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By R. Hogg

Sintering is a process in which the pore structure of an agglomerated powder is modified. For many applications, it is desirable to be able to control the pore structure in order to optimize such properties as mechanical strength and reactivity (availability and accessibility of solid surfaces to reactant gases, for example). In general, these properties will be determined by the total porosity and the pore size distribution of the agglomerate. In the work described in this paper, a physically realistic mathematical model for the sintering process has been developed. The model is based on the usual assumption that the pore system in an agglomerate can be treated as a network of interconnecting, cylindrical pores of continuously varying size. It is further assumed that the total pore length is conserved during the course of the sintering process. Using standard expressions for the rate of shrinkage of an individual pore, the model can be used to predict the changes in total porosity and pore size distribution as sintering proceeds. Experimental pore size distributions, obtained by mercury intrusion porosimetry, for the sintering of oxides appear to be in general agreement with the predictions of the model.

Jan 1, 1977

By James F. Howe

EveRy engineer and user of wire rope is desirous of information that will enable him to determine whether the performance of any particular piece of rope is satisfactory, and what conditions can be changed so as to increase the life of a rope. In most cases, it is far from easy to analyze the conditions of service and tell which is the greatest factor in determining the life of wire rope. If we start on a layout for an entirely new rope system, the task of making conditions satisfactory is simplified so far as the engineering details are concerned; but if the plant requiring wire rope is in operation, any change is likely to involve the expenditure of considerable money to replace and change over machinery that must be kept in constant operation, because a large monetary loss will result from a shutdown for even a few days. Often wire rope is kept operating under bad conditions, as the user thinks that it is cheaper and quicker to replace the rope than to make alterations in the hoisting machinery. A typical case is a metal mine operating in what is now almost the center of a large mining city, where it owns a few acres of mineral rights. It was expected that the shaft would go to a depth of 1000 ft. (305 m.), so a moderate-sized rope, about 1 1/4in. (31.7 mm.), was used on a 6-ft. drum with a 7-ft. head-frame sheave and rather short lead from drum to head sheave. This mine has gone deeper each year until it is now 2500 ft. deep and the rope speed has been increased from 1500 ft. per min. to over 3000 ft. The original rope just filled the drum in one layer, now it overwinds three layers. The original ropes were probably 6 X 19 crucible steel and lasted from 12 to 18 mo.; now, the highest grade plow steel is used, yet the average service is only about 6 mo. The cause is not hard to find. If the engineers had known at the outset what would be done with this hoist, the design would have been very different. Conditions at this mine, from a wire-rope standpoint, have gradually become worse and it is difficult to see how rope service on this hoist can be compared with the service of previous years with any fairness to the wire-

Jan 1, 1923

By James F. Howe

EveRy engineer and user of wire rope is desirous of information that will enable him to determine whether the performance of any particular piece of rope is satisfactory, and what conditions can be changed so as to increase the life of a rope. In most cases, it is far from easy to analyze the conditions of service and tell which is the greatest factor in determining the life of wire rope. If we start on a layout for an entirely new rope system, the task of making conditions satisfactory is simplified so far as the engineering details are concerned; but if the plant requiring wire rope is in operation, any change is likely to involve the expenditure of considerable money to replace and change over machinery that must be kept in constant operation, because a large monetary loss will result from a shutdown for even a few days. Often wire rope is kept operating under bad conditions, as the user thinks that it is cheaper and quicker to replace the rope than to make alterations in the hoisting machinery. A typical case is a metal mine operating in what is now almost the center of a large mining city, where it owns a few acres of mineral rights. It was expected that the shaft would go to a depth of 1000 ft. (305 m.), so a moderate-sized rope, about 1 1/4in. (31.7 mm.), was used on a 6-ft. drum with a 7-ft. head-frame sheave and rather short lead from drum to head sheave. This mine has gone deeper each year until it is now 2500 ft. deep and the rope speed has been increased from 1500 ft. per min. to over 3000 ft. The original rope just filled the drum in one layer, now it overwinds three layers. The original ropes were probably 6 X 19 crucible steel and lasted from 12 to 18 mo.; now, the highest grade plow steel is used, yet the average service is only about 6 mo. The cause is not hard to find. If the engineers had known at the outset what would be done with this hoist, the design would have been very different. Conditions at this mine, from a wire-rope standpoint, have gradually become worse and it is difficult to see how rope service on this hoist can be compared with the service of previous years with any fairness to the wire-

