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Jan 1, 1897

Jan 1, 1969

By VERITAS

THE most concentrated industry of major character in the United States is that of the Ford Motor CO., which is to say Henry Ford. Its sole function is to supply the public with a cheap motor car which it does to the extent of two million or so per annum. In doing this, a relatively small profit per unit is multi- plied to an enormous aggregate per annum and has resulted in the creation of one of the greatest industrial fortunes of the world. The industrial and sociological consequences of .this are bound to be immense. On the physical side the production of two million automobiles means the consumption of two or three million tons of materials, chiefly metals, in the 'direct form of the finished product', and a huge additional tonnage of coal and other things that ,are consumed en route, and also the labor of many thousands of men. In the development of a business on this scale it was but natural that the Ford Motor ,Co. should seek to supply itself with the raw 'materials it needs, and they being so largely coal and metals the company is brought into close contact with the mining and metallurgical industries. It is a huge consumer of - steel. It is the fourth largest consumer of copper. It is a large consumer of lead, tin, aluminum and zinc. The mining and metallurgical industries have, therefore, good reason to learn to know Henry Ford, his personality, his thoughts and his policies.

Jan 1, 1924

By AIME AIME

IN a recent technical paper of the Central Committee of the French Coal Mines (Note technique No. 198, by L. Lahoussay) the author points out that continuous in¬crease in depth of mine shafts makes it more and more necessary to look for appropriate means to reduce the weights and dimensions of the hoisting ropes. Increasing depth demands a larger section and weight for the cable if the useful load is not to be cut down at the same time. This naturally leads to increased cost per ton, and at the same time creates serious mechanical difficulties. The dimensions of the hoisting engine must be increased, acceleration at the start must be decreased so as to avoid periods of excessive peak power loads, and a longer time be allowed to slow down the speed of the hoist when applying brakes. The hoisting rope, upon which depend the dimensions and hence the mass of the hoisting engine, presents the greatest obstacle to the development of hoisting from greater depths. Evidently, for a given depth, the total weight of the rope can be notably reduced by utilizing a wire rope of decreasing section, approaching the theoretical logarithmic form. This is a solution frequently adopted for great depths. Of course, the weight of the rope could be easily' diminished by reducing the useful load, but it is certain that with increasing depth of mining, more effort must be made to confine the hoisting to a small number of shafts, and increase the load hoisted per trip.

Jan 1, 1933

By J. A. Morgan

IN the art of roasting sulfides it is well known that the lower the temperature and the higher the pressure of SO, the larger will be the amount of sulfate present in the product. However, the mechanism of sulfate formation is not generally understood. The following experiment" demonstrates in a direct way that, in the roasting of Cu2S, the sulfate forms from the reaction of Cu2O, formed by the oxidation of Cu2s, with gaseous SO, (or SO3) and 0,. Thus, the sulfate does not form at the sulfide surface. The reaction at the sulfide surface is the same whether or not sulfate is formed. Using an indirect method, Ong, Fassell, and Wadsworth' infer that sulfate forms after oxidation, during the roasting of sphalerite, agreeing with the observations of this paper. The method presented here of demonstrating that sulfate forms after formation of Cu2O is to roast a sample of Cu2S and then to locate and identify the phases formed.' A solid cube of cuprous sulfide, made by melting Fisher reagent grade Cu2S powder and measuring about 1.5 cm on edge, was placed on a Nichrome wire grid suspended over the top of an Alundum combustion boat. The assembly was placed in a tube furnace at 600°C and oxygen gas, flowing at 0.60 liters per min, was passed around the specimen for 24 hr. The furnace tube diameter was 1.5 in. The partially roasted sample was removed from the furnace and impregnated with resin No. BR 0014, obtained from the Palmer Products Co., and the impregnated sample was then mounted in Lucite. A cross section was obtained by grinding and the surface was prepared by the following steps: 1) grinding—60 grit, 3M disk, dry; 2) preliminary polishing —60 through 600 grit, 3M disk, dry; 3) polishing— 8 µ diamond putty, silk cloth; and 4) final polishing —1evigated magnesia in isopropyl alcohol, Selvyt cloth. The color micrograph of the polished surface is shown in Fig. 1. The layers present in the micrograph are given along the side. The comwositions of the various layers were established by Debye-Scherrer patterns. From this evidence the following sequence of reactions which occur in the roasting of Cu2S is inferred: 1) The oxidation of Cu2S occurs with oxygen which has been transported through the oxide-sulfate layer by either gaseous or solid state diffu- sion. The products of this reaction at the Cu2S surface are Cu2O and SO,. 2) The SO, diffuses out through the pores in the Cu2O and finally reaches a position in the Cu2O where the oxygen pressure and the SO, pressure have values such that the thermodynamic conditions for the formation of CuSO4 are fulfilled. Then, the mixture of SO2, SO3, and oxygen reacts with the Cu2O to form CuSO1. 3) The CuSO, decomposes by the evolution of SO,, or SO, and O2, to form the basic sulfate. This is reasonable, since the SO, gradient will decrease toward the oxygen gas phase from the CuSO4 layer. 4) For this same reason the basic sulfate will decompose to form CuO. The above sequence of events is based on the assumption that diffusion through the oxide and sulfate layers, rather than the reaction at the sulfide-oxide interface, is rate-determining. This assumption is supported by the observation that these oxide and sulfate layers combined are almost nonperme-able to the flow of gases through them. Acknowledgments This research was supported by the U. S. Air Force, through the Office of Scientific Research of the Air Research and Development Command. The authors wish to acknowledge the helpful suggestions of Ralph Wells of the Applied Research and Developmeit Laboratory, U. S. Steel Corp. References E. A. Peretti: A New Method for Studying the Mechanism of Roasting Reactions. Discussions Faraday Soc. (1948) 4, p. 174. - J. N. Ong, Jr., M. E. Wadsworth, and W. M. Fassell. Jr.: Kinetic Study of the Oxidation of Sphalerite. Trans. AIME (1956) '206, pp. 257-263; Journal OF Metals (February 1956).

