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ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEENTH MEETING OF THE INSTITUTE, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, TO THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, INCLUSIVE, 1917 Committee on Arrangements DAVID H. BROWNE, Chairman LAWRENCE ADDICKS Louts D. HUNTOON E. MALTBY SHIPP PERCY E. BARBOUR H.A. MEGRAW BRADLEY STOUGHTON GEORGE D. BARROW _ THOMAS T. READ EDWARD B. STURGIS KARL EILERS BURR A. ROBINSON ARTHUR L. WALKER F. T. RUBIDGE Summarized Program MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19 9:00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Registration at Institute Headquarters. , 10.00 a.m. Simultaneous Sessions on Geology and on Metallography.

Jan 2, 1917

By K. L. Meissner

It is well known that the so-called pure aluminum contains noticeable amounts of impurities, chiefly iron and silicon, and many investigators have studied the forms in which these impurities exist. Hanson and Archbutt1 state that iron exists in aluminum as FeA13 and silicon as elementary Si. The solubility of FeA13 in solid aluminum is practically zero, or at least so small that the smallest trace of this compound is always visible as a separate constituent. Under the microscope an untrained eye can hardly distinguish, without etching, the two constituents FeA13 and Si, but they can be differentiated by suitable etching reagents. Anderson2 also found the same results. At the same time, Merica, Waltenberg, and Freeman3 found a constituent of unknown composition. They found a small thermal effect, at 610" C., on the cooling curves of aluminum with small amounts of iron and silicon. The intensity of this effect increased with increasing silicon content, until an effect occurred at 576" C. due to the eutectic between aluminum and silicon. The authors ascribed the effect at 610" C. to a compound, which they call "X constituent." It was thought to be a ternary compound containing iron and silicon and could be observed under the microscope as dark particles. Dix4 has published unetched photomicrographs of an aluminum with 0.51 per cent. iron, 0.99 per cent. silicon, and 0.32 per cent. copper that shows three constituents: the dark Si (black in the figure), the lighter FeA13, which appears in half tone and crystallizes in needles, and a constituent of the same color as FeAL3 but of different crystal form, often resembling Chinese script. This last constituent, Dix thought, is a compound of Fe and Si; not the compound FeSi but a compound containing a relatively small amount of silicon. Therefore an alloy of aluminum. iron, and silicon (the copper should not be regarded in the following considerations) must contain the following four constituents: Al, FeA13, Si, and a compound of Fe and Si. This, however, does not agree with the laws of chemical equilibrium.

Jan 1, 1926

By Valentin Garfias

ALTHOUGH Mexico still ranks second in importance as produce for petroleum, the output in 1924 was 7 ½ per cent. less than in 1923 and 30 per cent. less than the peak production of 1921. The decrease may be partly accounted for by labor troubles and revolutionary activities early in the year, although undoubtedly the main factor was the continuous rise of the salt-water level in the South Fields, causing a decline of 24,000,000 bbl. in the production of light oil. Since the middle of 1923, the production of heavy crude has been greater than that of the lighter grade and, in 1924, the output of heavy crude was 2 ½ times that-of the light oil. DEVELOPMENT Drilling operations in the Mexican fields were probably more active in 1924 than in any other year, the greatest activity taking place in the Cacalilao and neighboring fields; toward the end of the year there was an added number of wells drilling in wildcat areas. The number of wells drilled in proved territory was almost twice that of the previous year, the increase taking place in the heavy-oil fields north of Panuco, as only 78 of the 710 wells completed were drilled in the Southern Fields. The percentage of successful completions decreased from 45 per cent., during 1923, to about 38 per cent., during 1924; there was also a noticeable decrease in the average flush production of the new wells. It is interesting to note that notwithstanding the increased drilling activity, the total production declined over 10,000,000 barrels. In the heavy-oil district, 632 wells were completed but only 231, or 36 ½ per cent., were commercially productive. The develop-ment in the Cacalilao area reached its peak in April and May, or about the time the first serious salt-water encroachments took place. Development in the old Panuco and Topila fields was more active than during the previous year, although the salt-water level continued to rise, the high price of crude making such development advisable especially for companies having to protect large-investments.

