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Jan 1, 1927

By W. G. Matteson

The Gulf Coastal plain of the southern United States is that area bordering for a large part, the Gulf of Mexico and extending inland and northward to the main interior highland region. It is more or less V-shaped and includes the States of Florida, extreme southern Alabama, all .of Mississippi and Louisiana, the eastern and southern half of Arkansas, and the eastern, southeastern, and southern portions of Texas. While the contents of this paper apply to. the Gulf Coastal plain in general, they are intended to refer more specifically to that portion of the plain included between the 90th and 97th meridians, and the 29th and 33d parallels, an area that may be described geographically as comprising western Mississippi, all of Louisiana, part of eastern and all of south-eastern Texas. It is within this area that numerous and prolific oil pools have been developed during the last 17 years.

Jan 2, 1918

By AIME AIME

DURING the morning session," on Feb. 17, papers were presented and discussed regarding a recent wire saw installation, cement rock quarry operations, hydration factors in gypsum deposits and the status of the phosphate industry of the West. Oliver Bolvles presided and there were about twenty-five members present. W. M. Weigel's paper (T. P. 262), "The Application of the Wire Saw in Marble Quarrying," was read by the author. He described the recent installation of the St. Clair Marble Co., near Guion, Ark. Since the use of the wire saw for quarrying is comparatively new and the fact that it has been almost entirely limited to slate quarries heretofore, ?he description and data given in this paper were of much interest.

Jan 1, 1930

R. V. NorHis, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (communication to the Secretary*) : The electric-haulage plant of the Short Mountain Colliery of the Lykens Valley Coal Co., mentioned by Messrs. Stoek and Harris as the earliest underground electric plant in the United States (and, I believe, the second in the world), was started July 23, 1887. The plant, designed by W. M. Schlessinger, consists of two motor-cars, each weighing about 5 tons and equipped with a 32-h.p. Union Electric Go. motor. The original general construction of the motor-cars is shown by Mr. Stoek; but they were rebuilt, the same year, with some important improvements in design; and, except for strengthening the frames and replacing the original pig-iron weights by a casting, they have not been greatly changed since that time. The generating-plant consists of two Union Electric Co. dynamos of 65-h.p. each, driven by an old 18- by 48-in. plain slide-valve engine; the ordinary voltage is 450 and the amperage varies from 40 to 200; the average indicated h.p. of the engine is about 75, with a steam-consumption of about 75 lb. per i.h.p. per hour; and as the cost of steam at this colliery is 8.11 cents per 1,000 lb.,the steam-cost per day is about $4.56.

Jan 1, 1904

By AIME AIME

AMERICAN participation in the World Engineering Congress in Japan will be generous. Nearly seventy papers have been prepared and for- warded for printing and the A. I. M. E. is well represented in the list. At our San Francisco meeting four of these will be briefly reviewed by the authors for the benefit of those who are unable to go on to Tokyo. They constitute a group dealing with the present economic status as seen by engineers of the world's iron, coal, petroleum and non-ferrous metals. Messrs. Leith, Smith and Tryon, Requa, and Probert have written papers that constitute a notable series. Messrs. Jeffries, Sweetser and Kinney, and other Institute members have written papers dealing more closely with technologic progress. The latest list of delegates and members is printed below, names of A. I. M. E. members being set in italics.

Jan 1, 1929

C. E. Dewey, Georgetown, Colo. (communication to the Secretary) : In his remarks on crushing-machinery, Mr. Douglas says (Twins., xxii., p. 322): "To insure a smaller and more uniform size of particles in the crushed material, the Dodge crusher still communicates motion to the upper extremity of tile movable jaw, which oscillates on fixed pivots projecting from its lower extremity!' The notion that, in order to obtain a fine and uniform product from a rock-breaker, the movable jaw must be pivoted at its lower extremity, seems to obtain generally among mill-men, as well as among manufacturers of machinery. My experience with machines of both types does not confirm this belief. It is true that, to obtain a uniformly fine product from a jaw-crusher, the stroke at the lower extremity of the crushing-surface must be short; but that the movement at that end must be less than at the other or receiving-end is, I think, an erroneous assumption. Figs. 1 and 2 are intended to illustrate the two types of machine. It is found in practice that the capacity and the nature of the product of either machine, as usually constructed, are governed by the opening, C D, and the length of stroke of the movable jaw at D. This being the case, machines of either type, of the same width of crushing-surface, running at the same speed, and having the same adjustment as to opening and stroke at D, should give, when fed

