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By O. E. Kiessling

A GROWING uneasiness in the oil fields indicates that doubts are arising as to the efficiency of the present technical, economic and legal arrangements affecting production. Recent documents of the federal government, debates in state legislatures, editorials in the daily press and statements of oil company executives re-echo the notion that the present methods of producing oil satisfy neither the business man nor the public. Such intimations are of utmost importance, since oil is a vital clement in modern industry and dependence upon it increases as new uses develop. SECTION I-PRESENT SCHEME OF COMPETITIVE EXPLOITATION IS WASTEFUL The oil industry has convinced itself, for very good reasons, that the present scheme of competitive exploitation results in losses, both in terms of quantities of oil and in terms of profits. The story of these losses is familiar enough, and it is necessary only to distinguish and summarize briefly certain factors that are of importance to the following argument. Oil pools are exploited under a competitive economic system based on private ownership and contract; the hope of profits attracts capital and enterprise, and competition is supposed to serve as a regulative factor. Whether such a scheme of industrial organization works is partially dependent on the ability of the producer to withhold or produce is commodity as he sees fit, in accordance with the dictates of market demand.

Jan 1, 1927

BASIC open-hearth slags have no obviously unique features when compared with slags from other metallurgical operations. Open-hearth slags form and exist at temperatures ranging from 2500 to 3100 F (1370 to 1700 C). In the course of an open-hearth heat, the liquid slag changes slowly and continuously in chemical analysis-the changes reflecting changes in temperature, changes in metal analysis, solution of charged materials, solution of feed additions, and solution of refractories. Throughout the process, the slag performs specific primary functions that are responsible for a large measure of the technical and economic importance of basic open-hearth steelmaking. It is intended in this chapter to present the chemical reactions by which the primary functions of basic open-hearth slags are carried out, to describe the physical and chemical principles governing the extent to which these reactions proceed and can be regulated, and finally to indicate the limitations imposed on other features of the process by the fulfillment of the primary functions. Basic open-hearth slags perform three primary functions. First and foremost, the slag provides a means of removing phosphorus from the liquid metal. The ability to remove phosphorus is largely responsible for the widespread use of the basic open-hearth process. Second, the slag serves as a controlling factor in transferring the oxygen required for the other oxidizing reactions. Third, the slag provides a means of eliminating some sulfur from the open-hearth bath. While the extent of sulfur removal is not comparable to that of phosphorus, the ability to remove some sulfur contributes much to the value of the process. The effectiveness with which the slag fulfills its functions varies with temperature and composition. Since operating temperatures are fixed largely by the specified nature of the product and the equipment, .the speed and extent to which the functions of the slag are carried out depend largely on its composition. The necessity for regulating slag composition to accomplish the re-

Jan 1, 1964

By E. J. KENNEDY

FEBRUARY 15-18 will be the outstanding dates of the month for members of the A. I. M. E., for then the 141st Meeting of the Institute is to be held in the Engineering Societies Building, at New York. What with 41 technical sessions, the Annual Business Meeting at 4 o'clock Tuesday afternoon,, two sessions of the Section and Division delegates, minor committee meetings, and the many luncheons and dinners, the Dinner-Smoker, Informal Dance, President's Reception and the Dinner-Dance, the opportunity will be limited to do- more-than cast sheep's eyes at New York's other multitudinous attrac¬tions until the meeting is over. The technical program is diverse but well organized. The sessions are almost equally divided among the four days, with ten on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and 11 on Thursday. The meeting opens Monday morning with registration. Be sure to attend to this detail. Failure to do so may have its repercussions at the meeting and throughout the year.

