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By S. P. Barber, G. W. Cutting, V. Alesse, M. Ciriachi

Just what is happening in the preparation and mineral separation stages are questions frequently asked about most processing plants. It is unusual to find the answers readily available in the operating metallurgical data. Knowledge is nominally available from metallurgical balances about the head ore grade, grade and recovery of the concentrates, and the plant tailings. However, the mechanisms which control grade recovery and losses are seldom monitored in such a way as to permit specific analysis: Thus, when questions about the effectiveness of the process are asked, the answers are based frequently upon intuitive professional judgments and local expertise. Detailed investigations of process functions are extensive in terms of manpower, time, and interference with production. An investigation method in which process operating conditions could be provided in a cost effective manner would assist in local process assessment and control. Such a collection of process operating data is defined as a process audit and the development of the necessary techniques forms the subject of this paper. A typical application to a lead-zinc concentrator highlights both the manner of implementing a process and the plant data made available for local use.

Jan 1, 1980

High-type research metallurgist with approximately following qualifications: American, 30 to 45 years old. Mind-Analytical. Education-college graduate. Practical shop experience-not less than 5 years. Metallurgical experience in steel making-at least 5 years. Chemical experience-should have some chemical training. Research ability -should be the type of man who is interested in new developments or research work. No. 337. Engineer with some underground, experience who is physically able to spend a large portion of his time underground, to act as general efficiency engineer. He will have cost keeping on special work, charge of contracts, labor distribution, etc. No. 338. The services of a man experienced in flotation and familiar with the Callow apparatus are required for a short engagement in South America. No. 339. A position as surveyor and draftsman for mines in Mexico is open. Opportunity for advancement. Climate pleasant and healthful. Knowledge of Spanish required. No. 340. The Bureau of Construction and Repair, Navy Department, Washington; D. C., is in need of a few draftsmen of experience for work in connection with the development of industrial yards and shops of the Navy, under the cognizance of the Shore Establishment Division of the Bureau of Construction and Repair. Training in one of the following courses would be considered a requisite qualification:

Jan 9, 1918

By John A. Church

AT a time when the treatment of gold and silver ore9 by fusion, in opposition to the mill-process, is attracting so much attention in this country, it may be useful to consider what is done in a well-conducted foreign work. For this purpose I will ask the reader to accompany me to Lend, in Austria, a small but thoroughly organized

By Cuppam Dasarathy

THE object of this note is to report briefly certain results of investigations on the Fe-In phase diagram. BISRA-high purity H-iron and 99.9 pct pure indium were used to prepare the alloys. The experimental techniques consisted of thermal analysis, optical metallography, and X-ray diffraction. A phase diagram based on the present results as well as those reported earlier by the author' is shown in Fig. 1. It is seen that the liquidus points fall on a smooth line which meets the monotectic isotherm at 1470°C. The liquidus extends up to 3.4 at. pct In. The phase boundary separating the two liquidus L1 and L2 is shown dotted. The experimental solidus meets the monotectic isotherm at -0.9 at. pct In. The 6/6 + L2 boundary drops steeply to the 6 + La/y + L2 boundary at -1350°C. In this region, it is impossible to detect satisfactory thermal arrests because of the steep phase boundary. The present diagram shows that indium lowers the temperature of the d/y transforma-tion and raises the temperature of the y/a transfor-mation. The y +d region is found to be very narrow. Indium gives rise to a restricted y field when alloyed with iron. The width of this field is between 0.4 and 0.5 at. pct In. Details of the alloys containing 40 and 50 at. pct In have already been reported by the author' and the transformation temperatures of these alloys are included in Fig. 1. It appeared from optical metallography and X-ray diffraction that the room temperature solubility of indium in a iron is less than 0.28 at. pct since alloys of 0.28 at. pct In and above, slow cooled to room temperature, contained dark etching second phase particles situated both in the matrix and grain boundaries of the a-grains, see Figs. 2 and 3. These particles were identified to be unalloyed indium by X-ray diffraction. The lattice parameter of the a phase reached a maximum of 2.8672A at the indium level of -0.28 at. pct. The present diagram, Fig. 1, is in substantial agreement with that of Stadelmaier and Fiedler' except for certain differences in detail. For example, they found the monotectic composition and temperature to be 7.0 at. pct In and 1443oC, respectively, while the present work indicates them to be 3.4 at. pct In and 1470°C. The 6 + L2/y + L2 transformation is indicated in the present work to occur at -1350°C, whereas Stadelmaier and Fiedler find this to occur at -1320°C. They also claim that the width of the y field is 0.2 at. pct In while the present work shows the width to be between 0.4 and 0.5 at. pct In. 1) Indium, when alloyed with iron, gives rise to a restricted y field, the width being >0.5 at. pct In.