Jan 1, 1923

By T. G. Lovering

Nonparametric statistical tests have practical application to many geological problems because, unlike the standard statistical tests, they do not require assumptions regarding the form of the population frequency distribution. Many of them do not even require that the variable be susceptible to numerical measurement. These tests are useful either 1) for geological data representing population distributions of unknown form, or otherwise not meeting the requirements for standard parametric tests; or 2) for sample attributes that cannot be measured but only ranked in order of relative magnitude. The application of two such tests will be illustrated. The Kolmogorov-Smimov test will be used to test for significant differences in copper distribution in samples of two rock types; the Spearman rank-correlation method will be used to determine whether there is a significant association between intensity of rock alteration and copper content of the rock. Nonparametric tests are, in general, quicker and easier to perform than the corresponding parametric tests, and they may be applied to a greater variety of data. They are not as powerful as the standard tests if used on data to which the latter are applicable, and computer programs utilizing them are not generally available. The use of standard or parametric statistical procedures for the interpretation of measured geological data is familiar to most mining engineers and explora- tion geologists. The computation of product moment correlation coefficients on sample assays for more-than one component is already standard procedure in some company operations, as is the use of Student's F test and Snedecor's F test for the comparison of means and variances of sample groups. The application of these three tests is limited by the prerequisites that the samples must be random, independent representatives of normally distributed populations and that the variables involved must be measurable. If such tests are applied to data which fall short of fulfilling these prerequisites, then the probability level attributed to the computed statistic is invalid and the conclusions based thereon may be erroneous. A number of nonparametric, or distribution free, statistical tests have been developed for use with data which are not amenable to standard parametric procedures. These tests have been widely used in the behavioral sciences such as psychology and sociology for some time, but their application to geologic problems is relatively new. Nonparametric tests may be grouped into two main categories: those which test for significant differences in a single variable by comparing either sample values with a standard value or representative values between two or more groups of samples; and those which test for significant association between pairs of variables in a single group of samples. The versatile chi square test, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov one and two sample tests, the Wilcox matched pairs signed ranks test, the median test, the Mann-Whitney U test and the Cochran Q test are examples of nonparametric tests with demonstrated or potential geological applications that belong in the first category. The contingency coefficient, Spearman rank correlation coefficient, Kendall rank correlation coefficient and the

Jan 1, 1963

By Alexander Bowie

In many places throughout the Western mountain plateau regions of the United States coal beds in place have been burned over very extensive areas, the fire evidently originating on the nakedly exposed outcrop of the coal bed and gradually burning its way into the bed for considerable distances under very heavy cover. The surface evidences of the burned-out coal beds are seen in the calcined and discolored rocks overlying the places of the outcrops. The greater the mass of the burned coal the higher the results of its combustion can be seen in the overlying strata. I have noted many instances of this condition in the States of South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexipo, and Arizona. In the lignite fields of Dakota and Wyoming I noted stretches of level country many square miles in extent where the surface rooks were roasted and vitrified by the burning of a great bed of lignite lying nearly level and with a light cover; this is probably the most favorable natural condition for the burning out of a coal bed. The less the depth of the rock covering overlying the coal bed, the better the chance for a continuous supply of air to the fire; but when the coal bed dips heavily into the ground, or even if level, if it passes under a hill or mountain which gives the bed a heavy covering of strata, the fire has more chances of being extinguished from natural causes than in the first condition described. The distance which a crop fire may extend into a coal field is very much influenced by the dip, the thickness of the coal bed, and the nature of the rock covering immediately overlying it. In reasoning on this subject, it would seem logical to assume in the case of a coal-bed cropping at the base of a hill and dipping into it, with an extensive drainage surface above the crop line, that a crop fire would be promptly extinguished by the caving in of the overlying strata and the precipitation of the rainfall from the drainage surface above the outcrop through the breaks formed in the caving strata. This consideration would be more or less effective according to the climate of the location and the nature of the overlying strata. In a humid climate where the rainfall was heavy the water from the natural precipitation alone would probably extinguish a crop fire before it could work its way very far under cover, but in an arid climate this preventive does not seem to be effective.

Jan 1, 1915

By S. Yukawa, M. J. Sinott

The low solubility of bismuth in copper and its segregation at copper grain boundaries with resulting embrittlement is well known.1-3 The heterogeneous diffusion of liquid bismuth into polycrystalline copper has also been studied.4 This work presents some further observations on these phenomena using high-resolution auto radiography to detect the presence of bismuth in copper polycrystalline and bicrystal specimens. The auto radiographs were made by the stripping film technique which produces an autoradiograph that is intact with specimen surface and can be examined simultaneously with the under-lying microstructure. The details of the technique have been described previously.3 In one series of experiments, high-purity copper was alloyed with 0.02 to 0.03 wt pct radioactive bismuth obtained from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Melting and casting was done under a

