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By Frank H. Armstrong

All the mining machinery of the Penn Iron Mining Co. has been operated by electric power for several years and when another shovel for stockpile loading was required the advantages of an electric shovel were naturally considered. After considerable study, serious objections suggested themselves the use of a shovel operated directly by electrical apparatus by reason of the complicated control, severe service on the motors and the heavy surges of current required from the line. It was finally decided to construct an electro-hydraulic shovel using water under pressure to perform all the necessary operations except that of propelling, for which a separate motor was best suited. A car body with boom, dipper handle and dipper of late design, but without any of the steam machinery, was purchased. A motor-driven centrifugal pump, a pressure tank, an air tank, a small air compressor and water cylinders with plungers, pistons and valves, were installed in place of the steam equipment. Fig. 1 shows this shovel under construction and Fig. 2 shows it as it was operated during the first year, the summer of 1914. The large tank at the back of the car, in Fig. 1, carried air under

Jan 1, 1916

By S. J. Aparo

After surveying the beneficiation techniques in the Florida phosphate field, it is apparent that optimum beneficiation of this ore is a difficult task. Due to continually changing grade, size distribution and basic nature of the ore, there appears to be no universal technique nor a single reagent entirely satisfactory for achieving optimum metallurgy under these dynamic conditions. Although no major change in the basic flow sheet has been made in the last 20 years, there have been many refinements of the process in recent years which have helped increase production, improve recovery, lower unit cost of operation and make the beneficiation of lower grade deposits economically feasible. Among the significant changes is the use of larger plants and equipment which has helped to increase production significantly. The use of cyclones has facilitated and reduced the cost of slimes removal in these large plants. There have also been several new approaches to the flotation of coarse phosphate that are mentioned in the text of this paper. Lastly, significant improvements have also taken place in the area of flotation reagents.

Jan 1, 1970

By Robert S. Shoemaker

Recently we read a short article which stated that Marcona Corp. was studying the use of 25,000-hp autogenous grinding mills for an iron ore project in Alaska. As if that weren't enough, they were going to dispense with the primary crusher and feed run-of-mine ore to the grinding mills which were to be driven by wrap-around seven-cycle motors. We see also that Bougainville Copper Co. will be grinding 90,000 tpd of ore in only eight 4250- hp ball mills. At Bougainville too, their float section will be the first large one to be completely equipped with the new 350-cu ft flotation cells. After a half century of relatively peaceful growth in the minerals industry, we are now seeing almost exponential advances in both equipment and plant size. At the same time, we are seeing a constant blending of hydro and pyrometallurgical techniques and processes into minerals beneficiation until the sample grind-'em-up-and-concentrate-'em plant is becoming a rarity.

Jan 1, 1970

By W. M. Aubrey

Lying approximately 110 miles east of Toronto, Canada, the Marmora mine produces iron ore with a content of about 40 pct Fe, primarily in the form of magnetite. Operated by the Marmoraton Mining Co., a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel Co., the orebody is mined by open pit methods. The ore from the pit is crushed, cobbed, ground to -100 mesh, magnetically concentrated to 67 pct iron, and then pelletized in shaft furnaces. The pellets are normally shipped by rail throughout the year from Marmora to Picton on Lake Ontario where they are unloaded and stored. Subsequently, during the navigation season, the pellets are shipped to Bethlehem Steel's Lackawanna plant in Buffalo, New York, for use in the blast furnace. At Marmora, the pellet plant demand and the concentrator output are not usually equal. To counter this problem, surge capacity in the form of storage pits in combination with a 30-ft diam thick¬ener has been provided between the concentrator and the pellet plant. Two sets of controls have been installed on this thickener, one controlling the…

