gases are even more deadly. The coal mine is more likely to have methane than the metal mine, in rare instances it may have high percentages of nitrogen or high carbon dioxide, or there may be a deficiency of oxygen where the air is confined in a blind end or in a sealed region; much more rarely there are found in coal mines in relatively small percentages, ethane, or other hydrocarbons with odor of ether, gasoline or kerosene, or there may be minute percentages of hydrogen sulfide. In time of coal mine fire or explosion, there is likely to be high carbon monoxide (4 per cent. or over in some cases) and if the coal contains much sulfur, there may be some sulfur dioxide in the fire fumes. In metal mines there are a number of cases of occurrence of methane and attendant explosions; some metal mines have appreciable percentages of the decidedly explosive hydrogen; in some metal-mining regions carbon dioxide flows into the mine, fills the workings and overflows just like water. In other regions, at many working faces there are high-temperature gases containing a mixture of gases of sulfur (sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and possibly SO3 in some cases) together with carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and the deadly hydrogen sulfide in lethal proportions is found in some high-sulfide metal mines at blasting time. Carbon monoxide constitutes a decidedly dangerous day by day hazard in connection with metal-mine blasting, because of the heavy charges of dynamite that are used and the use of fuse, which in burning gives off much carbon monoxide. The poisonous gas hazard is accentuated because of the relatively small openings where metal-mine blasting is done and to the inefficient ventilation of the usual metal mine.

Jan 1, 1930

Jan 1, 1930

By H. J. Rose

The peak of production from the Appalachian natural gas field was apparently reached about 10 years ago, and the annual production from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio has now dropped to about two-thirds of the amounts obtained in 1916 and 1917. This falling off in production has occurred in spite of vigorous efforts and large expenditures by producing companies to maintain or increase their output. The greatly increased costs of development and handling are reflected in the present average value of natural gas at the point of consumption, which value in the three states referred to has more than doubled in the past 10 years. While it is true that the natural gas production of the United States has increased during recent years, this increase has come from southwestern states, particularly from Oklahoma, California, Louisiana and Texas, which states are now leaders in the production of this valuable but fleeting resource. Pennsylvania, originally the leading state in natural gas production, occupies sixth place in the latest (1924) U. S. Bureau of Mines statistics. West Virginia, which held first place for 15 years, has dropped to third rank, and Ohio is the seventh state in the order of natural gas production. Domestic and industrial demands for gas are constantly increasing everywhere in the United States. These growing demands have accentuated the difficulties in the localities with depleted natural gas supplies, and serious shortages have already occurred during winter months in the Pittsburgh district. Some relief has been obtained by placing restrictions on the industrial use of natural gas, and by increasing the price (which tends to reduce consumption). Yet these are but temporary expedients for checking gas consumption, which fail to solve the problem of adequate future supplies of gas. Gas is an exceedingly valuable and important form of fuel, and serious restrictions on its use cannot be tolerated for long in any community. As the supply of natural gas declines, it must be supplemented and eventually replaced with some form of manufactured gas. Many cities, including Pittsburgh, are already supplementing their natural gas supply with the manufactured product.

Jan 1, 1930

By W. J. Reagan

The problem of increasing output and decreasing percentage of rejections is a vital one in the manufacture of steel of any kind. The making of basic open-hearth steel for use in rolled steel wheels, tires for locomotive and car wheels, and forgings of various kinds, is a highly specialized industry. The increase in weight of railway rolling stock of all kinds, and the high speed that the public demands of transportation facilities, make it imperative that steel for use in this class of material shall be of the highest quality obtainable. During the past few years it has been the writer's good fortune to have opportunity to study the defects in basic open-hearth steel, and also the results obtained by various changes in open-hearth practice, on such defects. The opportunity for study and the details available are rarely found in the manufacture of steel of any kind. It seems reasonable to assume that many of the results determined here can be applied to the production of steel of other types with a decided improvement in quality, a decrease in the percentage of rejections and an increase in output. All of the material described is basic open-hearth steel with the following range of analysis: carbon, 0.50 to 0.85 per cent.; phosphorus and sulfur, 0.04 max.; silicon, 0.15 to 0.35; manganese, 0.50 to 0.75. All of this material is bottom-cast, therefore tapping and pouring temperatures are higher than in top-cast production. Ingots used in this type of work are of standard length with varying diameters. The ingot is known as duodecagonal, or twelve-sided. The standard body length is 88 in. and the hot top length, 14 in. Fig. 1 shows a typical ingot of this type. The diameter varies from 13 to 30 in. Ingots for special forgings, which cannot be made in molds of standard size, are made in molds of various sizes and designs. These ingots are sliced cold, into blocks of various lengths, depending upon the weight of the forging to be made. Fig. 2 shows the ingot after coming from the slicing lathe. Jusf sufficient metal remains between blocks to hold the ingot in one piece while it is being removed from the lathe; then steel wedges are inserted between the blocks and the blocks are broken apart. This affords abundant opportunity for inspection, as the interior of the

