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By Harold B. Fell

MANY oil producers are in disagreement with the idea held by some that an increase in the price of crude oil would be unlikely to stimulate much production and that we will be obliged to draw upon foreign sources of petroleum to supplement our domestic production as the years go by. Supporting our con trary opinion are numerous facts and figures. The most recent official estimate of the maximum efficient rate of production from the oil wells of the United States is 5,271,000 bbl per day. The Economics Advisory Committee of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission estimates, assuming certain supplies from imports and from natural gasoline and benzol, that crude oil require-

Jan 1, 1947

By G. C. RIDDELL

THE metallurgist, chemist, and physicist are blazing trails that lead far afield. Pushing on into an "Alloy Age" they see a non-ferrous era over- taking iron and steel. Delving into the nature of the physical world, they break down a supposedly indivisible element, hydrogen. Not content with terrestrial problems, they peer back along the cosmic ray into iaterstellar space, glimpsing forces that are, apparently, still busy with the task of atom-making. Mastering and organizing the material and physical, they advance steadily toward that borderland of science where the concept of matter itself seems abandoned, and force is the substance left.

Jan 1, 1930

By Edward H. Robie

THE registration badges gave out, there were not enough programs, the Pioneer Hotel's rooms were insufficient, and some hundred applicants for banquet tickets had to be turned down at the Institute's Regional Meeting in Tucson, Nov. 1-5. Minor inconveniences these, however, occasioned by the fact that, optimistic as they are in Arizona, about half again as many partook of the week's activities as were expected. For this, the local program committee can be blamed-both the technical and social features were too attractive in quantity and quality. Seriously speaking, though, the Institute has probably never had a more successful Regional Meeting than this one. It being the first that has been held in Arizona in 22 years, no effort was spared to make it the distinctive gathering that it was.

Jan 1, 1938

By Evan Evans

IT is appropriate to evaluate 1947 in review as a year of a peacetime record production of about 676,000,000 tons of coal (anthracite and bituminous), closely approaching the extraordinary wartime output in 1944. Considering the general price-wage inflation, it is in point to note that the coal industry sustained the highest wages paid to workers in any major industry, but that coal prices at wholesale levels have risen much less percentage wise than the average for all commodities. The sellers' market continues to prevail. In addition to serving our own country's enormous needs, our coal industry is exporting extraordinary tonnages overseas. This unusual export demand is likely to continue for a while. Moreover, the demand in Europe for American coal mining machinery is a real tribute to the management efficiency of our modern mechanized coal industry. Competitively, the petroleum industry is concerned over its long-term supply, and already a synthetic fuels industry is being publicly advocated. In due time coal and lignite are bound to be

Jan 1, 1948

By Clyde E. Williams

IN planning a postwar program for manufactured products, it is essential that the bases for the plans be wisely chosen. First we must make certain assumptions as to the war's ending. Let us assume: (1) complete victory by the United Nations, (2) peace terms that will ensure the direction of the economy of all nations of the world toward peaceful pursuits, and (3) an early ending of the war, that is, before the nations of the world, excluding the enemy, are near the point of physical and spiritual exhaustion. Thus, our manufacturing plants and transportation facilities will still be in good shape. The plants and transportation facilities, as well as the cities of a large part of Europe, however, will be badly crippled. The rich mineral and other raw material resources of the world, little of which was under control. of the Axis powers before the war or will be after the war, will not be used up. Control of these raw materials, or at least an important part of them, will remain in the hands of the strong peaceful nations.

Jan 1, 1943

By V. V. Clark

WHEN a district is more or less primitive, and a trained mining engineer attempts single- handed to prospect it according to old standards, he generally fails. He has not the ability to live out in the open alone for months at a time and carry on with enthusiasm and determination like the old-time prospector. But the same engineer, placed in an organized group where modern prospecting methods are employed, is immediately put on his mettle and his chances of winning are greatly increased. Marsman Investments, Ltd., with headquarters in Manila, has at the present time, Sept. 4, 1937, six prospecting parties in the Netherland East Indies. Three of these groups are combing their assignments for lode mines, studying structures, developing and reaching out into veins and zones with diamond drills. The other three are searching for placer mines with pans, pits, and Empire drills. I am in charge of one group seeking commercial gold placers on the Island of