Jan 1, 1960

By H. H. Kellogg

An invitation to address you on the occasion of the one-hundredth anniversary of AIME represents an honor, a challenge and an opportunity: an honor that you judge me worthy; a challenge that I present to you a picture of extractive metallurgy in the years ahead that contains some ideas of value; and finally, an opportunity for me to express some deeply felt beliefs about our profession and our industry. My topic concerns the technology of metal production in the future - the processes, new and old, that will be used to extract metals. The nature of these processes will be shaped by many forces - some technical, some economic, some political or social. A forecast of future technology must recognize the role of each of these forces, and I have endeavored to do this in the analysis that follows. In brief, my outline consists of an analysis of the forces (perhaps better called "problems") that will influence the future of our industry, followed by consideration of likely lines of technological development to meet them. Let me dwell for a moment on the nature of this industry and the profession that serves it. I have been engaged in the profession of extractive metallurgy - teaching, researching and consulting - for 30 years. I have always found the subject stimulating and rife with challenges of a scientific, engineering, economic and socio-political nature. It is a big subject - it encompasses most of the elements of periodic table; we measure the U. S. production of six metals in millions of tons per year; new plant costs range to $100 million and more. The supply of metals from our extractive plants plays an essential role in our modern industrial economy. We could do without DDT, or phosphate detergents or 300-page Sunday newspapers; we cannot do without a huge and increasing supply of metals. The Basic Goal of Extractive Metallurgy Understanding of some basic forces that shape this industry can be gained by consideration of the question: What determines the utility of metals to man? We think immediately of the inherent properties of metals - strength, ductility, electrical conductivity and so forth - but these tell only part of the story. Metal price and the available supply play equally

Jan 1, 1971

By William Hurst, A. F. van Everdingen

For several years the authors have felt the need for a source from which reservoir engineers could obtain fundamental theory and data on the flow of fluids through permeable media in the unsteady state. The data on the unsteady state flow are composed of solutions of the equation Two sets of solutions of this equation are developed, namely. for "the constant terminal pressure case" and "the constant terminal rate case." In the constant terminal pressure case the pressure at the terminal boundary is lowered by unity at zero time, kept constant thereafter, and the cumulative amount of fluid flowing across the boundary is computed, as a function of the time. In the constant terminal rate case a unit rate of production is made to flow across the terminal boundary (from time zero onward) and the ensuing pressure drop is computed as a function of the time. Considerable effort has been made to compile complete tables from which curves can be constructed for the constant terminal pressure and constant terminal rate cases, both for finite and infinite reservoirs. These curves can be employed to reproduce the effect of any pressure or rate history encountered in practice. Most of the information is obtained by the help of the Laplace transformations, which proved to be extremely helpful for analyzing the problems encountered in fluid flow. The application of this method simplifies the more tedious mathematical analyses employed in the past. With the help of Laplace transformations some original developments were obtained (and presented) which could not have been easily foreseen by the earlier methods. INTRODUCTION This paper represents a compilation of the work done over the past few years on the flow of fluid in porous media. It concerns itself primarily with the transient conditions prevailing in oil reservoirs during the time they are produced. The study is limited to conditions where the flow of fluid obeys the diffusivity equation. Multiple-phase fluid flow has not been considered. A previous publication by Hurst' shows that when the pressure history of a reservoir is known, this information can be used to calculate the water influx, an essential term in the material balance equation. An example is offered in the literature by Old² in the study of the Jones Sand, Schuler Field, Arkansas. The present paper contains extensive tabulated data (from which work curves can be constructed), which data are derived by a more rigorous treatment of the subject matter than available in an earlier publication.' The application of this information will enable those concerned with the analysis of the behavior of a reservoir to obtain quantitatively correct expressions for the amount of water that has flowed into the reservoirs, thereby satisfying all the terms that appear in the material balance equation. This work is likewise applicable to the flow of fluid to a well whenever the flow conditions are such that the diffusivity equation is obeyed. DIFFUSITY EQUATION The most commonly encountered flow system is radial flow toward the well bore or field. The volume of fluid which flows per unit of time through each unit area of sand is expressed by Darcy's equation as where K is the permeability, the viscosity and aP/ar the pressure gradient at the radial distance r. A material balance on a concentric element AB, expresses the net fluid traversing the surfaces A and B, which must equal the fluid lost from within the element. Thus, if the density of the fluid is expressed by p, then the weight of fluid per unit time and per unit sand thickness, flowing past Surface A, the surface nearest the well bore, is given as The weight of fluid flowing past Surface B, an infinitesimal distance 6r, removed from Surface A, is expressed as

