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By Alexander N. Mitinsky

Up to a certain limit, the increase of pressure on the diamond-drill increases the rate of progress in drilling. That limit is set by the resistance of the diamonds to compression; and beyond it, the destruction of the stones will involve an economic loss, both in time and in money. It is, therefore, important to all diamond-drillers to know what is the resistance mentioned. In Europe, operators usually follow an empirical rule, which directs the maintenance of a pressure, on the area of the bottom of the drilling-tool, of 12 kg. per sq. em. For the tools in ordinary use, this is equivalent to 1 kg. per sq. mm. of the diamonds set in the tool. So far as I know, American drillers are using pressures as high as 50 to 60 kg. per sq. em. of the total area of the drill, and the consumption of diamonds (on Denny's authority, 0.2 carat per meter bored) is greater in America than in Europe. But the reason for this diffrence may be the comparatively larger size of the diamonds commonly used by American drillers. With the assistance of my friend, the late S. Woisslaw, who was the pioneer of diamond-drilling in Russia, I selected from his stock a number of black diamonds, which I subjected in my laboratory to compression-tests, To prepare regular cubes for such tests, as is generally done with other stones, would have been not only costly, but, what is more important, practically useless. I therefore determined, in order to assimilate as nearly as possible the conditions of actual use, to place each sample between a hard plate (corresponding to the rock) and a softer plate (corresponding to the bottom of the tool), into which it would be pressed during the test.

Jan 1, 1907

By H. W. Imholz

Considerable stimulation was given to the interest in the lower producing zones of the North Central Texas area when several wildcat wells developed production in these formations. The Iron Mountain and Humble-Olander well in sec. 196, B.B.B. and C. survey, Jones County, Texas, had a potential of 7500 bbl. (after a 3000-gal. acid treatment) from the Palo Pinto limestone encountered from 3238 to 3250 ft. This well heightened the prospects for oil in commercial quantities in the Canyon, Strawn, Bend and Ellenburger formations in the adjoining counties of Shackelford, Haskell, Throckmorton and others. The Hickok-Van Parmer well in sec. 477 S.P.R.R. Co. survey, Eastland County, Texas, was good for 1040 bbl., natural, from the Ellen-burger limestone, encountered from 4024 to 4033 feet. The Hal Hughes-Cook and Jordan (Poindexter) well in sec. 350, block 6, S.P.R.R. Co. survey, Callahan County, flowed 890 bbl. in 9 hr., after acid treatment, from the Ellenburger limestone, encountered from 4369 to 4388 feet. Both of the Ellenburger wells apparently are maintaining the pressure and volume of their original potential tests, and will no doubt open up considerable area in the adjoining counties for prospecting to the Ellen-burger limestone. Production increased in the district from 12,081,871 bbl. in 1936 to 15,384,500 bbl. The increase was due to developments in Jones and Jack Counties. Jack County production increased from 896,680 bbl. in 1936 to 3,117,063 in 1937, while Jones County increased from 1,596,743 bbl. in 1936 to 2,289,322 in 1937. The remaining counties of the district showed a slight decrease in the amount of oil produced.

Jan 1, 1938

HENRY M. HOWE, Bedford Hills, N. Y. (communication to the Secretary *).-Dr. Burgess would add to the value of this important paper if he would give us the carbon content of the steel made in the several charges, or, if this cannot be done, if he would indicate whether, as might he inferred from his paper, the teeming temperature is approximately constant and independent of the carbon content of the steel, or whether as would be expected, it varies with the content and is materially higher for low- than for high-carbon steel. If he could add to Table 3 the time of the several tests, that would be welcome. His Table 3 leads one to infer that, once the bath is melted somewhat more than flat, the temperature of the roof is nearly constant and is approximately the highest compatible with reasonable longevity. That is to say, the metal is heated by means of a roof and flame at nearly constant temperature. The temperature of the observed upper surface of the slag should reflect that of the roof approximately, and in Table 3 this seems to be true, the temperature of both rising toward the middle of the record, and again falling. The slag as the medium through which the heat passes from roof to metal, should be intermediate in temperature between the two, as it is here. But the temperature of the metal ought to rise continuously, unless when cold additions are charged, and this too seems to be. true, allowing for slight observational errors, the total rise from the first to the last spoon-test being 89°. The temperature drop of from 85° to 135° from the last spoon-test to the teeming is surprisingly great, suggesting that the spoon-tests represent the metal immediately beneath the slag, and therefore appre-

