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By Charles Catlett

THE rapid development of the Portland-cement industry implies that the country is being very carefully searched for material suitable for its manufacture. Such material can be found at a great many places ; but deposits thoroughly satisfactory in chemical composition, and at the same time meeting all the other requirements connected with the economic production and profitable marketing of the product, are exceedingly few, if I may judge from the investigations which I have had to make in a number of States. The raw mixture which by its clinking and grinding forms Portland cement contains approximately 75 per cent. of carbonate of lime. This is found in nature as limestone or marl. The natural rock commonly carries either more than the required percentage of carbonate of lime (in which case it has to be reduced by suitable admixture of clayey ingredients) or less-in which case purer lime carbonate has to be added. The controlling ingredient, therefore, is carbonate of lime, or limestone of the right composition. Among the most serious difficulties is that of finding limestones low enough in magnesia to meet the exacting requirements of certain specifications. All engineers recognize that there is a limit beyond which it is not safe to let the magnesia go; but within that limit there is considerable difference of opinion. Until that difference is finally settled, no one would be willing to invest the large sum of money necessary for a Portland-cement plant, if it were not certain that the usual requirements in this particular could be satisfied. The usual limit in well-established specifications is 5 per cent. of magnesium oxide in the finished cement, but many specifications limit the amount to 3 per cent. These figures

Jan 9, 1907

THERE are two general classes of problems in connection with electric furnaces. First, those relating to the best utilization of the electrical power inside the furnace; second, those connected with the bringing of the electrical power to the point where it is to be utilized. Referring particularly to the latter class of problems, many calculations have been made, covering a wide variety of furnaces, to check the electrical capacity and power factor found from test. The following analysis, made for the purpose of determining the maximum capacity and approximate performance of a new furnace, to operate at 160 volts on a 60-cycle circuit, may be of interest. The first characteristic necessary to determine is the inductance, since this is the factor that limits the amount of power which can be put into the furnace. Inductance is calculated from the dimensions of the furnace, according to formulas of the U. S. Bureau of Standards,1 as

Jan 10, 1918

By Earl Greiner

THE constitution of the iron-silicon alloys containing from 14 to 33.4 weight per cent silicon has been studied by a number of investigators, whose results have been reviewed in a monograph published by the Engineering Foundation1. In these previous researches, the solubility of silicon in iron was determined by thermal, microscopic or magnetic methods and the compound Fe3Si2 was reported to be stable at tempera-tures from 0 to approximately 1030° C. This paper describes the results of an X-ray investigation of the solubility of silicon in iron and gives data which prove that the Fe3Si2 phase is unstable below 825° C. In order to obtain the present results on the solubility of silicon in iron, the authors have utilized the lattice constants of the alpha-phase iron-silicon alloys given in a previous publication2, and also some addi-tional data which will subsequently be described.

Jan 1, 1936

By W. R. Ingalls

I WAS led some time ago to draft a statement of economic principles immediately affecting our national welfare from the standpoint of the engineer. It was the intention to offer this to the American Engineering Council as a resolution to be adopted, or a declaration to be made, of course after suitable con-sideration and debate. The presentation has not been . formally made, but I have been asked to let it be made to the mining engineers through the medium of MINING AND METALLURGY, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers being a constituent part of the Federated American Engineering Societies. I shall welcome any expressions of opinion that this statement may inspire. The statement follows: The engineers of, the United States, functioning through the American Engineering Council of the, Federated American Engineering Societies, feel it their duty to advise the American people respecting the present state of economic affairs in the nation, just as an individual engineer would his client. The people of the United States constitute a great corpora-tion, whose business affairs are analogous to those of a commercial company -multiplied many times. The engineers feel constrained to offer their opinion owing to the responsibility to do things which rests upon them. Confronted by the steady impoverishment of natural resources and the operation of the economic law of diminishing returns it devolves upon management, functioning through the engineering profession aided by scientists, to make such improvements leading to increased production and such elimination of wastes as to offset the increasing adversities of nature merely to hold our own; and to do more than offset them in order to improve the scale of living of the people. The engineers accept this responsibility, but in so doing they demand attention to their advice respecting fundamental economic matters, lest they be unduly hampered in the performance of the professional duties, which they acknowledge. The American Engineering Council therefore declares the following as the advice of engineers to the American people:

Jan 8, 1923

By G. R. Fritterer

INVESTIGATORS in the field of temperature measurement have long sought a thermoelectric couple fulfilling the following requirements: 1. It should be useful up to and including high industrial tempera-tures; i. e., 1000° to 1800° C. 2. Its thermoelectric variation with temperature should be linear and be maintained after heating to high temperatures for long periods of time. 3. It should be reproducible; i. e., different couples of the same elements should have similar calibration curves. 4. Its thermoelectric power should be large so as to allow the industrial use of rugged recording instruments. 5. Chemical reactions with, and physical changes within the elements of the couple should not alter its calibration. No thermocouple proposed to date exhibits simultaneously all of these characteristics, whereas the couple about to be described fulfills all requirements to a satisfactory degree.

Jan 1, 1933

By Waldemar Lindgren

Fifteen years ago, in his presidential address before the Washington Academy of Sciences,' Alfred H. Brooks said: "Applied geology can only maintain its present high position by continuing the researches which advance the knowledge of basic principles. Future progress in applied geology depends on progress in pure geology. Early in 1927, Dr. David White, then chairman of the Division of Geology and Geography of the National Research Council, appointed a committee "On the Processes of Ore Deposition," which was the first recognition by the Council of this branch of applied geology. This committee will not be able to solve the many complex problems involved; it can only clear the way, survey the field, state the problems and encourage systematic research. This short paper aims to outline and to analyze the present status of this kind of geological research, to ascertain the quality of the work and to suggest lines that might profitably be followed. Increasing Demand for Geologists Economic geology, or the art of geology, could develop only after the principles of geology and mineralogy had been established. Before that time it was merely a collection of trade rules accompanied by more or less wild speculations. Thus we observe the beginnings of economic geology in the period 1770-1820. Soon afterwards, the State Surveys were established in this country, with the realization that the natural resources should be investigated and described. Geology was hardly yet equal to the task of scientific research in relationships and genesis, however, and there followed a period of discouragement and stagnation. In the meanwhile, pure geology had again registered progress, and, based on its principles and also on the rapid mining development in the Cordilleran region, the present phase of the study of ore deposits began to take form. Raphael Pumpelly, S. F. Emmons and G. F. Becker were among the pioneers in this movement. The United States Geological Survey was organized. Ore deposits were scientifically described and studied along lines of structure and mineralogy; theories of genesis were advanced, not always permanent but based on sound induction.

Jan 1, 1928

By P. H. Mell

THE little village, from which this formation receives its name, is situated on a bluff of the Alabama River, 175 feet above water level. This bluff is a portion of high table land that begins in the western portion of Choctaw and extends through Clarke and Monroe counties. We find points on this ridge more than 100 feet higher than Tuscaloosa, and nearly as high as the Tennessee River at Tuscumbia. Through this the Alabama River cuts its way, exposing a beautiful cross-section of the strata, of which the accompanying sketch may give some idea. The fossils are found about 75 feet below the surface and 100 feet above the level of the river. There are seven distinct strata. 1. The lowest, extending from the water's edge up the bluff 80 feet, is a soft calcareous rock containing about 15 per cent. of carbonate of lime, with occasional specks of mica. In this a few Ostrea, Turritellce, and Flustrce were found, but so friable as to fall to pieces when handled. 2. Next comes a stratum varying from 2 to 8 feet, consisting of