Jan 1, 1949

By A. F. van Everdingen, William Hurst

For several years the authors have felt the need for a source from which reservoir engineers could obtain fundamental theory and data on the flow of fluids through permeable media in the unsteady state. The data on the unsteady state flow are composed of solutions of the equation Two sets of solutions of this equation are developed, namely. for "the constant terminal pressure case" and "the constant terminal rate case." In the constant terminal pressure case the pressure at the terminal boundary is lowered by unity at zero time, kept constant thereafter, and the cumulative amount of fluid flowing across the boundary is computed, as a function of the time. In the constant terminal rate case a unit rate of production is made to flow across the terminal boundary (from time zero onward) and the ensuing pressure drop is computed as a function of the time. Considerable effort has been made to compile complete tables from which curves can be constructed for the constant terminal pressure and constant terminal rate cases, both for finite and infinite reservoirs. These curves can be employed to reproduce the effect of any pressure or rate history encountered in practice. Most of the information is obtained by the help of the Laplace transformations, which proved to be extremely helpful for analyzing the problems encountered in fluid flow. The application of this method simplifies the more tedious mathematical analyses employed in the past. With the help of Laplace transformations some original developments were obtained (and presented) which could not have been easily foreseen by the earlier methods. INTRODUCTION This paper represents a compilation of the work done over the past few years on the flow of fluid in porous media. It concerns itself primarily with the transient conditions prevailing in oil reservoirs during the time they are produced. The study is limited to conditions where the flow of fluid obeys the diffusivity equation. Multiple-phase fluid flow has not been considered. A previous publication by Hurst' shows that when the pressure history of a reservoir is known, this information can be used to calculate the water influx, an essential term in the material balance equation. An example is offered in the literature by Old² in the study of the Jones Sand, Schuler Field, Arkansas. The present paper contains extensive tabulated data (from which work curves can be constructed), which data are derived by a more rigorous treatment of the subject matter than available in an earlier publication.' The application of this information will enable those concerned with the analysis of the behavior of a reservoir to obtain quantitatively correct expressions for the amount of water that has flowed into the reservoirs, thereby satisfying all the terms that appear in the material balance equation. This work is likewise applicable to the flow of fluid to a well whenever the flow conditions are such that the diffusivity equation is obeyed. DIFFUSITY EQUATION The most commonly encountered flow system is radial flow toward the well bore or field. The volume of fluid which flows per unit of time through each unit area of sand is expressed by Darcy's equation as where K is the permeability, the viscosity and aP/ar the pressure gradient at the radial distance r. A material balance on a concentric element AB, expresses the net fluid traversing the surfaces A and B, which must equal the fluid lost from within the element. Thus, if the density of the fluid is expressed by p, then the weight of fluid per unit time and per unit sand thickness, flowing past Surface A, the surface nearest the well bore, is given as The weight of fluid flowing past Surface B, an infinitesimal distance 6r, removed from Surface A, is expressed as

Jan 1, 1949

By Lynn G. Howell, Alex Frosch

In a previous article1 we have described a technique for measuring the relative intensities of gamma rays from the radioactive elements occurring naturally in geological formations along the walls of a borehole. The apparatus consisted of two Geiger-Müller tubes mounted inside a pressure-tight chamber. Each counter tube was coupled separately to an amplifier and a frequency meter at the surface by means of a multiconductor cable upon which the chamber was suspended. The output currents of the two frequency meters were recorded on a photographic paper as the chamber was moved in the hole. These traces showed remarkable correlation with the geologic formations, as evidenced by comparison with commercial electrical logs.2 Owing to the penetrating power of the gamma rays, logs may be taken in both open and cased boreholes. The apparatus has recently been changed somewhat. One of the counter tubes has been removed and a stage of amplification has been added inside the chamber. This arrangement seems to give a more favorable signal-to-noise ratio and satisfactory logs can be now made in cased holes and also in open holes as previously. Briefly described, the chamber moving in the hole is made of 3½-in. drill pipe and is about 10 ft. long. There is an additional extension about 2 ft. long at the top, inside which cable connections are made. The Geiger-Müller tube is mounted inside the bottom end of the chamber. Above this is the vacuum-tube amplifier with its batteries and transformer. In the top part of the chamber, small 45-volt batteries are mounted, which in part supply the high voltage for the counter tube. Additional voltage is supplied from the surface through the multiconductor cable upon which the chamber is suspended. Also, the output of the transformer in the single-stage amplifier is coupled to another single-stage amplifier at the surface through this cable. The surface amplifier is coupled to the Thyratron-controlled frequency meter, the tank circuit of which consists of a one megohm resistor across which is a bank of condensers varying in

