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By Leroy U. Gardner

EVERY reader of this paper is well aware of the fact that the prolonged inhalation of large amounts of free silica dust results in fibrosis of the lungs, and that other inorganic dusts, except those of asbestos and the mineral poisons, are thought to be relatively harmless. But probably few have had opportunity to visualize the effects of silica, asbestos and other minerals upon living tissues. The ideal demonstration would be based upon sections of lungs from human beings that had inhaled com- parable concentrations of different dusts for a unit period of time. Such material is generally difficult to obtain and in some instances is of questionable value because the subject has been exposed to more than one kind of dust. A demonstration could be prepared from the lungs of animals. However, so many months or even years are required to complete the exposure to each kind of dust that enough material has not been accumulated. For a general survey of the action of different types of dust, I am therefore compelled to use the tissues of animals that have been injected with suspensions of dust particles. The injection method offers certain advantages. The quantity, the particle size and the state of dispersion can be controlled with sufficient accuracy so that the tissue responses to different minerals can be accurately compared. The method insures contact between the tissues and the mineral particles; protective mechanisms, which may prevent the inhalation of certain types of foreign body, never come into play. If the pathway of injection be one that minimizes nonspecific injury, the tissue responses may simulate those produced by inhalation but they develop somewhat more rapidly. It should always be remembered that injection methods merely demonstrate the capacity of various kinds of minerals to provoke reaction in the tissues; whether the same substances are inhaled from atmospheric suspension and accumulate in the lungs in dangerous quantities can be demonstrated only by inhalation. The reactions that I shall discuss first took place not in the lungs but in the liver. For the purpose in hand this is quite immaterial for we are merely seeking to discover whether these minerals are capable of produc-

Jan 1, 1938

By Theodore A. Blake

At the Chicago meeting of the Institute, May, 1884,I had the pleasure of announcing the introduction of a new machine for fine crushing, or The Blake multiple-jaw crusher, which, in combina tion with the ordinary Blake breaker, could be used in the reduc tion of ores or any hard and brittle substance to almost any degree of fineness. I am now able to give some practical results derived from its use on an extensive scale, on the gold ores of South Caro lina and the iron ores of Lake Champlain, together with some accurate and detailed statistics of the cost of crushing over one hundred thousand long tons of magnetic iron ores of the Chateaugay Ore and Iron Company at Lyon Mountain, Clinton County, N. Y., about thirty miles west of Plattsburgh. The construction of the multiple jaw-crusher, since the date of my first paper, is the same, except in the substitution of main swinging, instead of main sliding, or toggle jaw,—thus doing away with the upward thrust on the tension rods and the wear incident thereunto. (See Fig. 1.) It has also been found, in case of the fine crusher, that is, in machines of not over 4 inch width of opening, that the use of several small machines with a series of jaw openings, say 15 inches by 4 inch, is better than one large machine with a series of openings 24 by 4 inch, or 36 inches by 4 inch, as at first constructed. Many details of the method of holding in jaw-plates, etc., have been perfected. Without giving any details with respect to the different mills built upon the Blake 'system, let me state that, although it has proved possible to carry any hard and brittle material with crushers alone to a fineness such that all particles will pass a 30-mesh wire screen, still the economical limit of such crushing will be found somewhere between 14 and 20. If it is necessary to carry all the material to a fineness greater than this, the system must be supple

