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By C. D. Johnson

Exploration work in 1932 in the Rocky Mountain region, which includes the states of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, resulted in the discovery of one new oil field, Cut Bank in Glacier County, Montana; one new gas field, Craig in Moffat County, Colorado; and the definite outlining of a second gas field, Piceance Creek in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, in which there had been drilled but one small gas well prior to 1932. During the year, 95 producing oil or gas wells were completed, giving new initial production amounting to 188,000,000 cu. ft. of gas and 176,420 bbl. of oil per day for the region. By far the largest part of this new production of both oil and gas was developed in southeastern New Mexico, mainly the Hobbs field. However, the Dry Creek field of Carbon County, Montana, contributed over 5000 bbl. of; new oil production. Sixty-two wells were abandoned during the year but of this number only 10 promising structures were nonproductive. The remaining 52 wells had little to recommend their drilling from a structural or strati-graphical standpoint. Eighty-eight wells were suspended in the region' during 1932 before the tests had reached their individual objective horizons. Many of these suspensions were due to financial difficulties and it is possible that several of the operations may be resumed at a later date. At the close of the year, 54 wells were actively drilling, 54 were shut down and there were 20 rigs and locations in the five Rocky Mountain states. The accompanying table gives details of drilling and production.

Jan 1, 1933

By F. B. Foley

A description of tests made by a committee of the Division of Engineering of the National Research Council to determine whether velocity of impact affects the formation of Neumann bands. FOREWORD Not infrequently, in the case of the failure of a metal structure, such as a bridge, tank, airplane, gun carriage, etc., a doubt arises whether the failure was due, among other causes, to the effect of an overburden or of an explosive maliciously or accidentally exploded in contact with it. As few means of discriminating between the effects of these causes have been known and these means were of a rough qualitative character, it was surprising to find in the record of an inquiry into the failure of a structure, the statement that, by observations on the Neumann bands in the structure, it was possible to determine the speed of breakage in the metal and to distinguish between a fracture caused by an explosion and one caused by an ordinary mechanical strain. Such a criterion, if well proved, was of value to the explosives experts of the Bureau of Mines, the Ordnance Department of the United States Army and the Bureau of Ordnance of the United States Navy, but search showed no record of it in the literature nor did any of the metallurgists and metallographers consulted know of any data on which such a criterion could be based having been assembled and critically studied. However, it was universally held that there was promise in the idea and that there existed unique facilities at the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station at Pittsburgh for the preparation, under definitely known conditions, of material for study by metal-lographers, and that material of value might also be obtained from the proving grounds of the Army and Navy. Therefore, with the approval of the Director of the Bureau of Mines and the Chiefs of Ordnance of the War and Navy Departments, the Chairman of the Division of Engineering of the National Research Council, on April 12, 1919, appointed a Committee on the Investigation of Neumann Bands, which has since been engaged in this study and which, after some slight change in its personnel, consists now of the following: Dr. William Campbell, Advisory Metallurgist, Bureau of Ordnance, Navy Department. F. B. Foley, Metallurgist, Bureau of Mines. S P. Howell, Explosives Engineer, Bureau of Mines. Comdr. O. M. Hustvedt, U. S. N., Bureau of Ordnance, Navy Department. Dr. Charles E. Munroe, Chief Explosives Chemist, Bureau of Mines.

Jan 9, 1922

By H. M. Roche

MAGNETITE mining and milling in the Eastern States in 1939 showed considerable improvement over 1938. For the first eight months of the year production of magnetite proceeded at a normal rate but operations were stepped up in the last four months owing to increased domestic demand. In New York, the Republic Steel Corp. operated the Witherbee-Sherman mines at Mineville throughout the year. Chateaugay Ore and Iron Co. operated their low-phosphorus mine at Lyon Mountain for the first seven months, but on Aug. 1, Republic Steel took over this mine -and have since operated it. In Pennsylvania, the Bethlehem Steel Co, operated the Cornwall mine continuously. In New Jersey, Mt. Hops and Scrub Oak were in operation all year. The Washington mine went into production on Nov. 1 and the Richard mine on Dec. 1.

