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By Porter W. Shimer

As is well known, cast-iron borings are a mixture of small particles of iron with more or less of finely divided graphite, separated from thc surfaces of these small particles during the process of boring. The amount of graphite thus mechanically mixed is, in all cases, quite large enough to cause serious difficulty when the problem is to obtain an average sample of a given lot of borings for carbon determination. This difficulty arises from the necessity of obtaining a uniform mixture of the heavy and comparatively coarse borings with the finely divided and light graphite, and of removing a sample for analysis without disturbing the uniformity of this mixture. It was first sought to overcome this difficulty by having the horings made very fine, so that they might have more nearly the size of the particles of graphite. It was not practicable, however, to secure this uniformity of size, since much of the graphite is in the form of the finest dust. At all events, the duplicate determinations of rarbon in these fine borings, made with every precaution by combustion in oxygen, frequently showed differences too large to be accounted for in arty other way than by imperfect sampling. Very coarse borings were also tried with the idea that the graphite separated from these large and heavy pieces would perhaps be inappreciable ; but it was found that quite enough was separated to vitiate the results. Various methods of mixing were tried, both in the bottle and on glazed paper ; but in all these mixtures it mas found that duplicate samples seldom colitained the same proportion of the mechanically mixed graphite; and when they did, there could be no certainty that it was the true proportion. All this was shown many times over by the failure of duplicates to agree closely, the differencheing sometimes so much as 0.20 per cent. It was finally clear that nothing was to be hoped from these methods. Even if we could secure a perfect mixture containing in every part its due proportion of graphite, it would run a great risk of being destroyed the moment a spatula was inserted to remove a sample: for the least agitation causes some of the graphite to fall through between the coarser borings.

Jan 1, 1886

By S. E. Bretherton

(San Francisco Meeting, September, 1915) DURING the year 1878-79, Anton Eilers, who was then interested in the lead smelting and refining business near Salt Lake City, Utah, made a somewhat radical departure from the regular practice at that time, which was to use but little lime in the slag, with a high percentage of iron. Lime was not only a cheaper flux than iron, but it enabled the metallurgist to make a more siliceous slag, an economical advantage in smelting where the smelting companies had to purchase either iron or lime to neutralize the excess silica, and penalize the ore shippers accordingly. The larger amount of both lime and silica in the slag also made it of lighter specific gravity, and a better separation of the metals and mattes was secured. This change in the formation of slags for lead smelting was brought about by Anton Eilers, prior to the Leadville mining excitement of 1879. We must also give Mr. Eilers credit for the general introduction of the hollow water-cooled cast-iron jacket for the blast furnace. Again referring to the use of more lime and less iron in the formation of slags,. there is no doubt but that it prevents the formation of a great many so-called "sows" in the lead crucible, such as were made in the early history of lead smelting in the Rocky Mountains; these sows consisted of lead, iron, arsenic, sulphur, copper, and other metals, including gold and silver, mixed with unconsumed fuel, and often, after vain attempts to cut them up or melt them to a suitable size for handling, were buried in the slag clumps to get them out of-sight. Another advantage derived from the adoption of high-lime slags. when smelting ore containing arsenic is the production of less speiss (a by-product heavier than matte, resulting from careless operation of the furnace, the lead being driven out of the crucible and sows built up). This speiss, while usually not as rich in precious metals as matte made at the same time, is too valuable to be thrown away; but it is difficult to treat, and it was thrown away or piled on the slag clumps in the pioneer clays of lead smelting in this country.

