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By Iley B. Browning, Louise Barton Freeman, Coleman D. Hunter

During 1942, production of oil in Kentucky reached a total of 4,169,163 bbl. of which 1,807,809 bbl. came from eastern Kentucky. This was more than a million barrels less than in 1941, owing partly to the low price of crude oil, which almost eliminated wildcatting, and partly to spacing regulations, which limited the number of wells drilled in small, shallow pools where the pressures are not sufficient to maintain maximum recovery in widely spaced wells. In eastern Kentucky much of the oil was produced from outliers of the Mauch Chunk series at the disconformable contact of the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian. Although wells producing from this horizon, known as the Maxon, are sprinkled over the entire area, the greatest concentrations are in Martin, Floyd, Knott and Pike Counties. A new 30 to 40-bbl. well has been completed in this formation in ,Pike County, where the carbon ratio is so high that ordinarily oil would not be expected. Pike County is one of the largest producers of Maxon gas, and the offset well to this oil well produced gas. Of the 412 gas wells drilled in Pike County, 12.2 per cent produced gas from the Maxon horizon. During 1942, the old Menifee " Cornif-erous" field, the Mariba-Denniston field, was redrilled between old wells, and although it did not produce any large amount of oil it did contribute 2018 bbl. In the oldest oil field in eastern Kentucky, the Ragland pool, operators are cleaning out abandoned wells and are using this oil for fuel oil. There is a possibility that some of this may be used in the future as distilled fuel oil. Eight wells were completed in 1942 in the Jackson County gas field. The development of Jackson County, which was started in 1934 and in which commercial quantities of gas were encountered at a depth of 1100 to 1200 ft., has become of importance in 1942 with the completion of eight wells, making a total of 24 commercial producing wells with an average rock pressure of 140 lb. At this time the gas is not being marketed. In the last year it has been found that these wells, which produce from the Niagaran dolomite ("Cornif-erous"), respond to acidizing and the production has been thus greatly increased. There has been less development in Estill and Lee Counties than for several years. Two wells were drilled in Greenup County, one of which had a show of oil in the Berea sandstone. One deep test, drilled by the Owens-Libbey-Owens Co. in Lawrence County, was dry. This well was drilled to a depth of 4975 ft. into the top of the Clinton shale sequence. Of the 202 wells completed in Floyd, Martin, Knott and Pike Counties, 187 were gas wells, 3 oil wells and 12 dry holes. In Floyd County 66 per cent of the gas production was from the Devonian-Mis-sissippian black shales, 53 per cent in Martin, 79 per cent in Knott and 65 per cent in Pike. This is probably the largest continuous gas field east of the Mississippi

Jan 1, 1943

By G. B. Gould

THE softening temperature of coal ash, as determined in the labora-tory, has been used for years as an indication of the tendency of coal to form clinker and slag. It has not, however, provided an index of unfail-ing and complete reliability for forecasting the relative performance of different coals, even in the same plant and under the same conditions of operation. A large amount of investigation has been done in attempts to account for this, but practically all of this has been in the direction of studying the chemical constitution of coal ash. Much has been learned, but without much progress toward a better practical application of knowledge to the selection of coal. There has always seemed to be an important factor that eluded discovery. It has long been recognized that the ash-softening temperature as determined in the laboratory had one weakness, in that it represented the temperature at which a thorough mixture of the whole ash of the coal would melt, the mixing having taken place before the heat was applied. This does not, of course, simulate what takes place in practice. With certain exceptions, which will be noted later, almost all of the investiga-tions that have been made, especially the chemical studies of coal ash, have likewise dealt with a mixture of the whole ash in the coal. The present investigation differs from these fundamentally in its approach to the problem. It started from the observation that some clinkering and slagging obviously takes place in a boiler furnace at tem-peratures below the laboratory-determined ash-softening temperature of the coal. Knowing that coal as it is shipped to market is a hetero-geneous mixture of diverse mineral substances, each of which may act independently of the others in the initial stages of clinker and slag formation, it seemed logical to investigate separately the softening tem-perature of the ash in physically separable portions of the coal, and to determine the relative quantities of ash contributed by each portion.

