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The panic bars (and associated linkage's and electrical circuitry) that are defined in this document are a machine operator-actuated control for the emergency deenergization of the tram motors on Self-propelled, electric and diesel face equipment; including haulage equipment such as shuttle cars. There are nine basic types of panic bars (and several variations) that are recommended in this document, but all of the panic bars are characteristically of the "fire door" type that is frequently encountered on outside exit doors of many public and soma commercial buildings. It is also the intent of the following panic bar designs that, when emergency brakes are added to the face equipment machinery for which they are required, that they be designed and hooked up so that actuation of the panic bar will result in automatic application of the emergency brakes (immediately following the deenergization of the tram motors). The following panic bar design requirements are a restatement of the proposed requirements defined in the Federal Register, requirements cited in 'Guidelines for the Design and Installation of Devices for Deenergization of Self-Propelled Electric Face Equipment/Automatic Emergency Brakes" by C. E. Lester and J. D. Greenhalgh of MESA, and Bendix recommendations that were formulated as a result of discussions with personnel at the various machine manufacturers and underground coal mines that we surveyed, discussions with G. L. Judy (our consultant), etc:

Jan 1, 1974

By R. Lincoln

A surplus of vanadium has resulted from the tremendous output of uranium, of which vanadium is a byproduct. More knowledge of the properties and characteristics of vanadium as a pure metal has been needed so that industry can take advantage of its availability and use it according to the best principles of conservation. Besides the problem of utilization, there is the ever present need of finding new materials which will satisfy specific and demanding requirements of science and engineering; vanadium or one of its alloys may possess the latent potential for filling some of these needs. Thus this? research project was undertaken by the Bureau of Mines to determine and examine some of the physical and mechanical properties of pure vanadium. A corallary investigation was the determination of the effect of the interstitial contaminants, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon, on unalloyed vanadium. The vanadium used for these determinations was principally the product of experimental production of the Bureau. The evaluation of this material, as small quantities became available, provided most of the data that have been obtained.

Jan 1, 1962

By R. M. Santmyers

The chief compounds of boron are borax and boric acid, both of which have important applications in industry. At present the United States furnishes more than half of the world's requirements of borate materials, practically all from California. Nearly the entire production of borax in this country is under the control of four companies: The American Potash and Chemical Corporation, the Pacific Coast Borax Co., the West End Chemical Co., and the Western Borax Co.

Jan 1, 1931

By G. L. Anderson

The critical importance of wire rope integrity to the mining industry has led to the creation of standards for the retirement of wire rope as well as to the development of electromagnetic devices and procedures that would allow wire ropes to be tested against these standards without destroying them, The U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) conducted research to evaluate these devices by measuring loss of metallic cross-sectional area and the number of wire breaks, or local faults. The intent was to define the extent to which the technique can identify degradation within the rope, e.g., broken wires, corrosion, and wear. Experimental results showed that instrument sensitivity depended on a number of factors, including rope diameter, placement of sensors, location and characteristics of flaws, rope speed, and tension on the rope. The experiments also demonstrated the importance of having an elongated recorder trace and a properly trained and experienced operator to interpret overall results. A design of a rope and test procedures for use in laboratory evaluation of instruments have been recommended by the American Society for Testing and Materials Committee E07.07.10, Wire Rope Applications. The USBM is working through this committee to develop standards for an electro-magnetic method of wire rope inspection.

Jan 1, 2010

By Robert E. Barieau

A list of 163 references to original experimental PVT data on helium is presented for the period 1895 to 1968. The list is complete as of the start of the Helium Centennial Year, 1968, to the best of the author's knowledge. Citations were keypunched for easy updating and are listed alphabetically by author.

Jan 1, 1968

By A. C. Richardson

The mine of the Porter Coal Co. is located at the town of Porter in the northwestern part of Jefferson, County, Ala., about 20 miles west of Birmingham. The operations in this mine are confined to the middle and bottom benches of the Mary Lee bed. The coal from the Porter mine is handpicked and washed before being placed on the market. The handpicked lump coal and the washed egg and nut, coal are sold chiefly as domestic and steam-raising fuel. The coal finer than 1 inch is washed in 2-compartment jigs and utilized in the manufacture of metallurgical coke. The coal company has found that, when coal ranging in size from 1 to 0 inch is washed in jigs, a considerable amount of high-ash material finer than 3/16 inch remains in the washed coal. This paper gives the results of an investigation which was conducted for the purpose of determining the washing characteristics of the through 316-inch raw coal and the extent to which the ash might be reduced by means of coal-washing tables. This investigation has been made in connection with an. extensive study of the coal-washing problems now being conducted by the United States Bureau of Mines and the University of Alabama, with the cooperation of the coal-mining companies of the State.

