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By H. C. Miller

The energy stored in the compressed natural gas absorbed in or otherwise associated with the oil in reservoir sands is usually the most important factor in oil recovery. It is recognized that hydrostatic pressure and gravity may aid materially in the drainage of oil, but in the early life of the majority of fields the principal source of propulsive energy is the expansive force of the gas associated with the oil. Since gas is admittedly the most important factor in the production of oil, its control so as to produce the maximum amount of oil with the minimum amount of gas will be reflected in increased oil recovery from reservoir sands. Controlling the gas means regulating its expansion so that the velocity of flow of oil through the channels in the reservoir sands is neither so great that frictional resistance becomes excessive nor so slow that the gas, because it can travel more rapidly than oil through the irregular passageways in the sands, will by-pass and reach the well without. doing useful work in bringing oil from the sands. Oil and gas flow from the reservoir sands to the well because of differences in pressure. The rate of flow is dependent upon the differential pressures existing in the sands and in the well. By altering the amount of back-pressure maintained on the well this differential pressure can be regulated and changed from a maximum (well flowing "wide open") to a minimum when there will be no flow. Oil and gas flow through the irregular channels in reservoir sands at different rates mainly because of the fact that one is a liquid and the other a gas. Therefore, because oil and gas have different characteristics of flow, application of back-pressure, changes the rates of flow with relation to one another so that wide variations in gas-oil ratios are possible. Obviously, the formation gas energy will be utilized most efficiently when a unit of gas delivers the maximum amount of oil to the well. Determination of Necessary Back-pressure The amount of back-pressure that should be maintained against the producing sand in order that the minimum amount of gas will be produced with each barrel of oil can be determined only by actual field tests made

Jan 1, 1929

By R. I. Jaffee, H. R. Ogden, D. J. Maykuth, W. L. Finlay

Titanium with up to 7.5 pct Al forms single-phase a alloys that are work hardening, not heat treatable, and ductile as welded. The high aluminum Y phase alloys are not usefully ductile, despite their low hardness, but they have excellent oxidation resistance and hot hardness. LITTLE has been published on the effect of aluminum on the mechanical properties of titanium, despite the fact that two of the first four commercial alloys released by titanium alloy producers contained aluminum as an important alloying ingredient. These were both a-ß type alloys, one containing 4 pct A1 and 4 pct Mn and the other containing 3 pct A1 and 5 pct Cr. However, neither of these alloys reflects the true alloying nature of aluminum, since each contains important amounts of the ß-stabilizing addition, manganese or chromium. In a previous publication on the constitution of Ti-A1 alloys,' the authors showed that aluminum had a high solubility in a titanium and was strongly a stabilizing in nature. About 25 wt pct A1 is soluble in a titanium at room temperature. With as little as 5 pct added aluminum, the a transus temperature is increased from 882" to 970°C, and the correspond- ing ß transus to 995°C. The first intermediate phase in the Ti-A1 system is the ordered face-centered tetragonal TiAl phase, which extends from 34 to 46 wt pct Al. The present paper presents hardness data over the entire titanium-rich region of the system, through the TiAl phase, and mechanical property data on the alloy range capable of being fabricated. Methods of Investigation The materials used and general preparation of alloys, as well as experimental techniques used in the investigation of Ti-A1 alloys, have been adequately described.' Briefly, the preparation consisted of arc-melting the desired amount of high purity aluminum (99.99 pct purity) and iodide titanium (maximum hardness 100 Vickers, as deposited) together on a water-cooled copper hearth under a partial pressure of argon. The resulting button ingot was of such form that it could be fabricated without further treatment. All work was done using ingots weighing 10 to 15 g, which were hot-rolled to strip form whenever possible. Tensile samples were 3.25 in. long, 0.5 in. wide, and 0.040 in. thick, with a reduced section 1.25 in. long by 0.250 in. wide. The gage length used was 1 in. Electrical strain gages mounted on the

Jan 1, 1954

By J. B. Morrow

AMONG the most notable of Canada's many contributions to the personnel of the mining industry in the United States is J. B. Morrow, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 9, 1886. Soon after completing his schooling at Dalhousie University in 1906 he emigrated to Arizona and Kew Mexico, via Cobalt and Larder Lake, Ontario. After preliminary experience in sampling and mucking he was employed by the Phelps Dodge Corp., first as chemist at the Copper Queen smelter, then, in 1908, with the Corporation's Stag Canyon coal branch at Dawson, N. M., in various capacities fro111 chemist to coke oven and coke department superintendent, and finally as general outside superintendent. While with Phelps he had some contact with the late Dr. Douglas, of whose industrial methods he has always been a great admirer.

