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By Emery R. Hayhurst

SILICOSIS has been described in a report of the American Public Health Association as a disease due to breathing air containing silica, characterized anatomically by generalized fibrotic changes and the development of miliary nodulations in both lungs, and clinically by shortness of breath, decreased chest expansion, lessened capacity for work, absence of fever, increased susceptibility to tuberculosis (some or all of which symptoms may be present), and by characteristic X-ray findings. ... The disease is divided arbitrarily into first, second, and third stages for convenience of description and possible compensation purposes. At least two distinct types of silicosis are recognized, acute and chronic. The acute form was reported as early as 1713, when a British patent for grinding flint by wet methods was granted because the dry powdered material "proved very destructive to mankind, so much that any person, ever so healthful, working in that business cannot possibly survive over two years."

Jan 1, 1936

By Richard B. Reese, George R. St. Pierre, Robert A. Rapp

The vapor pressures of pure iron and pure chromium have been measured using a Knudsen cell coupled with a mass spectrometer. The experimental results agree well with some previously reported data; heats of sublimation and vaporization have been calculated. From vapor pressure rr~easurernents, the activities of iron and chromium in their binary alloys have been determined for NcY = 0.10 to 0.65 over a 1400" to 1700~ temperature range. The activity of chromium in the liquid alloys was found to exhibit positive deviation from ideal behavior when referred to solid chromium as the standard state; however, for the activity of chromium referred to nonequilibrium undercooled liquid chromium as standard state, the activity behavior is almost ideal. ALTHOUGH the Fe-Cr system is important as the basic system of alloy steels, the thermodynamic properties of this system have not been thoroughly investigated at elevated temperatures. In view of the potential practical applications of such data as well as their contribution to alloy theory, further study of the Fe-Cr system was undertaken. In addition, further development of experimental techniques for equilibrium measurements at high temperature is required. The present research involved an application of the Knudsen effusion method in conjunction with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Belton and ~ruehan' have measured the activities in Fe-Ni and Fe-Co alloys by a similar method. Speiser, Johnston, and lackbburn' have determined the vapor pressure of pure solid chromium between 1283" and 1561°K by a Langmuir free evaporation technique. The vapor pressure of chromium was described by the expression: over the temperature range 1283" to 1561°K. McCabe, Hudson, and paxton3 have measured the vapor pressures of pure iron and pure chromium by the Knudsen cell technique around 1500°K. The vapor pressure and heat of sublimation at O°K, AH,", for pure chromium agreed within experimental error with the measurements of Speiser et al. at 1200°C. Kubaschewski and HeYmer~ determined the vapor pressure of pure solid chromium in the temperature range 1170" to 1400°C by the Knudsen effusion technique combined with a radioactive tracer analysis of crS1. Their results agreed with the work of previous investigators. Edwards, Johnston, and Ditmars5 have measured the vapor pressure of pure solid iron by the Langmuir technique between 1356" and 1519°K. The vapor pressure of solid iron in the temperature range studied was given by: The data of McCabe, Hudson, and paxton3 on the vapor pressure of pure iron around 1500°K by the Knudsen effusion technique were in good agreement with those obtained by Edwards et a~.~ Hultgren, Orr, Anderson, and Kelley give the selected values for the AH: of pure iron and pure chromium as 98,990 *200 and 94,340 * 500 cal per mole, respectively. These values are the average values determined in the several investigations by different methods. The Fe-Cr phase diagram7 is shown in Fig. 1. Previous determinations of activities in this system have been carried out by several investigators, but most of the work has been done on solid alloys. Using a Knudsen effusion method with cr5', Kubaschewski and Heymer4 reported that the Fe-Cr system exhibits positive deviation from the ideal behavior for compositions ranging from NCr = 0.0398 to 0.699 at 1170"

