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By Sidney A. Swensrud

About a year ago, I attempted in a general way to trace the origin and development of some of the marketing problems of the petroleum industry, and to describe certain trends which it then seemed possible to foresee. To summarize briefly, it was pointed out that the consumption of gasoline, after increasing for more than a decade at an almost unbelievable rate, was slowing down, but that the two factors which determine the supply of gasoline —-namely, the production of crude oil and the percentage of gasoline derived therefrom—were tending steadily to mount. It was suggested that, while the increase in gasoline outlets began with and probably was justified at the start by the rapidly increasing demand, long after all reasonable requirements as to number of outlets had been met the number continued to increase—if anything, at a still more rapid rate—because by that time the overproduction of crude had begun to exert an impelling urge upon the owners of that crude to seek assured outlets for it in the form of gasoline. As more and more companies became integrated all the way from crude oil to marketing, there took place an ever-increasing competition among them, not only for the existing outlets but for new ones. The wide margin between wholesale cost and retail price, which is characteristic of the early stages of most new industries, persisted in the oil industry longer than in most industries, for various reasons. The existence of that wide margin provided in large measure the means of attracting new outlets, for as the gallonage per outlet declined with the increasing number of outlets, competing companies simply offered the dealers a larger part of the total margin. The very nature of competition suggests that such a process would continue until practically all of the available margin was thus given away, and such was clearly the tendency. It was a system that in turn produced increasing marketing expense per gallon on account of the diluted gallonage per outlet; this increased expense might seem to have provided a justification for continuing wide margins. Economics, like its parent, nature, however, progresses by mutations and so began to throw out new types of marketers, in the form of tank-car service stations, cut-price jobbers, and the like—heretics or

Jan 1, 1932

By N. A. Ziegler

A CERTAIN amount of interest has been indicated recently in the resistance to oxidation at high temperatures of iron-aluminum alloys (rich in iron). Hautman1 published a paper in. which some interesting results are given. According to his paper, only alloys containing at least 8 per cent aluminum indicate a marked improvement in their resistance to oxidation. At about this aluminum content, however, alloys become brittle, which considerably reduces their commercial value. About two years ago the author, performed a series of experiments, the results of which are presented here. A series of iron-aluminum-carbon alloys was prepared by melting electrolytic iron, aluminum and high-carbon iron alloy in an induction vacuum furnace.2 The list of these alloys is given in Table 1. Each alloy was forged in the ordinary way to

Jan 1, 1932

By John B. Hastings

THE occurrence of such a large amount of gold in the Hartsel granite, even though the surmised existence of similar areas is not new, brings freshly to mind the pegmatite type of magmatic differentiation lately brought again to attention by occurrences at Silver Peak, Nev., described by Spurr; and in Alaska, described by both Spurr and Brooks. In both localities graunitic rocks or dikes are thought to pass into metalliferous quartz-veins. An interesting association in this connection is the occurrence of diamonds in residual pegmatitic clay of San Juao de Chapado, Brazil, described by Derby :1 (P. 142) "Bodies of pegmatite are quite common in the older rocks of Brazil, both in the. diamond regions and elsewhere, occurring not only in the gneiss and granite, but in the schistose series as well. Those that have been examined are dike-like in their mode of occurrence and granitic in composition." (P. 143) "The question of the eruptive or secretionary origin of pegmatites has long been a subject of discussion among geologists. . . . The recent studies . . . seem to have clearly established that most if not all of them are essentially eruptive masses, though possibly modified in some way by aqueous agencies. Even before becoming acquainted with the literature of the subject this view had seemed to me to be the only acceptable one as regards the typical pegmatites of Brazil." What is pegmatite ? J. F. Kemp says ". . . veins or dikes-it is an open question which is the more correct term-are met formed of very coarsely crystalline aggregates of the same minerals that constitute granite. These are called pegmatite and in them is the home of graphic granite, the curious intergrowth of quartz and feldspar, such that a cross fracture of the blades of quartz suggests cuneiform characters. . . . In regard to the larger veins or dikes it seems improbable that true igneous fusion could have afforded such coarsely crystalline aggregates, and so we are forced to assume such abundance of steam and other vapors, i.e, mineralizers, as to almost, if not quite, imply solution."

