Search Documents

By Victor G. Hills

CONTRARY to what seems to be the general impression, the island of Cyprus was not named for the metal copper, but the reverse was the case. The origin of the name is entirely lost. The ancient city Kition, the birthplace of Zeno, is supposed to be the same as Kittim mentioned in Gen. x, 4; Jeremiah ii, 10 and Ezekiel xxvii, 6, and Josephus states that this name seems to have been applied to the city and also to the island itself. Cyprus is 50 miles off the coast of Asia Minor. The mountains on the mainland are plainly visible across the sea from where I write six miles from the shore of Morphou bay. It is 200 miles from Joppa the port of Jerusalem, and 250 from Port Said. The shape of the island is like a lizard, the tail pointing directly toward the old city of Antioch near the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean. The island was once heavily timbered. Among the great trees the cedars were said to even excel the famous cedars of Lebanon. The Odyssey refers to it as the "sweet smelling island" and makes other references. But the continual wars of every race and age completely stripped it of its timber, and for centuries it has been woefully barren. There are two ranges of mountains. One borders the north coast and runs out in a slim rocky ridge forming the "tail." The other occupies the southwestern part of the island, the highest point being Mt. Troodes 6600 ft. high, sometimes called Mt. Olympus. Whether or not it be the Mt. Olympus, anyway right around there the ancient gods and godesses frequently "started things." These peaks are in plain sight 10 miles south from where I live.

Jan 1, 1926

By AIME AIME

ASIDE from the annual dinner-dance, the two outstanding social events of the Annual Meeting were the dinner- smoker on Monday night and the informal dance on Tuesday night, both of which were held at the Commodore Hotel. Approximately 400 attended the former event, compared with 570 a year ago, and about 250, people were attracted to the dance.

Jan 1, 1933

By Lysle E. Shaffer

INCREASING attention has been given in the last decade to the possibilities of mine leasing in the West. The practice as described in this article does not refer to the leasing of entire properties for corporate operation. It is intended to deal rather with the advantages and problems incident to leasing portions of properties to individuals who themselves, individually or in groups, do the actual mining and transportation of the ore. These individuals are sometimes called "leasers" and sometimes called "tributors." The contracts under which they work set up an independent relationship of lessor and leaser, between themselves and the mineowner or operator. This relationship has many advantages to both sides over those created by the ordinary relationship of employer and employe. From the standpoint of the owners there is no liability on independent contractors for industrial injuries, social security taxes, unemployment taxes, or the manifold restrictions of the Federal Labor Relations and Wage Hour Acts and similar state acts where they exist. As the leaser's income depends on the quantity and quality of ore produced, there is a distinct incentive for maximum production of a good grade of ore. This in turn promotes careful mining of the areas under lease. Ordinarily in mining, labor cost is a high percentage of the total cost of operation. Under a leasing system, even if the leasers be allowed to retain half of the gross values that they produce, and the owner or operator gets half, in the case of marginal ore bodies this is ordinarily more than the lessor would realize if the property were worked by day labor. In some instances mineral deposits under a leasing system may become ore, whereas under a day-labor system they would

Jan 1, 1948

By AIME AIME

FOR many years it has been the invariable custom of the Institute, in addition to its annual meeting in February, to hold a technical meeting in the fall in some mining or metallurgical center in the West. As the activities of the Institute have increased, and especially since the absorption 'of the American Institute of Metals, there have for a number of years been two fall meetings. Never before in the history of the Institute have there been three meetings in addition to the annual meeting in February; in 1920, however, three important fall meetings are to be held. The general Institute trip will be made this fall to the Lake Superior iron and copper country. Members will leave Buffalo on August 20 by steamer, visit the copper mines in and about Houghton, the iron mines of the Marquette and Iron Ranges of Michigan and the iron mines of the Mesabi Range in Minnesota, and' return to Buffalo by steamer on September 3. Technical sessions will be held at Houghton, Minneapolis and Duluth. For a long period it was customary for the Institute to visit the Lake Superior country about every seven years. This trip, however, will be the first visit since 1904. The unprecedented development in both copper and iron mining in this section during this period will make this trip of unusual importance. In addition, a notable series of papers will be presented.

