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By Rossiter Raymond

IT is scarcely necessary to augment or amend the "Appreciation" of Dr. Douglas, from the pen of Dr. Albert A. Ledoux, which appeared in January, 1916, in Bulletin -No. -109 of the Institute. The author of that admirable summary enjoyed the great privilege of expressing while Dr. Douglas was yet among us (though already marked for death) the love and esteem with which we all regarded him. But now that his earthly life has ended, the historian must still be the eulogist. No line need be added or deleted in the portrait of him already drawn; it has only to be accepted now as a true likeness, and hung in the gallery of the immortals, illuminated' by the crowning glory of another world. . James Douglas was born at Quebec, Canada, November 4, 18:37. His father, James Douglas, was a distinguished physician and surgeon, known in many lands, especially in the Orient, and famous in his own country for his philanthropy as well as his skill, having established and directed for many years the first retreat for the insane in the Dominion of Canada. One of the latest literary labors of the son was the editing and publishing of his father's journal and reminiscences-a fascinating volume, the review of which, though a tempting task, I must here forego. Nearly fifty years ago, I had the great pleasure of spending an hour with the elder. Douglas, who guided me through his collection of Egyptian and Asiatic treasures. I might almost say souvenirs; so many of them were connected with personal experiences and exalted personages. The veteran's memory had already begun to fail with age, but his vivacity and imagination glowed all the, more brightly; and his reminiscences of travel and adventure were embroidered with Oriental magnificence. I felt, after that hour, as if I had visited a stately, half-ruined edifice, overgrown with vines and flowers. The father's genius, adventurous spirit and generous philanthropy descended to his versatile, yet practical son. Like other men of such temperament, James Douglas tried many things before circumstances beyond his own control forced him into the line of his, principal lifework. At the age of 18, he was sent to the University of Edinburgh, where he studied for two years. Returning to Canada,, he entered Queen's University, at Kingston, Ontario, where he was graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1858. Subsequently he studied medicine at Laval University, Quebec;

Jan 9, 1918

By David B. Reger

The discovery of prolific oil wells in old territory hitherto regarded as doubtful, if not worthless, and the rapid extension of a gas pool opened late in 1938 were the most interesting petroleum features in West Virginia during 1939. Oil activity in general was slow because of crude prices that were still fairly low at the end of the year, although substantially increased above those in January. Fewer oil wells were completed, but the average results were better than in 1938. Fewer gas wells, also, were completed, with greatly lessened average initial production. Many old oil and gas wells were abandoned, so that the total number of active wells has not changed appreciably. The account of operations, as gathered from trade journals and other sources, shows that 561 new wells were drilled, resulting in 101 new oil wells with 2261 bbl. of daily initial production; 366 new gas wells with 602,400,000 cu. ft. of daily open flow; and 94 dry holes. Besides these new wells, 61 old wells were drilled to deeper sands, with 12 bbl. and 13,328,000 cn. ft. of added production. On the new wells the oil average was 22.38 bbl. per well per day; and the gas average was 1,645,900 cu. ft. per well per day; the ratio of dry holes to completions was 16.76 per cent. From an exploratory standpoint one partly discredited oil area was revived by good new production, and another small oil pool may have been opened. Some of the results in gas exploration will require more drilling for true appraisal. It is certain, though, that one very considerable gas field in the sands of Mississippian age has been proved; and there is a probability of six new pools in the Middle Devonian shale. In the Oriskany sand (L. Dev.) the Elk-Poca pool has been extended considerably farther northwest into Jackson County; and farther north in Jackson County two widely separated wells, which may be pool openers, have been successfully completed. On the other hand, several important wildcats in various counties have been dry. Stratigraphically lower, some additional wells have been completed in the Newburg sand (Sil.) and one small producer has been completed in the Clinton sand (Sil.), the importance of which can scarcely be overestimated, because no Clinton production has previously been found in the state, although at least seven wells have been drilled through the sand.

Jan 1, 1940

By V. H. Wilhelm

Developments in California during 1942 were marked by many difficulties in operation, of which the lack of labor and material were the main factors in slowing down work. During the many years of curtailment, which has been effective since 1928, a number of estimates of the state's capacity to produce have been built up, but during the year 44 fields were 'eliminated from curtailment and valuable data were obtained as to the normal capacity of these fields to produce. Because of new discoveries and the normal decline of old fields, which is more than 15 per cent per year, it is estimated that the sustained capacity of the state for a 5-year period is not more than 500,000 bbl. per day. Decline in the rate of production was greatest in the fields in the Los Angeles Basin district. These fields have been produced nearly at capacity for many years and had no reserve of shut-in production. The San Joaquin Valley and Coastal districts have responded well to the increased allotments assigned to them by the Petroleum Administrator for War. All heavy oil fields in the state are on full production, except in the Coastal district, where transportation is the limiting factor. Although approximately 2500 more wells are on production in the state than there were in 1941, the supply of heavy crude has not yet reached the demand. A summary of statistics for 1941 and 1942 is given in the following table. Production in California for 1942 was 680,000 bbl. a day as against 631,000 bbl. a day for 1941, an increase of 7.8 per cent. The present maximum efficient rate has been estimated at 808,000 bbl. per day. This indicates that in the 15 restricted fields of the state there is only an additional 83,000 bbl. per day of light oil available. Drilling Activity Drilling activity during the year was equivalent to but 70 per cent of normal. Although shortages of equipment and labor were in part responsible for the reduced drilling activity, the main reasons were the lack of proved locations due to a cycle of very few new discoveries and the restrictions of Conservation Order M-68. For the first six months of the year, 300 new oil wells were completed, which were equally divided as to the number of light and heavy oil producers. But, for the last six months of the year, it is

