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By J. Earl Frazier, Howard A. Meyerhoff

It is not known when silica sand was first noticed along the north coast of Puerto Rico, but the first mention of its occurrence was made in 1922, by N. L. Britton,1 who described its presence in isolated patches extending from Loiza westward beyond Manati. Further observations were made in 1925 and 1926 by Meyerhoff,2 who extended the known occurrences still farther westward to the low hill belt in the Quebradillas limestone immediately south of Hatillo. The extraordinary purity of the sands, which in most localities exhibit no contamination from the non-siliceous materials surrounding them, was quickly appreciated, and the feasibility of utilizing them for the manufacture of glass was investigated, initially by the Committee on Mineral Resources3 and later (1936) by the Puerto Rico Recon-structionAdministration and by H. C. Ray, mining engineer of the Insular Bureau of Mines. In 1934 samples submitted to the Hazel Atlas Glass Co., of Washington, Pennsylvania, were reported to have the composition as shown in the table on column two. Appreciation of the quality of the sand prompted geological and quantitative studies of the deposits, as well as cornmercial investigations to determine the feasibility of utilizing it locally or on the mainland for the manufacture of glass containers. Distribution of the Sands The quartz sands consistently lie within the outcrop area of the Quebradillas limestone, the youngest of the Miocene formations in the Tertiary coastal plain that fringes the northern coast of the Island. Many of the deposits are closely associated with limestone outcrops, but some appear to be embedded in lagoonal sediments at some distance from rock exposures, and at least one deposit, near Dorado, has been reworked by waves and littoral currents. With this single known exception, the deposits consist of irregular, patternless patches of white sand, which have sharply defined contacts with the surrounding material. Although patches of sand are present in a 90-km. belt that is not more than 5 km. wide, extending from Loiza to Hatillo, they attain maximum size, purity and number in the north central coastal area between Dorado and Barceloneta. Fifty separate deposits have been mapped in Lago Tortuguero and to the south of it, some as small as 50 ft. in diameter but

Jan 1, 1948

By I. N. Knapp

Introduction.—The spccial object of these notes is to describe the mixing, testing, and use of mud-ladened water for rotary drilling in such a way as to make them helpful to the driller, the operator, or the engineer in solving his own special drilling problems. The structures, apparatus and tools used are indicated in a general way. No attempt is made to describe the art of rotary drilling; only such descriptions as are necessary to make plain the use of mud are given. The information is the result of actual experience in drilling in Coastal Plain formations. The materials encountered in the wells drilled were unconsolidated sands, gravels, and clays, in which thin layers of sandstones, shell conglomerates, and shales began to appear at about 1,200 ft, in depth, although one well was drilled to 3,018 ft. without encountering any cemented or indurated materials. Unusual Conditions.—-The general surface of the ground where the drilling was done being hardly a foot above mean tide, and the daily tidal variation being about 15 in., it was found necessary to plank over the sod surface with 3-in. plank to work from. A 30 by 30 ft. planked area was sufficient to carry the derrick with equipment and 2,500 ft. of 4-in. drill pipe stacked in it. The derrick was set up 3 ft. on cribbed blocking arranged to spread the load over the planking. The engine, bailers, and pipe yard were also carried on 3-in. planking. Drilling 0utfit.—This consisted of a derrick, 20 by 20 ft. and 84 ft. high, two 35-h.p., "oil country" boilers, one double 8 1/4 by 10 in. reversible engine, two 10 by 6 by 12 in. duplex mud pumps, one 15-in. rotary, "hoisting works" with chain drive, hoisting block with line, crown block with pulleys, rotary jetting swivels, hose, complement of tools, pipes and connections, and a mud mixer, with engine. Hydraulic Rotary Drilling Method.—This method of drilling is an adaptation of Fauvelle'sl invention made in France in 1833 for drilling

