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By W. S. Ayres

BACK in the early nineties the old Dickerson iron mine in Morris county, N. J., was operated by a vertical shaft 850 ft. deep and by a continuing slope for more than 1000 ft. more 011 an incline of 65", together making the vertical depth about 1800 ft. I was then the general superintendent there. This mine, named for a former governor of New Jersey, had been worked more or less continuously from long before the American Revolution and up to this particular time. The pumping equipment was of the old-time Cornish type, with its long pump-rods running down the vertical shaft and the slope to the sump at its bottom. It was operated by a large flywheel engine in the engine room and all angles were turned by the usual bobs. Saturday was the day fixed for lowering the "suction" into the deepened sump at the bottom of the advancing slope. The mine foreman had gone down with the morning shift to superintend this very vital and particular work, which consisted not only of lowering the "suction" into the sump immediately after the pump had been stopped, but of securing it to the rock and putting in the added sections of column-pipe and of tightening up the numerous bolts at their joints, all before the water rose to the point of working. At an appointed time during the forenoon I had agreed to go down into the mine and join the mine foreman in consultation over any difficulties that might have arisen. At the time agreed I went down by the cage to the bottom of the vertical 850-ft. shaft, and then by ladders down the slope for over 1000 ft. more.

Jan 1, 1930

R. W. Raymond, New York, N. Y.: Mr. Bain's introductory statement that there is a growing disposition on the part of the public " to change emphasis " in government from political equality " to " social justice " is somewhat vague; but I gather from his argument that he approves the growing disposition to which he refers, and that the " emphasis " which it demands involves a radical change in the policy hitherto pursued by the United States—the policy under which the Pacific States and Territories have been developed thus far. I do not understand how "social justice" is to be furthered by the sacrifice of " political equality," or how the change is to be effected by "emphasis." But I fancy that the beneficent and necessary

Jan 1, 1913

Discussion of the papers of Benjamin Talbot. E. A. Beck, Emil Gathmann, Sir Robert A. Hadfield, and P. H. Dudley, presented at the New York Meeting, February, 1913, and printed in this Bulletin (No. 76, April, 1913). CHAIRMAN JAMES F. KEMP :-I call upon Prof. Albert Sauveur to open the general discussion on the subject of sound steel ingots. ALBERT SAUVEUR, Cambridge, Mass. :-I believe that I have the privilege, this instant, of opening one of the most important, significant and far-reaching discussions ever held before this Institute. I believe that our talk this morning will be heard far and wide, not only on this side of the water, but also on the other side. Everywhere, in short, where steel is manufactured. I welcome the opportunity of expressing my mind in regard to the production of sound steel ingots, a subject about which I entertain some very decided opinions. I shall not attempt to discuss the relative merits of the various processes that have been described. I shall, on the contrary, confine myself to a general consideration of the important questions before us. So intensely do I feel regarding the production of sound steel ingots that I have put my remarks on paper in my desire to present my Views.

Jan 4, 1913

NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the names of those persons Who became members during the period July 10, 1918, to Aug. 10, 1918. ARCHER, EUGENE G., assayer and Chem., Granby Cons. Min. Smelt. & Power Co.,Anyox, B. C., Canada. BAKER, ROBERT C Mech. Engr. and Draftsman, Moctezuma Copper Co., Nacozari, Son., Mexico. BARNES, EDWARD A Supt., Fort Wayne Works, General Electric Co., Fort Wayne, Ind. BARNHART, EDWIN Engr. of Tests, Bethlehem Steel Co., Sparrow's Point, Md. BENSLEY, MAURICE D Pres. and Mgr., Frontier Brass Foundry, Inc., Niagara Falls, N. Y. BRADLEY, JOHN C Met., The American Brass Co., Waterbury, Conn. BRAGG, C. T Works Mgr., Michigan Smelt. & Refin. Co., Detroit, Mich. BRYMER, GEORGE W Min. Engr., 922 Union National Bank Bldg., Scranton, Pa. CHIVVIS, NORMAN Met. Engr., More-Jones Brass & Metal Co., 3144 North Broadway, St. Louis, Mo. CRAWFORD, R. D Prof. of Mineralogy & Petrology, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.