Jan 1, 1943

The production of bituminous coal in Pennsylvania started a few years after that in Virginia. For forty-five years all the production came from the Pittsburgh bed, and since that time its total output in value has exceeded that of any other single mineral deposit in the world. It has been impossible to separate the outputs of the four counties producing it at that time, as none of it came from Greene County until many years later, and the figures in the first column of Table 49 represent all the coal coming from Allegheny, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland Counties. The years prior to 1790 are grouped on account of space limitations, they were made in the same manner as the later ones. All outputs have been rounded into hundreds, or thousands of tons because their accuracy does not warrant further subdivision. All figures are net tons, and all represent production and not shipments; this distinction in the early days when transportation facilities were scarce meant a great deal. In the period 1820-1835, more coal was used in salt-making in western Pennsylvania than for any other single purpose, but not a ton of such coal was handled by any transport agency. Later the iron industry used large quantities of local coal without shipment, and other instances can be cited. Prior to 1832, the only means of shipment of coal, excepting by wagons, was by the rivers, and this tonnage was larger than is generally believed. In Table 23, all of the available data about production from the Pittsburgh bed have been shown. After 1844 the river shipments above Pittsburgh are accurately reported by the Monongahela Navigation Company, but its figures do not include tonnage loaded on the river below Dam No. 1, nor that brought down Saw Mill Run. Prior to 1844 no tonnage records were kept although the amount moved was considerable. The information about local production, not shipped, whether used domestically or for manufacturing is necessarily incomplete. Column 7, shipments by railroad, river and canal, includes the figures in column 4, and until at least 1857 are quite evidently too low. The figures in column 9 are largely estimates based on the data shown and prior to 1870, and perhaps later, are much more likely to be lower, rather than higher, than the actual ones. This table was prepared over a period of years, and as additional data were found the revisions necessary were almost always upward. Clearfield County was the next producer in the state, shipments-in small amounts going down the Susquehanna River; some were made later via the West Branch Canal. Railroad facilities became available in 1862, and the growth in production increased rapidly and steadily. All available data and the estimated totals are in Table 24. Butler County began mining a few years after Clearfield, the early output

Jan 1, 1942

By Robert L. Hoss

The application of Muskat's differential equations for predicting the performance of a solution gas-drive reservoir to the Fullerton field indicates that a recovery may be expected of 14,030 bbl per acre under primary depletion, and 15,910 and I7,190 bbl per acre, respectively, under the two pressure-maintenance programs analyzed. In this analysis it is assumed that fluid properties are the same throughout the reservoir, that the core data used are typical of the Clear Fork limestone in the locality, and that injected gas is completely diffused through the pay zones. The economic study of the three recovery programs considered indicates that the one in which 60 pct of the produced gas is returned to the formation is the most profitable. Introduction The purpose of this paper is to consider the effect of pressure maintenance by gas injection on the ultimate recovery of oil from a solution gas-drive reservoir. This prediction of reservoir behavior is the result of calculations based on the equations presented by M. Muskat in the Journal of Applied Physics, March 1945. Reservoir The reservoir analyzed is the Fullerton field in Andrews County, West Texas. It is situated on a broad anticlinal structure with approximately 330 ft of closure, and extends approximately eight miles north and south and five miles east and west. The areal extent is taken as 16,642 acres. The producing horizon is the Lower Clear Fork limestone of Permian age, occurring at depths from 6650 to 7350 ft. It is divided into four zones. For the purposes of this study, the fluid characteristics in all zones are assumed to be the same. Therefore an equivalent zone is assumed of thickness equal to the sum of the thicknesses of the four zones, or an average of 216 ft. The reservoir contains 3,586,991 acre feet of producing limestone, with an initial volume of stock tank oil in place of 918,-403,100 bbl. The average connate water saturation is 24.0 pct. The permeability ranges from 6.7 md. to 12.6 md., and the porosity ranges from 7.7 pct to 11.4 pct, except for occasional cavernous streaks. Based on these values, the limestone may be considered intergranu1ar.l Production histories and material-balance studies have indicated that the driving mechanism is solution gas. Water levels have been established. Theory It is possible to express mathematically the change in residual oil saturation with pressure decline in a solution gas-drive reservoir as being equal to the change in the physical properties of the fluids present in the reservoir as this pressure decline occurs. Essentially these equations, in differential form as presented by M. Muskat,2 express quantitatively the instantaneous net effect

