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Jan 1, 1927

By H. W. Camp

RESEARCH is defined, scientifically, as a "sys- tematic investigation of some phenomenon, and also a search for hidden treasures." Chemists tell us that the hidden treasures of petroleum are far richer than the .products which have been best known to us. However, these secrets will be discovered only through intensive and systematic, as well as scientific, industrial research. Indeed, the scope of the subject is so great that such an intensive research program should be assumed by a centralized organization supported by the petroleum industry as a whole. Such organization would assume the responsibilities for investigation of new products and development of markets for such products. Gasoline, the chief product of the petroleum industry, has become a cheap commodity. The continual un-controlled overproduction of crude petroleum, the in-tensive competitive condition in the marketing of petro-leum products and the increase of refining efficiency and installing of cracking facilities, have all combined to lower the market value of gasoline. The lower cost of gasoline has all been passed on to the purchaser in the form of lower prices so that today the most important product can scarcely be manufactured at a profit. In other fields, manufacturing industries have diversified their products when faced by a similar situation. Thus, they have been able to widen their marketing outlook. Why cannot the petroleum industry employ the same tactics ? Right now we are hearing much discussion concerning the development of a wider market for existing petro-leum products and new products for existing or prospec-tive markets. For instance, we can cite recent develop-ments for use of propane, butane, and ethylene. Butane has been found to be an efficient and inexpensive re-frigerant, especially adapted to home refrigerating sys-tems. Propane and butane fractions of natural gasoline may be shipped under pressure and may be used as a substitute for acetylene in cutting torches in connection with oxygen. There is a possibility of substituting butane for gas oil in the carbureting of coal gas, as we know that butane contains practically the gas enrich-ment as the same volume of gas oil and should prove to be a superior product for this function. Ethylene, a hydrocarbon present in cracked gases, is finding an outlet for the artificial ripening of green fruits. The following table . shows the more general use of petro-leum products as now established.

Jan 4, 1928

By Floyd C. Kelly

There is an ever-increasing demand for furnaces with controlled atmosphere, due to the large quantities of steel being used in the automotive industry, such as the high-chromium stainless irons, the 18 Cr, 8 Ni stainless iron and low-carbon steel sheets. The difficulties involved in the annealing of such materials, if they are to be kept absolutely free from oxidation, are many. It is possible to bright-anneal these steels in small laboratory hydrogen furnaces, using specially purified hydrogen and taking some additional precautions. In the first place, the insulation, usually of alumina or magnesia, holds small amounts of water vapor, which it is almost impossible to remove completely. Secondly, there is always condensataion of water vapor in the cooling chambers of such furnaces, and with the continuous circulation of the hydrogen gas in the furnace, the water vapor is carried from the cooling chamber back into the heating chamber. This water vapor oxidizes the charge. Lastly, the supply of moisture is made sure by the diffusion of small amounts of air from the atmosphere into the furnace against the pressure of the hydrogen. The oxygen combines with the hydrogen and forms more water. Under such conditions there is little gained by using specially purified gas, because it becomes contaminated after reaching the furnace. Low-carbon Steel If a sheet of low-carbon steel is annealed in such a furnace at 750" C. and allowed to cool with the furnace, an adequate flow of purified hydrogen being maintained all of the time, the steel will come out with a very thin coating of blue oxide. If a similar sheet is annealed at the same temperature and quickly pushed into the cooling chamber, it will come out nearly bright, or perhaps with only the edges slightly discolored. It is difficult to get a piece of steel through a furnace of this type with an absolutely bright surface. This is due to the fact that there are always traces of oxygen or water vapor in the furnace. When the steel is allowed to cool with the furnace, it reaches a critical temperature where the affinity of iron for oxygen is greater than that of hydrogen for oxygen, and the steel comes out discolored. If the steel is pushed from the hot zone

