Search Documents

By H. T. Clark

Within the last twenty years at least three sets of lattice constants for the room temperature (alpha, hexagonal close packed) phase of titanium have been reported in the literature. These values, summarized in Table 1, differ one from another by amounts far greater than can be explained on the basis of inaccuracies in parameter measurements. This paper presents new values determined for high purity titanium. It also details the effect of two elements, oxygen and nitrogen, on these parameters and shows that two of the previously reported values are probably in error because of the presence of one or both of these elements in the material used for examination. Preparation of Samples The titanium+ used for this study was prepared by the thermal decomposition of titanium tetraiodide7 on a hot titanium filament. This titanium rod was prepared for X ray examination by melting about 10 g in purified argon in an electric arc furnace on a cold hearth. This cast button was cold rolled to 0.040 in. thick sheet, cleaned, annealed in vacuum at 1000°C and cold rolled to 0.020 in. thickness. About 0.003 in. of surface material was then removed by hand grinding on papers to remove any contamination caused by the rolls and the sample was bent to the radius of the focusing camera. The sample was then vacuum annealed at 600°C, a temperature just high enough to cause recrystallization, producing a fine grained structure. Such a structure is essential in sheet specimens prepared for focusing cameras in order to have a sufficient quantity of grains to develop continuous diffraction lines. The use of sheet specimens rather than powder samples appears to be essential for the X ray examination of titanium. This is because of titanium's exceptionally high gettering power and its rapid absorption of adsorbed gases, water -vapor, and the like at annealing temperatures. While the effect of this contamination may be neglected for sheet specimens, its effect on 200-300 mesh powder is appreciable. Titanium alloys of oxygen and nitrogen were prepared by a technique simi- lar to that described above except that the required amount of the highest purity titanium oxide or nitride available was added prior to melting in the arc furnace. These materials were added by placing them in holes drilled in the titanium. A small weight loss invariably occurs during the melting of these oxygen and nitrogen alloys. This is believed to be due entirely to the loss of some of the powdered compound in the blast of the electric arc, an assumption which is justified on the basis that there is no weight loss during the melting of titanium metal and that wet analyses for nitrogen on representative samples have checked with the calculated analyses when it was assumed that the entire loss during melting was due to the loss of titanium nitride powder. These alloy buttons were reduced to sheet in the same manner as used for the unalloyed titanium. Experimental Procedure A North American Phillips 12 cm diam symmetrical precision focusing vacuum camera and copper radiation

Jan 1, 1950

BEING at the crossroads, metaphorically speaking, seldom has the advantages of the literal sense of the words. One seldom has precise knowledge of the existence of the metaphorical crossroads or forks in the road of life. A case in point is the Committee on Education of the Engineers' Council for Professional Development, which for twenty years has been accrediting the engineering curricula in the educational institutions of the United States. The committee is now at odds with itself and with the National Council of State Boards of Engineering Examiners over the accrediting of courses which in the opinion of many engineers are not strictly speaking engineering curricula at all. Such courses include: fire protection engineering, crystal engineering, nuclear engineering, and geological engineering. The crossroads might be placed arbitrarily somewhere between 1936 and 1938 when the committee first started accrediting curricula and included the first course in industrial engineering. Purists might argue that the committee first wandered from the straight and narrow when it recognized subdivision of engineering into the major branches of mining, metallurgical, civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering. Accrediting is certainly an important function because it provides a standard for engineering education and it should be done on a national basis by an unbiased group like the Education Committee of ECPD. Students, educational institutions, and industry derive great benefit from proper standards. The autonomous State Boards of Engineering Examiners have long accepted ECPD accreditation as evidence of the required academic training of engineers aspiring to licensing. But the State Boards today question the wisdom of applying the name engineer to graduates of some of the so-called fringe curricula. The Education Committee, having gone so far in accrediting some of them, has numerous applications pending for accreditation of similar curricula and even new courses never before accredited. Arguments against recognizing highly specialized engineering curricula are numerous. The Salary Stabilization Board has disallowed industrial engineering from classification as engineering for its purposes. A graduate of a specialized course in geological engineering at a school in the Southwest slanted heavily for practice in the petroleum industry might not be interchangeable with a graduate of a similarly designated curricula at one of the institutions in the North Central states where the emphasis might be on metallic. mineral deposits. Industry in general should not expect the universities to supply a degree in each of the specialized engineering classifications it might set up for purposes of salary or job designation. Having gone so far, it is easy to understand the difficulty of the Education Committee. ECPD might well call a moratorium for the purpose of taking stock of its position. If the present trend is allowed to continue, it is apparent that an engineering institution could be subdivided into a multiplicity of departments teaching specialized curricula resulting in a subordination of the basic concepts of engineering. Although the parallel of the medical profession is trite, it should be pointed out that degrees in medicine are not labelled by the numerous specialities practiced by doctors. For practical purposes the ECPD would do well to accept the fact that the crossroads have been overreached "and protect the engineering profession by coming up with minimum standards for an engineering curriculum.