Jan 1, 1957

Jan 1, 1966

By G. J. Heuer, J. N. Dew, G. C. Clark

The effect on well behavior of partial permeability barriers, changes in producing rates and well spacings have been calculated through use of a radial, unsteady-state, two-phase-flow mathematical model. This model allows for variations in permeabilities and porosities with distance from the wellbore. The numerical methods necessary to solve the problem require use of a highspeed digital computer, in this case an IBM 704. In each instance, pressure and saturation gradients, gas-oil ratios and recoveries around a well producing by solution-gas drive have been calculated as a function of time and distance from the wellbore. Comparisons are made to show the effect of changes in producing rate and of varying permeability near the wellbore and out in the formation on the production and pressure history of the well. The effect of different well spacings on producing rate and ultimate recovery is considered. Although the mathematical description of the reservoir is simplified in comparison to an actual reservoir, the results do give some insight into the difficult problem of spacing and proration in a heterogeneous solution-gas-drive reservoir. Results show that for the cases considered spacing has little effect on ultimate recovery and that permeability barriers removed from the well decrease producing rate for a period of time but have only a small effect on ultimate production. INTRODUCTION The effect of spacing and producing rate on the production characteristics and ultimate recovery of a well producing by the solution-gas-drive mechanism have been topics of interest to the oil industry for many years and the subject of many hearings before state regulatory bodies. The problem is very complicated because of the difficulty of simulating in the laboratory a reservoir producing by the solution-gas-drive mechanism under anything like normal field conditions. This paper gives the initial results of a study aimed at determining the effect of these factors on production from reservoirs simulated by a mathematical model. Two-phase, unsteady-state equations are used to calculate pressures, saturations, and rates of oil and gas flow as a function of time and distance from the wellbore. The model is radial, and reservoir properties may be varied with distance from the wellbore. A decrease in permeability at a given distance results in a low-permeability ring concentric with the wellbore through which all the fluids from more distant portions of the reservoir must flow. The current mathematical model allows for variation of permeability, porosity and saturations as a function of distance from the well. Any desired drainage radius for the well may be selected. Drainage radii of 745 and 1,053 ft, which correspond to 40- and 80-acre spacing, were chosen for the calculations which follow. A large amount of the input data has been held constant. No investigation was made into the effect of changes in fluid properties and relative permeability characteristics on oil and gas production behavior. Fluid properties and relative permeabilities are essentially those of the White Mesa portion of the Greater Aneth area in southeastern Utah. A recently concluded hearing before the Utah Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to determine spacing for the field aroused interest in the possible effect of permeability constrictions located some distance from the well on production and recovery. This interest stimulated the present study. In this paper, no attempt has been made to simulate any field production characteristics exactly. Only the solution-gas-drive mechanism has been investigated, and production by liquid expansion has not been considered. This investigation is exploratory in nature but does give some insight into the problems of spacing and proration in a solution-gas-drive field having permeability variations. THE MATHEMATICAL MODEL The mathematical model is similar to that proposed by West, Garvin and Sheldon.' Approximately the same techniques have been used in arriving at a solution. The equations are nonlinear, partial differential equations which have been known for some time. The particular equations used for this study neglect the effects of capillary pressure and gravitational forces. The advent of modern digital computing equipment has made their solution practical. Basically, the method solves for pressure, saturations, and oil and gas flow rates as a function of distance and time. In our model, distance to the

