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By Harold C. Price

Prior to Sept. 1, 1928, there had never been constructed what might be termed a long pipe line with electric-welded field joints. A year later more than 2500 miles of electric-welded lines had been completed which varied in diameter from 6 to 20 in., and in length from 50 to 700 miles. This paper discusses methods used on five lines with a total length of about 750 miles. The welding equipment used for the firing line or rolling welds, was 300-amp. generators driven with six-cylinder gasoline engines, and for the bell-hole or tie-in welds, 200-amp. generators driven by four-cylinder gasoline engines. A welding gang consisted of a foreman, 6 to 12 firing-line welders and 2 to 4 bell-hole welders, a mechanic and a tractor driver. Coupons about 1/4 in. thick were frequently cut from completed welds, which showed a cross-section of the weld and an indication of its size and penetration. For tests of tensile strength complete welds were cut out. The tensile strength of 52 welds cut from 420 miles of 12-in. line averaged 50,870 Ib. per square inch. The following results give a fair average of the number of welds made per man per day: on 157 miles of 8-in. line both firing-line and hell-hole welds averaged 15.3—the firing-line average was 21; on 39 miles of 10-in. line the firing-line average was 19.9; on 50 miles of 6-in. line, with unfavorable weather, the average was 17.7; on 424 miles of 12-in. line most of which was welded during the spring, 10.3, and with good weather the average rose to 13 welds per day. The average time for making a complete weld on 12-in. pipe 0.313 in. thick was found to be 30 min. for the rolling weld and 45 min. for tie-in welds. A comparison of costs between electric and gas welding shows that the cost of labor for electric welding is 25 per cent. more than gas, generating cost 61 per cent. less than gas, welding wire 40 per cent. less than gas, and supervision and overhead the same. Estimating 50 per cent, annual depreciation on electric welding equipment, and no depreciation

Jan 1, 1930

US 4,185,077 - In the recovery of uranium from a solution produced by leaching uranium ore, the leach liquor is contacted with a polymeric crosslinked vinyl benzyl chloride anion exchange resin and eluted with sulfuric acid to recover uranyl sulfate Such a resin is resistant to attrition and thermal degradation during elution. R.L. Albright, assigned to Rohm & Haas Co Jan. 22, 1980. 6 pp (423-7). Filed: 10-31-75 (627,829).

Jan 1, 1982

By Anthony William Deller

MAJOR battles in the present war have been fought in American research laboratories. Without the outstanding contributions made by our scientists, engineers, and technologists in mining and metallurgy, many of our achievements in the present war would have been impossible. All recognize the fact that modern research has found the answer to problems which seemed insuperable. For the duration, many of these inventions must be maintained as war secrets. But aside from these, the record of accomplishment in peace and war, especially in the past few decades, known to all, demonstrates what scientific and industrial research can accomplish. It may be regarded as axiomatic that the development of modern industry is based principally upon research devoted to making inventions and discoveries. We have come a long way from the sixteenth century, when Agricola published his classical "De Re Metallica:" With our vastly increased knowledge we are now commercially producing dozens of metals entirely unknown at that time. Further, with our modern methods of research and development, a large number of invaluable alloy compositions have been produced. These include numerous age-hardenable alloys, cupronickels, "Everbrite", "Everdur", "Duralumin", "Elinvar", "Hastelloy", "Inconel", "Invar", "Monel", "Ni-chrome", "Ni-Hard", "Ni-Resist", "Permaloy", "Silcrome", stainless steels and irons and other alloy steels, "Stellite", and zinc die-casting alloys.

