Search Documents

By Frank Firmstone

IN 1871, two furnaces at the Glendon Iron Works, which had been blown out on account of the "coal strike," were altered from the open-top plan with side flues for collecting the gas, to closed tops with cup and cone. In one furnace the suppression of the side flues permitted a considerable alteration in the profile, but in the other (No. 5) no change in this respect was made; the side flues were simply bricked up and new ones cut through the sides close to the top. This furnace was in blast over four years, and we can, therefore, form a pretty good idea of the effect of the alterations on the furnace process. The principal dimensions are; Height 72'; greatest diameter, 18'; diameter at tuyeres, 8'; diameter of top, 10'; diameter at stock line (point at which the top of the materials is kept), 11'; cubic contents, 11,900 cubic feet. The table below shows the average results for periods of twenty-six weeks each. 1st, of the open-topped furnace; 2d, of the furnace with the first charger used, which was an ordinary cup and cone (diameter of cone 5' 2") 3d, with the charger used ever since, a "double" cone 7' 5" diameter outside, having a central opening 3' in diameter. The diagram (Plate II) shows the daily variations, in the grade of the irons for the same periods.* * In calculating the average grade of each day's iron, each twelve hours was taken by itself whenever more than two kinds of iron were made in the 24 hours, and the diagram drawn accordingly. By counting, it will be found that there were more such days with the single cone than with the "double" cone, and more with this than with the open top. † Anthracite.

Jan 1, 1876

By C. A. Gibbons

AFTER nine years of extremely de- pressed business, marked mostly A with red ink on the balance sheets of most coal companies and with an increasing internal competitive struggle for diminishing markets, somewhat of a change appeared during 1939. Shipments increased and prices generally firmed, giving the coal industry increasing optimism and encouragement for the future. Specifically, it now appears that bituminous coal production for 1939 will approximate 378,000,000 tons, and anthracite production will approximate 47,500,000 tons, bituminous production being around 14 per cent ahead of 1938 and anthracite production 12 per cent better. The curve on p. 31, showing both bituminous and anthracite production, furnished by the bituminous coal division of the Department of the Interior, shows graphically most of the 1939 monthly production and clearly illustrates the increased production.

Jan 1, 1940

By J. D. Hanawalt

Significant strides were made in the year 1948 leading to further recognition of the place of magnesium as a common commercial metal, rather than as just a premium aircraft material. One of the factors contributing to this recognition was the price stability and, in many cases, price reduction of magnesium products in 1948. In contrast to most other metals, manufacturing advances in magnesium outweighed the effects of increased labor and other costs. At the present time, many magnesium extrusions, die castings, and permanent mold castings can be purchased as cheaply as their aluminum counterparts in these forums, though competitive prices for sheet still await the inauguration of a modern tandem rolling mill for magnesium, such as has already been demonstrated.

Jan 1, 1949

By Ballard H. Clemmons

THE future of the steelmaking industry of the Birmingham, Ala., district is closely related to and, in a large measure, dependent on the development of workable, economic processes of ore concentration. Operations thus far in the area have been possible only because of the fortuitous occurrence of iron ore, fluxing stone, and coking coal-all the primary iron-making materials- within a 25-mile radius of the blast furnaces. Commercial ore of the district consists mainly of a 10 to 20-ft hematite-calcite-silica bed locally known as the "Big Seam," a component of the Clinton formation of Silurian Age. At present mining rates, this ore will be available for a number of years. It is largely mined under 1000 to 2000 ft of cover and transported on 15 to 20" slopes that, in some instances, are as much as 10,000 ft long. Under these conditions, particularly with increasing distances from face to portal, mining costs are gradually becoming disproportionately high. Although not a major factor thus far, it should also be noted that the average annual ore output of the district is gradually be- coming more siliceous.