By Michael Tenenbaum

The importance of semikilled steel as a high tonnage grade has long been recognized. The increasing severity of the applications for which semikilled steel is used makes it desirable to obtain further information regarding the features of open hearth practice and ingot structure that can affect steel performance in subsequent rolling and fabricating operations. Accordingly, an investigation is being carried out studying the structure of various types of semikilled steel ingots. This paper reviews some of the observations made and information gathered in this investigation. By definition, semikilled steel may be considered to include all nonrimming steels in which the natural shrinkage occurring during ingot solidification is offset to an appreciable degree by gas formation. Accordingly, this type of steel includes the entire range intermediate between rimmed and fully killed steel. The resultant ingot structures range from those of steels that have been capped to suppress a weak rimming action to those steels that have been killed in the furnace or ladle to the extent that no mold deoxidizer is required. A survey reported to the 1946 -AIME Open Hearth Conference' reviewed the practices being used at 28 major plants for the deoxidation of semikilled steel. It was found that most plants divide the deoxidizing additions between the ladle and the mold—many of the plants adding only minor amounts of deoxidizer to the bath or none at all. Silicon, aluminum and titanium were the only elements used for ladle and mold deoxidation. Mold deoxidizers were added as capping additions or as uniformly fed additions. Several practices were reported in which the steel was deoxidized in the ladle to the extent that little or no mold deoxidation was needed. No reference was made to grades capped by using special mold designs or special closures over the top of molds. .Accordingly, specific examples of this type of practice will not be considered in this paper. It appeared from this survey of deoxidation practice that semikilled steel can be divided into three types, namely, capped semikilled, in which aluminum is added near the end of pour or after shut-off, intermediate semikilled steels, in which aluminum is fed uniformly throughout the pour, and semikilled steels requiring no mold deoxidation. In an attempt to cover the ingot structures obtained by the range of practices reported in the preceding survey, three series of experimental heats were made using increasing amounts of aluminum, silicon and titanium for ladle deoxidizers. The ladle deoxidizers were added as stick aluminum, 50 pct ferrosilicon and 20 pct ferrotitanium (4 pct carbon), respectively. Two methods of studying ingot structures were used. Ingots were removed from production, burned longitudinally and machined to allow observation of the central pipe and coarse blowholes. During the machining operation much of the finely porous subsurface structure was obliterated. Accordingly, observations were also made

Jan 1, 1949

By Michael Tenenbaum

The importance of semikilled steel as a high tonnage grade has long been recognized. The increasing severity of the applications for which semikilled steel is used makes it desirable to obtain further information regarding the features of open hearth practice and ingot structure that can affect steel performance in subsequent rolling and fabricating operations. Accordingly, an investigation is being carried out studying the structure of various types of semikilled steel ingots. This paper reviews some of the observations made and information gathered in this investigation. By definition, semikilled steel may be considered to include all nonrimming steels in which the natural shrinkage occurring during ingot solidification is offset to an appreciable degree by gas formation. Accordingly, this type of steel includes the entire range intermediate between rimmed and fully killed steel. The resultant ingot structures range from those of steels that have been capped to suppress a weak rimming action to those steels that have been killed in the furnace or ladle to the extent that no mold deoxidizer is required. A survey reported to the 1946 -AIME Open Hearth Conference' reviewed the practices being used at 28 major plants for the deoxidation of semikilled steel. It was found that most plants divide the deoxidizing additions between the ladle and the mold—many of the plants adding only minor amounts of deoxidizer to the bath or none at all. Silicon, aluminum and titanium were the only elements used for ladle and mold deoxidation. Mold deoxidizers were added as capping additions or as uniformly fed additions. Several practices were reported in which the steel was deoxidized in the ladle to the extent that little or no mold deoxidation was needed. No reference was made to grades capped by using special mold designs or special closures over the top of molds. .Accordingly, specific examples of this type of practice will not be considered in this paper. It appeared from this survey of deoxidation practice that semikilled steel can be divided into three types, namely, capped semikilled, in which aluminum is added near the end of pour or after shut-off, intermediate semikilled steels, in which aluminum is fed uniformly throughout the pour, and semikilled steels requiring no mold deoxidation. In an attempt to cover the ingot structures obtained by the range of practices reported in the preceding survey, three series of experimental heats were made using increasing amounts of aluminum, silicon and titanium for ladle deoxidizers. The ladle deoxidizers were added as stick aluminum, 50 pct ferrosilicon and 20 pct ferrotitanium (4 pct carbon), respectively. Two methods of studying ingot structures were used. Ingots were removed from production, burned longitudinally and machined to allow observation of the central pipe and coarse blowholes. During the machining operation much of the finely porous subsurface structure was obliterated. Accordingly, observations were also made

