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By R. W. Raymond

to same extent, the assumptions tinderlying Dr. Ilu?ley's con alusions. These amrrmptions are: that 'the loss of metal per million tons of trafffc, depends, first upon the circrtnistances under which the rail is worn; secondly, upon the proportions of its various constituents, ancl that the anlorlnt of loss is afEect~d by eacb constitnent in a cer tain ratio, so that if the circunlstances were the same for all tlie mils, the wear per nliilion tons might he upproxi91ately expre~sed by an equation of the form I + Cc + Pp + SR + Mm = R, io wtlioh I is an unknown valne, dependi~.rg on the quantity of iron (and other ingre dients not determined) in the rail, and assumed to be constant for all the rails ; c, p, s, and m are the experimentally determined quan tities of carhon, phosphorus, sulphur, and manganese, as tabulater1 in YIates VT and VII of Dr. Dudley's paper; and R is the experirnen tdlly dcterlnincd wear per million tons; while C, P, S, and M are onknown wfficients. In other words, it is assunled that the differ ence in wear is proportional to a difference in c, p, s, or m, and that the effects of a change in the amonnt of either are independent of the amount of the rest-—within the experinlental limit5 of the problem. It is also assr~med that sulphar, copper, and other ingredients, not determined, are qually present in all the rails, or at least {lo not affect the wear, since I is taken as constant. Dr. Dudley tacitly assumes the coefficient6 C, P, S, and M to be positive; and assigns certain valries to them, by means of which he redom t.he equation to the form I + Pa: = R, x being equal to cc + Es +Mm i Pp, or tjje uanjbe,. of so-called phosphorus units in the rail. But we do not have R directly given under constant circumstances. The varying weights (per engine, car, or train) and the varying epds, we must neglect for lack of data, and assume that in these rwpects the rails examined have been treated srlbstantially alike. But there remain the varying conditions as to track, which mnst he elirninsted. Dr. Dudley gives six clrlsses, four of which contain 8 rails each, and two 16 rails each. Beginning with the 6~st (tangent grade), take the mean of the figures expressing wear for that clam; and continaing tliis process through the other five, we obtain six expressions in quantity of loss 'by wear, which we assome tc, represent, in their differences, the varying conditions of the trarli, with respect to grade and direction. We now take the mean of these moans (giving double weight to the gmiip containing 16 ohwrvafieras). This general rnean is the 10 of metal per million tons of trafio for a rail of avorage constitution under mean ciroumstances.

Jan 1, 1881

By Persifor Frazer

Among the geological problems with wliicli the present PenufiyI vanirr Geological Survey has had to deal is the relative age of wries of atrata passing around and through the city of' Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, and Delaware counties. Rogers includes all these roclrs in 11is hypc~zoic series, and every student, so far as the writer knows, with one exception, has assigned to them a position beneath the Pobdam sandstone, or Primal" of that eminent and gifted geologist. So far as regards the srllall portions of this belt, to which it is the intention of the present paper to draw attention, even the oiie geolo-

Jan 1, 1881

By John W. Cloud

THE delivery of blows upon roadway structures by the locomotive engine at high speed, although long recognized, has, perhaps, not been a generally understood in severity, relation to speed, and cause as is desirable in matters of such importance. Some points of explanation, with illustrative diagrams, are, therefore, submitted to your attention, preparatory to a note on "Steel for Bridges," also submitted. In order that a locomotive may run at high rates of speed with-