Jan 1, 1970

By Valentin R. Garfias

The world's production of petroleum during 1926 is estimated at 1,096,000,000 bbl., an increase of about 29,000,000 from that of 1925 and somewhat larger than the average during the last 4 years, which is about 1,049,000,000 bbl. The daily average during the year may be estimated at 3,000,000 bbl. of which the United States produced 2,123,000 and other countries 877,000. The outstanding developments during the year have been the decline of the Mexican fields, the counterbalancing of this decline by the increase in Venezuelan and Russian production, and increases in Roumania and Colombia. During 1926 the United States, Mexico and Russia retained their relative positions as the three leading producers, while Venezuela probably outranked Persia for fourth place, Roumania passed Dutch East Indies for sixth, and Colombia moved from sixteenth to the eleventh position. It further appears that should present conditions develop normally throughout 1927, it is not improbable that Mexico will be outranked by Russia as the second oil-producing country and that the increased yield of Colombia will place this country in the eighth or ninth position, and ahead of India. The United States and Mexico should produce in 1926 about 79 per cent. of the world's total and the aggregate of the seven leading countries should be close to 95 per cent. of the total. It is interesting to note that about 85 per cent. of the total comes from fields on the American continent, the United States accounting for about 71 per cent., and Spanish-American countries and Trinidad for 13 per cent. Production of countries other than the United States and Mexico has gradually increased during the last four years and now represents about 21 per cent. of the total. The United States easily retains its long standing leadership with a total yield of 775,000,000 bbl., or an average daily yield of 2,123,000, representing about 71 per cent. of the total, which is about equal to that of the previous year. An increase in production of about 11,000,000 bbl. is indicated by the statistics so far available. It will be noted that the American production in the last 4 years has averaged about 746,000,000 bbl. yearly and that this uniformity, as well as the marked increases

Jan 1, 1927

By H. C. Rogers, B. W. Roberts

Vanadium foils and wires, either cold-worked or recrystallized, show a ductile-brittle-ductile fracture sequence with temperature. At about 150°C the hydrogenated vanadium wires are found to be ductile. At room temperature the wires show brittle fracture, and at liquid nitrogen temperature the wires are again ductile, although to a lesser extent than found at 150°C. Hydrogenated cold-rolled vanadium foils have been found to fracture in unusually straight lines along the [100] texture directions. The hydrogen content required to show this [loo] texture fracture is limited to a few atomic percent in range. Hydrogen content above this range causes fracture to occur in random directions. PRELIMINARY experiments with hydrogenated vanadium foils indicated that the embrittling effect of the hydrogen on the vanadium, which was severe at room temperature, was reduced at both lower and higher temperatures. In order to investigate more quantitatively the ductility changes with temperature, vanadium wires were tested in tension at three temperatures. The reduction of area was measured and the fractures examined. Specimen Preparation—The material used was kindly supplied by A. U. Seyboltl in the form of M-in. rod. The nominal analysis was: 99.2 pct V assay, 0.2 pct C, 0.01 pct Si, 0.01 pct Fe, 0.015 pct Ca, 0.02 pct O,, 0.01 pct N2, and 0.003 pct H,. The specimens were 0.035-in. diam wires. These were prepared by cold-swaging the supplied rod to the final diameter without intermediate anneal. They were finished with long-bearing dies. The surface was then given a light polishing with 0 emery paper and degreased in trichlorethylene. An X-ray check indicated that the cold-swaged wire had a fairly strong [110] fiber texture. The wires were then recrystallized in vacuum in continuously pumped quartz tubes at two temperatures to give two different grain sizes. One group of wires was given 45 min at 800°C; another, 60 min at 1000°C. The microstructures in Fig. 1 show the wires after they have been electropolished and elec-troetched in 10 pct HCI. After the 800°C anneal, the vanadium grains had a diameter of 1 to 2p and there appeared to be a tendency to elongation in the longitudinal direction. However, the latter may be an etching effect. After the 1000°C anneal, the grains appeared to be equi-axed, but there was a very large spread in grain size, probably due to some impurity segregation in the wire, Fig. 1, right. The grain diameters varied between the limits of 1 to 150p. The small particles shown particularly clearly in Fig. 1, left, are also visible on the polished surface of all samples before etching and are undoubtedly carbides and nitrides of vanadium. An X-ray check indicated these annealed wires had a strong [110} recrystallization fiber texture. The hydrogenation was carried out in an iron retort with dry hydrogen flowing through it, the retort and contents being heated in a tube furnace with a hydrogen atmosphere. The hydrogenation temperature was approximately 500°C. The hydro-genation times chosen were approximately those which would be just enough to cause the vanadium to be brittle at room temperature and thus allow the greatest chance for ductility to occur at the other two temperatures. Part of the fine grained specimens were hydrogenated for 21/2 min at 490°C. Part of the coarse grained specimens were hydro-genated for 11/2 min at 515°C.