Jan 1, 1940

By Michel T. Halbouty

The area for which oil and gas development is reported for 1938 in this paper is larger than that covered by the report for 1937, in that besides Duval, Jim Hogg, McMullen, Starr, Webb and Zapata Counties, comprising the Laredo district, this paper also includes the South Corpus Christi district, which is composed of the following counties: San Patricio, Nueces, Jim Wells, Kleberg, Kenedy, Brooks, Willacy, Hidalgo and Cameron, all heretofore included in A.I.M.E. Gulf Coast reports. In the map, Fig. 1, the area known as South Texas is represented by the counties south of the heavy black line. Production in the South Corpus Christi district, which covers an area that extends inland for 50 miles and follows the coast line, is primarily in zones ranging from the Catahoula, through the Frio sands, into the Vicksburg horizon. General exploration is done mainly with geophysics because in this district production is directly dependent upon structural conditions. In the Laredo district most of the production is from sand lenses; therefore, because these shallow sand lenses represent old shore lines which are monoclinic in character, the most satisfactory method of exploration in the Laredo district is drilling. This type of production centers around Duval County and follows a northeast-southwest trend along the Mirando district. Although drilling operations showed a decline from the preceding year, 1938 was highly successful as far as new discoveries and developments were concerned, and results of the year's operations should have an important effect on the near future trend of exploration and drilling. Besides the discovery of several new fields and many new sands in established fields, 1938 saw the discovery of a new Vicksburg sand trend and the first marine drilling off the South Texas Gulf Coast. Many new fields were discovered during the year, but only a few were subjected to an extensive drilling program. Several already established fields, especially in the Laredo district, received a large amount of drilling as new sands and extensions enlarged the producing areas, a

Jan 1, 1939

By Michel T. Halbouty

The area for which oil and gas development is reported for 1938 in this paper is larger than that covered by the report for 1937, in that besides Duval, Jim Hogg, McMullen, Starr, Webb and Zapata Counties, comprising the Laredo district, this paper also includes the South Corpus Christi district, which is composed of the following counties: San Patricio, Nueces, Jim Wells, Kleberg, Kenedy, Brooks, Willacy, Hidalgo and Cameron, all heretofore included in A.I.M.E. Gulf Coast reports. In the map, Fig. 1, the area known as South Texas is represented by the counties south of the heavy black line. Production in the South Corpus Christi district, which covers an area that extends inland for 50 miles and follows the coast line, is primarily in zones ranging from the Catahoula, through the Frio sands, into the Vicksburg horizon. General exploration is done mainly with geophysics because in this district production is directly dependent upon structural conditions. In the Laredo district most of the production is from sand lenses; therefore, because these shallow sand lenses represent old shore lines which are monoclinic in character, the most satisfactory method of exploration in the Laredo district is drilling. This type of production centers around Duval County and follows a northeast-southwest trend along the Mirando district. Although drilling operations showed a decline from the preceding year, 1938 was highly successful as far as new discoveries and developments were concerned, and results of the year's operations should have an important effect on the near future trend of exploration and drilling. Besides the discovery of several new fields and many new sands in established fields, 1938 saw the discovery of a new Vicksburg sand trend and the first marine drilling off the South Texas Gulf Coast. Many new fields were discovered during the year, but only a few were subjected to an extensive drilling program. Several already established fields, especially in the Laredo district, received a large amount of drilling as new sands and extensions enlarged the producing areas, a

Jan 1, 1939

By M. S. Smani, P. Blazy, J. M. Cases

Investigations on the beneficiation of sedimentary Moroccan phosphate ores are reported in four separate parts. The first discusses electrochemical phenomena at the solid-aqueous solution interface for minerals of the apatite group. In the second part, the electrochemical properties of the calcareous gangue associated with the phosphate ore are investigated. The flotation of calcite and phosphate oölites, using both anionic and cationic collectors, is discussed in the third part. It is shown that selective recovery could be obtained for precise concentrations of collectors and pH ranges. Results of work aimed at optimizing depression of phosphate oölites during inverse flotation of the carbonate gangue with sodium oleate are reported in Part 4.

