Search Documents

BUFFALO C E Moyer, Chairman (Buffalo, N Y ) R M Jordan, Vice-Chairman H A Morlock, Secretary CHICAGO M E Nickel, Chairman (Chicago, Ill) A M Kroner, Vice-Chairman W R McLain, Secretary-Treasurer

Jan 1, 1960

By Seymour Fiekowsky, Alvin Kaufman

Taxes are compulsory charges levied by a government for its support. They are usually paid to support the general services provided by government rather than special services (such as safety inspection). The latter are normally supported by user charges often called license fees. Taxes are used by national governments not only to raise money but also as a part of fiscal policy. As such, taxes are used to stimulate or deflate the economy, as an incentive to save or invest, as a means of allocating national resources, and as a means of redistributing income. In our discussion, we will deal only with those facets of the subject that relate specifically to the mineral industry. In doing so we will deal with taxes levied on all industry in a generalized way and only insofar as it affects our industry, but at some length on those portions of the tax system related directly to the mineral industry. It is not our intent to provide a "cookbook" for computing taxes, but rather to present some of the policy issues that bedevil those who must develop our tax policies. MINERAL TAXES The mineral industry is subject to the full range of taxes levied by governments. These include taxes on income, property, and sales, as well as excise and severance taxes. The latter are somewhat similar to a royalty in , that such taxes are levied either ad valorem or per unit of output. Severance taxes most commonly are charged to oil and gas output, although coal, salt, sulfur, and iron ore production also have been taxed in this manner. The major governmental advantage of the severance tax is the administrative ease of collection. On the other hand, it poses an addition to cost independent of profitability. As a consequence, the severance tax can cause premature abandonment if mineral product prices do not rise sufficiently to cover it. Such a rise may not occur if differential tax rates are levied by the various states. Property taxes normally are levied on all property owners, including mineral owners. The major difficulties in this kind of tax, in so far as mining is concerned, are erratic valuation coupled to the inherent problems involved in assessing a property where the extent and richness is chiefly unknown. The impact of these taxes, including state income taxes, is reduced somewhat, as they are usually deductible from gross income as a business expense with a consequent lowering of national income taxes. The net cost of severance, property, sales, and state or local

Jan 1, 1976

By James A. Lewis

It is the purpose of this paper to show the importance of sand characteristics, when combined with other physical data, in evaluating production obtained by secondary recovery operations, and to indicate the benefits to be gained from the application of these principles to primary production. Introduction During the past 10 years there has been a growing interest within the industry regarding the movement of fluids through oil reservoirs. A number of research projects have been directed toward the development of the physical laws governing this movement. In the period 1933 to the present, correlations between laboratory analysis of cores, reservoir fluids and well performance have been established and have been applied to successful secondary water-flooding recovery operations; and to the completion, production, reconditioning and evaluation of wells in new fields. The application of these data to water-flooding, either natural or artificial, is comparatively new, but the principlcs involved were set forth in 1880 by John F. Carll,1 who said: The flooding of an oil district is generally viewed as a great calamity, yet it may be questioned whether a larger amount of oil cannot be drawn from the rocks in that way than by any other, for it is certain that all the oil can-not be drawn from the reservoir without admission of something to take its place. If one company owned all of the wells drawing upon a pool, and had accurate records of the depth and characteristics of the oil producing stratum in each well, it is quite possible that some system might be devised by which water could be let down through certain shafts, and thus the rocks be completely voided of oil and left full of water. As it is, however, no systematized plan of action can be adopted. The careless handling of one well. by which water is let down to the oil rock, may spoil several others belonging to different parties. A clashing of interests at once arises and is likely to result in disaster to the whole district. In judging of the probable effects of the intro-duction of water into any particular oil district several things are to be considered. (1st) The time of flooding—whether early in the progress of development, while yet a large percentage of oil remains unexhausted or at a later period after the supply has suffered from long continued depletion. (2nd) The structure of the rock—whether regular and homogeneous throughout, or composed of fine sand inter. bedding connected and irregular layers of gravel, sometimes lying near the top and at others near the bottom. (3rd) The shape of the area being flooded. (4th) The position of the point at which water is admitted. in relation to the location of the surrounding wells still pumping oil. (5th) The height (which governs the pressure) of the column of water obtaining admittance. (6th) The duration of the water supply. Although we may take exception to part of Carll's reasoning, particularly " and thus the rocks be completely voided of oil and left full of water," we must give him credit for pointing out the increased effectiveness of water encroachment in displacing oil from a sand and for his recording six of the present seven considerations necessary for evaluation of production of oil by water

