Search Documents

By Robert H. Richards

The group of four papers on ore dreseing read at the Butte meeting, all of them dealing with the recent developments at the Great Falls and Washoe plants of the Anaconda Company, form an extremely important contribution to the subject of ore dressing. It proves the efficacy of the new hindered-settling principles first brought out in a paper entitled Close Sizing Before digging' and later elaborated in a paper entitled Development of Hindered-Settling Apparatus: and it is the first large demonstration on this class of mill that has been made. It must be very gratifying to all mill men to have these papers at hand, charged with careful investigations and results pointing to the conclusions reached; the papers cannot fail to be a great help to every designer of mills and to mill men who are working on this class of concentration. The papers have dealt with their subjects so completely and have demonstrated every point from beginning to end in each case so thoroughly it leaves little for the commentator to say in the way of criticism. Therefore it seems best to him to confine himself to adding a few points of history which he believes will be interesting to the readers. Referring to the paper by Mr. Wiggin, and to the fact that the Richards hindered-settling pulsator classifier was turned down, the writer wishes to say that this classifier was the first of its kind that had ever been introduced, and since that time it has undergone great developments which he believes would overcome the difficulties encountered in the test,. In fact, there was one test made at Great Falls which with the Wilfley tables and vanners brought all the tailings down to 0.36 per cent. copper except the fine slime. Since that time, and since the classifier has been further developed, in one Colorado mill it proved a wonderful amalgam catcher, catching in all

Jan 1, 1914

By W. B. Weeks, H. K. Shearer

The year 1937 brought to south Arkansas increased drilling activity and production. Oil production amounted to 12,159,440 bbl., an increase of 1,504,500 bbl., or 14.1 per cent over 1936. This was the largest production since 1931, and the first annual increase since 1925, when the deeper sands at Smackover were developed. There were 177 wells completed during the year, with 103 oil wells, 6 gas wells, and 68 dry holes, an increase of more than 100 per cent over 1936. Of the 56 wildcat wells drilled, 52 were dry and 4 produced oil. Two new fields, one important extension and three minor extensions were discovered. The trend toward deeper drilling is shown by the fact that 97 wells were more than 5000 ft. deep, including 80 over 6000 ft. and 13 over 7000 ft., although the depth record of 7973 ft., made in 1935, was not exceeded. Geological Section Deeper and more extensive drilling during the past few years, not only in south Arkansas but also in adjacent parts of north Louisiana and east Texas, has furnished much important geological information and has brought out some very unexpected facts in regard to structural and depositional conditions in the series of formations laid down in the interval between the end of the Pennsylvanian and early Cretaceous time. It is now evident that an important basin of salt deposition existed in the Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas area, but it is still an open question whether this salt basin was contemporaneous and continuous with the even larger Gulf Coast salt basin extending from Mississippi to Mexico. The accompanying columnar section (Fig. 1) shows the producing zones and names that have been applied to the several subsurface formations, most of which have no outcrop equivalents. This is for the convenience of readers unfamiliar with recent developments, but the correlations and nomenclature cannot yet be considered final. These formations will be discussed in more detail in various papers to be published in the near future.