Jan 1, 1937

By R. W. Kewish

The preparation of massive uranium metal containing very low concentrations of a number of light elements by bomb reduction of UF4, with calcium is described. Details of procedures are given for preparing high-purity ingredients for the bomb reduction. The as-reduced uranium metal contained, on the average, less than the following amounts of light element impurities, in ppm: Li, 0.1; Be, 0.1; B, 0.1; C, 25; 0, 70; Na, 1; Mg, 3; Al, 2; and Si, 7. Other impurities for which the metal was examined averaged, in ppm: Ca, < 10; V, < 10; Cr, 2; Mn, 6; Fe, 50; Co, < 5; Ni, 8; and Cu, 1. THE preparation of very high-purity uranium metal in massive form for research purposes is of great importance. Recently the kilogram-scale preparation of uranium metal containing less than 70 ppm of detected impurities was accomplished by Blumen-thal and coworkers by vacuum remelting of high-purity crystals of uranium obtained by fused salt electrolysis.1"3 Albert and coworkers4 have reported successful experiments in lowering the concentrations of certain impurity elements in uranium, notably iron, to a few ppm by the zone-melting method. The present paper describes the preparation of high-purity massive uranium metal by the bomb reduction of UF4, with calcium. Early in 1951 a program was undertaken at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory to prepare uranium metal of very high purity with respect to a number of the light elements. The methods considered for this purpose were 1) bomb reduction of a uranium halide with calcium, 2) electrolysis of fused salts, and 3) hot wire decomposition of UI4, The first of these processes had been used extensively at Los Alamos since 1943 (and still is used) for the production of uranium metal.5 In considering the three processes it was evident that either of the last two would require an extensive development program with no certainty of success. On the other hand, a study of available data showed that uranium metal of very high purity with respect to some light elements had occasionally been made in routine processing by the first method. It was therefore decided that an intensive study of the bomb-reduction process would be made to see if it could be improved to yield uranium metal with very low concentrations of light elements. DEVELOPMENT OF PROCEDURES The bomb-reduction process used at Los Alamos consists of reducing UF4 with calcium, using iodine as a booster. The reaction is carried out in a magnesium-oxide crucible enclosed in a steel bomb. Argon is used in the bomb to avoid objectionable side reactions which would occur in the presence of air. All ingredients for this bomb-reduction process were examined as possible sources of light elements. It was known that high-purity UF4 was required. The calcium used in the reductions was a source of carbon and magnesium. The magnesium-oxide crucibles were sources of boron, silicon, and magnesium. The iodine did not appear to be a source of any impurities. Pure UF4- The UF4 for bomb reduction is prepared from U3O3 , by successive reduction to UO2, with hydrogen and hydrofluorination of the UO2, with anhydrous HF. Since it was known that no impurities were normally introduced during the gas-solid reactions, effort was directed toward the preparation of high-purity U3O3. Of the many possible procedures for the purification of uranium solutions the following were investigated: 1) Precipitation of uranium peroxide. (Two procedures were tried. The first consisted of simultaneously adding hydrogen-peroxide and ammonium-hydroxide solutions to a uranyl-nitrate solution, containing citric and malonic acids, at such relative rates that precipitation was carried out at a constant pH of 1.5 The second consisted of simultaneously adding uranyl-nitrate, ammonium-hydroxide, and hydrogen-peroxide solutions to an aqueous solution

Jan 1, 1960

By Scott Turner

HOSTS of friends will rejoice that T. A. Rickard has been given honorary membership in the Institute. It might well have been done long ago, since, when one reviews distinguished services rendered by individuals to our organization and our profession, it is at once apparent that his name ranks high and that he has merited this distinction for more than three decades. Our by-laws restrict this list to twenty names; "T.A." becomes the sixteenth living member. Young engineers should particularly be pleased; Mr. Rickard has had a career rich in human interest, and full of useful suggestions to the younger men; he has given them good advice and set them a notable example; he, more than anyone else, has shown them how technical writing can be clear and concise; he has inspired youngsters to do their best; he has been their friend. No one has more first-hand knowledge of these facts than the writer of this appreciation:

Jan 1, 1935

By H. Rush Spedden, A. M. Gaudin

IN the belief that a critical study of its operating problems might be a sound investment, the Cuban American Manganese Corporation initiated an ore-treatment research in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of the early objectives of this research naturally became the relationship of the microscopy of the Cuban ores of the Corporation to their flotation treatment. The operations in Cuba have already been described by F. S. Norcross, Jr.7 and the laboratory study of manganese oxide flotation goes back a number of years .4 Broadly speaking, the difficulties encountered in the flotation of manganese ores are that the consumption of reagents is extremely high, the concentrate contains more silica than is desirable and the tailing losses are relatively high. An appreciable betterment on any of these scores would achieve a definite betterment in costs, quantity of minable ores, and quality of product. The microscope study discussed in this paper was made on samples from the Quinto mine, from the Ponupo mine, and from mill products at various stages of passage of the ore through the mill. The writers have had access to Company records and in particular to the petro¬graphic studies made on thin sections of ore by the late Professors R. J. Colony and Philip Krieger, of Columbia University. They acknowledge their debt to both of these men for the help derived from the reports. Manganese oxides are black, friable, smudging. It is, therefore, very difficult to judge operations by inspection. The mineralogy of manganese compounds seems to be confused, and the authors believe that many more minerals have been described than actually exist. Much of this difficulty is due to the prevalence of the structural conditions that will be discussed further in this paper; namely, the porosity and the friability of the ores, and the extremely intimate association of minute manganiferous mineral crystals with impurities of various sorts. By all odds the most important manganese mineral in Cuba is the one that in this paper is called "psilomelane." The name "psilomelane" has been used in so many different ways that the choice of it for this ore may not be approved by all. However, it seems to be the best under the circumstances. This mineral accounts for about 97 per cent of the manganese in the ores of the Quinto and Ponupo mines and in the mill feed. The remaining odd 3 per cent consists mostly of pyrolusite together with minor amounts of other manganese oxide minerals. DESCRIPTION OF PSILOMELANE Aggregate Structure In grains or lumps, psilomelane has a characteristic fibrous appearance and seems

Jan 1, 1942

By A. CHESTER BEATTY

SO much has been written about African, and particularly about Northern Rhodesian, copper during the past two years that I feel safe in assuming that you are familiar with the general background of the Rhodesian picture. Therefore, I will confine myself to certain of the high lights in connection with the history, geology, development, ore reserves, and contemplated mining methods in this relatively new and highly important copper field., Unlike most of the other great orebodies of the world, the Roan Antelope mine was not discovered by the hoof of a starving prospector&apos;s faithful burro; nor even, as its name might suggest, by a well-placed kick of protest from an antelope stumbling over a malachite outcrop. Late in 1905 an English prospector named Collier, traveling in the N&apos;Dola district, came upon some natives using a green powder for medicinal purposes. Closer examination of the powder revealed that it &apos; was ground-up malachite. Collier endeavored to persuade the natives to tell him where they obtained this medicine, but&apos; for a long time without success, because of the general feeling among the natives that they did not wish to reveal the resources of their land to the white. Finally however, - he persuaded- brie &apos;of-the elders to at" least take &apos;him part way toward, the- place where the malachite was supposed to occur. The bid took him, to a point on the lower regions of the Luanshya river and there left him with the instructions that if he followed the stream up toward its.

Jan 1, 1931

By E. S. Wheeler, M. W. Murphy

A LARGE part of the molybdenum produced in Colorado is converted and consumed in the Eastern States. As the raw materials and the power needed for the conversion of the Colorado concentrate are also accessible in the Eastern States, the conversion plant has been installed some 1500 miles east of where the ore is mined and milled. When concentrate was first produced at Climax in 1918, a custom smelter converted the product into ferromolybdenum. By 1924, the Company had decided to produce calcium molybdate and rented a building and installed equipment for that purpose at Langeloth, near Burgettstown, Pa., about thirty miles west of Pittsburgh. For the first few years the plant was a simple one of small capacity. A small hand-rabbled roaster was used, the product of which was made iota calcium molybdate by a conventional method; then an eight hearth mechanically rabbled roaster was installed to increase and speed up production. The output was considerably less than a million pounds of contained molybdenum annually until 1928, when a small part of the produc-

