Search Documents

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LOCAL SECTION Executive Committee SEELEY W. MUDD, Chairman C. COLCOCK JUNES, Vice-Chairman FREDERICK J. H. MERRILL, Secretary-Treasurer, 631. Higgins Bldg., Los Angeles, Cal. Ralph ARNOLD A. B. CARPENTER The Second Annual Meeting of the Southern California Local Section of the American Institute of Mining Engineers was held at 300 Germain Bldg. on June 18, 1915, at 8 P.M. Present were: Messrs. C. Colcock Jones, Carpenter; Merrill, Baumgarten, Staunton, Hodges, Holland, and Durell. In the absence of the Chairman; Mr. Jones presided. The tellers appointed to canvass the vote for Section officers reported 45 ballots cast. The following gentlemen were announced as duly elected to the several. . offices: Chairman, SEELEY W. MUDD, Vice-Chairman, C. COLCOCK JONES, Secretary-Treasurer, F. J. H. MERRILL, Members of Executive Committee, RALPH ARNOLD A. B. CARPENTER

Jan 8, 1915

The co-operation of the members of the Institute is earnestly sought by the Committee on Nominations, recently appointed by the Board of Directors, in its work of formulating a ticket for officers and places falling vacant in the Board of Directors in February, 1916. The Committee must present the official ticket of nominations to the Board of Directors at its October meeting. Members are, therefore, urged to send promptly their nominations for officers and Directors in order that the Committee may have an opportunity to give there full consideration. The officers to be elected at the annual meeting in February, 1916, are: One officer, known as Director and President. Two officers, known as Director and Vice-President. Five officers, known as Director. The attention of members is called to Articles V and VII of the Constitution, and to By-Law XIII, which reads as follows: -

Jan 6, 1915

Starting in 1940, national prize-paper contests for Student Associates and members of Student Chapters of the Institute have been conducted by a Sub- committee of the Committee on Student Relations Five cash prizes of $100 each may be given annually To be eligible for the national contest, a paper must have been the prize winner in a preliminary contest conducted by a Local Section of the Institute The money for the national prizes is drawn from the corpus of a special fund begun in 1940 by a contribution of $2,500 made by D C Jackling, and to which others have made substantial contributions since that time Contributions to the fund from members who are interested will be welcome since the original contributions are about exhausted A special committee, headed by Donald H McLaughlin, was appointed in 1952 to obtain further funds

Jan 1, 1952

MISSOURI SCHOOL OF MINES The Missouri Mining Association has enjoyed a very good year. Last October the society was reorganized and the following officers elected for the year: E. Ross HOUSHOLDER, President, ORE N. MANESS, Vice-president, WILLIAM REBER. Secretary, RUAL CHAVEZ, Treasurer. The head of our mining department, Prof. C. E. Forbes, is now serving as a Major in the United States. Army. We were fortunate in having. Prof. Chas. E. Locke, of Boston, with us for part of the winter to take charge of the senior mining work. During the autumn and winter months we had a number of informal smoker lectures in Norwood Hall. Among the speakers at these meetings were: H. A. Buehler, Missouri State Geologist; Chas. E. Locke, Boston, Mass.; V. H. Hughes, Tulsa, Okla.; Dorsey Lyon, Washington; D. C.; Prof. G. H. Cox, Professor of Geology, Rolla, Mo.; together with a number of returned alumni.

Jan 8, 1918

C. H. WILSON,* New York, N. Y. (written discussion?).-On page 2680, under the heading Junction Box and Zone Box, the authors say, with reference to the zone-box principle of connections between primary couple, compensator couple, and copper leads, which method in its appli-cation to a single couple is shown in Fig. 34, that if this principle is adopted for a multiple installation, so as to save compensating leads; a selective switch may be (and the inference is that it must be) inserted between the zone box and the different couples, putting the switch at an inconvenient point, or putting up with some complicated interlacing of connections.. Wilson-Maeulen Co. has employed the zone-box method extensively for several years and in none of the many multiple installa-tions has either of those alternatives been resorted to. Instead there has been used a method of wiring with the switch at the indicator and involv-ing no more complications than the junction-box method shown III

Jan 11, 1919

By P. Barnes

Several interesting and important considerations may be based upon an analysis of the cost of producing Bessemer rails, and the facts thus set forth may be much more clearly emphasized by re ducing each item of cost to its own fractional proportion of the sum total in each branch of the manufacture. The estimate given below is not absolutely complete in minute ness of detail, but it may be fairly taken as a basis for the suggestions to be noted : Perhaps the most striking comments that can be made upon this statement are those arising from a consideration of some of the smaller items, and even the least of these quite loses its insignificance when its proportion of the whole is expressed in actual money, as for the work of a year, or even for a single day. Thus, if the item as be considered, the importance can be clearly