Jan 1, 1932

By Robert H. Richards

The extent to which sizing by sieves should be carried, as a preliminary to the separation, by jigging, of minerals of different specific gravities, has been a matter of controversy for many years. The subject has been investigated by several authorities, yet the ground does not seem to have been completely covered, nor are the questions involved entirely settled. For my present purpose I shall refer to but three investigators—Rittinger, Munroe, and Hoppe. In seeking additional light, I have gone over part of the old ground which has been considered satisfactorily settled; and since these preliminary tests have thrown light on some points, they have been included in this paper. In the investigations here described, I have confined myself, for several reasons, wholly to small sizes—grains of 0.1 inch in diameter and less. Rittinger's work was mainly done upon larger sizes, and there is much need among millmen of information concerning the smaller sizes. Moreover, these sizes brought the investigation within the means at my disposal. The laws that have been claimed as the laws of jigging by the several authorities are: 1. The law of equal-settling particles. 2. The lam of interstitial currents. 3. The law of acceleration. 4. The law of suction. The first of these has been considered by investigators, generally, to be the most important of all, and the larger part of the work of jigging is thought to be governed by it. But that it does not cover the whole of jigging is clear to all; and to account for the increased efficiency which we may call the extra jigging-catch, the other three laws have been advanced. The investigation described in this paper was undertaken to determine, as far as possible, to what extent each of the four laws con-

Jan 1, 1895

By J. M. Roberts, D. M. Barnett

The activation energy required to break a pinned dislocation line away from its condensed atmosphere of impurity atoms is calculated as a .function of applied stress, without neglecting line tension. Reasows are presented for not assuming the effect of line tension to be negligible when considering the problem of freeing a small segment of dislocation from an impurity atmosphere. The dislocation is considered to he pinned at each atomic size along its length and the pinning points are assumzed immobile. The development is a refinement of the origznal cottrell-bilby1 theory. The solution is compared to recent approximations developed by cottrell3 and Haasen5 in which line tension con- IN 1949 Cottrell and bilby1 considered the problem of determining the force required to pull a dislocation away from its condensed atmosphere of impurity atoms. They also examined the effect of thermal fluctuations on this force. The dislocation line was pictured as bowing out in a triangular loop under the action of an applied stress, and the activation energy necessary to free the dislocation from its atmosphere was calculated as a function of stress, line energy, and dislocation-solute atom interaction. siderations were neglected. A qualitative explanation of the yielding process in terms of the activation of Frank-Read sources is presented, but the lack of a realistic solution to the dynamic dislocation problem involved prevents an extension of the model at present. A self-consistent correlation between the present calculations and experimental data for delay time associated with yielding and the temperature dependence of the upper yield stress was made. Favorable agreement was noted. It is concluded that extension of the original Cottrell-~ilby' theory which includes line tension effects can just as well describe the yielding process as other approximations3,5 which neglect line tension. Cottrell and Bilby found the form of the activation energy vs stress curves to be almost independent of the line energy and the interaction energy (i.e., these parameters only affected the activation energy U by a scale factor). A check of the theory was accomplished by comparison with the experimental data of McAdam and Mebs2 for the lower yield stress as a function of temperature. cottrell,3 in 1957, attempted to obtain a simple closed-form solution for the activation energy as a function of stress by linearizing the quartic equation relating displacement of the dislocation line and applied stress. It was argued that since the contribution to the line energy/atomic plane of a dislocation is made by the long-range stress field of the dislocation through a term of the type (Gb3/2p)ln A/ro, where

Jan 1, 1963

The Geophysics Education Committee has devoted several years to a consideration of the problem of training geophysi-cists. Past reports have dealt largely with fact finding and with the discussion of particular aspects of geophysical education. In the present report it is proposed to review the subject more comprehensively. This involves the question of what educational qualifications the geophysicist of the highest professional standards should possess, and the related question of what changes must be effected in existing educational institutions in order that prospective professional geophysicists may obtain instruction of the desired quality. The type of geophysicist here contemplated is one familiar with what is known already in the several branches of earth physics, and capable not only of following contemporary progress in any of these branches, but of contributing to that progress in a research capacity. Geophysics in its broadest sense, as has been emphasized repeatedly by this Committee, is the study of the physics of the earth and of terrestrial processes. This includes both the static and the dynamic characteristics of the gaseous, the liquid, and the solid portions of the earth, as well as its gravitational, thermal, and magnetic and electrical manifestations. Some branches of earth physics have been cultivated but slightly; others have reached an advanced state of development. Those branches whose development is sufficient to warrant explicit recognition in the form of organized Sections of the American Geophysical Union are: geodesy, seismology, tectonophysics, and volcanology, dealing with the rock constituents of the earth; oceanography and hydrology with the aqueous constituents; meteorology with the atmospheric constituents; and terrestrial electricity and magnetism with the electromagnetic manifestations. At present, instruction on the professional level in any of these branches of earth physics can be obtained in but few universities in North America. In most institutions where such instruction is undertaken different subjects are given in different and independent departments. Geodesy and hydrology are taught, if at all, as a part of civil engineering. The nearest approach to volcanology and tectonophysics ordinarily is represented by petrology and structural geology given

