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By André G. Journel

Geological study of the Prony Nilaterite (New Caledonia) began in 1969 and included drilling, geological mapping and laboratory studies. The deposit is the product of weathering of basic rocks. From top to bottom, the following zones can be distinguished: a compact ferruginous cover; ore associated with yellow laterite, containing 1.0-1.5% Ni and low in impurities (SiO2, Mg); an intermediate silicated ore containing 1.3-2.0% Ni and higher percentages of impurities; garnierite ore much richer in nickel (2-4%) but high in SiO, and Mg contents (Mg up to 20%) ; and parent rock, largely peridotites. Distinction between types of ore is essential because the high grade ore (silicated and granierites) is penalized for its high Mg contents that demand additional acid treatment. All studies made distinguish two types of ore, laterite and silicated.

Jan 10, 1973

By John D. Ridge, Robert C. Barwick

The amount of lead in concentrates that moved in international trade in 1952 was only 16 pct of the world mine production of lead and was less than 27 pct of the total of lead in concentrates and lead metal that traveled from one country to another. Because almost all lead is derived from galena, lead concentrates are high grade, with a theoretical maximum of 86 pct lead, and can be shipped as such without transporting a considerable weight of waste material. It would not be surprising, therefore, to find the large share of lead in international trade moves in concentrates (Rule 5). This is not, as has just been mentioned, actually the case. There is more than one explanation for the situation. Lead smelting is not a particularly difficult process and is one for which smelting equipment can readily be made of the best size for the tonnage to be handled. Another factor that encourages local smelting is the effort of many mining countries to see that a maximum of profit from their raw materials remains in the home country. Still another factor is the newness of large scale lead mining in two of the three largest exporters of lead in concentrates. In these countries, South West Africa and French Morocco, there has not yet been time to erect enough smelting capacity to process all of the concentrate output. Even in these countries, however, it will not be long, if present trends continue and plans are fulfilled, before most or all of the lead mined is domestically smelted.

Sep 1, 1955

EDUCATION is a business; and, if the consumer is satisfied with the product, no one has any grounds for complaint. "Pretty well satisfied" about slims up the attitude of the mining industry toward the young graduates presently entering the field. Yet, with amazing regularity the controversy over the five-year curriculum recurs in educational circles. The educational mills grind out their products, some higher grade than others, depending on individual proclivity. The cycle continues almost without interruption. Arthur Taggart, however, takes his bowie knife to some of the sturdiest limbs of the tree of knowledge in his article on engineering education on page 770 of this issue. As all who know him might suspect, the pruning is not restrained. With one swing of the knife, such practically-labeled courses as Mine Design are stricken from the tree and transplanted to the field of Graduate Education. Emphasis on the basic sciences and the study of man through courses in history, economics, and literature are recommended to constitute an undergraduate curriculum. Such courses show the least depreciation and therefore give the student the most for his money. Partial justification for this dramatic departure from tradition is explained by the increasing number of companies giving training courses. Why make the student pay for what he can get paid for learning after graduation, the author argues. Other leading educators espouse this doctrine. Dean S. C. Hollister of Cornell, for the Committee on Adequacy and Standards of Engineering Education, recommended to ECPD in 1951 that emphasis be placed on the basic sciences. "Sifting back through the curriculum, it seems clear that instruction in the basic sciences, if taught in a manner such that knowledge of them makes available working tools, contributes the most sustaining part of the curriculum", reported the committee. Note that he would utilize practical problems from the fields of engineering in teaching the sciences. In our opinion the important thing to learn in college is how to think the engineering approach. Recitation on traditional solutions of classic problems sharpens the memory, not the ingenuity of the student. The engineering schools of the nation recognize the advantage of great emphasis on fundamentals, and the inclusion of cultural courses in the curriculum. However, industry presently requires graduates to have a substantial knowledge of the tools of the trade upon graduation. This means that the colleges are forced to pare to the bone to encompass the required studies in the time allotted. In addition, there is the limitation of student money. College educators also claim that entering freshmen are often improperly prepared in such subjects as writing and mathematics. These considerations make it difficult for the critic of the engineering graduate to make any headway with the educators. Actually with the mounting problems imposed by lower grade and more complex ores, a new breed of engineers is needed. The impetus for this new product must come from industry. If there was a concerted effort from industry for an improved type of engineer, the colleges would modify their aims to meet the demand for the kind of individual desired.

