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By Noah Fields Drake

This paper is devoted chiefly to the coal-fields of the western part of the province of Chili and the eastern part of the province of Shansi; but the outline of this belt will give some idea of the extension of the coal-fields over northeastern China. This part of China is topographically divided into: (1) the mountainous peninsula of eastern Shantung; (2) the coastal plains, extending W. and SW. from the gulf of Pechili; and (3) the mountains and table-lands N. and W. of the coastal plains. The plains extend N. and W. from the gulf to within from 10 to 25 miles of the Great Wall, while their SW. extension covers western Shantung and reaches W. along the Yellow river almost to the southern boundary of Shansi. A line joining the mapped coal-fields, shown in Fig. 1, almost gives the western boundary of the plains; since these areas lie on the border of the plains—except the Tsê Chou field, which is on the table-land, 20 to 25 miles from that border. The coal-fields which have been mapped and investigated by the author are shown in Fig. 1. The one at and around Tongshan is known as the K'ai-p'ing coal-field; the one W. of Peking has been called the Wang-p'ing coal-basin; the one SW. of Pao-ting and N. of Chêng-ting may be called the Lingshan coal-field; and the one at and around Tsê Chou is known as the Tsê Chou coal-field. I. The K'ai-p'ing Coal-Field. As is shown in Fig. 2, most of this field lies in the coastal plains, and is therefore covered by alluvium and loess, which have buried the older rock-beds, and the more gentle and older topographic outlines, to such an extent that most of the re-

Jan 1, 1902

The Geophysics Education Committee has devoted several years to a consideration of the problem of training geophysi-cists. Past reports have dealt largely with fact finding and with the discussion of particular aspects of geophysical education. In the present report it is proposed to review the subject more comprehensively. This involves the question of what educational qualifications the geophysicist of the highest professional standards should possess, and the related question of what changes must be effected in existing educational institutions in order that prospective professional geophysicists may obtain instruction of the desired quality. The type of geophysicist here contemplated is one familiar with what is known already in the several branches of earth physics, and capable not only of following contemporary progress in any of these branches, but of contributing to that progress in a research capacity. Geophysics in its broadest sense, as has been emphasized repeatedly by this Committee, is the study of the physics of the earth and of terrestrial processes. This includes both the static and the dynamic characteristics of the gaseous, the liquid, and the solid portions of the earth, as well as its gravitational, thermal, and magnetic and electrical manifestations. Some branches of earth physics have been cultivated but slightly; others have reached an advanced state of development. Those branches whose development is sufficient to warrant explicit recognition in the form of organized Sections of the American Geophysical Union are: geodesy, seismology, tectonophysics, and volcanology, dealing with the rock constituents of the earth; oceanography and hydrology with the aqueous constituents; meteorology with the atmospheric constituents; and terrestrial electricity and magnetism with the electromagnetic manifestations. At present, instruction on the professional level in any of these branches of earth physics can be obtained in but few universities in North America. In most institutions where such instruction is undertaken different subjects are given in different and independent departments. Geodesy and hydrology are taught, if at all, as a part of civil engineering. The nearest approach to volcanology and tectonophysics ordinarily is represented by petrology and structural geology given

Jan 1, 1946

The Geophysics Education Committee has devoted several years to a consideration of the problem of training geophysi-cists. Past reports have dealt largely with fact finding and with the discussion of particular aspects of geophysical education. In the present report it is proposed to review the subject more comprehensively. This involves the question of what educational qualifications the geophysicist of the highest professional standards should possess, and the related question of what changes must be effected in existing educational institutions in order that prospective professional geophysicists may obtain instruction of the desired quality. The type of geophysicist here contemplated is one familiar with what is known already in the several branches of earth physics, and capable not only of following contemporary progress in any of these branches, but of contributing to that progress in a research capacity. Geophysics in its broadest sense, as has been emphasized repeatedly by this Committee, is the study of the physics of the earth and of terrestrial processes. This includes both the static and the dynamic characteristics of the gaseous, the liquid, and the solid portions of the earth, as well as its gravitational, thermal, and magnetic and electrical manifestations. Some branches of earth physics have been cultivated but slightly; others have reached an advanced state of development. Those branches whose development is sufficient to warrant explicit recognition in the form of organized Sections of the American Geophysical Union are: geodesy, seismology, tectonophysics, and volcanology, dealing with the rock constituents of the earth; oceanography and hydrology with the aqueous constituents; meteorology with the atmospheric constituents; and terrestrial electricity and magnetism with the electromagnetic manifestations. At present, instruction on the professional level in any of these branches of earth physics can be obtained in but few universities in North America. In most institutions where such instruction is undertaken different subjects are given in different and independent departments. Geodesy and hydrology are taught, if at all, as a part of civil engineering. The nearest approach to volcanology and tectonophysics ordinarily is represented by petrology and structural geology given

