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By ROBERT H. BOOTH

THE happy intra-plant relationships of the Bridgeport Brass Co. are largely attributable to the interest of the management in this important business factor. In furtherance of this development Carl F. Dietz, President of the Company and a member of the Institute, has contributed the novel plan for the objective presentation of business economics, described herein. All of the officers of the corporation are active in its management and they together with many other workers filling both executive and subordinate positions have a substantial financial interest in the enterprise. The viewpoint of this organization is fairly reflected by the following quotation from Roosevelt's "The Foes of Our Own Household."

Jan 1, 1924

By T. A. Rickard

The function of a preposition is to show the relation of one thing to another; it is necessary therefore for the writer to select the preposition that indicates the particular relation, otherwise he will fail to express himself clearly. Is it against common sense' to suggest that a Government is justified, morally as well as constitutionally, in preventing the decay of an industry by insisting upon the amalgamation of the prosperous with the needy? All these seven prepositions are used correctly. With the first dredge introduced in Russia, of Werf Conrad, Haarlem, make, this method of alluvial dining became important. Here the prepositions "with", "in", and "of" are used wrongly. He means: "This method of a1lu;ial mining sprang into importance shortly after the first dredge, made at the Werf Conrad, Haarlem, was introduced into ;Russia." The statement itself ii not true, but for that I am not responsible. Once, while I was serving with him, we were frozen in out of sight of land in the Gulf of Pichili in the North of China. Admiral Fisher wrote thus. He has used nine prepositions in making this brief statement. The sequence of three prepositions "in out of" is particularly awkward.

Jan 1, 1931

Born, March 28, 1853 Died July 23, 1916 On July 25, 1916, the Board of Directors adopted the following minute and directed that it be entered upon the records of the Board & published in the Bulletin of the Institute, and thereof be sent to the family of Mr. Kirchhoff: Charles Kirchhoff was one of the oldest, most widely known and most highly esteerned members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. On his return in 1875 from a European course of study, to begin a highly successful professional career, he joined the Institute, then just commencing to acquire both national and international recognition. He became at once, and-for more than 40 years continued to be, its earnest , and active supporter, serving it as Manager, Councilor or Director for terms aggregating 9 years,-as Vice-President for 2 years, and twice as President for a year. During the critical period of the erection of the United Engineering Society's building, and the transfer of the Institute to permanent head-quarters therein, Mr. Kirchhoff was its efficient representative in the United Engineering Society, and on the Building Committee. In 1910, amid the congratulations of colleagues, employees, and innumerable friends, Mr. Kirchhoff retired from active business as Vice- President and General Manager of a great technical publishing company. Yet he sacrificed of his well-earned leisure yet one more year, to serve the Institute as President through 1911.

Jan 9, 1916

By C. O. Fairchild

ONE of the fundamental principles of efficiency is the use of adequate and permanent records. The rapid increase in the manufacture and use of recording pryometers is a proof of the appreciation of efficiency principles on the part of the manufacturers engaged in the various technical industries. Where recording pyrometers are not employed in an industry in which temperature measurements are necessary, one will generally find that a printed form is used upon which is written, periodically, the temperatures measured by an indicating instrument. It is no serious condemnation of the workman to state that such records are often "doctored," but it is rather a reflection upon the executive who puts such temptation in the way of a workman. One of the well-known "tricks of the trade" is to "force." a furnace so that it will be at the proper temperature during the periodic trips of the foreman or other official. Indicating instruments and recorders may be used together to great advantage. The recorder furnishes .a printed record and a check upon the operator of the furnace, and a record of value in correlating properties of the finished product with the heat treatment. The indicator should be of assistance to the operator in controlling the furnace or oven. Modern practice requires a temperature-recording instrument that is as simple as possible, rugged, reliable, and sufficiently accurate. Of these qualifications reliability is paramount, particularly in cases where the recorder is used for controlling the temperature automatically. By a reliable instrument is meant one that will run continuously with little attention and with a consistent degree of accuracy. That is, if it is in error by 5 per cent. one day, it must be in error by a like amount on any other clay, and not by 2 per cent. or 10 per cent. The earlier forms of recorders were complex and delicate, or mechanically unsatisfactory and inaccurate, and required considerable attention to keep them in operation. Within the past few years, however, the development in the manufacture of temperature recording devices has been highly satisfactory and many excellent instruments are now available. .