Jan 1, 1950

Arthur Jarman, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (communication to the Secretary*):—All designs for modern metallurgical and chemical laboratories should provide each student's desk with a hood or cupboard for the removal of fumes, but I doubt the advisability of placing air-baths and similar apparatus close to the hot plate. It seems to me that unless the draft be exceptionally strong the fumes from ordinary wet assay work will corrode the iron-work of the fittings, in which case the baths would have to be removed to a general desk in order to lighten the work of the laboratory attendant. Since the laboratory described by Mr. White has been in use for two years, I should like to ask if any inconvenience has resulted from this corrosion. If not, it is certainly an important improvement to have the air-baths and similar apparatus placed on the student's desk. The hoods described by Mr. White are supplied with a good draft by means of a fan, which gives them a great advantage

Jan 1, 1905

By Charles S. Barrett

THERE is a road into the microscopic realm that has remained untraveled through all these years of intense activity with high-power optical and electron microscopy. The road is worthy of careful scouting by metallurgists and other investigators, for it leads into relatively new country and it makes some areas accessible that heretofore could be reached only by very indirect paths or by the use of imagination. And when the road passes through familiar territory it frequently permits a new view of commonplace things that should prove of value from time to time. An accepted way to interest people in new sights such as this is to present an illustrated travelogue. This I propose to do, using many pictures taken in my recent exploration of this road. In the manner of travelogues, I shall touch briefly upon a large number of different subjects in physical metallurgy and shall, attempt to give an exhaustive treatment of none, for the objective is to provide a means for further research, to interest others in it, and to indicate what appears at the moment to be profitable directions for it to take. The method I shall present involves X-rays, but does not make use of the usual accompaniments of X-ray research such as reciprocal lattices, Fourier series, or the stereographic projection. The method is so simple in its fundamentals that it could have been developed 20 years ago, or perhaps even 30 years ago. It is well to have a destination for our travels, so that when we are through we shall have explored some region of importance, despite our preoccupation with the novel means of transportation and our interest in the sights to be seen along the way. So let us name the Cold Worked State as our destination, and make side trips into the territories known as Recovery, Recrystallization, and Precipitation-hardening. A great many investigations have been made of the nature of cold-worked metal, and a great variety of methods used, many of which are indirect, such as X-ray line intensities, X-ray line widths, calorimetric measurements, and magnetic measurements. Since comprehensive reviews of these investigations have been published in recent years, they need not be discussed here. The investigations that were the direct forerunners of the present work should be first mentioned. In 1931 I became interested in the structure of individual spots in X-ray diffraction patterns.1 When a crystal is placed in the narrow pencil of X-rays in a Laue camera, the spots recorded on the film are not always uniformly black, but may have an internal structure. The meaning of this may be understood from Fig. 1, which represents a narrow beam containing X-rays of many wave lengths ("general radiation") penetrating a crystal in the direction of the arrow and forming a pattern on the vertical film at the right.

Jan 1, 1945

By Arthur Wade

The most important development in connection with the search for oil in Australia during 1940 was on the legislative side. Prior to 1939 legislative enactments in the various states with regard to prospecting for petroleum were such as to prohibit large-scale effort and to bar the major oil companies from operating. The preparation of the Wade Model Bill for the Commonwealth Government in 1939 and the acceptance of the Bill in principle by all States, has gone far to remove these obstacles. Amending Acts, largely based on the Alodel Bill, have now been passed by all States with the exception of New South Wales and Tasmania. In New South Wales an Amending Bill is being drafted, while the Govern-ment of Tasmania is preparing to introduce an Amending Bill provided there is any demand for it. Noteworthy developments followed immediately on the passing of these Amending Acts. The Shell Company (1)1 and the Superior Oil Company of California (2) too$ up large areas in Queensland and com-menced work during 1940. Caltex acquired a big tract of country in the Kimberley district of Western Australia (3) and has made application for an area in the Territory of Papua. An Australian company, The Phoenix Oil Extraction Co., has obtained a permit to prospect over an extensive area bordering the south coast of Western Australia (4). Other developments are foreshadowed. The Shell Company is making an intensive examination of its area in Queensland (I). Geological, geophysical and aerial surveys are in progress. Caltex has three geological parties in the held in Western Australia while Superior Oil Company of California has done some geological work in the interior of Queensland (2). None of these concerns envisages a drilling campaign in the near future. Much exploratory work is necessary. Further work has been done by the companies that were already operating in 1939, though an important Australian company - Oil Search—has abandoned the work of prospecting in Australia. This company has subleased its holdings, at North West Cape in Western Australia (;), to Caltex on a royalty basis. The company also maintains its holdings in, and connection with, the Australasian Petroleum Company Proprietary Limited, which is a combination of Standard Oil (New Jersey), Anglo-Iranian and Oil Search. This company is operating in the territories of Papua and New Guinea. Drilling Victoria.—Although a good deal of drilling was done in the LaBes Entrance Tertiary Basin of Victoria (7), no appreciable production of oil was obtained. In order to test the extent and possibilities of the oil-bearing sand in this region, the Commonwealth and State Governments jointly put down six scout boreholes to depths of between 1200 and I500 it. The results were nega tive. A deeper exploratory horehole put down by the Governments at Seacornbe, or 26