Jan 1, 1946

By Charles Morgan

AN increased demand for brown iron ore in the Birmingham district during the past 18 months has caused renewed activity both in prospecting and mining these ores. In recent years the production in Alabama has ranged from 41,559 tons in 1932 to 639,351 tons in 1928. During the last 9 years about 83 per cent of the total brown ore produced in the United States has come from Alabama (Tables 1 and 2). PROSPECTING Two methods of prospecting are used in this district: (1) test pits, (2) churn-drilling. Usually there is certain quite definite information on an area to be prospected; some of the indications are float ore suck as small gravel or small and large boulders known as "dornicks” scattered over the surface, and ore exposed by erosion in gulleys and ravines, which have cut or eroded through the overburden. Often these natural erosions furnish an indication of the thickness of the ore and to some extent of the area of the ore body. Deposits of brown ore are very irregular both in thickness and extent. Deposits are often lens-shaped or long narrow leads, some of which may be parallel and separated from one another by sand, clay or gravel. The bottom-the footwall-is also very irregular. This footwall is usually lime clay-disintegrated limestone, locally called "white horse," which usually is found at a depth of 6 in. to 20 ft. overlying the limestone. At some places sand and gravel is found under the ore instead of clay. No ore is found under the lime clay, although often the ore has sunk or slumped and is found in the upper portion of this clay, as at some of the Sloss workings at Russellville. The origin of these ores has been discussed by Major E. C. Eckel and Dr. E. F. Burchard in U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 400, and recently the latter has done further work on ores in the Russellville district, of which reports undoubtedly will be published.

Jan 1, 1937

By A. D. Bryant

APPROXIMATELY 2 1/2 million tons of silica sand and ground silica with a value of $7.25 million is produced annually from the Ottawa, Illinois, district. These silica products come from the well known St. Peter sandstone formation which covers part of the Mississippi Basin extending from St. Paul on the north to the central part of Arkansas on the south and from Muncie, Ind., on the east to Kansas City on the west. Practically the whole state of Illinois is underlain by this formation except where removed by erosion. Sand produced from the St. Peter sandstone in the Ottawa district is noted for its purity, uniformity, and quality. In addition to various screened grades for industry about 10 pct of the total production of the Ottawa district is ground into silica flour for use in glass, abrasives, enamel, porcelain, tile, for foundry and filter sand, and other uses.

Jan 3, 1953

CHARLES H. FULTON (author's reply to discussion*).-Mr. E. E. Thum is kind enough to point out an apparent discrepancy between the conclusions drawn from experiments and the results of those experiments. It is stated on page 1383 that carbon dioxide in excess of 1 per cent. is not found in the gases above the carbon reduction temperature (of zinc oxide). This statement refers to such temperatures as occur in ordinary zinc distillation and is not meant to include temperatures above 1350° C., and it should have been so stated in the original paper. When the temperature of the distilling chamber reached 1400° and above, it was noted that the amount of carbon dioxide in the gases increased. This cannot be explained by the equilibrium of the reaction 2CO?CO2 + C, and in seeking reasons for the discrepancy, the experiments of Meyer

