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By Frederick M. Becket, Russell Franks

WideSpread experimentation has been conducted in recent years to devise a means of preventing intergranular corrosion in austenitic chromium-nickel steels of the 18 per cent chromium-8 per cent nickel type. Additions of titanium to these steels have been used commercially to overcome this dificulty, as advocated by Krupp of Germany, and the latest literature reference concerning improved details of this method is the article by Bain, Aborn and Rutherford.' Extensive work by the present authors has shown columbium also to be a particularly valuable agent for inhibiting intergranular corrosion. This paper does not deal with steels that are largely or wholly austenitic; it is limited to a discussion of the results obtained through the use of titanium and columbium in plain high-chromium steels. For many years titanium has been used commercially by some steelmakers as a cleanser, and to a lesser extent as a hardener, but then in greater percentages. The results of the work to be described disclose that titanium and columbium in proper Proportions act as effective softeners in the high-chromium steels. It is well known that chromium intensifies the hardening effect of carbon in steel; it imparts pronounced air-hardening properties within a rather wide range of chromium content; it provides increased ductility in steels of given strength and hardness; and it enhances resistance to corrosion and oxidation at elevated temperatures to a marked degree. However, in applications requiring a combination of some of these valuable properties great hardness is frequently a detriment rather than a merit. When the objective is a soft and ductile steel having optimurn corrosion resistance, the producer strives for a carbon content as low as commercially practicable. Despite these efforts some of the commercial high-chromium steels low in carbon present considerable difficulties during production, owing to their air-hardening properties, and in consequence the economic result is not favorable. A good example is found in the 5 to 6 per cent chromium steels employed chiefly in the oil-cracking industry. Sleels

Jan 1, 1934

By Robert Maes, Robert de Strycker

The solidifzcation reactions in the Cu-Sn-As system were determined by microscopic examination, thermal analysis, and X-ray diffraction. The system presents no ternary compound. There is a quasi-binary section, of a simple eutectic type, between the compounds Cu5As2 and SnAs; the system presents, in addition, one ternary eutectic reaction, one ternary peritectic reaction, and seven transitional reactions. The temp-peratures corresponding to each of these reactions were determined, most of them with an accuracy of *lLC. The isothermal lines of the liquidus surface were also established for almost the entire diagram. NO reference was found in the literature relative to the Cu-Sn-As phase diagram and this is believed to be the first study on this subject. The Cu-Sn diagram was taken from Hansen and Anderko;' it is represented by Fig. 1, with the phase designation which will be used in the remainder of this work. For the Cu-As diagram, the solution proposed by Hansen and ~nderko' must be modified to take account of recent data, principally from Heyding and Despault~ and from Hume-Rothery and Burns; this yields the diagram represented by Fig. 2. As for the Sn-As diagram, it is not established with certainty, particularly so far as concerns the solid solubility of tin in arsenic and the solidification reactions near the compound SnsAsz. For this last point, Hansen and Anderko propose two solutions: congruent melting of Sn3Asz with a eutectic SnsAsZ + SnAs or incongruent melting implying a peri-tectic reaction L + SnAs = Sn3As2. Microscopic examination of the few binary alloys prepared in this composition range made us prefer the second of these solutions, which gives the diagram shown by Fig. 3. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS The experimental techniques used in this work were microscopic observation and thermal analysis; a few X-ray diffraction patterns were taken to verify the

