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By AIME AIME

THE World. Engineering Congress closed as it opened, with a brilliant and dignified ceremony. On Oct. 29, 1929, there were hearty speeches of welcome and of hope for the successful issue of this international gathering; on Nov. 7, the farewells were even more heartfelt expressions, and anticipation gave place to, realization. H. I. H. Prince Yasuhito of Chichibu, who had graciously opened the Congress; was unavoidably absent at the closing ceremony, being on duty with his command at the Army maneuvers, so that the principal speech was made by the President of the Congress, Baron Furuichi. The outstanding statistics of the meetings were: an over-all attendance, delegates and members, of 800 from overseas and 2800 Japanese 83 sectional meetings, all. meetings having practically capacity attendance, this being especially true of Section 11, mining and metal¬lurgy, where standing room only was commonly the rule; and 780 papers were presented, in full or in abstract or by title. H. I. H. Prince Chichibu attended each section on Oct. 31. The large attendance of Japanese students was notable at most sections.

Jan 1, 1929

By Eugene McAuliffe

THE heavy shrinkage in the production of bituminous coal has reflected adversely in the matter of tonnage produced by stripping arid mechanical loading machinery. The purchase of stripping and underground loading equipment has likewise been circumscribed. How- .ever a growing percentage of bituminous coal is being loaded by stripping and mechanical loading machinery. This situation is due to the fact that numerous strip pits were able to operate in Illinois and Indiana when under- cover mines were subjected to labor interference, a further advantage gained by their ability to produce and market coal at a price below that of the undercover mines. The mines equipped with mechanical loading. apparatus have enjoyed more continued operation for the double reason that the companies using coal-loading machinery are, generally speaking, more substantial and in better financial condition than many of the smaller properties who maintain hand-loading methods, and the market advantage due to lower production costs also reflects to the advantage of the undercover mines using mechanical loading equipment. Where a number of mines are con- trolled by one company, those not equipped with loading machinery and suffering from higher producing costs have often been closed, with the available tonnage concentrated in the more modernly equipped mines.

Jan 1, 1933

By J. B. Newsom

IN the September 1936 issue of MINING AND METALLURGY the pioneer work of boring a 5-ft. shaft to a depth of 1125 ft. at the Idaho Maryland mine in California was described. Later, a Bureau of Mines Information Circular (No. 6923) gave additional data. In re¬cent months still further progress has been made in this technique through the sinking of a 5 1/2-ft. shaft for Pickands, Mather & Co. at their Zenith mine, Ely, Minn. The present work was done with new carefully designed equipment and several experienced men so that progress, as shown below has been much better:

Jan 1, 1938

By AIME AIME

THE Board of Directors of the Institute has authorized the appointment of a committee to draw up rules of procedure under which awards can be made from time to time to petroleum engineers for outstanding contributions to the art of finding and producing oil and gas. These awards will 11e sponsored by the Petroleum Division and are the first recognition by any professional society of outstanding achievement in "oil mining." They will be in the form of either a gold medal, scholar- ship, or other suitable prize. The awards will be financed from the income of the Anthony F. Lucas Memorial Fund, which was started about fifteen years ago, shortly after' his death, by admirers of Captain Lucas.

Jan 1, 1936

By T. A. Rickard

T HE life and career of Daniel Cowan Jackling constitute a distinctive part of a passing era, marked by the intensive exploration and exploitation of the mineral resources of the western regions of the United States. In the development of his abilities and in the use of his opportunities, he typifies the initiative, the energy, and the skill of a modern captain .of industry. Daniel C. Jackling was born at Hudson, Mo., on Aug. 1.4, 1869. He was the only child of Daniel Jackling, born in England of English parents, and Lydia Jane (Dunn) Jackling, born in the United States, but of Scottish ancestry. His father died a few months after he was born, and he lost his mother less than two years later. The orphan boy was adopted by his aunt. He went to school as soon as he was old enough to walk the two miles, and back, alone. As opportunity offered, he went

Jan 1, 1937

By AIME AIME

ON March 14, the University of Tulsa was accepted as a member of the North Central Association of Colleges, which ranks Tulsa among the leading universities of the country. A. G. OIiphant recently donated to the new school of petroleum engineering a splendid collection of books on geology, valued at $25,000. Waite Phillips, an oil producer and chairman of directors of The Independent Oil & Gas Co., donated $150,000 for a petroleum engineering building

Jan 1, 1929

By George S. Rice

GROUND movement from mining, whether it be for coal, metal, industrial minerals, or .oil, will always present many difficult problems. These are especially serious when valuable surface improvements may be badly damaged. The mine itself, if mining methods are not suitable to the formation, is subject to heavy falls of the main roof in the working places; and with certain structural conditions the movements may cause in coal mines disastrous bumps and outbursts of gas, and in deep metal mines rock bursts. In open-cut work rock and earth slides may result. Absolute prevention of ground movement from mining is impossible unless large pillars are left unmined,

Jan 1, 1937

By Ira B. Jorafemon

In the interesting Institute symposium of the preservation of peace by force, through mineral control, one important aspect of the question was not presented. This is the responsibility the United Nations, and particularly the United States, will incur the through limitation of the economic activities of nations that are now friendly to us, as well as of nations that are enemies or are under the control of enemies. After the war all nations, friends as well as enemies will be poor. Hunger and bankruptcy will, will like the sword of Damocles, hang over the heads of all of us on this blundering planet. When the actual fighting is over, there will be a universal attempt to squirm out from under the sword by resuming production of peacetime goods, for trade as well as immediate consumption.