Jan 1, 1931

Karl L. Fetters moves to the front of the AIME organization this month as the 1964 President of the Institute. He will take the chair vacated by outgoing President Roger V. Pierce at the Annual Meeting in New York, already well-rehearsed in his forthcoming duties after a year of preparation as AIME President-Elect. Dr. Fetters is highly qualified for his new responsibilities on both the administrative and professional level. For the past five years, he has been vice president for research and development at The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. in Ohio, where he has achieved wide recognition as an out- standing metallurgist and executive. A native of Alliance, Ohio, he obtained his early education in the public schools of his home town and displayed a singular precocity when he launched his professional career as a chemist for the Morgan Engineering Co. at the age of 16. His new career, however, was soon set aside in favor of four years of higher education at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, whence he emerged in 1931 with a bachelor's degree in metallurgical engineering. Surprisingly, and perhaps owing to the employment stringencies of the Depression years, the first job his new qualifications earned him was that of stationary engineer at the Cunningham Sanitarium in Cleveland. After two years of ministering to the mechanical ailments of this institution, Dr. Fetters relinquished his post for a more suitable one in the field of metallurgy.

Jan 2, 1964

By Francis B. Foley

From the point of view of the metallographist, the adaptation of x-rays to the study of the crystal structure of metals is of the greatest importance. While one may hardly consider the findings resulting from x-ray study as revolutionary, their positive nature, compared with the deductions we have been forced to accept from the work that had gone before, gives firmer ground on which to build and furnishes new fields for speculation. Prior to the advent of the crystallogram, the best work on the crystal structure of steel was that of Osmond and Cartaud.' They concluded, from their investigation with percussion figures formed at various temperatures, that alpha, beta, and gamma irons belonged to the cubic system and that they showed well-marked specific characteristics and could not have the same internal structure. What the internal structures were, they had no direct method of determining; but from a consideration of the fact that the 001 plane (that parallel to the cube face) is a plane of perfect cleavage and minimum hardness in alpha iron and that the 111 (octahedral) plane is by far the most important in the crystallography of gamma iron, they were led to suggest the simple cubic arrangement as that of alpha and the face-centered cubic arrangement as that of gamma iron. They suggested the body-centered cubic arrangement as that of beta iron. The atomic arrangement of the various crystal forms of iron has been quite definitely determined in recent years by means of x-rays and the work of Westgren2 and Weatgren and Phragmen3 has been rather conclusive. They not only determined the atomic arrangement of alpha, beta, and gamma iron but also that of the high-temperature modification delta.

Jan 1, 1926

By S. Zador, C. B. Alcock, K. Sudo

Measurements have been made of the standard free enevgies of formation of the sulfates of cobalt, Cupric copper, nickel, and ferric iron in the temperature range of 750° to 950°C. Dynamic gas-solid techniques have been employed in which oxide-sulfate and basic sulfate mixtures were placed in a stream of gas of controlled SO3 potentials. Thermal analysis and thermogvavimetry were used as detection methods, and it was found THE formation of sulfates during the roasting of sulfide ores is now considered to arise in many cases from the interaction of sulfur trioxide in the gas and the metal oxide which is formed on the sulfide as a first step.' As a preliminary to the investigation of the kinetics of sulfate formation during roasting, measurements have been made of equilibria from which the free energies of formation of cobalt, copper, nickel, and iron sulfates can be that the range of temperatures which could be investigated and the choice of method was largely controlled by the kinetics of these gas-solid reactions. The results are compared with previous results obtained from static measurements with which they agree quite well, and calculations have been made employing themal data to interrelate the present results with those for other sulfates. calculated. The method used has been to expose the solid sulfate (or basic sulfate) to a controlled flowing gas mixture of SO,, 02, and SOs and to observe the temperature of decomposition. The onset of decomposition was detected by thermal analysis or thermogravimetry. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS The thermal-analysis method was similar to that employed by Dewing and Richardson.' The sulfate was dehydrated at 250°C in air, and placed in a small alumina crucible which was held by a quartz ring in the hot zone of a horizontal furnace. The reaction tube of this furnace was made of mullite.

Jan 1, 1965

By I. A. Violic, L. D. Cruz, M. A. Solari

In Exxon's Los Bronces Expansion Project in Chile, a stochastic simulation is performed to resolve the complex decision problem of matching the mine to mill system capacities from both technical and economic standpoints. The unique combination of weather conditions at the mine and the 30-km (18.6 mile) belt conveyor network for ore transport to the mill necessitates this analysis in the planning phase to optimize the design capacity of the system. Appropriate statistical distributions of major equipment performance, snow storm duration, power outage, etc., are developed from actual mine local records and manufacturers' specifications. The interactions of operational constraints including ore storage capacities, number and sizes of individual equipment, ore variations, and mine and mill production rates are studied more realistically than in a traditional planning approach. Details of the computer modeling and typical results of simulation studies are discussed.

