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By H. B. Charmbury, D. R. Mitchell

Recovery of fine coal from solids reporting to wash water has become increasingly important. These solids range from about 28 mesh to 0 and constitute 3 to 7 pct by weight of the feed tonnage to a coal preparation plant. In the past they were usually wasted to streams, but present clean stream legislation makes it necessary to remove them from the wash water and, if economically possible, recover the associated coal as a saleable product. Where these solids are not wasted to streams or to slime ponds they are recovered by thickeners and filters. Since filter cake is often high in ash or sulfur, or both, it is not readily marketed or used. Common practice is to mix it with other plant products, generally slack or cleaned run-of-mine. Uniform blending is difficult, not only because the impurity is usually high, but also because during certain operating periods it is possible to get a concentration of this filter cake in a railroad or barge.

Jan 2, 1959

Underground Transitmen.-Two transitmen with experience in shaft mines; need not be full grown engineers but entirely capable of doing accurate instrument work. Location Middle West coal mines. R-419. Draftsman.-Kentucky. $150 per month.. Extensive experience in map work and construction work, such as is found in and about coal-mining operations. Send sample f work and state whether or not married. R-606. Mine Transitman.-Kentucky. $140 per month. Considerable experience in and about coal mines; must also be a fair draftsman. Send sample of work and state whether or not married. R-607. Draftsman.-West Virginia. Experience on mine 'mapping and construction work, for position with coal and coke company. R-609. Civil Engineer.-China. Salary depends upon man. Technical education and training in general engineering and building construction. Man about 30 .years of age desired, preferably unmarried. The various engineering construction in which this firm is engaged are as follows: Investigations, inspections, reports and valuations, design and supervising of construction for industrial plants and bldgs., power plants, difficult foundations, bridges and steel structures, wharf and deck construction, river and harbor works, investigating and development

Jan 6, 1919

By R. L. Grayson, Y. J. Wang

This paper presents an application of goal programming (GP) to major mining machinery purchases based on historical operating data on mechanical downtime and production. The GP technique, an extension of integer programming, is used to maximize an objective function comprised of deviations away from management-preferred financial goals. Different capital budgeting techniques are used to evaluate capital proposals, and the results of these analyses are combined and weighted in a maximization of profits objective function. The GP method gives an optimal solution to a multiple goal problem. A sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the effect of a variable production improvement condition or a variable budget control con¬dition on proposal selection.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. Hosten, K. V. S. Sastry, D. J. Kawulok-Englund

Since the last decade the iron ore processing industry has undergone drastic changes from supplying screened and natural ores to manufacturing tailored concentrates and pellets. Increased need for the beneficiation of lower grade iron ore deposits and the increased demand for higher grade concentrates necessitate finer grinding of iron ores before concentration. The normal filtration stations used in the past are experiencing difficulties in dewatering the finely ground concentrates to moisture levels acceptable for balling. In addition to finer grinding, applications of complex beneficiation techniques has decreased the filterability of the concentrates and create problems in filtration of iron ore concentrates. An overview of the filtration literature indicates there are few research reports on the dewatering of iron ore concentrate slurries. There exists a need to understand the principles and mechanisms involved in the filtration of iron ore concentrate slurries with a goal of developing more efficient filtration techniques. This paper presents the results from the first phase of our research program that included the development of a reproducible benchscale filtration technique and the investigation of the filtration behavior of eight iron ore concentrates.

Jan 1, 1984

By Ralph Arnold

PERHAPS the most striking feature in the three newly discovered fields in the Los Angeles basin is the enormous thickness of oil sand. The total thickness is not yet known in any of the fields, since no well has as yet been drilled deep enough to pass through it. In the Signal Hill area a maximum of 1500 ft. or more of productive sand has been penetrated. In the other fields the interbedding of considerable shale members renders the total sand thickness somewhat less, but in all cases the depth of sand strata is enormous when compared with other California fields. For instance, in the Coalinga field the total thickness of sand on the average has been less than 100 ft., while in the Midway and Sunset fields not more than 250 ft. of actual productive sand has been encountered in any one place. This condition has so upset all previous ideas regard-ing the possible future production that but few of the engineers who have had to deal with the situation feel

