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By Mario L. Villa

Argentina's oil production continues in its upward trend. The year 1940 closed with an important increase over 1939; that is, 1,996,371 bbl., or 10.72 per cent. The Government oil fields (Y.P.F.) are responsible for these results, as their total output was 12,474,655 bbl., which compared with the 10,222, 533 bbl. produced in 1939 represent an increase of 2,252,122 bbl., or 22.03 per cent. Fields operated by private companies yielded 8,134,882 bbl., against 8,390,633 bbl. in 1939, a decrease of 255,751 bbl. (3.04 per cent). To the total of 20,609,538 bbl. produced in 1940 in Argentina, the Comodoro Rivadavia field contributed 14,976,222 bbl.; Plaza Huincul, 1,275,814 bbl.; the Province of Salta, 1,845,1977 bbl. and the Province of Mendoza, 2,51I,475 bbl. Table 3 compares the output of companies working in Comodoro Rivadavia. The total increase of 186,819 bbl. (1.26 per cent) registered in the Comodoro Kivadavia area is due only to an intensification of development programs in the known

Jan 1, 1941

By Mario L. Villa

Argentina's oil production continues in its upward trend. The year 1940 closed with an important increase over 1939; that is, 1,996,371 bbl., or 10.72 per cent. The Government oil fields (Y.P.F.) are responsible for these results, as their total output was 12,474,655 bbl., which compared with the 10,222, 533 bbl. produced in 1939 represent an increase of 2,252,122 bbl., or 22.03 per cent. Fields operated by private companies yielded 8,134,882 bbl., against 8,390,633 bbl. in 1939, a decrease of 255,751 bbl. (3.04 per cent). To the total of 20,609,538 bbl. produced in 1940 in Argentina, the Comodoro Rivadavia field contributed 14,976,222 bbl.; Plaza Huincul, 1,275,814 bbl.; the Province of Salta, 1,845,1977 bbl. and the Province of Mendoza, 2,51I,475 bbl. Table 3 compares the output of companies working in Comodoro Rivadavia. The total increase of 186,819 bbl. (1.26 per cent) registered in the Comodoro Kivadavia area is due only to an intensification of development programs in the known

Jan 1, 1941

By C. T. Young, J. L. Lytton

In recent investigations,1,2 the strength and thermal stability of dislocation substructures prepared by 5 to 25 pct room temperature tensile straining and recovery annealing at 120°, 160°, and 200°C have been studied in randomly oriented polycrystalline high purity aluminum. The techniques of transmission electron microscopy revealed that a major source of the strength and stability of dislocation substructures was the formation, during room temperature straining, of well-defined cells bounded by dislocation tangles which rearranged into nearly perfect dislocation networks during recovery, forming the boundaries of subgrains. The strength of such substructures increases with decreasing cell or subgrain size,2"6 and the formation of fine subgrain structures can provide thermally metastable strength at low temperatures and can favorably alter the course of primary creep at elevated temperatures.7'8 For maximum benefit, however, sub-grain growth should be reduced or eliminated. It was, therefore, decided to investigate the use of heterogeneous precipitation on dislocation networks as a means of imparting increased strength and thermal stability to subgrain structures through effective pinning. C.T. YOUNG, STUDENT MEMBER AIME, and J. L. LYTTON, Member

Jan 1, 1970

Jan 1, 1882

By A. T. Shurick

THE NRA Administrator's casual reference to the coal code as the next "pineapple" to be fixed was a conservative estimate of his job. This thorny and adamantine morsel now looms as a critical test of NRA. A failure in coal supplies would have the gravest potentialities in the Administration's program at this time. And the loss of prestige from a breakdown of the enforcement machinery in this initial large-scale test of strength would accentuate the incipient indications of insurrection in other directions. General Johnson has had a difficult task. It involves problems festering for a quarter of a century. A succes¬sion of Presidents have been glad to tide over their respective regimens with inconclusive expedients; they have been baffled by the complexities of the technical angles and hopelessly irreconcilable concepts of powerful conflicting interests with large issues at stake.