Jan 1, 1945

By W. A. Binsacca

The concentrator treats sulfide ore containing lead, copper, zinc, gold and silver, at the rate of 850 tons per 24 hr., and produces lead, copper, zinc and iron concentrates by selective flotation methods. The ore occurs below the oxidized zone along a main fracture, the wall rock of which is either greywacke or calcareous shale. The predominating sulfide minerals are galena, sphalerite, pyrite and chalcopyrite; the others are quartz and calcite. In minor amounts, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and hematite occur, and such secondary minerals as smithsonite, chalcocite, covellite, bornite, cerussite and anglesite are detected in the ore, the last two named occurring principally as surface alterations of the galena. The ore is hauled from the mine bins in 10-ton cars which pass over the track scales before entering the car dumper ahead of the crusher plant.' A conveyor belt delivers the crushed ore to the sulfide bin, which has a capacity of 2800 tons. The primary grinding unit consists of two 6 by 12-ft. Marcy rod mills operating in parallel and in open circuit, each taking 425 tons per day. One rod mill discharges into an 8 by 25-ft. Dorr classifier with a 12-ft. bowl and the other into a 6 by 25-ft. Dorr duplex classifier. These classifiers are arranged so that each unit rakes the sands into a 6 by 14-ft. Traylor ball mill, which discharges to the bowl classifier only. The duplex classifier therefore operates in open circuit and the bowl classifier in closed circuit, the overflow of both classifiers furnishing the feed for the flotation section. Other groupings have been tried, but this has been found the most satisfactory. The Marcy mills are driven by 150-hp. slip-ring induction motors with speed reducers to give 17 r.p.m. The Traylor mill operates at a speed of 24 r.p.m. and is driven by a 200-hp. slip-ring induction motor, direct connected to pinion and gear. The bowl classifier operates at a speed of 22 r.p.m., with the bowl rake making 4.5 r.p.m. and the duplex classifier at 31 r.p.m. High-carbon steel rods of Mexican manufacture, 12 ft. long by 3-in. diameter, are used in the Marcy mills, with a resulting consumption of 1.52 Ib. per ton ore. The Traylor mill is fed 3-in. cast-iron balls cast in

Jan 1, 1935

By G. R. St. Pierre, A. Ghosh

In the Si-C-0 system at temperatures of interest in process metallurgy there are four stable condensed phases—silicon, carbon, silica, and silicon carbide (Sic). Silicon melts at 1683oK1 and shows negligible solubility for carbon and oxygen at 1700°K. However, silicon dissolves approximately 1.5 at. pct C at 2500oK.2 Carbon in the form of graphite remains pure and dissolves negligible amount of silicon.' Silica (crysto-balite) melts at 2001°K' and is essentially a stoichio-metric compound. Silicon carbide is a solid and shows negligible deviation from stoichiometry up to approximately 2800oK.2 Besides the condensed phases there is a gas phase

Jan 1, 1970

By Philip E. LaMoreaux

Fluoride, generally less than 0.5 ppm, is present in ground water from rocks of Paleozoic age and older, in northern and eastern Alabama. Some of the water-bearing formations in the Coastal Plain area of the State yield water with as much as 6.8 ppm fluoride.

Jan 1, 1950

By Carl F. Floe, Michael B. Bever

ACCELERATED by the demands of war, research and development work in nonferrous physical metallurgy has continued at a rapid pace during the past year. In particular, advances have been made in processing and fabrication, especially of the light alloys, and in the surface treatment of metals. Theoretical physical metallurgy, although less active, has not been neglected and the year has brought forth some -notable contributions to our understanding of the fundamental structure of metals and their behavior in service. Of course, much work that has been done cannot be publicly discussed because of wartime restrictions.

Jan 1, 1945

By T. W. Peterson, J. W. White, E. E. Krist

In developing a minicomputer application for an industrial grinding circuit, the control program is usually coded and the compilation is debugged on a remote access computing system. Final debugging must wait for installation of the minicomputer. This work reports on an alternative. Here both compilation and execution bugs are eliminated before the hardware is installed by testing the control program against a dynamic simulation. Attention is directed toward development of a particular real-time control program for an industrial wet grinding circuit in a copper concentrator. Specific data were supplied by the Anamax Mining Co. for a grinding division consisting of a rod mill followed by two ball mills in parallel. This information was used to set up a plausible model structure.