Jan 1, 1944

By HAROLD VINTON COES

THE motive for merging or consolidation today is conspicuously different from that actuating business men in the late eighties and early nine- ties. Then they combined to secure added productive capacity and to monopolize their respective industries with a view to exploiting the consumer. So flagrant were some of these cases that they brought about their own correctives via retaliation on the part of the public and the subsequent restrictive legislation and legal curbs. The objective of the present-day merger, writes W. R. Hill in Printers' Ink, December, 1927, is summarized as follows : "In the golden days when an industry was being cut to pieces, the prevailing cure was to combine. The reason for such trusts was to strangle competition and by creating a monopoly, dominate the market, raise prices, regardless of economic business methods, and simply force larger profits.

Jan 1, 1930

By FREDERICK W. BRADLEY

MINING methods are evolved rather than devised; and the process is slow. The advance in no particular year is phenomenal, but progress is un- questionably being made constantly in several directions: (a) better adaptation to given conditions of various "systems" of mining; (b) better utilization of mechanical equipment ; (c) improvement in working conditions so as to promote the health, safety and efficiency of the workers. During the year 1930 operations were commenced at a number of important new mines. Methods adopted are not new, except in minor detail, but the fitting of methods to conditions is interesting, because, as the engineers presumably started from scratch, they have selected the methods that experience under similar conditions has indicated as being the best.

Jan 1, 1931

By Scott Turner

PRESIDENT SCOTT TURNER officiated as chairman of the opening session on mining methods, Monday morning, Feb. 15. The first paper was that of Max H. Barber on open-pit mining in the Lake Superior district, read by C. F. Jackson. W. L. Taylor stated that liquid-oxygen explosive had been tried but that the operators are satisfied with the explosives used; lb. of dynamite breaks one ton of rock. Although black powder is considered the most effective explosive, the factor of safety has decided in favor of high explosives. Lucien Eaton told of the Michigan Lime and Chemical Co.'s large L. 0. X. plant at Rogers City, Mich. Mr. Turner referred to this plant, also said that the Bureau of Mines is shortly to issue Bulletin 349 completely covering the use of L. 0. X. from its inception. W. D. B. Motter, Jr., gave some items concerning Chuquicamata, Chile. Twelve years ago the blasts moved 850,000 to 1,000,000 tons, but average shots now move 250,000 to 300,000 tons. One pound of L. 0. X. breaks 3.7 tons, against 3.1 tons by dynamite. Another speaker told of some large dynamite blasts in open pits, one of 360,000 Ib. in March, 1931, and another of 430,000 lb. to be shot in 1932. Tests have been made to determine the effect of large shots on the surrounding country. Mr. Taylor said that 4- and 5-yd. shovels were preferable to those of 8 yd.; their performance is better and cost is lower.

Jan 1, 1932

By H. J. LONGMORE

MORE improvements have probably been made in the diamond-drill field in the past decade than were accomplished in the entire prior period since diamond drilling was discovered in 1864 by a French engineer named Leschot. True, machines were improved, and new accessories were adopted from time to time up to 1929, but no radical changes were made. The basic principle instituted during the early years of the industry were still in use in 1929. At that time, practically the only diamonds used were "black diamonds" or "carbon." These came from Brazil through a rather round- about route, and by the time they got to the drilling trade their cost was excessive-$175 per carat and even higher at the peak. Perhaps because of this. or perhaps because of increased competition, the industry sought ways to reduce expenses even in the face of constantly increased labor costs due to higher wages and reduction in hours worked. The solution seemed to rest in two things-use of a cheaper cutting medium to replace the carbon diamond and the development of new machines to drill faster and thus produce more hole per shift of operation.

Jan 1, 1940

By AIME AIME

OUR own Institute of Metals and Iron and Steel divisions cooperated with the Iron and Steel Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Welding Society, and the American Society for Steel Treating in a busy week at Cleveland. The morning sessions were held at the Hotel Cleveland and the afternoon ones at the Auditorium, where the metallurgical exhibition under the auspices of the American Society for Steel Treating not only occupied the arena of the Auditorium but completely filled the huge adjacent Annex. In the intervals of sessions the members thronged the exhibits but in the evenings the local attendance was so great that if the crowds had been any larger it would have been difficult to see the exhibits. With so many firms, both producers of metals and of equipment accessory to their production and use, it would be impossible to mention them -all and unfair to single out a few, since no two individuals' judgment would coincide as to relative interest and importance. In any case an exhibit is a thing to be seen rather than described, and these were well worth seeing.