Jan 1, 1888

HAVING already shown you the methods of making the moulds for casting and how they are to be prepared so that they may receive the melted metals well, it is now necessary, in order to complete the casting with perfection, that I show you not only the operations and instruments by which metals are softened, but also how metals can be made as liquid and fluid as water so they may easily enter into all the hollows of the moulds that you have made. Of these, besides the fire which is the prime agent, there is a very powerful furnace, which is called a reverberator.* I believe this is chosen not only for convenience but also because it is necessary in large casts. This is made of baked bricks, or of crude ones if desired or of suitable fire-resistant stones. Although all masters have the same objective, each one proceeds to make this kind of furnace according to his own ideas so that it can be said that there are almost as many different shapes of such furnaces as there are masters. This can be seen in the place that contains the metal, which is of such a shape that the force of the fire may operate better. Thus some masters are called good who, seeing no farther than what has been shown them, make them circular like a bread oven. Some others make them oval across the fire en- trance, while others extend them lengthwise. Also, there are some who make a single outlet for the flames, some two, and some three. Some make the entrance for the fire high and narrow and others, wide and low. The same is true of the place where the flames are generated, which is called the firebox. Some put the wood in from the side, some lengthwise in the same direction as the entrance for the flames, and some from above by means of a little hole. Also, one makes the vault low, and another makes it high. And while one puts an entrance for air underneath so that the

Jan 1, 1942

Discussion of the paper of GEORGE S. RICE and H. H. CLARK, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 94, October, 1914, pp. 2563 to 2571. NORMAN V. BRETH,* Pittsburgh, Pa.-It was my privilege to visit in the last two months on behalf of the U. S. Bureau of Mines 10 mines where electric shot-firing systems controlled from outside the mine are installed. I will describe briefly what I saw in some of these mines, which are located in Utah, New. Mexico, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Kansas. At a mine in Utah, 230-volt alternating current is used to fire the shots, which is taken from a small transformer in the substation. The shot-iring circuit is independent of all other wires and is tested for grounds every day. There are no lightning arresters on the firing circuit. Porcelain insulators are used inside of the mine, and glass outside. The switches are situated as follows: One in the substation, one in, the shot-firer's cabin, two at each cross entry; where the shot-firing circuit crosses the trolley wire a switch is placed on either side of the entry in series with the shot-firing circuit. The miners are checked in and out of the mine. The coal is undercut and is shot down with permissible explosive, the shots being connected in multiple. There are 75 to 110 shots fired each day. A great many times there are no missed shots. If not more than two or three are missed they are left until next day. The fan is kept running at full speed when the shots are fired. The shot-firing switch is closed only once and the whole mine is shot at once. At another mine in Utah, power wires are used for shot-firing circuits; 500-volt, direct current is used to fire the shots. The only sizes of wire used outside of the power wires are Nos. 8 and 14 B. & S. gauge. The return is connected to the pipe lines and track. Porcelain insulators are. used inside of the mine.

Jan 4, 1915

By William H. Shockley

[Secretary's Note.—The following notes, arranged and edited in this office, but not yet revised by the author, were placed at my disposal with much modest hesitation (due to their incomplete and fragmentary character), upon my earnest request, and my argument that such recent and trustworthy data concerning a new and important mining industry ought not to be withheld from our Transactions, simply because they are not sufficient to constitute a complete academic treatise on the subject. This argument is recommended to the attention of many other members, who are waiting for the opportunity to contribute something "monumental" to our Transaclions. In a number of instances, death has nullified this ambition, and the intended "monumental " contribution has turned out to be an obituary notice by the Secretary, instead of a valuable record of the professional experieuce thus hopelessly lost to the world.—R. W. H.] The official publications of the Russian Government give fairly complete statistics of the dredges operated in the Empire; and in a recent English bluebook, Mr. Cook's report on Siberian Trade presents a brief account of dredging in Siberia. The data in Table I. (not given by Mr. Cook) have been taken from the Gold Mining Messenger (Russian) for July, 1905. These interesting statistics, though incomplete, show that the Yenisei dredges are working on poor ground and yield small returns. According to report, but few yield a profit exceeding 10 per cent. per annum on the capital invested. In the summers of 1904 and 1905, I traveled in the Urals as far north as lat. 61° N., long. 61" E., on the Losva river, a part of the vast system of the Ob river. This clear-water stream starts from the summits of the Urals at an altitude of 4,000 ft., and flows through a flat country, densely wooded with larch, spruce, pine, fir, birch and poplar. The river is full offish, and is navigable for good-sized steamers as far as Ivdell. Winter lasts from early November to late April, the temperature ranging from -60" F. to a summer maximum of 90° F. The rainfall is 20 in. The climate is healthy, although mosquitoes,