Jan 1, 1942

By Robert S. Dewey

AS a result of drilling operations during 1943, West Texas again added sufficient new oil reserves to replace the oil produced during the year, but failed to maintain its position in currently available reserves because the deeper discoveries will require years for development. Drilling failed to provide the additional oil necessary to meet the increase in current and anticipated market demand. Although 13.3 per cent of the total footage drilled was in wildcat exploration, the ratio of oil discoveries to total wildcats was less in 1943 than in 1942, but comparable to that in 1941. Of the 732 field wells completed, 270 were at Slaughter, 55 at Wasson, 45 at Mascho and 31 at North Cowden. As of Dec. 31, 1943, there were 361 drilling wells including 71 wildcat and 290 field wells; 19.7 per cent were wildcats. It is anticipated that the percentage of wildcats of the total wells will be higher during 1944 than in either 1942 or 1943. Tables 3 and 4 present a three-year comparison of drilling activity and illustrate the downward trend of development that has been in effect during that time. Because of development lag in the deeper Ordovician fields, several years elapse before 2 sufficient number of wells is completed to give a substantial producing rate. As these new oil reserves cost more to find, and will cost more to produce on a barrel basis than the oil marketed during the year, their reserve replacement value to the industry is less in money. Costs While complete costs for deeper drilling are not yet available for analysis, it is evi- dent from the data on drilling rates to comparable depths, contract prices, and general increases in costs, that the cost of drilling has risen approximately 20 per cent during the year. One representative drilling contractor estimates that the average drilling time on a 5000-ft. field well has increased nearly one third and that out-of-pocket costs have increased a dollar per foot. Three major factors contribute to this increased cost: (I) less experienced labor, (2) deterioration in mechanical equipment and expendable material, and (3) increased contract prices. In the past, when there were more drilling rigs than wells to be drilled, some contractors would cut their drilling profit to keep their personnel and rigs working. As this practice is no longer necessary, the contract prices are adjusted upward to assure a profit. On deep and difficult drilling, contracts are let on a cost plus basis. A number of mechanical difficulties have become evident. Inferior quality of steel used in drill pipe and rock bits has added appreciably to drilling time and cost. Contractors are experiencing delay in obtaining repair work and repair parts for prime movers. As the length of drilling time required an shallow-field wells has not increased in proportion to that on deeper wells, it seems that the medium-sized drilling rig is better adapted mechanically than the heavy one to the work imposed. One of the main deficiencies in the heavy rig equipment is inadequate pump capacity. Drilling Mud The increasing amount of deep drilling has emphasized the importance and relationship of good mud to efficient and suc-

Jan 1, 1944

By Chase Palmer, Edson S. Bastin

While the reducing action of organic matter, of ferrous sulphate, and of hydrogen sulphide has frequently been invoked to account for the deposition of native gold and silver from ore-forming solutions, the high efficiency in this respect of certain of the metallic minerals which form the ore itself has not been suffciently recognized. If a little finely powdered chalcocite is placed in a test-tube arid 2 or 3 cc. of a dilute solution of gold chloride are poured over it, two or three shakes of the tube suffice to remove all the gold from the solution. The color of the solution changes from yellow to pale green, showing that copper is dissolved simultaneously with the precipitation of metallic gold. If a piece of chalcocite is hung in a dilute aqueous solution of silver sulphate (1/40 normal), a coating of silver begins immediately to form on the mineral, and within a few moments a beautiful silver tree has developed, similar to that formed when metallic zinc is immersed in a similar solution. When similar experiments are conducted with other sulphides and with certain arsenides and sulph-arsenides, especially those known to be commonly associated with native silver in ore deposits, it is found that these minerals differ greatly in their efficiency as precipitants, especially in their effect on silver solutions. The tests made with most of the minerals were qualitatipe only, but the reactions of a silver sulphate solution on chalcocite and niccolite were submitted to quantitative study to determine the nature of the reactions involved. Quantitative studies of the reactions with other minerals are now in progress

