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By FRABK HERVEY PETTINGELL

THE stock exchange and its functions is about as well understood by the average individual as the fourth dimension. What is a stock exchange? Divested of the rules and regulations by which it is governed, and the facilities it provides for the convenient handling of securities, it would be in its nude state nothing more or less than a meeting place for brokers. The stock exchange in America dates back to 1752, when a group of merchants of New York established a meeting place at the foot of Broad Street for the purpose of dealing in meal and slaves. The first definite orgarization, however, had its beginning in 1792 when 24 New York brokers signed an agreement not to buy or sell public stock for less than one quarter per cent. commission. From this small group has grown by gradual degrees, the greatest organized security market in the world, namely, the New York Stock Exchange. At the present time there are 27 stock exchanges in the United States and 5 in Canada. Based on the volume of business transacted, the Los Angeles Stock Exchange ranks 6th among them. This is attributable to the fact that strictly speaking Los Angeles has never been a stock exchange town, like some other large cities. Take for instance San Francisco, which supported one stock exchange from 1862 to .1882 and has since supported two. No city, by the way, should tolerate two stock exchanges at the same time. It is an economic folly and a senseless duplication that can be compared with rival telephone companies or competing street railway systems, paralleling each other's lines and always leads to trouble and confusion, and sooner or later one or the other falls by the wayside. While Los Angeles has had stock exchanges of one kind or another since 1896, none of them attracted much attention until 1899 when the present exchange was organized and it did not get well under way until along in 1906.

Jan 1, 1925

By AIME AIME

AS one of his friends asserted at the Galveston meeting last fall, T. V. Moore is one of the "thinkers" in his field. He is head of production research for the Humble Oil & Refining Co., with headquarters in Houston. He is also known in the Institute as a "doer" for his active participation in the affairs of the Petroleum Division and for his leadership in the formation of the present Gulf Coast Section, A.I.M.E.

Jan 1, 1940

By Hans Lundberq

WHEN geophysical methods were first employed in the search for ore deposits and oil accumulations, it was hoped that they would provide a direct means of locating such concentrations. Magnetized needles were used long ago in prospecting for magnetic iron ore, and soon after the discovery of galvanism in about 1790 attempts were made to find concentrations of valuable minerals electrically. Evidence indicating that the early geophyeical instruments were regarded merely as improved divining or dowsing rods is to be seen in the names "mineral finders," "ore finders," etc., that were applied to them. Today, appellations of this kind raise serious doubts in informed minds as to the intelligence and integrity of individuals advocating the use of such euphemistically named methods or instruments, for experience and research have shown that, geophysical, it is never a question of directly locating a given mineral but merely of delimiting its possible occurrence.

Jan 1, 1939

By AIME AIME

A SIDE from the technical sessions held as noted elsewhere, the chairman of the various sub-committees of the Mining Methods Committee, together with a few other specialists, were invited to a conference with President Bradley, which was held on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 20. The general plan of a comprehensive series of comparable papers descriptive of mining practice in various parts of the country, launched by this committee some seven years ago having been adopted by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, the feeling was general that the Committee could safely 1eave.that part of its work in these capable hands and turn its attention to other matters. The plans of the Bureau were presented as below by Charles William Wright of the Bureau.

Jan 1, 1929

By AIME AIME

STEADY advance has been made in the art of lead smelting and refining during the year. The bringing of natural gas to the Salt Lake valley has led to its adaptation to lead smelting operations. The Tooele plant of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. has put into practice the high blast pressure and constant volume for lead blast furnaces, which we understand was first advanced by John F. Austin. It would appear that within limits, capacity is nearly proportional to the volume of air. If the charge is dense, a constant pressure, as in the old practice. did not get much air through the charge and the furnace slowed up. The constant volume idea makes the charge smelt at the same rate as if the charge were porous. The cost of a little additional power insures capacity operation at all times.

Jan 1, 1932

By Sidney H. Haughton

WHEN the white pioneers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries advanced from the coastal settlements of southern Africa into the interior of the subcontinent, they found it inhabited, more or less sparsely, by brown or black peoples mainly of pastoral habits but equipped with a fighting spirit and certain fighting weapons. Some of the tribes were smiths, others were miners and metallurgists; all used fuel, either industrially or domestically. Some of that fuel was wood, some cattle dung, and in some places the natives mined outcrop coal. Coal was first discovered by Europeans in Natal about 1840. After proper deliberation and after allowing due time for a consideration of all the implications, the Natal Government decided in 1881 (40 years after) to import an English expert to investigate and report on the discovery. Things then moved rapidly, and in what to a geologist is the remarkably short space of eight years, Natal collieries were producing at the rate of nearly 30,000 long tons per annum or 100 long tons per working day!

