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By Brigitta Hassler

INTRODUCTION In the early 1960's research was begun in Sweden to improve the agglomeration of our domestic iron ore concentrates (5). Different agglomeration methods that were used in the building material industry were studied under the economic support from the Swedish Technical Council, the Swedish Board of Technical Development and by the Swedish industry. The research work was performed at the Division of Mineral Processing at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. All known agglomeration methods were reviewed and the methods were developed to produce superior quality agglomerates (6). The term cold bonding (in contrast to sintering) was introduced to describe the induration operation in these processes and this has been accepted internationally. Even though we used it mostly for steam autoclaving methods, it has come to describe a class of processes that use binding methods by pore filling. Schumacher in Germany discovered around 1907 that a strong material can be produced by mixing slaked lime with fine ground quartz and subjecting to a steam atmosphere under pressure at about 185ºC. This started development of lime-sandstone building materials and later on, in Sweden, the light-weight concrete. Schumacher also used the same reaction for briquetting iron ore concentrates by adding silica and lime, and autoclaving. The product seems to have been accepted for blast furnace burden and the process was used on an industrial scale until the 1920's. The sintering method has a small melting phase as diffusion medium and in the steam-autoclaving method a small quantity of water condensate at about 200°C serves the same purpose. Thus the induration process by the hydrothermal hardening methods is similar to that of sintering or heat treatment.

Jan 1, 1977

By F. Keeler, C. M. Craighead

Aluminum alloys containing magnesium and silicon are susceptible to strengthening and hardening by suitable heat-treatments, and they constitute a class of alloys of considerable commercial importance. Generally, they contain these two elements in the proportions required for the formation of the intermetallic compound Mg2Si, or an excess of silicon; no commercial wrought alloys are made with an appreciable excess of magnesium. The reason for not having excess magnesium is obvious from the results given in this paper, since it is shown that excess magnesium results in a proportional decrease in the solubility of Mg2Si. This is the eighteenthl of a series of papers from the Aluminum Research Laboratories dealing with the equilibrium relations in aluminum-alloy systems; most of the previous publications concerned binary aluminum-alloy systems; this is the fourth of a group pertaining to ternary aluminum-alloy systems. The work on this system was completed in 1930, but the results were not published because of the pressure of other work. Hanson and Gaylor2, in 1921, presented the results of an extensive investigation of the aluminum-magnesium-silicon system. Their results indicated that an excess of magnesium over the amount required to form the compound MgzSi caused a noticeable decrease in the solid solubility of MgzSi in aluminum. A more recent investigation3 in these laboratories showed that the solid solubility of MgzSi in aluminum was 1.85 per cent at 595' C. and decreased to 0.30 per cent at 300' C. The results of the latter investigation were used as the basis for the present work. The Present Investigation In the present investigation, a study was made of the effect of various amounts of excess magnesium upon the solid solubility of MgzSi in

Jan 1, 1936

By George Smith

IN the utilization of natural resources owner, operator, and consumer should share the attendant benefits. Development needs to be planned under terms recognizing fully the interests of all concerned, for any undue advantage given to any one of these participants is apt to involve even greater and disproportionate injury to one or both of the others. For this reason it is well to preface any consideration of needed reforms in legislation affecting the disposition of public land with a survey of certain fundamental principles that determine the general conditions of all land transfers preliminary to development, utilization, and production. The disposition of any undeveloped natural resource, whether timber, oil, coal, or water power, as a transaction to which hand owner and prospective developer are parties, must be based in theory upon a division of expected returns. Whatever the terms of such disposition, neither party can reasonably ask for anything other than an equitable division of the returns. Under this analysis three and only three questions need to be discussed ; namely, what are those profits, how is this division to be accomplished, and what is the equitable basis of division ? The answer to the third question should probably be found by applying to the problem the principles of theoretical sociology, and' the question need not be mentioned further at this time, inasmuch as it does not involve the practical considerations to be kept in mind in connection with the other questions, which are concerned with only the measure of returns and their division. That is to say, whether the land owner's equity is to be stated as 95 per cent. or as 5 per cent. of the profits attending the development of the particular resource, no change would be necessary in the method to be adopted of arriving at the closest approximation of the prospective total profit.

