Search Documents

By Thomas MacFarlane

AMONG the industrial enterprises which have, from time to time, been undertaken in our Dominion, few have been more uniformly unsuccessful than those which have had for their object the develop ment of our mineral resources. These resources hare not been re garded as insignificant. On the contrary, it is supposed that we possess in our ore deposits something more than mere points of mineralogical interest. Some people are enthusiastic enough to be lieve that our mineral wealth will yet occasion the establishment in our backwoods of happy and industrious communities, causing, in fact, our wilderness to blossom as the rose. These enthusiasts do not shut their eyes to the serious obstacles which at every stage in terfere with the carrying out of mining enterprises in this country, and which tempt one to believe that no such enterprise can ever be conducted to a desirable end, but they entertain the conviction that as our capitalists, miners, and technologists reach the years of discretion, and handle our mines in an economical, vigorous, and judicious manner, and as our statesmen become alive to the necessity of fostering, without extremely protecting, our metallurgical indus tries, mines and furnaces will gradually prosper, and so develop as to become a tower of strength to our agricultural, manufacturing, and mercantile interests. The fact that our past experience does not generally justify such glowing anticipations makes one all the more anxious to put on record the history of a successful mine, such as the Silver Islet has, on the whole, been. My connection with its discovery and early development was a very intimate one, and I propose in this paper to sketch its history and character, and sum up the amount of silver it has so far yielded. An additional reason for the appearance of this paper is that the Transactions of the Institute contain only a few references to the Silver Islet Mine. Although this mine is reported successful, we have, of course, no guarantee that it will not fall a victim to the same influences which have

Jan 1, 1880

By Thomas MacFarlane

I. INTRODUCTION. AMONG the industrial enterprises which have, from time to time, been undertaken in our Dominion, few have been more uniformly unsuccessful than those which have had for their object the development of our mineral resources. These resources have not been regarded as insignificant. On the contrary, it is supposed that we possess in our ore deposits something more than mere points of mineralogical interest. Some people are enthusiastic enough to believe that our mineral wealth will yet occasion the establishment in our backwoods of happy and industrious communities, causing, in fact, our wilderness to blossom as the rose. These enthusiasts do not shut their eyes to the serious obstacles which at every stage interfere with the carrying out of mining enterprises in this country, and which tempt one to believe that no such enterprise can ever be conducted to a desirable end, but they entertain the conviction that as our capitalists, miners, and technologists reach the years of discretion, and handle our mines in an economical, vigorous, and judicious manner, and as our statesmen become alive to the necessity of fostering, without extremely protecting, our metallurgical industries, mines and furnaces will gradually prosper, and so develop as to become a tower of strength to our agricultural, manufacturing, and mercantile interests. The fact that our past experience does not generally justify such glowing anticipations makes one all the more anxious to put on record the history of a successful mine, such as the Silver Islet has, on the whole, been. My connection with its discovery and early development was a very intimate one, and I propose in this paper to sketch its history and character, and sum up the amount of silver it has so far yielded. An additional reason for the appearance of this paper is that the Transactions of the Institute contain only a few references to the Silver Islet Mine. Although this mine is reported successful, we have, of course, no guarantee that it will not fall a victim to the same influences which have

Jan 1, 1880

By Richard W. Smith

There are three distinct varieties of phosphate rock, in Tennessee, known commercially as: (a) the "brown" rock, which is the residual product of the weathering and natural concentration of certain phosphatic Ordovician limestones; (b) the "blue" rock, which is an unaltered phosphatic stratum of Mississippian or Devonian age; and (c) the "white" rock, which is the result of chemical replacement and deposition. Before 1894, South Carolina and Florida had supplied most of the phosphate of the United States, South Carolina leading until that date and Florida from then until the present time. In December, 1893, the blue phosphate of Tennessee was discovered almost simultaneously on Swan Creek, in Lewis County, by two independent parties—by one as the result of a careful and systematic search for a workable deposit of the long known kidney phosphate, and by the other through mistaking it for a "bloom" of coal. Leases were taken and, with further prospecting disclosing other deposits in the region, the development progressed as rapidly as could be expected without railroad transportation. In January, 1896, Judge S. Q. Weatherly, who was interested in the development of the blue phosphate, while riding along the road south of Mt. Pleasant, noticed some slabs of a brown rock in place above the limestone. He took samples, and had them analyzed, thus discovering the high-grade brown phosphate of this district. This discovery was kept a secret until July, 1896, when mining was started at the village of Mt. Pleasant. Development proceeded rapidly, many owners obtaining their capital by the sale of their rock fences, which were largely composed of slabs of high-grade brown phosphate. The development of the brown rock, which is richer and more easily mined than the blue, caused Tennessee to advance from a poor third in production to second, surpassing the output of South Carolina, and being excelled only by Florida.