Jan 1, 1915

By E. Beril

This may be a most unnecessary paper—from what does crude oil come and how was it formed. Many people, inside and outside of the petroleum industry, believe that we have actually enough oil, and that we can easily produce very important products from this extremely valuable raw material. The writer believes, however, that the answer to this question concerning the parent material and the formation of oil is of broader interest, because it may be that from the answer to these problems it would be possible to get answers to other important industrial questions. Therefore, a study in this line seems to be justified, and the writer will submit some of the results which he has collected during more than ten years with many very capable collaborators, to whom his thanks may be expressed on this occasion. Older Theories There is no doubt that plants were the parent material of coals, but opinion is divided as to the parent material of crude oil and asphalts. One group of specialists believed that they were formed from dead fish. The hydrocarbons of crude oil were formed by the splitting off of CO² from fatty acids formed by the saponification of the fat (glycerides) of fish. Enormous quantities of crude oil are present in many places on the earth, very often in several nonconnected horizons at the same location. This could hardly be explained by the so-called "catastrophe theory," which states that fish died through the entrance of salt water into fresh water, and vice versa. Furthermore, this theory cannot explain the presence of aromatic hydrocarbons, which can be found in nearly all oils, especially in the oil of the Netherlands Indies, which has more than 50 per cent of aromatics. Geological and chemical observations both lead to the belief that the temperature of formation of asphalt, crude oils and coals, perhaps with a few exceptions, did not exceed 200° C. Chlorophyll and haemin derivatives, which decompose above 200° C., have been found in all these materials by Treibs and others. Thermodynamic considerations show that the temperature necessary for the conversion

Jan 1, 1938

By A. G. Suydam

Ancient as is the art of producing copper, so ancient is one of its eternal problems: refractories. Looking backward, in the light of present knowledge, clouded though it be, one cannot avoid a sense of profound respect for the patience, acumen and courage of those who have wrought so successfully despite difficulties, a more accurate understanding of which seems merely to accentuate. The problem of refractories arises from the necessity for constructing containers in which to bring natural ores into thermal solution in order to effect reduction and separation of the valuable metal content and free it of undesirable contamination while producing a waste slag. The very forces known to produce thermal solution of sufficient liquidity are necessarily destructive of exposed refractory linings in proportions varying inversely with thermal conductivity, directly with the porosity and ease of fluxing of the refractories used, and directly with the temperatures employed. Beyond this, mechanical forces are set up within the refractory lining incident to rapid heating or cooling, shrinkage at high temperatures, and unequal or excessive loading, that frequently pass the elastic limit, causing spalling or distortion. The effects of these forces are often accentuated by the necessity of providing at the same time as hot a bath and as cool a container as are consistent with fuel economy. Evolution in the Use of Refractories Clay Brick.—Fireclay and clay refractories had to yield wherever they were in contact with slags rich in basic oxides, first because of the combining power of those oxides with free silica and secondly because of the tendency of alumina to form either aluminates or alumina-silicates of varying complexity. Of no less importance, the incipient fusion point was low as compared with good clay brick of today, while the brick lacked strength at high temperatures. Expansion was slight, therefore it was difficult to make and maintain tight walls, roof, or bottom. However, the spalling tendency was low because of some of these properties and clay brick have retained their place in roasting furnaces, boiler furnace linings, and in the upper walls of some of the reverberatory types such as some refining, anode and wire-bar furnaces. They have served often and most efficiently for hot patching.

Jan 1, 1934

By W. O. Philbrook. K M Goldman, M. M. Helzel

RADIOACTIVE calcium has been used to learn whether calcium can be detected in iron saturated with carbon after it has been melted under CaO- A12O3- SiO2 slags similar to those used in the iron blast furnace. It was hoped that the radioactive tracer technique might make possible a general study of steelmaking reactions in which calcium or calcium oxide are involved. No calcium could be found in the metal under conditions which were favorable for the reduction of calcium, and it has been concluded that the calcium content of the iron was less than 6 x 10 - pct. Some of the problems encountered have been instructive with regard to pitfalls and limitations of tracer methods. Calcium oxide occurs in almost all iron- and steelmaking slags, and it is essential to the success of all commercial basic steelmaking processes. Calcium alloys are sometimes used in the deoxidation of steel and for the innoculation of gray iron. The element calcium is therefore almost as ubiquitous in the steel industry as are carbon and oxygen, but calcium has been thought to be completely immiscible with iron in both the liquid and the solid states.' It does not seem entirely unreasonable to Suppose, however, that some low concentration of calcium might exist in liquid iron under a basic slag with other conditions being favorable, just as silicon and other elements can be introduced into iron by reduction of their oxides from slags under appropriate circumstances. The radioactive tracer technique offered a more sensitive method than chemical analysis of testing this supposition. The reasons for interest in this investigation were strong enough to justify a recognized risk of failure. On the theoretical side, information on the distribution of calcium between liquid iron and a slag and the rate at which the equilibrium distribution is approached would contribute strongly to the general theory of slag-metal interface reactions. Furthermore, any evidence on the presence of calcium in liquid iron might provide a vital clue to the mechanism of the desulphurization of iron by slags. All of the reactions which have been proposed to explain desulphurization postulate that the sulphur ultimately becomes fixed in the slag as calcium sulphide, but the mechanism by which sulphur