Jan 1, 1949

By D. Harrington

ANNUAL or necessary inspections and investigations of coal mines for various purposes were made possible through the Federal Coal Mine Inspection Act of May 7, 1941, which authorized entry to the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Mines. Primary object of these inspections is to obtain information pertaining to health and safety conditions. Among the purposes for which the data are to be used, are annual reports to Congress, the publication of inspection reports, and the compilation and publication of statistics. The act states that inspections and investigations shall be made by employees of the Bureau of Mines, who shall co-operate with other bureaus of the U. S. Department of the Interior, as well as with the official mine-inspection, safety cr health agencies of the several states and territories. The act specifies that a coal-mine inspector shall have "the basic qualifica-

Jan 1, 1946

By M. Albertson

UNITED STATES petroleum pro-dU6tion during 1937 materially exceeded? that of any previous year. Firm control of the production rate was maintained under State and Federal laws and aided by the' Interstate Compact. During the first ten months," crude oil prices were stable, except for a slight increase early in the year. Toward the end of the year, uncertainty of price structure be-came evident and a sharp reduction in allowable production was under way. Exploration for new pools and development of .pools already discovered continued active throughout the year. Production control agencies in Texas, and to a less extent in New Mexico and Louisiana, appear to have had increasing difficulty in holding crude oil output to allowable limits. The situation elsewhere is less well known but probably the same condition exists in other important producing States whether control is by State commissions or by unofficial bodies.

Jan 1, 1938

By Charles W. Bloomquist

The profitability of miscible flooding in a hypothetical target oilfield is examined. The major costs, including Windfall Prof it Tax, are identified and their re1ative importance are discussed. The sensitivity of profit to important physical and economic variables is evaluated and discussed, including variance in oil recovery, oil price, injectant requirements, injectant cost, and capital requirements. Economic sensitivities to important development and operating decisions such as timing, Spacing, Slug size, and gas recycling are also analyzed. The Windfall Profit Tax (WPT) as it applies to gas miscible EOR projects is reviewed. The effect of WPT on each of the various project cases is analyzed and the effect of reduced WPT on remaining production from existing operations is evaluated. Tax implications are compared for integrated vs. "independent" controlled projects and the alternative of expensing vs. capitalizing tertiary injectants is also evaluated. The impact of the Net Income Limitation in reducing WPT. during early and late project life is determined and discussed.

Jan 1, 1982

By S. A. Swensrud

NINETEEN Thirty-Six was the biggest year in volume in the history of the oil industry, and unquestionably the best since 1929 in respect to profits. The quota of new and difficult problems to face seemed a little smaller during 1936 than in most recent years, and a somewhat better balance existed between the different branches of the industry. 'Domestic consumption of gasoline in 1936, estimated at about 475 million barrels-the highest on record, was approximately 11 per cent above 1935, and 26 per cent above 1929. Demand for crude oil increased in about the same proportion: over 1935, and the average production, of about three million barrels daily,' constituted a new high level.

Jan 1, 1937

Henry LOUIS, London, England (communication to the Secretary) : Prof. Richards's paper has impressed me as highly valuable. Without entering upon any discussion of it as careful and thorough as it deserves, I venture to mention one or two points which a perusal of it has recalled to my mind in connection with my own study and practice of ore-dressing. I always mentally divide jigging into two phases: 1. A particle at rest on the jig-bed is lifted and carried upwards by the rising current of water, at an increasing velocity, which tends to a maximum. When the upward current is stopped, the particle continues to rise with rapidly diminishing velocity until it comes to rest. This completes the first phase. 2. In the second phase, the particle falls from its position of rest with an increasing velocity which tends again to a maximum, and continues to fall until the rising current of water has reduced its velocity to zero. This completes the second phase. The second phase will evidently be greatly modified by the effect of suction, as Prof. Richards shows; but I do not see that his experiments very clearly imitate the action of the second phase. And the brief intervals at the end of each phase, when the mineral particle, by reason of its acquired velocity, is still moving, though in opposition to the water-current, yet remain to be investigated. I feel especially, in Prof. Richards's paper, a difficulty which I have felt with regard to all similar previous investigations, namely, that the experiments deal with particles falling a long distance, when the velocity becomes uniform. I question whether this uniform maximum velocity is attained in actual jigging-practice. If so, it is certainly for a comparatively very small proportion only of each stroke. It seems to me that an investigation like that of Prof. Richards, but confined to the first 6 or 8 inches of fall only, and carried out with suitably delicate recording-apparatus, is what we