Jan 1, 1930

By S. M. Marshall, A. C. Richardson, H. Y. Yancey

A year ago, Marshall and Bird presented a paper in which a new method of measuring the agglutinating power of coal was described.' The procedure used was to determine the strength of a button containing 10 parts sand and one part coal, formed by carbonizing the mixture in a crucible in an electric furnace. The result of the determination was reported as the total weight in grams required to bring about complete destruction of the button. Correlations were shown between the agglutinating value and some of the characteristics of the different coals that were investigated. This agglutinating test has been in use fairly continuously during the past five years for coals of widely differing coking qualities, and it has shown reasonably concordant results accurate enough for commercial use, although there are many features of the test which should have further scientific study. During the past year a study has been made of some coals of low coking strengths, and incidental to the main investigation some data which appear to be of interest and value were obtained on the loss in agglutinating power caused by exposure to the air. Three coals were investigated, all of which were of the Tertiary age; two were from one field in Asia, and one from a field in the United States. The three were similar, as shown by the proximate and ultimate analyses in Table 1 (moisture-free basis). Coals SA and RA generally contain about 5 per cent. moisture and coal P about 3.5 per cent. moisture on the as-received basis. The large difference in the ash contents of the coals, amounting to practically 10 per cent. between SA and RA, and P, makes difficult a direct comparison of their qualities. In the second section of Table 1 the figures have been put upon an ash-free basis., This table shows that these coals are closely alike. The ultimate analyses are almost identical except for the higher nitrogen content of

Jan 1, 1930

By F. W. Bremmer

THE drilling of constantly deeper oil wells has made it imperative that the manufacturer of casing be ever searching for new methods and new materials to meet the increased demands. One phase of this search constitutes the subject matter of the present paper. Starting from the original Drake well in 1859, the depth of wells has advanced by leaps and bounds, until today depths of 6000 to 8000 ft. are common. Conditions point to the necessity for drilling to greater depths, and it is not at all improbable that much of the future oil produc- FIG. 1.-TREND IN DEPTH OF OIL WELLS. tion will be from, wells around 10,000 ft. deep. The trend to deeper wells is nicely illustrated by the curve in Fig. 1.1 The points plotted are the maximum depths attained in the various pools which were at their peak for the years given. It may be of some interest to observe the change that has taken place in the tensile and collapsing stresses over the last 25 years. The pressure at the bottom of a 900-ft. hole, equivalent to the pressure caused by an equal column of water, is only 450 lb. per sq. in. The equivalent

Jan 1, 1930

By E. S. Wheeler

THE rapid increase in the use of monel metal and malleable nickel in the form of sheet, rod and tube has resulted in a similar increase in the demand for these metals in the form of castings. These castings range in size from small valves and pipe fittings weighing a few ounces to large centrifugal pumps, gate valves and marine propellers, some of the latter weighing as much as 24,000 lb. A group of such castings is shown in Fig. 1. A large nickel agitator is shown in Fig. 2. FIG. 1.-A GROUP OF MONEL METAL AND NICKEL CASTINGS. Monel metal castings are widely used in accessories for steam power plants and in a variety of chemical plant. equipment where the corrosion resistance, high strength and toughness characteristic of this metal render it particularly valuable. Nickel castings find extensive use in the construction of corrosion resistant apparatus, and are often used in conjunction with wrought nickel sheet and tube in the fabrication of equipment for handling a variety of chemical and food products, particularly dairy products. In response to this demand for castings, numerous foundries have undertaken the production of castings of these metals and have met with varying degrees of success.