Jan 5, 1923

On April 17, the John Fritz Medal, the award of which the presiding officer, Col. John J. Carty, characterized as "the highest honor which can be conferred on an engineer in America," was presented to. J. Waldo Smith "for his most distinguished services in civil engineering, and particularly in connection with the work on the great aqueduct, which has just been completed." Col. Carty spoke very briefly of the origin of the Medal and the method of awarding it, mentioning the names of the twelve men to whom it has been awarded in former years, and then introduced Mr. Nelson P. Lewis, Vice-president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and for many years Chief Engineer of the Board of Estimate of the City of New York, who is an old colleague and fellow-engineer of Mr. Smith. Mr. Lewis said, in part: Mr. Smith is so well known that an extended review of his professional activities will be unnecessary, but a brief outline of the development of a conspicuously successful hydraulic engineer may not be out of place. It would be difficult to find a better instance of the success which is quite sure to result from persistent devotion to all phases of a particular line of engineering work. It began in his boyhood, when, as a lad of 15, he eagerly availed himself of such opportunities as were afforded to help in the construction of a waterworks system for his home town in New England. It was a very modest plant, consisting of a small reservoir and pumping station, and about 4 miles of pipe. Probably it was the most important improvement the town

Jan 7, 1918

By Charles H. White

+1HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. The equipment of a laboratory in which students are to be trained for practical work in metallurgical chemistry presents many difficulties not encountered in the fitting up of a commercial or works laboratory. At an industrial plant the chemical work required usually demands the frequent repetition of a comparatively limited number of methods. In a steel-works laboratory, for instance, by far the larger part of the work consists in making determinations of the usual impurities found in iron and steel; at a smelter the great bulk of the work is confined to the analysis of ores, slags, mattes, and fuels, which involve the frequent application of perhaps not more than a dozen different methods. In a laboratory of this character, therefore, those operations most frequently applied may each have a certain section set apart and fitted permanently with such apparatus as best facilitates the carrying out of this one operation. The work of a commercial or custom laboratory is perhaps more varied than that of a works laboratory, but the couditions are similar in these respects, that there is usually no great need for economy of space, and that a few skilled workmen are employed to carry the determinations through from beginning to end without interruption. On the other hand, the laboratory of a technical school should be planned on such a scale that a comparatively large number of students may work at the same time, and each desk should be equipped for general metallurgical analysis. In most institutions for technical education the student's program is so arranged that his day is divided among several subjects in the course of study; only a few consecutive hours being devoted to one subject, or spent in one laboratory. Therefore, those appliances should be provided that render possible the safe continuation of such processes as

Jan 1, 1905

A national budget system, which engineers have long regarded as essential to the proper conduct of our fiscal affairs is at last being seriously considered by. Congress and seems likely to be adopted in some form. Several, bills and joint resolutions have already- been introduced but the measure that seems how to attract the 'most attention is H. R. 1201 introduced by. Representative Good, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations. This ,bill provides for the creation of a Bureau of the Budget in the office of the President, to which full information shall be furnished by all Departments and other Governmental agencies concerning powers, duties, financial transactions, business method's, etc. A change, is made in the fiscal regulations in that the Departments shall hereafter submit their fiscal estimates to the President instead of to the Secretary of the Treasury, while the latter official shall submit estimates of the public revenues and the condition of the Treasury. Two budgets are, provided for:, The first, or regular, budget shall contain a balanced statement of the resources and liabilities of the Government and the revenues and expenditures, actual or estimated as the case may be, for the preceding, current, and ensuing fiscal years. The President is further, authorized to submit his recommendations as' to how the heeds of the Government should be met, and such further data regarding the financial affairs of the, Government as he deems proper. The second or alternative budget shall make known the essential facts regarding the condition of the Treasury and what, in the opinion of the President. are the revenue, and expenditure needs for the ensuing fiscal year, to be prepared in such form as the President shall deem most appropriate. The bill' abolishes-the offices. of Comptroller of the Treasury and all -the Auditors for the several Departments, and substitutes therefore an Accounting Department, an establishment independent of the Executive Departments, under the direction of newly created officer to be known as the "Comptroller General of the United States" whose powers shall comprise all those now conferred on the Comptroller of the Treasury and the several Auditors and, in addition thereto, the investigation at the seat of Government or elsewhere of all matters relating to the receipt or disbursement of public funds, concerning which report shall be made to Congress at the beginning of each regular session, containing recommendations concerning the legislation deemed necessary to the accurate rendition and settlement of accounts.

