Search Documents

By Persifor Frazer

1. SMOKE PREVENTION. Report of Select Committee of House of Commons (1843). Nuisance considerably abated in Leeds (Wm. Backerd, July 13, 1843, 239 pages). A synoptic index, p. 211, gives, in alphabetical order, the digest of every subject taken up. 2. FUEL : ITS COMBUSTION AND ECONOMY. D. Kinnear Clark, C. E. 24mo, 1354 pp. Crosby Lockwood & Co., London (1880). Includes abridgement of treatise on combustion of coal and prevention of smoke, by C. W. Williams, A.I.C.E. 3. DIE RAUCHSCHÄDEN IN DEN WÄLDERN DER UMGEBUNG DER FISCALISCHEN HÜTTENWERKE BEI FREIBERG. Dr. J. v. Schröder, Professor in Tharand, and Dr. A. Schertel, Vorstand des Hüttenlaboratoriums zu Freiberg. Royal 8vo, 27 .pages, 19 pages of tables and a map. Ernst Maukisch, Freiberg (1884). (Aus dem Jahrbuch für das Berg- und Huttenwesen, 1884.) In 1861, Reich and Stockhardt examined the extent of injury to vegetation by the Muldner works. Needles and twigs of pine showed in 100,000 parts : Pb, 5 to 50 ; As, 3.3 to 14.3 ; S02, 62 to 120. In the top twigs, 5 to 8 ; needles, 10 to 16 ; thicker twigs, 10 to 22 ; thinner twig-ends, 17 to 54 of lead. Lead greater in amount in sickly twig-ends with few needles ; also in the bark than in the naked wood of the trunk, which had hardly a trace ; also in the part turned toward the works than on the opposite side. Pb and As diminished in the vegetation with distance from the smelter ; and the same with regard to the soil. Fresh snow was collected, and SO, As, and Pb detected in it.

May 1, 1907

By A. Lucian Walker

SILVER is not only of paramount importance to millions of people as a medium of savings and to other millions as a medium of exchange, but it is also valuable and useful in industry. Mexico continues to be the largest producer of this metal, followed by the United States, Canada, and Peru. The largest consumers are China and India, which normally absorb about two-thirds of the world's mine production, hoarding it as savings. The imports by these countries exert a powerful influence upon the price, yet neither country is on the silver standard. China having abandoned it in 1935 and India in 1893, when the rupee was definitely linked to the pound sterling. Other nations such as Persia, Ethiopia, Mexico, and many of the South American countries either have been on the silver standard or have used silver as their chief circulating medium, and most large nations use it for subsidiary coins, this use accounting for 20 to 30 million ounces annually. The arts and industries have consumed 35 to 40 million ounces each year.

Jan 1, 1937

By AIME AIME

ANOTHER meeting of the Institute has passed into history and it fully sustained the reputation of the Institute as a live organization of the men, and nowadays the women, concerned with the mineral . ? industries and those working therein. The field meetings of, the 1nstitute are cine of its pleasantest and most valuable features. As Dr. Raymond used to say, ((It is good for a mining engineer once in a while to see a mine" and these meetings bring back to the mines those who, through progress into higher executive positions, have come to visit them infrequently, at the same time that they give opportunity for the .younger men to see regions and mines aside from those in which they are then working. This, and the formal and' informal interchange of information resulting,, is of the greatest professional value to all, while the meeting of old and making of new friends causes each meeting to be notable in turn. This year's meeting at Salt Lake City was one of the largest that has been held outside of. New York City; 470 members and guests registered while many more were present at the sessions without attending to this formality. '

Jan 1, 1925

By AIME AIME

BESIDES commanding increasing importance as an alloying element in combination with ferrous and other nonferrous metals, the variety of uses for pure nickel continues to widen. For coinage it is growing in popularity. These coins have been minted for 27 countries in 72 issues representing 69 denominations. Approximately 3,000,000,000 pieces have been struck, the aggregate weight, of which amounts to nearly 14,000 tons. . Danzig, Iraq and Japan are the most recent governments to adopt, pure nickel coinage. France is adding the denomination of five francs to its other nickel currency; they replace silver pieces. Germany is now minting a new issue of one Reichsmark coins of pure nickel. The Japanese program for 1933 called for the issue of 35,000,000 10-sen pieces and 30,000,000 5-sen pieces. In radio tube manufacture the consumption of pure nickel was approximately twice that of 1932. During 1.933 the nickel plating process by which bright deposits may be plated