Jan 1, 1938

By H. J. Wasson

Published literature regarding the nation's oil reserve has been largely concerned with the estimated quantities in sight in known producing fields. This proved reserve has never been large in relation to demand. It has been the practice to consider the total future reserve (beyond that in sight within known fields) in the light of the broad potentialities of vast areas of partially explored sedimentary rocks, which are regarded as possible oil territory. Until recently, but little attention has been given to the rate at which the unexplored potentialities may be. converted into the proved reserve classification. To a certain extent, therefore, our contemporary viewpoint on the subject of national oil reserves is characterized by a pronounced contradiction. On the one hand, we measure known reserves as sufficient for only a few years of consumption—i.e., relative scarcity; on the other hand, we are confident that millions of unexplored acres will yield many new oil fields and that countless deeper productive formations underlie many of our known productive fields—i.e., infinite abundance. Of greater significance than the quantitative measure of either of these reserve classifications is the rate at which reserve replenishment must be accomplished in order to maintain an adequate time supply of proved oil reserves. The accumulation of geological data covering broad areas supports the belief that the remaining undiscovered oil reserve is exceedingly large. The distribution of oil in sedimentary formations of practically all ages, from Cambrian to Recent, is suggestive of almost unlimited possibilities; and the relatively small proportion of these possible areas that has been intensively explored in this country is a further index of the probable magnitude of the undiscovered future reserve. The implication that may reasonably be drawn from these observations is that oil, though distributed with less regularity and concentration than its related hydrocarbon, coal, nevertheless is a relatively abundant natural commodity of which the exhaustion appears remote. Final exhaustion of our oil reserve, if not infinitely remote, is a future contin-

Jan 1, 1937

By William P. Blake

In addition to uintaite, the Uintah Mountains contain a deposit, or vein, of the peculiar hydrocarbon mineral, to which I have given the name wurtzilite, * in honor of the chemist, Henry Wurtz, Ph.D., of New York, who, in 1865, described grahamite, and who has added to our knowledge of the composition of the hydrocarbon minerals. Wurtzilite and uintaite are very similar in appearance, but are very different in their physical and chemical properties. Both are black, splendent and shining in fresh fracture; but the wurtzilite has a decided toughness, and a degree of elasticity, especially when warmed, which suggests to some persons a resemblance to caoutchouc. It was at first, at Salt Lake, believed and reported to be a mineral form of India-rubber, and great expectations of its value as a substitute for crude rubber were indulged in. It was, however, found that it would not act like rubber with sulphur; it would not incorporate with it and become "volcanized," and it was very refractory and insoluble in the ordinary solvents of rubber and of uintaite. The elasticity, though unlike the elasticity of rubber, led to the reference of the mineral to the species elaterite, the only name under which an elastic bitumen is described in the mineralogies; and it is so called in the list of the mineral products of Utah, given in the last message of the Governor of the Territory. The name elaterite, as used by Dana, covers at least three differing substances, ranging in specific gravity from 0.905 to 1.223. Two of the varieties are soft and elastic, much like India-rubber, and one is occasionally hard and brittle, imbedded in the softer kinds. All are rare, and comparatively unknown, and not generally represented in mineral collections. One of the varieties referred to here is the subterranean fungus from Derbyshire, described by Lister as early as 1673.

Jan 1, 1890

By Alan Morris

THE investigation of the hot-working properties of metals and alloys furnishes a problem which has been attacked in many ways. Tensile, impact and hardness tests on heated specimens have furnished interesting data, but in most cases either the tests are difficult to make or the results hard to translate into terms of practical value. Some investigators have used the drop hammer to advantage. It furnishes a rapid and simple method of comparing the plasticity of metals at elevated temperatures. The indications obtained by its use are of value only in so far as their significance is understood and they can be intelligently used to predict the behavior of a given metal under given hot-working conditions. The work reported here was undertaken not only to add-something to the existing volume of such data but also to contribute to our understanding of the results. Doerinckel and Trockels1 used cylindrical specimens and determined the work required to reduce the specimen to one-half the original height. Ellis2 studied the effect of constitution on the malleability of steel at high temperature. His method and that of Kent3 were similar to the one used in the present work. The tests described by Kent were made on samples of tin, zinc, aluminum, copper, lead, 70:30 and 60:40 brasses, with and without a small quantity of lead. He concluded that the test would "indicate whether a material can be forged at a given temperature without cracking." This interpretation must be used with caution. While it is probably true within limits, one must consider the severity of the forging operation. Again, it will not apply strictly to forms of hot working other than forging. For instance, an alloy running 61.0 per cent. copper, 3.25 per cent. lead, remainder zinc, will crack badly in the test, yet it is extruded commercially. When the possibility of hot-working a new alloy is being considered a study of its drop-hammer test should help