Jan 1, 1946

The Geophysics Education Committee has devoted several years to a consideration of the problem of training geophysi-cists. Past reports have dealt largely with fact finding and with the discussion of particular aspects of geophysical education. In the present report it is proposed to review the subject more comprehensively. This involves the question of what educational qualifications the geophysicist of the highest professional standards should possess, and the related question of what changes must be effected in existing educational institutions in order that prospective professional geophysicists may obtain instruction of the desired quality. The type of geophysicist here contemplated is one familiar with what is known already in the several branches of earth physics, and capable not only of following contemporary progress in any of these branches, but of contributing to that progress in a research capacity. Geophysics in its broadest sense, as has been emphasized repeatedly by this Committee, is the study of the physics of the earth and of terrestrial processes. This includes both the static and the dynamic characteristics of the gaseous, the liquid, and the solid portions of the earth, as well as its gravitational, thermal, and magnetic and electrical manifestations. Some branches of earth physics have been cultivated but slightly; others have reached an advanced state of development. Those branches whose development is sufficient to warrant explicit recognition in the form of organized Sections of the American Geophysical Union are: geodesy, seismology, tectonophysics, and volcanology, dealing with the rock constituents of the earth; oceanography and hydrology with the aqueous constituents; meteorology with the atmospheric constituents; and terrestrial electricity and magnetism with the electromagnetic manifestations. At present, instruction on the professional level in any of these branches of earth physics can be obtained in but few universities in North America. In most institutions where such instruction is undertaken different subjects are given in different and independent departments. Geodesy and hydrology are taught, if at all, as a part of civil engineering. The nearest approach to volcanology and tectonophysics ordinarily is represented by petrology and structural geology given

Jan 1, 1946

By S. R. Zimmerley, John Gross

The deductions drawn in crushing and grinding operations have heretofore been based on a separation of the products into various sizes. A crushed product may be sized by sieving, by elutriation and by aid of the microscope. To estimate the surface of each size the relation of the surface to the estimated average diameter must be assumed. Such a relation, owing to the irregularity of the particles, may involve two assumptions: First, a factor to convert average diameter to surface for one particular size; and second, a variation in the factor as the diameter of the particle changes. Obviously a surface measurement in which such assumptions and estimates are involved is questionable. In the first paper of this series1 a method has been given by which an accurate measure of surface of quartz can be obtained from its dissolution rate. By the use of this method, surface measurements have been made on a series of sieve sizes of crushed quartz, the results of which are given and discussed in this paper. Prepaeation of the Quartz Sizes The quartz, consisting of large uniform pieces with a density of 2.65 and a purity of 99.5 per cent. SiO2, was crushed to pass 20 mesh and was then sieved. Tyler standard sieves were used, the sieving being done by hand according to the proposed standard method submitted by the senior author to the Milling Committee of the A. I. M. E. A wet split of the sample was made on a 270-mesh sieve. This was followed by dry sieving until less than 0.05 per cent. of the weight of the sample passed through the sieve in 1-min. sieving. The +28-mesh material was discarded because that size did not contain the difficult grains from the 20-mesh sieve.