Jan 1, 1951

By J. S. Hardison

In the fall of 1912, the appearance of water in the oil of the Nevada Petroleum Co., Coalinga, Cal., made necessary the installation of a dehydrating plant to reduce the water below the 3 per cent. limit prescribed by the agency. Unlike the mining industry, technical literature of the oil industry is limited and extremely unsatisfactory. Until the recent efforts of the Petroleum and Gas Committee of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, no concerted movement has been instituted to secure publication of papers dealing with the problems of the oil business, and because of the additional fact that dehydrating of oil has not been practiced in California to any extent up to comparatively recent time, it was found necessary to experiment in order to determine the most satisfactory plan for this purpose. It is easy to write regarding successful enterprises, but, while not SO pleasant, it is equally desirable to write of failures so that others may be saved the loss incident to such investments. The water in this oil occurs both free and as an emulsion. Free water easily settles out, but the emulsion requires treatment. So far as can be determined, the emulsion consists of globules of water surrounded and enveloped by a film of oil. Starting with this hypothesis the theory has been evolved that in order to break up this emulsion the water must be heated at least to boiling point, when an explosion takes place destroying the globule. Unfortunately, this condition was not recognized in the installation of the first plant, which was planned on the following lines: A heater was arranged so that all the oil from the wells could be heated before reaching the shipping tanks, these being already fitted with coils for steam heating. Tanks were filled with about 4 ft. of water, live steam was turned into the coils and the water brought nearly to the boiling point, when the heated oil was run in. This for a time was partly successful, but the length of time necessary to apply this heat was too great for practical operating.

Jan 1, 1915

By Carl Floe

A NUMBER of proposals have been made for the hydrometallurgical recovery of copper from flotation concentrates, but as yet no process has been developed that has demonstrated an ability to compete with the present smelting methods under ordinary conditions. The treat-ment of copper concentrates by hydrometallurgical methods is in general similar to that used in the present electrolytic zinc process and involves roasting, leaching with H2S04 solution, separation of solutions, control of impurities and electrodeposition. While many of these steps are simpler and more readily carried out for copper than for zinc, a number of inherent difficulties have prevented the general adoption of the process. To compete with smelting, the following problems must still be con-fronted, although many solutions for their have been proposed: (1) con-duction of the roast in such a way that leaching will give an extraction of copper comparable to that obtained by smelting; (2) regulation of the ferric iron content of the solutions during electrolysis; (3) disposal of the excess acid regenerated from the sulphates formed in roasting; (4) eco-nomical recovery of the precious metals from the leach residues. The roasting problem is largely one of preventing the formation of copper ferrites, CuO.Fe2O, and Cu20.Fe2O3, which are quite insoluble in dilute sulphuric acid. These ferrites are apparently formed' to a small extent even at low temperatures and above 650° C. their formation is rapid1. While it is possible to carry out laboratory roasts in such a way that less than 5 per cent of the total copper is present in the insoluble ferrite form, a closer temperature control is required than can readily be obtained in industrial furnaces. The flash" roasting effects and consequent high temperatures that occur as the calcine falls from hearth to hearth in the ordinary multiple-hearth roaster are probably largely responsible for the inevitable formation of some ferrites. The result is that in a commercial plant the extraction of copper would not average more than 90 per cent in a single 10 per cent H2SO4 leach. This is

