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By E. Buehler

THE floating zone refining technique'-4 has provided a new experimental approach to the purification of many reactive materials especially those with high melting points. The method avoids the use of a crucible and at the same time it provides a favorable environment at the freezing interface for the growth of single crystals. The physical properties of refractory metals such as molybdenum and tungsten have long been of interest from a fundamental point of view and because of their widespread use in vacuum electronics. Single crystals are often desirable for study. Prior to the introduction of zone melting, single crystals of these metals were usually grown in the solid state at temperatures slightly below the melting point by strain annealing3 or by the application of a moving temperature gradient. Such techniques were mostly successful on wires, ribbons, or rods having small cross-sectional areas. Recently, larger samples of tungsten, molydbenum, tantalum, columbium, and rhenium were melted by a floating zone process which employed electron bombardment heating.10 Single crystals were obtained in many instances

Jan 1, 1959

By John H. Bassarear, Harold W. Sorstokke

The never ending search for lower unit costs led Pima Min- ing Company's management to study various alternatives shortly after Expansion III was completed. A considerable amount of ore as- saying 0.35% copper had to be moved to maintain mill feed at the desired 0.54 % copper content, which is the overall grade of the ore reserves. Detailed investigations revealed that for a period of 8-10 yr, about 14,000 tpd of 0.30- 0.40% copper ore pass the crusher enroute to the low grade stockpile. This ore is very hard, very clean and has to be mined at a uniform rate. A six month pilot plant run testing autogenous and semi-autogenous grinding gave encouraging results. Since no mining costs need to be charged to the extra tonnage (it had to be mined anyway), the major costs would be against milling. The decision to proceed was made in August 1970. Fluor-Utah was retained as the prime design construction contractor. Ore was put through the new mill on December 29, 1971. By March of 1972 design tonnage

Jan 5, 1973

Open pit operators have found the dropball crane a great aid in cutting costs and hazards of secondary breakage. But a common problem in using the unit has been with the shock absorbing connection from the cable to the dropball itself. Blair Limestone Div. of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. has come up with a new connector to solve this problem and to save the time usually lost in frequent replacement of the cable slings, chains, or old tires hitherto used at this point. J&L personnel solved the problem by combining three ideas from other dropball crane owners. Their unit consists of two long U-bolts running through a heavy spring originally made for use on a vibrating screen. Heavy duty swivels attached to the bent ends of the U-bolts provide attachment points for the crane cable and the special chain to the dropball. Connection at the dropball is by an eyelet welded directly into the mass of steel, and a special alloy chain is connected to this with a clevis.

Nov 1, 1955

By John V. Beall

Back in the days when it was possible to tell one sports season from another, the football season began the last Saturday in September and ended on Thanksgiving Day for most teams. There were one or two post-season bowl games on New Year Day; but that was it. Actually, ten weeks of football, counting preseason practice, was about all a player could stomach without going stale. Not that the boys were any softer back then; quite the contrary, a good player usually played 60 minutes of ball. We must admit that we played lots of football in those days too---but not on Saturday. Particularly we remember the Monday after the Saturday when Columbia beat the Georgia Tech team which was led by the great back, Frank Sinkowitch, by a score of 7 to 3. That Saturday Mr. Little actually played 14 men: that is there were three backfield substitutions, each of which was for a few minutes only. Georgia seemed to have a progressive coach because he alternated two squads by quarters.

Jan 1, 1970

By E. G. Williams

Conveyors were first used underground at Miami Copper Co., in the latter part of 1947. At that time some of the stoping area was too heavy and too close to the haulage level to use conventional haulage. To get the haulage drifts out from under the stoping area belt conveyors were used for the additional lateral transfer. Since 1947 more than 8 million tons have been mined in this manner, with as many as four belt type stopes in production at one time. When the mining plan for the new low grade was worked out, it was decided to use belts on what otherwise would have been short train haulage transfers to move the ore laterally to centrally located concrete ore passes. One group of these stopes has grizzly levels on the 570, with a belt level on the 670; the other group has grizzly levels on the 720 and belt levels on the 820, with the concrete ore passes bottoming on the 1000, or the existing train haulage level.