Jan 1, 1933

By R. J. Gunderman

Explosionproof electrical enclosures for coal mine face equipment have been of the same basic design for many years without significant change. Characteristics for potential improvement were investigated through interviews, visits to mines and studies. Improved safety, health and productivity were the goals. Areas identified for improvement included rapid venting of pressure build-up due to an internal explosion, quick and easy entry or removal of cable entrances, and a quick and easy cover removal for rapid component access. Concepts were identified and evaluated, and the more promising devices were fabricated and tested. Encouraging results from initial tests led to further design refinement and establishment of design guidelines. These design guidelines for a pressure vent and for an elastomeric grommet type cable entry are described along with the testing used. An application for an experimental permit was requested from MSHA. After test and evaluation experimental permit #396 for evaluation in an underground coal mine was granted.

Jan 1, 1980

By J. B. Zadra

The use of activated carbon for extracting gold and silver from pregnant cyanide solution and pulp has been investigated many times. The primary advantage of this use of activated carbon is that .the dissolved values can be recovered from slimy ore pulps or from slime portions of ore without settling and thickening or filtering. The loaded carbon is removed from the barren pulp, and the pulp can then be discarded. Activated carbon has been used recently in treating gold ores containing very little soluble silver. When the carbon was loaded with a suitable amount of gold, the silver load was negligible. The remaining problems concerned the removal of the gold from the carbon, the recovery of the gold as bullion, and the reuse of the unloaded carbon. As described in a recent report, a method that solved these problems was developed. The gold-laden carbon was leached with caustic sodium sulfide solution and the gold simultaneously recovered by electrolysis. Both the carbon and the spent solution can be reused. That process was applicable to gold-laden carbon only. It was not applicable to carbon carrying silver, because sodium sulfide does not leach silver from carbon but "fixes" it. It has been necessary, therefore, to develop a modified process for the removal or desorption of both gold and silver from loaded carbon. This modi¬fied process permits the use of activated carbon for extracting both gold and silver from gold ores carrying enough silver to have economical interest or in which silver may be the predominating value.

Jan 1, 1952

By Thomas Curtin

The Bureau of Mines, in its researches aimed to prevent wastes and to increase efficiency in oil-well practice, has investigated the matter of casing troubles and fishing methods. The results of the investigation are set forth in this paper. After expensive development work, many wells being drilled for oil have been abandoned because of casing troubles. These troubles in many instances have been thought to be insurmountable, whereas they are sometimes susceptible of solution. In fields_ where casing difficulties are of daily occurrence, methods have been evolved for combating them. Were these methods more widely known and applied wherever the same conditions exist, the oil industry at large would be greatly benefited. This report attempts to classify these troubles and suggests solutions that will save the operator discouragement and expense. It is assumed throughout this paper that the reader is so familiar with the ordinary oil-well drilling and fishing methods that detailed explanation is unnecessary. The well-drilling terms that are used herein will be readily understood by those for whom this discussion is intended. However, in order to avoid confusion as to the sense in which some of these terms are applied, definitions &re included.

Jan 1, 1920

By James H. Cobbs

The utilization of large diameter drilled holes for mine shafts seems to have had its beginning in Europe about 1850 (28) where the mining industries of Germany and The Netherlands first used drilled shafts. Recent shafts in softer formations of diameters as large as 25 feet and as deep as 1, 700 feet have been drilled in both The Netherlands and Germany. The first shaft drillers utilized cable tool or churn drilling techniques which limit both hole diameters and drilling speeds. Though some churn drilling of shafts is still performed, rotary drilling has been the dominant technique for many years.