Jan 1, 1937

By George Watkin Evans

During the past ten or twelve years, the average reader of newspaper and magazine articles has been led to believe that enormous deposits of high-grade coal exist in the northland and that these can be mined for practically nothing. But much of the reputed glitter and attractiveness of Alaskan coals disappears when viewed at close range. Many areas of coal-bearing rocks are widely distributed geographically from Cape Lisburne, on Bering Sea, to Admiralty Island, south of Juneau. Bituminous coal is found at Cape Lisburne, on the Bering Sea, at Five Finger Rapids on the upper Yukon, and at Herendeen Bay and Chignik Bay; lignite is found on the Kobuck River, along the Yukon River from points near the mouth to Tonakat, near Rampart, at Dawson, on the east shore of Cook Inlet, and in the Tanana Valley, 50 mi. south of Nenana. The Susitna and Matanuska Valleys contain coal ranging from lignite to anthracite, and in the Bering Lake district, there are coals ranging from semi-bituminous to anthracite. No effort will be made to describe all of these fields, but the writer will confine himself to the four principal fields, namely, the Nenana field! in the interior of Alaska, tributary to the Fairbanks district; the Matanuska field, in the Matanuska Valley; the Kachemak Bay field on the east shore of Cook Inlet; and the Bering River field, east of the mouth of Copper River. Nenana Coal Field The Nenana field occupies an area east of the Nenana River 70 mi. (112 km.) southwest of Fairbanks and approximately 50 mi, from the town of Nenana, which is located at the junction of the Alaskan Railway and the Tanana River. It is on the northern flank of the Alaskan Range and occurs within the foothills of that district. The elevations range from 1000 to 4000 ft. (304 to 1219 m.). Future developments may prove the field to extend from a considerable distance west of the Nenana River to the headwaters of the Tanana River. The coal measures are of Tertiary age and are probably Eocene. They are not badly deformed by folding, but portions of the field show

Jan 1, 1922

By M. R. Todd, J. Szekely

THE mechanism of carbon oxidation in steelmaking processes has attracted considerable attention in recent years. The generally accepted model postulates that the reaction between carbon and oxygen occurs at the surface of CO bubbles that originate at the suitable nucleation points and subsequently rise through the metal bath.1-4 Although this model describes adequately the behavior of open-hearth type operations, it is not a satisfactory representation of carbon oxidation in oxygen steelmaking processes since it cannot account for either: i) the very high rate of oxidation per unit bath area,or ii) the commonly reported shapes of the curves showing the dependenie of the oxidation rate on the carbon concentration. The very high decarburization rates commonly encountered in oxygen steelmaking processes need no further elaboration; some typical plots of the rate of carbon removal against carbon concentration, taken from a publication by Li, Dukelow, and smith,' are reproduced in Fig. 1. It is seen from the curves that the decarburization tends to decrease from a peak or a plateau once the carbon concentration falls below a certain value; in the experiments reported, this critical value ranged from 1.2 to 0.2 wt pct C. The apparent dependence of the decarburization rate on the carbon concentration indicates that within this region phenomena associated with the transfer of car- bon must play an important if not predominant role. Since the concentration of oxygen in molten iron at steelmaking temperatures (removed from the immediate impact zone) is only about 0.1 wt pct,6 it is clear that simple simultaneous diffusion of carbon and oxygen to the surface of CO bubbles could not account for the rate of carbon transfer being the controlling step at carbon concentrations as high as 1.0 wt pct. The purpose of this communication is to present an alternative model which may explain at least qualitatively the apparent anomalies mentioned and may stimulate further experimental work. The Physical Model. It is suggested that the principal mechanism of decarburization is the reaction between CO bubbles and an emulsion consisting of molten iron and molten iron oxide particles in the vicinity of the "slag-metal interface9'.* This mech-

Jan 1, 1968

By Joseph Jensen

California's outstanding contribution to unit operation is the plan of development now established for the North dome of the Kettleman Hills. Beginning April 1, 1931, the Kettleman North Dome Assn. will control the unified operation and development of 10,800 acres of proven and semiproven oil land, and at the same time the Standard Oil CO. of California will operate as another unit its fee land of 9460 acres of similar character. The holdings of the two companies are in a checkerboard mile-square pattern. In addition to this, 410 acres of land may yet be included in the Kettleman North Dome Assn. unit and 530 acres of land are definitely out of both units. The owners of some of this land have expressed their intention of cooperating in a reasonable way with these two units. Cooperative agreements are now in force as to most of this field. Under the definitions of a unit pool and a near-unit pool,' the operation at Kettleman Hills will be a near-unit operation, but because of the size of the structure and its proven highly productive character, the arrangement. concluded on Jan. 31, 1931, in the approval of the Kettleman North Dome Assn. Agreement by Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur and by California State Oil and Gas Supervisor R. D. Bush is of outstanding importance to the entire oil industry. No other major unit operation plans are under way in California at the present time. There has been some little discussion of a plan in the North Belridge field and a feeling that the discovery of oil in the Lost Hills field and also in the South Belridge field would necessitate consideration of unit plans. So few data are available for these areas, as to the land that should be included in such unit plans, that little constructive action is now possible. The beginning of drilling on the Middle dome of the Kettleman Hills also makes it an area deserving consideration for unit operation. All four of the above-named areas lie on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, in Kings and Kern counties, to the south of the