Jan 9, 1918

By John S. Johnson, Thomas Fraser

SIZING is the process of separating mixed particles into groups of particles all of the same size, or into groups in which all particles range between certain definite maximum and minimum sizes. In coal preparation, sizing is generally accomplished by passing the coal over screens. Separation by differential settling in air or water currents has been adapted to the special field of separating very fine sizes, and these processes are in commercial use to a relatively small extent in the coal industry. Separation with screens is a very old industrial practice. Agricola described the use of screens for ore treatment in the middle ages. In the literature of the British coal industry references were made to the screening of coal as early as 1589, but the practice of extensive sizing for the market did not become general until the last half of the nineteenth century. In America, the practice of sizing developed first in the Pennsylvania anthracite region, beginning with the use of rakes in the mine working places to recover coarse coal. This mining procedure left the fines in the mine. Preparation outside the mine started with the installation of stationary cast-iron plates with 4 to 6-in. square holes. The run-of-mine coal was dumped upon the platforms, the large pieces of rock were picked out by hand, and the large lumps of coal were broken with hammers. The term "breaker," which still applies to the anthracite-preparation plant, originated with this practice, but the term is no longer descriptive of the entire function of the plant. In 1884, the first power-operated anthracite coal breaker was erected by Gideon Bart at his colliery at Wolf Creek near Minersville, Pa. This plant utilized a system of rolls for breaking the coal and revolving screens for sizing. The plant was driven by a steam engine. It could handle coal at the rate of 200 tons a day. By 1860, revolving screens were in wide use in the Pennsylvania anthracite field. Shaking screens were introduced in the Pennsylvania anthracite region in the 90's and they rapidly displaced the lower-capacity revolving screens.

Jan 1, 1950

By Frederick Laist

About six years ago the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. decided to investigate the possibility of extracting zinc from the ores of certain mines in the Butte district. These ores are of a complex character and contain so much iron and lead that the concentrate contains only 33 to 35 per cent. zinc. Investigations showed that while a high-grade concentrate could not be obtained by ordinary methods, such as tabling and magnetic treatment, a fair grade could be made by the Horwood process. In this method, the concentrate resulting from the flotation of all of the sulfides is given a light roast and this calcine is subjected to flotation in the presence of a large amount of sulfuric acid; the resulting concentrate contains most of the zinc and a residue contains most of the iron. The fact that the lead, copper, and silver are divided approximately equally between the zinc concentrate and the iron residue and the large consumption of acid, which ranged from 50 to 100 lb. (22 to 45 kg.) per ton of concentrates, were serious objections to this plan. The zinc recovery, moreover, was low, as a considerable percentage invariably accompanied the iron. While a profit might be made on the ores by the use of this process, it was thought that other and more promising methods might be devised. After carefully studying the field and doing some laboratory work on various processes that had been suggested, it was decided that the electrolysis of sulfate solutions was the most promising. We soon found, as have other investigators, that the only way to obtain a good zinc deposit is to have the electrolyte free from all metals more electronegative than zinc, such as copper, cadmium, lead, arsenic, antimony, etc. Arsenic and antimony are particularly injurious, causing very poor current efficiency and small yield per horsepower when present in amounts so small as almost to defy detection—1 mg. or less per liter. A pure zinc is soluble only with difficulty in sulfuric acid; an impure zinc dissolves very readily. Electrolytic zinc deposited from pure solutions is, of course, extremely pure and dissolves only about one-fiftieth

