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By R. H. Lee

So far as I am aware the references to the " kerosene blow-pipe" in the Transactions comprise only a skeptical opinion from Mr. Witherow (ix., 70), and accounts of the use of the blow-pipe by Mr. Witherbee (xiii., 675) and Mr. Gayley (xiv., 779), together with brief remarks by Mr. Weeks and Mr. Kennedy on Mr. Witherbee's paper. The subject can scarcely be considered novel, in view of these references, yet it is not so far exhausted that an additional account of the successful application of the blow-pipe would be out of place, especially if accompanied with some new details and a drawing of the apparatus itself, showing its simplicity and safety. Some time ago, owing to a variety of causes, my furnace was working very badly, the troubles culminating suddenly one morning in a chilled hearth, solid from the bottom to the tuyeres, with the exception of a narrow passage-way from above to the cindernotch, which remained open. Through this we continued to flush and cast, with the prospect of a long and troublesome siege, in working down to the iron-notch. At the end of two days matters had not greatly improved, and we seemed no nearer the desired result than on the morning of the chill, when, at the suggestion of Mr. Farrell, of Glamorgan, I decided to use the coal-oil blow-pipe; the intention being to cut a hole from the iron-notch up to the tuyeres, and then let the furnace melt out the chilled mass. In four hours from the time of starting, the hole was made and

Jan 1, 1887

Jan 1, 1887

Jan 1, 1887

By Robert H. Richards

While yet in correspondence with the heads of the several mining schools for the purpose of bringing the details of my Address into the best form for publication, a severe illness overtook me, and before I had recovered sufficiently to turn my attention to matters of this character the Address had been printed in its imperfect form for volume xv. of our Transactions, and the type had been distributed. The incorporation of the later corrections, in the form of a Supplement, became a necessity. To simplify the corrections as much as possible to the reader, every paragraph which has been revised in any way is here reprinted in full.

Jan 1, 1887

Jan 1, 1887

By R. W. Raymond

The various modifications of the art of photography have become within the last few years the indispensable allies of every art and science. But, before the introduction of the process which is the subject of this paper, there was, so far as I am aware, no satisfactory means by which certain photographic negatives could be made to yield, without the intervention of the skilled draughtsman, electrotypes suitable for surface-printing. I refer to negatives taken from originals, such as natural objects, or or lithographs, in which the lights and shadows are not represented exclusively by lines and dots, such as can be photo-engraved. The greater usefulness to engineers and manufacturers of electrotypes as compared with lithographs is evident. The electrotypes can be kept indefinitely and used in the production of many thousand copies. They can be duplicated at trifling cost. They can be placed for printing together with the " forms " of type, or included in these, upon an ordinary press. Finally, they are cheap, when made mechanically from a suitable original. Various methods have been adopted for the preparation of such a secondary original (as it might be called) in cases where the first original is unsuitable for photo-engraving. Thus, for instance, portraits have been produced in electrotype from ordinary photographs as follows: A large negative is made of the original (say a carle de visite of a person deceased), and a proof taken, but not " fixed." Over this proof a skilled artist draws the portrait with a pen, producing a picture which resembles a line-engraving. The photographic proof, which has served merely to guide the artist, is now obliterated, and the pen-and-ink drawing is photo-engraved. Electrotypes thus produced often retain the likeness in a wonderful degree, and give spirited and satisfactory pictures. 1 may instance, as examples, which many will recollect, the portraits of our deceased members,

Jan 1, 1887

By John Birkinbine

In the preparation of the paper upon " The Operation of Warwick Furnace, Pennsylvania, from August 27, 1880, to September 1,1885," presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, I purposely refrained from offering theories to explain the peculiarities of furnace operation, on the ground that it was better for those actively engaged in blast-furnace management to present records of operations, than for one more directly interested in blast-furnace engineering and construction to venture upon the sea of speculation as to causes. The manager of an iron-works naturally feels that he knows as much about his particular furnace or furnaces as any one else, and as Mr. Cook, after his close attention to and study of the Warwick furnace, was at that time unwilling to present theories, I felt a disinclination to assume more acumen than the manager.

