Search Documents

By Jos. Van Ackeren

Although the Siemens regenerator principle was introduced into byproduct coke-oven design about 40 years ago, many problems of construction, and particularly of heat distribution and pressure conditions, have not been fully solved. Heat should be applied to the walls of a coke oven in such a way that the coking of the charge of coal will be completed everywhere at the same time, and at approximately the same temperature. This means that the application of heat should be uniform from the top to the bottom of the coal mass (except for the thin layer at the top that is purposely kept at a somewhat lower temperature to reduce cracking of the byproducts); also that a little more heat must be applied to the coke end than to the pusher end, because the coal mass is a little thicker at that end. As a modern coke oven is about 40 ft. long and 12 ft. high, a real problem is involved in the proper application of heat to the oven walls so as to secure quick coking time (without endangering the walls through local overheating) and produce coke made at a uniform temperature. Design of Ovens In all regenerative ovens, the points of combustion are arranged in duplicate sets, one set operating in one-half the area of the heating wall and the other set alternately operating in the other half. Because of the reversal of the flow of gases, the points of maximum and minimum temperatures are alternately located at the same places, thus preventing dangerous local overheating. The practicability of the principle of reversal of flow seems to have been recognized at an early date, and has been applied with every conceivable flue arrangement, combustion chamber, and means of air and gas supply. To summarize the various principles that have proved useful for the control of oven-wall temperature, the best practice seems to have resulted from the acceptance of the use of vertical flues; the separate supply of air and gas to the base of these flues, with the resulting flame

Jan 1, 1923

By Harlowe Hardinge

THE sound made by ball, pebble and rod mills has long been used by the operator as the "telltale " of their operation. The nature of this sound depends upon local conditions and the type of mill used. By experience an operator can tell whether the mill is running properly or not. Some operators are able to detect the difference in sound much better than others and get better results running the same mill under the same conditions. The automatic operation of a mill using sound as the fundamental means for maintaining control presents many problems. The satisfactory solution of these problems requires, for given operating conditions, a greater average output, with improved product for subsequent processing, than can be obtained by manual control. RELATION OF SOUND TO USEFUL GRINDING ENERGY Experience has taught us that there is a difference in character as well as in intensity of sound between a mill grinding wet and one grinding dry, in open or closed circuit, to obtain a coarse or fine product, on the same material, to say nothing of the effect with a variety of different materials. Broadly speaking, a wet-grinding mill operates best at a lower sound level than the same mill grinding dry, with other conditions the same. Several reasons for this variation in sound intensity under these conditions can be advanced, but the important point is that there is a difference, based upon practical results. Since these reasons may be more or less involved, and may be subject to much discussion, only one will be considered here. It is apparent that two balls hitting together or a ball striking the lining, if there is no intervening material, will produce the maximum sound. If a complete cushion of material is placed between the balls or ball and liner, so that the energy is dissipated without doing useful work, the balls will be unable to create enough pressure or force to fracture the particles, and the sound will be at a minimum. At some point in between-that is, where there is sufficient material between the balls or ball and liner so that the ball will fracture the particles without mashing them unduly-the sound

Jan 1, 1939

By Jos. Van Ackeren

Although the Siemens regenerator principle was introduced into byproduct coke-oven design about 40 years ago, many problems of construction, and particularly of heat distribution and pressure conditions, have not been fully solved. Heat should be applied to the walls of a coke oven in such a way that the coking of the charge of coal will be completed everywhere at the same time, and at approximately the same temperature. This means that the application of heat should be uniform from the top to the bottom of the coal mass (except for the thin layer at the top that is purposely kept at a somewhat lower temperature to reduce cracking of the byproducts); also that a little more heat must be applied to the coke end than to the pusher end, because the coal mass is a little thicker at that end. As a modern coke oven is about 40 ft. long and 12 ft. high, a real problem is involved in the proper application of heat to the oven walls so as to secure quick coking time (without endangering the walls through local overheating) and produce coke made at a uniform temperature. Design of Ovens In all regenerative ovens, the points of combustion are arranged in duplicate sets, one set operating in one-half the area of the heating wall and the other set alternately operating in the other half. Because of the reversal of the flow of gases, the points of maximum and minimum temperatures are alternately located at the same places, thus preventing dangerous local overheating. The practicability of the principle of reversal of flow seems to have been recognized at an early date, and has been applied with every conceivable flue arrangement, combustion chamber, and means of air and gas supply. To summarize the various principles that have proved useful for the control of oven-wall temperature, the best practice seems to have resulted from the acceptance of the use of vertical flues; the separate supply of air and gas to the base of these flues, with the resulting flame