Jan 1, 1881

By F. W. Gordon

The Whitwell firebrick hot-blast stove, for furnace use, may be seen in its three main stages of development in the accompnying drawings. Fig. 1 is the stove of 1869, the year in which it was thoroughly tested at the Consett furnaces, England; Fig. 2, the stove of 1876 and 1877, in which it was intended to reduce the cost by increasing the height; Fig. 3, the stove of 1880. Many modifications were made from time to time, generally in the direction of improvement, but the drawings illustrake the main features of progress. In the stove of 1869 the plan was to introduce the gas at A, and pass it up and down between each alternate wall, the air in the reverse direction, passing in at B. The friction in this stove was so great, owing to the restricted area of the passages and the many revervals of the gaseous current, that it was deemed imprudent to build the stoves higher than 28' 6". Another reason mas that the great importance of cleaning was carefully kept in view, and it was very difficult to operate any hand scraper even to this depth. For these reasons the 22' X 28½' stove held the field for several yearn. A slight change made from this was to the 18' X 40' stove, where the height was increased, but the dumber of walls diminished. In this stove the friction was somewhat reduced, but so was the heating surface, and although it cost a little lea it was not any better. The next important change, seen in Fig. 2, was by increasing the height to GO feet and keeping the full number of walls in the stove. The heating surface and mass were much increased in proportion to the cost, and the friction decremed by alterllating over and under two or more walls, instead of one, as formerly. This stove gave admirable satisfactiou, but, although the proper doors were provided, it was very difticult to clean, owing to the long (distance the scrapers lid to traverse. Stove No. 3 is a modification of No. 2. The great question was how to decrease the cost mithotlt impairing in any yaw the

Jan 1, 1881

By William Metcalf

William Metcalf, Pittsburgh, Pa. : In rising to discuss Dr. Dadley's paper, I feel somewhat as I did at the Baltimore meeting —that a "crucible" man has no right to interfere in a "Bessenier" discussion; yet having read the paper very carefully, I feel impelled to say something, for two reasons: First, because I believe Dr. Dudley is entirely on the right and having undertaken and partly accomplished a great work, he .is entitled to the help of all who have experience in these matters; and second, because the data given force me to colicur in Captain Jones's opinion that the analyses are incomplete, since they ignore sulphur, copper, nitrogen, and possibly other injurious elements. In an experience of fourteen years, and with probably more than a hontlwl tests, we have never found the chemistry and the of crucible steel to disagree. If in any cave a disagreement tins sp- . peared, it has been our invariable custom to go over all our physirtal testa with great care, and if we found no error, then to refer the matter back to the cherubt, who has invariably found some unexjmted element to account for the trouble. It is only just to the chemist to say here, that ordinarily be is only expected to determine phosphorus, silicon, sulphnr. Generally the metals, with the exception of manganese, are not looked for, although a watch is usually kept for copper and arsenic. Further, in most cases we have found our own work more liable to be faulty than the chemist's. Having arrived then at such a degree of experience that we can preJict the analysis from our tests, or our tests from the analysis, with almost absolute certainty, I can see no reason why the same results map not be attained in the Bessemer practice. But two things are essential, neither of which we have here; first, cornplete analyses; and second, a record of the nature of the blow, the heat at which the ingots were bloomed, and the mile finished,—in short, a complete history of the This latter is quite as essential as accurate and complete analyses. Dr. Duclley ignores sulphur and copper on fair enough grounds commercially speaking, bnt when he announces so gmve a conclusion as he has reached, in a scientific way, the omission of any elementn that, may affect the conclusion is hardly justifiable. His diEerenvcs of phosphorus units, which I milst term units of rottenness 83 fr os phosphorus is concerned, and which I am sorry be did not llama wnits of alloys,—are very small, and if eulphur and copper hod been inclurlid they might havo upset hie conclusions sitogether, The

Jan 1, 1881

Jan 1, 1881

By T. Egleston

THERE has always been a-theory among those working placer mines that gold is both found " rusty," and becomes so under treatment, by which they mean, not that gold becomes coated with oxide of gold, bat that it is either coated superficially or alloyed with sortie substanee 'which prevents the ,contact with mercury, and thus precludes the possibility of amalgamation. To such conditions of the

