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By C. C. Herrick

The vapor pressure of indium has been measured by the torque-effusion technique, as a function of temperature between 1102o and 1422oK. For liquid indium, the vapor pressure (in atmospheres) can be represented by the equation -R In P = 5.782 x104/T - 25.29from 1000o to 1422oK. Extrapolation yields a calculated normal boiling point of 2329°K and a heat of vaporization at 298 oK of 58.09 kcal per mole by the third-law method and of 58.39 kcal per mole by the second-law method. Calculations indicate that the free-energy functions of Hultgren are to be preferred to those of Guruich. BECAUSE of the potential uses of liquid metals, it is important that convenient experimental methods be developed which will lead to a sufficient body of thermodynamic data so that reasonable estimates of properties of liquid metals can be made. Indium is particularly well-suited to investigation, since it remains liquid over a long temperature interval, it alloys readily, suitable containers for it are easily procured, and relatively few investigations of its thermodynamic properties in the region above 1000°K have been made. PREVIOUS RESEARCH The first determination of the vapor pressure of indium was made by Anderson,' using the Knudsen method and silica-lines stainless-steel cells. Kohlmeyer and spandau2 determined the normal boiling point, and a mass-spectroscopic investigation has been made by Lyubimov and Lyubitov.3 (Unfortunately, only an equation representing the data of the latter investigators has been available to us.) Hultgren et al.4 and Gurvich5 have published discordant tables of the free-energy functions for indium. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The torsion-effusion principle has been described amply in the literature.8,7 With this method, one observes the angular deflection induced by effusion of vapor from a multihole effusion cell which is suspended from a filament producing a small rotational restoring force. The pressure within the effusion cell can be computed from the relation ziaifiai where k is the torsion constant of the filament, 6 is the observed angular deflection, and ai, fi, and qi are the area, force factor, and moment arm of the ith effusion orifice. The force factor f is analogous to the Clausing factor,' and corrects for the reduction in effusive force attributable to the finite geometry of the effusion orifice. Schultz and Searcy' have tabulated the force factors for various tube geometries. EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS The physical arrangement employed in this study is shown in Fig. 1. The furnace elements are six Globar heat rods with 15-in. hot zones. Temperature is maintained to * 1°K by a Beck mechanism driving two 26-amp Powerstats in parallel. A Pt (Pt, Rh 10 pct) thermocouple serves as the sensing element. Four inner tubes act as vibration isolators; the air pressure required for maximum isolation was determined empirically, and is maintained by a solenoid valve. The tungsten fiber, 9 by 0.002 in., is joined to an 0.008-in. tungsten wire or graphite rod via a machined lightweight chuck.

Jan 1, 1964

By Bernard MacDonald

Introduction. OF the treatment of the slime-pulp of gold- and silver-ores by cyanidation, agitation is an essential part. When prepared for treatment, this pulp, consisting of ore reduced to such fineness that approximately 80 per cent. of it will pass through a 200-mesh screen, is mixed with a certain proportion of water, carrying in solution the quantity of cyanide (KCN) and other chemicals required. The water-constituent of the pulp thus prepared usually ranges from 1 to 2 parts by weight to 1 of the dry ore. Thus constituted', the pulp is charged into treatment-tanks, the shape and capacity of which vary, according to the quantity of pulp to be treated daily and the method of agitation to be employed. Tanks have no other function in a cyanide-plant than that of being economical and convenient containers or receptacles for holding the pulp, solution, or water used in the operations. It is by agitation that the solids in the pulp charged into the tanks are kept in suspension in, and mixed with, the solution in the proper proportions required for the treatment. If the proper mixture of solution to solids be determined to be 2 to 1 by weight (which is, approximately, 5 to 1 by volume), this proportion should be maintained in every part of the charge ; -that is, each solid particle of the pulp, whether it be of 180- or 400-mesh size, should, be surrounded by five times its own volume of solution throughout the whole period of treatment. The reason is, that the amount of chemicals ascertained to be necessary for dissolving the gold and silver contained in the solids, is held in uniform solution in the water-constituent of the pulp, and, therefore, the determined proportions of solution and solids must be maintained at all times during treat-

