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R. 8. MACPHERRAN, Milwaukee, Wis. (communication to the Secretary): The importance of carbon in pig-iron, as well as the desirability of buying, for some purposes, irons which are high in carbon, has always been recognized. Mr. Summers, I think, has given undue weight to the carbon-determinations. The combined carbon often decreases materially as the center of the pig is approached, with a corresponding increase in the graphite. Even the determination of total carbon, to be of service, must he supplemented by that of other elements. By it alone, the softness of a foundry-iron cannot be determined. Car-wheels and No. 5 iron, for instance, frequently contain 3.75 per cent. of carbon. This is the percentage specified by Mr. Summers for his No. 1 iron, " with the silicon about anywhere the furnace-man wants it." It is true that, other things being equal, the higher the carbon the softer the iron for foundry-use. But to introduce any given percentages of graphitic and total carbon into a pig-iron specification would but make the specification more complicated, without increasing its value in a commensurate degree. Mr. Summers does not believe in the governing of mixtures by the silicon, and, in support of his views, gives several tables. It seems to me that both his conclusions and his tables are somewhat unsatisfactory. He comments on the irregularity in carbon, but fails to note the significance of the irregularity in silicon..The variation of 0.7 per cent. in silicon, for example, is too great to be accounted for by difference in blast. It might better be attributed to bad grading at the furnace, unsystematic sampling, or irregular charging. Deductions drawn under such conditions are of little value. In ordinary work the castings from the same mixture should

Jan 1, 1899

By Henry G. Granger, Edward B. Treville

The Republic of Colombia is the northernmost country of South America. Its northern coast line exteilds from the frontier of Costa Rica to that of Venezuela, on the Caribbean Sea. On the west it fronts on the Pacific Ocean, along the Panama Isthmus, and down to Ecuador. It is bounded on the south by Ecuador, Peru and Brazil, which latter country with Venezuela form its boundaries on the east. Its area exceeds 500,000 square miles. It is deemed unnecessary to give here a map of the country. Fig. 1, a map of the department of Antioquia, studied in connection with a good modern general map of Colombia, will explain itself. Fig. 1 contains also some of the region of the Cauca valley, described in this paper. Access.—The interior of Colombia is reached through the ports of Sabanilla and Cartagena on the Caribbean Sea, each of which places is connected with the Magdalena river by a short narrow-gauge railroad, running respectively to Barranquilla and Calamar. From these points lines of river-steamers serve the ports of the upper Magdalena, which they reach in journeys of a week to ten days. After leaving the steamer, a short railroad journey, followed by a long and tedious mule-ride, reaches the cities of Bogota and Medellin. Quibdo, at the head of the navigation of the Atrato, and its most important town, is connected by steamer-service with Cartagena, by canoe-routes with the various districts of the Choco, and by mule-road, at present well-nigh impassable, with the heart of Antioquia. On the western coast the port of Tumaco is a starting-point for canoe- and mule-travel to the southern part of the department of Cauca, while Buenaventura is the port of the central section of the valley of the Cauca,

Jan 1, 1899

Jan 1, 1899

By Frank Firmstone

When in charge of the Glen don Iron Works, the importance of good methods of filling was forcibly brought to my attention, and it occurred to me that the first step toward the discovery of the best plans was the accumulation of exact information as to the distribution actually effected by various chargers; also, that something could be done in this direction by careful measurements in the furnace, to be afterwards recorded for comparison on drawings. The figures shown herewith have been prepared from such measurements, and nearly all of them refer to Glendon, where the fuel used was anthracite and the ore-mixture about threequarters of New Jersey magnetic ores and one-quarter of brown-ores from the vicinity of the works. Every occasion furnished by the blowing-in of furnaces was utilized, but the data accumulated rather slowly in this way; and, opportunity oEering to make special trials at no great expense, the figures from 2 to 7 were thus obtained. The trials were made by dumping a hopperful (6 barrows) of material at once into the furnace, and, when all the fuel of a round (12 barrows) had been put in, the profile of the upper surface was obtained by stretching a steel tape across the top on a diameter and at a known height. By measuring down from this with a graduated rod, the profile was easily obtained with sufficient accuracy, especial pains being taken to get correctly the crests of the ridges and the bottoms of the hollows, as many intermediate points being included as seemed necessary. This was repeated on another diameter when there was occasion. The same course was followed for the limestone and ore.