Jan 1, 1887

By W. H. Adams

At the present time all the larger and better chemical works of Europe and the United States have introduced, as essential factors in the economical manufacture of sulphuric acid, both Glover towers and Gay-Lussac absorbing columns. The clear exposition of facts given by Bode and Lunge in their very valuable technical contributions since 1870 has slowly but surely brought about radical changes from the old methods of manufacture ; but while the Gay-Lussac column has been known since 1827 and the Glover tower was originated in 1869, yet no theoretical treatise covering the subject fully was given to the world until 1876, when the various contrivances for demonstrating nitrous vitriol were described and criticized by Fr, Bode in a paper "On the Glover Tower" which obtained the great prize of the Berlin Society for the Promotion of Industry.*

Jan 1, 1887

By W. F. Mattes

The manufacture of steel rails in the United States upon a large scale may be roughly dated from the years 1875-76, and the same years witnessed an active movement among the railroads toward the adoption of heavier and improved patterns. In this movement each road was a law unto itself, and the "personal equations " of some scores of engineers were so freely injected into the calculations that patterns were multiplied in the most absurd and mischievous manner, until at length the burden upon the mills became wellnigh unendurable, and called forth a vigorous protest in Mr. Holley's paper,* read before the Institute in February, 1881. There were then regularly manufactured in the various mills of the United States, no less than 119 different patterns of steel rails, subject to current order, of which 64 per cent. were embraced under five weights per yard. Commenting upon these and other figures there given, Mr. Holley stated as the primary object of his paper, " to show that,, while this multiplication of rail-patterns is an annoyance and an expense to rail-makers, it is a source of immense loss to railway companies." Since 1876 the increase in gross annual tonnage upon our leading lines has been very great, and has been accompanied by an increase of wheel-loads and running-speeds. As the average weight of the rails of 1876 was by no means excessive, the growing deman Is of traffic have slowly driven the roads toward stiffer sections, inaugurating a movement that now promises to become epidemic. In 1876 a 67-pound rail was a first-class equipment; to-day everything under 75 pounds is light, and many 80's are coming into use. European practice has long been heavier than ours; in part because the higher cost of sleepers has led to an average of 3-feet spacing, instead of two-feet as with us. The old 84-pound double-header, and Sandberg's 80- and 89-pound rails, respectively 51/4 inches and 591/2 inches high, are reported common on English roads; and he is strongly advocating the general adoption of the 100-pounder shown in Fig. 7, with what success I have not learned, except that the Belgian government has ordered a lot. Mr. Sandberg points out the undesirability of frequent changes of pattern, and the recent rapid growth in traffic-requirements; prognosticates a continuance of this

Jan 1, 1887

By Arthur F. Wendt

The hot-blast oven of which the accompanying plate gives complete details, was designed by the writer for the spiegel-furnace of the Lehigh Zinc and Iron Co., at Bethlehem, Pa. Members of the Institute who visit these works will have occasion to notice the large amount of zinc-dust in the gases, and the consequent dirtiness of both the hot-blast and the boilers. The zinc collects in a crust on the iron hot-blast pipes and leads to the frequent burning of them. A large vertical standing-pipe stove, a modification of the "Pleyer," thus gave considerable trouble by the burning of pipes and, on one occasion, the toppling over of a whole row. These inconveniences are avoided in the hanging-pipe stove under consideration, and less heating-surface has been found to be required to heat the blast to a given temperature. The construction of the stove is so simple and so plainly shown in the plate that it is needless to enlarge upon it. Each pipe rests in a box and is connected by U-branches with the next adjoining pipes. An iron sleeve is placed around the joint and tightened, as usual, with iron filings. In case of a pipe burning out, that particular section is cut off by the valves and the sleeves are broken. The pipe is then readily lifted out of the box and a new one is substituted. The whole operation requires only a short time and the section can then be at once put into use. The boxes supporting the pipes cover the whole surface of the hot-blast and are closed by iron covers rammed with fire-clay. Owing to the air-space around the U-pipes there is little loss of heat in the upper part of the stove. Each section as built has 280 square feet of heating-surface. The furnace is blown by a horizontal engine with 46-inch stroke and 48-inch diameter of blowing-tube. At 28 to 30 revolutions, the engine delivers 3000 cubic feet of air per minute, at a pressure of 5 pounds. When five sections of stove are in use, the blast enters the furnace at a temperature of 850" F. That is, there are over two cubic feet of air per square foot of heating-surface heated to that temperature per minute.