Jan 1, 1952

By Freeman Bishop

The tight electric power supply is one of the most dramatic problems facing the mining industry in 1971. This is caused by rising demands for energy. Clean-fuel and air-pollution controls have contributed to the problems of producing energy from sulfur oil and coal. Coking coal has become scarce. One stimulating development is that coal is no longer the cinder in the mining industry's eye. In fact, it may be the favorite candidate as a base for fuel within a few years. Synthetic gas from coal is the watchword. In dedicating a multi-million- dollar project aimed at converting coal into oil and gas, Hollis M. Dole, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, recently made it clear that coal, which has been taking a back seat to nuclear fission research and study grants, is now coming into its own. Conversion pilot plants are being activated in all parts of the nation.

Jan 1, 1970

By H. Case Willcox

AERIAL photographic surveying and mapping is not new or unknown to geologists. However, it has been utilized but little before, principally because it is only within the last few months that practical means of adapting this method to the requirements of petroleum companies have been discovered. No American aerial survey company has taken up aerial surveying and mapping as an engineering service to be offered to petroleum companies and their geologists for use in undeveloped and jungle-covered petroleum areas. This method of surveying and mapping, however, is used by the War Department, the U. S. Reclamation Service, and Geological Survey, and the corresponding Departments of the Canadian Government. ADVANTAGES OF AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEYING AND MAPPING The advantages of aerial photographic surveying and mapping to petroleum companies and their geologists are many. One of the most valuable is presented in the very first phase, or the exploration period. It is assumed that, when convinced that petroleum possibilities are present, a petroleum company has secured a concession of 8000 sq. mi. of unexplored area in Eastern Venezuela. The company may either have the entire area surveyed and mapped by the aerial photographic method, or send its chief field geologist up in an airplane so that he, from-an aerial reconnaissance, may reject certain portions that, for geological reasons, the company would not be interested in. He will then point out the regions that are to be surveyed and mapped. After the air-work is completed, the results are brought down, developed, and printed; then the resulting "contact prints" are given to the field geologist. They may be roughly assembled to give a general idea of the property in its entirety, or they are in shape to be examined in adjoining pairs under the stereo-scope. With this instrument, the geologist is enabled to make a minute examination of surface indications. The work of assembling and constructing a complete general or detailed map, according to the scales desired by the petroleum company and for the later office use, is continued by the aerial photographic company.

Jan 3, 1925

By J. Szekely

The paper discusses simultaneous heat conduction and diffusion. These problems may arise in slag-metal kinetics and in connection with rapid heating or cooling of specimens. A mathematical formulation is given and it is shown that the transients due to either the variability of the diffusion coefficient with temperature, or thermal diffusion, are unlikely to be important for molten or solid metals and slags. The negligibility of these effects is due to the large values of the ratio thermal diffu-sivity/molecular diffusivity. In many problems relating to transport-controlled metallurgical kinetics the diffusion process is accompanied by the transfer of heat; large-scale metal refining or metal reduction may be quoted as examples. It has been shown that due to turbulent mixing in these systems the relevant transport phe- nomena are best described in terms of "surface renewal models" which require the solution of the unsteady-state diffusion equation.1-1 Problems involving simultaneous diffusion and heat conduction are also encountered in the laboratory in connection with rapid heating or cooling of specimens. The effect of variable temperature on diffusion may be twofold: a) in the absence of "cross effects" the problem, due to variable temperature, is that of diffusion with a variable diffusion coefficient; b) if the Soret Effect is nonzero, thermal diffusion must also be taken into account in the formulation. Although information is available on thermal-diffusion transients in a steady-temperature gradient,4'5 little work has been done on the effect of unsteady temperatures on either the diffusion coefficient or on thermal diffusion.' In the following a formulation is given and solutions presented with a view of examining the areas where these effects may be important.