Jan 1, 1931

By E. H. Crabtree, J. D. Vincent

Probably no metallurgical process in the history of the mining industry has been responsible for such increased mineral production as has flotation. It has made possible the economic treatment of low grade and complex ores which, with the old methods of gravity concentration, would have been classed as worthless. Starting with the sulfide ores of copper, lead, and zinc, the process has been applied to almost all metallic and nonmetallic minerals. Today, the sulfides of the common metals not only can be readily recovered, but can be separated from each other. Thus, three or four mineral recoveries from the same ore, such as galena, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and pyrite, are possible. Molybdenite is recovered initially with copper sulfides and the two are subsequently separated. Flotation of metallic gold and of native copper and graphite is being commercially practiced. The carbonates of some of the base metals, principally those of lead, can also be concentrated. Flotation of the oxides, silicates, phosphates, and other so-called non- metallic minerals represents the greatest advance in the art in the last few years. Today, commercial plants are successfully treating such minerals as feldspar, garnet, ilmenite, muscovite, cassiterite, cement rock, fluorspar, phosphate rock, sylvite, and a host of others. Flotation of the various types of iron ores along with other concentration methods is today the subject of a tremendous amount of investigation on the iron ranges. EARLY PATENT HISTORY OF FROTH FLOTATION Although what we call the froth flotation process as distinguished from bulk oil processes was not used commercially until 1905, many investigators had recognized its possibilities long before the twentieth century. The principal patents issued throughout the years give us a method of recording early flotation history. BULK OIL PROCESSES: In 1860, William Haynes patented (British Patent 488) a process for separating oil-wetted sulfide minerals from water-wetted gangue minerals by agitating the dry ground ore with oil and then the mixture with water. In 1877, the Bessel brothers patented (German Patent 42, Class 22) a process where a mixture of graphite ore was mixed with 1 to 10% oil; after adding water, the

Jan 1, 1962

By Albert Sauveur

As director of the Division of Metallurgy of the Technical Section of the Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces, from August, 1917, to January, 1919, I devoted much time to the study of the steels best suited to the construction of aircraft. It became apparent at a very early stage of my investigation that the practice of builders varied greatly in regard to the number of different steels to be used, to the kinds of steels, and to their treatment. Some manufacturers employed as many as fifteen steels while the builder of one of the newest motors, favorably passed upon in the United States, assured me that two or, at the most, three kinds of steel was all he needed to produce satisfactory results. In the matter of treatment, the manufacturers were also greatly at variance.. Some treated their steel with considerable refinement, while others paid but scant attention to this feature. Some manufacturers case-hardened many parts, while others used the case-hardening process sparingly, if at all. Nickel-chromium steels were used at some works for case-hardening while at other plants this treatment was applied exclusively to carbon steels. Air-hardening nickel-chromium steel was used extensively by some and not at all by others. Considerable variance existed likewise in regard to the steels used for admission and exhaust valves. The conclusion was obvious, that no two manufacturers of airplane motors held like opinions as to the steels to be used or as to the treatment they should receive. Was it to be inferred from this that the many committees and associations that had been created, in part at least, for the standardization of aircraft steels had failed to make proper recommendations or that the manufacturers had ignored their recommendations? Confining our inquiry to the committees and associations that had dealt with this question in England, France, and the United States, it was found that in Great Britain the British Engineering Standards Committee, now the British Engineering Standards Association, had devoted much time to the problem of satisfactory standards for aircraft steels. In April, 1918, this Association presented a set of specifications