Jan 1, 1957

W. ROWLAND Cox,* New York, N. Y. (written discussion?).-The process described by Mr. Malcolmson undoubtedly represents a great stride toward conservation of our natural resources. Without discussing the subject from an economic standpoint, I wish further to emphasize the fundamental principles of the Smith process in order that its economic value may be fully appreciated. The process is essentially a means of producing an ideal fuel, as regards its combustion qualities, by the removal of the so-called volatile matter from the coal, in the form of byproducts, which have value for other purposes far in excess of their fuel value. In other words, coals which contain. large amounts of gas, tar, and ammonia, and are not suitable for domestic or industrial fuel, or for treatment in byproduct coke ovens or gas retorts; because they possess poor coking qualities, can he prepared for commercial use by the. Smith process with a very high degree of efficiency. Much work has been done along this line, both in this country and in Europe, in developing a means of preparing coal, as the economic advantages have long been recognized. To the best of my knowledge, the Smith process is the only one that has proved its commercial adaptability. Distillation of coal at 900° to 1000° F. (480° to 540° C.) yields a large amount of tar and oils. The residue of the distillation, however, is a very friable semi-coke, wholly unsuitable for use as a fuel, unless it can be charged directly into a byproduct gas producer. The problem which confronted the inventor was then to convert this carbon residue into a commercial product, and it is in this step that the Smith process has overcome the obstacles which prevented a number of other methods from becoming commercially practicable.

Jan 10, 1918

By A. L. Field, P. H. Royster

Bureau of Mines Technical Paper 189 consists of a record of the scientific data obtained in the iron blast-furnace slag investigation which is reported in Technical Paper 187, "Slag Viscosity Tables for Blastfurnace Work." It includes a description of the method of preparing the synthetic melts, construction of an improved electric furnace, and refinements in laboratory methods of measurement. Only the general features of the work and the conclusions drawn from the experimental data can be given attention here. Silicates in the Liquid State In the manufacture of refractories, Portland cement, glass, and porcelain, and in pyrometallurgical operations, importance attaches to the behavior of-silicate compounds at temperatures beyond the range of common experience. This field of research has not been investigated as carefully as its scientific and industrial importance would seem to warrant. Probably the most important of the unsolved problems in the chernistry of silicates is the question of their stability in the liquid state. That little progress toward the solution of this problem has been made is not strange if there be borne in mind the difficulties attending experiments made at temperatures at which silicates become fluid, and the comparatively short time since it became possible to measure these temperatures. On the other 'hand, considerable progress has been made in the study of the compounds in the solid state because of the directness and simplicity of methods of optical examination. Important advances have been made by the Geophysical Laboratory at Washington in recent years. An extended study has been made there of saturated solutions representing a considerable number of binary and ternary systems of the more common refractory oxides. The methods