Jan 1, 1914

By H. M. Callaway

There are key words common to Government and the minerals industry, the use of which immediately spark interest, argument and confusion. Among these is productivity, a term ranking for widespread misunderstanding with mineral self-sufficiency and mineral conservation. Each interpretation of these words tends to emphasize a single aspect and either minimize or ignore the complex dynamic system of things that influence the Nations mineral productiveness. This paper1, abstracted from a monograph on lead now being prepared for publication by the Bureau of Mines, not only sheds light on the trend of productivity in the lead-zinc mining industry but it presents the basis for forming a common general notion of what the term productivity implies.

Jan 11, 1961

By W. H. Emmons

Although gold is one of the rarer metals, it is widely distributed; it is found on all of the continents and in each of the grand metallogenic provinces of the earth. It is prominent particularly in the shield areas of the earth; these areas have produced a large part of the world's lode gold and in most of them gold lodes are more important than the lodes of other metals. The Scandinavian shield is the only one that has not produced much gold. Nearly all of the world's gold has been derived from lodes and from sands and gravels where gold placers formed by the destruction of lodes. The gold derived from magmatic segregations, from pegmatites and from contact metamorphic deposits is quite subordinate to that derived from auriferous lodes. The lodes include all veins and related deposits that are formed by hot waters that move along fissures or other openings and that deposit vein 'matter :in the fissures and by replacement of the country rocks along the fissures. All of the shield areas of the earth are characterized by large areas of granitic rocks including granitic gneisses, granodiorites and other acid intrusives which here are included in the general term "granite." The granites are intruded into schists, ancient lavas and other rocks which here are designated as the "invaded" rocks. The granites are parts of what once were great batholiths: that is, they are the remaining portions of great deep-seated bodies that slope outward, have very irregular roofs and so far as known have no floors but extend downward to great though unknown depths. Some of them are scores or hundreds of miles across and contain islands or "roof pendants" of the invaded rocks at places where the roofs of the batholiths were low—that is, where erosion has not yet completely unroofed the batholiths. It is in these islands of older rocks and in the narrow marginal belts and cupolas of the batholiths that practically all of the gold lode deposits of the shields are found. Valuable lodes are lacking generally in the granites themselves except in grahite within a mile or less from .the contacts with rocks of the islands (Fig. 1). It is probable that the great areas of granites and gneisses that surround the islands are not all of the same age, and that at places unmapped granite intrudes gneiss or older

Jan 1, 1932

Discussion of the paper of E. G. Woodruff, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 78, June, 1913, pp. 1001 to 1010. F. A. LINFORTH, Butte, Mont.:-I have not had an opportunity of reading this paper thoroughly, but I would like to call attention to the possible use of the contours on fault planes. It is obvious that if the contours of fault surfaces call be determined, we will be able to determine the axes of the hollows in the fault surface. It seems probable, and there are examples to point to the accuracy of, the assumption, that the axes of these hollows may be the direction of movements on the faults, and if that is true it will aid materially in locating faulted ore bodies or the shoots of ore on the opposite sides of faults. A few such contour maps of faults have been attempted on some of the faults of the Butte district, and those faults which are believed to have the nearly normal movement exhibit for the axes of these hollows a line nearly up and down in the plane of the fault, but in those cases where the throw is believed to bee nearly horizontal we find that the axes of the hollows are almost horizontal lines. In other words, the movements on faults, I believe, would be more nearly indicated by the larger grooves in the fault surfaces than by the small slickensides and minor hollows that are seen, so that contour maps might be valuable in geology in that way. C. W. GOODALE, Butte, Mont.:-I received a letter from Mr. Woodruff asking me to take part in the discussion of his paper, but I have not had time to give the paper any study. I can certainly add my opinion to that of all the engineers here that the topographic maps of the government are of great aid to the engineer. When I visit a new district, the first thing I do is to see if that district has been covered by the U. S. Geological Survey avid if topographic map has been issued. And I find that some of the younger engineers frequently come into my office to see if I have such maps. I know in some cases the reports made out by engineers contain copies of these topographic maps, or clippings from them. I am sure that. the topographic maps furnished by the government are of very great value to our engineers.

