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By R. J. Quigg, G. P. Conard, J. F. Libsch

IN a recent investigation of the Mn-Ge system by Zwicker it was reported that two inter-metallic compounds in this system, Mn,Ge, and Mn,Ge,, exhibited ferromagnetic properties. Of these, Mn,Ge, was reported as "strongly magnetic" and Mn,Ge, was said to be "weakly magnetic" but no actual values were given. In a study of magnetic alloys of nonmagnetic elements sponsored by the United States Army Signal Corps at Lehigh University, test bars having the nominal composition of these compounds were prepared by pressing elemental powders and sintering them in a purified helium atmosphere. Magnetic values obtained on these compounds are reported in Tables I and 11. It should be cautioned that the test bars were somewhat porous and that X-ray patterns run on these materials indicated that the homogenization in the samples was not complete, but that in each case the compound reported on was the dominant phase. The (B-H) max and particularly the Br values for pure dense M&Ge, can, therefore, be expected to be somewhat higher than those reported herein, while those for Mn,Ge, may be in error in either direction. Further details on this investigation are available in previous publications.23

Jan 1, 1956

By John V. Beall

What progress has been made in rapid excavation of tunnels and shafts? Where do we go from here? To get some answers to these questions was the reason that 500 tunnel men-contractors, geologists, professors, lawyers, mining engineers--came to the University of Minnesota May 15-17. The attendance of 500 astonished conference organizer Professor D. H. Yardley, who had anticipated half that number. They came from Japan, South Africa, Austria, Sweden, and Australia to name a few, and an officer of the Corps of Engineers thought all his people should have been there. The Civil and Mining Engineering Departments of the University combined for the program, which was staged by M. K. Cragun for the General Extension Division. The Saga of the Oso Tunnel The present state of the art of rapid excavation is "good." There is little controversy about where we go from here and what's more, this reporter finds that the technical know-how to automate excavation in any kind of ground is extant, even if it will take some years to achieve this state. In a nut- shell though, the present status can be seen in its various ramifications in the saga of the Oso Tunnel, as told by V. L. "Vic" Stevens of Boyles Brothers Drilling Co. :

Jan 7, 1968

By WALDEMAR T. SCHALLER, EDWARD P. HENDERSON

THE material available for mineralogic study, consisted of drill cores, 2 to 3 in. thick, supplemented by small well cuttings. Such study has added no essential new information regarding the minerals, though the refractive indices, used for determinative purposes, have been determined more accurately than before, permitting the development of a scheme for the rapid identification of these minerals. The essential points brought out by the investigation are two: (1) that certain mineral associations evidently point the way to an understanding of the geologic history and (2) that a definite sequence of mineral formation has taken place so that the original minerals formed have been in part-reacted on producing new compounds and associations; Twenty minerals have been found. The most important are :