Jan 1, 1927

By Sydney H. Ball

MINERALS used primarily for personal adornment and decorative purposes are called precious stones. To be so prized, the stones must possess beauty of color, must not be too common, and must be hard enough to withstand ordinary wear. If transparent, they must have brilliancy and fire. Almost one hundred minerals have been used as precious stones, the noble gems being the diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire; pearls are frequently included by courtesy. These gem stones, however, are sometimes equaled in beauty by fine opals, aquamarines, ourmalines, spinels, chrysoberyls (both cat's-eye and alexandrite), and spodumenes (hiddenite and kunzite). The Greeks, Romans, and medieval Europeans grouped together gem stones according to color and degree of transparency, and only as the niceties of mineralogy began to be known, about a century ago, was it realized how many different minerals have the beauty required of gem stones. Pliny, for example, did not distinguish between rubies and the red varieties of spinel and garnet, although he conjectured that the beryl and emerald were one mineral. GENERAL SURVEY Early man treasured bright colored berries, attractive shells, white teeth of wild animals and brightly colored pebbles, and used them as personal ornaments. In the eastern hemisphere, the earliest stones used were members of the quartz family (100,000 to 75,000 B.C.); then obsidian and amber (50,000 to 25,000 B.C.); the jade minerals, fluorspar and jet (22,000 to 7000 B.C.); turquoise (7000 to 3400 B.C.); lapis lazuli and garnet (prior to 3500 B.C.) ; emerald (2000 to 1800 B.C.) ; sapphire, ruby and diamond (800 to 500 B.C.). Indeed, gem mining is the oldest form of mining, and before any metals were known primitive man recognized about 18 gems and decorative stones. At first he sought them in stream gravels and residual deposits but by 3400 B.C. the turquoise mines of the Sinai Peninsula were operated. This was the world's first important hard-rock mining enterprise. The Afghanistan lapis lazuli mines may

Jan 1, 1949

CHARGING of an open-hearth heat is begun as soon as possible after the previous heat has been tapped. Ordinarily, about 40 min is required to drain and dress the furnace hearth, make up the taphole, and perform routine repairs of the banks. Repairs to the upper back wall and to the front wall and jambs can ordinarily be done while the first scrap charge is being heated and are therefore allowed to wait in order to save furnace time. Any major repairs required on the hearth or other parts of the furnace necessitate longer delays because such repairs must be made while the furnace is empty. Although charging practice varies considerably in detail with the type and proportions of scrap and iron used, many factors are common to all varieties of charge. Such general considerations are dealt with first. CHARGING EQUIPMENT AND STOCK HANDLING The physical equipment available for loading and weighing the stock, transporting it to the furnace, and charging it, may have a major effect on charging practice. Limestone, scrap, and all other solid melting stock are charged mechanically by means of equipment illustrated in Fig 2-1. The charging of hot metal is shown in- the background of this figure. Mechanical equipment and plant layout for stock handling are described in Chapter 1. It is generally desirable to charge the scrap about as fast as the physical volume can be put into the furnace. Charging scrap that is too heavy or adding the charge too rapidly (less than 45 min) may be detrimental to melting rate because of excessive chilling of the entire furnace system and also because of poor conduction of heat to the lower layers in the furnace; but the more common problem is the reverse one of charging light scrap fast enough to maintain a normal heat time. A limiting factor may be the height to which the scrap may he piled in the fur-