Apr 1, 1912

By R. Laird Auchmuty

A NUMBER of factors, of varying importance, should be considered in assessing mineral land-here specifically coal land -for tax purposes. (1) Is the coal developed or un- developed'! (2) If undeveloped, is it surrounded by active development in adjoining properties? (3) Accessibility of railroad facilities to the property. Sometimes the railroad itself is of importance. (4) Cost of development of the seam under consideration, whether it can be developed by a drift from the outcrop or whether it will require deep and costly shafts or slopes. (5) Is it definitely known that the coal seam being assessed is of minable thickness and quality on the property? (6) Thickness of recoverable coal from the seam. (7) Quality of the coal. (8) Is the seam being assessed likely to be more costly to mine than other seams in the same district? (9) Is there an active market demand for coal from the seam being assessed? (10) Is the coal held only as protection to surface structures and in such location that it can never be mined? (11) Is the coal in a solid piece or is it in pillars that have been standing for some years as a result of incomplete mining in an old operation? (12) Expected percentage of recovery from the seam being assessed as determined by present mining practice in similar properties. (13) Value of the seam as indicated by sales of similar mineral rights in the immediate district. (14) Current royalty rates of leases for coal in the seam under consideration.

Jan 1, 1939

Discovery of a hitherto unsuspected extension of the Vermilion range iron formation in Northern St. Louis County, Minn., has been announced by the director of the State's geological survey, Dr. George M. Schwartz. USGS aeromagnetic maps show that the Vermilion range curves southeast from the Tower-Soudan area into the wilderness between Embarrass and Bear Head Lake. Dr. Schwartz believes that this new information justifies considerable exploration and drilling for iron ore in an area of about 20 sq miles southeast of Soudan. The aerial maps were a result of a three year USGS-Minnesota Geological Survey aerial search for iron formations in a 30,000 sq mile area in northern Minnesota.

Jan 12, 1950

By Gernot Kostorz

In a recent paper, Raffo and itcheell1 compared solid solution hardening of various bcc alloy single crystals at room temperature and concluded that the expression for localized elastic interaction between dislocations and solute atoms2 that gives the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) 7,: to = Z . µE3/2 C1/2 where c = concentration, e = misfit parameter, (µ = shear modulus, Z = numerical constant Fig. 1—The slope dT0/dc1/2 for niobium alloy single crystals deformed at 570°K plotted against the misfit parameter € = In' I + 1616 I. from Ref. 6, •estimated from Ref. 7. Table I. Plateau Hardening and Alloy Parameters for Niobium Alloys dT0/dc1/2, kg/mm2 Solute Ref. 6 Tantalum 3.7 ± 0.3 1.9 0.73 + 0.06 9 0.0 ± 0.5 15 Vanadium 16.1 ±1.4 - 0.69 i 0.01 9 -7.4 ± 0.5 16 Tungsten 12.5 ? 1.5 20.9 0.92 i 0.05 10 -5.0 t 0.4 17 Rhenium - 25.9 1.24 11.12 -8.5 ± 0.4 I5 Molybdenum - 14.6 1.04 13,14 -4.6 s†±?˜µ?fF?? 0.5 17 Hafnium - 13.9 0.37 12 4.8 ± 0.5 17 Table 11. Solid Solution Hardening and Alloy Parameters for Tantalum Alloys i)' dTo/dc1/2 kg/mm2, dTp/dc1/2 kg/mm2, Ref. 22 1006 Solute ˜570°K Ref. 7 See Text Ref. 25 Rhenium 44.3 32.5 0.65 -8.5 Tungsten 32.1 24.3 0.34 -4.6 Molybdenum 29.3 19.1 -0.19 -5.9 Niobium 5.8 5.5 -0.43 0.I

Jan 1, 1970

Edward Payson Mathewson EDWARD PAYSON MATHEWSON, President of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgi-cal Engineers, was born in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 16, 1864, of Scotch-Irish ancestors. After preparation in private and public schools, he graduated from McGill University with the degree of Bachelor of Applied Science, in 1885, having specialized in mining engineer-ing and metallurgy. He spent the succeeding summer as a surveyor with the Canadian Geological Survey, being employed in the lake region of Ontario. The following spring he left Canada for Colorado, where he immediately obtained a position as assayer with the Pueblo Smelting & Refining Co. Within three years he became superintendent of the plant, and his success in this position brought him to the attention of the Guggenheim family, whose employ he entered in 1897. He was first in charge of their Pueblo plant, but was soon transferred to their refinery at Perth Amboy, N. J. During the succeeding five years he was in charge of important smelting operations conducted by the firm in Mexico and South America. In June, 1902, Mr. Mathewson accepted a position at the Washoe reduction works at Anaconda, soon thereafter becoming manager of the property. It is unnecessary to recount the improvements and enlarge-ments instituted at that plant under his management, until it became the Mecca of all metallurgists visiting the United States. The esteem in which Mr. Mathew-son was held, not only by the men directly under him, but by all his fellow citizens, was expressed in a send-off such as probably no other plant manager has ever received, when he left Anaconda in October, 1916, to accept the general managership of the British America Nickel Corporation, at Nickelton, Ont., Canada. Soon thereafter Mr. Mathewson accepted an appoint-ment as director of the American Smelting and Refining Co., acting as consulting metallurgist for the company and its subsidiaries. In November, 1919, he resigned this position and opened an office in New York City as a consulting metallurgist.