Jan 1, 1948

By C. S. Lyons and. A. L. Johnson

A few years ago a leading American builder of centrifuges said, "No one uses a centrifuge if the job can be done any other way." This statement was essentially true at that time, not because the basic functional and economic principles involved did not frequently favor centrifugal methods, but rather because so many of the highly specialized features of the mechanical and functional peculiarities of continuous centrifuges had not been fully developed. The idea of using centrifuges in mineral dressing is definitely not new. There are literally hundreds of patents on centrifugal machines and processes for the mining industry. Many of them cover principles that are basic to the functioning of most centrifuges in operation today. In spite of this, until 1935, there were practically no successful applications of continuous centrifuges in the United States in the mineral industry, nor for that matter were there more than a mere handful of such machines in operation in North America in any industry. This was true despite the obvious desirability of machines that could furnish the advantages of high centrifugal settling forces in a continuous operation. The reasons for this are simple, even if not obvious: I. Finely divided solids, when thrown out of fluid suspension under high cen- trifugal forces, frequently exhibit physic a properties (particularly rheological or flow properties) that are markedly different from those they possess when settled out by gravity alone, and machines that are not designed in careful detail to cope with these peculiarities 'seldom function satisfactorily. 2. Most continuous centrifuges embody a solids-conveying element in the form of a very special screw conveyor. The rotation of this member under conditions of operation culls for drive designs that were not satisfactorily provided until the introduction of the Bird gear unit about 1934. These matters will be touched on later. Continuous centrifuges are now operating successfully in the mineral industry. Some units have singly handled more than 500,000 tons of solids during the past ten years. Generally their operation has been characterized by large unit capacities, complete elimination of labor, minimum supervision, moderate maintenance and power costs. Typical Centrifuge Applications Most materials classified by centrifuges are of subsieve particle size. Practically speaking, this means her than 100-mesh. A unit of measure other than screens is needed in order to consider these products properly. Such a unit is the micron, which is equal to one one-millionth of a meter; roughly1/25,000 of an inch. The opening in a standard 200-mesh screen is about 75 microns while a 325-mesh opening is roughly 43 microns.

Jan 1, 1948

By Arthur E. Hall

Tax operation of "softening" in lead refining is designed, as the word implies, to separate from the bulk of the lead the elements that tend to make lead hard. These elements, which invariably are present in argentiferous lead, interfere with the desilverization, and must be almost entirely absent in refined desilverized lead. They are mainly copper, antimony, arsenic and tin. The properties utilized in accomplishing this separation are the low solubility of copper or copper sulphide in lead at its freezing-point temperature, and the greater and selective affinity for oxygen of the other elements at temperatures of the order of 700° to 900' C., or, in the prcsence of sufficient, alkali, at a temperature of about 500' C. The major problems of softening lead bullion lie in the necessary subsequent treatment of the by-products of the primary operation, which contain, either chemically or mechanically, lead or reagents that must be isolated for market or re-use. Therefore an important objective of the primary operation must be the highest practicable concentration of these elements in the by-products. Within the past three decades, during which the writer has been engaged in lead refining, the technique of softening lead bullion has had as many variations as there were lead refineries. This was the result of the variation in composition and character of lead bullion recived. The writer has received for refining shipments of lead bullion varying as widely as indicated by the following table: Sb, Per CEnt As. Per Cent Sn, Per Cent Cu. Per Cent Ag. Oz. per Ton 1.00 0.05 nil 0.05 70 0.50 2.50 2.00 0.50 200 3.50 0.50 nil 0.30 350 At times these have been received uniformly and at other times irregularly with a variation from week to week as wide as those shown. Under such conditions, establishment of a universal softening technique presented many problems. Such variations existed because refinery tolls too often were based on a ton of bullion, whatever its composition, and

Jan 1, 1937

By Jay Carpenter

THIS paper deals with only one step in the treatment of ore at the West End mill; not because the other steps are repetitions of practice in other mills, but because in this particular step there is in use the Trent agitator. This device, although it has apparently failed in many mills, is here giving excellent service and has proved to be well adapted for making a thorough replacement of pregnant solution with a minimum amount of barren solution. The strong and weak points of this agitator, its present simple construction, and its use as a thickener for agitator or battery pulp are features of interest; but perhaps the point of greatest interest to the metallurgist in this day of continuous decantation is its use in a series of tanks for slime treatment by the replacement method. The agitating department of the West End mill consists of six redwood tanks, 24 ft. in diameter, 18 ft. high, each equipped with aTrent agitator, a centrifugal pump, and a motor. The pulp is transferred by a pump from the top of a flat-bottomed tank to a set of arms and nozzles in the bottom of the tank, at just sufficient pressure to cause the arms to revolve. The streams from the many nozzles keep the bottom of the tank clean, and these streams, coupled with the effect of the revolving mechanism and the ascending current, keep the pulp in constant motion and of constant gravity. .These agitating tanks hold 90 tons of dry slime and 202 tons of solution with a 1.24 pulp, our ore having a specific gravity of 2.7. This capacity is about 10 per cent. in excess of the standard 15 by 45 ft. Pachuca tank. The tanks are connected in one series for continuous agitation, the pulp for each agitator being drawn by its pump through a branch suction from near the top of the preceding tank and. delivered to the bottom of the tank by the agitator arms along with the regular pulp of that agitator. This method works automatically, since the flow through the branch suction varies directly with the difference in head of the two tanks. The chance for new pulp to pass out quickly is, therefore, much less than in many other systems of continuous agitation, since the new