Jan 3, 1925

Robert Carl Sticht, member of the Institute since 1886, an American metallurgist of world-wide reputation, died in St. Margaret's Hospital, Launceston, Tasmania, on April 30, 1922, after an illness of eleven months, against which he fought with the highest courage and characteristic fortitude. The news of his passing came as a great shock to a host of his friends and former associates here, but on account of his long absence from the United States, exact biographical details have been heretofore lacking. Throughout Tasmania, the expressions of public sorrow were many and impressive, and the flags were flown at half-mast in Queenstown, Zeehan, and the entire Mt. Lyell district, in honor of the man who had won his place in the community as a great captain of industry and a man universally admired and loved. Sticht had been connected with the Mt. Lyell Mining & Railway Co. in Tasmania throughout its entire productive period. He had originally been induced to go to Tasmania through the good offices of the late Dr. E. D. Peters, then professor of metallurgy at Harvard University, who after personally examining the undeveloped Mt. Lyell properties, recommended Sticht as the best possible man to work out the complex metallurgical problem which that great orebody presented. Sticht had already made himself the leading authority on pyritic smelting, having taken up the idea as suggested and partly worked out by Lawrence Austin and carried it through to a certain degree of perfection in the case of limited tonnages of special ores. After studying the situation at Mt. Lyell, Sticht found the conditions there to be almost ideal for pyritic smelting, and he had the courage to adopt as the basis for a permanent, and eventually successful, solution of the metallurgical problem, a process that was then little more than a theoretically interesting possibility. The thorough studies and remarkable results attained at Mt. Lyell were published as chapters in Doctor Peters' various publications on the metallurgy of copper, Doctor Peters giving full credit to Sticht for their authorship. These chapters by Sticht practically constitute the: best literature of the art of pyritic smelting. The accuracy of observation,

Jan 1, 1923

Robert Carl Sticht, member of the Institute since 1886, an American metallurgist of world-wide reputation, died in St. Margaret's Hospital, Launceston, Tasmania, on April 30, 1922, after an illness of eleven months, against which he fought with the highest courage and characteristic fortitude. The news of his passing came as a great shock to a host of his friends and former associates here, but on account of his long absence from the United States, exact biographical details have been heretofore lacking. Throughout Tasmania, the expressions of public sorrow were many and impressive, and the flags were flown at half-mast in Queenstown, Zeehan, and the entire Mt. Lyell district, in honor of the man who had won his place in the community as a great captain of industry and a man universally admired and loved. Sticht had been connected with the Mt. Lyell Mining & Railway Co. in Tasmania throughout its entire productive period. He had originally been induced to go to Tasmania through the good offices of the late Dr. E. D. Peters, then professor of metallurgy at Harvard University, who after personally examining the undeveloped Mt. Lyell properties, recommended Sticht as the best possible man to work out the complex metallurgical problem which that great orebody presented. Sticht had already made himself the leading authority on pyritic smelting, having taken up the idea as suggested and partly worked out by Lawrence Austin and carried it through to a certain degree of perfection in the case of limited tonnages of special ores. After studying the situation at Mt. Lyell, Sticht found the conditions there to be almost ideal for pyritic smelting, and he had the courage to adopt as the basis for a permanent, and eventually successful, solution of the metallurgical problem, a process that was then little more than a theoretically interesting possibility. The thorough studies and remarkable results attained at Mt. Lyell were published as chapters in Doctor Peters' various publications on the metallurgy of copper, Doctor Peters giving full credit to Sticht for their authorship. These chapters by Sticht practically constitute the: best literature of the art of pyritic smelting. The accuracy of observation,

Jan 1, 1923

By Eugene McAuliffe

THE mining press, as well as certain federal and state bulletins, refer from tine to time to. the relative hazards that attach to loading bituminous coal by hand when compared with the so-called "mechanical loading" process. Much of the coal coming under the head. of hand-loaded coal is won in part by the use of machinery; the coal-cutting machine is in general use, the electric power drill employed to a lesser extent. Therefore it may be said that the principal difference in the process employed, mechanical loading versus hand loading, lies in the fact that some type of loading machine is employed in the mechanical loading process to lift the coal from the face of the room, place or entry, after it is mined, placing it in the pit cars for transport to the tipple. It is a common practice to compute accident records on the basis of tons mined per fatal and per nonfatal accident, disregarding the fact that it is possible to produce by the aid of coal-loading machines the same daily, monthly and annual tonnage with a much smaller force than is required where the coal is all shoveled by hand. Inasmuch as the men who are released by the substitution of machinery for hand labor must find employment elsewhere, suffering some measure of hazard in their new occupation, we are of the opinion that the true relative hazard that attaches to the processes of mechanical loading and hand loading can be determined only by using as the basis of comparison "man shifts worked" or "hours of exposure" experienced per accident. The Union Pacific Coal Co., beginning with the year 1929, undertook to maintain a true record of man shifts worked per compensable accident, giving equal weight to fatal and nonfatal accidents. Accidents lacking sufficient severity to come under the compensable terms of the Workmen's Compensation Act were not included in the compilation, the Act providing that "no compensation, except the expense of medical attention, shall be allowed for the first seven (7) days of disability, unless the incapacity runs beyond the period of twenty-one (21) days,' in which case the compensation shall run from the time of the injury."