Jan 1, 1940

By Alex Frosch, Lynn G. Howell

In a previous article1 we have described a technique for measuring the relative intensities of gamma rays from the radioactive elements occurring naturally in geological formations along the walls of a borehole. The apparatus consisted of two Geiger-Müller tubes mounted inside a pressure-tight chamber. Each counter tube was coupled separately to an amplifier and a frequency meter at the surface by means of a multiconductor cable upon which the chamber was suspended. The output currents of the two frequency meters were recorded on a photographic paper as the chamber was moved in the hole. These traces showed remarkable correlation with the geologic formations, as evidenced by comparison with commercial electrical logs.2 Owing to the penetrating power of the gamma rays, logs may be taken in both open and cased boreholes. The apparatus has recently been changed somewhat. One of the counter tubes has been removed and a stage of amplification has been added inside the chamber. This arrangement seems to give a more favorable signal-to-noise ratio and satisfactory logs can be now made in cased holes and also in open holes as previously. Briefly described, the chamber moving in the hole is made of 3½-in. drill pipe and is about 10 ft. long. There is an additional extension about 2 ft. long at the top, inside which cable connections are made. The Geiger-Müller tube is mounted inside the bottom end of the chamber. Above this is the vacuum-tube amplifier with its batteries and transformer. In the top part of the chamber, small 45-volt batteries are mounted, which in part supply the high voltage for the counter tube. Additional voltage is supplied from the surface through the multiconductor cable upon which the chamber is suspended. Also, the output of the transformer in the single-stage amplifier is coupled to another single-stage amplifier at the surface through this cable. The surface amplifier is coupled to the Thyratron-controlled frequency meter, the tank circuit of which consists of a one megohm resistor across which is a bank of condensers varying in

Jan 1, 1940

By V. H. Wilhelm

The outstanding event in the California petroleum industry during 1931 was the continuance of curtailment of crude oil production, which directly reduced drilling and well repair activities. Although all objectives were not attained, a very close balance between supply and demand was maintained during the period of maximum requirements, but the decline in intercoastal and export shipments caused an overproduction during the last half of the year, which indicated that California production would necessarily suffer further curtailment after the end of the year. A new peak in potential crude oil production of 1,187,600 bbl. per day was reported in August and at the close of the year the California potential was 1,069,000 bbl. per day, the shut-in light oil amounting to practically 425,000 bbl. per day and the shut-in heavy oil amounting to about 150,000 bbl. per day. Fig. 1 depicts these conditions and also shows the production and curtailment situation since the inception of proration in California. The December, 1931, potential figure of 1,069,-000 bbl. per day was arrived at after the most careful deliberation by a number of committees, selected to check the potential of practically every well in the state. Continued overproduction in the first three months of 1931 and the inadvisability of building more storage, together with the inability to obtain the proper amount of curtailment in town-lot fields, such as Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs and Playa del Rey, prompted the major oil companies to inaugurate a price reduction in crude oil. This cut caused prices to reach the lowest levels since 1915, and instigated the formation of an oil sales agency, composed of independent operators, which is known as the Oil Producers Sales Agency. The purpose of this organization is to procure a market for its members at reasonable prices, advise them of market conditions and aid them in controlling the amount of oil available for sale. Marketing of oil produced by members began on June 1 and independents controlling" about 160,000 bbl. per day of production had become members by the end of the month.

Jan 1, 1932

The Institute is custodian of funds for support of numerous gold medals and prizes and has representatives on boards awarding still others. Details regarding the Institute Awards are given below. The Institute is represented on the boards of the John Fritz Medal, the Hoover Medal and the Washington Award, in connection with the three national societies of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical engineering; and, also, in the case of the Washington Award, with the Western Society of Engineers. Robert W. Hunt Medal and Prize THE partners of Robert W. Hunt established a fund which was presented to the Institute at a fitting ceremony on May 27, 1920, to establish an annual medal and a sum of money to be awarded under the following rules: 1. The award shall consist of two prizes: first of a gold medal, second of a sum of money; a certificate to accompany each prize. The money prize shall not be awarded to a member over 40 years of age, but under unusual circumstances, both prizes may be allotted to one person provided that he is not over 40 years of age. In general it will be understood that the Committee shall award the money prize to the younger men, rather than the medal. 2. The awards shall be made not oftener than once a year to that person or persons contributing to the Institute the best original paper or papers on iron and steel. The scope of the term "iron and steel" shall be determined by the subcommittee considering the awards. In general, papers dealing with the practical side of the subject have preference over those dealing with the theoretical side in recognition of the fact that Captain Hunt's main contributions to the industry have been in the improvement of production and quality of material. 3. A subcommittee of three to five, including the Chairman of the Iron and Steel Division, shall be appointed by the Iron and Steel Division annually to adjudge the award subject to approval. 4. The awarding committee shall submit its report to the Iron and Steel Committee at its October meeting, and the award shall be certified to the Secretary of the Institute in time to permit the presentation to be made at the Annual Meeting of .the Institute. 5. The recipient of the award shall be designated "The Hunt Medalist." Awards of the medal have been made as follows: 1920—-Robert Woolston Hunt. 192G—John A. Mathews. 1926—Charles Lewis Kinney, Jr. 1929—Edgar Collins Bain. 193G—James Aston. Awards of the prize have been made as follows: 1928—C. H. Herty, Jr. 1929—William E. Griffiths.

