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By E. L. Garton

Michigan is becoming one of the important oil-producing States of the country. The amount of crude oil produced within its boundaries has increased from only 4,000 barrels in 19253/ to nearly 16 million barrels in 19935.4/ The Bureau of Mines method of crude-oil analysis and classification-indicates that the oils from the several producing fields are predominantly paraffin-intermediate-base, wax-bearing crudes. In general, they will yield 25 to 35 percent of highly paraffinic gasoline and about the t- me amount of kerosene and gas-oil combined, 7.2 to 15 percent of lubricating oil stock, and 20 percent of residuum with a carbon residue or about 6 to 7 percent. In addition, there appears to be some correlation between certain properties of the crude oils and both the geographical location and geological structure of the oil-producing areas within the State. These general conclusions are based on the analytical data presented in this report, which is one of a series of papers that record the general characteristics of crude oil from the many producing fields of the United States. This report discusses briefly the oil fields of Michigan and the characteristics of the crude oils produced from them. The analyses of 15 samples are given. These samples were obtained from 13 fields in 9 counties in the lower peninsula and represent crude oils produced from the Berea sandstone, Upper Traverse and Traverse limestones, and the

Jan 1, 1937

By Samuel M. Shallcross

The principal function of the Bell limestone mine, of the American Lime & Stone Co., at Bellefonte, Pa., is to supply raw material to the company's modern rotary kiln plant at Bellefonte. Because mining costs are naturally higher than many open quarries with more favorably lying strata, it cannot compete, except to a limited extent, in the markets for road material and fluxing stone. In the broad sense, mining does have an advantage over the average open quarry when the end products are designed for and controlled by process and final inspection for the exacting demands of the industrial and chemical markets. Approximately 80 per cent of the output of the Bell mine is sold in the industrial and chemical markets. And as higher standards are set each year for construction and agricultural work, the remainder of the mine output goes to these two classes. Mining produces more fines than open quarries, and these fines are difficult to market; on the other hand, owing to absence of contaminating clay and impure rock, a greater percentage of the output of a mine is marketable. Because of the great production of fines, rotary kilns for lime burning are necessary when the stone must be mined. In 1921 the American Lime & Stone Co. operated 19 quarries and 72 lime shaft kilns spread over an area of 40 miles between Bellefonte and Altoona, Pa. At that time the lime-production capacity of the 72 kilns amounted to approximately 700 tons per day. After 15 years the company operates three rotary kilns and six shaft kilns, with a combined output of approximately 500 tons of lime per day, concentrated in its single Bellefonte plant (Fig. 1). Its only stone-producing plants are now the limestone mine at Bellefonte and a construction-stone open quarry at Union Furnace, near Tyrone, Pennsylvania. Since the middle of 1922, the management of the American Lime R. Stone Co. has been under the direction and ownership of the Warner Company, of Philadelphia. To the Warner Company's experience, gained through successful operation of lime plants in eastern Pennsylvania for many years, and the successful solution of material-handling problems

Jan 1, 1937

By Cyril Wells, Robert F. Mehl

The purpose of this investigation was to prepare high-purity iron-carbon alloys, to determine as precisely as possible the A3(GOS), the Acm(SE), and the A1(PSK) transformation temperatures in the meta-stable iron-iron carbide system (up to 1.4 per cent C), and to study the influence of carefully controlled and constant rates of heating and cooling (1/8 to 2o C. per minute) upon the transformation temperature and upon the resulting microstructure. Apart from the general metallurgical importance attending the completion of such a task, it will be noted that highly precise transformation temperatures are of interest and importance in the thermodynamic study of this system1. Several determinations of the iron-iron carbide diagram have been made2. These suffer generally from the low purity of the alloys used, and from the application of methods of investigation of low sensitivity. Attempts to compare and weight the many data available in an effort to construct as accurate a diagram as possible have, in the main, been unsuccessful. In general, the wide differences in the results of different workers, the lack of complete analytical data, the omission of important details relating to the heat-treatment of the alloys, and the meager description of the methods of investigation applied, render such a process of averaging nearly meaningless. It may be seen from the summaries by Epstein2 and Körber and Oelsenl that variations as great as 30' C. exist in the reported data on the A3 temperatures in iron-carbon alloys. Fortunately, the Aa temperature in pure iron is now known to be 910" C. ± 1° C.3 The best recent work on iron-carbon alloys is that of Esser4 on hypoeutectoid steels and that of Sato5 on both hypoeutectoid and hyper-eutectoid steels. Esser made a dilatometric and magnetic study of iron and iron-carbon alloys containing 0.06 to 0.86 per cent C, for which a high purity is claimed. Presumably the electrolytic iron was reasonably pure, but the alloys contained considerable impurities, on the average totaling 0.35 per