Jan 1, 1952

By R. V. Norris, E. W. Parker

Edward W. Parker,* Philadelphia, Pa.—At the New York meeting of the Institute a year ago, Mr. R. V. Norris presented a paper on anthracite mining costs, in which he gave the results of an intensive study of this subject by the Engineers' Committee of the United States Fuel Administration. Within the last 30 days, the Federal Trade Commission has issued an official report on the same subject, which covers a longer period of time and comprises statistics of realization values and margins that were pot comprehended in the paper by Mr. Norris. As, however, the data utilized by Mr. Norris formed also a part of the basis for the report of the Federal Trade Commission, a brief digest of the latter may not be out of place at this meeting. The report of the Federal Trade Commission covers primarily the two calendar years 1917 and 1918, divided into five periods which furnish opportunity for the study of how the influence of certain definite factors affected either the cost of production or the price, or both, during the 24 months. The first period, January to April, 1917, which may be considered the basic period, comprised the 4 months in 1917 during which the wage agreement of May, 1916, without modification, was in effect. During this period, the labor cost on fresh-mined coal is placed by the Commission's report at $1.79 per gross ton, the total cost at $2.66, the average realization at $3.29, and the "margin" (sales realization over total f.o.b. mine cost) at $0.63. The second period covers the four months from May 1 to August 31, during which time the first of the supplemental wage agreements (supplemental to the agreement of 1916) was in effect. It was also the period during which the summer discounts were in effect and when prices were practically fixed by a voluntary agreement between the operators and the Federal Trade Commission. It was, further, the period in which the 75 cents differential on prepared sizes permitted to the individual operators by the Federal Trade Commission began; at that time, also, on account of war conditions an unusually large quantity of steam sizes were marketed at exceptionally good prices. On account of the two latter conditions, not explained in the Commission's report, the "margin"1 on operating

Jan 1, 1920

By E. F. Loiseau

In a paper on the manufacture of artificial fuel, read at the Philadelphia meeting of February, 1878, I enumerated the difficulties which I had to overcome before succeeding in the mixing of coal-dust and clay, the compressing of the same mixture, and the water-proofing of the lumps. The drying of the lumps, after leaving the press, was the remaining difficulty, and it mas expected that a plan devised by Dr. Charles N. Cresson, of Philadelphia, would enable us to dry the fuel as rapidly as it was moulded, and that a continuous production could in that way be obtained. The company was reorganized. The works were purchased by the new company at an assignee's sale, and the oven was modified, according to Dr. Cresson's plan. Anticipating a possible failure, I had prepared a plan by which I expected to be able to demonstrate that anthracite coal dust nixed with pitch, could be manufactured with our present machinery slightly modified ; so that after all, if we were compelled to give up the attempt to make fuel for domestic use, there was a possibility of succeeding in the manufacture of a good steam-fuel. The plan suggested by Dr. Cresson for drying the pressed lumps of coal-dust cemented with clay, did not work as well as we expected. It enabled us to dry more fuel than we did before, but it could not be made to dry more than one half of the lumps produced by the press. The plan mas abandoned, and I was authorized to experiment with coal-dust and coal-tar pitch. The cement which is used in Europe to conglomerate coal-dust is usually dry pitch, which is prepared by separating from the tar, at a temperature of 572' Fahrenheit, the volatile matters which it contains. Some manufacturers, however, employ crude tar, others, a rich tar, which has been cleared of 25 per cent. of its volatile substances, by heating it to 392' Fahrenheit. But with common tar very weak fuels are obtained, which do riot burn well, and give out a strong smell and a great deal of smoke ; it is also necessary to subject them to a baking process, in order to solidify them, and to eliminate the more volatile of the materials contained. This operation of course requires a special plant, the cost of which increases sensibly the price of manufacture, without counting the products

Jan 1, 1880

Jan 1, 1950

By Samuel Hoyt

THE hardness of annealed copper has been given in the literature and is easily obtained by any of the standard methods of hardness testing. It is not our intention to correct published values or to add to them, but to describe tests of two bars of annealed electrolytic copper in which the methods of Meyer's analysis were employed. MEYER'S ANALYSIS OF BALL INDENTATION TEST The ball indentation test is probably the most valuable hardness test we now have but, as it is carried out in the Brinell or Rockwell test, the result may be seriously in error without the operator suspecting such to be the case. This condition results from the isolated and uncontrolled nature of the measurement. The accuracy depends on the accuracy of the equipment and the care and skill used in the operations; there is nothing in the impression diameter, which is all that is measured, to indicate the presence of error. Meyer's analysis supplies a control of the measurements that goes far toward eliminating unsuspected errors. The principles of this work maybe obtained from elsewhere.1 As this subject has not received the attention of this Institute, it may be well to summarize the more important points as follows.