Jan 1, 1929

By Roger A. Gregg, Barry J. Piearcey

MANY of the nickel-base superalloys developed recently for use in the as-cast condition exhibit a massive "white-etching" constituent1 in the inter-dendritic regions. Commercial alloys in this category are SM 200,* IN 100, INCO 713, and Nicrotung. The appearance of a similar microconstituent in nickel-rich Ni-A1-B alloys has been reported by Schijbel and Stadelmaier. Their investigation revealed that this constituent was the binary eutectic of the terminal nickel-base solid solution and the inter metallic based on Ni3A1. This binary eutectic is degenerate and NhA1 is the major phase. At lower temperatures the eutectic composition lies within the NkA1 phase field and under equilibrium conditions is single-phase NisAl. Taylor and F&apos;loyd3 have shown that in Ni-Al-Cr alloys containing at least 8 at. pct Cr, liquid compositions which solidify by the eutectic reaction in the nickel-rich portion, precipitate nickel-base solid solution and NiAl rather than nickel-base solid solution and NkA1 in the binary Ni-A1 system. Since the nickel-base alloys contain chromium in excess of 8 at. pct and are further alloyed with one or more of the elements titanium, cobalt, molybdenum, or tungsten, it is possible that the eutectic could contain NiAl rather than NisAl. In addition, Benson4 has reported that in low-nickel austenitic high-temperature alloys, which possess Ni/(Al + Ti) atomic-weight ratios <18.0, the Ni (Al, Ti) phase may precipitate from the melt during solidification. Since SM 200 and similar high-temperature materials were developed from alloys which were designed for solution treatment, the appearance of a eutectic would indicate that the limit of solid solubility has been exceeded. The purpose of this note is to confirm that the massive white constituent in the complex nickel-base alloys investigated is based on the binary eutectic Ni + NbAl and that the limit of solid solubility need not be exceeded to produce it, in common with other observations of cast alloys. Successive polishing of a sample of SM 200 showed that, in agreement with Schobel and Stadelmaier, particles of the constituent were spherulitic and in particular were a) situated between cored dendrite arms, Fig. 1, and b) nucleated at the surface of dendrites, Fig. 2. The Ni/(Al + Ti) atomic-weight ratios for the nickel-base alloys which were observed to contain the massive eutectic constituent in the interdendritic regions are 12.1 (Nicrotung), 9.2 (IN loo), 19.5 (INCO 713), and 14.5 (SM 200). However, the results of X-ray analysis of these alloys in the as-cast condition failed to reveal the presence of the Ni (Al, Ti) phase. An electron microanalyzer was therefore employed to analyze the composition of this constituent in SM 200. The results of analyses of representative particles are as follows5: 8.4 at. pct Ti, 8.8 at. pct Co, 5.5 at. pct Cr, 0.9 at. pct W, 12.8 at. pct Al, and 63.6 at. pct Ni. Assuming that

Jan 1, 1964

By Ivor E. Campbell

The Smelter Control Research Association, Inc. (SCRA) was established in 1971 by domestic primary copper producers to investigate processes for removal of sulfur oxides and particulates from copper reverberatory furnace stack gases. The Association maintains a continuing review of developments related to sulfur oxide and particulate control technology, and conducts pilot-plant-investigations of scrubbing processes with feed streams of copper reverberatory furnace off-gases. In its first year of operation, SCRA reviewed over 100 processes proposed for sulfur dioxide removal. As could be anticipated, the frequency of receipt of proposals relating to improvements in sulfur, dioxide control technology has now declined. However, the number of such proposals still being received indicates continuing research on both wet and dry scrubbing systems, and indicates a widespread awareness, of shortcomings of proposed control. Despite the fact that an almost unbelievable number of processes has been proposed for sulfur dioxide control, few have progressed beyond the conceptual stage, and only a limited few have been subjected to thorough pilot-scale evaluation. The most extensive pilot-scale and demonstration-scale investigations have been. devoted to the so-called throwaway processes employing limestone or lime slurry scrubbing. This work has, in turn, for the most part been on utility plant stack gases, containing from 500 to 3,000 ppm sulfur dioxide.

Jan 1, 1976

By J. E. Russell

A brief review of the role of laboratory testing for characterization of host rocks for nuclear waste repositories is presented. Micro-and macro-scopic deformation mechanisms are discussed and constitutive laws being considered are reviewed. More information is available for rocksalt under expected repository conditions and, consequently, it receives more attention in our review. A brief comparison is made between the creep and constant strain-rate tests leading to a hypothesis that there may be systematic differences between steady-state conditions developed by the two test types. This difference is explained by considering specific power dissipated and work done on the sample. The hypothesis is tested against data for wet Westerly granite. In conclusion, progress has been made during the past five years but research and development should continue.