Jan 9, 1960

By Frank M. Randall

The Buick mill is located at the site of the old Buick general store, approximately 4 miles south of Bixby, Missouri on route KK. It is a part of the operations in the area now called the "New Lead Belt". The ore body lies at an elevation of 270 feet above sea level, and is fairly flat lying, becoming slightly deeper toward the south. The mineralization is due to the secondary deposition of galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, calcite, dolomite and some localized drusy quartz in a country rock of dolomitic limestone. The galena is fairly coarse grained with some large crystaline structure, and some oxidized surfaces. The sphalerite is fine grained- small crystals containing Cd (about 0.7%) and Ag (about 10 oz per ton) in solid solution. The chalcopyrite is fine grained, fine crystals that are sometimes massive in nature. The mine plan is a modified room and pillar system. Broken ore at the mine face will be transported to several different ore passes by rubber tired load-haul-dump units. Ore passes will drop the ore to a rail haulage level some 90 feet below the mining level where bottom dump cars will deliver it to a 42 in. Nordberg gyratory crusher. Two 12 ton capacity skips in balance carry the ore some 1,200 feet to the surface. The hoist is equipped with automatic controls for loading, hoisting and unloading.

Jan 1, 1970

By G. Kinder, R. Gilges, W. Stoker, R. Davey

The Bingham Canyon Mine, located 48 km (30 mi) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, is operated by Kennecott Copper Corporation's Utah Copper Division. This operation is the world's largest open-pit copper mine and produces 96 000 tons (106,000 st) ore and 327 000 tons (360,000 st) waste each day. This material is loaded by large electric shovels and transported by both truck and rail haulage. To meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act of 1970 (as amended), new facilities for the control of smelter emissions were required and are now nearing the final stages of construction. The facility will be capable of treating all the output from the mine, some 2,530 tons (2,789 st) per day of combined concentrate and precipitate. Costing $280 million and necessitating the replacement of reverberatory furnaces with continuous smelting vessels, the plant, with its massive and complex gas handling and acid-making facility, is required to remain on-stream with the minimum of pollution control equipment outages to conform with Federal Regulation 52.2325.

Jan 8, 1978

Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering.-Mining engineer to teach mine surveying, mine mapping, assaying, etc., but not metallurgy. Location, Ohio. Salary, $1800 per annum. No. 379. Metallurgist.-Experienced metallurgist capable of running 25-ton blast lead furnace. Man who knows the country and speaks Spanish desired. You may know that this state is in peaceful conditions and that even during the worst time of the revolution there were several mining concerns never idle. Besides, its resources are wonderful, and once a man gets started, he will find many possibilities. Notwithstanding that Sinaloa is a mining state, our smelter will be the only lead smelter on this coast. Location, Culiscan, Sin., Mexico. No. 381. Quarry Superintendent.-Engineer experienced in limestone quarry work for position as superintendent; must be capable of producing results; must increase output of quarries from 4 to 12 cars per day. Young man with abundant energy is desired. Permanent position, chance to grow up with the company. Location, New Jersey. Salary depends upon the man. No. 382.

