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By Paul D. Merica

Jan 1, 1937

Coal Division Mineral Industry Education Division Industrial Minerals Division Minerals Beneficiation Division Mineral Economics Division Mining, Geology and Geophysics Division Council R C Stephenson, Chairman (Ind Min Div), M D Cooper (Coal), H F Yancey (Coal), S D Michaelson (MBD), Will Mitchell, Jr (MBD), J R Van Pelt, Jr (MIED), S S Cole (Ind Min Div), J D Forrester (MGGD), L E Shaffer (MIED), E L Clark (MGGD), C W Merrill (MED), E H Robie, Acting Secretary, 29 West 39 Street, New York 18, New York

Jan 1, 1955

By Joseph E. Pogue

The outstanding features of 1926 in the petroleum industry included the following: 1. Stocks of all oils (crude and refined) were reduced, making the first annual decline since 1918. 2. Domestic crude oil production increased steadily during the last 11 months of the year, accelerating during the fourth quarter, and ending the year at the highest level ever attained. 3. Three new major oil fields were developed—Panhandle, Spindle-top and Seminole. 4. Important advances were registered in production technique, tending to retard the declines of old wells and to maintain the flush periods of new wells. 5. The problem of gaining greater economic control of production through unit operations and gas conservation received growing recognition by the industry and the Federal Oil Conservation Board. 6. The rate of drilling was sharply increased during the second quarter of the year and suffered only a very slight retardation during the closing months. 7. The runs of crude oil to stills were maintained above normal throughout the year and underwent acceleration during the fourth quarter. 8. The gasoline situation was marked by a continuous and substantial increase in the rate of production of cracked gasoline, and by an improvement in the statistical position of the commodity. 9. Prices of both crude petroleum and its principal derivatives were characterized by more profitable levels and greater stability than for a number of years past; and, while showing declines during the fourth quarter, prices did not recede sufficiently to slow down materially either drilling or refinery operations. Change in Stocks The keynote of 1926 was a reduction in stocks of all oils to the extent of approximately 24,000,000 bbl., or 4.4 per cent., of which roundly

Jan 1, 1927

By D. L. Ritter, N. J. Grant, B. C. Giessen

The crystal structures of eight of the nine intermediate phases in the Nb-Rh system were investigated by X-ray techniques. The following structures occur: a,Nb3Rh (Cr3O type);o(ofe - cr type) (H.T. phase, structure unknown); Q2 (AuCU type); a, (orthorhombic, analogous to a,, (Ta-Rh)); a (AuCd type); a,, (monoclinic, related to samarium type); a-8 (VCo3 type); a, NbRh, (AuCu, type). Structural relationships between the six close-packed intermediate phases are discussed and a comparison with the Nb-Ir, Ta-Rh, and Ta-Ir systems is made. In the Nb-Rh phase diagram,' nine intermediate phases were encountered. In order to understand the phase sequence in the diagram and to be able to plot atomic volumes, several unknown crystal structures had to be worked out. These and the evi-

Jan 1, 1964

By E. H. Jr. Dix

THE work of Merica1 and other investigators indicates that the phenomenon of age-hardening in. alloys of the duralumin type is primarily dependent upon the variation in the solubility of copper with temperature. In addition to copper, however, these alloys contain small amounts of magnesium, silicon, manganese and iron, which may affect the age-hardening either directly or indirectly. The effect of these elements on the solubility of copper and on the manner in which this solubility varies with the temperature is of considerable interest, therefore. The effect of magnesium is of especial interest because apparently it exerts a marked effect on the natural or room-temperature aging of alloys of the type described.2 A series of investigations3 has been in progress in the research laboratories of the Aluminum. Company of America to determine the functions

Jan 1, 1932

By P. C. Hodges

While there is very little romance connected with the operation of a stone quarry, yet to those who have participated in the growth and development of a business that has been a pioneer in its field and that has been in continual operation two-thirds of a century there is bound to be a background of experience, which if properly capitalized, brings progress as well as satisfaction in its accomplishment. The simple methods of drilling and blasting limestone and loading on to railroad cars everything that remained on a stone fork and leaving