Jan 8, 1919

THERE was presented for discussion at the February (1924) meeting of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers a report of a committee named by the United States Bureau of Mines on the Use of Oxygen or Oxygenated Air in Metallurgy and Allied Processes. An extensive discussion followed the presentation of the papers, which dealt with the matter entirely from a theoretical standpoint. The results of only a limited, amount of research work were presented and discussion centered around the question: "Is it worth while to carry on research and expend money in determining what can be done in metallurgical operations if cheap oxygen can be produced?" More experimental work on this subject has not been done because metallurgists have not thought that cheap oxygen could be produced, thinking "Why waste time experimenting. with a reagent that cannot be procurable in commercial quantities?" While the producers of oxygen have said " Why waste money on the development of a process to make cheap oxygen unless we know that there will be a market for it when produced?" The discussion brought out two facts: First, many metallurgists believe that their operations can be conducted more economically if they can add oxygen to the air used in various smelting operations; second, a number of chemists believe that relatively pure oxygen can be produced in metallurgical quantities at very small cost. Negative views were expressed to both propositions, but so overwhelming was the view that if cheap oxygen could be produced, many metallurgical operations would benefit that it was voted to recommend that the Bureau of Mines continue its research work, pending the production of the cheap oxygen hoped for. Few experimental data being available, and the attitude of disputants being based largely on theoretical considerations or on reactions and temperatures incapable of positive proof, it has been decided to publish only a summary of the papers and discussions arising from their presentations. It is believed, however, that this will be sufficient to show the lines of reasoning that have been adopted, and be a guide to others who are to make their own calculations or engage in experimental work.

Jan 11, 1924

By O. G. Bell

While all of the Southwest Texas fields lie within the Gulf Coastal Plain this area may be divided into three subdivisions—the Coastal Plain zone proper, the Reynosa Escarpment zone, and the interior zone. The Coastal zone includes that strip adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico and . extending inland for a distance of about 60 miles and includes the Palo Blanco, Palangana, Piedras Pintas, Kingsville, Agua Dulce, Saxet, White Point and Refugio fields. The Reynosa Escarpment zone includes a Pliocene overlap over older Tertiary sediments lying west of the Coastal zone. The western margin of the Reynosa formation forms a more or less well-defined westward facing escarpment with which the so-called Reynosa Escarpment fields are indirectly related. These fields include those in eastern Zapata, eastern Webb, western Jim Hogg, western Duval, McMullen, Live Oak, Bee, Goliad and Victoria counties. The interior zone includes these fields west of the Reynosa Escarpment which are not in any way related to it and are on separate types of structure. Production data by fields and wells are shown in Table 1. Roma.—During 1928 the Texas Co. completed two small gas wells at 198 ft. on the Roma Structure near the town of Roma on the Rio Grande in Starr County. This gas is of no commercial importance but was used for fuel in drilling other deep tests on this structure. Three dry holes ranging from 3600 to 4200 ft. were drilled; then their No. 4 Guerra, the fourth deep test, was completed during December as a small producer of 37" Bé. oil from a sand at 3560 to 3590 ft. No production was marketed during December but arrangements were being made to handle the output from this well during 1930. This is the first commercial producer in Starr County. Driscoll.—In 1929, Robert Driscoll discovered gas on his Santa Rosalia Ranch in Duval County while drilling water wells. Two sands were developed, one at 2400 ft. and another at 2936 ft. and several gas wells were completed in each, ranging in volume from 15,000,000 to 40,000,000 cu. ft. and in reservoir pressure from 500 to 1,000 Ib. Early in January of 1929, Mr. Driscoll's No. 14 Fee was completed as a 50-bbl. oil producer at 2894 ft. Two other oil producers were completed early in 1929. Mr. Driscoll's death early in the year curtailed develop-

Jan 1, 1930

By W. J. Sharwood

Cupellation is well known to be one of the most effective methods of separating silver and gold from base metals and other impurities, as well as one of the most accurate means for their estimation. In the latter application it consists in absorbing in some porous medium the fused lead oxide formed by the oxidation of the lead "bath," which carries with it the oxides of other base metals present. It has long been recognized that small amounts of both silver and gold were removed and absorbed together with the base metals, as well as being to some slight extent volatilized, and in work of the highest accuracy a correction is made for the "cupellation loss." Thus in the assay of bullion this is done by means of "proofs" of like composition, which are manipulated throughout in precisely the same manner as the assay pieces, and are assumed to lose or gain like amounts. In the case of certain very rich ores and commercial products the loss is adjusted by assaying the cupel itself and recovering the precious metal absorbed, but this doubles the labor and does not remedy the loss by volatilization. Arbitrary tables have been drawn up by various authorities with the object of enabling a correction to be applied without the use of a check. These have been of very limited practical use owing to the fact that a number of factors affect the losses sustained. For a fixed amount of precious metal the loss varies with the amount of lead used, with the nature and amount of the impurities, with the porosity of the cupel, with the air supply, and above all with the temperature at which cupellation is carried on. Pure silver loses relatively much more than gold, but the loss in either is diminished by an addition of the other metal. The concentration of precious metal in the litharge increases as the concentration in the lead increases, but little work has been published connccting the two. If all other conditions remain the same the actual total loss increases, but the percentage loss diminishes, with an increase in the weight of precious metal treated. The results of an immense number of experiments have been published at various times- during the past hundred years giving the actual or the percentage losses suffered under various conditions of cupellation, but the data are widely scattered and few attempts have been made to correlate them, so that no definite law has heretofore been shown to exist