Jan 2, 1926

By K. Leutwyler

The authors present an interesting review of various applications of rather well known theories. Their rearrangement of the original working equations is strictly computer oriented and serves well to that effect; however, the new appearance will be confusing to the slide rule-wielding members of the profession. In reviewing discrepancies existing between calculations made by Baker Oil Tools, Inc. field engineering staff members and computer output submitted based on the authors' program, the following error in concept was discovered in Eq. 4. The authors quote the length change due to helical buckling in the following form We appreciate Kurt Leutwyler's awareness of Archimedes' principle, and concur that the final term in the denominator of Eq. 4 results in a small error. Examples checked revealed less than I ft error, and corrective expressions for the four possibilities of displacement follow. The portion of the denominator within extra large brackets represents the original term W,, = weight of outside fluid displaced per unit length. The authors interpreted the expression "displaced" in general oilfield terminology as a fluid displacement, such as "mud displaced with water, etc." A review of the theory forming the basis for these helical buckling calculations discloses that this displacement is meant to be interpreted in the Archimedean sense, i.e., fluid displaced by the solid body. here the tubing and the seal nipple. Lubinski* illustrated the point by summing moments due to mechanical and hydraulic forces acting on a free body immersed in fluid. This moment summation, always in the Archi,medean sense, yields effects of the real forces, including W,, and the fictitious force on the bending mechanism. I would be interested to hear the authors' comments regarding this theoretical point, which nevertheless is not mute since its lack of recognition seems to result in erroneous calculations. We must not remain mute to Leutwyler's suggestion that these equations, although computer oriented, are confusing to the slide rule engineers. Such input information as density in pounds per gallon, pipe diameters in inches, pumping rate in barrels per minute and pipe length in feet is not confusing to most of us. Yet there may be some rugged individuals in field positions who carry tables of conversion constants and have committed to memory such items as coefficients of thermal expansion and Poisson's ratio; however, even this type of individual would welcome a simplified equation occasionally. M

By Oliver B. Hopkins

The Peruvian production increased over 3 million barrels from 1933 to 1934—from approximately 13¼ million barrels to over 16¼ million barrels—bringing the cumulative production of the country up to 171 million barrels. Most of this production, as well as most of the increase in 1934, came from La Brea-Parinas Estate, the property of the International Petroleum Co., Limited. In 1932 Peru stood eleventh among the oil-producing countries of the world, but in 1933 her production exceeded that of Trinidad, Argentine and Colombia, which placed her in eighth position. In 1934 Peru's production was exceeded by that of Colombia by about one million barrels, and by that of the Argentine by about 1½ million barrels, thus placing her in tenth position. After several years of relative inactivity in drilling and exploration there was a noticeable increase during 1934 in both of these lines of activity. Oil Fields La Brea-Parinas Estate.—Production on the La Brea-Parinas Estate. reached a significant total of 85,080 bbl. as early as 1891. It increased to over one million barrels in 1912, and to over 10 million barrels in 1929, and in 1934 it reached an all-time high of over 14 million barrels. The total production from 1890 to 1934 was 133,784,609 barrels. Practically all the drilling on the property has been done with cable tools, but during 1934 three strings of rotary tools were introduced. One was a heavy outfit for drilling a deep test and the other two were lighter outfits for deepening wells in the newer section of the field, where the gas pressure was too high to permit safe drilling with standard tools. During 1934 a total of 28,127 ft. was drilled, 66 wells were deepened, and 6 new wells were completed. At the end of the year 2844 wells had been drilled on the Estate, of which 1814 were still productive. The remaining 1030 wells represent abandoned producers or dry holes. The total area that has been productive up to the present time is estimated at 13,369 acres. An interesting article on the various phases of operations of the International Petroleum Co. was written by Arthur Iddings and published in The Oil and Gas Journal (Dec. 27, 1934).