Jan 4, 1919

By Wilbur I. Duvall, Wilson Blake

The microseismic method of detecting instability in underground mines was developed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) in the early 1940's. ,3 The method relies on the fact that as rock is stressed, strain energy is stored in the rock. Accompanying the buildup of strain energy are small-scale displacement adjustments that release small amounts of seismic and acoustic energy. These small-scale disturbances, which can be detected with the aid of special geophysical equipment, are called micro-seisims or self-gene rated rock noises. It was further determined that as failure of rock is approached, the rate at which rock noises are generated increases. Thus, by monitoring a rock structure at intervals and plotting rock noise rates vs. time, a semi quantitative estimate of the behavior and stability of the structure can be made. Since sufficient use of the microseismic method is still being made by various mining and construction companies, USBM undertook a comprehensive review of the method and a study of the fundamental properties of rock noises. As all prior work on rock noises has been done with resonant-type geophones, which prevented any analysis of their vibration records, it was necessary to develop the instrumentation and field techniques in order that their properties could be investigated, such as their frequency spectrum and absorption characteristics, and to determine if both P and S-waves are generated by a rock noise. The aim of this program is the design of microseismic instrumentation which can be better utilized as an engineering tool than the presently available microseismic equipment. This new design, based on the basic properties of rock noises, should allow better utilization of these phenomena in the study and location of zones of incipient instability in both underground and open-pit mines. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE To study the waveform of rock noises, it was necessary to develop a microseismic system with a broad bandwidth. To achieve high sensitivity and broad frequency response, commercial ceramic accelerometers were used. The present broad-band microseismic system consists of accelerometers as geophones, low-noise preamplifiers, high-gain amplifiers, and an FM magnetic tape recorder. This seven-channel system has a flat frequency response from 20 to 10,000 Hz, a noise level of less than 2.0 kv, and a dynamic range (including manual set attenuation) of greater than 100 db; it can detect signals with acceleration levels as low as 2 ug. The entire system is solid state and hence battery operated and portable (Fig. 1) Analysis procedures consist of playing back the 30-in-per-sec (ips) magnetic tape recordings at 1 7/8 ips to expand the time scale of a recorded rock noise event and then recording this on a high-speed direct-writing oscillograph. The oscilIographic records are then digitized and run through Fourier integral analysis computer programs to determine the frequency spectrum of a rock noise event. The oscillographic records are also examined visually to determine if both P and S-waves can be recognized in a rock noise waveform. Broad-band microseismic recordings have been made at field sites in a wide variety of rock types and in both underground and open-pit mines. Sites include the Kimbley Pit, Ruth, Nev.; the Galena Mine, Wallace, Idaho; the Colony Development Mine. Grand Valley, Colo.; the Cliff Shaft Mine, Ishpeming, Mich; and the White Pine Mine, White Pine, Mich. DATA AND DISCUSSION Analyses of the recorded data have shown that rock noise frequencies are very broad. Fig. 2 and 3 show typical rock noise events and their frequency spectrums. In addition, it is evident from these figures that the wave form of a rock noise is very complex. The wide frequency variation, 50 to 7500 Hz, is due to many variables; the effect of travel distance is the only one examined in this study. The higher frequency components of the wave are rapidly absorbed with distance or increasing travel time. Fig. 4 shows the change in waveform resulting from an additional travel distance of 195 ft. From these data, it is apparent that a resonant-type microseismic geophone cannot respond to all frequencies generated by a rock noise, and in spite of the fact that the tuned geophone is more sensitive at resonance, a geophone with less sensitivity but broader band width is much more effective in detecting rock noises. In addition, a study of broad-band microseismic records shows that both P and S-wave arrivals are easily detected, as shown in Fig. 5. All records analyzed to date show that most of the energy is in the S portion of the wave; hence, microseismic geophones should be well

Jan 1, 1970

By R. C. Rumble

To /neet the need for a subsurface flowmeter capable of measuring low rates of flow, a new type flowmeter has been built and tested in the field. This instrument is self-contairzed, can be run on a wire measuritzg line, and may be run through 2-in tubing. It consists of a rotameter flow-measuring assembly used in conjuncfion with a conventional subsurface instrument clock and chart. Integral with the tool is an inflatable packer which, by effecting a seal between casing and tool, diverts all fluid through the metering assembly. Packers of different size adapt the tool to different sizes of casing or liner. The flowmeter is capable of measuring rates of flow as low as 4 BID. The flowmeter has been run experimentally in seven wells. It has yielded satisfactory resrrlts in five of the wells, and in the other two it failed to operate because of loose sand in the hole. INTRODUCTION One of the oldest problems facing the producing branch of the petroleum industry is the location of depths of entry of fluid into a wellbore and the determination of the amount of fluid entering at each depth. This problem is often encountered in oil and gas wells completed in single producing horizons as well as in multiple pays; it is a common problem in oil wells which produce excessive volumes of gas. Several subsurface instruments designed to detect and meter flow in the producing interval of wells have been described in the literature.1,2,3,4 Most of these, however, were apparently intended for use in wells producing at relatively high rates of flow, and consequently lack sensitivity to low flow rates. Because of this and of other possible disadvantages inherent in these instruments, development of the subsurface flowmeter described in this report was undertaken. DESIGN OF FLOWME'I'ER Design Requirements In considering the requirements for a flowmeter that would not be subject to the limitations of devices existing at the time work was started, attention was first given to the size of the tool. Such an instrument should be of sufficiently small diameter that it could be lowered readily in 2-in tubing in a producing well. The flowmeter should contain a recording unit so that it might be run on a wire measuring line with conventional reeling equipment. It should not be too long to be accommodated by a portable lubricator of the type used for running conventional subsurface instruments. The metering mechanism of the flowmeter should not be affected appreciably by the viscosity or density of the flowing fluid. Such an instrument should record flow rates in the range from less than 10 B/D to over 100 B/D. To achieve this, a packer should he provided to divert through the instrument all fluid flow in the wellbore. This packer should be of such nature that in the event of excessive flow the fluid would bypass the instrument instead of forcing it up the wellhore. General Description A flowmeter incorporating most of the desired features outlined above was developed and built. The instrument is an elongated tubular device terminated on

