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By P. A. Gray

Artificial ground support has developed into a relined science over the past 20 years. From reactive support systems such as timber props and steel supports, to active systems such as roof bolts and cable anchors, ground support technology has now developed efficient systems that work well in many instances. However this paper demonstrates that there is still a long way to go to develop optimum ground support systems. Some conventional rock bolts and cable anchors emphasise their tensile capacity only, without considering other factors such as their shear strength or shear modulus, or if the support member can transfer all of its support capacity to the surrounding rock. Examples are given of the use of ground anchors with high tensile and shear capacity in underground coal mining as well as examples of slope failures in open pits where the cable bolts have remained intact because they have been unable to transfer their full capacity to the surrounding weak rock mass. For underground coal mines, speed of installation is also of primary concern, but it must also have high tensile and shear capacity both in terms of strength and stiffness. Ground support systems of the future must therefore address these problems. An innovative new rock bait is discussed which goes some way towards solving these problems. This new rock bolt is screwed into the rock and thus has a direct mechanical interlock with the rock. Initial field results show that it has an extremely high anchor capacity and can be fully installed in approximately 30 seconds. It has considerable capacity to improve the productivity of the coal mining industry.

Jan 1, 1992

By F. S. Beretta

Mineral processing efficiency depends on various factors and among them includes head grade fluctuations feeding the processing plant. Head grades can fluctuate beyond an admissible range, implying in recovery decrease for the mineral of interest. Grades feeding the processing plant depend on the geological domain which is being mined and on the mining schedule. Therefore, it is necessary to keep grade variability controlled. Blending piles are an efficient alternative to reduce grade fluctuations. The main factors influencing blending efficiency are the pile size or its mass and the number of layers used to pile up. Large piles are more efficient to reduce variability, however, there are economical and operational limits associated with them. This study investigates a methodology to analyse the ideal pile size to reach an acceptable variability given the in situ grade fluctuations. Geostatistical simulations provide the means to assess grade variability using an optimized mining schedule. These block grades are used to simulate any given pile throughout the mine`s life. The methodology was illustrated using a case study to control coal ash content at a mine supplying ROM coal to a power plant. Keywords: homogenization, piles, geostatistical simulation.

Jan 1, 2009

By G. P. Connell, R. E. Gilmore, J. H. H. Nicolls

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a procedure for indicating the dividing line between noncaking coals and those that have weakly caking properties. A laboratory agglomerating test as an aid in classifying weakly caking coals is outlined and its merits in comparison with the standard agglutinating method advanced by the U. S. Bureau of Mines are discussed. No attempt, however, is made to discuss in detail either the different methods for determining "caking" and "agglutinating" indices or the various systems of classification. Two methods, differing somewhat in procedure, have been employed and recognized as suitable for determining the caking or agglutinating values of coals; namely, those in which an inert material such as sand, electrode carbon, etc., has been mixed with the coal before being heated, and those in which the coal is carbonized alone. In all such methods, the coal with or without the inert material is in the finely divided state and the index or value sought is derived from the examination of the residue after heating in a closed crucible or other container. The procedure outlined by Selvig, Beattie and Clellandl is the most recent representative of the method using sand as inert material, while the agglomerating test described below is representative of the method in which the coal is carbonized alone. The standard volatile-matter determination affords a means for observing the coking properties of a coal, and this has been described by Rose2 as the simplest of all coking tests. According to him, "the resulting coke button will indicate whether the coal is noncoking, feebly coking or strongly coking," despite the fact that "almost every condition in this test is at variance with large-scale carbonizing practice." Lessing,3 the

Jan 1, 1934

By Guerney P. J

A suspension of finely powdered ferrosilicon in water is the dense medium used in the gravity upgrading of iron ore, diamonds and other minerals. Ferrosilicon can he lost in the plant through corrosion. The greatest corrosion losses occur when