Jan 1, 1931

By H. W. Miller, V. H. Wilhelm

During 1932 the oil industry persistently endeavored to maintain a rate of production that would permit a profitable price structure. Much effort was concentrated on curtailment of both production and drilling. The tendency in curtailment was to shut in reserves where closely held and not subjected to drainage, and to allow town-lot fields such as Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs, Playa Del Rey and Huntington Beach a greater percentage of allotment. Marginal wells were given special consideration; only a small percentage of curtailment wag required, making their operations profitable. Naturally the decline in production of town-lot fields, under slight curtailment, is very rapid, hence production that is restricted in fields controlled by major interests at the present time will profit considerably in the future, as California reserves do not appear adequate to sustain heavy withdrawals over a long period of time. California production during 1932 was much greater than additions to reserves during the year. The state produced 10,701,238 bbl. of crude oil less in 1932 than in 1931, while total stocks (all petroleum commodities) decreased 1,589,524 bbl. Had all operators kept strictly within their allotted 'production, the total crude production decline would have been approximately 20,000,000 bbl. and total stock decrease 3,000,000 barrels. Estimated proven oil reserves for California were 3,965,000,000 bbl. on Jan. 1, 1932, as compared with 3,784,120,000 bbl. as of Jan. 1, 1933, a decrease of 180,880,000 barrels. Approximately 85 per cent of the 178,127,794 bbl. of oil produced during 1932 was withdrawn from old reserves in settled fields and the remaining 15 per cent from new sources such as Kettleman Hills North Dome, Belridge, San Miguelito and Dominguez deep zone. The oil reserves of Kettleman Hills North Dome are estimated to be approximately 50 per cent of the total oil reserves, of California and they may be drawn upon at a much greater rate than the remainder of the state's oil fields.

Jan 1, 1933

Officers of the Institute have been entertained by, members at nine meetings in different parts of the country during the months of March and April. Institute policies have been discussed by the officers and by members present at the different meetings, with the result of bringing about a better understanding of Institute policy among the members; it has also been made clear how various suggestions are viewed by members who are not all in close touch with Institute activities and with the policy of the Board of Directors. President Jennings devoted his remarks chiefly to an account of Institute activities in connection with Government service for the war, and presented an able address on the relations of labor and capital; with special relation to possible changes that may be necessary during the reconstruction period following the war. This carries forward the suggestion made by him in taking up the reins of government at the Annual Dinner on February 20, 1918, and makes available a paper which has aroused great interest at the different meetings; this address will be found on a following page. In referring to Institute activities in connection with the war, the President mentioned especially the Naval Consulting Board, the War Committee of Technical Societies, the War Minerals Committee, and the census of engineers prepared not only by the Institute in connection with the Bureau of Mines, but also by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He announced also the appointment of two committees, one on ferrous and one on non-ferrous metals, advisory to the Tariff Commission, and the appointment of a member of the Committee on the Excess Profit Tax, having especially to do with the question of excess profit taxes on gold mines. He also announced the appointment of a new committee known as the Committee on Industrial Organization, which will devote its energies largely to the question of relations of capital and labor and of "human engineering."