Jan 1, 1967

By Joseph W. Richards

THIS method of briquetting flue-dust, or flue-dust mixed with fine ores, or, in a few exceptional cases, coke-dust, has come into large commercial use in Europe, and a small plant is already in operation in the United States. It promises to become of such great importance to the iron industry of the United States that the following description will certainly interest the majority of our pig-iron producers. Discovered in 1908, the process rests upon the observation of Dr. Schumacher that blast-furnace flue-dust, while possessing of itself no binding or cementing properties, acquires strong cementing properties if mixed with a very small amount of certain salt solutions, the amount of which is so small that the resulting cementation appears to be rather by catalytic action of the salts added than by the mass-action of such chemicals. To be more specific, fresh blast-furnace flue-dust mixed with from 5 to 10 per cent. of its weight of magnesium chloride or calcium chloride solution-that is to say, with from 0.25 to 2 per cent. of its weight of magnesium chloride or calcium chloride-acquires the property of setting within a short time, from 15 to 60 min., and forming a hard cemented briquette. Alkaline solutions appear to have no action such as described, and they even interfere, if present, with the action of the magnesium and calcium solutions. When treated in this way the flue-dust briquette sets very hard, apparently from pure excess of cementing- and setting-power. It is, therefore, possible to . mix with the flue-dust a considerable proportion of inert ore or like material, which has no setting-power by this process, and thus to make a compound briquette containing large quantities of ore mixed with flue-dust, but in which the flue-dust may be regarded as the cement or binding-material. A particularly strongly cementing flue-

May 1, 1912

By W. H. Howard

As the result of a series of analyses and volume determinations of gases discharged from the converters at the Garfield Smelting Co.'s smelter at Garfield, Utah, it was found that a considerable amount of lead fume was escaping from the stacks of the converter plant, and that if this lead could be recovered at a reasonable expense an attempt should be made to collect it. Two methods suggested themselves: (1) filtration through bags; (2) electrical precipitation of the condensed fume by a Cottrell plant. Filtration through Bags Tests were made in filtering converter gases through the ordinary woolen bags of lead-smelter bag houses to determine how long such material could withstand the corrosive action of the gases. While blowing on white metal only, the fabric was usually destroyed in 10 to 14 hr. In tests conducted in filtering gases when blowing on matte or slagging stage exclusively and when relatively considerable lead was being volatilizcd, bags in one instance lasted 60.5 hr. It therefore was evident that the Garfield converter gases did not contain in themselves sufficient neutralizing elements for the purpose of direct bag filtration, even during the slagging stage. Such results were more or less anticipated, but it was thus proved that under all conditions of blowing Garfield mattes a very considerable amount of neutralizing agent, zinc oxide or lime, or both combined, as in the Sprague process, would be required to render bag filtration possible. Again, owing to the constantly changing quantities of SO3 from a given battery of converters, depending on the number blowing at a given time and on the stages of the blow, it would be practically impossible to feed automatically the required amount of neutralizer. In order to safeguard the bags sufficient neutralizer would have to be continuously added to meet the maximum SO3 output, thus wasting neutralizers and giving an undesirably diluted final product. Such a condition is entirely different

Jan 1, 1915

By G. H. Wilson

INTRODUCED in 1946 to serve a need in power- plant operation, closed-circuit TV has been used by well over 200 organizations in approximately 25 different industries. Known as industrial television, or simply ITV, it can be described as a private system wherein the television signal is restricted in distribution, usually by confinement within co-axial cable that directly connects the TV camera to one or several monitors, Figs. 1, 2. The picture is continuous and transmission is instantaneous, permit- ting an observer to see an operation that may be too distant, too inaccessible, or too dangerous to be viewed directly. Destructive testing or the machining of high explosives can now be conducted hundreds of feet away by personnel who still have close control through the eyes of the TV camera. It is also possible for one man to control operations formerly requiring the co-ordinated efforts of several workers. For example, at a large midwestern cement plant conveyance of limestone from primary crusher to raw mill and loading into five storage bins once necessitated the work of two men, one having little to do but prevent spilling of material by manually moving the tripper on the belt conveyor as occasion required. TV cameras mounted on the tripper now provide bin level indication to the conveyor operator at the crusher position so he is able to control the entire loading operation remotely, Fig. 3. By means of a switch, the picture from either camera is alternately available on a single viewer, or monitor, Fig. 4. Each camera is mounted on the tripper by means of a simple adjustable support and looks down into the bin, which is identified by the number of cross members on the vertical rod. Each associated power unit is located on a platform above the camera, Fig. 5. This centralized control by means of TV often has produced superior results, and in many instancés saving in operating costs has been sufficient to write off equipment costs within six months to a year.