Jan 1, 1965

By Frank E. Hall

The needs of the World War showed the necessity of a metal stronger than cast iron which would supplement the supply of steel. SO patriotic metallurgists were spurred to new efforts to improve the status of that half-breed of the metal world that had been, more or less erroneously, christened semisteel. As a result, it was developed that for certain purposes semisteel was superior to steel in the manufacture of shells. Steel, because of its greater strength and toughness, is able to carry a greater charge of explosive, weight for weight; consequently, a steel shell can be expected to cause greater destruction when used against fortifications or other inanimate objects, while semisteel, because of its comparative brittleness and its resulting greater fragmentation, is capable of inflicting more serious loss of life when used against opposing forces of men. Therefore, each has its proper place in the economy of war. For the present purpose, steel may be defined as a comparatively pure iron whose physical nature is modified by small amounts of carbon, silicon, sulfur, phosphorus, manganese, and possibly other rarer elements; while cast iron generally is limited to approximately 93 per cent. of iron, the remainder consisting of larger percentages of carbon, silicon, sulfur, phosphorus, and manganese. Semisteel may be defined as cast iron in which the carbon and silicon have been reduced to as low a point as is consistent with maintaining the nature of gray iron, and in which the remaining elements are adjusted so as to give the greatest strength. The fact that the addition of steel scrap, in varying percentages, is the means used to reduce the carbon, together with the fact that a considerable increase in strength results, is probably the explanation of the origin of the name semisteel. That ordinary grades of steel show from three to four times the tensile strength of cast iron is due to the fact that the crystals, or grains, of cast iron are interspersed with flakes of

Jan 1, 1922

By D. Harrington

Efficient ventilation of metal mines consists in having such complete control of air currents that there is always supplied at placcs where men work sufficient moving air to allow working at maximum capacity without injury to health; and in case of underground fire or of surface fire in the vicinity of mine openings, underground air currents may be quickly reversed if desired, or air may be sent into or excluded from any region and fire fumes confined to only part of the mine workings, instead of penetrating practically the entire mine. Health and safety of workers in mines as well as proper safeguarding and operating efficiency of mining properties are so intimately associated with proper ventilation of mines (both coal and metal) that they are inseparable, yet ventilation is only too frequently neglected, especial1y in metal mines. The metalliferous operator, generally not confronted with inflammable gas or explosive dust which so frequently force ventilation of coal mines, usually disregards air supply altogether except such as may be obtained from compressed air; and generally, even when attention is given to metal-mine ventilation, the air currents rarely are found where they are needed, namely, the working places, especially the working faces. After several years' study of miners' consumption, the writer is convinced that long continued breathing of air impregnated with large quantities of any kind of finely divided dust, such as is found in a large number of the working places of our mines, will ultimately produce some respiratory disease, whether it be asthma, bronchitis, or phthisis; and the progress of these diseases is hastened if there are also present high temperatures, high humidities, or harmful gases or if there is present (and allowed to remain to be breathed) large quantities of the finely divided dust when air temperatures are low, hence favorable to maximum performance of work with accompanied maximum breathing into the respiratory passages of the harmful material. It is generally accepted