Jan 1, 1880

By F. B. Foley

With the possible exception of high-speed tool steel, the service demanded of rock-drill steel is probably more precarious than that of any other tool steel. Unaided by the helpful influence of alloys and dependent solely on the efficiency of the heat treatment applied for its ability to stand up under the abuse to which it is necessarily subjected, rock-drill steel is worthy of intensive study. For its heat treatment the smith has his fire, an oil fire perhaps, and a quenching bath; he judges the temperature by his eye. There are shops where excellent drills are produced by this method, but there are more where the product varies between very good and very bad. Pyrometers with specially designed equipment are used in but few cases. But the responsibility for rock-drill failures does not rest entirely on the smith. Little has been published concerning the efficiency of drill steel, though the Canadian Mining Journal1 published the breakage record of a large number of hollow drill steels. This record indicates that most of the breaks occur during the early life of the steel and that as a given batch of steel is used, its percentage of breakage decreases. This fact, the article points out, is at variance with the much-talked-of theory concerning failure from crystallization and fatigue. It seems to point to the fact that the greater part of drill-steel failure from breakage is traceable to faulty manufacture, resulting in defects in the bore of the hollow steel from inclusions of slag or oxides, etc. As this defective material meets with early failure, it is weeded out. In addition, some breakage may be caused by a lack of proper condition with respect to heat treatment of the steel as furnished by the manufacturer. In the article mentioned, the breakage of 1/14-in (3.17 cm.) hollow steel is given as 4.62 per cent. for the early period of use, with a decrease to 3.35 per cent. and 2.67 per cent. with time in use. For 1-in. (2.5 cm.) hexagonal hollow steel, the figures for breakage are 0.18 per cent. and 0.06 per cent.; attention is called to the great decrease in breakage by the use of smaller diameter drills. The figures are given as so many drills sharpened, but there is no way of determining the percentage of

Jan 1, 1922

By C. Le Neve Foster

The object of this paper is to offer a few suggestions for improving the mining and mineral statistics presented by the governments of various nations on both sides of the Atlantic. At the present time one may fairly complain of' two evils—lack of uniformity in some cases and want of completeness in others. The consequence is that the statistics are either less plain than they might be, or are useless for comparisons, or fail to present a faithful picture of the state of the mining industries of a country. The principal subjects upon which information is desirable are: the amount and value of the mineral products raised and the number of the mining population. With these data it is possible to form an estimate of the importance of the mining industries of any given

Jan 1, 1894

By George L. Atwood, William Brown

Phosphate ore is being mined at Monsanto Co.'s Henry mine, near Soda Springs, Idaho, for the company's three furnace elemental phosphorus plant near Soda Springs. The finished product from the furnaces is elemental phosphorus which is subsequently used in the manufacture of detergents, food preservatives, fire retardants and other consumer items. In stripping and mining, D-9 crawler tractors are utilized to rip and push-load rubber-tired scrapers. The equipment consists of six D-9G crawler tractors, four Caterpillar 657B scrapers, eight Euclid S-24 scrapers, one Reich T750 drill and one Caterpillar No. 16 patrol plus various support equipment. Stripping is performed on a 12- month basis, two shifts per day, whereas mining is mainly in the summer months on a one-shift basis. The hauling season begins May 15 and ends November 1 due to freezing weather and snow conditions. Annual production is 1 million tons of phosphate rock and 2.5-3 million cu yd of stripping. Stripping, mining and hauling is performed for Monsanto by Dravo-Soda Springs, a mining contractor which owns, operates and maintains all equipment used. The contractor is paid for stripping by the bank yard and for ore mined and hauled on a tonnage basis.

Jan 8, 1972

By L. Alan Weakly

Abstract-The Bureau of Mines has pursued a program of research on mine illumination that has defined the coal miner's illumination needs. St. Joe Minerals Corporation, recognizing the need for improving the illumination of the working places in their mines, entered into a cooperative research agreement with the Bureau of Mines to utilize the Bureau's expertise in this field. Some similarity in the environment, in which coal and hard rock miners work, has allowed the application of developed coal mine illumination technology and equipment to be utilized in hard rock, room and pillar mines.