Jan 3, 1923

By R. M. Bird

FEW persons outside of the foundry trade have any conception of the great variety of sands now regularly specified and furnished, nor of the differences in foundry practice frequently resulting from apparently minor changes in sands. Conditions in each locality where the sands are mined and prepared necessitate special equipment designed to perform the work efficiently. The description that follows of the foundry sand producing operations is typical of the areas in New York and New Jersey, and particularly refers to the operations of the George F. Pettinos Co.

Jan 1, 1926

By David B. Reger

Extensive drilling for gas and increased pipe-line building were the major petroleum activities in West Virginia during 1937. According to the West Virginia Department of Mines, 1034 permits to drill were issued. A running account of operations from trade journals and other reports shows that 1041 wells were drilled, resulting in 193 oil wells with 1238 bbl. of daily production; 680 gas wells with 1,048,057,000 cu. ft. of daily open flow; and 168 dry holes. The new oil-well average is 6.4 bbl. per well per day; the gas-well average is 1,541,260 cu. ft. per well per day; the ratio of dry holes to completions is 16.13 per cent. Very little attempt was made to develop new supplies of oil. Because of the continued low price, operators evidently considered it good business to leave oil in the ground rather than to produce it at a loss or on a small profit basis. The principal oil wells completed, by counties, are: Calhoun, 16; Clay, 10; Pleasants, 17; Ritchie, 42; Roane, 16; Tyler, 13; Wetzel, 11; Wirt, 14; Wood, 13. The leading counties in gas, with the number of successful wells in each, are: Boone, 54; Braxton, 31; Cabell, 48; Calhoun, 46; Gilmer, 82; Kanawha, 134; Lincoln, 44; Ritchie, 56; and Wayne, 26. General State of the Industry In Table 1 will be found an approximate summary of oil and gas territory and reserves, oil and gas production and number of oil and gas wells. The amount of land under lease is an approximation, because the exact figures are not available through any public or private agency. The proved land and reserves represent the opinion of the writer. The oil production for 1937 is subject to revision, and the gas production for the same year is only an estimate, based on demand and supply. The number of oil and gas wells now active is also an approximation, based on previous studies, and revised for completions and abandonments. Principal, Areas of Activity In Boone County, 62 wells were drilled in various localities, resulting in 4 oil wells and 54 gas wells with 18,170,000 cu. ft. of new production.

Jan 1, 1938

The following letter was received from Prof. Kemp in reply to a telegram expressing the greetings of the members attending the Annual Meeting in New York. "Melbourne Beach, Fla. Feb. 17, 1916. Dear Mr. Stoughton: The welcome telgram from the members of the Institute, which you kindly trans-mitted to me, came safely yesterday and I catch the next available mail with a heart-felt acknowledgment. I cannot express to you how greatly the remembrance cheers and braces me during the days of patient waiting for the feeling of over-strain to fully pass, and for the time when I can again be back among the friends in the Institute who are very clear to me. While I cannot reach all the members who joined in the telegram I will ask you to say to such as are available that I am profoundly sensible of the thoughtfulness which prompted the message. I write from a little bungalow on the ocean. side of the half mile or more of sand dunes, thickly grown with palmetto, which separate the ocean from the Indian River. Two miles or more of Indian River still intervene between the little colony of Melbourne Beach and Melbourne on the mainland and on the Florida East Coast R. R. where the telegraph station is. I was thus unable to respond at once by wire. Sincerely yours, (Signed) J. F. Kemp."