Jan 1, 1941

By Arthur Wade

The most important development in connection with the search for oil in Australia during 1940 was on the legislative side. Prior to 1939 legislative enactments in the various states with regard to prospecting for petroleum were such as to prohibit large-scale effort and to bar the major oil companies from operating. The preparation of the Wade Model Bill for the Commonwealth Government in 1939 and the acceptance of the Bill in principle by all States, has gone far to remove these obstacles. Amending Acts, largely based on the Alodel Bill, have now been passed by all States with the exception of New South Wales and Tasmania. In New South Wales an Amending Bill is being drafted, while the Govern-ment of Tasmania is preparing to introduce an Amending Bill provided there is any demand for it. Noteworthy developments followed immediately on the passing of these Amending Acts. The Shell Company (1)1 and the Superior Oil Company of California (2) too$ up large areas in Queensland and com-menced work during 1940. Caltex acquired a big tract of country in the Kimberley district of Western Australia (3) and has made application for an area in the Territory of Papua. An Australian company, The Phoenix Oil Extraction Co., has obtained a permit to prospect over an extensive area bordering the south coast of Western Australia (4). Other developments are foreshadowed. The Shell Company is making an intensive examination of its area in Queensland (I). Geological, geophysical and aerial surveys are in progress. Caltex has three geological parties in the held in Western Australia while Superior Oil Company of California has done some geological work in the interior of Queensland (2). None of these concerns envisages a drilling campaign in the near future. Much exploratory work is necessary. Further work has been done by the companies that were already operating in 1939, though an important Australian company - Oil Search—has abandoned the work of prospecting in Australia. This company has subleased its holdings, at North West Cape in Western Australia (;), to Caltex on a royalty basis. The company also maintains its holdings in, and connection with, the Australasian Petroleum Company Proprietary Limited, which is a combination of Standard Oil (New Jersey), Anglo-Iranian and Oil Search. This company is operating in the territories of Papua and New Guinea. Drilling Victoria.—Although a good deal of drilling was done in the LaBes Entrance Tertiary Basin of Victoria (7), no appreciable production of oil was obtained. In order to test the extent and possibilities of the oil-bearing sand in this region, the Commonwealth and State Governments jointly put down six scout boreholes to depths of between 1200 and I500 it. The results were nega tive. A deeper exploratory horehole put down by the Governments at Seacornbe, or 26

Jan 1, 1941

By Thomas T., Read

IT will be recalled that when educational instruction for the mineral industry began at Freiberg, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the original aim was to organize and systematize the procedures previously followed by young men in gaining -familiarity with the technology then in use. There must have been many other ideas current, even then, as to just what a young man needed to learn in order to become capable of assuming 'responsibility for the supervision and direction of such technical work. The problem in Europe was decidedly different .from that in nineteenth-century America, because some of the European mines were actually owned and operated by the governing authority and the others were supervised, regulated, and taxed by it. The American problem was the e5cient performance of technical operations; the European one was regulatory supervision. It was natural, therefore, that in the development of educational processes in Europe stress was laid on those factors which conserved and protected the interests of the state. The study of mineralogy and geology, leading to correct judgments as to the workability and value of mineral deposits; assaying, which gave the means of quantitative measurements, as did surveying; chemistry, which furnished a better basis of understanding for assaying, mineralogy, and geology; and physics and mathematics, which are the bases for the understanding and efficient use of mechanical appliances, became the core of systematic instruction, for the mineral industry. It was early recognized that men could learn more than was already known about all of these subjects and education took on that dichotomy which still characterizes it; the teaching of established knowledge to the unlearned, and that of extending of the bounds of knowledge, now loosely termed research, which after two and a half centuries of work still shows