Jan 1, 1918

By J. L. Huiatt, R. B. Tippin

Introduction Great Salt Lake Minerals & Chemicals Corp. (GSL), a subsidiary of Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp., is located on the east side of the Great Salt Lake, approximately 20 miles from Ogden, UT. GSL processes brine from the north arm of the lake to produce potash, salt cake, salt, and magnesium chloride brine. Potash fertilizer, in the form of K2SO4 is GSL's primary product. The CSL Sulfate of Potash Complex: The GSL potash complex (depicted in [Fig. 1]) is divided into a solar evaporation pond system and the process plants. The solar evaporation system consists of a 17,000-acre (68.8 km2) ponding operation where the various salts deposit during the summer evaporation season and a harvesting operation which recovers the deposits during the remainder of the year. The harvest is either preconcentrated in the flotation plant or processed directly in the chemical plant where sulfate of potash (SOP) is produced. The chemistry of the lake brine results in a solar deposit containing primarily kainite (KC1 . MgSO4 . 3H20), schoenite (K2SO4 . MgS04 . 6H20), and halite (NaCI), with some carnallite (KC1 . MgC12 . 6H20) and epsomite (MgSOq . 7H20). Other minerals may be deposited, depending upon the weather during the evaporation season. Each year, the solar deposit in the evaporation ponds will greatly depend upon the summer weather conditions, which have in the past proven to be quite unpredictable. Weather may alter both the quantity of the solar deposit and the composition of this deposit. During a "short" evaporation season, the tonnage deposited decreases, but depending upon the short-term weather, the potash mineral content can vary greatly. During an "erratic" evaporation season, with intermittent summer rains or

Jan 1, 1980

By W. J. Tait, A. E. Craig, E. P. McCurdy

The Circuitron herein described applies current from the classifier motor circuit and energy from the sound of grinding media to move an oscillating disc. The disc through a photoelectric cell controls the speed of the ore feeder and consequently the amount of ore delivered to the mill. THE Telluride Mines, Inc. at Telluride, Colo., is operating a flotation concentrator recovering lead, zinc, and copper with some gold and silver. The nominal capacity is 500 tons per 24 hr. The ore, which comes from several different mines, is characteristic of the district, changing from extremely tough rhodonite to soft gouge. The ore is crushed and washed, recrushed, and delivered to the mill bin at about % in. to serve as ball mill feed. Details of Grinding Circuit The material from the fine-ore bin is carried over a belt feeder driven by a Reeves vari-speed device. The belt discharges to a No. 86 Marcy ball mill, which operates in closed circuit, with jigs and a 6-ft Dorr classifier. A Massco density controller holds the density of the classifier overflow at a predetermined point. The overflow, which contains about 5 pct + 48 mesh, goes to the flotation section. Manual Operation Before the adoption of automatic control for the grinding circuit, this work was all done manually by the operator. The bin gate was set to deliver 40 to 50 lb of ore per lineal foot of belt, and the speed of the belt was adjusted by the operator to deliver at the rate of about 500 tons per 24 hr. As the ore changed in hardness, specific gravity, or in the amount of moisture, or, as the size of the feed changed due to bin segregation, crusher setting, or other causes, the operator made corresponding changes in the rate of feed by manipulation of the Reeves control. Sometimes these changes occurred so rapidly that they caused sharp, pronounced surges, which created very considerable unbalance from normal conditions in the grinding circuit and, more critically, in the flotation section. Since it is not possible for the operator to anticipate or follow such changes closely, a very considerable unbalance from normal conditions may occur, which will require a drastic change in the rate of feed. These surges upset the fineness of grind and interfere radically with the balance between tonnage and reagent control. All of this tends to reduce the grade of concentrates, increase the loss in the tailing, and thus decrease the recovery of values. The Circuitron Some years ago, The Mine and Smelter Supply Co., in conjunction with the operators at the Telluride Mill, undertook to build a device that would give close control of the rate of feed from the ore bin and to coordinate with this a related device that would regulate the amount of sand load on the classifier rakes. Emphasis was strongly laid on the fact that such a control must apply to the entire grinding circuit and must include the feed to the ball mill, the classifier sand return, and the density of the classifier overflow. If this could be done successfully, we felt that the circuit could be operated under best possible conditions, with compensations