Jan 5, 1908

By Edward Martinez

Although the copper segregation process has been known as a method for treating oxide copper ores since the 1920's, the reactions involved in this process are still a matter of conjecture. However, the evidence turned up in a recent series of experiments at Asarco's Central Research Laboratories strongly indicates that some of the proposed reactions may not be occurring. Experimental work on oxide copper ores from the Sagasca mines in Chile led to the discovery of the copper segregation process in 1923. It was found that the reduction of the copper with coal at about 700°C occurred on the surface of the coal instead of remaining disseminated in the ore. The unusual behavior of the copper, which caused it to migrate from the ore particles to the coal, was traced to the presence of a small quantity of sodium chloride occurring in the ore. Further experiments with oxide copper ores proved that the presence of a halide, either occurring naturally or admixed with the ore, caused the copper to migrate from the ore particles and to segregate in the charge.

Jan 8, 1966

By D. Watson, T. J. N. Grainger-Allan

A technique for studying the mechanism of the froth flotation process in which continuous froth removal does not take place but, instead, an equilibrium is reached between froth and pulp is described. A flotation cell, specially designed to facilitate equilibration, and froth and pulp sampling procedures are described. The main advantage of the technique is that the ability to measure the steady-state froth height allows froth-stability effects to be separated from pulp-process effects. In the flotation of hematite front quartz, linear relationships are found between airflow rate and froth height and between airflow rate and the ratio at equilibrium of mass of values in froth to mass of values in the pulp. A simple mechanistic interpretation of these results is given. It is suggested that froth-stability effects may play a more important role than hitherto allowed. In particular, the way in which concentration and size distribution of gangue particles may affect overall flotation rate is shown.

Jan 1, 1975

By P. Somasundaran

An experimental and theoretical treatment of the depressing effect of inorganic electrolytes on the amine flotation of quartz is presented. Experimental data obtained for the amine flotation of quartz as a function of pH with potassium nitrate as depressant was used to test the models for the effectiveness of inorganic ions as depressants. The validity of commonly used assumptions are examined. The surface tension data obtained for dodecylammonium acetate solutions as a function of KNO3, concentration indicated that the collector adsorption on bubble cannot be neglected in the treatments, since this adsorption changes significantly with the addition of the inorganic electrolyte. It also indicated the possibility of significant changes in the specific adsorption potential of the collector occurring with the addition of inorganic electrolytes.

Jan 1, 1975

Unlike the bituminous part of the coal industry, the production of anthracite has been fairly well publicized; in fact until about 1845 whenever the coal industry of Pennsylvania was mentioned in papers, magazines or books, anthracite only was meant. Beginning with shipments by river in 1820 fairly complete records of shipments were published each year, and as this variety of coal was the only one used for domestic purposes east of the mountains and north of the Potomac, there was considerable interest in the producing fields on the part of the public. Transportation of anthracite was the cause of the building of the early canals in the state, and later, of some of the earliest railroads. In most publications it has been assumed that commencement of shipments in 1820 was the beginning of the industry; this is far from being so, and it is with the earlier developments this chapter will deal, leaving the later and better known records to existing publications. (See Table No. 53.) The first reference to coal in Pennsylvania by Gabriel Thomas in 1698 has already been mentioned,1 it could only have been anthracite in that section; although of course, he never saw any coal there. Little coal was used excepting by smiths for many years after that. In 1728 the Coventry Forge paid the expenses of a man "to town for Sea Coall and Steell for ye hammer;”2 in 1729 New Castle coal was sold in Philadelphia;3 in 1740 an advertisement mentioned, "very good Pitt and Sea Coal at 18 pence a bushel; at which price 'tis allowed to be cheaper Fewel for Hearth Fireing than Wood at the present Rates,"4 a view not shared by most of the people there for about eighty years; in 1752 Newcastle coal was again mentioned.5 There are no references to coal in the writings of any of the Moravian missionaries, although some who settled near Mauch Chunk in 1746 said that the Indians there made their pipe heads of a soft black stone, which was much more apt to have been slate than anthracite." Several stream