Jan 7, 1954

By Karl Sundberg

ELECTRICAL investigations carried out in regions containing sedimen-tary rocks showed that sediments generally are good electrical conductors, a fact which at the present time is used for structural investigations by electrical methods. It is of fundamental importance, not only for these investigations but also for electrical prospecting in general, to know the electrical properties of various soils and rocks. It will be useful, there-fore, to discuss this question with the hope that the general points of view discussed in this paper will perhaps be, completed by further observations and determinations of material from various localities. This paper is based principally on the study of literature, and the purpose is primarily a discussion of the main factors that determine the electrical conductivity of soils and rocks. It will follow, however, that the factors discussed here also frequently decide how far a certain orebody can be regarded as a good electrical conductor compared with the sur-rounding rocks. All-rocks are more or less porous; and the pores are filled with liquids and gases. Their electrical conductivity, therefore, depends on the following factors: 1. The electrical conductivity of minerals composing the rock. 2. Electrical conductivity of the liquid filling the pores. 3. Proportion of the volume of liquid filling pores of the rocks to the solid rock material. 4. Shape of the pores. 5. Arrangement of the particles of gas and liquids. 6. Temperature. Dry minerals, with the exception of certain ore minerals, are complete nonconductors from the point of view of applied geophysics; in the present investigation we deal with rocks which have no conducting minerals, and factor 1, therefore, is not important. The same is true of soils. The liquids contained in soils and rocks in most cases are waters, some-times oil. As oil is a nonconductor of electricity, the impregnating waters will determine the electrical conductivity of soils and rocks.

Jan 1, 1932

By Frederick Laist

While remodeling No. 1 section of the concentrator at the Washoe Reduction Works of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. during the summer of 1912, for the purpose of ascertaining what additional metal recoveries could be made by improvements in concentration practice which had been developed by the staff of the Boston & Montana Reduction Department, at Great Falls, it was deemed advisable to carry on some experiments on the treatment of the regular mill tailings by roasting and leaching, to see whether the losses of metal values might not be still further decreased. In the course of these experiments about 5,000 tons of tailings were roasted, and of the resulting calcine about 200 tons were leached. The results were so satisfactory that it was decided to continue the work on a larger scale, particularly as regards the leaching end of the process, and construction work on an 80-ton roasting and leaching plant was accordingly commenced during the latter part of February, 1913, and is being pushed as rapidly as possible. 80-Ton Leaching Plant. This plant will consist of one 20-ft. roasting furnace of the Mac-Dougall type, specially adapted to the work of roasting for leaching; two leaching tanks, 32 ft. in diameter by 12 ft. deep, together with the necessary solution tanks, air lifts, precipitating launders, etc. It has been decided to precipitate the copper from solution on scrap iron, so as not to hamper the roasting and leaching departments by any weakness that might develop in the precipitating department. It is, however, the intention to experiment with a number of different methods of precipitation; for example, by electrolysis and by hydrogen sulphide. The acid required for the operation of this plant will be purchased, ad the quantity required is not sufficient to justify the installation of an acid plant. An acid plant will, however, be established in con-

Jan 1, 1914

By G. L. F. Powell

Bulk samples of silver have beat undercooled lo a large degree in contact with crystalline siliceous and ceramic oxide materials, indicating lhat stable oxides and oxide compounds are not the heterogeneous nucleants which normally catalyze cryslallization within a feu degrees of the equilibrium freezing point. Since 400-g samples were undercooled 250°C in contact with cristobalite, it is concluded that the undercooling required for homogeneous nucleation of sil11er is greater than 250°C. Undercooling was Jacilitated by precleaning the crucibles with a high-fires -sure blast of gas. IN numerous experiments on the undercooling of metal melts it has been assumed that a solid glassy surface, being non crystal line, will have no effect in catalyzing crystal nucleation from the melt. Conversely, it is usually accepted that any crystalline surface, in contact with a metal melt, will catalyze nucleation of metal crystals from the melt at degrees of undercooling less than that at which homogeneous nucleation will occur. Both these assumptions were implicit in the claim that homogeneous nucleation was observed in experiments1'2 on the undercooling of small metal droplets (10 to 100 mp diam). The droplets were thought to be freed of suspended crystalline particles which would otherwise catalyze heterogeneous nucleation. They were supported on flakes of silica glass which were assumed to be amorphous, and therefore incapable of acting as substrates for heterogeneous nucleation. In later experiments, large samples of molten metal were undercooled to temperatures similar to those achieved by the droplet technique by melting in a fused-silica crucible3 or a boro-silicate glass slag.4 Since these samples were usually fully enclosed in glass at the moment of freezing, it seemed possible that nucleation was homogeneous when maximum degrees of undercooling were achieved, despite the large size of the samples (up to 500 g). In experiments on the undercooling of silver5 the metal was contained in vitreous silica crucibles, the