Jan 1, 1951

By E. P. McCurdy, W. J. Tait, A. E. Craig

The Circuitron herein described applies current from the classifier motor circuit and energy from the sound of grinding media to move an oscillating disc. The disc through a photoelectric cell controls the speed of the ore feeder and consequently the amount of ore delivered to the mill. THE Telluride Mines, Inc. at Telluride, Colo., is operating a flotation concentrator recovering lead, zinc, and copper with some gold and silver. The nominal capacity is 500 tons per 24 hr. The ore, which comes from several different mines, is characteristic of the district, changing from extremely tough rhodonite to soft gouge. The ore is crushed and washed, recrushed, and delivered to the mill bin at about % in. to serve as ball mill feed. Details of Grinding Circuit The material from the fine-ore bin is carried over a belt feeder driven by a Reeves vari-speed device. The belt discharges to a No. 86 Marcy ball mill, which operates in closed circuit, with jigs and a 6-ft Dorr classifier. A Massco density controller holds the density of the classifier overflow at a predetermined point. The overflow, which contains about 5 pct + 48 mesh, goes to the flotation section. Manual Operation Before the adoption of automatic control for the grinding circuit, this work was all done manually by the operator. The bin gate was set to deliver 40 to 50 lb of ore per lineal foot of belt, and the speed of the belt was adjusted by the operator to deliver at the rate of about 500 tons per 24 hr. As the ore changed in hardness, specific gravity, or in the amount of moisture, or, as the size of the feed changed due to bin segregation, crusher setting, or other causes, the operator made corresponding changes in the rate of feed by manipulation of the Reeves control. Sometimes these changes occurred so rapidly that they caused sharp, pronounced surges, which created very considerable unbalance from normal conditions in the grinding circuit and, more critically, in the flotation section. Since it is not possible for the operator to anticipate or follow such changes closely, a very considerable unbalance from normal conditions may occur, which will require a drastic change in the rate of feed. These surges upset the fineness of grind and interfere radically with the balance between tonnage and reagent control. All of this tends to reduce the grade of concentrates, increase the loss in the tailing, and thus decrease the recovery of values. The Circuitron Some years ago, The Mine and Smelter Supply Co., in conjunction with the operators at the Telluride Mill, undertook to build a device that would give close control of the rate of feed from the ore bin and to coordinate with this a related device that would regulate the amount of sand load on the classifier rakes. Emphasis was strongly laid on the fact that such a control must apply to the entire grinding circuit and must include the feed to the ball mill, the classifier sand return, and the density of the classifier overflow. If this could be done successfully, we felt that the circuit could be operated under best possible conditions, with compensations

Jan 1, 1951

By W. M. Fox, D. P. Detwiler

IN the course of research on semiconducting inter-metallic compounds, it became necessary to obtain gallium metal of greater purity that that available commercially. Several methods were considered for further purification, including acid leaching,' fractional crystallization,' and zone-refining.3-5 The method of fractional crystallization was discarded as being equivalent to zone-refining in purification but inefficient in material and time. Both acid leaching and zone-refining were tried, and the method finally adopted is a combination of the two. The acid leaching technique has been reported' to produce gallium in which no impurities are detectable spectroscopically. Although this method is very effective in removing oxides and surface contaminants, semiconducting material made of gallium subjected only to leaching indicated little reduction in the concentration of metallic impurities. Zone-refining, however, appears very effective in removing trace metallic impurities, but comparatively ineffective in removing the surface oxide film. Consequently, the method evolved consists of acid leaching to thoroughly clean the surface, followed by zone-refining to remove metallic impurities. The low melting point and relatively high thermal conductivity of gallium introduce some difficulty in maintaining frozen and molten zones in zone-refining. To accomplish this, it is found necessary to reduce the effective ambient temperature by circulating ice water in coils about the regions that are to be kept frozen, while heat is supplied to the molten regions by resistance coils. The power supplied to the heating coils is regulated by a constant-voltage transformer and a variable autotransformer. Both heating and cooling coils are mounted on a transite base. The gallium ingot is held in a closed pyrex tube sliding inside the heating and cooling coils, the reciprocating method of Tanenbaum et al. being employed to move the molten zones through the ingot at a rate of 2 in. per hr. This apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The results of a spectroscopic analysis f a zone-refined ingot, as well as of the material as-received and after acid leaching, are shown in Table I. The ingot was 32 cm in length, and received 37 molten-zone passes, the molten zone being about 4 cm long. The only impurity found was lead, the following elements being reported also as checked but not found in the pure material: Al, Sb, As, Ba, Be, Bi, B, Cd, Ca, Cr, Co, Cb, Cu, Ge, Au, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pt, Si, Ag, Na, Sr, Sn, Te, Ti, W, V, Zn, and Zr. There thus appears no indication of pickup of Al, Mg, or Si from the pyrex boat as reported by Zimmerman' in his fractional crystallization. Thus it appears that definite removal of lead from gallium occurs during the zone-refining process. It also may be concluded that a more sensitive analytical procedure than spectroscopy is required to evaluate quantitatively the purity of zone-refined metals. One such procedure which is proposed for use in the near future is the measurement of very low temperature resistivity. Although this will not identify the impurities present, it offers a very sensitive check of total impurity. Acknowledgment This work was supported by the Air Research and Development Command, United States Air Force.