Jan 1, 1899

Jan 1, 1899

By Frank Drake

Manganese-ores are known to exist in the Caucasus in a number of localities, viz., in the government of Kutais, near the village of Chiaturi; in the same goverilment near the Choruk river, southward from Batum; and in the governments of Erivan and Tiflis. In smaller quantities they are found in various other places also. The first-mentioned deposits are by far the most important; the others being not only less extensive, but remote from present means of communication, and, from their character, expensive to work, although in some cases the ore is of a superior quality. All the manganese-ore now known in the market as a Caucasian " ore comes from Chiaturi, no other deposits in the Caucasus having been worked commercially; movements have been made, however, towards the exploitat,ion of some of those on the Choruk river. The Manganese-Ore District of Chiaturi. General Remarks, Statistics, Etc.—No other known deposit of manganese-ore can approach that of Chiaturi in capacity for producing large quantities of high-grade ore at a low cost. The deposit is said to have been discovered in 1848, by the geologist Abich, but the first shipments were not made until 1879, when 871 tons* were produced. Since that time, the production has steadily increased, until now the world relies on this deposit for about one-half its supply of manganese-ore. The industry is also of great importance locally, and aftords a livelihood to a considerable proportion of the population of the district in which the deposit is situated.

Jan 1, 1899

By H. M. Howe

The chief purpose of this note is to call attention to the triaxial diagram as a convenient means of illustrating the properties of slags, and by this example of its use to commend it to those inclined to graphical studies having other possible applications. Explanation.—In the common or di-axial diagram, the properties corresponding to any point are determined by its perpendicular distance from each of two axes. For example, in an ordinary stress-strain diagram the properties of a given point in the curve are, first, a stress cd so many pounds per square inch, because its perpendicular distance from the horizontal axis of the diagram corresponds by the vertical scale to that stress; and second, a strain or elongation of so many per cent., because its perpendicular distance from the vertical axis corresponds by the horizontal scale to that elongation. It happens that, as a matter of convenience, we habitually place these two axes at right angles to each other; so that our measurenieilts happen to be made not only at right-angles to

Jan 1, 1899

By J. E. Johnson

The description of the machine which coilstitutes the subject of this paper is best iutroduced by a statement of the conditions which led to its construction, which may be briefly given as follows : The ore handled at the plant to be here described* is of the variety sornetimes called by those familiar with the brown ores of the South, " Mountain," as distinguished from the " Lime-

Jan 1, 1899

R. W. Raymond, New York City: From a study of Mr. Johnson's paper, I conclude that his apparatus is simple in construction and operation, and imitates in a revolving machine the movements of hand-shoveling. It does what a man would do in removing sand from the waste-water with a perforated shovel. I am sorry to say that I fear the present condition of the brown-ore mining industry in the East, as long as

Jan 1, 1899

R. W. Raymond, New York City: In connection with the subject of multiple tuyeres, my attention has been drawn to the practicability of gaining, without the multiplication of tuyeres, the advantages which that measure is intended to secure ; and learning that this had been attempted in the invention of the Gaines radial-discharge or fan-shaped tuyere, I wrote to Messrs. Gustafson Brothers, of Sequachee, Tenn., who manufacture that tugere, for information concerning the invention itself and its performance in practice. To their courtesy I am indebted for most of the facts given below. I present these statements without expressing any personal opinion on the subject (having no personal knowledge of it), for the purpose of bringing this device to the notice of members, and calling forth both criticism and testimony concerning it. Admitting that definite advantages are to be secured by the multiplication of tuyeres, we must still confess that this change involves considerable expense in the increased number of blastpipes, tuyeres, coolers, connections, and pipes for water-circulation. There is, moreover, a serious question involved in the weakening of the furnace-wall by extra perforations. This consideration applies with special force to furnaces already built without reference to such an increase of tuyere-openings. Ledebur, in his Handbuch der Eisenhüttenkunde, says on this point (I translate from the edition of 1893, page 365): "A limit to increase in the number of tuyeres is given, in any case, by the circumstance that the perforation of the wall weakens it; in other words, that there must be left between the tuyeres a mass of masonry sufficient to carry the parts above. In most cases an appropriate number may be secured by giving to the furnace as many openings as there are meters in its circumference at the tuyerelevel. For instance, for a hearth-diameter of 2.5 meters, i.e., a circumference of 7.7 meters, seven or eight openings might be made, of which, however, one would