Jan 5, 1918

By C. H. Loux

This paper deals primarily with the advantages realized from the adoption of methods more suitable than those previously used. The improvements noted include: (1) modification of practice in shrinkage stoping, (2) use of sublevel caving over grizzlies, (3) improved haulage and loading, (4) use of contract wages wherever possible. The Washington mine is on Jonestown Hill, one mile south of Oxford, in northwestern New Jersey. It is producing 16,000 tons of concentrates a month, which are being shipped to the Alan Wood Steel Company's furnaces at Swedeland, Pennsylvania. History The first settlement in this region is reported to have been in 1735, and the magnetite ores were recognized immediately. The first furnace, built in 1741, began operation in 1743. During the Revolutionary War the output was chiefly used for making cannon balls, which, owing to the sympathies of the community, without doubt found their way into the hands of the British. This old furnace is still standing. Several important veins were soon developed, including the Martin, Strayley, McKinley, Adelaide, Welsh and Lanning. Mining was carried to a depth corresponding to the capacity of the pumps available. When these became inadequate, the workings were abandoned, and another vein was opened up. The Washington vein was probably discovered about 1850, and the first shaft started in 1854. In 1879, William H. Scranton made the first complete magnetic survey of the district and serious exploration of the deposit was begun. Rather indifferent success attended the earlier efforts of the many companies that attempted to mine and smelt the ore. In 1929 the property was leased by the Warren Foundry and Pipe Co. to the present operators, and the modification of practice then inaugurated is described in this paper. Geology These veins, like most eastern deposits of magnetite, are formed from, or are contemporaneous with, pegmatite intrusions into a gneissic country rock. The ore therefore follows the banded structure of the gneiss,

Jan 1, 1934

By George Rice

WHEN miners in the interior coal fields of the United States began the practice of blasting the coal without undercutting, or what is known as "shooting off the solid," many explosions resulted, some of them of great extent and 'violence, and attended with large loss of life. One of the means adopted for preventing this large loss of life, though not preventive of explosions, was to employ shot firers to discharge the shots when all the other employees had gone out of the mine at the end of the day's shift. This system still prevails in most of the Central and Southwestern mines. Following the disaster at Winter Quarters mine, Utah, May 1, 1900, in which 200 lives were lost, a system of firing shots electrically from outside and when the men were out of the mine was adopted at the mines of the Utah Fuel Co.1 This system has also been used in France in certain mines that are subject to instantaneous outbursts of carbonic acid gas. These outbursts generally occurred at shot-firing time, on account of the blasts releasing the gas held in crevices under high pressure. The system was also adopted at a number of other mines in Utah, at the Cokedale mine, Colorado, at the Dawson mines, New Mexico, and in some mines of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co. in the Birmingham Ala. district; and more recently in certain mines in Iowa and Kansas. At first there was considerable trouble from misfires, and in a few instances from premature firing, while men were in the mine, through the shot-firing lines becoming crossed with power lines. Fortunately, however, no loss of life resulted from such premature firing within the knowledge of the writers, and latterly this danger has been reduced to a minimum by certain measures of precaution. The proportion of misfires, or failures of individual shots to fire, has also been reduced to a very small

Jan 10, 1914

By J. T. Hayward

Studies of the forces and conditions governing the recovery of petroleum from natural reservoirs indicate that a low gas-oil ratio increases ultimate recovery, retards the encroachment of water and tends to reduce lifting costs. Methods for controlling and reducing gas-oil ratios in producing wells consequently have been given considerable attention during the past few years. However, during this same period, the production from wells in nearly all fields has been fixed by proration agreements and it is the opinion of the writer that where a well is required to produce steadily at a predetermined rate, less than its "potential" or maximum capacity, the gas-oil ratio will depend only upon the rate of production, and will be independent of the method of production and of the design of equipment in the well. If no change in the rate of production is contemplated, efforts directed to improving the gas-oil ratio by altering the diameter of the flow string, changing the position of the choke, assisting the flow with gas-lift or pump, etc., will be unsuccessful. This viewpoint is not new. It was presented by H. N. Marsh and B. H. Robinson in 1929,' but it has not been generally accepted. Although engineers believe that the rate of withdrawal and not the equip ment used governs the water-oil ratio, a similar opinion regarding the gas-oil ratio is not so commonly admitted. The rates of flow of oil and gas into the base of an oil well depend upon the following conditions: 1. The characterist-ics of the oil and gas. 2. The characteristics of the underground reservoir. 3. Temperature and pressure conditions in the reservoir. 4. The back-pressure held against the face of the sand. In operating a well, the only one of these conditions over which control may be exercised through operating procedure and the use of equipment above the sand is the back-pressure at the face of the sand. Strictly speaking, the back-pressure varies over the face of the sand, owing

