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Discussion of the paper of Ralph Hayden, presented at the Butte meeting,. August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 80, August, 1913, pp. 1443 to 1467. JOHN V. N. Done, Denver, Colo.:-Mr. Hayden has placed the metallurgical profession greatly in his debt .for this valuable paper. The importance of such a complete description of the research work on which is based the building of a plant to add at least 10,000,000 lb. of copper per year to the production of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., at small expense, will be appreciated by all our members, and especially those who are facing similar problems. The information given in regard to the treatment methods discarded will be a great help to many workers, as it is often of as much importance to know what ? not to do" as what method to adopt. I Some further comment on the tests of the Dorr thickener may be of interest, as they have led to developments which I believe will prove of great importance. Before the Dorr thickener was installed, I had shown Mr. Laist reports from the Steptoe Valley concentrator, in which it was stated that one thickener 17 ft. in diameter was the equivalent in settling capacity of twelve 8-ft. cones, although the latter-contained double the surface area.. Mr. Laist, had made careful tests on the settling capacity of in 8-ft. cone on Anaconda slime, and we naturally expected the thickener would show a much higher capacity for equivalent area. When, is Mr. Hayden stated, the tests showed no increase, I realized that we were comparing it with a cone under test conditions, while the Steptoe results were based on operative conditions, find the explanation given by Mr. Waddell for the great difference had been, that " there is only one unit to watch instead of twelve, without the constant result of feed to twelve cones becoming unbalanced. Also the one 1 1/8-in. spigot used on the Dow requires no attention compared with the dozen 3/8-in. spigots of the cones.' I realized also as a. result of the tests that the total settling area required to handle the immense tonnage of the Anaconda company would be enormous, and very expensive in view of the housing required by Montana climatic conditions. After studying the matter over, I told Mr. Laist that I believed a thickener operating in a much shallower tank would have nearly the same capacity. I asked him to test it out in the same tank filled 3 ft. deep, and stated that if my idea

Jan 11, 1913

By E. P: Mathewson

Discussion of the paper of E. P: Mathewson, presented at the Butte Meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 78, June, 1913, pp. 1033 to 1037. PROF. JOSEPH W. RICHARDS, South Bethlehem, Pa. :-Speaking to the question of the development of the basic lining, and speaking from a somewhat considerable study of the history of the process, ,I think Mr. Mathewson's conclusion (in the last paragraph. of his paper) is perfectly justified and is very fairly stated. Messrs. Smith and Pierce worked at developing their process for many years ; copper men had been trying their level best to get away from the silica lining of the converters and had uniformly failed. On one page of Mr. Mathewson's paper we read that at the old works of the Anaconda Company, at Anaconda, the experiments " were abandoned on the score of cost and lack of advantages." On the next page, after describing the work of Messrs. Smith and Pierce, we have the statement that the Anaconda Company lined a shell with mangnesite brick and the ?results were excellent." I think Mr. Mathewson's statement that to Smith and Pierce belongs the credit of developing a long-discredited idea, is correct. C. D,. DEMOND, Anaconda, Mont. :-It seems to me that the matter of the lining is important; my impression is that they used tar in their basic lining and that did not seem to be at all successful at Anaconda, but silicate of soda was very successful. MR. RICHARDS :-I did not know that they- had abandoned the use of tar. MR. DEMOND :-I said I thought that was the practice. At Anaconda that was not at all satisfactory in the basic linings. Silicate of soda was very satisfactory and is so.

Jan 11, 1913

Meeting, Oct. -04, 1913.-The sum of $1,250 was directed to be sent to the International Engineering Congress, 1915, in accordance with the terns of the Institute's guarantee. It was voted to request the several Technical Committees to recommend names of their members as sub-chairmen and members of sub-committees to co-operate with the Bureau of Mines. The Finance Committee was empowered to send all members in arrears a notice that the provisions of the Constitution, by which they cease to hold the privileges of membership if their dues are not paid by Jan. 1, 1914, become operative on that date, unless the Directors vote to extend the time in each individual case. The report of the Nominating Committee, printed on page i, was accepted. It was voted that a notice to be prepared by the Committee on Increase of Membership and an application blank for membership be printed in the front of each Bulletin. The report of the Committee on Patent Law Legislation was adopted and the Committee discharged. The Budget of the Chairman and the Secretary-Treasurer of the Colorado Local Section for the balance of the present calendar year was accepted and an appropriation of $47.75 made to them. Upon the nomination of two members of the Committee on Honorary Members, backed by 13 members of the Institute who are not members of the Board of Directors, Dr. Frank Dawson Adams, of Canada, was unanimously elected an Honorary Member of the Institute. Upon the nomination of two members of the Committee on Honorary Members, backed by 11 members of the Institute who are not members of the Board of Directors, Mr. Ezequiel Ordoñez, of Mexico, was unanimously elected an Honorary Member of the Institute.