Jan 1, 1919

G. SHERBURNE ROGERS,* Washington, D. C. (written discussion ?).- Mr. Neal's paper on the petroleum hydrology of the Mid-Continent district is a welcome contribution on a subject concerning which none too much is known; it is, I think, the first published description of the chemical character of the oil-field waters of the great Mid-Continent area. When studying the oil-field waters of the California fields several years ago, the differences in chemical composition between waters occurring at various horizons seemed to be sufficient to enable the operators to use water analyses as a basis for determining the source of the water flooding a well; and it is gratifying to find that, Mr. Neal has arrived at a similar conclusion. As Mr. Neal points out, the Mid-Continent waters are very different in character from those of the California fields, and casual. inspection

Jan 3, 1919

By John Fayerweather

Here is a challenge to industry to meet the need for management training for the men now passing from essentially technical work into managerial responsibility . . . And a program to handle the job. The purpose of this article is to throw out a challenge both to industry and to educators-a challenge to meet a crying need for management training among the young mining engineers of our nation, the men from 25 to 35 years old who are passing from essentially technical work into managerial responsibilities. It is the author's suggestion that these men could profit tremendously from the intensive training in management subjects which could be provided by short programs in mining administration. The challenge is to mining educators to provide such programs and to the mining industry to support the programs and to release their men to receive the training they need. Such a proposal clearly requires sound supporting arguments.

Oct 1, 1956

By V. F. Marsters

THE main producing oilfields in Peru are located in the department of Piura and province of Thumbes, adjoining Ecuador on the south and west. In the department of Puno, a small field known as the Pirin or Hauncané Area was exploited some years ago by Fred Brown and associates and considerable production obtained. As. shown by the statistical table of production, this area reached its maximum production about 1909; since 1915, operations have been suspended. During the past year, however, the Peruvian Corpn. has acquired some interests in this section. It is reported to have made a few shallow tests with the hope of obtaining sufficient production to supply fuel for its railway lines, which operate between Mollendo on the coast and Puno and Cuzco in the interior. Only partial success has accompanied these efforts; nevertheless, exploitation is being continued. The petroleum of this region contains a paraffin base with small amounts of asphalt. While the gasoline content is small, the kerosene content runs as high as 30 per cent., with the fuel element varying from 50 to 72 per cent. While it is known that the structural conditions of the Huancané area are somewhat complicated, it is believed that exploitation based on a careful interpretation of the geology of the region will eventually yield commercial production of at least modest proportions. In the main fields in Piura and Tumbes, drilling operations were somewhat more active during the first half of the year, than in 1922. The latter half of the year witnessed curtailment, owing to the abnormal situation in the petroleum industry at that time. For the same reason, no attempt was made to obtain the maximum production from existing .wells. Production was pinched down and exportation of crude was correspondingly reduced during the latter half of 1923. Nevertheless, the total production of the Peruvian fields is considerably in excess of that for 1922, as is also the production of the Negritos area alone.

Jan 3, 1924

By Percival Roberts

It may seem necessary to offer an apology for presenting for consideration a process which is conspicuous by its absence in the literature of the Institute, and which may be thought by some to belong to the past in metallurgy, and to have been already superseded. But the large capital invested in puddling calls for a careful consideration of the question whether the time has certainly arrived when the puddling furnace must be replaced by the converter and open-hearth furnace. May there not still be a place for puddled iron alongside of molten iron and steel, and is not the improvement of the puddling process itself worthy the attention of engineers equally with the Bessemer and open-hearth processes? The changes involved in the conversion of pig iron into wrought iron are well understood and need only be briefly alluded to. The patent of Henry Cort bears the date of 1784. Since that time * the improvements in the process have mainly consisted in the replacement of sand by iron bottoms by Samuel Baldwyn Rogers in 1818, and the still more recent substitution of iron oxide for the refractory materials used for the rides and bridge of the hearth, which distinguishes the wet or boiling process from the dry or pnddling process. Chemically, the process consists in the removal of the metalloids from the pig iron, a result effected mainly by the iron oxide. Silicon is first oxidized, then the phosphorus, and finally the carbon. The silicic and phosphoric acids produced pass into the cinder and the carbonic oxide burns as it escapes from the bath of metal. It is interesting in this connection to note the effect of temperature on the removal of the phosphorus from the iron. As is well known, no phosphorus is eliminated under the oxidizing influences prevailing in the Bessemer converter, while from 70 to 80 per cent. is removed in puddling. But we find, if in working cold short irons