Jan 1, 1895

By A. E. WALKER

SOME eighty years have elapsed since the discovery of the Clifton magnetite deposit. For a few years about the time of the Civil War it was mined for iron ore. most of which was smelted on the property. Since risen the small exposures of ore in the old cut. test pits, and on the dumps have been examined by various prospectors. The M. A. Hanna Co. first became interested in the possibilities of the deposit when we discovered the large area of strong magnetic anomalies caused by the margnetite bed, indicating a size that would support a commercial operation. In 1940 we made a detailed magnetometer survey of the area. and the deposit was diamond-drilled. The main ore lied was found to be 1500 ft. long, to average 60 ft. thick, and to dip southeast at an angle of about 40 deg. The thickness of the bed is irregular in wavy folds both along the strike. and down the dip. Faults occur at both raids of the main deposit.

Jan 1, 1943

By John E. Murphy, Ernest L. Ohle

Hematite-magnetite ore bodies at Iron Mountain, Missouri, have produced nearly 9 million tons of iron ore concentrates since 1844. The ore minerals occur principally as open-space filling in fractured and brecciated andesite porphyry with very minor replacement of the wall rocks. The enclosing rocks are Precambrian in age and consist of a series of dacite, rhyolite, and andesite flows aggregating about 2000 feet in thickness. All of the ore is in andesite and the mineralization is Precambrian in age. The shape of the ore bodies, the breccia character of the ore, and the gangue mineralogy are believed to be unique. One of the two main ore bodies is crudely dome-shaped with a tendency for development of concentric mineralized shells; the other is an elongated lense in plan but hook-shaped in cross section. Both have strong linear elements striking northeast, east-west, or northwest. Various modes of origin for the structures and for the tension breccias have been suggested, but none is completely satisfactory. Hematite is the main ore mineral; magnetite is subordinate. Important gangue minerals are andradite, quartz, calcite, actinolite, apatite, epidote, and chlorite. Although some evidence favors injection of an iron-rich melt, other evidence suggests ore formation by a high temperature, water-rich solution.

Jan 1, 1968

By L. D. Mullins, H. B. Bradley

Numerous articles have appeared in the literature citing the application of the potentiometric analyzer to cycling operations. Specific information obtainable by a potentiometric analysis, as noted by various investigators, includes: 1. Pattern sweep efficiency for various injection and production rate programs. 2. Injected fluid breakthrough time at production wells. 3. Optimum production and injection rates. 4. Prediction of injection and/or production well locations. 5. History of advance of the in-jected-produced fluid interface. 6. Ultimate life of the reservoir. 7. Ultimate reservoir production. This note describes a procedure for predicting pressure distribution in a gas-condensate reservoir by using the potentiometric analyzer to obtain potential distribution data on an analog model of the reservoir and then applying Muskat's' equations. The method relates the volumetric weighted average datum pressure to the mean potential in the model.

Jan 1, 1958

G. A. Moore—The tin-fusion method has been a very favorable possibility for many years. The authors apparently have settled the question that delayed the method for a long time by showing that no hydrogen is absorbed in the tin. This, of course, is very important. I want to make a few remarks concerning the absolute accuracy of analysis, which must be the final basis for deciding among the various methods. From the figures in the paper, there seems to be some re-maining slight discrepancy on the actual amount of hydrogen present in various samples which may be presumed essentially identical. (This is of the order of the precision of individual analyses but appears in averaged results.) From the analyst's viewpoint, the tally of hydrogen content can be regarded as occurring in three portions. First is a large portion which comes off easily and automatically during sample storage and later on heating in the apparatus. This is fairly easily analyzed. Second is an item which may be either positive or negative in the tally sheet. In warm or hot evolution, this is a portion which, in practice, can never be re-

Jan 1, 1951