Jan 11, 1913

ALBERT SAUVEUR, Chairman. A. A. STEVENSON, Vice-Chairman. HERBERT M. BOYLSTON, Secretary, Abbot Bldg., Cambridge, Mass. John Birkinbine, William Kelly, J. S. Unger, William H. Blauvelt, Charles Kirchhoff, Felix A. Vogel, James Gayley, Richard Moldenke, Leonard Waldo, Henry D. Hibbard, Joseph W. Richards, William R. Walker, Henry M. Howe, C. F. W. Rys, William R. Webster, Robert W. Hunt, E. Gybbon Spilsbury, Frederick W. Wood. J. E. Johnson, Jr., The innovation of a special meeting under the auspices of the Iron and Steel Committee was well justified, if we accept as a criterion the number of papers presented at the meeting held on Oct. 16 and 17 in New York and the attendance at that meeting. Twenty-four papers were read, and most of these were widely discussed orally, while doubtless the written discussions will be even larger in extent. Discussions will be received up to Dec. 1, 1913. The attendance at the meeting of 106 members and 75 guests is an evidence of the wide anti growing interest in the Institute of men interested chiefly in iron and steel. It is especially interesting to note this large attendance at a meeting where very little of a social nature was introduced into the program. An informal dinner for the men at the Engineers' Club closed the meeting. At this dinner were present about 70 members and guests. One of the Vice-Chairmen and the Secretary of the new Committee on Petroleum and Gas told of the important plans in prospect of that Committee. Brief impromptu speeches by a considerable number of the members and guests were enjoyed. Professor Marburg reiterated his previous assertion that he believed that the Institute and the American Society for Testing Materials, as well as some of the other technical societies, were all fighting for one good cause; that there was room in the field for all of these societies with their various points of view; and that they should march shoulder to shoulder. The success of this dinner was due largely to the efforts of Mr. Johnson who had the affair in charge.

Jan 11, 1913

(Members are urged to send in for this column any notes of interest concerning themselves or their fellow-members.) Members who registered at Institute headquarters during September: William B. Phillips, Austin, Texas. Will L. Clark, Jerome, Ariz. Olof Wenstrom, Boston, Mass. Robert H. Richards, Boston, Mass. Anthony F. Lucas, Washington, D. C. Hennen Jennings, Washington, D. C. P. H. Griffin, New York, N. Y. Waldemar Lindgren, Boston, Mass. H. N. Lawrie, Portland, Ore. C. Snelling Robinson, Youngstown, 0. Clarence P. Linville, Everett, Pa. E. P. Ross, Johnson, Tenn. Members of the XII International Geological Congress who made the Institute Office their headquarters while in New York A. Bigot, Caen, France. E. Gentil, Paris, France. J. Caillebotte, Paris, France. H. Saint-Clivier, Paris, France. John Ashworth, Manchester, England. Tadasu Hiki, Kioto, Japan. T. Dahlblom, Falun, Sweden. L. Milch, Greifswald, Germany.

Jan 10, 1913

By P. H. Griffin

WHEN a subject, such as the manufacture and service of chilled car wheels, as has been fruitlessly discussed for ten or fifteen years, it is difficult to revive interest and action by the mere repetition of statements and arguments that have been made before. And when a situation involves serious responsibilities for conditions that have grown up under circumstances beyond the control of any particular individuals or authority, it is even more difficult to deal with. But there is one phase of every subject that need not involve these particular points if presented in a, proper manner; and that is, " the future state." I will try to present the subject of this communication from the latter standpoint and with the hope that all of those interested will feel disposed to give the matter attention from the basis that it is a, vitally important one to all that travel on railroads, whether as employees or officials, or as dependent on those in charge of the operation, or in the matter of materials and equipment used. The conditions of chilled wheel service have been changed so radically in the past ten or fifteen years by the use of freight cars of 40 and 50 tons capacity, that it is fair to say in the interest of all concerned in the use and in the manufacture of such wheels, that the increased strains and loads have been quite sufficient to account for much of the service results that have transpired. That proper provision was not made for increased possibilities of strength and wear, in fact that previous factors of the kind were allowed to deteriorate, is no proof that such wheels cannot be made equal to heavy service conditions as shown in the data given herein.