Jan 1, 1940

By H. H. Wright

In many fields edge water is one of the most important factors governing the production of oil. Possibly this fact is not appreciated by many producers except in so far as it may bring about a loss in production from wells drilled on the flanks of structures. In the light of artificial flooding as practiced in New York and Pennsylvania, and of the beneficial effect of natural water-flooding on many wells and leases in the Mid-Continent and elsewhere, it seems reasonable to suppose that very few phases of the petroleum industry hold greater promise for future benefit than the study and control of the natural water drive. Rate of Water Encroachment The rate of movement of water in artificially flooded areas has been referred to as so many feet per unit of time, usually from an injection well toward surrounding producing wells. This definition is vague when used in reference to the movement of natural edge water, inasmuch as such factors as sand thickness, steepness of dip and horizontal extent arc not considered. In the ultimate analysis, only the vertical component of movement affects the production of oil in the natural drive, and in order to define the rate of water encroachment more exactly, such a term as acre-fect per unit time might be used. Thus, where one well is located to each 10 acres a vertical movement of 5 ft. in the water level in a year would be defined as an encroachment of 50 acre-feet per year, and where one well is located to each 20 acres, as 100 acre-feet per year. Such a definition as this is entirely arbitrary, but it takes into consideration to a certain extent the influence of well spacing, and consequent sand drainage, on the rate of water movement. The rate of movement is considered to be an important function of water encroachment, for it is believed that the efficiency of recovery by natural water flood depends a good deal upon the rate of movement. In general, rapid encroachment is thought to effect a poor recovery because of the differential in favor of the movement of water through a sand body and the consequent tendency to trap oil in the sand. Slow movement, on the contrary, is thought to bring about a partial displace-

Jan 1, 1931

By V. N. Antaki

ELEMENTAL phosphorus (referred to as P,) is a true mineral product that has developed, in the relatively brief span of a century, from a laboratory curiosity to a heavy chemical. Annual production now exceeds 300,000 short tons. Continued rise in production has been predicted, consistent with new applications for P, derivatives and the expected population increase. In itself elemental P, is valuable chiefly as an 'intermediate chemical. The principal end uses at present are in inorganic phosphates, both simple and complex, of sodium and potassium, used in water treatment and detergent compounds, leavening agents, food supplements, and dentifrices. Organic P, compounds are important as plasticizers, oil additives, flotation agents, and more recently as gasoline additives (TCP being the outstanding example). The increasing use of high-analysis water-soluble and liquid solution fertilizers, as well as the direct application of phosphoric acid to the soil, will probably be the most significant factors in P, production growth rate. Coke oven plants now using sulfuric acid to fix byproduct ammonia values will gradually switch to phosphoric acid in order to market a fertilizer with completely available values. Recently sponsored experiments show that phosphoric acid can be directly admixed with cattle and poultry feed to produce rapid growth. Both P, compounds and modifiers for oil well drilling mud show increasingly promising significance.