Jan 1, 1933

Jan 1, 1880

By Marius R. Campbell

VARIOUS classes of coals are recognized in this country at the present time. These classes depend largely upon physical characteristics rather than upon chemical composition, and consequently they cannot be accurately defined. The divisions into anthracite, semi-anthracite and semi-bituminous are fairly satisfactory; but the term bituminous embraces so large a variety of coal that it is of little value, and the term lignite is so loosely applied that it has little or no place in a scientific classification. At present there is no way of accurately defining the vari¬ous classes of coal, because no adequate scheme of classification, which applies to lignites as well as bituminous coal and anthracite bas been proposed. The object of this paper is to present such a scheme, which is based upon data obtained dur¬ing the past year by Prof. N. W. Lord,1 in charge of the chemical laboratory of the United States Geological Survey coal-testing plant at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis. All the classifications of coals proposed prior to 1877 were based either on physical characteristics or on proximate analyses, including all of the impurities. These schemes were illogical and highly unsatisfactory, for the physical properties of a coal give little indication of its true composition; and impurities, such as ash and sulphur, are largely the results of acci-

Sep 1, 1905

By H. K. VAN POOLLEEN, W. Hurst, H. C. Bixel

In an earlier publication* I showed the development of the instantaneous point source solution for a well producing at a constant rate at the center of a system of two radial, adjoining sands of different permeabilities. I also showed how a wellbore radius could be incorporated if this were the development required. For the purpose of that paper and the point I wished to make, this solution served. It yielded a simplifying solution of sands in series identified by Eqs. VI-26 and VI-27. (These equations are reproduced in part by Bixel and van Poollen as their Eq. 3, Page 302.) I am well aware that the simplified solutions are approximations. The facts that these Ei-functions satisfy the diffusivity equation and meet the boundary conditions both at the well and at the interface between sands, and that the earliest time considerations yield zero pressure drop, are evidence that the solutions are good approximations. This was the purpose for these formulas, which I interpret that where the permeabilities are of finite order of magnitudes in the respective media, the relations give satisfactory answers. However, from the authors' point of view there are reservations, which leads me to consider their entire generalization as illustrated in their Figs. 1 through 14. What I understand from their storage capacity, relationship Fs, which is the ratio of the product of porosity and compressibility of Sand II to Sand I, that is employed here by the authors as a correlative means of identifying one figure from another, there is nothing in the exact mathematics that supports such a term as a means of correlation. This is taken out of context, unsustained that this applies. Here the mathematics are known, where the true correlation is the diffusivity term of one sand to another. This entails permeability that refers back again to the term M in their paper for the transmis-sibility of fluid from one sand to the other that should have also been a part of this storage capacity. In Figs. 8 through 14, which purported to show the simplified equation following this correlation, there are apparent discontinuities for M equal to or less than 0.1000 that differ from the trends for greater values of M. In this connection there is no reference radius given for this cumulative pressure drop in the paper that would permit me to make these calculations. However, what is clear for M equal to 0.1000 or less we are treated to almost a closed barrier at the interface; a condition entered by the writers without qualification. This across-the-board treatment of these simplified formulas, whatever the motive of the authors, enters into a range of permeabilities that even I as the contributor would have reservations that such could apply. Under comparable conditions I would be looking at a closed reservoir or some facsimile for such. The extent to which the approximation or the exact equations pertain is not evident in the generality offered by Bixel and van Poollen in their paper. Only when they or other writers show the comparison of the pressure distributions within the formations can one be able to judge the rational limits to subscribe to the simplified formulas.