Jan 11, 1913

By A. M. Johnson

Dewatering is a major operational cost at some mines. Under certain conditions, costs associated with water disposal may continue beyond the productive bye of the mine. For mines with mineralized waters, this is of special concern. Since 1974 experience has been gained from examination of a number of closed underground metal mines that exhibited drainage problems. It was observed, in certain cases, that had appropriate steps been taken prior to closure, the resulting drainage problems could have been largely avoided. Reclosure steps would have involved alteration to the 'plumbing system" of the mines; i.e., the drifts and crosscuts interconnecting the mine workings. This could have best been accomplished by the placement of bulkheads and/or selective drifting. In addition to reconfirming that hindsight is 20-20, a lesson learned from these case studies shows that a relatively simple hydrologic evaluation prior to mine closure may avoid a troublesome and costly drainage problem.

Jan 1, 1985

ZAY JEFFRIES (written discussion*).-I have read with much interest Mr. Ruder's discussion of Professor Howe's paper, "The Supposed Reversal of Inheritance of Ferrite Grain Size from that of Austenite." I am yet of the opinion that my first explanation' of Mr. Ruder's samples is substantially correct. In that explanation I did not intend, however, to convey the impression that "reversed inheritance" was the general rule nor even of common occurrence but rather that." Non-inheritance" was the general rule. Mr. Ruder suggests that a " perfectly formed" grain is an indication of inheritance. The grains in my Fig. 52 are perfectly formed and in fact more nearly equiaxed than those in Mr. Ruder's Fig: C,3 yet the grains in the former are known not to be inherited but to have been formed by the partitioning of larger austenite grains. On close examination of Mr. Ruder's Fig. C the very shapes of the grain suggest partitioning. Again, the grain size (25 to 30 grains per square millimeter) is at least 10 or- more likely 20 times smaller than might be expected of the austenite from which these grains were .formed under the given time and temperature conditions. Mr. Ruder's newer results on electrolytic and Armco iron are most interesting and instructive. His results fit in. nicely with my conclusions 5, 6 and 10.4 His photographs, however, indicate that the thickness of the pieces of sheet metal are such that abnormal grain growth is promoted. He indicates that equilibrium grain size after heating to 950° C., with furnace cooling, is about the same as his Fig. 1, above. I estimate this to be approximately one-half -grain per square millimeter, or 40 times as large as I have obtained with the same material (Armco iron) after heating Y4-in. bars to 1300° C. for 2 hr. and cooling in the furnace. The effect of thickness of sample on grain size is one which needs more attention.