Jan 1, 1976

By E. M. Wise

IN a previous communications the improvement in strength, harden-ability and color, occasioned by replacing gold in a typical gold-silver-copper alloy by various amounts of platinum, or palladium, was discussed. In the present paper the results of further studies upon the constitution and the nature of the hardening transformation in these alloys are pre-sented. This research may be summarized as follows: 1. The liquidus and solidus have been determined for the alloys of the palladium and platinum series. Cooling curves were utilized for deter-mining the liquidus of the palladium alloys but this method proved unsuitable for the platinum alloys so that a, novel quenching method was utilized for the latter. Both the liquidus and solidus of the palladium alloys increase steadily with the palladium content. The liquidus of the platinum alloys increases rapidly with the platinum content, while the solidus temperature increases with the platinum content up to about 14 atomic per cent platinum, but suffers no further increase with additional increments of platinum up to 20 atomic per cent at least, owing to a peritectic reaction. 2. Palladium, and even more effectively platinum, reduces the rate of grain growth. Owing to this fact and to the increase in the solidus temperature, "overheating" does little or no damage to alloys containing reasonable quantities of these elements. This is confirmed both by tensile tests and metallographic examination. 3. The excess phase present in one of the high-platinum-content alloys has been isolated and chemically analyzed and was found to consist almost wholly of platinum, gold, and copper, evidently derived from the compound AuCu, by the partial replacement of gold by platinum.

Jan 1, 1933

By F. L. Wolf, A. A. Grubb

There is a tendency on the part of practical foundrymen to accept with reluctance the results of tests on sands, binders, and such materials made in the chemical laboratory alone. They feel that such tests frequently emphasize and measure properties that are of minor importance and fail to take account of characteristics that are important in determining the value of the material in actual practice. Experience seems to indicate that the most thorough and conclusive test for any new foundry material is an actual run in the foundry alongside of a standard material of known value. Such a test, however, involves certain difficulties and necessitates certain precautions. It is not always easy to obtain a fail trial for a new material. We all have certain prejuclices, which unconsciously affect our judgment to a marked degree. A practical test frequently involves so many workmen, each of whom reacts in a different manner to the test, that the personal equation becomes very complex and the true results of the test are obscured. There are times, too, when a thorough experimental trial of a material would interfere too much with the. rush of work in a department or would hazard the quality of the product to such an extent as to make it inadvisable. Under such conditions a laboratory test is advisable before the material is sent into the foundry. These tests should be made as practical as possible and so closely related to foundry practice as to give a true index to the value of a product for the purpose desired. Core sands and molding sands are as numerous "as the sands of the sea" and valy as much in quality. Old sources of supply are continually failing and new ones must be opened, so that we must continually search for new and better grades of sand. During the past year, the Ohio Brass Co. has developed tests for sands, cores, and binders which bear a close relation to the particular use to which these materials are put in the foundry and which arc fairly indicative of their value. While the tests thus far have been confined to cores and core sands, it is expected that tests for molding sand will bc developed in the future.