Jan 1, 1936

By P. C. Hodges

While there is very little romance connected with the operation of a stone quarry, yet to those who have participated in the growth and development of a business that has been a pioneer in its field and that has been in continual operation two-thirds of a century there is bound to be a background of experience, which if properly capitalized, brings progress as well as satisfaction in its accomplishment. The simple methods of drilling and blasting limestone and loading on to railroad cars everything that remained on a stone fork and leaving

Jan 1, 1936

By H. M. Chance

The great outspread of the coal measures over portions of thirtyone of the sixty-seven counties of Pennsylvania, and the large number of workable seamy comprising the coal series,—together with some workable seams lately shown to belong to the (so-called) barren measures,—-create the impression that these fields contain a practically inexhaustible supply of fucl, and those who have estimated or attempted to estimate their available tonnage have generally promulgated this view. But the actual total contents of this coal-field is of no importance to us at present; calculations including all seams, whether thick enough to mine or not, whether pure enough to furnish a marketable fuel or not, whether accessible at reasonable depth or not, are of no practical value. As coal producers, we are interested not in the total contents, but in the total amount of easily accessible coal of good quality contained in beds thick enough for remunerative mining. The estimates contained in this payer refer exclusively to workable and accessible coal of commercial value,—we may call it available" coal. I am not aware that any one has as yet attempted to estimate in

Jan 1, 1882

By H. M. Chance

THE great outspread of the coal measures over portions of thirty-one of the sixty-seven counties Of Pennsylvania, and the large number of workable seams comprising the coal series, together with some workable seams lately shown to belong to the (so-called) barren measures, create the impression that these fields contain a practically inexhaustible supply of fuel, and those who have estimated or attempted to estimate their available tonnage have generally promulgated this view. But the actual total contents of this coal-field is of no importance to us at present; calculations including all seams, whether thick enough to mine or not, whether pure enough to furnish a marketable fuel or not, whether accessible at reasonable depth or not, are of no practical value. As coal producers, we are interested not in the total contents, but in the total amount of easily accessible coal of good quality con-tained in beds thick enough for remunerative mining. The estimates contained in this paper refer exclusively to workable and accessible coal of commercial value, we may call it "available" coral. I am not aware, that any one has as yet attempted to estimate in