Jan 1, 1969

Jan 1, 1968

By G. Thodos, W. F. Stevens

The point-source function introduced by Horner' us a solution to the general unsteady-state equation for the flow of fluids through porous media has been utilized to calculate pressure profiles for adjacent wells as a function of time. By trial and error, the time at which the pressure waves meet to cause interference can then be calculated. For this calculation, the time of interference is arbitrarily defined as that time when both pressure waves exhibit a pressure decrease of 25 psi ar the same point within the formation. To illustrate the method, an example involving two adjacent wells producing at different rates has been worked out and is presented in detail. INTRODUCTION The initiation of production of a new well is usually accompanied by pressure drawdown measurements in order to establish the extent and characteristics of the formation. The interpretation of such pressure drawdown data is based on mathematical developments involving a single well in an infinite reservoir. If more than one well is present in a reservoir, the possibility of interaction between wells exists. Therefore, care must be taken in interpreting the pressure drawdown data. It becomes important to be able to determine when this interaction, or interference, becomes significant. This paper presents a method for the prediction of the approximate time of interference between two such adjacent wells. The basic differential equation describing the pressure distribution existing during unsteady-state flow of a slightly compressible fluid has been solved by Hor-ner.' for a constant production rate from a circular homogeneous reservoir of infinite extent. The solution utilizes the point-source function to define the pressure at various points within the formation as a function of time. The resulting expression is: q = production rate, STB/D ,;= formation volume factor, dimension-less µ = fluid viscosity, cp k = formation permeability. md H = formation thickness, ft C - fluid compressibility, psi' F = formation porosity, dimensionless R = distance from centerline of well, ft T = production time, hours Ei(—u) = Ei-function of U Eq. 1 may be used to calculate the pressure profiles generated during production from a single well in an infinite reservoir.

RACAL COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS Henry McCormick, Chairman; David Watts, Secretary; H. H. Campbell, A S. McCreath, S H. Chauvenet, C. E. Stafford, George S. Comstock, Jones Wister, E. C. Felton, F. W. Wood, Harvey Fisher. CITIZENS' RECEPTION COMMITTEE Governor H. M. Hoyt, Hon John C. Herman, Hon Simon Cameron, Hon. J. D. Cameron, W T. Hildrup, Charles L. Bailey, W. W. Jennings, Lane S. Hart, H. U. Carter, Gilliard Dock, T. T Wierman, Jr, James Boyd, D. L. Jauss, Dr. T J. Dunott, S. C. Gilbert. William J Rose, James Lynah, Dr. H. B Buehler, William N Lamberton, John Wister, G. M. McCauley, David Fleming, John Q. Donney, M. E. Olmsted, H. S Gross, Henry Gilbert. John B. McPherson, Lyman D. Gilbert, F. W. Forman, L. S. Bent, A. J. Dull, F. R. Leib, Dr. G. W. Belly, James McCormick. The opening session of the meeting was held in the hall. of the Young Men's Christian Association, on Tuesday evening, October 25th. Mr. Jones Wister, of the Local Committee of Arrangements, introduced the Hon. John C. Herman, mayor, who, in a brief address, extended to the members present a welcome to the city, of Harrisburg ; Lieutenant Governor Stone made an address of welcome on behalf of Governor Hoyt and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. President Metcalf responded, on behalf of the Institute, to the cordial addresses of the mayor and lieutenant-governor. The following persons proposed for members and associates of the Institute, and recommended by the Council, were unanimously elected :* MEMBERS. William F. Aldrich, - Montevallo, Shelby Co., Ala. George H Blake, - Steelton, Dauphin Co., Pa. L. Bertram Cady, - Salisbury, N. C. John B. Church, - Pottsville, Pa. Walter S. Church, - Pottsville, Pa, Frank L Clark, - Pittsburgh, Pa. * In the following list are included those elected at a subsequent session of this meeting.

Jan 1, 1882

By J. C. Detweiler

THE Jacksonville plant of Humphreys Gold Corp., operating under leases from National Lead Co. and Rutile Mining Co. of Florida, recovers rutile, ilmenite, zircon, and monazite from an ancient beach deposit containing about 2.5 pct of these minerals in combination. The location of the plant is unique, being situated about ten miles from the center of Jacksonville, Fla., surrounded by a thriving suburb. Two four-lane highways pass within 1 ½ miles of the plant. An expressway now under construction will pass over the tailing pile, within 500 ft of the mine office. The elevation at the plant site is approximately 50 ft above sea level. This is one of two mines producing titanium minerals and zircon in Florida. Another mine is also operated by Humphreys at Starke, about 50 miles southeast of Jacksonville. The Jacksonville deposit extends about six miles in a north-south direction, averaging approximately one half mile wide and twenty ft thick. Values begin at the surface over most of its length and ter-