Jan 1, 1946

By F. E. Lathe, L. Hodnett

This paper summarizes extensive data supplied by 40 copper converter plants in 18 countries, and includes a partial analysis and comments on the effect of converter slag composition and temperature on the fomzation and elimination of magnetite and the life of basic and neutral refractories. APRELIMINARY draft of this paper, including data from 26 companies which had submitted replies to a questionnaire, was presented at the Annual Meeting of the AIME held in New York in February, 1956. Publication was delayed in the expectation that additional replies would be received, and justification for the subsequent delay may be found in the fact that the present revised paper contains data from 40 converter plants situated in 18 different countries. The suggestion that a questionnaire be sent to the major copper and copper-nickel plants outside the U.S.S.R. and associated countries arose at the Los Angeles Annual Meeting in February, 1953, where several papers dealing with converter construction and operation were presented. In private discussions which followed, a group of metallurgists and refractories engineers raised the question why practices varied so much at different plants. Why did magnesite brick give superior service to chrome-magnesite in some plants but chrome-magnesite prove superior in others? Would metallurgical studies point the way to the development of still better refractories? Could magnetite formation be prevented in converter slags and reverber-atory furnace mattes? If this was feasible, why was a heavy circulating load of magnetite tolerated, when, in all probability, it increased copper losses in the reverberatory slags and, in some cases, made it necessary to shut down the furnaces periodically to clean out the accumulated magnetite? Was the sole purpose of coating brick with magnetite that of

Jan 1, 1959

The Library of the above-named Societies is open from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. on all week-days, except holidays, from September 1 to June 30, and from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M.. during July and August. The Library contains about 55,000 volumes, including sets of technical periodicals and the publications of scientific and technical societies. Members of the Institute, with few exceptions, are forced to spend a portion of their time in localities isolated from sources of information. To these the Library can render valuable service through correspondence; letters requesting information-will receive special attention. The Library is prepared to furnish references and copies of articles on mining and metallurgical subjects; to determine the existence of mining-maps, and to furnish general information as to the geology and mineral resources of all countries: All communications should be made as definite as possible so that the information received may be what is desired and not include collateral matter which may not be of interest. The time spent in searching for such collateral matter will be saved, and the information will be sent more promptly and in more usable shape. The members of the Institute. can be of service to the Library by forwarding copies of mining-reports, maps privately issued, and similar material, which will he classified, indexed, and made available to other members. Suggestions for additions to the Library, either by purchase or personal solicitation as gifts, will be welcomed. It is hoped that members while in the city will use the Library freely, and assurance is given that most careful service will be rendered to them.

Jan 5, 1913

By Maurice L. Pinel, Thomas Wright, Thomas T. Read

The erroneous, but until recently widely prevalent, belief that iron castings were first made in Europe in the fourteenth century has been adequately refuted in a number of earlier papers;1, ll, l² but except for an unpublished metallographic study by the late William Campbell, and a phosphorus analysis by T. A. Wright of the metal of the Han dynasty cast-iron stove described by Laufer,2 nothing was known of either the chemical composition or the metallographic structure of the metal of any ancient iron casting, although data on castings of recent manufacture are abundantly available. The metal of the stove, which had been buried in a grave for at least 15 centuries, was so corroded that it seemed inadvisable to publish the results on it until morc and better specimens from other ancient castings could be obtained. During a journey through China, extending from Peking in the north to Canton in the south and Cheng-tu, Ssu-chuan, in the west, in the late summer and autumn of 1936, one of us (T. T. Read) was fortunate enough to obtain, and bring home for study, nine castings, all more than 1000 years old, of which the date of manufacture is precisely known because of inscriptions cast in them, another that lacks a dated inscription, but of which the date, as explained below, can be otherwise established, and a specimen from the largest iron casting ever made," which is also dated. The period covered by this suite of specimens extends from 502 to 1093 A.D. In addition, a sample was obtained from a casting of date unknown, but which was certainly cast before 1000 A.D. and possibly as early as the third century A.D. A detailed description of these specimens is as follows: I. 502 A.D. A pair [right and left) of recumbent lions (Fig. 1). Base 7¼ by 113/8 in., height over-all 5½in, weight 26 Ib. each. The tranblation of the inscription on the base is: "Made on the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month of the third pear of Ching Ming of Great Wei" (Sept. 11, 502 A.D.).