Jan 1, 1935

By Eugene Jablonski

Statistical data on the Polish producing business are available only for the first half of 1939. Because of the invasion of the country during September by Germany and Russia all sources of information have stopped, and it is impossible to get even an approximate picture of the status of the industry after that date. The long declining trend of Polish production, which was finally checked during 1938, kept a further upward tendency during the first half of 1939, and there is good reason to believe that the upward trend would have been maintained. It is true, there was little hope of reviving the slowly dying Boryslaw field, although there still remained a slight possibility for an extension in its southwestern direction. Repressuring plans were still discussed, but. could not be put into effect because of extremely complicated and split-up lease ownership. The Gorlice-Lipinki ficld continued to be the main factor in the increase of the country's production. During the first half of 1939 this field received a further important extension in a southern direction. The Schodnica field continued to use repressuring with success. At the end of June, 21 exploratory wells were drilling, 14 of which were within thc Carpathians and 7 in the Miocene geosyncline of the Carpathian Foreland. All of the wildcat wells drilled within the Carpathians were on the struct,ural cxtcnsion of old established fields, but part of the wildcats of the Foreland were on new geological and geophysical prospects. The Opary gas field of the Foreland discovered last year has been further developed. The Government-owned Polmin completed its third gasser. This well penetrated two sands; the upper one, 118 ft. thick, was found at 1312 ft., with an initial pressure of 570 lb. and capable of produeiring 10 million cu. ft. per day. The second sand, 91 ft. thick, was found at 1690 ft., yielding 20 million cu. ft., with a pressure of 760 lb. The well Mieczyslaw, drilled about 3 miles further north on the flank of the structurc, found the first sand watered. The Pioneer No. 5, at Chodonice near Przemysl, which reported somc gas last year, was 5696 ft. deep at the end of June, still drilling in Miocene. Anothe well in the same vicinity drilled by the Gasolina was 1708ft. deep.

Jan 1, 1940

By P. Lindstrom

Retreat mining, using yielding steel friction props, over a 7-year period has been successful at a uranium mine operated by Hecla Mining Co. in southeast Utah. The support system allows good roof control, maximum profit, complete extraction, and good ventilation. Unusual subsidence observations were made in that some of the surface was raised rather than lowered. Longwall mining, commonly practiced in European coal mines, has a potential of broader application because of mechanization possibilities and better roof control and ventilation at greater depths. The Radon mine was one of the first American metal mines to use yielding steel props for supporting the relaxed core of the pressure arch which is induced by retreating longwall mining. Full caving was induced. After more than 7 years of stoping experience, the method has proved very satisfactory for the conditions encountered. The mine and method have been described in references listed in the bibliography. U.S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8004 by Wilbert Dare and Philip Lindstrom gives the most information. Stoping experience at this mine indicates that there are many advantages to be gained by using yielding supports; such as in safety, timber cost, roof control, ventilation, ore dilution, and low cost per pound of metal produced. Subsidence measurements show that the surface will rise rather than slump in some areas over the mine. This appears to be an unusual observation and is presented as a new development in subsidence studies. The Radon mine is located 35 miles southeast of Moab, Utah in the north end of the Big Indian mining district in San Juan County. Hecla Mining Co. operated the mine from early 1955 to early 1964 through an operating agreement with Federal Resources, Inc. Development consisted of a 3-compartment, 690-ft shaft, 4 main levels driven on the ore horizon and a haulage level below the ore. Evaluation of physical and economic factors showed that this flat-dipping ore occurrence could be mined by a low-cost coal mining method. The value of the deposit was high and unusual premiums were possible by clean mining. Complete extraction without loss of ore pillars, minimum ore dilution and high production per man were obtained by longwall mining. The principle of working under the relaxed core of

Jan 1, 1964

By Y. C. Liu

THE existence of mechanical twins in bcc metals has long been known. With recent intensive interest in the mechanism of twin formation and its role in plasticity and crack initiation, a study of the general Characteristics of twin intersection appears pertinent. The scope of the present note will be limited to the crystallography of the twin intersections of (112) twins, without consideration of its mechanism, movement of atoms, crystal structure, or the strain energy involved at such an intersection. The twinning elements of (112) twins are considered to be K1 = {112}, n1 = (111) and K2 = {112}, n2 = (111) with a twin shear of 0.707. The crystallographic features of twin intersections have been worked out in detail by Cahn.1 The present work applies the general principles postulated by Cahn to the intersections of (112) twins. The basic conditions for the twin intersection are: 1) The trace of crossing (A) and the secondary (C) twins in the planes of the crossed twin (B) must be parallel. 2) The direction (n1) and magnitude (s) of shear must be identical in the crossing and secondary twins. Also the sense of shear must be the same. These two conditions have to be fulfilled in order to maintain geometrical continuity at the twin interfaces. Fig. 1 shows the perspective representation of how these two conditions are fulfilled at the intersection. This type of intersection will be named Type-I. It is the purpose of this note to point out the existence of another type of intersection, Type-II, as shown in Fig. 2. In this type of intersection, the crossing twin A remains straight and the crossed twin B has been bent. The two conditions laid down by Cahn must also be met. This leads to the following corollary conditions: 1) The interface between twins B and C must be parallel to the twin habit of crossing twin A. 2) n1c must be parallel to n1A. 3) The twin shear (s) of twin C must be exactly equal to and in the same sense as that of crossing twin A. Thus, in order for the Type-II intersection to take place, the twining elements of secondary twin C must fulfill the above three conditions with respect to crossing twin A. Let K1 of crossed twin B be (112). All indices of the matrix can therefore be converted into new in-