Jan 1, 1956

By A. H. Miller, G. W. H. Norman

This survey is one of the more recent tests of geophysical methods of prospecting by the Dominion Observatory and the Geological Survey of Canada, of which the purpose is to find out what application such methods may have to geological problems in Canada. The Malagash salt deposit lies on the north shore of Nova Scotia about 40 miles east of the New Brunswick boundary, arid forms a part of faulted and folded Carboniferous strata. The salt beds are exposed only in the mine workings, which are about 1000 ft. deep and at one place extend for 1000 ft. along the strike. Lack of rock exposures, complicated folds, and faults make it impossible to predict the location of salt away from the mine. A survey of an area in the vicinity of the mine was therefore undertaken to find out whether the salt could be located by the torsion balance and whether its extension from the mine workings could be traced. As the gravitational effects at Malagash may be fairly typical of those at other concealed salt deposits in the Carboniferous rocks of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, the survey has a direct bearing on prospecting for other deposits. The survey was made in 1934 by A. H. Miller in collaboration with Dr. W. A. Bell, of the Geological Survey of Canada. Observations began on June 15 and were completed four months later, on Oct. 15. Definite gravitational effects including a lowering of gravity were observed over the deposit. The survey also disclosed one other area of low gravity cast of the mine hut whether this area is underlain by a large body of salt is not yet established.

Jan 1, 1938

By G. W. H. Norman, A. H. Miller

This survey is one of the more recent tests of geophysical methods of prospecting by the Dominion Observatory and the Geological Survey of Canada, of which the purpose is to find out what application such methods may have to geological problems in Canada. The Malagash salt deposit lies on the north shore of Nova Scotia about 40 miles east of the New Brunswick boundary, arid forms a part of faulted and folded Carboniferous strata. The salt beds are exposed only in the mine workings, which are about 1000 ft. deep and at one place extend for 1000 ft. along the strike. Lack of rock exposures, complicated folds, and faults make it impossible to predict the location of salt away from the mine. A survey of an area in the vicinity of the mine was therefore undertaken to find out whether the salt could be located by the torsion balance and whether its extension from the mine workings could be traced. As the gravitational effects at Malagash may be fairly typical of those at other concealed salt deposits in the Carboniferous rocks of the Maritime Provinces of Canada, the survey has a direct bearing on prospecting for other deposits. The survey was made in 1934 by A. H. Miller in collaboration with Dr. W. A. Bell, of the Geological Survey of Canada. Observations began on June 15 and were completed four months later, on Oct. 15. Definite gravitational effects including a lowering of gravity were observed over the deposit. The survey also disclosed one other area of low gravity cast of the mine hut whether this area is underlain by a large body of salt is not yet established.

Jan 1, 1938

By R. W. Raymond

CLARENCE King born January 6,1842, at Newport, R. I. His ancestors on both sides mere New Englanders, of English blood, and among them not a few distinguished themselves in art, science, politics or commerce. His grandfather, Samuel Vernon King (partner in 1803 in the house of Talbot, O1yphant & King, later known as King $ Co.), was a pioneer in the China trade, and four of his sons succeeded him in the business. Three of the four died in the far East; and one of