Jan 8, 1915

By Hans Neuberger

In our everyday life, visual perception plays perhaps a more important role than any of the other senses with which we are equipped by nature. It is, therefore, quite understandable that the average person associates with the term ''atmospheric pollution," clouds of dust, palls of smoke or deposits of soot, phenomena which are so familiar to the residents of industrial cities. On the other hand, "air" is usually considered the prototype of the invisible, of the intangible, and any suspensions in the air which do not conform to this concept, are regarded as foreign to the atmosphere and thus as "pollution." According to Webster, the term "pollution" implies uncleanness, impurity, in short, something undesirable. Although the scientist often accepts popular concepts, he is generally inclined to suspect that apparently "obvious" phenomena imply, literally, "more than meets the eye." To show that this suspicion is also justified with regard to atmospheric pollution, is the objective of this discussion. It will be shown that what seems foreign to the air at first sight, is by nature an integral part of it, and that the more important aspects of pollution generally escape attention. The Atmospheric Constituents We can distinguish two classes of atmos-pheric constituents: the Permanent gases, chiefly nitrogen, oxygen, traces of argon, neon, and others, and the variable constituents which include water in its different states, carbon dioxide, ozone, and various suspensions, either in gaseous, liquid or solid form. These suspensions, known by the collective term "Aerosol,"20 will be considered in detail. Dust There are two general types of aerosols: the first type is represented by the socalled "neutral" particles,3 commonly known as dust and experienced by everyone, as it is the more conspicuous type of suspensions. It often represents a special problem to the mining engineer, the mechanical engineer, the industrial engineer, and many other professional men. Dust consists of finely divided solids derived from weathering, drilling, handling and preparation of rocks and coal. Dust may also consist of organic or inorganic particles resulting from manufacture of a variety of products such as flour, rubber, lime and steel, from traffic on land be it on the highways, on rails or in city streets, from decomposed vegetation or from volcanic eruptions. Perhaps the most reviled member of this class of suspensions is the soot and fly ashes from coal fires and other combustion processes. The cosmic source of dust, namely the injection of meteoric matter into the atmos-,,here, is of minor significance because the concentration of particles is exceedingly small despite the relatively large mass of material which invades the earth's atmos-phere from space.

Jan 1, 1949

By James K. Stanley

IRON-COBALT alloys in the range of 35-50 pct cobalt are of interest in the electrical industry because they possess the highest magnetic saturation of any magnetic material known.1,2 The magnetic saturation induction of the 35 pct alloy is 24,200 gausses, compared to 21,600 for pure iron (Fig I). This difference is significant in electrical apparatus, where weight or space is at a premium. Saturation values higher than that for iron can be attained up to about 70 pct Co but economics restrict the use to as low a cobalt content as possible without sacrifice of saturation. Fig 2 shows the iron-cobalt equilibrium diagram. Up to the present time, two factors have retarded the use of iron-cobalt alloys in the electrical industry for magnetic purposes.† One is the high cost of cobalt ($1.50 per pound) and the other is the inherent brittleness of the binary iron-cobalt alloys. Straight iron-cobalt alloys up to 25 pct cobalt are ductile and easy to process to thin sheet or strip by conventional methods of hot and cold rolling, but the alloys containing higher percentages of cobalt, including those for which the saturation magnetization is a maximum (35 to 40 pct), are increasingly brittle with increasing cobalt, at least up to 50 pct, and are consequently difficult to process, either hot or cold. Work by White and Wah13 indicated that iron-cobalt alloys could be made ductile by alloying with vanadium, and after quenching the alloys (vanadium up to about 4 pct) were found to be cold rollable to very thin gauges. With this as a background, we resumed our work on these alloys with the objective of developing methods for economical commercial production of wide strip. For this purpose we have concentrated on the 35 pct alloy in order to obtain the highest possible saturation value. Experiments were carried out on many alloy additions to the iron-cobalt alloys and on the response of these compositions to heat treatments. This work finally culminated in a commercially producible iron-cobalt alloy which has been named Hiperco. * MATERIALS STUDIED AND PROCEDURE Binary alloys of iron and cobalt in the range of 35 pct cobalt are difficult to hot work (by forging or rolling) without such additions as C, Mn, Si, V, Cr, Mo, W or perhaps others. Another beneficial effect of such additions is that they in-crease to a greater or less extent the strangely low electrical resistivity of these alloys (about 10 microohms per cm3