Jan 1, 1931

By D. M. Bondurant

AT the present time, the coal industry is greatly interested in any method or machine that will cut the cost of producing a ton of coal, while at the same time producing a product of quality and grade suitable to the customer. Comparatively new and, as yet, little known, auger mining is proving a profitable method of coal recovery. It may be used for the production of low-cost, high-quality coal with equal success from both the hard-to-mine seams, those with banded impurities and bad roof conditions, and the more easily mined seams as classified according to conventional mining methods. A number of units are now in operation and production information is available that should be of particular interest to coal operators and of general interest to anyone associated with the coal-mining industry. Auger mining refers to coal extraction with large size augers capable of drilling to great depths and having a high capacity. Consideration of the equipment and methods used in drilling an ordinary shot-hole will give a picture of auger mining on a smaller scale. At present, auger mining is used largely for recovery of coal from the highwall after strip mining becomes uneconomical because of the type and the thickness of the overburden which must be moved. Coal augers have many of the advantages of present continuous mining machines, along with many more. The four distinct operations of conventional mining-—cutting, drilling, shooting, and loading— are eliminated and replaced by the combined operation of boring and conveying of the coal. The coal recovery auger is an adaptation of the horizontal rock drill used for drilling shot-holes to shatter and loosen overburden in strip mining operations. During the war the Becker County Sand and Gravel Co. of Summersville, W. Va., experimented with drilling coal with 6 and 9-in. rock augers. The results led to the successive development of the 20, 24, 30 and the 36-in. machines, the latter having appeared in the coal fields within the past six months. Because of the great success of the smaller size

Jan 1, 1952

By Beeby Thompson

ALTHOUGH the exclusion of foreigners and private owners from participation in the development of the. Russian oil fields prevents first-hand information being obtained, both official and private news indicate a growing appreciation of the value of the country's oil resources. Notwithstanding the suppression of that initiative and energy which only ambition can adequately stimulate, the industry is progressing and exports of products are assuming an importance that cannot be disregarded as an economic factor in the world's oil business. The following notes and observations must be regarded mainly as the views of one who has closely followed the fortunes of Russian oil, when considering the changes that have taken place in geological knowledge and oil-field technique, which have so profoundly modified oil-fields methods. Russia is fortunate in having retained the services of. a few scientists and technologists whose devotion to science has superseded their personal inclinations, and to these few men must be attributed the slow, but nevertheless striking, progress that has been made. The productive oil fields of Russia are centered around the Caspian Sea which, with its connected river system, constitutes such an ideal means of internal distribution for products. From the group of oilfields of which the. city of Baku forms a center, oil is pumped to Black-town, a suburb of Baku, where all the refineries are situated. The next important group of oil fields is located in the Terek district near Grosny, where refineries are erected and the products are piped or carried by tank cars to Petrovsk for the internal Russian market, or sent to the Black Sea by rail. A third oil field is spread over the province of Uralsk, north of the Caspian, Sea, the main port of outlet being Gourief, at the mouth of the River Ural. In Trans-Caspia there are two oil-field centers, one near Krasnovodsk on Chelekan Island, and one in Central Asia at Ferghana. The product of the former fields is transported to Baku for treatment, while the output of the Turkestan field is refined and consumed locally, mainly by the railway.