Jan 1, 1964

By E. A. Trager, A. W. McCoy, H. R. Shidel

Sampling of the fluid from oil wells for percentages of oil, emulsified oil, and water during the last two years has brought out some interesting facts concerning oil-water emulsion. This result led to a laboratory investigation of emulsion, which substantiated the conclusions made from the field observations. The purpose of this paper is to present the information collected, the laboratory experiments, and our interpretation of the same. In order to define emulsified .oil exactly, give its synthesis and origin, and to show how and when it is formed in the wells, the work was necessarily divided into two separate lines—laboratory work and field observations. It is hoped that this study may lead to a discussion of such points so that the petroleum engineer, geologist, or technologist may be benefited by its practical bearing on oil-field management. Special credit is due Mr. Everett Carpenter, chief geologist of the Empire Gas & Fuel Co., for his assistance and cooperation in this work. Labobatory Investigations on Emulsified Oil Laboratory investigations were conducted in an attempt to learn the composition and some of the properties of emulsified oil, or B. S., as it is more commonly called, also to demonstrate, by laboratory methods, how B. 5. may be formed under conditions similar to those existing at the time a well is being pumped, and how it may be broken down. Literature bearing on this subject is widely scattered and very limited in scope. Bacon and Hamor define B. S., or bottom settlings, as "earthy matter, inert organic matter, or, in the case of Pennsylvanian petroleum, an emulsion of paraffin wax and water, which accompanies crude oil." In this discussion we will limit the term B. S. to that heavy, dark-brown emulsion, composed of a physical mixture of water, oil, and air with some included inert matter, either organic or inorganic. Possibly the first step in a description of this product should be a description of its physical properties, but since most operators are quite

Jan 1, 1921

By J. Bulina, J. T. Brown

SINCE the inception of vacuum cold-hearth arc melting of high-temperature alloys (about 4 years ago) it has been theoretically reasoned and qualitatively found that better mechanical properties are often obtained from alloys which have been melted by this practice. Mechanical properties are emphasized in this evaluation because of their importance in design. Vacuum-arc melting has an intrinsic advantage in that it creates an ingot grain structure which is easier to forge and thus leads to greater yields for the finished product. The greater yield naturally gives the process an economic basis when the cost per pound of alloy is rather high. However, the question stressed here is, does the process create an alloy with inherently better properties? There are several theoretical reasons for suspecting that it does. One is the vacuum refining which should permit lowering the content of harmful residuals with high vapor pressures. A second is the vacuum process which should preclude the formation of harmful distribution of oxides, nitrides, or carbo-nitrides, by keeping the amount of such constituents formed to a minimum. A third is the vacuum-arc cold-hearth method which prevents the possibility of pick-up of harmful elements from a refractory crucible since none is used. Fourth, the rapid solidification rate, induced by having a cold mold and only small amounts of molten metal at any one time, minimizes the segregation of elements like titanium, aluminum, and molybdenum from the top to the bottom of the ingot. This rapid solidification rate also decreases the tendency of the above elements to form undesirable phases by segregating locally. Another less frequently considered vacuum-arc melting advantage is the inherently finer-grained ingot structure which can be produced. Finer initial grain size leads to better forgeability, and means that after relatively small reductions to billets or final forged products a finer-grained material is obtained, which, by virtue of its finer grain size, would usually have greater stress-rupture ductility.