Jan 1, 1899

By James Douglas

As the operation of light railroads is important to the mining industry, the following statistics of the Arizona Southeastern Railroad may be of interest. When the traffic of the Bisbee copper-mines reached 20,000 tons per year the necessity of better transportation than that afforded by eighteen- and twenty-horse and mule teams became imperative on the score of both cheapness and convenience. Before deciding on the construction of a railroad, the Copper Queen Company made a thorough experiment in transportation

Jan 1, 1899

PROF. Henry Louis, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England (communication to the Secretary): I have read this paper with much pleasure. It presents a very accurate summary of a very interesting district. Like the authors, I was struck by the extreme General View, near French Co.'s Cyanide Works, Showing Horse-Whims, etc. flatness of this region, which looks strange to a gold-miner accustomed to other reef-districts. This prevailing absence_of relief in the contours is shown in Figs. 1 to 4, from photographs taken in August, 1897, some of which also show the horse-whims used here for hoisting. The flatness of contour is due, no doubt, to the fact that the rocks are similar in structure over large areas and are easily decomposed. I am quite at one with the authors in looking upon the so-called " placers " as the result of decom-

Jan 1, 1899

Ernest R.. WOAKES, Cana, Colombia: The allusion in this paper, under the heading " Mining on the Isthmus," to the Espiritu Santo mine at Cana is neither according to fact nor worthy of the most interesting and able summary of the mining districts of Colombia contained in the remainder of the paper. The following remark is certainly open to contention: "The most widely-known mine of this department is the Espiritu Santo, at Cana, a quartz-mine opened up in 1680 and abandoned in 1727 on account of the attacks of the Cana Indians. This mine undoubtedly produced great quantities of gold, although many of the accounts given of its ancient richness are probably exaggerated. In 1884 it was rediscovered and reopened by the Darien Gold Mining Company, and under the able management of Mr. Thomas H. Leggett, now prominent in South African mining circles, produced for a time successful results ; but later the veins became pockety and the output unsatisfactory." The mine here referred to, though situated at Cana, was not the Espiritu Santo mine, and was closed down in 1892. Mr. Leggett, however, ran ten stamps on the ore from it for some two or three months in the year 1890, when he left Colombia. The Espiritu Santo mine was not reopened by the Darien Gold Mining Company until the year 1894. For the last three years the ore from the old Spanish workings of this mine has been yielding in the mill 1 ounce to the ton, and has served to keep the mine going whilst extensive development-works have been

Jan 1, 1899

By B. F. Fackenthal

The earliest history shows that, in the reduction of iron-ores, natural draft was used to supply the blast, and that, when artificial blast was first used, it was supplied by leather bellows, usually made of skins, which were worked by the feet or hands, the blast entering the furnace through one tuyere or nozzle. The prehistoric bellows and its tuyere or nozzle are still in use in some form wherever iron is made. The original Durham furnace, built in 1727 at Durham, Pa., which was one of the earliest blast-furnaces in this country, was blown with a bellows, the power being supplied by a waterwheel. The old records show the purchase of leather at various times to repair the bellows, and mention the freezing of the water-wheel as one of the causes for going out of blast. In the early days of our iron manufacture but one tuyere was used; in fact, a cousiderable number of charcoal-furnaces continued to use but one tuyere down to recent years. I am

Jan 1, 1899

By William Hutton Blauvelt

An official of one of the prominent iron companies of the South recently made the following statement during a discussion of the present conditions of the Southern iron business: " The trouble with us in the South has been that we have been satisfied to buy iron and coal lands, build blast-furnaces, and make pig-iron. We stopped at pig-iron, and as a result we are all poor. The South needs diversified industries, and needs to work up its raw products into articles the Southern market can use. If we had realized this sooner, some of us might now be rich." The South is awakening to this view, and in the Birmingham district alone one basic steel-mill is already in operation, and in a year's time another and much larger one will be turning out rails and shapes, with rod- and wire-mills in prospect. It is to chronicle another metallurgical step forward in the same district that I have prepared the following description of the new by-product retort coke-oven plant recently put in opera-