Jan 1, 1947

By Will Mitchell, T. G. Kirkland, C. L. Sollenberger

BENEFICIATION of a Korean scheelite ore has been studied during the past year in the Basic Industries Laboratory at Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. A flowsheet has been recommended including flotation, gravity separation, and a final cleaning by a magnetic separator. The investigation was continued in the field of flotation in order to establish the effect of certain variables on recovery and grade of rougher concentrates. The results of this investigation are recorded here. Mineralogy The scheelite ore was obtained from Korea and was mined from the Sang Dong deposit. This deposit is described as lying in gently dipping metamorphosed sedimentary beds of Cambrian age.' The metamorphism was probably either metasomatic replacement or recrystallization, or both, with subsequent hydrothermal deposition. Igneous bodies in the form of granite porphyry have been found within 7 km of the main shaft and are considered to be a possible source of the mineralizing solutions. The Myobong formation, the host for the Sang Dong deposit, was laid down in middle Cambrian times and consists of series of mudstone, siltstone, shale, and marl, with local stratification of mica schists, hornfels, and tactites. The scheelite is found in quartz bands in the tactites. Although there are six of these bands, only one, the "main bed" averaging 1.75 pct WOs, has been mined to any extent. The ore sample as received in the laboratory was the product of a cone crusher and was all —2 in. The rock appeared to be even textured, medium to fine grained, and gray green in color. No scheelite could be recognized by the unaided eye. However, under ultraviolet light of 2537 A, the scheelite fluoresced and could be distinguished from the gangue. Under the black light, the scheelite showed no definite vein structure but was disseminated throughout the specimen. The raw ore had a specific gravity of 2.96 and weighed about 125 lb per cu ft at —20-mesh Tyler. The —2-in. material was stage crushed through 20-mesh, and samples were cut for mineralogical, chemical, and spectrochemical analyses. Several polished sections were cut from hand specimens. Figs. 1 and 2 show quartz to be the matrix for scheelite. It was reported by Kim2 that the greatest scheelite concentration in the mine is found with a high concentration of quartz and a decrease in the abundance of garnet. Diameters of scheelite particles ranged from 1.2 mm down to less than 50 microns. Spectrochemical analysis showed the ore to be high in aluminum, bismuth, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tungsten, and with lesser amounts of beryllium, chromium, lithium, sodium, and titanium. Chemical assays showed the —20-

Jan 1, 1952

By Clare B. Carlson, C. P. Proctor

THE history of the froth flotation of coal is relatively short. The flotation process was applied to fine-coal cleaning about the time of the end of World War I. Coal flotation finds more widespread use in Europe than in the United States and is used on a commercial scale in nearly all major coal-producing countries in the world. In Fig. 1 the general arrangement of a froth-flotation plant at a British colliery is shown. GENERAL FEATIJIEES OF THE PROCESS Application The flotation process is applicable to the cleaning of the fine sizes, particularly minus 48-mesh coal, although it may be used on sizes as coarse as 1/8 in. Since most cleaning processes usually are not effective on sizes smaller than 48-mesh and certainly not effective on minus 100- mesh, the froth-flotation process offers a solution to the problem of cleaning these sizes. This process consists-of agitating the feed pulp with a small amount of reagents, usually 1.0 to 2 ½ lb. per ton of feed in the presence of water and air; the reagents help to form small bubbles that collect on the particles having a greater affinity for the bubble surface than for the water surface, in this case the fine coal, and the bubbles buoy these particles to the surface to form the frothor concentrate. Slate and shale particles remain wetted and suspended in the water to be drawn off as tailing. The frothers commonly used in coal flotation are cresylic acid, pine oil, and alcohols. More expensive frothers, used in ore flotation, work satisfactorily but do not compare with these cheaper reagents for over-all cost. Collectors- used are low-grade petroleum fractions, such as cheap, partly refined fuel oil, or lubricating oil, sometimes mixed with small amounts of kerosene. Other collectors used are the fatty acids and their