Jan 1, 1960

By John B. Baker, Bernard B. Betty, H. F. Moore

Fox several years there has been in progress in the Materials Testing Laboratory of the University of Illinois an investigation of creep and fracture of lead and lead alloys. In the course of this investigation it has been shown that the phenomenon of creep occurs in part at the grain boundaries of lead and lead alloys. To study the occurrence of creep and the development of fracture within crystalline grains, two series of tests of single crystals of lead have been carried out. The first of these, a preliminary series, by Mr. Betty, has been described.1,2 The second, pursued by Mr. Baker for his doctoral dissertation, was carried out under the direction of Professor Moore, with the assistance of Prof. G. L. Clark in the X-ray work, and the cooperation and advice of Mr. Betty. This paper is based on the test data obtained in this second series. Single crystals of a very pure commercial lead have been prepared, some of them tested to measure creep, others tested to fracture under long-continued steady load, and still others tested under cycles of repeated tension. An interpretation of the test data of these single-crystal tests is offered, which is a combination of parts of several well-known theories. SPECIMENS The single-crystal specimens were made from a piece of very pure commercial lead sheathing. A spectroscopic analysis of one of the single crystals showed the presence of 0.005 per cent Bi, 0.0001 per cent Cu and 0.0003 per cent Ag. Preparation.-The Bridgman method of casting single-crystal speci¬mens was used.3 The specimens were cast to the shape and size shown in Fig. I (dimensions in Fig. 4c) in a duralumin mold. Molten lead does not stick to duralumin. Fig. 1 shows the mold and the blast flames for heating. After the mold had been heated to the temperature of molten

Jan 1, 1938

By F. E. Smith, David R. Mitchell, B. M. Bird

DENSE-MEDIA processes utilize the familiar laboratory float-and- sink procedure on a commercial scale. Just as wood chips float on water and sand sinks, ,so coal floats and refuse sinks when placed in a medium intermediate in specific gravity between the coal and refuse. Liquids intermediate in specific gravity between coal and refuse used in commercial plants are of four types: (1) Organic liquids of high specific gravity-halogenated hydrocarbons; (2) dissolved, salts in water; (3) pseudo liquids obtained by suspending solids, such as sand, in water, and (4) fluidizing a mass of sand or other solids by air currents. Those most widely used for cleaning coal are solutions of calcium chloride in water and a suspended-sand pseudo liquid. Laboratory float-and-sink testing is an intermittent operation during which every opportunity is given for particles lighter than the medium to float and particles heavier to sink. Commercial processes are continuous, vertical and horizontal currents of the separating medium occur as either part of the process or unavoidably produced by the introduction of feed and withdrawal of products, so that the exact separation of the laboratory technique is not duplicated by commercial processes. However, separations close to the theoretical are obtained in commercial machines by careful technical control of the process. Most machines in commercial installations are crowded to get as much out of the equipment as possible, so that careful technical control is necessary to get the recoveries and grade of product desired. Sizes usually cleaned are plus 3/16-in. or plus 1/8-in. in the United States and plus 1/16-in. in Great Britain: Coal as small as 1 mm. has been cleaned in some experimental installations. The separation of coal from refuse in sizes finer than about in. is made difficult by viscosity' effects and hence at the present time cleaning is confined to the coarser sizes. Technical advances in the art of cleaning coal by dense-media

Jan 1, 1943

By William Crane

OPERATORS of diamond drills have long been familiar with thread-like markings or riflings on cores but apparently have given but little serious thought to the conditions that are responsible for their production. The opinion generally held by those who have observed the phenomena is that the riflings are produced directly or indirectly by vibration, but so far as the writer is aware no systematic attempt has been made to demonstrate the fact. A careful search through the literature on diamond-drilling practice has been rewarded by only one reference to such markings of cores. J. N. Justice1 writes, "Of the peculiarities met with in the core, I will mention only one. The core from the "H" drill, at about 360 ft. came out rifled and pentagonal. The change from the circular to the pentagonal was sudden, and for 9 ft. this structure was maintained, when suddenly it returned to the circular. I have not been able to find any one who can explain the cause of this change of form. The drill men marveled at it and suggested vibration, six-stone bits, and several other hypotheses Which need not be mentioned." The writer became interested in the matter of core riflings some 10 years ago while in the Flat River lead region of Missouri, where many remarkable examples of "rifled" cores were observed and collected. Since that time similar phenomena have been observed in various localities throughout the United States and Canada, and samples have been gotten together illustrating a large number of variations in form. After a careful study had been made of the material at hand it seemed desirable that certain data should be obtained from the experience of others regarding the normal action of diamond drills in forming cores, portions of which are occasionally rifled, before an attempt was made to draw any conclusions as to their cause.