Jan 1, 1942

By Tell Ertl, Ernest E. Burgh

INTRODUCTION THE Bureau of Mines is operating an oil-shale mine 10 miles west of Rifle, Colo., as part of its Synthetic Liquid Fuels program. The purpose of operating this mine is twofold: First, to supply oil shale to an experimental processing plant; and second, to develop practices and select methods for mining oil shale on a commercial scale at the lowest practicable cost. The second purpose-that of finding out how to mine oil shale most cheaply-entails considerable mining research. Since the drilling of oil shale probably will be one of the major items of the mining cost, factors that influence drilling speeds were investigated. One phase of the drilling program was the development of a successful hard-surfaced rock-drill bit1 that can be used for drilling long holes in oil shale without changing bits. During that phase, drilling speeds were measured and drill cuttings were collected for assay and for screen sizing. When the cuttings from the individual tests were compared, a definite relationship was shown to exist between the drilling speed and the coarseness of the drill cuttings. PROCEDURE Measurement of Drilling Speeds All drilling in the tests was done with a Model UMB-D-99W Gardner-Denver wagon drill. Round-lugged drill steel, 1 ¼ in. in diameter was used in 6, 12, and 18 ft lengths with 2 1/8 -in. Timken H-type bits hard-faced with acetylene tube borium. The tests were made in the lower adit of the Bureau of Mines oil-shale mine; the grade of the oil shale drilled ranged from 18.6 to 42.7 gal per ton. During the experiments air pressure varied between 75 and 90 psi while water pressure remained fairly constant at 75 psi. All holes were drilled almost horizontally. Each drill hole was thoroughly cleaned of cuttings after being collared. The advance of the drill along the carriage was measured and recorded as the drilling speed in inches per minute. Method of Collecting Cuttings To facilitate the collection of cuttings, each drill hole was collared in a smooth, vertical portion of the oil-shale breast (Fig 1). A galvanized-steel sheet was fastened to the breast below the area in which the hole was to be drilled. The cuttings washed out of the drill hole by the drilling water were guided by the steel sheet into a wooden box. The cuttings that remained in the drill hole after the drill was withdrawn were scraped out and placed in the same box as the cuttings washed out of the hole. After the cuttings from a 1-min. drilling interval were collected, they were placed in flat metal pans. The fines were allowed to settle and the clear water was decanted. The cuttings then were dried in the sun.

Jan 1, 1947

By G. R. Mansfield

THE third year of Government exploration f or potash by the U. S. Geological Survey and-the U. S. Bureau of Mines under the authorization of the act approved June 25, 1926 (Public 424-69th Cong.) is drawing to a close. The results thus far obtained are thought to be sufficiently interesting and satisfactory to justify the presentation of a brief preliminary account of the work. REVIEW OF EARLIER EXPLORATION The general geologic similarity of the Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico to the potash field of Germany had long ago suggested the possibility of the presence of potash salts somewhere in that basin, but petroleum exploration was then making little headway there and the necessary data could not be obtained. The discovery by Udden in 1912 of potash in brine from the Spur well in Dickens County, Texas, was the first direct evidence of its presence. In 1915-17 the U. S. Geological Survey drilled a test well with standard tools at Cliff side near Amarillo, but failed to find potash. Nevertheless, an observer has been kept in the field, at first in cooperation with the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology but since 1922 by the Survey alone, to `secure data and samples from oil and gas tests. Since the discovery of oil in Reagan County in 1923 exploration by drilling has been rapidly extended to many parts of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The identification of the potash-bearing mineral polyhalite was first announced by the Geological Survey in June, 1921, the material having come from cuttings from the Bryant well in Midland County and the Burns well in Dawson County, Texas. Successive discoveries and announcements of similar purport aroused widespread interest in potash exploration, which culminated in the action by Congress already noted.