Jan 10, 1913

NEW MEMBERS. The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the month of September, 1913: Members. ANDERSON, ANDREW P., Min. Engr 908 Story Bldg., Los Angeles, Cal. ANDROS, STEPHEN 0., Min. Engr University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. BECKETT, PERCY G., Min. Engr Globe, Ariz. BLAIR, THOMAS S., JR., Prest. Blair Engrg. Co 343 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill. BOYLE, HARRY, Min. Engr S07 Lowman Bldg., Seattle, Wash. BRADEN, EUGENE B., Vice-Prest., Selby Smelting & Lead Co., Merchants Exchange Bldg., San Francisco, Cal. CHALMERS, JOHN W., Min. and Elec. Engr., Morro Velho, Villa Nova de Lima, Honorio Becalho Minas Geraes, Brazil, So. America.

Jan 10, 1913

By Clarence Linville

IN an article published in the Iron. Trade Review 1 I gave a convenient arrangement for the installation of wet and dry bulb thermometers for use in making moisture determinations in the air being blown into a blast furnace, and also gave a chart for use in obtaining moisture values from the thermometer readings. The data from which this chart was prepared were obtained from the tables in use by the U. S. Weather Bureau.2 The work of Carrier 3 has shown that these tables are somewhat in error. He has recalculated the values for moisture as referred to, wet and dry bulb thermometer readings, and he has prepared a psychrometric chart from the values thus obtained. This work has priced the subject of psychrometry upon a correct scientific basis. I think it is proper that we should recognize the importance of his work and give him credit for one of the most interesting and valuable researches that have been published in recent years. Blast-furnace men are not ready to use, as he suggests 4 a value expressed in grains of water accompanying a pound of dry air. However convenient this may be for heating and ventilating work and other engineering problems, there are several reasons for preferring the use of a value expressed in grains of water in a. cubic foot of mixed air and water vapor, in connection with combustion phenomena and the effects of moisture on blast-furnace operation. Previous papers presented to the Institute have used such values and we have

Jan 10, 1913

71 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, Sept. 22, 1913. CHARLES W. GOODALE, Chairman, . DARSIE C. BARD, ESQ., Secretary. Committee on Precious and Base Metals, Butte, Montana. Gentlemen The wonderful success of the meeting of the Institute held in Montana makes it necessary that some public acknowledgment should be made to those to whom this success is due. We are conscious that the securing of the great number of technical papers of lasting value and the carrying to success of most complete detailed arrangements for holding the meeting have called for several months of skilled effort on your part. The benefit of the meeting is very great and extends not only to those who were fortunate enough to be present, but to our four thousand absent members and their friends as well. To you and your associates on the Committee whose efforts have made this never-to-be-forgotten meeting possible we owe far more than can be expressed in votes of thanks. Very respectfully, CHARLES F. RAND, President.

Jan 10, 1913

By Robert Abbott

THE influence of various elements in retarding or accelerating the absorption of carbon during the process of carburization is fairly well known. In general those elements which forth carbides accelerate the absorption, while those which do not retard it. It has sometimes been wrongly stated that those elements which raise the temperature of the critical range increase the absorption, while those which lower this temperature decrease it. Silicon is a notable exception to this rule, for its influence is to raise the critical range but to lower the absorption of carbon. Some elements which do not form carbides have no apparent influence upon the absorption rate. Carbon itself retards the absorption rate. With a view to obtaining more exact data upon the subject the following experiments were undertaken : 208 steels of different chemical composition were selected to represent most of the types of modern constructional steels. Specimens 3 in. in diameter and in. in length were weighed to milligrams. They were then packed in the special carburizing box shown in Fig. 1, and kept in .the furnace for 10 hours at a temperature of 900° C. A duplicate experiment was conducted at 1,000° C. At equal' intervals of time the box was rotated in the furnace so that. two complete revolutions were made in the 10 hours. This precaution was taken to neutralize as much as possible any effect of unequal heating. At the end of the 10 hours the box was allowed to cool in the furnace with the doors open. The specimens were then weighed again and the increased weight (carbon) determined. In. the following table are given the analyses of the various steels, together with the. increased weight of .carbon expressed in milligrams.