Jan 1, 1882

By W. A. Oates, J. A. Lambert, P. T. GaIIagher

Monte Carlo methods have been used to compute the arrangements of interstitial atoms dissolved in tetrahedral sites in bcc lattices. It is assumed that the presence of an interstitial atom "blocks " a certain number of neighboring sites and prevents their occupancy. Sites "blocked" by more than one filled site are allowed for. The computed values of. the mean occupation number (defined as the ratio of the total number of sites blocked to the number of solute atoms are used to calculate the configurational entropies of the solutions. These entropies are compared with those resulting from previous theoretical studies of this problem and also with available experin~ental data for the p Zr-H, Nb-H, V-H, and Ta-H systems. Evidence is also given that the "blocking" explanation of low limiting compositions in these systems, rather than this being due to initial limitations on the number of sites available, is probably correct. THE ideal partial configurational entropy of mixing of an interstitial solute in a metal is given by: where p is the number of interstitial sites per metal atom and Xi is the atomic fraction of the interstitial. For the bcc lattice. which we shall be concerned with in this paper, the interstitial positions are shown in Fig. 1. It can be seen that for the tetrahedral sites, p=6. whereas for the octahedral sites, p = 3. Different emphasis has been placed on the relative importance of energy and entropy effects in determining deviations from ideality in interstitial solid solutions. In some cases the same system, e.g., Fe-C, has been described by the contradictory regular and athermal solution models indicating that the enthalpy and entropy functions, derived from equilibrium data, are frequently not accu.rate enough to differentiate between these treatments. However, for certain metal-hydrogen solutions the equilibrium data is available over sufficiently wide ranges of temperature and composition to permit a reasonably accurate determination of the compositional variation of the heats and entropies. Hoch&apos; has attempted to interpret the results of interstitial solid solutions in terms of a regular solution model. In the case of the Ta-H system where 13 = 6, this model entails fitting the experimental relative partial entropies of solution, asH, to the equation: where ASgs is the relative partial excess entropy of solution of hydrogen. Hoch found that the results of Mallett and Koeh1 could be fitted to this equation with an approximately constant value of AF up to XH = 0.25. However, it is apparent from the solubility isotherms in this system which become asymptotic to the composition TaH that, since (Xh /6 - ~Xh ) becomes infinite only at TaH6, it is necessary that AS<&apos; tends to infinity at TaH. In other words, the low saturation composition of TaH, instead of the anticipated TaH,, eliminates the possibility of applying regular solution theory to such systems. Rather large negative excess configurational entropies must exist at higher hydrogen concentrations in order to explain the lower saturation values. To account for these low limiting compositions and excess entropies two distinctly different approaches have been followed. Rees and many others1-l2 have assumed that not all interstitial sites are crystallographically equivalent with respect to the interstitial addition; that is, in Eq. [I] p is less than the value anticipated from geometrical considerations. To describe, say, a bcc metal-hydrogen system with a limiting composition of MH by this approach one would consider that p = 1 in the first instance instead of p = 6.&apos;j3 In some cases, nonintegral values of B have been taken in order to improve the fit with the experimental data over limited ranges of composition. The other approach which has been used to explain the low saturation compositions is to assume that, although all sites are available for occupancy, strong repulsive interactions exist between the neighboring interstitial atoms, and hence occupancy of any site excludes or blocks a certain number of neighboring sites from being occupied. Earliest treatments of this concept considered the exclusion of an integral number, of nearest-neighbor sites from being occupied at all concentrations. In this case, the partial configurational entropy is given by: These early treatments failed to allow for the overlap of the blocked sites which will arise at all but the very lowest concentrations. More recently attempts have been made to calculate the effect of this decrease in the number of blocked sites on the configurational entropy. Using the quasichemical treatment of interstitial solid solutions as given by Lacher and assuming that an infinite repulsive interaction energy existed between the solute atoms. atom obtained an approximate configurational entropy applicable to the blocking with overlap case:

Jan 1, 1970

THE problem of reaction rates in the open-hearth process is essentially that of trying to form a fairly clear picture of the "chemical mechanisms" in the bath. Quantitative data on reaction rates would perhaps not be of much practical importance even if they were available; however, what few approximate data there are can be used in combination with data given in Chapters 16 and 17 to sketch a picture of the "chemical mechanics" of the open-hearth process that is consistent with essentially all the present available evidence. The result may later be found incorrect in many details but even so it will illustrate certain useful methods for obtaining a clearer understanding of the process. Consistent with the treatment in Chapter 15, but in simpler terms, we may say that chemical reactions in general involve the following elements or steps: 1. The reacting molecules are mixed together in space in such fashion as to favor collisions among them. 2. Units of what is usually an intermediate molecular arrangement called an activated complex are formed at a certain rate, depending on temperature and concentrations. 3. These activated complex units decompose into the reaction products (this step usually assumed to be so rapid as never to limit the over-all process). 4. In any of these steps, heat energy may have to flow into, or away from, the reaction zone to permit the reaction to proceed. 5. The products of reaction will usually have to move out of the way to permit further reaction. The temperature factor enters mainly through step 2, and its effect is very marked. (What is called temperature is really the mean energy content of all the molecules of the substance involved; at any one temperature a certain proportion of the moleculea will have much higher energy content than the mean value.) Various reaction rates measured at around room tem-

Jan 1, 1951

By R. D. Parker

LARGEST of any hoist installation ever manufactured in Canada is that being erected at No. 5 shaft, Creighton mine, of the Inter- national Nickel Company of Canada, Limited. It is a bicylindrical conical- drum hoist with the drums arranged in tandem, and driven by two direct- current motors through single reduction gearing. This hoist was designed by the Canadian Allis-Chalmers, Limited and manufactured at their works in Lachine, Quebec.