Jan 6, 1917

By J. Th. Erb

Oil is found in commercial quantities in the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Tarakan and Ceram. The oil deposits of the Dutch East Indies and Sarawak are with one exception of Tertiary origin and as a rule are bound to anticlinal structures. The number of layers varies in most fields and in some of them asmuch as 14 oil-producing levels have been established. The crude oil varies rather much in composition. Some of it, particularly from North and South Sumatra, has a gasoline content up to 50 Per cent. Borneo produces mainly wax oil, while the Tarakan oil can be used directly as liquid fuel. In Java both wax and wax-free oil are produced. ' In all important fields installations have been erected to treat the wet gas. The lean gas is used for gas-lift purposes, Marietta process, and as fuel for boilers and motors, either in the fields or in the refineries. Formerly only percussion systems (Canadian, Californian and a drilling system devised especially for the purposes of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Concern) were applied in the Dutch East Indies, but in recent years the rotary system has been predominant and good results have been obtained with it. The deepest producer has recently been struck in South Sumatra at a depth of 1624 m. (5328 ft.), with a daily production of about 350 cu. m. crude oil. The crude is brought by an extensive system of trunk lines to the refineries, of which one is in North Sumatra (Pangkalan Brandan), two arc in South Sumatra near the town of Palembang, two in East ,Java (Tjepoe and Wonokromo), one in East Borneo (Balik Papan) and one in Sarawak (Miri). Production The principal producing concerns in the 'East Indies are: De Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, the producing subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Concern; Sarawak Oilfields Ltd., one of the

Jan 1, 1929

By S. A. TAYLOR

THE aftermath of a world war brings up a number of economic problems for the consideration of all thinking and patriotic citizens. The solution of the problems which confront the country at this time cannot well be accomplished by reference to past experience, for such conditions as confront us today have not existed in the past. We must, therefore, in any attempt to solve the present problems, rely to a great extent upon a careful analysis of present conditions to determine what is wrong; and after this is determined, seek the remedy and apply it. It needs no argument to establish the fact that, in the effort to win the war, the cost of so doing, and the waste in connection with it were, to a large extent, lost sight of; and this situation caused high wages, high cost of all materials, and of food supplies.

Jan 1, 1921

An extended investigation by the chief engineer of the Bureau of Mines shows that North Dakota has immense beds of lignite. War conditions have stimulated the use of North Dakota lignite until it is now being used at the rate of 1,000,000 tons annually. This North Dakota lignite is coming into extensive local use and considerable of it is being shipped to various parts of the state. The great problem at the present time is to find a market for the gas, which is the principal-by-product of lignite preparation. Bureau of Mines specialists will complete their reports of the studies of lignite in this country and will then make a recommendation as to the lignite field which is best suited for the establishment of the proposed Government's experimental plant. "Broken eggs cannot be mended."-(Lincoln.) Neither can "cashed in" War Saving Stamps grow to their maturity value.

Jan 8, 1919

There are no data available of shipments until 1858, and then estimated, when railroad service became available. By reason of the iron made in the county, and the large amounts of salt, the tonnage used locally was quite large, and until 1860 these are estimated from the probable salt and iron production. After 1859 the tonnages shipped by rail are partly estimated from the total shipments of the Allegheny Valley Railroad from four counties. It is believed that the totals are below, rather than above, what the actual production was. While considerably larger for the same years than figures given by the Secretary of Internal Affairs and census reports, these data were always too low in those days, partly because of lack of facilities for gathering them, but more largely because of the strong prejudice existing in those days against furnishing such data to any governmental agencies.