Jan 1, 1929

By Robert Archer

IT is now well known that the structure of aluminum-silicon alloys can be refined in a rather remarkable manner, with consequent improvement of physical properties, by certain treatments applied to the molten metal shortly before casting. The differences between the treated and the untreated alloys are so marked that special terms are used to distinguish them, the untreated alloys being referred to as "normal" and the treated alloys as "modified." The first practical method of accomplishing this result was that of A. Pacz,1 which consists in treating the molten metal with a, salt flux of which the, active ingredient is sodium fluoride. The result can also be brought about, and in a more economical manner, by the addition of small quantities of metallic sodium (or potassium) to the molten alloy shortly before casting.2 The action of the Pacz flux evidently consists essentially in the production of free sodium by the reaction of sodium fluoride with aluminum. The changing of a normal alloy to a modified alloy is referred to as "modification' and any process for accomplishing this result is a "modifying" process. Modified aluminum-silicon alloys were introduced several years ago, and it has been demonstrated both in the laboratory and in commercial practice that it is no simple matter to produce castings having the maximum or nearly the maximum properties which under favorable circumstances can be obtained. The alloys are rather sensitive to small changes in chemical composition, and the modifying process must be carried out in a very particular manner to obtain the best results. Extensive experimental work has been carried out in the laboratories of the Aluminum Company of America with the object of determining the conditions that must be observed to make these alloys of the greatest possible

Jan 2, 1926

By C. M. Smith

HOWARD N. EAVENSON, acting for the last time as president of the Institute, presided at the annual business meeting on Tuesday afternoon at 4 o'clock. He spoke briefly of his visits with Local Sections last fall, and read a scholarly address on "Mineral Fuels and Civilization," scheduled for early publication in these columns. Karl Eilers presented the Treasurer's report, showing last year's income to be $134,967.44, compared with expenses of $133.266.51. Comparable figures for 1933 were $121,689.90 and $115,462.60. The Institute's peak income was in 1923 about $208,000. Newell G. Alford read the report of the Membership Committee showing 750 new members elected and placed on the rolls in 1934, compared with 328 in 1933. Losses by resignation last year were 81, compared with 262 in 1933; and 691 were suspended for non-payment of dues, compared with 747 the year before. Total membership, including 579 Student Associates, was 7742 at the end of 1934. Applications for membership have been coming in freely the last few months.

Jan 1, 1935

By Arthur F. Colombo

The selective - deslime - flotation process developed by the Federal Bureau of Mines as part of its goal of maintaining an adequate supply of minerals to meet national economic and strategic needs is described. The operating parameters for the selective flocculation - cationic flotation of oxidized taconites from the western Mesabi range in Minnesota are discussed. Data from the operation of a 410 kg/hr (900 lb/hr) pilot plant employing reclaimed water are summarized for 2 types of oxidized taconites.

Jan 1, 1979

By J. J. Forbes

THE Federal Coal Mine Safety Act (Public Law 552, 82nd Congress) was approved on July 16, 1952. It incorporates, as Title I, the Coal Mine Inspection and Investigation Act of May 7, 1941 (Public Law 49, 77th Congress), which gave Federal inspectors only the right to enter coal mines for inspection and investigation purposes but no power to require compliance with their recommendations. Title II contains the enforcement provisions of the act; its purpose is to prevent major disasters in coal mines from explosions, fires, inundations, and man-trip or man-hoist accidents. At this point a brief account of events that pre- ceded the enactment of the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act seems appropriate. The hazardous nature of coal mining was recognized by the Federal Government as long ago as 1865, when a bill to create a Federal Mining Bureau was introduced in Congress. Little was done, however, until a series of appalling coal- mine disasters during the first decade of this century provoked a demand for Federal action. As a result an act of Congress established a Bureau of Mines in the Department of the Interior on July 1, 1910. The act made it clear that one of the foremost activities of the Bureau should be to improve health and safety in the mineral industries. One of the first projects selected by the small force of engineers and technicians then employed was to determine the causes of coal-mine explosions and the means to prevent them. By investigations after mine disasters the fundamental causes and means of prevention were soon discovered, and the coal mining industry was informed accordingly. However, despite this knowledge and the enactment of State laws and the Federal Coal Mine Inspection and Investigation Act of 1941, mine disasters continued to occur with disheartening frequency and staggering loss of life. The devastating explosion at the Orient No. 2 mine on December 21, 1951, resulted in the death of 119 men. The Orient disaster rekindled the memory of the Centralia, I11., disaster of March 25, 1947, which caused the death of 111 coal miners. These two tragedies ultimately brought about enactment of the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act.