Jan 1, 1984

By H. C. Fiedler

The solubility of sulfur in Si-Fe was determined by the metallographic examination of heat-treated and quenched samples. In the absence of manganese, the solubility in 3.1 pct Si-Fe was found to be about 0.010 pct at 1000o C, 0.015 pct at 11000C, and 0.020 pct at 1150°C, which is substatntially less than hitherto reported. Increasing the silicon content was found to decrease the solubility of sulfur, which is consistent with the increase in the activity coefficient of sulfur with increasing silicon content that has been reported for Fe-Si alloys. Manganese additions were studied in alloys containing 3.1 pct Si and between 0.013 and 0.015 pct S. At low manganese levels the solubility product of manganese sulfide was found to be lower than previously reported. THE solubility of sulfur in pure polycrystalline iron has been reported by Rosenquist and Dunicz1 and by Turkdogan et al.2 Samples were equilibrated in atmospheres containing different ratios of H2S/H2. Both groups of investigators found a solubility limit in y iron of 0.013 pct at 1000oC and 0.031 pct at 1200°C. In addition, Rosenquist and Dunicz1 found a solubility limit in a iron of 0.020 pct at 900°C. Ainslie, Hoffman, and seybolt3 found significantly higher sulfur contents in polycrystalline iron samples than in single-crystal samples after heating at 890°C in a sealed tube containing a mixture of powdered iron and FeS made with s35. Whereas the single crystals contained 0.013 and 0.016 pct S (± 0.005 pct), the polycrystalline samples contained between 0.016 and 0.026 pct S. Autoradiographs suggested that the excess sulfur in the polycrystalline samples was due to the segregation of sulfur in solution at grain boundaries. Ainslie and seybolt4 have reported on the solubility of sulfur in 3 pct Si-Fe. Their samples were sealed in capsules containing hydrogen and sufficient sulfur as cobalt sulfide to saturate the sample. After heat treating, the sulfur-rich phase on the surface was removed by abrading, and the sulfur content of the sample was taken as the equilibrium value for that temperature. Before the equilibrating heat treatment, the samples were heated to 1300°C to coarsen the grains. The resulting grain size, which was about 3/18 in. in diam, was considered sufficiently large to preclude a sensible increase in sulfur solubility due to grain boundary segregation. They reported the solubility to be 0.029 pct at 900oC, 0.063 pct at 1000oC, 0.076 pct at 1100°C, 0.122 pct at 1200°C, and 0.098 pct at 1300°C.

Jan 1, 1968

TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING AND METALLURGICAL ENGINEERS GENTLEMEN: Submitted herewith are the report of the Treasurer for the year 1945 and reports for the same year of the following standing committees: Membership, Admissions, Papers and Publications, Mining and &apos; Metallurgy (Magazine), and Library. To these reports you are referred for additional details. Membership Membership, counting all categories other than Student Associateship, continues the upward trend of the last 10 years, reaching a total, as shown in Table 1, of 12,081. The net gain of 406 would

Jan 1, 1944

By W. H. Herrnstein, F. H. Beck, M. G. Fontana

Sulfur solubility in a iron was measured in the 750 to 890°C temperature range and was found to be insensitive to ferrite purity within a limited composition range. The permeability of sulfur in ferrite was determined from the internal sulfidation of Fe-Mn alloys. From the solubility and permeability results, the diffusivity of sulfur in ferrite could be calculated. These results are summarized as follows: Dissolved sulfur decreased the lattice parameter of ferrite. The effect of dissolved sulfur on the tensile properties of ferrite at low temperatures was also determined. SINCE sulfur is an important residual impurity in commercial irons and steels, effects associated with the presence of sulfur as a solute in iron are of considerable practical interest. Unfortunately, certain basic information relative to the Fe-S system appears to be lacking in the literature, e.g., the effect of dissolved sulfur on the lattice parameter and mechanical properties of ferrite. In addition, discrepancies exist in previously reported results for the solubility of sulfur in ferrite. These discrepancies raise questions regarding the sensitivity of sulfur solubility to the purity and microstructure of iron. This study was undertaken primarily in an effort to obtain reliable data on the solubility of sulfur in ferrite. Additional objectives included determination of the permeability and diffusivity of sulfur in ferrite by the internal sulfidation method and determination of the effect of dissolved sulfur on the lattice parameter and tensile properties of ferrite. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD Three grades of iron, encompassing a range of impurity levels, were employed in the study. The grades were designated VME (vacuum-melted electrolytic), SPZR (single-pass zone-refined), and MPZR (multipass zone-refined). The composition of each grade is given in Table I. Poly crystalline and single-crystal strip specimens were employed in the solubility experiments. Uniform grain size strip (ASTM 3 to 5) of 0.005 to 0.020 in. thickness was obtained by alternate cold reductions of 60 thickness 60 to 80 pct and recrystallization at 650°C for i hr in pure, dry argon. Single-crystal specimens were produced in 0.010-in.-thick SPZR iron strip by the strain-gradient anneal technique. Recrystallized strip 0.25 in. wide was strained until a Luders band or bands had propagated over the length of the strip; the strip was then annealed by drawing it through a 150°C per in. gradient (890°C peak temperature) at 1 in. per hr in an atmosphere of pure, dry argon. Laue photographs of the crystals produced exhibited no discernible asterism. Specimens were equilibrated with H-H, atmospheres at temperatures between 750" and 890" by one of two methods, each of which makes use of the reaction: The encapsulation sulfurization method was employed in the majority of the solubility experiments. A strip