Jan 1, 1943

By D. B. Robinson, J. Lukacs

A knowledge of the equilibrium water content of hydrocarbon systems under pressure is important to the natural gas industry. The information available on the solubility of water in hydrocarbon, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide systems is reviewed in this paper and the influence of the more important variables such as temperature, pressure and molecular structure on solubility in liquids and gases is discussed. A suitable cbromatographic technique has been developed for determining low concentrations of water. Tailing of the water peaks has been elim inated by adding water to the carrier gas stream The method is applicable for both gas or liquid samples and is effective in the presence of hydrogen sulfide. The experimental study of water solubility in methane-hydrogen sulfide systems at a temperature of 16oF has shown that the presence of hydrogen sulfide causes only a modest increase in water content at pressures up to 1,400 psia. Theoretical considerations and data on pure hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide suggest that the effect of both these compounds will be greater at higher pressures and in the liquid phase. INTRODUCTION Before transporting or processing natural gases and gas condensates, it is usually necessary to dry them using suitable dehydration equipment. The design and operation of this equipment requires a knowledge of the amount of water present in the fluid at the reservoir and operating conditions. This is influenced by temperature, pressure and composition, particular1y when certain non-hydrocarbon components are present. Field experience indicates that hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, for example, alter the usual water solubility relationships appreciably. However, an extensive search of the literature does not reveal any quantitative data on such systems. For sweet natural gases, generalized empirical correlations such as the one proposed by Katz, et al,6 can be used to predict water solubility with confidence at most temperatures and pressures of interest. However, existing theoretical relationships do not permit a calculation of the deviation from these curves when polar substances like hydrogen sulfide are present in the system. Thus one must resort to an experimental approach to obtain the necessary information. The fact that laboratory experimental methods frequently involve the use of mercury which reacts with hydrogen sulfide in the presence of water, and that hydrogen sulfide interferes with many chemical reactions specific for water has contributed to the difficulty of studying water solubility in systems containing hydrogen sulfide. In this investigation the water content of a limited member of methane-hydrogen sulfide mixtures was determined using a special technique with gas chromatography. REVIEW OF PUBLISHED DATA Experimentally determined water solubility data have been reported for methane, 14 ethane, 15 propane, 9 n-butane, 16 1-butene, 11 hydrogen sulfide 18 and carbon dioxide. 19 These studies report the effect of pressure, temperature and molecular structure on water solubility in single component gases and liquids. Fig. 1 compares experimentally determined water solubilities in several hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide at l00F as taken from this

By J. W. Borough

THE electrical conductivity of pure copper is markedly decreased by small amounts of impurity in solution. The magnitude of this effect has been very carefully determined by numerous investigators who studied a wide variety of impurity elements. Much of this work is summarized in an excellent review by Pawlek and Reichel.' The case of zinc impurity in copper is an exception to the above in that there has been no well-documented study of the effect using high-purity starting materials. The values for the effect of zinc on conductivity, which are usually taken from unpublished work by Skowronki, indicate that zinc in low concentration has no effect whatever in lowering the conductivity of pure copper. This effect, if true, is unusual since it is generally known that even in lowest concentration, impurities exert an effect on conductivity which is proportional to the amount dissolved. It is more reasonable to suspect that in the original work on the effect of zinc some of the zinc was oxidized out of solution during specimen preparation. The following experi- and calculated d-spacings based on the unit cell dimensions of Baenziger et al. Since the single crystal studies of Baenziger et al. were limited to (hk0) and (hk 1) data, it was not possible to Compare all the intensities of the powder and single crystal patterns. However, the strongest reflections of both studies, the (321) reflection, agree very well when the appropriate multiplicity factor is used. Good agreement was also found in a number of other reflections of lesser intensity. Despite the precautions taken in annealing the U6Fe powder, an appreciable amount of UO, was detected in the powder pattern after heat treatment. The powder pattern reported by Groganoand Clews is given in Table I. Except for the 3.15A line, which is the strongest line of UO,, their pattern, as far as it goes, compares favoEably with the data from this study. Gordon and Kaufmann have reported a diffraction powder pattern purported to be U, Fe but it bears very little resemblance to the patterns of Table I. ments were carried out to redetermine the effect of zinc on conductivity using high-purity starting materials and processing conditions capable of producing oxygen-free alloys. Materials used in the experiment were ASR 99.999 pct Cu and Cumingo 99.999 pct Zn. Four 1 lb melts were prepared with identical procedure in argon atmosphere with crucibles made from Speer No. 580 graphite. The compositions were 0.0, 0.1, 0.3 and 1.0 pct Zn. Standard No. 14 wire (0.064 in. diam) was made from these melts as follows. The 1 pct Zn sample was first reduced 94 pct by cold swaging with five annealing treatments of 800o for 10 min in hydrogen between swagings, and then reduced 94 pct to the

Jan 1, 1962

By V. H. Wilhelm

Developments in California during 1942 were marked by many difficulties in operation, of which the lack of labor and material were the main factors in slowing down work. During the many years of curtailment, which has been effective since 1928, a number of estimates of the state's capacity to produce have been built up, but during the year 44 fields were 'eliminated from curtailment and valuable data were obtained as to the normal capacity of these fields to produce. Because of new discoveries and the normal decline of old fields, which is more than 15 per cent per year, it is estimated that the sustained capacity of the state for a 5-year period is not more than 500,000 bbl. per day. Decline in the rate of production was greatest in the fields in the Los Angeles Basin district. These fields have been produced nearly at capacity for many years and had no reserve of shut-in production. The San Joaquin Valley and Coastal districts have responded well to the increased allotments assigned to them by the Petroleum Administrator for War. All heavy oil fields in the state are on full production, except in the Coastal district, where transportation is the limiting factor. Although approximately 2500 more wells are on production in the state than there were in 1941, the supply of heavy crude has not yet reached the demand. A summary of statistics for 1941 and 1942 is given in the following table. Production in California for 1942 was 680,000 bbl. a day as against 631,000 bbl. a day for 1941, an increase of 7.8 per cent. The present maximum efficient rate has been estimated at 808,000 bbl. per day. This indicates that in the 15 restricted fields of the state there is only an additional 83,000 bbl. per day of light oil available. Drilling Activity Drilling activity during the year was equivalent to but 70 per cent of normal. Although shortages of equipment and labor were in part responsible for the reduced drilling activity, the main reasons were the lack of proved locations due to a cycle of very few new discoveries and the restrictions of Conservation Order M-68. For the first six months of the year, 300 new oil wells were completed, which were equally divided as to the number of light and heavy oil producers. But, for the last six months of the year, it is

