Search Documents

By Eugene McAuliffe

THE mining press, as well as certain federal and state bulletins, refer from tine to time to. the relative hazards that attach to loading bituminous coal by hand when compared with the so-called "mechanical loading" process. Much of the coal coming under the head. of hand-loaded coal is won in part by the use of machinery; the coal-cutting machine is in general use, the electric power drill employed to a lesser extent. Therefore it may be said that the principal difference in the process employed, mechanical loading versus hand loading, lies in the fact that some type of loading machine is employed in the mechanical loading process to lift the coal from the face of the room, place or entry, after it is mined, placing it in the pit cars for transport to the tipple. It is a common practice to compute accident records on the basis of tons mined per fatal and per nonfatal accident, disregarding the fact that it is possible to produce by the aid of coal-loading machines the same daily, monthly and annual tonnage with a much smaller force than is required where the coal is all shoveled by hand. Inasmuch as the men who are released by the substitution of machinery for hand labor must find employment elsewhere, suffering some measure of hazard in their new occupation, we are of the opinion that the true relative hazard that attaches to the processes of mechanical loading and hand loading can be determined only by using as the basis of comparison "man shifts worked" or "hours of exposure" experienced per accident. The Union Pacific Coal Co., beginning with the year 1929, undertook to maintain a true record of man shifts worked per compensable accident, giving equal weight to fatal and nonfatal accidents. Accidents lacking sufficient severity to come under the compensable terms of the Workmen's Compensation Act were not included in the compilation, the Act providing that "no compensation, except the expense of medical attention, shall be allowed for the first seven (7) days of disability, unless the incapacity runs beyond the period of twenty-one (21) days,' in which case the compensation shall run from the time of the injury."

Jan 1, 1931

By R. T. Hukki

IT is no great exaggeration to say that present grinding practice and economics are largely determined by lining design. A record of outstanding liner wear can be achieved with any liner surface pattern that will positively lock the outer layer or layers of grinding media. With no slippage, lining wear is bound to be slight. At the same time, popular practice calls for tumbling loads of about 50 pct of mill volume to obtain maximum grinding capacity. Innumerable parallel grinding investigations have verified that optimum speed for such a mill lies within 70 to 85 pct of theoretical critical speed. If the mill is speeded up to 100 pct of critical, little or no grinding can be accomplished. Earlier Work on Supercritical Grinding: First investigations concerning grinding at supercritical speeds seem to be very old. Remarkable work on the subject has been performed by White,1 and his experiments have been described and summarized by Richards1 White's contributions seem to have passed unnoticed by Fahrenwald, 2,3 whose extensive experiments have been well presented, yet apparently very little appreciated. Additional work on grinding at supercritical speed has been reported, e.g., by Lewenson and Tscherny,4 USSR; Anselm5 and Grunder,6 Germany; and Rose and Evans,[6] Great Britain.

Jan 5, 1958

By Francois E. Heuze

The Crestmore Mine of the American Cement Company lies at the eastern end of the Jurupa Mountains, 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Originally, a quarry was opened in 1908 for "limestone" used in the manufacture of cement. The mining operations eventually went underground employing first a modified system of block caving and later the "room and pillar" scheme. The limestones are relatively small roof pendants preserved in an enveloping and intrusive quartz diorite. They occur as two irregular lenticular bodies roughly parallel at the top and tending towards convergence at depth. Their dip varies between 25 and 30 degrees E. The presently mined lower bed, Chino limestone, is typically composed of alternating bands a few inches to a few feet thick of medium to coarsely granular white crystalline limestone and somewhat yellowish limestone (brucite marble). A "room and pillar" scheme of mining is currently employed in the lower body of the Crestmore Mine. The levels are horizontal and access is provided by a spiraling road starting in the old quarry. The present depth of operations is an average 750 ft below the surface. Fig. 1 gives a three-dimensional general sketch of the mine. The long axis of the rooms is in an E-W direction, normal to the strike of the beds. Fig. 2 is a horizontal map of the 130 level, the deepest level mined presently. It is in this level that most of the in-situ investigations have been conducted. The present investigation was made possible by a non-restrictive grant of the American Cement Company to the University of California. The program included a series of in-situ tests using flat-jacks, plate bearing,