Jul 1, 1956

By J. H. Polhems, R. B. Brackin, D. B. Grove

P. L. Jones (Sink and Float Corp., New York)—The comparisons between galena and ferrosilicon medium should be applied only to the specific sink-float process used at Mascot since no evidence is presented that allows the comparison to be extended generally to galena medium as now used in other forms of sink-float. It is stated that flotation recovery of galena medium was tried but was unsuccessful and therefore the elaborate gravity system of medium recovery was applied. The expense of the gravity system at Mascot was one of the reasons for changing to ferrosilicon. However two important sink-float plants treating a combined total of over 13,000 tons of ore per day are using flotation to clean galena medium most successfully and are obtaining medium recoveries comparable with those reported in the paper for ferrosilicon. Slightly increased zinc recovery is claimed due to the change-over but it is to be noted that at the time of the change a decreased density differential was obtained in the separator. With galena a differential

Jan 1, 1952

Discussion of the paper of P. B. LIEBERMANN, presented at the St. Louis meeting October, 1917, and printed in Bulletin No. 127, July, 1917, pp. 1051 to 1062. P. B. LIEBERMANN.-As mentioned in my paper, a special investigation was made on the effect of dirt on the track, for the -express purpose of educating mine operators to the advantage of keeping their tracks clean. As to the benefit of clean tracks to the saving in battery consumption, that can be easily determined if the rate of discharge is known under existing conditions, that is, on dirty tracks. The tests have shown that tracks covered with coal dust cause an increase in draw-bar pull of about 30 per cent. The battery discharge table will show the capacity corresponding to the new rate of discharge and will thereby disclose the possible saving in battery consumption. The difference between dirty tracks and clean tracks will be found large enough to have an appreciable effect on the size of the storage-battery locomotive, and for a locomotive of any given size it may mean

Jan 1, 1918

By James A. L. White

Of the natural elemental surfur deposits of the world, volcanic deposits are not only the most spectacular, but probably the most widely distributed. As defined for the purposes of this paper, volcanic sulfur deposits include those associated with all phases of volcanic activity, including eruptive flows, and fumarolic and hot spring deposits. The line of demarcation between the latter and sedimentary deposits is not always clearly defined. Although volcanic sulfur has played an important role for centuries, serving as essentially the only source of sulfur, currently it is considered as purely marginal material. Volcanic deposits were relegated to this position by the advent of Frasch sulfur into world markets, which established sulfur prices and annual production levels with which volcanic sulfur cannot compete, Since early in the 20th century commercial interest in volcanic deposits of sulfur has been high only when premium markets are available. This occurred in the early 1950s and is the case at present. Considerable effort is currently being expended to establish new producers of volcanic sulfur, and to expand current operations or reactivate previous ones.

Jan 6, 1968

By R. V. Smith, M. H. Cullender

Rigorous equations for calculating subsurface pres.tures in flowing and static gas wells, and pressures along horizontal pipelines are presented in this paper. These general equations, based on the mechanical encrgy balance, contain no assumptions regarding temperature and can be used with either straight-line or curved temperature gradients. The friction factors recommended in this report are based on an absolute roughness of 0.0006 in. Flow is always considered to he turbulent. Although these general flow equations are solved by numerical means, the methods are as convenient as many of those used today to calculate pressures in gas wells and pipelines. These numerical methods are illustrated for flowing and static columns of gas in wells and for flow in pipelines. The authors believe that the use of these methods will result in more accurately calculated pressures in gas wells and pipelines and that [he methods are more flexible than any in use at the present time. Also, the methods are easily adaptable to automatic computers. INTRODUCTION The problem of calculating subsurface pressures in gas wells and along flowing pipelines has been studied by many investigators with the results that two widely-used methods have been presented in technical literature. One approximates conditions in a gas well or pipeline by assuming that temperature and compressi- bility are constants tor the entire gas column. The other method assumes that temperature is constant at some average value but permits compressibility to vary with pressure at the constant temperature. While these approximations may be justified for relatively shallow and low-pressure wells, they become more and more unrealistic as the calculations are applied to the deeper high-pressure wells. In wells or pipelines where there is an appreciable change in temperature between the inlet and outlet ends of the flow string, it is equally as important to consider the change in compressibility with temperature as it is to consider the change with pressure. Consequently, the methods presented in this paper were developed to provide a workable procedure for calculating pressures in gas wells and pipelines which makes no assumptions regarding either temperature or compressibility. The friction factors recommended for use with the equations were the result of study of published literature and extensive experimental work with gas wells. The F,. values in Appendix IV which contain the friction factor are equivalent to an absolute roughness of 0.0006 in. as calculated by the Nikuradse equation. The absolute roughness of 0.0006 in. was previously published by Cullender and Binckley2 for gas wells; it is in agreement with 0.00065 in. of Smith, Dewees, and Williams1 for gas wells and 0.00065 in. of Baker and Swerdloff4 for pipelines; it is in reasonable agreement with 0.0007 in. reported by the Bureau of Mines and the American Gas Assn.5 for large transmission lines. However, any type of friction factors may be used in the equations by a change in the F, values in Appendix [V].