Jan 1, 1977

By H. M. Howe, E. C. Groesbeck

Fig. 1 shows a volute aging break which developed spontaneously in a hardened and tempered steel helmet between 19 and 38 days after it had been tested ballistically. A similar break, shown in Fig. 2, developed spontaneously in a similar helmet about 40 days after the ballistic testing. In this case the rupture occurred abruptly and with a loud report. The path of rupture in this second case, though much the less regular, is the more interesting of the two, in that it is an approximation to two parallel volutes centered at the point of impact of the projectile, just below D. Several weeks later, after the photograph for Fig. 1 was taken, a similar doubling of the volute crack occurred in this helmet, starting from the end of the eyelash crack near A and spreading thence to the left contra-clockwise for about 1/2 in. The negatives from which these pictures are made have not been touched up in any way, save writing the letters on them. In both cases the trajectory of the bullet was normal to the initial surface at the point of impact, and in both the helmet passed the ballistic test without detectable cracking, under a velocity of impact not far below that which usually causes perforation. The initial surface itself was very nearly spherical throughout the region covered by the break.

Jan 1, 1920

Meeting of Dec. 19, 1913.-The President reported the appointment of the Committee on Junior Members and Affiliated Student Societies, and the Committee on Coal and Coke, which .appointments were approved. The President was authorized to appoint the members of a Committee on Safety and Sanitation. The President appointed the Finance Committee of the Institute as a Committee to audit the accounts of the Treasurer (By-Law V). On the recommendation of the Executive Committee, Charles F. Rand was appointed a representative of this Institute on the Board of Trustees of the United Engineering Society for a term of three years (By-Law XIV of the Institute, By-Law XI of the U.E.S.). The Executive Committee reported that it had passed the following resolutions: That the next summer meeting of the Institute be held at Salt. Lake City during Aug. 10 to 14, 1914, inclusive; That an exchange of .the Bulletin and Transactions be made with the Canadian Bureau of Mines; That a sum of $50 be contributed for the year 1914 to the Commission publishing the Annual Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants; That the Secretary be given power to reduce at his discretion the number of exchanges between the Bulletin and other publications which are not retained as a permanent part of the Library; That the contract for binding Volume XLV of the Transactions be awarded to the Butler, Ward Co., in accordance with their bid of Nov. 21, 1913;

Jan 1, 1914

"Acta Metallurgical, C E Birchenall, Dec '58 Alfred Noble Joint Prize Committee F B Foley, Dec '61 American Association for the Advancement of Science J T MacKenzie, Dec '58, 0 B J Fraser, Dec '57 American Geological Institute Charles F Park, Oct '58, Arthur Montgomery, Oct '59 Committee on Government Relations American Power Conference J P Weir, T D Hess American Standards Association , Mining Standards Board E R Borcherdt, Jan '59, Otto Herres, '59, J K Richardson, Dec '58, Alternate E W Bullard

Jan 1, 1958

By J. E. Castle

THE title of this article is descriptive, but not complete, for psychological evaluation is almost as important as rigid economic evaluation. This refers to those human traits that cause people to be too optimistic about the projects they are sponsoring, to overlook obvious weaknesses, to base decisions on incomplete and inaccurate data, and to gloss over embarrassing problems. Investment of capital in a new industrial mineral project is warranted only after rigorous economic analyses based on unquestionable facts. A plunge into production cannot be justified solely because these minerals have been deposited in the ground and are therefore free. There are no specially favorable economic laws that make the business of industrial minerals more attractive than any other. The factors of supply and demand, marketing, technological changes, taxes, competition, and fluctuating prices apply as much to industrial minerals as to other business enterprises. What is more, industrial minerals are subject to the higher risks that all mining enterprises face.