Jan 1, 1973

By James Westfield

Drilling for roof bolting has created a new dust problem for the coal-mining industry. Drilling is inherently dusty, and control of dust produced by drilling vertical or nearly vertical holes is much more difficult than control of that produced by drilling flat or down holes.4/ Also, the dust produced by roof drilling differs in composition from that produced by drill-fur, or cutting the coal face because it contains a significantly greater amount of free silica and therefore presents a greater potential hazard of silicosis. Roof bolting has been practiced successfully in the mines of the St. Joseph Lead Co. in southeastern Missouri for over 20 years, but it was not until 1947 and 1948 that large-scale roof-bolting experiments were conducted in coal mines.5/ Although the need for dust control in conjunction with roof drilling was recognized from the beginning, the development and acceptance of roof bolting progressed so rapidly during 1949 and 1950 that solution of the dust problem lagged behind other engineering phases of the technique.

Jan 1, 1951

By W. P. Yant, G. W. Jones

"Introduction.During the past two years the Bureau of Mines has conducted a study of natural-gas heaters*** to determine (1) what types of heaters literate carbon monoxide; (2) why carton monocide is liberated; and (3) how, by change of design or construction, the liberation of this gas can be largely eliminated, In addition to the above study the bureau has investigated cases in the Pittsburgh dis¬trict where fatalities have resulted from carbon monoxide given off by natural-gas heaters.Since these fatalities were first brought to the attention of this bureau through the press, it is likely that some cases were missed and thus not listed. On the other hand, some cases reported as being due to carbon monoxide poisoning, on investigation were found to be due to causes other than carbon monoride.The cases listed herein were shown in all probability to be due to carbon monoxide. Those in which there is any doubt have been omitted; so have those in which there was part asphyxiation, where the victims later recovered."

Feb 1, 1924

By R. S. Dean

This is the fourth of a series; of annual report of the Metallurgical Division to be released in this form and cover the fiscal year July 1, 1937, to rune 30, 1938. This report is not merely a recitation or brief of the year's work; it contains technical information in usable form, although a some of this has appeared or will he issued in greater detail in separate reports. The table of contents that follows fists the principal investigations accomplished and those that are being continued. Other projects are being begun and contemplated for the next year.

Jan 1, 1938

By R. S. Dean

[During the past year the Metallurgical Fundamentals Section gave about an equal amount of time to the experimental determination of fundamental thermodynamic constants and to the demonstration of the application of such data to more directly practical metallurgical problems. The first division of the work - the actual experimental measurements of typical thermodynamic constants - was carried out an two problems, termed ?continuing? programs, namely, (1) measurements of Specific Heats at Low Temperatures and (2) Measurements of Heats of Formation and Free Energies. Specific substances chosen for investigation are classified as (n) those that have been the subject of requests for information from the industry and that, upon examination, seem of sufficient practical importance to justify study, and (b) compounds that are difficult to treat metallurgically, or whose specific thermodynamic properties have not yet been determined satisfactorily and for which accurate data might suggest improved or new methods of Metallurgical treatment, or (c) materials recognized as belonging to a social class with exceptional thermodynamic properties and, hence, of scientific as well as technical importance.]

Jan 1, 1938

By K. L. Bainbridge

This report describes the results of a study to determine which types of, and to what extent, mining wastes can contaminate groundwater through leaching of acid-forming or potentially toxic constituents. The primary focus of this study was on coal mining wastes, especially overburden spoils and preparation plant refuse. In addition, the potential for contamination by leachates from clean coal stockpiles was also examined. The study approach included investigation of (a) the amounts and geographic locations of mining wastes in the United States; (b) the chemical character of mining wastes, especially with regard to potentially acid-firming or toxic constituents; and (c) the extent to which acid and/or toxic components are leached from mining wastes by rainwater. To evaluate the leachability of coal wastes, a laboratory waste leaching method was developed during this study to specifically simulate the leaching process over a long-term. Waste samples collected during this study were also leached by the EPA extraction procedure and ASTM waste leaching method. Results of the three leach test methods were compared to evaluate their relative capabilities to predict the leachability of mining wastes.

Jan 1, 1980

By C. F. Jackson

This paper has been prepared as a progress report in connection with the series of articles on mining methods and costs which are being published by the U. S. Bureau of Mines in the form of information circulars. Then enough circulars have been completed it is planned to publish a more complete and comprehensive paper in bulletin form dealing with the subject of underground transportation. Progress reports, followed by bulletins, will be prepared from time to time dealing with other subjects included in the general study of mining methods at individual mines, such as mine development, drilling, and blasting; stoping methods (each principal stoping method to be summarized in a separate paper); ventilation; wage, contract end bonus systems, etc.