Jan 1, 1921

By J. O. Brittain, E. P. Lautenschlager, F. Felberbauer

This investigation was undertaken to evaluate the effect of a dispersed phase in a iron upon the strain hardening and the stress dependency of dislocation velocity as inferred from the strain-rate sensitivitv. Experiments were made in a-iron specimens with controlled amounts of carbon and/or A12O3. They were tested at various temperatures between 195' and 373 'K under a variety of conditions oj-concentration, strain rate, and quench aging. The resulting yield strength, flow strength, and strain hardening increased with addition of Al2O3. The parameter m, measured from changes in strain rate, was xsed to describe the stress dependency of the dislocation velocity. m was found to increase with additions of A12O3, increasing carbon in solution, and with increasing temperature. When applied to a recent model for yielding based upon dislocation multiplication and velocity characteristics, the values of m alone did not successfully predict yielding for the materials of this investigalion, but had to be adjusted with a consideration of the number of unlocked dislocations nucleated heterogeneously at discontinuities or inclusions. The change of yield strength with Al2O3 Interpar-ticle spacing appeared to obey a theory of Orowan. EVER since the concept of dislocations has been introduced to explain plastic deformation in crystalline materials, the origin of dislocations and the source of the number of dislocations required to account for plastic deformation have been persistent questions. Ruling out the possibility of homogeneous nucleation,' Gilman2 drew attention to the various cases of heterogeneous nucleation as the source of dislocations, whereas Frank and Read3 introduced the Frank-Read source. However, Gil-man found that the Frank-Read sources did not play a dominant role in the deformation of LiF crystals, but that small precipitates are often, if not always, associated with the nucleation of dislocations. In LiF crystals, however, most of the dislocations arose through the multiplication of moving dislocations in a mechanism described by Koehler4 and Orowan,5 Thus, relatively few precipitates could account for a large number of dislocations. A similar observation of dislocation nucleation at inclusions of precipitates was made by Stein and LOW' on Si-Fe crystals. Their crystals contained

Jan 1, 1964

By Joseph A. Norden, A. R. Willson

Much has been written concerning the hoisting equipment of various mines throughout the country, but most of the literature on the subject, if not all, describes equipment of extraordinary capacity and the small and medium-sized outfits have been neglected. The hoisting equipment here described is capable of handling about 1200 tons per day. It has not been worked to capacity, but 600 to 700 tons, together with men and materials, have been handled in two shifts without any great effort. Only one shaft extends from the surface to the lowest levels of the mine; see Fig. I. It is composed of three compartments, two of which are used for hoisting, and the third for water, air, and electrical lines, and for sinking purposes. In 1909, this shaft was raised from the 1000-ft. (304-m.) level to the 700-ft. There a station was cut and an air hoist installed. At this time all mining operations were confined to the upper levels of the mine; that is, above the 700-ft. The ore was dropped to this level through chutes from the 300-, 400-, 500-, and 600-ft. levels and then lowered in cars on cages to the 1000-ft., which is the main haulage adit, the mill and railroad bins being about 3000 ft. from the shaft. Orebodies were, in due time, developed on the 1000-ft. level and below. Therefore, in 1913,the shaft was sunk to the 1150-ft. level and thereafter sinking was continued at regular intervals until the 1500-ft. level was reached. But, hoisting from the 1300-ft. level was a difficult and slow process with the antiquated air hoist, so, in 1916, it was decided to raise the shaft to the surface and install a modern, electrically operated hoist. This was completed early in 1917 and the hoist was in operation in March of that year. The Hoist Figs. 2, 3, and 4 show various features of the hoist and electrical equipment. A Nordberg engine of the double-drum, geared type, designed for a 10-ton load, including rope, at a speed of 1500 ft. per min., is used. The drums are 7 ft. (2.1 m.) in diameter, with a 54-in. (137-em.)