Jan 9, 1919

By Thomas T., Read

IN this survey of the progressive development (of education for the mineral industries throughout the United States, the review of .the history of each school has usually been completed wherever it is first mentioned, but the history of the schools in the cities of the eastern seaboard was not carried beyond 1870. It is necessary now to cover what happened during the period of approximately the last quarter of the nineteenth century in several of the schools in the east. Philadelphia Of Philadelphia, it has been related in chapter 4 that the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania began offering a curriculum leading to the B.S. in mining in 1853; that the school did not prosper, and finally closed about 1890. The establishment of a Department of Mining, Arts, and Manufactures at the University of Pennsylvania in 1855-56 was also mentioned, but its history was not carried beyond 1860. In 1859 J. Peter Lesley was appointed professor of mining in the University of Pennsylvania. The son of a cabinetmaker, born in Philadelphia Sept. 17, 1819, he had taken his A.B. degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1838 and then secured a position on the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania under H. D. Rogers. When the Survey was discontinued, in 1841, he went to Princeton to study theology, was ordained a Presbyterian minister and followed that career until 1852, when the Pennsylvania, Geological Survey was again started and he rejoined its staff. He published "A Manual of Coal and its Topography" in 1856, and studied at the École des Mines, Paris, in 1856-57. He published an 800-page "Iron Manufactures Guide" the year that he was appointed to the staff at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1863-64 a College of Agriculture, Mines, Arts and the Mechanic Arts was established, but it was not a separate school

Jan 1, 1941

By J. VAN DEN BERC

Tin production and export from the Far East are still a long way off from the prewar figures. The Malayan Peninsula, which had a rather good start directly after the war largely because of stock piles found in Singapore and elsewhere, has since been hampered in the rehabilitation of its tin mines and dredging operations by material shortages and, more recently and more severely, by revolts and attacks of communist elements and gangster bands. These hindrances make working in the mines dangerous and form a daily threat against the valuable and highly vulnerable dredges. Contrary to the conditions in Malaya are those on the tin islands of Billiton, Banka, and Singkep-all in the Netherlands East Indies-where the Dutch have re-established peaceful relations with the population. Dutch efforts since the fall of 1945 have been rewarded by continuously increasing production, extension of production facilities, and return of moderate prosperity, complete safety, and all-out co-operation among the population ? native and Chinese ? to the benefit of all concerned.

Jan 1, 1949

By Thomas T. Read

AT this time of the year, engineering schools are releasing a group of young men who probably are, on the average, in much the same attitude of mind as a person arriving at the terminal station of a railway journey; namely, of having a general idea of his objective, but having to make a decision as to just where he is going and how best to get there. The man leaving the train can at first follow the crowd, but it soon breaks up, as one goes one way and one another, until he has to choose his own course. The recent graduate may do the equivalent of following the crowd by accepting the first position offered, but this only postpones a decision as to where he is going and how best to get there. So many young engineers ask for advice as to what to do that the following statement has been prepared as an attempt to make a general answer to such queries. The engineer taking his first job should realize two fundamental relations. The first is that in electing to be an engineer he has elected to be a hired man. A consulting engineer has more freedom than a man on a regular pay roll, but he is also a hired man; hired for briefer periods at a relatively high rate, but under the necessity of simultaneously doing his consulting work and developing new retainers. There is nothing derogatory in being a hired man (all doctors, lawyers and clergymen are hired men), but the tardy realization that he is one seems to give many an engineer a mental jolt that can be avoided if he accepts it from the beginning.