Jan 1, 1880

By G. H. Clamer

Page Bronze Bearing Metals. By G. H. Clamer............... 162 Pennsylvania Railroad Anti-friction and Bell Metals. By F. M. Waring .. 166 The Tin-plate Industry. By D. M. BUck. Discussed by G. H. ClameR, J. W. RICHARDS............................ 168 The Aluminum Bronze Industry. By W. M. Corse............ 171 Bronzes, Bearing Metals, and Solders. By G. K. BURgess and R. W. Woodward. Discussed by G. H. Clamer, R. T. Roberts......... 175 Babbitts and Solder. By G. W. Thompson................ 184 The Cadmium Supply of the United States. By C. E. Siebenthal. Discussed by M. L. Lissberger, C. W. Hill, F. F. ColcoRd.......... 185 Solder, Its Use and Abuse. By M. L. LissbergeR............ 192 Bronze Bearing Metals G. H. ClameR,* Philadelphia, Pa.—Unfortunately, prior to the war no serious attention was given to the conservation of tin, notwithstanding that this country is practically dependent upon outside sources for its entire tin supply. Tin is of vital importance in many industries, but it is surprising how many and how excellent are its substitutes when we become acquainted with them. Tin has always been a relatively high-priced metal, and it is part of the human attitude to associate high prices with high standards; it is not until the price of a commodity becomes well-nigh prohibitive that we hunt for substitutes, because the idea of substitution seems always to involve an assumption that the substitute must necessarily be inferior. The history of the development of bearing bronzes is a striking example of this policy. In the early days, copper-tin alloys were almost universally used, the idea then being prevalent, which is still held by many, that a bearing to resist wear must be hard, and the harder the better. The favorite bronze bearing contained 90 per cent. copper and 10 per cent. tin; frequently, in service which was considered severe, even higher proportions of tin were used. Such hard alloys have great resistance to compression, but as a rule they had a very wide factor of safety in this

Jan 1, 1919

By George L. Heath

This paper is devoted chiefly to the coal-fields of the western part of the province of Chili and the eastern part of the province of Shansi; but the outline of this belt will give some idea of the extension of the coal-fields over northeastern China. This part of China is topographically divided into: (1) the mountainous peninsula of eastern Shantung; (2) the coastal plains, extending W. and SW. from the gulf of Pechili; and (3) the mountains and table-lands N. and W. of the coastal plains. The plains extend N. and W. from the gulf to within from 10 to 25 miles of the Great Wall, while their SW. extension covers western Shantung and reaches W. along the Yellow river almost to the southern boundary of Shansi. A line joining the mapped coal-fields, shown in Fig. 1, almost gives the western boundary of the plains; since these areas lie on the border of the plains—except the Tsê Chou field, which is on the table-land, 20 to 25 miles from that border. The coal-fields which have been mapped and investigated by the author are shown in Fig. 1. The one at and around Tongshan is known as the K'ai-p'ing coal-field; the one W. of Peking has been called the Wang-p'ing coal-basin; the one SW. of Pao-ting and N. of Chêng-ting may be called the Lingshan coal-field; and the one at and around Tsê Chou is known as the Tsê Chou coal-field. I. The K'ai-p'ing Coal-Field. As is shown in Fig. 2, most of this field lies in the coastal plains, and is therefore covered by alluvium and loess, which have buried the older rock-beds, and the more gentle and older topographic outlines, to such an extent that most of the re-