Jan 1, 1923

By James P. Dr. Kimball

SULPHUR is always present in mineral coal of every variety. In the oxidized state it may exist as sulphuric acid in combination with a base. In the unoxidized state it exists in combination with iron as bisulphide of iron. It is also supposed by some chemists to exist in unknown combinations with the organic elements of the coal. This supposition requires the demonstration as a fact that certain coals yield more sulphur than what may exist in a free state, or what belongs to recognized combinations, not only with the accompanying iron but with other inorganic bases abundantly occurring in coals, but which unfortunately are very rarely estimated. This practically as well as theoretically important question it is at present impossible to decide, simply for want of available thorough ultimate coal analyses including the ash. Such analyses, at the best imperfect, are laborious and intricate, and therefore seldom made, the much simpler proximate analyses, so-called, being resorted to by most chemists for technical purposes, and commonly substituted for more scientific work even in the laboratories of government surveys. And it is unfortunate enough that few ultimate analyses are extended to the composition of the ash, much less to its relation to the original constitution of the coal. Sulphur chiefly occurs in most coals in the form of yellow pyrites (pyrite) and white pyrites (marcasite), both minerals, characterized by differences in crystalline form and in physical properties as well as in color, but having the same chemical composition (FeS2). No coal is entirely free from one or both of these dimorphous forms of bisulphide of iron. It may be disseminated through the mass so as to be invisible, in plates or scales between the laminæ of the coal, or in conspicuous segregations or nodules, sometimes of considerable dimensions. Coals greatly differ as to the proportion of sulphur which they contain. They also differ as to the relative proportion in which its several forms of combination occur. Such qualitative and quantitative disparities are scarcely, if at all, more marked in separate coal seams of a uniform type than in different parts of one and the same coal seam, whether it be considered locally as constituted of several

Jan 1, 1880

By B. F. Fackenthal

One of the practical questions presented to the blast-furnace manager, with regard to which little help can be obtained from existing technical literature, is the manner of filling and blowing-in. This operation is often performed according, more or less, to traditions which have come down from earlier practice, and which, if not positively detrimental when followed with the large modern furnace, may at least be greatly improved, just as the running of the furnace itself, while in blast, has been improved. It is not necessary, as many of the old furnace-men believed, to make a lot of white or silver-gray iron at the start, or to spend many weeks, or months even, in bringing the furnace to its normal burden. It has seemed to me that the publication of carefully-recorded data of practice on this point may be interesting to the members of the Institute engaged in the management of blast-furnaces. The enlarged blast-furnace at the Durham Iron Works, Riegelsville, Pa., owned by Messrs. Cooper & Hewitt, of New York City, was first put in blast February 21, 1876, since which time it has made seven blasts, and is now running on the eighth. A description of the furnace-plant, together with a record of the fifth blast, was given in my paper read at the Chattanooga meeting, May, 1885 (Transactions, xiv., 130). After some of the early blasts the furnace-lines underwent considerable change, and I have thought best to accompany this paper with drawings showing the lines and the tuyere-arrangement (see Plates I. and II.), and to give also the following summary of the conditions and results of each blast. During the first and second blasts no coke was used, and the furnace ran very irregularly, showing a constant tendency to scaffold, which was attributed, in great part, to the small hearth and other defective lines. The large proportion of air required at this furnace is accounted for by the fact that the engines are defective, and do not deliver into the furnace the amount of air indicated by the pistondisplacement.

Jan 1, 1890

By J. W. Richards

Plating iron with copper has received great attention from practical and scientific men, but, aside from the deposit secured by immersion of iron in copper salts, by electro-plating, or by welding together thin sheets of iron and copper, these efforts have met with no success. Failure of these efforts, in the production of copper plating, has been due to the fact that the conditions normally and necessarily present in the plating operation are antagonistic to the production of copper-plated iron. In most, if not quite all of them, a bath of molten copper has been used. The temperature of a molten copper bath is so high that the iron becomes oxidized before it can be immersed in the molten copper, and unless a protective flux for the molten copper is used, the surface of the copper will become oxidized, and, in any event, the plated iron will oxidize immediately on its being withdrawn from the molten bath. I recently had the pleasure of visiting the works of The Metals Plating Co. at Elizabeth, N. J., where I witnessed the plating of iron sheets with copper by a new process.l The plating metal is applied to the sheet in the form of a liquid mixture by means of rolls, such as inking rolls. The sheet, after being coated with the mixture, is automatically carried forward and deposited on a link-belt conveyor, which carries it through a furnace maintained at a temperature well above that of molten copper. The basic principle involved in this method lies in the application of the plating metal to the sheet while the sheet is cold and then melting the metal in place on the sheet under conditions which are favorable to the formation of the plating. Plating Mixture The liquid plating mixture is composed of either copper oxide or finely divided copper, or a mixture of both, ground to the consistency of a light varnish in a crude oil having an asphaltic base, of a specific gravity of from 14" to 16' Be. The plating mixture which gives the best results