Jan 1, 1923

By Frank E. Hall

The needs of the World War showed the necessity of a metal stronger than cast iron which would supplement the supply of steel. SO patriotic metallurgists were spurred to new efforts to improve the status of that half-breed of the metal world that had been, more or less erroneously, christened semisteel. As a result, it was developed that for certain purposes semisteel was superior to steel in the manufacture of shells. Steel, because of its greater strength and toughness, is able to carry a greater charge of explosive, weight for weight; consequently, a steel shell can be expected to cause greater destruction when used against fortifications or other inanimate objects, while semisteel, because of its comparative brittleness and its resulting greater fragmentation, is capable of inflicting more serious loss of life when used against opposing forces of men. Therefore, each has its proper place in the economy of war. For the present purpose, steel may be defined as a comparatively pure iron whose physical nature is modified by small amounts of carbon, silicon, sulfur, phosphorus, manganese, and possibly other rarer elements; while cast iron generally is limited to approximately 93 per cent. of iron, the remainder consisting of larger percentages of carbon, silicon, sulfur, phosphorus, and manganese. Semisteel may be defined as cast iron in which the carbon and silicon have been reduced to as low a point as is consistent with maintaining the nature of gray iron, and in which the remaining elements are adjusted so as to give the greatest strength. The fact that the addition of steel scrap, in varying percentages, is the means used to reduce the carbon, together with the fact that a considerable increase in strength results, is probably the explanation of the origin of the name semisteel. That ordinary grades of steel show from three to four times the tensile strength of cast iron is due to the fact that the crystals, or grains, of cast iron are interspersed with flakes of

Jan 1, 1922

By D. Harrington

Efficient ventilation of metal mines consists in having such complete control of air currents that there is always supplied at placcs where men work sufficient moving air to allow working at maximum capacity without injury to health; and in case of underground fire or of surface fire in the vicinity of mine openings, underground air currents may be quickly reversed if desired, or air may be sent into or excluded from any region and fire fumes confined to only part of the mine workings, instead of penetrating practically the entire mine. Health and safety of workers in mines as well as proper safeguarding and operating efficiency of mining properties are so intimately associated with proper ventilation of mines (both coal and metal) that they are inseparable, yet ventilation is only too frequently neglected, especial1y in metal mines. The metalliferous operator, generally not confronted with inflammable gas or explosive dust which so frequently force ventilation of coal mines, usually disregards air supply altogether except such as may be obtained from compressed air; and generally, even when attention is given to metal-mine ventilation, the air currents rarely are found where they are needed, namely, the working places, especially the working faces. After several years' study of miners' consumption, the writer is convinced that long continued breathing of air impregnated with large quantities of any kind of finely divided dust, such as is found in a large number of the working places of our mines, will ultimately produce some respiratory disease, whether it be asthma, bronchitis, or phthisis; and the progress of these diseases is hastened if there are also present high temperatures, high humidities, or harmful gases or if there is present (and allowed to remain to be breathed) large quantities of the finely divided dust when air temperatures are low, hence favorable to maximum performance of work with accompanied maximum breathing into the respiratory passages of the harmful material. It is generally accepted

Jan 1, 1923

By AIME AIME

FRIEND recently remarked that the career of Scott Turner is characterized by Work and Wild -A Ducks. To these might be added Accomplishment and Persistent Fishing. All of these elements are manifestations of his character. The diversions-hunting and fishing-are in the nature of the proverbial trolley conductor's holiday, for many of Turner's years have been spent in the outdoors, often in distant lands, as in Spitzbergen, where the ducks pictured below were bagged. The election of Scott Turner to the presidency of the Institute marks the culmination of a quarter century of membership, during the last two years of which he has been vice-president. He was born at Lansing, Mich., on July 31, 1880, and received his A.B. at the University of Michigan in 1902, with a B.S. and E.M. at the Michigan College of Mines in 1904. Since then he has been granted two honorary degrees, D.Sc. from the Colorado School of Mines, and D.Eng. from the University of Michigan, but he still prefers to be called "Scott" rather than "Doctor." Government service was not a new experience for Turner when he was appointed Director of the U. S. Bureau of Mines by Secretary Hoover in 1925, for his first employment after graduation was as Field Assistant in the U. S. Geological Survey in Oregon and Idaho. This was followed by work in Tombstone, Ariz.; then his first foreign engagement in 1905-6 as superintendent of the San Pablo Gold Mining Co. in Panama. Various field experiences followed, though there was an interlude in work of a kind that few mining engineers ever experience. This was in technical journalism, for in 1906 he was