Jan 1, 1926

By G. Pizzi, G. M. Ciucci, G. L. Chierici

The use of the material balance equation to estimate the volume of hydrocarbons originally present in a reservoir, whose producing mechanism is partly due to water drive, has been discussed in the literature by several authors. There is no general agreement upon the possibility of obtaining reliable results by this method. Gas reservoirs in contact with an active aquifer are considered in this paper. Theoretical considerations based on the cybernetic principle of uncertainty (which states that the internal structure of a system cannot be uniquely determined from its observed external behavior) lead to the conclusion that the volume of gas originally present in a reservoir of this type cannot be uniquely determined from its past history. The range of values which encompasses the actual value of the reserves varies from case to case and must be determined by either numerical or analogical methods. Results obtained for six gas fields are reported. All these fields were produced with small fluctuations in their production rates, as is common practice for gas reservoirs; no gas storage fields were considered. Results obtained show that reserves values in a range of 1 to 2, associated with appropriate aquifers, allow the matching of the reservoir past history with mean-square deviations less than the experimental errors involved in pressure and produclion measurements. Similar results have been found in several other partial water drive gas reservoirs. From these results it is concluded that gas reserves cannot be uniquely determined from the past performance of partial water drive reservoirs, at least in cases where the reservoir has been submitted to small fluctuations in the production rates, and pressure data of normal accuracy are available. INTRODUCTION A number of authors have analyzed the problem of estimating the reserves originally present in a partial water drive reservoir from its past pressure-production performance. Literature which deals with this subject can be grouped, according to their conclusions, as follows. 1. A reliable value for the reserves can be obtained even if reservoir data (pressure and cumulative production) are affected by errors within the normal range.'-' 2. A reliable value for the reserves can be obtained only if reservoir data are very accurate'- or if past production performance has been subjected to abrupt variations in the production rate."' 3. No unique value for the reserves can be obtained from reservoir past production performance. This conclusion has been based upon theoretical considerations" and verified in several field cases. The purpose of this paper, which deals only with partial water drive gas reservoirs, is to test the above conclusions against actual field cases. Some theoretical considerations on this problem are also presented. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS As the behavior of a gas reservoir communicating with an aquifer depends on both the aquifer and the reservoir characteristics, the physical system to be studied is the combined gas reservoir plus aquifer. The information which is available for studying the performance of such a system is the well production rates and bottom-hole pressures, all given as functions of time. The external behavior of the reservoir-aquifer system is therefore described by 2n input variables (Gp, Wp,) and n output variables (p,), n being the number of wells in the reservoir. In reservoir engineering it is common practice to consider the reservoir as a whole, disregarding the internal distribution of pressures and of producing wells. This practice is equivalent to substituting the above multi-variable system with a single-variable system, where the average reservoir pressure is the only output variable and the cumulative production G,(t) and W,(t) are the input variables. The internal structure of such a system, defined by initial gas reserves G, aquifer shape and dimensions, boundary conditions and petrophysical parameters distribution throughout the aquifer, is unknown. Therefore, from a cybernetic point of view the system is a "black-box It has been demonstrated" that for a blackbox the indetermination principle holds. Accordingly, the number of different internal structures (or set of parameters) which can account for the observed external behavior is infinite. As a consequence, the initial reserves cannot be uniquely determined from the reservoir past performance. When W,(t) is known, the determination of G from

By AIME

AS with Phil Kraft, referred to on this page last month, travel has always held a great fascination for Raymond Frank Baker and for that reason he determined to become a geologist. He had heard that geologists travel and that was what he wanted to do. Now as chief geologist for The Texas Co. his early wish has been fulfilled-he spends almost one third of his time journeying' from one oil field to another. Mr. Baker was born in New Haven, Conn., on Jan. 11, 1892, and went through the public schools in New Britain. A stalwart New Englander, he attended Yale and in 1912 received a degree in civil engineering. For a year following this he worked as a civil engineer for the New York Central Railroad, but his early urge to travel widely could not be satisfied here. So in 1913 he re-entered Yale and until 1916 studied mining and economic geology. He had a little taste of field work, which later became so enjoyable to him, in the summer of 1915 when he worked with the U. S. Geological Survey as a geologic aid. In 1916 he made his first contact with The Texas Co. when he entered their Tulsa office as a geologist. This early career was interrupted by service in the