Jan 4, 1916

NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the period Apr. 10, 1916 to May 10, 1916. ALLEN, WILLIAM R.... Pres., Boston and Montana Development Co., Butte, Mont. BARKER, EDGAR EARL, Min. Engr. Mine Supt., Chile Exploration Co., Chuquicamata, Chile, S. Amer. BAYLESS, JOHN Z., Met. Engr Alaska Gastineau Min. Co., Thane, Alaska. BLACKWOOD, ARTHUR E., Mgr., Sullivan Machinery Co., 30 Church St., New York, N. Y. BREYER, FRANK G., Chief Testing Dept., The New Jersey Zinc Co., (of Pa.), Palmerton Pa. CARPENTER, JAY A., Mill Supt... . West End Cons. Mining Co., Tonopah, Nev. CORLESS, GEORGE BRADFORD, Geol., Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines, Joplin, Mo.

Jan 6, 1916

By Y. C. Liu, G. A. Alers

The anisotropy of Young's modules has been measured in a series of Cu-Zn alloys containing from 1 to 28 wt pct Zn and cold-rolled to 97.5 pct reduction in thickness. These modulus data show a transition in texture as a function of zinc content. In alloys containing 3 pct Zn or less, the texture is essentially that of copper. A transition is clearly seen to develop in 5 and 8 pct Zn alloys, and to have been completed in a 12 pct Zn alloy. Increasing the proportion of zinc to 28 pct does not produce any further changes in texture. The ease and clarity with which this texture transition can be seen in the modulus data is in great contrast with the inccertainty in the visual detertiination of the range of texture transition from a series of pole figures. It is also shown that the rolling texture of the high zinc content alloys cannot be a one-COIIIponenl texture, characterized by the (110)(112) ideal orientations, as usually assumed. A second, quite important component must also be present. Furthermore, the present data are inconsistent with matrix orientations on which the "oriented growth" hypothesis of the Formation of recrystallization textures is based. THE rolling textures of binary fcc alloy systems have generally been considered to lie between two terminal textures. One of these terminal textures is the copper type and the other is the 70:30 brass type. Alloys of intermediate solute content exhibit a texture which is said to be a transition between the two terminal textures. On the basis of efforts to correlate rolling and recrystallization textures, two concepts have been advanced in the literature on the nature of these transition textures. One school1 suggests that the addition of alloying elements, e.g., zinc, causes a gradual rotation about one of the (111) poles from the (358)( 523) ideal orientation of the copper-type rolling texture to the terminal {1 10)( 112) ideal orientation used to describe the rolling texture of 70:30 brass. This concept is depicted in Fig. 1 with the angle of rotation corresponding approximately to the zinc content and is designated here as the "rotational concept", since the ideal orientation of the transition textures varies continuously with alloy content. The other concept,' the "mixture concept", suggests that the copper-type rolling texture is a two-component texture. {358) (523) and {110)(112). The addition of alloying elements affects only quantitatively the relative amounts of these two components—a decrease in the amount of material in the {385}(523) orientation and an increase of that in the {110)(112) orientation with increasing solute content. An experimental distinction between these two concepts is essential to a better understanding of both the mechanism of formation of rolling textures and the subsequent formation of recrystailization textures in fcc metals. Because of the lack of resolution inherent in pole figures, it has not been possible to differentiate between the two concepts on the basis of this data. Both concepts, in fact, make use of the same set of pole figures but interpret them in a manner acco-rding to the view held.'" Experimental results obtained from inverse pole figures or selected-area electron diffraction3j4 simply -yield more refined pole figures but do not eliminate the ambiguity of interpretation. Quantitative measurement of an entirely different, orientation-dependent property must thus be considered

Jan 1, 1967

[Alabama, University of, University, Ala California, University of Berkeley, Cal Carnegie Inst, of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio Colorado School of Mines Columbia University, New York City Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass Idaho, University of, Moscow, Idaho Illinois, University of, Urbana, Ill Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa Kansas, University of, Lawrence, Kan Lafayette College, Easton. Pa ]