Jan 1, 1937

By J. H. Nead, T. S. Washburn

The grades of commercial steel produced in large quantities can be divided into two general types from the standpoint of ingot structure— killed and rimmed. Killed steel covers a wide variety with carbon contents throughout the range of the steel portion of the iron-carbon diagram, and is the kind usually used in the production of alloy steels. Rimmed steel is normally associated with carbon ranges under 0.30 per cent, and is not yet used to a large extent in alloy practice, except for copper-bearing steels. The fundamental differences in the ingots made from these two types of steel can be seen most easily in Figs. 1 to 7. In the rimmed ingot shown in Figs. 5 to 7 there are two lines of blowholes approximately parallel to the sides and coming together at the top and at the bottom of the ingot. In the killed ingots shown in Figs. 1 to 4 these blowholes arc not present. Also, the rimmed ingot has no well defined pipe, as compared to the deep pipe on the killed ingots, and there are numerous primary blowholes in the lower portion of the rimmed ingot perpendicular to the surface and close to it, while on the killed ingot there are no blowholes of this type in the ingot shown in Fig. 1 and very small ones close to the surface in the lower part of the ingot shown in Figs. 2 to 4. With respect to the presence of pipe and the primary blowholes, the structure may vary considerably in both rimmed and killed ingots, therefore these cannot be considered as fundamental structural characteristics differentiating the two types of steel. The primary blowholes in rimmed ingots may be much less pronounced than those in the ingot shown in Figs. 5 to 7—as, for example, in "ingot iron," which is entirely free from them. An example of a cross section of an ingot-iron ingot is shown on page 16 of "Research and Methods of Analysis of Iron and Steel," published by the American Rolling Mill Co. (1920). A certain amount of pipe may also occur in rimmed ingots, though it is normally porous and not as well defined [or deep as in the killed ingot of Fig. 1. In killed ingots, primary blowholes may occur near the surface, as in Figs. 2 to 4, and

Jan 1, 1937

By W. M. Peirce, R. K. Waring

Zinc of high purity offers definite advantages in certain fields. A process by which zinc of 99.99 + per cent purity is produced by pyro-metallurgical methods is described in this paper. The process consists of a fractional distillation following the primary reduction; this fractional distillation employs the principles of rectification for the separation of lead and other high-boiling impurities and cadmium and other low-boiling impurities. Theoretical Considerations Involved in Production of High-purity Zinc by Distillation Fractional distillation, fractional condensation, and rectification are recognized methods of separating mixtures of liquids. In the field of organic liquids these methods are widely used but not commonly to effect as complete a separation of liquids as is done in the problem under consideration. Zinc boils at 905" C., cadmium at 778" C. and lead at about 1620" C. Zinc may contain from several hundredths of one per cent to over one per cent each of cadmium and lead, and the problem is to reduce these impurities to a few thousandths of one per cent. For lead and zinc, the spread in boiling points is substantial, 715° C., while for zinc and cadmium it is only 127" C. The basic limitation of any separation by distillation may be found from the relation between the equilibrium composition of the vapor and the liquid for all mixtures of the two substances involved. If a mixture of constant boiling point is found, or if a stable compound that vaporizes without dissociation occurs, there is a definite theoretical limit to the degree of separation that is possible when operating at atmospheric pressure with respect to that mixture. Otherwise, any degree of separation is theoretically possible. The equilibrium composition of vapor in contact with liquid mixtures of zinc and cadmiurn at the boiling point has been determined experi-