Jan 8, 1915

By Norman J. Gibbs, John Sroka

INTRODUCTION At the point a company decides to begin mine development and wishes to convince lending institutions that the proposed operation will return their borrowed funds, plus interest, over the terms of the loan, communications between lender and borrower are crucial. The importance of the mine feasibility presentation should not be underplayed, especially as new projects continue to increase in size, complexity, and cost. While the content and emphasis of a report to the lender will vary according to the particular project and type of debt financing sought, there is a general base of information upon which all such studies are built. THE PROJECT'S TECHNICAL ASPECTS Here, the object is to satisfy the lender that he will not be unduly exposed to technical risks as a result of the physical scope of the project. Reserves The feasibility report submitted to financial institutions should include an adequate description of the geologic setting, mineralogy, ore types, and reserves broken down into such recognized categories as proven/probable/possible or measured/indicated/inferred. Rather than a bald statement of reserves, lenders prefer to have detailed information on: History of exploration Drilling, both percussion and core, with core recovery, drill hole spacing, analyses, and continuity of mineralization Bulk sampling, with core assay comparisons Overburden, with stripping ratios Specific methodology of reserve calculation, and Geologic reserves vs. mineable reserves. As a rule of thumb, a lender would prefer to see that reserves in the proven class alone are sufficient to support operations at the design rates until the borrowed funds are repaid. (See also Schreiber above in this Chapter.) Mining The rationale for adoption of a particular mining technique should be presented as well as descriptions and justifications for: Preproduction development Preliminary mine plan, with forecasts of grades and material movements Geotechnical test work which influenced decisions Mining recoveries and efficiencies Major equipment, with type, model, rating life, spares, replacement schedules, utilization, and productivity Manpower requirements and work schedules Design assumptions Ore stockpiling and blending Environmental requirements, and Waste disposal Processing If a new ore body is to be developed or a new process used, it is important to provide details of test work, scale up, and extrapolation factors. A basic process description with a summary of the studies which justify the intended processing route should be included with the following data:

Jan 1, 1985

By L. C. Morganroth

Discussion of the paper of L. C. MORGANROTH, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1916, and printed in Bulletin No. 110, February, 1916, pp. 475 to 481. DAVID B. REGER, Morgantown, W. Va.-I notice in the third paragraph of the first page of the paper, that in mentioning the clays of the Pottsville series, the author says: "The bed of clay found in the latter formation is unique in that flint clay is practically restricted to it. (A variety of flint clay is occasionally found in these upper deposits but this is in such small amounts as to be negligible."). If the author wishes to confine himself to the fire clays of Pennsylvania, as the title seems to indicate, I have nothing to say, but if he wishes to include a discussion on fire clays of the adjoining States which the. subsequent paragraphs of his paper seem to indicate, then I wish to call attention to the fact that there are large and extensive deposits of fire clay in the Allegheny series, immediately overlying the Pottsville in the northern counties of West Virginia. These fire clays have been studied carefully, and described in several reports of the West Virginia Geological Survey, first in the report on Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock Counties, in the northern part of the State; described later ,in the report on Monongalia, Marion, and Taylor Counties, and in the report on Preston County, which followed. In these latter counties (Monongalia, Marion, Taylor, and Preston) there are some beds of fine fire clay, varying in thickness from 6 to 10 or 12 ft., with a content of only 2 or 3 per cent. of fluxing ingredients, and these are of the typical Savage Mountain appearance and also have the typical Savage Mountain fracture. They have been prospected, but not mined a great deal. Several of them have been tested in blast furnaces and furnaces for other purposes, in glass-manufacturing plants, also for firebrick, arid have been found to be very good. They are simply awaiting development, and I merely want to call attention to the fact that there are plenty of them in the Allegheny series still above the Pottsville in West Virginia. There are two or three valuable seams which I have seen in person and have had analyzed in our laboratory.

Jan 5, 1916

By Stirling Huntley, R. H. Johnson

Pennsylvania will be remembered, as long as oil is produced, as the cradle of the industry of petroleum in North America. It was on Oil Creek, near Titusville, Venango Co., that Col. Edwin L. Drake, superintendent for the Seneca Oil Co., brought in the first commercial oil well on Aug. 28, 1859. Great difficulty was experienced in getting the well down to the producing depth of 69 ft. (21 m.) with the spring-pole system then in vogue for punching shallow water wells, so the novel expedient of driving an iron tube through the surface clays and quicksand was finally resorted to. The well had an initial yield of 25 bbl. a day on the pump, but soon went off, though 2000 bbl. were produced by the end of the year. With the Drake well a success, a young industry sprang into being, the rapid growth of which has been second to none in the country and the value of whose product is only surpassed by that of coal. For years the only producing territory, the Pennsylvania-New York field attained its greatest production in 1891, when the bringing in of the McDonald pool, between Pittsburgh and the West Virginia line, gave a total of over 33,000,000 bbl. At present the field, combined with West Virginia and southeast Ohio, gives 25,000,000 barrels. Geology and Stratigraphy In general, the Appalachian field is a huge geosyncline, the axis of which runs roughly northeast-seuthwest, from north of the New York state line south through Brookeville, Kittanning, Pittsburgh, Washington, through the southwest corner of the state of Pennsylvania into West Virginia. Minor folding has accompanied or followed the dominant fold of the field, and it is from these structures near the Pennsylvania-West Virginia line and their influence on the accumulation of oil and gas that I. C. White, state geologist of West Virginia, obtained his evidence for anticlinal guidance of prospecting. Many horizons in the geologic column of the field serve as reservoirs, and there arc several pools that have wells producing side by side from different and widely vertically separated strata. The strata show a promising succession of porous sand and conglomerate horizons alternating with numerous gray and dark brown 01. black shales, admittedly

