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By J. Chipman, H. R. Larson

The data previously reported for the quantity as a function of oxygen pressure at 1550°C have been used to compute the activities of Fe, FeO, Fe2O3, and COO in slags of the ternary system. Activities of the first three have been obtained also for two quasi-ternaries involving fixed CaO:SiO2 ratios. IN a previous paper1' the authors reported the results of an investigation into the effects of oxygen pressure on the composition of various simple slags analogous to some of those which are found in steel-making practice. The ratio of ferric iron to total iron was studied at 1550°C in iron oxide melts to which lime, magnesia, lime-plus-silica, and other oxides were added. The oxygen pressures involved those of air, carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide plus carbon monoxide in several proportions. Although very low oxygen pressures could not be used, the slag-metal equilibrium studies of Fetters and Chip-man' permitted extending the results to slags in equilibrium with iron. For the ternary system CaO-FeO-Fe,O, the oxygen pressure-composition relationship has been determined from zero percent lime to lime saturation over an oxygen pressure range from air to that represented by equilibrium with liquid iron. Lime and silica were added to iron oxide in the ratios 0.54, 1.306, and 2.235 to form three quasi-ternary systems which were also studied over the entire region of liquid melts at 1550°C. Ternary Gibbs-Duhem Equation Wagner" has developed a method by which the activities of two components of a ternary system can be calculated if' the activity of the third component is known throughout the composition range being considered. The fundamental form of the Gibbs-Duhem equation for ternary systems is N, d In a, + N2 d In a, + N3 d In a3 — 0. Wagner has developed a usable form of this equation by introducing the term y = N3/(N3 + N1) and rearranging the equation to give (? In a1/?N2)x = -y/(1-N2)2 (? In a2/?y) x2 N2/1-N2 (? In a2/?N2) y To apply this equation to the slag system CaO-FeO-Fe,O,, the activity of one of these components must be known. However, the only activity which is known from the experimental data is the activity or pressure of oxygen in the gas phase with which the slag is in equilibrium. The activity of oxygen in the slag can be defined as the square root of the oxygen pressure. In order to use oxygen as one component, the composition of the slags must be converted to the basis Fe-O-CaO. Oxygen, exclu-sive of that contained in CaO, then becomes com-ponent 2 in Eq. 1, Fe is selected as 1 and CaO as 3. Then y = Ncao/(Ncao + NFe). Eq. 1 then becomes (? In a fe/? Nx) y = -y/(1-No)2 (? In ao/?y) xp - No/ 1- No (? In ao/ O No) y. In order to evaluate Eq. 2, the boundary conditions must be known. The obvious choice of a standard state for iron is to assign slags in equilibrium with iron an activity of one. Then In a,., or log aFe, which is substituted for convenience, is determined by integrating along a line of constant y from the slag in equilibrium with iron to the composition at which log a,, is to be determined. Mathematically this can be expressed as log aFe (Nlog y) = log a'Fe + (? log a Fe/? No) dNo where the primes indicate equilibrium with liquid iron and a'Fe = 1. When Eq. 3 is integrated along a line of constant y, the following is obtained: log a Fe (No, y) = - y No ?/ No ? y ( log ao/(1- No)2) No d No - No/1-No d log ao. Lime-Iron Oxide Slags Iron Activity: The oxygen pressure of lime-iron oxide slags is shown in Fig. 1 as a function of j, de-fined as j = Fe+++/(Fe++ + Fe +++) for various constant mol percentages of lime. The j values at 0 to 60 pct lime were then determined for oxygen pressures of 1, 10-1, etc. to 10-" atm. For purposes of calculation, the line for zero percent lime was extrapolated to

Jan 1, 1955

By Roger E. Barthelemy

PRIMITIVE mining and metallurgy has today almost disappeared. Probably the only remaining tribal tin mining and smelting is practiced by the Laotian natives in one of the less known tin areas of the world. This district lies almost a thousand miles from the sea along the Mekong River, one of the longest rivers in the world, that marks the border between Siam and Laos, one of the five states forming French Indo-China. Less than twenty years ago it took more than two weeks' travel on elephant-back to reach the spot and today it still takes many days of travel, using all kinds of transportation from automobiles to native