Jan 1, 1922

By S. M. Bishoff

The disturbance of surface land to support the underground mining of coal requires several hundred acres to produce easily in excess of $1 billion in sales at a moderately sized mine over 20-30 years. Due to the recent influx of environmental legislation, these surface operations must now undergo complete reclamation upon permanent cessation of production. This reclamation procedure has become so complex that the cost of reclamation must be a major consideration in the design of a new mine. This presentation will discuss these costs as they may be methodically evaluated and surcharged as a percentage of the product price. When placed in the proper, logical perspective, it is anticipated that the obstacles involved in this process may be minimized.

Jan 1, 1985

By Robert A. Kinzie

PAGE Introduction.............334 Climate.............335 History............335 Geology.............341 Mining..............343 Shafts............343 Stations and Ore-Bins....345 Levels. Drifts. Cross-Cuts, Winzes. etc........347 Stoping Surface-Pits,......... 351 Underground Stoping........... 332 Chutes. Drilling. etc.....354 Tramming............. 358 Sampling. Maps and Assaying.........360 Labor.............361 Machinery.............362 Milling,..............362 Crushers.............366 Battery-Foundations...........368 Power (Water—Coal)...........373 Methods of Catching the Free Gold...374 Screens..............376 Apron-Plates,.......376 Concentration..........378 Clean-Up,.............378 Labor..............382 Costs..............382 Introduction. The Treadwell Group comprises five mines. four of which are situated on the northeast side of Douglas island. directly opposite the town of Juneau, and one about four miles back of Juneau. These mines are owned by four separate companies. but are all under the same general management. Those situated on Douglas island are : The Treadwell mine. owned by the Alaska Treadwell Gold Mining Co.. the Mexican mine. owned by the Alaska Mexican Gold Mining Co.; and the Ready Bullion and Seven-Hundred-Foot mines. owned by the Alaska United Gold Mining Co. The Juneau mine. owned by the

Jan 1, 1904

By M. G. Corson

UNTIL recently, the characteristics of cast copper have seldom been studied and such study as has been made has been inadequate. The prevailing idea seems to be that since pure copper is infrequently used in the cast state, there is no reason for trying to establish precise data regarding the properties of the metal in that condition. On the other hand, wrought copper either in the shape of sheets or wire rarely fails in service, except as a result of the action of reducing gases at the annealing temperatures, so there is little incentive to study the properties of the cast shapes -cakes, bars, ingots and billets-for the sake of tracing the causes of failures of the wrought metal to the cast stock. However, about a decade ago, wirebars of American origin often cracked badly while being hot-rolled in mills in Germany. This led to four investigations: by E. Seidl and E. Schiebold,1 by P. Siebe,2 by 0. Bauer and G. Sachs,3 and by G. Welter.4 These authors came to the conclusion that failures in hot-rolling were due essentially to the presence of a' wide zone of columnar crystals between the thin layer of fine crystals near the surfaces of the bars and the large but more nearly: equiaxed grains of the central core. This macrostructural defect was explained in turn by the probable upward deviation in the temperature of the metal while it was being poured into the molds of the casting machine. More recently, cast shapes of copper were investigated by N. P. Allen5 and by C. Blazey.6 Allen examined vertically cast wirebars and horizontally cast wedge cakes of electrolytic tough-pitch copper, but only for the distribution of densities; i.e., porosity. Blazey was interested mainly in the mechanism of the variations in electrical conductivity due to cold-work and anneal, but gave introductively an account of the composition and average densities of the tough-pitch horizontally cast wirebars used. As far as the present writer can tell, no investigation was undertaken for the sake of presenting a picture of the distribution of mechanical characteristics in the wirebars of copper, tough-pitch or otherwise.