Jan 1, 1921

By Barnabas Bryan

During the boom period of 1928 and 1929, several oil companies took advantage of high security prices to sell stocks, thereby securing money for the company very cheaply. Few if any of those companies realized that the money received was not at all cheap in view of the fact that it was for investment in fixed assets at inflated prices. Suppose a company borrowed twenty millions of dollars to expand its marketing facilities during the boom. It diluted its capital and acquired fixed property which could not earn its interest requirements during the following deflation and therefore consumed income from other company activities. The company also had to stand the deflation in the capital value of all the property it bought. Since the mistaken expansion during the boom accelerated the decline in net income during deflation, the financial position of the company was harmed in proportion to the amount of that expansion. Thus the company was unable to get money to buy fixed assets in the depression when all property is cheap. The same condition holds for the company that sold common stock for the purpose of developing potential production in a newly discovered oil field. Regardless of what the ultimate value of the new field may be, potential production does not increase the net income of the company. The difficulty of meeting the enlarged dividend requirements due to the increased number of shares outstanding impairs the financial position of the company during deflation in some relation to the probability of decreased dividends. This company also is not in a position to expand during the depression when properties and companies can be bought for a fraction of their real value. Expansion of fixed assets during boom times has been the ruin of many otherwise good companies. Some of those which most extensively bought property during the post-war boom have not yet recovered. A number of cases could be cited in sugar, leather, fertilizer and wool. This does not seem to be governed by the quality of the property bought, for examination shows the assets to have been of individual high quality in many cases. When recovery is long deferred it is likely to be true, as in sugar or textiles, that the industry has a large "potential" capacity for overproduction.

Jan 1, 1931

By Frederic Carter

THE gold, silver, copper alloys have been the subject of several fairly complete investigations by Jänecke, Sterner-Rainer1 and others, and indeed it would seem as if almost too much labor had been expended on them when one thinks of the numerous other ternary alloys calling for more light; however, the combinations of the three metals are actually so widely used in jewelry that they merit perhaps the work done on them. There are a few properties of importance and interest not treated by the authors mentioned which the writer investigated some little time ago, and therefore he has ventured to put on record the results of some of his tests made at that time. He has chosen, as being the two series of most importance to the jeweler, only the 14 and 18-kt. golds, so the subject is by no means so inclusive as that previously treated. As stated, this paper is merely a record of tests made in a practical manner on two useful series of alloys, and is not at all a critical study of their properties. 14-KARAT ALLOYS These alloys are important because they are the most generally used in 14-kt. jewelry; by changing the proportions of silver and copper there are obtained all shades of color from the green of the alloy containing gold and silver but no copper, to the red of the alloy containing gold and copper but no silver. Many 14-kt. gold alloys are made with the addition of zinc to the three metals mentioned here; the added metal does not appreciably alter the color of the alloy nor has it, in general, much effect on the working properties; it may, however, prove useful as part of the zinc added may act as a deoxidizer and render the alloy free of gas. It is not a necessary addition because with proper precautions all the 14-kt. gold alloys containing only silver and copper in addition to the gold can be made free of gas and capable of being cold rolled without cracking. The alloys in which approximately equal quantities of silver and-copper