Jan 1, 1930

By C. P. Watson

It is perhaps significant that a few years ago the sessions held here were chiefly occupied with production. In the last two years these sessions have been concerned with production curtailment, unitization and conservation, notwithstanding that production in the United States in 1929 reached a total in excess of 1,000,000,000 barrels. A study of the leading producing units in the United States shows that Oklahoma, Texas and California in 1929 yielded 84 per cent. of the total production from 33.5 per cent. of the total number of producing wells. Production in the United States in 1929 showed an increase of 107,000,000 bbl. over the 1928 figures. This increase in itself perhaps is not enough to have caused the serious situation that is now confronting the industry. However, taking into account the gradual encroachment on the consumption of fuel oil through the greater utilization of natural gas, probably we have reached the point in the United States where prices will determine to a large extent,' in 1930, the amount that will be produced. In the states of Texas, Oklahoma and California, the most significant developmcnt of 1929 has been the desire of operators to reach some agreement to bring production more or less in control with the estimated demand. In November, production in California, particularly in the Santa Fe Springs field, was drastically cut to meet a certain requirement. Similarly, in Texas, the Yates field has been developed and has been producing under an agreement on the part of the operators; and more recently in Oklahoma City, serious efforts have been made to keep produetion in line with consumption. For the year 1930 we can see nothing in sight except drastic curtailment. This is a matter that I am sure is occupying the attention of all the leaders of the industry.

Jan 1, 1930

By Oscar A. Glaeser

It is common knowledge that the iron orebodies of the Mesabi Range lie nearly horizontal and are of trough or blanketlike types. These orebodies are from a few feet to several hundred feet thick and vary from a few acres in extent to the size of the largest one, at Hibbing, Minn., which is over 1 mile wide and 3 miles long. They are covered with sand, boulder and clay overburden and occasionally shallow depths of ledge material, varying in total depth from about 20 to 200 ft. Large areas are not capped with overlying ledge material; the top of the ore lies directly underneath the surface material. Because of the comparatively great tonnage of ore, open-pit mining has made tremendous strides since the first open-pit ore was shipped from this range by the Merritt brothers, from the Mountain iron mine in October, 1892, and along with the great development of open-pit mining on the Mesabi Range has gone a tremendous change in the character of. equipment used. Early Stripping Operations The first stripping at the Burt mine at Hibbing, Minn., started in 1902. The engineers spent a long time in selecting the most suitable location for a small pit area, involving a stripping contract of 350,000 cu. yd. This property afterwards had several million yards of stripping and several million tons of ore removed from it, but inasmuch as it was the first open pit of the Oliver Iron Mining Co. in this district it was necessary to try several different locations for the small pit area, to uncover maximum tonnage and the best grade of ore so as to sell the idea of open-pit mining and discontinue the underground operation then going on. The writer's first open-pit work on the Mesabi Range was in 1903 as an Oliver company mining engineer on a stripping job of 1,500,000 cu. yd. at the Monroe mine, Chisholm, Minn. Here the contractor, an old-timer used to railroad methods, was, to a small extent, using teams of horses hitched to 2-yd. narrow-gage cars and hauling the stripping material from the pit area to outside of the pit limits. The dirt thus moved was loaded by hand. The same contractor was also using 60-ton and 70-ton railroad-type shovels with dippers of 21/2 and

Jan 1, 1930

By H. Y. Yancey, B. M. Bird

One of the problems studied by the U. S. Bureau of Mines in cooperation with the University of Washington has been the re-treatment of table middlings. Hydraulic classification has given the best results. Instead of using the classifier to prepare the feed to the tables, as has been the practice for many years in ore dressing, it is used to separate part of a middling product that cannot be re-treated successfully on the table. Middlings are desirable in a table plant because the separation according to specific gravity is incomplete; that is, in the products of the table there is always an overlapping of free particles of coal and refuse that can be distinguished with heavy liquids such as are used in the float-and-sink test. The causes of this overlapping may be divided into two groups, those outside the table separation itself and those inherent in the table separation. The first of these groups includes, among other causes, the following: (1) poor adjustments of the table, (2) overloading or underloading the table, (3) irregularities in the quantity and quality of the feed, (4) irregularities in the power and water supply, and (5) a vertical dancing motion of the table deck due to weak foundations. These causes of overlapping are largely unnecessary in a properly designed and constructed plant; but whenever they are present they materially affect the character of the middling product, and hence the problem of re-treatment. The other group includes three additional causes: (6) small differences in specific gravity between coal and impurities, (7) a size-specific-gravity relationship of the coal and refuse particles in the table feed such that the sizing action of the table opposes the separation according to the specific gravity, and (8) shapes of particles that prevent a separation. The sixth, small differences in specific gravity, may be a very important reason for an incomplete separation. The change in specific gravity from coal to shale is always gradual and the designation of one part as coal and another part as refuse is arbitrary. If some specific gravity, such as 1.45, is chosen as the dividing point between washed coal and refuse,