Jan 1, 1930

By Herbert H. Kellogg

DEPOSITS of high-silica kaolinite clays occur at many places in central Pennsylvania. These white clays were formed apparently by weathering of argillaceous quartzite and limestone. Their geology, distribution and use have been reported by Leighton.1 The larger deposits have been mined from time to time, and the clay, after washing to remove coarse sand, has found use as rubber filler, foundry clay, and in white cements. In general, the clay from these deposits contains too much grit (quartz) to be useful as paper filler, and the silica content is too high to make it useful as china clay for ceramic ware. Gravity methods for the separation of quartz from these clays have failed because of the extremely fine size of the quartz grains, but by the methods of froth flotation described in this paper these sandy kaolins can be made to yield a purified kaolinite that has a chemical composition close to that of good-grade Georgia kaolins, and is free enough from grit to be used as a paper filler. As by-products of the separation, a fine (-325-mesh) sand assaying 95.5 per cent Si02, and a very fine (-3-micron) clay are produced. The possible ceramic uses of these products are being investigated at The Pennsylvania State College. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The Sample.-The clay sample used in these tests was obtained from a small mine near Tyrone, Pa. It had already been washed to remove coarse sand, and represented the finished product of this small mine and washery. Microscopic examination showed that the clay was composed almost entirely of the minerals quartz and kaolinite, and that the quartz was present mostly in particles larger than one micron, while the kaolinite particles generally were less than 20 microns in size. The kaolinite and quartz particles were physically separable by blunging the clay in water with a suitable dispersant. Preparation of Flotation Feed.-By the addition of NaOH in an amount equal to 3 lb. per ton of solids, the clay was completely dispersed in water. Flotation feed was prepared by allowing a dispersed suspension (10 per cent solids) of the clay to stand for the period of time required for a 2.5-micron particle of quartz to settle from the top of the container to the bottom. After this settling period the suspension was decanted from the settled solids. The settled solids were redispersed in water and the separation was repeated once. The two fine fractions were then combined. Thus the clay was divided into a fine and a coarse fraction by size separation at approximately 2.5 microns.* The fine fraction was found to have a considerably lower sand content than the raw clay (Table I), and was not treated further. The coarse fraction formed the flotation feed for all the tests described in this paper.

Jan 1, 1945

By W. F. Wheeler

A discussion of the paper of W. F. Wheeler, presented at the Toronto Meeting, July, 1907 (Trans., xxxviii., 621 to 632). A. BEMENT, Chicago, Ill. (communication to the Secretary*):¬Formerly it was the general practice of engineers to designate coal that is free from moisture and ash as " combustible,", not-withstanding that it contains oxygen and nitrogen. The origin of this practice was more particularly due to the requirements in connection with boiler-testing, which demanded a consideration of that portion of the fuel which took part in the combustion-process because results based on a unit of either moist or dry coal were not comparable, since both moisture and ash were recognized as variable quantities. Thus, a pound of " combustible " became a standard of value, and was treated as a constant before employing measurements of heating-power and calculating therefrom the percentage of efficiency. The recognition of this term ." combustible" was an advance to be credited to the engineer .rather than to the chemist, because the latter, not having to do with the interpretation of analysis in practice outside the laboratory, usually saw no reason for reporting results in terms other than those of the moist-coal composition. Some years ago I needed a table of fuel-composition in terms of moist, dry, moisture-free and ash-free coal, and of the combustible components. This table required the use of the word combustible in its proper sense, for the purpose of designating carbon, hydrogen, and sulphur, instead of including these three elements with oxygen and nitrogen, to which aggregate the term combustible was formerly applied. To make such a tabulation involved either the use of the inconvenient and cumbersome term, "ash and moisture-free coal," or of some other representative term, and for this purpose I adopted the expression " pure coal," which is short, simple, convenient, and technically correct. It is also harmonious, because it agrees

