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By B. J. Kochanowsky

To improve blasting methods it is necessary to know how the explosive force acts and how rock resists this force. Because of the tremendous power developed within milliseconds and the great number of other factors directly affecting the technical and economic results, an analysis of the fundamentals of blasting theory is difficult. But since the rules used for layout design and for calculations of size of explosive charges are based on theoretical assumptions, complete knowledge of blasting theory has great practical importance in mining. Analysis of Blasting Theory: It is interesting to note the opinion of blasting experts with respect to contemporary blasting theories. F. Stussi,' Professor of the University of Zurich, stated: "We do not have enough experience yet to change our army engineering regulations in blasting and base it on new fundamentals. It is our duty to collect more practical data and to do more research in blasting to close this gap." K. H. Fraenkel,' editor of the Manual on Rock Blasting published in 1953 in Sweden and written by well-known Swedish, German, Swiss, and French blasting and explosive experts, said: "To the best of our knowledge no suitable formulas for civil blasting work are to be found in the American, French or German literature."

Sep 1, 1955

By J. C. Bartlett

(Read at the Wilkes-Barre Meeting, May, 1877.) THE following discussion was suggested by an experiment of Mr. Krom, the manufacturer of air-jigs, to illustrate the superiority of air over water as a medium of concentration. The paper is written in the interest of no system of concentration, but simply to test the experiment, and, perchance, to add something to the general fund of information on the subject. To speak of testing an experiment by a theoretical discussion, may seem a misuse of terms, but the theories concerning falling bodies and the resistance of fluids are pretty well crystallized into laws, which may properly be used to show where experiments which seem to refute them were improperly performed, and that instead of refitting they only corroborate. It is well known that a sphere of galena 1/8 inch in diameter, and a sphere of quartz 1/2 inch in diameter, are equal falling in water ; that is, these two spheres, being placed together in a column of water at rest or in motion, will practically remain together, falling or rising together, or remaining in suspension. Mr. Krom, to show that these

Jan 1, 1878

By Walter R. Hibbard, Robert I. O’Herron, Fred D. Rosi, Howard T. Clark

INTRODUCTION AND PREVIOUS WORK IN the search to find a copper-base alloy with high strength properties, it was considered that the addition of a small amount of an age-hardening element to a binary system with useful strength properties might result in a series of alloys of theoretical and practical importance. [ ] The copper-nickel system was selected for its basic properties and chromium was added as the age-hardening element in view of the small percentage involved and its decreasing solubility with decreasing temperature. A study of the Cu-Cr binary alloys was undertaken as a preliminary investigation. However, in view of the response of these alloys to heat treatment, the scope of this phase of the investigation was widened. [ ]

Jan 1, 1948

By George M. Schwartz

WHEN reviewing the progress made in mining geology for the year 1953, one might say that not much has been accomplished and, indeed, in a subject such as economic geology not much progress should be expected in the 10 months of the year which elapsed before this article was prepared. This seeming lack of progress, however, disappears when the facts are investigated a bit. There undoubtedly are more economic geologists at work than ever before. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that more geologists are now employed by a single company in the Lake Superior district than were employed in the whole district 20 years ago. In most mining districts geologists are busy with numerous problems of production, development, and exploration and some give an occasional thought to the scientific problems of the science, or rather the art, of mining geology. In fact, this very intense activity of mining geologists is one reason why progress seems slow; they do not have time to write up results of investigations. There is also a great amount of work being done which is not released because of company policy. Conditions have improved very much in recent years but mining corporations, in general, have some distance to go before attaining par with the petroleum industry in this respect.