Jan 1, 1969

By Joseph Hartshorne

EVER since the introduction of the Siemens regenerative furnace, it has been recognized that a certain amount of gas is lost each time the furnace-action is reversed. This loss comes, first, from the gas which passes through the free connection between the stack and the gas-main, which exists during the time the reversing-valve is turning over; and, secondly, from the gas which is in the chamber and flues, from the hearth to the reversing-valve, and which flows back into the stack when the valve is reversed. The amount lost each time is, of course, small; but, since a furnace is reversed from four to six times every hour for, say, 300 days in the year, the aggregate is large enough to be well worth attention. The estimate has been published' that, in Germany alone, the loss from the first of the above causes amounts to 500,000 marks per year. The loss from the second cause is, of course, much greater. A process for saving this entire loss, in use at Teplitz, Bohemia, for about three years, would seem to be of value even in this country, where coal is cheaper and where the small economies are not watched as closely as they are in Europe. This process, invented by Mr. Adelbert Kurzwernhart, late Technical Director of the Teplitzer Walzwerk, has been worked out with thoroughness. The loss from each cause can be calculated very closely for any particular furnace, and the results to be expected from the process ascertained. It can easily be decided, therefore, whether it is worthwhile to adopt it under any given conditions. The amount of chamber-gas lost depends upon,-(1), the cubic contents of the chamber, ports and flues upon one side of the furnace, up to the reversing-valve (deducting, of course,

Mar 1, 1906

By John C. Bilello

The brittle fracture behavior of cold-worked sintered tungsten was studied over the temperature range 4.2° to 298°K using a high-sensitivity strain measuring system and electronfractography. Similar observations were made on a swaged electron beam zone-refined monocrystal. In sintered tungsten irreversible plastic deformation was observed during cyclic load-unload tests at stress levels well below the fracture stress for all temperatures, but general microyielding could be detected only down to 202°K. For the zone-refined samples macroyielding occurred at all test temperatures with evidence for twinning below -202°K. The fracture stress of the sintered tmgsten was virtually independent of temperature, while the zone-refined crystal showed a 2.3 times increase over the same temperature range. Electronfractography confirmed the presence of numerous rod-shaped and spherical submicroscopic voids which ranged in diameter from 1400 to 4300A in the sintered tungsten; no voids could be found in the zone-refined tungsten. Contrast effects observed on the replicas in the vicinity of certain voids indicated that plastic deformation could be induced by the local stress concentration. It has been suggested that the presence of these voids may be responsible for the low-temperature brittle failure of sintered tungsten. Based m this suggestim und on the evidence obtained here, a dislocatim model is presented to account for the brittle behavior of sintered tungsten. In this model slip, which is induced by the local high stress concentration in the region at the edge of a favorably oriented void, could cause the void to grow to a microcrack of critical size. STUDIES of brittle fracture in bcc metals have led to the well-known experimental relationships between grain size, yield stress, fracture stress, and temperature which have formed the basis for the various dislocation pile-up1-3 or interaction4'= models for slip-induced microcrack nucleation. While microcracks can be nucleated by deformation twins,6,7 there has been no direct evidence furnished by transmission electron microscopy to support conclusively either the Zener pile-up or Cottrell dislocation reaction models for producing micro-cracks in all "brittle" materials. In addition to the "inverse" grain size relationship for yield and fracture stresses the cottrel14 theory predicts that the fracture stress below the transition temperature should behave in a fashion similar to that of the yield stress above this temperature. Such behavior has been verified for several bcc metals.8-10 With reference to both grain size effects and the tem- perature dependence of the fracture stress below the transition temperature, the behavior of sintered tungsten appears anomalous. Early work by Bechtold and Shewrnon 11 showed no apparent temperature dependence of the fracture stress below the ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT). They attributed this result to the intergranular nature of the fractures observed. More recent work by Wronski and Four-deux12'13 on considerably purer material did not show any systematic relationship between the fracture stress and temperature below DBTT. The dependence of flow and fracture stresses on grain size is also not clearly established for sintered tungsten. Koo, for example, has shown that the DBTT for sintered tungsten depended chiefly on the annealing temperature and was relatively insensitive to the actual grain size achieved. Using electrofractography and transmission electron microscopy, Wronski and Fourdeuxl3 showed that numerous spherical and rod-shaped submicroscopic voids could be found in sintered tungsten but not in melted tungsten of nominally the same purity. They suggested that these voids could be responsible for the temperature insensitivity of the fracture stress below the DBTT. In the present work the temperature dependence of the fracture stress for high-purity commercially sintered tungsten has been determined. The presence of submicroscopic voids in sintered materials was confirmed, and these were studied in detail to examine the role they could play in nucleating brittle fracture. A dislocation model is suggested which could cause an inherent spherical void to lengthen into a Griffith crack of critical size. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Commercially sintered tungsten rod was obtained in the as-swaged condition from Sylvania. A zone-refined crystal was obtained from the same source. This crystal was grown by giving three zone passes (at 25.4 cm per hr) to a sintered rod of high-purity tungsten. The rod axis prior to cold working was -15 deg from the [110] direction. Originally the zone-refined rod was -6 mm in diam; it was reduced to -3 mm by eight swaging passes, at high temperatures, with each step having about the same reduction of area. The final swaging step gave a 7.5 pct reduction of area at 1050°C. All swaging operations were performed in a hydrogen atmosphere. For the sintered rod a similar working schedule was employed. Metal-lographic examination of the sintered material revealed that the cold-worked structure had an apparent grain diameter of -25 u transverse to the swaging direction (obtained by the intercept method). In the longitudinal direction cold-worked grains were approximately 1.5 to 2 times their diameter. No distinct fiber structure could be observed optically for the zone-refined rod. The cold-worked structure in the