Jan 1, 1938

By J. R. Eckel

It has long been known that mud properties affect drilling rate and that drilling with water is as much as six to .seven times faster than with mud. However, it is not known why drilling rates with mud are lower. Recent studies show what fluid properties govern microbit drilling rate and also provide a quantitative correlation of these fluid properties and hydraulics with microbit drilling rate. All the microbit tests reported in this paper were made with a low permeability (about 10 md) limestone. They were conducted at constant bit weight and rotary speed with varying fluid properties, flow rate Q and nozzle dinnteter d. The tests showed that (1) drilling rate in a given system with constant circulating rate and nozzle velocity is a function of the kinematic viscosity [viscosity /density, (cp)/ p (density)] of the drilling fluid measured at near bit nozzle shear rates; (2) the combined effect of fluid properties and hydraulics on microbit drilling rate is defined by a Reynolds number function (kQp/dp); (3) for the same kinematic viscosity, drilling rate is independent of solids content; and (4) for the same kinematic viscosity, drilling rate is independent of fluid loss. INTRODUCTION The fact that mudding up reduces rate of penetration is well known, but the reduction varies from well to well. The rate with mud may be 80 percent of the water rate or it may be as low as 15 percent. Since this reduction of up to seven-fold takes place under conditions of constant bit weight, rotary speed and mud circulating rate in a uniform formation, it can only be a result of the change in fluid properties. Previous work1-" both in field tests and in laboratory microbit tests) showed that drilling rate with mud is lower than with water (Figs. 1 and 2). Microbit tests also confirm, at least qualitatively, the field observation that drilling rate slows with increased pressure differential from borehole to formation (Fig. 3). The qualitative effect of drilling rate of bit weight, rotary speed and rate of mud circulation are also the same for the field and microbit rig. For these reasons, the industry generally accepts microbit results as being qualitatively meaningful in terms of field application.

By D. A. Woodford

In a constant-load creep test, if the density of nlobile dislocations is assumed constant for strains exceeding that corvesponding to the minimum creep rate, it is shown that the creep rate may be approximated by the equation where E is the nominal strain, o0. is the initial stress, and a' the stress fov unit dislocation velocity. The constant C contains the mean density of mobile dislocations and n is a measure of the stress sensitivity of dislocation celocity. This equation is shoum to be applicable to published data on an alloy steel and on nickel. The degree of plastic instability and hence the creep ductility is dependent on the calue of n for these materials. When instability becomes gross and local macroscopic necking occurs, the assumptions are no longer valid. On the basis of this equation, and the strain-time relation derived from it, a method of predicting the creep behavior at different stresses is suggested. MOst analyses of creep data have been concerned with time-dependent transient creep or time-independ- ent secondary creep in constant-stress tests. The far more widely used constant-load test has been neglected in terms of a mechanistic approach. In general, since the strains involved are usually small, the same laws for transient creep may be applied to both types of tests. However, there is no steady-state creep in a constant-load test since the stress increases continuously. Any apparent steady state observed on a strain-time plot is either fortuitous or illusory, and is generally revealed as a continuously varying creep rate on a carefully constructed strain rate vs time plot.* Transient creep may be understood in terms of a simple differential equation representing the change in mobile dislocation density with time:' where p is the density of mobile dislocations. The first term on the right is related to first-order kinetics of dislocation multiDlication and the second to second-order kinetics of exhaustion. On the basis of this equation, several authors2-4 have found good agreement with experimental transient creep curves for a number of materials. When k1p = k2p2, a steady-state creep