Jan 10, 1913

By Milnor Roberts

The Nicola Valley coal-field is small, but it seems likely to become important because of its commanding position in a rich region that is developing rapidly. Bituminous coking-coal in workable quantity has not been found at any other point between the Crow's Nest Pass region, about 400 miles to the east, and Vancouver island, 250 miles westward. The Canadian Pacific railway reached the Nicola valley two years ago ; two other lines, the Canadian Northern and the Great Northern, are building towards the valley. The vast region between the Rocky mountains and the Pacific coast, extending northward for several hundred miles from the international boundary, which has been the scene of extensive mining- and smelting-operations for many years, is filling up with settlers, who are attracted by the wealth of minerals and timber, the rich soil of the valleys, and the fine climate. The Nicola river, flowing westward through the valley of that name in the Yale district, discharges into the Thompson river, which is the eastern branch of the Fraser. The transcontinental line of the Canadian Pacific railway crosses the mouth of the Nicola river at Spence's bridge, 178 miles from Vancouver. From Spence's bridge the Nicola branch line ascends the valley for 40 miles to Merritt, the coal-center, and continues 7 miles farther to the town of Nicola. Thus the haul from the mines at an elevatioiz of 2,000 ft. to salt water is 218 miles down river-grades. The Nicola branch will be continued about 150 miles farther eastward to Penticton, where it will connect with an extension of the line through the rich Kootenay and Boundary districts. The Canadian government has granted a subsidy of $6,000 per mile, to which the provincial government is planning to add $5,000 per mile, to assist in the construction of the Nicola extension. Upon the

Jan 1, 1910

By Thomas V. Falkie

The three basic ingredients of fertilizers are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Nitrogen comes from natural gas or other sources and is usually a "manufactured" ingredient. Phosphorus and potassium come from mineral sources which are mined in open pit and underground mines all over the world. Phosphorus is one of the 15 chemical elements needed to sustain life. Along with nitrogen and potassium, it is essential to the fertility of the soil and to the growth of plant life. Plants require phosphorus for proper soil conditions, early root formation, and crop maturity. Humans and animals require phosphorus for bone and tooth development. The primary raw material for phosphorous fertilizers is phosphate rock. It is found and mined in many areas of the world. Morocco, the United States, USSR, Tunisia, and some Pacific Islands are the leading rock producers. Other sources of phosphate are guano, bone meal, and other natural organics, but these comprise a very small percentage of all phosphate used. Phosphate rock in the United States is mined in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho, and Montana. Florida alone produces about 70% of all the rock mined in this country, mostly from a 20 X 30 mile area in Polk and Hillsborough Counties in central Florida known as the Bone Valley district. There are phosphate reserves in many parts of Florida, and within the past three years mining has begun in north Florida in Hamilton Country (see Fig. 1). In 1967, world phosphate rock production was about 75 million short tons (st). The United States produced about 35 million st (about 47%) of which Florida produced about 25 million st (about one-third of world production). According to Phosphorus and Potassium magazine (Mar./

Jan 1, 1969

By E. M. Wise, R. V. Vines

It is known qualitatively that the recrystallization behavior of platinum is dependent upon the amount and particularly the nature of impurities present, the amount of prior cold-work and the annealing time and temperature, but published data are limited. A study of the effects of cold-work and annealing temperature on the hardness of a sample of very pure platinum was undertaken to supply part of this information. Conclusions 1. The platinum used in the experiments had a probable platinum content of 99.99+ per cent, and had the following mechanical properties in the completely softened condition: Vickers hardness number, 39.4; ultimate tensile strength, 19,340 lb. per sq. in.; proportioilal limit, very low; elongation, 37.5 per cent in 2 inclles. 2. The effect of cold-rolling on the hardness is shown in Fig. 1. The hardness increases rapidly up to 10 to 15 per cent reduction and more slowly up to about 75 per cent reduction, beyond which it increases more rapidly. 3. The recrystallization temperatures for a 15-min. anneal, after cold-rolling 19, 39.5, 50.8, 66, 80.5 and 89.5 per cent reduction in thickness, are approximately 765°, 700°, 635°, 600°, 545' and 425°C., respectively. 4. The recrystallized grain size of this platinum is a function of the percentage of cold reduction, being larger the lower the percentage of cold-work. 5. Little or 110 grain grourtll resulted from subjecting recrystallized samples to higher temperatures or annealing for longer times. Prior Work As already mentioned, data on the recrystallization of platinum are scarce. Gmelin'sl handbook, which summarizes data published earlier than August 1938, lists values ranging from 400' to 810°C. for the minimum temperature of recrystallization of samples with rather indefinite