Jan 1, 1968

By M. A. Meyers, P. P. Meyers

The analysis of the phenomena involved in determining the compressive strength of iron-ore agglomerates leads to the identification of important parameters. It is shown mathematically that the pellet rupture strength is proportional to the cross-sectional area. Fracture is initiated at the center of the pellets by the tensile stresses developed by the compressive loads normally to the compressive axis. The variation in strength between individual pellets of identical composition and subjected to identical treatments u due to internal voids of varying sixes that act as stress-concentration sites. Two novel testing procedures are proposed. The first consults of testing the pellets between two plates having three steel spheres each. This configuration simulates much better the environment actually encountered by the pellets. The second procedure consists of a thick-walled cylinder in which a piston penetrates; a large group of pellets is tested simultaneously, as the stress versus strain plot is being recorded. This latter test presents vacant advantages over the conventional testing procedure; the main one is that one single test is sufficient to characterize the mechanical response of the pellets.

Jan 1, 1984

By W. O Hotchkiss

An essential mental equipment for planning exploration is the fullest possible knowledge of the way in which the orebodies occur in the region to be explored, also the realization that in no mining district is this knowledge complete, and that new facts of importance will be revealed to the explorer in every exploration if he is in the proper frame of mind to grasp them. The geology of the ore deposits of the Gogebic Range for a long time was thought to be relatively simple, but work in recent years, by several men, has proved that this is not the case. We now realize that we are far from knowing all the factors that have resulted in the localization of ore deposits. For example, we have long known that the intersections of the dikes and the foot wall were favorable places to look for ore, but only within the last few years have we learned that there are several horizons in the various members, well north of the foot wall, that are likely to carry ore. The influence of the numerous cross faults on orebodies is not known or appreciated beyond a general realization that they are important. Just how they may be favorable or unfavorable to the localization of ore is not known. Such elementary information as the positions of these faults is just beginning to appear on the mine maps. Such being the condition, one can hardly overestimate the importance to the various operators and fee owners of careful studies of conditions in their properties for the purpose of assuring themselves that they are not missing valuable ore—that they are doing all the exploration that their situation demands in order to secure maximum returns. Valuable ores have been missed in the past and will be missed in the future. Only with a complete knowledge of all the factors that have united to produce ore could anything else be expected. The purpose of this paper is to call attention to these facts briefly and to suggest a few of the principles that should guide effective exploration. The foremost principle is that the man who starts out with the idea that he knows all about the mine geology of the Gogebic Range is starting with a heavy handicap.

Jan 1, 1923

By Owen R. Rice

Changes in coke hardness affect the working of the blast furnace, for soft coke is an obstacle to proper furnace operation. Soft coke is due to a low hydrogen-oxygen ratio in the coal charged; increasing this ratio increases the hardness of the coke. The best means of determining the hardness of coke is the combined tumbler and ball-mill. What is Good Coke? It is not always appreciated that the correct answer may be such a reliable forecast to the physical condition of the blast furnace, and incidentally its entire operation, that among the ordinary variations in other raw materials and also in operating conditions, it assumes a position of primary significance. Inasmuch as coke forms two-thirds of the total bulk of material charged, this assertion will not seem exaggerated, and in the subsequent discussion its applicability will be presented. Coke is the ideal blast-furnace fuel because it is strong and hard enough to resist the crushing and grinding effects of the furnace burden, and its porosity allows the ready passage of gas upward through the charge, and rapid combustion before the tuyeres. Coke deprived of its strength and with a cell structure physically frail and chemically susceptible to solution by carbon dioxide has its chief asset eliminated. When the melting zones are approached the fluid cinder trickling toward the hearth will envelope the small pieces of coke and form a sticky mass that will retard the free passage of gas. Blast pressure will then rise, driving will slow up and fragments of coke will lie inert before the tuyeres, rendered practically incombustible by their slaggy envelop. It is believed also that coke messes at cast are attributable to quantities of such coke floating unburned in the hearth. It has been correctly claimed that coke rendered small outside the oven possesses greater combustibility than that so developed in the