Jan 1, 1968

By Henry G. Granger

It still rains in the Choco! I well remember one evening a dozen years ago, while traveling toward the town of Negua in a small champa or dug-out canoe, the rain fell so heavily that I had to work my hardest to bail out the water with a large totuma or gourd in order to keep the canoe afloat, the native boatman meanwhile plying his paddle in the stern. If any one thinks bailing is easy work, let him scoop out a quart or more at a stroke, 40 times a minute for half an hour, and I venture that he will change his opinion. These small canoes required only one paddler to make the 3 miles an hour which is the standard rate of aquatic progress on the Choco. Another time, on the Atrato river, about six o'clock in the afternoon, the rain fell so heavily that an empty gourd, 9 in. in diameter and 4.5 deep, was filled to the brim in 90 sec., timed by a watch. Such downpours are typical, but unless caught in one it is not specially noticed. These downpours seldom last more than an hour, and frequently cover only a limited area, occasionally falling on one bank of a river and not on the other. During the night-time, the rain, if gentle, will usually last until dawn, and sometimes an intermittent drizzle will keep up all day as well, although, as a rule, it rarely rains during the day. The rise of the rivers, due to the rain-fall, varies from a few inches to several feet. One night in August, 1899, the spuds of the dredge Margaret, operating on the Atrato river, showed a rise of 16 ft., and for 3 days thereafter occurred the greatest flood known in that district for 32 years. The dredge had all three spuds down, and the 2-yd. shovel dragging 011 the bottom. A 0.75-in. cable fast to a stout tree, 700 ft. away, stretched tight

Jan 1, 1909

By Fred C. Bond and

This paper is a continuation of two earlier papers,12 and presents new data on the grindability of various ores and other materials—the results of several years of intermittent research work on the nature of grinding and interpretation of test results. It is divided into five parts: 1. The tabulated results of several hundred grindability tests on a wide variety of ores. 2. A method of correcting screen analyses and calculating from them the surface and other properties. 3. A description of a new method of measuring the "surface energy" of an ore by pendulum impact tests. 4. Test results. 5. A general discussion of the test results and their application to grinding problems. 1. GRindability of Various Ores This part is a continuation of the paper listed as reference No. 1. The method of testing is described in detail in that paper. The sample to be tested is crushed to all through 6 mesh in rolls set at 1/16-in. opening in closed circuit with a screen. Of this sample 700 C.C. is ground dry in a laboratory ball mill under constant conditions of mill speed and ball charge in closed circuit with a screen of the desired size at 250 per cent circulating load. The mill is cylindrical, 12 by 12 in., and rotates at 70 r.p.m. It contains a charge of 285 iron balls weighing 20,125 grams and ranging from 1½ to ¾ in. in diameter. Each test is continued for a sufficient number of periods to establish equilibrium at 250 per cent circulating load, or until the composition of the circulating load is constant for successive periods. Tests are conducted at the mesh size to which the ore is to be ground in practice, and the results are expressed as the net production in grams of screen undersize per revolution of the mill. This is designated as the