Jan 1, 1895

By DAVID F. McFARLAND

THE making of courses of study and curricula has long held first place as the favorite pastime of educators. As a game, this activity is as fascinating to some as golf or bridge, 'and the golfer's hope of a low score is matched by the teacher's ambition to some day evolve a sequence of studies that shall prove the ideal preparation for a life of maximum service and, profit. There are few in, this gathering who have not tried their skill at this game and still fewer are those who have been long satisfied by the product of their efforts. A curriculum is hardly printed in the college catalog before conditions arise which seem to make changes desirable, and strong will power is needed to maintain the program long enough to give it a fair trial. Metallurgical curricula are not less subject to change than others, 'and; indeed they have seemed, at times, to change more rapidly than other curricula because of the changing 'needs of the industries and the demand that the graduate be trained to meet the new conditions. Metallurgical practice is constantly proving that "time makes ancient good uncouth," and the graduate metallurgist is required to adapt himself to newer and

Jan 1, 1930

By J. W. Mills

This paper's aim is to demonstrate, by reviewing findings and conclusions of earlier authors and through recording and interpreting the outcome of recent laboratory study of the ores, that the ores around the Gem stocks are metamorphosed equivalents of common siderite-sulfide ores far from the stocks, as was first proposed by Hershey (1912, 1913). That is, all the ores probably have the Precambrian age of 1250 million years reported by Long et al. (1960). Those near the Gem stocks, however, were extensively metamorphosed in Cretaceous time during the emplacement of stocks so their resemblance and relation to other veins in the district are camouflaged.

Jan 1, 1985

By W. L. Grose, J. E. Nealy

A device developed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines for the detection and quenching of coal mine explosions suffers from the inability to discriminate between the light emitted from hydrocarbon combustion and that emitted by electrical sparks and miner's cap lamps1. Since the quenchant device is activated by an internal explosive charge, the possibility of serious injury to nearby personnel demands a detector which can reject false signals. Described herein is a detector which can provide a rapid response signal upon the emission of radiation from hydrocarbon combustion and concurrently reject spurious signals from such sources as sparks and cap lamps. It was suggested that a detector might be developed to operate on the principle of monitoring the radiation intensity emitted from two separate spectral regions and ratioing the intensities2. A series of experiments was conducted for combustion of methane-air mixtures which demonstrate the ability of such a detector to discriminate between combustion and spurious signals. Experimental Apparatus A cylindrical (3.8 in. diam by 12 in.) stainless-steel shock tube test section was used as a combustion chamber. The test section was equipped with quartz windows (2 in. diam) on either side, a piezoelectric pressure transducer, and two steel electrodes. A 10-kv capacitor discharged across the electrodes provided a submicrosecond duration spark to ignite the gas mixture within. The desired partial pressures of methane and air were obtained by using a Wallace and Tiernan 0-800 mm Hg pressure gauge with which pressures could be determined to an accuracy of % mm Hg. All tests were conducted with a total pressure of 1 atm in the chamber. To

Jan 1, 1972

By T. D. Jones

MUCH the same story can be told for the lead industry for the year 1945 as for the three previous years. In response to inquiries as to new developments, invariably the answer has been, "No new developments-our men either too busy with the man-power problem or trying to get production out." Time and efforts of industry have been concentrated for the most part on war or readjustment problems. Now that V-E and V-1 day have passed, the lead industry can justly be proud of its record in World War II. As in previous wars, lead played an important role and one of its most spectacular uses was in the production of the atomic bomb. We read that the part lead played was rather obscure, but as a protective agent, lead played a most significant role. "Since the materials in the Pile Plant are intensely radioactive, all storage and handling must be done behind thick concrete walls or lead shields. The material is never seen and all operations are auto matically controlled by a foolproof remote control system especially designed for this purpose." (Chews. & Met., Sept. 1945.) When our armies invaded the European theater of war and made a landing on Normandy beach, gasoline and oil for the motive power were furnished through miles of armored lead pipe. This amaz-

