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OF no less importance nor less terrifying to consider than the marvelous effects of guns are those produced with fire by powder in underground mines. These are truly not only similar to fearful natural earthquakes, but it can perhaps be said that these made by art surpass the wrath of the earth with greater effect. For if the latter shakes it happens that it causes the things on the surface to shake and sometimes to fall into ruins, but the former not only shakes but always functions and destroys-surely a marvelous effect which is almost incomprehensible, and if experience did not demonstrate it, it could scarcely be believed. Who would say that the mountains, things of such great hardness, would yield to men, easily opening their bowels? Likewise, one who had not seen it would say that it was impossible for men to have a way of administering at will fearful and destructive thunderbolts which are of such a kind that, although men make them, they cannot protect themselves against them; indeed they cannot call themselves safe from the evilness of gunpowder even in mountains composed of very hard stones or in budded structures. For, as is seen, there is no seemingly impregnable fortress that does not yield when guns are brought near it. If it happens, indeed, that guns can- not be brought near to some place because of the harshness of the site,

Jan 1, 1942

By M. F. Williams, L. G. Hendrickson

IN classification of pulps bearing magnetized ferromagnetic particles, depolarizing is of great importance. If size separation is to be effective, particles must be individual rather than in floes. Depolarizing is also practiced in heavy medium separations in which ferrosilicon or magnetite is the medium. When particles of ferromagnetic material have been removed from a magnetic field, residual magnetism causes agglomeration. The term depolarizing refers to the operation of reducing or eliminating this residual magnetism and may thus be considered magnetic deflocculation. The terms demagnetizing and randomizing are also used. At the Research Laboratory of Oliver Iron Mining Div. in Duluth a method was developed for measuring depolarization of the pulp of ferromagnetic material. Experiments were made with Mesabi taconite,' a natural magnetite of low coercive force. Ferromagnetic materials of higher coercive force, such as lodestone or the artificial magnetite produced by reduction roasting of hematite, present a more difficult problem, which was not within the scope of this investigation. It is possible, however, that some of the techniques evolved for measuring and calculating electrical characteristics of alternating current coils would be of use in depolarizing high coercive force material, particularly in conjunction with high-frequency alternating current, as proposed by Hartig and others.'," Properties of Ferromagnetic Materials:'7 Experimental work, described below, has shown that if a sample in the magnetized state is heated above the Curie point and cooled, much of the preferred orientation is destroyed and the sample is substantially depolarized. It has been thought that when the sample cools below the Curie point the domains cancel each other, leaving a zero net moment. However, such particles still exhibit a tendency to cohere, and undoubtedly this is caused by the forces of residual magnetism. -AS measured by the percent depolarization, this tendency is reproducible for any sample upon repeated heating above the Curie point and subsequent cooling and is independent of the initial state of magnetization. It is postulated, therefore, that as the material is cooled below the Curie point the domains in any particle do not completely cancel each other, but rather are preferentially oriented to some extent. Mechanism of Depolarizing with Alternating Current Magnetic Fields: It is believed that when ferromagnetic material is passed through an alternating magnetic field, depolarizing occurs in the decaying portion of the field. As the particles pass through the portion of highest intensity they become magne- tized. If the particles are not free to move, the polarities of the particles will be reversed (by a mechanism similar to that described above for magnetism) at a frequency equal to that of the applied field. As the material moves through the decaying field, intensity levels become such that a domain does not completely reverse, but stops on an axis of easy magnetization. By the time the material reaches the point of zero field intensity, a state of fairly random orientation of domains is achieved. If conditions are such as to give a completely random orientation, the particle will have little or no external magnetic field, and a pulp of such particles will be depolarized. Previous Work In 1918 E. W. Davis was granted a patent for demagnetization of magnetite pulps.' His method consisted of passing the pulp through a tapered coil, activated by alternating current of normal frequency (60 cycle). This method, with minor modifications, has been used almost universally in all pilot plants and commercial installations in which depolarization of low coercive force materials has been required. Hartig, Onstad and Foot2,3 avd made a detailed study of the factors involved in depolarizing both low (below 100 oersteds) and high (above 100 oersteds) coercive force material. They developed a method for evaluating the relative degree of depolarization of any pulp based on the settling characteristics of the pulp. Their standard of comparison was a sample heated to above the Curie point and cooled in a zero field, all in a neutral atmosphere.* For low coercive force material they found treatment.Thisprocedure is subsequently called, in this report,theCurie that results equivalent to Curie treatment could be