Jan 1, 1943

By George Smith

IN discussing present-day business and industrial troubles we easily drop into the habit of clinical diagnosis. Talk of this kind, with its emphasis on suspicious symptoms and abnormal tendencies, makes us all morbid. As an English essayist has put it, we may thus induce a melancholy, temper that simply in-vites the ministrations of social and political quacks. It is far better-because nearer the truth-for us to recognize that our condition is in no sense diseased, that our body politic, social and economic, is suffering merely from growing pains; that America is not de-cadent-indeed, that any lapses from staid normality are traceable to the, excesses of youth. Our chief .trouble, then, is only that our industrial state is still young; it may be that we have been growing too fast. The growth in the industrial development of our country from pioneer days to the present time has been marvelous. Too many of us, however, take all this as a matter of course-we credit this record of American progress to our American genius alone. Too often we overlook the fundamental relationship between resources and progress-that man is aided and even guided by Nature. The fact is, social advance, indus-trial progress, national prosperity all have their ma-terial basis in natural resources. In furnishing the needed mineral raw materials to the great manufac-turing industries of the United States there has been no halt, but rather a general acceleration. No other phase of American activity can show-equal advance. As the decades have passed, the winning of mineral wealth has progressed from the role of a stimulus for western exploration to that of the foundation for nation-wide business. In 1890 the Sherman law was passed; since then the population of the United States has about doubled. Since then, too, thevalue of the annual product of the mines of this country has increased better than eight-fold-from 650 millions to 51/ billions of dollars. Since then the four largest branches of the mineral industry, which supply the iron and copper, the bituminous coal and petroleum-the bone and sinew and the energy of all other American industries-have increased their annual output nearly ten-fold as to value and six-fold as to quantity. Such a growth in the volume of mineral output must be taken as a true measure of the ex-ceptional service rendered by the mines of the United States. Not only is this a much larger country than it was 38 years ago, but its growing mineral industry has met demands that have been out of all proportion to the growth of the population.

Jan 8, 1928

By David B. Reger

The discovery of prolific oil wells in old territory hitherto regarded as doubtful, if not worthless, and the rapid extension of a gas pool opened late in 1938 were the most interesting petroleum features in West Virginia during 1939. Oil activity in general was slow because of crude prices that were still fairly low at the end of the year, although substantially increased above those in January. Fewer oil wells were completed, but the average results were better than in 1938. Fewer gas wells, also, were completed, with greatly lessened average initial production. Many old oil and gas wells were abandoned, so that the total number of active wells has not changed appreciably. The account of operations, as gathered from trade journals and other sources, shows that 561 new wells were drilled, resulting in 101 new oil wells with 2261 bbl. of daily initial production; 366 new gas wells with 602,400,000 cu. ft. of daily open flow; and 94 dry holes. Besides these new wells, 61 old wells were drilled to deeper sands, with 12 bbl. and 13,328,000 cn. ft. of added production. On the new wells the oil average was 22.38 bbl. per well per day; and the gas average was 1,645,900 cu. ft. per well per day; the ratio of dry holes to completions was 16.76 per cent. From an exploratory standpoint one partly discredited oil area was revived by good new production, and another small oil pool may have been opened. Some of the results in gas exploration will require more drilling for true appraisal. It is certain, though, that one very considerable gas field in the sands of Mississippian age has been proved; and there is a probability of six new pools in the Middle Devonian shale. In the Oriskany sand (L. Dev.) the Elk-Poca pool has been extended considerably farther northwest into Jackson County; and farther north in Jackson County two widely separated wells, which may be pool openers, have been successfully completed. On the other hand, several important wildcats in various counties have been dry. Stratigraphically lower, some additional wells have been completed in the Newburg sand (Sil.) and one small producer has been completed in the Clinton sand (Sil.), the importance of which can scarcely be overestimated, because no Clinton production has previously been found in the state, although at least seven wells have been drilled through the sand.