Jan 3, 1918

By R. F. Lynch, J. D. Wood

The Al-1.0 pct Mg alloy 565 7 was studied using optical microscopy and electron microprobe X-ray analysis. Constituent particles were found to exist inter-dendritically in the as-cast material in a region of precipitate free a -aluminum. Five phases besides a fine precipitate and a-Al were identified in the cast structure: Fel3, Fe2Al7, Mg2Al3, CUMgAl2, and Cu2FeAl7. Thermal treatments conducted for 100 hr at 1180°, 1130°, 1080°, 1030°, 980°, and 880° F revealed a general dissolution and spheroidization of the in-terdendritic constituent network observed in the cast structure. The principal constituents present in the thermally treated structures were FeAl3 and Fe2Al7 with the relative amount of Fe2A17 to FeAl3 increasing with a decrease in the treatment temperature. The phases Present in the wrought structure were identical to those observed after the thermal treatments, with the constituent particles strung out in the direction of rolling. ALLOY 5657 is a nonheat-treatable commercial purity Al-1.0 pct Mg alloy utilized extensively because of its bright finishing characteristics. This investigation was conducted to determine the constituents present in 5657 alloy, and to study the effect of extended thermal treatments on morphology. Numerous studies have been carried out to establish the equilibrium diagrams for various aluminum systems,1-3 with phase identification based on X-ray analysis, morphology, and the etching response of relatively large particles. Phragmen4 conducted a study of the phases in aluminum eutectic systems and compiled a "corrected" table of etching responses, drawing on his work plus that of Schrader,5 Keller and Wilcox,6 and Mondolfo.7 A review of the original work of Keller and Wilcox, and Mondolfo, which was concerned with the constituents found in commercial alloys, reveals that in numerous cases their etching responses differ from those reported by Phragmen and from each other. These inconsistencies may occur because a specific constituent will react to a given etch in a varying manner depending upon its size, the elements dissolved in the phase, the other constituents surrounding a phase, and the solute content of the matrix. Work with a commercial orientation was conducted on alloys 2024 and 3003 by Sperry8,9 and on alloy 3003 by Barker,10 where the relationship between the phase diagram and the nonequilibrium structure of an alloy was examined. Backerud11 investigated the A1-Fe binary system and found that at high cooling rates the equilibrium eutectic reaction forming a-A1 and FeA13 is replaced by another lower temperature eutectic reaction forming a-A1 and metastable FeAl6, a constituent first identified by Hollingsworth et al.12 Most of the above mentioned studies were conducted on materials having a significantly greater alloy content than 5657 alloy, where the relatively small size and sparse distribution of second phase particles hinders the process of identifying constituents. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Material with a composition as given in Table I was examined in the as-direct chill cast, hot rolled and cold rolled conditions, and after thermal treatment of the cast structure. Thermal treatments were terminated by a water quench. Microscopic examination was conducted under various lighting conditions following the application of standard etchants as specified in Table 11. A semi-quantitative electron microprobe X-ray analysis was conducted for Al, Mg, Fe, Cu, Si, Zn, and Ti. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Microstructure of the As-Cast Material. Particles of second phase material were found to exist inter-dendritically, principally in regions of precipitate free a-Al, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Adjacent to the ingot edge was a region of inverse segregation, resulting in an increased amount of second phase material containing large sized particles which aided in phase identification. Phase Identification. Cast Structure. Five phases besides a-Al and a fine precipitate were identified using optical microscopy and electron microprobe X-ray analysis, as presented in Tables II and III, respectively. FeA13 and Fe2A17 are often found with Fe2A17 forming a sheath around the core of FeAl3, resulting from an incomplete peritectoid reaction. These phases have a nearly identical appearance under white light, although they are easily differentiated under crossed polarizers, as characteristically illustrated in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b), respectively. Microprobe analysis con-