Jan 1, 1968

Curiously enough, considering the relative accessibility of the two places, coal was reported at an earlier date in Saskatchewan than in British Columbia. Henry and Thompson were on the Saskatchewan River in February 1811, and on the 4th of that month recorded, while on Jack's Branch of North Brook, "I observed in one of the bends on the north side a bank of yellow clay, on which there appeared several horizontal veins of pure coal, of the best quality I have seen along this river." Later at Rocky Mountain House it was said: "a quantity of coal is tumbling into the water, as the current washes away the earth underneath. This coal abounds along the Saskatchewan, in some places forming solid beds several feet thick for several acres, which are washed by the river. In its pure state our smiths use it for the forge with equal proportions of charcoal made of birch or aspen, which answers every purpose for making and repairing our axles and other tools."1 It is needless to say that it was many years before this coal was used for any commercial purposes. Coal was first found on the northern end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia in 1835 at Beaver Harbor, where later Fort Rupert was established, where Indians had advised some of the Hudson Bay Company officials it would be found.2 The coal was used by smiths, and later on by the steamer plying along the coast.3 A report to the government in 1845 called attention to the coal reported in the neighborhood of Puget Sound and on the Cowlitz River, and that probably the samples used by the Hudson's Bay Company were obtained from the surface and. were not good. On September 7, 1846 a report on the coal situation was submitted by Ogden and Douglas, and a naval vessel was sent to investigate the report and was loaded with 62 tons dug out by the Indians, the seam outcropping along the shore.2 In 1847 some samples were sent to England by a returning war vessel. In 1849 the Hudson's Bay Company established a

Jan 1, 1942

By S. J. Hardison

IN the fall of 1912, the appearance of water in the oil of the Nevada Petroleum Co., Coalinga, Cal., made necessary the installation of a dehydrating plant to reduce the water below the 3 per cent. limit prescribed by the agency. Unlike the mining industry, technical literature of the oil industry is limited and extremely unsatisfactory. Until the recent efforts of the Petroleum and Gas Committee of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, no concerted movement has been instituted to secure publication of papers dealing with the problems of the oil business, and because of the additional fact that dehydrating of oil has not been practiced in California to any extent up to comparatively recent time, it was found necessary to experiment in order to determine the most satisfactory plan for this purpose. It is easy to write regarding successful enterprises, but, while not so pleasant, it is equally desirable to write of failures so that others may be saved the loss incident to such investments. The water in this oil occurs both free and as an emulsion. Free water easily settles out, but the emulsion requires treatment. So far as can be determined, the emulsion consists of globules of water surrounded and enveloped by a film of, oil. Starting with this hypothesis, the theory has been evolved that in order to break up this emulsion the water must be heated at least to boiling point, when an explosion takes place destroying the globule. Unfortunately, this condition was not recognized in the installation of the first plant, which was planned on the following lines: A heater was arranged so that all the oil from the wells could be heated before reaching the shipping tanks, these being already fitted with coils for steam heating. Tanks were filled with about 4 ft. of water, live steam was turned into the coils and the water brought nearly to the boiling point, when the heated oil was run in. This for a time was partly successful, but the length of time necessary to apply this heat was too great for practical operating.

Jan 3, 1915

By J. H. Jackson, R. B. Fischer

VERY little is known about the properties of relatively pure refractory metals in the cast state since these metals are customarily made by powder-metallurgy methods. Recently, the development of the vacuum arc-melting furnace has made possible the study of large, sound ingots of cast molybdenum. The ductility of molybdenum, at room temperature, may vary considerably. Often the brittle state depreciates the utility of molybdenum, even for the material prepared by powder-metallurgy techniques. At the outset of this program, it was felt that if the causes of brittleness were to be determined it might be possible to reduce the difficulties met in the working of molybdenum. Also, the problem of producing strong, fusion weldrnents of molybdenum might be solved. The conditions required to produce ductile molybdenum by the powder-metallurgy technique are reasonably well known. A fibrous or elongated-grain structure has good ductility although this property is probably directional. The equiaxed structure obtained in fully recrystallized molybdenum has been considered to be brittle. The reasons for this behavior of molybdenum have not been established. The preparation of cast molybdenum ingots by the vacuum-arc method was described by Parke and Ham.' By this method, ingots weighing up to 250 Ib were produced." Parke and Ham1 found that molybdenum ingots containing more than approximately 0.0025 pct oxygen could not be hot forged. On the other hand, they found that fully deoxidized cast molybdenum, containing up to 0.06 pct carbon, could be hot forged. However, the as-cast ingots containing either carbon or oxygen were brittle at room temperature. Parke and Ham,1 Woodside,3 and Zapffe, Landgraf, and Worden4 noted the inter-granular precipitation of oxide or carbide in cast molybdenum. This study—part of an extensive program on mo-lybdenum—had the following objectives: (1) To investigate the causes for the brittleness of cast molybdenum at room temperature, (2) to investigate the means for improving the ductility of cast molybdenum at room temperature, and (3) to add to the knowledge of cast molybdenum and of cast metals in general.