Jan 1, 1969

By Anthony Sharkey

Introduction In Europe, longwall mining accounts for over 95% of coal produced from deep mines, whereas in the U.S.A., longwall accounts for less than 5% of deep mine coal production. There are many reasons for the difference, but in general: a. U.S. mine operators have invested heavily in continuous mining or conventional equipment which continues to produce acceptable results; b. There 1s a reluctance to change from, a familiar (and proven) mining method to an unfamiliar one, despite promises of huge production increases,; c. Multi-seam mining in Europe has made longwall the only really viable mining method, whereas In the U.S.A. multi-seam mining (particularly in "below-drainage" mines), is relatively rare; d. Although some spectacular results have been achieved by longwall in the U.S.A.(I), the general performance of longwall in this country has not been good enough to generate much enthusiasm for its wide application; e. The much higher level of investment in face equipment required for longwall when compared to alternative methods (approximately $7.5 million for a medium seam longwall installation and $1 million to $1.5 million for a continuous miner section). However, declining productivity, national energy requirements and safety legislation are creating a situation in which longwall as a viable mining method is being examined more closely and in more places than hitherto. This paper, therefore, attempts to identify some of the principal criteria needing examination in any assessment of the feasibility of longwall application, the limitations of information for those criteria in the decision making process and the need for further research and development to assist the mine operators make the decisions.

Jan 1, 1981

By T. M. Berry

FOR the past several years it has been growing practice to install circular shafts at deep mining operations. Several factors have brought this about. Throughout eastern and midwestern coal fields circular shafts have been conventional for many years. Where large bodies of coal are mined, a production shaft may have a life of 20 to 30 years. Quantity production is essential; therefore the shaft must have a large cross-sectional area for larger skips and cages. Mechanical mining has become a necessity if a company is to stay in business today. Continuous mining machines and cutting, loading, and hauling equipment must be taken in and out of the mines. If the access shaft is not large enough there will be expensive dismantling and assembling. This has become a problem at many operations, particularly in the western sections where ore was originally mucked by hand into small cars and hoisted by a skip through a narrow rectangular shaft having small compartments. Mechanical loaders must be dismantled to wheelbarrow size to go into these mines.