Jan 6, 1958

By Fred W. Menzl, Raymond E. Sutton

GABBS, Nev., in Nye County, is 140 miles southeast of Reno and about 31 miles north of the Southern Pacific railroad at Luning. The townsite lies at the eastern edge of Gabbs Valley, and plant and quarry operations are in the foothills of the Paradise Range at elevations from 5000 to 5900 ft. Hard-surfaced roads connect with main U. S. high- ways on the north and south. Historical Background: Brucite, a magnesium hydroxide mineral, was discovered in the Gabbs area in 1927 and magnesite, the magnesium carbonate, was found later on claims originally staked and worked for the tungsten mineral scheelite. The brucite is on a granodiorite contact and the magnesite is usually some distance away from the granodiorite

Jan 7, 1957

By A. E. Back, S. F. Ravitz

When manganese ores are leached with sulphur dioxide, a large part of any zinc in the ore usually is extracted with the manganese.1 In the dithionate process,2,3 in which the manganese ore is leached with dilute sulphur dioxide gas and the manganese is subsequently precipitated by adding lime to the pregnant solution, the zinc is precipitated with the manganese. These facts suggested the possibility of applying the dithionate process to the recovery of zinc from oxidized ores or calcined sulphide concentrates. Accordingly, an investigation was begun, and preliminary tests were made on several ores and concentrates. The results were encouraging, but the need to devote available funds and personnel to other projects made it necessary to drop the work before the various factors involved in the process could be studied in detail. A brief mention of the process,4 however, elicited a number of inquiries, so that it appeared desirable to report the results of the preliminary work. The dithionate process as applied to zinc may be summarized briefly as follows: The ore or calcined concentrate is leached with dilute SO2 gas to dissolve the zinc, largely as zinc sulphate, in accordance with the following equation in which [ZnO] represents the "oxide zinc" in the ore or calcine: [ZnO] + SO2(g) + 1/2 O2 = Zn++SO4— [1] If, in the leaching step, the ore or calcine is suspended in calcium dithionate solution, the sulphate ion, as it is formed, is precipitated immediately as calcium sulphate, which is subsequently filtered off with the insoluble ore residue: Zn++SO4— + Ca++S2O6— = CaSO4(s) + Zn++S2O6- [2] An alternative procedure is to suspend the ore in water, filter off the insoluble ore residue after leaching, add calcium dithionate to the resulting zinc sulphate solution, and then filter off the calcium sulphate precipitate. In either event the zinc is obtained in the form of a pregnant solution of zinc dithionate, from which it can be precipitated as relatively pure zinc hydroxide by adding milk of lime: Zn++S2O6— + Ca(OH), = Zn(OH)2(s) + Ca++S2O6- [3] The zinc hydroxide precipitate is calcined to form the final zinc oxide product: Zn(OH)2 = ZnO(s) + H2O(g) [4] Theoretically the process is completely cyclic with respect to dithionate ion, the calcium dithionate required for reaction 2 being replaced by that formed in reaction 3. In practice, of course, small amounts of dithionate would be lost in the various filter cakes, depending on the economic washing limits. In the leaching step, however, some of the SO2 is oxidized to dithionale instead of sulphate, accord- ing to the following overall reaction: ZnO + 2SO2(g) + 1/2 O2(g) = Zn++S2O6-, [5] so that the dithionate losses are made up, at least in part. Ores and Concentrates Tested The analyses of the ores and concentrates tested are summarized in Table 1, which also includes the analyses of the calcines produced from the concentrates. The concentrates were roasted in a laboratory muffle furnace at the temperatures indicated until evolution of SO2 could no longer be detected; shallow clay dishes ordinarily were used; but calcines 2a and 2c were prepared in iron dishes, with the result that these two calcines were badly contaminated with iron scale. The "complex" concentrate, sample 1, consisted essentially of sphalerite grains containing inclusions of pyrite and other sulphide minerals too minute to be liberated by grinding within economic limits. In the " marmatitic" concentrate, sample 2, the iron was present largely as marmatite (that is, as iron sulphide in solid solution in zinc sulphide) rather than as pyrite inclusions. The zinc was present largely as the carbonate in the two "oxidized" ores, samples 3 and 4, and as the silicate in the "willemite" ore, sample 5. Leaching Tests The leaching cell was a 3-liter glass beaker placed in an electrically heated water bath manually controlled to maintain a temperature of 35°C in the leach slurry. The slurry was agitated by means of a flat paddle-type stirrer