Jan 1, 1997

By I. Ashmole

From the point of view of the environmental impact created, dimension stone mining is a relatively benign industry. There are no emissions besides those of the diesel powered earthmoving equipment utilised in its extraction and a small amount of blasting gases. Contamination of water resources is only likely in the event of petrochemical spillages from storage facilities and equipment, and these can largely be either prevented or cleaned up effectively. The major environmental impacts are of a visual nature, while in sensitive areas, habitat destruction and the destruction of archaeological heritage may become significant impacts. The dimension stone industry has grown at an average rate of over 7% per annum since 1986, and is forecast to continue growing at this rate for the foreseeable future. The cumulative environmental impact of the industry will thus become more significant over time. This paper discusses the environmental impacts of dimension stone mining and recommends effective means for dealing with the practical aspects of reclamation and mine closure in dimension stone mining within the context of environmentally responsible business practices. The discussion focuses mainly on the operations of the Finstone Group in Southern Africa, which are considered to be world leaders in the application of environmental management within the dimension stone mining industry, although reference is also made to other situations which the authors have encountered at dimension stone quarries around the world.

Jan 1, 2008

IT may perhaps seem to you that I have deviated from sequence by having entered into the narration of this arrangement of the bellows, but, although they are not furnaces or vessels for containing the melts, they are essential agents for bringing to port the bark of your labors. Returning to our regular pathway, and supposing that, besides making the moulds, you have melted and cast not only statues and bells but also guns, it is true that a certain procedure is required in order to finish them. For this you should have the moulds full, and they should have come out very well, for in truth reason does not allow that they turn out otherwise for one who uses precaution. [II2V] Then you have taken your casting from the pit and have freed it of clay. Since I have told you nothing beyond this, do not be dismayed if you see the castings so rough and in a form that scarcely shows what they really are, for I wish to open up part of the way into the great labor of finishing them so that it may seem to you that you have been somewhat helped by me. Therefore, when it is a gun, first see that the iron spindle that has been placed in the middle of the core is taken out. You can do this easily by striking the heel of the core, especially if the spindle had first been covered with ashes, hemp, or a little rope. Then saw off the feeding head above the mouth, using either a dun steel saw with tiny straight teeth that has been tempered with oil or some other fat, or a hay sickle whose edge is gently hit by a little hammer. Then have the clay that is attached to the curls or other bronze parts lifted away with a chisel. Then with a scouring brush and water uncover the emblems, coats of arms, borders, and cornices that you made as ornaments. Striking it with a hammer, push inwards every superfluous bit of bronze. Finally, having cleaned the bronze by washing, scraping, and cutting away every bit of clay, strike its surfaces gently with a large hammer and thus make it very smooth. Likewise finish the mouth and all its cornices as exactly and completely as possible with files and any other instrument that serves best. Then take a long, powerful tool that has some steel on the point, made like a chisel and somewhat bent, or with three points like the iron blade

Jan 1, 1942

By W. M. Weigel

"The use of sand for the filtration of municipal water supplies is comparatively recent use in this country, although at the present time, most cities of any size that draw their water supply from surface sources use sand filters in their purification system. Not only are sand filters employed to remove sediment and suspended matter, but they also take out most of the bacteria in the water.The first comprehensive research and study of sand for this purpose was probably that of Hazen for the Massachusetts Board of Health in 1891 and 1892, although sand filters had been employed for a considerable time before, specifications for filter sand drawn since then have been largely based on the results of Hazen's work,The general requirements for filter sand are more exacting than for any of the different kinds of sands, except the chemical specifications for glass sand. Filter sand must be uniform in size and within certain limiting sizes. In addition, it must be clean and free from clay and organic matter and of fairly high purity. Early investigations established the fact that an excess of fine materiel increased the friction and decreased the rate of flow through the filter, and that the size of the finer particles rather than the courser, determined the effective size. Also, that large grains tended to cause irregularities in flow in different parts of the bed. There is no requirement as to grain shapes, except that they be not flat or elongated, since, so far as known, either rounded or angular grains are equally efficient.Based on Hazen's investigations, two factors are quite generally used to control the average size and uniformity of size of the sand. These are defined as follows: The ""effective size"" of a sand is such that 10 per cent by weight of the seed is finer than this size, end 90 per cent is coarser. It is expressed in millimeters, The ""uniformity coefficient"" is defined as the ratio of the size of grain which has 60 per cent finer than this size to the size which has 10 per cent finer (the ""effective size""). It is evident that the smaller this coefficient, the more uniform is the seed. If all the grains were exactly the same size, the coefficient would be 1."