Jan 1, 1941

By Philip D. Wilson

SPEED is essentiaI in this war program and it is hard to keep up with developments. When the title of this paper was chosen, the contemplated magnesium production for which plants were then under construction was some 200,000 tons of metal per year or sixty times the 3350-ton production in prewar 1939. A few- days later an analysis of the President's 185,000-plane pro-gram, incendiary bomb schedules, and the additional requirements of the Army. Navy and Maritime Commission made it apparent that a much greater amount of magnesium must be provided in 1943. The new figures are huge but the censor will not per-mit their disclosure.

Jan 1, 1942

By F. W. Bradley

MY first Nevada City mining reminiscence is one of seeing Capt. Thomas Mein, over 52 years ago, in the old Wyoming mill on Deer Creek about a mile below the town of Nevada City. Captain Mein was then superintendent of the Wyoming mine, where the old fashioned Cornish pump was used, as well as hurdy-gurdy water wheels for power. This mill was one of the typical, up-to-date mills of that time and consisted of stamps, fed by Chinese hand feeders, who also cobbed the ore down to a small enough size to be fed into the mortars. Stamps at that time were of light weight and crushed about one ton to one and a half tons to the stamp, the pulp going over plates, then into sluices with self-raising gates. When a sluice became full the pulp was shut off and directed into the parallel sluice, also with a self-raising gate. The concentrate thus collected in the sluice was shoveled out and carried to Cornish buddles and there cleaned up, preparatory to being sent to a local custom chlorination works.

Jan 1, 1929

By E. J. Rapperport, M. F. Smith

A presentation of the W-Ru constitution diagram is given. Techniques utilized in the determination of phase boundary values include electron micro-probe analysis of two-phased alloys and diffusion couples, as well as normal metallographic and X-ray methods. The primary features of the diagram are: 1) a terminal solid solution of ruthenium in tungsten with a maximum solubility of 23 at. pct Ru at 2300°C; 2) a terminal solid solution of tungsten in ruthenium with a maximum solubility of 48 at. pct W at 2205°C; 3) a o phase of maximum breadth about 6 at. pct based on the composition W3Ru2 which forms peritectically from the melt at 2300°C, and which decomposes eutectoidally at 1667 °C to form a twigs ten and 0 ruthenium; 4) a eutectic at 45 at. pct Ru and 2205°C with the products being o plus ß ruthenium. THE W-Ru diagram has previously been studied only in a cursory fashion. Raub and alter' obtained a 1400°C isotherm in which they observed no intermediate phases, and on which they established the limits of solubility as 36.5 at. pct W in ruthenium and about 1.5 at. pct Ru in tungsten. In addition, Obrowski2 found a o phase forming peritectically from the melt and existing only above 1650°C. Below this temperature the phase was presumed to decompose eutectoidally. The present work finds the diagram as given in Fig. 1. I) EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The materials used for alloy preparation in determining the W-Ru constitution diagram were 99.9 pct pure ruthenium powder supplied by Baker Chemical Co., and 99.9 pct pure tungsten powder from General Electric Co. Typical analyses of these elements are given in Table I. Initial alloys at 10 at. pct intervals were prepared from the metal powders by the following method. Powders sufficient for 25 g of the alloys were weighed out with an accuracy of 0.1 mg and blended mechanically. After blending, the powders were compacted, in a steel die, at approximately 30,000 psi. The compacts were sintered in an electric vacuum furnace in order to remove adsorbed gases and to achieve partial densification prior to arc-melting. Vacua of 10-4 mm Hg or less were maintained in sintering as the furnace temperature was raised to approximately 2000°C. Sintering times ranged from 10 to 20 hr. The sintered compacts were arc-melted under a protective atmosphere of purified helium. Melting was conducted on a water-cooled copper hearth, utilizing a nonconsumable tungsten electrode. In the melting process, each alloy was turned over and re-melted on opposite sides from four to six times to ensure complete melting and to eliminate gross in-homogeneities. The arc-melter used had a vacuum capability of 5 X 10-6 mm Hg, and a leak rate of about 20 -liters per hr. Chemical analysis techniques for refractory metal-platinum group metal combinations are not well-established; therefore, composition control and determination depended principally upon weight-loss observations and calculations. This consisted in weighing each alloy after sintering and after arc-melting, and calculating the maximum and minimum composition values, assuming the total weight losses to be first all tungsten, and then all ruthenium. Since composition uncertainty was directly related to weight loss, care was taken to minimize losses in handling, compacting, and melting. Prior to homogenization and equilibration the as-arc-melted alloys were analyzed in several