Jan 1, 1934

By Herman Poole

WHEN finely divided ferrous sulphide, FeS, is roasted at a moderate, carefully regulated temperature, the iron and sulphur are oxidized, the first products being probably ferrous oxide and sulphurous acid. In the presence of oxygen of the air the ferrous oxide soon becomes ferric oxide and in the presence of oxygen and the ferric oxide the sulphurous acid oxidizes to sulphuric acid. These facts are well known, having been established by Plattner many years ago. As a further reaction, some of the sulphuric acid parts with a portion of its oxygen to oxidize more ferrous oxide to ferric oxide, and a portion of it escapes uncombined or else unites with the iron oxides to form sulphates. Ferrous sulphate is usually soon oxidized to ferric sulphate and if the heat becomes sufficient this is then decomposed into sulphuric acid and ferric oxide. As a result of these reactions a mass of more or less pure ferric oxide is formed which is generally made porous by the escaping gases and, if rabbled properly, practically all the sulphur is expelled. If ferric sulphide or ordinary pyrites, FeS2, is roasted, a portion of the sulphur sublimes and usually burns to form sulphurous or sulphuric acid, although at times and under favorable conditions some of the sulphur is driven off uncombined and can be collected as such. Under ordinary methods of roasting, however, only a small portion escapes combustion. By the combustion of the sulphur an increase of heat is de¬veloped and, as a consequence, the reactions mentioned take place more rapidly and actively-more sulphuric acid is formed and the oxidation is more complete-nearly all the iron being left as ferric oxide with practically no sulphate or ferrous oxide. When the iron sulphide is in lumps the roasting proceeds generally as with fines, but with some changes due to mass. The

Sep 1, 1905

By FRABK HERVEY PETTINGELL

THE stock exchange and its functions is about as well understood by the average individual as the fourth dimension. What is a stock exchange? Divested of the rules and regulations by which it is governed, and the facilities it provides for the convenient handling of securities, it would be in its nude state nothing more or less than a meeting place for brokers. The stock exchange in America dates back to 1752, when a group of merchants of New York established a meeting place at the foot of Broad Street for the purpose of dealing in meal and slaves. The first definite orgarization, however, had its beginning in 1792 when 24 New York brokers signed an agreement not to buy or sell public stock for less than one quarter per cent. commission. From this small group has grown by gradual degrees, the greatest organized security market in the world, namely, the New York Stock Exchange. At the present time there are 27 stock exchanges in the United States and 5 in Canada. Based on the volume of business transacted, the Los Angeles Stock Exchange ranks 6th among them. This is attributable to the fact that strictly speaking Los Angeles has never been a stock exchange town, like some other large cities. Take for instance San Francisco, which supported one stock exchange from 1862 to .1882 and has since supported two. No city, by the way, should tolerate two stock exchanges at the same time. It is an economic folly and a senseless duplication that can be compared with rival telephone companies or competing street railway systems, paralleling each other's lines and always leads to trouble and confusion, and sooner or later one or the other falls by the wayside. While Los Angeles has had stock exchanges of one kind or another since 1896, none of them attracted much attention until 1899 when the present exchange was organized and it did not get well under way until along in 1906.