Jan 1, 1936

By S. F. Frederick, W. A. Bailey

The relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of cast 356-type aluminum alloys was studied to determine the cause of the variations in properties resulting from differences in solidification rate. It was found that variations in strength are a consequence of variations in ductility and that ductility is inversely proportional to the dendrite cell size. A mechanism is proposed to account for this correlation based on the fracture strain of the inter-dendritic silicon particles and the differential strain across dendrite cell boundaries. IT has long been assumed that permanent mold castings of aluminum are superior to sand castings because of their finer grain structure and reduced porosity.&apos; A systematic variation of static properties was noted during unpublished studies of fatigue-strength variations with solidification rate of A356-T6. Of particular interest was the observation that for a given composition and heat-treatment, both ductility and the ultimate strength increased with higher solidification rate. Because the A1-Si system forms the basis of many alloys used for castings and welding wire, a study was initiated to determine the details of how higher cooling rates improved mechanical properties of these alloys. The results of this study are presented here. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Specimens were prepared from 356-T6 to supplement the A365-T6 alloy data from earlier studies. This allowed a comparison of behavior of alloys with substantially different strengths but with only small differences in alloy composition. The composition and heat treatment of both alloys are given in Table I. The specimens were cut from a chill plate casting,&apos; which is a 6 by 9-in. plate, 1 in. thick, which has one end heavily chilled, and a large riser at the other so that solidification is essentially unidirectional from the chill end to the riser. Although not measured here, solidification times measured on similar specimens by embedded thermocouples are a few seconds at the chill end and up to 5 min near the riser. Specimens were obtained by cutting slabs from the plate, parallel to the chill; these represented different cooling rates, with essentially the same composition. For the tests, either 0.125 or 0.250-in. thick slabs were cut for standard 2-in. gage length specimens. The thicker specimens were tested to failure at 2000 lb per min while the thinner specimens were tested in an Instron machine at a constant cross-head speed of 0.02 in. per min. These thin specimens were intended for trans- mission electron microscopy. Some thin specimens were tested to failure while the remainder were given various amounts of prestrain. Dendrite cell sizes were measured by the linear intercept method on photomicrographs at either X100 or X50, depending on the cell size. It was assumed that the dendrite cells were outlined by the silicon particles. Determinations were made on two mutually perpendicular planes and an rms average taken. Electron fractographs of representative tensile specimens were made in the conventional manner using the two-stage replica technique.3 Samples for transmission electron microscopy were prepared by chemical milling followed by electropolishing. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The results of the tensile tests and the dendrite cell-size determinations are given in Figs. 1 and 2. All data show the same trends, namely, a decrease in ultimate strength and elongation with increasing distance from the chill (and solidification time), and a corresponding increase in dendrite cell size. The yield strength remains essentially constant. The constancy of the yield strength was particularly significant since it indicated that variation in the solidification rate does not affect the stress required to initiate plastic flow. By plotting true stress-true strain curves as in Fig. 3, it can be seen that both