Jan 1, 1946

By O. P. Dolph

SPANIARDS were probably the first to mine the rich surface ore in the veins cutting the rhyolite capping that outcrops on the hills of La Mazata, oil the Allyones side of the Magdalena valley in Jalisco, Mexico, although the name comes from a word of Indian origin meaning "deer". The camp is about 12 km. west of Magdalena, a town on the Southern Pacific Railroad, and about 17 km. north of Etzatlán, on the Mexican National Railroad, at an elevation of 4500 ft. The climate is subtropical with no extremes of heat or cold, the rainy season beginning in June and ending in October.

Jan 1, 1938

By R. S. Handy

THE properties of the Patiño Mines and Enterprises Consolidated, Inc., a New York corporation, are near Llallagua in the department of Chayanta in the west central part of Bolivia, South America, about 80 miles southeast of Oruro and 250 miles southeast of La Paz, the largest city in Bolivia and its virtual capital. The properties are accessible by railroad from three points on the west coast-from Mollendo, Peru, across Lake Titicaca, from Arica by way of La Paz, and from Antofagasta, Chile. The latter route, although the longest, is recommended by the companies as affording a more gradual introduction to the high altitudes; the mine being 13,000 ft. above sea level. The company operates its own railroad from its properties at Uncia to Machacamarca on the Chile & Bolivia R. R., a distance of 60 miles. This railroad is well equipped and well operated, and its location among the mountains surrounding Uncia represents excellent engineering skill. In fact all of the railroads, although they are of only a meter gage, are remarkable for the excellence of their construction, the arrangement of their dining and sleeping cars and the precision of their operation. There is only one drawback to rail- road and hotel accommodations and that is the absence of heating facilities, which does not seem to affect the natives but keeps a tenderfoot's teeth chattering continually. The company is a consolidation of the Patiño company, owning properties at Uncia, with the Compafiia Estanfera de Llallagua, a' Chilean corporation owning contiguous properties at Llallagua. Before the consolidation these companies were deadly enemies, and there still remain at the surface plant at Uncia the fortifications and underground defences provided during the warfare between the two factions. Also, in the Azul, or "Blue" tunnel at the junction line between the two properties is a strong steel barricade still bearing marks of the bullets fired during the various armed tilts between the workmen of the two companies. The headquarters for the mining operations and the milling plant have been moved since the consolidation from the original location at Uncia to the Llallagua side of the mountain, where the Chilean company's operations were carried on. The historic old town of Uncia, with its massive stone buildings of Spanish design, is a wreck, while the Llallagua side is being rapidly built up with modern structures.

Jan 1, 1929

By Charles Hart

A STUDY of the various ores that have been discussed impresses one with the need of beneficiation, in many cases. This applies to the ores that have lain dormant, due to necessity for further preparation, or to ores that now find a market due to a changed condition. Processes of beneficiation will come into their own as our richer ores become exhausted. Many efforts at improvement have been commercial failures, due to prematurity. Thomas A. Edison, with characteristic foresight, attempted concentration of the low- grade New Jersey magnetites some thirty years ago. Due to high costs and the discovery of the Mesabi range, his efforts were futile. However, a successful crusher, designed by Mr. Edison, resulted from this attempt. Agglomeration of concentrates had not, at that time, been brought to its present efficiency, when sinters and briquettes of excellent physical condition are obtainable. Recent efforts in the beneficiation of the lean magnetites of the East Mesabi resulted in an excellent sinter, but that operation is also ahead of its time.