Jan 1, 1938

President H. M. Howe, Boston, Mass. (communication to the Secretary): Le Chatelier's pyrometer is certainly a most convenient and accurate instrument for the laboratory, and one that may be used under some conditions in the mill. I have used it for several years and with great satisfaction. Like Prof. Roberts-Austen and unlike Herr Blass, I have always found that its indications remain constant over long periods. Like Prof. Roberts-Austen, also, I find it possible, in a quiet place, to read with extreme accuracy ; and, by the use of a telescope, I can read temperatures to within a degree, for some delicate determinations which I have in hand. Variations in the temperature of the room affect the readings of the instrument far less than one would expect. When the current is cut off, the mirror does not always return exactly to the same place; in other words, the zero shifts appreciably, and must be determined often, indeed every few hours if accuracy be desired. In some cases I have had it determined within a very few minutes of every important reading. To this end a switch should he introduced, so that the circuit may be broken readily. With this arrangement we can determine accurately the position of the zero within a very few seconds of the time of taking any especially important reading. The chief causes of the variation of the zero which I have noticed are as follows: a. The suspension may not be tight enough, so that the momentum of the galvanometer frame as it swings makes its supporting wires slip in their bearings. b. Changes in the position of neighboring iron objects may deflect the mirror. c. Changes in the temperature of the room may, perhaps, change the torsion of the suspension wires, and so shift the mirror. d. Dust may attach itself to the galvanometer frame, and by friction against the surrounding fixed parts of the galvanometer, may

Jan 1, 1895

By Donald A. Brobst

The minerals barite (BaSO4 barium sulfate) and witherite (BaCO3 barium carbonate) are the chief commercial sources of the element barium and its compounds whose many uses are nearly hidden among the technical complexities of modern industrial processes and products. Barite, the major ore mineral, is extremely vital to the petroleum industry which in 1973 consumed at least 80% of the world's produc¬tion of 4.4 million tons as a major ingredient of the heavy fluid, called mud, that is circulated in rotary drilling of oil and gas wells. The re¬maining 20% of the barite production was consumed chiefly in the manufacture of barium chemicals and glass and as a pigment, filler, and extender. Barite occurs throughout much of the world and is available from three major geologic types of deposits-vein and cavity fill¬ing, residual, and bedded-in sufficient quantity at competitive prices to meet current demands. The world's demand for barite is expected to increase, and geologic circumstances are favor¬able for the discovery of new deposits of com¬mercial value. Witherite is much less common and abun¬dant than barite, although it is more desirable in many ways as a raw material for the pro¬duction of barium chemicals. The United States has not produced witherite since about 1950; England is currently the chief producer of witherite. End Uses Most of the world's barite production since 1926 has been used as a weighting agent for the muds circulated in rotary drilling of oil and gas wells. The muds fundamentally are mixtures of water, clay, and barite in different proportions that vary according to local reservoir condi¬tions. Muds with a specific gravity as great as 2.5 are used. The mud is pumped down the hollow drill stem, passes through the bit at the bottom of the hole, and rises to the surface in the space between the drill stem and the wall of the hole. In the course of this circulation the drill bit is cooled, cuttings are removed, the drill stem is lubricated, the walls of the hole are sealed, and the hydrostatic head of the column of weighted fluid helps to confine high oil and gas pressures. The latter feature aids in prevention of gushers, thus reducing both environmental pollution and waste of oil and gas resources as well as conserving the natural reservoir pressure for greater production and rate of recovery of the products contained in the rocks. Barite is particularly well suited for drilling mud because it is clean, easy to handle, soft (nonabrasive), heavy, virtually inert chemi¬cally, and relatively inexpensive compared to many other available heavy materials. Barite is used in the manufacture of glass in continuous tanks. The addition of barite ho¬mogenizes the melt and gives greater brilliance and clarity to the finished glass. Ground barite, both unbleached and bleached by sulfuric acid, is a common industrial filler, extender, and weighting agent. The rubber in¬dustry is a major consumer of barite as a filler. Barite also is added to bristolboard, heavy printing paper, playing cards, rope finishes, brake linings, clutch facings, plastics, and li¬noleum, to name but a few uses. Bleached barite has long been an extender in white lead paint because of its weight. The low index of refraction of barite, however, makes its ability to cover marks poorer than some other sub¬stances, but its low capacity for absorption of oil is a good feature. Off-color or unbleached barite can be used as a filler in colored paints. In the construction industry, some lump barite is used in concrete aggregate to weight down pipelines buried in marshy areas and to shield nuclear reactors. Because barite absorbs gamma radiation well, its use reduces the amount of expensive lead shielding otherwise