Jul 1, 1924

THE discussion of this topic at the Open-hearth Conference at Detroit on Nov. 3, 1927, was opened by statements of the general principles involved, made by manufacturers of molds. Because of their general interest they are printed below. WILLIAM HAIL RAMAGE,* Hubbard, Ohio.-I did not come prepared to read a paper, thinking. the most I would be called upon to do would be to make a few, remarks by way of discussion. A number of our friends have pre-viously asked questions. similar to this which really does not permit a direct "yes" or "no" answer. If I may he pardoned for so doing, I believe it advisable to discuss rather what we consider the principal factors which in-fluence mold life. I think possibly a little undue weight has been given to the subject of the analysis of the metal. For the last eight years we have spent a lot of time, effort, and money investigating this very problem from a chemical, physical and microscopic standpoint. We have had the benefit of complete records and history of over 100,000 molds in service at a variety of plants and over long periods of time. Obviously, I cannot be so specific that I should divulge information that is really a trade secret. In our opinion the principal factors influencing mold life are: (1) design of the mold; (2) process of manu-facture, including workmanship; (3) care in the steel plant or what might be termed "the use or abuse" in the steel plant; (4) the analysis of the iron and the physical con-dition of it. Under normal conditions these factors are of importance in the order named, although in specific cases they might be rearranged in any order you choose. For instance, the best mold made can be destroyed in one or two pours by subjecting it to certain conditions which are occasion-ally met in steel plant practice. Obviously, in that case, nothing else matters but that one item. On the other hand, I have seen molds made of such a terrible design that it was a foregone conclusion it would have to be broken after the second pour of the ingot to get it out. In that case, nothing but design mattered. As to the effect of process of manufacture, let me cite a case. Some years ago there were two batches of molds sent to a certain company. They were the same sized molds, used under the same conditions and in the same kind of service. There were, 20 molds in each batch. The second batch sent gave ten times the life of the first batch. It is true that the design was changed a little, but not very much, and it was not. a bad mold to begin with. It is possible that the iron may have been better in the second consignment but not very much. In my opinion, it is con-servative to say that of the 900 per cent improvement in life, 5 per cent was probably due to better iron, 25 per cent to better design and the remaining 870 per cent to process of manufacture and workmanship.

Jan 2, 1928

By J. R. Campbell

A dozen years or so ago, the general superintendent of our company, now the president, Mr. W. H. Clingerman, asked me to study the coal-washing problem. This work brought me into contact with the best washery men of the country. I investigated many kinds of coal-cleaning schemes, made numerous tests, and collected voluminous data, yet I confess frankly that I have had little practical washery experience and that little has been at the Middlefork washery of the United States Fuel Co. at Benton, Franklin Co., Ill., which was put in operation last fall. While this washery installation may not be the "last word," I am quite sure it embodies some long steps in advance of the older designs and constructions. From the washery man's standpoint, the removal of pyrites or marcasite, a disulfide of iron, is the one vital problem, and the one productive of the most beneficial results, so far as elimination of sulfur is concerned. Sulfates and so-called organic sulfur occupy quite a sec-. ondary position and are generally lost sight of in coal washing. The elimination of sulfur in coal in the past has usually been accomplished by jigging in water, but lately concentrating tables have been successfully employed. The flotation process has been applied to fine coal, but is hardly considered practicable. Coal washing is rapidly coming into its own, due to the depletion of low-sulfur coals for coking purposes, and we predict that soon the same careful attention will be given to the design and construction of coal washeries that is now being given to byproduct plants and other allied industries. Heretofore, coal washing has been considered only an incidental and necessary evil instead of the big problem it is—one worthy of the most careful study by men well trained along technical lines and capable of delving into the fundamental principles. Preparation oF Coal It is usually necessary to crush the mine-run coal before sending it to the jigs, the degree of crushing depending on the occurrence of the sulfur and other impurities in the coal and the type of jig over which it is to be sent. The feldspar jig requires finer and more uniform crushing