Jan 1, 1939

By Fred C. Bond and

This paper is a continuation of two earlier papers,12 and presents new data on the grindability of various ores and other materials—the results of several years of intermittent research work on the nature of grinding and interpretation of test results. It is divided into five parts: 1. The tabulated results of several hundred grindability tests on a wide variety of ores. 2. A method of correcting screen analyses and calculating from them the surface and other properties. 3. A description of a new method of measuring the "surface energy" of an ore by pendulum impact tests. 4. Test results. 5. A general discussion of the test results and their application to grinding problems. 1. GRindability of Various Ores This part is a continuation of the paper listed as reference No. 1. The method of testing is described in detail in that paper. The sample to be tested is crushed to all through 6 mesh in rolls set at 1/16-in. opening in closed circuit with a screen. Of this sample 700 C.C. is ground dry in a laboratory ball mill under constant conditions of mill speed and ball charge in closed circuit with a screen of the desired size at 250 per cent circulating load. The mill is cylindrical, 12 by 12 in., and rotates at 70 r.p.m. It contains a charge of 285 iron balls weighing 20,125 grams and ranging from 1½ to ¾ in. in diameter. Each test is continued for a sufficient number of periods to establish equilibrium at 250 per cent circulating load, or until the composition of the circulating load is constant for successive periods. Tests are conducted at the mesh size to which the ore is to be ground in practice, and the results are expressed as the net production in grams of screen undersize per revolution of the mill. This is designated as the

Jan 1, 1939

By Franklin H. Wilson

COPPER base alloys containing various amounts of aluminum and silicon are of considerable commercial interest. In particular the alloy containing 7 pct aluminum and 2 pct silicon shows an attractive combination of high strength with excellent machinability. Since there is no evidence in the literature that this ternary system has been studied since the recognition by Smith1 and Anderson2 in 1939 of the kappa phase of the binary copper-silicon system, the determination of the equilibrium phase relationships in the copper corner of the ternary diagram has been undertaken to provide a fundamental basis for understanding the behavior of these alloys. Phase boundaries have been determined by the micrographic examination of quenched samples while points on the liquidus surface have been obtained by thermal analysis. The results, of sufficient precision to serve their major purpose of providing a guide for the control of the manufacture of alloys in the region covered, are presented in a series of both isothermal and vertical sections of the diagram. ALLOYS STUDIED For a rough survey of the copper corner of this ternary system the compositions listed in Table I (Series A) were employed. The results of examinations of these alloys indicated that the compositions listed in Table 2 (Series B) would further clarify regions of greater complexity. All alloys were prepared as 1200 g heats, the copper being melted under charcoal, and then first silicon and then aluminum were added. An [ ] excess of 0.05 pct silicon was allowed to cover deoxidation losses. Two small bars 5/8 by 1 ¼ by 1 ¼ in. were cast using Durville type casting equipment. Analyses were made on all alloys using material which was hot-rolled at 800 or 850°C and annealed 17 hr at 650°C. All analyses were found to be within 0.05 pct of the nominal composition. Since the precision of analysis is not much better than this, the points of both isothermal sections and vertical sections at fixed aluminum and silicon contents have been plotted at the compositions indicated by the nominal composition.

Jan 1, 1948

By Robert H. Merrill

In 1960, the Kennecott Copper Corp. and the U.S. Bureau of Mines entered into a joint research program to determine the changes in stress, strain, and displacement created by changes in slope angles. The field site was the Kimbley Pit, located near Ely, Nev. The supporting laboratory investigations were made at the Bureau's Denver Mining Research Center. Following a study to determine the rock stresses in the mining district, the strike and dip of geologic defects (fractures) in the rock, and the laboratory-determined strength of the rock, a new slope angle and pit configuration was selected, and instruments were installed to measure changes in stress, strain, displacement, microseismic noise rate, and sonic velocities at several points in the west wall of the pit. Between February and November 1966, the west slope was changed from an average angle of 45' to a slope angle that started at 45° on the south wall, and gradually increased to 575' at the center of the west wall, and to 61° on the north wall. The pit was deepened from about 500 ft to about 550 ft. About 2.55 million tons of waste and ore were removed by stripping and mining. Measurements made between November 1965 and September 1967 showed that the pit wall was stable before excavation began, that changes in the measured quantities occurred in the pit wall during the excavation, and that the wall returned to a condition of equilibrium after the mining was completed. The need for a method and the technology to pre-design a pit slope does not require elaboration. About 5 billion tons of material are excavated yearly by surface mining methods in the United States, and the economics, safety, and availability of lower grade metals, nonmetals and fuels could all be substantially improved if operators could preselect optimum slope angles. Mining companies and the Bureau of Mines have recognized the need for developing engineering methods to determine stable slope angles. In the industry, Kennecott Copper Corp. had been making an