Jan 9, 1919

By Raymond Wilson

GRINDING costs are an important item in cement manufacture, and the cost of power is one of the large items in grinding costs. Even where power is of secondary importance, cost items dependent on mill capacity are influenced by the efficiency with which the mill uses power. Tube mills typify the grinding mills most generally used in cement plants, though other types are in use. Tube mills have been widely criticized as being extremely inefficient, and this feeling regarding them has led to many attempts to design more efficient grinding equipment. Other types may be an improvement over tube mills, but the improvement has certainly not been revolutionary, at least as applied to clinker grinding. The very fact that there is doubt regarding the relative efficacy of various types of mills is an indication that an adequate basis for an analysis of performance is lacking. The development of methods of analyzing mill performance has been hampered by the lack of a suitable method for measuring the work actu-ally done in pulverizing. There has been no acceptable standard to which mill performance might be compared. As a consequence, it was not known whether the margin of possible improvement in pulverizing operations was large or small. Even direct comparison of different types of mills was seldom possible because most plants had only one type of mill for each type of service. Comparisons between plants were difficult because of differences in the grinding characteristics of various clinkers. Some recent developments complete a chain of circumstances that place the cement, industry in a particularly fortunate position for the study of its clinker-pulverizing operations. Modern investigators of grinding phenomena have generally agreed that the best measure of mill performance is the production of new surface. For most materials this measure of performance is largely theoretical and has a rather remote connection with the practical aims of the grinding operation. In clinker grinding, on the other hand, surface area is intimately connected with the properties conferred on the cement by grinding. Moreover, the determination of surface area is rapidly coming into routine use as a test

Jan 1, 1937

By W. N. Best

Crude oil attracted attention because of its excellence as a fuel for openhearth furnaoes; for making crucible steel and brass; for melting copper, lead, tin, zinc, nickel, silver, malleable iron, gray iron; and for the production of steam in all sizes and types of boilers. For heating furnaces, mold-drying ovens, core ovens, ore roasters, calciners, hotair furnaces, sand drying, asphalt road work, etc., its superiority over other fuels is due to the fact that the heat is at all times under perfect control, so that a constant temperature may be attained and maintained at the will of the operator. This mcans a maximum amount and uniform quality of work. Crude oil is of two kinds, paraffine base and asphaltum base, and varies from 11 to 46 gravity BaumB. The light-gravity oil does not require heating before use; but oil of less than 20 gravity Baumé should be heated to just below its vaporizing point, in order to reduce its viscosity and to obtain the highest efficiency of combustion. Heavy California oil vaporizes at 230". F., Mexican crude oil at from 175" to 210" F., and Beaumont, Texas, oil at 142" F. Fuel oil vaporizes at 130" F. Scientific Installation Essential The burning of oil is an art based on science, and the "rule of thumb" should never be employed, especially in heating heavy crude oil. Thermometers should be used on both suction and supply pipes so that the fireman or smith will at all times know the temperature of the fuel. The indicators on such thermometers should be large enough to be readily seen by the operator, night or day. It is necessary to have an unvarying pressure of steam or air through the burner, to atomize the fuel. Also, the air used to support combustion should be delivered through a nozzle under the burner at a constant pressure. The oil pressure must not fluctuate; under no eircumstances should it vary more than 1 1b. The oil pump, which should be brass-lined, with the aid of the pulsometer and superheater, will insure a constant

Jan 1, 1916

By R. E. Zimmerman

ALTHOUGH flotation of coal is considered relatively new in the United States by coal-preparation engineers, actually it has been practiced to some extent for the past 30 years, It is practiced much more widely in Europe than in the United States. Commercial plants are operating in nearly all major coal-producing countries of the world. A froth flotation plant has been operating since 1930 at the Champion No, 1 preparation plant of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. Unfortunately the term flotation is widely used in the United States by coal-preparation engineers to designate dense medium processes of coal cleaning. As used here, flotation means those processes for cleaning fine sizes of coal in which the coal is collected in a froth or matte at or near the surface of a pulp. The refuse particles remain in the pulp. Two distinct types of flotation are practiced: froth flotation and agglomeration. FORMS OF FLOTATION The theory of the principles of flotation and of the physicochemical foundations surrounding this process has become a complex and scientific field and coal-preparation engineers contemplating use of flotation processes would do well to study the works of Gaudin, 2, 5 Taggart, 3 Zimmerman, 4 Wark, 6 Ralston, 7 Petersen. 8 Bulk Oil Flotation.-In this process the separation of mineral from gangue is accomplished by virtue of the fact that minerals of metallic lustre, as sulphides, or hydrocarbons, as coal and graphite, are wetted preferentially by oil in the presence of water and consequently pass into the interface between oil and water; while gangue or rock is wetted by water and remains in the medium. Beginning in 1860 with Haynes and later between 1897 and 1907, at least 25 patents were granted for bulk oil flotation. Large quantities of oil are required, generally 3 to 25 per cent by weight of feed, and recovery of such oil is a major problem. The Elmore process 3 (1901 and 1902) is an example of a bulk oil process, The Trent process (1902-25) has been used for the cleaning of coal on a commercial scale, According to E. W, Davidson 9 there were five such plants operating in the United States by 1925. They have since been abandoned.