Jan 1, 1969

By J. G. Thompson

IRON, iron everywhere, but hardly a particle of pure unadulterated iron for the metallurgist to use as a base for the protean characteristics that he develops in the alloys of iron-the modern steels. Iron, next to aluminum the most abundant metal in the crust of the earth; one of the oldest metals known to man and serving him as the most indispensable metal in both war and peace; yet man's knowledge of its properties is based on specimens that are not pure and hence probably differ considerably in their properties from the truly pure metal. Purification of iron has brought about startling changes in its electrical and magnetic properties and has modified its behavior in changing its crystal form with temperature, the basis of the heat-treatment of iron. So both the research metallurgist and the metallurgist of the steel plant are intrigued by the possibilities that might unfold were 100 per cent pure iron available in sufficient quantities to determine its properties.

Jan 1, 1940

Although copper production established a new record, lead and zinc registered gains, and iron production held steady, the mixed trend in metallic and nonmetallic mining and generally lower prices in 1961 resulted in a net decline in the total value of domestic mineral production. According to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the value of metals produced in this country during the year was approximately $1.9 billion, a decrease of $117 million from 1960; the value of nonmetallics was about $3.7 billion, a $14 million decrease. The following report of mining and mineral developments during 1961 is based on USBM and industry sources. Aluminum Output Dips from 1960 Record Government reports indicate that the domestic primary aluminum industry produced approximately 1,880,000 tons, equivalent to 77% of this nation's capacity. This production is about 6% below the 1960 record output of 2,014,498 tons. Shipments of primary metal ingot slightly exceeded the quantity produced.

Jan 2, 1962

Research and Development, once considered a luxury item only for well-heeled companies, has in the last two decades come into its own as a vital contributor to the fortunes of electronic, automotive, chemical and aerospace firms. In terms of money and talent poured into research, the mining industry is still far behind those industries. Although the U.S. Bureau of Mines, plus various mining and manufacturing firms and universities have made notable contributions to mining technology, the historical pattern of mining R&D shows a heavy reliance on the results of research in other industries. It is difficult to tell whether this pattern will change significantly in the future, but there is evidence of a growing awareness by mining officials that greater R&D efforts are going to be required not only to meet the nebulous demands of tomorrow's world but to meet the ever-present, mounting pressures being generated by "intra-metals" and "inter-materials" competition.

Jan 1, 1968

By Stanley C. Herold

TWENTY-FIVE years ago no distinction was made between water wells and oil wells except in the nature of the fluid produced. Water wells usually showed no decline in their rate of production; when oil wells showed decline something in the manner of handling them was considered wrong. Both water and oil were believed to be subject to the same physical laws in their underground movement toward the wells. Today a sharp distinction is made between them. Whereas water exists alone in the porous formations at depth, oil is usually accompanied by gas. This mixture does not behave as a liquid alone. It is a frothy, seething mass of foam which approaches and enters the wells. Different physical laws come into play. Twenty-five years ago attention was directed entirely to the well itself; today the well is accepted as a mere hole in the ground, a hole to be equipped properly for efficient service, yet without any value whatever unless it is backed up by a sufficiently prolific reservoir. Then, we were concerned with wells alone, 3000 ft. in depth; now commercial wells and their reservoirs are 10.000 ft. deep. Petroleum engineering concepts have necessarily therefore undergone a change in this last quarter century. What are they today?