Jan 1, 1937

An active list of permissible explosives was published in December 1936 as part of Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 3324, under the title "Active List of Permissible Explosives and Blasting Devices Approved Prior to July 31, 1936." This list included 170 brand names. Changes in the list that have been authorized to June 30, 1937 placed 35 additional brands of permissible explosives on the active permissible list as a result of tests, changes in brand names, or transfer from the inactive list. Ten permissible explosives were transferred from the active to the inactive list. The present list contains 196 brand names, one explosive having been placed on the list subsequent to June 30, 1937. The brand names of the permissible explosives placed on the active list are as follows:

Jan 1, 1937

By K. K. Kelley

This work is a continuation of a program of study of the measurement and correlation of fundamental thermodynamic data inaugurated several years ago by the United States Bureau of Mines. Previous bulletins in this series were concerned with (1) The Entropies of Inorganic Substances (66),3 (2) High-Temperature Specific-Heat Equations for Inorganic Substances (67), (3) The Free Energies of Vaporization and Vapor Pressures of Inorganic Substances (68), (4) Metal Carbonates-Correlations and Applications of Thermodynamic Properties (71), (5) Heats of Fusion of Inorganic Substances (69), and (6) A Revision of the Entropies of Inorganic Substances-1935 (70). The present bulletin has as its primary purpose the correlation of the thermodynamic properties of elementary sulphur and its inorganic compounds and the presentation, after careful consideration of all available information, of a self-consistent system of thermodynamic relationships for these substances. It is believed that such a set of relationships, concerning substances of such great metallurgical importance as sulphur, sulphur oxides, hydrogen sulphide, metal sulphides, and metal sulphates, is of considerable value in indicating directions of possibly profitable experimental work and in clarifying subjects of technical interest upon which direct experimental information is difficult and expensive to obtain. It cannot be doubted that many problems of technical importance that at the outset appear almost hopelessly complex or obscure either may be solved, if enough information is available, or the specific lacking information clearly indicated by the adoption of the thermodynamic viewpoint. This has been demonstrated many times in the work of the Metallurgical Division, Pacific Experiment Station, Berkeley, Calif. Even when only crude basic information is available, a semiquantitative picture often may be developed by thermodynamic means in which general trends and approximate limits of a proposed process or modification of practice may be clearly portrayed and thus used as guides in further considerations and experimentation.

Jan 1, 1937

By H. B. Hill

Virtually from the date of its discovery in December 1928 the Oklahoma City oil and gas field, Oklahoma County, Okla., has attracted national and international attention. The history of the field has been associated closely with rules and regulations pertaining to production control and proration practices. Early development was rapid, and Oklahoma City soon attained the distinction of being the first major field in which the producing wells were over a mile in depth. Before the structural features of the reservoir had been disclosed every outpost well was considered a "wildcat", so complex appeared the underground geology, The wells not only were deep and the reservoir pressures high, but the production from the early wells was a high A.P.I. gravity oil, accompanied by large volumes of gas. Several "blow-outs" and fired occurred during the early development, and the close proximity of these now unusual events to a large city gave the field much publicity, both local and national. Later, when its production threatened to demoralize the market for oil and its products, the Oklahoma City field again attracted wide publicity. The then little understood geology of the underground reservoir and the diversity of ownership of the land overlying the producing structure made orderly development and production difficult to enforce. Proration was enforced with difficulty., and the, rate of production from the field continued to increase until, on August 4, 1931, martial law was declared in all prorated fields of the State, and most of the wells in the Oklahoma City field wore shut n. On October 9, 1931, permission was granted t o reopen and prod e the wells in the Oklahoma City field. The order permitting production of the wells provided that during the period beginning October 10 and extending to October 20, 1931, all wells in the field that hid not produced more oil than specified under the earlier proration orders and that had been shut in for the required 55-day period were permitted to produce 5 percent of their last potential during that 10-day period. On November 7, 1931, the Corporation Commission of Oklahoma issued an order which divided the Oklahoma City field into the Wilcox, Arbuckle, and Lower Simpson zones for proration purposes. Wells producing from the Wilcox zone were allowed to produce 4 1/2 percent of their potential5/ from November 1, 1931, to January 1, 1932; Arbuckle limestone wells were allowed to produce 250 barrels of oil daily; and Simpson sandstone wells which had a potential of over 2,000 barrels per day or which made 3 percent or more water were allowed to produce 200 barrels of oil per day.