Jan 1, 1984

By E. G. Banks

This paper is presented in the belief that metallurgists and chemists will be interested in the practice of grinding in tube-mills in connection with stamps, especially since the records of working here given extend over a lengthy period of time (since May, 1905). The ore from the Waihi mine—more especially that produced in the upper levels—contains a large proportion of hard, chalce-donic quartz, and the gold exists in an exceedingly fine state, conditions which necessitate very fine crushing in order to obtain a high extraction of the precious metal. Before the introduction of tube-mills at the 90-stamp Waihi mill, it was found necessary to stamp through 40-mesh (1,600 holes per sq. in.) woven wire-screens, having a fairly high discharge. The pulp then graded : Per Cent. Per Cent. On 50-mes11, .- 0.1 On l20-mesh ..8.77 On 60-mesh, . 8-74 On 150-mesh,.... 7.48 On 80-mesh,... 16.06 Passed 150-mesh,... 55.19 On 100-mesh,.... 3.66 The stamp-dnty was 2.89 short tons per stamp per day, or a total of 260 tons daily. Although the extraction on this pulp was: gold, from 88 to 90 per cent., and silver, from 74 to 78 per cent., it was recognized that finer grinding of the sands would prove beneficial, provided a machine could be found to do this work economically. Various grinding-mills and pans were tried, but without satisfactory results, the particles of sand being so hard that the capacity of any of the machines was too small to be economical. The results of grinding in tube-mills in other countries were so satisfactory that three tube-mills mere erected at the Waihi

Jan 1, 1908

By Kirby D. Mellegard, Ralph A. Wagner, Paul E. Senseny

Six creep laws for salt, each fitted to the same laboratory data base, are used in a numerical model of the deformation of an opening in salt to determine the influence of creep law form on the predicted closures. Results show that predicted closures can be very sensitive to the functional form of the creep law chosen to model the laboratory data.

Jan 1, 1982

By Harrison Schmitt

IN the practice of ore finding the geologist is continually confronted with the question of oreshoot extension, so that the general problem seems worthy of systematic investigation. This problem appears when the reserves are estimated and when the advisability of deepening the shaft comes up. Moreover, there is need for lower development cost to keep pace with cost reductions in other departments, or even to offset a rising cost of ore finding or ore following. This can be gained by close geologic control of the development; and much of the geology involved is that bearing on the downward, upward, and horizontal extensions of shoots. Furthermore, the purchase of a mine or prospect often depends directly on the question of shoot extension; because it is seldom that the ore is fully developed and the purchase price is almost invariably based largely on "possible" and geologically prospective ore. Most current methods for estimating "possible" and the more nebulous classes of ore are crude and indecisive. In the following pages the extension of oreshoots is the major theme, although the more basic subject, the general art of ore finding, is given some space.

Jan 1, 1929

The experience of the Committee in connection with securing papers for the Butte meeting in August has shown that authors should begin early on papers contemplated for the New York meeting next February. So many papers come in at the last moment that it becomes exceedingly difficult to have them all read, indorsed, and delivered to the printer in time. Authors should remember that those serving on this Committee are doing so without pecuniary compensation, and it is hardly fair to expect them to devote so much of their time at the last moment from their private affairs. So many papers have to be sent back for corrections of one kind or another, that it is desirable that they be sent to the Committee at least three months previous to the date of the meeting. The Committee desires to be kept informed of contemplated papers on metallurgical subjects particularly. It is hoped that the Institute Transactions can be made an up-to-date record of metallurgical advance of all kinds. For the present, at least, the activities of the Committee include the refining and preparation of the non-metallic products such as phosphate rock, precious stones, cement, lime, gypsum, building stones, etc. Papers covering any of these subjects are desired. General papers covering geological, mining and metallurgical phases of an ore deposit can be sent either to this Committee or to one of the other Committees on Mining Geology or Mining Methods. C. W. GOODALE,Chairman. DARSIE C. BARD, Secretary.