Jan 1, 1957

By R. R. Webster, H. T. Clark

I. A. Sirel—I would like to ask Mr. Sims what would the preferred hot metal analysis be as far as manganese and silicon are concerned if you used specially made iron for this process instead of basic iron. C. E. Sims (authors' reply)—A preferred composition would contain somewhat less silicon than the basic pig iron used in these experiments. High silicon requires a large lime addition. Lime must be added in sufficient quantity to neutralize the silica formed and to leave an excess for dephosphorization. Manganese presents almost no problem in operation. It is almost completely oxidized and, in burning, develops considerable heat. The evidence indicates, however, that, in continuous commercial operation, there will be an excess of heat produced, and the bath will need to be cooled in some manner as by the addition of scrap or by utilizing the energy for the direct reduction of ore. There do not seem to be any serious limitations on composition of pig iron. One heat was made with an iron containing 2.27 pct silicon and the phosphorus finished at 0.007 pct. In another, the iron contained 0.45 pct phosphorus which was lowered to 0.019 pct. This indicates considerable leeway in composition. D. R. Loughrey—We are all very much interested in the recent discovery of very large deposits of iron ore both in Labrador and in Venezuela. I would like to ask Mr. Sims if the iron ore at either or both of these places is such that it would lend itself to the manufacture of iron suitable for use in the turbohearth. C. E. Sims-—According to my information, those ores are not essentially different from ores now used in this country for making basic pig. They should, therefore, be adaptable to this process. D. I. Brown—You have spoken about the leeway, or spread in analysis of the various irons you can use in the vessel. I would like to have you tell us, if you can, about the different kinds of steels which can be made in such a vessel. The turbohearth process, or it might more aptly be called pneumatic openhearth, is a little different from that used in most Bessemer shops and in the one in which I worked. If we had a blow in the air over 10 min, the boss was in the pulpit in a hurry

Jan 1, 1951

By W. M. Albrecht, M. W. Mallett

The solubilities of hydrogen in titanium and several of its alloys were determined at 600 to 1000°C and pressures of 0.05 to 10µ of mercury. Solubility increases with increasing beta phase in the alloys. Factors found to affect degassing rates are specimen size and presence of thick surficial oxide. Removal of hydrogen by heating in vacuum and in flowing inert atmospheres was studied. Practical curves predicting minimum degassing times are presented. THE presence of hydrogen in titanium and titanium alloys has detrimental effects on the mechanical properties of the metal.'"," The hydrogen content of commercial titanium is sometimes of the order of 200 ppm by weight' and varies with alloy composition. As a consequence, titanium and some titanium alloys as normally processed are sometimes not ductile unless treated to lower the hydrogen content. The best known hydrogen-removal treatment is heating the material in a vacuum. The rate of removal (degassing) at a give temperature determines the duration of the treatment required to attain a satisfactory low hydrogen level.

Jan 1, 1959

By Herbert H. Kellogg

Deposits of high-silica kaolinite clays occur at many places in central Pennsylvania. These white clays were formed apparently by weathering of argillaceous quartzite and limestone. Their geology, distribution and use have been reported by Leighton.1 The larger deposits have been mined from time to time, and the clay, after washing to remove coarse sand, has found use as rubber filler, foundry clay, and in white cements. In general, the clay from these deposits contains too much grit (quartz) to be useful as paper filler, and the silica content is too high to make it useful as china clay for ceramic ware. Gravity methods for the separation of quartz from these clays have failed because of the extremely fine size of the quartz grains, but by the methods of froth flotation described in this paper these sandy kaolins can be made to yield a purified kaolinite that has a chemical composition close to that of good-grade Georgia kaolins, and is free enough from grit to be used as a paper filler. As by-products of the separation, a fine (— 325-mesh) sand assaying 95.5 per cent SiO2, and a very he (—3-micron) clay are produced. The possible ceramic uses of these products are being investigated at The Pennsylvania State College. Experimental Procedure The Sample.—The clay sample used in these tests was obtained from a small mine near Tyrone, Pa. It had already been washed to remove coarse sand, and represented the finished product of this small mine and washery. Microscopic examination showed that the clay was composed almost entirely of the minerals quartz and kaolinite, and that the quartz was present mostly in particles larger than one micron, while the kaolinite particles generally were less than 20 microns in size. The kaolinite and quartz particles were physically separable by blunging the clay in water with a suitable dispersant. Preparation of Flotation Feed.—By the addition of NaOH in an amount equal to 3 lb. per ton of solids, the clay was completely dispersed in water. Flotation feed was prepared by allowing a dispersed suspension (10 per cent solids) of the clay to stand for the period of time required for a 2.5-micron particle of quartz to settle from the top of the container to the bottom. After this settling period the suspension was decanted from the settled solids. The settled solids were redispersed in water and the separation was repeated once. The two fine fractions were then combined. Thus the clay was divided into a fine and a coarse fraction by size separation at approximately 2.5 microns.* The fine fractioh was found to have a considerably lower sand content than the raw clay (Table I), and was not treated further. The coarse fraction formed the flotation feed for all the tests described in this paper. A size separation of this type can be