Jan 1, 1937

By C. W. Davis

During the fiscal year 1935-36, the Ore-Testing Section has been active in carrying out a program designed to attain the objectives that have been set up for it. For the Purpose of standardizing important testing methods, an attempt has been made to develop a rationalized scheme for ore testing, starting with preliminary investigations to determine the physical and chemical properties of the ore, following this with a logical selection and trial of processing tests to find out how the ore may be most effectively treated, and concluding with a discussion of what interpretation may be placed on the results in terms of plant design and operation. A selection of Procedures that appear well-suited to the ore-dressing problems under investigation is included in the following paper of this report so that other experimenters may be enabled to verify our findings and to offer criticisms and suggestions for improving our practice. A tentative scheme for the evaluation of flotation reagents is being investigated, and some progress has been made in a study to determine the significance of small-scale testing. These projects have required 899 analyses. Papers on these and others on ore testing, such as testing for amalgamation and for cyanidation, will be included in future annual reports.

Jan 1, 1937

By C. W. Davis

During the fiscal year 1935-36, the Ore-Testing Section has been active in carrying out a program designed to attain the objectives that have been set up for it. For the purpose of standardizing important testing methods, an attempt has been made to develop a rationalized scheme for ore testing, starting with preliminary investigations to determine the physical and chemical properties of the ore, following this with a logical selection and trial of processing tests to find out how the ore may be most effectively treated, and concluding with a discussion of what interpretation may be placed on the results in terms of plant design and operation. A selection of procedures that appear well-suited to the ore-dressing problems under investigation is included in the following paper of this report so that other experimenters may be enabled to verify our findings and to offer criticisms and suggestions for improving our practice. A tentative scheme for the evaluation of flotation reagents is being investigated, and some progress has been made in a study to determine the significance of small-scale testing. These projects have required 899 analyses. Papers on these and others on ore testing, such as testing for amalgamation and for cyanidation, will be included in future annual reports.

Jan 1, 1937

By William O. Vanderburg

This paper 3/gives the results of a reconnaissance of mining districts in Clark County, Nev., made from November 18 to December 22, 1936, and from February 9 to March 8, 1937-in all, 63 days. While the field work Was being done, virtually all of the mining districts in the county were visited and many data on active and inactive properties were obtained. The report covers the locations of the various mining districts, the nature of the deposits, information on past operations, current activity, and general data likely to be useful to operators, investors, and others interested in mining. The geology of the deposits is discussed only briefly. The principal metal-mining districts in the county are Goodsprings, Eldorado, and Searchlight. The zinc-lead ores of Goodsprings have been the most important economically, followed by the gold-silver ores of Eldorado and Searchlight. In the industrial-mineral field, gypsum, limestone, silica sand, and borates are the principal products. Metal mining in the county is characterized by numerous small operations and the ores are either milled locally or shipped to distant smelters.

Jan 1, 1937

By L. A. Walker

DURING the past twelve years the underground shaft of the United States mine at Bingham has been sunk an additional 2000 ft. with stations and pockets cut every 200 ft. without interrupting the mining of 600 tons of ore per day and the advancing of 1500 ft. of development per month. Following is a brief description of the way the joint work is conducted. The vertical underground shaft is a three-compartment shaft with outside dimensions of 6 ft. 4 in. by 15 ft. 6 in., and inside dimensions for each compartment of 4 ft. 2 in. by 4 ft. 8 in. The manway compartment of the main shaft is used as the hoisting compartment in sinking operations; it is partially lined with 2 by 12-in, lagging and a bucket is used without guides or crosshead. Preparatory work includes the placing of a bulkhead in the manway compartment, 60 ft. above the lowest station or level, the installation of a hoist, a head sheave, a fleet sheave, a-signal system, air and water lines, and a trap door for handling waste.