Jan 1, 1964

By J. F. Myers, F. M. Lewis

The paper reports the development of a large, slow speed ball mill closed circuited with a hydroscillator. This increased grinding efficiency 28 pct over conventional units.

Jan 1, 1950

By E. F. Bailey, W. J. Harris

THE temperature of the ferrite to austenite re-action is established frequently by continuous heating experiments. However, equilibrium studies of this reaction have demonstrated that austenite may form at temperatures considerably below those at which the reaction is first observed during continuous heating. Because of this discrepancy, tempering is sometimes performed above the true critical temperature and in these cases austenite forms during tempering. The lowest temperature at which austenite forms and the kinetics of the reaction have been studied by Bain,' Bleakney and Gros-venor,2 and Dube and Cunningham. This austenite can affect the properties either as austenite per se, if it is retained at room temperature, or as a decomposition product if it transforms. The effect of austenite formation during tempering on low temperature impact properties of an 8 1/2 pct nickel steel was reported by Brophy and Miller4 in work published after the present investigation was initiated. They concluded that the improvement in low-temperature notch toughness which followed tempering at certain temperatures could be attributed to the austenite formed during tempering. Kramer et al.5 found anomalous hardness increases and embrittlement after tempering of a low-carbon manganese-nickel steel. They concluded that austenite formed during tempering, and that the decomposition products were responsible for the increase in hardness and the embrittlement. Quan-titative correlations of the microconstituents and mechanical properties were not made by these investigators. The present study was undertaken in order to establish the kinetics of formation of austenite at various temperatures, the characteristics of the decomposition of this austenite, and the relationship between mechanical properties and the phases present. Experimental Procedure A low-carbon manganese-nickel steel was selected because of the sluggishness of its austenite decom-position reactions. The composition of this steel in percent was: C, 0.10; Mn, 3.52; Ni, 2.34; Mo, 0.52; Cr, 0.17; Si, 0.19; V, 0.15; P, 0.019; and S, 0.020. Samples were prepared by forging sections from a large ingot to 3/4 in. bars. Formation and decomposition of austenite were investigated by dilatometric techniques which were checked by X-ray measurements. Dilatometer specimens were hollow cylinders 1 in. long, 1/2 in. diam, with a 1/8 in. central hole. All specimens were aus-tenitized for 1 hr at 1650°F and quenched in water prior to insertion in the dilatometer. Oxidation was prevented by using an inert atmosphere of purified nitrogen. Dilation was measured with a dial gauge which could be read by interpolation to 0.00005 in. Temperature was maintained within ± 3°F by a Brown Electronik Controller. Chromel-alumel thermocouple leads were welded to opposite ends of the specimen with the specimen serving as the hot junction. As a check on temperature uniformity comparison was made of the specimen temperature as measured with the chromel-alumel leads and the temperature of the center of the specimen as measured with a calibrated platinum—platinum-rhodium thermocouple embedded in asbestos in the central hole of the specimen. During heating a 5°F temperature difference was noted below 1000°F, but none above, while in cooling, a 5°F difference was observed from 1300" to 735°F, but none below. Heating rates of 35°F per min and cooling rates of 60°F per min were employed for all dilatometric studies. For transformation studies below room temperature, the dilatometer was allowed to cool to 150°F and then was quenched into liquid nitrogen.