Jan 1, 1937

By AIME AIME

NOT a few physical metallurgists started their profession- al careers as chemists or physicists, only to surrender later to the attractions of metallurgy. The present Institute of Metals Chairman varied this more usual sequence in hat his first love was electrical engineering, when as a recent graduate he served on the staff of the General Electric Co., of Schenectady. Soon turning to metallurgy as a more interesting field, he was metallurgist and then chief engineer of the Wads- worth Watch Case Co. from 1920 to 1927. Since 1927 he has been with the International Nickel Co. at the Bayonne, N. J., research laboratories where he is staff adviser.

Jan 1, 1940

"Located on Missouri River 16 miles N. E. from Helena, 67 miles from Butte and 18 miles below Canyon Ferry. River drainage area 16,000 sq. miles.DAM: Built in 1907; rebuilt of concrete in 1911. Maximum height 129.3 ft., length over all 720 ft.; elevation of crest 3621; elevation of bridge 3640; normal head 60'; normal tail water elevation 3568.5.SPILLWAY: Length over all 491 ft.; clear opening in 24 sections; 445' flashboards, 14 high to elevation 3635, which is 3.5' above Canyon Ferry normal tail . water elevation.PENSTOCKS: 5 of steel, 12 ft. diam., about 75 ft. long from canal to main turbines, and 3 40-inch diam. from canal to exciters.WHEELS: 5 main pairs, horizontal, center discharge, 48-inch bronze turbines, 225 rev., 4,000 h-p. at 60 ft. head, made by S. Morgan Smith Co., direct coupled to generators, and--3 single, horizontal, 25-inch units, direct coupled to exciters.GENERATORS: 5 W. E. & M. Co. water wheel type, revolving field, 2,800 k-w., 2,400 v., 225 r. p. m., 3 phase, 60 cycle alternators.OPERATION: The plant has a larger water storage than Canyon Ferry and can also use stored water from Canyon Ferry storage. Separate transmission lines 13 miles long connect to lines from Canyon Ferry to Butte, and the Plant operates in parallel with the Canyon Ferry plant."

Jan 1, 1913

By Howland Bancroft, Louis S. Cates

WE have come a long way since the order of the day was the chance discovery of mineral deposits, breaking rock with fire and water, melting metals in open fires in holes in the ground or in primitive furnaces, digging pits to collect. oil seepages, burning eroded coal outcrops to develop heat, and so on. During the past 5500 years, gradual improvements in methods and equipment have come about, explosives have been developed and used, steel has been used in increasing quantities and effectiveness as its physical and chemical characteristics, and composition have been altered and made to serve specific ends, hand equipment has given way to almost completely mechanized operation Thus, by the aid of mechanical equipment, one person is now able to move several thousand times as much material as one person was able to move a relatively few years ago. When this Institute was formed 75 years ago, the Suez Canal had been open to traffic but three years. It had taken ten years to complete and was built under the direction of French engineers by workers of whom many were girls. During the first four years of construction, these workers dug up the sand with their fingers, threw it into rush baskets, carried the load a hundred feet or so and dumped it 2 (With the termination of forced labor, dredgers completed the digging of the channel.) At the present time there is in use in the United

Jan 1, 1947

"The pumping of the underground water of the Butte mines is largely done from two central plants of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. The mines of one part of the mining district are served by a modern and mechanically efficient underground plant at the High Ore mine, and the remaining part by a similar one at the Leonard mine. Properties not affiliated with the A. C. M. Co. have separate pumping plants, although in several instances that company handles the water of outside companies, under which arrangement costly single plants are dispensed with. An extensive system of underground crosscuts and drifts connects these mines to both the main pumping plants, so that either may receive the water from all the mines in case there should be a failure in the other to perform its designed service.Quintuple) vertical electric pumps, 7 inches by 12 inches each, of a capacity of 600 gals. per minute under a head of 1,203 feet, are installed at both the plants. Each pump is direct connected to two 150 h-p. motors using 2,300 volts, the motors being on top of the pumps.At the High Ore plant the power cable of 400,000 c. m. is placed in a nearby shaft, the cable at present being hung from the surface to the 2,200 level. From this cable feeders of 300,000 c. m. are laid in connecting crosscuts to the pumping station at the High Ore shaft.The Leonard motors use 440 volts. The practice of building the pumps with the motors on top requires stations with high roofs, but permits the operation of the pumps if they should be submerged by an unusual flow of water."

Jan 1, 1913