Jan 1, 1952

By AIME AIME

THE Federated American Engineering Societies through its Executive Board has endorsed House Bill 5230, introduced April 26, 1921, which provides for- the completion of the topographical survey of the United States. Before this bill can be reported out it will be necessary for the House Committee on -interstate and foreign commerce to hold hearings. This will not be done unless the engineers of the country show interest -and demand action which should be taken immediately after the recess ends and Congress reconvenes this fall. Surveys and maps have been made in this country ever since Captain John Smith mapped Chesapeake Bay about. 300 years ago, but it is only in comparatively recent years that the need for accurate maps has been keenly felt by those engaged in the industrial' and commercial development of the country.

Jan 1, 1921

THE opening session was held on Tuesday evening, February 17th, in the house of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The President of the Institute, Mr. E. B. Coxe, after a few introductory remarks, congratulating the members on the general prosperity in all the branches of the professions and manufactures represented by the Institute, called on Mr. E. F. Loiseau, of Philadelphia, for the first paper, On the Successful Manufacture of Compressed Fuel at Port Richmond, Philadelphia. Professor Prime called attention to the fact that the work of the United States Testing Board had been left unfinished at a point when valuable results had just been reached, and offered the following resolutions: WHEREAS, The American Institute of Mining Engineers has seen with regret that the work of the United States Testing Board has been suspended through the lack of an appropriation by Congress, which appropriation dues not seem likely to be renewed, and WHEREAS, It seems most important to the vital interests of our iron and steel manufactures that the experiments commenced by the United States Testing Board should be carried to successful completion ; Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed, to act with a like, committee to he appointed by the American Society of Civil Engineers, to carry out to completion the work commenced by the United States Testing Board. Resolved, That the American Society of Civil Engineers be requested to cooperate with this society by the appointment of a like committee. Resolved, That the committee have authority to request, in the name of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, contributions to a fund to be devoted to the completion of the experiments aforesaid. Resolved, That the Council of this Institute be authorized, whenever requested by the committee so appointed, to petition Congress for the free use of the testing machine at the United States Arsenal at Watertown. Resolved, That a committee be appointed by the President, to select the afore-said committee of experts. Resolved, That the President of the Institute have authority to fill any vacancies which may occur in the committee. The resolutions were unanimously adopted, and President Coxe appointed the following committee in accordance with the resolutions : Messrs. A. L. Holley, James Park, Jr., and J. F. Holloway. The President also appointed Messrs. Heinrich, Mickley, and Spils-

Jan 1, 1880

By David J. Mack

A SURVEY and critical appraisal of published information about Young's modulus was originally made by the writer because of a complete lack of information about this very important quantity in works on mechanics, physical metallurgy, physics, and other sciences. It was felt that a comprehensive summary of such information about Young's modulus might be of general interest and may suggest new problems or lines of attack on other problems that involve E. Hence this paper has been prepared even though it is only a review, with no new ideas or experimental data. The references are only those used in assembling the paper. No attempt was made to compile a complete bibliography on the subject of Young's modulus. CALCULATION OF YOUNG'S MODULUS FROM THEORETICAL OR EMPIRICAL CONSIDERATIONS Many attempts have been made to compute E from theoretical considerations. The earliest calculations were probably those of Tomlenson (1883) and Southerland (1891), but Fessenden 41,42 made extensive calculations a few years later and arrived at the relationship: [2E = 78. 101 (_L V] where V is the atomic volume. In 1923, Peczalski,43 working from the same stand-point but with more information available on atomic structure, arrived at an identical relationship, which he expressed as: [E=B(m) 2] where B is a constant of value about 8 • 10 7, p is density and m is atomic weight; the atomic volume, of course, being m/p. Portevin44 immediately pointed out that while the equations of Fessenden and Peczalski were true of the common metals, they gave low values for the refractory metals with high moduli (Fig. I). He showed (Fig. 2) that much better concordance was obtained by means of an empirical equation of the form: [E _ KT'Vb] where K is a constant; T the absolute melting point; V, atomic volume, and a and b constants of value approximately I and 2 respectively. This constant K in the Portevin equation is not necessarily the same for all elements, as shown by Thompson.45 Other equations for E based upon theoretical considerations have been derived by Honda and Yamada49 and Lasareff. 50 The most recent calculations of elastic moduli based upon quantum mechanics are probably those of Fuchs.46-48 He extended the method of Wigner and Seitz for calculating the lattice energy and compressibility of monovalent metals and computed the elastic constants of lithium,