Jan 1, 1951

By H. D. Outmans

The author applies the theory of hydrodynamic stability to fluid flow in porous media and concludes that the displacement of miscible liquids is stable if the stability coefficient, as defined by Eq. 19.2 or Eq. 27.0, is positive. The conclusion is invalid, however, since it is based on a faulty argument. To demonstrate this, the reader is referred to Eqs. 4.1 through 4.5 of the paper which describe, in differential form, the first-order disturbances c, u, v, w and p. In these same equations, cx, cz, gl, g3 and are functions of the stable concentration c. This concentration c is known and depends on x, z and t (the author assumes cy = 0). It follows that cx, cz, gl, g3 and µ are also functions of x, z and t. With this in mind, we turn to Eqs. 8.1 through 8.5 which were derived from Eqs. 4.1 through 4.5 by substituting Eq. 6.0. The significance of this substitution is that the author thereby limits the solutions of Eqs. 4.1 through 4.5 to equations of the form of Eq. 6.0. Eqs. 8.1 through 8.5 represent an infinite linear system with five unknowns: c, u, v, w and p. The coefficients cx, cz, gl, g3 and µ in this system are known at each point and at each instant; the coefficients containing derivatives of f are unknown. If this infinite linear system in c, u, v, w and p is to have a nontrivial solution, then it is indeed necessary (as the author states) that the determinant of the coefficient matrix of Eqs. 8.1 through 8.5, i.e., ( A 1, be equal to zero. This condition, however, is not sufficient. A non-trivial solution exists if, and only if, the rank of the coefficient matrix of the entire infinite system is smaller than five. In other words. all minors of order five must vanish and only if all the coefficients in Eqs. 8.1 through 8.5 are constant is this equivalent to the condition |A| =0. Constant coefficients means that gl, g3 and µ, for instance, are constant; and, since they depend on c it follows that c must be constant. We conclude that the condition I A I = 0, on which the author bases his calculations, is necessary and sufficient for a nontrivial solution only if the concentration c is constant. In other words, the author does not investigate the stability of a miscible displacement but, rather, only the stability of the flow of a homogeneous liquid. Using the initial condition and the fact that the coefficients are constant, we find

By Nicholas J. Grant, Robert F. Wilde

TAYLOR and Floyd's"" work in establishing phase diagrams based on the elements Ni-Cr-Ti-A1 has led to an understanding of the precipitation hardening mechanism in alloys based on these elements. Nordheim and Grant4 concluded that in simple alloys, and where the aluminum to titanium atomic ratio was such that less than three out of five aluminum atoms were replaced by titanium, the precipitate on aging is the face-centered-cubic Ni 3A 1 phase, called They further found that increasing amounts of hexagonal ? phase, Ni3Ti, precipitated from these alloys when the titanium content exceeded the solid solubility of both matrix and Ni3A1. For alloys of Ni-Cr-Ti-Al, in which the titanium and aluminum contents each ranged from 0 to 4 wt pct, the titanium-rich was superior for strengthening to either pure ?' or 7. It was also noted that the combined titanium plus aluminum content (atomic pct) was a direct measure of the high temperature strength and overaging temperatures for these alloys.4 The present investigation was undertaken to extend existing data on precipitation hardening in the more complex commercial alloys containing higher titanium plus aluminum, and with significant quantities of cobalt, molybdenum, and carbon. Experimental Procedure Reforging of As-Received Bar Stock—The alloys were received as ground, forged bar stock. Chemical analyses and the as-received bar diameters are shown in Table I along with the ASTM grain size after the various treatments. All stock except the Waspaloy was reforged to % in. diam to gain material and to facilitate machining of stress-rupture specimens. Forging was carried out at 2100°F, and discontinued when the bar temperature fell to 1800°F. Heat Treatments—For experixental simplicity it was desirable to heat treat all of the alloys at, the

Jan 1, 1958

By Hans Lundberg

IN last year's report on the progress of geophysics, the airborne magnetometer was the featured new development. At that time only a relatively small number of surveys had been made. During 1947, the airborne magnetometer was used in making many surveys and is again one of the high lights of the year in geophysics. This report is mainly concerned with geophysics as applied to the search for minerals exclusive of petroleum. In 194,5 and 1946, the use of the magnetic method reached a peak, partly because of an active period of prospecting brought on by an active mining market, particularly in Canada.