Jan 10, 1913

By Richard Lee

SINCE the economics in the blast furnace resulting from enriching iron ores are so great, much attention, has been paid during the past few years to the various methods of concentrating lean ores, and, as the concentrated ore is usually of extreme fineness, various methods . of agglomeration and sintering, of more or less value, have been put 'into operation. The resulting agglomerated concentrates are generally obtained in the form of briquettes or nodules. The briquettes naturally divide themselves into two classes: (1) those made by the mixture of some binding agent, and then formed into briquettes under great pressure; and (2) those made by sintering the concentrates, the latter either being formed into bricks before exposure to heat or the sintered mass broken into fragments afterward. Of the first class I will not speak, as they are not used on an extensive scale in this country. The second class of briquettes, or those made by sintering, are simply masses of melted or fused silicate and oxide of iron mingled with more or less silicates of aluminum, lime, and magnesia. The fact that the material in a briquette is sintered is proof positive that there are no pores in the material. There are, however, quite a number of holes of greater or less diameter through the substance of the briquette. They are not pores in the common acceptance of that term as applied to ores by furnacemen, as the sides of the holes and channels are fused. In reality the material is simply mill cinder. It is practically untouched by the gases in the upper part of the furnace, and the iron has to be reduced by solid carbon in the boshes and hearth. Briquettes sometimes show a little saving in fuel in the furnace over an ore mixture of large lumps, but that saving is made simply because, owing to the numerous holes and channels through the mass, the briquette is practically composed of numerous small or fine lumps, and, as is well known, the finer the

Jan 10, 1913

New York Meeting, October 16 and 17, 1913.-The One Hundred and Sixth meeting of the Institute for the reading and discussion of professional papers will be held in New York City, on Thursday and Friday, October 16 and 17, 1913. Headquarters will be at the Institute office in the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West 39th Street. The sessions will be held in one of the assembly rooms of the building. Because of the many valuable papers on iron and steel obtained with the assistance of the Iron and Steel Committee, which papers could not appropriately be presented and discussed at the Montana meeting, this October meeting of the Institute is held for the purpose of reading and discussing these papers, most of which will be printed and distributed in advance. The members of the following societies have been invited to attend the meeting, and several have accepted and declared their intention of taking part in the proceedings: American Society for Testing Materials, American Iron and Steel Institute, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, American Foundrymen's Association. The meeting will be conducted under the auspices of the Iron and Steel Committee, and the latest revised program of the proceedings will be found on page xi, under the notes of this Committee.

Jan 10, 1913

By G. Howell Clevenger

FORMERLY great divergence of opinion existed in regard to the influence of copper in steel, as affecting its various physical properties. More recently the investigations of Stead,1 Breuil,2 Wigham,3 Burgess and Aston,4 Ball and Wingham,5 Miiller,6 Dillner,7 and others have shown fairly good agreement in the major points. Copper steel has been shown by these investigators to possess special properties which make it valuable for certain uses. The general range of composition of the useful alloys of copper and iron, and of copper, iron, and carbon, has been quite definitely established, for the former by Burgess and Aston,8 and for the latter by Breuil 9 and Stead.10 Stead 11 has removed one difficulty in reconciling certain of the earlier data by calling particular attention to the influence of carbon in copper steels. Another point which caused confusion in the earlier investigations, particularly in regard to " red-shortness," was the presence of sulphur. Failure to note the presence of sulphur often led to attributing " red-shortness " to the presence of small amounts of copper. Turner 12 has called attention to the fact that where copper exists in an iron ore it often occurs as the sulphide, so that the presence of copper in steel made from such ores might also, necessarily, mean the presence of sulphur. It is evident that the effect in this case might be quite different than where pure copper was added.

Jan 10, 1913

By W. A. Forbes

by the combustion of this gas as it reached the air was a familiar sight in the days when open-top furnaces were in vogue. As blast-furnace practice progressed, however, involving the use of hot blast and the development of power from the gas, blast-furnace construction was modified to conserve this gas for heating hot-blast stoves, raising steam under boilers, and various miscellaneous purposes. When the use of blast-furnace gas was extended to the driving of gas engines, the necessity for thoroughly cleaning the gas became apparent., and soon the advantages of also properly cleaning the gas for use in stoves and udder boilers became more fully recognized.