Jan 1, 1920

THE Copperton mill in reality was a sort of proving ground. It was. designed to serve three purposes: (1) to verify the accuracy of the mine sampling by actually treating substantial tonnages of ore, (2) to demonstrate on a reasonably large scale the percentage of the copper in the ore that could be recovered, and (3) to permit the testing of various kinds of machines and devices for crushing and concentrating the ore, so as to guide the engineers in designing the proposed 6000-ton milling plant at Garfield. As a matter of fact, it contained a lot of second-hand equipment sent by MacNeill and Penrose from the works of the United States Reduction &Refining Co. in Colorado; and it was by no means a model installation. Probably it would have been even less efficient, except for the skillful work of George O. Bradley and-Frank-G, Janney, both of whom had worked with Jackling at Mercur. Bradley was a mechanical engineer employed to design the plant. Later he directed the design of the concentrator at Garfield and remained as consulting mechanical engineer to the company until 1915. Janney, who afterwards became manager of mills, a position that he retained until his death in 1916, was a skilled mechanic at the Golden Gate mill at Mercur when Jackling built the plant in 1897. His flair was making machinery do what it was intended to do. He was not an ore-dressing engineer in a technical sense; but Jackling him- self was a specialist in this respect as well as in designing and construction and Janney's mechanical aptitude made him a particularly valuable man in the Utah organization. John McDonald, another of Jackling's Mercur associates, was the first mine superintendent. With practically all of the available funds earmarked for construction of the Copperton

Jan 1, 1933

By M. R. Geer, H. F. Yancey

0. R. LYONS*—I know that we are all interested in hearing about problems that other people have. To most of the people from the eastern part of the United States, this kind of coal preparation is completely different. It represents washing difficulties that most operators have never experienced, or, if they have, they have refused to consider them because there are coals that are much easier to wash and, therefore. they leave the more difficult ones alone for the time being. E. R. McMILLAN†—I think the au-thors have summarized the material very well. Dr. Yancey has spent a great many years in the study of washing coals, as has Mr. Geer. I might comment briefly on some of the plants that were mentioned, plants with which I have had some con-nection, particularly those of our own company, the Northwestern Improve-ment Co. I would like to point out this: that ill each case, a great deal of work was done in the way of preliminary studies of washability of the coal before plants were built. The first plant of any size built in Roslyn field was mentioned in the paper. This central cleaning plant was designed and built to handle coal from three different mines. I might say that prior to 1935, the year in which the plant was built, the coal was used largely as railway fuel, close to a million tons annually. But as mining increased in depth, it became increasingly difficult to separate and gob much of the impurities underground, with the result that the run-of-mine coal became so high in ash that the railroad eventually was forced to consider installing some kind of preparation plant at the mine. We spent about a year in preliminary studies in cooperation with the Bureau of Mines to find out the best type of plant that would clean the coal. The result, as Mr. Geer has explained to you, is a rather complicated plant, but it is doing a very satisfactory job. We have, however, made a number of changes and improve-n~euts since it was first built. The last addition was the, installation of a cen- trifugal drier to dewater the minus ¼ in. size. We are now contemplating installing heat driers for further drying of minus ¼ in. We use Vissac heat driers for drying the stoker coal, the ¾ to in. The demand for drier coal, for both railway and industrial use, is forcing us to further drying of the coal. The plant that was mentioned as having been built in Pierce County, during the war, was a government sponsored plant. I happen to have had some connection with its design, construction and initial operation. We did what we thought then, and still think, was a very thorough job of preliminary studies in cooperation with the Burea of Mines of the coal from that field. The plant was as good a plant as could be built with the equipment available at that time, 1943. The plant that was mentioned as having been built at Ravensdale for treating the McKay coal was rebuilt about two years ago, and in addition to the modified Elmore jig washer that was mentioned. we added a coucentrating table for re-cleaning the minus 3/32 in. Our object there was to produce a commercial