Sep 1, 1908

By W. B. Hickman, J. J. Pickell, B. F. Swanson

Many physical properties of the porous media-immiscible liquid system are dependent upon the distribution of fluids within the pores; this in turn, is primarily a function of pore structure, liquid-liquiri interfacial tcnsion and liquid-solid wetting conditions. The cnpillary pressure hysteresis process provides a means of investigating the influence of pore structure upon fluid distribution for consistent sur/acc conditions. Invcstigntiot2s indicate that residual non-wetting-phase saturations /ollozuir,g the imbibition process (i.e.,wetting phase displacing nor2-wctting phase) are dependent upon both pore structure and initial non-raetting phase saturation and suggest that residual fluid is distributed as Discontinuous ,globules, one to a few pore sizes in dimension, thrnugh the entire range 01 pore sizes originally occupied. It clppears that air-mercury capillary pressure dala adequntely rellect the distribution of fluiris in a water-oil system when strong wetting condition preliczil. An oil-air counter-current imbibition technique has also been found to provide a rapid rneans of obtaining residual-initial saturation data. In a majority of cnses, rcsidual saturations detf-rniinecl from the oil-air or air-mercury process reasonably approximate residual oil saturation following water drive of a strongly water-wet medium. INTRODUCTION A reliable estimate of recoverable reserves depends not only on the amount of original oil-in-place but also on pore geometry and distribution of fluids within the pores. A critical parameter determining the recovery from a reservoir under waterflood, for example, is the amount and distribution of residual oil within the various rock types present. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanism of capillary trapping and assess its importance in laboratory measureqents of residual oil saturation. The degree of wettability of a reservoir rock is recognized as an important factor in waterflood or imbibition experiments. In this paper, however, only the water-wet case has been considered. Considerable experimental evidence1 suggests that for water-wet rocks, capillary forces predominate in tile distribution of fluids and that viscous forces in the range normallv of interest in the reservoir have a minimum influence on residual oil saturation. It follows that if the ultimate recovery is controlled by pore geometry, a unique residual non-wetting phase saturation should exist for a given set of initial conditions. Two laboratory procedures.found to be extremely useful in the study of pore structure and degree of fluid interconnection at various saturations are decribed. Although air-nercury capillary injection curves have been used2 previously to characterize the drainage case, the withdrawal or imbibition case can provide valuable supplementary data. The air-mercury process, however, has several disadvantages; it is difficult to run in a sufficiently accurate manner, mercury does not always act as a strongly non-wetting liquid and in the air-mercury process the sample is rendered unsuitable for future analyses. An alternative process is described in which air is the non-wetting phase and naptha, hentane, octane or toluene is the wetting phase. INTERFACIAL TENSION AND CAPILLARY PRESSURE Interfacial tension between immiscible fluids is due to the difference in attraction of like molecules as compared with their attraction to molecules of the neighbouring fluid. This net attraction results in a tension at the interface. To extend the interface; thus, interfacial tension s can also be thought of as free surface energy. Interfacial tension is normally expressed as dynes/cm, and interfacial energy is measured in ergs/cm2 hence, both have dimensions ml A 2 and are numerically equal.

Jan 1, 1967

By D. J. McAdam

Results of investigation of corrosion-fatigue of metals at the U. S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station have been presented by the author in four papers.1, 2, 3, 4 In those papers references were given to the work of Haigh in 1917.5 The investigation at Annapolis included a variety of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. The experiments showed that even slight corrosion simultaneous with fatigue may cause failure at stresses far below the ordinary endurance limit. The experiments also showed that, for most metals, severe stressless corrosion prior to fatigue is much less damaging than even slight corrosion simultaneous with fatigue. The term "corrosion-fatigue" was restricted to mean the simultaneous action of corrosion and fatigue. The combined effect of corrosion followed by fatigue was called "prior-corrosion fatigue." A stress-cycle graph representing corrosion-fatigue is a curve approaching a horizontal asymptote, the ordinate of which may be called a "corrosion-fatigue limit." To avoid confusion in later discussion, the term "endurance limit" will be restricted to mean the fatigue limit obtained by tests in air with specimens as free as possible from stress concentration and from corrosion. The cndursnce limit as thus obtained presumably represents an inherent property of the metal.