Jan 1, 1963

Gerald Sherman, Bisbee, Ariz. (written discussion*) .—The fact that, after a change in the hours of labor, as much work is found to be done in 8 hr. as was accomplished in 10, probably results from the more rigid examination of operating methods that is made when the management faces new and more difficult conditions. Although A better working pace will prevail, most of the gain will result from economies of plan and only a part of it from the improved effciency of labor. The Iabor of shoveling is so severe that it may be easily believed that a working period of less than 7 hr. will give maximum results, but there arc many other occupations about a mine in which this is not true, and in which the rate of accomplishment is in proportion to the time employed, up to 9 or 10 hours. Mr. Harley's study of shoveling has becn thorough, and demonstrates the benefit of investigation and education even in such simple work, but his reference to methods of payment opens a subject even more important in mine management. The efficiency of labor may be excellent, but unless a method of equitable payment accompanies it, the result will be only temporary. With strict but sympathetic supervision, a good average day's work can be obtained; but with the exception of those unusual men who cannot be restrained from working to their limit, an average daily wage does not bring out the remarkable performance of which many men are capable. There is also a considerable variation in the average amount accomplished, dependent on the supply of Iabor. This can readily be shown by any labor record that covers several periods of shortage or superabundance of labor. An increase in the daily wage in the time of labor shortage does not necessarily bring out an increased day's work; there is usuaIly a decrease in labor efficiency at such times regardless of the wage, whenever a daily rate is used. Rewards to individuals for exceptional performance appearing as an increased rate of pay cannot be made in a large organization without bad feeling. In a small organization, an individual's ability may be so well recognized that different rates of pay can be applied. Exceptional work can only be obtained by a method of payment based on the valuable results accomplished. As a basis for such payment, an

Jan 1, 1920

By William Kent

ABOUT a year ago, the writer had occasion to assist Mr. John L. Gill, Jr., of the Pittsburgh. Car-wheel Works, in making a trial of his new testing machine. A piece of Bessemer steel, of about .34 carbon, was used as a test-piece, turned to a sectional area of one square inch for a length of five inches between shoulders, and pro¬vided with large round heads, which were fitted to what is called the " Wade grip." Measurements of elongation, accurate to , 1/10000 of an inch, were made by a special apparatus containing two micrometer screws, with electric contact attachment. The machine was operated by hand-power. Readings of elongation were taken at each increment of 2000 pounds stress per square inch, up to 44,000 pounds, the elongation corresponding to the latter figure being .0088 inch. The elongations up to this point remained almost exactly proportional to the stresses, the strain diagram, as shown on the Plate, from the origin to the point A, being a straight line (the deviation of no observation from the straight line being greater than .0002 inch). There being no indication of an approach to the elastic limit, the attendant at the hand-wheel and scale-beam was told to proceed as usual and move the poise forward 2000 pounds, or to 46,000, and turn the wheel until the beam was balanced. Noticing that the beam did not rise in the usual time, and that the elongation was increasing rapidly, the writer called to the attendant to stop turning the hand-wheel and to push the poise backwards until the scale-beam balanced. Instead of balancing at between 44,000 and 46,000 pounds, as was expected, it balanced at 40,000 pounds, and the elongation had increased to .0343 inch (or more than four times that recorded at 44,000 pounds), as plotted at the point B, the dotted line between A and B showing the supposed course of the strain diagram between these two points. Immediately upon recording the elongation the writer said to Mr. Gill, who was standing alongside: "This phenomena is without a parallel in my experience, and I know of but one way to account for it. The piece must actually be broken in its interior, through a flaw or weak portion of the metal. The test-piece is now equivalent to a tube, with