Jan 1, 1930

By D. K. Crampton

Internal stress and season cracking in brass have been studied for many years and the technical literature contains many data on various phases of the subject. A resume of the literature shows certain fairly well established points upon which various authors are mostly agreed: 1. Season cracking is primarily caused by the presence of relatively high internal stresses, or possibly in some cases by external stresses, or both. 2. A specific corrosion is also essential to season cracking. Certain agents, particularly mercurous salts, mercuric salts and ammonia salts, have such a specific corrosive effect. 3. The tendency to season crack under given conditions increases with increasing zinc content, brass containing less than 20 per cent. zinc being relatively immune. 4. In alpha brass the season cracks are intercrystalline; in alpha-beta brass they lie between the two constituents; and in beta brass they are transcrystalline. 5. The ordinary impurities or added elements in special brasses have little or no effect on the tendency to season crack. 6. Internal stresses can be eliminated, or at least reduced to a safe limit by annealing treatments at temperatures that do not produce visible microstructural changes or appreciable softening of the worked brasses. There are, however, some points in connection with the phenomenon of season cracking which have not been thoroughly investigated, or wherein different authors and investigators are not entirely in agreement. The investigations described in this paper were undertaken to determine: 1. The correlation between mercurous nitrate tests and actual season cracking on long-time atmospheric exposure. 2. The quantitative effect of type and degree of drawing operations on the intensity of internal stress and on the tendency to season crack in brass tubes. 3. The possibility of drawing high-brass tubes in such a manner as to prevent the occurrence of harmful stresses rather than to find a remedy for such stresses once having obtained them.

Jan 1, 1930

By McDowell Graves, Joseph Jensen, W. D. Goold, M. L. Gwin

During the present year the Santa Fe Springs field has proved to be the most important oil field under development in the United States. Its production will exceed that of any other field. Without it, production within the United States would have been almost in even balance with consumption. The field has forced to the fore and compelled, more than any other single factor, serious consideration of the need of conserving the gas resources of the State of California. It has also contributed much to the development of new drilling equipment and important features in petroleum engineering, and has required the development of a new cement for use in deep wells because of high temperatures. It is the only oil field in the country where wells 8000 ft. deep have become so common that they are no longer given special attention. The field covers a little less than 1400 acres of land. In it 196 producing deep-zone wells have already been drilled since August, 1928, and 224 wells are still drilling. More wells may be drilled. This indicates that probably more than 450 wells will be drilled in the present campaign. In hardly a year's time it has caused the outlay of nearly $50,000,000 for drilling, and within the year 1929 it will have returned practically an equal amount of revenue. In contrast to conditions during 1923, when this field was once before an important and disturbing factor, the California oil industry has not been forced to refinance to meet the situation presented by such a large production of oil. There has been practically no unit selling and no stock selling, nor any unnecessary development far beyond the limits of the field. Production is now about 275,000 bbl. per day and gives every promisc of remaining at this figure or increasing to nearly 300,000 bbl. Six months from now the field should still be capable of producing more than 200,000 bbl. per day. Obviously, the need for conserving gas that would be blown to the air, incident to the production of so large a volume of oil, represents a problem in conservation deserving of the most serious attention of the oil industry and of the State of California.

