Search Documents

By S. H. Chauvenet

THE binding of the boshes and in walls of blast furnaces has always been an expensive piece of work. When the old stone stack was replaced by the iron shell, the brickwork was kept at a thickness of five feet or more. These five-foot walls were still too thick, and the practice now is to have as thin walls as possible and to have a free circulation of air about the brickwork of the furnace. The "basket," or lattice-work binding, accomplishes this object, but it is expensive, as to first cost, and, if any change in the diameter of a furnace has to be made, it necessitates an alteration of the binding or of the thickness of the walls.

Jan 1, 1882

By H. Sato, I. Matsuoka, T. Kawai, S. Hasebe

In a limestone mine, a large amount of slime is washed off in order to remove impurities such as clay minerals. A fine sized calcite is, consequently, wasted and freight for carring the slime to reclaim land is expensive. The separation of calcite from the slime has been investigated by the flotation process, using sodium oleate as a collector. A satisfactory flotation of calcite from the slime requires great amounts of sodium oleate, because sodium oleate is consumed by clay minerals. But, the amounts of sodium oleate required are reduced to half by adding suitable amounts of sodium silicate. After rougher and cleaner flotation, the concentrate containing more than 97% calcite is obtained with 70% recovery; thereby the amount of slime to be reclaimed is reduced to 40%.

Jan 1, 1976

By S. Chander, V. N. Sharma

Nickeliferous laterite ore from Sukinda, Orissa (India), consists of very fine particles agglomerated into larger aggregates. The ore is chemically and mineralogically complex and presents many characterization and beneficiation problems. In this study the results of a detailed investigation to characterize the ore by several techniques are discussed. Various techniques used for characterisation include elemental analysis, electron microscopy, electronspectroscopy for chemical analysis, x-ray and electron diffraction, differential thermal and thermogravimetric analyses, EDAX analysis, Mössbauer and infrared spectroscopy. Generally one method compliments the other and it is shown that a combination of several techniques is necessary to fully characterize the ore. The scope and limitations of the techniques are also discussed.

Jan 1, 1980

By E. D. Williamson

DURING the wartime rush to prepare the glass necessary for the needs of our army and navy, the problem of the temperature control of the annealing kilns became most serious. The narrow limits of strain allowable (all the specifications called for less internal strain than the average of the previously used German glass) made necessary a very exact procedure and the methods had to be used on a much larger scale than theretofore. At the Charleroi plant of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., the members of the staff of the Geophysical Laboratory, which was cooperating with the company, had occasion to study the methods available, and reached a number of conclusions (many of them by no means new except in their application) that may interest and assist those who have to meet similar problems in other fields. The following is a short account of the essential features of the system of temperature control evolved, along with a rather abridged statement of the reasons that led to the adoption or rejection of various schemes.

Jan 8, 1919

By W. J. PRIESTLEY

WHEN during the war the Navy Department decided to build an armor-plate and gun-forging plant of its own at South Charleston, W. Va., one of the most important units of the equipment proposed was a 14,000 gross ton forging-press to be used for forging, bending, and rectifying battleship armor-plate and making hol¬low forgings for large caliber guns. A press suitable for doing this kind of work was put into operation in the fall of 1921 and was operated successfully on armor-plate and large forgings until the closing down of the ordnance plant following the Limitation of Armament Conference held in Washington, February, 1922. PURPOSE OF THE PRESS There are three methods by which armor-plate can be made, namely, hammering, forging, and rolling the ingot. Each method produces a different result in the mechanical working of the steel. The hammer was eliminated as impractical from an operating standpoint. The first armor-plate made in this country was worked under a hammer at the Bethlehem Steel Co., between the years 1891 and 1893, but was superseded by forging when the large press was completed in 1893. Harry T. Morris of the Bethlehem Steel Co. informs me that the 1.25-ton steam hammer began operations in 1891 and was in operation for about two years. The Carnegie Steel Co. and the Midvale Steel and Ordnance Steel Co. also forged armor-plate. Certain European manufacturers rolled the plates from large slab ingots, after removing the sink-head and giving the body of the ingot a light pass under a hydraulic press. While rolling accomplished more mechanical work on the surface of an armor plate, forging, on the other hand, resulted in a greater amount of work in the interior of the plate. Either type of equipment involved an enormous expendi¬ture, so it was deemed advisable to adopt the method which would make it possible to use the equipment for more than one purpose. Since g large rolling-mill could be used only for the single operation of rolling armor-plate, a press was decided on, for the reason that it might be designed so as to forge armor, as well as bend and rectify it, and also be used in the forging of ingots for large caliber guns, both in the form of hollow forgings and also solid shafts.