Jan 1, 1975

By L. D. Clark

Pay-out, the ratio of capital expenditure to annual cash return can be very revealing when employed to gage the merits of a proposed mining venture. It is a quantity, numerically but not physically equal to a factor, by which cash return may be discounted to equal required investment. The fewer the pay-out years, the greater the average annual earning power of the project. Considerable material has been written in the past about the most important and difficult problem mining management faces in evaluation of a property: the optimum production rate for the venture. What daily capacity should be adopted for the proposed operation that it may be the most rewarding to those underwriting it? H.C. Hoover has said, "The most important objective is the least cost per ton mined; and minimum working costs can only be gained by the most intensive production." Theoretically and practically, the quicker the ore is removed, the more profitable should be the venture because of the saving in fixed charges, the consequent lower unit costs and the interest unearned by the profit from the unmined ore. Yet, such performance will be tempered by policy and a restraint imposed by the ratio of capital expenditure to annual cash return. * The 'Annual net profit after taxes but including depreciation and depletion allowances. former will be based upon an analysis of the economic climate anticipated, with its many ramifications including the demand for the product, prices, tax laws, the conduct of labor and related wage scales. The variables and intangibles involved in estimating the optimum production rate for a mine do not readily lend themselves to mathematical relationships or equations and the problem can become complex indeed. The more readily applicable and relatively faster appraisal method will be used which, in addition to being reasonably adequate in most cases, will serve as a guide, should a more expanded and detailed estimate be desired. The first question is what is company policy with respect to the rate of investment return? This will depend on that significant period of time referred to as the pay-out, which can be defined as the estimated interval during which capital investment is returned through application of annual cash return to its recovery. Expressed another way, it is the ratio of capital expenditure to the annual cash return. For example, if the capital investment is $C and the annual cash return is $A (after Federal tax), then $C/$A = the pay-out period in years. That is to say, if $C = $1,500,000 and $A = $214,000, then which is the mathematical expression for the period of time it takes to recover the funds originally invested in a mining enterprise. The relationship yp = $C/$A can be useful — an expression which requires only the significant tern yp to be fixed; in other words, the long range investment policy. For what is the pay-out period but an expression of that policy in terms of the speed, within practical limits, with which an individual or company may want to recover capital expenditure? A policy by which pay-out will be fixed is imperative. This ratio must lie within relatively narrow limits governed by what is economically feasible. It cannot be too low, rendering the ratio impractical or absurd, nor too great, delaying the return of capital for reinvestment beyond a commensurate interval. What pay-out will govern this policy? Federal corporate taxes would seem to present the best measure. Consider mining in Canada where new mines are exempt from Federal income tax for 3½ yr from date of first production. This exemption expressly allows The Act states: "A corporation . . . i s not required to include the profits . . . for the period of 36 months commencing with the day on which the mine came into production in reasonable commercial quantites." a company to recover capital expenditure during the early stages of production. With such an incentive, it is logical to strive for as much capital redemption as possible during this period. Thus, 3½ yr would be a major contribution to the pay-out in Canada. Furthermore, it generally takes from 1½ to 3 yr to develop

Jan 1, 1963

The Fifth Annual National Exposition of Chemical Industries will be held in Chicago at the Coliseum and First Regiment Armory during the week of Sept. 22. It was decided to hold the exposition in Chicago, this year, for two reasons: The U. S. Army commandeered the Grand Central Palace Exposition Building in New York, immediately on the close of the last exposition and converted it into a receiving hospital, the use for which is now, happily, nearly ceased; and it was thought that the Exposition would succeed in bringing about a greater development of chemical industries in the Chicago district and the adjoining states. The Advisory Committee of the Exposition consists of: Charles H. Herty, Chairman, Editor Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry; Raymond F. Bacon, Director, Mellon Institute; L. H. Baekeland, Member Naval Consulting Board; W. D. Bancroft, President, American Electrochemical Society; Henry B. Faber, Industrial Filtration Corpn.; Ellwood Hendrick, President, The Chemists' Club; Bernard C. Hesse, Chemist, General Chemical Co.; A. D. Little, President, Arthur D. Little Inc.; Wm. H. Nichols, President, American Chemical Society; R. P. Perry, Vice-president, The Barrett Co.; H. C. Parmelee, Editor Chemical &; Metallurgical Engineering, G. W. Thompson, President, American Institute of Chemical Engineers; T. B. Wagner, Vice-president, U. S. Food Products Corpn.; M. C. Whitaker, President, U. S. Industrial Chemical Co.; and Charles F. Roth and Fred W. Payne. There is also added a special Chicago committee consisting of L. V. Redman, W. D. Richardson, A. V. H. Mory, Carl S. Minor, F. W. Willard, and Wm. Hoskins; the managers, as in the past, are Charles F. Roth and Fred W. Payne.