Jan 1, 1930

The official Institute reports for the year 1929 were distributed in pamphlet form at the Annual Meeting, February, 1930, and were later included in Section 2 of Mining and Metallurgy, June, 1930, and thus made available to the entire membership. Membership In its report the Admissions Committee set forth the changes in membership during 1929, as follows: Total membership, Jan. 1, 1928, 8582; elected and placed on rolls in 1929, including 59 reinstatements, 509; loss by resignations in 1929, 88; loss by death in 1929, 110; loss by suspension in 1929, 37; membership at end of year not including Student Associates, 8856. Distribution of membership: Honorary Members, 16; Members, 6590; Junior Members, 38; Associates, 1041; Junior Associates, 1033; Rocky Mountain, 138; total membership, Jan. 1, 1930, 8856; Student Associates, 150; total including student associates, 9006. Treasurer's Annual Report, Year of 1929 Statement of Receipts For the year ended December 31, 1929 Dues: Arrears............................................ $ 3,501.75 Current............................................ 97,257.12 New Members...................................... 5,721.50 Advance........................................... 1,970.79 $108,451.16 Initiation Fees.................................................. 7,436.OO Magazine Receipts: Advertising Gross Receipts........................... $40,610.81 Magazine Sales..................................... 3,799.84 44,410.65 Sale of Transactions Current........................... $ 2,985. 15 Sale of Special Editions Current........................ 5,147.82 Sale of Back Transactions and Special Editions........... 4,186.93 Sale of Year Book..................................... 65.50 Sale of Authors' Reprints.............................. 2,585.40 Sale of Pins and Fobs.................................. 14.73 Sale of Technical Publications.......................... 1,451.55 Sale of Bindings...................................... 3,949.13 20,376.21 Net Interest Received: On Bank Balance and Temporary Investments......... $ 2,595.04 On Lie Membership Fund........................... 3,223.43 On James Douglas Library Fund...................... 5,425.61 On General Reserve Fund............................ 2,015.58 13,259.66 Miscellaneous Receipts........................................... 335.80 Total Receipts................................................ $194,269.48

Jan 1, 1930

Jan 1, 1930

[Separates of all the Technical Publications published in 1930 are available at Institute headquarters. All the papers are on file in public, university and technical libraries, and when so indicated in the list, may be found in the Transactions.] Metal Mining Technical Publi- Title Author Meeting Tran~. cation Volume No. and Page* 264-A.29 Quicksilver Industry in 1929. Im- L. H. Duschak San Francisco T30, 283, 319 provements in the Metallurgy of C. G. Maier and Oct., 1929 Quicksilver and Symposium on The others Present Status of the Quicksilver Industry (With Discussion) (37) 271-A.30 Observation on Ground Movement R. E. Palmer New York T30. 168 and Subsidences at Rio. Tinto Feb.. 1930 Mines, Spain (20) 274-A.31 Development and Installation of the C.L.Berrien New York T30, 139, 166 Hawkesworth Detachable Bit (29) Feb., 1930 276-A.32 Protective Measures . Against Gas 0. A. Glaeser New York T30, 129. 167 Hazards at United Verde Mine (11) Feb., 1930 287-A.33 Use and Cost of Compressed Air (12) R. S. Lewis New York Feb., 1930 314-A.34 Miami Copper Company Method of F. W. Maclcnnan New York T30, 39, YO Mining Low-grade Orebody (44) Feb., 1930 319-A.35 How Human Beings Respond to W. J. McConnell New York Changing Atmospheric Conditions Feb., 1930 (9) 324-A.36 Vertical and Incline Shaft Sinking at Arthur B. Foote San Francisco T30, 87 North Star Mine (21) Oct., 1929 32bA.37 Governmental Control of the Pro- W. E. Colby New York duction and Sale of Mineral Re- Feb.. 1930 sources (With Discussion) (16) 333-A.38 Some Recent Developments in Open- E. E. Hunner New York T30, 106, 117 pit Mining on the Mesabi Range Feb.. 1930 (25) 334-A.39 Mining Methods and Costs at Presi- V. D. Howbert El Paso dio Mine of American Metal Co. of R. Bosustow Oct., 1930 Texas (15) 339-A.40 Operation of Pressure Fans in Series W. 8. Weeks New York (8) V. 6. Grishkevich Feb., 1931 364-A.41 Top Slicing with Filling of Slices as H. Willey El Paso Used at the Charcas Unit of Com- Oct., 1930 pania Minera Asarco, S. A. (17) 373-A.42 Drill Sampling and Interpretation of H. T. Matson New York Sampling Results in the Copper G. A. Wallis Feb.. 1931 Fields of Northern Rhodesia (17)