Jan 1, 1932

By John T. Norton

FoR many years the copper-bearing steels have been of considerable interest to the metallurgist because of their corrosion-resistant properties. More recently the discovery of their definite age-hardening characteristics has focused attention on them again. In a recent paper, Smith and Palmer(l)† have given an admirable description of the behavior of a considerable number of steels of this type and a study of their results suggests two questions of a more or less fundamental sort. In the first place, it has been plainly shown that the hardening effect of added copper does not increase up to the maximum solubility of copper in iron as given by earlier investigators, but reaches its greatest value considerably below this point. This fact suggests that either the solubility is not so great as previous investigators have stated, or that the age-hardening mechanism is not the simple precipitation phenomenon that has been postulated. In the second place, the nature of the aging mechanism in this particular system should be determined. Recent developments in the study of age-hardening processes have shown that the increase of hardness is often, but not always, accompanied by precipitation and the action of a particular system is not predictable on the basis of its components or type of phase diagram. It would be of considerable interest to study the aging of the iron-rich iron-copper alloys in detail. One would like to know whether the aging mechanism is different at high and low aging temperatures, and whether the extreme sluggishness of the system may perhaps represent some new type of aging process. The experiments to be described were carried out in an endeavor to answer these questions. Obviously, in such experiments it is important to confine the hardening effect to the single element, copper, so that iron and copper of high purity must be used in the preparation of specimens. An observation of lattice changes during the aging process, correlated with the hardness changes, seems to be the best available method of

Jan 1, 1935

By P. B. Elkin, K. C. Ten Brink, Allen D. Garrison

It is the purpose of this article to present the results of an investigation of certain clay and shale suspensions having viscosities that are materially influenced by fluid motion, and to discuss the bearing of these results upon the choice of policy in the control of drilling fluids. A previous article described the design and the characteristics of an instrument adapted to measure the viscosity of plastic suspensions during continuous uniform motion and at a variety of speeds.' It has long been recognized that the viscosity of a clay suspension depends on the past history of the fluid motion. Since an abundance of literature is available on this phenomenon,2 it is not necessary to describe it in more than general terms. It is usually observed that rapid motion reduces the viscosity of a clay suspension, and that some time is required for the viscosity to fall to its equilibrium value after the steady motion is started. On reducing the speed of motion to some lower value, the viscosity again rises, but it also requires some time to attain a steady viscosity value at the slower rate of motion. Thus clay suspensions are usually observed to be increasing in viscosity as time passes when the measurement has been immediately preceded by fluid motion that was more rapid than that employed in the measurement. And it is usually observed that the viscosity falls as time passes when the measurement has been preceded by more quiescent conditions. Reed,3 and Broughton and Hand4 have reported a condition of observation of clay suspensions in which the viscosity was observed to fall during the first few moments of steady motion, and rise thereafter. The characteristics of the new instrument are particularly well adapted to studies of this kind. With it we have been able to observe all of the phenomena described above, and it is important to understand their nature because they all occur at some time during normal drill-