Jan 1, 1957

By H. H. Alexander

IN the early part of the last century textile fabric was used for the filtration of products of combustion and lampblack was obtained by passing smoke through a series of canvas bags. Natural draft was, used to draw and force the smoke through the bags. About 1850 bag filtration was used for collecting zinc oxide. Around 1876 it was introduced for collecting the fume from lead-ore hearth smelting in. Missouri. Shortly afterward it was used, first at Portland, Me., and later at Canon City, Colo., for the collection and production of zinc-lead pigment in treating mixed zinc-lead sulphides. In 1890 the Globe Smelting & Refining Co., at Denver, Colo., installed a bag house containing 1,458 bags for the recovery of fume from silver-lead blast furnaces. This installation was too small to handle all of the gases and was increased to approximately 2,300 bags. . In 1900 the number of bags was again increased, making a total of approximately 2,800: The usual difficulties incident to new installations were encountered, but they were gradually overcome and the bag house became accepted as standard practice for this class of smelting. As all of the bag houses built since have followed the general lines of the Globe installation, a short description may be of interest. The general construction of the Globe bag house is shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The building is 149 ft. 8 in. long by 67 ft. 4 in. wide and 40 ft. 2 in. high from the basement floor to the eaves of the roof, having brick walls 26 in. thick from the foundation up to the thimble floor, from there an 18-in. wall for 16 ft. and a 13-in. wall from this point to the top, a distance of 14 ft. 2 in. Additional stiffening is given to the walls above the basement by pilasters located every 16 ft. The end-wall construction is similar to that of the side walls with the exception of the spacing of the pilasters, which is somewhat greater. The roof is made of corrugated iron laid on 1-in. boards and supported by a timber frame work spaced 16 ft. apart resting on the basement partition walls. On top is a louver running the

Jan 8, 1914

By D. L. Ward

This paper is the result of a study, in 1919, to determine how much surplus power could be produced through the proper utilization of the entire gas flow from the two furnace stacks at the Federal Furnace Plant, South Chicago, Ill. Obviously, the problem was to measure the flow of gas through the main beyond the point where the amount necessary for stove operation was removed. In all probability, blast-furnace gas is the most difficult gas to measure, because of the high moisture and dust content, and the widely fluctuating flow from the furnaces. This wide fluctuation of flow forbids the acceptance of any one group of flow readings as indicative of normal operating conditions. A study of the conditions showed that a recording device on gas flow was necessary. As the gas at the point of measurement had passed through wet washers, and accordingly was saturated with water and contained considerable dust carried past the scrubbers in the form of sludge, no form of Pitot tube could be used, for this sludge would quickly plug the dynamic and static holes, spoiling the gage readings. An even more serious objection to the use of Pitot tubes was the impossibility of accurately measuring the cross-sectional area of the gas main on the plane of Pitot-tube installation. Given an absolutely clean gas and a perfectly circular pipe, it would be safe to assume, through measurements of the pipe diameter, that the gas main was of a certain cross-sectional area. But the continual depositing of sludge and the fact that the main was fabricated from riveted sheets led us to discard the idea of using Pitot tubes for this service. The Venturi tube was then considered, and had there been a sufficiently long straight run of gas main to accommodate a tube of the required size (72 by 28 in.) such an installation would very likely have been made.

Jan 2, 1921

By George Gardner

THE application of wet cleaning processes for the beneficiation of bituminous coal has created in some localities a problem in the recovery and disposal of fine solids in the washery water. The maximum allowable concentration of these solids in the washery circuit that is consistent with satisfactory operation of the cleaning units remains a controversial point. It has, however, been generally recognized for a number of years that some degree of control should be exerted over the concentration of such material. Early methods of control involved intermittent or continuous dis-charge of a portion of the plant slurry into near-by streams or settling ponds, and this persisted even after the adoption of settling tanks or cones. The practice is not always economical, for two reasons: first, because of the waste of coal, and, second, because it is sometimes difficult and expensive to obtain an adequate supply of water. The latter condi-tion often is aggravated by chemical treatment of the make-up water that is necessary to prevent excessive corrosion of plant equipment. The modern approach to this problem has been the adoption of continuous thickening devices. However, because such equipment occupies consid-erable plant space and is somewhat expensive to construct, the practice of loading these thickeners beyond their rated capacity is widespread, there-fore often the performance of such units is not altogether satisfactory. In recent years, European washeries have increased the rate of settling of the fine coal from the slurry by the addition of specially pre-pared starch solutions. These reagents cause flocculation of the solid particles and thereby increase the rate of sedimentation.