Jan 1, 1903

By C. L. Meyers, J. L. Lytton, T. E. Tietz

The recovery of tensile flow stress of 99.995-pct Al and Al-1 pct Mg alloy was investigated using a fractional recovery parameter. Tensile strainirg was conducted at room temperature, and recovery treatments were made in the range from 80° to 200°C. Equal values of fractional flow stress recovery were found to result in equivalent structural states. Identical recovery treatments were found to produce constant values of fractional flow stress re covery, independent of prestrain. The activation energy for recovery of the 99.995-pct A1 between 80" and 200°C was found to be 23,000 +2000 cal per mole, and the activation energy for the Al-1 pct Mg alloy was 27,500 cal per mole. 1 HE degree of recovery of a cold-worked metal may be studied by measuring the changes which take place in any of a number of properties. Some of the properties which have been used by past investigators include X-ray diffraction phenomena, electrical resistivity, hardness, creep strength, elastic limit, and flow stress. Despite the apparent preponderance of such studies, little is known concerning the effect of recovery on the strength of metals except as deduced from changes in various types of hardness measurements. Furthermore, little information is avail- able concerning the effects which specific solute atoms have on the recovery process. Limited studies have indicated that in some cases solid-solution additions greatly decrease the rate of recovery,' whereas in at least the case of magnesium additions to alluminum an increase in the rate has been reported.2 The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of a 1 pct Mg addition on the recovery of high-purity aluminum. Because of the particular interest in the effect of solute additions on the recovery behavior as related to mechanical properties, the degree of recovery was evaluated in terms of tensile flow stress. For the purposes of this study, a recovery process shall be defined as any process, short of recrystallization, whereby the properties, of work-hardened metals tend toward their values ill the unstrained state. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Test Materials. The materials used in this study were a 99.995-3 A1 and an Al-1 pct Mg alloy made from high-purity base metal. The high-purity aluminum contained the following wt pct impurities: 0.001 pct Cu, 0.002 pct Fe, 0.001 pct Si, and 0.0004 pct Mg. The Pil-1 pct Mg alloy contained 0.001 pct Cu, 0.002 pct Fe, 0.003 pct Si, and 0.99 pct Mg. Both materials were obtained in the form of as-rolled 0.125-in.-thick sheets, from the Alcoa Research Laboratories, New Kensington, Penn. Tensile specimens were cut from these sheets with the longitudinal axis in the rolling direction. Both materials were recrystallized in a molten salt bath; the high-purity aluminum at 450° C for 20 min and