Jan 1, 1929

By James C. Ray

DURING the summer of 1931, I spent four months in a study of the Willow Creek district, Alaska. This work was part of a general investigation of the territory contiguous to the route of the Government- owned Alaska Railroad. It was conducted by the U. S. Geological Survey to determine the real and potential merits of the mineral deposits, to stimulate development of them, and thus to increase the traffic on the Alaska Railroad.

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

THE meeting of the Petroleum Division at Houston, Oct. 10-12-headquarters, Rice Hotel-was preeminently a technological success. Two hundred and twenty-five attended the Thursday morning session and approximately 200 attended the sessions on Thursday and Friday afternoons and Saturday morning. Harry Power, Chairman of the Division, in his opening remarks, credited Paul Weaver and M. Albertson, respectively chairman and vice-chairman of the local committee, with working long and prodigiously in organizing the program. The theme of the initial session was indicated by Mr. Albertson in a statement relative to the estimation of developed petroleum reserves. He said that the problem of securing more accurate estimates of developed petroleum reserves existed prior to curtailment of production. With curtailment, however, the problem became an acute one. Mr. Albertson gave some of the more important reasons for this situation. Since the decline-curve method became inapplicable, the volumetric method has become the chief one used. It depends on the factors of productive formation volume, porosity, saturation, and recovery. He briefly discussed the factors necessary for application of the volumetric method. P. P. Gregory discussed the estimation of petroleum reserves in prorated lime¬stone fields (see his paper in the October

Jan 1, 1935

By James Aston

INDICATIVE of the practical importance of the achievement of James Aston , recipient of the Robert W. Hunt Medal for 1930, is the following prosaic item from the financial columns of a recent issue of a New York newspaper. "According to private advices from Pittsburgh, production costs of the A. M. Byers Co. for 1929 were reduced about $5 a ton by the use of the Aston process for making wrought iron pipe. A greater saving is anticipated for 1930, when more of the company?s requirements will be produced by the new method."

Jan 1, 1930

By Sherwin F. Kelly

PLAIN mining engineers usually avoid any gathering of geo¬physicists because of the incomprehensibility of their discussion to the uninitiated. This being so, gradients, gravity and gammas will be deferred to the end of this review, the first part of which will be devoted to what has been done in applying geophysics to the solution of real field problems. From the West, J. J. Jakosky reports that International Geophysics has had its activities fairly well 'divided between mining (both placer and lode), oil structural work, and clans-site and reservoir investigations. In oil exploration, electrical methods are used for depths down to 2500 ft., beyond which they utilize seismic methods. They find in their placer work that the many 'magnetic anomalies encountered in the bedrock of the Southwest render the electrical techniques more satisfactory, and with them they are obtaining thickness and tonnage of gravels, depth to and contour of the underlying bedrock as well as important structural features therein, and water-table elevations.

Jan 1, 1934

By W. M. Weigel

LESS advances in the technology of non-metallic minerals than for several years past mark 1931, and the cause is easily found. The universal depression and decreased markets for non-metallic as well as other mineral commodities has forced the producers to cut out all unnecessary expense and reduce operating costs to a minimum in order to keep going, even on a reduced output, and to prevent insolvency. The result. has been that but 'little research has been carried on, and such as has been completed has in but few cases been put into commercial practice on account of the expense involved in new equipment and plant changes. The trend in the industry has been more economic than technologic, and the greatest effort put on market studies and sales attempts to expand markets and scrutiny of present operating 'practice leading to reduction of cost of production. This tendency has been increased by highly competitive conditions and the buyer's market which has prevailed and to the fact that price has been a greater factor than quality in placing orders. Only in cases where improvements in technology would immediately and effectively reduce costs or where in special cases there was but little competition with almost a monopoly control has actual technical development taken place.

Jan 1, 1932

By C. P. Proctor

WESTERN Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and Illinois are carrying out experiments wherein much more slate and other impurities are loaded with the coal in the mine and hauled to the surface preparation plant for removal. In general everything is sent to the cleaning plant although there may be some gobbing in the mine. No conclusions have been announced as to the effect of such a mining system on clean coal costs. Such factors as ability of the surface plant to handle the impurities, land and facilities for disposing of the impurities, and the transportation facilities underground should be considered.

Jan 1, 1942

By Paul Weir

FOR the first time in 1938, bituminous coal production for the week ending Nov. 19 surpassed that of the corresponding week in 1937, and indexes of industrial activity indicated the possibility that the remaining weeks of 1938 would run ahead of the corresponding weeks of the preceding year. But regardless of this year-end pickup, total production in 1938 was approximately 25 per cent less than in 1937. The estimate of 340 million tons for 1938 places the bituminous industry slightly above the production level of 1933 and approximately 10 per cent above the modem low of 1932. Anthracite production is not subject to the same extent as is bituminous coal to fluctuations arising out of the rate of industrial activity, hence the decline from 1937 has not been so great being approximately 14 per cent under 1937. The estimate for 1938 production is approximately 45 million tons, but this represents the lowest level reached in the last fifty years with the possible exception of several strike years.

Jan 1, 1939