Jan 1, 1919

By Morris A. Steinberg

Because of the broad scope of my topic I will discuss my subject from the point of view of a present status of the metallic materials that are used in structures and will dwell primarily on those structures related to high- performance aerospace systems. Thus, I can best portray the status of these structural materials as related to existing transportation systems, delineating some of the highlights of alloy development, fabrication, and properties obtained. I shall point out what are, in my opinion, the needed solutions to pressing unsolved metallurgical problems connected with certain selected metals: aluminum alloys, beryllium, titanium, steels, superalloys, refractory metals and some metal-matrix composites. Aluminum Alloys For a number of years a series of strong aluminum alloys used for airframes has had an important bearing on the development of minimum- weight, highly efficient structures. Among these alloys are such familiar ones as 2024-T3, 2014-T6, 7075-T6, 7079-T6 and 7178-T6. A review of the development and use of strong aluminum alloys in aircraft structures indicates that before about 25 years ago there was very little application of products other than forgings in the high-strength tempers produced by precipitation heat treating to T6- or T8-type tempers. 1 As stated by Dix in 1944, "There has been a gradual evolution in engineering viewpoint regarding the mechanical characteristics which are required in a structural material suitable for aircraft. Formerly, emphasis was placed on a generous spread between yield and tensile strengths, on elongation, on impact strength and on resistance to corrosion. Aircraft structural engineers still differ widely as to the importance which they attach to these proper tie.” 2 It is fair to say that this evolution is still taking place, that the problem is much the same in 1970 as in 1944 - except that strength levels have advanced some - and the question remains as to how far we can go in that direction. In the meantime, a new group of alloys has received acceptance and widespread use. The first alloy of this group, 7075-T6, was formally introduced by Dix's 1944 paper. The drastic changes that have taken place in the size and configuration of components employed in air-

Jan 1, 1971

By R. S. Archer

In the microscopic examination of aircraft-engine parts made of heat-treated alloy steels, the writer has been forcibly impressed by the failure of the usual etching processes to disclose any but gross defects in heat treatment. It seemed particularly desirable to bring out the grain size of the steel, which is indicated in the ordinary etching processes chiefly by the change in orientation of structure from grain to grain. After various attempts, a fairly successful method has been found, which is here presented in the hope that it may be of use to those who have occasion to examine these steels in the hcat-treated condition. The specimens worked with have been mostly chrome-nickel steels heat treated (that is, hardened and tempered) to a Brinell hardness of around 300. A few experiments with other specimens will be referred to later. Briefly, the method employed consists in etching the steel about 10 min. in a fresh solution of picric acid in ethyl alcohol, and then rubbing off the smudge of carbonaceous matter on moist broadcloth. Different samples of almost identical analysis, heat treatment, and physical properties (including resistance to impact) respond quite differently to this treatment. In some, the grain boundaries are developed quite readily, while in others, especially in those whose grain is unusually fine or in which the final hardening heat has not quite obliterated the previous crystallization, the results are more obscure. The exact time of etching to secure the best results also differs for various samples, and the greatest success is usually attained by a process of "tinkering." Such a process is illustrated in a series of micrographs, the first six of which were taken at a magnification of 300 diameters. The properties of the steel are as follows: Carbon, per cent............... 0.42 Brinell hardness.............. 293 Nickel, per cent................ 1.35 Yield point, pounds per square Chromium, per cent............. 0.90 inch........................ 131,000 Copper, per cent................ 0.025 Maximum strength, pounds per Manganese, per cent............ 0.74 square inch................. 144,500 Phosphorus, per cent............ 0.024 Elongation in 1 in., per cent... 28 Sulfur, per cent................ 0.036 Lod impact, foot-pounds...... 51 Reduction of area, per cent...... 57.3

Jan 1, 1920

By E. R. Kaiser, Ralph A. Sherman

The remarkable increase in the distribution of the small underfeed stoker for use in furnaces and boilers in small industrial plants, apartment houses and homes has brought producers and distributors of bituminous coal to consider the problem of which coals and which sizes are best suited to this market. Many papers have also appeared, mostly in the trade journals, discussing the problem of the combustion of various coals and various sizes of coal in small stokers. Much difference of opinion has been apparent in these articles; due often, it would appear, to a misunderstanding of the fundamentals of the process of combustion in the stoker fuel bed. During the past year and a half, a program of research has been conducted at Battelle Memorial Institute: (1) On the process of combustion in the fuel bed of the small stoker, sponsored by Battelle Memorial Institute, and (2) on the relation of the characteristics of bituminous coals to their performance on small underfeed stokers, sponsored by Bituminous Coal Research, Inc. As a result of this program of research, two publications have been made, one1 dealing with the problem of clinker formation, and the other2 with the relation of the size of the coal fed to the stoker hopper to that of the coal that reaches the retort to be burned. The experimental research on the relation of size to the performance of the coal is being actively continued. A publication of Bituminous Coal Research, Inc. presenting the data obtained on the performance of several sizes of four typical bituminous coals will appear shortly. Because of the early appearance of that publication, the present paper includes few numerical data. The purpose of this paper is to follow the coal from the hopper through the furnace with a discussion of the various actions that occur, in the hope that it will lead to a clearer understanding of the relation of the type of coal, the size of coal, and other characteristics, to the performance. The authors do not pretend to have obtained the answers to all the complex questions involved; many unanswered questions will be proposed on which future research work is planned.