Jan 3, 1925

We note with sincere regret the death of H. T. Chen,, who was killed by forest fire in the mountainous re-ion of Kokiu-Chang where he had been operating as Engineer in Chief of the Yunnan Tin Trading Co. Mr. Chen graduated in 1911 from the Department, of Mines, .University of California, being the first Chinese Government scholar in mining to attend that institution; and one of the first in America. He came of a distinguished family, many members of Which are in official life in Peking and in his native province of Hunan, all of whom are noted for their classical scholarship. He was himself a Hsiao-tsai or Bachelor of Arts, a coveted degree of the old literati class, Which he won under the Manchu regime when he was still a stripling. His mining work in Yunnan was carried on with only the most primitive facilities and in a distant province, but was, nevertheless, attended with great success and profit for his company. The region is infested with brigands and rebellious troops. who frequently turn marauders and prey upon the countryside, and Mr. Chen has had to go to the mines always with a large armed guard sometimes aggregating 150 men and some hundreds of miners, also armed. Two armed squads of men keep in touch with his base 'at Kokiu-Chang every day to get supplies and food, and it is feared that the brigands who have thus been prevented from plundering and mobbing his parties have started 'he fires to burn him out, with the disastrous result reported. Mr. Chen has thus given his life to his country in the attempt to win for modern China and Chinese civilization the raw materials of her new industrial life. He did so cheerfully and with full appreciation of the dangers that beset him, and China regards this as one of the most noble sacrifices of her young sons on the altar of patriotism. He is survived by a daughter of two years and by his widow who was also a graduate of the University of California and will be remembered by her classmates as Lucy Kong, 1912.

Jan 7, 1917

By John Fulton

Johnstown is the site of the extensive iron, steel, and wire-works of the Cambria Iron Company. It is situated at the western base of the Alleghany Mountain, 275 miles from Philadelphia, and 78 miles from Pittsburgh. The valley in which the town and its ironworks are located, has an average elevation of 1160 feet above tide water. Johnstown, in its main features, is a modified duplicate of Pittsburgh. It is located at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stony Creek rivers, which, by their union, form the Conemaugh River, just as Pittsburgh is situated at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which together make the Ohio River. The site of Johnstown is in a cutting through the lower productive coal measures, 500 c feet deep, with steep slopes along the valleylimits, exposing, in sharp-cut terraces, the outcrops of the coal and iron-ore beds; the whole surmounted by the shales and sandstones of the barren measures.

Jan 1, 1885

By L. Casagrande, C. O. Brawner, D. L. Pentz, B. Kennedy, E. Hoek, H. Q. Golder, K. Barron

H. L. HAMMERSLEY, B. C. Dept. of Mines. I would like to ask Mr. Brawner if the direction that he measured in the boreholes with the camera was referenced to magnetic north? MR. BRAWNER. Yes, it was. However, there is one problem that you may encounter if the ore body is magnetic; the borehole compass will give erroneous results. Three procedures are available to overcome this. The first one involves the use of a gyro compass instead of a magnetic compass. The second technique developed by Christiansen in Salt Lake City, is to orient the core with the use of scribing knives. The third method is to remove the compass needle and place a steel ball in the compass case. The hole must be drilled at a slight angle off the vertical. The location of the steel ball, which will roll to the underside of the hole is photographed. A borehole directional survey is then made, from which the bearing of the steel ball relative to the axis of the compass can be determined. The joint orientation is then related to this bearing at all depths. J. ROBINSON, B. C. Dept. of Mines. It was stated this morning that there have been some recent developments that give us the ability to drill horizontal drainage holes and install drainage pipes more cheaply than in the past. Would Mr. Brawner tell us some of the new developments and methods of installing these horizontal drain holes? MR. BRAWNER There are two zones in which you may be concerned about installing drains; the first is in the overburden soil, the second is in the rock. Each area requires a different installation method. If the rock is fairly massive and the holes will remain open, the simplest procedure is to use standard air track equipment or a percussion drill. At one of the mines in the Highland Valley, drains up to 300 ft. long have been installed with a percussion drill at a rate of one drain per day. The costs were in the order of $2.30 and $2.40 per foot. If the rock is quite soft, such as in a serpentine, it will be necessary to install a casing in the hole. The least expensive casing that will not deteriorate within the life required should be used. Plastic pipe or black iron pipe are commonly used. In soft rock, it may be necessary to drill with a casing to prevent the col-