Jan 6, 1919

By AIME AIME

EVEN the weather man joined in a friendly conspiracy to make the fall meeting of the Industrial Minerals Division at Rolla, Mo., Oct. 23-25. the splendid surges that it was. Following weeks of rain, the foliage of the Ozarks was still green, merely enlivened here and there by splashes of autumn coloring. In contrast to the tranquil beauty of the School of Mines campus under smiling Indian summer skies, the pace of the meeting was lively. Registration was larger than at any previous meeting and included an unusual number of prominent names and delegates from all over the country. From 125 to 150 were present throughout the three technical sessions, at the Thursday evening smoker, and also at the banquet on Friday; when students trooped in to the technical sessions the audience was augmented occasionally to over 200.

Jan 1, 1941

By W. S. CAYPLESS, H. O. Hofman, E. E. HARRINGTON

I. INTRODUCTION. LIME-ROASTING is a term proposed by Ingalls 1 for the operation of forcing air under pressure through a mixture of galena and lime at the kindling-temperature with the object of oxidizing lead and sulphur and of fritting or fusing the charge. If, finely-divided galena were treated in this manner without the addition of lime, the heat set free by the oxidation of part of the lead and the sulphur would be sufficiently great to fuse undecomposed sulphide, and thus stop desulphurization. Besides the chemical action that the addition of lime, limestone or gypsum to the charge may have, the admixture has the physical effect that it keeps the particles of galena separated from one another and accessible to the oxidizing effect of the air. At present, three methods of lime-roasting are carried out on a working-scale, the Huntington-Heberlein, the Carmichael-Bradford and the Savelsberg2 processes. In the last, which interests us here, an 8-ton charge is made up of galena, limestone and perhaps some siliceous or ferruginous flux; the whole is crushed to pass a screen with 3-mm. holes and moistened with 5 per cent of water. It is fed gradually into a bowl-shaped converter, 6.56 ft. in diameter, supported by trunnions attached to a truck. On the .bottom the converter has a grate with blast-inlet beneath. In starting, the truck with the converter

Jan 1, 1907

By Henry S. Drinker

(Canal Zone Meeting, November, 1910.) FEW men reach middle life without having had the experience of failure in one or more undertakings; and most of us can look back with gratitude to help or advice given us by friends at critical periods of our lives. If, as men, we ask and take the benefit of such aid, why should we expect our sons to be stronger? A parent can make no greater mistake than to send a boy, however steady and intelligent he may be, off' to school or college, and expect the boy always to cope successfully with all the new conditions and new difficulties that may confront him. This is undoubtedly more the case with a freshman, in his first year at college, than in later years, or than it is with a boy at day- or boarding-school, where the boy receives a greater degree of care and oversight than can be given to the young man entering college; of all periods in life, the youth in his freshman year-fresh from the overshadowing care of home and school-may need judicious advice and timely aid. The change from the restraint of home and school to the freedom of college life is sudden and marked, and it is in this the first year of the boy or young man of 17, 18, or 19 years of age, that some tactful, judicious aid should be near him in his work and course. Some boys go to college so well prepared that they become careless and finally fall behind in their work from over-confidence. Others meet trouble from ambitiously trying to do more than their previous preparation, or physical or mental strength, can sustain. Others fall behind from illness-from injuries-from natural inability to grasp at first, without more aid than comes to them in the regular course of instruction, the higher mathematics-or mayhap the modern languages, or other subjects presented by the advanced curriculum of the present day. When a boy or youth begins to