Jan 5, 1916

Page Bronze Bearing Metals. By G. H. Clamer............... 162 Pennsylvania Railroad Anti-friction and Bell Metals. By F. M. Waring .. 166 The Tin-plate Industry. By D. M. BUck. Discussed by G. H. ClameR, J. W. RICHARDS............................ 168 The Aluminum Bronze Industry. By W. M. Corse............ 171 Bronzes, Bearing Metals, and Solders. By G. K. BURgess and R. W. Woodward. Discussed by G. H. Clamer, R. T. Roberts......... 175 Babbitts and Solder. By G. W. Thompson................ 184 The Cadmium Supply of the United States. By C. E. Siebenthal. Discussed by M. L. Lissberger, C. W. Hill, F. F. ColcoRd.......... 185 Solder, Its Use and Abuse. By M. L. LissbergeR............ 192 Bronze Bearing Metals G. H. ClameR,* Philadelphia, Pa.—Unfortunately, prior to the war no serious attention was given to the conservation of tin, notwithstanding that this country is practically dependent upon outside sources for its entire tin supply. Tin is of vital importance in many industries, but it is surprising how many and how excellent are its substitutes when we become acquainted with them. Tin has always been a relatively high-priced metal, and it is part of the human attitude to associate high prices with high standards; it is not until the price of a commodity becomes well-nigh prohibitive that we hunt for substitutes, because the idea of substitution seems always to involve an assumption that the substitute must necessarily be inferior. The history of the development of bearing bronzes is a striking example of this policy. In the early days, copper-tin alloys were almost universally used, the idea then being prevalent, which is still held by many, that a bearing to resist wear must be hard, and the harder the better. The favorite bronze bearing contained 90 per cent. copper and 10 per cent. tin; frequently, in service which was considered severe, even higher proportions of tin were used. Such hard alloys have great resistance to compression, but as a rule they had a very wide factor of safety in this

Jan 1, 1919

By B. B. A. Luzzat

ALUMINUM is today the most widely used of the nonferrous metals. The technical literature on the aluminum smelting process is, nevertheless, very meager, so that anyone interested in the subject cannot rely on more than a couple of dozen publications.' The patent literature is equally scarce; most patents refer to the production of alumina from aluminum-bearing ores, while not more than a few score significant patents deal with the electrolytic reduction of alumina, which is the real core of the aluminum smelting industry. The "reduction phase" is, from a technical and a scientific point of view, much more interesting than the "alumina phase", which, in effect, is only a combination of such well-known chemical operations as dissolving, precipitating, filtering, drying, and calcining. The electrolytic reduction of alumina, on the other hand, has features which do not appear in any other metal smelting operation. Some of them are of great technical and scientific interest even for those not directly engaged in the production of aluminum. The purpose of this paper is to describe in some detail the basic facts and developments of the reduction phase of aluminum smelting. Two Aspects of the Electrolytic Process The raw material for the reduction process is alumina (Al2O3) . Its purity in general runs as high as 99.50 pct or more. Small differences in the chemical composition generally do not affect the reduction process.* Of more importance are the physical prop- erties of the alumina, since they affect not only its rate of solution in the molten bath but also its heat insulating power.† In the following pages, un- less otherwise stated, it is assumed that a standard "Bayer" alumina is used. The reduction process, by which alumina is broken down into its components, may be roughly defined as its electrolysis in molten cryolite. The oxygen separates at the anode, and the aluminum at the cathode, which forms the bottom of the electrolytic cell. The electrolytic cell (or pot) where the process is carried out is a strongly reinforced steel box. The