Jan 8, 1913

By W. H. Adams

Among the persistent experimenters of the present century no one man is more widely and favorably known in the metallurgical world than the late Peter Spence of Manchester, England, to whom we are indebted for many of the successful processes in the manufac ture of acids and alkalies, and for much of that perfection in me chanical detail which goes so far towards insuring success. For the past twenty-five years—a period covering the greatest changes in soda-processes and a revolution in acid-manufactures ef fected by the substitution of pyrites for brimstone—Mr. Spence was constantly engaged in perfecting the plant for the economical treat ment of pyritous ores; and no text-book has been complete without reference to his many inventions, patented or otherwise. The results of his labors for the past six years were not given to the public, by reason of the active competition existing among man ufacturers on the continent of Europe and in Great Britain ; but it was well known and conceded that the crowning triumph of his .life had been achieved in the successful working of his automatic desulphurizing furnace, which mechanically calcined "smalls" or finely crushed pyrites—the bugbear of all chemical manufacturers. That he was met by many delays and disappointments, and that

Jan 1, 1885

For the third year in a row total value of the Nation's mineral production broke all previous records. A new peak of $20.4 billion was reached in 1964. So says the U. S. Bureau of Mines. The Bureau's preliminary estimate for 1964 is $800 million higher than the value reported for 1963, and $1.6 billion greater than the 1962 figure. The unprecedented demand for minerals, has stimulated development of new mines and expansion of processing capacity in many parts of the country.

Jan 2, 1965

By Robert A. Lothrop, Richard B. Porter, Robert P. Porter

Changes became necessary in dredging methods employed in Idaho through passage of the Dredge Mining Protective Act (1954). Among other provisions, the law requires dredge operators to construct settling ponds of sufficient capacity and character to reasonably clarify the water used in the mining process before such water is discharged into the stream. Porter Bros. Corp., a placer mining company with many years operating experience in Oregon and Montana, became interested in strategic mineral placers in Idaho in 1950 when it was learned that prospectors had discovered a radioactive mineral deposit in Bear Valley Creek, 95 miles northeast of Boise. The company acquired mining leases and proceeded with exploration and development work on the property. After extensive research had resulted in the determination of successful separation processes, contracts were negotiated with the federal government and deliveries of columbium-tantalum and uranium concentrates commenced in 1956.

Jan 5, 1960

By J. H. Wiggins

Granting that about 600,000,000 bbl. of light oil will be produced in the United States this year and taking the Bureau of Mines' statement that 71/2 per cent. of the total crude production will be lost before the finished gasoline is shipped from the refinery, the volumetric evaporation will be 45,000,000 bbl. of the cream of the gasoline. This is a ConseNative figure and is equivalent to 1,890,000,000 gal. The real value of this liquid is at least 150 per cent. of the value of an equal volume of motor fuel. At only 10 c. per gal., the value lost is $189,000,000; at 15 e. per gal. the loss is $283,000,000. If 750,000,000 bbl. of light and heavy oil are produced here this year and the average price per barrel is $1.333, the gross return to producers will be $1,000,000,000 and the net returns about $200,000,000, if the cost of production is only $1 per barrel. Thus, the evaporation bill is about 20 per cent. of the gross income and is equal to the net income of the crude-oil producers. Two other comparisons with popular phases of the petroleum industry will help give an adequate conception of the evaporation problem. These are: cost of preventing evaporation compared to cost of cracked gasoline and volume of gasoline evaporated compared to volume of gasoline manufactured from natural gas. When gasoline is manufactured from heavy oils by the cracking process, there are two important divisions of the total cost of the product: the manufacturing cost, such as plant cost, operation, maintenance, etc., and the cost of the barrel of heavy oil, from which the cracked gasoline is made. In preventing evaporation loss the cost first mentioned enters into the total cost, but the second cost is eliminated; that is, no charge is necessary for stock from which to manufacture the saving. A detailed analysis of these two costs on a large scale shows that the net income from a dollar spent in preventing evaporation loss from the lease through the refinery is twice the net income from a dollar spent in cracking. Of