Jan 6, 1978

By C. H. North, L. E. Lynd, W. W. Anderson, H. Sicurdson

Since the composition and structure of the beach sand concentrates correspond so closely to what would be expected of ilmenites that have been altered by oxidation and leaching, there is no reason to postulate the existence of the hypothetical compound, arizonite, to account for the composition of titaniferous beach sand concentrates. The four concentrates studied are examples of the different products that can result from various degrees of alteration of primary ilmenite. CONSIDERABLE uncertainty is revealed in the literature regarding the nature of the titanium minerals which make up the bulk of the heavy, opaque fractions of numerous beach sand deposits of the world. An investigation was made, therefore, of beach sand concentrates of North Carolina, Florida, Brazil, and India. Magnetic concentration, X-ray, and microscope data were obtained which show that these concentrates consist essentially of ilmenite and its alteration products. The alteration, brought about by oxidation and leaching of iron values, has resulted in upgrading the ores to a range of 56 to 64 pct TiO², as compared with 52.7 pct in ilmenite of theoretical composition. Conclusions drawn regarding the nature of the dominant titanium-bearing mineral in beach sand deposits have been based mainly on chemical composition, specific gravity, and petrography. This material has usually been referred to as ilmenite or weathered ilrnenite.: It has also been referred to as arizonite because in chemical composition it resembles an Occurrence in in which was described by Palmer' in 1909. The chemical composition of Palmer's arizonite corresponded closely to the formula Fe²O³ . 3TiOs. From approximate measurements of crystal angles on a large imperfect crystal with rounded faces, the

Jan 1, 1955

By R. W. Smith, C. Schroeder, R. Haddenham

Amphoteric surfactants are heteropolar organic compounds which possess at least two functional (ionic) oppositely charged groups per molecule. The ones studied are manufactured by General Mills and possess one or more long hydrocarbon chains plus a carboxyl group (s) and an amino or imino group. Hallimond tube and M. C. Fuerstenau micro flotation cell flotation tests were performed on quartz and hematite as a function of pH using amphoteric, cationic, and anionic surfactants as collectors. For the most part, flotation could be correlated with an interaction of charged groups on the collectors with oppositely charged sites on the minerals plus association of hydrocarbon chains. The comparison of flotation in a Hallimond tube and an M.C. Fuerstenau cell shows that one should use care in using the latter if one excludes an additional frother from the system. Also, it is interesting to note that sometimes greater collector concentrations are required in the Fuerstenau cell for comparable flotation recoveries.

Jan 1, 1974

I. N. KNAPP, Ardmore, Pa. (written discussion*).-Captain Lucas has made an important contribution to our, knowledge of Belle Isle, especially as to the outline of the sulphur deposit, and the pronounced irregularity of the salt surface. I agree with his view, that the elevation or mound that constitutes Belle Isle may consist of several salt domes formed at different periods. It may be interesting to note the high gas pressure encountered in pockets in the salt by my No. 1 Belle-Isle well. While drilling a dry hole with cable tools, we sometimes struck. pockets of gas which would float the tools, so that drilling had to be suspended sometimes for several hours at a time, until the head of gas was exhausted, and this with a string of tools, 5-in. (127 mm.) stem 36 ft. (10.9 m.) long, that weighed complete about 3500 lb. (1587 kg.). At about 1800 ft. (548 m.), we struck the largest gas pocket and the string of tools was thrown up and nearly out of the hole. When it dropped back it made several loops

Jan 1, 1918

By Ferid Kromer

This paper is the first in a series which will describe geology, mining methods, and production costs of some, of Turkey's more important minerals. In this paper the economically significant minerals-chromite, meerschaum, and magnesite-of the Tagtepe district are described. The cost data presented are believed by the author to be the first made public on Turkish chromite mining.

Jan 1, 1950

By A. Eilers

In a former paper on Western Smelting Works, I mentioned the great difficulty of obtaining accurate information in regard to the economy of the processes in practice; and to-day, although nearly two years have elapsed since my former paper was written, I am sorry to say that very little improvement has taken place in the keeping of accounts, and in the direction of a more systematic management in the majority of these works. But I am quite certain that by this time even the most sanguine furnace managers must have become convinced, from the experience of the last year, that somewhere in their processes there are enormous losses. Rates for the purchase of ores in 1873 were not as high as they were in former years in certain parts of the country ; labor was no 'higher than formerly; the demand for unparted lead was good throughout the year, with the only exception of the time of the panic, in the fall of 1873; yet there are, of between 40 and 50 works, not more than two or three in Utah and Nevada to-day, that have paid a reasonable interest on the capital invested.