Jan 2, 1954

By Paul Billingsley, Augustus Locke

The mining districts of the first order' of the western United States (and borders) are those named on Fig. 1. These fall into four groups: (1) in the eastern outliers of the Rocky Mountain system; (2) in the Rocky Mountain system itself; (3) in the Great Basin; and (4) in the Sierras and Coast ranges. Of these four groups, the first three are almost entirely of Tertiary age and are within a belt of compressive folding which we shall call the Rocky Mountain-Great Basin thrust arc. The backbone of this belt is shown by the line BAC. The position of the ore districts in this belt indicates a conformance to linear elements of the continental pattern. These are additional to the peripheral elements emphasized by Butler.2 Nature of the Thrust Arc The thrust arc separates regions of contrasted kinds. To the east of it are flat-lying plateaus interrupted by earlier mountain folds; to the west, sunken basins, in which block-faulted ranges lie like an anchored fleet in a sea of desert wash or lava. The. cross-sections are as shown in Fig. 2. The backbone of the belt is the upward and eastward moving block represented by the Glacier Park, the Wasatch, and the Virgin mountains, successively. The structure represented on these sections is the culmination of events which began far back in geologic time and throughout which a contrast has existed between the regions east and west of the backbone line. Before the Pennsylvanian, as Fig. 3 shows, there was a shallow shelf on the east and a deep marine trough on the west; after

Jan 1, 1935

By Paul Billingsley, Augustus Locke

The mining districts of the first order' of the western United States (and borders) are those named on Fig. 1. These fall into four groups: (1) in the eastern outliers of the Rocky Mountain system; (2) in the Rocky Mountain system itself; (3) in the Great Basin; and (4) in the Sierras and Coast ranges. Of these four groups, the first three are almost entirely of Tertiary age and are within a belt of compressive folding which we shall call the Rocky Mountain-Great Basin thrust arc. The backbone of this belt is shown by the line BAC. The position of the ore districts in this belt indicates a conformance to linear elements of the continental pattern. These are additional to the peripheral elements emphasized by Butler.2 Nature of the Thrust Arc The thrust arc separates regions of contrasted kinds. To the east of it are flat-lying plateaus interrupted by earlier mountain folds; to the west, sunken basins, in which block-faulted ranges lie like an anchored fleet in a sea of desert wash or lava. The. cross-sections are as shown in Fig. 2. The backbone of the belt is the upward and eastward moving block represented by the Glacier Park, the Wasatch, and the Virgin mountains, successively. The structure represented on these sections is the culmination of events which began far back in geologic time and throughout which a contrast has existed between the regions east and west of the backbone line. Before the Pennsylvanian, as Fig. 3 shows, there was a shallow shelf on the east and a deep marine trough on the west; after

Jan 1, 1935

The mining districts of the first order' of the western United States (and borders) are those named on Fig. 1. These fall into four groups: (1) in the eastern outliers of the Rocky Mountain system; (2) in the Rocky Mountain system itself; (3) in the Great Basin; and (4) in the Sierras and Coast ranges. Of these four groups, the first three are almost entirely of Tertiary age and are within a belt of compressive folding which we shall call the Rocky Mountain-Great Basin thrust arc. The backbone of this belt is shown by the line BAC. The position of the ore districts in this belt indicates a conformance to linear elements of the continental pattern. These are additional to the peripheral elements emphasized by Butler.2 Nature of the Thrust Arc The thrust arc separates regions of contrasted kinds. To the east of it are flat-lying plateaus interrupted by earlier mountain folds; to the west, sunken basins, in which block-faulted ranges lie like an anchored fleet in a sea of desert wash or lava. The. cross-sections are as shown in Fig. 2. The backbone of the belt is the upward and eastward moving block represented by the Glacier Park, the Wasatch, and the Virgin mountains, successively. The structure represented on these sections is the culmination of events which began far back in geologic time and throughout which a contrast has existed between the regions east and west of the backbone line. Before the Pennsylvanian, as Fig. 3 shows, there was a shallow shelf on the east and a deep marine trough on the west; after