Jan 1, 1937

By John Hays, Hammond

IT is both a pleasure and an honor to be a guest of the Institute and I thank you, Mr. President and fellow-members, for giving. me the opportunity of meeting you this evening. My esteemed friend, President Smith, has requested me to do a bit of "reminiscing" as to the earlier years of my career as a mining engineer, which has now covered a period of fifty years. Let me reassure you by promising that my narrative will not include all the experiences I have had over that long period. You will, I trust, pardon what might seem egotistical but I do not see how a personal narrative could well be otherwise.

Jan 1, 1928

By R. S. Wagner, R. G. Treuting, W. C. Ellis

Use of the Weisseizbevg goniometer for the study of the morphology of whisker crystals and transfer of the results to a stereograplzic projection are described. While in almost all instances a complete and rapid solution is obtained with a purely gaphical treatment, an absolute analytical treatment applicable to difficult cases is given. Examples are given for determination of growth direction and external features of a crystal, for detection of 'twintzittg, and for establislting the orientation relntionships in a kinked whisker crystal. We give here a method for the use of the Weissen-berg goniometerl" in the study of orientation relationships in "whisker" (micro) crystals3-8 and direct transference of the data to the stereographic projection. The operations are straightforward and require no involved calculations: in almost all cases solely graphical treatment is adequate. In a few complex instances, a more exact analytic method may be required. In the method, not only are equatorial reflections of an oscillation photograph used, but also those on higher layer lines, or those not occurring on a recognized layer line. Such reflections off the zero level are often essentialy to detect the presence of twinning. The method is particularly suitable for examination of whisker crystals since the axial or growth direction is almost always one of high symmetry, permitting a more restricted oscillation range to obtain the necessary reflections and an accordingly shorter exposure time. The method is also applicable when there is no lattice-related external symmetry, and is as well able to identify external crystal surfaces, when such exist, with the aid of an optical beam. Thus growth direction, identification of lateral faces, twinning, and orientation relationships in a kinked crystal can be established. A test for the Eshelby twist6-8 can readily be made. The method can be used for orientation, for structure analysis, and as an aid in the identification of an unknown crystal. Moving-film techniques have previously been employed variously for crystal-orientation studies.1,2,9-13 In particular, use of the Weissenberg method for orientation determination has been reported by Wooster and wooster.14 While their method derives the same data as here described, it differs in depending on the tracing of constant p streaks, a less than dependable phenomenon with small specimens, a few microns or less in cross section. The Laue method can and has been used for orientation studies of microcrystals,15 e.g., 2 p in cross section, but requires the extreme intensity and concentration from a microfocus tube to obtain reasonable exposure time. PRINCIPLES OF THE PRESENT METHOD Consider a crystal of random orientation with respect to the oscillation axis in a Weissenberg goniometer. Its diffraction pattern need not necessarily result in recognizable layer lines. In Fig. 1, a stereo-graphic projection of the reference sphere is given with the equatorial plane XZ normal to the oscillation axis Y, and the X-ray beam directed from X towards 2. The great circle ZZ is then normal to the beam, and the axes are right-handed. Thus the reflected X-ray beam lies at the intersection R of small circle ARB of radius 28 from 2, and of small circle RE of radius a from the rotation axis Y. a is the conventional semiapex angle of a cone of diffracted rays from the atoms aligned in the direction