Jan 7, 1957

EDUCATION for the mineral industry was at first a single comprehensive curriculum, but it was early recognized that the main basis of mining is physics, while that of metallurgy is chemistry. The first school to offer curricula leading to degrees in mineral industry education in the United States (1853) had separate ones in mining and metallurgy. The Columbia School of Mines (the fist really successful one) had only a single curriculum when it opened in 1864, but within a few years had so reorganized its work that it offered curricula in mining, metallurgy, geology, chemistry, and civil engineering. Interest in the metallurgy or geology curricula was slight at fist, and for the next 30 years the great majority of Columbia students took the mining curriculum, probably partly because it contained nearly as much geology as the geology curriculum, practically all the metallurgy, and most of the chemistry, and partly because of the degree awarded for it. Other schools kept their mining curricula equally broad, and as late as 1900-1910 men were graduating as mining engineers who were practically as well prepared to make geology or metallurgy their life work as they were for mining. Gradually, however, the subject matter of mining geology and metallurgy became so enriched through research and development that separate curricula in them became worth while; their progressive development is the subject of another chapter. Mining curricula also began to be somewhat diversified, and schools in areas where coal mining was of outstanding importance began to offer options in coal mining, the earlier curricula having been chiefly aimed at metal mining. The petroleum industry began its meteoric rise about the same time as mineral instruction in this country, but little more of applied science attended its birth than had attended such ancient practical arts as copper and iron

Jan 1, 1941

THE SECRETARY The year 1917 has been a notable one in Institute affairs. The usual activities, including meetings, publications, local section interests, library service, and so-forth, have been continued on at least the same scale as previously, and in addition the resources of the Institute have been placed without stint at the service of the Nation, not only for the active prosecution of the military side of the war, but even more especially in the industrial operations which form the very basis of modern warfare. The officers and directors of the Institute have labored both officially and individually, while the Institute as a body, through committees of, prominent members, and through many individual members, has given freely. Finally, Institute funds have been appropriated to an amount exceeding $5000 to accomplish the cooperation with Government bureaus, and provide committee expenses necessary for performing the services that have been given. The President of the Institute had a very large personal share in many of these activities, which will be described in the following pages, as well as in the President&apos;s own report. Many of the Institute&apos;s members are giving their whole time for. $1 a year, or less, and especial mention should be made of Herbert C. Hoover, Food Administrator, W. L. Honnold, Head of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, Mark L. Requa, Petroleum Administrator, Edgar Rickard and Charles W. Merrill of the Food Administration, S. A. Taylor of the Fuel Administration, W. L. Saunders, B. B. Thayer and Joseph W. Richards who .are giving a. large share of their time to the Naval Consulting Board, W. Y. Westervelt, W.0. Hotchkiss and Harvey S. Mud of the War Minerals Committee, David W. Brunton of the War Committee of Technical Societies, and hundreds of others whose names are mentioned in the Honor Roll of Members. It has also been a notable year in cooperation with sister-societies. The most important event under this head was the accession of the American Society of Civil Engineers into the fraternity of Founder Societies.

Jan 2, 1918

By D. U. Deere

The title of this chapter is "Indexing Rock for Machine Tunneling" or, a simplified approach to a very difficult problem. I do not think that we can divorce the considerations for conventional tunneling from that of the requirements in terms of geologic information that is necessary for machine tunneling. Experience has shown that in conventional tunneling, the rate of progress achieved in driving a tunnel and the cost involved can be almost directly related to the general rock quality and to the water conditions actually encountered. The very method selected for driving the tunnel or perhaps adapted during the construction period, that is, full-face, top-heading and bench, or multiple-drift, is largely determined by the degree of severity of the adverse geological features. The amount and type of support required to stabilize the rock behind the advancing face are also directly related to the ground conditions. The support may range from bald-headed to rock bolts placed as needed- perhaps pattern rock bolting, light steel sets, all the way to closely spaced heavy steel sets with full lagging and invert struts. At times crown bars, spiling, and breast boarding must be used to advance the face. Shotcrcte applied immediately to the arch and upper walls is a fairly recent advance in providing both temporary and permanent support. Ground-water inflows can further reduce the rate of advance, causing stability problems and reducing the overall efficiency of the mining crew. Required pumping may also be very expensive depending on the grade of the tunnel and the amount of water. And in shafts, of course, there is the pumping problem. To offset the adverse effect of the ground-water inflows, one must often resort to grouting ahead of the face. But this very operation which helps cut down the water inflow also increases greatly the time required for mining, and of course, there is additional cost involved in the actual operation. The conditions described above do not occur uniformly throughout the rock mass but rather they are concentrated