PERSONAL (Members are urged to send in for this column any notes of interest concerning themselves or their fellow-members.) Members and guests who registered at Institute headquarters during the period June 10 to July 10: J. C. Ralston, Spokane, Wash. E. P. Ashmore, So. Porcupine, Ont., Can. William H. Yeandle, Jr., Mexico City, Stuart Croasdale, Denver, Colo. Mexico. W. E. Hopper, Houghton, Mich. W. C. Minsch, Mexico City, Mexico. D. W. Brunton, Denver, Colo. H. V. Winchell, Minneapolis, Minn. Fred Crabtree, Pittsburg, Pa. W. G. Swart, Denver, Colo. Robert S. Lewis, Salt Lake City, Utah. D. F. Schindler, Madison, Wis. Noel Cunningham, Timmins, Ont., Can E. R. Pettebone has just been elected a Trustee of the Pennsylvania State College, being supported by the votes of the delegates of the Pennsylvania Anthracite Local Section of the Institute and the Engineers' Society of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Jan 8, 1914

Looking forward to growing demand for the output of the coal mines over the next decade, producers face serious problems in meeting the market. Among the difficulties are the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, wildcat strikes, growing shortage of skilled and supervisory labor, pollution control and rising costs. The two-day program, planned by R. L. Frantz, covered all of these subjects and presented a few remarks on such wholesomely noncontroversial matters as ground support. A prediction of coal for electricity generation in 1980 was made by Philips amounting to 550 million tons, an amount equal to total output now, With respect to competition in this market, he said: "For the foreseeable future there is enough energy demand for all participating fuels." Banana oil conies not from bananas but from coal and science may just convert coal to meat loaf or some other surprising application may come out of research for product markets. Philips sees no revolution in mining methods although longwall mining will be expanded.

Jan 1, 1970

By E. M. Furness, A. S. Henderson

ORIGINALLY the Babbitt experimental plant grinding circuit consisted of one rod mill 101/2 ft diam by 12 ft long in open circuit followed by two ball mills 101/2 ft diam* 12 ft long in parallel cir- the slow-speed ball mills. The next step was to improve rod mill operation by changing the speed of this mill. Such an attack would affect only one mill and would allow slower speed on the ball mills. The rod mill, as originally purchased, operated at 15.45 rpm. Additional pinions were purchased to test this mill at 16.45, 17.45, and 18.45 rpm. When the mill speed was increased by the use of these pinions, rod breakage with this short mill increased out of all proportion to the improved grinding, until at 18.45 rpm breakage became as high as 7 lb per

Jan 1, 1958

The Library of the above-named Societies is open from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M., except on holidays. It contains about 70,000 volumes and 90,000 pamphlets, including sets of technical periodicals and the publications of scientific and technical societies. Members of the Institute, with few exceptions, are forced to spend a portion of their time in localities isolated from sources of information. To these the Library, through its Library Service Bureau, can render valuable service through correspondence; letters requesting information will receive especial attention. The Library is prepared to furnish references and photographic copies of articles on mining and metallurgical subjects; to determine the existence of mining maps, and to furnish general information on the geology and mineral resources of all countries. All communications should be made as definite as possible so that the information received may be what is, desired and not include collateral natter which may not be of interest. The time spent in-searching for such collateral matter will be saved, and the information will be sent more, promptly and-in more usable shape.

Jan 2, 1917

By C. A. Stetefeldt

The hacienda Sauceda is one of the largest and finest haciendas in the vicinity of the City of Zacatecas, Mexico, and is said to reduce ores by the Patio process more cheaply than any other establishment. It receives its supply of ore from the San Acacio mine. This mine has been for some time, like most of the Zacatecas mines, out of bonanza, and yields, at present, ore of rather low grade. The silver occurs principally as silver-glance, ruby-silver and native silver, associated with pyrites of iron and copper, and some galena and zinc-blende, in a gangue of pure quartz, which takes the form of amythyst whenever the ore is of high grade. All the ore, as it comes from the mine, is broken by hand into small pieces, and sorted before it is delivered to the hacienda. Here it is first crushed dry in Chili mills, and then ground wet in arrastras to an impalpable powder. The sulphurets not decomposed in the patio process are separated in the settlers from the tailings and concentrated by hand. By roasting them in a reverberatory furnace with carbonate copperores, "magistral" is obtained. All machinery is driven by mulepower.