Jan 1, 1970

By A. M. Gaudin, R. T. Hukki

Previous work on the principles of comminution has shown: (I) that the surface produced is proportional to work input (Rittinger law,1a-3); (2) that there is regularity to the weight distribution of the fragments according to size.4-10 In this paper it is brought out that the surface on the fragments is distributed in definite and simple relation to size. The experimental work has involved: I. Construction of an apparatus capable of measuring the surface of mineral fragments independently of the chemical composition of the fragments and independently of the site of the surface; 2. Refining the methods available for measurement of particle size; 3. Designing and building a crusher capable of operating on very small quantities of mineral, if necessary on single crystals, and in such fashion as to minimize handling losses of material. Complete experiments have been carried out with massive quartz and individual quartz crystals. partial experiments, lacking surface measurements, have been made with glass spheres, galena, sphalerite, fluo-rite, salt and coal. Introduction The existence of regularity in weight distribution with size was noted many years ago, especially by A. 0. Gates;' the subject was also studied in detail by one of us.6 In the latter paper it was shown that rocks can be divided into two classes: homogeneous rocks, which show no preferential breaking, and heterogeneous rocks, which show preferential breaking at the grain size of the rock. It was shown, furthermore, that the fragments obtained by rupturing a homogeneous rock occur (in the fine range) in such abundance as to permit the writing of a relatively simple equation to relate the weight retained on a screen to the screen opening. With screens of which the openings are in constant ratio, the weight retained, w, is related to the screen size x by the equation w = Cxm [I] In this equation C and m are experimental constants. A plot of weight retained against particle size is a straight line of slope m if the scales for x and w are both logarithmic. In the fine range, the slopes of the size-distribution graphs plotted according to the method described above vary within a limited range. An inspection of a number of size-distribution data by various experimenters indicates that the slope very seldom exceeds 1.0, but is usually greater than 0.7. More recently, schuhmann8 proposed a method of charting that has so many advantages of its own that it has been used primarily in this work. For fine particles Schuhmann has found that the data are represented by the equation (x)m k [2]

Jan 1, 1947

By B. F. Fackenthal

One of the practical questions presented to the blast-furnace manager, with regard to which little help can be obtained from existing technical literature, is the manner of filling and blowing-in. This operation is often performed according, more or less, to traditions which have come down from earlier practice, and which, if not positively detrimental when followed with the large modern furnace, may at least be greatly improved, just as the running of the furnace itself, while in blast, has been improved. It is not necessary, as many of the old furnace-men believed, to make a lot of white or silver-gray iron at the start, or to spend many weeks, or months even, in bringing the furnace to its normal burden. It has seemed to me that the publication of carefully-recorded data of practice on this point may be interesting to the members of the Institute engaged in the management of blast-furnaces. The enlarged blast-furnace at the Durham Iron Works, Riegelsville, Pa., owned by Messrs. Cooper & Hewitt, of New York City, was first put in blast February 21, 1876, since which time it has made seven blasts, and is now running on the eighth. A description of the furnace-plant, together with a record of the fifth blast, was given in my paper read at the Chattanooga meeting, May, 1885 (Transactions, xiv., 130). After some of the early blasts the furnace-lines underwent considerable change, and I have thought best to accompany this paper with drawings showing the lines and the tuyere-arrangement (see Plates I. and II.), and to give also the following summary of the conditions and results of each blast. During the first and second blasts no coke was used, and the furnace ran very irregularly, showing a constant tendency to scaffold, which was attributed, in great part, to the small hearth and other defective lines. The large proportion of air required at this furnace is accounted for by the fact that the engines are defective, and do not deliver into the furnace the amount of air indicated by the pistondisplacement.

Jan 1, 1890

By Roy L. Zuber

Identification and analysis of mining hazards involves the correlation of accident, injury and illness information from all segments of the mining industry. It would not be feasible to process the volume of data involved without substantial reliance upon a computerized information system similar to that maintained by the Health and Safety Analysis Center. Numerous statistical programs are applied to the computerized accident-injury-illness data base to identify those mining tasks and associated activities which are responsible for most of the injuries and occupational illnesses. These programs are used to flag those mining tasks or conditions at specific mines or segments of the mining industry where either a significant increase in the injury/illness trend has been reported or where the number of injuries/illnesses related to specific mining tasks or conditions are high. Upon identification of those mining hazards which warrant further analysis, a computerized search of the coded accident data is performed to correlate the predominant categories by cause of injury or illness, source of injury, nature of injury, type of accident, etc. From this correlation, those factors most common to the conditions responsible for the hazard may be identified. Based upon analyses of this form, recommendations are made regarding the appropriate engineering, training, and/or operational improvements necessary to alleviate the hazard. In addition to mining hazard analysis, the computerized data base also has application in the area of optimum resource allocation. Computer programs have been developed to assist management in allocating resources based upon organizational requirements and historical accident - injury trends.