Jan 1, 1940

By Edward Hyde

THE HIGH-TEMPERATURE SCALE IN OPTICAL PYROMETRY AT the basis of optical pyrometry lie the theoretical and experimental data of the so-called blackbody. The black body is essentially a theoretical conception, with certain simple properties attributed to it -fundamentally, the property that its radiation at any temperature is a unique function of the temperature and does not involve any other variables. As a theoretical conception, an equation has been developed by Boltzmann connecting the total radiant power with the temperature, and another equation by Planck connecting the distribution of radiant power throughout the spectrum with the temperature. The integral of the latter with respect to wave-length conduces to the former and permits the evaluation of the constant c1 of the Planck equation, ass given in the form. J-= cl?-5 c2 (1) e ? T ? 1 assuming that the constant Q of the Stefan-Boltzmann law E=a(T4-T40) is known. The other constant c2 is arrived at by other methods, which will be discussed later. This equation for the black body lies at the foundation of optical pyrometry. To make the discussion complete, it should be stated that the theoretical black body is quite closely realized by a hollow enclosure with walls at a uniform temperature and radiating through a small orifice. The electrically heated black body, first introduced by Lummer and Kurlbaum, is an essential part of the equipment of a pyrometric research or testing laboratory. Numerous investigations have shown that its radiation conforms to that of the theoretical black body within experimental errors. Hence by operating the electrically heated black body at the melting point of some pure metal for which the temperature of melting has been determined on the vas scale. a standard is obtained for comparison with

Jan 9, 1919

By H. l. Burghoff

During the course of preparation of crystals of alpha brass for an investigation of their creep characteristics, a number of critically oriented crystals were produced. In each of these specimens, Po, the specimen axis, lay near some important crystallographic direction or on or near the border of two possible slip systems. Because of the unusual nature of their orientations, it was considered of interest to deform these specimcns in simple tension and to study orientation changes and any unusual occurrences, different from what would be expected for specimens ill which only one slip system had distinctly the highest maximum resolved shear stress. Choice of actual operating slip system in a crystal offering an immediate possibility of two slip systems would be expected to be due to chance., defeet, or some inhomogeneity. Even in an ideally perfect crystal so oriented, the natural oscillations of the atoms about their lattice positions would give rise to a condition wherein one slip system would be farored over the other at the critical shear stress. In the large, nonperfeet crystals of the present investigation, slip on both systems, but in different portions of the specimen, might occasionally be expected. Determination of Orientation and Operating Slip System Orientations of specimens before and after deformation were determined by Greninger&apos;s back-reflection Laue method.&apos; Elam2 has shown that deformation of alpha brass crystals proeceds as with crystals of aluminum and of copper; that is, the slip plane is a {111) plane and the slip direction is a <110> direction. There are, however, four possible slip planes of {111) form and each plane has three possible slip directions, so that there is a, total of 12 possible slip systems in a face-centered cubic lattjce. It is evident that the system for which the tangential component of shear is maximum will function

Jan 1, 1940

By Burt Hartmann

The nation&apos;s ever-expanding construction and mining activity has placed an increasing demand upon engineers and geologists to design and construct stable slopes in earth materials-soil and rock. Man&apos;s attempt to handle these slope stability problems has been based primarily on practical experience and the resulting theories formulated to explain the phenomena. Too many instances occur when man is faced with a slope stability problem that has not yet been experienced and doesn&apos;t lend itself to solution by any existing theory. At this point he must extend himself in using his engineering judgment to arrive at a reasonable and safe design. As past experience has shown, all of the "safe designs" are not really safe. Sometimes they result in embarrassing failures. Measurements provide the key to understanding and controlling natural phenomena. We cannot hope to gain control of the slope stability problem until we understand the causes of slope failure, their behavior with respect to time and their relative magnitudes. Measurements required for an adequate definition of any slope problem must be of the highest reliability because of the importance of decisions which must be based on them. For this reason, direct measurements of movement, shear strength, water pressure, etc. of the unstable mass are preferable to indirect measurements of other physical properties. Movement instruments which can be positioned inside of the slope mass (within boreholes) are among the most useful in diagnosis and/or monitoring of slope movements. The higher the sensitivity and il-measurement precision possible with borehole instruments, the quicker the required information can be obtained and the more exactly may hazardous conditions be observed. A high density of measuring points in a single drill hole is deemed essential for diagnostic purposes. Behavior gradients may thus be obtained. The Pressure Meter (Fig. 1) can be used to measure a relative strength