Jan 1, 1971

By L. P. Davidson

THE new electrolytic zinc plant of the American Zinc Company of Illinois commenced operation in April 1941. The simple flowsheet using the standard current density and the economic reasons that dictated it are given herewith. The Evans-Wallower Zinc Co. built an electrolytic zinc plant at Monsanto, Ill., in 1929 and operated it for about two years. The plant stood idle from 1932 and was purchased by the American Zinc Co. in 1940. Because of the condition of the equipment, excepting the motor generator set, a complete rebuilding was necessary. The Fairmont City plant of the American Zinc Co. could treat the leach residues, the purification cake and the skimmings from the melting furnace in its various plants. This possibility permitted a simple flowsheet with good economic results. The flowsheet is shown in Fig. I. The calcined concentrates are leached in mechanically agitated tanks with spent electrolyte and such ferric iron solution as necessary. When the acid has been neutralized and the iron coagulated, the fluid is discharged to settling tanks. The underflow from these thickeners is filtered on a Moore filter; the filter cake leaves the plant for retreatment and the filtrate joins the thickener overflow. Zinc dust is added to this solution until the copper and cadmium are precipitated. The pulp is filtered through Shriver presses, which deliver the purified solution to storage tanks, and the copper-cadmium-zinc cake is shipped for retreatment and recovery of these three metals. The purified solution is electrolyzed; the regenerated acid is returned for use in the leaching plant and the cathode zinc, after stripping, goes to the melting furnace, from which it is cast in slabs. The skimmings from the melting furnace are shipped to the Fairmont City plant for reduction to metal in the retort furnaces. The choice of this simple flowsheet was made possible only because of the facilities of the Fairmont City plant. The long leaching period, with high acid content and high temperature which characterize the high-density process, gives a higher zinc extraction but also dissolves more impurities, which must be removed. The same is true to a lesser degree of the multi-step leaching of the western low-density plants. By the sacrifice of some initial extraction, solutions can be obtained that are relatively easy to purify and give good ampere efficiency. This loss in initial extraction is made up in the retreatment of the residues in the Waelz plant. The impurities that accompany the zinc thus extracted are inconsequential when the Waelz product is treated in a distillation plant. It was recognized that this flowsheet would require a somewhat greater amount of sulphuric acid-either as acid or as sulphate sulphur in the calcine-because of poorer washing. The sulphuric acid plant at Fairmont City could deliver 60° Bé. acid to compensate for the sulphate loss and the cost would be less than the cost of more intensive washing.

Jan 1, 1942

MINING AND METALLURGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA San Francisco Section The San Francisco Section of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America held a joint meeting with the local section of the American Institute of Mining Engineers at the Engineers' Club, San Francisco, on Tuesday, Apr. 16, 1918. The meeting was preceded by a dinner. Letters from the parent body in NewYork asking for the consideration of the proposed bill before Congress, and an expression of opinion relative to the appointment of a Federal Administrator of Mines justified the joint meeting of the local sections of the two mining societies, in that a more representative opinion of the engineers of California could he obtained. The meeting was called to order at 7:15 P.M. by Mr. Frank H. Probert acting as Chairman. About thirty engineers were present. Mr. Probert read a letter of March 14, from Secretary Huntoon, asking that the meeting be called. He read excerpts from Bulletin 117 of February 28, 1918, of the Mining and Metallurgical Society containing a copy of the proposed bill, so that all present might be advised of its essential contents. He briefly commented on the urgent need of such legislation and invited discussion of the subject. After long and thorough discussion on the part of the members present, Professor Lawson made the following motion: I move that a resolution expressing the sense of the joint meeting of the local sections of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and Mining and Metallurgical Society of America be forwarded to the secretaries of the two societies to the effect that we heartily approve of the purpose and intention of the bill designed to promote and stimulate the production of minerals necessary for the successful prosecution of the war; and that we suggest prices should be fixed for the period of the war and two years thereafter, and that these prices, guaranteed by the Government, should apply at the nearest shipping point to place of production of the minerals. This motion was carried. The meeting then adjourned, and a telegram was sent by Mr. Probert, the Chairman, to Mr. Huntoon, notifying him of the motion that had been carried at the meeting.