Jan 1, 1983

By Harry A. Perry

The Highlad underground uranium mine is located in the southern Powder River Basin, Converse County, Wyoming. Development by Exxon Minerals Company began in 1973 and average production from the complex roll- front deposit ranges from 500 to 600 stpd. A staff of six eight grade control technicians work within the Geology Department to guide and monitor production, to minimize waste and to account production to reserve estimates. A thorough knowledge of the complex roll- front deposit aids in accounting production to reserve estimates. Grade control technicians assist the mine geologist in making geologic cross sections, in estimating reserves, and in predicting monthly and quarterly production grades.

Jan 1, 1980

THE SECRETARY The year 1917 has been a notable one in Institute affairs. The usual activities, including meetings, publications, local section interests, library service, and so-forth, have been continued on at least the same scale as previously, and in addition the resources of the Institute have been placed without stint at the service of the Nation, not only for the active prosecution of the military side of the war, but even more especially in the industrial operations which form the very basis of modern warfare. The officers and directors of the Institute have labored both officially and individually, while the Institute as a body, through committees of, prominent members, and through many individual members, has given freely. Finally, Institute funds have been appropriated to an amount exceeding $5000 to accomplish the cooperation with Government bureaus, and provide committee expenses necessary for performing the services that have been given. The President of the Institute had a very large personal share in many of these activities, which will be described in the following pages, as well as in the President's own report. Many of the Institute's members are giving their whole time for. $1 a year, or less, and especial mention should be made of Herbert C. Hoover, Food Administrator, W. L. Honnold, Head of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, Mark L. Requa, Petroleum Administrator, Edgar Rickard and Charles W. Merrill of the Food Administration, S. A. Taylor of the Fuel Administration, W. L. Saunders, B. B. Thayer and Joseph W. Richards who .are giving a. large share of their time to the Naval Consulting Board, W. Y. Westervelt, W.0. Hotchkiss and Harvey S. Mud of the War Minerals Committee, David W. Brunton of the War Committee of Technical Societies, and hundreds of others whose names are mentioned in the Honor Roll of Members. It has also been a notable year in cooperation with sister-societies. The most important event under this head was the accession of the American Society of Civil Engineers into the fraternity of Founder Societies.

Jan 2, 1918

By H. V. Fairbanks

Efforts were made to determine the amount of increase in the drying rate which could be obtained through acoustic treatment of ultra fine coal under various conditions, and to test the feasibility of using a rotary kiln and multitiered vibrating screens as a means for continuous drying of coal fines. Introduction of acoustic energy during the rotary kiln experiments increased the drying rates from 10-40%, depending upon the experimental condition. The use of a drying assembly consisting of multitiered vibrating screens produced better results than the rotary kiln and has definite possibilities of providing an effective means of drying coal fines in relatively large quantities.

Jan 1, 1973

By T. Sterry Hunt

IN my address on the " Geognostical Relations of the Metals," delivered before the Institute on the 20th of February last (Vol. I Transactions, p. 331), I spoke of the rocks in the vicinity of Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, where I indicated two series of uncrystalline rocks resting upon the Huronian schists, the lower one consisting of dark-colored argillites and sandstones overlaid, apparently in slight discordance, by nearly horizontal red and white sandstone and marls, which were compared with those of Sault Ste. Marie, and those of the Portage Lake district, on the south shore. These latter sand-stones, according to Brooks and Pumpelly, overlie unconformably the Keweenaw series of copper-bearing amygdaloids, sandstones, and conglomerates, and are in turn overlaid by the Trenton limestone. I then proposed to call this lower series of Thunder Bay, that is to say, the dark-colored argillites and sandstones which are traversed by the silver-bearing lodes of that region, the Animikie group. Shortly after the publication of that address I received an abstract of a paper on the geology of that region by Professor Robert Bell, read before the Montreal Natural History Society, February 24th. He there confirms the statement made in my address that the gold of Lake Shebandowan occurs in the Huronian, which is also seen to be cut by the silver-bearing lodes just mentioned. Professor Bell, in this paper, proposes to designate both what I have called the Animikie group, and the overlying red and white sandstones, by the name of the Nepigon group, for the reason that the upper series is best displayed about Lake Nepigon. This latter series is by Logan supposed to be overlaid by the copper-bearing amygdaloids with conglomerates and sandstones of the north shore (apparently identical with those of Keweenaw) ; and the whole together, including the Animikie group, constitute his Upper Copper-bearing group. These copper-bearing strata are by him supposed to be overlaid by the red and white sandstones of St. Mary, which are apparently the same with those sandstones which, according to Brooks and Pumpelly, overlie unconformably the similar cupriferous rocks of Portage Lake, and are, in their turn, overlaid by the Trenton limestone. Thus the sandstones which at Thunder Cape overlie the Animikie group are by Logan placed in the midst of the Upper Copper-bear-