Jan 1, 1968

By E. J. Yoder, N. B. Aughenbaugh, R. B. Johnson

Mineral aggregates experience degradation during field and laboratory compaction. Reduction in the aggregate size is accomplished by abrasion of the particle edges and fracturing of individual pieces which have become overstressed. Little is known of the factors that govern the amount of breakdown experienced for a given situation. A field study was made of the factors affecting aggregate breakdown under compaction using three carbonate aggregates of different physical properties. The preliminary results indicate that rock type, compactive effort, gradation, and thickness of compactive layer are factors which exert the greatest influence. Mineral aggregates experience a mechanical breakdown of some of the aggregate pieces into smaller fragments during any compaction process, whether in the field or laboratory. This phenomenon occurs as abrasion of the sharp edges during movement and reorientation of the particles in densifying and/or as granulation and fracturing of those pieces which have become overstressed. Two types of aggregate breakdown occur in the field. These may be classed in a general category of aggregate degradation.* One occurs during the con- * Aggregate degradation has been defined in many different ways. For this paper it is considered as any breakdown of larger particles into smaller ones, whether mechanical or chemical. struction period and is related to the densification of the aggregate body from a loose state to a relatively dense mass by heavy compaction equipment. This type is almost entirely a mechanical action. The other occurs after the construction period when the roadway has been put into use. This in-service breakdown is; a different phenomenon from the breakdown during construction in the sense that it combines mechanical with chemical changes. Time becomes an important consideration that may cause subordinate factors in construction degradation to develop into principal ones for in-service breakdown. Breakdown of aggregates in service has been extensively studied by investigators from the northwestern

Jan 1, 1962

By J. A. Holmes

As the Appalachian mountains reach their maximum development in western North Carolina, we find also in that region indications of extensive dynamic disturbances and alterations undergone by the rocks in&apos; connection with these mountain uplifts. Among the minor results of these changes have been the formation of numerous dikes or a veins " of exceedingly coarse granitic materials, which in some places are mined for the mica which they contain, and in other places are quarried for kaolin. These dikes are filled with quartz, feldspar, and mica, in varying proportions, very coarsely crystallized. Sometimes the mica (generally muscovite), sometimes the feldspar (generally albite or orthoclase) predominates. When the mica is present in considerable quantity, and in large crystals, the dike is usually spoken of as a mica-vein, and is often worked for mica. Sometimes these crystals of mica occur on one side or the other; sometimes on both sides; and sometimes they are largely concentrated toward the middle of the vein, or, it may be, distributed throughout the dike with a considerable degree of uniformity. In many cases the crystals of mica are too small and few to permit the working of the vein as a micamine ; in other cases, very little mica is present, and the feldspar constitutes the larger part of the material. This feldspar of the dikes undergoes, through the weathering action of the atmosphere, certain chemical changes, resulting in its alteration from feldspar into kaolinite—the kaolin of commerce. These dikes vary considerably in size, ranging from a few inches to several hundred feet in thickness, and up to many hundred yards in length. They are generally parallel to the schistosity of the crystalline rocks, which, however, in some cases, they cross at varying angles. The kaolin in those dikes which occur in the Unaka or