Jan 1, 1928

By E. C. Potter

It is not the purpose of this paper to enter into the minutiae of a subject so vast, upon which volumes have already been written and volumes more might still be written, but simply to pass in review the characteristic features of that practice, which, dating from the blowing-in of the Edgar Thomson "A" furnace in 1879 and continuing down to the present day, has given to American blast-furnace operations a new significance. The blowing-in of " A" furnace marked the beginning of a new era in the science of iron-smelting if, indeed, it was not the very birth of science as applied to this industry in the United States. American blast-furnace practice in its generic sense and world-wide significance dates from that day, and really all that is valuable, all that is remarkable or worthy of discussion, is embraced in the experiences and achievements of the past fifteen years. Back of that we find only the dead level of mediocrity, or worse, a dispoition to " let well enough alone;" a general, almost universal, employment of " rule of thumb " methods. The application of scientific principles and methods was rare and, indeed, previous to the introduction of the Bessemer process in the early seventies, science had no place in controlling the operations of the American blast-furnace. The old practice consisted mainly in dumping raw materials in at the top of the furnace and tapping out iron and slag at the bottom, for the successful consummation of which the furnace-manager directed his best energies toward keeping the furnace as free as possible from "gobbing" with, alas ! but indifferent success. The burdening of the furnace was based largely on Mark Twain's receipt for " Johnny-cake," altered to suit the circumstances, viz.: a lot of ore, a lot of fuel and about a quarter of a lot of flux. The possible capacities of furnace-plants were not nearly realized. Enormous wastes were permitted, unheeded because not understood. In the use of fuel quantum suff. was always the rule. Increase of product was not thought of because it was not deemed wise or safe to attempt

Jan 1, 1894

By A. Simkovich, C. W. McCoy

THE relationship among chromium, carbon, and temperature during the oxidation period of stainless steel melting was developed by Hilty et a1 1-3 whose studies were confined to plain chromium stainless steels. The simplified version of their relation is given by the equation:

Jan 1, 1962

By R. M. Wilhelm

HIGH-TEMPERATURE thermometry,, as treated in this paper, deals with the measurement of temperature in the range 100° to 550° C. The lower limit corresponds to the temperature of boiling water at normal atmospheric pressure, the upper limit is approximately the highest temperature to which mercury in a glass thermometer may be safely subjected.1 In this range., the domains of pyrometry and thermometry overlap somewhat, for high-temperature resistance thermometers and thermocouples generally classed as pyrometers are often used below 550° C. This paper will be confined to high-temperature mercurial thermometers, and indicating and recording thermometers of the vapor pressure, liquid or gas filled, and bimetallic or graphite-metal expansion types, a classification of which is as follows: CLASSIFICATION OF THERMOMETERS GENERAL CLASSIFICATION SUBDIVISIONS Mercury in glass Laboratory- Etched or engraved stems (mercurial) Enclosed scale (Einschlus) Industrial Vapor pressure Indicating and Pressure Liquid filled recording Gas filled Bimetallic Graphite-metal expansion

Jan 9, 1919

By Howard Smith

FOR several years this Institute has recorded in its TRANSACTIONS the various discoveries of potash? in America, and the successive stages in the development of an independent domestic potash industry. This paper is intended primarily to continue the record through the year 1935. In retrospect it is not inappropriate to note that public interest aroused in 1910 resulted in the production of some 1090 tons of pure potash in 1915, as a small beginning in the domestic inorganic potash industry, and that the infant industry thus begun reaches its majority this year, following a record production in 1935 of about 600,000 tons of potash salts and exports to no less than 22 foreign countries, including six countries in Europe. This production, with an estimated 200,000 tons of pure potash, may be compared with a production in 1934 of 430,157 tons with an equivalent of 144,342 tons of pure potash.

Jan 1, 1936

By George Watkin Evans

The need for mechanization in coal mining wherever it can be successfully introduced is evident when we take into account the fact that during recent years the coal-mine employee's wages have increased and his hours have been shortened. Coal is no longer King, and a brief study of statistics covering the production of coal, petroleum and natural gas and the development of water power will convince anyone that coal has had very powerful competitors during the past 10 years. Petroleum production in the United States between 1918 and 1936 increased from 100 per cent to 309 per cent. Water power increased from 100 per cent in 1918 to 270 per cent in 1936. Bituminous coal slipped from 100 per cent in 1918 to 75 per cent in 1936. The anthracite industry slipped from 100 per cent in 1918 to 50 per cent in 1932, but climbed to 55 per cent in 1936. In 1918, the State of Washington produced a little over four million tons of coal and the production of California oil, at that time, was a little less than one hundred million barrels per year. By 1929 the production of California oil had increased to a little over 292,000,000 bbl. or nearly 300 per cent as compared with 1918. By 1934 the production of coal in the state of Washington had dropped to about 1 1/3 millions of tons per year. Our neighbors in British Columbia had their coal production reduced from a little over 2 1/2 million tons in 1920 to less than 1 1/3 million in 1933. The North western Improvement Co., a subsidiary of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co., owns coal properties in various parts of Washington and Montana. The Northern Pacific is one of the very few railroads using any considerable quantity of coal in its operations. Practically all of the American railroads in the Pacific Northwest, except the Northern Pacific, are using cheap California fuel oil or electricity. This problem, of course, is not a new one in coal mining, and all of the progressive coal companies in the country have tried to meet competition from an overproduction of petroleum and an overproduction of natural gas as well as enlarged developments of hydroelectric plants.