Jan 1, 1938

By W. O. Philbrook, R. H. Spitzer, F. S. Manning

A generalized mathematical model has been developed to describe the kinetics of gas-solid reactions with special attention given to the hydrogen reduction oj dense spheres of hematite. This reduction process must pvoceed through a sequence of transport and chemical .reaction steps acting in series. Under typical experimental conditions, none oj the individual transport and reaction resistances may be neglected in the development of a physically significant model. A linear vate of thickening oj the product layer, usually taken as evidence of interface-controlled .reuction, may be observed even though transport resistances play a dominant role in the over-all kinetics. The temperature and pressure dependencies of all terms have been carefully evaluated in order to .make fill use oj arailable expe-inzental data in evaluation oj the model. FOR obvious technological reasons, the kinetics of reduction of iron oxides has become the subject of intensive experimental and theoretical investigation during recent years. Continuing efforts to construct mathematical models to describe the kinetics of reaction between a gas stream and a granular bed of solid particles have demonstrated the necessity of a thorough understanding of the reaction kinetics of a single particle within the system as a prerequisite to the construction of physically significant models of complex, reacting systems. This paper presents a critical examination of the transport and chemical-reaction processes involved in single-particle oxide reduction and develops the mathematical expressions necessary to evaluate their importance. Comparison of theoretical predictions with experimental results contributes important new understanding of the complex nature of this process. The reduction process has been studied under a wide range of experimental variables, and it is not surprising that apparent conflicts in observation and interpretation appear in the literature. The interested reader is referred to the reviews of Themelis and auvin"? and Manning and philbrook3 for a description of much of this work. The course of reaction commonly has been followed by measuring the oxygen weight loss from the particle as a function of time. A number of authors have suc- cessfully correlated their data in terms of a model which assumes that the reduction process is controlled by the rate of reaction at a single, sharply defined, advancing interface. According to this model, the interface will advance linearly with time. A mathematical model for gaseous reduction in a packed bed developed by the present authors in an earlier paper4 recognized that reduction must proceed through the series hematite (Fe203), magnetite (Fe30,), wiistite (Fe,O), and finally metallic iron. The reduction scheme permitted a stepwise topochemical reduction of the individual particles to metal or to the lowest oxide thermodynamically possible for the local gas composition in the bed. The limiting situations of theoretically dense and very porous oxide structures were considered. On the basis of available experimental evidence, the simplifying assumption was made in each case that all product layers would thicken linearly with time. A generalized single-particle model has now been developed to determine the significance of transport resistances in the product layers and in the gas film surrounding the particle. The analysis shows that the interplay of transport and chemical resistances is such that an apparently linearly advancing interface may be observed despite the fact that the reaction may be under significant transport control. Attention thus far has been focused on the development of a model for the topochemical behavior of dense spheres of hematite in atmospheres capable of reducing them completely to metal. The formation of successive product layers of iron, Fe,O, and Fe304 is assumed to follow the mechanism originally described by dstrijm.' All oxygen removal from the core occurs at the iron/Fe,O interface, intermediate oxide layers being propagated by sol id-state diffusion without change in the oxygen density of the core. Since fractional reduction is operationally defined in terms of oxygen weight loss, the kinetics of the over-all reduction of FeZ03 to iron is properly studied in terms of the gas-solid reaction occurring at the iron-wiistite interface. The fractional reduction of a partially reduced oxide sphere is given by: here refers to the radial position of the iron/Fe,O interface. This model is not universally applicable because, as explained in the earlier paper,4 a consideration of porous particles or of dense particles in atmospheres not capable of reducing wiistite must allow for the possibility of gaseous reduction at interfaces other than the one between iron and Fe,O. However, evidence that certain hematite specimens actually do follow the dense-pellet mechanism developed here is provided by the data of cewan' and of Bogdandy and

Jan 1, 1967

By E. H. Rose

The question is often pondered whether the flotation process is still an art or has become a science. The fact is that flotation is a science in so many variables that only art can blend them. It is demonstrable that no less than one hundred variables are involved in any flotation operation, most of them immeasurable on a routine basis. The behavior of every one of them is always governed by orderly and unchanging law, as no man can doubt. There is nothing truly indefinite about that behavior; the only indefiniteness is in our knowledge of it, either in general or from hour to hour in the circuit. In dealing with a simultaneous equation in, say, one hundred variables, all not only affecting the outcome to some degree but many influencing each other as well, it is small wonder that the mineral-dressing profession presents a case history of debate and controversial opinion. The statement of the subject of this symposium—a symposium on flotation machines—seems to delimit and define the matters to be considered and at least the general nature of the conclusions sought. Nevertheless, in such a meeting it is not possible to meditate upon all the variables that do in one way or another affect performance of flotation machines. To attempt it would be much like trying to operate a hundred-ring circus. Perverse variables being what they are, one could expect the elephant in ring 36 to squirt a trunkful of water at the tightrope performer in ring 37 to ruin that artist's act, just as our learning to depress pyrite in the early 1920's ruined the act of the formerly faithful old Callows. Honest Disagreements Selective flotation dates from 1922 or 1923, when several plants established their regular flotation operations on a selective basis. Since then, two decades of efforr have gone into the development of better and better flotation machines. Many have come and gone. The competition has simmered down to perhaps a dozen machines, each one of which is staunchly defended by some operators as being the best for their particular jobs, and as scornfully dismissed by at least a few others elsewhere as being positively the poorest for theirs. These disagreements are honest disagreements, honestly arrived at after plenty of sweat. In many a flotation plant, one machine has been tried out against another under conditions as fair as they could possibly be made. Sometimes the results are on a par but more often one machine shows a consistent and unmistakable margin of superiority over the other. In equally honest and enlightened tests, machine A may win over machine B in one place, and machine B over machine A by as great a margin in another. This paper purposes to identify some of the more prominent reasons why this is so,