Jan 3, 1957

By D. C. Hilty

It has long been known that in melting high-chromium steels, some of the carbon might be oxidized out of the melt without excessive simultaneous oxidation of chromium, and that higher temperatures favor retention of chromium. The advent of oxygen injection as a tool for rapid decarburization of a steel bath permits significantly higher bath temperatures, and it was quickly recognized that the use of oxygen injection facilitated the oxidation of carbon to low levels in the presence of relatively high residual chromium contents. Up to the present time, however, specific data pertaining to the chro-mium-carbon-temperature relations in chromium steel refining have not been available. Individual steelmakers have evolved practices more or less empirically, but there has been very little real basis for predicting how effective any given practice can be in permitting maximum oxidation of carbon with minimum loss of chromium. The current investigation, therefore, was undertaken in an effort to establish the fundamental carbon-chromium relationship in molten iron under oxidizing conditions. As reported below, the equilibrium constant and the influence of temperature on that constant have been derived for the iron-chromium-carbon-oxygen reaction in the range of chromium steel compositions with what appears to be a fair degree of precision. The practical application of the result will be obvious. Experimental Procedure The laboratory investigation was carried out on chromium steel heats melted in a magnesia crucible in a 100-lb capacity induction furnace at the Union Carbide and Carbon Re- search Laboratories. The charges for the heats consisted of Armco iron, low-carbon chromium metal, and high-carbon chromium metal, the relative proportions of which were calculated so that the various heats would contain from approximately 0.06 pct carbon and 8 pct chromium to 0.40 pct carbon and 30 pct chromium at melt-down. When the charges were melted, the bath temperatures were raised to the desired level, and the heats were then decarburized by successive injections of oxygen at the slag-metal interface through a ½-in. diam silica tube at a pressure of 30 psi. The duration of the oxygen injections was from 30 sec to 2 min. at intervals of approximately 5 to 30 min. It did not appear that length or frequency of the injection periods had any significant effect on the results; cansequently, no effort was made to hold them constant and they were controlled only as was expedient to the general working of the heats. Between successive injections, the heats were sampled by means of a copper suction-tube sampler that yields a sound, rapidly-solidified sample representative of the composition of the molten metal at the temperature of sampling. This sampling device is a modification of the one described by Taylor and Chipman.1 An attempt was made to vary bath temperatures between samples, but it quickly became evident that, unless the variations were small or unless the new temperature was maintained for a minimum of 15 min. during which an injection of oxygen was made in order to accelerate the reactions, a very wide departure from equilibrium resulted. For most of the runs, therefore, temperature was maintained relatively constant at approximately 1750 or 1820°C. A few reliable observations at other temperatures, however, were obtained. Temperature Measurement The high temperatures involved in this investigation were measured by the radiation method, utilizing a Ray-O-Tube focused on the closed end of a refractory tube immersed in the metal bath. The immersion tubes employed were high-purity alumina tubes specially prepared by the Tona-wanda Laboratory of The Linde Air Products Co. These tubes were quite sturdy under reasonable mechanical stress at high temperature. They were unusually resistant to thermal shock, and chemical attack on them by the melts was slow. With care, it was found possible to keep these tubes continuously immersed in a heat for as long as 5 hr at temperatures up to 1850°C, before failure by fluxing occurred. The Ray-O-Tube—alumina tube assemblage was similar to those supplied commercially for lower temperature applications. In operation, the alumina tube was slowly immersed in the molten metal to a depth of approximately 5 in., and the device was then clamped solidly to a supporting jig where it remained for the duration of the run. A photograph of the equipment, in operation with Ray-O-Tube in place and oxygen injection in progress, is shown in Fig 1. When in position in a heat, the instrument was calibrated by means of an immersion thermocouple and an optical pyrometer. For calibration through the range of temperatures from 1500 to 1650°C, a platinum -platinum + 10 pct rhodium thermocouple in a silica tube was immersed alongside the alumina tube. Output of the Ray-O-Tube in millivolts and the

Jan 1, 1950

By C. P. Lawhon, J. P. Simpson, W. M. Evans

Data obtained under controlled test conditions using a microbit drilling machine showed that oil emulsified in water muds may either increase or decrease the drilling rate, depending upon drilling conditions. A low-viscosity oil such as diesel fuel can give drilling rates in limestone almost equal to that of water. Data obtained for water emulsified in oil muds showed little decrease in the drilling rate in water-saturated cores as the water percentage of the mud was increased above the 5- to 10-percent range. Changes in drilling rate were found to be dependent upon the oil or water concentration of the mud and upon the type of formation drilled. Changes in static filtration on paper (API filtrate) did not correlate with filtration while the mud was circulated across rock. INTRODUCTION Oil additions to water muds have been reported to increase drilling rates, provide hole stability and improve filtration control. Eckel' showed that water-base emulsion muds used in the West Texas area increased drilling rate with increasing oil concentration up to 15 percent oil by volume, but drilling rate decreased at a concentration of 20 percent by volume. Based on laboratory tests using water muds to drill shale, Cunningham and Goins' reported that drilling rates increased and tendency for the bit to ballup decreased with the addition of oil. Percentage increase in drilling rate varied with the particular formation. They showed oil additions to improve drilling rates ap proximately 75 percent in Vicksburg shale and as much as 150 percent in Miocene shale. Each investigation showed an optimum oil content for the particular formation. Most data that indicated improved filtration control due to oil additions were based on static API Eltrates through paper rather than dynamic filtration through permeable rocks. Some types of dynamic test give a better representation of filtration down-hole while drilling and might be more likely to show some correlation with drilling rate. Static filtration would be important, of course, in relation to hole stability and formation damage. This laboratory's drilling tests, conducted on water-raturated Berea sandstone, indicated that improvements in drilling rate were not evident with increasing oil concentration in water-base muds. Investigation also showed similarity between oil-emulsion (water-in-oil) muds and water-emulsion (oil-in-water) muds while drilling these formations. In Lueders limestone high concentration of water-in-oil muds and high concentration of oil-in-water muds provided the same relative drilling rates. In Berea sandstone there was a large reduction in relative drilling rate with both the oil and water muds that contained low percentages of emulsified fluid. Dynamic filtration rates of water muds on rock did not always decrease with increasing oil percentages even though the static API filtration rates on paper did decrease. Data observed in laboratory drilling of limestone and sandstone indicate that improvements in field drilling operations when water- or oil-emulsion muds are wed may not be the result of increased drilling rates but of improved hole conditions. In some cases, actual drilling rates might be slower but improved hole conditions will result in less total time on the hole. DEFINITIONS Mud pressure—Pressure of drilling fluid as measured after leaving the drilling chamber. This is considered as the approximate mud pressure just past the bit and at the face of the formation. Terrastatic pressure—Pressure representing weight of overburden. Formation pressure—Pressure of formation fluid as measured at outlet of drilling chamber. This is considered as approximate pressure of fluid in the pores of the formation. Differential pressure—Difference between the mud pressure and formation pressure. Relative drilling rate, percent—Drilling rate with experimental fluid divided by drilling rate with water times 100 equals percent. LABORATORY EQUiPMENT AND TESTING PROCEDURES The drilling equipment has been described in previous publications The microbit drill is a closed system (capacity, approximately 7 gal) that can be pressurized to 15.000 psi and heated to 500F. Main components are a drilling chamber, filter-heater, rotary-drive and variable-speed cir-