Jan 1, 1922

By William B. Harris, Leonard Greenburg, Gustav Werner

Haulage in tunneling operations generally has been done with electric locomotives. As a rule, on short hauls the source of electricity is a storage battery mounted on the locomotive, which, of course, must be removed and recharged periodically. Where the distance from the recharging point to the tunnel face is very long, and where loads are heavy, trolley-driven locomotives are used. Diesel engines have been used in mining and tunneling operations in Europe for a number of years. The recent reports of studies in Belgium1 and by the Bureau of Mines in this country2-4 have indicated the potentialities of this form of power for haulage, mucking, bulldozing and many other underground operations. The hazards attending the use of Diesel engines in more or less closed spaces have long been known. The exhaust constituents that may create a harmful or objectionable environment are carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, carbon dioxide, aldehydes and smoke. Lack of precise information regarding the concentration of these gases and the ventilation requirements to reduce them to safe levels has to some extent suppressed their general acceptance in tunneling and mining work. Not until the work of the Bureau of Mines referred to above, and certain experience gained in the construction of the Delaware Aqueduct, ‡ has there been available the requisite information regarding the conditions under which their use may be permitted. This paper concerns itself with the successful operation of Diesel engines underground in the construction of certain parts of the Delaware Aqueduct, and describes the conditions under which Diesel engines have been found to operate with a minimum production of noxious gases. The test data reported were obtained during the operation of Diesel engines over a period of two years.* Studies by the New York State Department or Labor Exhaustive tests were made by the Division of Industrial Hygiene, of the composition of the exhaust gases given off by a Diesel engine mounted on a test block. These tests showed that certain' quantities of the gases are discharged from the exhaust. On the basis of these figures, preliminary requirements of design and control

Jan 1, 1943

By Hans Lundberg

BASED upon an instrumental improvement, a new development has taken place in the art of electrical prospecting, and some remarkable results have already been obtained with regard to potential exploration. In order to visualize the importance of this development, it is deemed advisable to review briefly the fundamental facts about potential surveys. Potential exploration may be carried out qualitatively or quantitatively. Qualitative investigations are made by determining and plotting on a map points of equal potential, whereby any anomalies are revealed, without, however, much clue to their magnitude. Quantitative investigations determine the variations of potential or potential drop, and thus show not only the location of the anomalies, but also their magnitude. Figs. 1 to 6 illustrate the influence of simple types of ground inhomo-geneities, assuming one effective exciter potential only. Such a condition can be closely realized by connecting an electric current source to two electrodes, one of which, is located at a great distance. Assuming uniform ground resistivity, the resultant potential distribution may be represented by concentric spheres. Any change from the normal condition causes a characteristic distortion of the spheres, which becomes different for different types of resistivity variation. The series of Figs. la to 6a illustrates schematically results of qualitative investigations and series 1b to 6b results of quantitative investigations. Figs. 1 and 2 picture the well-known case of local resistivity variations normally encountered in ore prospecting. Figs. 3 and 4 show the reactions caused by more or less vertical resistivity contacts and Figs. 5 and. 6 refer to the problem of ground-water and bedrock investigations where the resistivity contact is horizontal or nearly so. It is evident from Figs. 5a and 6a that qualitative measurements do not permit an identification of such general geological features as widespread horizontal strata, because the resultant contraction or expansion of the equipotential circles at the surface cannot be recognized without quantitative determinations. On the other hand, qualitative measurements are well suited for the exploration of local or lateral resistivity

Jan 1, 1931

By Edward Pesout

The McGill smelter started operations in the year 1907. The smelter furnaces were fired with run-of-mine coal on grates until April 1911, when oil firing was introduced. Oil firing continued until April 1918, when the initial coal-pulverizing plant was started.' Early Pulverizing Plant Various alterations were made to that plant during its operation, one of the more important being in connection with the system for delivering pulverized coal. In order to minimize coal-dust explosions and fires, the return portion of the main delivery line was eliminated in the year 1928. Thereafter coal-dust explosions and fires were greatly reduced. Pulverized coal was prepared at this plant primarily for the reverberatory furnaces, but for several years it was also delivered to the converting plant, roasters and power-plant boilers by a system of auxiliary fans and delivery lines. During the period March 29 to April 8, 1929, one reverberatory furnace was fired with pulverized coal produced by an Aero, type J, unit coal pulverizer with a rated capacity of 5 tons per hour. This machine actually pulverized its rated capacity but the product was too coarse. After certain regulations, a her product was obtained but the pulverizer capacity decreased and this resulted in insufficient coal for efficient furnace operation. Table I gives a comparison of the average screen analyses of the pulverized-coal products from the impact-type unit pulverizer and the regular coal-plant installation. It was definitely proved that this size and type of unit pulverizer could not furnish sufficient coal of proper fineness to give smelting results comparable to that obtained with the regular coal-pulverizing plant. The coal from this unit pulverizer was so coarse that it did not ignite or burn properly and thus did not produce the proper heat for efficient smelting. During the latter part of 1929 and the early part of 1930, experimental work was conducted with a 7-ft. o-in. by 48-in. Hardinge conical ball-mill coal-grinding unit, which was installed alongside a furnace in the reverberatory building. Results obtained from the test run indicated that this unit would furnish sufficient coal of proper fineness for good smelting.