Jan 1, 1928

(Members are urged to send in for this column any notes of interest concerning themselves or their fellow-members) The following is a partial list of members and guests who called at Institute headquarters during the period Mar. 10, 1917, to Apr. 10, 1917. George S. Blair, Pittsburgh, Pa. E. P. Mathewson, Toronto, Canada. H. M. Boylston, Cambridge, Mass. T. Poole Maynard, Atlanta, Ga. F. J. Brule, Toronto, Canada. . W. J. Mead, Madison, Wis. M. B. Cohen, Miami, Ariz.. D. G. Miller, Denver, Colo. W. M. Corse, Buffalo, N. Y. P. N. Moore, St. Louis, Mo. F. G. Cottrell, Washington, D. C. R. H. Morris, Ansted, W. Va. E. C. Cross, Cleveland, 0. W. J. Morrison, Toronto, Canada. Nelson Dickerman, San Francisco, Cal. M. F. Ortin, Petrograd, Russia. F. N. Flynn, Chuquicamata, Chile. G. W. Paymal, New York, N. Y. F. L. Garrison, Philadelphia, Pa. Edward H. Perry, Boston, Mass. J. S. Grasty, Charlottesville, Va. 0. G. Petersen, Somerset, Ky. H. D. Hibbard, Plainfield, N. J. H. C. Price, Bartlesville, Okla. H. L. Hollis, Chicago, 111. C. A. Richardson, Toronto, Canada. F. H. Jackson, Marysvale, Utah. Hallet R. Robbins, Vancouver, B. C., Can. W. Strickler Jones, Silver City, N. M. A. H. Rogers, Boston, Mass. E. B. Kirby, St. Louis, Mo. H. G. Smith, Princepulca, Nic. J. M. Lovejoy, Electra, Tex. Edwin G. Steele, Van Horn, Tex. A. F. Lucas, Washington, D. C. 'S. A. Taylor, Pittsburgh, Pa. Edwin Ludlow, Lansford, Pa. A. P. Thompson, Salt Lake City, Utah, E. Francis McCrossin, Birmingham, Ala. Milton A. Allen is now engaged in the New York office of Messrs. Arthur L. Pearse & Co. Percy E. Barbour, managing editor of the Engineering & Mining Journal, has been appointed, by Governor Whitman, Deputy Superintendent of Police of the State of New York.

Jan 6, 1917

By WILLIAM SLOAN

B RITISH COLUMBIA in its mining activities is going ahead by leaps and bounds both in development and production. Mineral production for 1925 was $61,492,242 in value as compared to $48,704,- 604 in 1924, or an increase of about 26.2 per cent. This is a new record. It is the first time in the history of mining in British Columbia that we have gone over the fifty million mark. But we have got in the habit of making new records. The year 1924, with its mineral production of almost forty-nine million was a new record. And I am confident that when the mining history of 1926 is written it will be found that we have established yet another new record and that we can report another 25 per cent increase over 1925. What is the explanation? It is not only that the world is settling down, and settling up, after the war. It is not only that in the rebuilding, the refashioning in which all nations are busily engaged, the metals that come from our mines are needed. More than anything else, at least as far as we are concerned, it is because British Columbia has the resources and the fact that the province has been fortunate in recent years in finding men with the enterprise and the vision required to push ahead the labor of their development. From the ranks of our own people in Canada we have prospectors who have faith, energy and requisite knowledge. They are combing our hills season after season and they are of the type of manhood that does not know the meaning of the word quit. More and more these men are learning the importance of the guidance furnished by geological reports, and to an ever increasing extent such reports, thanks to the valuable work of the Canadian Geological Survey, covering areas little known to man, are made available to them-but it is recognized that in the opening up of our Province, containing within itself 372,000 square miles, it is essential that we should have the cooperation of our cousins on this side of the line as well as of our fellow citizens of the Dominion and of the Mother Country.

Jan 1, 1926

By Porter W. Shimer

(New York Meeting, February, 1912.) IT does not seem to be generally known that some American pig-irons contain notable amounts of vanadium, and while the present investigation is far from covering the whole range of irons, it is hoped that, at least, it may serve to call attention to the importance of looking for this element. The majority of the pig-irons investigated were made in the Lehigh Valley and neighboring furnaces, using more or less New Jersey magnetite in their mixtures. Many of these ores, and probably all of them, contain a little vanadium as well as titanium; the ore from one of the largest of these mines contains 0.05 per cent. of vanadium and 0.60 per cent. of titanium. Dr. Thomas M. Drown was the first to detect the presence. of vanadium in the incrustations 1 occurring on certain pig-irons, and he also found this element in a number of magnetites, but the methods for its accurate determination had not, at that time, been well worked out. In a general way, it may be said that the Lehigh Valley pig-irons contain from 0.02 to 0.05 per cent. of vanadium and from 0.10 to 0.20 per cent. of titanium. These elements follow the silicon; that is, the furnace-conditions which produce a high-silicon, low-sulphur iron will cause the maximum reduction of vanadium and titanium, and the lower grades of iron, with low silicon and high sulphur, have a lower content of these elements. The following analyses of irons made from the same mixture, but under varying furnace-conditions, show this very well Vanadium. Silicon. Sulphur. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. NO. 1 X, . . . 0.042 3.46 0.022 No. 2 plain, . . 0.038 2.26 0.041 Mottled, . . . 0.0'29 0.52 0.106 1 Robertson and Firmstone, Note Concerning Certain Incrustations on Pig Iron,Trans., xii., 641 (1883-84).