Jan 1, 1970

By Sam Tour

SOME years ago, the writer described heat checks or thermal cracks that occur in die-casting dies.1 The life of dies was considered in relation to the casting temperature, the material used for the die, and the heat to be absorbed by the die per unit volume of casting made. The mech-anism of the action that results in thermal failure of dies was described. In the present paper the writer proposes to describe some additional observations in regard to heat checking, make one or two suggestions as to the method or methods for further attack of the problem, and give the results obtained on some work carried out along these lines.

Jan 1, 1934

ON July 2 the Krupp plant in Essen was occupied by the French. The City of Frankfurt, on the edge of the Mayence Bridgehead was surrounded by the French. French infantry and cavalry occupied some more towns in the Ruhr. These moves were apparently in the way of reprisals. The Bank of England on July 5 raised its discount rate from three per cent. to four, per, cent., the lower rate having previously prevailed for almost exactly a year.. The advance appears to have been inspired by the reserve ratio, but especially owing to the fact that the low rate in the London market had led to the out-flow of funds from there to other markets. Philip Snowden brought up again in the British .Parliament his motion in favor of the condemnation of the capitalistic system and the substitution of socialism. The motion was put to vote and was defeated by large majority, only the members of the Labor party voting for it. The Allies and the Turks finally came to an agree-ment at Lausanne, the Turks getting about all for which they asked. It would be tiresome to record the details. The main fact is that the Turks, after having been ejected from Europe in 1918, are now going to return. Russia agreed to the settlement respecting the Straits. The Soviet Government of Russia formulated and adopted, subject to ratification, a constitution for the United States of Russia, which appears to be patterned after the constitution of the United States of America and the unwritten constitution of Great Britain. The important thing about this seems to be that it definitely reunites the constituent parts of the old Empire, the semi-independence of the Ukraine being surrendered.

Jan 7, 1923

E. P. Pfleider, University of Minnesota I would like to ask Bob Merrill whether he considers that horizontal concave curvature of a slope has any stabilizing effect, such as Jenike 1 suggested several years ago. R. H. Merrill, U. S. Bureau of Mines, Denver Federal Center The stabilizing effect is due to the restraint offered to radial movement by the curvature. We found in laboratory tests that if we constrained the rock with the same stresses as those measured in the pit then it would sustain a maximum stress about two or four times greater than when the same rock type was unconstrained. We are therefore definitely of the opinion that a constrained situation in a slope is favorable towards stability. G. A. Leonards, Purdue University I was interested in Mr. Lane&apos;s observations concerning the correspondence between rate of slide movement with rise of reservoir. Perhaps the most interesting feature is that the rate of movement at the time the rock slope failed was less than the rate at an earlier time when it did not fail. This is difficult to explain from current slope stability theory. K. S. Lane, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers I believe that reduced rate of movement is the result of the progressive type of failure, such as described by Patton and Deere. which occurs along the sliding surfaces. It is difficult to analytically define the progressive failure condition for inclusion in slope stability conditions, but its existence should be recognized in design. We should also realize that many apparently stable slopes undoubtedly contain overstressed regions. To design a slope with no overstressed region would be uneconomical and conservative. D. H. Deere I would pose the question-"What is the meaning of a factor of safety of one?" We were involved in the design of a large, irregularly shaped, underground cavity with an unsupported span of several hundreds of feet. Tests on rock specimens indicated a strength of 1300 lb per sq in. The RQD would have been between 90 to 100 percent indicating excellent structural continuity. In-situ stress determinations indicated an approximately hydrostatic state of stress at a level of 1400 lb per sq in. Calculation of stress concentrations at the walls indicated that the stresses there would be about 3000 to 4000 lb per sq in. Admittedly the rock is in a confined condition everywhere except at the very skin of the wall and the rock walls would thus on the average be somewhat stronger. Allowing for the effect of restraint the factor of safety was found to be less than 0.5 over a region several feet into the wall. Construction was started, using rockbolts only to support the walls. Failure around the immediate skin occurred after each