Jan 1, 1947

By H. N. Kalia, J. B. Gresham

Several attempts have been made in the past 60 years to commercialize the vast oil shale deposits of the US. However, the industry has yet to become economically viable. To date, it has not been possible to produce oil from oil shales at a competitive price compared with oil produced by conventional methods. The development work, nevertheless, has been fruitful in furthering the art of thick bed mining and technology of in situ retorting. The in situ method has the potential of recovering oil from thick beds, and the resource recovery potential is much greater than that from underground mining and surface retorting. In situ methods require that the shales/marlstones be fragmented in place to induce adequate porosity and permeability to allow in situ heating of the fragmented shales. This can be accomplished by using explosives. However, it has been found that the existing blasting systems, though very efficient, have some drawbacks. The explosives become insensitive when shot in multiplevertical decks. They can also become insensitive when spaced horizontally at close proximity to other charges. Also, since the blasting is done in a very limited free face, the delay time that can be allowed between charges is also quite limited. Consequently, it is not always possible to routinely predict the performance of the blasting system. Furthermore, since it is not possible to undertake secondary blasting, it is imperative that the blast design function properly. Recent successful retorting by Occidental Petroleum Co. Of Retorts 7 and 8 suggests that some of these problems may have been overcome. This paper addresses some aspects of in situ retorting and problems that have impeded the development of a viable oil shale industry in the US.

Jan 1, 1986

By Fred McConnell

FROM beginning to end, the processes of coal stripping are of great interest. From the time the prospector enters upon the property to examine it and to prove it, until the coal is loaded into railroad cars, every step must be taken with careful thought and planning. In proving the merits of a prospective property, an examination and computation of the overburden is of almost equal importance to the determination of the extent and quality of the coal bed itself. Is the overburden hard, and will it require drilling and shooting? How many yards of it will have to be handled to produce a ton of coal? Will it remain in place when .put in the spoil bank, or will it spread and run back into the pit? Are the drainage problems serious, and what will it cost to handle the water? Does the coal have bad dips, and what will be the grades and curvatures for haulage? These are a few of the physical problems that confront the prospector, and they can be ascertained only by adequate and careful drilling and engineering of the property to be considered. The engineer is an ever-present necessity, not only in the prospecting but in the daily operation of the property after it has' been approved and developed. The first step in operation after the location of the tipple is the contouring of the surface to be stripped and the laying out of the pits for operation, having in view again adequate room for spoil, drainage, haulage and other problems. If the overburden is hard, as much of it is in the larger stripping areas, it must be drilled for shooting with churn or well drills, the holes continuing from the surface down to or near the coal bed. The location of these holes should be made, and marked with stakes, by the engineer, acting in conjunction with the shooting foreman. The usual practice is to drill holes 6 in. in diameter, although the present tendency is to increase the diameter of these holes so that they will hold, without springing, a larger charge of explosive. With the use of the old method of shooting, the holes were sprung or chambered several times with charges of dynamite, and in the cavity thus made, the explosive was placed, largely at the bottom of the hole; but with the use of liquid oxygen as an explosive, and with the later