Jan 1, 1929

By D. J. McAdam

Results of investigation of corrosion-fatigue of metals at the U. S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station have been presented by the author in four papers.1, 2, 3, 4 In those papers references were given to the work of Haigh in 1917.5 The investigation at Annapolis included a variety of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. The experiments showed that even slight corrosion simultaneous with fatigue may cause failure at stresses far below the ordinary endurance limit. The experiments also showed that, for most metals, severe stressless corrosion prior to fatigue is much less damaging than even slight corrosion simultaneous with fatigue. The term "corrosion-fatigue" was restricted to mean the simultaneous action of corrosion and fatigue. The combined effect of corrosion followed by fatigue was called "prior-corrosion fatigue." A stress-cycle graph representing corrosion-fatigue is a curve approaching a horizontal asymptote, the ordinate of which may be called a "corrosion-fatigue limit." To avoid confusion in later discussion, the term "endurance limit" will be restricted to mean the fatigue limit obtained by tests in air with specimens as free as possible from stress concentration and from corrosion. The cndursnce limit as thus obtained presumably represents an inherent property of the metal.

Jan 1, 1929

By A. E. Gibson

A new feature in coal mining, where the coal is to be conveyed from a high to a lower elevation and the topography of the country is such as to preclude surface haulage.

Jan 1, 1915

By B. T. Wykoff

This paper describes an important function of mining in Southeast Missouri. The practice is a necessary procedure to prevent disintegration of the pillars. Although the technique is peculiar to this district, it might have application in other mines using room and pillar method. CONSIDERING the subject alone, this paper would cover only a mechanical treatise of pillar roping. Because the St. Joseph Lead Co. originated the practice, it is proper to give a short introduction to the company. It is also proper to describe pillars and discuss their purpose to justify expending large sums of money to preserve them after the surrounding area has been thoroughly mined. Because the St. Joseph Lead Co. originated the practice of back pinning with wedge bolts, patch plates and channel irons, and the pouring of substitute pillars of concrete, these too, are mentioned. The Southeast Missouri Division of the St. Joseph Lead Co. is the largest lead producer in the United States. About 95 pct of the present producing mines are in St. Francois County, which begins 60 miles south of St. Louis. The entire lead ore production of this county, at the present time, is mined and milled by this company, treatment plant capacity being about 22,000 tons per day. This area is also the oldest, lead having been mined at Mine La Motte, in Madison County, in 1723. Estimated production of all the various companies that have mined here is about 7,000,000 short tons of pig lead. Method of Mining The lead occurs in the ore as galena. Galena is found either in the form of disseminated or solid streaks, of varying thickness. Ore stratum is the Bonne Terre dolomite, which is about 350 ft thick, but almost all the ore is in the lower 100 ft. Ore is mined by room and pillar method in open stopes. These stopes vary in height from 7 ft to 200 ft, depending on the thickness of the pay ore in that spot. Back, or roof, is supported entirely by pillars. In a majority of stopes, after the loose scales are mined down, the back has remained solid for many years (fig. 1). Under ideal conditions pillars are spaced to form an equilateral triangle and are as small and as far apart as the height of the stope and the character of the back will permit. They vary in diameter from 10 ft to 50 ft and are from 18 ft to 50 ft apart, measured from the outer edges. In general, the pillars are approximately 12 ft in diameter, and 25 ft apart. The spacing is very uncertain because of the vagaries of the ore trend, the desire to better support breaks in the back, and the attempt to spot out the thinner ore by not placing one in the core of the ore body. Use of Structural Steel Channels In stopes where the back is bad because the overlying formations are thin with wet, weak and shaly