Jan 1, 1940

By F. E. Poulson

The discovery of two new fields, Van, in East Texas, and Darst Creek, in the Balcones fault zone, is the outstanding development in 1929. The first six months was one of the most inactive periods in the history of East Texas. Five of the interior salt domes, which had been so eagerly sought as a result of the Humble Oil & Refining Co.'s strike on the Boggy Creek dome in 1927, were drilled with discouraging results, and the Boggy Creek field itself had fallen far short of expectations. Kelsey, a structure of considerable magnitude and extent in Upshur County, was equally disappointing; the Amerada Petroleum Corpn.'s initial test on this structure was dry. The situation improved in the latter half of the year. On Oct. 13, 1929, the Pure Oil Co. discovered the Van field. This gained for East Texas a permanent place in point of future potential production. There was a similar reaction in the Balcones fault zone. The Salt Flats (Bruner) field, the important discovery of 1928, proved its rating as a second Luling, but on account of repeated failures to extend the productive zone, wildcatting during the first half of 1929 in the Luling district was dilatory. In July, however, Darst Creek, a third fault-line field of majori mportance producing from Edwards limestone (Lower Cretaceous), was discovered. Retarded as development in this field has been by various attempts at proration, interest in the Balcones fault zone fields centered on Darst Creek as the year 1929 drew to a close. Development in East Texas Fields Discovered during 1929 Van.—The discovery well, Jarman No. 1 of the Pure Oil Co., is near the town of Van in the southeastern part of Van Zandt County, Texas. It is 55 miles northeast of the Powell field in Navarro County and 45 miles west of north from the Boggy Creek field in Cherokee and Anderson counties. Early in 1927, the Van area was submitted to seismographic exploration and outlined as a large anticline, the apex of which seemed to be

Jan 1, 1930

By K. C. Ten Brink, Allen D. Garrison, P. B. Elkin

It is the purpose of this article to present the results of an investigation of certain clay and shale suspensions having viscosities that are materially influenced by fluid motion, and to discuss the bearing of these results upon the choice of policy in the control of drilling fluids. A previous article described the design and the characteristics of an instrument adapted to measure the viscosity of plastic suspensions during continuous uniform motion and at a variety of speeds.' It has long been recognized that the viscosity of a clay suspension depends on the past history of the fluid motion. Since an abundance of literature is available on this phenomenon,2 it is not necessary to describe it in more than general terms. It is usually observed that rapid motion reduces the viscosity of a clay suspension, and that some time is required for the viscosity to fall to its equilibrium value after the steady motion is started. On reducing the speed of motion to some lower value, the viscosity again rises, but it also requires some time to attain a steady viscosity value at the slower rate of motion. Thus clay suspensions are usually observed to be increasing in viscosity as time passes when the measurement has been immediately preceded by fluid motion that was more rapid than that employed in the measurement. And it is usually observed that the viscosity falls as time passes when the measurement has been preceded by more quiescent conditions. Reed,3 and Broughton and Hand4 have reported a condition of observation of clay suspensions in which the viscosity was observed to fall during the first few moments of steady motion, and rise thereafter. The characteristics of the new instrument are particularly well adapted to studies of this kind. With it we have been able to observe all of the phenomena described above, and it is important to understand their nature because they all occur at some time during normal drill-

Jan 1, 1940

By Robert Phelps

A STUDY of solid solutions has long been a source of interest because of the conditions -controlling their formation. X-ray investigations so far have been conducted with the idea that there were two types of solid solutions. In the first type, an atom of the solute was supposed to replace an atom of the solvent in the crystal lattice. In the second type, an atom of the solute was supposed to lie in one of the interstices between the atoms of the solvent. These pictures both require that the sizes of the atoms must play an important part in the process of solution. It is the purpose of the present investigation to study the mechanism of solid solution, using pure silver as the. solvent, and pure aluminum as the solute. X-ray measurements show that these elements have the same "shape" of atomic domains (they both crystallize as face-centered cubes) and that their atomic diameters differ by less than one per cent.1 The results of the present investigation point toward a chemical rather than a physical picture of the nature of solid solution, and make the older' pictures merely special cases of a more general picture. The new theory has the advantage, too, that it offers a rational explanation of certain phenomena which hitherto have been only interesting detached facts. The aluminum-silver system which was, chosen for this study has been studied by various methods by several workers. By means of thermal analysis Gautier2 and Petrenko3 have determined the phase diagram. Hansen4 studied the aluminum-rich alloys by means of thermal and microscopic analyses. , He showed that at high temperatures silver dissolved in aluminum to the extent of 47 per cent by weight at 5600 C. But this solubility decreased to 1 per cent at 200° C. Westgren and Bradley5made an extensive X-ray study of these alloys. They used the change in the lattice parameter of silver as a criterion of the solution