Jan 1, 1921

By H. J. Wasson

With the close of 1932 and the third year of the depression, the activity of oil production presents, amidst the general wreckage and chaos of industrial society, a somewhat unique picture of rationalized economic effort. How long it will continue to present such a picture, however, is a subject for conflicting surmises. East Texas still dominates the contemporary horizon, but it has become, at least for the time being, a definitely known factor. With its 9500 wells it is approximately 90 per cent drilled up. So long as production control obtains, it is merely one important factor of the national oil reserve. Domestic Production The notable new discoveries in the United States were less numerous than for several years. Elsewhere in the world the record is much the same. The Conroe field in Montgomery County, Texas, lying in an intermediate zone that might be classified either as Gulf Coast or East Texas, represents perhaps the single example of a truly major discovery during the year. Elsewhere in Texas the new pool discoveries, about a dozen or so in number, were nearly all in the region known as Southwest Texas. Oklahoma contributed seven or eight new pools of the routine "run-of-mine" caliber, and the opening up of a few deeper oil pays also were of some significance. Continued expansion of the proved and semiproved reserves in Kansas added an important increment to the oil resources of that state. In California not a single new field was added to the roster, though deeper pay zones equivalent to or of greater importance than many new fields in other parts of the country were discovered or indicated. The new deep zone in the Belridge field is considered by some to underlie the prolific Temblor and may thus forecast the widespread distribution of a potentinl oil horizon underlying many San Joaquin Valley fields below the depths thus far exploited. Aside from the routine operations in connection with settled production, the Eastern fields were decidedly inactive. Further new develop-

Jan 1, 1933

By Auguste J. Rosh

The use of titaniferous ores in the blast-furnace has been the subject of much controversy for many years. Divers objections have been raised against them, and, for one cause or another, the verdict

Jan 1, 1893

By H. M. Faust

THERE are a number of different types of power plants. Some use coal to generate steam, others use oil or gas either in the form of steam or internal combustion equipment, while still others avail themselves of water power as a source of energy. A general comparison of the relative power production with different sources of energy in the United States, for several different years is set up in Table 1. This table shows that coal was used to generate 85.6 per cent of the total heat power requirements of 1909, and only 59.2 per cent of the 1930 requirements. The increasing proportion of modern heat energy generated by the use of fuel other than coal is apparent. If coal is to maintain its importance as a source of heat energy, the necessity for its improved perform-ance, in which preparation plays an -important part, cannot be stressed too strongly.

Jan 1, 1933

By R. W. Raymond

The death of Professor Blake removes the oldest of American economic geologists and mining engineers, and deprives this Institute of one of its earliest and most illustrious members. To many of us it brings a personal loss also, the loss of a friend. William Phipps Blake was born June 21, 1826, in New York City. His father, Elihu Blake, was a surgeon-dentist of eminence, a direct descendant of William -Blake, who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1630. He was prs pared for college at private schools in New York, and entered the Sheffield School of Yale, where he was graduated as Ph.B. in the chemical course, class of 1852, the first graduating-class of the institution. In the same year he became chemist and mineralogist of the New Jersey Zinc Co., and chemist of chemical works at Baltimore, Md. In 1853, he started the Department of Mineralogy of the World's Fair at New York City. In 1854, 1855 and 1856, he was mineralogist and geologist of the United States Pacific Railroad Surveys of Willianlson, Pope, and Whipple, and for the War Department at

Jan 1, 1911

By J. D. Exner

With the introduction of rotary drilling in the Gulf Coast area, some thirty-two years ago, and its subsequent spread to other producing localities in the United States, there has been a constant change in the design of equipment. Only the general features remain, namely the rotating drill stem and the circulating mud. Only recently have the properties of mud and their behavior received attention from petroleum engineers, but circulating problems in present deep drilling demand further study and understanding. It is the purpose of this investigation to determine the relative changes in the apparent viscosity of muds with changes in temperature and to discover other physical effects due to heat. Very little information has been published regarding the effects of temperature on the viscosity of drilling muds. Maustl states: "The viscosity of most muds is decreased on heating, but the interesting thing is that the degree of flocculation is also increased on heating. There will be a greater tendency to seal off formations at high temperatures than at low temperatures." With regard to the effect of temperature on viscosity and yield point, Herrick2 states: "The variation of yield point and viscosity of mud with temperature.....is not very clearly brought out by the data available. Both appear to decrease slightly with increasing temperature up to 200' F." The experimental results presented in this paper further emphasize this point. Two types of viscosimeters are available for measuring the apparent viscosities of drilling muds: the efflux tube type as used by Herrick3 and Marsh, and the torsional type such as the McMichael or the Stormer viscosimeters. Because of its extensive use in measuring the apparent

Jan 1, 1933

By Jonathan Ludlow, Paul J. Guay

Based on two studies that were funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the authors provide an overview of the benefits expected from mining deeper webs on United States longwalls. The first study, completed in November 1979, identified the limits and potential gains from taking deeper webs with presently available equipment. The second on-going study discusses the conceptual design and benefits of a future system for taking very deep webs.