Jan 1, 1956

By Duk-Won Park

The PSU/MVS program, one of the computer programs for ventilation network analysis most recently developed at The Pennsylvania State University, was applied to the analysis of modifications to an existing ventilation system for a coal mine located in southern West Virginia. The program is well designed and has diversified capabilities which allow the users to make decisions on the optimum size and number of fans, the location and number of airshafts, and the optimum operational procedures. The mine had 10 working faces, from which the average production rate was about 5900 tons of clean coal per day. Two vane-axial mine fans were used in parallel at a shaft, and both of them operated simultaneously. One additional shaft was in the final construction stage and it would be used in four months to alleviate the load for the existing fans and distribute intake air more evenly. The overall ventilation surveys, including the altimeter pressure survey and the air quantity survey, were carried out in the mine entries, shafts, slopes, and gob areas. Computations were made using the above-mentioned computer program on the present condition and after one additional fan was placed in operation at the new shaft. Also, recommendations were made on the air route and fan blade settings for the most economical and efficient ventilation system. Further studies were carried out to decide the proper period when the third air shaft would be required according to the long-term mining plan. Additional branches were added for the next 4 years of the production plan, and the ventilation conditions were tested at the end of each year. Numerous combinations of blade settings and modifications of air routes were tested. It was recommended that the third air shaft be added at the end of the third year so as not to experience fan stall.

Jan 1, 1982

By Peter Nalle

12.3-1. Reporting. NEED. It seems almost unnecessary to comment on the need for reporting research and development results and activities, and yet much of the difficulty and misunderstanding surrounding a Research and Development (R&D) group results from poor or nonexistent reporting. Certainly no evaluation can be made without reports of results or plans. It is as important to report accurately and fully for the department's own use as it is for external use. Research unreported might as well be considered research undone. This section will discuss, in part, the need for reporting, the general types of reports which may be generated to satisfy the need, and finally, the evaluation of a project as judged by various commonly used standards. PURPOSE. Some specific observations might be appropriate concerning the reporting of R&D results. The requirements and background of the group receiving the report must be considered. A particular report is usually directed towards the background of a particular group, such as ((technical," "operational," "financial," or "marketing." It is essential that the emphasis and coverage be geared to the training of people receiving the report. It should be obvious that the financial department will be less interested in the technical details of the process and more interested in the capital funds and tax implications involved in the project. Operating personnel will be greatly interested in the effects of a new method on mining plans, and so on. This does not mean that the reporting in any way should slight pertinent details, nor should a patronizing attitude be assumed by the writer. However, it is essential that the needs of the reader be recognized. For reports that might have large and varied distribution, it is often feasible to group, either as sections or appendixes, the special details and information of interest only to certain functions within the organization. A

Jan 1, 1968

By W. H. Emmons

The exploration of deposits of the metals will never become an exact science. There will always be an element of uncertainty in prospecting and developing mines. In countries where the surface has been closely scrutinized, most of the deposits whose outcrops contain valuable metals have probably been discovered. Many metalliferous deposits, however, are normally so much altered at the surface that the true significance of their outcrops is likely to be obscured. If a deposit is not exposed, its presence may become known by some one of its characteristics that is different in kind or in degree from a similar feature of the associated rock. Thus, a deposit that is not exposed may be discovered because of its magnetic property. So few minerals are strongly magnetic that the value of magnetic surveys is limited, but the dip needle has nevertheless proved of great aid in locating magnetic belts, and these in some regions are associated with workable iron ores. The Cuyuna Iron Range of Minnesota, which does not exhibit any outcrop of iron ore, was discovered by drilling "areas of attraction" that are due to belts of magnetic rocks associated with the iron ores. In some regions the use of the dip needle is justified, even if it does no more than reveal the strike of the rocks, since a knowledge of the latter enables the driller to locate and point his holes to advantage. The measures of gravity by the use of the pendulum are so accurate, or the limit of error is so small, that one might detect the presence of a concealed tabular deposit approximately at the surface, 34 ft. (10.36 m.) thick, having a density double that of the surrounding rocks. However, not many deposits have a density twice that of ordinary rocks and a thickness as great as 34 ft.; if they lie a short distance below the surface the density or the thickness must be even greater. Consequently, there is not much hope of sufficiently developing the gravity method of detecting deposits of heavy ores to make it of practical value. If the limit of error could be reduced to about one-tenth the present factor, and if the rather tedious and painstaking methods of determining gravity that are now in use could be simplified, the method would promise some degree