Jan 1, 1896

By S. F. Ramseyer, E. A. Steigerwald

INFILTRATED structures represent composite materials which are capable of combining high-temperature strength with adequate low-temperature toughness and thermal shock resistance. Although copper- and silver-infiltrated tungsten structures are actually being used in rocket nozzle hardware, adequate understanding of the fracture mechanics of these composite systems is not available. Specifically the relative importance of the strength, ductility, and modulus of the infiltrant in determining composite properties is not known to the extent that optimum composites can be selected. The major portion of experimental effort in the area of composite strength has been devoted to fiber-reinforced systems1 or to systems where a discontinuous phase is imbedded in a relatively ductile matrix.2&apos;3 In the case of high-temperature systems, which are composed of a relatively brittle matrix, such as tungsten or an oxide, a continuous phase exists for the propagation of a crack. The method by which the presence of a conjugate ductile continuous phase influences the gross properties of the composite represents an area which requires further investigation. This technical note presents results which evaluate the effect of infiltrant strength on the strength of the tungsten-base composite. A tungsten matrix and copper-base infiltrant were selected for the initial studies because of the ease of fabrication. Tungsten structures with nominally 20 and 30 pct porosity were evaluated. The porosity was controlled by varying the initial powder size and a ratio of open-to-total porosity greater than 95 pct was obtained by selective sintering cycles. The processing sequence involved hydrostatic pressing followed by a 72-hr presinter in hydrogen at 2000° F and a final sinter at 4000°F for 4 hr in vacuum. The 20 pct porous structure was obtained

Jan 1, 1965

By William Copp

THE SEAL BEACH oil field is between the Long Beach and Huntington Beach oil fields, south of Los Angeles, and about half the productive area is with-in the city limits of Long Beach. The proved area lies in portions of Sections 2, 3 and 11, T. 5 S., R. 12 W., S. B. B. & M. Seal Beach is &apos;an additional link in that remarkable chain, of oil fields extending from Newport to Beverly . Hills, filling in one of the few remaining gaps. It differs from other fields along this line of folding in that it is an oil field in an area of tide lands. Ocean-connected sloughs have access to this area, which ac-counts for its extensive mud flats. The surface eleva-tion of the low ground varies from 2 to 5 ft. above sea-level. This condition called for much preliminary work in building roads prior to field development. Roads are constructed with dredges and drag-line scrapers, which excavate mud from alongside the proposed road and pile it up to a grade high enough to be above high tide. The road bed is then surfaced with gravel, or decom-posed granite, which makes it serviceable in all kinds of weather. An immense amount of road material has already been hauled into this field. Well locations are staked in the mud flats, sometimes ahead of road build-ing, and material is dragged to its place on the ground by tractor. It is necessary to drive piling to support derrick foundations. The present practice is to drive 5 piles for each derrick leg, 4 under the rotary table, 2 under the draw-works, 2 under the Samson post and 4 under the pipe rack, a total of 32 piles. This pro-cedure is, of course, varied to suit special conditions, using either more or less piling.

Jan 6, 1927

By Richard McCaffery

THE statistical analysis of blast-furnace data was undertaken to determine some of the relations which exist between the variables involved in furnace operation, and particularly to show the effect of variation of slag composition on such economically important factors as coke consumption, daily tonnage of pig iron and sulfur elimination. It was desired to correlate the results obtained in- commercial practice with those predicted from a study of the quaternary system lime-alumina-silica-magnesia. This paper presents the results of a preliminary study of blast-furnace daily operating reports, and is intended to indicate the suitability of our method of attack and something of the results that may be expected from an extended statistical examination of such data. It has been shown that blast-furnace slags are not composed of oxides, as reported by chemical analysis, but are actually composed of several compounds, each made up of two or more of the oxides present.1 These compounds persist in the liquid state, and the properties of a slag are the properties of a mixture of these compounds, and not of a mixture of the ultimate oxides .2,3 The oxides lime, alumina, silica and magnesia make up 94 to 96 per cent. of the usual blast-furnace slag, and assuming that we may neglect the remainder of the components, we may determine the minerals present, and their relative proportions, from a study of the quaternary system involving these four oxides. Operating reports from 15 furnaces were available for this investigation. Complete slag analyses for one slag per day were available, permitting the calculation of the mineral composition of the slags used. Basic, malleable and foundry irons, with silicon varying from 0.75 to 4.50 per cent. were included in the reports for this examination.