Jan 1, 1942

The research project on size reduction, sponsored by the mining industry through financial support from individual companies, is now embarking on a second three-year program. The first 3-year program had as its objectives assimilation of the literature on comminution and development of simulation programs encompassing the basic mechanisms of grinding. This involved investigating conditions under which a particle in a mill is captured, the stress to which it is subjected, its break probability, and the resulting particle size distributions. The results were used to obtain the most representative simulation models based on current knowledge of mechanisms. As part of this work a set of computer programs has been developed for the following cases: . Batch mill, by numerical integration for completely general selection and breakage functions. . Continuous open-circuit mill by same method as above. . Continuous open-circuit mill by general numerical integration method, including transient behavior

Jan 1, 1969

By S. E. Craig

Jen Inc., operator of the Cord mine, in the Big Indian district of San Juan County, Utah, has a contract with a milling company that provides a small bonus for proper grading and preparation of uranium ores shipped. To obtain maximum returns on this contract very close grading is required with settlements made on individual lots, which vary from 250 to 300 tons. Another feature of the contract, and one that is rather unique in this country, is that the ore is sold over truck scales at the mine. Grade is determined at the buyer's sample plant. It is necessary to take a moisture sample of each truckload shipped for ac- curate weighing and this is done by the representative of the buyer, using facilities supplied by Jen Inc. The sample is hardly more than a grab sample and includes only the finer and smaller pieces of the ore shipped.

Jan 10, 1958

By J. L. Wright

When management is confronted with the risk of constructing a waste disposal well, these are some of the questions which may arise. Should the company expand the present waste treatment plant? More lagoons will cut into valuable acreage which might be needed later, and yet the pollution engineer says he can guarantee results. On the other hand, does the formation being used for those successful disposal wells off to the west extend over far enough to be used for the company's own well? Will the formation be thick enough? Will it be too deep? Will it be porous and permeable enough? Apart from needing to make a profit on the products made at the plant, plant officials must sometimes act under pressure to comply with pollution standards. The manager must build the cost of the pollution control system into the price of the products made by the company.

Jan 1, 1970

Discussion of the paper of ALBERT SAUVEUR, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 93, September, 1914, pp. 2439 to 2449 G. K. BURGESS, Washington, D. C.-This very instructive contribution by Professor Sauveur to our knowledge of that puzzling substance, Hadfield's manganese steel, should not only be read in connection with the paper of Messrs. Hopkinson and Hadfield referred to by Professor Sauveur (Bulletin No. 87, pp. 513 to 530, March, 1914); but one should also have in mind, as throwing much additional light upon the questions raised, two papers recently presented before the Iron and Steel Institute, the one by Sir Robert Hadfield (Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute No. II, 1913) on Heating and Cooling Curves of Manganese Steel, the other by Messrs. Hadfield and Hopkinson (ibid., No. I, 1914) treating of the Magnetic and Mechanical Properties of Manganese Steel. We then have brought together for this substance, the thermal, magnetic, and mechanical properties as well as the resulting microstructure, for the definite heat treatments described, and in particular after long annealing between 500° and 700° C. Sir Robert Hadfield and Professor Hopkinson see in the properties found for manganese steel (of C = 1.25 and Mn = 12.5 per cent.) a demonstration of the untenableness of the allotropic theory of iron, whereas Professor Sauveur reaches the contrary conclusion, that some of the facts observed can be explained only in terms of the existence of beta iron in steel of this composition. There is another possible hypothesis: namely, that these several series of experiments shed no light on the subject of the allotropy of iron, or at least as regards the existence of beta iron. However heretical it may sound, I am inclined to this last belief.

Jan 4, 1915

By John Hall

THE recently announced run of three years, nine months and eleven days made by a. crucible steel melting furnace of the Columbia Tool Steel Co., which is claimed as a. world's record, brings forcibly to our attention the great improvements that have been made in the design, construction and operation of the Siemen's regenerative crucible- melting furnace since its introduction in this country. Credit for this advance should be given to the furnace designer, the manufacturer of refractories, and the operators of the furnaces, whose persistent efforts and intelligent co-operation in attacking the problem have resulted so satisfactorily. There are three factors that determine the life of a crucible furnace, or any other furnace for that matter : Design, nature of refractories and conditions of operation; (including the nature of steel melted) and to some extent these factors are interdependent. Thus, for instance, if a crucible furnace is to lie operated single turn and allowed to cool off considerably at night, in order to save fuel, the use of clay-brick melting holes may be advisable, since silica brick is not well adapted to endure rep eated heating and cooling. But the total life of a clay-brick melting hole is necessarily short. Again, if local conditions such as danger of flood make necessary the building of the furnace largely above ground, so that the radiation of beat is promoted, the cooling down of the furnace over the week ends, when no steel is melted, will be considerable-and the contraction of the furnace that results tends to wrack it to pieces. The character of the metal being melted affects the life of the furnace to a great extent. Low-carbon steels and steels made from iron and charcoal require higher temperatures and much longer melting tune than high-carbon steel or steel made largely from scrap; the life of the furnace will be shorter, and the number of heats melted will be much less, when such materials are melted.