Jan 1, 1918

By Robert Glass Cleland

IN SPITE of its widely ramified interests in manufacturing, mines, lumber, railroads, and real estate, Phelps, Dodge & Co. remained primarily interested in exporting and importing, in buying and selling, and William E. Dodge, the directing-partner, consistently styled himself a merchant. After 1849 the profits of the company mounted steadily for seven years until they approached the half-million mark, but in 1857 another severe panic ended the long period of national prosperity that had begun some fifteen years before. Extravagance, indebtedness, and inflation again took their costly toll; or, as the New York Herald of June 27,1857, declared: Governmental spoliations, public defaulters, paper bubbles of all descriptions, a general scramble for western lands and town and city sites, millions of dollars, made or borrowed, expended in fine houses and gaudy furniture; hundreds of thousands in the silly rivalries of fashionable parvenues, in silks, laces, diamonds and every variety of costly frippery are.only a few among the many crying evils of the day. The worst of all these evils is the moral pestilence of luxurious exemption from honest labor, which is infecting all classes of society. The country merchant is becoming a city stock-

Jan 1, 1952

By J. M. Hodge, M. A. Orehoski

THE relationship between hardenability based on a 50 per cent martensite criterion, and that based on higher percentages of martensite in a number of low-alloy steels was discussed in a previous paper by the authors.1 It was found that the differences between the hardenability values based on the 50 per cent martensite and full martensite criterions increased as the hardenability increased and that, in the steels of higher hardenability, these differences were fairly large. Furthermore, it was found that these relationships could be expressed with reasonable accuracy as a function of the hardenability. The importance of the full martensite criterion of hardenability in relation to the attainment of the optimum mechanical properties of tempered martensite was emphasized in the earlier paper. The purpose of the present work is to study the effects of some of the individual alloying elements on hardenability, using three different percentages of martensite as criteria, and thereby to evaluate the role of these individual elements in the general hardenability relationships previously reported. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Induction-furnace heats weighing 17-lb., of the compositions given in Table I, were cast and forged into 1 ¼ in. round bars. All heats were killed with aluminum additions corresponding to 1 lb. per ton. The compositions were chosen to represent several series of steels, in which only one alloying element would vary and in which the nonmartensitic constituents on quenching would be predominantly bainitic. All bars were normalized from 1650°F. and tempered one hour at I 150°F. prior to the hardenability determinations. Hardenability values are based on metallographic examination of standard Jominy bars, quenched from 1600°F. (I hr. and 20 min. heating time). The general procedure was the same as outlined in detail in the previous paper; (I) that is, the distance from the quenched end of the bar to the point of 0.1 per cent transformation was first measured on the microscope and then the percentage of martensite was estimated at every 0.05 in. from the quenched end, and these percentage values plotted against the distance along the bar. In this case, samples 2 in. long were cut from the quenched end of the Jominy bars and 10 fields were examined and averaged at each distance. The conversion of Jominy distance to ideal diameter is based on a revised correlation curve (Fig. I). This curve is based on work carried out at the Research Department of the South Chicago Works, Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation, and represents a direct correlation between hardenability values as deter-

Jan 1, 1946

By J. L. Jernegan

In this paper I propose to give a short and, I must confess, a rather incomplete description, as regards many details, of the process used in Chicago, Ill., for smelting the argentiferous ores of the far West, and shall confine myself in this description, principally, to the process used at the Chicago Silver Smelting and Refining Company's Works, known as the Balbach process, as all the other smelting works in that city follow the same method, with the exception of one, which has the Cordurié process for the desilverization of argentiferous lead. In all, there are five silver smelting and refining works in and near the city of Chicago. The Chicago Silver Smelting and Refining Company's Works are situated at the little station of South Lynne, about seven miles south from Chicago. The plant at these works consists of one horizontal steam-engine, principally used for running the ore pulverizer, four reverberatory smelting-furnaces, connected by horizontal flues with a common chimney 85 feet high, three lead-softening furnaces, one so-called zinc or mixing furnace, one separating furnace or liquation hearth, one lead-refining furnace, three zinc distillation retorts, one English cupellation furnace, supplied with blast by a No. 3 Sturtevant blower, which is run by a small steam-engine having a vertical tubular boiler, and an assay office, in which there are two windfurnaces of the ordinary construction, and also a small muffle furnace. The assay office is supplied with all the necessary apparatus and reagents for fire assaying. There are also a superintendent's office, various store-rooms for coke and charcoal, and for the preparation of fire-clay, etc. Recently a small slag hearth (Krummofen) with one tuyere, has been put up for the purpose of working over such slags as assay too high in silver and lead to be thrown away, of which there are large amounts. The principal ore worked while I was in the employ of the company was that of the well known Emma mine in Utah, and also small quantities of Colorado ore. The character of the Emma ore is well known to most members of the Institute. In consists principally of ferruginous mixtures of carbonate and oxide of lead, oxide