Jan 1, 1945

By Lewis Carroll

AS he contemplates the numerous good things the hard-working committees have evolved for the 140th Meeting of the Institute, the Editor knows just how the walrus felt when he uttered his memorable, if somewhat lugubrious lines. For there are the Annual Reception and Dinner at the Commodore, 'the Gold Supply Symposium, the luncheons, general and special, and the Annual Institute of Metals Lecture, a Round Table on Iron Ore and a wonderful Informal Dance at the Grand Central Art, Gallery, substantial general sessions, a Smoker-and many other things. -Old, friends and new, reminiscences and confidential chats, horizons pushed back by new information and adjusted perspectives, courage revived and ambitions stimulated-one with a flair for the modernistic might make something-or nothing-of the kaleidoscopic preview 'of the coming Annual Meeting.

Jan 1, 1931

By Claude Ferquson

MORE men are killed and injured in the metal mines of the United States from falls of rock and ore than from any other cause. Dan Harrington, of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, recently stated that "falls of men and material continue to take about 50 per cent of the lives annually lost in our mines (coal or metal) and this kind of accident is now and has been one of the most difficult to prevent." The fact that comparatively little has recently been written on this important subject for the benefit of the metal miner is the incentive for the present paper. Little will be said that will be new, but I hope to place fresh emphasis on certain well-known' principles' and to reiterate and stress previously stated rules so that the average experienced miner, as well as his buddy who may not be so experienced,' will sit up and take notice. It is not within the scope of this paper to discuss mining methods from the standpoint of safety and the prevention of accidents from falls of rock. It is up to the mine management to select the system of mining best suited to the character of the ore deposit and its wall conditions. This is something that the miner can do little about; although in many mines the management encourages the workmen to make suggestions that will improve existing

Jan 1, 1938

By GUY B. HUNNER

THOSE magnetite ore bodies comprising the Clifton Mines are situated in the south central part of St. Lawrence County, New York, on the western slope of the Adirondack Mountains. The topography is made up of gently rolling hills densely wooded with second-growth maple, birch, and hemlock. Drainage is north and west to the St. Lawrence River.

Jan 1, 1943

By AIME AIME

THE graduating class whom I am particularly addressing are going into the world at least a month earlier than normal, because of the war. You have been free to choose your work. You have chosen to be mining engineers. The principal importance of your engineering education to date has been in teaching you how to think and how through books to have ready access to the accumulated experience of previous generations, as well as the current experience of the day. You should by now have acquired something of the engineering point of view, the open skeptical mind. the power to observe, experiment, and draw conclusions, form theories and test these by further experiment, and weigh the inherent probability of conclusions drawn by others. I am asking you today to consider certain facts and the conclusions I am drawing from those facts.

Jan 1, 1942

By R. S. Dean

REQUIREMENTS for war materials have led to large scale experimentation upon metallurgical innovations. It is of interest to inquire what this may contribute of permanent value to our existing technology, as innovations adopted during war are apt to be discarded promptly at its end. This is because utilization of substandard ores usually requires a new technology for ore treatment, and a new use-pattern for employment of the products. Thus two very different problems are involved: first, devising a process; then, adopting its products by industry, with readjustments of the use-pattern if necessary. A new process may be as good or better than an old one, but the readjustments required for use of its products may prevent its general adoption if this implies scrapping existing plants and investing much additional capital. Metallurgical innovations are of three kinds: I. The use of substandard material in processes already established; 2. The grading-up of substandard material to render it more suitable for established processes; 3. The adjustment of technology and use-pattern to the raw materials that we have.