Jan 1, 1931

By Thomas Chance

ALL gravity methods for the separation of ore from gangue, or of slate and other refuse from coal, are based upon differences in the falling velocities, in some fluid medium such as air or water, of the materials to be separated. As all materials falling in a vacuum have the same velocity, independent of the size, shape, weight or specific gravity of their individual particles, it would be more accurate to describe the operation of these methods as depending upon the. retardation of falling velocities effected by the resistance of a fluid medium, this retardation being greater for small or light particles than for large or heavy particles. This generalization is true also of those appliances utilizing centrifugal force to replace or to supplement the action of gravity. The separation of materials of different specific gravities by means of a fluid having a specific gravity greater than that of the lighter particles and less than that of the heavier particles has not been applied commercially, or on a large scale, to the separation of ores or to the washing of coal, the method being limited to laboratory experimental work or to laboratory determinations for the purpose of checking up the work of jigs, classifiers, and other types of concentrating appliances. A solution of zinc chloride has thus come into general use inn the laboratory to separate coal, bony coal and slate, both to check up the work of coal-washing plants and for the purpose of making tests preliminary to the designing of coal-washing plants. The use of a heavy solution of some chemical in water has often been proposed for making such separations, especially in connection with the washing or preparation of coal. Practically insuperable difficulties, however, have prevented the commercial development of any such process, the difficulties being both physical and financial. The cost of the chemical used to make high-gravity solutions is usually prohibitive, and the freeing of the coal from all traces of the chemical is found to be practically impossible. Such solutions inevitably penetrate the individual lumps and particles of coal, transfusing into the pores and saturating the joint-planes, and very large quantities of wash water

Jan 2, 1918

By N. Brown, M. Herman

ORDERING'S effect on the creep strength and other plastic properties of metals is unknown at the present time. Sachs and Weerts' attempted to compare the mechanical properties of the ordered and disordered state by comparing a quenched specimen with one annealed for a long time at a low temperature. This experiment is unsatisfactory because it introduces a possible effect from quenching. Barrett' used a hot impact test, but his method was not sufficiently sensitive to indicate any discontinuity in plastic behavior in the neighborhood of the critical temperature. On the theoretical side, Fisher9 as suggested that short range order would strengthen an alloy, but he gives no conclusions as to the effect of long range order. Cottrell" has discussed the interaction between long range order and dislocations, but does not indicate whether slip in a completely ordered alloy without domain boundaries is appreciably more difficult than slip in the disordered state. Because order exists in so many alloy systems, it is most important to prove experimentally whether long range order weakens or strengthens a metal. This investigation used -brass because: 1) it orders

Jan 1, 1957

By C. Richard Tinsley, Norman Miskelly, S. James Hodge

Construction of the Ranger uranium project, located 230 kms east of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia, commenced in January 1979. Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA) was incorporated in February 1980 to acquire all the rights in the project. The total cost to ERA of these rights was A$407 million, made up of A$125 million in cash to the Federal Government and the issue of 125 million A$1.00 shares at par, plus a payment of A$16 million in cash to each of Peko-Wallsend Ltd. (Peko) and EZ Industries Ltd. (EZ). ERA's cash requirements to complete the project were estimated in October 1980 to be A$553 million. Project loans, secured by first ranking debenture stock, were arranged for a total of US$390 million, while second-ranking debenture loans totalling A$60 million were [ ] obtained from the vendors, Peko and EZ. Overseas participants (power utilities who had agreed to purchase uranium yellowcake under contract) arranged to take up 25% of the equity capital for A$102.5 million; Peko and EZ were allotted 30.5% each as satisfaction of vendors' consideration; and 14% representing A$57.5 million was issued to Australian residents in an underwritten public flotation in November, 1980. The loan and equity financing arrangements required the successful resolution of many complex and interlocking factors, including technical and economic feasibility, agreement with Aboriginal interests, compliance with Government policies, and securing of sales contracts.

Jan 1, 1985

By Lawrence W. Aldrich

At the San Francisco meeting of the Institute last year, I presented, through the courtesy of Dr. James Douglas, some results of experiments on the roasting and leaching of concentrator tailings. After it became apparent that flotation rather than leaching was clearly the better method of handling the particular problem under consideration, before dismantling the experimental equipment, some data were secured on roasting and leaching the concentrate itself in competition with smelting. Some of the results obtained are given in the following paper and they are of particular interest at this time in view of the large quantities of flotation concentrates with their somewhat difficult smelting characteristics now being produced. A complete wet processt consists of roasting and leaching the calcines in dilute sulphuric acid produced from the roaster gases, roasting the residue with salt and leaching with dilute tower liquors (the well-known Longmaid-Henderson process) and recovering the copper, silver and gold by cementation or electrolysis or a combination of both. It is evident, however, that the residue from the first leaching, carrying about 20 per cent. of the copper and all of the silver and gold, can be smelted if preferable. In considering the application of the scheme to individual cases, it must be remembered that freight plays a large part in any reduction process wherein smelting is not conducted at the mouth of the mine, and that it is not practicable today to build small smelting plants for individual operations, The experiments may be grouped under four main heads: Roasting, leaching, chloridizing residue, and recovery of copper from solutions. The products of two concentrators were used: The Nacozari concentrates were the product of a large modern mill not using flotation, the copper mineral being largely chalcopyrite; and the Tyrone concentrates, the product of an experimental mill including flotation, the copper mineral being chiefly chalcocite. Typical analyses are given in Table 1. Fig. 1 shows screen analyses of calcines obtained by dead roasting the