Jan 1, 1925

By Heinrich Ries

I. INTRODUCTION. THE facts is presented in this paper, based chiefly on recon¬naissance made, during the summer of 1903, by myself and my assistant, Mr. R.. C. Brooks, cover practically all that portion of Texas lying east of the 99th meridian. The work was undertaken for the University of Texas Mineral Survey, and was to have been extended over the entire State, but the sudden termination of the survey prevented even the official publication of the results already obtained. Most of the mineral resources of Texas were fully treated by the First Geological Survey, but the clay-industry was tit that time little developed, so that only a few scattered notes concerning it are to be found in the Survey reports. The extensive exploitation of the clay-deposits, however, has emphasized their commercial importance, and has also made accessible many facts of exceptional interest concerning their geologic conditions. The erection of new plants for the utilization of clay-products is usually preceded by more or less prospecting, which, by reason of the scarcity of outcrops, and the geologic and topographic conditions of eastern and southeastern Texas, is often slow and difficult work. This is especially true in the Tertiary and Pleistocene areas, where the structural conditions much resemble those of the Atlantic coastal plain, the deposits being mostly lenticular in form, and surrounded by beds of sand. II. GENERAL GEOLOGY OF THE CLAY-DEPOSITS. The accompanying sketch-map, Fig. 1, shows the location of nearly all the deposits examined, their relation to the geology of the State, and the type of clay found in each. The geology is based on the published work of Hill, Cummins, Tail, Adams, Hayes and Kennedy, but the boundaries have unfortunately not been determined over the entire region covered by the map, and, in many areas, are only approximate. It will be seen that the clay-deposits range from Carboniferous to Pleistocene in age, the older deposits being found in the northwestern part of the area, while those of Cretaceous and Tertiary age lie to the east, southeast and south. The Pleistocene clays are found in part in a belt along the coast, and in part along many of the larger rivers, where they often underlie extensive terraces.

Sep 1, 1906

By Nathan C. Rockwood

WHILE mining engineers have been searching in far corners of the country and of the world for hidden wealth there has grown up around us in nearly every city great wealth-producing mines calling for the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars and yielding products now sold for over half a billion dollars yearly-largely unknown and almost wholly neglected by mining engineers. But this neglect is explainable and excusable. They are industries of very recent origin-practically the growth of the last 25 years. They are in a very large measure the result of tremendous developments in engineering construction and the rapidly expanding use of portland cement concrete for structures of every description. Concrete as a material of construction is going through an evolution very much as did cast iron and other metals used in engineering; and this phase of the industry should appeal to the imagination of metallurgical engineers. At first iron was iron-a material of uncertain properties, owing both to small differences in chemical composition and in methods of manufacture. By successive steps iron was studied and knowledge of its properties developed-the striking effects of very small percentages of other minerals and of various heat-treatments.

Jan 1, 1924

By T. Lane Carter

(Canal Zone Meeting , October , 1910.) INTRODUCTION. IT is a curious fact that while in our Transactions there are papers dealing with mining-districts in all parts of the world, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, there is not one which describes the mining possibilities of Nicaragua; our near neighbor. To be most interested in distant objects, like the moon, .and to neglect what lies at our feet, appears to be a trait of human nature. The neglect of Nicaragua is not confined to the American Institute of Mining Engineers. In no other transactions am I :able to find papers dealing with mining in Nicaragua, some parts of which are as much in need of discovery and research as the North Pole.. I hope this paper will be the precursor of many others to be printed in our Transactions, dealing not only with the mining possibilities of Nicaragua, but with the whole of Central America, where there are vast areas awaiting skill and capital for their development. Much of this capital and skill should come from the United States in the future, although it is probable that European capitalists, when they appreciate fully the possibilities, will investigate more and more the mining-resources of Nicaragua and other Central American republics. Fig. 1 is a sketch-map of Nicaragua showing the principal mining-districts. II. HISTORY. Mining in Nicaragua did not begin yesterday. It was commenced by civilized man when the Spanish conquerors penetrated into the interior and forced the natives to procure the precious metal for them. It is strange that the Spaniards did not find more gold, and work on a scale as extensive as in Colombia and other parts of South America. Probably in Nicaragua the Indians covered up most of the rich prospects