Jan 1, 1950

By G. W. Toop

In a recent publication,31 Darken has derived an equation to describe thermodynamic behavior in ternary metallic solutions with compositions near pure component 1: Eq. [I] is understood to be a general equation, consistent with the ternary Gibbs-Duhem equation, which is proposed as a logical formalism in view of observed behavior in some binary metallic solutions31'32 rich In Eq. and am are constants obtainable from the 1-2 and 1-3 binaries. The parameter 023 may be determined from measurements on the ternary The purpose of this discussion is to compare Eq. [I) or [3] with other ternary formulations involving binary terms, within the regions of validity of Eqs. [I], [2], and [3]. First, the ternary point is considered to be at the intersection of two composition paths, one with constant N1 and another with constant N2/N3 as shown in Fig. 10. The terms in Eq. [3] may be related to the binary points shown by multiplying the first term on the right-hand side of Eq. [3] by N2 (1) /l -N1, the second term by the third term by and the fourth term by each multiplier being unity: It should be noted here that no suggestion has been made that either the binary or the ternary systems form regular solutions. However, Eq. [5] and hence Eq. [3] shows that the contribution made to the ternary excess free energy from the 1-2 and 1-3 binaries has the same form as for a regular ternary system.1 Before considering the term a23 for the above case, a second geometrical relationship is examined with the ternary point at the intersect ion of three composition paths with constant N1/N2, N2/N3, and Nl/N3, respectively, as shown in Fig. 11. For this geometry, ternary values of NZ and N3 in terms of the binary values shown may be substituted into Eq. [I]. Then by making use of identities of the form Eq. [6] contains terms that are similar to those in a ternary regular solution formulation34 based on the geometry shown in Fig. 11. Although at finite concentrations, unless the 1-2 and 1-3 binaries form

Jan 1, 1968

By H. M. Warren, E. J. Powell, A. S. Biesecker

In the past, steam engines were used in practically all cases for driving the machinery in and about an anthracite breaker, and hence few or no accurate data were available as to the power requirements for starting and operating the individual machines, which make up the complete equipment. It was impossible to segregate the power necessary to drive each individual machine, first, because the equipment was driven in groups, and second, because it was impracticable to obtain graphic, integrated, or instantaneous records of the horsepower used. As a result of these conditions, it was found, when individual electric motors were applied to the various machines, that more accurate and complete data were needed in order to provide motors of the proper power and design for the particular services to be rendered. In order to obtain the desired information, the writers made and collected a number of tests, from time to time, on the individual motor drives in electrically operated breakers, and as these tests have been of great value, it occurred to them that a paper giving the results might be of service to other engineers interested in similar installations. Table I shows the results of these tests. All the motors tested were of the three-phase, 60-cycle, 440-volt, induction, squirrel-cage type, except a few, which, on account of size and starting conditions, were of the wound-rotor type. The instruments used in making these tests were: An integrating watt-hour meter, a graphic ammeter, and a graphic voltmeter. These instruments were connected in each motor circuit, and a record of a day's run of 9 hours was obtained from each machine. From these tests, the running light load, the average all-day load, and the instantaneous peak readings in amperes, volts, and kilowatt input, were obtained. By means of the characteristic curves obtained from these motors at the factory, the power factor, the efficiency, and the horsepower output were calculated for each particular test. Starting tests were made by the brake-arm method, in which the torque in pounds was measured directly on a spring balance.