Jan 1, 1917

By R. P. Rothwell

The milling of silver ores has arrived at a great degree of perfection in the mining districts of our Western States and Territories, and I hare thought the record of the practical results obtained at the present time, in a few of the principal districts, would prove of value arid interest to many of our members, both at home and abroad. An American silver mill is composed, in descending order from where the ore is dumped, of: 1st. A rock-breaker, usually of the Blake or Alden pattern; 2d. The battery of stamps, the number of which varies from 5 to 120, generally in batteries of 5 or 10 heads, so arranged that a single battery may stand while the others are running; 3d. The tanks where the crushed ore settles (if it is a met stamping-mill), or of a drying-floor if the crushing is done dry; 4th. Amalgamating pans ; 5th. Settling pans ; 6th. Agitators or pans in which mercury escaping in the tailings is caught; 7th. Blanket sluices, over which the tailings run, and where mercury and unamalgamated sulplides are saved. A reference to the engravings (see plate), which show one of the latest forms of an 80stamp silver-mill run by a turbine water-wheel, will show clearly the arrangement of the several parts. THE ONTARIO, UTAH, SILVER MILL. One of the best examples of a silver-mill, and at the same time one of the most successful concerns in the West, is the mill of the Ontario Silver Mining Company, near Salt Lake, in Utah. This mill treats the ore from the Ontario mine, ore which at present is very base, being composed of zinc, lead, and silver sulphides and silver chloride in a quartz gangue. This ore has become baser as the mine attained greater depth, though the vein holds its own, or rather increases, both in thickness and richness. The mill is managed in a skilful and economical manner, though the necessity for

Jan 1, 1880

By Norman Gerald

THE lack of a continuous operating balance in petroleum refining, which is analyzed in this paper, is by no means a feature solely of this division of the oil industry. Serious disequilibria of a capital as well as an operating nature exist both in the producing and marketing departments, while problems in the former and to some degree the latter are complicated by political involvements. Attention has previously been directed to the unstabilizing influence of present proration formulas in stimulating unnec-essary drilling.1 While equilibrium in petroleum refining operations has been fairly well maintained in the past decade, examination of departures may prove fruitful. Economic analysis is the application of time and motion study to the functioning of management, rather than labor. Properly applied it may reveal changes in policies that would increase the utility of the properties and facilities of the industry for stockholders, employees and the public, while contributing a stabilizing influence to the general economy. The study of economic equilibrium is essentially one of measurement and interpretation, requiring adequate data and the development of a tech-nique of analysis that employs statistical and mathematical methods as a supplement to the broad descriptive phase of economics. Economic equilibrium in petroleum refining is a dual concept. It embraces both the over-all balance between total storage and total demand for major products and the internal balance between the demands and inventories of the various products. The latter is the more complex of the two for it is concerned with proportionating the supplies of the several products stemming from the joint source to the demands for the individual products which are subject to wide variations. All the products are essentially nondurable goods, and they are used both by producers and consumers but in varying proportions. Motor fuel is very largely a consumer's good, while residual fuel oil is almost entirely a producer's good, the other products falling between these extremes. The peculiar-