Jan 1, 1948

By A. E. Wells, H. O. Hofman, R. P. Reynolds

A Discussion of the Paper of H. O. Hofman, R. P. Reynolds and A. E. Wells, read by title at the London Meeting, July, 1906 ; presented at the New York Meeting, April, 1907, and printed in Bi-Monthly Bulletin, No. 13, January, 1907, pp. 37 to 52. GEORGE A. PACKARD, Boston, Mass. (communication to the Secretary*) :-The very interesting results obtained by Prof. Hofman and his assistants came to my attention when I had temporarily assumed charge of the metallurgical department of the Missouri School of Mines, and had found it, pending the completion of a new building, lacking a furnace in which to roast ore preparatory to the customary lead blast-furnace run. An attempt at lime-roasting had been already determined upon, but the use of a charge which would make a slag of definite composition was a new idea. The results following were obtained by Messrs. Aubrey Fellows, J. C. Long, E. R. Wash, and Dr. T. C. Tseung, under my supervision. It is regretted that the data are not more complete; but the work was done simply incidentally to securing the desired ore for the blast-furnace, with no idea of obtaining any results of especial interest. It is submitted because of the metallic lead obtained, no notice of which has been seen elsewhere. The ore was an aggregate of several lots of concentrates, apparently from Missouri ores. The analysis follows, with that of the limestone and sandstone used, as far as made:. Ore, SiO2, 3.04; Fe, 0.77; CaO, 2.53; Pb, 68.74; Zn, 5.77; S, 13.9 per cent.; limestone, SiO2, 1.0 ; CaO, 54.35 per cent.; sandstone, SiO2, 99.8 per cent. The converter was made in the shops from a sheet of No. 14 iron riveted in the shape of a truncated cone, 20 in. in diameter at the top, 15 in. at the bottom and 22 in. high. A grate of No. 8 iron, 17 in. in diameter, with 130 s-in. holes placed at about 1.25-in. centers, was held in place by the shape of the

Jul 1, 1907

By S. S. Clarke

ABOUT two years ago some of my friends were discussing the amount of drill-steel breakage that was permissible or not excessive, per month, per rock ton, per ton of steel or any unit of measure or output that would give a comparison between different kinds of drill steel. No one seemed to know what life to expect of steel, or what percentage of breakage might be termed excessive. In fact there were no operating data available to guide one in selecting the best steel for our mines, nor could any ideas or information be secured from the steel manufacturers. One was merely told that so and so used their steel and it was very satisfactory; or else one was given a highly technical lecture on their specific heat-treatment. Any estimates on expected breakage were just guesses, ranging from a fraction of a per cent to as high as ten per cent per month.

Jan 1, 1933

By R. S. McClellan

Western Talc Company, Inc., with headquarters in Los Angeles, Calif., has just completed an extensive modernization and expansion program at its talc mine near Tecopa, Calif., and at its talc and clay mills at Dunn Siding, Calif., the nearest rail shipping point to the mine. The basic objective of the program was to provide facilities necessary to produce 300 tpd of a wide range of ground talc and clay grades for the ceramic, paint, paper, rubber and other industries. In the planning of the program every effort was made to provide a system which would permit a high degree of quality control and uniformity of the finished products, along with efficient operation. Several years ago, R. T. Vanderbilt Co., Inc. purchased Western Talc Co. after a comprehensive investigation of its properties, including an extensive diamond drilling campaign. Western Talc's properties embraced a number of claims in the Resting Springs mining district in the northern part of San Bernardino Co. and the southern part of Inyo Co., Calif., some seven miles southeast of the town of Tecopa. Operations by the original company were started on a small scale in 1913 and production from that date to the time of purchase of the company by Vanderbilt is estimated at 250,000 tons. The major part of this output was sold to the ceramic wall tile industry.

Jan 3, 1968