Jan 9, 1913

By E. G. Deane

A METHOD of top slicing has been devised at the Miami Copper Co.'s mine at Miami, Ariz., which differs radically in some ways from the customary methods of top slicing. The area of that section of the orebody in which top slicing is used is about 800 ft. square. The ore, while for the most part soft, is, nevertheless, considerably harder than the capping. The latter is siliceous, seldom containing any clay or other binding material, and breaks into fine particles so that it runs like sand if given the opportunity. Because of these facts, and because the ore is above the average grade of the mine ore, it has been mined by top slicing. Haulage levels are opened up 150 ft. apart, vertically, with two sublevels between at 50-ft. intervals, to facilitate the building of ore chutes. These sublevels are used during slicing for distributing air in the ventilation system. On the haulage level the drifts are spaced on 50-ft. centers, and raises along these drifts are also spaced on 50-ft. centers, except the incline raises as hereafter noted. The raises are cribbed where necessary. Where the wear will be excessive, ¼ -in. iron plates are spiked to the top of every third set of cribbing, for its protection. When top slicing was first used, an attempt was made to carry a slicing face from fifty to several hundred feet long. Timber and other, supplies were brought in through long drifts from an auxiliary shaft. Great difficulty was experienced in keeping these drifts open, the side pressure breaking the posts and the top weight breaking, both caps and posts. Furthermore, the men could not work efficiently while these drifts were .being repaired. The slicing faces advanced irregularly, due to varying conditions, and in many ways the results were not all that could be desired. It was then decided to divide the slicing area into blocks 200 ft. square and this wins later changed to 250 ft. square.

Jan 9, 1916

By H. Vance

In 1932, as in 1931, the East Texas area outside the Gulf Coast exerted ' its influence over the entire petroleum industry. Practically 60 per cent of the oil wells completed in the United States during 1932 were in this area, development being chiefly confined to the East Texas oil field in Upshur, Gregg, Rusk, Smith and Cherokee counties. This East Texas area is geologically an interior salt dome basin, along the western edge of which are located the fault line fields as represented by Mexia and Powell. Production occurs on salt domes in the interior of the basin as represented by Boggy Creek and possibly Van, although no salt has actually been discovered in drilling at Van. Shore line conditions on the east side of this basin along the flanks of the Sabine uplift have been responsible for the East Texas oil field. Many known salt domes in the center of this basin have been tested but as yet have failed to produce oil in commercial quantities. The main producing horizon throughout the area is lowermost upper Cretaceous and is known locally as the Woodbine sand. The East Texas Oil Field Development.—Approximately 6000 producing wells were completed during the year in the East Texas oil field. No accurate estimate of the total initial production of these wells is available because few initial production tests were made as the wells were completed. The writer estimates the average initial production of these completed wells at 2500 bbl. per day while flowing wide open through tubing. Based on this estimate, the total initial production of the wells completed during the year is 15,000,000 barrels. At the close of 1932 there were approximately 9500 completed wells in the East Texas field. Of this number 176 were without pipe line connections. The oil produced from these unconnected wells could be marketed for $0.30 per barrel while the price paid for oil run from the connected wells was $0.75 per barrel.