Jan 1, 1907

By Orson Cutler Shepard

The term "electrocapillary amalgamation" is used in this paper to designate amalgamation processes that depend upon electrocapillary phenomenon; i.e., the action of an electric current upon the surface tension of mercury at the contact with aqueous solutions. Electro-capillary amalgamation is selected as a name for these processes because the electrocapillary phenomenon has been found to be the effective agent in the use of sodium amalgam, as well as in the various processes using an electric current from a source outside of the amalgam. Amalgamation processes that depend upon supplying an electric current to the amalgam from an outside source, such as batteries and generators, have previously been called electrical amalgamation processes. There has been a tremendous amount of experimental work done on amalgamation processes involving the use of an electric current, as shown by the large number of patents issued on these processes: the earliest in 1885 and the latest in 1934l. Regardless of all the experimental work, the fundamental principles causing the operation of electrocapillary amalgamation processes have not been described. The explanation usually given is that an electric current keeps the amalgam bright and clean. Patent No. 328532 states: It is well known that when amalgam plates are used for collecting gold and silver from their ores the surfaces of these plates are liable to become tarnished or sickened by certain substances contained in the ores or in the current of water which is employed to carry the ore over the plates, and that in this condition they are unfitted for amalgamating the particles of gold and silver. To prevent this and to keep the surfaces of the amalgamation plates always bright and in a better condition for catching and amalgamating the particles of gold and silver I employ electricity in the following manner: . . . A similar explanation is given 49 years later, in patent No. 1953364: The sodium (Na) ions lose their charge at the cathode becoming sodium atoms, which do not react with the electrolyte, but follow the grounded electrical current through the mercury body producing in their passage sodium amalgam and liberate themselves in the amalgamation compartment when brought in contact with the fed

Jan 1, 1939

By Orson Cutler Shepard

The term "electrocapillary amalgamation" is used in this paper to designate amalgamation processes that depend upon electrocapillary phenomenon; i.e., the action of an electric current upon the surface tension of mercury at the contact with aqueous solutions. Electro-capillary amalgamation is selected as a name for these processes because the electrocapillary phenomenon has been found to be the effective agent in the use of sodium amalgam, as well as in the various processes using an electric current from a source outside of the amalgam. Amalgamation processes that depend upon supplying an electric current to the amalgam from an outside source, such as batteries and generators, have previously been called electrical amalgamation processes. There has been a tremendous amount of experimental work done on amalgamation processes involving the use of an electric current, as shown by the large number of patents issued on these processes: the earliest in 1885 and the latest in 1934l. Regardless of all the experimental work, the fundamental principles causing the operation of electrocapillary amalgamation processes have not been described. The explanation usually given is that an electric current keeps the amalgam bright and clean. Patent No. 328532 states: It is well known that when amalgam plates are used for collecting gold and silver from their ores the surfaces of these plates are liable to become tarnished or sickened by certain substances contained in the ores or in the current of water which is employed to carry the ore over the plates, and that in this condition they are unfitted for amalgamating the particles of gold and silver. To prevent this and to keep the surfaces of the amalgamation plates always bright and in a better condition for catching and amalgamating the particles of gold and silver I employ electricity in the following manner: . . . A similar explanation is given 49 years later, in patent No. 1953364: The sodium (Na) ions lose their charge at the cathode becoming sodium atoms, which do not react with the electrolyte, but follow the grounded electrical current through the mercury body producing in their passage sodium amalgam and liberate themselves in the amalgamation compartment when brought in contact with the fed