Jan 1, 1926

By K. Sallmann

Spurred by a variety of factors, coal flotation is making headway among the preparation plants of West Germany. Mr. Sallmann provides a general view of flotation practices being employed in his country, with special emphasis on the many-sided problems that confront German coal preparation engineers.

Jan 9, 1961

By W. A. Thomas

STEAM is, and doubtless always will be, the basic power in the anthracite industry, either directly applied through engines and pumps or electrically. The rapidity with which electric power is being applied to the mining and preparation of anthracite leaves little doubt as to its utility and economy. There is practically no operation, except possibly the drilling of hard rock, that has not been successfully electrified and the matter of drilling is handled economically with electrically driven compressors and the standard compressed-air drills. Conservation and the seemingly ever-increasing cost of production, justify careful consideration of the possible results of the more extensive use of electric power in the industry. It is not planned to discuss, herein, the relative economies of individual applications but to consider the relative economy and flexibility of steam and electric power. The reports available for the year 1920 indicate a production of slightly over 80,000,000 tons of anthracite, of which 8,843,500 tons were used for power and heating purposes; in other words, over 11 per cent. of the production was used at the mines. Some of this was used to generate electric power at the mines, about 160,000,000 kw-hr., while 150,000,000 kw.-hr. was purchased from the public utility companies. One large producer, who is buying some electric power and generating some, used over 13 per cent. of the production for power and heating at the mines. Another producer, where considerable electric power is generated on the properties, is using less than 9 per cent. of the output for power and heating. One of the largest producers has a fuel consumption of over 15 per cent. of the output, besides which considerable power is purchased. A careful study of the field indicates that steam-operated plants use upwards of 13 per cent. of the production for power and heating, while electrically operated plants use about 1 per cent. for heating; so that, for steam-power purposes at least 12 per cent., or 268.8 lb., are used for power out of each ton produced.

Jan 9, 1921

All branches of our profession may look back 'with pride upon the patriotic service rendered by engineers during the war. That war has been won. The mortal danger which it threatened has been averted. But the effects of the torture inflicted by it still remain, a fever in the blood of the body politic. Fever begets delirium and, unless its course be checked, has a tendency to produce convulsions. The only safe course is to take immediate steps to allay the fever. The seat of the present trouble is industrialism; as production is at the foundation of civilization, a diseased condition there carries pain and consequent unrest into every member of the organism. Who shall supply the cure? Quack doctors, nostrums in hand, rush forward from all directions promising to perform miracles. But sane men know that no miracles, though invoked by star gazers of purest intention, will prevent or accelerate the orderly operations of the laws of nature and of human life. Delirium must be controlled by the firm, gentle hand of intelligent, sympathetic authority. Fever must be allayed first by removal of all poisons from the system, then by consistent ministration of cooling, quieting restoratives, then by simple, wholesome nourishment. Nature will, under such treatment, supply the permanent cure.

Jan 12, 1919

By James Cudworth

THE Birmingham district of Alabama has utilized the slag from its blast furnaces consistently since the earliest development of the slag industry. Today there are producers of slag cement who started business in 1900, and who have, under a progressive policy, expanded the number of their products to meet present demands. There are producers of slag aggregates and other crushed slag products who have been successful for periods of over thirty years. There are at the present two companies, Cheney Lime and Cement Co. and the Southern Cement Co., manu-facturing puzzolan cement; three companies, Birmingham Slag Co., Woodstock Slag Co., and Swann Chemical Co., making slag aggregates and by-products; one company, Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railway Co., a subsidiary of the U. S. Steel Corporation, producing ground open-hearth basic slag for soil conditioning. Two companies, the Sloss Sheffield Steel and Iron Co. and the Woodstock Slag Co., make slag concrete in ready-mix plants and one company, the Superock Company, manufactures fine and coarse slag aggregates under a new granulation process. No Portland cement is made with slag as an ingredient, because dolomite is used so extensively as a blast-furnace flux that the magnesium content of the slag is excessive.

Jan 1, 1937

By W. B. Mather

Literature dealing with rock drilling presents a mass of conflicting data. The principal cause of the confusion is attributed to varying definitions of the hardness factor of rock and cutting media. The future development of more efficient drilling methods demands that this problem be solved. The first step in the solution is the compilation of complete data on the physical properties of rocks.

Jan 2, 1951

By G. W. Brownell, H. T. F. Lundberg, R. W. Pringle, K. I. Roulston

The rapid improvement of the airborne scintillometer and the perfection of its efficiency for counting low energy gamma radiation has made it possible to work out a technique to map in great detail the radiation pattern at the earth's surface. On such maps low radiation over certain areas appears to indicate the existence of oil accumulations, forming a pattern similar to that obtained by the geochemists.