Jan 1, 1939

By Thomas Fraser

"AIR-SAND" is the term which has been given to a process of separating refuse material from coal by means of a body of dry sand artificially fluidized and maintained in that condition by a continuous stream of air bubbles flowing through the sand body. By proper regulation of the rate of air flow, this fluid air-sand body may be maintained at such a density that coal will float near the surface and the refuse, which is heavier, will sink through the sand to the bottom of the container. This separation is a float-and-sink operation similar to the separation of wood chips and stones in water; the one floats and the other sinks, irrespective of size of pieces. This was the objective sought in the development of this method of cleaning coal-a dry process which requires no preliminary sizing of the coal. METHOD OF PRODUCING THE AIR-SAND MEDIUM Figure 1 shows the cast-iron cell used for testing at the Central District Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines, Urbana, Ill. This consisted of two castings: a. rectangular box 12 in. square in cross section and 18 in. tall, open at both ends and flanged on the bottom; and a cubical box also 12 in. square inside, with a closed bottom and flanged top. A porous diaphragm is bolted between the flanged ends of the two castings. The upper part of the cell above the diaphragm is filled with river sand screened through 20 mesh without removing the dust. Air under suitable pressure is admitted to the lower part of the cell below the diaphragm. The air passes through the diaphragm and bubbles up through the sand, distending the mass and throwing the sand particles into motion.

Jan 2, 1926

By Donald V. Fites

In the face of an increasing demand for minerals, the resulting technological developments, and rising overburden-to-ore ratios, many open-pit mines now incorporate totally different concepts for the removal of ore and overburden. Moreover, under a growing number of these concepts, wheel tractor scrapers are being assigned a major role in material- handling systems for unconsolidated overburden removal. To say that scrapers move only unconsolidated overburden is incorrect. On the contrary, ripped phosphate rock, copper ore, iron ore, and moderately consolidated overburden are also being moved by scrapers in various areas of the world. According to the Minerals Yearbook, about one half of the material moved in metal and nonmetal mines is never drilled, blasted or broken by other means. Scrapers Find Wider Application The increased use of scrapers in open-pit mining today is due in part to improved design which has endowed these units with added versatility and in- creased their production capability. The modern scraper, which is designed as a loading and hauling vehicle, cannot be compared to the original tractor- drawn scrapers which were limited in capacity, maneuverability, and speed. Improved design of the scraper bowl ejection system has aided production. Gravity ejection has been replaced with positive, forced ejection of material by hydraulic or mechanical action. Bowl and cutting-edge design which allows for maximum load with minimum effort has also increased production. An example of this was the introduction some years ago of the low-silhouette scraper bowl which reduced the work required to lift the material.

Jan 5, 1969

By Lewis W. MacNaughton

The North Texas district, as herein defined, includes the counties of Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cooke, Foard, Hardeman, Knox, Montague, Wichita, and Wilbarger. This area covers generally the crest and south flank of a system of buried mountains known as the Red River uplift. The oil and gas accumulations along this feature arc in traps, which, although localized by structures incident to the regional uplift, are usually modified by stratigraphic changes in the sediments. Excepting the fields in southeastern Baylor, southern Archer, and southwestern Clay counties, all the fields within the district are on this Red River uplift. These exceptions, which have the same type of oil and gas accumulation as the other fields, are on the extreme north end of the Bend arch, which is a broad anticline plunging northward from the Llano uplift in central Texas to Archer County. The larger part of past oil and gas production has come from Pennsylvanian strata, with less important amounts from the Permian, and minor but increasingly important quantities from the Ordovician. Developments during 1939 With the later stages of development being reached in the K.M.A. field during the first half of the year, some 400 fewer producing wells were drilled in North Texas in 1939 than in 1938, when some 1750 wells were drilled. Despite this decrease in activity, production in 1939 increased about 3½ million barrels over 1938 figures, and at the end of the year the oil reserves were somewhat larger than on the first of the year. As is usually characteristic of the district, this resulted from the discovery of a large number of relatively unimportant fields. Owing principally to no appreciable abatement in wildcat drilling, more new fields and extensions to old fields were discovered this year. Although none of these discoveries was of such magnitude as to be important to the oil industry, the new developments in Montague and Cooke Counties portend greater and probably more important operations in these areas.