Jan 1, 1967

By S. S. Lisnyak, B. D. Lichter

An important question in the study of the "hot corrosion" phenomenon (i.e., accelerated oxidation of Ni-Cr-base and Co-Cr-base "superalloys" in the presence of sulfur) is the condition of formation and physico-chemical properties of different sulfides in the system Ni-Co-Cr-S. seyboltl has observed the presence of ((chromium-rich" sulfides of compositions M3S4, and M2S3 in the scales of superalloys after hot corrosion; however, as he points out, much confusion exists as to the identity of sulfides found on Ni-Cr and Co-Cr alloys. According to the literature,&apos; ternary sulfides, e.g., NiCr2S4, (monoclinic structure) and CoCr2S4 (spinel structure) exist in these systems. Therefore, it is likely that these compounds are found in the scale of alloys undergoing hot corrosion. At present this possibility has not been discussed in the literature. Accordingly, we have begun investigation on the properties of ternary sulfides and their mutual interaction. The magnetic and electrical properties of pure NiCr2S4 and pure CoCr2S2 have been previously determined."-&apos; In the present work we have studied the interaction between these sulfides at high temperatures by means of X-ray diffraction and magnetic susceptibility. The measurements were carried out at room temperature after appropriate thermai treatment of samples at high temperatures. For alloys containing the three elements nickel, chromium, and cobalt this interaction may be of importance in the study of the hot corrosion phenomenon. The compounds NiCr2S4 and CoCr2S4 were prepared from stoichiometric amounts of the elements and CoS in the case of CoCr2S4. Samples were mixed and sealed in evacuated silica tubes, slowly heated to 900&apos; to 100O°C, and held at temperature for a total of 120 hr (NiCr2S4) or 80 hr (CoCr2S4) with intermediate re-grinding~. X-ray diffraction showed a pure spinel structure for CoCr2S4 and a monoclinic structure for NiCr2S4. Samples of mixtures of the two ternary sulfides were prepared with different compositions, see Table I. Samples were heated for a total of 80 hr at 900&apos;C in evacuated silica tubes, with one intermediate regrind-ing. The capsules were slow-cooled to room temperature in the furnace. Samples for X-ray diffraction were prepared by placing powder on a glass slide with vaseline. Dif- fractometer traces were obtained on a G.E. XRD-5 diffractometer using a chromium tube and vanadium filter (40 kv and 31 ma). The size of the spinel unit cell was determined from the eight highest angle peaks (80 deg < 2b < 160 deg). Calculated lattice parameters were plotted vs cos B . ctn 0 and extrapolated to 6 = 90 deg. Measurements of the magnetic susceptibility were carried out at room temperature using the Faraday method in a magnetic field of 3000 G and using a Cahn RG automatic microbalance. The system was calibrated from the well-established susceptibilities of platinum and palladium: (Xpt = 0.968 x 10-6 g-1 and Xpd 7 5.04 x 10~6 g-1). The weight of samples were approximately 0.200 g. X-ray diffraction patterns for unsintered mixtures showed Bragg peaks from both the spinel (CoCr2S4) and monoclinic (NiCr2S4) structures. After sintering no monoclinic peaks were observed in samples containing up to 40 mol pct NiCr2S4. However, the spinel peaks were displaced to higher angles with increasing

Jan 1, 1970

By S. R. B. Cooke, W. Philippoff, Donald E. Cadwell

[THE importance of contact angles in flotation has long been recognized, but little has been done to get quantitative relationships between the surface coverage of the mineral by the reagent, the length of the hydrocarbon chain, and the contact angle. It is well known that for a complete monolayer on the surface of a mineral the contact angle ? is determined only by the reagent&apos; and principally by the chain length of the hydrocarbon radical. Although for flotation the monolayer usually is regarded as being complete, early experiments of Wark and Cox2 showed that at very small concentrations of potassium ethyl xanthate the contact angle on galena changed in a continuous way from 0° to the equilibrium value of 60°. Further, Gaudin and Vincent&apos; showed a similar continuity using heptylic acid and sphalerite. This shows that with probably incomplete monolayers, ? varies with the degree of surface coverage. At the time these experiments were made it was impossible to measure the actual amount of surface coverage, especially since the decrease of the collector concentration in the liquor could be influenced by chemical side reactions. Through the use of the radioactive tracer method for the measurement of the amount of collector adsorbed on the surface of the mineral, Gaudin and Bloecher4 were able to determine accurately the actual surface coverage of dodecylamine acetate on quartz, but they did not measure any contact angles. It is believed that the relationship between the surface coverage and the contact angle is extremely important in flotation, especially as Gaudin and Bloecher showed that a 95 pct recovery is possible with a coverage of only 5 pct. Theoretical Considerations The work of adhesion W is the energy bound (in ergs per sq cm) when an interface is formed. It is determined by, the difference of the free surface energies (surface tensions) of the respective phases ?1 and ? 2 before contact and the interfacial free surface energy ?12 after contact. The definition of the contact angle permits the elimination of the unknown surface energy of the solid and hence the calculation5 of W from the surface tension of the liquid ? and the contact angle ?: [W = y (1 + cos ?)[1]] Consider a surface consisting of two components, identified as 2 and 3, 1 being the liquid. The amount of 2 in the composite surface is x, where 0 < x < 1. The respective contact angles with 1 and air are ? and ?3. The total work of adhesion of such a surface is the sum of the values of the components multiplied by their respective areas. A formal relation can be written: [W,,,=x•W2+ (1-x).WR[2] .] in which Wm is the work of adhesion of the composite surface. Eq 1 can be introduced into W2 and W3 but in the case of Wm some discussion is needed. If the two components are segregated, each component forming an integral part of the composite surface there is no physical meaning for a contact angle ?m, calculated from Wm, by using eq 1. If, on the other hand, the area of each patch of the components is small in comparison with, say, the diameter of the bubble used in measuring, it could be expected that ?m would have aphysical significance, because of the action of the surface tension of the liquid-gas interface tending to smooth out sharp corners. How small these patches would have to be is difficult to predict, but by using composite surfaces with microscopically]