Jan 1, 1939

By Gerald Edmunds, M. L. Fuller

The development of "fiber" or preferred orientations, during the plastic deformation of metals, and the relation of such structures to the anisotropic characteristics of worked metals has become a subject of common knowledge among metallurgists. Very little has been published, however, relative to variations existent throughout the cross-sections of rolled strips,1 and the influence that such variations may have. This paper presents such a study on a rolled zinc alloy.2 The significance of small differences in surface structure is shown in relation to bending properties. Experience with zinc and its alloys has shown that the outer radius of the bend, which is subject to tensile deformation, is the common region of failure. In considering relations of structural characteristics to bending properties it will suffice, therefore, to consider the ease and possible extent of tensile deformation resulting from various orientations. It is necessary in this connection to assume that on the average the individual crystals of a polycrystalline material act substantially as if their movements were unobstructed by the surrounding grains. This assumption is not strictly valid, but the error involved is unlikely to affect seriously the qualitative conclusions derived from its use. The mechanism of the plastic deformation of zinc crystals has been described by Mark, Polanyi and Schmid3 and by Mathewson and Phillips14 and is regarded as being accomplished by block movements or * Investigator, Rolling Mill Section, Research Division, New Jersey Zinc Co. f Investigator, X-ray Laboratory, Research Division, New .Jersey Zinc Co. 1 Variations of structure throughout the cross-section of wire have been reported in the literature. 2 This alloy contained, in addition to zinc, 1.0 per cent copper and 0.01 per cent magnesium. Its crystal form is hexagonal close packed, the sarne as that of pure zinc. 3 H. Mark, M. Polanyi and E. Schmid: Vorgange bei der Dehrlung von Zink-kristallen. Zlsch. f. Phys. (1922) 12, 58. 4 C, H. Mathewson and A. J. Phillips: Plastic Deformation of Coarse-grained Zinc. Proc. Inst. Met. Div., A. I. M. E. (1927) 143. C. H. Mathewson: Twinning in Metals. Proc. Inst. Met. Div., A. I. M. E. (1928) 7. The results of a further study of plastic deformation of zinc as related to twin-

Jan 1, 1932

By Roberts H. Richards

It is nearly twenty years since Dr. Raymond, then U. S. Commissioner of Mining Statistics, wrote the first paper (so far as I have been informed) upon the education of tile mining engineer, as a distinct profession for American youth. At that time nearly all the prominent mining engineers in the country had studied in one or more of the foreign schools, or had reached their high standing through years of experience in the school of life. The paper mentioned five schools in the United States in which some attention was paid to the teaching of mining engineering, but as four of them had barely graduated their first classes, their influence had not begun to make itself widely felt. Two years later the American Institute of Mining Engineers was formed, and it has been a most potent factor in the problem of "disseminating information on mining and metallurgical subjects," so potent that the need of a national school of mines as headquarters for information as well as for instruction is no longer urged. The number of schools also increased, and in 1876 Abram S. Hewitt, in his Presidential address on "A Century of Mining and Metallurgy in the United States,'' gave a list of fourteen. In 1876 the series of discussions, led by Holley's admirable paper, brought the whole subject of technical education before the country. These discussions, while mostly devoted to the engineering professions in general, touched upon the question of mining and metallurgicel training to some extent. Since that time several papers, inspired by the publication of that series of discussions, have appeared in our Transactions, and several notable addresses have been delivered at the opening or at the commencement exercises of various schools. But nothing directly bearing upon the curriculum of the mining and metallurgical schools has ever appeared in our annual volumes. As education is one of the many-sided subjects which cannot be discussed too often, I have ventured to bring it up again. There have been so many good things said upon the subject that one would only need to use the scissors and paste-brush judici