Jan 1, 1940

By Lewis W. MacNaughton

The North Texas district, as herein defined, includes the counties of Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cooke, Foard, Hardeman, Knox, Montague, Wichita, and Wilbarger. This area covers generally the crest and south flank of a system of buried mountains known as the Red River uplift. The oil and gas accumulations along this feature arc in traps, which, although localized by structures incident to the regional uplift, are usually modified by stratigraphic changes in the sediments. Excepting the fields in southeastern Baylor, southern Archer, and southwestern Clay counties, all the fields within the district are on this Red River uplift. These exceptions, which have the same type of oil and gas accumulation as the other fields, are on the extreme north end of the Bend arch, which is a broad anticline plunging northward from the Llano uplift in central Texas to Archer County. The larger part of past oil and gas production has come from Pennsylvanian strata, with less important amounts from the Permian, and minor but increasingly important quantities from the Ordovician. Developments during 1939 With the later stages of development being reached in the K.M.A. field during the first half of the year, some 400 fewer producing wells were drilled in North Texas in 1939 than in 1938, when some 1750 wells were drilled. Despite this decrease in activity, production in 1939 increased about 3½ million barrels over 1938 figures, and at the end of the year the oil reserves were somewhat larger than on the first of the year. As is usually characteristic of the district, this resulted from the discovery of a large number of relatively unimportant fields. Owing principally to no appreciable abatement in wildcat drilling, more new fields and extensions to old fields were discovered this year. Although none of these discoveries was of such magnitude as to be important to the oil industry, the new developments in Montague and Cooke Counties portend greater and probably more important operations in these areas.

Jan 1, 1940

By Roger A. Harris

INTRODUCTION The Kidd Creek Mine produces a total of 3.6 million tons annually. Geologically the orebody is complex, containing rich values of zinc, copper, silver and lead which are mined and milled as two separate "ore types". Production is mainly from highly mechanized sub-level open stopes of approximately 300,000 tons each. The Mine Engineering Department has developed, and now operates, a computer system that is the subject of this report. It was created specifically to aid the daily work of the mining engineer and has features that are new and possibly unique in the industry. DESIGN OBJECTIVES In 1971 a task force, set up to investigate the subject of computer assistance to mine engineering, specified four design requirements which it felt a successful application had to satisfy. They were:- 1) The computer had to offer a TOTAL SYSTEM that was fully integrated into the routine mine engineering function. 2) The computer had to be directly usable by the current engineering staff, the majority of which had received no formal training in computing.

Jan 1, 1977

By Arthur McKee

As HEAT is the controlling factor in all smelting operations, it will be .most helpful to make a new set of calculations on the basis of a .unit of fuel burned at the tuyeres to carbon monoxide. This ties together the only two factors in this operation that seem to be constant with respect to each other-the fuel at the tuyere and the air or its oxygen content. If our usual smelting operations, using natural air heated to reasonably obtainable temperatures, furnish sufficient heat above this critical temperature for the purpose, it is doubtful whether additions of oxygen will be of marked benefit. A unit of fuel will not produce a single heat unit more if burned with pure oxygen than if burned with natural air and less heat will be available per unit of fuel by the amount of heat that is carried in by the preheated nitrogen in the natural air of the blast. This is more readily apparent if considered in connection with a heat balance sheet per unit of fuel at the tuyere. The heat available in the stack, as shown by the committee's report, is less by reason of the lower fuel consumption per unit of output assumed in this calculation. The balance sheet for enriched air shows a shortage of the amount of heat usually carried in with the blast; also a lack in the hearth of sufficient heat to melt the 18 per cent. additional metal and slag and in the shaft to the extent of the shaft heat required to heat the 18 per cent. additional stock to the melting point. These heat deficiencies are provided for by the largely increased conversion of carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide, which is assumed, as shown by the following figures: Calculation for natural air: Carbon dioxide 18.4 per cent. (after having eliminated the carbon dioxide from limestone) and 20.8 per cent. of carbon monoxide. Calculation for oxygen-enriched air: Carbon dioxide 28.4 per -cent. and carbon monoxide 23.2 per cent. (no carbon dioxide from stone as lime is charged instead).