Jan 1, 1931

By H. l. Burghoff

During the course of preparation of crystals of alpha brass for an investigation of their creep characteristics, a number of critically oriented crystals were produced. In each of these specimens, Po, the specimen axis, lay near some important crystallographic direction or on or near the border of two possible slip systems. Because of the unusual nature of their orientations, it was considered of interest to deform these specimcns in simple tension and to study orientation changes and any unusual occurrences, different from what would be expected for specimens ill which only one slip system had distinctly the highest maximum resolved shear stress. Choice of actual operating slip system in a crystal offering an immediate possibility of two slip systems would be expected to be due to chance., defeet, or some inhomogeneity. Even in an ideally perfect crystal so oriented, the natural oscillations of the atoms about their lattice positions would give rise to a condition wherein one slip system would be farored over the other at the critical shear stress. In the large, nonperfeet crystals of the present investigation, slip on both systems, but in different portions of the specimen, might occasionally be expected. Determination of Orientation and Operating Slip System Orientations of specimens before and after deformation were determined by Greninger&apos;s back-reflection Laue method.&apos; Elam2 has shown that deformation of alpha brass crystals proeceds as with crystals of aluminum and of copper; that is, the slip plane is a {111) plane and the slip direction is a <110> direction. There are, however, four possible slip planes of {111) form and each plane has three possible slip directions, so that there is a, total of 12 possible slip systems in a face-centered cubic lattjce. It is evident that the system for which the tangential component of shear is maximum will function

Jan 1, 1940

By John S. Alexander

THE spirit of this age encourages the substitution of mechanical for hand labor wherever possible, experience proving that the employer, employer and consumer share alike in the resulting benefits. Through the efforts of the inventor, millions of the laboring class have been raised from being mere contributors of muscular force to be brain workers and directors of those ingenious contrivances now so widely used in the various branches of agriculture, manufacturing, printing, etc. While the genius of invention has accomplished so much in other departments, it seems remarkable that she has not long ere this descended into the coal mine with her wheels, levers, and eccentrics, and provided the toilers there with some device by which their unusually laborious work could be lessened. Until within a very few years, however, little special attention was given to this subject, owing largely, no doubt, to the fact that coal miners as a class were prejudiced against innovations of this kind and ignorantly clung to muscle as the only means of wresting from nature her treasures stored within the coal measures. Thanks, however, to the enterprise and skill of some Scotch and English mine proprietors and inventors, the present decade has seen rapid strides in the right direction, and mechanical coal mining has become a fixed fact in some portions of Great Britain. Making her acknowledgments to the mother country for these earnest and successful efforts, America now comes forward with the Monitor Coal-Cutter as the result of a trial on her part to advance the common cause of economical coal production; for upon cheap fuel the future greatness of both nations largely depends. The object of this paper is to give a few items in regard to this Monitor Coal-Cutter, which, so far as the writer is informed, is the

Jan 1, 1875

By K. Heindlhofer

ESTIMATES of the "plasticity" of a metal are commonly deduced from three types of test-tensile, torsion and impact. The several results have been more or less at variance, though this disparity has attracted little notice, largely perhaps because they have been expressed in different terms. The discrepancy between the results of the three tests becomes obvious when each is made at a series of low temperatures, for the temperature range within which the "plasticity" of iron largely disappears proves to be very different in the three types of test. The rather abrupt disappearance of "plasticity" of iron within a narrow temperature range cannot be due to any physicochemical change (such as a precipitation) taking place in the material at that time, because the original plasticity is immediately regained when the temperature of the material is brought above the sensitive range. Accordingly this differ-ence in behavior shows that the "plasticity" of a metal depends upon the mode of action of the stresses which produce the deformation, and there-fore upon the method of test. Analysis of the stresses leads to the conclusion that the observed plasticity of a metal is determined by the relation between its resistance to rupture by separation and its resistance to shear (slip), on the one hand, and between the effective normal and shearing stresses on the other; and that the relation between the two resistances does not in general remain constant with change of temperature, and may somehow be altered to some extent by the previous treatment of the specimen. This suggests the view that the results of none of the usual mechanical tests are directly comparable even for a single metal tested at a series of tem-peratures, or for a series of metals at one temperature, because the propor-tion of the total resistance of the metal to the test contributed by the