Jan 1, 1916

By M. D. Arnold, H. J. Gonzalez, P. B. Crawford

A method is presented for estimating the effective directional permeability ratio and the direction of maximum and minimum permeabilities in anisotropic oil reservoirs. The method is based on the principle that production from a well in an anisotropic reservoir results in elliptical isopo-tentials about the well, rather than circular. Bottom-hole pressure data from three observation wells surrounding a producing well are required to apply the method. The method involves fitting field pressure data to a set of general charts of isopotentials and making a few simple calculations until a solution is found. The method is based on a steady-state equation for homogeneorrs fluid pow. In addition to the method, a brief discussion of the theory underlying it is presented. INTRODUCTION The existence of a different permeability in one direction than another in oil reservoirs has been mentioned in several papers. Hutchinson' reported laboratory tests on 10 limestone cores and pointed out that one-half of them showed significant, preferential, directional permeability ratios, the average being about 16:1. Johnson and Hughesz reported a permeability trend in the Bradford field in the northeast-southwest direction with flow being 25 to 30 per cent greater in that direction. Barfield, Jordan and Moore -eported an effective permeability ratio of 144:1 in the Spraberry. Crawford and Landrum4 showed that sweep efficiencies could often vary by a factor of two to four, and sometimes considerably more, due to variations in flooding direction and patterns in anisotropic media. These findings indicate that the poss'bility of anisotropy may be worthy of consideration in the development of an oil field. In considering this, it should first be determined if anisotropy exists. If it does, the direction of the maximum and minimum permeabilities and the ratio of their magnitudes are quantities which can be of value in planning the most efficient well-spacing patterns. Past methods of determining these quantities have included analysis of oriented cores and analysis of flooding performance of pilot injection patterns. In recent work, Elkins and Skov5 resented an analysis of the pressure behavior in the Spraberry which accounted for anisotropic permeability. This work was based on the transient pres- sure distribution in a porous and permeable medium, with the solution expressed as an exponential integral function involving rock and fluid properties. The purpose of this study is to provide a method, based on steady-state equations, of estimating the direction and relative magnitude of permeabilities in an oil reservoir from field pressure data and well locations only. The method presented is based on work by Muskat6 which shows that Laplace's equation represents the steady-state pressure distribution for homogeneous fluid flow in homogeneous, anisotropic media if the co-ordinates of the system are shrunk or expanded by replacing x with it is desirable that data be obtained early in the history of a field because knowledge of an anisotropic condition would allow new wells to be spaced in such a manner that reservoir development and subsequent secondary recovery programs could be planned more efficiently. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS A brief discussion of the theoretical basis on which the graphical solution was developed is presented in this section. Muskat's two-dimensional6 olution for the pressure distribution in an homogeneous, anisotropic medium with an homogeneous fluid flowing can be algebraically manipulated to show that the isobaric lines are perfect ellipses. The ratio of the major axis to the minor axis, a/b, is related to the permeability ratio, k,/k,, as follows. alb = dk,/k,--...........(1) It can also be shown that the pressure varies linearly with the logarithm of the radial distance from the producing well. However, the gradient along any ray is a function of the orientation of that ray, and a ..xiable is present when anisotropy exists which cancels out for a radial (isotropic) system. For a system such as that described, a dimensionless pressure-drop ratio was developed which is completely independent of the actual magnitude of the pressures. This was done by arranging Muskat's solution in such a way that aIl variables cancelled out except k,/k, and well positions. However, this solution depends on having a co-ordinate system with axes coinciding with the major and minor axes of the elliptical isobars. Thus, it was necessary to introduce a co-ordinate system rotation factor. The two unknown variables are then k,/k. and 0, and the two measured dimensionless pressure-drop ratios are related to the unknown variables as follows.

W. L. Saunders, New York, N. Y.:—Mr. Parker's paper, though entitled Conservation of Coal, might also be called the Conservation of Life in the Coal-Mines of the United States. No subject is of greater importance to mining-men at the present time than information from experts as to how to save coal and how to save human lives in mines. That the casualties in the coal-mines should exceed 3,000 in the year 1907 is simply appalling, and that 1,000 men should have been killed in a single year through explosions alone, and that so good an authority as Mr. Parker should say that " a prolific cause " is an "improperly-prepared blast" or "the failure on the part of the miner to undercut his coal," points to the importance of activity not only among mining engineers but also, through experts, by the legislatures of the respective States. There is but little doubt that nearly all the serious coal-mine

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