Jan 1, 1937

By C. A. Heiland

WITH seventeen papers submitted. and thirteen presented in three sessions, the geophysicists had a most successful meeting at New York in February. The first paper on Monday morning dealt with the location of a diabase dike near Chapel Hill, N. C., by magnetic and resistivity methods. The magnetic indications were pronounced directly over the dike. whereas the anomalies of apparent resistivity were less distinct and displaced away from the dike. In the second paper, Professor Keys reported on the results obtained with four different methods of depth calculation on known portions of the Falconbridge

Jan 1, 1937

By AIME AIME

SECOND only to the February Annual Meeting of the Institute are the Regional and Divisional meetings held in the fall of each year. Six such gatherings are scheduled in the next the months, with something likely to interest every member of the Institute. A brief résumé of the programs follows. Regional Meeting Vancouver T HE regional meeting of the Institute will be held at Vancouver, Sept. 13 to 20, in conjunction with the annual western meeting of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. The pro gram appeared on page 350 of MINING AND METALLURGY for July and-proof of careful preparation-a month later re- quires no correction and little elaboration. On the technical side there are few changes. A new item on the Wednesday morning program is the paper, "Investigation of Residential-type Stokers," by H. F. Yancey, supervising engineer, Northwest Experiment Station. U. S. Bureau of Mines, Seattle. As to entertainment the meeting is taking on some most pleasurable aspects. Two notable excursions have been arranged.

Jan 1, 1937

By F. M. Goodwin, Campbell. John, W. J. Hiffs, G. W. Jones

"INTRODUCTION In cooperation with The Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Boston, Mass., and the Boston Consolidated Gas Co. a survey has been conducted continuously since 1929 by the United States Bureau of Mines to determine the general hazards of combustible gases and vapors in manholes of the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. The New England Telephone & Telegraph Co. also has cooperated in the investigation, and tests have been made in its manholes since May 1, 1933.Yearly reports 6 giving the results obtained since the start of the survey have been published.The method and procedure of conductin, the survey in 1935 were the same as heretofore.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe cooperative investigation was arranged through the interest and effort of F. D. Comerford, president of the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Boston; E. N. Farnesworth, Jr., vice president and general manager of the Boston Consolidated Gas Co.; and A. C. Fieldner chief engineer, Experiment Stations Division, U. S. Bureau of Mines. Thomas H. Haines, superintendent, Distribution Department, of the Edison Electric Illuminating Co., cooperated in furnishing men and information for the work,"

Oct 1, 1936

By P. C. Hodges

WHILE there is very little romance connected with the operation of a stone quarry, yet to those who have participated in the growth and development of a business that has been a pioneer in its field and that FIG. 1.-LOCATION OF PROPERTY OF MARBLE CLIFF QUARRIES COMPANY. has been in continual operation two-thirds of a century there is bound to be a background of experience, which if properly capitalized, brings progress as well as satisfaction in its accomplishment.

Jan 1, 1936

By Maurice Ewing, J. A. Peoples, J. W. Peoples, A. P. Craby

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the application of the earth-resistivity method of subsurface investigation to the problem of locating seams of anthracite coal beneath a mantle of soil and subsoil. Details are given of the successful use of this method in locating the outcrops of anthracite seams in actual prospecting. The presence of the outcrop of an anthracite seam is indicated at points where electrical resistivity tests showed relatively low readings. The reason for this is that in some localities the resistivity of anthracite was found to be about 0.0001 megohm-cm. compared to 1 to 200 megohm-cm. for shales and sandstones. For two reasons it is believed that the data summarized in this paper should be of particular interest. In the first place, most of the interpretations of the resistivity survey have been checked by subsequent drilling and some by the removal of the overburden and the exposing of the anthracite seams. It is infrequent that the opportunity for checking results so thoroughly is given. In the second place, the fact that recent commentatorsl,2,3 on the application of geophysical methods to mining have concluded that direct prospecting for anthracite and other types of coal is not promising makes the good results obtained more significant. So far as the authors can learn, the only previous experiment with electrical methods in the Pennsylvania anthracite field was one made by Sherwin F. Kelly in 1921, when he used the self-potential method at Wilkes-Barre4. The profile he made does not show a very marked correlation with the geologic cross section. Kelly points out that stray currents from electric motors in the mines undoubtedly affected 'his results, but the experience of the present authors with stray currents from mining machinery suggests the possibility that the potentials measured by Kelly were due almost entirely to this effect.