Jan 1, 1929

By Zay Jeffries

OF the new production of non-ferrous metals in 1930 gold will rank first in value. We usually think of copper as the most important non-ferrous metal. The copper industry as a whole, that is, adding copper production to copper fabrication, is the largest non-ferrous metal industry. Prior to the world war; however, gold led in value of new metal produced. During the war copper passed gold in value, but gold regained its position during the 1921 depression. For the past several years copper has again passed gold, but in 1930 gold promises again to regain the lead. The gold producer has at times been called a social parasite, largely because we ' cannot eat or drink gold, or because we cannot use it for clothes or for the construction of buildings. Let us briefly examine this accusation.

Jan 1, 1930

By Roswell Johnson

THE Manual of the Oil and Gas Industry, under the Revenue Act of 1918, published by the Treasury Department for the guidance of oil companies in preparing their estimates of future recoverable oil for the purpose of calculating depletion, gives the first large public collection of comparative decline curves for the whole country. It is a matter of both scientific and practical interest to so arrange these data that the pools can be readily compared. There are certain difficulties in such a comparison, however: 1. The economic limit varies from 50 to 2000 bbl. a year in different pools taken. (2) Because of this variation in economic limit, the range of data shown makes comparison possible only for wells of intermediate size. In order to be as inclusive as possible, I have taken as an expression of the rate of decline the amount of oil produced in the period during which a well drops from 3000 to 2000 bbl. a year.. No period of smaller production could be used because of the high economic limit in California; and no period of larger production and yet include the small well areas of the Appalachian. As it is, the Lima-Indiana wells are excluded. In a few instances, curves were extrapolated to obtain the reading, where the curve seemed regular enough to warrant it. In general, the amount of oil, in barrels, produced while a well declined from 3000 bbl. to 2000 bbl. a year is shown in Table 1.

Jan 1, 1920

By P. H. Dudley

The present paper was suggested by the paper read by Mr. R. W. Hunt at the New York Meeting, in February last, on rail-sections (Trans., xvii., p. 778)) in the discussion of which I brought forward some of the facts and observations here stated. Professional duties having prevented me from writing out my part of that discussion in time for its publication in the volume containing Mr. Hunt's paper, I take the opportunity to present it in separate form and greater fulness. The striking features of the series of rail-sections submitted by Mr. Hunt are their shallow heads and heavy bases. In these respects they are quite similar to the section of the 80-1b. rail, which I designed in 1883 to meet the requirements of the traffic of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. Before the adoption of the 80-1b. rail, this road had modified its 65-1b. section from a shallow head with rounding sides and quite heavy base to one having a deep head and thin base. All the leading railroads had changed from the earlier sections of steel rails to those having deep heads and thin bases, conforming to the recommendations of the Committee on Rails of the American Society of Civil Engineers. It is but proper to say that the committee's investigations upon the wear of rails were made upon the rails manufactured under a practice quite different from that which obtained after the committee's recommendations were carried into effect. The results in actual service have been contrary to what was expected. Fig. 1 shows my 80-1b. section of 1883. Before designing this rail I had taken, at different times, a series of diagrams of the condition of tracks, with my car, on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, all of the New England railroads, and all but one of the trunk lines. My diagrams gave me an opportunity which could not otherwise have been obtained to see the wear of great numbers of sections of rails under widely varying conditions of traffic.

Jan 1, 1890

By L. H. E. Weyher

As a result of past developments, mainly at universities, the coal industry has had access for a decade or more to a number of computer programs for coal mine planning. Using some of these programs Bethlehem Steel's Research Department in 1969 launched jointly with Bethlehem Mines Corporation an extensive research and development program aimed at: (1) testing the capabilities of these programs through trial applications as the need and opportunity existed, (2) defining what additional capabilities were required to make mine planning computer systems fully useful in the hands of Bethlehem's mine-planning engineers in the field, and (3) developing and implementing in the field the mine-planning systems agreed on. This program is now nearing completion, and several of Bethlehem's operations routinely use the planning tools that were developed. The progress of this research program is discussed in terms of our initial trial applications of computer methods to mine planning and the incorporation of several innovative features into our new set of computer programs, in particular, the use of time sharing, data base management systems, and general-purpose simulation languages.