Jan 1, 1947

By Arthur F. Taggart

This paper proposes two units (believed to be new) for designating, respectively, capacity and efficiency for primary and intermediate crushers. Capacity Operators know that the tonnage of rock that can be put through a particular crusher in a given time depends primarily upon the crusher setting (open setting for jaw and primary gyratory types; closed setting for cones and rolls), and secondarily on the lithological character of the feed, its maximum size, the amount of fines that it carries, its moisture content, and the method of feeding. The proposed capacity formula states a relationship between all of these factors in one empirical equation, as follows: Tr = TR80K'K" [I] in which Tr, called "reduction tons per hour" is the new capacity unit; T = tons of feed per hour requiring crushing; R80 = "80-per cent reduction ratio"; and K, K', and K" are constants that approximate quantitatively lithological character, moisture content and method of feeding, respectively. T is the hourly weight of material in the feed that is coarser than the coarsest discharge of the crusher. (For marked departures from the normal specific-gravity range—2.5 to 2.7—T should be adjusted to corresponding volumes.) In the crushers under consideration, discharge from the crushing zone is limited by the minimum dimension of a particle. Passage of the particle through a square-mesh screen is limited by its intermediate dimension. Sheppardl has shown that the ratio of maximum: intermediate: minimum average dimensions of broken rock fragments may be taken as about 1.5:=:0,6 for nonslabby rocks such as are normally crushed, while for slabby rocks, such as thin-bedded sedimentaries, foliated schists and gneisses, and the blocky metamorphics, the ratio is of the average order I.3:I:o.3, with the possibility of an even smaller relative value for the thickness. Gaudin2 finds the corresponding ratio for —I50 + 200-mesh pyrite to be I.4: I:0.6. The hourly tonnage of crusher-plant feed, therefore, should be diminished by the amount thereof that would pass a square-mesh screen of which the aperture is S times the crusher setting, where S is a shape factor with the value 1.7 for rocks that break exceptionally cubic; 2 for ores and rocks that exhibit no appreciabie tendency to slabbiness; and 2.5 to 3, or, in exceptional cases, even larger, when the tendency to slabbiness is marked. R80 is the quotient of the theoretical square-mesh aperture that would pass 80 per cent of the feed, divided by the aperture that would pass 80 per cent of the product. It is best determined from screen tests. If, as is usual with primary crushers, a sizing test of feed is not available, the

Jan 1, 1943

By O. L. Culberson, J. J. McKetta

INTRODUCTION The equilibrium constants for methane and for water, and for ethane and water have been calculated from experimental data for the two binary systems.2,3,11,12 These constants are for the two-phase systems for the temperature range of 100" to 340°F and the pressure range of 200 to 10,000 psia. The constants for ethane are greater than those for methane. Equilibrium constants for a natural gas from a natural gas-water system6 are about the same as those for methane. Equilibrium constants for water in all three systems are very nearly the same over the greater part of the range of temperatures and pressures studied. In ideal solutions, the vapor-liquid equilibrium constants for a component should be the same in all such solutions at a given temperature and pressure.5 Few solutions are ideal, and consequently the use of generalized constants often leads to error in situations where they do not actually apply. In decidedly non-ideal systems, it is desirable to have equilibrium constant data for the specific system. Vaporization equilibrium constants may be calculated either by thermodynamic methods or from experimental vapor-liquid equilibrium data. In the thermodynamic calculation. the equilibrium constant K may be shown to be" K = fP,/fl'..........(1) where fPi is the fugacity of the pure component i at the given temperature and at the vapor pressure of the pure component, and fp is the fugacity of pure i in the gaseous state at the temperature and total pressure of the system. At best the thermodynamic calculation results in a K applicable to ideal solutions. Equilibrium constants calculated from Equation (1) have been found to have only limited agreement with experimental values, even though the solutions for which they were calculated approached ideality."'" If the more volatile component is at a temperature above its critical, the accuracy of the equilibrium constant for the component is made more doubtful by the use of the vapor pressure term under such conditions. In order to make the thermodynamic calculation on a component above its critical temperature, one must resort to one of the empirical methods of extrapolation of the vapor pressure to conditions above its critical point.13 Application of the thermodynamic equilibrium constant then to the methane-water or the ethane-water systems would be risky since the systems are non-ideal, and the methane and ethane are above their critical in most petroleum operations. ETHANE-WATER SYSTEM In the temperature range of from 100° to 340°F and for pressures up to 10,000 psia, the vapor-liquid equilibrium data 'References given at end of paper. Manuscript received in the office of the Petroleum Branch March 16, 1951.