Jan 1, 1950

By B. F. Fackenthall

The Durham Iron Works of Messrs. Cooper & Hewitt, near Riegelsville, Pa., occupy a site which has been almost continuously the scene of iron-manufacturing industry since 1727. Doubtless if Anthony Morris and his thirteen associates, who in that year erected a blast-furnace on the Durham Creek, a short distance above where the Durham Iron Works now stands, could have had a vision of the improved and enlarged apparatus of their successors, they would have been not less astonished by the huge stack, the hot-blast ovens, and the blowing-engines of the modern blast-furnace, than by the railroad which now follows the bank of the river on which their clumsy " Durham boats " once floated pig-iron to Philadelphia. In one particular, posterity must confess their snperiority. We are told that in November, 1728, they shipped three tons of Durham iron to England. The proprietors of the Durham Iron Works are not now shipping iron to England. The present Durham furnace was built (in place of two smaller ones) in 1874 and 1875, and made its first blast in 1876. A description of it, with other works of the same proprietors, at Trenton, N. J., by A. L. Holley and Lenox Smith, was published in London Engineering for January 31st, and February 21st, 1879. Since that time, a number of improvements, dictated by experience, have been made in the details of the furnace and fittings; and the recent roilclusion of a long and successful blast presents a convenient opportunity for a description of the works and a statement of the results of practice. The accompanying drawings will show the general arrangement of the works. The furnace, Plate I., Figs. 1 and 2, is 75 feet high by 19 feet bosh. The hearth is 11 feet 4 inches in diameter, with seven tuyeres 5 feet 6 inches above hearth-line. The tuyeres project 9 inches into the furnace, making the interior tuyere-circle 9 feet 10 inches in diameter. The front is a modification of Luermaun's

Jan 1, 1886

By William G. Doepken

GENERAL DESCRIPTION The Henderson mine utilizes a highly mechanized, continuous panel-caving system to extract ore from a deep, massive, molybdenum deposit. The mine site, lo¬cated 80.5 km (50 miles) west of Denver, is situated at 3170 m (10,400 ft) above sea level in a steep valley on the eastern side of the Continental Divide. The mill site, located on the western side of the divide, is linked to the mine via a 15.5-km (9.6-mile) railroad tunnel. Mine production is scheduled to reach 27 215 t/ d (30,000 stpd) from the uppermost production level. This pro¬duction rate will have been reached within the four years following an intensive ten-year preproduction development program. A second production level, due to come on stream in later years, will expand production capabilities to 31 751 t/d (35,000 stpd). The mine, which employs approximately 2000, has blocked-out ore reserves of 220 Mt (242 million st) at an average grade of 0.42% MoS2. Geology The Henderson deposit is composed of two partially overlapping ore bodies that lie 1080 m (3600 ft) beneath the peak of Red Mountain. The ore bodies are entirely within a Tertiary rhyolite porphyry intrusive complex that has intruded Precambrian granite. The de¬posit is elliptical in plan with overall dimensions of 670 x 910 m (2200 x 3000 ft). In section it is arcuate with an average thickness of 185 m (600 ft). The top of the deposit is at an elevation of 2610 m (8700 ft) while the lower limits range from 2340 m (7800 ft) on the west to below 2100 m (7000 ft) on the east. The mineralization is relatively continuous in the ore bodies and consists of molybdenite and quartz in random to subrandom, intersecting, closely spaced veinlets. Cavability RQD (rock quality designation) * values measured from Henderson drill core and compared with the RQD values from the Climax and Urad block-cave mines in¬dicated that the Henderson ore would cave but with difficulty and that a high percentage of the cave ma¬terial would be blocky. Initial caving experience shows the Henderson ore caves easier and with greater frag¬mentation than was indicated by the RQD values. Pos¬sible reasons for this are: 1) The greater lithostatic load at the Henderson has a greater effect on caving and fragmentation than anticipated. 2) The relief of confining pressure due to caving action and brittleness of the rock is enhancing breakage. Mine Layout The Henderson mine layout was designed from its inception for a large-scale, rubber-tired, continuous panel-caving mining system. The ore body is vertically divided into three major mine levels (Fig. 1). The top¬most level (8100 level), which is 2469 m (8100 ft) above sea level, is the current mine production level. The intermediate or 7700 level, which is in the initial