Jan 1, 1936

By P. Nicholls

Though the burning of fuels extends far back into antiquity, and though fuel beds are the most common and widely distributed example of chemical actions and engineering practice, there has been little attempt to group fuel beds by types or to define the principles associated with them. This paper does not profess to cover completely the subject of fuel beds. It suggests some of the over-all principles of the two more common types. No new investigational data are included, but the deductions are largely based on a recent publication of the U.S. Bureau of Mines'. Definition of Types There are three primary types of fuel beds: (I) Underfeed, in which the fuel and the air move in the same direction; (2) overfeed, in which the fuel and the air move in opposite directions; (3) crossfeed, in which the fuel and the air move at right angles to each other. The principle that fixes the type is the relation between directions of the flow of fuel and of air. Fig. 1 shows the three types diagrammatically. All other types are compounded of these three in a simple or more or less complex manner. It does not follow that these three type designations are limited to the methods used in representing them in Fig. 1; they may be turned in any direction, and as long as the relative directions of the fuel and air are the same the type is not changed. For example, A as shown .resembles a pot-type stoker, but the air and fuel can move downward as in the so-called smokeless heating boiler furnace. Also, C can be placed horizontal, as in chain-grate stokers. For this reason, the terms used to designate the three types are not all that could be desired; more logical ones could be coined, but those used probably are satisfactory until the discussion of fuel-bed types becomes more common.

Jan 1, 1936

By E. H. Tenney

A discussion of the probable future use of coal for power development involves the study of several basic factors, such as future demand for power, the quantity and availability of fuels in direct competition with coal, the price of coal, and a closely related factor—the efficiency and cost of fuel utilization. Predictions based on purely statistical analyses of past coal consumption have definite limitations. For example, statistics showing the relation between coal utilization and total energy consumption from all sources between the years 1890 to 1930 indicate that during that period the energy consumption per person in the United States increased five times, while the coal consumption per person increased only twice1, and there has been an actual decrease in per capita coal consumption since 1920. Figures such as these, compiled by authentic agencies, emphasize the need for caution in attempting estimates as to the future use of coal, and, incidentally, would seem to offer little basis for optimism in the coal industry. They also suggest the value of analyzing broadly the part played in the past by the related factors of power consumption, competitive fuels, coal prices and the efficiency of utilization. Proper weight must also be given in such a study to the present status and limitations of power-plant developments, arid to the question of what the coal industry itself can do to further its own interests arid influence the consumption of its product.

Jan 1, 1936

By H. T. Kennedy

The fact that intrusion of water into oil wells can be prevented by treating the sand adjacent to the well seems to have been only recently recognized. Swan1 mentions the process of solidifying naphthalene in strata. R. Van A. Mills2 recommends the use of materials such as sodium silicate and sodium carbonate, which react with oil-field water to form solid plugging agents. When a well is drilled in a new field the oil sands are found essentially devoid of water (Fig. 1). Unless a completely impermeable break exists over wide areas in the field, no water is found above the lower limit of the oil zone and no oil is found below the upper limit of the water zone. After considerable oil has been taken from the well, however, it is almost universal experience that water intrusion occurs. This intrusion may be of two kinds. The water may follow a path parallel to the bedding planes of the producing formation through loose streaks in the pay sand, as shown in Fig. 2, or the water level of the field may rise and enter the well by coning (Fig. 3). Water entering from the side is called "edge water," and that coming in from the bottom is called "bottom water.'' Effectiveness of any method for shutting off water depends not only on the effective treatment of the sand adjacent to the well but on

Jan 1, 1936