Jan 1, 1935

By S. C. Lindsay, D. J. I. Evans

With each year that passes hydrometallurgical processes are being more widely used to recover base metals from ores and concentrates. Generally these processes involve liquid-solid separation of metal-bearing liquors from barren residues. This may be done by countercurrent decantation, thickening and filtration, or filtration or centrifuging only. Choice of method is governed by chemical and physical characteristics of the pulps; cost of labor, power, materials, and waste disposal; and even by the amount of capital available when building plans are under way. Since all these controlling factors change with time and location and with technological advances, the separation method must be re-evaluated when new plants or expansion programs are contemplated. At the Sherritt Gordon refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, an ammonia pressure leaching process recovers nickel, copper, and cobalt from the nickel concentrate produced at Lynn Lake, Manitoba.' Pregnant liquors are separated from the barren leach residues in a thickener-filter liquid-solids circuit. The decision to use this type of separation was based on a summation of economic factors during the pilot plant and design stages. Although countercurrent decantation was not incorporated in the refinery flowsheet, the problems solved in thickening the leach residues and the experience gained in operating the commercial plant are pertinent to countercurrent decantation, particularly where it is applied to slow-settling leach slurries or slurries having a relatively high vapor pressure of a valuable, obnoxious, or poisonous vapor.

Jan 1, 1960

By R. W. H. Atcherson

BLAST-FURNACE flue dust is one of the most troublesome operating factors in the iron and steel industry. It is usually involved in all the unpleasant phases of blast-furnace operations. It adds to our aggravations until we are willing to spend large sums of money to keep it out of our stoves and boilers acid more money to handle it again and again on one scheme or another to induce the furnaces to retain it without bad after effects. Several successful operators claim that it is useless to recharge raw flue dust because the furnace would never have blown it out if it had been suitable material for blast-furnace consumption. Most of us who have made persistent efforts to return raw flue dust to the furnaces have decided that it is very often false economy to do so. Yet some remarkable results have been attained at the Ohio Works of the Carnegie Steel Co. through recharging raw dust. The plant comprises six modern blast furnaces. Up to 1909, about 300,000 tons of flue dust had accumulated in stock piles. During the last 10 years, there have been recharged into these furnaces all of the flue dust recovered from the furnace operations, the entire stock pile of flue dust, and nearly 80,000 tons of dust shipped from other furnaces of the Carnegie Steel Co. The results obtained are shown in Table 1.

Jan 2, 1920

By J. B. Clark, F. N. Rhines

THE A1-Mg phase diagram in the composition range from 30 to 60 pct Mg remains uncertain. Four intermetallic compounds are reported in this composition range. All of the published diagrams are in agreement as to the existence of intermediate phases near 37 and 52 pct Mg (Mgl,A1,). Confusion exists, however, as to the number and identity of the intermetallic phases present in the intervening composition range from 37 to 52 pct Mg. Mikheeva and Kurnakovl denote the existence of a phase e near 42 pct Mg. Kawakami," Reiderer? and Laves report a phase near 48 pct Mg. Eickhoff and Vosskuhler, from a critical survey of the literature, composed the diagram shown in Fig. 1, with the exception of the eutectoid horizontal of the e-phase shown at 210°C. RaynorV n a similar survey discounts the existence of the phase proposed by Ka-wakami et al.' at 48 pct Mg and reports a composite diagram similar to that of Eickhoff and Vosskuhler." This uncertainty as to the number of intermetallic phases in the A1-Mg system may be eliminated by annealing a diffusion couple of pure aluminum and

Jan 1, 1958

By Augustus Locke, Paul Billingsley

The mining districts of the first order' of the western United States (and borders) are those named on Fig. 1. These fall into four groups: (1) in the eastern outliers of the Rocky Mountain system; (2) in the Rocky Mountain system itself; (3) in the Great Basin; and (4) in the Sierras and Coast ranges. Of these four groups, the first three are almost entirely of Tertiary age and are within a belt of compressive folding which we shall call the Rocky Mountain-Great Basin thrust arc. The backbone of this belt is shown by the line BAC. The position of the ore districts in this belt indicates a conformance to linear elements of the continental pattern. These are additional to the peripheral elements emphasized by Butler.2 Nature of the Thrust Arc The thrust arc separates regions of contrasted kinds. To the east of it are flat-lying plateaus interrupted by earlier mountain folds; to the west, sunken basins, in which block-faulted ranges lie like an anchored fleet in a sea of desert wash or lava. The. cross-sections are as shown in Fig. 2. The backbone of the belt is the upward and eastward moving block represented by the Glacier Park, the Wasatch, and the Virgin mountains, successively. The structure represented on these sections is the culmination of events which began far back in geologic time and throughout which a contrast has existed between the regions east and west of the backbone line. Before the Pennsylvanian, as Fig. 3 shows, there was a shallow shelf on the east and a deep marine trough on the west; after