Jan 1, 1969

By H. H. Alexander

PRIOR to 1915, numerous attempts were made to treat tin concentrates in the United States, but for various reasons they were unsuccessful. Tin ore is said to have been found in nearly every state, but none of the deposits have proved to be of commercial importance. The only domestic production is in Alaska, but only a few hundred tons annually have been produced; hence any considerable production of tin in the United States must be from foreign ores. The most promising occurrence of tin was found in the Black Hills, S. Dak.; in the early development stage, it was called the Cornwall of America. Associated with the tin is tungsten. The story is told that an exceedingly fine specimen of the Black Hills ore was sent to England to encourage stock promotion; the desired effect was produced until a skeptic chipped off a small piece, which the analysis showed to be wolframite. FIRST ATTEMPTS AT SMELTING One of the first promising attempts at tin smelting in the United States was made by R. T. White at Bayonne, N. J., in 1903. Mr. White, after spending some time in England studying the methods of tin smelting, organized a company called the International Tin Co., and erected a plant to treat tin concentrates from the Straits of Malacca. About the time the plant was completed, the English Government placed an export duty of 40, per cent. ad valorem on tin .concentrates exported to other than British smelters, which duty made it impossible to operate this plant so the enterprise was abandoned. As this export duty is still effective, the only source of tin-ore supply for &apos;the United States is the Bolivian concentrates.

Jan 3, 1924

By Charles Meyer, Reno H. Sales

AT Butte, successive zones of sericitized and argillized quartz monzonite occur around every ore-bearing fracture regardless of its size, attitude, or relative age. The two types of alteration always occupy the same relative positions; sericite adjacent to the ore-bearing vein, clay minerals always between the sericitized rock and fresh quartz monzonite, except where overlap of alteration effects between adjacent fissures has eliminated the lower grade mineralogical products, as is the case in much of Butte&apos;s Central zone of pervasive sericitization. As long as active circulation continued in the channel, each zone migrated away from the fissure, that is, it grew at its outer edge and simultaneously receded at its veinward edge because of encroachment by the next innermost zone. The different mineralogical and chemical responses within the wall rocks to the attack by the ore fluid are dependent not on a drastic about-face change of composition of the fluid in the channel relative to its ability to alter the quartz monzonite but on continuously varying conditions of physico-chemical environment within the wall rock outwardly from the vein.

Jan 1, 1947

By M. L. Fuller

IN connection with an investigation in this laboratory on the high-zinc side of the copper-zinc system, it was observed that well developed segre-gate structures of the Widmanstätten type were formed when a secondary phase precipitated from the solid solution of copper in zinc. This paper presents an analysis of the crystallographic relationship between the segregate and the solid solution matrix. The data to be presented are an interesting addition to the literature on segregate structures in that the plane of segregation is one of the less densely populated planes. In agreement with the generalization of C. H. Mathewson and D. W. Smith1 the plane of segregation in the matrix con-tains the direction of closest atomic packing of the lattice. Furthermore, the matrix and the segregate are both hexagonal close-packed, which has not been reported hitherto in the literature.2 The increasing com-mercial importance of zinc alloys containing copper makes this funda-mental study of value to the metallography of zinc alloys.

Jan 1, 1933

The mountains of Utah contain one of the largest deposits of high grade bituminous coal in the world. According to the United States Geological Survey, there are 13,130 square miles of land known to contain workable coal, and these extensive fields contain 196,000,000,000 tons of coal. More remarkable than the extent of the coal fields is the thickness of the coal beds. Over three-fourths of the output of coal in Utah is recovered from beds ranging from 8 to 17 feet in thickness, as com- pared to one-eighth of the output of the entire country from such beds. In 1917, Utah mined one-third of its coal from seams at least 16 feet thick, compared to one-half of one per cent of the total bituminous output of the country from like seams. Coal at Wales, in Sanpete county, and in the vicinity of Coalville, Utah, was, it is reported, the first discovered by white men in the state. Wales claims the distinction of having produced the first coal mined in Utah. Two men, who had been coal miners in Wales, learned of the coal from an old Indian chief who called it "rock that would burn." In 1857, the town of Wales was founded and coal mined, and in 1858 some coke was manufactured and hauled by ox team to Salt Lake City. South of Wales is Castle Valley, in Wasatch Plateau field. From 50 to 60 miles of the old Spanish Trail from Santa Fe. New Mexico, to Monterey, California, lies in Castle Valley. The coal in this field may or may not have been known at the time the trail was used extensively. The first published reference to this coal, however, was made by a party of the Corps of Topographic Engineers in their journal for October 11, 1853.