Jan 1, 1969

By E. P. Mathewson

THE experiments described in this paper were made at the Washoe Reduction Works, Anaconda, Mont., for the purpose of determining the relative speed of elimination of the iron, sulphur and arsenic during the process of bessemerizing copper-mattes. The samples were taken from a horizontal "barrel" converter, 8 ft. in diameter and 12 ft. 6 in. long, having an average charge of 9 tons of matte, and blown with a 16-1b. air-pressure. All samples were taken with the blast on, turning the converter from its normal blowing-position to nearly verti¬cal, so that a conical mold, with a long handle attached to a horizontal rod, could be introduced from a platform above the converter into the mouth of the converter and a sample taken. The difficulties of taking a sample with the blast on are appar¬ent, and the irregularities of the lines in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 can be readily accounted for by the amount of slag in the samples. On the whole, the plotting of the results gives comparatively uniform lines, considering the conditions. The samples were taken by the regular sampling-force of the works at 10-min. intervals, as shown in Tables I., II and III, which also give the chemical analysis of the samples so taken. The test shown in Table I. was made with a new converter; that of Table II with a converter that had made three charges and had been cleaned out; that of Table III with a converter that bad blown one charge to white metal, and had then been " washed " out and used for the test. In plotting these results, it was necessary to take, as a basis, the percentage of copper in the samples. This basis does not exactly represent the true condition, since the volume is constantly decreasing and a certain quantity of copper passes into the slag, but it is as near as can be obtained in practice. Take, for instance, in Table I., the sample No. 5, which shows : Cu, 59.9;

Jan 1, 1907

By Leland Van Wert

IN 1888, Howard,1 working at the Watertown Arsenal on the tensile properties of ferrous materials at various temperatures, noted the curious fact that the stress-strain diagrams of low-carbon steels tested within a certain temperature range (200° to 350° C.) departed more or less from the normal regularity of such diagrams as secured by testing at either above or below these temperatures. This same jagged appearance of similar diagrams for steels has been observed by at least one other investigator, and de Forest2 has reported similar irregularities in the tensile testing of some nonferrous alloys. Recently again, this anomaly in diagram contour has been shown in a most striking fashion, apparently because of its accentuation by the method of testing employed, by Dr. Albert Sauveur.3 He described (for nonaustenitic steels) two quite distinct types of torsional stress-time diagrams: (1) those with a regular and smooth outline, derived normally by testing at temperatures above 300° C., or below 200° C. (as, for example, Figs. 4a or e); and (2) those presenting a decided "stepped" appearance, which are invariably produced when twisting is done within the 200° to 300° C. range (examples, Figs. 5a and b). The torsion test brings out so much more sharply (and convincingly) the irregularities occurring at 200° and 300° C. than does the tensile test that they can no longer be considered as resulting from simply idiosyncratic or accidental and inconsequential causes. Clearly, from the temperatures involved, the "stepped" type of diagram, or more accurately, the peculiar manner of response to torsional stress which manifests itself in the diagram, is an aspect of the "blue-heat" phenomenon. One's curiosity if, nothing else, prompts an inquiry as to the nature and significance of these "steps." What do they mean? What causes them? To these questions there are no completely satisfactory answers. The following experimental observations are offered as suggestions towards the solution of the problem.