Jan 1, 1938

By Charles B. Dudley

While working, during the summer of 1877, upon the "Chemical composition and Physical Properties of Steel Rails," the results of which are given in my report with this title, I was struck with the surprising wear which some of the rails, which would ordinarily be called soft rails, had endured. At that time I knew of no chemical measure of softness except low carbon, and I found that a numher of rails with low carbon had endured as high or higher tonnage, with apparently as little loss of metal by wear, as those with higher carbon. My own work on steel rails that summer did not embrace any definite experiments as to the amount of metal worn off the rail per million tons which had passed aver it; and so I could get no more definite answer from that work, to the question at the head of this paper, than was given by comparing the appearance of the worn section of the rail with its tonnage. This comparison, however, served to arouse in my mind the query, whether the commonly received opinion as to the relation between the hardness and wearing power of steel is correct, as applied to steel rails. This opinion, if I am right, is: the harder the steel, the better will be the wear, and the limit of hardness is simply one of safety; hard, brittle steel being, of course, more liable to break than soft, tough steel. The query, although aroused, did not bear any immediate fruit, and, as will be evident to any one reading it, the report above referred to was written with the commonly received opinion in mind. Since that time I hare collected a little information upon this subject, which I should be glad to submit to the Institute, if for no other purpose, for the sake of arousing attention, and directing study to the question of hardness versus wear in steel rails. Before making known this information, howevcr, permit me a few words in reference to hardness. How shall we measure the hardness of steel ? Of the various ways of getting indications as to the hardness of steel, which are known, three mill serve our present purpose. These are: 1st. High carbon. It is generally agreed, I think, that at least within proper limits, the greater the amount of combined carbon in a piece of steel, the harder the steel, and I need not do

Jan 1, 1879

By Chas. B. Dudley

WHILE working, during the summer of 1877, upon the "Chemical Composition and Physical Properties of Steel Rails," the results of which are given in my report with this title, I was struck with the surprising wear which some of the rails, which would ordinarily be called soft rails, had endured. At that time I knew of no chemical measure of softness except low carbon, and I found that a number of rails with low carbon had endured as high or higher tonnage, with apparently as little loss of metal by wear, as those with higher carbon. My own work on steel rails that summer did not embrace any definite experiments as to the amount of metal worn off the rail per million tons which had passed over it; and so I could get no more definite answer from that work, to the question at the head of this paper, than was given by comparing the appearance of the worn section of the rail with its tonnage. This comparison, however, served to arouse in my mind the query, whether the commonly received opinion as to the relation between the hardness and wearing power of steel is correct, as applied to steel rails. This opinion, if I am right, is: the harder the steel, the better will be the wear, and the limit of hardness is simply one of safety ; hard, brittle steel being, of course, more liable to break than soft, tough steel. The query, although aroused, did not bear any immediate fruit, and, as will be evident to any one reading it, the report above referred to was written with the commonly received opinion in mind. Since that time I have collected a little information upon this subject, which I should be glad to submit to the Institute, if for no other purpose, for the sake of arousing attention, and directing study to the question of hardness versus wear in steel rails. Before making known this information, however, permit me a few words in reference to hardness. How shall we measure the hardness of steel ? Of the various ways of getting indications as to the hardness of steel, which are known, three will serve our present purpose. These are: 1st. High carbon. It is generally agreed, I think, that at least within proper limits, the greater the amount of combined carbon in a piece of steel, the harder the steel, and I need not do