Jan 1, 1962

By H. B. Huntington

Some of the basic problems in understanding elec-tromigration in metals are discussed, along with the attempts that are being made to handle them. One such problem is the effect of the electrostatic forces. It is now acknowledged that the momentum exchange with charge carriers plays generally a dominant role in the driving force but the question remains to what extent the electrostatic force may still be effective. The electromigration of interstitial impurities is also an area which presents some intriguing questions. For the substitutional impurity, moving by the vacancy mechanism under the influence of an electric field, the correlation considerations are somewhat more complex than have been previously recognized. Another problem of basic importance in the calculution from first principles is the strength of the "electron friction" force, say for a simple one-band metal. A related problem growing out of the preceding is the prediction of the direction of the "electron wind" force for metals with band structure involving both holes and electrons. THE term electromigration has come to be used to describe the flow of matter in condensed phases carrying high electronic currents such as metals and alloys, whereas one usually reserves the term electrolysis for situations where the current is largely ionic, particularly in the liquid state such as molten salts. It follows that the mass transport number in electromigration is always very small, of the order of 10-7. Studies of electromigration date back some 30 years but the modern period would appear to date from the work of Seith and Wever1 who in the mid 1950's first incorporated markers to display mass motion relative to the lattice and first suggested that the direction of the mass flow was primarily determined by the sign of the charge carriers. Since that time interest in the field has grown steadily and more rapidly recently as certain technological applications became apparent. Chief of these is certainly the deleterious effects that electromigration can cause, even at relatively low temperature, to current-carrying elements in integrated circuitry.2 These phenomena have been the subject of intense study and considerable ingenuity. On the constructive side electromigration has proved a useful tool in the purification of certain metals.3 The interest of this paper is, however, centered more on the basic aspects of the subject than on its technological applications. That high electric currents should give rise to mass flow in metals and that the driving force should be more directly associated with momentum exchange with the charge carriers than with the electrostatic field are ideas that no longer cause surprise or particular interest. The field has matured to the point where the general concepts are widely accepted and continued progress in basic understanding rests on more detailed and quantitative exploration. It is the purpose of this paper to point out what are some of the current problems. As a result, we expect to raise more questions than we answer. The first of these will be the role of electrostatic forces, if any, in electromigration. A second section will deal with the electromigration of interstitials. A third and final section treats with electromigration of substitutional impurities or of the matrix atoms themselves. ELECTROSTATIC DRIVING FORCE In the conceptual treatments of electromigration it has been customary to write the driving force in terms of an effective charge number Z* and to divide it into two terms F = e£Z* = e£[Zel- z(pd/Nd)(N/p)(m*\m*\)] [1] The first of these represents the electrostatic force under immediate consideration in this section and the second and usually dominating term for metals arises from momentum exchange with charge carriers, commonly called the "electron drag" term. As can be seen it is set proportional to the electrons per atom, z, and the ratio of the specific resistivity of the moving entity to the corresponding resistivity per matrix atom. The (m*/Im*I) factor takes into account the fact that the sign of the charge carrier determines the sign of the driving force. The specific resistivity of the moving entity is averaged over its path. In the case of motion of the matrix atoms by vacancies this gives rise to approximately one-half the resistivity at the saddle point since the scattering power of the atom at its equilibrium position bordering the vacancy differs only slightly from that of a normal matrix atom. Although the formulation of the "electron drag" term in Eq. [I] is based on a highly simplified model for electron defect scattering, the essential features implicit in the expression are common to all the theoretical approaches that have so far appeared in the literature.4-6 As for Zel, most treatments of electromigration have included the quantity as the parameter which measures the direct interaction of the electrostatic field with the ion and equated it to the nominal valence of the latter. However, there has been considerable discussion whether this interaction may not be 0 in many cases.6 If the moving ion is always enveloped by the same distribution of shielding charge, then clearly its motion will not involve any work done by the electric field and one can expect there will be no electrostatic force exerted on such a neutral composite. From this point of view the shielding charge around the ion would be said to be complete and hence the entity within the Debye shielding sphere would be unaffected by the electrostatic field per se. There is, however, the prospect that, as the moving ion progresses, new charge comes in to participate in the shielding action

Jan 1, 1970

By H. L. Hopkins, OHIO, L. W. Kemph, CLEVEL AND, E. V. Ivanso

A balanced system of internal stress is set up in any metallic structure by plastic deformation below the annealing temperature. The internaI stress induced by cold rolling or other fabricating processes is generally recognized and its magnitude is known to be, within certain limits, a function of the degree of cold deformation. The plastic deformation that may accompany rapid cooling from elevated temperatures may not materially change the form of the product. The internal stresses so induced are not, therefore, so evident and nonrecognition of their presence has at times led to engineering failures. The heat treatment of aluminum alloys is a relatively new art and little information is available regarding the magnitude of stresses induced during the commercial heat treatment of aluminum alloy products. As the industrial use of aluminum increases, it is inevitable that products of increasingly large volume will be required. It has become necessary in the present commercial utilization of aluminum to heat-treat castings and forgings weighing hundreds of pounds. One of the factors governing the magnitude of internal stresses arising from rapid cooling from elevated temperatures is that of the size of the structure being treated. Some of the other factors are: cooling rate, elastic properties of the alloy, thermal expansivity, thermal conductivity, and the presence or absence of phase changes. Practically all aluminum alloys have a high coefficient of thermal expansion and some are capable of developing relatively high elastic limits. On the other hand, all commercial aluminum alloys have relatively high thermal conductivities, no invariant phase changes, and the quenching temperatures are comparatively low. In the absence of invariant phase changes involving change in the type of crystallographic lattice, the fundamental basis for the development of internal stress