Jan 1, 1932

By John T. Norton

FoR many years the copper-bearing steels have been of considerable interest to the metallurgist because of their corrosion-resistant properties. More recently the discovery of their definite age-hardening characteristics has focused attention on them again. In a recent paper, Smith and Palmer(l)† have given an admirable description of the behavior of a considerable number of steels of this type and a study of their results suggests two questions of a more or less fundamental sort. In the first place, it has been plainly shown that the hardening effect of added copper does not increase up to the maximum solubility of copper in iron as given by earlier investigators, but reaches its greatest value considerably below this point. This fact suggests that either the solubility is not so great as previous investigators have stated, or that the age-hardening mechanism is not the simple precipitation phenomenon that has been postulated. In the second place, the nature of the aging mechanism in this particular system should be determined. Recent developments in the study of age-hardening processes have shown that the increase of hardness is often, but not always, accompanied by precipitation and the action of a particular system is not predictable on the basis of its components or type of phase diagram. It would be of considerable interest to study the aging of the iron-rich iron-copper alloys in detail. One would like to know whether the aging mechanism is different at high and low aging temperatures, and whether the extreme sluggishness of the system may perhaps represent some new type of aging process. The experiments to be described were carried out in an endeavor to answer these questions. Obviously, in such experiments it is important to confine the hardening effect to the single element, copper, so that iron and copper of high purity must be used in the preparation of specimens. An observation of lattice changes during the aging process, correlated with the hardness changes, seems to be the best available method of

Jan 1, 1935

By Charles Albert Ashburner

THE stratigraphical geology of the vicinity of Buffalo has always been of great interest on account of its bearing on the origin and history of the Niagara-river gorge, between the Falls and Lake Ontario. Recently, however, the character and thickness of the strata which underlie Buffalo have acquired more practical and economic importance on account of their relation to the possible occurrence of natural gas in commercial quantity near the Niagara river. In a paper presented at the Duluth meeting (l887), on " Petroleum and Natural Gas in New york State" (Trans., xvi., 906), I gave a brief description of the four wells which had been drilled by the Buffalo Cement Company between 1883 and that time. One of these wells is 1305 fret deep; and, at the time that my paper was finally revised for the Transactions (June, 1888), it was still an open question whether the drill in this well had reached the Niagara limestone, or had penetrated the Medina sandstones and shales, which latter are boldly exposed in a number of localities in the district, hut more particularly along the Niagara river in the vicinity of Lewiston and Qneenstown. The difficulty in this geological question at Buffalo has lain in the fact that no reliable determination could be made of the thickness of the strata included between the Corniferous limestone, immediately below which the drilling of the Buffalo gas-wells was commenced, and the Niagara limestone. On the other hand, the strata included between the latter limestone and the middle portion of the Medina sandstones and shales, have been minutely measured and studied in the Niagara gorge below the Falls by many American and European geologists. The first reliable section of these strata was constructed by Professor Eaton, and published in 1824 in his report on the Geological and Agricultural Survey of the District adjoining the Erie Canal. This section, extending from Lake Erie to Lewiston, is complete, with the exception that no thickness is given to the Salina or Onoudaga salt group,