Jan 1, 1932

THE ladle is a small hearth made on a cage of iron bars like a bird-cage, and has a handle so that it can easily be taken from the forge and carried wherever desired. It is a common device and is much used among masters for small castings, but with a large weight you would have difficulty in lifting it by hand even though you were aided by levers and winches. If you should indeed do it, it would be just as if you had lifted the aforesaid hearth by force, and this would be unwise if you could do anything less difficult. A forge is likewise made for this, with a good pair of large bellows that are well covered with cloth. When the small hearth has been made with good clay, baked, and well covered with ashes, it is placed in front of the mouth [of the bellows] and a crown of two or three brick ends is built around it on top of the rim so that the charcoal may be held better and in greater quantity. Then, having lit the fire and heated the ladle and the charcoal, the pieces of material that you wish to melt are gradually put on

Jan 1, 1942

By A. Poll, J. E. Stantan, L. J. Jolley

THE basic problem in the generation of water gas from carbonaceous fuels and steam is the supply of the heat of reaction, and in general the source of this heat is the combustion of a further quantity of carbon with oxygen. Existing and proposed processes for complete gasification differ in the methods employed for transferring this heat to the fuel, and involve one or other of the following alternatives: 1. Use of a steam-oxygen mixture as the gasifying medium, so that the combustion and gasification reactions are combined. 2. Alternate passage of air and steam through a fixed bed, as in conventional water-gas production. 3. Cyclic passage of fluidized fuel through combustion and gasification zones. 4. Intense preheating of steam and of a portion of the gas made, and recirculation of this mixture through the fuel bed. 5. Supply of heat to the fuel bed through an externally heated wall. Except for the conventional water-gas process using large coke or low- volatile coal, only processes in the first group, operating with steam and oxygen, have proved practicable with fuels other than brown coals and lignites. A possible exception, which has not so far reached a commercial scale, is the moving-burden process developed by Imperial Chemical Indus- tries, Ltd. The cost of industrial oxygen is so high that its use can probably be justified only if it is attended by substantial savings in other directions; for instance, the use of cheap fuel. In the United Kingdom, no very cheap solid fuels are available, and it is unlikely that an oxygen-gasification process could compete economically with conventional production of blue water gas from coke. Hence particular interest attaches to all possibilities of making water gas without using oxygen, if any possible saving in fuel or other costs is involved. The cheapest and most abundant coals in the United Kingdom are the low-rank noncaking bituminous coals in small and ungraded sizes, typically those from the East Midlands coal field, and-fines of high ash content produced in coal-cleaning operations. A process capable of gasifying

Jan 1, 1953

By Andrew Roy

THE Mahoning Valley coal region lies on the extreme northern outcrop of the Ohio coal-field, and all the mines, with one exception, are opened on the lower coal of the series, No. 1 of the Ohio Geological Survey. The coal ranges from an inch to five, six, and sometimes seven feet thickness, the workable height being between two and a half and six feet. There are two varieties of coal, known in market as "Briar Hill coal " and " Mineral Ridge coal;" both varieties are drawn from the same seam. The Briar Hill coal is generally called block coal, and is the kind so largely used in a raw state in smelting iron. It pos¬sesses a laminated structure, easily splitting into horizontal sheets, but is very difficult to break in the opposite direction. The faces of the layers are often covered with a soft, dead, carbonaceous material, like charcoal, and the whole seam throughout is marked by alternate layers of dead and bright-looking coal. In the act of combustion the coal neither swells nor changes form, the masses retaining their shapes until they fall to ashes in the furnace. The Mineral Ridge variety is much softer, and is also shorter in the grain than the Briar Hill. kind, and it contains a good deal of

Jan 1, 1876

There is no simple answer to the question, "What is the meaning of life?" The expressions of life are so multiple that life has different meanings for different spheres of thought, such as art, science, or philosophy; and it conveys a different significance to different persons, according to their individual development and interests. Life is complex from a philosophical point of view. The meaning of life is superficially positive and unmistakable only when approached from a mechanistic view- point; namely, that of biology or biochemistry, since these deal with the physicochemical basis of life processes. However, such a purely mechanistic or biochemical approach to the significance of life and the interpretation of man's behavior on the basis of purely physical laws is certain to run into trouble. Similarly, a concentration of effort upon materialistic advances in world progress is extremely dangerous. The possible consequences of splitting the atom, development of guided missiles, and possible bacterial warfare are timely examples. Man becomes more self-reliant as he extends his scientific and technologic discoveries and learns how to shape natural conditions to his own desires. When man will be able to travel to other planets in atomically propelled space ships and destroy whole worlds by pushing a button, a possibility which now seems to be within the realm of the predictable future, he will need the strong-