Dec 1, 1910

By Dorsey Lyon

I. INTRODUCTION. In presenting, this paper the writers wish to call attention first of all to the fact that the electric furnace was not developed as a competitor of the combustion furnace, but: 1. For the purpose of doing high-temperature work which it is not possible to do in the combustion furnace; and 2. For the treatment of ores from deposits which. are located in regions where fuel is scarce and costly, and where hydro-electric power is comparatively cheap, as is the case in Chili, in Canada, in certain parts of this country and Mexico.. This paper is not presented with the idea of trying to. prove that the electric furnace should replace the reverberatory or the blast furnace as used at present in the smelting of copper ores, but that it may be substituted for their in those localities which are not favorable to them,) and where either of the two following conditions may exist: (a) A district remote from railway transportation. facilities, and where there is a deposit, or deposits, containing sufficient values to warrant their being worked, but which, due to the cost of getting coke in for operating a smelter and of getting ore out to a smelter, have to remain unworked.. And where, on the other hand, there is plenty of water power which call he developed at reasonable cost for the production of electric power, by the use of which for. smelting the ores in an electric furnace, with subsequent Bessermerization if necessary, a concentrated product may be obtained, which can easily stand the necessary transportation charges. (b) Or,. comparatively speaking, the transportation facilities may be all right, but the cost of fuel be too great to permit of the ordinary methods of smelting, whereas,- on the other hand, hydro-electric power can he developed: in the district at a, low cost,, and the ores could be smelted by the electric furnace at a cost. that would make their treatment possible. With these possibilities in mind we have attempted to make a brief comparative study of the problem for the purpose of aiding those interested in the subject, in determining whether it would be possible metallurgically, and feasible commercially; to use the electric furnace-in those localities where, by reason: of excessive fuel costs, the cost, of operating the furnaces for smelting copper-ores. is either excessive or prohibitive. Although the smelting of copper ores in the electric furnace has received considerable attention and more or less experimental work has been done, so far as: we lire: aware there ate no electric furnaces in the United States which are' being worked on copper ores. In Norway, however, trial smeltings of copper ores with an electric furnace of 1,000 h. p. and an estimated producing' capacity of 2,000 tons per annum, have been

Jan 8, 1913

By M. W. BERNEWITZ

AUSTRALIANS and New Zealanders, whose countries have respectively yielded gold to the value of £666,000,000 and £96,000,000, are taking full advantage of the current high prices for that metal. There is a marked activity in ordinary prospecting, geophysical exploration, further development of working mines and reopening of old properties, formation of new companies, installation of new equipment and processes, and expansion of operations generally. Australian gold production last year was approximately double the quantity of 1929 and its value three times as great, 1929 being the low of recent years. The 1933 production was about 821,000 oz. From New Zealand, 165,000 oz. was exported last year. Papua and New Guinea contributed slightly over 100,000 oz. What the future price of gold will be nobody knows, but, even if it returns to the former level, Australian producers are almost sure of 110 shillings an ounce until 1940 through the Commonwealth Government's Gold Bounty Act, at present temporarily and necessarily suspended from operation.

Jan 1, 1934

By William B. Plank

IN this paper are presented the results of a complete statistical survey of the enrolment, courses and degrees, and the employment situation of recent graduates in all of the 46 institutions in the United States, including Alaska, and four of the six schools in Canada that grant degrees in mineral technology. The data were collected by the writer by means of a questionnaire in December, 1933, to which all the institutions, except one, replied. Included also are data of a similar study made by the writer in May, 1933, for the S. P. E. E. summer session of mining and metallurgical teachers at the University of Wisconsin and published in the Journal of Engineering Education for December. 1933. Some of the data of a paper of the writer's entitled, "The Trend of Mineral Engineering Student Enrolment in the United States," read at the A. I. M. E. meeting on Feb. 16. 1931, are given for comparison. Acknowledgment is made to all the administrative officers of the institutions who took the time from their busy lives to supply the in- formation asked for. Their fine cooperation has alone made possible these two surveys with a completeness of detail never before attempted

Jan 1, 1934

By J. B. Dilworth

I. INTRODUCTION. THE purpose of this paper is, first, to give a general account of a little-known coal-district of SE. Kentucky, its topography, drainage, and mineral resources, for those who may be interested in its economic development; and secondly, so to describe the geologic features of the field as to furnish available data to those engaged on the broader problems of Appalachian coal-geology. The data from which the major portion of the paper has been prepared were obtained, in professional investigations for private individuals and corporations, within the last decade. The area under review, defined by a heavy line on the map, Fig. 1, lies between Little Black and Pine mountains, and extends from Harlan on the west to a N-S. line crossing Looney creek 3 miles from its mouth on the east. This area can be divided for description into a Western and an Eastern Division. The character of investigation pursued in the Western Division, below Fugitt creek, was very different from that employed in the Eastern. In the former, only a rapid reconnoissance was attempted : such coal-openings as had been made by prospectors or by citizens in obtaining fuel were visited, their sections measured and, in many instances, sampled. Elevations were obtained barometrically and approximate locations sketched on a small-scale map. In a field where the coals are so well opened, the reconnoissance method gives a very fair idea of the number and character of the principal beds and their relative positions, and affords much evidence for their correlation over wide areas, without permitting the more refined work required to discover all the seams of the measures and to determine the details of geologic structure.