Jan 1, 1902

THE FRENCH occupation of the Ruhr valley and other districts on the eastern side of the Rhine continued during March to be the pre-dominating feature in European affairs. There were sporadic troubles and disorders, but on the whole the Germans were passive while the French were consider-ate. However, it became more and more evident that France is not in this way going to succeed in collecting the reparations, to which of course she is entitled. It appears to be a case of Germany being unwilling to pay what is claimed from her and France being unable to make her do it. However, as the month drew on it became reason-ably clear that both the French and the Germans were becoming more and more disposed to get out of an impossible and dangerous situation. It was suggested that the basic principles upon which Germany now is ready to resume reparations payment are as follows: (I) appointment of a commission to establish Germany's ability to pay and to fix limits to the reparations; (2) a series of international loans; (3) the amount to be paid cannot exceed approximately 30,000,000,000 gold marks. From Russia came numerous reports reflecting economic and political changes there. One of these told of a Cossack insurrection in the southeast of European Russia. Another reported that the expatri-ated Russians recognized the solidity of the Bolshevik government and would contest it no longer, and would reunite with other Russians if they would recognize the rights of private property and validity of former debts. This is the same position that is taken by most of the foreign governments, and especially Great Britain and the United States, with respect to recognition of the present government of Russia. Secretary Hoover announced that it is no longer necessary to give famine relief to the Russians, their present need being for credit, not food. Lenine was reported seriously ill and probably incapacitated for further activity. Administration of the government, in succession to him, by a triumvirate was suggested.

Jan 4, 1923

I would like to congratulate the authors on an interesting paper and, in particular, on their justification of the use of superposition in treating gas wells. They state, however, that no theory has previously been developed lor treating the variable rate drawdown case. In a paper published a few years ago by my colleagues and myself, a method is described which allows a constant rate drawdown curve to be derived for any well. regardless of real rate variations. This method has the great advantage that it is not necessary to make any assumptions regarding the form or uniformity of the reservoir, and the derivation suggested by the present authors is simply an idealized case of our more general treatment. In the light of several years' experience in the derivation of constant rate drawdown curves: I would like to point out that the method proposed by Odeh and Jones may lead to confusing answers, particularly if applied over an appreciable time interval. The reason is that, if pressures are measured when a well is flowing, non-linearities in plots like Figs. 1 and 2 can arise due to either (1) changes in the skin factor with time and/or flow rate, or (2) an inhomogeneous reservoir. Separation of these two effects is only possible if some of the pressures used in the analysis are measured when the well flow rate is 0 or, in other words. during brief shut-in periods. REFERENCES 1. Arthur, K. B.. Metunomski, Z. G. and Ruche, Ms "Intetet ct methode d'utilisa tion des mesures de pression [)our Petude des gisemonts" Revue de T'I.F.P. (Nov., 1962) XVII, 1299. 2. Thomere, R. and Arthur, K. R.: "Analysis of the Pressure Bet~avior of a Production Well Subject to Interterence and Its Application to Reservoir Models", Paper SPE 1189 presented at SPE :Amund Fall Mecting Ireld in Denwer, Colo. (Oct. 3-6, 1965).

Jan 1, 1966

By Ernest Stütz

(New York Meeting, October, 1913.) THE problem of increasing blast-furnace efficiency through diminution of flue-dust production while operating with burdens consisting largely of fine ores has of recent years attracted the attention of metallurgists, whether directly or indirectly interested in the economies of iron smelting, and the various methods evolved from theory or practice have been. submitted to wide discussion. After the very thorough and, at that time, exhaustive view of the whole subject, which was afforded to the industry by the meeting of this Institute in February, 1912, the subject was again taken up at the meeting of the Verein deutscher Eisenhüttenleute at Düsseldorf in December, 1912. While American and German conditions are not entirely identical, it may be of interest to give here the words of the gentleman summing up the discussion at the Düsseldorf meeting : ?The chief advantage offered by the use of briquettes lies in the fact that disturbances in the furnace, caused mostly by the presence of fine ores in the burden, are avoided, and that blast pressure can be considerably reduced. The resulting economies cannot be overrated, as, with lower blast consumption per ton of product, the installation will be able to take care of increased production. In consequence of lower pressure and speed of blast, heat is more efficiently utilized,, flue gas temperature is lowered, and coke particles are less liable to be carried along with the flue dust, of which considerably less is produced. Finally, by increased regularity of operation and higher temperature in the lower parts of the furnace, the quality of the product is improved. The question of briquetting iron ores has grown to be one of the most important in the iron industry, and it is not any more a question of what is the cost 'of briquetting a ton of ore, but what, in. using ore briquettes, is the cost, of: production of a ton of iron."