Jan 1, 1950

By W. F. Baldwin

The timing circuit generally employed in Carter Reservoir Behavior Analyzers consists of a synchronous motor driven cam which actuates a microswitch. A mechanically actuated timer of this type has several inherent disadvantages, among which are the following: 1. The first time interval may not be of uniform length, depending on the exact position of the cam at the conclusion of a previous run. 2. The positioning adjustments on the microswitch lever arms are critical and require periodic readjustment. 3. The mechanical system is subject to wear which will ultimately impair its accuracy. It was therefore considered desirable to devise an alternate method which would eliminate these difficulties without introducing others that would be equally troublesome. This note describes the design of an electronic timing device which has been incorporated in the analyzer constructed by the Field Research Laboratories of Magnolia Petroleum Co. The electronic timer circuit is built around a simple neon glow tube relaxation oscillator, the complete circuit diagram of which is shown in Fig. l. The operation of the circuit is as follows: Condenser C, is charged to the critical firing voltage of the neon glow tube VR-75 by battery B1 through resistors R1 and R2. When the neon glow tube fires, the condenser C, is discharged, The charging cycle then repeats itself,

Jan 1, 1950

By H. N. Mills

The glass industry is a major user of many industrial minerals in the manufacture of its product. It is the intent of this chapter to: (1) acquaint the reader with the glass industry by including a few production statistics, and (2) cover the various aspects of the major raw materials used to make glass. The matter of glass compositions, properties, and batches is considered beyond the scope of this chapter which deals only with raw materials. For more details on the particular minerals and rocks used in glassmaking, the reader is referred to chapters in the commodity section of this book. Glass Industry Statistics Glass manufacture in the United States can be divided into three major product classifications as follows: 1) Glass containers 2) Pressed and blown glass 3) Flat glass Glass containers include bottles and jars for the packaging of food and beverages, as well as drugs, chemicals, and cosmetics. Pressed and blown glass includes table, kitchen, art and novelty ware, lighting and electronic glassware, and fiber glass. Flat glass covers sheet or window glass, plate, laminated, and safety glass. The US Department of Commerce statistics, as recorded in the 1977 Census of Manufacturers, compares the dollar value of glass shipments for each product category. These statistics are shown in Table 1 (Anon., 1980) and are self-explanatory. A comparison of the tonnage output in each product classification is difficult, as production data is reported in "gross" for glass containers, "pounds" for fiber glass, "pieces" for glassware, [ ] and "square feet" for flat glass. In the case of glass containers, an average "pounds per gross" factor can be applied to the total production figures reported in thousands of gross in Bureau of Census industrial reports. Table 2 presents the calculated annual production tonnage for glass containers for the years 1974-1979. Except for 1979, there was a yearly increase in production. The tonnage figures of Table 2 are further influenced by decreasing weight per gross which has occurred in the glass container industry since 1975. This reflects the gradual shift to lighter weight containers for beverages. Other segments of the glass industry have experienced growth, but the figures in tons are not published information. Fiber glass growth has been influenced by the heavy demand for insulation as part of energy conservation efforts on a national basis. The production of flat glass by the float process has continued to grow with several new plants entering production. All portions of the glass industry experienced the effects of the general economic decline of 1979-1980, but the outlook for the future is bright. Batch Materials For Glass Use Materials and Function Soda-lime-silica glass represents the largest proportion of glass manufactured for commercial use. It is produced by the fluxing and