Jan 1, 1920

By Fred J. Miller

FRED J. MILLER was born in Ohio, in 1857. He had a common and high school education, supplemented by personal study and special instruction. After serving a 4-year apprenticeship and working in various capacities in machine shops, he became a contributor to mechanical journals and finally a member of the editorial staff of The American Machinist, where he remained for twenty years, the last ten years as editor-in-chief of the magazine, and vice-president of the publishing company. On retiring from journalism, he was for nine years general manager of a group of typewriter factories, and was then commissioned Major of Ordnance in the U. S. Army, being stationed during most of his service at Rock Island Arsenal, where he organized the Civilian Service Division of the Arsenal. He is now a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the War Claims Board at Washington. Major Miller became a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1890, and has always taken an active interest in its affairs, having served on a number of important committees, and as a member of Council from 1904 to 1907, inclusive. He was elected President in December, 1919.

Jan 1, 1920

BUMPS in No. 2 Mine, Springhill, N. S., furnished the main feature for discussion at the morning meeting* on Ground Movement and Subsidence on Feb. 18. Walter Herd, the author of the paper by which the discussion was introduced, not being well, was unable to be present. The paper was presented by T. L. McCall, who laid stress on the presence of sand- stone as the cause of bumps, on the value of retreating longwall in eliminating such phenomena at the coal face and on the advantage of wide headings with packs on either side, leaving space behind them for any coal that bumps might dislodge. George S. Rice, who presided, referred to his visits to the Nova Scotia mines and said that bumps usually occurred only where the coal was thick and strong and the roof and floor both more than usually hard. If any of the three were weak, bumps were not likely to occur. In the Nova Scotia mine, to which Mr. Herd referred, there was no material for packwalls and for this reason as well as for safety he had been convinced that long- wall retreating with a small percentage of pack walling was the most feasible plan.

Jan 1, 1929

By A. Keith Brewer

RECENT advances in the fields of chemistry, biology, and metallurgy have confronted the analytical chemist with an entirely new set of problems. Development of plastics and synthetics has brought about a need, not only for adequate methods for their analysis but also for the various raw materials entering into their manufacture. The remarkable advance made in biochemical and agricultural research resulting from the use of isotopes as tracers or "tagged atoms" has established the necessity for the development of methods for the concentration of natural isotopes and for a means for their analysis. Similarly the advent of new and complex alloys calls for accurate analytical methods. Fortunately the analytical chemist has been able to meet some of these new demands by adapting to his purposes an instrument which has long been the most exclusive toy of the physicists. Solubility and the chemical properties of the atoms, which have always served as the basis for chemical analysis, do not enter into this new technique. Instead, momentum, defined as mass times velocity, is utilized as the means for the separation of atoms or mass groups.

Jan 1, 1946

By W. R. Ingalls

THE paramount subject of interest and concern at the present time is the readjustment in economic conditions following the cataclysmic disturbance produced by the war and the misconceptions leading to an orgy of extravagance that prevailed during two years following the armistice he, time is too short for me to undertake to review the nature and extent of the upheavals occurring between August, 1914, and October, 1920. Bulky volumes will be written about them. . But I shall have to refer to some of the results in order to outline a prognosis. It is the future, not the past;' that is of most interest to us. Let me be so bold as to say, without further preface, that I am not optimistic as to the near future. .We shall, indeed, have revivals in trade, but they will be delusive if their nature be not 'understood. We shall build hopes and expectations upon political maneuvers and events, only to find in the end that they were folly. In the meanwhile fundamental economic influences will continue to exert their steady and irresistible pressure. The new administratiow at Washington has no magic wand with which to kindle the fires in our idle steel furnaces, or create a million new houses for the people; nor can the premiers of Europe put into motion the spindles of the cotton and woolen mills, or by any incantations compel the people of the Orient to buy goods. The people of the Orient, and of, Europe, and of the two Americas are in the grip of the same economic forces. The readjustment has proceeded further in some parts of the world than in others. In the United States I do not think we, have gone more than over the threshold. I shall tell you why 1 think thus, but in telling you I shall be limited, in view of the immensity of the subject, to a series of bald statements, without much elucidation.

Jan 1, 1921

By L. E. PORTNER

INCREASING military demands on the petroleum industry have brought into bold relief the crude-oil reserves now available to meet combined military and civilian demands, emphasizing the necessity for a greater efficiency in recovery from what has been discovered than ever before, particularly in light of the absence of new discoveries. This situation-and the fact that the industry, as well as members of the Government charged with governing oil production, desire to meet all crude-oil demands made of the industry with the least loss in tangible reserves through production practices-paves the way for increasing application of sound principles of production engineering and conservation.