Jan 10, 1913

By H. R. Barnhurst

IT would be a difficult matter to trace from the beginning the very few improvements made in the burning of fuels prior to 1860. Doubtless the crossing of the sticks of wood in building a, wood fire early appealed to our savage ancestry as a means of expediting its effectiveness for their crude culinary purposes. Stones and andirons came later in assisting the admission of air to the under part of the fuel bed, while beacons and cressets utilized metal bars as supports for the same purpose. It is probable that Tubal Cain owed his success to the use of bellows making possible the use of mixed fuel and charge upon a hearth. With the development of working in east iron, grate bars cane in, and they are still with us doing duty in every household and almost every art where heat is a factor. Little was done beyond these crude methods prior to 1860. With the advancement of knowledge came the fuel-gas producer, a. natural child of the retorts employed in supplying illuminating gas. It is only within the last 15 years that the conclusion became general that complicated systems for saving heat would not remedy deficiencies in its primary development, and within that tine there has been great advancement in the means of producing initially fire of high efficiency, so that to clay we are moving rapidly toward loth high development and high absorption, with the resultant of high efficiencies. In studying the subject of the availability of pulverized coal as a fuel, it may occur to ask, why has this not come up earlier? This question would be naturally prompted by recalling the fact that Thomas Crompton's English patents upon his methods were issued to Min nearly 40 years ago. A conclusive answer to this, however, is that Crompton at that time had very crude facilities for raking what was at best a, very imperfect pulverization of the coal, and the expense of preparation was very great. He does not seem to have been aware of the advantage of a thorough drying of the coal in the

Jan 10, 1913

By G. K. Burgess

THE question of the allotropy of iron, in spite of a vast amount of experimental work and perhaps an even greater amount of theorizing, is not yet settled. That there is a definite transformation in iron near 900,° the A3 point, is generally recognized, as well as the fact that the temperature of this transformation is lowered by the addition of carbon and metallic elements. On heating, the transformation Ac3 is always found at a higher temperature than the transformation on cooling, Ar3. Whether the A3 transformation is sharp like the melting point of a pure substance, or extends over a considerable range of temperatures, embracing perhaps as a lower limit the A2 change, appears to be still an open question for pure iron. The nature and identity of the A2 transformation, it would appear from recent publications, has not yet been satisfactorily settled. In the present paper a critical, historical summary is given of the experimental investigations of the location of A2 and A.3 in pure iron, together with brief mention of some of the theoretical aspects of the subject, and an account is given of a series ?of experiments carried out with several samples of very pure iron which were studied by two methods of thermal analysis in the range from 5000 C. to 1,000° C., and which it is believed furnish a contribution of considerable interest as to the location and nature of the A3 and A2 transformations. Great attention has been given to the details of experimental manipulation and to the preparation of the samples, as it was soon found that some of the discrepancies noted in the work of many experimenters may be traced largely to lack of precautions which we have found essential. For example, to anticipate somewhat, it is necessary to provide a suitable practically gas-free furnace, the heating and cooling of which may be regulated to a nicety. To render a minimum the deforming effects on the cooling and heating curves of the poor conduction of the sample, it must be of a form and mass to pass on its heat rapidly and completely to the thermocouple; and finally the sample itself must be freed from gases which, if present, further mask the definiteness of the heating and cooling curves. We, have also varied within wide limits the several factors which may influence the determination of the exact location and shape of the transformation ranges, especially the mass and preparation of sample, rate of heating and cooling, design of furnace; and finally, as nearly as it is experimentally possible, we have worked with a substance approaching pure iron, free from occluded gases and other impurities, and contained within a vacuum.

Jan 10, 1913

ALBERT SAUVEUR, Chairman. A. A. STEVENSON, Vice-Chairman. HERBERT M. BOYLSTON, Secretary, Abbot Bldg., Cambridge, Mass. John Birkinbine, William Kelly, J. S. Unger, William H. Blauvelt, Charles Kirchhoff, Felix A. Vogel, James Gayley, Richard Moldenke, Leonard Waldo, Henry D. Hibbard, Joseph ANT. Richards, William R. Walker, Henry M. Howe, C. F. W. Rys, William R. Webster, Robert W. Hunt, E. Gybbon Spilsbury, Frederick W. Wood. J. E. Johnson, Jr., For the meeting of the Institute which is to be held in New York City, Oct. 16 and 17, 1913, the following program has been arranged: October 16, 1913, 10 A. M W. A. Forbes, Blast Furnace Gas Cleaning. W. H. Blauvelt, The Slagging Producer. Prof. F. Peter (Leoben, Austria), The Generation of Steam by Waste Heat from Furnaces. G. C. Stone, The Generation of Steam by Waste Heat from Regenerative Furnaces. W. R. Shinier, Over-Oxidation of Steel.