Jan 7, 1913

By Robert A. Cook

Among the new devices for cheapening the cost of material entering into the manufacture of iron is the mechanical drawing of coke, by which the coke from bee-hive ovens is extracted with a minimum of manual labor. About twenty years ago, an ordinary plate-conveyer was put in use at the plant of bee-hive coke-ovens owned by the firm of Bell Bros. & Co., near Middlesboro, England. This conveyer ran close along the front of the ovens, and carried the coke to the cars. The ovens were drawn by hand, and a very great saving in cost was secured, as one man could draw and clean out twice as many ovens after the conveyer was put in use—he having no forking to do, and the coke being carried away as fast as it was drawn to the mouth of the oven. The next step was further to eliminate hand-labor as far as possible; and Mr. Thomas Smith of the Thorncliffe Iron Works, near Sheffield, patented in 1891 the machine for drawing coke which I here describe. This machine, the outcome of several years of experimenting, has now been in successful use since 1891, and there are between twenty and thirty of them in operation at present, and others building. The machine, as may be seen from Figs. 1 and 2, consists of a wedge-shaped shovel of proper width and thickness, connected with a steel rack of sufficient length to reach the back of the oven. The rack is supported by rolls, and guided by a device operated by a hand-wheel, which directs the shovel in the oven. The rack is driven by a pinion on a vertical shaft carrying a bevel-gear on the upper end. This bevel-gear is driven by another on the engine-shaft. The engine is single-cylinder, with reversible gear; and engine and machine are mounted on a truck, which is propelled

Jan 1, 1897

By H. J. Struth

Gasoline is undoubtedly of major importance not only to the petroleum refiner but to the producer. To study the economic aspects of gasoline is, in a measure, a constructive effort to solve the problem of overproduction not only for the refiner but for the entire petroleum industry. After all, the prime object of producing crude petroleum is to supply motor fuel and lubricants to nearly 25,000,000 American motor vehicles, not to mention the increasing demand for these products abroad. Since gasoline furnishes the chief source of revenue to the refiner, it follows that this important product should veritably become recognized by all branches of the petroleum industry as an almost infallible index of day to day requirements of the producer and the refiner. A careful study of gasoline statistics over the past decade or more reveals that there is a definite correlation between world-wide gasoline requirements and the demand for crude petroleum, as well as all other petroleum products. This leads the writer to the conclusion that gasoline is literally the economic yardstick of the entire petroleum industry. Control of Operations That the refiner has begun to recognize the urgent need for controlling his operations is evidenced by the results of the past three years. Unfortunately, it is a difficult problem to convince the refiner that he cannot run crude in excess of the demand for gasoline, without incurring a consequent decline in the market value of this and all other products of distillation. Undoubtedly, he still has much to learn in this respect. Few commercial products have enjoyed such phenomenal growth in demand as has gasoline, and, at the same time, few products have failed, as has gasoline, to reap financial benefit from the popular demand for a national necessity. Perhaps this unprecedented demand was responsible for the overextension of retining facilities, which resulted in the excesses of recent times; at any rate, as the demand for gasoline grew by leaps and bounds, so the refining industry continued to increase its capacity for

Jan 1, 1929

By Samuel M. Cassidy

The exact date of man's first use of coal is lost in antiquity. The discovery that certain black rock would burn was undoubtedly accidental and probably occurred independently and many times in the world over thousands of years. It is quite likely that these independent discoveries were made when primitive man chanced to build camp fires on exposed ledges of a black rock, then was amazed when it caught fire. The Chinese recorded the use of coal 1100 years before the Christian Era and from the Bible we learn that King Solomon was familiar with coal in what is now Syria. In Wales, there is evidence that the Bronze Age people used coal for funeral pyres, and it is known that the Romans used this fuel. There are other ancient references. So the knowledge that coal would burn, and even some uses of that knowledge, go back thousands of years. However, practical and consistent use of coal seems to date to England in the Middle Ages. COAL IN AMERICA In the Americas, there is evidence here and there of occasional use by the Indians. However, the first recorded discovery of coal, in what is now the US, was by French explorers, who reported an outcrop exposure on the Illinois River in 1679. Following this, other discoveries were made by French and British explorers, but the first recorded actual usage was in Virginia in 1702, where a French settler was granted permission to use coal for his forge. Earliest recorded commercial mining was in 1750, from the James River coalfield near Richmond, VA, a deposit now abandoned. Besides local consumption from this field, shipments were made to Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. During the Revolution this coal was of importance in the manufacture of shot and shell; so important, in fact, that the British sent an expedition in 1781 to destroy the iron works and