Jan 1, 1951

By F. E. Smith, David R. Mitchell, B. M. Bird

DENSE-MEDIA processes utilize the familiar laboratory float-and¬-sink procedure on a commercial scale. Just as wood chips float on water and sand sinks, so coal floats and refuse sinks when placed in a medium intermediate in specific gravity between the coal and refuse. Liquids intermediate in specific gravity between coal and refuse used in commercial plants are of four types: (1) Organic liquids of high specific gravity-halogenated hydrocarbons; (2) dissolved salts in water; (3) pseudo liquids obtained by suspending solids, such as sand, in water, and (4) fluidizing a mass of sand or other solids by air currents. Those most widely used for cleaning coal are solutions of calcium chloride in water and a suspended-sand pseudo liquid. Laboratory float-and-sink testing is an intermittent operation during which every opportunity is given for particles lighter than the medium to float and particles heavier to sink. Commercial processes are con¬tinuous, vertical and horizontal currents of the separating medium occur as either part of the process or unavoidedly produced by the intro¬duction of feed and withdrawal of products, so that the exact separation of the laboratory technique is not duplicated by commercial processes. However, separations close to the theoretical are obtained in commercial machines by careful technical control of the process. Most machines in commercial installations are crowded to get as much out of the equipment as possible, so that careful technical control is necessary to get the recoveries and grade of product desired. Sizes usually cleaned are plus %6-in. or plus 3-in. in the United States and plus 36-in. in Great Britain. Coal as small as 1 mm. has been cleaned in some experimental installations. The separation of coal from refuse in sizes finer than about % in. is made difficult by viscosity effects and hence at the present time cleaning is confined to the coarser . sizes. Technical advances in the art of cleaning coal by dense-media

Jan 1, 1943

By Donald C. Barton

The elastic earth waves produced naturally by earthquakes have been used for a long time as evidence from which to draw conclusions in ; regard to the constitution of the interior and crust of the earth. The I elastic earth waves produced artificially by occasional explosions and ' recorded by seismological observatories were used to draw conclusions regarding the geology of the intervening area. Intentionally produced elastic earth waves in the past five years have come to be used extensively in the investigation of very local geologic structure. The scismic method of working geologic structure, which makes use of artificially controlled explosions and the resulting earth waves, has developed almost clairvoyant power in handling certain geologic situations; and, in the discovery of salt domes in the Gulf Coastal Plain region of Texas and Louisiana, it has scored the most brilliant success. The first proposal for the use of artificial earthquakes in the study of velocity of elastic earth waves in the surface formations of the earth's crust were made before 1888, by the English seismologists mallet and Abbot. Partly on the basis of their work, A. Schmidt in 1888 proposed the use of time-(Iistnncc graphs of artificial earthquakes to study the variation of vellocity with depth. Belar in 1902 proposed the practical 'application of such investigation in connection with boring tunnels. Galitzcn repeated1y (1912. I9IX) proposed the use of explosions to study the velocity of the longitudinal and transverse waves in the uppermost formations and pointed out that the velocity depended in a high degree on the physical character of the beds and that from changes in the velocity, conclusions could be drawn in regard to the composition of the beds. Somewhat the same thought was proposed by von dem Borne (1908), by Benndorf, Udden and others.' First Use of Artificially Excited Earth waves to Determine Local structure The first application of the use of artificially excited elastic earth waves to thc determination of local geologic structure was worked out,

Jan 1, 1929

By Gilbert E. Doan, William C. Schulte

An extensive program of investigation is being carried out at Lehigh University in the study of arcs and arc welds of high-purity iron1, sponsored by the Engineering Foundation. The part of that program reported in the present paper deals with welds made of high-purity iron in an argon atmosphere and for comparison with them welds made of the same iron in ordinary air. Welds of commercial steel also were made in argon and in air. The primary purpose of the study is to discover the basic physical constants of iron welds when not contaminated either by impurities in the iron or by the action of oxygen and nitrogen of the air during welding. Upon these constants can be founded such future studies as will determine what effects the various impurities and alloy elements present in steel have upon its welding characteristics, and what influence is exerted by the action of oxygen and nitrogen. The welding of steel involves such a multitude of variables, both of composition and of procedure, that development in the fabrication of this most important metal has necessarily been slow, wasteful, and in many instances discouraging. In the present investigation, the simplest possible condition has been selected; namely, iron practically free from contamination and a nonparticipating atmosphere, the inert gas argon. This simplification reduces the number of variables to a point where more rigid control of the system is possible. Although this study is significant for the contributions it makes to the science of steel fabrication, yet it is hoped that it will not be without value also in increasing knowledge of the. nature and behavior of iron and steel in general. From the standpoint of open-hearth practice, and to some extent from the standpoint of electric-furnace practice also, the conditions of melting and casting iron in this investigation are extraordinary. The casting temperature is high, the mean temperature of the metal probably reaching 2000' C. (3600' F.)? The rate of chilling of