Jan 1, 1947

By Herbert H. Kellogg

Deposits of high-silica kaolinite clays occur at many places in central Pennsylvania. These white clays were formed apparently by weathering of argillaceous quartzite and limestone. Their geology, distribution and use have been reported by Leighton.1 The larger deposits have been mined from time to time, and the clay, after washing to remove coarse sand, has found use as rubber filler, foundry clay, and in white cements. In general, the clay from these deposits contains too much grit (quartz) to be useful as paper filler, and the silica content is too high to make it useful as china clay for ceramic ware. Gravity methods for the separation of quartz from these clays have failed because of the extremely fine size of the quartz grains, but by the methods of froth flotation described in this paper these sandy kaolins can be made to yield a purified kaolinite that has a chemical composition close to that of good-grade Georgia kaolins, and is free enough from grit to be used as a paper filler. As by-products of the separation, a fine (— 325-mesh) sand assaying 95.5 per cent SiO2, and a very he (—3-micron) clay are produced. The possible ceramic uses of these products are being investigated at The Pennsylvania State College. Experimental Procedure The Sample.—The clay sample used in these tests was obtained from a small mine near Tyrone, Pa. It had already been washed to remove coarse sand, and represented the finished product of this small mine and washery. Microscopic examination showed that the clay was composed almost entirely of the minerals quartz and kaolinite, and that the quartz was present mostly in particles larger than one micron, while the kaolinite particles generally were less than 20 microns in size. The kaolinite and quartz particles were physically separable by blunging the clay in water with a suitable dispersant. Preparation of Flotation Feed.—By the addition of NaOH in an amount equal to 3 lb. per ton of solids, the clay was completely dispersed in water. Flotation feed was prepared by allowing a dispersed suspension (10 per cent solids) of the clay to stand for the period of time required for a 2.5-micron particle of quartz to settle from the top of the container to the bottom. After this settling period the suspension was decanted from the settled solids. The settled solids were redispersed in water and the separation was repeated once. The two fine fractions were then combined. Thus the clay was divided into a fine and a coarse fraction by size separation at approximately 2.5 microns.* The fine fractioh was found to have a considerably lower sand content than the raw clay (Table I), and was not treated further. The coarse fraction formed the flotation feed for all the tests described in this paper. A size separation of this type can be

Jan 1, 1947

By F. C. Schora, H. P. Meissner

COUNTERCURRENT staged processes involving chemical reactions between solid and gas streams are becoming more common. Such operations are generally carried out in a series of fluidized beds with each bed acting as a stage. Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a series of stages located in a single column, with a solid stream moving down through this column from stage to stage counter to a rising gas stream. The reduction of iron oxides with hydrogen and carbon monoxide is one of the reactions which can be advantageously carried out in such a countercurrent system. Calculation of the performance of a countercur-

Jan 1, 1961

By W. H. Emmons

Although gold is one of the rarer metals, it is widely distributed; it is found on all of the continents and in each of the grand metallogenic provinces of the earth. It is prominent particularly in the shield areas of the earth; these areas have produced a large part of the world's lode gold and in most of them gold lodes are more important than the lodes of other metals. The Scandinavian shield is the only one that has not produced much gold. Nearly all of the world's gold has been derived from lodes and from sands and gravels where gold placers formed by the destruction of lodes. The gold derived from magmatic segregations, from pegmatites and from contact metamorphic deposits is quite subordinate to that derived from auriferous lodes. The lodes include all veins and related deposits that are formed by hot waters that move along fissures or other openings and that deposit vein 'matter :in the fissures and by replacement of the country rocks along the fissures. All of the shield areas of the earth are characterized by large areas of granitic rocks including granitic gneisses, granodiorites and other acid intrusives which here are included in the general term "granite." The granites are intruded into schists, ancient lavas and other rocks which here are designated as the "invaded" rocks. The granites are parts of what once were great batholiths: that is, they are the remaining portions of great deep-seated bodies that slope outward, have very irregular roofs and so far as known have no floors but extend downward to great though unknown depths. Some of them are scores or hundreds of miles across and contain islands or "roof pendants" of the invaded rocks at places where the roofs of the batholiths were low—that is, where erosion has not yet completely unroofed the batholiths. It is in these islands of older rocks and in the narrow marginal belts and cupolas of the batholiths that practically all of the gold lode deposits of the shields are found. Valuable lodes are lacking generally in the granites themselves except in grahite within a mile or less from .the contacts with rocks of the islands (Fig. 1). It is probable that the great areas of granites and gneisses that surround the islands are not all of the same age, and that at places unmapped granite intrudes gneiss or older