Jan 1, 1952

[ ] TEN FEET TALL and four feet wide, tire designed for Le Tourneau equipment is world&apos;s largest, and will operate with only 10 to 15 pounds air pressure. (15) SOIL SAMPLING: A complete collection of data about soil sampling techniques, accumulated during the past 33 years by the Acker Drill Co., is displayed in a 16-page bulletin. Modern sampling techniques are discussed along with recommendations as to correct tools and accessories best suited for economical recovery of samples. (16) GEAR MOTOR: U. S. Electrical Motors Inc. has a new bulletin on the type GW Syncrogear motor, showing phantom views of inner construction and operating detail. [ ] (17) SAFETY: A booklet containing an up-to-date list of American Safety Standards has been published by the American Standards Association. Comprehensive subject index and brief commentaries on the standards helps in selecting proper documents. Nearly all of the 160 American Safety Standards listed are widely used, and some have been adopted as a basic part of governmental codes.

Jan 1, 1952

By Arthur M. Miller

FROM the time of its establishment in 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority has been active in the field of phosphates. Under the T.V.A. Act it has a broad Congressional mandate to guide a unified development of the resources of the region for the long-range benefit of the people. As one phase of this function, it is directed to co-operate with farmers in the experimental large-scale use of improved fertilizers and development of better fertilizer practices. Following careful study, it was concluded that the objectives of this phase could best be attained by soil rebuilding through the use of phosphatic fertilizer and lime in an improved farm management sys- tem. This activity was launched through a program of test and demonstration on farms and simultaneous technical investigations to develop new and improved phosphatic fertilizers. Phosphorus has since become a keystone of the Authority&apos;s resource development and conservation program. Human effort is being conserved by phosphate utilization on the farm, and mineral conservation has been promoted by technical developments in phosphate mining and manufacturing operations.

Jan 1, 1944

By A. F. Bridge

IN order to show the need for gas reserves, their control, and conservation, in California, it is necessary to describe briefly the local conditions under which gas is produced and marketed, to point out the lack of coordination between supply and demand, and to relate the history of efforts to prevent wastage. There are now 24 fields in California producing a surplus of gas over field fuel requirements. They are usually grouped geographically into three divisions, as follows: (I) Los Angeles Basin (Los Angeles and 0 r a n g e Counties), thirteen fields, all casing-head gas. Total daily gas available for sale 125,000, 000 ?cu.ft. (2) Coastal (Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties). Seven casine-head and one dry gas field. total-avail- able daily, 165,000,000 cu.ft. (3) San Joaquin Valley (Kern, Kings, Fresno, and San Joaquin Counties). Four casing-head fields, five dry gas fields, and two producing casing- head and dry gas from different zones. Total available daily pro- ducticon, 475,000,000 cu.ft. Total all fields, 765,000,000 cu.ft. daily.