Jan 1, 1887

By Earl Bardwell

(Butte Meeting, August, 1913.) THE structural relations existing between cuprous oxide and copper were first systematically studied by Heyn1, who suggested that a study of the microstructure of refined copper might be substituted for the analytical methods in vogue for determining the oxygen content of copper coming .;from the refining furnace. Hofman, Green and Yerxa,2 in their paper A Laboratory Study of the Stages in the Refining of Copper, working along the lines suggested by Heyn, showed that a study off the microstructure could be made to yield a correct estimate of the oxygen content of the specimen of refined copper under examination. In order to determine the oxygen content of the specimen of refined copper under examination a photomicrograph was first made. From the relative areas of copper and eutectic, the percentage of cuprous oxide and the corresponding percentage of oxygen were then readily calculated. It was found that the values for oxygen thus obtained corresponded closely with the analytical results. With the idea of utilizing, this method of determining the oxygen content of each charge dipped from the refining furnaces at the Boston & Montana Reduction Plant, the physical testing laboratory was equipped with suitable apparatus for carrying out the work. It may be of interest to describe certain of the methods which have been worked out in, this connection and give such data as have been obtained bearing on the effect of the oxygen content of refined copper upon its conductivity.

Jan 7, 1913

By E. Gilpin

The following notes may serve to bring before your Institute an idea of the iron-ore resources of Pictou County. Enough work has been done to permit an estimate to be formed of their quality and probable extent. As yet the systematic mining and smelting of ironore in Nora Scotia is confined to the operations of the Steel Company of Canada, in Colchester County. Although the locality I am about to describe appears, in many respects, well adapted to iron smelting, etc., no attempts have yet been made to begin work. Nora Scotian capital is more readily turned to lumbering, fishing, and shipping ventures; and such an investment appears equally foreign to the rest of the Dominion. I need not, however, go further into this part of the subject, and can only hope that my notes may prove serviceable as indicating a probable field for future development. The accompanying map shows the position of the harbor of Pictou relative to the coal and iron-ore fields, and to the railways which intersect them. The branch of the Intercolonial Railway, running from Truro to Pictou, forms the western boundary of the iron-ore district, which extends beyond the point where the New Glasgow and Cape Breton Railway crosses the French River. The iron-ore district may be roughly described as a triangle formed by the ore-outcrops and the two railways, the former making the base, and the latter the sides of the triangle, the apex resting on the coal-field at New Glasgow. The drainage of the country is toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence, through the Middle, East, Sutherland's, and French rivers; and the surface is undulatory, seldom exceeding two hundred feet above the sea-level, except in the district lying between Glengarry and the upper waters of the French and Sutherland's rivers, where a maximum height of about five hundred feet is reached at several points. Geologically speaking, the district embraces two divisions, the Carboniferous and the Silurian, the latter resting on strata provisionally considered to be of pre-Cambrian age. As no geological

Jan 1, 1886

By Donald C. Barton

Geophysical methods of prospecting taken as a whole do not seem to offer much promise to a young man planning to enter them in the future. They have come to stay, to be sure, and they will continue in at least moderate use for a long time. Domestic use of those methods presumably is at a maximum at the present time. Geophysical prospecting is expensive; the effects of the law of diminishing returns in efficiency in finding prospects can already be recognized. Small oil companies, independent oil operators, and royalty buyers have been doing much geophysical work. But in face of the increasing costs of discovery of prospects and in face of the probably decreasing favorability of the prospects discovered, I expect to see a sharp drop in their use of geophysics within the next 10 years. The major oil companies and the larger small oil companies will continue to use geophysics indefinitely, but it seems doubtful whether the very extensive domestic campaigns of a few companies will be maintained for many years, certainly not for 10 years. The use of the geophysical methods in foreign countries has not yet reached its peak, and probaby will continue to increase for several years. That peak level of activity will probably be held for 10 years, although the site of maximum activity will shift from country to country; by the end of 25 years from now, I should expect the foreign use of the methods to have leveled off to one-fourth to one-half the peak level. Foreign service in geophysics does not seem to offer an attractive career, except for men of exceptional disposition. Young men just out of college, who are willing and who can afford to spend three or four years having a fling at adventure before settling down, will find it attractive, but when their tour of foreign service is over, they probably will have harder work finding a job than when they were seniors, and their foreign experience will count for little, except for further foreign service. A few men, mainly the higher men, will have headquarters at civilized or semi-civilized cities and towns or at permanent oil-company towns, and can