Jan 1, 1982

By R. M. Daelen

Mechanical science is severely tested by the demands of the iron manufacture for the varied apparatus needed to transport and to treat raw materials and products. Water has long been a favorite means of transmitting pressure for such purposes, because of its own incompressibility. Further advances in its use are the more to be expected, since mechanical improvements have steadily tended to overcome the difficulties formerly encountered in the employment of great hydraulic pressures. So long as the pressure is not higher than that which requires for plungers, etc., only ordinary stuffing-boxes, with hemp or other similar packing, the necessary arrangements for the production and transmission of the water-pressure without leakage are very simple. But when this limit (which is, for most purposes, 50 kilos to the square centimeter) is exceeded, new conditions of construction arise, which are met in various ways, and which justify a primary division of hydraulic presses into low-pressure and high-pressure respectively. The former are used in lifting and moving weights, and employ pressures as high (in extreme cases) as 100 kilos per square centimeter; but at this point the friction between piston and hemp-packing is so great that the use of cup-leathers is already preferable. Beyond 100 kilos it becomes a necessity. The range of practicable tight packing which follows is considerable, extending to about 1000 kilos; but "high pressure" in practice is from 100 to 600 kilos, and it is to this that the present paper applies. General Classes and Types. Hydraulic transmission at high pressure usually claims consideration in case the solid mechanism, such as levers, cams, screws, and gear-wheels, would have to be too large, would involve too much friction, or could not be suitably adapted to the speed-requirements of the working-tools. Since steam is mostly the primary carrier of

Jan 1, 1893

By H. L. Couch, J. D. Lubahn

In decarburized mild steel, the strain hardening arising from 1/2 pct strain can he partly recovered by subsequent heating, even though re crystallization or grain growth does not occur. This recovery varies from 5 pct in an hour at room temperature to 70 pct at 800°C. The variation with temperature was qualitatively similar to that reported for copper, but occurred at lower temperatures. Except for the initial portion (Bazdschinger effect), the stress-strain curve following recovery can be superimposed on the original curve by shifting it to the left. In other words, the tensile behavior is essentially the same after straining and heating as if there had been less strain and no heating. The importance of this observation in understanding simultaneous deformation and recouery is explained. AN earlier investigation1 on copper showed that strengthening due to strain hardening was augmented by heating at moderate temperatures, but was diminished by heating at higher temperatures, Fig. 1. Auxiliary experiments1 indicated that recovery and strain aging are independent processes, which may proceed simultaneously, and whose effects are additive as indicated in Fig. 1. In order to study recovery by itself, similar tests were made on decarburized mild steel, where strain-aging effects are known2 to be absent. MATERIAL, TESTING PROCEDURE The specimens were made from rimmed, hot-rolled SAE 1020 steel 0.040 in. thick, by stamping out rectangular blanks and end holes, Fig. 2, and pack milling the reduced section. These were wet-hydrogen treated2 for 16 hr at 720°C to remove carbon and nitrogen completely and then heated 1 hr at 850°C in vacuum to stabilize the grain size. Auxiliary ex- periments showed that heating up to 800°C will not cause grain growth. They were prestrained 5 to 7.5 mils per in. using the special grips shown in Fig. 2. Such small strains are less than the "critical" strain for recrystallization and, therefore, will not cause recrystallization, even at high temperature. The recovery treatment after prestraining and before the retesting consisted of heating for 1 hr in wet hydrogen at the desired temperature. In one test, Huggenberger gages were used to define more accurately the loading and unloading curves. Fig. 3 illustrates the creep during the early stages of unloading, the hysteresis due to cold stretching, and removal of hysteresis by heating.3 RESULTS The load-deflection curves had ratner widely differing shapes for different specimens, both before and after the recovery treatment. Some specimens showed perfectly smooth curves, Fig. 4, while others exhibited an inflection more or less suggestive of a yield point (Fig. 4 shows all extreme case). Some curves were much steeper than others; Fig. 5 shows two extremes. Some additional ex-