Jan 1, 1887

By Roberts H. Richards

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

Jan 1, 1887

By John B. Porter

Within the last year or so, a great deal has been heard about Southern iron ; even the Eastern markets have felt the effect of the cheap Alabama ores and coals, and public attention has again been drawn to what is now getting to be an old story—the great mineral wealth of the South. The following paper is based on a report prepared several years ago for a special purpose; but since then, through association with Mr. C. B. Going in a large analytical practice and as chemists to the Queen and Crescent Railway, I have had opportunity to increase my material so greatly that the present paper is really a completely different work. I am under very great obligation to Mr. Going, without whose assistance my work would have been very incomplete, and have also been materially assisted by Mr. F. P. Dewey, of Washington, and a host of gentlemen connected with the railroads and furnaces of the South. The arrangement of this paper is not all that could be desired. Some localities of importance are very poorly represented, both in the description and the tables of analyses. This, however, was in most instances unavoidable, as the study has been done ill the intervals of professional work. I have visited almost all the localities described, and, in all cases possible, have taken my own samples, and have made careful per-

Jan 1, 1887

By R. W. Raymond

That the death of Martin Coryell, which occurred at Lambertville, New Jersey, on Monday morning, November 29th, touched the sympathies of a wide circle of professional associates and personal friends, was amply testified by the gathering at the funeral services on Friday. Like his distinguished friend and neighbor, the late Ashbel Welch, Mr. Coryell was one of those pioneers in American engineering to whom we owe the great railway and canal systems which lie at the base of our national prosperity, and who have consequently enjoyed the respect and esteem of their successors of the present generation. Martin Coryell was born July 20th, 1815, at New ope, Rucks County, Pa., and was educated principally in the schools of his native town arid of Lambertville, New Jersey, to which place he returned for permanent residence fifty years later. With the exception of a brief period in youth, during which, to restore his failing health, he learned and practiced for a few months the carpenter's trade, and another brief period, later in life, when he read law for a time in the office of B. H. Brewster, of Philadelphia, afterwards Attorney-General of the United States, Mr. Coryell may be said to have spent his life as an active civil and mining engineer. Even these two episodes can scarcely be said to have been deviations from that profession, since they served to give him more thorough preparation for constructive and administrative work. The Delaware Division Canal, the Raritan Canal, and the Brunswick Canal, are among those upon which Mr. Coryell was employed. For the Raritan Canal Company, under the superintendence of Ashbel Welch, he located the greater part of the Belvidere Railroad (now the Belvidere division of the Pennsylvania Railroad), and directed its construction from Trenton to Lambertville. He was also active as a mining engineer, being one of the early pioneers of mining in the Lake Superior copper region, and had much to do with the development of the Hazleton coalfield and the railroad which has since expanded into the Lehigh Valley system. In 1862, he removed to Wilkes-Barre, where, in 1864, he became manager of the Warrior Run Mining Company. One of the editors

Jan 1, 1887

By F. Lynwood Garrison

The enormous growth of the manufacture of Bessemer steel in this country within the last few years, due to the almost constant large demand for steel rails, renders it very desirable that our knowledge of the physical and chemical properties of a material upon which we place so much dependence should be increaqed by every possible means. It was with this end in view, and also in hopes of learning something of the causes affecting the regularity of the Bessemer product, that I took up the subject of this paper a short time ago. The lise of the microscope as an instrument of research in the metallurgy of iron and steel is now fairly well established;

Jan 1, 1887

By C. R. Boyd

This section is about fifty miles in length, extending from the semi-magnetic and brown iron-ore deposits, near South Fork of Holston River, on Virginia and Tennessee State line, through Bristol, Tenn., Goodson, Imboden, or Mineral City, and Big Stone Gap, Va., to the Cumberland Mountain, on the line between Virginia and Kentucky. Following a geological section from the southeast for near South Holston River), to the northwest, we encounter, first: The slates of No. III.,* generally dipping southeasterly with a trend of N. 65' E. They ontcrop along the north bank of South Holston River, having a thickness of 375 feet, 260 feet of which, as at Pen Rhyn quarry and the James quarry, southeast of Bristol, is slate of high grade for interior architectural uses. Next northwest is an undulating series, giving surface-exhibits of these slates, alternating with Trenton limestone, for 21/2 miles, to the' line of semi-magnetic red iron-ores and brown iron-ores, of the upper horizon of No. II., generally pitching southeasterly, as though the whole series, including the slate described, formed a great trough, with its middle