Jan 1, 1940

By M. I. Jacobson, M. L. Hammond

The solid solubilities of high-purity silver, aluminum, chromium, copper, and iron in zone-refined beryllium have been determined. Diffusion couple sandwiches of beryllium with aluminum, copper, and silver foil and diffusion couples of beryllium with two-phase alloys in the Be-Cr. Be-Fe, and Be-Ag systems were analyzed by electron beam micro-probe techniques. This paper describes the material used, the experimental methods for preparing the diffusion couples and the alloys, the analytical techniques, and the results obtained. The results are compared with those of previous investigators who used materials of lower purity. ~NVESTIGATORS of beryllium phase diagrams have often been hampered in their interpretations of certain phase boundaries because of the relatively low purity of the beryllium used. This has sometimes resulted in the appearance of three phases in the regions where only two should exist. Advances in purification methods, specifically zone refining, have made available beryllium that is considerably purer than the material previously used for phase diagram studies. The primary object of this investigation was to reex-amine portions of the beryllium-rich end of the binary systems of beryllium with silver, aluminum, chromium, copper, and iron to determine more accurately the limits of terminal solid solubility. The five elements—silver, aluminum, chromium, copper, and iron—include some which are commonly found as the major impurities in beryllium, some of which are being used as solid-solution alloying elements, and some of which are used in ductile matrix alloys. They are thus of considerable importance to physical metallurgists who must work with beryllium but who must rely on the present inaccurate or incomplete diagrams. The determination of more reliable diagrams would aid researchers concerned with the problems of alloying, heat treatment, and ductility. MATERIAL The beryllium was acquired from the Franklin Institute in the form of a single-crystal, 6 in. long by 1 in. in diam, zone-refined in three passes from Pechiney SR-grade beryllium bar. The principal impurities, as determined by mass spectrography at Battelle Memorial Institute, are shown in Table I. Vacuum-melted copper, silver, and aluminum, and electron-beam zone-refined iron were obtained from the Materials Research Corp. in the form of 1/2-in.- diam bars. Iodide chromium was obtained as flakes from the Chromalloy Corp. Analyses supplied with these metals are shown in Table 11. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Preparation of Diffusion Couples. Two types of dif-fusion couples were used in this study. For the copper, silver, and aluminum systems, the couples were sand-

Jan 1, 1969

By C. S. Duncan, S. Scuro, D. R. Muss

Work is vepurted which was aimed at accentuating the pec14liar attributes of the GaAs laser diode, namely its sutzull size and its high efficiency. This has been done by reducing- transport losses in the bulk p and n regions of the diode and combining many of. these diodes into series stacks with common optical cazlities. The result of this effort is a nearly monochromati source at about 8450A With a luminous areu 0.05 by The GaAs laser diode is an attractive pulsed light source in the near ir because of its ability to emit very large pulse powers and its small size. In addition to this, the device is efficient; and the higher the 0.05 cm emitting peak pulse po we rs at greater than 300 LC at repetition rates below 200 pps into a cone about 0.01 steradians when operated at 77°K. The results of nzeasuvetnents of peak optical power and spectra frorr~ these stacks are reported and some conclusions are drawn about the vole the individual diodes play in the stacked operation. peak output power, the more efficient it is. The limit for the amount of power that these diodes can emit is the transient and average dissipation associated with the pumping pulse. This power dissipation arises primarily from transport across the bulk regions of the diode; this fact, along with the relatively low thermal conductivity of the GaAs, led us to the conclusion that higher power

Jan 1, 1968

By Robert L. Hoss

The application of Muskat's differential equations for predicting the performance of a solution gas-drive reservoir to the Fullerton field indicates that a recovery may be expected of 14,030 bbl per acre under primary depletion, and 15,910 and I7,190 bbl per acre, respectively, under the two pressure-maintenance programs analyzed. In this analysis it is assumed that fluid properties are the same throughout the reservoir, that the core data used are typical of the Clear Fork limestone in the locality, and that injected gas is completely diffused through the pay zones. The economic study of the three recovery programs considered indicates that the one in which 60 pct of the produced gas is returned to the formation is the most profitable. Introduction The purpose of this paper is to consider the effect of pressure maintenance by gas injection on the ultimate recovery of oil from a solution gas-drive reservoir. This prediction of reservoir behavior is the result of calculations based on the equations presented by M. Muskat in the Journal of Applied Physics, March 1945. Reservoir The reservoir analyzed is the Fullerton field in Andrews County, West Texas. It is situated on a broad anticlinal structure with approximately 330 ft of closure, and extends approximately eight miles north and south and five miles east and west. The areal extent is taken as 16,642 acres. The producing horizon is the Lower Clear Fork limestone of Permian age, occurring at depths from 6650 to 7350 ft. It is divided into four zones. For the purposes of this study, the fluid characteristics in all zones are assumed to be the same. Therefore an equivalent zone is assumed of thickness equal to the sum of the thicknesses of the four zones, or an average of 216 ft. The reservoir contains 3,586,991 acre feet of producing limestone, with an initial volume of stock tank oil in place of 918,-403,100 bbl. The average connate water saturation is 24.0 pct. The permeability ranges from 6.7 md. to 12.6 md., and the porosity ranges from 7.7 pct to 11.4 pct, except for occasional cavernous streaks. Based on these values, the limestone may be considered intergranu1ar.l Production histories and material-balance studies have indicated that the driving mechanism is solution gas. Water levels have been established. Theory It is possible to express mathematically the change in residual oil saturation with pressure decline in a solution gas-drive reservoir as being equal to the change in the physical properties of the fluids present in the reservoir as this pressure decline occurs. Essentially these equations, in differential form as presented by M. Muskat,2 express quantitatively the instantaneous net effect

Jan 1, 1948