Jan 1, 1935

By George B. Langford

THE McIntyre mine is in the Pearl Lake section of the Porcupine gold area. The rocks are Keewatin lavas intruded by quartz porphyries and albitite dikes of Algoman age. Gold-bearing quartz veins are found in the Keewatin rocks near the porphyry stocks. The whole area has been highly compressed by forces acting along a N. 20°W. line. These forces folded the Keewatin rocks before the intrusion of the Algoman rocks, and later schisted both the Keewatin and Algoman rocks. Vein fractures were developed after the folding but before the development of the schist by the compressive forces being locally broken up into couples. These couples were set up by the differential resistance to deformation of porphyries and basalts, and also by the competency of the dacites and incompetency of the tuffs and fragmental rocks. During the important period of vein formation, two zones were developed-an inner productive zone in which the quartz veins are ankerite-bearing and an outer barren zone in which the quartz veins are calcite-bearing. The vein solutions originated in the same magrna that supplied the albitit,e dikes.

Jan 1, 1938

By C. L. Meyers, J. L. Lytton, T. E. Tietz

The recovery of tensile flow stress of 99.995 pct A1 under conditions of elastic strain and plastic creep straining was investigated using a fractional recovery parameter. Tensile straining was conducted at room temperature to a true strain of 0.10, and recovery treatments were made under stress in the temperature range from 80° to 198°C. Whereas elastic strains had no appreciable influence on flow-stress recovery, plastic creep straining was found to accelerate the recovery process. Although higher creep stresses gave greater recovery for a given time and temperature, it was found that lower stresses produced greater recovevy at equal ALTHOUGH many studies have been made to date on the recovery of metals from the cold-worked creep strains above about 0.005. This effect was attributed to the coarser, and therefore weaker, substructure developed during creep at the lower stresses. The activation energy for recovery during creep straining at 2075 psi between 160" and 198°C was found to be 25,000 cal per mole. This value was not significantly greater than the value previously obtained for no-load recovery. The activation energy for creep at 2075 psi between 160" and 198°C was 34,000 cal per mole, a value significantly greater than that for recovery under the same conditions. state, little is known concerning some important aspects of recovery behavior. One such area is the effect concurrent strain has on the recovery process. Since metals in structural applications at high temperatures are under stress, the possible effects of the resulting elastic and plastic strain on recovery may be of significant importance.

Jan 1, 1962

By George T. Wickes

Several years ago, Mr. Robert A. Cook described and illustrated in our Transactions a mechanical coke-drawer, patented in 1891 by Mr. Thomas Smith of the Thorncliff Iron Works, Sheffield, England, and first introduced in the United States in 1896, at the coking-plant of the Latrobe Coal Co., Latrobe,Pa. This machine has not received any very extended application in this country, although it was successfully used in two places for a number of years. The present paper describes a new and simpler machine, containing few wearing-parts, and capable of withstanding continued rough usage. Anything which tends to prolong the general use of bee-hive ovens will be welcome to those who are interested in cheapening the cost of producing coke in such ovens, especially if it provides satisfactory mechanical means, replacing the hard labor involved in drawing coke by hand with the old-fashioned " duck bill." The difficulty of finding efficient coke-drawers, especially during the summer season, and in the South, is notorious. Yet, notwithstanding the great improvements that have