Jan 7, 1918

By William A. Kapp

INTRODUCTION Coal is being mined from beneath residential areas, structures, bodies of water and other surface features in the coalfields to the north, south and west of Sydney. The particular problems faced by mine operators in these areas vary considerably due to differences in the overlying strata, the variation in the depths of cover and also depend on the number of seams being mined. Detailed subsidence work first commenced in the Southern Coalfield in 1965 and is now being carried out over areas of extraction at roost collieries. The analysis of the results of the early investigations and of the work which continues in other areas has shown that there is a consistent relationship between subsidence and mine geometry and has led to a reliable empirical method for the prediction of subsidence. In addition, particular aspects of each of the studies in the Southern Coalfield results in a clearer understanding of strata movements and of the resulting subsidence. The features of a subsidence trough apply generally to all areas but the magnitudes of specific features vary according to the stratigraphy of the particular coalfield. The aim of the subsidence work is to quantify the effects of subsidence for a range of mining geometries and mining conditions to enable the maximum safe recovery of coal from beneath surface features. The importance of local subsidence investigations is becoming more evident to mine operators and to authorities or organisations with surface interests. The subsidence work also provides important information on the stabilities of pillars of coal which remain unmined between panels of extracted coal. These pillars are not extracted either because of poor mining or geological conditions, or because pillar extraction is not part of the particular mining operation. Subsidence studies over these coal pillars clearly establish whether the pillars have remained stable or have failed to support the overlying strata. With subsidence studies continuing over several years, it is possible to assess the stabilities of these pillars on a long term basis. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY OF SUBSIDENCE Geographical setting Most of the black coal production in Australia comes from the Sydney Basin. The coal seams extend for approximately 350 km along the coast of New South Wales and inland for distances up to 150 km. The City of Sydney is located near the centre of the coastal extent of the Basin where coal has been mined at a depth of 900 m. The Sydney Basin is part of the Main Coal Province of NSW and is divided into several coal- fields. The Southern Coalfield to the south of Sydney contained 15 operating mines and produced 12.7 million tonnes of raw coal during the 12 months to June 1981. The collieries discussed later are shown in Fig. 1. The prominent topographical feature of the area is the Illawarra Escarpment which rises to 400 m above sea level, or 300 m above the coastal strip along the South Pacific Ocean. The escarpment is mainly sand- stone and the weathering of the cliff line has resulted in a covering of talus material at its base. Several collieries are located near the seams which outcrop along the escarpment. The city of Wollongong is located in a scenically attractive area on the coastal plain. The suburbs of Wollongong extend north along the coastline, south to beyond Lake Illawarra and west to the lower slopes of the escarpment. The Illawarra Escarpment forms the eastern boundary of the Woronora Plateau. On a regional scale the surface dips gently to the west and thus forms a watershed for the rivers, most of which flow in a general north westerly direction, sometimes forming steep gorges in the sandstone. These rivers join the Nepean and Hawkesbury River system and flow into the Pacific Ocean north of Sydney. Seven dam have been constructed over the Southern Coalfield (Fig. 1) and with one large dam further to the west, their stored waters provide the needs of the Cities of Sydney and Wollongong and the surrounding districts. A large part of the area affected by mining is the undeveloped bushland of the associated catchment areas. In general no special precautions have been required with respect to subsidence with the exception of the dam structures and stored waters. With the increase in coal mining activities and the expanding residential development south of the City of Campbelltown in the outer Sydney Metropolitan area, subsidence is becoming an increasingly important area of research. Structures which have been affected or considered are townships and extensive residential areas, buildings of historical importance, major tollways, and a high pressure natural gas pipeline. The subsidence effects of mining beneath natural features within national parks is coming under study as mining approaches these areas. Geological setting The coal seams of the Southern Coalfield lie within the Illawarra Coal Measures. They contain high rank coking coal used in the local steel industry and for export. The Bulli Seam is mined extensively through- out the Southern Coalfield with the lower Wongawilli Seam being second in importance with regard to coal production. The top of the Bulli Seam is taken to be the marker horizon between the Permian Coal Measures

Jan 1, 1982

By J. Elmer Thomas

If 1929 witnessed a growing realization on the part of the oil industry that supply must be balanced against demand, 1930 proved conclusively that excessive inventories constitute a price depressant even with balanced conditions. Increased attention was certainly paid to economic considerations last year, and the achievement of holding daily crude production, with a constantly mounting potential, to levels 500,000 bbl. below the output of the summer before, deserves special mention. The ill-advised accumulation, however, of gasoline stocks, at least 10,000,000 bbl. larger than necessary, nullified the restraint exercised by the producers and finally necessitated drastic downward price revisions. An event of special significance was the appointment by the Federal Oil Conservation Board, last March, of a temporary Committee on Petroleum Economics that attempted a forecast of demand, an estimate of supply, and an allocation of the latter between the principal producing states. Thus for the first time was an economic program for an entire basic industry drafted by an independent body under the auspices of the Federal Government. The report was widely discussed and generally approved, but its schedules were not adopted by the refining division nor by oil producers in the State of Texas until too late to contribute to the industry's prosperity during 1930. If the restraint of November had been exercised in May a profitable year might have been the result: The gasoline price war in California during June, however, illustrated the point that even with a fairly sound statistical position insistent pressure to expand normal marketing outlets must result in losses to all concerned. The balanced program so painfully attained by producers must be maintained by refiners and distributors to be completely effective. Again in November the Federal Oil Conservation Board, acting on the request of the directors of the American Petroleum Institute, called its Committee on Petroleum Economics back into existence to prepare a new estimate for the next six months. An economic program adopted in advance of the winter period of accumulating inventories may aid this large and essential industry toward the profits to which it is entitled