Jan 1, 1936

By D. W. Fuerstenau

Recently R. J. Charles1 showed that comminution of brittle or semi-brittle materials in batch operations is described more appropriately by a variable energy relationship than by the specific relationships proposed by Rittinger,2 Kick,3 and Bond.&apos; That is, the value of n in the empirical differential operation which applies to crushing and grinding (Eq. 1) is variable. Independently, Holmes&apos; developed an identical generalized equaton for size reduction. The experimental data of Charles and Holmes show that the value of n is determined by the material and the comminuting machine and is constant for a given combination of these two conditions. The general objective of the present article is to extend the Charles-Holmes concepts to continuous ball milling. The specific objective is to analyze the operation of a vibratory ball mill dry-grinding chromite in a continuous open circuit and to develop an equation for the comminution of chromite in this mill. Basic Principles: In a batch mill the length of time during which the material is ground is a direct measure of the energy expended on the material, except possibly for exceedingly fine grinding. However, in a continuous operation, the fraction of the total expended energy which is useful for grinding will vary according to feed rate and amount of material in the mill. If the amount of material within a continuously operating vibratory mill is low enough so that only part of the expended energy is used for grinding, the extent of size reduction at constant power input must depend upon the length of time the material is retained within the mill, namely, upon retention time. The following analysis pertains to a continuous mill operating under these conditions. The empirical differential equation that applies to the comminution of brittle materials is:" dE = -Cdx/x" [1] where dE is an infinitesimal energy expenditure, C a constant, dx an infinitesimal size change, x the particle size, and n a constant. For continuous grinding in an open circuit at constant power input, P, Eq. 1 must be written as (dtr)P = -C dx/x" [la] where dt, is an infinitesimal time during which a particle of size x is in the mill, and C&apos; is a constant. A ground product never consists of particles of single size but always comprises a distribution of sizes. In comminution, the expenditure of energy causes a lateral shift in the size distribution.&apos;, &apos; " The general objective of any engineering study of comminution is to correlate the magnitude of this size distribution shift with the energy expended, the ultimate aim being to cause the greatest shift with the least amount of expended energy. Although a number of criteria can be used to measure this shift, Schuhmann&apos;s size modulus has been found convenient.&apos; Mathematically, the Schuhmann size distribution can be expressed as follows:" y = l00(x/k) [2] or in differential form: dy = [F- xa-&apos; dx ] K, where y is percentage of material finer than size x, a is a constant that determines weight distribution among particles of various sizes, and k the size modulus that denotes the theoretically maximum-sized particle in any size distribution. By considering the energy required to reduce an element of weight of material, dy, from size x, to size x, the element of time during which the material must remain in the mill at at power will be (dt..).= J&apos;-Cax!(dy) [3] Summing up all the elements of weight from zero to 100 for a product that conforms to the Schuhmann size distribution yields C C f Cdx,\( 100«x°-&apos;dx\

Jan 1, 1960

By S. H. Ash

Diesel locomotives, trucks, bulldozers, and other diesel-powered equipment are fast proving their superiority for mine transportation purposes. MORE than 100 minerals are mined and processed in the U. S. Management and labor have negotiated wage-scale agreements that have balanced wages and affected cost of labor in such a manner that comparisons can be made of transportation costs. Transportation of materials underground has become of vital importance.1"0 This report describes underground haulage methods and equipment, presents cost analyses, and discusses future plans for underground transportation in metal mines. It does not cover hoisting in shafts or slopes by cage, skip, or cars. Advancements have been made by the metal mining industry in lowering transportation costs in several mines, making it possible to mine orebodies or portions of orebodies not considered economically recoverable a few years ago.7,8 Wumerous reports have been written on transportation at metal mines; this report covers recent haulage at some representative mines throughout the U. S. The term metal mine is used to include all noncoal mines from which up-to-date information was obtainable. The best haulage equipment is subject to break- downs and accidents; but unless the rolling equipment, track, and signal systems are kept in good repair and are operated systematically, these breakdowns and accidents are likely to be frequent, destructive, and more costly than are necessary.10 Rail haulage crews using dependable rolling stock can move trips safely over grades low enough to be traveled without loss of control; this applies particularly if the track is straight and well maintained. Few accidents occur on main haulage lines if visibility and clearance are good and clear track is assured. One-way traffic underground is a recent development contributing to reduction of accidents and increased efficiency in mine haulage (Kelly mine, Anaconda Co., Butte, Mont., and Climax mine, Climax Molybdenum Co., Climax, Colo.)." Locomotives: Six types of mine locomotive used in recent years are trolley, storage battery, combination trolley and storage battery, diesel, compressed air, and gasoline. Electric haulage has been displaced by compressed air locomotives, which have been used successfully in certain instances, especially on dirty and wet tracks and steep grades." Maintenance cost is high, and operating efficiency, from a power standpoint, is low. Compressed air locomotives operate under self-contained power, and the absence of bare elec-