Jan 1, 1911

By L. Leibowitz, M. G. Chasanov, L. W. Mishler

A drop calorimeter system is described for use in measuring enthalpies to 3600°K. Data are presented for tungsten between 2800" and 3600°K. The enthalpy of tungsten in cal per mole between 2000° and 3600°K can be represented by the equation HºT- Hº298 = - 1.7622 X 103 + 5.7772T + 8.9861 where T is in degrees Kelvin. A tabulation of com -puted values is presented for heat capacity, entropy, and free energy function. A drop calorimeter has been constructed to carry out enthalpy measurements at temperatures to 3600°K. Samples are heated by induction1 and dropped into a commercial adiabatic calorimeter, modified for this purpose. The experimental temperature is limited by the melting point of container materials and compatibility of the container and its contents. Several high-temperature drop calorimeters have been described in the literature1-5 but none has been used at temperatures as high as those in the present work; our measurements of the enthalpy of tungsten range from 2800" to 3600°K. DESCRIPTION OF EQUIPMENT An overall schematic view of the equipment is shown in Fig. 1. Power for the induction coil is supplied by a 25-kw 250 kHz Ther-Monic generator coupled to an iron core RF transformer. The Sample capsule is suspended in the work coil by 10-mil diam tungsten wires which are wrapped around a horizontal 5-mil diam tungsten wire. The horizontal suspension wire is clamped between two massive copper electrodes which are fixed in an x-y motion device that allows adjustment of the position of the heated capsule from outside the vacuum chamber. The copper electrodes are connected by flexible copper straps to a 1250-joule (5 kv, 100 pfarad) condenser bank. When it is desired to release the capsule, the condensers are discharged through the horizontal suspension wire causing it to vaporize rapidly. Very reliable and precise release of the capsule is achieved in this manner. Experiments have shown that no heat correction is required for this discharge energy. As part of the temperature measuring system, two prism holders have been incorporated in the apparatus. The upper prism holder is in the main vacuum chamber itself, whereas the lower one is in a side arm attached to the drop tube below the gate valve. The upper prism is mounted on a rotary vacuum feed-through, and may be moved under a protective shield when not in use. This prevents deposition of vapors on the prism surfaces when temperature measurements are not being made. Similarly, the lower prism is mounted on a push-pull vacuum feed-through, and when not in use may be pulled into its side tube. The prism mountings are fitted with guides and stops so that they may be moved precisely into the desired position. The aim throughout is to minimize the time the prisms are exposed to vapors from the hot samples. At the high temperatures reported in this paper, only the lower prism was used. The upper prism holder in these cases was fitted with an additional radiation shield. By using a prism and viewport, the lower surface of the samples can be observed by an optical pyrometer. The measurements discussed in this paper were obtained with a Leeds and Northrup 8622-C-S series manual pyrometer which is estimated to be accurate to 0.5 pct. Pyrometer calibrations and prism and window corrections were carried out in the conventional manner6 using tungsten strip lamps calibrated by the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, England. Prism corrections were rechecked after each use. All work to date has been done in vacuum, and no measurable change has been observed in the prism correction below -2300°K for the upper prism and below -2800°K for the lower one. The total time of exposure of the prisms is about 50 sec per run. At high temperature, the final temperature reading is corrected by using the final A value for the prism; see Ref. 6 for details of this procedure. The calorimeter is a modified Parr Instrument Co. (Moline, lll.), Series 1230 adiabatic calorimeter with automatic jacket control. Other authors5 have used a similar calorimeter with good results. The calorimeter jacket cover and calorimeter cover are attached to the drop tube which contains a radiation shield. This shield is a gold-plated copper disc which can be operated manually from outside the calorimeter. The receiver is attached below the radiation shield and is lined with tungsten. In a typical experiment, the calorimeter and its jacket water temperatures were adjusted to 0.000°K temperature difference. The sample was allowed to equilibrate in the furnace at the desired temperature for about 20 min. The initial calorimeter temperature was then recorded, the sample dropped, and appropriate shutters closed. After about 3 min, the drop tube and receiver were filled with helium to 60 torr. The final calorimeter temperature was recorded after it had remained constant over a 5-min period. The equilibration time in the calorimeter was about 25 min. Thermistor probes are used to operate a hot and cold water supply system to maintain the jacket temperature equal to the calorimeter temperature. For actual measurements of the calorimeter temperatures, a quartz thermometer was used (Hewlett Packard Dymec Thermometer, Model #2801A). This thermome-

Jan 1, 1970

By Woolsey Johnson

THE object of this paper is to, describe the several necessary characteristics of the zinc-retorting charge and to show how by certain improved methods; the large excess of coal, over that theoretically required, can be reduced, thereby effecting an increase in the smelting capacity of a retort plant as well as other economies. In the Southwestern zinc works a charge of roasted zinc ore with a side mixture of carbonates and silicates, analyzing on the average 50 per cent. Zn, is mixed with 55 or more per cent. of its weight of a mixture of coal and coke analyzing 60 to 70 per cent. fixed carbon. . The ore is of varying fineness and the coal and coke are usually crushed in a semi-moist condition through a 3/8 -in. screen. With ores of a slaggy nature, this coal proportion is increased, sometimes to as much as 100 per cent. of, the weight of the ore. With carbonate ores, or where anthracite screenings with higher carbon content are cheap enough, the percentage of reducing agent is cut to 45 per cent. or even somewhat lower. The average charge per retort for a monthly run of a plant on ore, as distinguished from retorts on blue-powder, ladle-skimmings and other between-products, runs from 60 to 66 lb., with a mean of 63 lb. for the Southwest with standard retorts of 8 ½ -in. inside diameter and 50 in. long inside, using roasted sulphide ores. Conditions will change these figures, but 40 lb. of ore per cubic foot of retort space is, I believe, an average in the better-operated plants. Since the rise in. the price of spelter, the tendency has been to overcharge. To remove the slag that is formed when retorts are overcharged, extra men are put on to "gum-chisel" the retorts to prevent "set" furnaces and "butchered, retorts." Taking the above conditions as premises, we find that from four to six times the amount of coal necessary for the reduction is used, as is evidenced by the fact that the residues analyze as high as 35 per cent, fixed carbon. There are good reasons why this excess of fixed carbon must be used and perhaps these can be best explained by a description of the metallurgical requisites of a zinc charge. We may enumerate these as follows: 1. High reducing power, especially at the end f the shift, to reduce any carbon dioxide to monoxide and bring about a good condensation