Jan 1, 1880

By Eugene Jablonski

Statistical data on the Polish producing business are available only for the first half of 1939. Because of the invasion of the country during September by Germany and Russia all sources of information have stopped, and it is impossible to get even an approximate picture of the status of the industry after that date. The long declining trend of Polish production, which was finally checked during 1938, kept a further upward tendency during the first half of 1939, and there is good reason to believe that the upward trend would have been maintained. It is true, there was little hope of reviving the slowly dying Boryslaw field, although there still remained a slight possibility for an extension in its southwestern direction. Repressuring plans were still discussed, but. could not be put into effect because of extremely complicated and split-up lease ownership. The Gorlice-Lipinki ficld continued to be the main factor in the increase of the country's production. During the first half of 1939 this field received a further important extension in a southern direction. The Schodnica field continued to use repressuring with success. At the end of June, 21 exploratory wells were drilling, 14 of which were within thc Carpathians and 7 in the Miocene geosyncline of the Carpathian Foreland. All of the wildcat wells drilled within the Carpathians were on the struct,ural cxtcnsion of old established fields, but part of the wildcats of the Foreland were on new geological and geophysical prospects. The Opary gas field of the Foreland discovered last year has been further developed. The Government-owned Polmin completed its third gasser. This well penetrated two sands; the upper one, 118 ft. thick, was found at 1312 ft., with an initial pressure of 570 lb. and capable of produeiring 10 million cu. ft. per day. The second sand, 91 ft. thick, was found at 1690 ft., yielding 20 million cu. ft., with a pressure of 760 lb. The well Mieczyslaw, drilled about 3 miles further north on the flank of the structurc, found the first sand watered. The Pioneer No. 5, at Chodonice near Przemysl, which reported somc gas last year, was 5696 ft. deep at the end of June, still drilling in Miocene. Anothe well in the same vicinity drilled by the Gasolina was 1708ft. deep.

Jan 1, 1940

By L. C. Morganroth

Discussion of the paper of L. C. MORGANROTH, presented at the New York meeting, February, 1916, and printed in Bulletin No. 110, February, 1916, pp. 475 to 481. DAVID B. REGER, Morgantown, W. Va.-I notice in the third paragraph of the first page of the paper, that in mentioning the clays of the Pottsville series, the author says: "The bed of clay found in the latter formation is unique in that flint clay is practically restricted to it. (A variety of flint clay is occasionally found in these upper deposits but this is in such small amounts as to be negligible."). If the author wishes to confine himself to the fire clays of Pennsylvania, as the title seems to indicate, I have nothing to say, but if he wishes to include a discussion on fire clays of the adjoining States which the. subsequent paragraphs of his paper seem to indicate, then I wish to call attention to the fact that there are large and extensive deposits of fire clay in the Allegheny series, immediately overlying the Pottsville in the northern counties of West Virginia. These fire clays have been studied carefully, and described in several reports of the West Virginia Geological Survey, first in the report on Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock Counties, in the northern part of the State; described later ,in the report on Monongalia, Marion, and Taylor Counties, and in the report on Preston County, which followed. In these latter counties (Monongalia, Marion, Taylor, and Preston) there are some beds of fine fire clay, varying in thickness from 6 to 10 or 12 ft., with a content of only 2 or 3 per cent. of fluxing ingredients, and these are of the typical Savage Mountain appearance and also have the typical Savage Mountain fracture. They have been prospected, but not mined a great deal. Several of them have been tested in blast furnaces and furnaces for other purposes, in glass-manufacturing plants, also for firebrick, arid have been found to be very good. They are simply awaiting development, and I merely want to call attention to the fact that there are plenty of them in the Allegheny series still above the Pottsville in West Virginia. There are two or three valuable seams which I have seen in person and have had analyzed in our laboratory.