Jan 1, 1957

By Luke L. Y. Chang, Bert Phillips

ThE tendency toward further oxidation of the intermediate oxides and the high volatilization rates of the higher oxides have prevented direct attainment of equilibrium data for the system tungsten-oxygen. As a result, St. Pierre et al.1 have proposed a phase diagram (to 800°C) based on thermody-namic data to 1200°C for the known tungsten oxides (WO2z, W18O49, W20O58, and WO3) and a report on a tungsten suboxide W3O.2 Recent modification of a technique previously described3 5 now permits adequate preservation of compositions of mixtures of metallic tungsten and metal oxides (e.g., of tungsten, cobalt, calcium, samarium, titanium) in order that condensed phase relations may be established to 1700 This method has been applied to study the high-temperature stability of tungsten oxides. In the method used, the desired compositions were sealed in nonreactive containers such that only a small gas volume remained. Each sample then established its own equilibrium atmosphere at temperature. This method has advantages in the study of systems of the W-0 type where knowledge of the condensed phases is desirable but for which composition and pressure of the gas phase are not readily attainable because of oxide volatility. Mixtures of 99.99 pct tungsten metal powder and purified tungsten anhydride (WO3) or in some cases W18O49* were equilibrated in pellet form in sealed

Jan 1, 1964

By Howard Eavenson

IN a discussion in the Transactions of the Institute (vol. xl, page 835 et seq.) the writer gave some data about explosions of gas and dust in the coal mines of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, among which was a table showing all explosions in the countries mentioned, in which five or more fatalities occurred, which had been reported from Oct. 2, 1871, to Mar. 28, 1908. Since the elate of publication of this discussion, as opportunity has presented, this table has been extended by the addition of explosions occurring since that time, by including several explosions which occurred prior to 1871, and by adding to the list all explosions of gas or dust in which less than five fatalities occurred, this having been clone by a search through the various mine reports, partly by the author and partly by the Librarian of the United Engineering Societies, and by correspondence with mine inspection officials of the various States, to all of whom acknowledgment of assistance is made: The accompanying list, Table I, is believed to be as nearly correct as such a statement can be made, and, while only extending to Dec. 20, 1912, contains all of the data now available in reports. An analysis of Table I, showing the occurrence by months of all explosions of gas or dust, including those in which less as well as those in which more than five fatalities occurred, is given in Table II. The statements are frequently made, in technical papers, that the number of explosions, particularly the larger ones, is increasing more rapidly than the number of mines, and that the number of fatalities caused by mine explosions, particularly the more disastrous ones, is increasing faster, proportionally, than the production of coal. To investigate the correctness of these statements Table III was prepared, in which the number of accidents and fatalities is taken from Table I, using those in the United States only, on account of lack of other data for Canada and Mexico; the production is from the records of the U.S. Geological Survey, and the number of mines, from 1909, from the same source; previous to 1909, the number of mines, for the decennial periods, was furnished by the U. S. Census records.

Jan 10, 1914

By John C. LaScola, David M. Hyman, William P. Diamond

The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, has established a computer-implemented coalbed methane data base containing data representing over 2,000 coal samples from approximately 250 coalbeds located in 17 States and one Canadian Province. Space for approximately 130 sample characteristics is reserved for each sample record and is divided for access efficiency into three separate physical files. A software package was written to provide a user-friendly environment in which the three files can be manipulated simultaneously. These files can be used interactively in DATATRIEVE 11, a commercially available sorting, retrieval, and report-writing software package or in any FORTRAN-compatible system for statistical analysis. The data base has been established for coalbed methane research in response to the health and safety needs of the mining industry. Possible applications of the data base include mine planning related to the occurrence of gas, as well as delineating areas of resource recovery and utilization.

Jan 1, 1983