Jan 1, 1936

THE subcommittee on Coal Mining, since its appointment, has been engaged in collecting data about subsidences in coal mines in this country, and it now feels that almost all of the available data about occurrences of this sort in bituminous mines has been collected. As most of the bituminous seams are nearly level, the records obtained give the problem in its simplest form, without complications due to the pitch of the seam. Similar data is being compiled for the anthracite regions and it is hoped that this will be ready for the 1927 meeting. Copies of the questionnaire, Appendix A, were mailed to all of the coal operators' associations, to most of the large operating companies and to many engineers, with the request that any data on the subject be returned to the committee, or that advice of any subsidences known be given. The replies to most of the questionnaires were general only, although some specific cases were given. Many of the companies were unable to reply to all questions, as they lacked the necessary data, but in nearly every case where accurate data was available, it was cheerfully furnished, and any additional information requested was secured. All specific cases of subsidence were followed up by correspondence, and in several cases by personal inspection. Figs. 1 to 31 were made from the information furnished. Table 1 gives measurements of elevations taken in one case at intervals from October, 1913, to May, 1918. With one exception, where the evidence cannot yet be released on account of a lawsuit, it is believed that the cases submitted with this report include practically all that have happened in bituminous coal mining in this country of which actual measurements were secured. Some of these have already been published in the excellent report by Young and Stoek,1 and some instances have been secured from other publications. In collecting these data, the subcommittee had the Engineering Societies Library extend the bibliography given in the bulletin mentioned above to date. This list is given in Appendix B.

Jan 2, 1926

By Carl Henrich

Aspen, the flourishing mountain- and mining-town of Pitkin county, Colorado, is located in the valley of the Roaring Fork, 11 miles above Glenwood springs, where that stream empties its waters into Grand river, a tributary of the Colorado. The Roaring Fork heads on the western slope of the Sawatch range near Grizzly peak, and runs in a general northwesterly direction to its junction with the Grand river. Of its numerous tributaries, Castle creek joins it just below the town of Aspen, the town being built on an extensive flat hounded on the northeast by the Roaring Fork and on the west by Castle creek. The latter heads at the junction of the Sawatch and the Elk mountains and flows northward between the two chains, until it empties into Roaring Fork. Opposite the town of Aspen, Hunter creek, coming westward from the western slope of Mount Massive, joins the Roaring Fork. About a mile north of Aspen, the bed of Hunter creek is at least 300 feet higher than that of the Roaring Fork at Aspen. Hunter creek forms thus, at its mouth, one of the best water-powers in Colorado. A portion of it is now utilized for electric lighting in Aspen, while in the near future, the whole of this magnificent natural power will be applied, through electric transmission, for hoisting, pumping and ventilating at different mines of the district. The mountain opposite the town of Aspen, on the east side of Hunter creek (which near its mouth flows southerly), is called Smuggler mountain, from the famous mine at the foot of it. On the other, or western, side of Hunter's creek (see map, Fig. I), a higher mountain rises, on the slope of which the regular dip of the Triassie or Upper Carboniferous red sandstone strata, alternating with white layers of the same rock, can be clearly seen from town. This mountain is called Red mountain, from the prevailing color of its rocky