Jan 1, 1906

By Edward N. Trump

Extensive beds of rock salt occur in New York, Michigan, Kansas, and Texas. Wells are drilled through the beds, cased, and equipped with a suspended center tube. By circulating water through such a well, the soluble saline is dissolved and a brine produced. Operation of a well results ordinarily in the formation of an inverted conical cavity in the saline, inasmuch as the dissolving action of the fresh water is more rapid at the top of the bed than at the bottom. Under continued operations, the side wall of the cavity becomes so flat that a blanket of mud is deposited thereon and if the bed is overlain with shale or a soft rock caving follows. Three methods of operating wells have been employed—the "Tully plan," "the Detroit plan," and "the Trump plan." Both the Tully plan and the Detroit plan involve the formation of the aforesaid conical cavity with constant caving of shale above and deposition of mud on the side wall; the Trump plan was developed to avoid both these circumstances and thus materially prolong the life of a well. Details of the three plans follow. The Tully Plan In the Tully plan, the water passes down the annular space between the casing and the center tube, the brine rising in the center tube (Figs. I and 2). An inverted conical cavity is formed, the side wall of which relatively soon becomes so flat that it is blanketed by mud and impurities from the rock salt; this blanket limits dissolving action to the perimeter of the base of the cone, situated at the top of the saline bed. Caving of the overlying strata follows, and the total production of brine from the well is comparatively small. The Detroit Plan In the Detroit plan, the water passes down the center tube, the brine rising in the annular space between the center tube and casing (Figs. I and 2). Initially, this flow forms a pear-shaped cavity in the bottom of the salt bed, but this cavity soon changes in shape to that of an inverted cone, as under the Tully plan, with the attendant disadvantages inherent in that plan. Application of the Detroit plan is limited to salt beds 300 ft. thick as a minimum. This depth of bed is necessary to prevent fresh water of lower specific gravity than the brine from rising in the

Jan 1, 1948

By Harrison Schmitt

DURING the past decade the writer has studied and mapped certain ore deposits and their structural associations in the states of Chihuahua, Durango, New Mexico and Arizona, and he believes that these deposits, with the exception of the manto-chimney, are representative of the principal types in the area of the states named. In this paper the deposits are described; then generalizations are drawn so far as seems appropriate. HANOVER, NEW MEXICO The Hanover; New Mexico, zinc deposits were briefly described by Lindgren and others,1 Paige2 and recently in more detail by Schmitt.3 These, the kind ordinarily called contact metamorphic, border the southern end of an oval area of granodiorite intrusive 3/4 mile wide and 2 1/2 miles long (Fig. 1). The granodiorite has intruded, folded, and metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks, which range in age from pre-Cambrian to Upper Cretaceous. About 90 per cent of the ore has replaced coarse, recrystallized, pure, fossiliferous, lower Mississippian, nonmagnesian limestone (Hanover limestone) 110 ft. thick;4 about 75 per cent of it occurs in the upper 50 ft. of this horizon just below an 18-ft. lower Pennsylvanian shale bed, which lies on a locally inconspicuous unconformity representing upper Mississippian time. The orebodies show five shapes or attitudes, each dependent on a special structural situation: 1. Most of the ore occurs as podlike; thick lenslike or other "three-dimensional" shoots extending from top to bottom of the Hanover limestone and lying adjacent to the outer contact of a silicate zone largely of andradite, which follows the intrusive contact (Figs. 1 and 2).

Jan 1, 1933

By Thomas D. West

The occasional reports of progressive furnace-men, giving the results of physical tests to prove the superior qualities of their pig-irons, have encouraged the writer to believe that the time is ripe for the discussion of such work, and the inauguration of some correct system by which the furnace-man and the founder could make intelligent comparison of the elements of strength, deflection, contraction, and chill presented in pigmetal. In most cases the physical tests now made by furnace-men define but one quality in the iron, and are generally too vague to permit any true comparison. For example, one furnaceman tells us he can punch holes in his cast-iron, wishing it to be inferred that the iron is very soft and strong. Another furnace casts a long wedge, the thin end running to a knife's edge, which is supposed to prove the fluidity of the iron, for the founder's benefit. Another casts in square-cornered " chills," to define the hardness or softness of the metal. To the writer's knowledge these tests are not advocated by their originators as suitable for standards; and they are, to his mind, but evidence of unrest on the part of progressive furnace-men, who feel that something should be done in the line of physical tests. The writer knows of no furnace-men who make and keep records of the strength of their iron obtained by means of tests made on recognized standard testing-scales ; but he does know of a prominent furnace-salesman, who, not long ago, came into possession of a 1-inch square bar that stood 1400 pounds