By A. Filers

IN a former paper on Western Smelting Works, I mentioned the great difficulty of obtaining accurate information in regard to the economy of the processes in practice ; and to-day, although nearly two years have elapsed since my former paper was written, I am sorry to say that very little improvement has taken place in the keeping of accounts, and in the direction of a more systematic management in the majority of these works. But I am quite certain that by this time even the most sanguine furnace managers must have become convinced, from the experience of the last year, that somewhere in their processes there are enormous losses. Rates for the purchase of ores in 1873 were not as high as they were in former years in certain parts of the country ; labor was no higher than formerly ; the demand for unparted lead was good throughout the year, with the only exception of the time of the panic, in the fall of 1873; yet there are, of between 40 and 50 works, not more than two or three in Utah and Nevada to-day, that have paid a reasonable interest on the capital invested.

Jan 1, 1875

By J. W. Downey, A. E. Dwight, R. A. Conner

In a previous paper' we have reported the existence of a number of AB2 Laves phases in which A is a member of the scandium group (including the 1an-

Jan 1, 1967

By C. H. Herty

The results of a study of the open-hearth process from the physicochemical viewpoint are given. This study includes experimentation in small laboratory furnaces and in standard 100-ton furnaces. The behavior of manganese, carbon and phosphorus are quantitatively explained. The action of "residual" manganese is discussed with reference to its relation to iron oxide dissolved in the metal. The solubility of CO in steel and its relation to dissolved FeO and carbon is given. The equation for phosphorus elimination has been tested out on a 200-ton furnace and the results are given in the text. The effect of temperature and slag composition on the elimination of metalloids in the basic open-hearth process has been qualitatively understood since the early days of steel making. The quantitative effect has, however, only recently been brought to attention. The effect of slag composition has received more attention than that of temperature, primarily because the range of finishing temperatures in the basic open-hearth process is small compared to the large variations found in the composition of the slag at different periods during the process, and to the variations occurring with the use of raw materials of different degrees of impurity. The effect of slag composition on the elimination of metalloids has been studied by Styril from the thermochemical standpoint. This method is open to serious errors, in that thermochemical data at 2900' F. are very inaccurate and in many cases completely lacking. Feild2 has calculated equilibrium constants from the rate at which the metalloids are eliminated. The effect of slag viscosity on rate of elimination will affect the constants calculated by this method. Whitely,a Colcough4 and others have used slag compositions as the basis for calculation of constants by which the extent of elimination may be calculated.

Jan 1, 1926

ARTICLE I NAME AND OBJECT SEC. I. This Institute is incorporated under the Membership Corporations law of the State of New York; its corporate name is American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Inc.; and its objects are such as are stated in its Certificate of Incorporation. ARTICLE II MEMBERS SEC. 1. The membership of the Institute shall comprise four classes, namely: 1. Members; 2. Honorary Members; 3. Associates; 4. Junior Associates. All members shall be equally entitled to the privileges of membership, excepting that Honorary Members, Junior Associates, and Members and Associates whose residences shall be outside of the United States, Mexico, and Canada shall not be entitled to vote. Members and Associates residing within the United States of America, Mexico, and Canada, .and not in arrears for dues, shall be entitled to vote in person at the meetings of the Institute, or, as hereinafter provided for, by letter ballot. SEC. 2. Members shall comprise all those persons who on the third Monday of February, 1918, were members of the Institute, and in addition thereto, all those thereafter elected or transferred into the class of Members. A person to be eligible for election or transfer into the class of Members must be at least 27 years of age and must have had at least six years' employment in the practice of engineering, mining, geology, metallurgy or chemistry, during at least three years of which he must have held positions of responsibility in one or more of these fields. Graduation from the scientific course of a college, approved by the Committee on Membership, shall be considered equivalent to two years' employment, as required in the previous sentence. Employment as a teacher of engineering, mining, geology, metallurgy or chemistry, if in direct charge, may be considered a position of responsibility as specified in the second paragraph. Persons employed in research or any scientific literary work or in teaching in the scientific departments of colleges, approved by the Committee on Membership, who at the same time are engaged in consulting or in the active practice of mining, geology, or metallurgy, shall be entitled to consider the time so spent in active practice as equivalent to an equal length of time of employment in positions of responsibility, provided the work done or the positions held seem to the Committee on Membership to warrant the equivalency. The requirement of three years' employment in positions of responsibility maybe waived by the Committee on Membership in the case of persons who have done notable original work in mining, geology, or metallurgy, or have won distinction by

Jan 1, 1925