Jan 10, 1913

PUGET SOUND LOCAL SECTION. Executive Committee. CHESTER F. LEE, Chair roan. C. R. CLAGHORN, Vice-Chairman. JOSEPH DANIELS, Secretary-Treasurer, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. W. C. BUTLER. AL K. RODGERS. On the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 2, an informal dinner was held at the University Club, Seattle, Wash., at which the Secretary of the Institute was present, and a valuable and interesting conference took place concerning the recent activities of the Institute and the relations of the Institute management to the Local Sections. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LOCAL SECTION. Executive Committee. THEODORE B. COMSTOCK, Chairman SEELEY W. MUDD Vice-Chairman. FREDERICK J. H. MERRILL, Secretary-Treasurer, 300 Germain Building, Los Angeles, Cal. C. COLCOCK JONES. FRANK ROBBINS. Maintains headquarters at 300 Germain Building, Los Angeles, Members of the Institute are invited to visit these headquarters whenever they are in the city. A reception was held at the headquarters of the Section on Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 8 p.m., to meet the Secretary of the Institute and discuss Institute activities and affairs. Light refreshments were served, and about 20 members of the Section attended.

Jan 10, 1913

By George Stone

THE stack gases from regenerative furnaces are very seldom utilized for the production of steam. If the temperature of the gases is not higher than 300° C. (572° F.) there is no economy in their use for this purpose, as the amount of available heat is very small and the temperature is so little above that of the steam that the interchange is too slow. With higher temperatures of the waste gases, however, good results can be obtained. At the plant of the New Jersey Zinc Co. (of Pa.) at Palmerton there are a number of return tubular boilers, each 6 ft. in diameter and 20 ft. long, with 96 3.5-in. tubes, which are heated by the waste gases from the spelter furnaces. These furnaces have continuous regenerators heating the air only and the stack gases reach the boilers at a temperature of about 450°. The gas producers for one of these furnaces require 14 tons of anthracite (a mixture of Nos. 2 and 3 buckwheat), and the waste heat from the furnace gives a little more than 42 h.p. in steam. The boilers are not well adapted for the purpose, as they are much too large for the amount of heat going to them and the area of the tubes is not sufficient to take the gas from two furnaces without causing an objectionable amount of back pressure. The plant was built without any idea of using waste-heat boilers, and it was impossible to place the latter as close to the furnaces as they should be. Furnace and boiler are connected by an underground brick flue in which the temperature of the gas drops about 100°, losing 40 per cent. of its available heat. If the .boilers were close to the furnaces the horse power of each would be 70 instead of 42. Even under these unfavorable conditions the boilers have been very advantageous, as one boiler easily supplies the steam necessary for two batteries of producers. With such low gas temperatures the heating surface of the boilers is, of course, not as efficient and the flue areas need to be considerably larger than for coal firing.

Jan 10, 1913

By Ralph Wilcox

THE diamond drilling of certain characters of unstable rock forma-tion, as, for example, the copper-bearing schists of the Miami district in Arizona, is rendered most difficult by what is known as " caving" of the sides of the drill holes. As this caving is very greatly increased by the action of flowing water, it occurred to me, after experiencing a great deal of difficulty with caving in diamond-drill holes which I was drilling for the Miami Copper Co., that if I could substitute air for water, much of the caving-with resultant difficulties, such as decreased speed of sinking and increased consumption. of diamonds-would be overcome. After some experimenting, I found that it was perfectly practicable to substitute air for the water; forcing the air down the hollow rotating rods in the same manner as is done with water, the air passing out around the bit, which is thus cooled, and ascending on the outside of the rods to the collar of the hole, carrying the borings in just as satisfactory a manner as had been done by the water, but without the accompanying destruction or caving of the sides of the drill holes such as had been so generally experienced with the water. When water was encountered in the drilling this water was forced up to the collar just as it would have been had water been used in the .drilling, but with the correspondingly decreased flow there was relatively less washing or caving of the sides of the drill holes. The only change necessary in the arrangement of the drill is that a cross instead of a tee is used at the collar of the hole. A tightly woven jute bag is attached to one arm of the cross, for collecting and filtering the sample; and when drilling in dry ground a jet of water is attached to the opposite arm of the cross, to collect the dust and wash down the sample into the bag. The rods rotate through a stuffing box attached to the upper opening of the cross. The distention of the jute bag by the issuing air indicates the operating conditions as sufficiently as did the flow of water when using water in the drill hole.

Jan 10, 1913