Jan 1, 1945

By S. S. Clarke

ABOUT two years ago some of my friends were discussing the amount of drill-steel breakage that was permissible or not excessive, per month, per rock ton, per ton of steel or any unit of measure or output that would give a comparison between different kinds of drill steel. No one seemed to know what life to expect of steel, or what percentage of breakage might be termed excessive. In fact there were no operating data available to guide one in selecting the best steel for our mines, nor could any ideas or information be secured from the steel manufacturers. One was merely told that so and so used their steel and it was very satisfactory; or else one was given a highly technical lecture on their specific heat-treatment. Any estimates on expected breakage were just guesses, ranging from a fraction of a per cent to as high as ten per cent per month.

Jan 1, 1933

By Philip D. Wilson

WHEN the United Nations win the war and the decision has been made to control future armament in the Axis countries, plans for the extent and operation of such control must have been prepared, to be ready to put into immediate execution. Such control to be effective must be premised upon complete military occupation of the two countries for a substantial period, with an arrangement at the end of such occupation for continued supervision of these industries into an indefinite future.

Jan 1, 1944

By John Fritz

TROUGH it is not a condition of the Award, the fact is that the John Fritz Medal never has been given to an engineer who had not already received one or more similar awards. This "medal for medalists," on the evening of April 20, was presented to Daniel C. Jackling at a special dinner held at the Union League Club in New York. The citation read "For notable industrial achievement in initiating mass production of copper from low-grade ores through the application of engineering principles." The present award recognizes the same accomplishment-the launching and guiding to the port of marvelous success of the Utah Copper Co., first of the so-called "Porphyries"-as did the award of the William Lawrence Saunders Gold Medal by the A.I.M.E. in 1930, and before that the Award of the Gold Medal of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America in 1926. Following the custom a biography of the Medalist had been published in a small pamphlet as a supplement to the John Fritz Medal Book. T. A. Rickard was the au¬thor of the sketch of Mr. Jackling, an innovation being the placing of a copy of the booklet at the place of each of the diners. The committee in charge of the dinner consisted of two past-presidents: R. E. Tally, of the A.I.M.E., who was chairman; Bancroft Gherardi, of the A.I.E.E.; and Thaddeus Merriman, director of the A. S. C. E., the John Fritz Medal being a joint award of the four societies. Frederick M. Becket, President of the A.I.M.E., as chairman for the occasion, briefly stated the purpose of the dinner. He stressed his satisfaction that the award was symbolic of the cooperative professional activities of the four great national organizations of engineers. He introduced Francis Lee Stuart, past-president of the A.S.C.E. and now chairman of the John Fritz Medal Board of Award. Mr. Stuart outlined the history and purpose of the Medal established in 1902 in memory of John Fritz, of Bethlehem, Pa., one of the great pioneers of America's iron and steel industry, metallurgist, and president of the A.I.M.E. in 1894. Mr. Stuart called the roll of former John Fritz Medalists, three of whom, Ralph Modjeski, J. Waldo Smith, and Ambrose Swasey, were present to do honor to Mr. Jackling. He then introduced George Otis Smith, whose privilege it was to present the Medalist for 1933. Dr. Smith was the senior of the four A.I.M.E. representatives on the Board that last year selected Mr. Jackling for the honor. His speech follows in full.

Jan 1, 1933

By AIME AIME

AT the meeting of the Iron and Steel Division at Cleveland, Sept. 10-12, the morning of Thursday, Sept. 12, has been set aside for an excursion to visit the ore docks, blast furnaces, and steel plants. A special train, made available through the courtesy of Appleton Cleveland, general superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, will leave the siding near the Auditorium at 8.35 a. m. The trip will be free, but tickets must be' obtained in advance at the booths for registration for excursions at the Auditorium. An hour will be spent at the docks, an hour at the Central blast furnaces, and two hours at the Cuyahoga works of the American Steel and Wire Co. A buffet luncheon will be served, with the compliments of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co., on board the train en route. At the Tuesday morning session, Sept. 10, a motion picture showing the operations in making wrought iron by the Aston process will be shown for the first time.

