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Jan 1, 1959

By M. M. Austin

PURE metallic tantalum, from a practical standpoint, is one of the newer developments in the metal field. Although it was used as filament in incandescent lamps in 1906, only within the last five years has the metal been available in sufficient quantity and suitable form for more general application. In addition to corrosion-resisting properties and high melting point, the metal has an ability to withstand unusual amounts of cold working. It affords some striking demonstrations of block movement during plastic flow.

Jan 1, 1930

[¦Abad, Leopoldo F., College of Min., Univ. of California Berkeley, Cal. '23 ¦Abarquez, Ramon F., Met., Bureau of Science Manila, P. 1. '24 ¦Abbey, Robert Graham, Student, Case School of Applied Science Cleveland, Ohio. '21 Abbott, A. N., Mines Supt., Mazapil Copper Co., Ltd ...Concepcion del Oro, Zacatecas, Mexico. '23 Abbott, Clarence B., Gen'l Supt., Iron Mines Div., Tenn. Coal, Iron & R. R. Co., 1405 Minnesota Ave., Bessemer, Ala.' '04] [ ]

Jan 1, 1925

By L. R. van Wert

CAREFUL research into the nature of the metallic state has yet to discover, with any certainty, its essential quality. We do riot yet know, for sure, what it is that makes the metallic elements different from, if not actually unique among, all created things. We do know, of course, that metals have certain more or less characteristic properties-they are hard, strong, and tough, and good conductors of heat and electricity, and these so-called metallic properties provide a definition of a sort. How- ever, it is the structure rather than the behavior of the metals which gives the really fundamental information necessary to the understanding of metallicity. But this information is not easily obtained. Nature has a way of keeping secrets. But happily we do possess some knowledge of how a metal is built up, and it is this matter, rather than the presentation of a formal definition, that will be discussed here.

Jan 1, 1937

By F. S. McNicholas, M. S. Walker, V. C. Rogers

During the year of 1944 and the first half of 1945, the Climax Molybdenum Co. made a study of some of the problems in block and panel caving, with the use of a scale model. The experiments dealt essentially with the type of rock and conditions at Climax, but some experiments were carried out to simulate conditions found in other mines. Most of the previous experiments on the caving characteristics of rock have dealt with sedimentary or broken igneous material. The series of experiments described here was designed to show the caving action of unbroken igneous rock. Con- siderable difficulty was experienced in duplicating unbroken material in the model. The results obtained are believed to be relatively correct, but verification must necessarily come from future mine operation. Observations in the mine and glory hole, together with statistical data, were used as criteria for creating similar conditions in the model. In 1913, George R. Lehman' experimented with broken material in a model for the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co. and, more recently, P. B. Bucky2 experimented with broken material with a capping of mill tailings. Mr. Lehman's model represented a maximum ore height of 70 ft. capped by 55 ft. of waste. He varied the draw-hole spacing from 6¼ ft. to 8? ft. and 12½ ft. The material used graduated from fines to 30-in. maximum size. Some of his conclusions were: "(I) The less the distance between chute centers, the greater the extraction (Fig. I); (2) the higher the ore column, the greater the extraction; (3) the less the amount drawn at a time from each chute, uniformly, the greater the extraction of clean ore before the capping appeared, but not the greater the total extraction to a I per cent copper final product." (Fig. 2.) Professor Bucky concluded, in part: "(I) Drawing of ore may take place at any time from any finger and in any amount without affecting materially: (a)