THE Institute assembled in the Hall of the Boston Natural History Society on Tuesday evening. Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, of the Boston Institute of Technology, after a brief address of welcome to the Institute, read an introductory paper on the Geognostical History of the Metals. President Raymond responded to the welcome of Dr. Hunt. The following names were then presented to the Institute, with the recommendation of the Council, for election: Adams, J. M., . . . . . . Silver City, Idaho. Daggett, Ellsworth,. . . . . Salt Lake City, Utah. Geist, Alfred W., . . . . . Boston, Mass. Hays, Dr. S. Dana, . . . . . Boston, Mass. Heinrich, Oswald J., . . . . Midlothian, Va. Johnson, J., . . . . . . Braidwood, Ill. Leckie, Robert G., . . . . . Actonvale, Canada. Lyman, Edward, . . . . ' . Troy, N. Y. Maltby, William, . . . . . Braidwood, Ill. Nichols, Lyman, Jr., . . . . Bbton, Mass. Ordway, Prof. J. M., . . . . Boston, Muss. Rand, Theodore D , . . . . . Philadelphia, Pa. Richards, Prof. Robert H., . . . Boston, Mass. Roclrwell, Prof. Alfred P., . . . Boston, Mass. Roepper, Charles W ., . . . . Bethlehem, Pa. Schulz, A. von, . . . . . Central City, Colorado. Singer, William F., . . . . Pittsburgh, Pa. Spillsbury, E. G., . . . . . New York. Wells, Calvin, . . . . . . Pittsburgh, Pa. The session concluded with the reading and discussion of a paper, by Henry Engelmann, On the Mines and Ores of the Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. The second session was held on Wednesday morning, when the following papers were presented : On the Midlothian Coal Mines, by Oswald J. Heinrich. On the Probable Existence of Microscopic Diamonds in California, by Prof. Benjamin Silliman.

By Henry N. Toler

Development in the Jackson gas field, Hinds and Rankin counties, for 1935 continued at a slow pace, there being only nine wells drilled on the structure, of which five resulted in gas producers and four in dry holes. There were no wells drilled deep enough during 1935 to test any of the horizons below the producing Selma chalk. There are 113 producing gas wells in the Jackson gas field, with three wells on the southeast edge of the field making some oil with a large quantity of salt water; this oil comes from the same horizon as the gas. The combined open flow of the 113 gas wells is about 4,100,000,000 cu. ft. The proven area of the field is approximately 8000 acres. The production of 10,291,000,000 cu. ft. for 1935 represents the largest yearly pull from the field by almost a billion cubic feet. The total production from the field to date is 45,104,000,-000 cu. ft. It is interesting to note that the rock pressure has dropped from 1010 lb. per sq. in. initial to 943 Ib. at the end of 1935, a decline of only 67 lb. in 6 years. There is a difference of opinion as to the age of the deepest formation tested on the Jackson structure; some people holding that it is Tuscaloosa, others, Trinity, and still others that it is Paleozoic, probably Pottsville. The production of the Amory gas field, Monroe County, continued to decline and the capacity was far under the demand. Originally there were four producing wells in the field with a combined open-flow capacity of approximately 15,000,000 cu. ft. and a rock pressure of 680 lb. per sq. in. At the end of 1935 only two wells were producing with a combined open-flow of less than 1 million cu. ft. and the rock pressure down to 100 lb. or less. No attempt has been made to drill new wells in the immediate field but three wells are being drilled in the county in an effort to secure new supplies of gas. The wildcat operations for 1935, with only 11 wells drilled, were the lowest since 1932, just about one-half the number drilled during 1934. None of the wildcat wells drilled in 1935 resulted in producers and, so far as the writer is aware, did not uncover any large structures. The 11 wells drilled were abandoned or junked at comparatively shallow depths, except the well drilled in George County to 6928 ft. by the United Gas

Jan 1, 1936