Jan 1, 1940

By Donald C. Barton

Geophysical methods of prospecting taken as a whole do not seem to offer much promise to a young man planning to enter them in the future. They have come to stay, to be sure, and they will continue in at least moderate use for a long time. Domestic use of those methods presumably is at a maximum at the present time. Geophysical prospecting is expensive; the effects of the law of diminishing returns in efficiency in finding prospects can already be recognized. Small oil companies, independent oil operators, and royalty buyers have been doing much geophysical work. But in face of the increasing costs of discovery of prospects and in face of the probably decreasing favorability of the prospects discovered, I expect to see a sharp drop in their use of geophysics within the next 10 years. The major oil companies and the larger small oil companies will continue to use geophysics indefinitely, but it seems doubtful whether the very extensive domestic campaigns of a few companies will be maintained for many years, certainly not for 10 years. The use of the geophysical methods in foreign countries has not yet reached its peak, and probaby will continue to increase for several years. That peak level of activity will probably be held for 10 years, although the site of maximum activity will shift from country to country; by the end of 25 years from now, I should expect the foreign use of the methods to have leveled off to one-fourth to one-half the peak level. Foreign service in geophysics does not seem to offer an attractive career, except for men of exceptional disposition. Young men just out of college, who are willing and who can afford to spend three or four years having a fling at adventure before settling down, will find it attractive, but when their tour of foreign service is over, they probably will have harder work finding a job than when they were seniors, and their foreign experience will count for little, except for further foreign service. A few men, mainly the higher men, will have headquarters at civilized or semi-civilized cities and towns or at permanent oil-company towns, and can

Jan 1, 1940

TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING AND METALLURGICAL ENGINEERS Gentlemen -The following report covers briefly some of the more important activities of the Institute during the year 1923 In my report for the year 1922, I drew attention to the falling off in membership of the Institute due to the depressed condition of the mining industry in several lines and the inability of many of our members to find profitable employment in mining or its associated branches. A number who were unemployed during 1922 established connections during 1923, but a still greater number have been forced to resign or drop their membership during 1923. Fortunately, the number dropped is not so great as in the previous year. The Employment Service conducted by the four Founder Societies bears witness to the trend in business For the young men just out of college, there are plenty of opportunities at small salaries, there are plenty of opportunities for them as laborers, but for the mature members, those of experience, there are few calls. During the last eighteen months, our Employment Service has been able to place only six of our members out of every hundred engineers for whom it has found work. Another loss which this Society has suffered, but which is not felt so keenly by our sister societies, is in its foreign members The A. I M E has always had a large foreign membership, but of recent years exchange has been so heavily against many European and South American coun¬tries that a large number of members residing abroad have been compelled to relinquish their membership. Almost invariably these members express keen regret because of the necessity that confronts them, and almost invariably the writers express hope that present conditions will not last long and that they will soon be able to ask for reinstatement. Having stated the darkest side of the picture first, it may now be drawn to your attention that in spite of these losses the number of persons applying for membership was decidedly encouraging. From the quality point of view, the membership has not gone back¬ward. The Membership Committee has declined to recommend many