Jan 1, 1934

By W. E. Wrather

The overproduction of crude oil in 1927 has received such widespread publicity, both within and without the industry, and the several factors which have brought about this situation are so thoroughly agreed upon by everyone, that it is unlikely the writer will in this brief review be able to contribute anything new. The entire story of low prices and demoralization revolves around two flush districts, Seminole and West Texas— the actual. performance of Seminole and the potential threat of West, Texas. The sustained production of California has been a contributing factor to this situation also. It seems reasonably certain that Seminole and West Texas will together dominate the industry during 1928, with Seminole probably destined to drop into second place, as additional pipe lines are completed into West Texas to care for its rapidly expanding production. It now appears inevitable that the production of 1928 will equal or exceed that of the past year, depending solely upon the rapidity wit,h which it is possible to market West Texas crude, and the degree of restraint which operators are willing to impose upon themselves in holding proved reserves of oil underground. Adversity has cultivated the growth of a promising spirit of cooperation which has accomplished practical results both at Seminole and in West Texas. Cooperation among oil producers has long been ardently hoped for, but prior to the past year it has never been effective on an important scale. The interests both of the industry and the public at large can best be conserved by cooperation in controlling production, and the widespread acceptance of this idea has paved the way for a more rational policy in the immediate future Production BY Major Districts The domestic production of the United States during 1927 amounted to 894,43.5,000 bbl. (Bureau of Mines), an increase over 1926 of approximately 128,000,000 bbl. California succeeded in maintaining its position of the past four years at 230,000,000 hbl. In 1923 with the Los Angeles

Jan 1, 1928

By M. G. Cheney

The purpose of this paper is to review the more important developments in the production of petroleum during 1930 in Texas, excluding the Panhandle and Gulf Coast districts, giving emphasis to trends rather than to statistics. Outstanding Developments Aside from increasing curtailment of drilling operations and general prorating of production by state authority the most noteworthy developments for the year appear to have been: 1. Demonstrations of the fictitiousness of potentials as shown first by Darst Creek pool, rated at 180,000 bbl. and having actually 78,000 bbl. daily, and especially by the Hendricks pool of Winkler County, with potential of about 1,000,000 bbl. daily in mid-year and production of only 52,000 bbl. daily when opened to continuous full production in December. 2. Rapid development of the Darst Creek pool under competitive drilling. 3. Orderly and highly successful development of the Van pool under unit operation. 4. Failure of several highly rated structures southwest and northeast of Van. 5. Extension of the deep Simpson production at Big Lake and increased interest in these pre-Mississippian pays in North Central Texas and West Texas. 6. Discovery of prolific wells in northwest Rusk County from sands of Upper Cretaceous age, portending a rapid and extensive development campaign around the northwest margin of the Sabine uplift. North Central Texas It appears logical to discuss the new developments by districts as set out by the American Petroleum Institute, but North Texas and West Central Texas districts will be treated together. Pre-Mississippian,.—The pre-Mississippian beds, which in previous years yielded a few large wells in Young, Cooke and Callahan counties,

Jan 1, 1931

By Louis D. Huntoon

The Hammond Mining and Metallurgical Laboratory is the gift of Prof. John Hays Hammond to the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University. Professor Hammond was graduated from this school in the class of 1876, and has always shown great Merest in its welfare and progress. In 1903, he offered to build and equip for it a mining and metallurgical laboratory. This offer was gratefully accepted by the trustees; and in October of the same year the architect, W. Gedney Beatty, and I were employed to draw up plans for the building, which is the largest of its kind in this country. The Treasurer's report shows the total gift of Professor Hammond, including land, building, and equipment, to have been $128,741.53. This does not include $5,000 given by Professor Hammond to defray incidental expenses. The detailed cost of the machinery and installation, included in the above sum, is as follows: Macbinery,.......$9,846.00 Pipe and fittings,......925.05 Hangers, shafting, pulleys, belts, etc.,.. Steel-work, tanks, launders, etc.,...272.19 Screens for sizing ore,.....411.37 Lumber,.......1,896.36 General Supplies : Hardware,......$135.96 Tools,.......263.66 Paints,.......204.63 Electric and incidental,.... 439.57 ----------1,043.82 Machine-shop material, . 259.44 Labor,.. 722.29 ----------981.73