Jan 1, 1946

By D. Hanson

Fox most of their practical applications metals are required to with-stand stresses of appreciable magnitude: indeed, it is because they possess the quality of resisting stress without becoming permanently deformed that they find such extensive use in the service of man. Metals and alloys must, in service, usually behave as elastic substances-or nearly so. It is not difficult to satisfy this condition at ordinary temperatures. Iron and its alloys, especially the steels, are at normal temperatures excellent elastic bodies, capable of satisfying most of the mechanical requirements of the engineer: where electrical, chemical or other properties are impor-tant, which cannot be met by steels, it is usually possible to find a non-ferrous alloy such as nickel, copper or aluminum, which will prove satisfactory. When the metals or alloys are not inherently sufficiently elastic, cold-working or heat-treatment may develop elastic properties to a sufficient extent for practical needs. By means of relatively simple, rapid tests we can measure such properties as elastic modulus, limit of proportionality and proof stress, upon which design can be based with confidence. The case of the soft metals, such as lead and tin, is well known to be exceptional. They possess no definite limit of elasticity, and the value of proof stress or tensile strength depends to a great extent on the speed with which the test is carried out. Design here must be based on other considerations than a well-established theory of the proportionality of stress and strain. It is now generally recognized that steels and non-ferrous alloys possess at temperatures not greatly exceeding that of the atmosphere, characteristics quite different from those existing at ordinary temperatures, and that they assume qualities similar to those of the soft metals. Not only have they no limit of elasticity, but the proof stress and the ultimate stress depend on the time of application of the load. Flow under load may persist for long periods of time, possibly indefinitely, and the determination of a true maximum stress becomes a matter of great difficulty.

Jan 1, 1939

By H. Hubert

THE first attempts at direct utilization of blast-furnace gas in engines were made in 1895. For a considerable time the gas had been burnt in Cowper stoves for heating the blast for the furnace, and under the boilers which supplied steam to the blowing-engines, and others serving the furnaces. It was natural, therefore, that the idea of directly employing it in gas-engines should have occurred simultaneously to several engineers, notably to Lürmann and to Lencauchez, who had pointed out the blast-furnace as a powerful -gas-producer. Nevertheless, nowhere had any attempt been made to apply it to this purpose up to the end of 1894, when Thwaite proposed it to Mr. James Riley, of the Glasgow Iron & Steel Company. About the same time investigations were being made in Belgium and in Germany, independently of Thwaite's experiments, which were not generally known on the Continent. The industrial world, which up to that time had hardly favored the idea, had thus been gradually prepared to receive it. The gas-engine, long restricted to small sizes and dependent upon the use of an expensive fuel obtainable only in large centers, now began to make headway. At the Paris Exhibition of 1889 two engines of 100 h.p. were shown and excited much interest among engineers. One had four cylinders, and was made at the celebrated works of the Deutz Company, and the other was a single-cylinder engine, exhibited by two French designers, Messrs. Delamare-Deboutteville and Malandin. In the meanwhile the design of gas-producers had made important progress, completely freeing the new engine from its

Nov 1, 1906

By AIME AIME

The following acts of the Directors are reported for the information of members:¬ At a meeting held November 3, 1905, Messrs. Henri Le Chatelier, of Paris, France, and Andrew Carnegie, of New York, N. Y., having been nominated by a large number of members, and recommended by unanimous vote of the Council, were unanimously elected Honorary Members, in recognition of their distinguished services to the arts and professions represented by the Institute. At a meeting held February 7, 1,906, Dr. James Douglas, of New York, N. Y., having been" nominated by a large number of leading members, and recommended by unammous vote of the Council, was unanimously elected an Honorary Member, in recognition of his distinguished services to the practice and the literature of mining and metallurgy, his zealous and loyal devotion to this Institute, his fraternal generosity towards professional colleagues, and his effective advocacy, by public utterance and private example, of the free communication of technical knowledge and experience. At the same meeting, By-Law IV., which now authorizes the Secretary to appoint an '1 Assistant Editor," was amended by substituting the words, " Assistant with the title of Editor." At the same meeting, the resignation of Mr. Theodore Dwight, as Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer of the Institute, was presented and accepted, and the Secretary was instructed to express to Mr. Dwight the thanks of the Board for his loyal and efficient services, and its regret that he could not continue in that position. . [SECRETARY'S NOTE.-Mr. Dwight's resignation, dictated solely by the demands of private business, covers only his immediate management of this office. He is still a Director and Councilor, and a representative of the Institute in matters connected with the new Carnegie Building, etc.-R. W. R.] At the same meeting, the Secretary and the Treasurer reported respectively their appointment of Mr. Henry WT. B. Howard as Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer, to fill