Jan 1, 1933

By M. H. De Hora

(Butte Meeting, August, 1913.) IN giving my opinion of the importance of Colombia as a field for investment for those interested' in mining for the precious metals, I must begin by quoting Sir Clement Markham, who, in one of his presidential addresses to the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, called the attention of its members to the fact that " although Colombia is the least known and least developed of the South American republics, it is far and away the richest mineral country of them all." This to American investors is extremely interesting, as the country is the most accessible of all the South American republics from the United States. .Almost all of the gold shipped by the Spaniards from Madre de Dios, now Colon, came from Colombia, and statistics from the Mint at Medellin, the capital of the Department of Antioquia, go to show that the . total production of the precious metals of Colombia, dating from the Spanish conquest in the fifteenth century to the present time, aggregates the enormous total of $700,000,000. Of this amount, nearly 70 per cent. represents gold obtained from the placers of the Republic, more than one-half of which came from the Department of Antioquia, the balance, being divided between the placers of the Choco and the rest of the Republic. The remaining 30 per cent. of the $700,000,000 represents the silver and gold obtained from the quartz mines, the silver greatly predominating. A glance at the map of Colombia shows the territory somewhat in the shape of an outspread human left hand extended palm downwards on the paper, with the wrist adjoining the Republic of Ecuador, the bones of the hand, fingers, and thumb representing the divisions of the great Andean mountain chain known as the Cordilleras of Colombia. The first finger represents the Eastern Cordillera, with the thumb as the extension to the Nevada de Santa Maria, forming

Jan 7, 1913

By John Wulff, J. H. Hollomon

SERVICE failures in brass condenser tubes are often due to corrosion. One of the commonest types of corrosion reveals a surface structure of redeposited copper.1 The study of the effect of alloy addition agents in preventing this kind of corrosion has received impetus from the extensive publication of Bengough and May.2 The mechanism of such inhibition gauged from immersion corrosion,' cell corrosion,' and electrolytic potential' measurements is controversial. This controversy may be attributed in part to a lack of definite knowledge5 of the actual nature of the initial films formed in corrosion experiments. In our own corrosion work on copper and 70-30 brass this lack became apparent and necessitated an examination of surface films by X-ray and electron diffraction methods. The present paper is but an introduction to the subject of inhibition and reports the structure of films formed in active corrodents. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The arsenical coppers and brasses used in this investigation were made by one of the writers* in the plant of the Revere Copper and Brass Co. at Rome, N. Y. Standard commercial melting practice was followed. O.F.H.C. copper and electrolytic zinc were used and all arsenic additions were made by additions of a master copper alloy. The final analyses are given in Table I. Likewise, the extrusion, cold-rolling, and intermediate anneals employed followed standard usage. Final heat-treatments were given to all materials to produce a similar grain size (0.035 to 0.045 mm. for brass and 0.015 to 0.025 for [ ] copper) for the alloys containing various percentages of arsenic. Samples ¼ by ½ by ¼ in. were cut from sheet material resurfaced and finished with 0000 metallographic papers. The surfaces were all degreased in alcohol and benzine before immersion. After immersion in the corrodent, they were washed gently in tap water, dipped first in alcohol and then in pure benzine and allowed to dry in the diffraction apparatus. The reflection electron diffraction apparatus used has been described by Burwell

Jan 1, 1941

By Harrison Schmitt

An eloquent plea for clear and objective thinking when, with a war behind us and the possibility of future conflicts looming large, we must re- evaluate our mineral position with an eye to defense.

Jan 4, 1950

By J. F. Myers, F. M. Lewis

The purpose of the mill tests reported herein, was to determine the relative power efficiency of fast and slow rod mill speeds on the ores of the Tennessee Copper Co. The tests were carried out at the Isabella Mill of the Tennessee Copper Co. under normal operating conditions. Every effort was made to keep the ore supply and other conditions constant, but it will be noted that some slight variation did occur. The open circuit 6 by 9 rod mill, and ore, used in these tests have been previously described.' Four motor drive pinions were available and the tests were performed in the following manner: each pinion was used to drive the mill for a period of one week. Constant sampling prevailed during the test run, and a composite sample for each speed test was made. Realizing that some slight liner wear took place during the four-week test-run, and that some slight variation of the ore may have taken place, a second and then a third series of four-week test-runs were made with the four different pinions. The screen analysis of each of the three-week run samples at the various speeds were composited and the results are shown in Table 2. The authors feel that the 22 weeks of operation consumed during these test-runs would represent fairly the effect of each mil1 speed. The data of line 37 show that within the error of sampling and plant operation, the tons of minus 65-mesh material generated per horsepower hour was the same at all four speeds. Obviously, rod and liner consumption could not be determined for each mill speed in so short a time. The rod load was maintained at a uniform level throughout the series of tests. The authors have operated rod mills at various speeds over the past several years, and it is their observation that rod consumption is directly proportional to the mill speed. Likewise, that the rod consumption per unit of work performed is a constant, providing that all other operating factors remain the same. It is a well known fact that the efficiency increases in a ball mill as the speed decreases. This is due to lateral segregation of the large and