Jan 1, 1981

By H. M. Chance

In recent years an important function of the mining engineer has been the appraisal of the value of mining-properties required by those planning consolidations of a number of' individual operations. In no field of productive industry have the economic results attainable by consolidation been more clearly shown than in the mining-regions of the United States. In many important mining-centers unification of ownership of the most valuable properties has already partially or completely been attained, and, in other districts, projected absorptions and consolidations await only favorable financial conditions for their consummation. The iron-ore districts of the Lake Superior region, the coal-mines of Colorado, of Wyoming and of Utah, the anthracite mines of Pennsylvania, the Connellsville coking-coal mines, and large areas of bituminous coal-land in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, in the Indian Territory and in other portions of the United States, are now largely controlled by a few corporations operating on a large scale, or by a number of corporations working in harmony because of an affiliation and interleaving of interests. The tact of keen financiers and the diplomacy of men of great administrative ability are the chief operative forces in conceiving and accomplishing such consolidations, but in formulating and maturing them, the services of the mining engineer are often required to supply the facts upon which they must be based. For this purpose the expert is expected to furnish full and complete reports covering the quantity of ore, coal or other mineral available, its value per ton, cost of mining and treatment, etc. In reporting upon gold-, silver-, lead-, zinc-, copper- or iron-

Jan 1, 1905

By H. K. Birnbaum, H. B. Aaron

he authors suggest that a number of the types of yield phenomena which have been observed in high-purity fcc metals are due to dislocation interactions bccurring at the surface of the crystals rather than due to volume effects. Since rather different inter-pretationS2,7,12,14,15,21-23 of these effects have been suggested, it is of some importance to ascertain the role of the surface in these yield phenomena. It should be first noted that the high-purity fcc metals appear to exhibit several distinct types of yield phenomena. The "unloading yield point" which is observed on reloading the specimen after removing the applied load has been found to be independent of the time of holding in the unloaded condition. If however the specimen is aged while under load and re-tested without removing the load, a yield point is observed which does depend on the aging time and tem-perature. Feng and Kramer suggest that the removal of the unloading yield point on removing sufficient material from the surface of the specimen indicates that the effect is associated with dislocation interactions at the specimen surface. Their observations are counter to those of Haasen and Kelly5 and Birnbaum.12 Since the unloading yield points are extremely small (-2 pct of the flow stress) the results of the surface removal will depend on whether the material is removed uniformly over the gage length. The introduction of small etch pits or the removal of more material from one portion of the specimen than from another will result in preferential yielding and obliteration of the yield point. With the normal electropolishing techniques it would be difficult to avoid these effects. The data obtained by Aaron and Birnbaum, Fig. 10, on aluminum polycrystalline specimens indicate that, although the unloading yield point and the strain-aging yield point are not simply additive, a time- and temperature-dependent yield point is observed under conditions where no creep is observed. This does not agree with the results of Feng and Kramer but does agree with the results on copper15 and gold.7~23 The source of the discrepancy may be the procedure used by Feng and Kramer to correct their time-dependent yield points for the effect of creep. Since the strain-aging yield point is not independent of the pre-aging strain rate, Fig. 11, the effects of creep cannot

Jan 1, 1967

By John C. Osmond

One of the least known geologic regions in the U.S. is the area now called the Basin and Range Province. It is paradoxical that so little geologic information has been compiled for a province that has yielded billions of dollars worth of metals and is currently producing a small amount of oil. Regional stratigraphic studies of parts of this large territory have been published only recently, and regional structural interpretations of even parts of the province are rare in the literature. This, of course, does great injustice to the earliest workers: Gilbert, Russell, Le Conte, Spur, Louderback, and others, who recognized the area as distinctively different from the rest of North America. Their simplified picture of the structure of the ranges and the province as a whole is the groundwork for present understanding and has never been superseded. Since their early works, however, geologic data from the province has consisted largely of detailed reports of widely scattered mining districts. Each district has been described as though it were an island in an unknown sea.