Mar 1, 1906

By George W. Maynard

(Pittsburg Meeting, March, 1910.) AT the Pittsburg meeting of the Institute, May, 1879, I made the first announcement in America of the results obtained by Sidney Gilchrist Thomas and Percy C. Gilchrist, ill their efforts to eliminate phosphorus in the manufacture of steel in the Bessemer converter and the open-hearth furnace.1 The first published statement in an American newspaper was a reprint of the first Thomas-Gilchrist paper, 2 which I sent to J. C. Bayles, at that time the editor. At the suggestion of many friends who were present at the Pittsburg meeting, and others who are cognizant of the beginnings of the process in the United States, and for the information of the younger generation of the iron and steel fraternity, I have thought it eminently proper that the history of the process in detail should be given where I made the first announcement and where the process has had its largest development. During my residence in England, from April, 1873, to February, 1879, and as a member of the Iron and Steel Institute since 1874, I was present at many of its meetings during those years. At nearly -every meeting the burden of discussion was the question of the use of pig-iron containing phosphorus in the. manufacture of steel by the Bessemer or the open-hearth process. In my biographical notice of Thomas;3 read at the New York meeting of, the Institute, February, 1885, I show that the working-out of the process was not a hap-hazard or accidental inspiration, but the culmination of many years of investigation of experiments and theories which had been carried on and advanced by chemists and metallurgists at home and abroad. 1 Trans., viii., .5 (1879-80). 2 The Iron Age, vol. 22, No. 17, p. 3 (Oct. 24, 1878). 3 Trans.. xiii., 785 to 791.

Jul 1, 1910

By Yves Dardel

The literature concerning the remelting of alunlinum and its alloys is very rich. Unfortunately the majority of the papers on this subject have no scientific value, for the theories or explanations are too often in opposition to the laws of physical chemistry. Furthermore only a few of the methods of purification are considered in the literature. Hence it has seemed necessary to the author to sketch a general theory of the purification of secondary aluminum. The purpose of the purification is to eliminate the impurities that the charges, and the atmosphere of the furnaces bring into the bath during the successive remelt-ings. Indeed scrap as well as metal can be used when soiled with oil, greases, water, or others, if it has been sufficiently dried and contains oxides. At the melting point of the metal, the oils and greases are decomposed into their constituent elements H², O2, H²O, co², CO, CH,, and others. These gases are added to the corresponding gases in the atmosphere of the furnace. The impurities introduced into the metal during the remelting will accordingly be the products resulting from the action of these gases on the liquid bath. The quantity of hydrogen that is soluble in aluminum and its alloys is given by the relation of sieverts3 as a function of its partial pressure PH2 in the atmosphere m = K vPH² [I] where K is a constant, which depends only upon the temperature and increases with it. The experiments of Rijntgen and Braun4, RÖntgen and M611er5, Bircum-shaw6 and Winterhagerl have rendered it possible to determine the value of K, when the temperature is less than 1.000°C. One obtains: log K = - 4,702.5T + o 238 [2] Besides its usual significance, the term Ph~ represents also the internal pressure of dissolved hydrogen, since in the equilibrium, that is1 when no gas exchange Occurs between the two phases, the Pressures of hydrogen in the metal and in the atmosphere must be equal. Eq I shows that when the partial pressure of H2 increases the amount of dissolved hydrogen in equilibrium increases, and that, if the contrary Occurs, the quantity of H² should diminish. However, if for any reason the diffusion of hydrogen is hindered and the total amount of dissolved gas remains constant while the temperature decreases, the internal pressure of H² increases until it reaches the value of the hydrostatic pressure. At this point, bubbles of hydrogen appear in the bath and escape out of it. The amount of hydrogen in the metal is then limited by a a depending On the hydro- static pressure, which is practically equal to one atmosphere. Indeed hydrogen does not accumulate in the form of a hydride appearing as a separate solid phase. However1 even the mechanism of the solubility is not yet elucidated. One does not know exactly as yet, whether the