Jan 1, 1939

By Gustav Werner, Leonard Greenburg, William B. Harris

Haulage in tunneling operations generally has been done with electric locomotives. As a rule, on short hauls the source of electricity is a storage battery mounted on the locomotive, which, of course, must be removed and recharged periodically. Where the distance from the recharging point to the tunnel face is very long, and where loads are heavy, trolley-driven locomotives are used. Diesel engines have been used in mining and tunneling operations in Europe for a number of years. The recent reports of studies in Belgium1 and by the Bureau of Mines in this country2-4 have indicated the potentialities of this form of power for haulage, mucking, bulldozing and many other underground operations. The hazards attending the use of Diesel engines in more or less closed spaces have long been known. The exhaust constituents that may create a harmful or objectionable environment are carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, carbon dioxide, aldehydes and smoke. Lack of precise information regarding the concentration of these gases and the ventilation requirements to reduce them to safe levels has to some extent suppressed their general acceptance in tunneling and mining work. Not until the work of the Bureau of Mines referred to above, and certain experience gained in the construction of the Delaware Aqueduct, ‡ has there been available the requisite information regarding the conditions under which their use may be permitted. This paper concerns itself with the successful operation of Diesel engines underground in the construction of certain parts of the Delaware Aqueduct, and describes the conditions under which Diesel engines have been found to operate with a minimum production of noxious gases. The test data reported were obtained during the operation of Diesel engines over a period of two years.* Studies by the New York State Department or Labor Exhaustive tests were made by the Division of Industrial Hygiene, of the composition of the exhaust gases given off by a Diesel engine mounted on a test block. These tests showed that certain' quantities of the gases are discharged from the exhaust. On the basis of these figures, preliminary requirements of design and control

Jan 1, 1943

By N. Lilienberg

During the past fen- years, the requirements for steel have been raised so high that soundness is more important than ever before. The old practice mas to make steel ingots of suffciently large sections to permit a considerable reduction of area in rolling and hammering to a given size, relying on the fact that by such rolling and hammering all cavities will be squeezed together and practically eliminated. The finished sizes, if found by inspection of the surface to be faultless, were therefore pronounced to be sound. But when such steel is " worked up," the manufacturer is surprised and disappointed to find that it splits, or that streaks and seams make the product unmarketable. Large sections, such as rails, beams or heavy forgings, may, within certain limits, be sufficiently strong, even if the sides of the cavities are only squeezed, and not welded, together. But it is well known that, in the interior of heavy articles, under certain conditions, forging may develop small streaks into large cavities. Small sections, steel for ordnauce and tubes, and numberless articles in the tool-trade, always show up the defects. It may be doubted whether cavities in steel ingots can ever be completely welded. The old theory is, that the silver-clear blow-holes, without the blue oxide, can be welded by suffcient working. They are, however, not empty, but are filled with carbonic oxide. It is admitted that the " blue " cavities, resulting from air mechanically drawn down into the mold during the casting, can never be welded, because the oxide does not melt, and there would be no escape for it if it did. The only way in which steel can be made satisfactory for the above-named particular purposes is by having it " dead molten." But then the trouble of piping is encountered. As is well known, a pipe is the result of the contraction of the liquid interior after the surface of the ingot has become solid by contact with the mold. When this contraction is partly

Jan 1, 1907

By R. P. Rothwell

THE milling of silver ores has arrived at a great degree of perfection in the mining districts of our Western States and Territories, and I have thought the record of the practical results obtained at the present time, in a few of the principal districts, would prove of value and interest to many of our members, both at home and abroad. An American silver mill is composed, in descending order from where the ore is dumped, of: 1st. A rock-breaker, usually of the Blake or Alden pattern ; 2d. The battery of stamps, the number of which varies from 5 to 120, generally in batteries of 5 or 10 heads, so arranged that a single battery may stand while the others are running; 3d. The tanks where the crushed ore settles (if it is a wet stamping-mill), or of a drying-floor if the crushing is done dry; 4th. Amalgamating pans ; 5th. Settling pans ; 6th. Agitators or pans in which mercury escaping in the tailings is caught; 7th. Blanket sluices, over which the tailings run, and where mercury and unamalgamated sulphides are saved. A reference to the engravings (see plate), which show one of the latest forms of an 80-stamp silver-mill run by a turbine water-wheel, will show clearly the arrangement of the several parts. THE ONTARIO, UTAH, SILVER MILL. One of the best examples of a silver-mill, and at the same time one of the most successful concerns in the West, is the mill of the Ontario Silver Mining Company, near Salt Lake, in Utah. This mill treats the ore from the Ontario mine, ore which at present is very base, being composed of zinc, lead, and silver sulphides and silver chloride in a quartz gangue. This ore has become baser as the mine attained greater depth, though the vein holds its own, or rather increases, both in thickness and richness. The mill is man¬aged in a skilful and economical manner, though the necessity for * Read at the Montreal meeting, September, 1879.

Jan 1, 1880