Feb 1, 1912

By A. V. De Forest

INSPECTION and test methods of great diversity have been used from the most ancient times to select raw material, control its manufacture, and appraise its finished properties and value. The "miller thumb," expert in grading flour, the vintner's sense of taste, the goldsmith's micro-wear test on a touchstone, the enquiring sniff over the doubtful egg -these are all nondestructive inspection methods, accurate and depend- able, but not readily reduced to numbers in the c.g.s. system. A horse trader inspecting a possible purchase is interested in more than age, size, weight, color. heredity, speed, or drawbar pull which can be reduced to figures. Behavior, temperament, stamina, health-past, present and future---are just as important as the numerically determinate constants.

Jan 1, 1940

By George F. Kunz

Jan 1, 1902

By James K. Richardson

STATISTICAL evidence shows that continued efforts made by Government and industry to make mining safer during the last two decades have had most favorable results. In the copper-mining industry an accident frequency of 146 per million man-hours worked in 1925 dropped 71 per cent by 1945 to 43. This downward trend was relatively consistent except for a high period in 1937 which was probably due to a resumption of large-scale operation with many untrained miners. The iron-mining industry showed a similar trend, but at the relatively lower accident frequency of 66, which dropped to 24 in 1945. The close relationship between the steel and iron-mining industries may be one reason for the lower accident frequencies, because the steel industry is noted for its greater recognition of the fact that safe working conditions are an important part of labor-management relations.

Jan 1, 1948

By John D. Ridge

Here are summarized 162 papers, published between 1933 and 1967, that deal with various aspects of ore genesis. Emphasis is placed on additions to, or modifications of, ore-formation theory, no matter what type of deposit is discussed. More space is given to papers on the formation of base-metal sulfides solely because more papers are written on this subject. The final conclusion is reached that a chemically and geologically sound theory for the genesis of ore deposits can be built around the concept of concentration of ore e’ements in a magmatically produced ore fluid and around such surface processes as may act to concentrate economically valuable materials from rocks of any origin exposed at the surface.

Jan 1, 1968

By Charles D. Walcott

Jan 1, 1901

By Scott, Turner

IN 1933, the monetary metals were produced in a ratio of 6.7 oz. of silver to 1 oz. of gold, the lowest relatively for silver since the period from 1851 to 1865. At the beginning of that period, the virgin placers of California -and Australia began producing almost simultaneously; in consequence, there was an abrupt fall in the high silver side of the ratio that had prevailed through the centuries after America was discovered. The output from the Comstock and other silver-bearing lodes, located a decade after this influx of new gold began, soon restored the production ratio to its former proportion, that is, a relatively large weight of silver compared to gold.

Jan 1, 1934

By Zay Jeffries

From the title of this chapter the reader could expect an attempt to outline the anticipated shape of things to come, mineralwise. We have no crystal ball and if we possessed one we could claim no expertness in its use. In the first place no one can tell the future status of man. No one has any way of knowing to what extent peace will prevail, nor to what extent changes may occur in national sovereignties or forms of government or in international relationships. So future man is an uncertainty. Nor can we predict new developments that may result in significant changes in man's status or in the mineral industry or both. If, for example, this chapter had been written in the middle 1930's, nearly everything that has happened since in the field of atomic energy would have been missed. Yet what a vast change this has made in the status of man! Also the changes in the mineral industry have been important. A writer would have been bold indeed had he prophesied that uranium would play such an important role. But we need not confine our foggy vision to the atomic energy field. The steep rise in the use of aluminum, titanium, and germanium reflects the unpredictable in what may be thought of as the more normal pursuits. This should not discourage one from using the past and currently observable trends as bases for limited predictions. To do this, however, it is desirable to make certain assumptions about man's status without even a pretense that these assumptions have a high probability of fulfillment: 1. Only minor changes will occur in the geographical boundaries of the nations of the world. 2. World War III will not take place in the near future. 3. As a consequence of (2), man will not destroy himself by wanton use of atomic weapons. 4. Disarmament will take place, if at all, gradually rather than all at one time. Under the above assumptions the world will enjoy a period of relative peace even though the status may be one of an armed truce. The assump-

Jan 1, 1959