Jan 1, 1951

by their overdogmatic picture of geology and their resulting drastic oversimplification and idealization of geologic features. I am in hearty disagreement with the recommendation that geophysics should be done by cooperative work between a geologist and a geophysi-cist. That arrangement would be comparable to doing petrography by having a physicist at the microscope and a geologist sitting by his side. The interpretation of the geological significance of geophysical data can be done efficiently only by a physicist who has become also a good geologist or by a geologist who is also a good geophysicist. Less Well-trained Men The rank and file, composing perhaps two-thirds of the personnel of exploratory geophysics, is not, and should not be, composed of highly trained men. The routine, stereotyped character of the work and the impossibility of promotion of more than a few from these lower ranks even under the best circumstances justify companies in filling the bulk of these rank and file positions with men having only a bachelor's degree at the most. There can be a wide range of training for such positions, although certain lines of study are preferred for certain kinds of work, and different employers have different preferences. For work in gravitational and magnetic prospecting, first preference will be for men having geological training and second for men with civil engineering training. In seismic work, men with geological training are preferred by some employers for computers; physicists, electrical engineers and all whose technical education has covered radio circuits are preferred for the other technical positions. Collegiate training in geophysical prospecting brings no preference and by many employers is given a slightly inferior rating. One large company seldom hires men who have just graduated with a major in geophysical prospecting. This prejudice is based on the reasoning that much of what is learned in college is obsolete or obsolescent, that most of the techniques learned in college will have to be unlearned, because different from those used by the employing company, and that in the long run additional courses in basic physics, mathematics and geology are of more value to a man than the courses on geophysical prospecting. DISCUSSION [This discussion refers to the five papers beginning on page 23 and ending on page 74.1 L. W. Blau,* Houston, Texas.—I have had some rather sad experiences with forecasting. For example, I could not foresee 10 years ago my present occupation, and I do not profess to be able to look ahead 10 years and tell anyone what he will be doing then. Referring to the point raised in the discussion, I do not know, for example, what the price of oil will be 10 years from now. If an appreciable number of

Jan 1, 1940

By A. A. Jr. Smith, J. S. Smart

Numerous investigations of the effects of the various impurities common to commercial coppers have been published, and the data have found wide use in industry. Naturally, emphasis has been placed on the oxygen-bearing coppers of the tough-pitch variety, but need is now evident for data covering the oxygen-free condition as well. Furthermore, relatively few of the important reactions between oxygen and the various impurities are well understood, and often the data at hand are not applicable to the low concentrations encountered in commercial coppers. This paper presents the changes in conductivity and softening temperature derived from individual additions of the group VIII triad, iron, cobalt and nickel, to high-purity copper, and constitutes a portion of the copper-research program being conducted at the Central Research Laboratory of the American Smelting and Refining Co. The method of preparation of high-purity copper and its alloys in either the oxygen-free or oxygen-bearing form has been described previous1y.l The purity of this material, and the methods developed to produce it, provide the means for direct investigation of the very low concentration range in which the various impurities generally exist in commercial coppers. The usual necessity for extrapolation to this range using the results obtained from higher concentrations, and the interfering effects of extraneous impurities, are thus simultaneously circumvented. Since previously published data have adequately presented the effects of higher concentrations of iron, cobalt and nickel, the present investigation has been confined to the composition range o to 0.05 per cent. All alloys were initially prepared in the form of oxygen-free continuous cast rod, the weighed alloying additions in suitable form being charged with the pure copper to the continuous casting crucible. The best of the available high-purity alloying materials were used, and spectrographic analyses confirmed the absence of interfering elements from the alloys formed. Each series was compounded in the direction of increasing concentration, starting with pure copper in a new crucible and finishing with the 0.05 per cent alloy. Composition was closely controlled by adding the alloying element in the form of a carefully compounded and analyzed master alloy rendered uniform by continuous casting. The accuracy of this method of synihesis was proved by chemical analysis of the more concentrated alloys, and, accordingly, there is every reason to credit the stated composition of the very dilute alloys in the range where chemical analysis becomes highly uncertain. Oxygen-free samples for measurements of conductivity and softening temperature Were obtained by drawing the continuous cast rod to wire of 0.08I-in. diameter. employing a number of intermediate anneals to refine the grain structure. The