Jan 1, 1931

By Persifor Frazer

"The nebular theory is a noble speculation supported by plausible argument, and the verdict of science on the whole subject cannot be better expressed than in the words of Newcomb :—'At the present time we can only say that the nebular hypothesis is indicated by the general tendencies of the laws of nature, that it has not been proved to be inconsistent with any fact, that it is almost a necessary consequence of the only theory by which we can account for the origin and conservation of the sun's heat, but that it rests on the assumption that this conservation is to be explained by the laws of nature as we now see them in operation. Should any one be skeptical as to the sufficiency of these laws to account for the present state of things, science can furnish no evidence strong enough to overthrow his doubts until the sun shall be found growing smaller by actual measurement, or the nebulæ be actually seen to condense into stars and systems.' " Leibnitz2 is credited by Cuvier3 (who associates with him Descartcs) with " amusing their imaginations " by conceiving the world to be an extinguished sun or vitrified globe upon which the vapors, condensing in proportion as it cooled, formed the seas, and afterwards deposited the calcareous strata. Whiston4 believed the earth was crested from the atmosphere of one comet and deluged by the tail of another. The heat which remained from its origin excited the whole antediluvian population, men and animals, to sin, for which they mere all drowned in the deluge, except the fish, whose passions were apparently less violent. De Maillet5 held that the globe had been covered by water for many thousand years. The terrestrial animals were originally inhabitants of the sea, and man himself began his career as a fish. He adds it is not uncommon to meet with fishes in

Jan 1, 1905

By W. H. Howard

As the result of a series of analyses and volume determinations of gases discharged from the converters at the Garfield Smelting Co.'s. smelter at Garfield, Utah, it was found that a considerable amount of lead fume was escaping from the stacks of the converter plant, and `that if this lead could be recovered at a reasonable expense an attempt should be made to collect it. Two methods suggested themselves: (1) filtration through bags; (2) electrical precipitation of the condensed fume by a Cottrell plant. Filtration through Bags Tests were made in filtering converter gases through the ordinary woolen bags of lead-smelter bag houses to determine how long such material could withstand the corrosive action of the gases. While blowing on white metal only, the fabric was usually destroyed in 10 to 14 hr. In tests conducted in filtering gases when blowing on matte or slagging stage exclusively and when relatively considerable lead was being volatilized, bags in one instance lasted 60.5 hr. It therefore was evident that the Garfield converter gases did not contain in themselves sufficient neutralizing elements for the purpose of direct bag filtration, even during the slagging stage. Such results were more or less anticipated, but it was thus proved that under all conditions of blowing Garfield mattes a very considerable amount of neutralizing agent, zinc oxide or lime, or both combined, as in the Sprague process, would be required to render bag filtration possible. Again, owing to the constantly changing quantities of SO3 from a given battery of converters, depending on the number blowing at a given time and on the stages of the blow, it would be practically impossible to feed automatically the required amount of neutralizer. In order to safeguard the bags sufficient neutralizer would have to be continuously added to meet the maximum SO3 output, thus. wasting neutralizers and giving an undesirably diluted final product. Such a condition is entirely different

Jan 8, 1914

By Russell Franks

IN recent years a considerable tonnage of the 18 per cent chromium and 8 per cent nickel steels has been used in lightweight high-strength structures that must be resistant to deterioration under atmospheric conditions. These steels are austenitic in character and their strength can best be increased by cold-working. Although a marked increase in tensile strength is obtained, claims have been made that the cold-worked steels do not possess fully satisfactory elastic properties. Under certain conditions, however, this has caused no great concern, because, as explained by Ragsdale,1,2 the cold-rolled steels have been widely applied for construction of lightweight, high-strength trains using spot welding for joining purposes. Ffield3 agrees that the ease with which thin sections of the cold-rolled 18-8 steels can be joined by spot welding is greatly in their favor, but that they would be more satisfactory if higher elastic properties and a higher modulus of elasticity could be obtained. He states that, as far as the mechanical properties are concerned, the straight chromium stainless steel is superior to the cold-worked 18-8 steel, and in order to illustrate, he presented the data of Fig. 1, which also give a stress-strain curve for a low-carbon 13 per cent Cr steel. Ffield? pro-posed that columbium-bearing or titanium-bearing cold-rolled 18-8 steels be given a heat-treatment (preferably for 1 hr.) in the range 400° to 600°C. to precipitate carbides in order to obtain better mechani-cal properties. Discussions by Sutton,4,5 de Ganahl,6,7 8 Krivobok and Lincoln,9 Knerr,10 and Thaden11 have given further information on the properties of the cold-rolled 18-8 steels compared with other materials used in light-weight, high-strength structures. These investigators and others point out that the ultimate tensile strength of the cold-rolled 18-8 steel can be increased to 200,000 lb, per sq. in. or higher; Krivobok et al. indicate that