Jan 1, 1881

Jan 1, 1881

By W. J. Taylor

IN making heating gas with anthracite coal for roasting ore during the past few years, I hare tried many forms of gas generators. So far, the most successful and satisfactory one has been what we call a fluxing producer, which is simply a small cupola or blast furnace, in which we charge with the coal, say, 30 or 40 per cent. of basic blast-furnace cinder, to unite, when melted, with the ash or earthy matter in the coal, and carry it off as cinder. The producer we have in use at Chester, N. J., has pore of the lines of a blast furnace than a cupola, the hearth being 24 inches diameter and 24 inches high. It then enlarges on an angle of about 25 degrees from a perpendicular to 4 feet, and then is drawn into 3 feet on top ; total height, 12 feet. We use one water coil-tuyere 12 inches above the bottom, and blow through a 11/2-inch nozzle. The depth of coal above the tuyere averages about 6 feet. The producer. is blown with

Jan 1, 1881

By P. H. Mell

Can the auriferous slate deposits of the Southern mining region ever be successfully worked ? is a question that has been often asked me by persons seeking investments in Southern mines. As the subject is one that has given me much thought during the past few years, I have decided to present my conclusions to the members of the Institute for their consideration. Those who have had the opportunity of exploring the region mentioned above, will readily reall to mind numerous localities, to which their attention was directed by would-be miners, as "rich and desirable properties," in which there were but few quartz seams running in every direction through fine-grained talcose slate. Most of the gold in such formations was always found disseminated through the slate, and but a small percentage contained in the quartz. Such are the deposits I propose to discuss in this paper. Of course there are many excellent quartz mines in the South that are paying the owners good profits, and many more to my knowledge, that are not being worked for obvious reasons. But it is out of the question to suppose that these slate deposits can be practically

Jan 1, 1881

By A. W. Hale

In a work published in 1838, De Morgan, the author of the article on " Probabilities," in the Encyclopedia Metropolltimn, says: " The method of least squares is not yet introduced intb the affairs of common life,.....that many things which are denlonstrable only by the higher branches of mathematics are looked upon as useless." And he mentions an instance in which "a method was suggested for estimating the relative importance of boroughs, by considering their population and ~wntributions to the revenue con)-

Jan 1, 1881

By Charles B. Dudley

THEO. N. ELY, Esq., Superintendent of Motive Power. DEAR SIR: It is now nearly three years since my first report to you on the subject of steel rails was written. That report, as you will remember, dealt principally with the question of the relation between the chemical composition and physical properties of steel rails and their power to resist crushing and fracture in actual service. Other matters were referred to or touched upon in that report, but the main question was, Why do some rails crush or break in service while others do not? You will doubtless remember that the principal conclusion arrived at was, that the softer rails are less liable to crush or break in service than the hard ones. Or, in other words, so far as conclusions could be drawn from the chemical analysis and physical test of 25 samples of steel rails which had actually been in service, these conclusions were that those rails which have the smaller amounts of carbon, phosphorus, silicon, and manganese are less liable to crush or break in service than those which have larger amounts of these elements. Or, again, looked at in the light * At the Lake George meeting of the Institute in October, 1878, I had the honor of presenting to the Institute, through the kind permission of the officers of. the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the results of a study of twenty-five samples of steel rails, which had all been in actual service. Considerable discussion followed the publication of that paper, and there seemed to be a strong disinclination, especially on the part of the steel-rail manufacturers, to accept the conclusions presented. One of the principal objections urged against the conclusions drawn was, that they were based on too few samples; in other words, that no conclusions safe to act upon could be drawn from the examination of twenty-five rails. In view of this criticism it was decided to repeat the investigation with a larger number of samples, and with the aid of the experience gained in the first investigation. The results of this second study of steel rails are, by the permission of the officers of 'the Pennsylvania. Railroad Company, herewith presented to the Institute, with the sincere desire that they may aid in adding to our knowledge of this most important product. Like the previous paper, this is in the form of a report to one of the officers of the company, which will account for the style, and the manner of presenting the data