Jan 1, 1930

By J. R. Long, T. R. Graham, R. S. Dean

ALTHOUGH considerable information has been published concerning manganese additions to the aluminum bronzes, these data refer principally to the two-phase alloys containing 8 to 11 pct aluminum, with some incidental information on the single-phase alpha solid solution alloys. Strauss1 gives an excellent review of the literature on aluminum bronzes up to 1927 and a bulletin2 of the Copper Development Association brings the bibliography up to 1938. The most extensive work on manganese addition is that of Rosenhain and Lantsberry,3 who investigated alloys ranging up to 10 pct aluminum and up to 10 pct manganese, and presented data on the physical properties of sand-cast, chill-cast, and several wrought alloys. The greater portion of the work, however, concerns alloys ranging from 7 to 10 pct aluminum in the cast condition and sheds little light on the properties of wrought single-phase alloys. Corson4 notes that alloys containing 10 pct manganese and 4 pct aluminum are not hardenable by heat-treatment, while one with 15 pct manganese and 5 pct aluminum can be hardened, but he gives no tensile data on it. In fact, no systematic study of the properties of single-phase wrought alloys containing substantial amounts of manganese has been reported. It should also be noted that most of the investigators worked with alloys containing significant amounts of iron and silicon, and that these impurities, whether intentionally added or accrued from the raw materials used in the preparation of the alloys, may be expected to have a direct bearing on the resultant properties. In the work on alloys made with electrolytic manganese, the Bureau of Mines has undertaken an investigation of the copper-manganese-aluminum system for the purpose of establishing the constitution and properties of high-purity alloys. In a recent paper5 the authors reported a metallographic investigation of the alpha solid solution area and the adjoining fields of the copper-manganese-aluminum system up to 50 pct manganese. This study established the alpha-phase boundaries at 50° temperature levels from 400° to 850°C. It was found that the addition of manganese to copper-aluminum alloys decreases the solubility of aluminum in the alpha phase (Fig I), curving the boundary toward the copper-manganese base line. The greatest change occurs in the first 20 to 25 pct manganese, which decreases the solubility of aluminum to approximately 4 pct. With larger amounts of manganese the alpha boundary tends to parallel the copper-manganese binary. At 1300°F and higher,

Jan 1, 1947

By Henry N. Doyle

Basic procedures in the mining industry have changed only slightly over the centuries since metals and fossil fuels became an essential part of man's economic and cultural life. Mining techniques of the 20th century bear a close resemblance to those of the ancients: exploration, ore breakage and removal, hoisting, and processing. The great advances, however, have been in equipment and machinery of greater size and speed which allow greater efficiency in each of these operations, with a corresponding reduction in manpower requirements. Yesteryear production was measured in pounds per man-day; today a giant and complex, but highly efficient, continuous mining machine can remove as much as eight tons of material a minute from the coal face. If our energy and metal demands of the future are to be met, and at this time it can be assumed that coal will continue to supply a significant part of the energy demand, other dramatic and spectacular technologic advances must be accomplished. Along with mechanization, however, public policy will require the industry to place greater emphasis on health and safety protection, as has been well demonstrated by recent actions of Congress. Together, fossil fuels and metals formed the basis for the industrial revolution-coal to develop power and metals to transform power into useful energy. Strangely enough, however, the mining industry the world over has lagged behind the continuous social changes brought on by the industrial revolution, such as preventive health and industrial hygiene services, and other programs directed to the well-being of the worker. In some countries this resistance, to change may have led in part to the nationalization of the coal industry. Whether this disinclination to social change in the industry of the United States reflects managerial attitudes, inept labor leadership, government neglect, or economic relationship would be the subject of an interesting study. Doubtless the mores of miners and their resistance to change, as well as their geographic isolation from other industrial groups, may have had a strong influence on these factors. In every major coal mining country the accident rate in the coal industry is substantially higher than other industrial groups, and the cost of pneumoconiosis compensation in some countries is greater than the combined costs for all other occupational diseases from all other industries. The high social cost of occupational accidents and diseases may have been a factor in the closing of the industry in at least two countries. Despite diminishing manpower needs, the industry is faced with critical manpower shortages. Miners once reared their sons to be miners; now it appears that the opposite is true. This factor alone, however, does not explain an acute labor shortage in the industry. Traditionally, the industry drew much of

Jan 1, 1976

By C. V. Millikan

When a flowing oil well is being drilled in with cable tools, it is difficult to determine when an additional streak of pay sand is drilled. By placing a gas meter on the gas-release line from the oil and gas separator, any increase in volume of gas that comes with oil production is recorded. In addition to the better knowledge of sand conditions, these data are a valuable aid in determining the size and depth of shots, plugging off water, and estimating ultimate production. The meter also gives a record of operation while the well is drilling in; and if allowed to remain on the well after completion will give information that may lead to a more efficient recovery of the oil from the sand. A VERTICAL cross section of any oil sand will show great variation in porosity and oil content. In some sands, the entire thickness contains oil, the variation being only the degree of porosity or oil content, but more often the pay streaks are distinctly separated by shells or barren streaks. These pay strata vary in number and may be thin or thick. The total thickness of the sand may be several tens of feet while the part containing oil may be only 1 or 2 ft. thick. The amount of production is not proportional to the thickness of the sand but rather the thickness of the pay streaks. If the total thickness of the sand or the amount that can be drilled is small, or if the initial production is small, the depth at which each stratum of pay is encountered can be determined sufficiently accurately for all present economic purposes. However, when drilling through sand of considerable thickness, giving large initial production, especially where conditions necessitate that the production go through the same gas trap with that from one or more wells already producing, it is difficult to determine the depth at which the pay strata are encountered even accurately enough to guide the placing of shots, and small pay streaks are apt not to be recognized at all.