Jan 1, 1929

By A. E. Brugger

SOME 2,000 years ago Pliny is supposed to have said, "Out of Africa always something new." It may perhaps even now be news to a great many that the Belgian Congo has in recent years been producing approximately a quarter of a ton of diamonds annually. For that is what the 1 1/4 million carats, the recovery from 40-odd operating mines, and about 20 or 25 per cent of the world's normal consumption, amounts to. In 1915, first exploitation operations produced less than 50,000 carats from two mines. The rapid expansion of operations following the Euro¬pean war meant a most rapid development of a virgin land. The interior is now reached by air in one day from the mouth of the Congo River, where steamers unload mail and passengers from Antwerp. This trip formerly consumed 4 to 6 weeks by a narrow-gage, wood-burning, railroad around the rapids of the lower Congo and Livingston Falls; by river boat to the heads of navigation, Djoko Punda on the Kasai or Luebo on the Lulua; and thence by caravan of native porters over narrow-trails to head¬quarters on the Tshikapa. Hundreds of miles of automobile roads have been constructed over veldt and through forest, bridging streams and ferrying rivers. The railway from Capetown to the Katanga copper district to the East, once two months away by trail is now reached in 2 or 3 days over fair automobile highway. Native "boys" who a few short years ago wore little more than a smile and a string of beads and to whom a wheelbarrow was a complicated piece of machinery, are today driving Fords, tending boilers and engines and operating electrical equipment, or are capable mine workmen, machinists and artisans, and dressed in all manner of cast-off white man's clothing. Even as late as 1920, due to difficulties of securing and transporting machinery during and just after the war, the crudest hand operations were the rule for the excavation, sizing, and concentration of the diamondiferous gravel. All washing and concentration is now mechanized, using steam or electric power, and where operations are sufficiently large to permit competition with native labor costs, excavation and transportation are also accomplished by machinery.

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

EVERETTE LEE DEGOLYER, past President of the Institute and Anthony F. Lucas Medalist, was presented with the John Fritz Medal at a dinner at the Wal-dorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, Jan. 14. Dr. DeGolyer is the third representative of the Institute in recent years to receive the John Fritz Medal which is awarded jointly by the four Founder Engineering Societies through a board composed of sixteen past presidents. In 1938 Paul D. Merica was given the award "for important contributions to the development of alloys for industrial uses" and in 1933 the distinction was given to D. C. Jackling "for notable industrial achievement in initiating mass production of copper from low-grade ores through application of engineering principles."

Jan 1, 1942

By BERNARD PLANNER

PRODUCTION COSTS, profits, and quality are the primary factors in the peacetime production of iron and steel. In a war emergency, as high production rates and as complete utilization of readily available raw materials as possible, consistent with securing passable quality, become the most important factors. In this connection a discussion of some of the recent developments in the German iron and steel industry, where the problem of scarcity has naturally always been more acute than in the U.S.A., maybe of interest. To get more pig iron out of the existing blast furnaces it was necessary to obtain the maximum efficiency from the iron-bearing raw materials. This was achieved by eliminating all "excess baggage," chiefly by beneficiating the ore. The preparatory work for this was done by various methods which are effective when the ore either is too poor or contains too many impurities or too much gangue. Some of the beneficiation methods are well known, some are combinations of wet-mechanical, magnetic, roasting, sintering, and other treatments.

Jan 1, 1942

By E. N. Pennebaker

A PRESENT, a comprehensive account of the geology and ore deposits of the Robinson mining district, in eastern Nevada, is not warranted. Though several years' work has been done, the district is so large that it will be some time before the investigation nears completion. In this paper I purpose merely to discuss methods of study and the application of geologic data to the search for ore. In the first place, the purpose of a geological depart¬ment in a mining organization is to collect and correlate all geologic and engineering data likely to be useful. In an extensive and well developed mining camp this involves a detailed study of the structure and stratigraphy of the district as a whole, as well as careful analysis of the orebodies exposed. The problem then is to find continuations or similar ore environments in other parts of the district in which like phenomena have been active, and to explore these for new orebodies. Experience gained in other similar mining districts is useful but one must always remember that a great many mining districts are unique and that exploration rules and procedure applying to one cannot always be transferred to another of apparently similar character and be made to work. One also has to be careful in moving from one to another part of the same district. The geologist must first examine the region critically to determine its individual characteristics. .

Jan 1, 1932

By H. P. Greenwald

THE Committee on Rock-Dusting was formed after the fall meeting of the Coal Division in Chicago in 1938. Its primary task was to study the recommended American practice for rock- dusting coal mines to prevent coal-dust explosions as approved by the American Engineering Standards Committee. After approximately two years' work he committee concluded that although certain portions of the recommended practice could well be revised, information needed for a logical revision was not at hand, and it was inadvisable, therefore, to make revisions

Jan 1, 1943