Jan 1, 1885

THE Howe Memorial Lecture, in memory of Henry Marion Howe, Past President of the Institute, was authorized in April, 1923, as an annual address to be delivered by invitation under the auspices of the Institute by an individual of recognized and outstanding attainment in the science and practice of iron and steel metallurgy or metallography, chosen by the Board of Directors upon recommendation of the Iron and Steel Division. The following were the Howe lectures and lecturers for the years indicated: 1924 What is Steel? By Albert Sauveur. 1925 Austenite and Austenitic Steels. By John A. Mathews. 1926 Twenty-five Years of Metallography. By William Campbell. 1927 Alloy Steels. By Bradley Stoughton. 1928 Significance of the Simple Steel Analysis. By Henry D. Hibbard. 1929 Studies of Hadfield's Manganese Steel with the High-power Microscope. By John Howe Hall. 1930 The Future of the American Ironand Steel Industry. By Zay Jeffries. 1931 On the Art of Metallography. By Francis F. Lucas. 1932 On the Rates of Reactions in Solid Steel. By Edgar C. Bain. 1933 Steelmaking, Processes. By . George B. Waterhouse.

Jan 1, 1946

By P. Barnes

(Read at the Philadelphia Meeting, February, 1878.) SOME statements have already been made to the Institute in reference to the cost of other departments of the above-named works, and some details have been given in tabular form.* For the purpose of the present paper it may be sufficient to say that this converting works is made up of three buildings, a cupolahouse, an engine-house, and a converting-house. The machinery and fixtures comprise two blowing-engines, two pressure-pumps, two five-ton converters, five hydraulic cranes, three pig-iron cupolas, four spiegel cupolas, two lifts for the cupolas, together with the usual arrangements of smaller parts. Every effort was made in the construction to combine efficiency of operation with durability, and the general course of the operation of the works during two and a half years seems to warrant the belief that the large outlay has been fully justified. • In the accompanying tabular statement all items on vouchers less than ten dollars, and all freight items have been omitted. * See Transactions of the. Institute, iv, 105, v, 427; also, Engineering and Mining Journal, vow. xxi, 561, xxiii, p. 439, xxiv, 419.

Jan 1, 1878

By E. S. Moffat

Members of the Institute who have visited the works of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company at Scranton, will remember the exposure of a large vein of anthracite coal in the rocky bank on the south side of Roaring Brook, near the blast-furnace. The vein is quite flat, and is exposed to view for several hundred yards along the banks of the brook, a few feet above the surface of the water. It is some ten feet in thickness, and is known as the Big Vein. At a point just opposite the blast-furnace, much of the coal from this vein was mined out many years since, the usual pillars being left to support the overlying rock and drift, which are here some twentyfive to thirty feet in thickness. Over thirty pears ago fire was communicated from an ore-roasting pile on the surface of the ground at this point, through an old shaft, down to the refuse and pillars which had been left in the mine

Jan 1, 1887

By O. C. Wheeler

There was a marked increase in the investigation of undeveloped areas in Colombia during 1936. The Shell company commenced geological and geophysical investigations on an intensive scale in the Upper Magdalena Valley and at the end of the year had several geological and geophysical parties working in that area. These investigations were supplemented by aerial photography and it is understood that negotiations are under way for having this work continued. The Shell is reported to have acquired some options and leases on private properties in the Upper Valley region and in the western part of Cundinamarca. The Socony Vacuum was making preparations to begin seismograph work on its property north of the Sogamoso River, acquired in 1934 from Sefior Luciano Restrepo. This company will probably start drilling on the property during 1937. The Richmond Petroleum Co. (Standard of California) is said to have renewed geological investigations in the Upper Magdalena Valley above Honda. Local Colombian interests took an active part in applying for concessions on nationally owned lands in the area between the Carare and Magdalena Rivers. The application of the Sociedad National del Carare for a concession in this area was granted during the year. Subsequently an agreement was reached between this

Jan 1, 1937

By Dexter Kimball

THE ease and promptness with which the public as a whole becomes accustomed to and takes advantage of the work of the engineer, using the term in a broad sense, is almost startling. Surprise at, and fear of radical innovations in transportation and private service quickly give way to blasé indifference, followed instantly by all manner of criticism that these things are not better constructed and managed. Does the street car stop a few minutes on a switch?-summon the State Commission. Is the Overland Express fifteen minutes late on a three thousand mile run?-Congress is memorialized to make the great railroad companies attend to their business. Does central not respond instantly when we take down the telephone receiver?-anathema!! Do the electric lights go out for a minute or so?-the darkness is illuminated by caustic sarcasm and other kinds of spoken English consigning all engineering and engineers to perdition; everyone apparently forgetting how steep the hills were before the days of street cars, how far away San Francisco was before the days of the locomotive, the telegraph and telephone, and how difficult it must have been to study by the light of a tallow candle.