Jan 1, 1887

Jan 1, 1887

By Charles A. Stetefeldt

This treatise is the sequel of a paper on "Russell's Improved Process for the Lixiviation of Silver-ores," etc., read at the Chicago meeting, in May, 1884, and published in the Transactions, vol. xiii., page 47. The facts it presents are principally compiled from Mr. Russell's notes on his practical experience gained in various places where the Russell process has been introduced. For a complete understanding of this paper a perusal of my former one is desirable, as can be seen from the frequent references here made to it. All silver-ores that do not carry a large percentage of lead or copper can be treated by Russell's process with success and economy. I do not mean to create the impression that from ores containing considerable quantities of lead and copper a high percentage of the silver cannot be extracted by this process. Such ores, however, will, in many localities, be reduced to better advantage by smelting. In case lead-bearing silver-ores are suitable for concentration, it may be profitable to concentrate the ore by Krom's dry system, obtaining a smelting-product high in lead, and to lixiviate the tailings and the dust. This plan has been adopted in a mill recently erected in Cortez District, Nevada. The dry system of concentration deserves the preference because it delivers the tailings and the dust in a condition ready for chloridizing-roasting. In wet concentration the drying of the tail ings would be expensive, and there would be a considerable loss of silver in slimes. Oxidized ores, containing silver chloride and lead minerals, may be lixiviated after crushing, and the tailings may be concentrated for lead. In this case wet concentration would be most suitable. This has been done at the Old Telegraph Mine, Utah. I would give, however, the preference to dry concentration in all cases which, of course, requires that concentration should precede lixiviation. The Russell process is also adapted to the treatment of tailings resulting from ores which have been worked either by the old

Jan 1, 1887

By T. Egleston

The treatment of the residues from the manufacture of sulphuric acid which contain small amounts of copper, silver and gold, has attracted considerable attention in Europe. They are successfully treated in several works on the continent, and in as many as twenty establishments in different parts of England. As the process must sooner or later attract attention in this country, I have put together my notes made in three of the most important establishments in Europe. These are the works at Hemixem near Antwerp, of Duisbourg in Westphalia, and of Oker in the Hartz. In the last works only, the ores are produced in the vicinity of the place where they are treated. The works at Duisbourg treat ores which come from the Rio Tinto mines in Spain, which often contain considerable quantities of arsenic. They are roasted in a number of different works along the Rhine for the manufacture of sulphuric acid. They are brought by boat and are landed at the works by steam-cranes. They are carried at once by a double-inclined plane worked by steam to the storagehouses to be kept, until treated. The wagons, after being weighed, are dumped. The ore is assayed at once, the assay-sample being taken from the boat while the ores are being discharged. They are all fine, and contain two to eight per cent. of copper and about sixty per cent. of iron, and a small amount of silver and gold. Their average composition is given below:

Jan 1, 1886

By E. J. Schmitz

This novel safety-lamp, which was first introduced in some of the German coal-mines in 1882, at once attracted general attention in the coal-districts of Europe. Objections which arose during the early stages of its use at the mines have gradually died away with the increase of experience in handling the lamp 011 the part of the miners, and the continual efforts to perfect it on the part of its inventors. Wolf's lamp has rapidly surpassed all its rivals, and has already a greater distribution on the Continent than any one of its older sisters. In the course of two and a half years, the manufacturers have sold 25,000 of the lamps, besides remodelling several thousand rapeseed-oil lamps. This great success, which of itself speaks loudly enough as to the superiority of the Wolf benzine-lamp, is corroborated by both official and private reports, which all agree in pronouncing this lamp the best yet brought forward. It was described in a paper by Mr. Eugene B. Wilson, read at the Chicago meeting of the Institute, in May, 1881,* in which its salient merits were briefly but clearly indicated. Every previous improvement of the original Davy lamp has been directed to one or more of the following main points: 1. Light of greater and more uniform intensity. 2. Freedom from smoke or soot, which clogs the gauze and other parts of the lamp. 3. A greater safety and sensitiveness in the presence of firedamp. 4. An illuminating material which, satisfying the foregoing conditions, should be also cheap. 5. A lock which could not be opened in the mine by the miner. 6. An arrangement for lighting without opening the lamp. 7. An arrangement for changing the size of the flame in the closed lamp, to supersede the picker, the danger from which is explained in Mr. Wilson's paper, already cited. It may safely be said that wolf's lamp was the first to secure all these objects. The adoption of benzine instead of rapeseed-oil (previonsly the best illuminant) has completely satisfied conditions 1, 2, 3, and 4. Benzine gives a much clearer, stronger, and more uni-

Jan 1, 1886

Jan 1, 1886