Jan 1, 1916

By Dr. O’Neil Thomas J., Donald W. Gentry

"We should be concerned about the future be- cause we will have to spend the rest of our lives there. " -Charles Kettering INTRODUCTION Since the early 1970s, there has been no economic phenomenon that has been more widely discussed or experienced in the United States than inflation. Al- though its precise definition and measurement are elusive, inflation has had pro- found and extensive impacts on the manner in which nearly everyone lives. It is painfully obvious to consumers that inflation is characterized by a continuing up- ward spiral of prices. In a capital-intensive industry like mining, those increases can be positively breathtaking. An interesting example is shown in Table 1. Table I shows that on a unit basis, the equivalent 1980 capital cost of Cuajone was over six times the cost of the adjacent and quite similar Toquepala operation completed in 1959. Such sobering statistics weigh heavily on the minds of executives who are contemplating major investments in new mining facilities. In spite of its monumental presence, inflation has usually been either inadequately covered or totally ignored in textbooks on engineering economy. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, but a contributing factor is the inherent difficulty in accurately predicting inflation. However, under certain conditions, inflation may become the most important factor in a mining investment, and it can rarely be safely ignored in capital investment analyses. DEFINING AND MEASURING INFLATION Defining inflation and related terms is relatively easy. Its measurement, how- ever, is the source of almost endless debate in economic and political circles. How- ever, much of that debate is not relevant to the scope of this book, so that only those issues which impact directly on the capital investment decision are covered in this section. Inflation is the general decline in the value of money as measured by what it will buy. It is clear, then, that the rate of inflation varies with the particular currency under consideration as well as the type of goods and services being purchased. One would find, for example, that the general rate of inflation relative to German marks

Jan 1, 1984

By James Aston

THE origin of wrought iron may be taken as coincident with the earliest record of ferrous products. The limitations of primitive methods of manufacture undoubtedly resulted in a material conforming to the general characteristics of what we now classify as wrought iron. Iron has been known from prehistoric times. It is frequently mentioned in Egyptian literature, and some samples in the British Museum are believed to date from 3733 B. C. Iron instruments, tools and weapons were used in Greece in 1400 B. C., and in Assyria and. Italy in 1100 B. C. History records their use in Central and Western Europe in 1000 B. C. And in Styria and Carinthia before the Christian era. The noted Pillar of Delhi is generally assumed to date from 400 A. D. The use of iron was general in Europe in the Roman Empire, and heat treatment of weapons and tools was then practiced. All of this early iron was the result of direct reduction from the ore. It serves to illustrate the ease with which the extraction may be effected, and to point out the well known principle that a malleable product of relatively high purity may be produced from high-grade iron ore at temperatures well below the fusion point of-the metal. The fact is also emphasized that there is no novelty in the seemingly ideal and constantly recurring attempts to effect direct reduction. Economic and engineering considerations have been dominant factors in dictating today's two-step practice in the manufacture of wrought iron and steel. Bear' in mind that all of this history antedated the blast furnace, and a knowledge and use of cast iron. It was only in attempts to get greater output by use of shaft-type furnaces, that cast iron was produced in Germany in the period 1300 to 1400 A. D. This was the result of longer contact with the carbon of the fuel, and higher temperatures in the furnace. This period marked the beginning of the existing two-stage operation, involving as the second step the refining of the. cast iron to a malleable product. For a time this was effected in small hearths not unlike a blacksmith's forge.

Jan 10, 1926

By Thomas Fraser, David R. Mitchell

THE primary purpose of the loading plant is to transfer the finished product from the preparation machines to the railroad car, truck, or barge in which it is to go to market. Secondary purposes of the loading plant are: to prevent excessive degradation of sizes during loading, to reduce segregation as much as possible, and to prevent excessive quantities of very good or off-grade coal from entering any one car. Nonuniformity of consignments is one of the chief sources of complaints by consumers and coal merchants. A properly designed loading plant will do much to reduce complaints and insure uniformity, not only from shipment to shipment but also in each individual consignment along the length of the car and in cross section. DEGRADATION IN STORAGE, LOADING AND SHIPMENT The object in loading is not only to handle the coal without breakage and segregation, but also to produce a well-trimmed load that will ride to its destination without spillage o~ breakage en route. The small sizes present in a car-of prepared coal as received by the purchaser consist of: missed small sizes not screened out in the preparation plant, breakage during loading, and breakage caused by handling en route. For domestic sizes of anthracite shipped from the Pennsylvania anthracite field to Atlantic coast cities, the dealers' loss because of breakage in loading and shipment amounts to from 2 to 5 per cent and for anthracite shipped to Middle West cities, the loss is 8 to 9 per cent. This difference is in part because dealers in the Middle West rescreen their coal more thoroughly than is usual in the East. One dealer handling Illinois No. 6 coal shipped from southern Illinois mines to Chicago reports an average size loss of 10 per cent when lump coal is unloaded with a fork. This runs as low as 5 per cent for carefully loaded coal and as high as 15 per cent for carelessly loaded coal. An Ohio dealer estimates the degradation in loading and shipment of West Virginia coals consigned to Ohio cities as follows: Pocahontas lump

Jan 1, 1950