Jan 1, 1944

By William Gilman

IN the past five years, and without much fanfare, Turkey has emerged as a significant figure in the world mining picture. This has been accomplished by a five-year plan now in its last year. A second five-year plan is already under way, ahead of schedule. It will concentrate even more than the first in developing Turkish mines in order to increase present exports of coal, chrome ore, and copper, and to develop new mineral exports as well. To be fully understand the republicic?s mining program should be considered as something more than merely tapping rich resources in the East along the Aegean Sea, in the North among the mountains descending to the Black Sea, and in the West at the foot of the Taurus Mountains. It should also be viewed in the light of a strong nationalist policy with many aspects of state socialism. Turkey declares frankly that all mineral re- sources belong to the nation and all exploitation should be by the state for the twin purpose of modernizing the state and securing foreign exchange for the state by exports. Accordingly, the principal mines are state-operated and a few lesser enterprises, although not state-owned, have at least been put in the hands of Turkish capital.

Jan 1, 1938

By AIME AIME

The following report is published for the information of the members Meetings. Two meetings for the reading and discussion of papers, etc., have been held during the year 1906-namely, the Ninetieth meeting, held February 21st to 24th at Bethlehem, Pa., and the Ninety-first meeting, held July 24th to 27th in London, England, in connection with the meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute. The proceedings of these meetings, including descriptions of the entertainments and excursions connected therewith, have already been published and distributed to the members of the Institute; the Bethlehem meeting in Bi-Monthly Bulletin, No. 9, May, 1906, pp. 497 to 508, and the London meeting in Bi-Monthly Bulletin, No. 12, November, 1906, pp. 809 to 908. The proceedings of the London meeting were published separately and distributed among the many individuals and concerns whose cordial friendship and delightful hospitality contributed so largely to the success of the visits in London and environs and the excursions in England, Scotland and Germany. At the Bethlehem meeting, 37 papers and discussions were presented and the names of 198 members and guests were regis¬tered at the Institute headquarters ; this number, however, does not represent all who were present at the sessions and excur¬sions. At the London meeting, 26 papers and discussions were presented, not including 5 of the papers and discussions read before the Iron and Steel Institute at the joint session with the American Institute of Mining Engineers, which, by a mutual agreement between the Councils of the two Institutes, have been selected to be republished in the Bi-Monthly Bulletin and Transactions of the Institute. The number of members and guests of the two Institutes registered at the London headquarters was 908, and of this number 131 were from America. This list does not include the names of all who

Mar 1, 1907

By F. B. Plummer

PETROLEUM ENGINEERING deals with the production, transportation, and refining of crude oil. Refining is chiefly the work of the chemical engineer; production, that of the petroleum engineer. Production engineering only is discussed in this paper. Petroleum production engineering is closest related to and, in fact, is a branch of mining engineering. Formerly, many petroleum engineers were trained as mining engineers or mining geologists. The profession is related also to mechanical and civil engineering to about the same extent that mining engineering is. Petroleum production draws upon the mechanical branch for drilling and pumping machinery and upon civil engineering for the construction of transportation lines, water supplies, and water-disposal plants. Fundamentally, petroleum production engineering deals with the removal of the oil from the reservoir rocks, just as mining is concerned with the removal of ore. The process of oil production demands a specialized knowledge just as distinct from mechanical and civil engineering as mining is distinct from operating a Diesel engine. Even though the chief tools of the petroleum engineer are the drill and the pump, these may be of little avail, and certainly not efficient, if their selection and use is not based on a knowledge of the physical chemistry of oil, the geology of the formations, the structure of the oil sand, the hydrodynamics of the reservoir, and the interrelation of all these many factors.

Jan 1, 1936

By AIME AIME

THE week, of April 5 will long be remembered by those that attended the Birmingham meetings of the Open-Hearth and Blast Furnace committees of the A.I.M.E. Iron and Steel Division. Birmingham iron and steel own received the 450 delegates with open arms; described and discussed their southern metallurgical practices and problems and compared experiences with their northern brother metallurgists in two days of technical sessions on Wednes-