Jan 1, 1924

By M. E. Bell

The term "operational research" was probably first used to describe work started under E. C. Williams, now Director, SHAPE Air Defense Technical Center, late in 1937 or 1938, at the Bawdsey Research Station of the British Air Ministry, a laboratory center concerned with the development of radar equipment. After the practicability of the early techniques had been demonstrated, a large (for those days) program of development and installation was authorized. It was very soon realized, both by the Royal Air Force and by the scientists that almost as important as the gear itself was the way in which it should be used. Accordingly, it was decided that some scientists should cooperate to study the way in which the equipment should be deployed and operated in conjunction with the Royal Air Force. To distinguish this work from the normal work of a research and development establishment, the term "operational research" was coined. It merely meant at this time that this particular section of scientists was to be concerned with the use of the gear rather than with its technical development and it seemed natural to those concerned to adopt the word "operations" which has a specific connotation in the armed forces.' This method was later extended to peacetime business enterprise, government operations and other human activities. Operations research appears to have penetrated the extractive industries more slowly and less completely than other industries, the military, or the government. This may be due (1) to a difference in the attitude of management towards operations research, or towards research of any kind, for that matter; (2) to unsuitability of the extractive industries for application of the operations research method; (3) to inaccessibility of the data; (4) or to a lack of trained personnel who are interested in applying operations research to the mineral industries.

Jan 8, 1963

Jan 1, 1934

By Mack H. Shumate

1 Raw coal from Truax-Traer Coal Co.'s Burning Star Slope mine, Jackson County, Ill., is brought to the surface by the new 42-in. slope belt haulage conveyor at the rate of 850 tph. The loading system shown above employs four storage tracks, two tail tracks for loading, and four 25-hp hoists, operating in pairs, and coupled to two dolly cars to move the trains of cars through the tipple. The system has a capacity for loading 1800 tph. One operator is needed to load on each of two shifts. A third man working for a few hours on night shift sets up for the morning cycle. Railroad crews bring in empties placing them in the storage yard, twenty cars to the track. Trains of empties are pulled through to the tail track and loaded on the return; hoists at opposite ends pull the trains in each direction. [ ] 2 Pairs of hoist drums are interconnected electric- ally by a Trench lay cable buried between the tracks. When one hoist operates moving the cars, the tail hoist idles with brake released. The operator, situated in the tipple over the cars, views the storage yard at the end of the first shift (left). When returning loaded cars to yard, four or five cars are held on the dolly to couple the next string of empties. Empties are ready for loading on the tail track (right). Differing from a gravity system in which empty and load tracks are on a slight grade, this system is designed for 80 railroad cars for a two-shift operation and one rail service per day.

Jan 6, 1962

By Stuart Buckley

THE application of hydrocarbon equilibrium data to various problems encountered in refining and in natural gasoline recovery is an old and well established practice. Both generalized data and data on specific hydro-carbon systems have been made available by a number of investigators. More recently such data have been applied to the relations governing the separation of oil and gas both in the reservoir and at the surface. Most of the applications to production problems, however, have been based upon examinations of surface samples of oil and gas. This paper describes a technique that has been used satisfactorily in a number of cases to calculate directly from the hydrocarbon analysis of and auxiliary laboratory data on a subsurface sample of the reservoir fluid the behavior of the oil and gas during the various stages of separation at the surface incident to production.

Jan 1, 1938

By S. L. Sass

DURING an electron microscope study of the w phase in zirconium-base alloys,1 a stereographic technique was devised which allows the synthesis of high energy electron diffraction patterns from a single crystal containing several variants of a second phase. The technique will be described using as an example the w phase which forms in a bcc matrix. The w phase was suggested by Silcock et al.2 and Bagaryatskii et al.3 to have a hexagonal structure with (0001)111(111)^, [001]B//[110]B* *The subscripts B and 1 are used to refer to the bcc phase and one particular orientation of the w phase, respectively. and with cell parameters aw = v2aB, where a^ is the lattice parameter of the bcc struc-ture. Since there are four <lll>B directions there should be four orientations of the w phase. In approaching this problem the question to be answered is, "What reciprocal lattice vectors from the B phase and the four w variants lie in the particular reciprocal lattice plane of interest?" One may restate the question in the form, "What plane normals from the B phase and the four w variants lie in the particular reciprocal lattice plane of interest?" The question is answered and the desired diffraction patterns are plotted using the following stereographic technique. Knowing the cw/aw ratio (=0.613 for the as-quenched form of the w phase), a stereographic projection of plane normals from one w variant can be constructed relative to a cubic projection using the above orientation relations, with the direction of the projection along the [001]B direction, Fig. 1. Let us now synthesize the diffraction pattern observed by looking along

Jan 1, 1970