Jan 1, 1951

By S. Razi

Injection luminescence of single crystals of rare-earth-activated CdS was investigated. Crystals of CdS:Nd, CdS:Er, and CdS:Yb, grown by the vapor transport technique, were suitably etched and hetero-junctions of Cu2S-CdS were fabricated on one side of the CdS substrate by chemical reaction. The device was then heated to 200°C in an inert atmosphere for 5 min. Static V-I measurements show that at low voltages (V < 1 v) the current is controlled by the junction, while at higher voltages the bulk Properties of the CdS substrate effectively control the current. Because of the large thicknesses no negative resistance was found. Reverse breakdown voltage varied from 5 v, for junctions that were not heat-treated, to 100 v, for diodes that received the proper heat treatment. The rectification ratio, measured in the range of 2 to 10 v, varied from 300 to 3000. Capacitance- voltage measurements indicate a weak dependence of the junction capacity on applied voltage. The capacity was found to increase appreciably with room light illumination. The variation of capacitance with frequency is indicative of a p+-i-n structure. An open-circuit voltage of 0.4 v was measured under an illumination of 100 mw per sq cm. Under forward bias, the bluish-green edge emission characteristic of CdS was observed. No sharp rare earth emission line was observed, which is in contrast to our results using ZnS:Tb, where, under high-voltage excitation, the rare earth emission was dominat over the lattice emission. The absence of rare earth emission implies that either the nature of the rare earth ion is different at the het-erojunction than in the bulk or the probability of energy transfer to the rare earth ion is small. RARE earth elements are playing an increasingly important role in the Synthesis of materials for a variety of purposes, e.g., solid-state lasers, color television screens, and so forth. Interesting systems result when wide-band-gap photoconducting lattices are activated with rare earths. A study of the lumines-

Jan 1, 1969

By R. G. Knickerbocker, R. R. Lloyd, W. T. Rawles

In July 1041, the Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines at Boulder City, Nevada, began a study of methods of producing magnesium metal from magnesium oxide, with particular emphasis upon the direct use of magnesium oxide in a molten chloride electrolyte. The program was extended to include pilot-plant study of chemical methods for the preparation of pure magnesia from dolomites and magnesites. Preliminary work on the production of magnesia from dolomite was done with the cooperation of Kobert D. Pike and the Harbison-Walker Refractories Co. These investigatipns included a cooperative arrangement whereby the Bureau tested certain steps of the Harbison-Walker-Pike process. The process finally developed by the Bureau includes the precarbonation mixing step of the H.W.P. flowsheet prepared by Mr. Pike. Two magnesium-reduction plants using MgO as a source of magnesium were being constructed in the West, and they enormously stimulated interest in various dolomite deposits as possible sources of the magnesia needed by them. This paper describes one phase of this program—the operation of a pilot plant for producing cell-grade magnesia from dolomite from Sloan, Nevada. The process developed for this purpose is an adaptation of a well-known process first proposed by Clossonl and modified by others,2"1 involving the use of calcium chloride and carbon dioxide. It is based on the following chemical reactions: MgCl2 + Ca(OH)2 = CaCl2 + Mg(OH)2 [1] Mg(OH)4 + CaCU + CO2 = MgCl2 + CaCO, + H2O [2] The first reaction proceeds almost completely to the right because of the much greater solubility of calcium hydroxide as compared with magnesium hydroxide. Under equilibrium conditions, when only the four components shown in reaction I are involved, the ratio of magnesium to calcium in solution, according to solubility-product relationship, will be: This reaction is the basis of present commercial processes for recovering magnesium from sea water and dolomite. The second reaction is, in effect, a reversal of the first reaction produced by adding COz. This reaction also proceeds nearly to completion, the solubility relationship being: Ca where P indicates partial pressure of COz, in atmospheres.