Jan 1, 1960

THIS chapter and Chapter 19 deal with the heat quantities involved in open-hearth steelmaking, including the thermal efficiency of the furnace as a generator of high-temperature heat, the heat storage in the steel and slag produced and in the furnace walls, and the heats of the various chemical reactions involved in combustion, in the formation of slag, and the refining of steel. The fundamental laws to be considered are the first two laws of thermodynamics as applied to problems involving sensible and potential (or latent) heat only: 1. Heat input equals heat outflow plus storage. 2. Heat may be transferred only from a hotter body to a colder one. The first of these laws relates to the various heat quantities or the heat balance of the process. No one has as yet made an open-hearth heat balance that came out almost exactly balanced. The cause probably lies in the difficulties of accurate temperature and flow-rate measurements at the high temperatures involved and the inherent complexities in flow distribution and air leakage present in any real open-hearth furnace system. Some idea of the magnitude of the heat quantities involved can be obtained by a brief, crude outline of the heat balance of a 90-ton heat of steel. We will assume a 60 to 70 per cent hot- metal charge in a fairly fast working and only moderately efficient furnace, burning fuel oil, with a fuel consumption of around 4 million Btu per net ton of ingots produced. The time from start of charge to tap is 9 hr. During this period, the oil burned represents 360 million Btu and the sensible heat in the preheated air at the port ends is 117 million Btu, so that the total heat input at the ports is 477 million Btu. Heat stored in the steel and slag at the end of the heat, plus the various amounts absorbed by certain bath reactions, amounts to a total of 195 million Btu, but 120 million of this is supplied by the heat in the hot metal and by various heat-evolving reactions in the bath,

Jan 1, 1951

By I. Melik-Gaykazov, N. N. Melnikov, V. A. Fokin, S. P. Reshetnyak

Kola Mining Institute has been carrying out investigations of the possibility to steepen the walls of the Kovdor open pit with the design depth of 600 m. Steeping (up to 60°) wall angles is done by double height (24 and 30 m) benches with vertical slopes. One of the safety factors of mining with such walls is choosing the width of the safety berms preventing against rock falling from the slopes into the pit working area. The test on rock falling from 24 m benches has shown that vertical slopes are not more dangerous compared to the inclined(60-75°) ones.

Jan 1, 2003

By Everette Lee DeGolyer

FIFTEEN thousand barrels of oil daily, the production of the United States 75 years ago, amounted to more than 90 per cent of world supply. Russia and Romania, neither of which produced as much as one thousand barrels daily, were the only other suppliers in substantial quantity. The adolescent oil industry of the United States, a dozen years old in 1871, was still confined to the Appalachian region. Wells were drilled by cable tools; many of them were "kicked down" by manpower with a spring pole; and depths were measured in hundreds rather than thousands of feet-a 1000-foot well was a deep well. Casing was an innovation, come into general use only a few years previously and still so new as to be subject to bitter patent litigation. Crude oil was packaged in wooden barrels and shipped by flat boat and barge on the creeks and rivers and by railroad. Such pipe lines as existed were only a few miles long. There were many refineries. Pittsburgh, Cleveland and the Atlantic seaboard were refining centers. Refineries were very small, however, and their operations consisted essentially in simple fractionation by distillation and treating for quality. The products in demand were burning oil or kerosene and lubricating oils. Oil was not yet used as fuel and gasoline was a nuisance to the refiner.