Jan 1, 1937

By G. E. Johnson

LEAD SMELTERS AND REFINERS in 1932 were confronted with the problem of adjusting operations and costs to curtailed production and consumption at reduced prices, a problem which has been partially solved at least by improvements in operating technique and increased efficiency. At the Mount Isa properties in Australia, a third blast furnace and additional Dwight-Lloyd sintering machines were installed during the year, designed to increase the production to 6,000 tons of bullion per month. The large proportion of lead carbonate in the ores to be treated has presented metallurgical problems. Of the total lead contained in the concentrates to be smelted, two-thirds is Dresent as carbonates and one-third as sulfides. In the iiitial operations, the resulting Dwight-Lloyd sinter was soft, contained an excessive amount of fines, and was easily fusible. When charged to the blast furnaces it developed accretions in the upper part of the furnace owing to the easily fusible lead carbonates softening and fusing at the top of the charge column. This was remedied by the addition to the sinter feed of diluents of higher melting point, granulated slag and crushed limestone. The sinter feed consists of concentrates, Cottrell dust and wind-box cleanings, totalling 57 per cent of the charge; return sinter fines 15 per cent; granulated slag 23 per cent; and crushed limestone 5 per cent. The sinter produced contains 34 per cent lead and 0.5 per cent sulfur. Experiments indicated that double sintering under these conditions was of no advantage, so the original plan of single sinter treatment was retained.

Jan 1, 1933

By J. D. Cooner

SINCE my working life of 32 yr has been spent in and about the anthracite mines of the Hudson Coal Co., and the previous 4 yr in a college school of mines, I can write best about the safety program of a coal mining company. However, most of the suggestions, statements and practices mentioned herein are applicable to the members of a safety organization and program of almost any industry. It is realized that industrial officials actually interested in real safety work are fully acquainted with the requirements of a practical safety program. Therefore, for such persons there may be nothing new in this paper. The Hudson Coal Co. of Scranton, Pa., employs 7,000 men and produces 5,000,000 tons of anthracite annually at nine collieries scattered for a distance of 40 miles throughout the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys of northeastern Pennsylvania. For the past 17 yr of the above mentioned 32, I have been engaged in safety work as a safety inspector, assistant mine superintendent, and at present the safety engineer. I have also had the privilege of visiting coal and metal mines in other parts of the United States and Canada. We Americans are the most careless people in the world. If any one doubts this statement why are 100,000 of our people killed accidentally annually? Or why during the almost four years we were engaged in World War II were more of our people killed accidentally at home than were killed in our army, navy, marine corps, coast guard, and other services during the same period? We are careless everywhere in our homes, on the highway, at work and at play. The purpose of this paper is to outline the requisites of a safety department and its program to stop the accidents occurring to employees at work in mines or industrial plants. The first requisite for a safety program is that the management must be convinced of the need and value of a real safety program. By "management" is meant each department head from the president down. Otherwise a good safety department with a good safety program will not succeed because it will not have the proper personnel and equipment to work with, its rules and regulations will not be enforced, and the members of the safety department will be belittled in the eyes of most of the workmen and supervisors. Next, a safety engineer and his inspectors should have worked in the production end of the mines as workmen and also in an official capacity. They are then in a position to have practical and first hand knowledge of the accident hazards of the industry, how to prevent them, and in general the problems of both the workmen and officials. Some men are appointed as safety inspectors when they are physically unable to carry on as mine officials. Such men may know the safety end of the industry and even be safety-conscious, but if they are physically unable to be mine officials they are also physically unable to be safety inspectors, as a safety inspector in our mines must walk from 2 to 4 miles on each daily inspection-and visit each working

Jan 1, 1948

By J. D. Cooner

Since my working life of 32 yr has been spent in and about the anthracite mines of the Hudson Coal Co., and the previous 4 yr in a college school of mines, I can write best about the safety program of a coal mining company. However, most of the suggestions, statements and practices mentioned herein are applicable to the members of a safety organization and program of almost any industry. It is realized that industrial officials actually interested in real safety work are fully acquainted with the requirements of a practical safety program. Therefore, for such persons there may be nothing new in this paper. The Hudson Coal Co. of Scranton, Pa., employs 7000 men and produces 5,000,000 tons of anthracite annually at nine collieries scattered for a distance of 40 miles throughout the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys of northeastern Pennsylvania. For the past 17 yr of the above mentioned 32, I have been engaged in safety work as a safety inspector, assistant mine superintendent, and at present the safety engineer. I have also had the privilege of visiting coal and metal mines in other parts of the United States and Canada. We Americans are the most careless people in the world. If any one doubts this statement why are 100,000 of our people killed accidentally annually? Or why during the almost four years we were engaged in World War II were more of our people killed accidentally at home than were killed in our army, navy, marine corps, coast guard, and other services during the same period? We are careless everywhere— in our homes, on the highway, at work and at play. The purpose of this paper is to outline the requisites of a safety department and its program to stop the accidents occurring to employees at work in mines or industrial plants. The first requisite for a safety program is that the management must be convinced of the need and value of a real safety program. By "management" is meant each department head from the president down. Otherwise a good safety department with a good safety program will not succeed because it will not have the proper personnel and equipment to work with, its rules and regulations will not be enforced, and the members of the safety department will be belittled in the eyes of most of the workmen and supervisors. Next, a safety engineer and his inspectors should have worked in the production end of the mines as workmen and also in an official capacity. They are then in a position to have practical and first hand knowledge of the accident hazards of the industry, how to prevent them, and in general the problems of both the workmen and officials. Some men are appointed as safety inspectors when they are physically unable to carry on as mine officials. Such men may know the safety end of the industry and even be safety-conscious, but if they are physically unable to be mine officials they are also physically unable to be safety inspectors, as a safety inspector in our mines must walk from 2 to 4 miles on each daily inspection and visit each working