Jan 5, 1916

By Rustum Roy, E. F. Osborn

THE investigation discussed in this paper concerns phase equilibria in the alumina-silica-water system. Studies in this system are part of a re¬search project sponsored by the Geophysics Branch of the Office of Naval Research2 directed toward increasing knowledge of the stability relations of metamorphic mineral assemblages. Inasmuch as metamorphic rocks consist largely of aluminosilicate struc¬tures, many of them hydrated, the system alumina-silica-water is a logical starting point for the systematic laboratory study of metamorphic mineral systems. Although logical, this is not, however, an easy approach to the problem because of the very great difficulty of obtaining transformations among structures in response to changes in temperature, pressure, and con¬centration. Commonly equilibrium among the phases in this system is exceed¬ingly difficult to attain. New laboratory techniques are required to produce certain structural rearrangements, such as inversion of diaspore to boehmite or the transformation of alumina-silica mixtures to andalusite or kyanite. Phase equilibrium data for the alumina-silica-water system are consequently only partly complete, and only a summary progress report is presented here. Crystalline phases in the alumina-silica-water system are numerous and many are common minerals. The oxide components exist as: quartz, tridymite, cristobalite, corundum, water, and ice. Binary compounds occurring naturally are: sillimanite, andalusite, kyanite, and mullite in the alumina-silica system and gibbsite, boehmite, and diaspore in the alumina-water system. The most abundant among the ternary compounds is the composition A12O3.2SiO2.¬2H2O, existing in the four structural modifications, kaolinite, nacrite, dickite, and halloysite. The hydrated form of halloysite, A12O3.2SiO2.4H2O, is here called endellite. Pyrophyllite, A12O3.4SiO2.H2O, is the third ternary compound of natural occurrence. In addition to these minerals, two other ternary crystalline phases have been encountered in this study. The first is a structure resembling montmorillonite and corresponding perhaps to the pure aluminian end member of the beidellite series. The other has a composition approximating A12O3.2SiO2.H2O but its composition and structure are still in doubt. LABORATORY PROCEDURE In these laboratory studies, a starting material such as an alumina-silica gel or one or more of the crystalline phases is wrapped in platinum foil,

Jan 1, 1952

By V. Balasubarmanian, Rajendra Kumar

ISOTHERMAL formation of martensite in a copper-aluminum-nickel alloy was previously reported by Hull and Garwood.' In the present work an attempt has been made to investigate some of the character- istics of the formation of isothermal martensite in binary copper-aluminum alloys containing 14.00 and 14.50 pct Al, respectively. Chill-cast alloys were prepared from OFHC copper and aluminum of greater than 99.5 pct purity. They were homogenized for 24 hr at 950° C. Polished samples were soaked at 1000°C and quenched in water to retain the p phase untransformed; martensite did not form during the quench. The surface was then repolished for isothermal microscopic studies at room temperature. The salient features of the martensitic transformation in copper-aluminum alloys observed in this investigation are: a) The transformation progresses (i) by nuclea-tion at new sites and (ii) by simultaneous slow isothermal growth of existing martensite plates. Slow isothermal growth of martensite has previously been observed by Holden2 in an uranium-chromium alloy and by Hull and Garwood in copper-aluminum-nickel alloy. b) Martensite plates nucleate preferentially at the pin holes formed during the casting of the specimen, Fig. 1. c) Some of the martensite plates pass right through other plates lying in their path, Fig. 1. d) Martensite plates cross grain boundaries without any change in the direction of growth. e) An irregular network of markings, Fig. 2, appears simultaneously with the formation of martensite. It was less prominent in the case of 14.5 pct alloy. The markings may arise due to spontaneous deformation under the lattice strains of the martensitic transformation. Crossing of martensite plates was first observed by Kulin and cohen3 when a high-nickel steel was cooled to 77°K. They suggested that the rapidly advancing plates atquire considerable kinetic energy and strike the obstructing plate with a momentum so as to nucleate the process on the other side of the plate. This, however, fails to explain the present observation where the slow isothermally growing martensite plates cross each other. Such plates would not possess large momentum to bodily displace the obstructing plate. Fig. 1 shows the martensite plates crossing each other without body displacements. This should be contrasted with Fig. 3 of Kulin and Cohen's paper where crossing of plates is accompanied by shearing or body displacements of the plates. The present observations can, how-

Jan 1, 1961

By William Kent

About a year ago, the writer had occasion to assist Mr. John L. Gill, Jr., of the Pittsburgh Car-wheel Works, in malting a trial of his new testing machine. A piece of Bessemer steel, of about .34 carbon, was used as a test-piece, turned to a sectional area of one square inch for a length of five inches between shoulders, and provided with large round heads, which were fitted to what is called the " Wade grip." Measurements of elongation, accurate to 1/10000 of an inch, were made by a special apparatus containing two micrometer screws, with electric contact attachment. The machine was operated by hand-power. Readings of elongation were taken at each increment of 2000 pounds stress per square inch, up to 44,000 pounds, the elongation corresponding to the latter figure being .0085 inch. The elongations up to this point remained almost exactly proportional to the stresses, the strain diagram, as shown on the Plate, from the origin to the point A, being a straight line (the deviation of no observation from the straight line being greater than .0002 inch). There being no indication of an approach to the elastic limit, the attendant at the hand-wheel and scale-beam wits told to proceed as usual and move the poise forward 2000 pounds, or to 46,000, and turn the wheel until the beam was balanced. Noticing that the beam did not rise in the usual time, and that the elongation was increasing rapidly, the writer called to the attendant to stop turning the hantl-wheel and to push the poise backwards until the scale-beam balanced. Instead of balancing at between 44,000 and 46,000 pounds, as was expected, it balanced at 40,000 pounds, and the elongation had increased to .0343 inch (or more than four times that recorded at 34,000 pounds), as plotted at the point B, the dotted line between A and B showing the supposed course of' the strain diagram between these two points. Immediately upon recording the elongation the writer said to Mr. Gill, who was standing alongside: "This phenomena is without a parallel in my experience, and I know of but one way to account for it. The piece. must actually be broken in its interior, through a flaw or weak portion of the metal. The test-piece is now equivalent to a tube, with