By Robert C. Collins, Clifford L. Jewett

The development and production of artificially colored roofing granules have been key factors in the success of the asphalt roofing industry. They provide protection for the asphalt from solar radiation and satisfy the home-owner's desire for a wide range of attractive colors. As a result, the asphalt shingle has become the most commonly used roofing material today. In addition to providing a stimulus to the asphalt roofing industry, artificial methods of coloring granules completely changed the nature of granule production from one of quarrying, crushing, and screening to a complex technical operation. Today's roofing granules are the result of many years of research, and they are produced in modern plants to exact specifications. History Asphalt roofing materials available today are the product of a long evolution of technological development. Forerunners of the present bituminous products, appearing as early as 1780, were primitive constructions of burlap saturated with crude tar or pitch. An early improvement to this basic effort was the dusting of talc, mica, or other finely ground material on the coated surfaces to keep the roofing from sticking to itself in storage. At times some pigmentation was added with the dusting material for initial color, but this was far from satisfactory. In fact, this early product possessed none of the qualifications of a good roof surfacing material. It was not economical; it was difficult to handle and apply; it was not attractive; it provided no resistance to fire; and it would not withstand the elements as well as other products then in use. Methods and machines were soon devised to saturate endless webs of felt with asphalt from the fast-growing petroleum industry. Even though saturated felt became available, this product of rags and wood fiber had almost the same limitations as burlap and tar. Even with heavier coatings of asphalt applied to both sides of the sheet for rigidity and longer life, the product still lacked color and fire resistance. Further, it was found that constant exposure to the sun soon caused the asphalt to become brittle, and it eventually cracked and leaked. This led to the first important use for crushed mineral products on asphalt-coated shingles and provided the key to the subsequent growth of the asphalt roofing industry. When a layer of crushed mineral was embedded in the surface exposed to the weather, the asphalt coating was protected from ultraviolet light and retained its elasticity over a much longer period of time. In addition to this protection, the mineral surfacing provided some resistance to fire. Fire resistance in the past had been found only in the expensive slate or tile roofs and the unattractive and expensive metal roof coverings which were then available. The most common mineral granule applied to the early asphalt roofing products as they began to make their first significant advances after 1900 was screened waste from slate quarries. Slate granules being available in dull shades of red, green, black, purple and a few other miscellaneous colors did provide a degree of color. Since slate has a flat platelike cleavage, it provides a cheap protective cover for the asphalt-coated sheets. Records show that coarse slate screenings were used for asphalt roofing as early as 1906. As the asphalt roofing industry developed, many other natural colored rocks and minerals were used to coat the surfaces of the roofing. The list included silica

Jan 1, 1975

Jan 1, 1887

Jan 1, 1895

Jan 1, 1913

By H. P. Allen

THE Achotla mill of the Cia. Minera de Peñoles is of special interest in that it is one of the few still employing the chloridization process. The ore milled comes from the Suriana mine and consists of both oxide and sulphide, from neither of which can the gold or silver be extracted by a simple cyanide treatment. The mill was built in 1927, after several years of study in the development of the process1, and operated from December of that year until October 1930. Operations were resumed in February 1935, and have been continuous since, treating approximately 5000 tons per month, while the mine is getting up to full tonnage of 6500 tons per month.