Jan 1, 1949

By William A. Johnson

THE fundamental role of diffusion in many reactions occurring in solid metals has long been recognized, and there have been careful measurements of rates of diffusion in numerous alloy systems, but our understanding of the atomic mechanism by which diffusion occurs is scarcely in an advanced state 1-3 It is doubtful that this mechanism can ever he directly ascertained, rather, all imaginable mechanisms must be examined and the one that is in best accord with such data as can be obtained from suitably chosen experiments should be selected Because of its relative simplicity, diffusion in a system containing only one kind of atomic species-commonly called self-diffusion-is of considerable theoretical interest It may be expected that diffusion theory will not be advanced appreciably until a wide variety of diffusion experiments-of which diffusion in a chemical concentration gradient and self-diffusion are two important types-are carefully performed and inter-compared Aside from the purely theoretical interest in self-diffusion measurements, such studies will be of considerable engineering importance The rate of any process in a pure metal requiring the movement of atoms, of which recrystallization and creep are two familiar examples, will be understood more readily with the aid of self-diffusion data † Self-diffusion implies the diffusion of something into its exact counterpart, the detection of such a process is patently impossible, and it is-necessary to substitute for it the diffusion of one isotope (in this case radioactive) into another isotope (in this case stable) of the same chemical element There is, however, no reason to suppose that a radioactive atom will not diffuse at the same rate as its stable isotope, for all of the isotopes of the same element have exactly the same chemical properties, neither the difference in nuclear energy nor the difference in mass would be expected to exercise an important influence in this phenomenon In this sense, self-diffusion may be thought of as the diffusion of radioactive atoms down a radioactivity concentration gradient, just as usual diffusion is the diffusion of one kind of atone down its chemical concentration gradient The first measurements of self-diffusion ii ere made by von Hevesy4-6 using the radioactive lead isotope thorium B in ordinary lead The recent development of means for producing artificial radioactive elements has made possible similar measurements on gold,7,8 copper,2,9 and zinc 10 11 Many of the data that have been obtained are rather poor, and no adequate reason has been given for their poorness, it appears, however, that the unsatisfactory results are characteristic of the particular experimental procedure employed, and not of self-diffusion measurements in themselves The experimental technique that has yielded the poorer results is the deposition of a thin layer of radioactive atoms on the surface of a specimen and the determination of the rate of inward diffusion

Jan 1, 1941

By Walter E. Hopper

The Caddo oil-field, shown in Fig. 1, is located in Caddo parish, northwestern Louisiana. The known producing territory of oil is covered by townships 19 N, 20 N, 21 N, 22 N, and ranges 15 and 16 W., shown in Fig. 2. The center of the field may be taken as Oil City, 24 miles north of Shreveport, on the Kansas City Southern railway. Shreveport is the second largest city in the State, and is the connecting point of five railroad-lines. Drilling at the present time, however, is going on all over northern Louisiana, especially in Caddo and the neighboring parishes. During the winter of 1908-09 I spent 'four months in the Caddo field, under the direction of the Louisiana Geological Survey and the U. S. Geological Survey. II. History and Development. Natural gas escaping at the surface is found at numerous places in northwestern Louisiana. At Shreveport, the plant of the Shreveport Ice & Refrigerating Co. has been lighted by natural gas for 20 years. The well was drilled for water, but was abandoned on account of the gas. A test well, put down in 1905 near the western limits of Shreveport, was driven to 1,650 ft., and encountered indications of gas and oil at various depths, but did not succeed in finding enough to be profitable. Attention was first attracted to the Caddo field in 1895 by indications in water-wells from 40 to 60 ft. deep, in which the pressure of natural gas was noticeable. This indication of gas in a shallow well led to the drilling of the first well in the Caddo field, the old Savage Brothers & Morricell, or the Caddo Lake Oil and Pipe Line No. 1. The rig for this well was erected in May, 1904, and drilling began in June, 1904. The well was bailed Mar. 23, 1905, with a small amount of oil. It was deepened July, 1905, and converted into a "gasser" Jan. 3, 1906. It was abandoned January, 1907. In consequence of the finding of oil in the Savage well, drilling-operations were pushed with energy; and in April, 1905,