Jan 1, 1880

By David R. Mitchell, Ernest M. Spokes

MINING ENGINEERING, page 373, March 1958, vol. 211) S. C. Sun: This article by Spokes and Mitchell deserves high commendation. For many years mineral dressers have been at a loss to explain the variation in magnetic susceptibility of the same mineral species obtained from different localities. In fact, they do not even have a list of accurately measured data on the specific magnetic susceptibility of weakly magnetic minerals to consult. Experience as a university teacher has firmly convinced me that the average student has more difficulty in acquiring a satisfactory knowledge of magnetism than of any other branch of mineral dressing. This is almost entirely because the subject has been treated far too much from a strict practical standpoint and far too little from a fundamental one. It is no exaggeration to state that almost all the published theoretical discussions are based on the experimental results of manufactured chemicals and alloys, but not of naturally occurring minerals. In an attempt to remedy this state of affairs, the author of this article not only set up a new magnetic balance in the Department of Mineral Preparation of The Pennsylvania State University, but also performed work of fundamental value, thus pointing the way to further research. This is evidenced by the fact that an investigation of the magnetic susceptibilities of manganese minerals was recently completed by S. G. Watt under the direction of David R. Mitchell, now acting dean of the College of Mineral Industries of the Pennsylvania State University. D. J. Cook is studying the magnetic susceptibility of titanium minerals under my supervision. It is hoped that our research program can be continued for several years and that similar investigations will be initiated at other universities and research institutions. Ernest M. Spokes (author's reply): The discusser has touched the heart of a pedagogical problem in the field of minerals beneficiation—students do not understand magnetism and, as a result, neither do the graduate engineers. Only recently has the average course in engineering physics started teaching the fundamentals of magnetism, as they are understood in modern physics, in addition to the classical treatment of the mathematical aspects of magnetic phenomena. It is to be hoped that this increasing instruction in fundamentals will improve our understanding and inspire research to determine more of the basic magnetic data that are essential if we are to see improved methods of separation by magnetism.

Jan 1, 1959

By Philip W. Moen

It is with sincere regret that the members of the Institute will have heard of the death, on March 17th last, at Terre Haute, Ind., of Professor Charles 0. Thompson, A.M., Ph.D., President of the Rose Polytechnic Institute of that city, and for many years pre viously the head of the Worcester County (Mass.) Free Institute of Industrial Science, and in 1881 and 1882 one of the managers of this society. To us he was chiefly known by the excellent character of the work which he had performed, as a recognized leader among the technical educators of the country. He was a constant, and interested atten dant at our meetings, seeking to acquaint himself not less with all that was noteworthy in the practical attainments and developments of the branches of industry represented by our membership, than with such such facts as would be of service to him in shaping or guiding a wise course of instruction in the institutions of which he had charge. We shall not soon forget him, or the genial courtesy of his manner, or his ready words and thoughtful comments. Charles Oliver Thompson was born September 25th, 1836, at East Windsor Hill, Conn., where his father, Rev. William Thomp son, D.D., was professor in the Connecticut Theological Seminary, since removed to Hartford. The son was fitted for college under the late Paul A. Chadbourne, and entered Dartmouth College in 1854. He was graduated in 1858 with honors. In all the studies of his course he had maintained a high rank, but showed marked proficiency in chemistry and mechanical philosophy. In 1861 he received the degree of A.M., followed by that of Ph.D. from his own college in 1879, and from Williams in 1880. In September, 1858, the year of his graduation, he became principal of the Peacham Academy, Vt., remaining in that position until November of 1864, though during that period he devoted several months to practical work as a surveyor and civil engineer. Thus his experiences were developing the qualities which, later on, fitted him to carry out so successfully the plans of the thoughtful projectors of a new system of technical education, along a path before untrodden, but which the test of time and the indisputable proof of success have shown to be both wise and fruitful.

Jan 1, 1886