Jan 1, 1923

By B. Fernow

The question of preserving the forests in this country is an impor tant one, not only to trades using wood but to the whole nation, and though agitated for many years has not received that general consid eration which its broad bearing demands. Those who are interested in and working for reform in the treat ment of American forests are looking to the government for help, suggesting the creation of a commission to study the conditions of forests at home and abroad, and hope that a sound system of manag ing the woodlands will be thereby inaugurated. This reform will cost time and money, all the more because the government can bring to bear upon private owners hardly any power but that of good example and encouragement. There is, however, another aspect of the question to which I wish to draw your attention, namely; the more economical use of the valuable material which our forests offer, a more careful and ex haustive utilization of its constituents in all cases where wood or its products are applied. The wasteful consumption of wood in the United States is in every way so enormous as to justify the statement that by merely adopting an economical husbandry in this particular the destruction of forests might be delayed for many years, while the neglect of this imperatively needed and immediately practicable reform deprives legislative remedies of much of their value. In this regard I wish to draw the attention of metallurgists, especially those who are in terested in the manufacture of charcoal iron, to a more economical and profitable use of wood in iron manufacture. For thousands of years of human history wood was the main, nay, the only material used for fuel. Mineral coal came into use only in the fourteenth century, and it is only recently that it has largely displaced its less carbonaceous predecessor as fuel. The art of concentrating carbon in the form of charcoal for easier transportation and readier use in distant places was, according to Pliny, known to the ancients long before Christ., and was practiced in all countries, especially in connection with the iron-manufacture.

Jan 1, 1879

By W. R. Ingalls

THE manufacture of zinc oxide directly from the ore is one of the most important contributions that America has made to the metallurgy of zinc. Heretofore, this has been clone chiefly for the production of zinc and zinc-lead pigments, and the method has been known as the Wetherill process. While that term may properly be applied to the process for pigment manufacture, it must be recognized that the principles of the process are of far wider application; and that there is going to be wider application in the immediate future is more than an expectation. I have in mind the use of the process as a method of igneous concentration. Igneous concentration is broader in its scope than the Wetherill process, for it may be done in the blast smelting furnace, or in the reverberatory, or by other means. Igneous concentration is a rather clumsy term, and I prefer to introduce the new generic expression of "zinc burning," which is convenient, readily understood and precise, for in all cases the zinc oxide is reduced to metallic form, is volatilized and is then burned to zinc oxide, the latter happening, however, after the zinc has been separated from the residue of the ore. As previously indicated, zinc burning may be done either in blast or reverberatory smelting, the gangue of the ore being scorified and drawn off as slag, while other metallic minerals are reduced to matte or metal. Such processes have heretofore been practised on fairly large scales. Thus, F. L. Bartlett smelted zinc ores at Canyon City, Colo., in specially designed blast furnaces, wherein the smelting column was only about 18 in. high. Such a limitation was necessary in order to prevent zinky accretions in the shaft of the furnace, which in course of time would have interfered with its operation. In running the Bartlett furnaces it was easy to bar them off, indeed, to poke right down into the smelting zone, and keep things going freely. Some iron blast furnaces in Virginia and the spiegeleisen furnaces of the New Jersey Zinc Co. afford other examples of zinc burning in blast-furnace smelting, although in their cases the happening is incidental rather than a primary purpose.

Jan 9, 1917

By J. W. Faust, H. F. John

Generalized conditions for rod or ribbon growth by the twin plane re-entrant edge mechanism are given. It was shown that this mechanism can result in growth of twinned platelets from dilute metal solutions. The platelrts 01 the fee metals are faceted by (111) planes and contain two or more twin planes. Microsegregation traces were revealed in silver grown from a thallium solution. VOGEL has already set down conditions for dendritic growth;1 however, this was the normal single-crystal dendritic growth experienced during solidification. In this work it is desired to set down the crystallographic conditions that will lead to rod or ribbon growth with smooth facets. These are as follows. a) The growth must be crystallographically limited (i.e., faceted growth). b) In order to have directed growth, some mechanism must allow easier nucleation than two-dimensional nucleation. That mechanism is afforded by the re-entrant edges at twin planes.213 Thus there must be twin planes present in the rods or ribbons. c) The growth direction must lie in the twin plane. If not, the twin plane will grow to the face or side of the ribbon and the site of easy nucleation will be lost. d) The growth direction must be parallel to at least one plane of the faceting planes, and no set of the faceting planes can be perpendicular to the growth direction. A corollary to these conditions involves the number of twin planes necessary to maintain the indestructible re-entrant edge. The number depends on the crystal structure of the material. An analysis of the data available shows that a material whose faceting planes form an open figure requires at least one twin plane while materials whose faceting planes form a closed figure require at least two twin planes in order to form the indestructible re-entrant edges for extended growth. The conditions and an assessment of the possibility of rod or ribbon growth are given in Table I for several crystal systems. As can be seen the fee, diamond and zinc blende, or-thorhombic, rhombohedral, and one form of the hexagonal lattice systems can yield this type of growth, but not the bcc metals nor the hexagonal