Jan 1, 1983

A. 0. ASHMAN, Palmerton, Pa. (written discussion *).-From a theo¬retical point of view the best method to maintain the cold junction at a constant temperature is by means of a pipe driven in the ground, to which the so-called cold-junction compensating leads are run, ;and of course there are many times and places where it can be successfully used. There are, however, several objections to this method. In the vicinity of any furnace there are apt to be underground flues for preheated air or gases, recuperators, water mains, etc., which will eliminate the probability of a constant temperature. These, of course, can be avoided by carrying the leads to distant locations known to be free, but this is not good practice because the so-called compensating leads have a rather high re¬sistance, which materially affects the accuracy of even the high resistance instruments, unless they are specially calibrated for it. Moreover, the cost of these long leads is almost prohibitive. A better way is to run short lengths of compensating leads to electrically heated constant¬ temperature boxes conveniently located near the furnace in a place that is of fairly uniform temperature. These boxes are on the market and can be procured at a cost that is approximately equal to the cost of 100 ft. of compensating leads. They can be connected to any power or lighting circuit and once set require very little care. One box will ac¬commodate a number of couples.

Jan 12, 1919

The regular activities of the Institute are financed mainly by income derived from members' dues, from advertising in MINING AND METALLURGY, and from the sale of publications to the public. In addition, collateral activities and special projects are financed each year by means of income from endowed funds controlled and administered by the Institute. In the aggregate, the principal sums of these endowments amount to more than $530,000. An active effort is being made to in¬crease the endowment funds of the Institute through a standing committee, of which H. T. Hamilton is chairman, and of which the other members are: W. H. Aldridge, George D. Barron, Cleveland E. Dodge, D. C. Jackling, Henry Krumb and J. V. W. Reynders. This committee feels that there exists a tremendous opportunity for the Institute to be of ever-growing service to the public, to the mineral industries, and to the profession. It welcomes suggestions as to names of men of means who are vitally interested in the mineral industries, and to whom the opportunity to make a contribution or bequest might appeal favorably if presented in the proper light by the committee.

Jan 1, 1944

By H. W. Graham

AS these annual occasions in honor of Henry Marion Howe continue through the years, there is progressively less likelihood that the lecturer will have had personal knowledge of Dr. Howe. The present speaker is one of those who unfortunately had no opportunity to come under the inspiring presence of this great metallurgist. A review of Howe's work shows it to cover a comprehensive range of interests and to evidence an impressive richness of detail. Not only was Howe at home in the laboratory, but he was familiar with the processes of iron and steel making and had a real understanding of them writings include much that is descriptive of processes with a wealth of material that is becoming of increasing historical value. He recorded his studies of the theoretical aspects of processes and published at least two process classifications, one in 1890 that was lengthy and somewhat theoretical, and a second in 1906 that was more of a practical listing. Wide as Howe's field of interest was, it is significant of the circumstances of his time that he gave little consideration to raw materials or to their effect on iron and steel making processes. In 1933, Waterhouse, Howe lecturer for that year, presented a descriptive summary of the major steelmaking processes, and in 1946 Joseph discussed the blast furnace process. Otherwise Howe lectures have not dealt with processes as major subjects. In today's lecture, with no effort to describe the mechanical arrangements of iron and steel making facilities, it is proposed to examine the essential technological elements of the processes, to explore the inter-relation of these elements, and particularly to seek recognition and understanding of those factors which determine why certain processes are or are not used. The discussion of this lecture will deal with the major well-known large tonnage processes, with only such attention to processes of minor tonnage and special character as may be warranted for explanation by contrast. Subject to the errors of generalization and the short- comings of condensation involved in presentation limited to a single hour, it is proposed to examine broadly but intensively those operations which convert raw materials into steel. It is an innovation for a Howe lecturer to discuss the raw materials of the iron and steel industry, but the changing circumstances of passing years intensify the influence of raw materials on processes and require the metallurgist to be alert for the process adjustments that may become advisable or mandatory. For a half century the metallurgical processing of iron and steel has followed a surprisingly straight path, but this does not necessarily mean that there are no curves in the road ahead. Ages ago primitive man came to know iron in its metallic form, not only by the

Jan 1, 1947