Jan 9, 1925

By V. M. Karve, K. K. Majundar, K. V. Viswanathan, J. Y. Somnay

The effect of calcium, magnesium, iron (both ferrous and ferric) and aluminum ions, which are commonly encountered in a typical beryl ore, was studied in the flotation of pure beryl, soda-feldspar and quartz. The vacuumatic flotation technique was employed. With sodium oleate as collector and in the absence of any activator, beryl floated in a pH range of 3 to 7.5, whereas feldspar and quartz did not float at any pH up to 11.5. The pH range of flotation increased in the presence of the ions studied. With calcium and magnesium ions beryl floated from 3 to 11.5 pH and beyond, soda-feldspar floated beyond pH 6 and quartz floated beyond pH 8. Ferrous ion activation was found to be similar to that of calcium and magnesium. Activation by ferric and aluminium ions was found to be complex and the lower and upper critical pH for all the three minerals was around 2 and 10 respectively. These studies indicated the possibility of separation of beryl from feldspar and quartz even in the presence of calcium, magnesium and ferrous ions between pH 4 and 6. Flotation tests on a mixed feed of pure minerals in a 10 g cell revealed that beryl can be selectively floated from feldspar and quartz if ferric ion is reduced to ferrous state or if it is complexed. Beryl occurs mostly in pegmatites, and hence is associated with feldspar, quartz and micas and small amounts of other minerals such as apatite and tourmaline. The separation of beryl from these minerals is difficult because all the silicates accompanying beryl have more or less the same physical properties. Specific gravities of beryl, feldspar and quartz are 2.70, 2.56 and 2.66 respectively. Electrostatic separation has been suggested but no work has been reported. ' The adsorption of sodium tri-decylate tagged with Cl4 on beryl, feldspar and quartz reveal similarity in surface properties. Much work has been reported on the flotation of beryl from ores, either directly or indirectly as a by-product, but little is known about the fundamental aspects of beryl flotation. Kennedy and O'Meara3 laid emphasis on prior cleaning of the mineral surfaces with HF. Mica is removed first by flotation of beryl with oleic acid, around neutral pH. Runke4 introduced calcium hypochlorite conditioning in a final separation stage for activating beryl in a mixed beryl-feldspar concentrate, and after washing to remove the hypochlorite, floated beryl with petroleum sulphonate. The Snedden and Gibbs5 procedure is somewhat similar to that of Kennedy and O'Meara. Emulsified oleic acid is used as collector. Recently Fuerstenau and Bhappu6 studied the flotation of beryl, feldspar and quartz with petroleum sulfonate in the presence of activators and stressed the importance of iron in the flotation of beryl. From the studies conducted in this laboratory, it was found that feldspar and quartz as such do not float with sodium oleate, but in practice selective flotation of beryl from feldspar and quartz in an ore is found to be impossible with sodium oleate as collector. A glance at the chemical analysis of typical beryl ore indicates the presence of several ions like Ca ++, Mg++, Al + + + and Fe+++ in abundance and Ti++++ and Mn++ in traces. Hence, in an attempt to explain the behaviour of feldspar in the beryl flotation, the effect of Ca++, Mg++, Al+++ and Fe+++, which are known as gangue mineral activators7'8 has been investigated. Materials and Methods: Lumps of beryl ore (hand picked) were boiled with 10% sodium hydroxide and washed with distilled water. They were further boiled many times with 10% hydrochloric acid till no positive test for iron was obtained with ammonium thio cyanate. This was followed by thorough flushing with double distilled water. The lumps were crushed in a porcelain mortar and pestle under water. The minus 65 + 100 mesh fraction was used for testing and was always stored under distilled water. Pure feldspar and quartz were similarly prepared and the minus 65 + 100 mesh fractions collected. Inorganic ions tried as activators were ca++, Mg++ , Fe++, Fe ++ and A1 +++ . Calcium nitrate, magnesium chloride, ferrous ammonium sulfate, ferric ammonium sulfate and aluminum nitrate of G.R.E. Merck grade were used. B.D.H. technical grade sodium oleate was used as a collector. The vacuumatic flotation technique developed by Schuhmann and Prakash was used for studying the effect of pH on flotability. 7 The indications given by this work were confirmed by using 10 g miniature cell.'