Jan 1, 1967

By D. G. F. Hedley, D. F. Coates, K. Barron

INTRODUCTION Preceding papers presented in this symposium have considered the influence of various parameters, such as geologic structure, groundwater, etc., on the stability of rock slopes and have given some analyses and guide lines for slope design. To carry out such analyses it is necessary to put numbers to these parameters; where possible, this is best done on the basis of in- situ observation and measurement. Since none of the design analyses can be considered exact and since conditions vary during excavation, it is also desirable to monitor the behaviour of the slopes as the excavation proceeds. In this manner a feedback of information on the actual excavation conditions can allow a continuous reassessment of the design parameters to be made and can give early warning of incipient failures. The purpose of instrumenting rock slopes is thus to provide information which fits into one of two categories: (a) To give basic data to assist on-site assessment and design of the rock excavation. (b) To provide data for the control and assessment of safety during excavation. The purpose of this paper is to review briefly some of the instruments and measuring techniques available for gathering this data and to indicate where such data may prove useful. This is not a comprehensive review of all available instrumentation but, rather, is a survey of some of the instruments and techniques with which the authors have had some experience and which have proven useful. STRUCTURAL ASSESSMENT Whilst most structural assessment of a site is done on the basis of geologic mapping and core examination, there exists some instrumentation which can, in particular circumstances, assist in this assessment. Seismic instruments can be used to determine the geometry of formations and to give an indication of the relative competency of rocks. These instruments operate using seismic reflection or refraction techniques and, although mainly confined to shallow sub-surface exploration, can be useful in distinguishing between soil/ bedrock contacts and, in some cases, the extent of weathered surface rock.

Jan 1, 1971

By John W. Cloud

In 1877 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company removed an old bridge from its line at Duncannon, Pa., built intermediate piers and erected shorter spans of the Pratt truss type, which had previously been in use on another portion of the road. The design of this truss would not admit of diagonals larger than 19 inches diameter, and in order to stiffen the bridge somewhat steel rods were introduced for the main diagonals in the first and second panels, 19 inches and 18/8 inches diameter respectively. These rods were threaded without upsetting, and by the ordinary formulae the strains were of the same intensity upon both, viz., 16,000 pounds per square inch with the maximum loading. The other main diagonals in the truss are 19 inches diameter, and of iron. It was specified for the steel rods: Elastic limit,.......46,000 Ibs. Tensile strength,. .. ,. .. 80,000 lbs. Elongation,,.,.,. 20 per cent. The steel was procured without difficulty, and it allowed a factor of safety of 23/4 at elastic limit, while a similar factor of 2½ had for a long time been successfully used for iron. In the course of three years, from time to time, six of these steel rods broke, three of them being 18 inches in diameter, and three 19 inches in diameter. The broken rods were tested, and three of them analyzed at Altoona to ascertain the cause of failure, and what modifications should be made in the steel for such service. Examination showed that all the rods were broken in detail close under the nut. The threads were well cut and properly rounded at the root. testing the rods micrometer screws, reading to .0001" with c bell to signal the contact, were attached to the test pieces, and by this means the modulus of elasticity and elastic limit accurately obtained.

Jan 1, 1881

By James R. Swaisgood, Ronald E. Versaw

Hundreds of shafts have been sunk in the United States in the past. Most of these have been successful however, in some instances thousands of dollars have been lost due to work stoppage while emergency measures were taken to control unexpected water flows. In cases where it was not possible to control the water, the shafts were completely lost. Many thousands of dollars have also been wasted in overconservative support design for the successful shafts. These "hell for stout" designs were necessary because of the importance of the shaft in the operation of the mine. If there was trouble in the shaft, all underground operations would come to a halt. Over-design was also necessary because no reliable preconstruction investigation methods or rational support design methods were available.

Jan 6, 1974