Jan 2, 1918

By A. B. Kinzel

ALTHOUGH calcium carbide and other compounds of calcium, as well as a number of calcium alloys, are well known and are the basis of important industries in the of United States, calcium metal has been thought of as something of a rarity and has received comparatively little attention from industrial metallurgists. The metal may he made in a number of ways, but the electrolytic deposition of calcium from a molten calcium chloride bath was the first process to be used for its commercial production and is still the standard procedure. Calcium metal has elicited little interest among nonferrous metal producers, as the demand has been relatively small and its production restricted to only a few plants, exclusively in France and Germany.

Jan 1, 1941

By AIME AIME

READERS of a technical paper, or the audience if the paper is presented orally, judge the paper on several counts. The September 1940 issue of MINING AND METALLURGY contained an excellent short article by S. Marion Tucker en- titled "Are You Going to Present a Paper," which considered the general subject of presentation. In it Dr. Tucker referred to the large number of poorly prepared and badly delivered papers that are presented annually before the large number of technical and other societies that meet regularly, and he stressed the point that good delivery, length of paper, content, and composition are of great importance. All of Dr. Tucker's points were well taken; however, good illustrations are equally important in explaining certain phases of some papers.

Jan 1, 1941

Mine Transitman.-Engineer, about 30 years of age, experienced in coal mine underground surveys. Must be good draftsman and possess sufficient personality to get results from the men. Location, Illinois. No. R 419. Coal Mining Engineer: Coal mining engineer of proved ability for position of manager f high-grade bituminous coal property. Location, Canada. No. R 427. Chemist or Metallurgical Engineer.-Chemist or metallurgical engineer for special library work. Man with scientific training with the ability and education -of a young instructor in a university. Duties would consist of working out a new method of indexing scientific information, more particularly in obtaining information for use of a Committee on the Heat Treatment f Steel. Location, Washington, D. C. No. R 470. Topographical Draftsman.-Civil engineering training and topographical and surveying experience. Unmarried man, under 40 years of age. Knowledge of Spanish not necessary. Discharged army or navy man preferred. Location, oil fields, Mexico. Salary, $5 per day, living and traveling expenses. No. R 483. Mechanical Draftsman.-Engineering training, familiarity with drawings of pumps, piping, etc., need not necessarily be a designer. Unmarried man, under 40 years of age. Discharged army or navy man preferred. Location, Mexico. Salary $5 per day with living and traveling expenses. No. R 484. Engineer Translator.-Engineer of Portuguese nationality who has received his technical training abroad, and has been filling engineering positions in this country, to translate material for catalogs of an engineering character. No. R 486.