Jan 1, 1949

By Young C. Kim, Francis Martino, Ish Chopra

For the past two and one-half years, various emission control strategies were jointly developed by the University of Arizona and the Homer City Owners to com- ply with the clean air requirements at its Homer City Power Plant. Some of the available options for the SO2 emission control by the Homer City Owners were:l)cleaning of run-of-mine coal,2) scheduling of mining operations at its captive mines, 3) blending the captive mine coal with externally purchased low sulfur coa1,and 4) placing a partial FGD system. This paper describes two specific emission control strategies developed and implemented. These are: 1) production scheduling at the mining face to minimize sulfur variability, and 2) external purchasing of low sulfur coal for further blending. The main objective of this paper is to share our experiences on implementing the developed strategies. This paper emphasizesthe need for proper mine planning on a short-term basis, if the power plant is to meet the desired objective.

Jan 1, 1983

By G. C. RIDDELL

THE metallurgist, chemist, and physicist are blazing trails that lead far afield. Pushing on into an "Alloy Age" they see a non-ferrous era over- taking iron and steel. Delving into the nature of the physical world, they break down a supposedly indivisible element, hydrogen. Not content with terrestrial problems, they peer back along the cosmic ray into iaterstellar space, glimpsing forces that are, apparently, still busy with the task of atom-making. Mastering and organizing the material and physical, they advance steadily toward that borderland of science where the concept of matter itself seems abandoned, and force is the substance left.

Jan 1, 1930

By Francis Cameron

Mining is both exciting and rewarding-although at times somewhat frustrating-and we all can have real pride in our industry, in its people, and in its accomplishments. It is, however, with concern that I have noted a deterioration in this Country in what might be called mining's stature and in the growth of a belief in many quarters that our mineral reserves are rapidly approaching exhaustion. In other words, there is a popular image that we are fast becoming a "have not" nation in many respects and that the domestic mining industry can no longer be considered, in the vernacular of Wall Street, to offer much in the way of "growth potential." I do not subscribe to this hypothesis, nor do I believe that the record of the mining industry bears this out. However, let me add that we can, in time, talk ourselves into this frame of mind and we can hasten the day when this very well might come about by unnecessary and unwise legislation or regulation. My remarks today are basically designed to give my reasons for refuting this negative philosophy and to review our record. With your help, I know we can improve our image, and the public's recognition of our industry's peculiar problems.

Jan 4, 1968

By W. R. Ingalls

THE propaganda in favor of the adoption of the metric system of weights and measures in the United States is founded upon the idea of compulsory adoption. There can be no argument about this, for the metric system has been legal, by Act of Congress, in the United States since 1866. Nobody ought to oppose an educational movement, and if pro-metric activities were confined to that there might be no reason to gainsay them. I do not propose to enter into any discussion of 'the relative merits of the metric and the English systems of weights and measures. The simple case is that the metric system not having made much headway in the United States after more than 50 years of legality, 'it is now aimed to force it upon the people by legislative compulsion. The main arguments in favor of such compulsory adoption are that it would- simplify the education of our children and would promote our foreign trade, for the reason that more countries of the world, with which we do business, use the metric system than the English system. I am going to disregard,' in this contribution, the first of these arguments, for it is largely conjectural." Not so with the other, which is specific, and being so its speciousness can be, proved. It is true that the metric system is used by more countries of the world than the, English system. It is commonly stated that of the Indo-European nations only the United States, Great Britain, and her colonies, and Russia have failed to adopt it. However, if with "colonies" we equate Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania and South Africa, we have a longer list of non-metric countries, and it comprises not only the most populous, but also the most industrial nations of the world.

Jan 1, 1921