Jan 1, 1912

From the historical account of the coal industry set forth in the preceding pages the reader will have learned that coal is extremely widely spread throughout the United States, and in most places it has been easily found, that it has been remarkably easy to develop, and, where the deposits were available to streams on which it could be transported to markets, it was opened almost as soon as the country was settled. Such were the mines along the James, Susquehanna, Monongahela, Ohio, Kentucky, Cumberland and Big Muddy Rivers. In other localities where such easy means of transport were not convenient, the early production was confined to local use, or to places to which it could be hauled by wagons, but everywhere small mines were established almost as soon as the country was settled, and these increased both in number and size as the available markets grew. These early mines were nearly always opened by local people, and the industry was so far-flung that its growth attracted little or no attention excepting when a labor disturbance or a breakdown in transportation occurred. Had it been concentrated in a few places as most metal industries were, or as the petroleum industry was for many years after it started, it is probable that much better records of its progress would have been kept. When the canal era began, in the eighteen twenties, coal was at first not considered as a valuable source of freight revenue, and much surprise was expressed that the receipts of the Schuylkill Canal were very largely from coal after the first few years, as was the case of the Union Canal though not to such an extent. Even the early railroads to the coal fields did not realize the extent to which the products of mines would figure in their revenues, and it was many years before railroads were built practically solely for prospective coal traffic; indeed this did not happen until some years after the Civil War. Map 12 shows the extent of the canal system in the United States in its relation to the coal fields at the time of its maximum development. It will be seen that only the coal areas in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and to a very small extent in Indiana were able to ship by canal at all, and that only a very small portion of such fields could do so. Looking backward, it is hard to understand the great hopes entertained of canals by their pro-

Jan 1, 1942

By W. H. Bassett

A 10-year, sea-water, corrosion test of tubes of several copper alloys has shown that many alloys withstood attack by solution, pitting, and dezinkification; a 1-year, salt-spray test of sheet-metal specimens of the same composition showed the same results. THE late J. P. Sparrow, chief operating engineer of the New York Edison Co., carried out a series of practical tests on condenser tubes of several copper alloys and reported on the results to the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies at its meeting in' September, 1913. In the preparation of these tubes the senior author had the pleasure of cooperating. Copper-zinc alloys in the proportions of 60-40, 70-30, 80-20, 90-10, and Admiralty metal, which is in effect 70-30 with 1 per cent. of tin, were tried. Monel metal and several copper-nickel alloys, and 8, 5, and 3 per cent. aluminum bronze were also tried. At the time of this report, the aluminum bronze had been in service for 4 1/2 years and seemed to be giving especially good results but later it began to fail and showed no substantial improvement over Admiralty metal. Monel metal was unsatisfactory and the nickel alloys apparently did not give better service than the Admiralty alloy. Previous to the publication of the report, and after considerable discussion, it was agreed that a test where tubes of different kinds could be under laboratory observation would be advisable, so the apparatus described here was set up in The American Brass Co.'s Waterbury Laboratory. This was fitted with tubes of copper, brass, bronze, nickel silver, cupro-nickel and other alloys, and the test started Oct. 11, 1912. Salt water from East River, New York harbor, was barrelled and transported to the laboratory for the test. A fresh supply, completely replacing the water in service, was obtained at the end of each six months period.

Jan 1, 1925

By H. OSBORG

THE patent literature of alloys for the last two decades or so indicates that the number of liatents referring to smaller and smaller percentages of essential alloying constituents is on the increase, whereas the number of patents relating to considerable percentages of alloying additions becomes smaller. The claims regarding physical properties indicate consistently higher and more rigid values and show the possibility of modifying the physical properties by only slight changes in the percentage of minor constituents or by applying different methods - of treatment. Alloys of the same base have been made suitable for a number of different applications by intelligently and rigid- ly controlling their composition, melting, casting, working, and heat-treatments. Other trends indicated in the development of modern alloys are higher corrosion resistance, higher fatigue limits, and "stability" in volume.