Jan 9, 1922

The movement for Federal endowment of engineering and industrial research was revived early in the present Congress by the introduction of two bills into the Senate. The first bill, introduced by Senator Smith of Georgia, provides for the establishment of an engineering experiment station in each state under the direction of and in connection with some university, engineering school, or land-grant college. The state legislature of each state is authorized to designate the institution best equipped to conduct the work but wherever the land-grant college has facilities approximately equal to those of the other institutions of the state, it shall be designated. All designations of institutions are made subject to the approval of the Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to secure practical uniformity of methods, and efficiency and economical expenditure of funds by indicating such lines of work as shall seem to him important from a military; naval, industrial or national standpoint, but the responsibility for the initiation and conduct of research shall rest with the individual engineering experiment stations. Uniform standards of research are further provided for by making each experiment station a depository of the Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Standards, and the work of each station shall conform to the standards established by the U. S. Government through said bureau, which may whenever practicable utilize the facilities of the station for the prosecution of research.

Jan 8, 1919

Balancing the prodigious iron ore deposits of Western Australia are the equally vast coal resources of the Bowen series of eastern Queensland. The Bowen series is a Permian basin stretching 500 miles in a north-south line. The beginning of what will be large scale mining of the Kianga-Moura coalfields in Dawson Valley was made by the Australian company of Thiess Bros. in July 1961. Then Peabody Coal Co. of St. Louis, Mo., joined Thiess. Later, Mitsui & Co. Ltd. received a 20% interest in the firm Thiess, Peabody, Mitsui Coal Pty. Ltd. Rtitsui was to lend the company money for development. Queensland Parliament, by special act, granted the company exclusive franchise over the Kianga-Moura coalfield, an area of 350 square miles. The rights do not include other minerals. The company is to have a 120-mile railroad completed to Gladstone or some other port in seven years. It must produce at least 500,000 long tons of coal annually until the line is built, after which production is to be upped to 2 million tons. By December 1962, these arrangements were completed.

Jan 10, 1964

No greater opportunity for public service has ever been presented to the engineers of the United States, as a class, than the campaign to make thrift a permanent American habit, conducted through the Savings Division off the Treasury Department. The engineer owes a duty to his community, to his country, by reason of the very fact that he is an engineer. By reason of his position and influence, his education and experience, he owes to his country the duty of public service. The public understands that the opportunities of the engineer have allowed him to equip himself to handle logically and properly questions affecting the public. He has been trained to maintain a constructive viewpoint. His work is constructive and he builds for the future. The qualities that the public deems necessary for public service have been bred in him. The time has gone by when the professional man can perform his whole duty to himself and his community by shrouding himself and his calling in mystery and locking himself away from the public in office or laboratory. The duty of public service is calling for every man whose training has fitted him to perform that service. The engineers of the country have demonstrated their capacity and their willingness for public service. Throughout the war period they, have been found in every branch of governmental and. civilian activity which could contribute to national success, doing their share to promote national efficiency. Their duties are not over.

Jan 7, 1919

By Oliver B. Hopkins

During 1931 Peru maintained its position as the ninth oil-producing country of the world, with an output somewhat greater than that of Trinidad and Argentina, and considerably less than for Colombia and Mexico. Outside of the three old producing fields, there was little or no activity of importance; no new areas were brought in and no extensive wildcat drilling was done. On the other hand, the old fields continued to produce at a rate only slightly below normal and such restriction as existed may be attributed to market and not to field conditions. Political disturbances during the spring led to several strikes in the field, causing temporary suspension of activities there. However, such troubles were of short duration and no permanent loss of production was sustained. The production in barrels during the past three years for the three coastal fields of Peru has been as follows: The oil industry in Peru is relatively old; 29 wells were drilled in the Negritos area between 1888 and 1898. Prior to 1900 the production was relatively insignificant but from 1900 until 1929, it has slowly but steadily increased to a maximum annual production of over 13,000,000 bbl. The potential production of the fields since 1939 has exceeded the production of those years; the actual production has been controlled by market conditions. The production of the property of the International Petroleum CO. since 1900 has been just over 100,000,000 bbl. The production from the Peruvian fields will doubtless remain for some years at approximately the same level as during the past few years.

Jan 1, 1932