Jan 1, 1981

By W. A. Lang, K. C. Gilbart, E. Stansfield

It has long been known that coal is unstable and oxidizes in air, even at ordinary atmospheric temperatures; also, that such oxidation affects the analysis of coal. Nevertheless little or no precaution is taken to prevent oxidation in the ordinary methods of analysis, and the possibility of error due to oxidation is sometimes ignored even in researches on coal. Although the general nature of coal oxidation is well known, and many workers have made careful studies of the rate of oxidation of different types of coal exposed to oxygen at different temperatures, yet the amount of oxidation coals undergo in the ordinary process of analysis, and its influence on the determined analysis, is not well known, and the published data are widely scattered through the literature. This paper is a collection, from this laboratory, of data that bear on the subject, together with a brief summary of three methods employed here to evaluate the oxidizabil-ity of coal. The post-Carboniferous coals of Alberta range all the way from anthracite down to lignite. As some of them are notably susceptible to oxidation, the necessity for care was early forced upon our attention, and oxidation has been reduced either by the removal of air with a vacuum pump or by the displacement of air with natural gas (methane). The two routine analytical operations most liable to involve oxidation are the preliminary, partial drying of the crushed coal (called air-drying) and the determination of moisture. The first is a prolonged operation on coarse coal at ordinary temperatures, and the second a short treatment on powdered coal at higher temperatures. Oxidation also occurs in coal samples stored in ordinary sample bottles. In order to gain information for this study, determinations were recently carried out on the same samples in air, in natural gas, and in vacuo. Sixteen coals were tested; three would be classed in the United States as coking bituminous coals, two as noncoking, nonslacking, bituminous coals, and the rest as subbituminous. Table 1 gives typical analyses of these coals as mined.

Jan 1, 1934

By Arthur F. Taggart, Herbert H. Kellogg, Nathaniel Arbiter

The experimental work herein described is presented in support of the following broad hypothesis: Conditioning of metals and metallic sulphides by amine collectors involves metathetic reaction at the solid surface between the collector and an oxidized metallic compound, to produce a coating comprising an amine-bearing compound of low solubility in the system. The type of reaction is different in acid and in basic solutions; both types may occur simultaneously in near-neutral pulps. Experimental The experiments comprise contact-angle tests with a variety of metals and metallic sulphides and extraction teats on ground chalcocite. Contact-angle tests were made principally on metals. Covellite paralleled metallic copper in amine solution at pH 8.8 (Table 3) and in alkaline water, but maintained an angle of about 70° in Io-3 HCl solution, where metallic copper lost its angle. The tests with anionic collectors (Table I) indicate that the behavior of metals in general is parallel to that of their minerals in anionic solutions. It is believed that this is generally true with cationic collectors also, but the covellite test is a warning against a broad assumption to this effect. All test specimens were mounted in Transoptic.* All tests in conditioning solution were preceded by a test in distilled water; cleaning and polishing were continued in every case until the angle in water was zero. Subsequent transfers into and out of solutions and test cells were made in such a way as to prevent exposure of the surface to air.1 The amine used was primary laurylamine, Armour and Co., AM-1120. It was used in the form of the hydrochloride, obtained by precipitation with gaseous hydrochloric acid from an ether solution of the amine, and purified by two recrystallizations from ether-alcoho1.2 Inorganic and other test reagents were standard laboratory grades. Temperatures were not controlled; the probable range of test-solution temperatures is 650 to 80°F.

Jan 1, 1943