Jan 11, 1924

Bailey, Lewis Newton, Master Engineer, Senior Grade, 4th Regiment, U. S. Engineers, Headquarters Company, died of pneumonia at Camp Merritt, N. J., on April 30, 1918. Baird, Louis, Lieut., Royal Field Artillery, British Army, died on the battlefield in 1915. Ballamy, John H., Capt., 103c1 Engineers, killed in action near Fismes, Aug. 9, 1918. Bowles, Martin F., 2d Lieut., Co. B, 355th Infantry, killed in action, Sept. 3, 1918. Burt, Andrew, died in active service, 1916. Cobeldick, William Morley, Royal Engineers, died from gas poisoning on Oct. 7, 1915. Dougall, Ralph,. 4th University Co., Princess Patricia Regiment, killed in action early in the war. Evans, Alfred Winter, Lieut.-Col., New Zealand Rifle Brigade, D. S. 0., D. C. M., killed in action on Oct. 12, 1917. Gordy, Sheppard B., died in service, Oct. 9, 1918. Gorman, Thomas C., Lieut., Canadian Engineers, killed in France, Mar. 18, 1918. Hague, William, 1st Lieut., Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps, died in active service, Jan. 1, 1918.

Jan 1, 1919

By J. C. Van de Water

THE original trucks at Castle Dome were 30-ton Knuckeys with 150 hp, H-series Cummins engines and 15-ton Euclids with the same engines. The Euclids were used early in the operation, working with 2 1/2-yd Diesel shovels on stripping and later in opening new benches where the lack of room favored the smaller trucks because of their shorter turning radius. They have also been used on road building and similar jobs. On regular production, where the 30-ton trucks can be used, they are not economical.

Jan 11, 1951

By Thomas L. Watson

MY thanks are due to Mr. Frank Firmstone, Easton, Pa., who has called my attention to the statement in my papers that " Barite, fluorite and quartz, though not observed in the Tennessee area," . . . as possibly misleading to the reader, if construed to mean that such a discovery had never been made. Mr. Firmstone is correct in assuming that this statement referred only to the study of the worked areas of the metallic ores, especially zinc, made in the course of the survey upon which my paper was based. The occurrence of barite and fluorite with lead-ores in Tennessee was reported by Prof. Safford,2 in 1869, and by Safford and Killebrew,3 in 1887, with the further statement that about 1,000,000 lb. of barite were annually mined in Greene, Washington and Jefferson counties, Tenn., and that considerable deposits occur also in McMinn, Smith and other counties. It is also noted that the barite ".usually occurs in veins, associated with galena." The present worked areas of barite are, however, distinct barite propositions, without workable quantities of either lead or zinc, so far as mining operations have gone, and the areas are more or less removed from the present areas of zinc-ores. Mr. Firmstone informs me also that, in 1892, he observed, in the magnesian limestone at Watauga Point, in Carter county, on the left bank of the Watauga river, a little below the mouth of Buffalo creek, small quantities of galena and some fluorite.

Jan 1, 1907

My bets are on you, every time! But who is right? In the "cobalt issue" of our favorite magazine, January 1951, you stated: "By far the best immediate United States prospect for, large amounts of cobalt is the Blackbird mine of the Calera Mining Co., which is operating for Howe Sound Co., in Leinhi County, Idaho." In the March 1 issue of Saturday Evening Post, Ernest F. Mechlin, Jr., chief cobalt section, National Production Authority, states: "The Bethlehem Steel Co.'s Cornwall, Pa. ore bed is the principal domestic source." Maybe he should have said: "was the principal domestic source", or perhaps Howe Sound's Idaho cobalt is still in the prospect stage in Mr. Mechlin's opinion, perhaps in yours too. KATHARINE W. CARMAN GEOLOGIST 933 MICHIGAN AVE. EVANSTON, ILLINOIS Mr. Mechlin is correct in his statement that Cornwall is the principal domestic source of cobalt, but within the year, Blackbird production should greatly exceed that from Cornwall. Calera is expected to ultimately produce 3 million lb per year, whereas Cornwall averages 520,000 lb per year. -Editor.