Jan 1, 1879

By George Watkin Evans

The need for mechanization in coal mining wherever it can be successfully introduced is evident when we take into account the fact that during recent years the coal-mine employee's wages have increased and his hours have been shortened. Coal is no longer King, and a brief study of statistics covering the production of coal, petroleum and natural gas and the development of water power will convince anyone that coal has had very powerful competitors during the past 10 years. Petroleum production in the United States between 1918 and 1936 increased from 100 per cent to 309 per cent. Water power increased from 100 per cent in 1918 to 270 per cent in 1936. Bituminous coal slipped from 100 per cent in 1918 to 75 per cent in 1936. The anthracite industry slipped from 100 per cent in 1918 to 50 per cent in 1932, but climbed to 55 per cent in 1936. In 1918, the State of Washington produced a little over four million tons of coal and the production of California oil, at that time, was a little less than one hundred million barrels per year. By 1929 the production of California oil had increased to a little over 292,000,000 bbl. or nearly 300 per cent as compared with 1918. By 1934 the production of coal in the state of Washington had dropped to about 1 1/3 millions of tons per year. Our neighbors in British Columbia had their coal production reduced from a little over 2 1/2 million tons in 1920 to less than 1 1/3 million in 1933. The North western Improvement Co., a subsidiary of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co., owns coal properties in various parts of Washington and Montana. The Northern Pacific is one of the very few railroads using any considerable quantity of coal in its operations. Practically all of the American railroads in the Pacific Northwest, except the Northern Pacific, are using cheap California fuel oil or electricity. This problem, of course, is not a new one in coal mining, and all of the progressive coal companies in the country have tried to meet competition from an overproduction of petroleum and an overproduction of natural gas as well as enlarged developments of hydroelectric plants.

Jan 1, 1938

T. T. READ, Secretary of the Committee on Industrial Organization, presents the following very interesting monthly ad interim report: Reports from London are to the effect that 750 housing schemes for workers, involving the erection of 128,000 new dwellings, have been submitted to the Local Government Board. Birmingham alone needs 14,000 new houses, and the Housing and Town Planning Committee of the City Council considers that 5000 new houses must be built each year for the next 20 years. Nine hundred acres of land has been acquired, on which to build 10 to 12 houses per acre for the next two years. The town of Dudley, which built 300 modern dwellings in 1915-1916, submitted schemes for another 500 houses. There is a shortage of building materials required, specially brick. Financial assistance has been received for reopening brick yards that were closed during the war. W. E. Dickson, vice president of the Midvale Steel & Ordnance Co., is reported in the daily press as stating that his corporation is planning to spend $8,000,000 in improving its plant and assisting its employees in building their own homes. The company will advance 90 per cent. of the cost of the house and extend payments over a period of 12 years. Methods of work employed in building 256 houses at Quincy, Mass., for the workers of the Fore River shipyards are described, by Joseph Meltzer, in the Engineering News Record for May 29, 1919. The approximate cost was about $3500 per house, not including water supply, sewers, streets, and sidewalks. "Comparative Costs of Tenantry and Home-Owning;" "A Plain Talk on Helping Home-builders;" and "More Plain Talk on Home Building" are the titles of three publications of the Information and Education Service of the Department of Labor. These publications should be' of a good deal of service in convincing employees that it is to their interest to own their homes rather than to live in rented houses. The same Service has issued pamphlets discussing the cost of materials.

Jan 7, 1919

Cyril w. Knight, Toronto, Ont., Canada (communication to the Secretary*).—Mr. Hore's paper presents an interesting summary of our knowledge of this important mineral field ; and is therefore acceptable as giving information which our Transactions did not already contain, although it presents little or nothing not made known by other writers before 1906, when Mr. Hore began work in the field as a student assistant. Contributions of this kind, however, should be made completely valuable by such references to previous work as will enable the reader to follow to their original sources the theories or conelusions stated by the author. It is quite natural, and even excusable, that a new observer should find novelty in his on observations—especially if he is not acquainted with the work of predecessors in the same field. Moreover, the independent repetition of an observation or conclusion has a distinct value as a confirmation, though it may have none as a discovery. But the publication of it, without reference to its predecessors, may place the author in an unfavorable light as either ignorant of the history of his subject, or willing to claim credit to which he is not entitled. Of the latter fault, I do not accuse Mr. Hore ; but I cannot wholly acquit him of the former. Without disparaging his intelligent work, I must point out that his paper, as it stands, might easily give the impression that he claims originality for many statements which are by no means new, and that he emphasizes unduly his own publications. Thus, his remark (p. 481) "I have described the silver-fields in a general way in my paper " (not yet published), should have been accompanied with reference to some of the numerous papers, already published, which describe these fields. Again, on p. 486, he refers to four papers of his own on the Porcupine gold-area, but neither in the text nor in the appended