Jan 1, 1977

By T. Egleston

For several years 1 have been engaged in studying the behavior of iron and steel under varying conditions of tension and compression, as well as of shock and abrasion. Some of these observations have been communicated to the Institute at various times. Within the past year I have been looking at the various observations that I have made as a whole, and have been led to the conclusion that there is a regular law of fatigue and refreshment of metals, and that the change which produces either the fatigue or refreshment, is a. chemical one, which is, however, in almost all cases accompanied by physical and molecular changes at the same time. That metals under conditions that were more or less well understood became worthless, has been known for many years. It has been known to blacksmiths that iron and steel, when improperly treated in their fires, become "burned," as they call it, and could no longer be used, and some of them have had a scrap heap into which such material was thrown. A few of them knew that after a period more or less long the iron or steel recovered some of its original properties and could, with many precautions, again be used, but that these phenomena followed any law has not to my knowledge been announced. My attention was first attracted to the varying conditions under which iron and steel rails break in service. It was not long before I became convinced that there was a general law applicable to all metals which allowed of their being used with safety within certain limits, and caused their rupture when the use extended beyond these limits, and this law I have called the law of fatigue- of metals. When me observe the causes of deterioration in iron and steel rails, we find that they are principally shocks, either slight and frequent, like those produced by the passing of a train over a road-bed in good order, which produces a vibration sensible to the ear laid on the rail, for very long distances, but distinctly audible for only a short one; or from sudden and heavy blows, like the descent of the locomotive and each car successively from a high to a low rail.

Jan 1, 1880

By C. R. King

Most of the acid volcanic glasses such as obsidian, perlite, pitchstone, pumice, and pumicite (volcanic ash) are susceptible to some expansion if suddenly subjected to a suitably high temperature in a properly designed furnace, and subsequently suddenly cooled. Expansion results from the action of chemically combined or dissolved water expanding as a vapor within the softened heated rock particles. This expansion forms countless minute bubbles within the pasty mass of the natural glass particles. If the particles are cooled before these bubbles can escape, the resulting products are cellular, more or less spherulitized glass froths or hollow glass spheres of many types. Chemically, they are essentially aluminum silicates containing about 70 to 75 pct silica, 10 to 16 pct alumina, and 2 to 7 pct sodium plus potassium oxides. They are relatively resistant to attack by acids or alkalies, are resistant to heat up to over 1000°F, and are completely inert to insect or fungus attack.

Jan 1, 1949

Discussion of the paper of W. R. SHIMER, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1915, and printed in Bulletin No. 99, March, 1915, pp. 557 to. 585. WILLIAM R. WEBSTER, Philadelphia, Pa.-I would like to ask Mr. Shimer how the finishing temperature of the H-beams and other beams rolled on the Gray mill at Bethlehem compare with the rolling temperatures of the rails referred to in this paper. Also, how the reductions in the rolling of the beams compare with the reductions in the rolling of the rails. I would also like to know if any drop tests were' made on the rails referred to as having been allowed to cool and then annealed; in other words, what results, if any, were obtained from tests on rails after the internal strains of rolling had been removed; and in the matter of the rail blooms, I would like to ask if they are not often heated to a higher temperature than is desirable on account of the thin flanges in order to carry the heat through to the finishing pass. The tensile strength of the steel in these rails is given as 125,000 lb. per square inch, which is almost as high as tire steel. If some of these blooms were rolled into rounds of about the same section as the head of the rail, would you not get better results from tension tests than those from the head of the rail? In other words, in rolling rounds, whether you would not be able to control the rolling and finishing temperatures better than is possible in the rail, owing to thin section of the rail flanges. Some years ago I had experience with the rolling temperatures of tire steel, running from about 127,000 to 133,000 tensile strength. These tires had the tensile strength and the deflection specified. One of the manufacturers had no trouble whatever, after a little experimenting, in meeting the conditions of the specification. Another manufacturer who made some of these tires came to the office and stated that he had tried tires from three heats of steel and could not meet the specifications and

Jan 5, 1915