Jan 1, 1952

By James Norman

DIATOMACEOUS earth occurs in deposits widely distributed throughout the nation. The chief producing areas are in the Western States, where many high-grade deposits are known. Eastern deposits of diatomite are unsatisfactory for many purposes either because of impurity or because of the extremely fine particle size. Eastern users of diatomite, on the whole, must pay for transportation of the material from the west coast. The freight rate is necessarily high because of the great bulk of the diatomite. A satisfactory process of purifying the diatomaceous earths of Maryland and Virginia, which are unsuited for wide use only because of impurities, should be of value to eastern users. In the past, benefication of diatomite by wet processes has been limited to classification or sedimentation for the removal of sand from diatoms. Calcination with salt is used to produce a white diatomite when iron is present in the impurities, and small amounts of clay are rendered inactive in the process. No treatment has been developed whereby a large proportion of clay can be removed from a low-grade diatomaceous earth to give a diatomite of very high purity. In August 1937 the Federal Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with Dr. R. C. Williams, of Baltimore, undertook the problem of purifying low-grade Maryland diatomite by froth flotation. Work was done at the Eastern Experiment Station, College Park. Unless otherwise stated, the crude diatomite used was from the Patuxent River deposits near Dunkirk. This material, consisting of roughly one-third each of clay, quartz sand and diatoms, was representative of the usual low-grade marine diatomite found in the Coastal Plain Miocene beds of Maryland and Virginia and sporadically in other Atlantic coast states. As received, it contained 50 to 60 per cent moisture and probably had been wet since its formation.

Jan 1, 1940

C. A. ROSE, New York, N. Y. (written discussion *).-Without doubt the excellent results obtained at Ajo will cause surprise among metallurgists; 75 per cent. average capacity and 80 per cent. extraction during the first year of operation of a plant using a new metallurgical process are figures that speak for themselves. It is obvious that the most troublesome feature of the process is the fouling of solutions. The effects of this are most evident in the electrolytic tank house; but apparently the solutions are so heavily loaded with salts that their dissolving power is also impaired. This is indicated by the fact that copper comes into solution during washing after the leaching of the ore is completed, as shown by the decreasing ratio of acid to copper in the various washes tabulated in Table 4, and also by the fact that 4.9 per cent. of the total copper in the ore remains in the tailings in a soluble form. Even though the extraction in leaching and the ampere efficiency in electrolysis would be benefited by keeping the salts in solution at a lower concentration, it is doubtful whether it would pay to decrease these salts by discarding more electrolyte without other changes in the, process, since this would increase the amount of cement copper produced, which is already very large. If, however, it would not disturb the process otherwise, this object could be accomplished by increasing the range of electrolysis, so that solution going to the tank house would contain, say, 4 per cent. copper and 1 per cent. acid, and the solution returned to the leaching plant 1 1/2 per cent. copper and 4.8 per cent. acid, and by increasing the volume of solution to be discarded, this to be taken from the electrolyzed solution returned to the leaching plant. By this arrangement, more salts will be removed from the system per ton of cement copper produced; and if sufficient solution is discarded to keep the iron content down to 1 1/2 per cent. it would he feasible to recover the copper from

Jan 4, 1919

By D. W. Fuerstenau, J. H. Brown

The paper by Professors Sun and Mitchell illustrates the value of ultrasonics as a tool for the mineral engineer. In particular, it opens up a number of possibilities to those interested in the field of comminution. The provision of desliming technique, which is thorough as well as rapid, is a distinct contribution, but the data of the paper suggest applications beyond desliming, in that the same treatments may be useful for size determination purposes. Fig. 1 shows that a marked dependence exists between particle size and the height to which it can be elevated by ultrasonic vibrations. While the curves are only extended down to a size of about 100 u, the fact that they appear to be increasing in slope in this range suggests that the separation may be even more marked here. This, we feel, is very strong evidence that a nlethod for fine sizing could be developed to use ultrasonic waves as the separating force. Professors Sun and Mitchell indicate that floccula-ti~n will present no difficulty: "During the investigation it was found that ultrasonic waves were able to dislodge the adhering gangue particles from the min- era1 surfaces and to disintegrate the soft particles into fine sizes." Thus, it appears that the use of ultrasonic waves as the power behind a size separation process may eliminate the problem of flocculation encountered in most wet sizing techniques. It would be interesting to size a fine material under conditions in which particles are known to be flocculated and under conditions where they are known to be dispersed. Use of a sizing technique of this nature may solve several problems that have long persisted in the fine sizing field. The flocculation problem may be overcome; the continuous production of closely sized fractions may be possible with a device similar to the one described; and with photoelectric methods, rapid analyses in the subsieve sizes may be possible. In general, we suggest that this paper be followed by a study of the sizing applications of the apparatus described. We feel that such a study would not only be rewarding in providing a new sizing technique, but also that the present paper almost requires such work to complete the picture of particle motion in a field of ultrasonic waves.

Jan 1, 1958

New Products Equipment

Jan 11, 1950

Jan 1, 1949