Jan 1, 1930

By Francis N. Flynn

Many excellent papers, descriptive of the milling and smelting of every kind of commercial ores, the refining of virgin metals, the casting into various shapes demanded by the trade, the rolling into shapes best suited to the factory machinery and the making of composition alloys to suit every requirement have been issued by the many technical societies dealing with non-ferrous metals. It is a wonderful collection of papers, of which the mining and metallurgical engineers may well be proud, but strange as it may seem, metallurgists in general appear to take the stand that when they have delivered suitable alloys to the foundry and rolled products to the factory their duty to write papers has ceased, at least in so far as the A. I. M. E. is concerned. Still we read in the daily papers that the mining companies are absorbing metal-manufacturing industries. The purpose of this paper is to describe the reclaiming of non-ferrous scrap metals at manufacturing plants, taking as an example the automobile industry. Collection and Disposition of Scrap Until about five years ago, much of the factory scrap, with little or no preliminary treatment, was sold to secondary-metal smelters. Of late years the factory salvage department has become an important part, of the plant in reclaiming everything of value and incidentally does much of the work formerly done by the smelters. Like most good things, it is sometimes overdone, and much work is done at the factory with inexperienced men that could be done much better by experienced skilled labor at the custom smelting plants. Employees of the salvage department collect the waste products in all departments at the source and in that way avoid much contamination. Every reasonable precaution is taken to keep the scrap clean. It is hand-sorted, cut, burned, magnetized, concentrated, separated or compressed, as the case may be, preparatory for re-use in the plant or for selling to others.

Jan 1, 1930

By H. B. Smith, B. Egererg

In a previous paper1 the authors dealt with the physical properties of cold-rolled and heat-treated Britannia metal of the approximate composition Sn, 91 per cent., Sb, 7 per cent. and Cu, 2 per cent. It was found that cold rolling to more than 50 per cent. reduction produced a continuous softening of the metal when measured by the Brinell machine, whereas the Shore instrument indicated increased hardness; that the strength of the material followed the Brinell hardness and that the metal therefore became weaker the more it was cold-rolled; and further, it was found that hardness and strength could be largely restored to the cold-rolled metal by "baking" for about one hour at any temperature between 200" and 450" F., the melting point. The higher the baking temperature, the more effective was the heat treatment as far as increased hardness was concerned. It seemed to be of little importance whether the metal was soaked or not at the baking temperature for a great length of time and the rate of cooling seemed to be immaterial. The present paper deals with the same alloy and more particularly with the resistance towards various forms of stress — tensile, bend and deep drawing. The metallography of Britannia metal has in part also been covered and an explanation attempted for the abnormal behavior of this alloy. Tensile and Bend Tests Two ingots 73/4 in. wide, 11 in. long and ¾ in. thick were cast from the same pot. One ingot was cold-rolled in one direction to a strip 0.241 in. thick, which furnished the tensile test specimens; the other ingot was rolled in the same way to 0.253 in. and furnished the specimens for the bend tests. The ingots were cast as described in the previous paper and cold-rolled in six passes.

Jan 1, 1930

By F. P. Donohue

The observations and data presented in this paper are the result of extensive study of flowing wells, most of which were in the Maracaibo Lake Basin of Venezuela. The Lago Petroleum Corpn. had extensive production in this area, gas-oil ratios were low, and the problem was to determine whether by careful handling of the wells with respect to flowing conditions and by conserving the gas, the oil production of the wells could be maintained by natural flow until it had declined to a rate which could be handled with an ordinary working barrel, thereby avoiding the high cost of gas-lift equipment installation in the lake bed. The problem was complicated by the nature of the wells themselves. Production is from soft, comparatively unconsolidated sands, necessitating screen pipe in all wells. It was not only necessary to keep the wells flowing but to keep them flowing without heading, as the release of pressure upon making a head brought large quantities of sand into the wells, sanding them up or possibly cutting out the screen pipe. In furtherance of the plan of keeping wells flowing as long as possible, each well was equipped with a casinghead and tubinghead recording pressure gage, and an oil and gas separator set. About one-half of the wells were equipped with gas meters. All wells were tubed before bringing into production. Frequently individual gages were taken on each well. A large scale chart was plotted for each well, showing daily oil production, gas production, gas-oil ratio, tubinghead pressure and casinghead pressure. Any deviation from the normal was immediately checked and the condition remedied if possible. Theory of Flowing Wells Based upon considerable study of these records, it is believed that the flow of a well actuated by gas is mainly a problem in velocity, a certain minimum velocity in the flow string being necessary for the gas to carry the oil. If this minimum velocity is not obtained the oil drops back and the well heads or goes dead. The point of minimum velocity is of course at the bottom of the tubing, where the gas is under the highest pressure and therefore occupies the least volume. Some years ago when the success of the gas-lift at Seminole was so pronounced, there was considerable broadcasting of the statement that