Jan 3, 1960

By Oswald J. Heinrich

SINCE my communication to the Institute at the Baltimore meeting in 1879,* in which I took the lead in emphasizing the importance of a new method in the manufacture of soda, already practiced to some extent in England and on the Continent of Europe, five years have passed. I.then referred particularly to the advantages offered in the United States for this peculiar method, by the ammonia process, namely: 1. At the present time, at least, we have but one mine in this country where rock-salt is mined, namely, at New Iberia, La. On the other hand, we have many localities where brine of various degrees of strength, up to that of cold saturation, is obtained in large quantities. 2. We have excellent fuel, in close proximity to most of the brinecenters. 3. Our supplies of pyrites, to use in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, for use in the manufacture of soda by the Leblanc process, are mostly too far from the brine-centers to permit competition in that line with the more favorable conditions existing in England. 4. Unlike our foreign rivals, we have no large and costly plants, erected on the Leblanc plan, which must be abandoned and exchanged for new but cheaper plants, before the ammonia-soda process can be adopted. 5. We have a constantly increasing demand for soda, which is almost entirely supplied by importation. If slow progress has been made hitherto in this country in the extension of this manufacture (only one plant at Syracuse, erected . under the Solvay patent, having as yet been placed in operation), I still feel gratified in saying that developments in England, and particularly on the Continent of Europe, give ample proof of the

Jan 1, 1885

By C. F. Cigliana

TO accommodate a large tonnage at high speed from a single level at San Manuel, a very flexible haulage system was designed to give maximum access to stoping areas, minimize delays, and pro- vide for safety. With these requirements as a guide, the haulage was laid out as a simple double loop with one-way traffic of continuous pull. These loops consist of two parallel drifts 100 ft apart, center to center. Haulage drifts are numbered from north to south, the northernmost being the No. 1 drift. This holds true on both the North and South haulage loops. Haulage drifts are connected at 1000-ft intervals with crossovers so that it is possible to bypass any given section that may be inaccessible. Two of these turnouts are double diamonds, one located on the approach to the rotary dumps at the hoisting shafts and the other on the departure from the dumps. The turnout on the approach or North haulage is 835 ft in front of the rotary dump, and the one on the departure, or South haulage, is 1058 ft from the dump. This type of turnout allows trains coming down either haulage drift No. 1 or No. 2 to be routed into either shaft and expedites movement by avoiding delays due to congestion in the dumping area. The double diamond on the return haulage loop facilitates returning empty ore trains to the panels.

Jan 5, 1958

By Kent W. Pilz

Wet dust suppression can be achieved by 1) confinement of the dust within the dust producing area with a curtain of moisture, 2) wetting of the dust by direct contact between the particles and droplets of moisture or 3) the formation of agglomerates too heavy to remain airborne, or too heavy to become airborne, by combining small dust particles with each other and with the droplets of liquid. From the standpoint of economy, availability and safety, water is the ideal fluid; however, it is not as effective for dust suppression as when small percentages of specially formulated dust control compounds are blended with it. Performance of dust control com pounds is related to surface active agents and surface activity. In all liquids there is an attractive force between molecules which varies inversely as the sixth power of the distance between molecules. Thus, in the liquid phase where molecules are crowded together, the intermolecular forces are powerful; whereas in the liquid-vapor phase where the molecules are relatively far apart, these forces diminish rapidly. In the body of a fluid there is an uneven distribution of forces resulting in an inward pull called surface tension. The force which keeps two surfaces apart or causes them to coalesce is termed interfacial tension. Fluids of high surface tension exhibit poor wetting, spreading and penetrating qualities. Water has the unusually high surface tension of 72.75 dynes per cm at 20°C.

Jan 7, 1972