Jan 1, 1931

By David Donoghue

The efforts towards curtailment in Texas have been successful, despite the great area covered and the wide variety of oils offered. There are, of course, examples of noncooperation, perhaps of absolute indifference, but of such it can at least be said that they have benefited from the restrictions imposed elsewhere. The prevention of waste is the legal background for proration in Texas. The legislature in 1899 passed the first laws to prevent waste of oil and gas. Subsequent legislatures, especially those of 1905, 1913 and 1917, undertook to regulate the development and transportation of oil and gas to the end that waste would not occur. In 1917 a constitutional amendment was submitted to the people, providing that natural resources of the state should be conserved and requiring that the legislature pass appropriate laws. This amendment was adopted, and the Acts of 1919 and 1929 have been passed, and these have had the effect of making a rather elaborate plan for the conservation of oil and gas and their protection against waste. In 1930 the new pipe line act, designed to provide for ratable purchases, was passed. The administration of these laws has been placed under the Oil and Gas Division of the Railroad Commission of Texas. The Commission can only consider actual waste, not economic waste. The various proration plans in use in the state, while differing in efficiency, are based on engineering principles. In the proration of flush fields, the limiting of drilling and the steady production of oil under restriction are the principal points involved, and these methods are entirely different from those which prevailed until recently in the Oklahoma City Pool, where apparently nothing beyond the restriction of production on a time basis was attempted. There is little to say in defense of proration in the older and smaller producing areas in Texas, except that, inasmuch as the market outlet has been reduced, proration distributes the market ratably among the producers. Work of Central ProRation Committee In the early part of 1930 the overproduction situation became acute, and, at the request of the Railroad Commission, a committee was formed composed of representatives of the Texas Division of the Mid-Continent

Jan 1, 1931

By Arthur H. Redfield

The West Indies are the summits of a submerged mountain chain, the continuation of which must be sought in the mountains of central Honduras. In Haiti, the chain divides, one branch passing through Jamaica and the other through Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and the Misteriosa bank. Suess divides the West Indies into three zones: The first zone is entirely of volcanic origin and includes many recent volcanic cones. It includes the arcuate string of islands, which extends from Saba and St. Kitts to the Grenadines and Grenada. The western half of Guadeloupe belongs to this group. The second zone consists of a geanticline, of which the sedimentary rocks range from the Jurassic to the Quaternary, but consist chiefly of Lower Tertiary sediments. In the west it is broad, including the whole of the Greater Antilles; but in the east it is restricted to a narrow belt, which includes the Virgin Islands (except Anegada), Anguilla, St. Bartholomew, Antigua, the eastern part of Guadeloupe and part of Barbados. The islands that compose the third zone are flat and low. Like the second, this zone is broad in the west and narrow in the east; it includes the Bahamas, Anegada, Sombrero, Barbuda, and part of Barbados. Geologically, Florida and the plain of Yucatan may be regarded as belonging to it. Trinidad and Tobago, though geographically adjacent to the Lesser Antilles, are geologically a detached part of the South American continent. The crystalline complexes of northern Trinidad and of Barbados are a continuation, en echelon, of the crystalline axis of the promontory of Paria. The folded Cretaceous and Tertiary of the central and southern parts of Trinidad represent a continuation of the folded sedinlents of the Paria district of Venezuela. Possible Oil-bearing Areas The volcanic islands of the inner arc of the Lesser Antilles may be excluded from consideration; these include Saba, St. Kitts, Nevis,