Jan 1, 1930

By W. J. Reagan

THE problem of increasing output and decreasing percentage of rejections is a vital one in the manufacture of steel of any kind. The making of basic open-hearth steel for use in rolled steel wheels, tires for locomotive and car wheels, and forgings of various kinds, is a highly specialized industry. The increase in weight of railway rolling stock of all kinds, and the high speed that the public demands of transportation facilities, make it imperative that steel for use in this class of material shall be of the highest quality obtainable. During the past few years it has been the writer's good fortune to have opportunity-to study the defects in basic open-hearth steel, and also the results obtained by various changes in open-hearth practice, on such defects. The opportunity for study and the details available are rarely found in the manufacture of steel of any kind. It seems reasonable to assume that many of the results determined here can be applied to the production of steel of other types with a decided improvement in quality, a decrease in the percentage of rejections and an increase in output. All of the material described is basic open-hearth steel with the following range of analysis: carbon, 0.50 to 0.85 per cent.; phosphorus and sulfur, 0.04 coax.; silicon, 0.15 to 0.35; manganese, 0.50 to 0.75. All of this material is bottom-cast, therefore tapping and pouring temperatures are higher than in top-cast production. Ingots used in this type of work are of standard length with varying diameters. The ingot is known as duodecagonal, or twelve-sided. The standard body length is 88 in. and the hot top length, 14 in. Fig. 1 shows a typical ingot of this type. The diameter varies from 13 to 30 in. Ingots for special forgings, which cannot be made in molds of standard size, are made in molds of various sizes and designs. These ingots are sliced cold, into blocks of various lengths, depending upon the weight of the forging to be made. Fig. 2 shows the ingot-after coming from the slicing lathe. Just sufficient metal remains between blocks to hold the ingot in one piece while it is being removed from the lathe; then steel wedges are inserted between the blocks and the blocks are broken apart. This affords abundant opportunity for inspection, as the interior of the

Jan 1, 1930

By Perry G. Harrison

The first autlientic description of an iron bath for the deposition of iron is probably that of Bottger in 1846, who used a bath containing ferrous sulfate and ammonium chloride. In 1861, Kramer deposited iron from ferrous chloride solution. Electrolytic iron was produced in 1869 by Bietz, who used it for making some magnetic tests. In the same year, Klein is. said to have worked out his process. Jacobil in 1869 described the results obtained in electroplating with iron on copper for making dies and plates for bank notes, by Klein's process. A letter from Klein to Jacobi describes the bath more fully. It consisted of FeS04 + (NH4)2SO4. Lenz2 described some properties of electrolytically precipitated iron. He used Klein's bath, FeS0, + MgSO4 + MgCO3, to neutralize and obtained fine-grained and hard iron. His conclusions were as follows: 1. Electrolytic iron and copper contain gases, notably hydrogen. 2. The volume of gas absorbed by iron varies within wide limits, but it is easy for iron to take up very considerable quantities of gas. 3. The absorption of gas is principally in the first formed layers of iron. 4. When iron is heated, gas begins to come off below 100°, principally hydrogen. 5. Heated to redness, reduced iron oxidizes in water, in part at least at the expense of the oxygen of the water, decomposing it and setting free hydrogen, which is partly or wholly absorbed. Siemens,3 in 1889, was the first to propose a general process embodying a step for leaching a sulfide mineral with ferric chloride or sulfate and a step for regenerating the leach and depositing iron on a cathode in a diaphragm cell. So far as is known, Siemens did not carry out his patent

Jan 1, 1930