Jan 1, 1889

By C. W. Nicolson

THE Tri-State zinc and lead-mining district is in the northeast corner of Oklahoma, the southeast corner of Kansas and the southwest corner of Missouri. The area throughout which active mining has been conducted is about 45 miles long and about 5 miles wide, extending northeasterly from Commerce, Okla., to Alba, Missouri. Although the lead ores were mined on a very small scale in the vicinity of Joplin, Mo., as early as 1848, nothing of any importance was done in the district until 1870, since when both mining and smelting have been prosecuted with considerable vigor. In the beginning the lead ores only were exploited, but within a few years extensive deposits of zinc ores were found and since that time the production of zinc ore has far exceeded that of lead. Both the surface and mineral rights in Missouri and Kansas were under individual ownership by the time ore was discovered. Although some of these rights were purchased by mining companies, most of the mining has been done under leases covering small areas, usually 40 acres, although in the past many leases were given on much smaller tracts. In Oklahoma most of the mineral land had been alloted by the Government to various Indian tribes and although the title to some of these lands had been acquired by various white men before the discovery of the rich Picher field, the title to most of the land has remained with the Indian tribes and the leasing of the mineral rights has been done by the Federal Government for the benefit of the Indians. The Indian allotments were of 200 acres each and some of the mining leases covered entire allotments, although many leases were granted for only 40 acres or even less. Practically all of the leases granted in the past required the erection of a concentrating plant on each lease, a condition that has had a pronounced effect upon the mining and milling methods of the district, since the apparent ore reserves on each tract were too small to justify large

Jan 1, 1938

By G. S. Cole, G. F. Bolling

Fluid flow strongly influences ingl structure and the columnar -to-equaaxed transition. Artificial flow patterns siwzilar to the nuturul ones act to induce this transition, while dampening forces act to suppress this transition. It is shown here how simple mechanical forces can be applied to a systerrz in order to induce or slipPvess relative fluid flow and the change both the structure transition and the exact structures obtained. The example used is the effect of slow rotations and oscillations 012 a cooling- ingot (of laboratory scale). The details of rotution and oscillation for various cooling rates, lenlperal~ire gradients, and sizes of ingot are related to other solidzfication variables. THE grain structure of a casting can be changed by altering the fluid motion during solidification. Just how important these changes are depends directly upon the degree to which the fluid motion can be controlled. An early step in understanding the nature and influences of fluid motion was taken by studying natural thermal convection; when a static mechanical device was used to suppress natural flow the result was opposite to that obtained when an electromagnetic device was used to augnlent flow in a pattern similar to the natural one. ''2 Suppression allowed more columnar growth to occur, but "augmented natural convection" brought about an earlier columnar-to-equiaxed transition (CET). Since the solidification of a free ingot must have characteristics somewhere between those displayed during suppression and augmentation, we know that natural convection must influence the CET. Further, since heat transfer in the liquid is always some time-dependent combination of convection and conduction, it can easily be guessed that the temperature gradient in the liquid is the vital factor affecting the CET.1,2 It is obvious that the structure arising from the unadulterated solidification of an ingot, without external influence, is rarely if ever the best possible one. Although the pattern of the natural fluid flow may be considered efficient, the magnitude of the flow and the heat transfer decrease freely from the outset. For a

Jan 1, 1968

By William C. Schulte, Gilbert E. Doan

An extensive program of investigation is being carried out at Lehigh University in the study of arcs and arc welds of high-purity iron1, sponsored by the Engineering Foundation. The part of that program reported in the present paper deals with welds made of high-purity iron in an argon atmosphere and for comparison with them welds made of the same iron in ordinary air. Welds of commercial steel also were made in argon and in air. The primary purpose of the study is to discover the basic physical constants of iron welds when not contaminated either by impurities in the iron or by the action of oxygen and nitrogen of the air during welding. Upon these constants can be founded such future studies as will determine what effects the various impurities and alloy elements present in steel have upon its welding characteristics, and what influence is exerted by the action of oxygen and nitrogen. The welding of steel involves such a multitude of variables, both of composition and of procedure, that development in the fabrication of this most important metal has necessarily been slow, wasteful, and in many instances discouraging. In the present investigation, the simplest possible condition has been selected; namely, iron practically free from contamination and a nonparticipating atmosphere, the inert gas argon. This simplification reduces the number of variables to a point where more rigid control of the system is possible. Although this study is significant for the contributions it makes to the science of steel fabrication, yet it is hoped that it will not be without value also in increasing knowledge of the. nature and behavior of iron and steel in general. From the standpoint of open-hearth practice, and to some extent from the standpoint of electric-furnace practice also, the conditions of melting and casting iron in this investigation are extraordinary. The casting temperature is high, the mean temperature of the metal probably reaching 2000' C. (3600' F.)? The rate of chilling of

Jan 1, 1936