Jan 1, 1947

Jan 1, 1968

By A. M. E. Eilers

No one who has visited our Western mining districts, and studied the economical part of the beneficiation of the ores occurring all over that vast extent of country, can underrate the high importance of the above subject. By far the larger number of the districts which contain smelting ores, i.e., argentiferous and auriferous lead, or copper ores, are situated in the Great Basin, that great plateau between the Rocky Mountains on the east, and the Sierra Nevada on the west, almost the whole of which is comprised at present in the boundaries of Nevada, Utah, and part of Arizona. This region is essentially a barren country. The extreme dryness of the atmosphere permits but a scanty vegetation in the plains ; and even in the detached mountain-chains running through it-generally from N. to S., or from N. W. to S. E.-there are no trees found except dwarfed pines and mahogany, at the head of sheltered ravines, and a few cottonwoods and willows, which fringe the insignificant streams, before the water sinks in the arid plains. Nearly all the mountain-chains in this region are rich in silver ores. That class of these ores which is adapted to amalgamation, and rich in silver, has been worked with profit for more than ten years. But before the advent of the transcontinental railways, mining was restricted to these ores alone, and the consumption of fuel could be met with the scanty supply of forest trees in the immediate vicinity of the mining districts. Since, however, the Union and Central Pacific Railroads have brought the Great Basin nearer to the commercial centres of the East and the Pacific coast, thus reducing the expenses of freight and labor materially, other silver deposits, containing poorer ores in greater abundance, have been rapidly taken

Jan 1, 1873

By David C. Jonson, W. Bruce MacKenzie, Arthur A. Bookstrom, Vaughn E. Surface, Neil K. Muncaster, Stewart R. Wallace

In mid-Tertiary time a wet silici-alkalic magma penetrated the Precambrian rocks of what is now the Tenmile Range of Central Colorado and formed the Climax Stock. The stock is a composite one and was intruded in four separate irruptions, each giving rise to a major hydrothermal event. The first three of these produced large stockwork ore bodies that cap and flank the tops of their respective source intrusives; the fourth, and last, yielded almost no commercial mineralization. The ore bodies and their related zones of alteration are circular to ring-shaped in plan and arcuate in section. The different phases of the stock are so positioned with respect to each other that many of the circular and arcuate zones of mineralization and alteration overlap or are juxtaposed. Evidence of a time separation between the different ore bodies is found in certain dikes that were intruded between periods of mineralization and are well mineralized in one ore body but are barren in another. If it is assumed that the parent magma at Climax contained 10 per cent "water," that the "water" contained 0.1 grams per liter of molybdenum, and that the processes of extraction were 100 per cent efficient, then approximately 10 cubic miles of magma would be required for the formation of each ore body. The volume requirements, taken in conjunction with the cross-sectional areas of the different phases of the stock to explored depths, suggest to the authors that each magma chamber was columnar, extended to a depth of thousands of feet, and was connected with a much larger master reservoir. The repetition of similar intrusive, structural, and hydrothermal events, indicates periodic tapping of this reservoir. A regular chemical evolution of the parent magma is suggested by the systematic change in metal ratios and differences in the sites of deposition, relative to the source intrusive, in each of the four separate igneous hydrothermal stages. The preparation of ground was due to changes in magmatic and/ or hydrothermal pressures within the igneous-hydrothermal columns; small, repeated, up and down movements of the rock enclosing the tops of the columns formed the stockwork fractures into which the mineralizers penetrated. The forceful emplacement of each successive phase of the Climax Stock resulted in a slight doming and rotation to the westward of the earlier-formed geologic features. Postore normal displacement along the Mosquito fault is estimated at about 9000 feet. Part of one ore body was cut by the fault and lies at depth below the Paleozoic sedimentary strata on the hanging wall. On the footwall side of the fault, subaerial erosion and glaciation removed a large part of one ore body and uncovered the top of a second.

Jan 1, 1968

By C. R. Wohrman

A MELT of pure electrolytic iron with about 0.4 per cent. sulfur and 7 per cent. manganese was prepared in connection with a study of inclusions in iron. The alloy darkened rapidly when etched with a 10 per cent. alcoholic solution of nitric acid, and microscopic examination revealed the presence of a semimartensitic, semi-Widmanstättian structure (Figs. 1 and 2) closely resembling the structures found by Benedicks in his artificially prepared "meteoric iron." 1 The structures found by Benedicks were readily explained by the presence in his alloy of the two well known iron-nickel solid solutions, taenite and kamacite, and of their eutectoid (?) aggregate, plessite. By analogy, one would infer the existence of similar phases in the iron-manganese alloy just described, such as inference being strengthened by the similarity displayed in many ways by nickel and manganese in their effects on iron. IRON-MANGANESE ALLOTS ARE REGARDED AS HOMOGENEOUS Heterogeneity of iron-manganese alloys has not been recognized heretofore, judging from the data of standard metallographic books and those of original papers. In fact, iron and manganese are quite generally regarded as completely miscible in the solid state. Dr. Rosenhain,2 for example, writes: Alloys of group (a), of which those of gold-silver, iron-manganese, and copper-nickel are examples, when allowed to crystallize sufficiently slowly to attain their condition of final equilibrium, present a microstructure exactly similar to that of a pure metal-the homogeneous character of the molten solution is in that case so completely maintained that the microscope cannot detect the presence of any second constituent.