Jan 1, 1937

By W. A. Goodyear

It is safe to assert that in cities generally, the fuel of the future for all domestic, as well as for most manufacturing and metallurgical purposes, will be gaseous fuel. The immense advantages which gas possesses in facility and cheapness of distribution, cleanliness, and economy of manipulation, and the facilities which it offers for utilizing in almost all cases a much higher percentage of the total quantity of heat produced, than it is possible to do with any kind of solid fuel, are facts which will vastly more than compensate for the comparatively small loss of heating power, which will be found necessary in the turning of the solid fuel into gas upon a large scale, and which, in the bpinion of the writer, will, at no distant day, command attention, and will ultimately result in a revolution in our use of fuel. The employment of gaseous fuel upon a scale of any considerable magnitude, has hitherto been almost entirely confined to the utilization of the waste gases of the iron smelting furnace for heating the blast, and the rapidly increasing use, for certain metallurgical pur-

Jan 1, 1883

By Frank W. Reinmiller, Edward S. Hsia

Earth bottom thickeners are generally considered to be the lowest cost solution for thickener bottom construction presently available to the mining industry. In addition to the capital cost advantage, these basins have proven to be watertight structures providing trouble-free operation for indefinite periods of time. During the past 15 years, some 18 of these thickeners have entered service with no particular problems encountered in porphyry copper operations, counter-current decantation in a gold cyanide plant, and other similar applications in mineral processing. In the course of this work, technological advances have been realized in the procedures for engineering and construction of these units to assure watertight basins and achieve all possible economies in construction.

Jan 8, 1977

By Thomas F. McLoughlin, David K. Hylbert

A new method of satellite imagery analysis has been developed during underground mine roof research. Landsat positive film transparencies were projected onto topographic base maps to scale and lineaments enhanced with a Ronchi grating (method A). Thirty-five millimeter slides of video-enhanced scenes were also projected onto base maps (method B). Both methods permit direct plotting of lineaments to scale and direct correlation with surface and subsurface data wing transparent overlays.

Jan 1, 1981

By S. R. Krogh

In this investigation, a method to measure the basic characteristics of comminution has been developed. These characteristics are expressed by the three major comminution functions - crushing probability function, energy function, and breakage function. By testing three different minerals, quartz, calcite, and jasper, these three functions are determined. It is shown that the crushing qualities of a material can be valued by three constants which define the two first comminution functions. These two functions give the relation between particle size, probability of crushing, and the energy input.

Jan 1, 1980

By J. M. Mutmansky, T. K. Greer

This paper takes a look at the optimal velocity to be used in coal mine entries and determines a statistical relationship for optimal velocity that can be applied under current mining conditions. This relationship provides the optimal velocity for coal mine airways under variations in power cost, mining cost differential, airway friction factor, time value of money, airway lifespan, and quantity of air carried. This enables the ventilation engineer to make an easy, rapid determination of the optimal velocity for planning purposes.

Jan 1, 1985

By T. W. Doe, J. Noorishad

The problem of fluid flow from a well into a horizontal fracture has been studied using a nonlinear coupled hydromechanical finite element model. Such an approach is required due to the strong nonlinearity and anisotropy of deformation and fluid flow moduli introduced by the presence of the fracture. The resulting nonuniform total stress field invalidates the application of the conventional fluid flow techniques to the problem. Stable convergent solution from the above analysis are verified by a coupled steady state algorithm.

Jan 1, 1982

Jan 1, 1969

By D. Ott

Results of a research project on investment or lost wax casting will be presented. The project was concerned with various aspects of the process as they are typical for the production of jewellery from gold alloys. During these investigations testing methods for investment quality as well as for casting quality and the various process parameters were developed and charateristic defects as they occur in practice were traced back to their origin in the process. Investigated were various static casting and centrifugal casting methods in different atmospheres as well as vacuum casting in devices of different design. It was shown that independent of the method a close control of the many process parameters interfering with each other is essential for a quality casting.

Jan 1, 1984