Jan 1, 1950

By John W. Pack

AT present the manufacture of metallic zinc, or spelter, in Missouri, is carried on only at the establishments located at Carondelet, or South St. Louis. Although the development of the industry has not yet reached that fulness which it has attained elsewhere in the United States, still the commanding advantages of position of these establishments are so evident that the prospective importance and magnitude of spelter manufacture in this State, and especially at this locality, can hardly be doubted. A study of the chemical and technical aspects of the business of these points cannot be without interest to the metallurgist as well as to the capitalist. I have endeavored to investigate, as far as was practicable, within the limits of a paper of this character, some of the problems connected with this industry, at the same time making a few comparisons of the results attained at some of the Carondelet works with those of other establishments with regard to which information could be obtained. In the prosecution of these studies I have been kindly aided by the managers of Carondelet establishments, and by Prof. Charles P. Williams, Director of Rolla School of Mines. To the latter I am especially indebted for assistance in regard to methods of analysis. To all these gentlemen I return my thanks for their valuable aid. Other sources of information will be duly credited in their proper places.

Jan 1, 1875

By M. Albertson

At Cobalt, Ontario, Canada, a lake was drained to facilitate mining, by the Mining Corpn. of Canada, during the spring and early summer of 1915. Previous to pumping out the water, great quantities of sands and slimes from concentrating plants had been discharged into the lake and during and after the lake's drainage, its basin was a receptacle for tailing products. As the writer was at work along the shore line as the lake was being drained, he had a good opportunity to observe the changes that took place as the water was withdrawn. Some adjustments between the incoming sands and the mud in the lake had taken place before pumping was commenced. One of the most interesting results was the appearance of a small dome in a path the writer traversed twice a day for several months; he remembers distinctly the difficulty of crossing this. Cobalt Lake owed its existence to the gouging out of a rock basin by glaciation. The long axis of the basin closely follows the strike of a thrust fault of about 500 ft. (160 m.) vertical displacement. The lake was originally shaped somewhat as shown. The length was about 3000 ft. (914.4 m.), the width at the lower lobe was about 1000 ft., and the width at the narrows probably 400 to 500 ft. The original depth of water varied from 20 to 30 ft. (6.1 to 9.1 m.), near where the island later was formed, to 60 to 70 ft. (23.6 to 27.6 m.) in the widest part of the lower lobe. At the narrows, the depth was 30 to 40 ft. Above the bed rock was sand, with boulders near the bottom, and mud. During the building of the railroad in 1903, considerable filling was done along the right of way. With the commencement of mining operations, about 1905, waste rock and mill tailings were dumped into the lake. One of the mining companies operated a hydraulic giant to remove the glacial debris from several hundred acres of rock surface; much of the sand and clay from this operation was deposited in the lake. About 1,500,000 tons of mill tailings, composed of sands and slimes, were discharged into the lake's waters previous to 1915. Most of this material

Jan 1, 1921

By Robert Glass Cleland

[PRODUCTION Copper Lead Zinc Silver Gold Year M Pounds M Pounds M Pounds M Ounces Ounce 1882 1883 18841 ,m 2,820 2,750]

Jan 1, 1952

By John V. Beall

They let the whole world know again that not only could we do it, but we make it look easy. The great crews before Scott, Irwin and Worden of Apollo 15 have all blended warm humor, informality and dexterity to put on a good show: but it keeps getting better and the last one was the best. Scott's rendition of Galileo's experiment using a hammer and a feather--not just any feather, but a falcon feather after the name of the LEM-was priceless. One generation of school kids will never forget that lesson. The final touch was in the "would-you-believe''" category, Now if English astronauts had been performing the mission, the sign-off would have been typically low key. Something like; "well its tea time, chaps; we'll have to toddle along." Apollo 15 surprised and thrilled spectators by blasting off to the Air Force song "Off we go into the wild blue yonder" and leaving a camera behind to photograph their own ascent. Now that is what we call showmanship. There is another aspect to our space show and that is that it cost billions of dollars to put on. With that kind of backing, the world for an audience and in the face of grave personal risk, one would expect the space explorers to be all business. Instead they did their jobs with limpid buoyancy. Our older readers will recall and contrast a movie of the thirties and the tense atmosphere when they had to talk that kid up there (Franchot Tone) down through the zero ceiling. A feat of considerably less difficulty than docking LEM. but nevertheless the gut tightening drama was absent in the latter event. In another example, few of us can visualize reporting back after a business mission to one of the old barons such as J. P. Morgan in any but the most sedate and business-like terms. In fact we don't have to go that far back, as we can think of a few pepper-pot bosses we have had to whom one always played it straight.