Jan 1, 1923

By Arthur H. Redfield

The West Indies are the summits of a submerged mountain chain, the continuation of which must be sought in the mountains of central Honduras. In Haiti, the chain divides, one branch passing through Jamaica and the other through Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and the Misteriosa bank. Suess divides the West Indies into three zones: The first zone is entirely of volcanic origin and includes many recent volcanic cones. It includes the arcuate string of islands, which extends from Saba and St. Kitts to the Grenadines and Grenada. The western half of Guadeloupe belongs to this group. The second zone consists of a geanticline, of which the sedimentary rocks range from the Jurassic to the Quaternary, but consist chiefly of Lower Tertiary sediments. In the west it is broad, including the whole of the Greater Antilles; but in the east it is restricted to a narrow belt, which includes the Virgin Islands (except Anegada), Anguilla, St. Bartholomew, Antigua, the eastern part of Guadeloupe and part of Barbados. The islands that compose the third zone are flat and low. Like the second, this zone is broad in the west and narrow in the east; it includes the Bahamas, Anegada, Sombrero, Barbuda, and part of Barbados. Geologically, Florida and the plain of Yucatan may be regarded as belonging to it. Trinidad and Tobago, though geographically adjacent to the Lesser Antilles, are geologically a detached part of the South American continent. The crystalline complexes of northern Trinidad and of Barbados are a continuation, en echelon, of the crystalline axis of the promontory of Paria. The folded Cretaceous and Tertiary of the central and southern parts of Trinidad represent a continuation of the folded sedinlents of the Paria district of Venezuela. Possible Oil-bearing Areas The volcanic islands of the inner arc of the Lesser Antilles may be excluded from consideration; these include Saba, St. Kitts, Nevis,

Jan 1, 1923

By Lyall, Zickrick

As a result of the studies on recrystallization and crystal growth made in this laboratory, certain theories have been developed. These are expressed briefly in a paper by Dean and Hudson.' One of the principal points brought out in that paper is that in the deformation of a crystal, the energy supplied is distributed to the atoms of the lattice, probably by the forced formation of molecules. It is found that a Maxwellian distribution of the energy among these atoms will account for the grain growth at various temperatures. According to such a distribution the number of atoms with energy above a certain critical value, E, necessary for recrystallization at the absolute temperature T is given by n = Ne-E/kT where N is the total number of atoms. It is apparent that if this line of reasoning is correct, a metal which has been cold-worked and reheated to a temperature below that of complete annealing will have the atoms with the higher energy recrystallized, that is, reduced to normal energy and there will remain only atoms below a certain energy. If this metal is again cold-worked the peak in the number-energy distribution curve will, as compaied with its position after the first cold-working, be displaced toward the regions of lower energies, that is, the temperature of recrystallization will be higher. By a repetition of this process the position of this maximum and hence the recrystallization temperature of the metal could be raised considerably. In order to check this theory, experiments have been made on copper wire. The wire was drawn from 1/4-in. rod to 22 B & S gage and then sample lots were annealed at 400 and 220° C., respectively. The wire annealed at 400° C. gave an elongation of 34 per cent., whereas that annealed at 220° C. gave only 23 per cent. These wires were then drawn by identical practice to 34 B & S gage and the elongation determined after an anneal of 3 min. in an oil bath held at various temperatures. The figures obtained have been plotted in Fig. 1. It will be seen that the

Jan 1, 1927

By Eric J. Jette, Frank Foote

The unusual physical, electrical and magnetic properties of the iron-nickel alloys has given rise to a voluminous literature. This work will be reviewed critically in "The Alloys of Iron and Nickel," a monograph of the Alloys of Iron Research Series, soon to be published. In what follows we shall therefore confine ourselves to those of the earlier investigations that involved the use of X-ray crystal-structure methods. The earliest X-ray work on the iron-nickel system was by Miss Andrewsl. Using the powder method of X-ray analysis purely as a means of identifying the phases present, she located a region between 20 and 30 weight per cent nickel in which body-centered and face-centered phases coexisted. No lattice constants nor details of heat-treatment were reported. Bain2 also reported some qualitative observations. McKeehan3 made a systematic investigation over the whole of the system, giving many of his alloys four and some five different heat-treatments. In alloys furnace-cooled from 900' to 950' C. he found two coexisting phases between 0.15 and 30 per cent nickel. The precision of the lattice-constant measurements was low in comparison with what can be obtained today. Even for alloys of the same heat-treatment, differences in the constants were often between two and ten parts per thousand. In regions where no change of lattice constant with heat-treatment should occur, differences of the same order of magnitude were found. Since the maximum change in the lattice constant of nickel with change of composition is only about 2 per cent of the constant for pure nickel, these variations in the constants for a given alloy cause the points to "scatter" badly about any curve that may be drawn to represent them and it is difficult to interpret such results. In spite of this, McKeehan shows that the lattice constant of nickel increased as the iron content increased. His results for the alpha-iron phase are less conclusive. Osawa4 also investigated the entire system. For alloys slowly cooled from 1150' C. and then filed into samples for X-ray analysis, he found

Jan 1, 1936