Jan 1, 1927

By AIME AIME

SOME 65 members of the Institute, including most of the Local Section delegates and several Directors and officers, were on hand for the Annual Business Meeting of the Institute held in the Engineering Societies Building on Monday, Feb. 21, at 4:30 p.m., immediately following the second session of the Local Section Delegates Conference. President Mathewson presided. The meeting was largely taken up with the presentation of committee re- ports, discussion of which was invited. F. E. Wormser presented the report of the Admissions Committee ; Philip Kraft, Papers and Publications Com-

Jan 1, 1944

By Alfred H. Brooks

LESS than a decade ago the consumption of coal in Alaska was practically limited to the salmon canneries and the few lode-mines and settlements along the Pacific coast of the Ter¬ritory. The sparse population of the interior depended on the forests, that of the shores of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean on driftwood for fuel. All this has changed. The thousands who have sought and mined gold on the Seward peninsula since 1898 have much impoverished the long-accumulated supply of driftwood, and at the same time the constantly increasing demand for fuel, on the part of the placer-camps and steamers, has resulted in heavy inroads being made on the accessible timber of the Yukon and its tributaries. While on the one hand the immediately available store of wood has decreased, on the other the consumption of fuel because of the rapid expansion of the mining and fishery industries and the attendant growth of population has much increased. Alaska, therefore, offers a constantly growing market for coal and other fuels. As the local coal-production has been insignificant, the demand has been met by importations from Washington, British Columbia, and even from Pennsylvania and Australia. Fuel-Consumption Mr. D. H. Jarvis, Collector for Alaska, has kept systematic records of the trade of the Territory since 1903. The statistics of the coal-importations of the past two years are shown in Table I. If data were available for a longer period of years, the increase of coal-importations would be much more striking.

Jul 1, 1905

Jan 1, 1966

By AIME

THE history of the Mine La Motte area covers a greater period of time than any other mining operation west of the Mississippi, for it was almost exactly four centuries ago that the white man first visited the region. In May 1541 a few men from the party of Fernando de Soto traversed the place looking for silver which they understood the Indians had found in the vicinity. Some historians say that De Soto himself visited the place sometime later. No other white man came through again until the early 1700's. In 1712 King Louis XIV of France granted to Antoine Crozat a charter for transacting all business and government in the vast domain of the New Continent stretching from the Gulf of Mexico northward indefinitely. This

Jan 1, 1947

By C. S. Anderson

Georgia, since 1829, has produced nearly $18,000,000 from her gold mines, but in late years the output has dwindled to insignificance. In view of present universal efforts to increase gold production, it seems pertinent to record some recent observations in that field, briefly review its past and weigh probabilities of reviving gold mining there. Little in this paper can be claimed as new or original, and it does not present results of a detailed or profound investigation of the whole region. The Allatoona gold mine was reopened in January, 1932, and explored at greater depth during the period from January to June of that year. A number of other abandoned mines were visited, but since the workings, in common with most such mines in Georgia, were flooded or caved, underground conditions could not be examined. For a wider knowledge of the subject, a search was made through available pertinent literature and statistics, a bibliography of which is appended hereto. To all the sources obligations are gratefully acknowledged. Production The discovery of gold in Georgia, in 1829, led to an influx of 6000 to 7000 miners and a production of over $200,000 in the following year. A branch of the United States Mint, established at Dahlonega in 1838, accounted for $6,115,569 up to the time of the Civil War. The output fluctuated greatly from year to year, with an all-time peak of $582,782 in 1843. In only one other year, 1845, was the half million mark exceeded. After the war mining began again, but 1883 is the last year for which an output of $200,000 is reported. Placers, always the main source of production, were yielding less and less, and in spite of increased quartz-mining activities the downward trend continued. The last year in which there was a production of $100,000 was 1902. In 1914, $16,270 came from 26 placers and 11 deep mines, with the latter reporting 1750 tons of $3 average value. In 1925, one placer and four lode mines that mined 8100 tons assaying $1.19 per ton produced $9500. One placer and one quartz mine, operating in 1930, reported a total output of $4194. Table 1 pictures the waning output.