Jan 1, 1971

By Arthur McKee

As HEAT is the controlling factor in all smelting operations, it will be .most helpful to make a new set of calculations on the basis of a .unit of fuel burned at the tuyeres to carbon monoxide. This ties together the only two factors in this operation that seem to be constant with respect to each other-the fuel at the tuyere and the air or its oxygen content. If our usual smelting operations, using natural air heated to reasonably obtainable temperatures, furnish sufficient heat above this critical temperature for the purpose, it is doubtful whether additions of oxygen will be of marked benefit. A unit of fuel will not produce a single heat unit more if burned with pure oxygen than if burned with natural air and less heat will be available per unit of fuel by the amount of heat that is carried in by the preheated nitrogen in the natural air of the blast. This is more readily apparent if considered in connection with a heat balance sheet per unit of fuel at the tuyere. The heat available in the stack, as shown by the committee's report, is less by reason of the lower fuel consumption per unit of output assumed in this calculation. The balance sheet for enriched air shows a shortage of the amount of heat usually carried in with the blast; also a lack in the hearth of sufficient heat to melt the 18 per cent. additional metal and slag and in the shaft to the extent of the shaft heat required to heat the 18 per cent. additional stock to the melting point. These heat deficiencies are provided for by the largely increased conversion of carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide, which is assumed, as shown by the following figures: Calculation for natural air: Carbon dioxide 18.4 per cent. (after having eliminated the carbon dioxide from limestone) and 20.8 per cent. of carbon monoxide. Calculation for oxygen-enriched air: Carbon dioxide 28.4 per -cent. and carbon monoxide 23.2 per cent. (no carbon dioxide from stone as lime is charged instead).

Jan 11, 1924

By F. E. Lathe, G. A. Guess

This investigation was started with the idea of determining whether copper-nickel mattes might not have a lower flowing temperature than copper mattes, and thus perhaps aid in accounting for the difficulty so far experienced in attempts at pyritically smelting copper-nickel ores. We have used the term flowing temperature to avoid confusion with the usual melting temperature. The idea at first was that there might be a greater viscosity range in the one matte than in the other. In the early experiments it was in our minds to determine the relative fluidity of the mattes at a given temperature. Looking to this end we tried pouring equal quantities of matte at the same temperature down an inclined graphite slab, and comparing the distances traveled. Results from such experiments were not satisfactory. We next tried pouring equal quantities at the same temperature through a drilled hole in an Acheson graphite crucible, timing the flow with a stop watch, the whole operation being carried out in the muffle. The flowing temperatures of the mattes tried in this way appeared to be about the same, and there was no marked difference in their fluidity when well fused. Oxidation gave some trouble. These experiments finally led to the adoption of the following apparatus which we thought at the time was wholly original with us, but which we have since found was described by W. McA. Johnson.l The tray used was a slab of graphite 8 in. long, 2 in. wide and 1/4 in. thick. It had six holes, into each of which sat a cup of Acheson graphite. Centrally in the bottom of each cup was a vertically drilled hole 3/16 in. in diameter and 1/2 in. long. The mattes to be tested were put into the cups, in a solid piece. The cups were covered with inverted Battersea "A" cups. The tray was put into the muffle of a gas-fired furnace. Supports on each end held the tray about 2 in. from the floor of the muffle. Under

Jan 1, 1917