Jan 1, 1951

By B. T. Wykoff

This paper describes an important function of mining in Southeast Missouri. The practice is a necessary procedure to prevent disintegration of the pillars. Although the technique is peculiar to this district, it might have application in other mines using room and pillar method. CONSIDERING the subject alone, this paper would cover only a mechanical treatise of pillar roping. Because the St. Joseph Lead Co. originated the practice, it is proper to give a short introduction to the company. It is also proper to describe pillars and discuss their purpose to justify expending large sums of money to preserve them after the surrounding area has been thoroughly mined. Because the St. Joseph Lead Co. originated the practice of back pinning with wedge bolts, patch plates and channel irons, and the pouring of substitute pillars of concrete, these too, are mentioned. The Southeast Missouri Division of the St. Joseph Lead Co. is the largest lead producer in the United States. About 95 pct of the present producing mines are in St. Francois County, which begins 60 miles south of St. Louis. The entire lead ore production of this county, at the present time, is mined and milled by this company, treatment plant capacity being about 22,000 tons per day. This area is also the oldest, lead having been mined at Mine La Motte, in Madison County, in 1723. Estimated production of all the various companies that have mined here is about 7,000,000 short tons of pig lead. Method of Mining The lead occurs in the ore as galena. Galena is found either in the form of disseminated or solid streaks, of varying thickness. Ore stratum is the Bonne Terre dolomite, which is about 350 ft thick, but almost all the ore is in the lower 100 ft. Ore is mined by room and pillar method in open stopes. These stopes vary in height from 7 ft to 200 ft, depending on the thickness of the pay ore in that spot. Back, or roof, is supported entirely by pillars. In a majority of stopes, after the loose scales are mined down, the back has remained solid for many years (fig. 1). Under ideal conditions pillars are spaced to form an equilateral triangle and are as small and as far apart as the height of the stope and the character of the back will permit. They vary in diameter from 10 ft to 50 ft and are from 18 ft to 50 ft apart, measured from the outer edges. In general, the pillars are approximately 12 ft in diameter, and 25 ft apart. The spacing is very uncertain because of the vagaries of the ore trend, the desire to better support breaks in the back, and the attempt to spot out the thinner ore by not placing one in the core of the ore body. Use of Structural Steel Channels In stopes where the back is bad because the overlying formations are thin with wet, weak and shaly

Jan 1, 1951

By A. Martens

When I was honored with an invitation from the American Institute of Mining Engineers to present a paper at the Chicago meeting on the microstructure of iron, I hesitated about accepting, as the short interval that would remain at my disposal, after other pressing matters had received attention, could not but seriously affect the work of preparing such a paper. Unfortunately my fears have been realized and my work is neither completed, nor yet as comprehensive as I should desire. Mindful of my promise, however, and recognizing that 1 have reached a point where the results of my researches may prove suggestive, I am led to present them now, trusting that this brief explanation map secure indulgence for whatever deficiencies the paper may disclose. So far as my knowledge of published memoirs and treatises extends, microscopy cannot yet be said to possess a really firm foundation. In few cases only has any systematic development of the methods of investigation been undertaken, and broad gaps remain to be filled. It is not yet possible, therefore, to give a complete survey of the field, or, indeed, to supply a text-book on microscopic metallography. As Mr. F. Osmond, of Paris, a distinguished member of our profession, has undertaken to prepare for the Chicago meeting a historic review of the work actually accomplished I need not touch on that branch of the subject; but before entering upon my special theme, it may not be out of place for me to introduce certain explanations, as furnishing reasons for the course 1 have hitherto pursued, and to offer some suggestions for the further development of the methods of microscopic investigation. In microscopic metallography, the examination has to be conducted principally with incident light. Objectives of low power, in which the distance between the front lens and the abject is considerable, are adapted for directly incident light, and in such cases the relatively great depth of the image renders it possible to examine