Jan 1, 1874

By B. T. Brady, Wilson Blake

One of the more widespread experimental procedures currently used in experimental rock and soil mechanics work involves the use of a short circular cylinder loaded axially between nonrigid end plates1-5 (Fig. 1a and b). It is widely recognized 6 that a number of undesirable features are connected with this test procedure ; the most noteworthy of these is the development of a nonuniform stress distribution throughout the specimen resulting from an elastic mismatch between the specimen and the end plates. In general, the end plates and specimen possess different elastic properties. As a result of this elastic mismatch, the uniform distribution of stress and strain applied to the end plates is altered at the interface, the degree of which is dependent not only on the magnitude of the elastic mismatch but also on whether there is any relative movement between the specimen and the end plate. A convenient measure of the elastic mismatch is the ratio (vp/Ep) / (v8/E3), where v and E are Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus and the subscripts s and p refer to the specimen and end plate, respectively. For most tests that use steel end plates, (v8/E8) is greater than (vp/Ep) ; i.e., the specimen tends to expand or contract laterally more than the end plates. Because of the frictional restraint offered by the end plates, shearing stresses are developed at the interface that, for compression testing, act inward producing a "clamping" effect (Fig. lc). The effect of this "clamping" is to produce a state of triaxial stress throughout the specimen. Fig. Id illustrates the coordinate system and stress nomenclature used. In a homogeneous, elastic two-dimensional plate loaded uniaxially at the edge, a uniform stress distribution is obtained at a distance from the

Jan 1, 1972

By P. Duwez, L. Zwell

In recent years, the problem of pressing metal powder in a die has received much attention. The question has been the object of a Symposium held in New York in March 1947 under the sponsorship of the AIME; an excellent review of the subject may be found in Ref. 1. Various experimental techniques have been used to study the behavior of the powder in a die cavity. Two methods have been particularly successful; one consists of measuring the density distribution²,³ and the other makes use of a lead grid in the powder during pressing.4 In the present study, the pressure at various points on the bottom and the sides of a die 1.50 in. in diam was measured by means of small piston dynamometers and resistance sensitive strain gauges. In order to correlate the results with previous investigations, the pressure distribution inside the compact has also been determined by an indirect method based on density measurements. Strain Gauge Measurements of Pressure on Side and Bottom of Die A schematic drawing of the die used for measuring side pressures is shown in Fig 1. The pressure gauge consists of a 0.25-in. diam piston A which transmits the pressure to a dynamometer B, on which two Baldwin Southwark type 4-14 strain gauges are fastened 180" apart. Because the installation of several dynamometer assemblies along the side of the die would have been difficult, the pressure distribution was obtained in successive tests in which the distance from the gauge to the bottom of the compact was adjusted to different values by changing the length of the bottom piston. The dynamometer, disassembled from the die, was calibrated under compressive loads and showed a 1.00 ohm change of resistance for every 15,300 psi change of pressure (750 lb load change). All the strain gauge measurements were made with a null type Leeds and Northrup Wheatstone bridge. The sensitivity of the method was better than 1 pct and the accuracy was within 2 pct. These values were considered satisfactory in view of the rather large scatter in the measurements introduced by the random variation in packing the powder in the die. The stable ambient conditions and short time involved in the taking of observations made temperature compensation unnecessary-. The pressure distribution on the bot-

Jan 1, 1950