Jan 1, 1897

By Edward N. Trump

Extensive beds of rock salt occur in New York, Michigan, Kansas, and Texas. Wells are drilled through the beds, cased, and equipped with a suspended center tube. By circulating water through such a well, the soluble saline is dissolved and a brine produced. Operation of a well results ordinarily in the formation of an inverted conical cavity in the saline, inasmuch as the dissolving action of the fresh water is more rapid at the top of the bed than at the bottom. Under continued operations, the side wall of the cavity becomes so flat that a blanket of mud is deposited thereon and if the bed is overlain with shale or a soft rock caving follows. Three methods of operating wells have been employed—the "Tully plan," "the Detroit plan," and "the Trump plan." Both the Tully plan and the Detroit plan involve the formation of the aforesaid conical cavity with constant caving of shale above and deposition of mud on the side wall; the Trump plan was developed to avoid both these circumstances and thus materially prolong the life of a well. Details of the three plans follow. The Tully Plan In the Tully plan, the water passes down the annular space between the casing and the center tube, the brine rising in the center tube (Figs. I and 2). An inverted conical cavity is formed, the side wall of which relatively soon becomes so flat that it is blanketed by mud and impurities from the rock salt; this blanket limits dissolving action to the perimeter of the base of the cone, situated at the top of the saline bed. Caving of the overlying strata follows, and the total production of brine from the well is comparatively small. The Detroit Plan In the Detroit plan, the water passes down the center tube, the brine rising in the annular space between the center tube and casing (Figs. I and 2). Initially, this flow forms a pear-shaped cavity in the bottom of the salt bed, but this cavity soon changes in shape to that of an inverted cone, as under the Tully plan, with the attendant disadvantages inherent in that plan. Application of the Detroit plan is limited to salt beds 300 ft. thick as a minimum. This depth of bed is necessary to prevent fresh water of lower specific gravity than the brine from rising in the

Jan 1, 1948

By Richard Franchot

FERROUS metallurgy today, defined as the art of extracting money from iron ores, appears to suffer from a complex of inherited theory. In so far as pig iron costs contribute to inadequate profit margins, this symptom may be diagnosed as due to persistence, despite disproval, of Sir Lowthian Bell's theories of reduction. An attempt to meet the economic situation by reducing costs through improving blast-furnace metallurgy would be inconsistent with Bell's theories. These theories, though refutable on the facts of practice, still prevail and today's metallurgy, as measured by its fuel economy or smelting efficiency ranging between 30 and 40 per cent. is no better than Bell's, showing a specific efficiency of 36 per cent.1 If fair to neglect dry-blast operations, it appears that the advance in furnace practice since Bell's day, as shown by a tenfold increase in individual furnace capacity, has been largely mechanical and that the metallurgy of the process has not been changed materially, since the introduction of blast heat, patented in 1828. It seems fair to attribute, this lack of progress on the strictly metallurgical side to a domination of the industry by false ideas first expressed by Lowthian Bell. What the furnace seems to need first, in the interest of lower costs and of better iron, is some destructive criticism of these ideas, in moderate doses, to be followed by a constructive theoretical treatment; then, research and still more research.

Jan 1, 1929

By S. F. Emmons

THE first paper which appears in the published Transactions of our Institute is that read by our respected Secretary at its first meeting in Wilkes-Barre, in May, 1871. It is entitled The Geological Distribution of Mining Districts in the United States, and presents a brief but masterly review of what was known of the distribution of our deposits of useful minerals, particularly the metals, not only from a geographical but from .a geological stand-point. At the request of Dr. Raymond, I agreed, somewhat hastily, perhaps, to write for this occasion a brief sketch of the geological distribution of the deposits of the useful metals in this country, in the light of the increased knowledge of the present day. In the time given no personal investigation was possible, and as it was therefore out of the question to attempt to make anything that could be considered an original contribution to the history of our ore-deposits, I have been obliged to limit myself to an examination of such published data within my reach as bore upon this subject, and could be consulted in the brief time I have been able to give to it. Had the geological investigations undertaken by the Tenth Census been continued systematically by the United States Geological Survey or by the Eleventh Census, it might have been possible to make a fairly-complete review of the subject. As it is, the principal result of my examination 1 has been to show how very unequal

Jan 1, 1913