Jan 1, 1894

By Paul M. Tyler

Mineral raw materials, because they are essential to our industrial prosperity and military strength, must be made available in substantial quantities regardless of cost. Variations in the cost of procuring minerals, as compared with the cost of obtaining other commodities, and changes in the cost of production of different minerals relative to one another, will naturally influence the quantities of a given mineral item that can be marketed readily. However, in the last analysis, the cost of winning minerals from the ground usually constitutes only a small fraction of the value of the end-use products and services derived from them. The miner's share of the cost of a typewriter, telephone circuit, or even a modem office building, is almost insignificant. Far more important to the ultimate consumer, therefore, than any minor saving in cost is the assurance of ample supplies of the minerals needed to aliment our expanding economy. To create a successful metal mining operation involves (1 ) the discovery and systematic development of a mineral deposit, (2) extraction of the ore, (3) the mechanical and metallurgical processing to eliminate worthless or harmful impurities, and (4) the profitable disposal of the product. The fist step of the technological process belongs chiefly in the realm of the geologist, the second is a mining engineer's job, the third is mainly up to the millmen and extractive metallurgists; whereas the fourth and equally important step poses a commercial problem that has aspects in common with the marketing of other products. Ore finding is far from being an exact science. There is no mathematical criterion for evaluating the efficiency of prospecting and exploration. Lady Luck shares the honors or assumes part of the blame along with the prospector and geologist. Marketing like- wise involves factors that seemingly defy engineering analysis. Although the other steps can be measured with some degree of mathematical accuracy, even they tend to vary so widely in basic principle, as well as in

Jan 1, 1964

By T. D. Yensen

IN the investigation of the magnetic properties of iron-nickel alloys,1 it was found necessary in order to make the alloys forgeable, or malleable, to add small quantities of some other element. Iron-nickel alloys have been known for nearly a century, but have been made in commercial quantities only since 1885. Their remarkable mechanical properties were disclosed by Riley in 1889 and from that time on a large amount of research work has been done both to discover new properties and to correlate the results obtained.2 Lately the Bureau of Standards has collected the published data in a special circular3 giving in compact form an account of the properties of the iron-nickel alloys. It also contains a clear historical sketch of the development as well as a selected bibliography. The chief difficulty with the development of iron-nickel alloys was that the "pure" alloys do not forge readily. The addition of small amounts of manganese, however, made the alloys forgeable, and manganese has therefore come to be regarded as a necessary constituent of nickel steels. The present paper shows to what extent manganese is needed for various nickel contents and also what is the effect of other alloying elements on the forgeability. It also touches upon the cause of forgeability but refers to other sources for more exhaustive treatises, on the subject. The alloys were prepared by melting electrolytic iron and electrolytic nickel with of without other alloying elements in the desired proportions in a magnesia crucible in a vacuum furnace under a. pressure of 1 mm. mercury. The ingots weighing about 2 kg. were allowed to cool in vacuo. If pipes or blowholes were present, the ingots were cut in such

Jan 1, 1920

By E. H. Bunce, E. C. Handwerk

The inherent difficulties of zinc smelting arise from the fact that metallic zinc is volatilized at the reducing temperature of zinc oxide and thus is liberated in the form of a vapor. This vapor must be subsequently condensed to obtain metallic zinc, first in molten and eventually in solid form. Zinc vapor is sensitive to oxidation not only by air but by combustion gases containing carbon dioxide. It is, therefore, necessary to carry out both the reduction and the condensation operations in a closed system consisting of an externally heated muffle with attached condenser from which extcrnal oxidizing agencies are excluded. However, the reoxidation of zinc vapor cannot be entirely prevented by excluding external sources of oxidation. Internal sources of oxidation are necessarily present when oxidic zinc ores are reduced by a carbonaceous reducing agent. The reduction reactions themselves involve, first, the production of carbon monoxide in an amount at least equal in volume to the zinc vapor produced in the reaction, and, second, the formation of carbon dioxide. Not all of the carbon dioxide is reduced again to carbon monoxide by the excess carbon in the time available, and the slightly oxidizing condition, which results, seriously affects the efficiency of the condensation of the zinc vapor to the metallic state. In the past the difficulties arising from these causes have limited practical zinc smelting on an industrial scale to the use of small retorts equipped with small condensers. The retorts had to be small, because a closed refractory container capable of excluding oxidizing gases from the heating chamber surrounding the retort could not be built in large dimensions. The size was also limited because ordinary refractories when thin enough to conduct heat readily are not capable of sustaining a heavy load of charge at high temperature. Moreover, a loose charge of zinc ore and carbonaceous reducing material such as fine anthracite coal or coke breeze is a poor conductor of heat, thus limiting the cross section of the retort. The operation of these small retorts requires arduous

Jan 1, 1937