Jan 1, 1934

By Arthur L. Walker

In June, 1893, while I was with the Old Dominion Copper Co. at Globe, Ariz., I received an offer to take charge, as manager, of the Baltimore Electric? Refining Co. which had recently built a plant at Baltimore, Md., having a capacity of about 1200 tons of electrolytic copper per month, using the Hayden series system. This was a very large output, for in those days the plants were small and the art was in its infancy. At the beginning of 1893 there were 11 electrolytic refineries in the United States, most of them using the multiple system. The Hayden series system was used at Baltimore and Bridgeport and the Smith series system was in operation at the Electrolytic Copper Co. at Ansonia, COM., and at the Pennsylvania Salt Co. at Philadelphia. In the latter system the plates were placed in a horizontal position, but the operating difficulties were so numerous it was soon discarded. The total production of these 11 plants in 1892 was very small; I have not been able to discover reliable figures of production. There were about thirty electrolytic copper refineries in the world that year, according to Titus Ulke, and the entire production of these

Jan 1, 1932

By J. P. Smith

DURING the winter of 1946 to 1947 potash operations in Germany, France and Spain were visited by the author. The U. S. Department of Commerce, through its Field Intelligence Agency Technical, sponsored the inspection of German properties by representatives of the American Potash Industry. Vast deposits of potash salts occur in the above-mentioned countries, and the production and marketing of these salts are important in their respective economies. Germany An area of some ten thousand square miles of north central Germany is underlain by lenses of potash salts interbedded with greater thicknesses of sodium chloride or common salt. These salt measures are relict deposits from the evaporation of an arm of the Zechstein (Permian) Sea which formerly covered northern Europe. During the peak year of 1940, Germany produced salts containing 1,860,000 tons of K,O and, next to coal, potash is its most important mineral raw material. The German deposits are found in the synclinal areas flanking the Flechtingen, Hartz Mountain and Thuringian uplifts, and, to the north they lie beneath the plains of Hannover. The regional dip of the salt measures is to the north, hence, lenses of potash found at depths of 500 to 1000 m* in the Two general depositional provinces of potash concentrations are recognized: (1) the main basin, and (2) the subsidiary basin. The main basin embraces the producing districts of Stassfurt, Sud Hartz, Halle, and Hannover-Braunschweig. From J. P. SMITH, Member AIME, is Clzief Geologist, U. S. Potash Co., Carlsbad, New Mexico. New York Meeting, February 1948. TP 2621 H. Discussion of this paper (2 copies) may be sent to Transactions AIME before Feb. 28, 1950. Manuscript received May 26, 1948. 40 to 45 pct of the German production comes from this basin. The Werra-Fulda district, producer of 50 pct or more of the German potash, lies in the subsidiary basin. Salt Stratigraphy: Five commercial potash zones or beds are recognized. The three beds present in the main basin are: The Stassfurt bed that occurs near the top of the older salt, and the Ronnenberg and Riedel beds in the younger salt occurring 200 to 300 m, respectively, above the Stassfurt bed. The Stassfurt bed is found over the entire main basin, while the Ronnenberg and Riedel are restricted to the Hannover area. Two potash beds occur in the Werra basin. These are the Thuringian, or lower bed and the Hessen or upper potash bed that occurs 60 m above. These beds lie 210 and 150 m, respectively, below the position of the Stassfurt bed, and are restricted to the Werra basin. The upper bed is 2.5 to 11.5 m in thickness, and the principal ores are hartsalz with varying thicknesses of carnallite. The lower bed averages 3 m in thickness, and contains hartsalz. The upper bed is presently being mined, and the

Jan 1, 1951