Jan 5, 1919

By J. A. Herrick Nashua

IN this country steel made in a Siemens furnace or Bessemer converter, is generally tapped into a ladle or shoe, and then drawn through an aperture in its base into the various moulds. In order to regulate the flow of the molten mass a refractory valve is arranged at the aperture. A plumbago nozzle is fixed firmly in this aperture, and a stopper of like material is fitted to it, making a socket valve. In order to raise and depress this stopper at will, a rod is fastened-to it, extending through, the metal and over the brim of the ladle, where it is bent back in a half circle and secured in a slide. This slide plays vertically in a frame, permanently fastened to the outside of the ladle, and is moved by a lever having as a fulcrum a pin fixed in this frame, one end, of the lever being temporarily fixed to the slide, and the other end being moved by hand. Reference being had to the drawing (see Plate 1, Fig. 1), E is the nozzle, D is the stopper, A is the rod, protected as hereinafter described, C is the cast-iron framework, B is the wrought-iron slide, B' is the offset into which the rod, A, enters, and is secured in the usual manner by a key, a. Section J, K, shows the manner of hanging the lever. J is a pin attached to the slide by which the end of the lever raises the slide, B. J is the fulcrum fastened to the frame, C. K (Fig. 1) is a hand-nut fastening the slide, B, to the frame, C, at will. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of ladle, showing the outside working of the parts above described. It is the common practice to protect the rod, A, by a coating of clay and fire-sand, kneaded to the right consistency and applied to the rod, and then thoroughly dried. Just before casting, the plumbago stopper, D, is heated at its extremity to redness separate from the ladle and, at the moment of pouring, is placed in the ladle and slide, and adjusted as well as practicable. Some very serious defects ensue, causing much trouble and vexation as well as actual loss. The fire-clay coating in drying becomes cracked and seamy, and at its best is more or less loose on the rod. The hot metal sometimes cuts

Jan 1, 1879

By L. C. Brown, J. S. Kirkaldy

Measurements have been made of carbon diffuswn in the five ternary austenites Fe-C-Si, Fe-C-Ni, Fe-C-Co, Fe-C-Mn, and Fe-C-Cr in which the carbon (component 1) diffuses through interstitial sites and the ternary addition (component 2) diffuses substitutionally. Values of the diffusion-coefficient ratio, D12/D11 were determined for each system with finite couples using the transient equilibrium method. The effect of temperature and of concentrations of both the carbon and substitutional component upon D12/D was examined and was found to agree with the theoretical predictions. It is concluded that within an experimental uncertainty of 10 to 15 pct, it is possible to calculate the ratio D12/D11 from purely thermody-namic data. Difficulties of measuring the other off-diagonal coefficient, 4,, are discussed. Any quantitative attack on the fundamentals of the hardenability problem in steel must begin with the multicomponent diffusion formalism and with the accumulation of data pertaining thereto. In a recent paper Kirkaldy and purdy 1 employed the formalism derived from irreversible thermodynamics to treat the problem of diffusion in ternary austenites. In the latter solutions, carbon diffuses through interstitial sites and the substitutional component diffuses through the lattice. Examples were given of diffusion in the systems Fe-Mn-C and Fe-Si-C. In the present paper, we present new results on and discuss their agreement with the thermody-namic theory. Since the theory has been slightly modified from the original presentation of Kirkaldy and Purdy, their results on Fe-Si-C and Fe-Mn-C have been recalculated and are presented here for completeness. The flux of the interstitial component with respect to a fixed lattice framework can be written as a linear expansion in the independent concentration gradients, where X1 and X2 are the independent thermody-namic forces in the lattice fixed frame of reference. These forces can be obtained from the general statement for forces in a volume fixed frame2 if the partial molar volume of carbon atoms is set equal to zero and that of the substitutional component 2 is set equal to unity, viz where the are the chemical potentials and the N's are mole fractions. Introducing into [3] and [4] the function If, as suggested by statistical arguments, the off-diagonal interaction L12 is sufficiently small, [6] reduces to i.e., the coefficient ratio becomes purely thermo-dynamic. The activity of components 1 and 2 in a dilute ternary system (standard state at infinite dilution) may be represented by the expansion3

Jan 1, 1964

By W. McA. Johnson

The object of this paper is to describe the several necessary characteristics of the zinc-retorting charge and to show how by certain improved methods, the large excess of coal, over that theoretically required, can be reduced, thereby effecting an increase in the smelting capacity of a retort plant as well as other economies. In the southwestern zinc works a charge of roasted zinc ore with a side mixture of carbonates and silicates, analyzing on the average 50 per cent. Zn, is mixed with 55 or more per cent. of its weight of a mixture of coal and coke analyzing 60 to 70 per cent. fixed carbon. The ore is of varying fineness and the coal and coke are usually crushed in a semi-moist condition through a 3/8-in. screen. With ores of a slaggy nature, this coal proportion is increased, sometimes to as much as 100 per cent. of the weight of the ore. With carbonate ores, or where anthracite screenings with higher carbon content are cheap enough, the percentage of reducing agent is cut to 45 per cent. or even somewhat lower. The average charge per retort for a monthly run of a plant on ore, as distinguished from retorts on blue-powder, ladle-skimmings and other between-products, runs from 60 to 66 lb., with a mean of 63 lb. for the Southwest with standard retorts of 8 1/2-in. inside diameter and 50 in. long inside, using roasted sulphide ores. Conditions will change these figures, but 40 lb. of ore per cubic foot of retort space is, I believe,'an average in the better-operated plants. Since the rise in the price of spelter, the tendency has been to overcharge. To remove the slag that is formed when retorts are overcharged, extra men are put on to "gum-chisel" the retorts to prevent "set" furnaces and "butchered retorts." Taking the above conditions as premises, we find that from four to six times the amount of coal necessary for the reduction is used, as is evidenced by the fact that the residues analype as high as 35 per cent, fixed carbon. There are good reasons why this excess of fixed carbon must be used and perhaps these can be best explained by a description of the metallurgical requisites of a zinc charge. We may enumerate these as follows: 1. High reducing power, especially at the end of the shift, to reduce any carbon dioxide to monoxide and bring about a good condensation