Jan 1, 1937

By Edward W. Parker

THE agreement of September, 1922, between the anthracite operators and the United Mine Workers of America, which followed the 54.5 months strike during the summer of that year, contained the following provision : The parties unite in a recommendation to Congress that legislation be forthwith enacted creating a separate anthracite coal commission with authority to investigate and report promptly on every phase of the industry and the parties hereby ask the President to request the enactment by Congress of the recommended legislation. The continuance of production after Aug. 31, 1923, shall be upon such terms as the parties may agree-upon in the light of the report of the Commission.

Jan 1, 1924

By AIME AIME

WILBER JUDSON is one of that fairly large group of mining engineers that graduated at an Eastern college, worked his way up in various jobs in the West and in the Latin-American countries, and finally came to New York as an administrative officer of a large mining company. Since coming to New York he has been a loyal friend and counselor of the A.I.M.E., and is now serving a second term as one of its Directors, his first term covering the period 1935-1938. Mr. Judson was born in the capital city of Michigan on July 26, 1880. Probably it was his roving spirit rather than professorial urging that was responsible for the fact that four colleges were responsible for his education: Northwestern, University of Michigan, Harvard (S.B., 1901), and the Michigan College of Mines (graduate study). In his first ten years of professional work he might have been found serving as mine foreman at Catamarca in the Argentine, as superintendent of the Inter Ocean mine at Sunshine, Colo.. as foreman for the Cerro Prieto, Magdalena, Sonora, as superintendent of the Hudson Iron Co. in New York, or as manager of the Dolores mine in Chihuahua for the Mines Co. of America, or in Spain, or in Panama.

Jan 1, 1942

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 Robert S. Nichols

Fording Coal Limited's mine in the Rocky Mountains near Elkford, B.C. has produced 21.8 million clean tonnes of metallurgical coal from 1971 to 1980, inclusive. This production has come from several pit areas and required the removal of 149.1 million bank cubic meters of waste rock and overburden by truck-shovel and dragline operations. Waste dumps from 30m to 200m in height have been successfully constructed on natural slopes, generally between 10° and 26°. Design considerations for the dumps include foundation and soil conditions, natural slope angles and containment of weak overburden or rehandle materials. Dump control is maintained by monitoring the crest and the face of an active dump area. Crest movement is measured by extensometers locally termed "Spoil Monitors". When crest movement rates progressively increase above normal, dumping operations are temporarily relocated. Some unstable conditions and mass failures have occurred as the result of natural foundation slopes being in excess of 26°, failure of weak water saturated foundation soils or weak material being placed on the dump.

Jan 1, 1983

By S. F. Ravitz

IN his excellent book on the Principles of Flotation, Wark1 makes the following sig-nificant statement concerning the theory of flotation: Two questions of first-rate importance must be considered . . . First, it must be decided whether the sulfide minerals require a collector in order that they may float, or whether as has been claimed, they possess an inherent float-ability and need no collector. Second, it must be decided whether the xanthate type of col-lector can react with or be adsorbed by the unchanged sulfide minerals themselves, or whether, as many claim, reaction with the collector is dependent upon initial oxidation of the mineral surface. In the theory of flotation there are no two questions of greater impor-tance than these. Ravitz and Porter2 presented evidence that galena can be floated without a col-lector, and even without any reagent, pro-vided oxidation products are thoroughly removed from its surface. They found also that thoroughly cleaned galena floated faster when xanthate was used than when a frother alone or no reagent was used, and that, without a collector, the recovery decreased gradually upon exposure of the mineral to air. Their work, however, has met with considerable criticism. 1(127),3-6 This paper is presented to answer the objections that have been raised, and to present additional data that confirm their results.

Jan 1, 1940