Jan 1, 1942

By G. G. Gunther, C. L. Boeke

DISCUSSION I. M. Symonds, (Cia. Minera de Penoles, Monterrey, N. L., Mexico)—Messrs. Boeke and Gunther have written most interesting papers describing their zinc de-leading operations. Mr. Gunther was kind enough to show me his operation last fall. Aside from the excellent results, I was most impressed by the ease of control. I had expected a difficult operation requiring careful control and supervision, but found one requiring little attention. The only disappointing fact of the separation is the poor copper recovery in the concentrate of the delead-ing float. The final zinc concentrate still has about 3 pct chalcopyrite, assuming the copper is chalcopyrite, and adversely affects the zinc grade. If the copper mineral is free, the poor recovery is probably due to the high cyanide concentration. Fortunately, about 75 pct of the copper is recovered before the pulp goes to the zinc circuit. Mr. Gunther's remarks about proper cyanide to zinc sulphate ratios cannot be overemphasized. Although our experience has been confined mostly to the conventional lead-zinc separation, we have found these ratios most important, and more important in the mill than in the laboratory. The laboratory appears to give optimum results over a wider range of reagent control than the mill, especially in regard to the effect of cyanide. In handling relatively high grade ores in the mill we usually find that ratios of cyanide to zinc sulphate of 1 to 10 or 20 or higher work best. Where there is a substantial amount of chalcopyrite present it has been noted that cyanide in the range of 0.02 to 0.10 lb per ton of ore is often beneficial in zinc rejection and possibly in copper recovery in the lead concentrate, while larger amounts, say 0.20 to 0.25 lb per ton, will float more zinc and cause a serious rejection of chalcopyrite. On an ore with 15 to 20 pct zinc content we have had to use 0.8 to 1.2 pounds of zinc sulphate per ton of ore with the above cyanide to obtain optimum results. Some time ago we made a laboratory study following Parral and Santa Barbara practice on an ore which had never a very satisfactory rejection of zinc in the lead concentrate. The results were not encouraging and a mill test was not run. Since then the study has been reopened using in the laboratory fresh zinc concentrate from the mill instead of one made in the laboratory. A reasonably clean lead float from the zinc concentrate was obtained. It has been checked several times and each time the zinc concentrate made in the mill responds and the one made in the labora-

Jan 1, 1953

By R. W. Gurry

Thermodynamic calculations indicate that boron is a better deoxidizer than silicon but probably is not quite as effective as aluminum. Boron should, therefore, be readily oxidized out of the open-hearth bath, which implies that it is not recovered in significant concentration from any scrap charged; also that, if added in the ladle, it tends to oxidize out during teeming unless protected by the presence of a better deoxidizing agent. These conclusions do not apply to liquid cast iron, in which the oxygen content is much lower than in liquid steel. The possibility of conserving certain strategic alloying elements widely used in steelmaking, notably manganese, chromium and molybdenum, by the use of boron, which in small concentration appears to be extraordinarily effective in promoting hardenability, raises a question as to what extent any boron present in the scrap charged into the open hearth is oxidized out during melting and subsequent refining. This question is significant because the optimum concentration of boron in the finished steel, which is fairly critical, would be very difficult to attain if the boron in the charge were largely retained in the metal. Moreover, unless boron is substantially eliminated in the open-hearth process its use on a large scale would eventually make it impossible to produce boron-free steel except by restricting the charge to virgin material. There is at present, unfortunately, virtually no satisfactory direct evidence to provide an answer to this question; but there are indications from practice that boron is oxidized out in the open hearth in the production of medium or low-carbon steel, although it may be retained if the carbon content remains fairly high; that is, if the oxygen is kept fairly low. In the absence of direct data, it is necessary to rely upon the indications of indirect evidence, the best approach now available being a thermodynamic calculation of the deoxidizing power of boron in liquid steel by the general method used so successfully by Chipman1 in his study of the reactions in the open-hearth process. The thermal data for boron, upon which such a calculation must be based, are reasonably satisfactory; the only quantities not directly determined are the entropy of melting of boron, the activity coefficient of boron in liquid steel, and the activity coefficient of B2O3in an open-hearth slag; but these values may be estimated with ample accuracy. The results of this calculation, which is presented later, are given in Table I, together with corresponding data for other deoxidizing elements. This table shows the calculated residual content of oxygen in equilibrium with different residual concentrations of the deoxidizer in the metal;

Jan 1, 1944

By Donald C. Branford

The place of geophysics in the curriculum of a college or an engineering school has been much discussed. There is uncertainty as to whether the graduate may be called a "geological geophysicist" or a "geophysical geologist." Some have used the term "geophysical engineer." The question of the specialized undergraduate curriculum versus a general undergraduate training in the parent sciences with the addition of cultural electives has been and is still being argued. The literature during the past Io years shows that there are two rather definite schools of thought on this subject. The prospective employer, engaged in active geophysical exploration, visualizes the graduate in terms of the routine work he will do in the field. The school administrator, grounded in many years of tradition in the cultural type of education, visualizes the graduate in terms of his position in a political and cultural society as well as in his work as a professional geophysicist. Both are right and both wrong. A third school of thought, that of the student himself, has been almost totally ignored. It would seem best, for the purpose of this paper, to treat these various points and allied material separately, and then to integrate the conclusions as a set of conditions that should be fulfilled as far as possible in the ideal curriculum. At the end the relationship of our findings to the curriculum that has been tentatively adopted at the University of Pittsburgh will be considered. Divisions in Definition or Field of Geophysics Geophysics is that field of science in which geological and earth problems are solved with the use of physical and chemical techniques. Altogether too much attention has been paid to the artificial separation in this science of the commercial applications from the so-called "pure" or academic geophysics. The only real difference in the two types of work is one of scale of operations. In the commercial field the scale is large in terms of fmancial backing, immediate economic importance, and speed of operations. In the academic field the scale is large in terms of breadth of interests, in eventual economic importance, and length of time allowable for theoretical investigations. In exploration work the scale is small in terms of dimensions, since the methods are applicable only to the outer 20,000 ft. or SO of the earth's crust. In academic work, the student is not pressed for results of immediate economic importance, and therefore can afford to spend more time on problems that seem unimportant at the time. In the sense of background knowledge of the parent sciences necessary to the geophysicist, no essential difference can be found. Physics, chemistry, geology, and mathematics together, and in their proper proportionate amounts, form the matrix from which geophysical ideas and methods may spring.