Jan 1, 1889

By Allen Garrison

IT is the purpose of this article to present. the results of an investiga-tion of certain clay and shale suspensions having viscosities that are materially influenced by fluid motion, and to discuss the bearing of these results, upon the choice of policy in the control of drilling fluids. A previous article described the design and the characteristics of an instru-ment adapted to measure the viscosity of plastic suspensions during continuous uniform motion and at a variety of speeds.1 It has long been recognized that the viscosity of a clay suspension depends on the past history of the fluid motion. Since an abundance of literature is available on this phenomenon,2 it is not necessary to describe it in more than general terms. It is usually observed that rapid motion reduces the viscosity of a clay suspension, and that some time is required for the viscosity to fall to its equilibrium value after the steady motion is started. On reducing the speed of motion to some lower value, the viscosity again rises, but it also requires some time to attain a steady viscosity value at the slower rate of motion. Thus clay suspensions are usually observed to be increasing in viscosity as time passes when the measurement has been immediately preceded by fluid motion that was more rapid than that employed in the measurement. And it is usually observed that the viscosity falls as time passes when the measurement has been preceded by more quiescent conditions. Reed,3 and Broughton and Hand4 have reported a condition of observa-tion of clay suspensions in which the viscosity was observed to fall during the first few moments of steady motion, and rise thereafter. The characteristics of the new instrument are particularly well adapted to studies of this kind. With it we have been able to observe all of the phenomena described above, and it is important to understand their nature because they all occur at some time during normal drill-

Jan 1, 1939

By N. E. Maccallum

Almost half a century has passed since the Siemens brothers, after tedious and costly experiments, finally began the manufacture of open-hearth steel. The furnace of that time was very small, having a hearth-capacity of from 3 to 4 tons, and we can appreciate the wonderful development that has taken place in those 50 years by the knowledge that to-day furnaces of 50 times the original capacity are in operation. As the new steel process assumed importance, and furnaces began to grow in number and in size, a question arose, to which no satisfactory answer has ever been given, and that was: aWhat is the safe and economical limit of the open-hearth furnace ?" Various stopping-places have been suggested, and 20, 30, 40, and 50 tons have each been advocated, but all such arbitrary restrictions have been passed, and 60 tons would probably represent the average furnace, although in a few instances from 70 to 80 tons are regularly tapped into one ladle. The furnaces which are the subject of the present paper have gone far beyond even these limits, and since, in my opinion, they mark another step in the progress of open-hearth steel, they will be considered fairly and frankly, in order that those to whom the matter may be of interest may be able to judge and form their own conclusions. Short accounts of the work of these furnaces have appeared from time to time in various technical journals, of which the following is a brief résumé. These furnaces are the property of the Phoenix Iron Go., of Phœnixville, Pa., and their distinctive and important feature is, that they charge to twice the capacitl of one ladle, and tap simultaneously into two ladles, with a device for controlling the flow into either. In this way the capacity of the furnace is not limited, as formerly, but heats of any size within the capacity of two ladles may be charged.

Jan 1, 1913

By Alexander L. Holley

THE Pernot system of rotating and withdrawing the hearth of a Siemens regenerative gas furnace for the production of Martin or open-hearth steel, is, perhaps, the most conspicuous of the several improvements which have lately been made in the steel manufacture. These several improvements in the open-hearth plant are not combined in any existing works, but most of them will be combined in not less than three works now erecting in the United States; and it seems probable that their joint result will not only reduce the cost of products of ordinary grades to Bessemer rates, but that it will produce new and better grades of products. The open-hearth steel furnace and its operation are so generally understood that but a few words of general description are necessary. The ordinary furnace is not unlike the common reverberatory puddling furnace, except that an intense, uniform, and controllable temperature is maintained by the Siemens gas regenerative system. The materials. employed are various : melted or unmelted pig with ore, and with or without scrap; pig iron purified from silicon and phosphorus, with or without scrap; pig iron and scrap, melted together in a cupola, or charged hot or cold, together or separately, into the steel furnace; a pig-iron bath, and hot or cold steel or iron scrap, direct sponge or Catalan or puddled blooms charged into the bath. The operation is, to a greater or less extent, according to the nature of the materials used, a desiliconization and decarburization of the pig or other crude iron, and its dilution by already purified materials. Manganese is employed at the end of the operation to remove oxide of iron and silica, a regulated amount of manganese remaining in the product. Figs. 2 and 3, Plate IV, represent the hearth and roof of the Pernot furnace; Fig. 1 shows, in cross section, the general arrangeent of open-hearth plant with Pernot furnaces, as generally designed by the author, and now building at two works. The engrav-

Jan 1, 1879