Jan 1, 1945

By C. K. Leith

OTHERS here are far better qualified than I to discuss some of the specific proposals for government regulation of the oil industry. I shall make no attempt to carry oil to Oklahoma. The question of public control, however, is inherent in other branches of the mineral industry in varying degrees, and my comments will be directed mainly toward some of the trends affecting the mineral industry as a whole, as a background for your more specific consideration of oil legislation. A proud American tradition has been the insistence on freedom of competition, on equality of economic opportunity, on a policy of laissez faire. Nowhere has this principle been given wider application than in the mineral industry. The mineral field has been open to all comers, and the job of mineral exploitation has naturally attracted daring and independent spirits. The laws governing conditions of discovery and development, as well as the anti- trust laws, have been devised to foster the spirit of private initiative. The result has been the building of a mineral industry on a scale never before approximated anywhere in the world. The impetus thus gained, the methods, the technique, the financial resources, have been projected be- yond our boundaries and have made the American mineral industry the purveyor to the world for many essential commodities and first in the exploitation of the world's minerals. Our habits of individual self-reliance and success are deeply ingrained, and there is hardly an individual in the entire mineral field who does not instinctively recoil fro111 the extension of collective control, whether public or private.

Jan 1, 1932

By A. M. Gaudin

CHANGES in industrial practice, in plant design, and in research methods which are so clearly to be seen on every hand, have affected the mineral industry as well as others. In particular, ore dressing has passed through a revolution in practice brought about by the introduction of flotation and other quasi-chemical methods, until it has ceased to be solely the mechanical preparation of ores. In fact, the term "ore dressing" itself is obsolescent, and "mineral dressing" has been growing in popularity. This assures adequate recognition of the fact that mineral substances other than ores, e.g. coals, clays, and cement rock, are treated by the same general methods. As a result of these industrial changes it was felt that a complete rearrangement of the curriculum and laboratories at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology would be ad-vantageous. Such a rearrangement would allow instruction and research to proceed in wider accord with industrial evolution and the needs of our times.

Jan 1, 1942

By James P. Sloss

WHAT is the likelihood if any-that a real gold mining industry will be developed in the southern Appalachian region? Has the increase in the dollar value of gold from $20.67 to $35 per ounce potency to turn the trick? Suppose it be assumed that the price of gold will, at worst, not recede, and that the cost of digging ore and treating it of which the average level of commodity prices and wages is a fair index-will, at most, not exceed that prevailing in 1926. One may or may not accept these as reasonable assumptions; but one must arbitrarily remove some of the potential variables if one is to get anywhere on a problem like this. As a matter of fact, this article is not going to venture a conclusive answer to the question that has been posed; but it will endeavor to present some of the factors that have a bearing on the problem. The writer spent ten days visiting a dozen properties in Virginia and the Carolinas early in April, 1935, and in doing so got a first-hand slant on mining conditions in the domain of King Cotton.

Jan 1, 1935

Jan 1, 1967

The one hundred and twentieth meeting of the Institute was held at Chicago, Sept. 22 to 26, inclusive, and was in every way success although the steel strike against the United States Steel Corpn. prevented many engineers from attending the steel session and made necessary the annulment of the trip to the steel works at Gary on Tuesday. All of the meetings were held at the Congress Hotel, with the excep-tion of the session on Non-ferrous Metallurgy which was held at the Coliseum where the Fifth National Exposition of Chemical Industries was in progress. This session was a joint one with the American Electro-chemical Society. The total attendance, as shown by the registration, was 850.

Jan 11, 1919