Jan 1, 1930

By Harold M. Smith

This report presents a complete qualitative picture of knowledge of the composition of petroleum as of April 1965. The material is presented in detai 1 on two imaginative maps--one, the Hydrocarbon Hemisphere, depicts the hydrocarbons that have been identified in petroleum; the other, the Heterogeneous Hemisphere, shows the sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen compounds that have been found. All compounds are placed on the maps according to boiling point. The accompanying text illustrates by structural formulas the several types of hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon compounds identified, presents some quantitative data, and points out the possible geochemical significance of a number of the compounds. The possibilities of the Petroleum World of the future are discussed as a function of needed research.

May 1, 1965

By Russell J. Foster

Many important materials are derived entirely or partially as byproducts of primary copper, lead, and zinc production. This U.S. Bureau of Mines report examines the collective role of byproducts with regard to the economics of domestic mineral production, and their individual significance in terms of dollar value, end uses, and strategic considerations. The study also analyzes circumstances that have affected the competitiveness and structure of the U.S. copper, lead, and zinc industries, and factors that impact byproduct availability. These factors include production capacity at smelters and refineries, process technology, changing sources and composition of ores, regulations, foreign ownership, and byproduct demand and price. Policy considerations regarding stockpiling, regulations, and research are assessed.

Jan 1, 1991

By Forrest T. Moyer

The overall disabling work injury experience, excluding office- workers, at nometal mines and mills during the period 1961-63, as reported to the Bureau of Mines by operators, was 77 fatal and 7,201 nonfatal injuries during an aggregate worktime of 335,029,685 man- hours. These injuries, fatal and nonfatal combined, occurred at a frequency rate of 21.72 per million man-hours, comprising 0.23 for the fatal and 21.49 for the nonfatal injuries. The combined severity rate of the disabilities was 2,312 days lost or charged per million man-hours, consisting of 1,379 for the fatal and 933 of the nonfatal injuries, The average severity of all disabilities during 1961-63, was 106 days per injury, The number of days lost or charged, excluding officeworkers, at nonmetal mines and mills during 1961-63, was 462,000 days charged to fatal injuries and 312,461 days lost from nonfatal injuries. The outstanding causes for fatal injuries were explosions (18 fatalities occurred in a major mine-explosion disaster in a potash mine in Utah in 1963) and falls of rock or ore from back or side, while most nonfatal injuries were caused by handling materials, slips or falls of persons, haulage, and machinery. The parts of the body most frequently injured during the period 1961-63 were the trunk, hand and finger, and foot and toe, An average of 52,810 men were at work daily, There were 20 nonfatal disabling injuries reported for office- workers at nonmetal mines and mills during the period 1961-63 during an aggregate worktime of 23,088,496 man-hours, These injuries occur- red at a frequency rate of 0.87 per million man-hours, There were no fatal injuries reported.

Jan 1, 1967

By H. W. Earnest

This report covers the results of a two-phase study to determine the feasibility of underground disposal of retorted oil shale. Two mining methods, chamber and pillar mining and sublevel stoping, were specified for backfilling. Phase I of the study covered the evaluation of hydraulic, mechanical, and pneumatic transport and stowing systems, individually and in various combinations, and the selection of the most feasible methods. Conveyor transport and stowing and a combination conveyor transport and stowing with pneumatic topfilling were selected for detailed study of phase II. Phase II activities included detailed engineering analysis and design of the selected systems, an engineering economic analysis, and a cost comparison with total surface disposal of retorted oil shale. An extensive literature search was conducted and the bibliography is included in the report. Research done under Contract No. J0265052 by the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. Available for reference at Bureau of Mines facilities in Denver, Colo., Twin Cities, Minn., Bruceton and Pittsburgh, Pa., and Spokane, Wash.; U.S. Department of Energy facilities in Carbondale, Ill., and Morgantown, W. Va.; National Mine Health and Safety Academy, Beckley, W. Va.; and National Library of Natural Resources, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. Order ONLY from NTIS:

Jan 1, 1978