Jan 1, 1912

Bill S.1431 for the creation of a Department of Natural Resources has received a propitious hearing before the Senate Committee on Government Operations. Interior Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton was one of the prominent witnesses who testified in favor. The department had been proposed, Morton said, with "the conviction that the development of all natural resources would be harmonized with the most practicable possible means to protect and preserve the environment, consistent with the social and economic needs of the Nation." Another opinion on the pro side came from Atomic Energy Commissioner Clarence E. Larson, who said that a "total picture" had become essential to the establishment of a policy for developing energy resources in the best public interest. Commissioner James T. Ramey, on the other hand, was one of the AEC dissenters. Ramey said he believed the reorganization of resource responsibilities would hinder efforts to deal with energy-environmental problems and prevent the use of AEC "expertise and facilities" to the greatest advantage. As Arnold Weber, associated director of the Office of Management and Budget, pointed out, however, retiring AEC Chairman Glenn T. Seaborg is in favor of the new department. Another supporter, and one who can cast a vote on the bill, is Sen. Frank E. Moss. Final Standards for emissions from new stationary sources will be published by the Environmental Protection Agency on October 27. The initial proposals, appearing in the Federal Register on August 17, called for limiting emissions per million Btu of heat input (maximum 2-hr average) to 0.2 lb of particulate matter, and, where solid fuel is burned, to 1.2 lb of sulfur dioxide and 0.7 lb of nitrogen dioxide. While the new rules are mainly for new plants, the EPA is also proposing them for "existing plants which are modified in such a way as to increase or alter. . . their emissions."

Jan 1, 1971

By Earl A. Trager

The broad picture of world petroleum production at the present time is one of an excessive supply. In any consideration of corrective measures to be applied in the future, it will be necessary to include all the producing areas of the entire world. To illustrate, United States production during 1931 was 48 million barrels1 less than 1930, whereas world production exclusive of the United States increased, owing principally to increases in Russia, Rumania and Persia. Domestic Peoduction Let us first consider the domestic production situation. Due to the fact that United States production was maintained below current demand, about 40 million barrels of oil were withdrawn from storage during 1931. Consumption increased about 1.5 per cent over 1930, which is less than the recent annual rate of increase of 8 to 11 per cent. If the machinery to prevent waste in the petroleum industry operative for more than a year will continue during the coming year and drilling is held to the 1931 level, there will be a decided improvement in the domestic situation by the close of 1932. This will be due in large measure to the drastic reduction in exploratory work and drilling which has been in effect for more than a year. Looking ahead for two or more years, probably there will be a shortage of domestic production in relation to domestic demand, unless there are discovered several large pools comparable to Oklahoma City or East Texas. Were the United States isolated, our problems in so far as petroleum production is concerned might be considered well along the road to recovery. To maintain this perspective will require the cooperation of foreign producers in the future, or protection of United Statcs markets from foreign invasion. Let us review briefly the present situation in the United States. East Texas has been the most important factor during 1931. The large initial production of individual wells and the rapid rate of drilling

Jan 1, 1932

By A. E. Wells

In this paper are described various comparative tests made on cracked and straight run gasolines. The results of these tests may be briefly summarized as follows: Samples of 54 to 55° Bé. gravity cracked gasolines, with end point of about 442° F., and with a somewhat larger proportion of the less volatile fractions than conformable to government specifications, were used in a single cylinder variable compression engine under the same conditions as were samples of straight run gasoline of 58 to 59° Bé. gravity, and of which one had a greater proportion of the more volatile fractions than called for in government specifications. The cracked gasolines showed decidedly less tendency to knock, hence could be used at higher compression ratios and thereby developed from 10 to 20 per cent. more power than did the straight run gasolines. These figures may be taken as one measure of the superiority of the cracked gasolines under test with the straight run gasolines. It is not claimed that all cracked gasolines are superior to all straight run gasolines to the extent indicated by the above tests; cracked gasolines vary as do the straight run products. Cross's work and that of others have indicated that certain cracked products may have a much greater superiority over straight run than that determined above. From various sources and by different methods of testing data are being obtained to show the definite and generally quite considerable superiority, as an anti-Cetonating fuel of cracked gasolines over straight run gasolines. It is now becoming generally recognized that by increasing the production of cracked gasoline motor fuel from those heavier petroleum fractions, which otherwise would be used for burning purposes, the petroleum industry is not only working in the interest of the conservation of the world's supply of petroleum, but is at the same time making available to the gasoline-consuming public a product distinctly superior to the straight run gasolines.

Jan 1, 1927