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By Hugh H. Waesche

AN adequate supply of crystalline quartz of piezoelectric grade and size continues to be of fundamental importance to the U. S. Army Signal Corps. Current electronic development programs of the Armed Forces depend upon the use of quartz crystals in all applications where accurate frequency control is necessary. In peacetime this' may not seem too significant, but in planning for possible national defense emergencies, an adequate supply of piezoelectric grade raw quartz is just as important as an adequate supply of some of the more publicized strategic minerals. Prior to World War II, the Signal Corps accepted the use of quartz crystals for frequency-control purposes in essentially all electronic communication, navigation, and radar equipment operating in the audio and radio frequency spectra up to and including the ultra-high-frequency channels. Over 4,000; 000 lb of radio-grade quartz was required between January 1942 and V.J Day. Use of such a large quantity of crystal units was necessary in order to establish and maintain, with a minimum of effort, clear and definite frequency channels of greater stability than could be obtained by any other means. This policy was justified on the basis that quartz was without a peer as a frequency-controlling element. Military and civilian uses of quartz in the field, as well as laboratory studies, have confirmed this premise and no means of highly stable frequency control, superior to quartz, has been discovered. It appears certain that the demand for use of quartz for frequency control purposes will continue at a high level.

Jan 1, 1948

By S. Marion Tucker

THE aggregate number of "papers" read within any one year before more or less bored and bewildered audiences is simply appalling. We have seventy to eighty engineering societies alone, not to speak of the many hundreds of societies of every other imaginable kind. And each meets at least once a year to tell what it has found out since the last meeting. All this is very fine and fortunate, at least in the case of the scientific and technological societies; for if even only one significant discovery, one new truth, one new idea comes out at the meeting, the session has been abundantly justified. To many of us, not scientists or technologists, the scientific and technological societies seem to release by far the most useful and important information. What they have to say is often of prime importance directly to human life and to industry, and is perhaps even more important indirectly in its final influence upon social and economic conditions, thus ultimately determining the course of what we like to call civilization. The paper read by that quiet, unpretentious man on the platform ma; mean the revolutionizing of a great existing industry, the creation of an entirely new industry, the gain of millions of dollars to some persons, the loss of millions to others. But, lamentably,

Jan 1, 1940

By Clint L. Milliken

The smelter is often considered the flywheel of the copper industry. No other unit can produce such a uniform product from so many starting materials. Direct-smelting ore, concentrate, precipitate, refinery slag, and scrap in almost any combination can be processed into blister or anode copper. Copper smelting practice has advanced little in the last century. It is still basically matte smelting, although the source of matte has changed from the blast furnace to the reverberatory furnace because of changes in smelter feed, and the Great Falls converter has been replaced by the Peirce-Smith converter. This lack of progress has continued because the economic forces required to produce change have not been of sufficient magnitude. Traditionally, the smelting, operation has required only about 10% of the total cost of producing copper from its ores and this minor cost item has not warranted change until recently.

Jan 1, 1971

By Paul Weaver

DURING 1932 the amount of geophysical surveying carried out as a part of oil-field development in¬creased, particularly in the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana. Here the most intensive geophysical activity was displayed in the discovery of domes and prospects several years ago, after which there was a period of relative inactivity. This year many of the leases required development and geophysical methods were used to obtain pictures of the detailed structures. These were almost exclusively gravity and reflection-seismograph surveys and for the first time this latter method was generally used by oil operators to construct subsurface contours. The total number of geophysical troops in this territory increased from 16 to 40 during the year.

Jan 1, 1933

By A. C. Stevenson

THE hoisting equipment selected for use at the Hecla mine in 1907 was one of the first Ilgner type Ward-Leonard controlled hoists put into ser- vice. Development of the Hecla below the 2000-ft. level, which is the ultimate depth of the old equipment, and the additional service required by the "Star," necessitated additional hoisting capacity. It will be our endeavor to give j70u a brief summary of the engineering which determined the selection of the new equipment. The engineer in making his decision as to size, speed, etc., must .make a duty study approximating as closely &s possible the actual opePating conditions which will eventually result. Primarily, it is necessary to know what work must be done. The amount of material which must be hoisted under the maximum condition, as well as its distribution from the various levels of the mine was carefully studied by the mining engineering department, as the ore reserves, their relative-position and the probable method of working them had to be considered. The final figures reached, taking into consideration four different operating conditions, were, in tons per day, as follows:

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