Jan 1, 1925

By J. J. Gilman

THEORIES of fracture in metals have been based primarily on the dependence of fracture strength on grain size. This dependence was first observed by Masing and Polanyi.l These workers, as well as 0rowan12 and Davidenkov and Wittman,&apos; thought the grain size could be equated with the crack size in the Griffith condition for crack propagation.4 In this way they could account for the observed proportionality between fracture stress and the reciprocal square root of the grain size. The chief results of recent investigations of the fracture strength of polycrystals are summarized in Fig. 1. Low for iron,5 Petch for iron,&apos; Greenwood and Quarrel for zinc, Petch and Zein for zinc,&apos; and Hauser, Landon, and Dorn for magnesium&apos;&apos; have all found that the fracture stress of a polycrystal is proportional to the reciprocal square root of the grain size. Also, they find that, for large grain sizes, the fracture stress lies near the extrapolation of the yield-stress curve determined at small grain sizes; where measurable plastic strain precedes fracture. Low9 has gone a step further and shown that, in Range 1, the fracture stress in tension is almost identical to the yield stress in compression for a given grain size. Homes and Gouzou, 10 and Low also have shown that, in Range 2 of Fig. 1, microcracks form when the yield stress is reached, but they do not cause failure until the stress reaches a much higher value. The fact that yielding always precedes fracture suggests that fracture is induced by plastic flow. A mechanism by which this might occur was first proposed by Zener.11 He pointed out that blocked dislocations would cause stress concentrations which might cause fracture. The blocking would be caused by grain boundaries. This idea has been developed by Eshelby, Frank, and Nabarro,12 by Koehler,13 and by Stroh.14 By means of etchpits blocked dislocations have been observed in brass by Jacquet,15 in zinc by Gilman,16 and in lithium fluoride by Gilman and johnston. The blocked-dislocation theory and the experiments that bear on it have been summarized by Mott.18 One of the strong points of the blocked-dislocation theory is that it can explain the grain-size dependence of the fracture stress in a natural way. However, Low9 has pointed out that the theory is not satisfying when it is considered quantitatively. Gilman10 also has criticized the theory and presented an alternative interpretation of the relation between fracture stress and grain size. Since the blocked-dislocation theory is not the only theory that can explain in the grain-size effect, it is necessary to find other evidence either to support or deny it. In this investigation the following points were studied: 1) If blocked dislocations normally cause fracture, then the fracture stress ought to be very high in the absence of plastic glide. Is it? 2) If dislocations must be blocked in order for metals to fracture, then certain types of grain

Jan 1, 1959

By A. T. Yu

The energy crisis and the resurgence of mining activities highlighted 1972-73. Added to the impetus for more effective materials handling systems has been the continued upward trend of inflation and labor costs. The need for addressing the fundamentals has led to the trend toward an overall systems approach to materials handling problems.1 The decision to move forward with large mining ventures such as the $150 million Hibbing taconite comple2 and the immense Carajas iron project must base themselves on indepth studies of a host of factors viewed in the context of an integral mine-transport-market system. What&apos;s important is that each ton of pellet or ore must be an economical commodity at the end users&apos; furnace. The project can still be viaable even if certain components in the entire network appear to be individually costly.

Jan 2, 1974

By C. F. Jr. Nagel

THIS paper is written primarily for those who are familiar with the processes mentioned but who desire a further insight into some of the fundamental principles. It does not give a complete description of the various practices employed in the working of aluminum and its alloys, but presents a few illustrations of the essential respects in which aluminum differs from other common metals, and emphasizes the controlling factors of the processes under consideration. HEAT TREATING Certain aluminum alloys are capable of having their mechanical properties greatly altered by a heat-treatment process. The degree of this improvement may be illustrated by the typical properties of duralumin (Table 1). It is essential that the material be in the wrought condition in order to obtain maximum heat-treatment effects.

Jan 1, 1927