Jan 1, 1954

Jan 1, 1917

By Kenneth S. Ritchie

THE discovery well of the world's -deepest oil producing structure, University 1-B of Group No. One Oil Corporation, in the Big Lake oil field, Reagan County, Texas, has had a remarkable record. The well is outstanding for the following reasons: (1) It is the world's pioneer well to produce. oil in commercial quantities from a structure 8500 ft. below the earth's . surface; (2) this well was the only. producer from the 8500-ft. pay for a period of 17 months and 24 days; (3) the flow of the discovery well has been free from-the customary changes at the casinghead, with the exception of putting on a back-pressure of 185 lb.; and, (4) the well's daily production of oil and gas increased rather steadily for 17 months and 18 days from an initial of 40 bbl. per day to a maximum of 2926 bbl. per day, and then six months later, after a period of decline and self-readjustment to subsurface changes caused by six more deep producers, the well set its real record for one day's production of oil at 2950 bbl

Jan 1, 1931

By Fred W. Gordon

It is my purpose to call attention to the close approximate correctness of certain coefficients and formulas concerning the flow of gases, and their applicability to the practical construction of flues and

Jan 1, 1886

By F. B. Foley

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

Jan 9, 1922

By F. X. Tartaron

F. C. Bond (Consulting Engineer, Processing Machinery Dept., Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co., Milwaukee, Wis.) — Papers such as this one which deal in a lucid manner with the obscure fundamentals of comminution theory are always welcome. The author has attempted to bring together several diverse theories and handles them interestingly. However, some of the ideas expressed and conclusions drawn require critical reviewing, for which amenities alone will not suffice. The author points out that the theoretical energy required to break across crystal lattices is of the order of 1000 times the actual energy required to crush or grind, and that this energy in turn is perhaps 1000 times the measured surface energy of the new surface area produced. The energy required to grind commercially is controlled by flaws and dislocations, rather than by the inner strength of the lattice structure. The measured surface energy is only a slight residue left after the face atoms are adjusted to their new environment. The dislocations in the crystal lattice structure, with a spacing of about O.l,u, or

Jan 1, 1962

By C. C. Hawes

SILICA is the main impurity in iron ore. It is intimately associated with the iron oxide, sometimes free but more often in the combined state, as a mineral silicate. Its separation and purification sometimes present difficult problems to the analyst. In the absence of any definite knowledge to the contrary, orthosilicic acid. H4SiO4, is supposed to be the only silicic acid made, all other forms, such as metasilicic acid, H2SiO3, representing different degrees of its dehydration. These acids are exceedingly weak but form the most stable compounds found in nature. They are known as the silicate minerals and are formed by the combination of the different metallic oxides

Jan 1, 1936

A PAPER on "Iron and Steel Scrap in Blast-fur-nace Burdens," by W. C. McKee, general super-intendent, Federal Furnace plant, By-Products Coke Corp., Chicago, was published in the October issue of MINING AND METALLURGY, and written discussion by Richard Moldenke was published in the December issue. Following is the stenographic report of the oral discus-sion that took place when this paper was presented at Pittsburgh. J. N. REESE, Monessen, Pa.-I came to the conclusion that Mr. McKee must be using a poor grade of scrap, therefore his loss was high. Mr. Franchot said that there was ex-cess heat in the stack. There is no excess heat in the hearth, therefore, any heat that is used to melt this scrap must come from the stack. By using scrap in a blast furnace you can utilize this excess heat in the stack. The amount of scrap that can be used in any particular furnace involves a direct relation to the efficiency of that furnace. If a furnace is running on a very low-coke rate, you will not be able to use much; if on a high-coke rate, you can use considerable scrap, probably several times as much as that mentioned in these papers-without using any additional coke. This excess heat can be utilized with-out practically any serious mechanical and operating diffi-culties such as might be occasioned by removing gas from a point other than the top of the furnace. I do not think, scrap has any effect on the iron, although I think some foundrymen are trying to prove that it has, and perhaps some open-hearth men may have that idea.

Jan 1, 1927