Jan 1, 1950

By Joseph Richards

THERE are two essentially different types of case-hardening processes; that using a dry mixture in which the object to be case-hardened is packed and kept for the necessary time at the necessary temperature, and the "liquid" process, employing a bath of fused, salts into which the object- is immersed and which by immediate contact case-hardens the surface of the article. The Shimer process belongs to the second class, and was a war emergency invention. Of the liquid melts used as baths, the most effective and most fre¬quently used are melted potassium cyanide and melted sodium cyanide. These may be used either pure, or mixed with salts that reduce the melting point and the percentage of cyanide present. The use of these baths since 1914 has met many commercial difficulties because of the high price and frequent commercial scarcity of the cyanide salts; at present sodium cyanide has practically entirely displaced potassium cyanide. Another trouble is the danger to the workmen handling the cyanide salts, which are extremely poisonous, and the annoying and poisonous vapors or gases given off in the workshop, unless an effective system of hoods and ventilation is provided, so as to prevent the gases from the baths mixing with the air of the room. Porter W. Shimer, of Easton, Pa., has invented a substitute for the bath of melted cyanides which case-hardens with equal or greater facility and effectiveness, gives off no poisonous vapors, and costs for chemicals materially less than the cyanide costs in the previously used baths. The process has been in use over a year in a large American works and the following statement embodies the results of practical experience in the use and operation of the process. The Shinier liquid or melted bath consists of a mixture of easily fusible salts that do not possess case-hardening properties, into which is immersed fresh calcium cyanamide, which imparts to the bath case-hardening properties. The composition of the non-case-hardening-,salts appears rather immaterial. Good results have been obtained by using a mixture of sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and barium chloride in

Jan 2, 1919

By A. L. Labbe

IT Is well known that the Cottrell process is more easily applied to certain kinds of smoke than to others. The successful Cottrell installations are those treating smokes that carry dust of a mechanical nature; also smoke carrying fume dust that contains an excess of sulfuric acid over that required to combine with the oxides in the dust. But up to the present time the process has not reached a satisfactory economical basis of operation, in the treatment of smoke' containing basic dust. It is not impossible to make a smoke containing basic dust suitable for the process by. humidifying or acidifying. A number of Cottrell plants use these two methods of conditioning smoke previous to Cottrell treatment, which are quite successful, but the use of either results in expensive operation and a substantial loss in metals.. For these reasons, I would say that the baghouse process has not been replaced by the Cottrell process in the treatment of smelter basic smoke. Basic smoke must be given a. preliminary conditioning treatment because the dust is not a conductor of electricity; the water or acid treatment imparts some conductivity to the dust.. The rate at which dust is recovered depends on the proportional amount of power transmitted to the, treater and on the rate at which the smoke passes through; therefore to maintain a maximum constant amount of power across the electrodes of the treater, the same degree of conductivity should prevail, at all times between the surface of the electrodes. For all practical purposes, in the application of this process to lead and copper-smelter smoke, we can consider that the conductivity of the gases is a .constant. The variations in temperature of the smoke have a much greater effect on the solids than on the gases; the only instance where the temperature of the gases plays an important part in the process is at plants using humidifying: The temperature does not affect the conductivity of mechanical dust because such dust has natural conductive properties. However, in the case of smoke carrying acid-fume dust, where the conductivity is imparted to the dust particles by coming into contact with the acid fumes, the temperature is of importance.

Jan 8, 1925