Jan 1, 1946

By H. L. James

This paper presents the results and analysis of field trials of various magnetic instruments over anomalies ranging from 20 to 5000 gammas of vertical intensity. The following instruments were used: Askania vertical magnetometer, Wolfson vertical magnetometer (model M-I), Hotchkiss Superdips (used both parallel to and normal to the magnetic meridian, with several settings of the "sigma" angle), Lake Superior dip needle, and the dipping circle for measurements of inclination. The change in inclination over the measured anomalies ranged up to 4"; this caused pronounced changes in sensitivity of the Hotchkiss Superdip oriented parallel to the magnetic meridian. The variable sensitivity not only gives apparent displacement of crests of anomalies, particularly at high sensitivities, but also makes the data difficult or impossible to use in preparation of iso-anomaly maps. This weakness in field performance of the Superdip is shown to be eliminated by orienting the instrument normal to the magnetic meridian and measuring vertical intensity only, which in the latitude of upper Michigan is equal to 97 pct of the total intensity. The dip needle is seen to be relatively ineffectual for location of anomalies of less than 400 gammas. Introduction The U.S- Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Geological Survey Division of Michigan Department of Conservation, has for the past three years been engaged in a restudy of the Iron River-Crystal Falls iron mining district of upper Michigan. The bedrock in a large part of this area is covered with glacial deposits as much as 500-ft thick, and, inasmuch as some of the rocks have moderate to high magnetic permeability, extensive magnetic mapping has been done to assist in unraveling the complicated structure of the area. Several types of instruments have been used, and the major purpose of this paper is to present comparative data on the field performances of some of these instruments so as to aid others who face similar problems elsewhere to evaluate and choose the instruments best suited for the work. The paper is directed primarily to geologists and engineers rather than to geophysicists, although some familiarity with the instruments is presumed. The geology of the area consists of a complexly folded series of weakly metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, including the iron formation, which rests on older greenstones. Although the iron formation itself is only locally magnetic, some of the beds stratigraphically above the iron formation are rather strongly so. By tracing these hanging wall magnetic anomalies valuable information is obtained from which the structure and distribution of the iron formation can be inferred. Critical anomalies range from 25 to 6000 gammas of vertical intensity. Many anomalies can be traced in part with the common dip needle, but detection of others requires more sensitive instruments.

Jan 1, 1949

By F. C. von der Weid

The mining district of Sao Fidelis, in the northern part of the State of Rio de Janeiro, is situated on the Paraiba River, where it crosses the Serra do Mar (Mountain of the Sea), in the center of a mountainous country having numerous graphitic outcrops. For a long time, these outcrops were irregularly explored by local people, who had little means and no technical advice. A few years ago, the Cia. Brasileira de Minerasgo de Grafite took over the control of some of the more important outcrops and entrusted to me the task of studying the ores and establishing a flowsheet for a pilot plant to be situated in São Fidelis—the ore to be concentrated being mostly of a very high grade. Mineralization and Ores The rocks of the district are mostly gneiss and crystalline schists, with occasional interstratification of dolomitic limestone belonging to the Archean Brazilian Fundamental Complex. The general direction of the beds is roughly between 60" and 80°E., with variable dip, generally nearly vertical. Mostly, direction and dip of the graphitic outcrops is concordant with the embanking gneisses or schists. These outcrops seem to be aligned in two or three parallel zones (Pádua, São Fidelis, Mac- abu), the Sao Fidelis zone being the best known and the most important to date. Two outcrops of the São Fidelis zone, Saudade and Sao Benedito, are now being exploited. Mining has been carried out, so far, on a small scale. The mineralization consists of a vein of nearly massive graphite in a very compact, partially granitized gneiss, with vertical dip. The vein is most irregular, with nests and lenses irregularly distributed along the fracture plane. The ore consists chiefly (particularly in Sao Benedito) of massive graphite appearing and disappearing along the main direction of the vein, forming a succession of irregular lenses in a sort of rosary design. The average width is more or less one foot, with variations from zero to 6 feet. The lode minerals are quartz, a little feldspar and garnet (the latter having its origin perhaps in the embedding gneisses), with rare ferruginous clays on the outcrops. In Saudade a little pyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite is found occasionally, as well as a carbonaceous mineral, very light, black and shiny, with conchoidal fracture, looking like a sort of jet. The composition of this mineral has not yet been established, but it seems to be very complex. The mineralization seems to be hydro-thermal at a rather low temperature, perhaps mesothermal. The paragenesis, according to samples from Saudade, seems to be as follows, the earlier minerals being listed first: pyrrhotite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, with quartz concomitant to the three and graphite formed later. Age of the mineralization is still uncertain, owing to the very in-

Jan 1, 1948