Jan 1, 1934

By Blamey Stevens

It is now generally agreed that most metals have been brought to the surface of the earth by volcanic agencies. The question as to how these metals came from the volcanic matrix to the mineral deposit has been often discussed. It might be useful to give more serious consideration to the ultimate origin of the volcanic material. It is possible that some light might thus be shed on the persistent associations of some metals with certain particular kinds of rocks. For example, the very general association of gold with acid types of igneous rocks, of tin with granites or quartz-felsites, of certain types of deep-seated copper-deposits with magnesian eruptives, and so on. One interesting question is as to whether the metals brought near the surface by volcanic agencies appear here for the first time, or whether they came from the central core of the earth. The interior of the earth is, without doubt, much more highly metallic than the crust, and so the core is often thought to be the origin of many of the metals which are uncovered by man. The Differentiation Theory.—Although a great many theories bearing upon these matters have been discussed,&apos; the only one now considered as worthy of much consideration among American geologists is the " Theory of Differentiation of Igneous Magmas."2 According to this theory, lakes of molten magma are supposed to exist very far down beneath the earth&apos;s surface. In these lakes a process of differentiation is supposed to be going on whereby the liquid magma is split up into two or more liquid phases. Each of these phases is supposed to take with it the metallic constituents for which it has the greatest affinity.

Jan 1, 1913

By J. J. Gilvarry

Recently, Gilvarry1,2 has given a rigorous derivation of the proper distribution function for fragment size in single fracture, based on a closely defined physical model and deduced strictly by the laws of probability. The physical point of departure is Griffith&apos;s theory of brittle strength, identifying sub-microscopic flaws as the cause of the low strength of a solid in comparison with values implied by cohesive energies. Gilvarry and Bergstrom,4-7 and Gilvarry8 have compared the predictions of the theory with experiment, and have found excellent agreement, in general. The purpose of this communication is to sketch the extension of the theory to the case of comminution, and to indicate the applications to some examples in nature. The present treatment represents an amplification of a brief discussion appearing elsewhere. 9 Although the basic ideas of the Griffith theory are perfectly general for rupture of brittle solids, it was originally formulated with very brittle materials such as glass in mind. Moreover, Griffith&apos;s original experimental work was carried out on glass specimens. Recently, however, the theory has been extended by race" to apply directly to rocks. This extension makes the theory immediately applicable to the materials generally of interest from the standpoint of comminution. GENERAL CASE To obtain the distribution function for fragment size in single fracture, three assumptions are made, that: 1) Fracture proceeds by activation of preex-istent Griffith flaws in the volume, faces, and edges of a fragment; 2) the distributions of flaws of these three types are independent of each other; and 3) activated flaws of a particular type are distributed at random, individually and collectively, in the sense of Fry.11 The last assumption implies that each distribution is separately of Poisson type.

Jan 1, 1964

E. M. Fitchett (Johnstown, Pa.)—The fact stated by the authors that: "In the laboratory, without marked efficiency decreases, the authors have deposited zinc successfully from solutions containing as high as 1 g per liter of germanium," (p. 465, paragraph 3) is most unusual. A similar statement is made in the summary and conclusions: "Germanium alone, within normal operating limits does not cause large efficiency losses." The limits are not defined. These facts are directly contrary to much of the published history on the effect of germanium in zinc electrolysis. A description of the conditions leading to such a successful electrolysis would be of interest to all engaged in the production of electrolytic zinc. It is unfortunate that the authors of this paper did not determine the actual concentration of germanium and cadmium in the solutions which they electrolyzed after a zinc dust purification. This purification will take out a variable amount of these impurities, depending upon the composition of the dust, type of agitation, presence of activating agents, etc. Probably every electrolytic zinc plant in this country has accurate methods, both wet and spectrographic, for determining germanium and cadmium. These specific methods, adopted from the standard analytical literature, are often available to educational institutions for the asking. The headings of Fig. 2 and of the two tables, with their definite concentrations of germanium and cadmium (which are not so definite according to the footnotes) could possibly be somewhat misleading, since the actual amounts of germanium and cadmium present during electrolysis are not known. Even the 1 hr electrolysis time might be too short for a study of this type; 12 or 24 hr tests might be much better. Commercial solutions have been known that gave over 90 pct ampere efficiency during the first hour of electrolysis, but no metal at all after 24 hr.

Jan 1, 1953