Jan 1, 1910

• The Venezuelan Trade Mission to the United States announced that Bethlehem Steel Corp. will begin exporting iron ore from its El Pao concession, south of the Orinoco River in Venezuela, in about three months. The ore will be transported by rail from the mines to barges on the Orinoco and transshipped to ore vessels at the coast for shipment to the Sparrows Point, Md., plant. The Latin American business men warned that projected increases in the United States tariff on petroleum imports from Venezuela would force that country into bilateral trade agreements with other countries and would mean drastic curtailment of Venezuelan imports from this country. •Bethlehem, South American Gold and Platinum Co., and U. S. Steel are investigating the possibilities of securing American foodstuff for their South American mining camp commissaries through the International Basic Economy Corp. IBEC buys in quantity to supply its subsidiary companies operating in Venezuela and Brazil. The mining companies will rid themselves of this burdensome task as well as realizing a saving from the bulk purchases of IBEC. •Oliver Iron Mining Co. has begun construction of a fine ore and taconite agglomeration plant at Virginia, Minn. It is expected to be ready in six months. The plant will be used to experiment with the making of clinker cakes and egg-sized lumps by sintering machines and nodulizing kilns respectively; about 1 million tons per year will be produced. • Roof pinning has been adopted at the iron mines of TCI, near Birmingham, to support overlying strata as mining progresses. Favorable results have been obtained in that dilution of the ore has been reduced by 50% which is attributable to this method of supporting the roof. •An American mining engineering team has gone to Turkey for a two-year assignment assisting Turkish government agencies in the $45 million ECA development, mechanization, and construction of cleaning plants for the Zonguldak coal field, 200 miles east of Istanbul on the Black Sea. The group consists of James Beeley, John E. Good, John S. Lambright, David Renshaw, and Charles R. Weir, all of the Paul Weir Co. •Arthur F. Taggart describes a new way of training engineers by emphasis on broad, basic engineering courses on page 460 of this issue. •Lawrence T. Tierney, chairman of the National Bituminous Coal Advisory Council, released a report stating that the increase in oil imports since the latter part of 194$ has caused significant damage to the U. S. fuel economy. It has reduced the strength of and employment opportunities in the coal, domestic petroleum, and transportation industries, as well as in related service and supplier fields. •Women, camels, and donkeys are the beasts of burden of the Sahara, according-to the UNESCO World Review. •Increased demand for magnesium sheet in airplane construction ana other phases of the national security program have led Alcoa to establish a sheet magnesium rolling division at its New Kensington, Pa., works which will begin operation shortly. Novel prospecting methods being used by the USGS in its search for uranium include: shock-mounted instruments in light trucks,. Geiger-counter probes lowered into augur holes, and experimental airborne prospecting.

Jan 4, 1950

By Dr. Hans Von Höfer

APART from the hypothesis of a .cosmic origin (which failed of acceptance because it was not adequately supported by facts), the only important controversy concerning the origin of petroleum has been, for a long time, between the advocates of inorganic and of organic origin respectively. Each of these theories has had a long history of development, and is still being perfected, under the influence of two causes: (1) the increasingly extensive and thorough study of the oil-fields (of which new examples are periodically discovered and opened); and (2) the progress of synthetic experiments devoted to this question. Moreover, the advance in our physical and chemical knowledge of the properties of this peculiar natural product has necessarily modified all criticism of conflicting views. I. THE HYPOTHESIS OF INORGANIC ORIGIN That the notion of an inorganic origin of petroleum, first set forth by Berthelot in 1866, and afterward ingeniously developed and formulated by Mendelejeff, should thus have proceeded chiefly from chemists, is quite natural; for the question was one of possible chemical processes in the earth's interior, and of imagined chemical reactions to be, verified by experiment. Hypotheses of this kind were suggested by many chemists, of whom two, P. Sabatier and J. H. Senderens, may be specially named by reason of their highly interesting chemical experiments. Among geologists, Mendelejeff's hypothesis was received at first with much interest and favor; for it rested on the assumption of a central terrestrial mass of iron carbide, and the geologists had good reasons for adopting that assumption. Yet comparatively few of them attempted to furnish geological proofs of the hypothesis: the majority either silently believed in it, or for one or another reason rejected it altogether.

Jan 5, 1914