Jan 12, 1953

By Mary Sue Coates

Characterization of the rock mass in which deep underground structures are to be located is of critical importance to the feasibility and design of the structures. The process involves areal studies, subsurface exploration and extensive testing to obtain comprehensive data on the rock units which will enclose the excavated structures. The Illinois Deep Hole Project provides an example of characterization of rock at great depth describing the types and variety of tests and studies which were utilized and the results obtained.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. Harries

The mechanism of blasting and the effect that blasting has on rock properties including the generation of new cracks and the opening of existing joints is discussed and compared with changes in seismic velocities. .Knowing the extent of blast induced damage and the overall stable slope angle it is shown that it is possible to design blasting so as not to induce any damage behind the toe of the blast area. Practical methods of blasting to meet this criterion and the results of these blasts are then discussed.

Jan 1, 1983

By Gunnar Almgren

Hole deviation has great consequences on mining economy, especially for long hole drilling technique. First of all the bore hole datas are concerned but also such factors as development, loss of ore and waste rock dilution are influenced. Hole deviation for sublevel open stoping is illustrated with examples from some mines. The deviations are indicated as mean values but also as standard deviation values, owing to their statistical distribution. The economic influence of the hole deviation is especially studied for steep, small lowgrade orebodies, mined with big hole blasting. Hole deviation can thus influence costs up to US$ 3-4 per ton for operating, development, losses of ore and rock waste dilution. This cost is of the same magnitude as the total operating costs for many sublevel stoping mines. The economic savings in accurate drilling are therefore substantial and are worth all attention.

Jan 1, 1981

By Henry M. Howe

Jan 1, 1908

By William P. Blake

A recent paper by Prof. George P. Merrill, Curator of the Department of Geology of the U. S. National Museum, Wash-

Jan 1, 1897

By C. Fairhurst, B. C. Haimson

Pink Tennessee Marble was tested for wedge bit penetration characteristics at static and dynamic (10 - 250 ft/sec) loading rates. No significant differences were found within the dynamic range as far as the energy required to remove a unit crater volume and the force used to cause a certain penetration. Under static loading, however, both the energy and the force required were significantly lower. Tests run on bits of varying width indicated that as the wedge bit narrowed to an almost conical shape, the energy used per unit crater volume became considerably lower.

Jan 1, 1971

By R. M. Keeney

Jan 1, 1915

By R. W. Lai, I. Iwasaki

Some physical as well as chemical aspects of the methods of dispersion of various corn starches and their derivatives are investigated and their effects as depressants in anionic silica flotation of iron ores ascertained. The adsorption behavior of starches on hematite and quartz is strongly affected by their molecular sizes as inferred from viscosity measurements. The implication of this behavior on flotation and flocculation is discussed. Mechanical treatment of causticized starch solutions is shown to reduce the starch requirements in flotation appreciably. Starches and starch products have been used as depressants for iron oxides both in amine flotation of siliceous gangue and in soap flotation of activated silica from iron ores. Cooke and his associates1,2,3,4 extensively studied the effects of certain starches and their derivatives in the amine flotation of iron ores at near-neutral pH and found that although most starches were good flocculants for hematite and de- pressed that mineral more or less selectively1,3 they did not flocculate quartz suspensions. Further, that replacement of active groups in corn starch modified its behavior as a flocculant for hematite or quartz suspensions1 and as an iron oxide depressant. Schulz and cooke2 showed that many starches and their derivatives, except aminoethyl starch, were abstracted more effectively by Brazilian hematite than by quartz and that the adsorption of a starch product was strongly dependent on pH and on the presence of calcium ion. In soap flotation of calcium-activated quartz, certain starches and their products have been used to depress iron oxides.5'6 The behavior of these substances in flotation appears at times to be at variance with those previously reported and especially with results obtained in the Mines Experiment Station laboratories. This is attributed, at least in part, to differences in flotation procedure and flowsheets and in the method of preparing the depressant. Most of the investigators referred to above, solubilized the starch products by autoclaving at 120°C. Others have used acid,7 alkali8 or oxidizing agents.9 In view of the limited knowledge of the depressing action of starches and their derivatives in iron ore flotation, particularly in soap flotation of calcium-activated silica at high alkalinity, an extensive study

Jan 1, 1965

By Robert H. Palmer

Sacuranao Field.—Bacuranao field is about 12 miles east of Havana, along the contact between Cretaceous sediments and a serpentine intrusion. The zone lies within an extensive anticlinorium. The field had no developments during the year 1939. The production of 9½ bbl. per day is distilled and the gasoline and kerosene are extracted. The asphalt residue. is sold for road construction. The gas is compressed and

Jan 1, 1940