Jan 1, 1947

By Paul M. Tyler

Higher freight rates and better methods of beneficiation now may make it more economical to open inferior deposits closer to a glass factory than to work higher-grade deposits farther away. Nature of impurities and special treatments as well as common practice of sulphuric acid leaching are described. HISTORICAL concepts of the economics of the glass-sand industry are changing rapidly. The greatly expanded demand for glass containers combined with higher freight rates on raw materials and manufactured products have induced a migration of glass factories toward densely populated centers and the creation of new standards of place value for substandard sand deposits. This migration has been facilitated by the construction of pipelines to bring cheaper natural gas and liquid fuel to large cities and may be further speeded by the adoption of modern mineral dressing methods to permit economical utilization of local raw materials. Our national resources of naturally high-grade silica sand are abundant, but most of the best deposits are situated so far from large centers of population that it now costs $3.00 to $5.00 a ton to carry the sand from the mine to the optimum site for a factory making beverage bottles, scientific and electrical glassware, and miscellaneous blown and pressed ware for local markets. It follows that on the basis of freight savings alone it may be economical to use material from inferior deposits closer to the factory even though the f.O.b. cost of mining and treatment may be much higher than at a higher grade deposit farther away. Particle-size distribution is a feature of glass-sand specifications. As long as glassmakers insisted upon having their sand principally coarser than 100-mesh, any material was automatically excluded from consideration that could not be purified without fine grinding or other drastic treatment which greatly reduces the size of the quartz grains. However, re- cent large-scale tests in Norway' showed that finely-crushed quartz used in a soda-lime-silica glass batch caused it to melt and become refined appreciably faster than when ordinary coarse (Belgian) sand was employed. Dust losses were negligible. Since the pre-war cost of sand was only 3 pct of the manufacturing cost of the glass, it was deemed economical to pay twice as much for crushed quartz because of the saving in wear and tear on the furnace walls. In the author's unverified opinion, sand ranging in size between 150 and 400-mesh would probably be superior to that in the more usual range of 20 to 100-mesh. Former objections to fine sand (other than dust) were doubtless fostered by the natural concentration of impurities in the finer sizes. Ordinarily the most objectionable, as well as the commonest, impurity from the standpoint of the manufacturer of any but the cheaper qualities of colored glass is iron. No natural sands are really pure silica. Even water-clear quartz crystals are likely to contain impurities in the form of solid solution as well as inclusions which cannot be eliminated except by chemical treatment that will break down the silica lattice. Pure white pegmatite quartz will usually analyze 0.01 pct or more of iron oxide, and ordinary vein quartz and the quartz grains in most

Jan 1, 1951

By Alfred W. Gauger, George A. Burrell

The senior author of this paper, while in Colorado on other official business, made a trip to the Cripple Creek gold-mining district to get more data than are at present available regarding the composition of the gas that issues from the rock into the mines of the district. This was done at the suggestion of George S. Rice, Chief Mining Engineer of the Bureau of Mines. There are -many questions of interest and importance in connection with the ventilation of the mines in the Cripple Creek district, such as the menace to life and mining of a suffocating gas entering the mines from the rock, the danger due to powder smoke (from blasting operations), and danger of continued inhalation of rock dust by the miners. This report confines itself to the first problem, the gas from the rock, and principally to one phase of this question, the composition of the gas and its effects on men and lights. A more thorough study of this and other ventilation problems is planned. That the rock gas is a real menace is shown by the fact that miners (variously estimated from 25 to 50 by different persons interviewed) have been killed by it in the 25 years that mining has been vigorously carried on at Cripple Creek. Many men have had narrow escapes from death, some of them having been incapacitated for days. In addition, much loss of time results because at certain periods of the year or on certain days it is impossible to enter some workings. At a few mines, fans force air into the workings, thus supplementing the natural ventilation and much improving conditions, but the improvement is not entirely adequate at all times. Origin of the Gas Lindgren and Ransome1 think that the gas found in the rocks of the Cripple Creek mining district represents the last exhalations of the ex-

Jan 1, 1917