Jan 1, 1965

By Donald Barton

Geophysical methods of prospecting taken as a whole do not seem to offer much promise to a young man planning to enter them in the future. They have come to stay, to be sure, and they will continue in at least moderate use for a long time. Domestic use of those methods presumably is at a maximum at the present time. Geophysical pros-pecting is expensive; the effects of the law of diminishing returns in efficiency in finding prospects can already, be recognized. Small oil companies, independent oil operators, and royalty buyers have been doing much geophysical work. But in face of the increasing costs of discovery of prospects and in face of the probably decreasing favorability of the prospects discovered, I expect to see a sharp drop in their use of geo-physics within the next 10 years. The major oil companies and the larger small oil companies will continue to use geophysics indefinitely, but it seems doubtful whether the very extensive domestic campaigns of a few companies will be maintained for many years, certainly not for 10 years. The use of the geophysical methods in foreign countries has not yet reached its peak, and probaby will continue to increase for several years. That peak level of activity will probably be held for 10 years, although the site of maximum activity will shift from country to country; by the end of 25 years from now, I should expect the foreign use of the methods to have leveled off to one-fourth to one-half the peak level. Foreign service in geophysics does not seem to offer an attractive career, except for men of exceptional disposition. Young men just out of college, who are willing and who can afford to spend three or four years having a fling at adventure before settling down, will find it attractive, but when their tour of foreign service is over, they probably will have harder work finding a job than when they were seniors, and their foreign experience will count for little, except for further foreign service. A few men, mainly the higher men, will have headquarters at civilized or semi-civilized cities and towns or at permanent oil-company towns, and can

Jan 1, 1938

By John W. Straton

The President of the United States signed Public Law 91-173 on December 30, 1969 and the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 became law. The Bureau of Mines was required to promulgate regulations to implement the law. Unfortunately, some stipulations of the Act were not technologically possible. The USBM employed many new inspectors and had to instruct both old and new personnel in the requirements of the law. Mine operators and mine workers also had to be informed. There was a fair measure of inconsistency during this period. Progress is being made, however, and it is becoming easier for mining personnel to know what needs to be done. There are some unresolved questions, however, and there still appears to be an appreciable lack of uniformity in the application of the law by the many federal inspectors.

Jan 10, 1972

By W. M. Aubrey, P. L. Steffensen

AUTOMATIC grinding control for ball mills in closed circuit with cyclones was developed for the concentrator of the Marmoraton Mining Co., a subsidiary company of Bethlehem Steel Corp. The concentrator, located at Marmora, Ont., Canada, treats an ore that analyzes 35 to 40 pct magnetic iron. Magnetite, the recoverable iron mineral, is concentrated by fine grinding and magnetic separation. The mesh of grind obtained in the plant is not determined by the point at which liberation is sufficient to yield a satisfactory grade of concentrate, but by the physical requirements of the downstream pelletizing operation. This is considerably finer than is metallurgically necessary. The concentrator has two identical units, each consisting of a rod mill in open circuit, followed by a ball mill in closed circuit with a cyclone and two rougher magnetic separators. The cyclone was chosen as a classifier because of its high efficiency on heavy gravity, magnetically flocculated material.

Jan 1, 1957