Jan 1, 1899

Frank Owen, El Perú Venezuela (communication to the Secretary): Mr. Cragoe's accurate description of the rich and extensive mines of the Frontino and Bolivia Co. is of much interest to those acquainted with Colombian mining. While the labor in that part of Colombia is, of course, admittedly far inferior to that of white miners, it is,. nevertheless, decidedly superior to that available in other parts of the republic, and in the northern mining regions of South America generally. The Autioquenos have been miners for several generations, and many of those employed at the Frontino Co.'s works have been brought up at the mines, which is a distinct advantage. The ground encountered in the surface-workings of that district being very treacherous, they are skillful timber-men, every miner being able to put in his own timber in tunnels, stopes, etc., so that, except for the main shafts, where sawn timber is used, special timber-men are not required. In the shallow workings it is the custom for a miner to come out of the mine into the thickly-wooded bush and select and cut the timber he requires, which he will then take into the mine and put in

Jan 1, 1899

By C. W. Bildt

During many years of service in the iron and steel industry I have frequently found, as have also many other engineers, that the common devices used for feeding coal into gas-producers are not what they ought to be in order to secure the best economy. The hopper-and-cone so generally used is familiar to all, and a brief study of its action will surely satisfy everybody that this device has several serious faults. In the first place, the charging is intermittent, and depends entirely upon an attendant. When the hopper is frequently emptied, it may work fairly well, but even then it suddeinly discharges into the hot producers a large body of coal, which is often violently converted into gas that rushes into the furnace, and, as the damper for the combustion-air cannot be regulated every time the producer is charged, there will be an excess of gas, which goes up the chimney unburned. Between the chargings the quantity of gas generated decreases, and there will often be an excess of air in the furnace,

Jan 1, 1899

By Herbert C. Hoover

While the importance of the superficial alteration of golddeposits is recognized in pure science, it seems often to be singularly disregarded among engineers in practice. Its great practical bearing lies in the exploitation of new regions; and nowhere are the disastrous results of ignoring it more vividly shown than in Western Australia, where the impoverishment of the ores, and their frequent transition from free-milling' to refractory character in depth (things, as a rule, neither anticipated nor ascertained by exploration beforehand), have brought many companies to ruin, or caused the loss of much money squandered on machinery adapted only to temporary conditions.

Jan 1, 1899

By T. A. Rickard

The interior of West Australia is an arid table-land, elevated 1400 feet above the sea. This plateau is flanked to the south by the Tertiary limestones which fringe the Great Australian Bight. It is bordered northward by the Carboniferous beds of the Fitzroy river and westward by the granite of the Darling hills, while to the cast this wide area, about 900 miles square, slopes downward imperceptibly into an undulating plain of sand, which stretches with dismal persistence across the boundary of South Australia. The waters of the ocean receded from this tract of land long ago; it is probably the oldest landsurface on the globe, and represents the basal wreck of a much larger continent. Fig. 1 is a map of this region. The Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie gold-fields are situated in the southwestern part of the region. The rock-formation consists of granite penetrated by diorites and andesites. The latter are occasionally associated with tuff's, which have been readily mistaken for sedimentaries. There are no fossil-bearing rocks, such as would afford a datum-line from which to measure the relative geological age of the prevailing formation. On the extreme edges of the mining territory there are, it is true, remnants of sand-rock which are considered identical with the " Desert Sandstone " of Queensland, determined by Daintree to be of Mesozoic age. But even this formation has evidently been laid down so long subsequent to the underlying rocks that it serves merely to emphasize their much greater antiquity. In their characteristics and in their relations to each other, the granite and the diorite of the Coolgardie region appear to me much to resemble the Laurentian granite and the Huronian

Jan 1, 1899

By Archibald Blue

JUST one hundred years ago, in a paper read before the Royal Society of London and published in its Transactions, Rt. Hon. Charles Greville established and named the mineral species, corundum, the crystalline oxide of aluminum; and we have it on the authority of Professor Judd that in an appendix to Greville's paper the Count de Bournon correctly defined the crystallographic characters of the species. The names of its

Jan 1, 1899