Jan 1, 1938

By Maurice L. Pinel, Thomas Wright, Thomas T. Read

The erroneous, but until recently widely prevalent, belief that iron castings were first made in Europe in the fourteenth century has been adequately refuted in a number of earlier papers;1, ll, l² but except for an unpublished metallographic study by the late William Campbell, and a phosphorus analysis by T. A. Wright of the metal of the Han dynasty cast-iron stove described by Laufer,2 nothing was known of either the chemical composition or the metallographic structure of the metal of any ancient iron casting, although data on castings of recent manufacture are abundantly available. The metal of the stove, which had been buried in a grave for at least 15 centuries, was so corroded that it seemed inadvisable to publish the results on it until morc and better specimens from other ancient castings could be obtained. During a journey through China, extending from Peking in the north to Canton in the south and Cheng-tu, Ssu-chuan, in the west, in the late summer and autumn of 1936, one of us (T. T. Read) was fortunate enough to obtain, and bring home for study, nine castings, all more than 1000 years old, of which the date of manufacture is precisely known because of inscriptions cast in them, another that lacks a dated inscription, but of which the date, as explained below, can be otherwise established, and a specimen from the largest iron casting ever made," which is also dated. The period covered by this suite of specimens extends from 502 to 1093 A.D. In addition, a sample was obtained from a casting of date unknown, but which was certainly cast before 1000 A.D. and possibly as early as the third century A.D. A detailed description of these specimens is as follows: I. 502 A.D. A pair [right and left) of recumbent lions (Fig. 1). Base 7¼ by 113/8 in., height over-all 5½in, weight 26 Ib. each. The tranblation of the inscription on the base is: "Made on the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month of the third pear of Ching Ming of Great Wei" (Sept. 11, 502 A.D.).

Jan 1, 1938

By J. D. Lubahn

Prior tests by Dorn, where the strain rate in a tensile test was suddenly changed, have shown a small, but definite rate-history effect to exist. If this effect is neglected in the calculation of creep behavior from tensile results, an error should occur. This paper shows that this error is smaller than experimental scattering, and may be neglected. DORN1 has found a small but definite rate-history effect in the aluminum alloy 250 at liquid-nitrogen temperature using tensile tests with an abrupt rate change. Such an effect is to be expected from pre-viously known2-6 temperature-history effects, together with general experience that effects produced by changing the strain rate a large amount are simi-

Jan 1, 1959

By Henry G. Morris

The use of compressed air for the transmission of power has reached so great a development that we find numerous large establishments devoted to the manufacture of machinery for its production and application, and special periodicals published for the dissemination of information on the subject. Moreover, its employment is so general in mining operations that no apology is needed for the presentation to the Institute of such a paper as the present. The admirable articles of Mr. E. A. Rix, published in Conzpressed Air, show a wide range in the mechanical efficiency of air-compressors, varying, under different conditions, from 15 to 60 per cent.; and it is evident that any

Jan 1, 1902

Jan 1, 1933

The program of &apos;the Chicago meeting, which is to be held Sept. 22-26, is as follows: Monday. Morning-Registration. Afternoon-Technical Session. Evening Smoker. Tuesday. Morning and Afternoon-Excursion by boat to Gary and trip, through United States Steel Co&apos;s. plant. Evening-Technical Session. Wednesday. Morning- Technical Session. Afternoon-Technical Session. Evening-Banquet, Congress Hotel. Thursday. Morning and Afternoon-Special train to La Salle and De Pue, Ill., Inspection of Zinc Smelters, Cement Works, and Coal Mines. Trip to Starved Rock and points of historical interest. Evening-Return by train to Chicago. Friday. Morning-Optional trips. 1. East Chicago Metallurgical Plants and Oil Refineries at Whiting, Ind. 2. North Chicago and Milwaukee. 3. Local Chicago Plants. 4. Coal trip to Franklin and McCoupin Counties.

Jan 6, 1919

Apr. 26-May 11, Liege International Fair, Liege, Belgium. May 4-8, Electrochemical Society, Inc., Spring meeting, Benjamin Franklin Hotel, Philadelphia. May 5-6, National Air Pollution Symposium, Huntington Hotel, Pasadena. May 5-7, American. Mining Congress, coal convention, Netherland Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati. May 6-9, Scientific Apparatus Makers Assn., annual meeting, Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago. May 9-10, AIME, joint meeting, Industrial Minerals Div. and Metals Branch, Davenport Hotel, Spokane, Wash. May 11-14, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Atlanta Biltmore Hotel, Atlanta. May 17, AIME, Chicago Section, President&apos;s night dinner dance, Shoreland Hotel, Chicago. May 27, AIME, Morenci Subsection, Longfellow Inn, Morenci, Ariz. June 2-4, Chemical Institute of Canada, annual conference, Montreal. June 4-14, Mechanical Handling Exhibition and Convention, Olympia, London.

Jan 1, 1952