Jan 1, 1881

By C. B. Dudley

In a work published in 1838, De Morgan, the author of the article on " Probabilities," in the Encyclopedia Metropolltimn, says: " The method of least squares is not yet introduced iutb the affairs of common life,.....that many thi~gs which are denlonstrable only by the higher branches of mathematics are looked upon as useless." And he mentions an instance in which "a method was suggested for estimating the relative importance of boroughs, by considering their population and ~wntributions to the revenue con)-

Jan 1, 1881

By Charles O. Thompson

In 1867 the city of Worcester walled in the Mill Brook for its main sewer. This stream, one of the important affluents of the Blackstone River, flows through the city in a southwestenly course from Salisbury Fond, and along its valley a considerable part of the heavy manufactories of the city are placed. At two points, a mile apart, a sufficient fall occurs to be turned to account for motive power, and at many points it was the right and practice of the riparian proprietors, prior to 1867, to use the water for steam and other manufacturing purposes. But the

Jan 1, 1881

By Robert U. Richards

THE spitzlutte, as described by Rittinger, is an instrument by which sand is sorted in a continual upward-flowing stream of water. Its usual form is that of a pointed box, placed with the point downward, the box receiving its feed of sand and water on one side and discharging its tailings on the other. The sorted product or concentration is discharged at the bottom, at the apex of the box, through which it falls against an upward current -of water, which current serves to effect the sorting and separation. To make this exposure to the quicksand condition still more effective, an inverted dam is placed across the spitzlutte, which forces the sand in its passage from the feed side to the discharge to pass down into the more active portion of the upward-flowing current of water. In the form adopted for small tests in the mining laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (see accompanying sketch) the feed is through a central funnel instead of being at the side, and the apex of this funnel, extending down nearly to, the apex of the cone, takes the place of the inverted dam in the large spitzlutte. To keep the experiment perfectly under control a bulb or bottle is attached by a rubber connecting-tube to receive the concentrations, and between this bottle and the apex of the spitzlutte is placed -1 glass tube of conical form, with a side tube for the admission of water. By regulating the admission of water through this tube the concentration may be allowed to go down into the bulb as fast or as slowly as the richness of the ore seems to demand. This spitzlutte may be used on products that have been previously sized to take out the heavy mineral. As, an example of this a test was made upon a' sample of ore where the galena, blende, and quartz were much mixed up, but separated fairly when crushed. The sample of ore was from Newburyport, and assayed 16.50 per cent. lead.. After sizing through a series of sieves the ore yielded concentrations and tailings to the spitzlutte as follows

Jan 1, 1881

C. P. Sandberg, London, Eng. 1 think we should all be grateful to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and to their chemist, Dr. Dudley, for spending so much time and money in order to solve an important question; nor are me less indebted to the public spirit which leads them to impart tlie experience thus gained. In Europe nothing similar has hitherto been done, either by a company or by any private individual. In England the great railway companies employ their engineers in other ways, and do not keep a chemist or specialist to study rails; bat even if they did they would probably not publish the results. The chief professional engineers are so occupied with their private practice of railroad construction generally, that they cannot be expected to devote their time and energies to so special a question. The German Railway Union has, in my opinion, missed the real object of its elaborate researches by falling into the error of specifying costly, impracticable tests for rails—tests at the same time which do not infallibly expose the impurities that may be in the rails under examination. There has, therefore, been nothing done on this side of the Atlantic in the way of exhaustive study to determine the best composition for steel rails. America should consequently have full credit for the enlightened example which she has set. I wish, however, to make a few remarks on Dr. Dudley's second paper,—& paper which follows very much upan the same lines of argument as the first red three years ago, upon which I have previously touched in my pabr on the same subject read at the meeting in August last. If Dr. Dudley had discovered a new metal he could hardly, I think, have taken wore pains to prove that he was correct in his first formula for the best chemical colnposition of steel rails. But I hare seen so much done in the way of proof by experiment that I am inclined to think that almost anything can be proved by experiments and by satnples. If Dr. Dudley would only give up his formula, which would not suit any country—not even America—