Jan 1, 1944

By Charles Baker

THE district of Catorce, San Luis Potosi, ranks among the first half-dozen silver-producing camps f Mexico. Mining has been more or less continuous there for 150 years. The large producing mines, Mapum, Mazapil, Palomas, Musquiz, Minas Virjas, now for the most part idle or abandoned, are grouped around the head of two valleys: one, which drains to the west, falls 2000 ft. (609.6 m.) in 4 1/2 mi. (7.2 km.) between the main Catorce and the western foot of the range and is characterized by steep canon walls; the other, east of the main town of Catorce from which it is separated by a high divide, heads in a number of steep tributaries above the basin in which lies the town of Potrero and flows nearly north for 10 mi. (16 km.) to the northern base of the range; below Potrero, it has for the most part gently sloping valley walls and a broad valley floor. The Sierra Catorce is the highest range of the region, the summits reaching altitudes of over 11,000 ft. With the exception of a few cliffs of the erosion escarpment of the lower limestone and the canon walls below the main town of Catorce, which is the highest town in Mexico, the gently rounded slopes are characteristic of a maturely eroded mountain range composed of folded sedimentary rocks. As is usual in desert regions, the heavy-bedded limestones are the most resistant to erosive forces. Folded into anticlines, they form the mountain ranges; and the intermontane valleys and basins, originally carved out of less resistant shales, clays, marls and sandstones, are covered by debris forming a mantle with surface gradually rising upwards toward the hills. In time, the debris buries, in deposits formed from their own ruins, all but the highest summits of the original mountains; some f this region has already nearly reached this stage. Most of the debris is firmly cemented by calcium carbonate (caliche). Solution f the limestone by meteoric waters afforded the supply of lime carbonate, which has been redeposited upon evaporation of the waters as a cement binding the boulders, pebbles, and finer detritus.

Jan 9, 1921

By George Wendell

THE fact that a symposium on pyrometry is being held under the auspices of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers may very properly be taken as a recognition of the importance of temperature measurements and control in production and in the industries, and of the need for instruction in pyrometry in our schools of engineering. Though there may be general agreement as to the need of some instruction along this line, there will undoubtedly be divergence of opinion as to the amount of time that can be allowed to such instruction, as well as to its character. Those who have given little attention to the complexity of high-temperature measurements will be apt to think that a few simple experiments are all that is required. They fail to distinguish between the artisan, who merely has to learn how to use any piece of apparatus that is installed, and the technically trained man, who must be prepared to assume the responsibility for the supervision and maintenance of the pyrometric equipment, for the calibration of the instruments, and for the solution of any temperature problems that arise. In approaching this subject two questions present themselves: What should be the character of the instruction in pyrometry in an engineering school, and what can be expected of the students who have had this instruction? In brief, it may be said that the aims of a course in pyrometry should be to give: (1) A thorough grounding in the fundamental principles of thermoelectric, resistance, radiation, and optical pyrometry, and of liquid and gas thermometry; (2) practical instruction in the calibration of pyrometers; (3) acquaintance with the errors that are likely to arise and the precautions that must be observed in practice; (4) information regarding the limitations of the various classes of instruments, their relative reliability, and the accuracy attainable with them at different temperatures; (5) acquaintance with the commercial instruments on the market, their construction and relative merits; (6) a knowledge of the chief sources of information relating to the measurement of high and low temperatures. To sum up, the aim should be to turn out resourceful young men familiar with the leading instruments on the

Jan 9, 1919