Jan 1, 1940

By R. L. Klueh, W. W. Mullins

During the course of a study on the periodic precipitation (Liesegang phenomenon) of water vapor bubbles in solid silver, some interesting observations were made concerning the formation and growth of these bubbles. Under certain conditions it was found that the bubbles which formed in the single crystals led to the formation of large blisters ad cracks, and when poly crystalline specimens were used grain boundary cracking was observed. These two phenomena were examined in some detail, and it was found that an important step in the formation of the blisters and grain boundary cracks was the impingement of neighboring bubbles. DURING the study of Liesegang precipitation in solid silver,' some interesting observations were made concerning the formation and growth of water vapor bubbles. The bubbles were formed by annealing oxygen-saturated silver in hydrogen. Because of the similarity of this phenomenon to the hydrogen embrittlement of tough pitch copper,' it is known in the literature" as the hydrogen embrittlement of silver. In some respects it appears that the hydrogen embrittlement of silver is similar to the processes of hydrogen attack of steel5 and blister formation.' Hydrogen attack results from the high-temperature reaction of hydrogen with dissolved carbon or carbides in the steel to form methane (usually at grain boundaries). Blister formation occurs in steel and other materials as a result of hydrogen produced by corrosion, pickling, and so forth. Because of these similarities, some speculations were made concerning these other processes. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Water vapor bubbles were formed in 99.999+, 99.99+, and 99.9 pct Ag by annealing in a partial pressure of oxygen (pq) until saturated and then in a partial pressure of hydrogen (pH,). The hydrogen diffuses into the silver and reacts with the dissolved oxygen to form water vapor which precipitates in the form of bubbles. The specimens were then sectioned, silver-plated, mounted in cold-setting plastic, ground and polished through a preliminary polishing, and finally chemically polished.' The bubbles were visible without etching.

Jan 1, 1969

By J. V. Richards

(Canal Zone Meeting, November, 1910,) THE Altar district, State of Sonora, Mexico, is for the most part a desert with but little rain-fall and few running streams. On account of this scarcity of water it is necessary for the natives to " dry-wash" the placer-gravel, and the object of the present paper is to describe some of the more common Mexican dry-washing devices. My observations were confined to a property known as Las Palomas placers, 15 miles from the Gulf of California and about 150 miles south of the United States border; a brief description of which property may be of interest as illustrating what is, perhaps, a typical Sonora dry placer. It is said that as long as a century ago the Yaqui Indians discovered rich cement-gravel, known as argo masa, at Las Palomas, and that there has been a more or less steady production of gold from the property ever since. The argo masa is a fairly-coarse gravel, the pebbles being quite firmly held together with a lime cement. Gold is scattered through this cement in particles ranging from fine specks to pieces several grams in weight, and occasional large nuggets are encountered. The contents vary so widely that it is difficult to estimate the average value, but returns of from $10 to $50 per cubic yard are common, and it is doubtful if the Indians considered anything less than from $4 to $5 a yard as "pay dirt." This argo masa occurs in channels varying in thickness from a few inches to several feet, and in width up to 300 ft.. These channels are continuous and are probably ancient stream-beds. They are for the most part covered with an over-burden of a more recent gravel, varying from 30 to 50 ft. thick, and the fact that this over-burden contains values as high as $1.50 per cubic yard, and yet was not worked by the Indians, shows that their idea of what constituted pay-ground was high.

Apr 1, 1911