Jan 1, 1881

By William Metcalf

ONE of the first questions that naturally occurs to one who handles steel is," Why does steel harden ?" To answer this question the chemist and physicist have devoted much thought and experiment, and while they have enriched our store of knowledge of the nature and composition of steel, it cannot be said that they have yet solved the problem involved in its hardening. In this communication I desire to direct attention to a line of investigation yet new, in the hope that it may receive the attention of those who have the time and ability to pursue it. I refer to magnetism. There are so many parallels between the action of magnetism on iron and steel and their behavior under different processes of manipulation that it would seem as if there must be some connection between the forces at work in the different cases, if, indeed, there be not an identity of force in all of these cases. Magnetism, as we know it, may be merely the visible manifestation of forces, which may serve as a guide to lead us to an exact knowledge of the structure, the strains, and the resistances with which we have to deal in iron and steel. If a magnet be brought close to a pile of iron filings, the little pieces of iron will fly to the magnet and attach themselves to it, with their longer axes lying in the direction of the force. If molten cast iron be poured into an iron mould,-a chill,-the iron upon crystallizing will form needlelike crystals, with their long axes normal to the surfaces of the mould. If the iron is at the proper temperature and the quantity small, compared to the mass of the mould, the whole of it will be chilled, or set, in' the hard needlelike crystals

Jan 1, 1881

By A. L. Holley

THERE are regularly manufactured in the eleven Bessemer steel rail mills of the United States, 119 patterns* of steel rails, of 27 different weights per yard. This list does not include patterns which, although still largely inn use, are regarded by experts as obsolete, and which would swell the number to nearly 300; nor does it include all, the patterns for which rolls are kept on hand to fill a possible demand; nor does it include extra pattern,- rolled in one finishing groove by opening or closing the rolls so as to get different weights with the same contours. The list embraces only those separate patterns which are subject to current orders. How thoroughly modern these patterns are, is shown by the fact that of the whole 119, there are but five patterns of conspicuously bad shape; all the rest more or less completely illustrate the standard features,-a heavy bead,. light web and flanges, and a good angle :to hold the fish-plate. Sixty-two per cent. of the patterns have the "Chanute" head, which was not designed until 1874.† Sixty-four per cent. of the 119 patterns are embraced under five weights per yard,; three only of these vary from standard type; there am thus 76 patterns, all of them modern and standard, to represent five different weights, for which five patterns would perfectly answer. Of the 60-lb. rails, there is only one of the pear-head type, while a dozen of the bevelled head templets cannot be distinguished from each other * From all the works 188 patterns were sent to me as standard. Of these I found 119 different shapes and 69 duplicates. † Since this paper was read I have seen at the Bethlehem Iron. Works the templet of a 68-pound Lehigh Valley rail, with the bevelled head, usually called the "Chanute" head, and marked "Templet of 1872." This is shown on Plate II. I learn that iron rails, with bevelled heads, were rolled at Bethlehem prior to 1870.

Jan 1, 1881

By W. E. C. Eustis

1st. THE fine iron ore is mixed with a sufficient proportion of fine coking coal, and is coked in any of the ordinary methods for making coke. The effect of this is to convert the iron oxide into sponge in such a shape that the usual trouble of oxidation is avoided. 2d. The resulting mixture of coke and sponge is melted down in an ordinary cupola, the coke furnishing more than sufficient fuel for that purpose. I may briefly point out here that in the first place the iron is sponged, and this sponge, as is well known, contain-, no phosphorus or silicon when the reduction takes place at a low temperature; and in the second place this sponge is melted down in a cupola in which there is no zone of reduction for phosphorus or silicon, and that con¬sequently the resulting iron should be free from both of these impu¬rities. 3d. The liquid sponge, now carburized, is run into an open-hearth furnace, where the requisite degree of hardness or softness is obtained by adding some of the fine ore, and the usual dose of ferronmanganose. I have merely given above the rough outlines of the process, but it is my intention, as early as possible, to bring the process more fully before the Institute.

Jan 1, 1881

By James P. Kimball

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

Jan 1, 1881