Jan 1, 1918

By L. C. Graton

At the Tenth International Geological Congress, Mexico, 1906, Waldemar Lindgren presented "The Relation of Ore Deposition to Physical Conditions." Retrospect ranks it as the outstanding offering at that Session and as the most fundamental contribution up to that date on the philosophy of ore deposition. Elaborating thereon in his text-book "Mineral Deposits," Lindgren analyzed ore-forming processes under conditions prevailing from great depth up to surface; explained the nature of deposition in each environment; and developed a comprehensive genetic ore classification, which brought wide acceptance and enriching contributions by many. Since Lindgren's latest edition (1933), have come wealths of material relevant to ore genesis, particularly through amazing renaissance and proliferation throughout science. Current publication regarding ores now emanates largely from a generation caught in pressures of the breathless modern tempo, which tempts scant reflection upon earlier truths. Consequently, today's thrilling output contains not a few offerings that need challenge because supplanting interrelationship and system by what seems, collectively, an assemblage of strange, ad hoc and often self-contradictory concepts. From these latter some merit may eventuate but at the probable cost of present confusion and delayed progress. The following pages, naming numerous post-Lindgren advances, record the conviction, held by many, that Lindgren's philosophy, progressively improved, remains the soundest approach to understanding ore genesis.

Jan 1, 1968

By James E. Howard

AT the request of the Council of the Institute, I have the honor to submit the following remarks upon the Program of Tests under which the current work of the Watertown Arsenal Testing Laboratory is carried on, which comprises, among other items, the tests of steel ingot metal and derivative shapes. The intended scope of the tests may be illustrated by extracts from the descriptive part of the program as submitted by the Laboratory under date of April 17, 1907, and subsequently approved by the Chief of Ordnance, U. S. A. Under Item 1, Ingot Metal-Open hearth, acid and basic; Bessemer, acid and basic; crucible; fluid compressed and uncompressed-descriptive remarks were made as follows ; " A thorough, fundamental inquiry into the physical properties of steel necessarily begins with the ingot metal. Investigations, having for their object the improvement of steels, should also begin with the ingot. A knowledge of the ingot structure is essential for judging of the subsequent behavior or appearance of the metal. Under ordinary conditions, so little information is obtained from the ingot in individual cases that practically none of importance is acquired. These remarks have particular reference to the state of physical and structural soundness of the steel. Questions of chemical composition, segregation, piping and the grosser cavities have frequently been given attention. Defects of continuity of structure, which manifest themselves in the working; of the metal, and at the final stages cause distrust in the finished forging, have generally been neglected. ? The range in physical properties in a given composition of metal, as shown in Tests of Metals, 1902 and 1903, is very great. Tests are there found which, when the results are

Mar 1, 1908

By F. S. Jr. Norcross

MANGANESE has long been considered one of the United States' most important strategic raw materials. Its indispensabil-ity in steel manufacture makes it vital to the nation's industrial life. Coupled with this indispensability is the fact that domes-tic producers have not been able as yet to supply more than a small part of the nation's manganese needs; consequently the United States has had to depend upon such distant foreign sources as the U.S.S.R., British India, the African Gold Coast and Brazil for the major portion of its ore. The great bulk of the mineral is con-sumed in the form of ferromanganese, an alloy that averages 8o per cent manganese and 20 per cent mainly iron and carbon. Manganese is used as a deoxidizer and desulphurizer in steel manufacture. By combination with the residual oxygen and sulphur of the bath, it helps to produce a clean, sound metal. Approximately 14 lb. of manganese, it is estimated, is used in making one ton of steel. For standard-grade ferromanganese, the ore should have a minimum of about 48 per cent Mn and preferably more. Beneficiation methods have not yet been developed for making the immense low-grade deposits in the United States salable at prevail-ing prices.

Jan 1, 1940