Jan 1, 1932

By Harlowe Hardinqe

ABOUT three years ago a distinctive new type of crushing and grinding equipment, known as the Hadsel mill, was announced. A description appeared in the November, 1932, issue of this magazine. Any machine that would take run-of-mine ore and reduce it, in one operation, and at a reasonable cost, to a size suitable for metallurgical treatment was bound to attract much interest, as the original Hadsel mill did. The first commercial sizes were built with the drum supported by an overhung shaft and partly immersed in a tank. The drum carried inside and outside buckets to lift the ore, which was dropped as the drum revolved onto stationary breaker plates projecting into the drum from the opposite tank wall. The coarser material settled back into the inside buckets. Intermediate sizes were carried into the tank, and this material was scooped out by the outside buckets and deposited hack in the drum for further grinding. The fines were carried out of the mill with the wash water over an adjustable weir at one side of the tank.

Jan 1, 1935

By Duane N. Goens, Clifford R. Porter

A 91 kg/h (200 lb per hr) pilot plant was constructed according to "Magnex" design. A non-compliance eastern coal which would generate more than 0.85 kg of S02 per GJ (2.0 lb of SO2 per million Btu.) upon burning was brought into compliance less than 0.52 kg of SO2 per GJ (1.2 lb SO2 per million Btu) during continuous operation of the pilot plant. Approximately 85% of the pyritic sulfur was removed while recovering 90% of the Btu of the feed coal. Pilot plant operation is summarized and preliminary economics presented. Present status of the Magnex design program is reviewed.

Jan 2, 1979

By J. S. Falcone

Soluble sodium silicate materials have well known applications in flotation for desliming, selective depression and corrosion control. Recent advances in the understanding of the complex polymeric nature of silicate solutions using NMR spectroscopy, combined with our studies of the effects of polymeric silicate anions on metal ion activities in solution, oxide mineral surface charges and surfactant adsorption on clays are related to beneficiation processes. The results of these studies indicate the sodium silicates can be used to cause a solution chemistry and particle surface charge characteristics favorable to enhanced effectiveness in typical ore beneficiation systems.

Jan 1, 1983

By R. V. Norris

LAST October, Mr. R. V. Norris and Mr. Matthew C. Fleming were appointed to represent the Institute at the Second National Industrial Tax Conference, which was held in New York City on Oct. 22 and 23. After reading the report submitted by the Committee, Mr. Norris and Mr. Fleming addressed the following to the Tax Committee of the National Industrial Conference Board: The tentative report of the Tax Committee of the National Industrial Conference Board was received too late to make it possible to lay it before the Board of the Institute, and the undersigned themselves have not had sufficient time to digest its interesting contents and recommendations carefully. So that we desire to make it clear that the comments we make on the report are the expression of our personal opinion only. In the first place, we feel that the Committee which drew this tentative report is entitled to the commendation and thanks of the country for what has been manifestly a work of tremendous labor and for the able and conservative report which they have presented. With

Jan 1, 1921

By SAM A. LEWISOHN

IT is popular today to dramatize in a journalistic spirit, some particular factor among the causes of unemployment. Naturally the time chosen for such emphasis is usually when the factor in question is temporarily a particularly active one. A few months ago, in the unemployment then current, we saw largely the results of a healthy acceleration in changes in processes, greater efficiency, a more intensified use of labor-saving devices, perhaps also a change in products. So we have been hearing a great deal about the influence of mechanization on unemployment, the so-called technological unemployment. Many talk as if this kind of unemployment were a wholly new phenomenon, for- getting that it is a constant process in a growing industrialism, though it sometimes becomes more pronounced. At other times one would think that seasonal unemployment is the only type of unemployment, and then again the fashion changes and we hear .about nothing except cyclical unemployment. Every few years there seems to be a different fashion in labelling the germ supposed to be the cause of unemployment.

Jan 1, 1929