Jan 1, 1965

By Benjamin F. Tillson

Although portable fire extinguishers are valuable for fires in an incipient stage, some medium that will dissipate a large amount of heat is needed to fight a fire in mine timbers, because of the size to which the fire will probably have grown before it is discovered. Scaling off, or otherwise smothering such a fire with gases that will not support combustion, is often ineffective for the residual heat will cause reignition when the area is opened and fresh air reaches the hot charred timber. The most effective ways of fighting mine fires, therefore, are to drown and cool the hot zone with water, and to "load out" the partly burned material. Either of these methods requires a direct attack of water ; upon the inflamed material; therefore, every mine containing a large ' quantity of timber or other combustible should be as completely equipped with a fire-hydrant system as it is with compressed-air mains. Mine managers may object to the expenditure, especially if they have not suffered from mine fires. The cost of such preventative measures, however, is only a small portion of the possible losses, and the water pipes can be used for other purposes, which will pay the carrying charges. They can supply water to the rock drills, which will encourage more wet drilling with hollow-drill steel, for the trouble and expense of packing water to individual tanks at the drills will be removed. The carbon-tetrachloride hand extinguishers seem to have no place in mining except for fires that start in electrical equipment. They give off noxious gas, which may prove poisonous in confined quarters; and as it is heavier than air it is of no value for smothering fires overhead or in side timbers and would be dissipated by a good ventilating draft. The old soda-acid extinguisher or the more modern "foam" types ' are preferable. The former probably does not rely for its efficacy on the carbon dioxide generated but on the smothering and cooling effect of the water and the trajectory of stream that may be obtained because of the gas pressure developed. The production of a foam having a tough film to smother a fire, even on overhead surfaces, with the added

Jan 1, 1923

By Benjamin F. Tillson

Although portable fire extinguishers are valuable for fires in an incipient stage, some medium that will dissipate a large amount of heat is needed to fight a fire in mine timbers, because of the size to which the fire will probably have grown before it is discovered. Scaling off, or otherwise smothering such a fire with gases that will not support combustion, is often ineffective for the residual heat will cause reignition when the area is opened and fresh air reaches the hot charred timber. The most effective ways of fighting mine fires, therefore, are to drown and cool the hot zone with water, and to "load out" the partly burned material. Either of these methods requires a direct attack of water ; upon the inflamed material; therefore, every mine containing a large ' quantity of timber or other combustible should be as completely equipped with a fire-hydrant system as it is with compressed-air mains. Mine managers may object to the expenditure, especially if they have not suffered from mine fires. The cost of such preventative measures, however, is only a small portion of the possible losses, and the water pipes can be used for other purposes, which will pay the carrying charges. They can supply water to the rock drills, which will encourage more wet drilling with hollow-drill steel, for the trouble and expense of packing water to individual tanks at the drills will be removed. The carbon-tetrachloride hand extinguishers seem to have no place in mining except for fires that start in electrical equipment. They give off noxious gas, which may prove poisonous in confined quarters; and as it is heavier than air it is of no value for smothering fires overhead or in side timbers and would be dissipated by a good ventilating draft. The old soda-acid extinguisher or the more modern "foam" types ' are preferable. The former probably does not rely for its efficacy on the carbon dioxide generated but on the smothering and cooling effect of the water and the trajectory of stream that may be obtained because of the gas pressure developed. The production of a foam having a tough film to smother a fire, even on overhead surfaces, with the added

Jan 1, 1923

By L. A. Weakly

The Viburnum ore trend is the largest, single known ore body of lead in the world. Four well-known mining companies operate in the trend, which is approximately 64 km (40 miles) long and up to 610 m (2,000 ft) wide, located some 121 km (75 miles) southwest of St. Louis, MO. Total production from the mines for 1979 was 33 kt/d (36,000 tons) of ore or 472 kt/a (520,350 tons) of lead and coproduct metal. The district is the number one producer of lead, providing 90% of the United States' output with its coproducts, zinc ranking second, and copper and silver both ranking sixth in total US output. Mining is done in a stratiform deposit approximately 305 m (1,000 ft) in depth with the host rock principally dolomite. Ore is mined in large open stopes by the method commonly referred to as room-and-pillar mining. Mining methods and equipment are fairly similar, with the mines classified as trackless, all mining equipment operates on rubber tires. This paper will present a description of the different methods and equipment used to move ore from the active heading underground to the ore shaft for hoisting to the surface. Basically, three methods are incorporated: front-end loader and truck haulage combination; front-end loader and truck, with main line track haulage combination; and front-end loader and truck, with conveyor haulage combination. The logistics of each system, such as method of use, equipment specifications, ore handling rate, and those cost figures that could be made public, will be included.

Jan 1, 1983