Aug 1, 1912

Jan 1, 1970

U.S. Steel Uncovers Massive Iron Ore Deposits in Nevada United States Steel Corporation has confirmed that mineral investigation in Lyon County, Nevada. has been under way since 1960. Confirmation followed press reports of a statement attributed to a Nevada State inspector of mines to the effect that the Corporation has found a major iron ore deposit that may also contain copper ill West Central Nevada. Drillings over the years in a number of locations have indicated extensive iron ore bodie containing a possible quarter of a billion tons of ore of a basically magnetite composition. analyzing less than 40% iron, which would require beneficiation for commercial use. Some of these deposits are deep- lying while others would permit open pit mining. These bodies contain copper in quantities of approxiimately 0.3%. More recent drilling in another area has disclosed evidence of additional deeply-lying deposits of a lower fe content but with more promising indications of copper. A realistic estimate of fe and cu ore reserves cannot be made until more drilling is completed.

Jan 1, 1970

By M. J. GAVEN

COMING over from the plant on the Denver and Rio Grande yesterday afternoon I was an interested listener to a smoking-room conversation that had to do with the experimental plant near Rifle. The people who were talking didn't know me and I didn't know them, but I learned quite a little. I understood that the plant would never operate; that it was not intended to operate; that the "oil trust" would keep it from operating; that our tramway had eaten up all our money and still was not working and would not work; that the plant was run by a bunch of kids, and that the superintendent was probably the biggest kid of the bunch. I plead guilty to the latter. But the people who were talking were misinformed. The plant is producing oil. The first sample of oil that came from our unit at the Bureau of Mines experimental plant at Rifle, Colo., was produced on Sept. 18, the first that came out of the condenser, and it is still coming. This sample of oil may mean to the United States what the first oil produced from the first well meant.

Jan 1, 1926

The Mining Engineering Society of the State College of Washington, Pullman, Wash., has elected the following officers for this semester: F. MASON, President, WILLIAM WHITE, Vice-President,. L. E. TRAEGER, Secretary and Treasurer. The Society holds meetings every two weeks at which papers on mining and metallurgical topics are presented by students and members, of the faculty. At the meeting of Oct. 25, Prof. H. R. Robbins gave an interesting talk upon the Rankin Process for the treatment of base-metal ores. In this process the metals are extracted by the use of nitric acid, the acid -being recovered almost entirely. Prof. Robbins thinks the process has great possibilities, but it has not yet been worked on a commercial scale. The Missouri Mining Association, the student organization at the Missouri School of Mines, Rolla, Mo., has. elected the following officers for the ensuing year: L. W. EHLERS, President, H. A. KLUGE, Treasurer, J. G. REILLY, Vice-President, N. E. RITTER, Secretary.

Jan 12, 1915

By A. W. Hesse

Twelve years ago, some coal-mine operators, mining engineers, oil and gas operators, Bureau of Mines engineers, geologists and state mine inspectors met in Pittsburgh, Pa. to discuss and solve if possible, the problems in connection with the drilling of oil and gas wells through or near coal mines and through the future coal reserves. Regulations were drafted and presented by O. P. Hood and A. G. Heggem of the Bureau of Mines.' . There was considerable discussion of the various articles, practically all of which appear in Bulletin 65, but the interest aroused at that meeting was short lived. Practically none of the important coal-producing states gave the matter the consideration it should have received. Notwithstanding the marked progress in safety work, coal mines still have an unenviable reputation for mine explosions. Our mining laws have become stricter and the enforcement, especially in Pennsylvania, more rigid, but what good will come from a rigid enforcement of the mining laws if some source of danger exists all around the mines, over which the operators have no control ? It is hardly necessary to recite all the cases of natural-gas explosions published in Bulletin 65, but with some of them I am especially familiar. In 1912, while visiting the Miners' Hospital, at Fairmont, W. Va., my attention was called to a patient swathed in in bandages so that no part of his face and hands were visible. He had not been told that his two sons, mere boys, had died of the burns they had received in the same accident—explosion due to natural gas leaking into a country mine at Peora, Harrison Co., W. Va.

Jan 1, 1925