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By Norman D. Fitz Gerald

The lack of a continuous operating balance in petroleum refining, which is analyzed in this paper, is by no means a feature solely of this division of the oil industry. Serious disequilibria of a capital as well as an operating nature exist both in the producing and marketing departments, while problems in the former and to some degree the latter are complicated by political involvements. Attention has previously been directed to the unstabilizing influence of present proration formulas in stimulating unnecessary drilling.' While equilibrium in petroleum refining operations has been fairly well maintained in the past decade, examination of departures may prove fruitful. Economic analysis is the application of time and motion study to the functioning of management, rather than labor. Properly applied it may reveal changes in policies that would increase the utility of the properties and facilities of the industry for stockholders, employees and the public, while contributing a stabilizing influence to the general economy. The study of economic equilibrium is essentially one of measurement and interpretation, requiring adequate data and the development of a technique of analysis that employs statistical and mathematical methods as a supplement to the broad descriptive phase of economics. Economic equilibrium in petroleum refining is a dual concept. It embraces both the over-all balance between total storage and total demand for major products and the internal balance between the demands and inventories of the various products. The latter is the more complex of the two for it is concerned with proportionating the supplies of the several products stemming from the joint source to the demands for the individual products which are subject to wide variations. All the products are essentially nondurable goods, and they are used both by producers and consumers but in varying proportions. Motor fuel is very largely a consumer's good, while residual fuel oil is almost entirely a producer's good, the other products falling between these extremes. The peculiar-

Jan 1, 1939

Occasionally it is interesting, and sometimes useful, to review the past for early references to our industry, and to learn of the trials and travail passed through before it arrived where it now is- and the results of such a review follow. Some time ago one of our modern playwrights and poets, Arthur Guiterman, turned to coal, with the following result: Afar in the Carboniferous time I grew in Paleozoical slime, A lepidodendron with boughs on my stem And lepidostrobuses grew out of them. My roots in the mud of the ages I spread And up to the heavens I vaunted my head, I throve in the heat of tropical sun, And now I am coal at two dollars a ton

Jan 1, 1939

By C. D. Hunter, I. B. Browning, Ralph Thomas

Production of oil in Kentucky during 1938 was 5,566,154 bbl., showing a substantial increase over that of the year 1937; while in the gas areas development was somewhat retarded although deliveries were similar to those of 1937. In eastern Kentucky there was an oil increase during 1938 of over 150,000 bbl. above that of 1937. No new pools were developed and the increase was almost entirely due to the installation and expansion of secondary recovery methods and to the further development of the Maxon and Big Lime, Mississippian pools in Floyd and Martin Counties. With this development eastern Kentucky reached a level near that of 12 years previous, when the development of several large producing areas had just been completed. In eastern Kentucky during 1938 not over 50 gas wells were completed. Although the pipe-line deliveries were approximately the same as during 1937, development was retarded because of an excess of gas already developed and the intensive development of the Oriskany fields in West Virginia. In western Kentucky, in the part of the Illinois Basin lying in the state and known in Kentucky as the Western Coal Basin, the increase was due to the discovery of a number of new pools, the largest and the one producing the biggest wells being known as the Birk City pool. In fact, the discovery of this pool with the McClosky "sand" (St. Genevieve limestone) as the producing formation was in a large measure responsible for the increased activity, which in turn brought the discovery of the other areas. The discovery well in this pool is the C. T. Blackwell, which came in flowing 1000 bbl. daily from the McClosky sand at a depth of 1870 ft., drilled in April 22, 1938. This discovery, coming at a time when the major companies and many others were conducting an intensive leasing campaign and making extensive subsurface and geophysical surveys in the deeper part of the basin, resulted in renewed activity over the entire area and brought much new drilling. It also brought to Kentucky for

Jan 1, 1939

Jan 1, 1939

By Charles S. Barrett

The experiments reported in this paper have been fruitful in disclosing the mechanism of the deformation of iron in compression. They have established the nature of "deformation bands," "etch bands," or "X-bands," that have been a recognized but little understood feature in the structure of cold-worked metals since the early days of metallography, and have shown the role of the bands in the development of preferred orientations by cold-working. The work has also shown the relation of the orientation of individual grains to the preferred orientation of the aggregate. Some of the methods previously used in the determination of the indices of slip planes and slip directions are shown to be untrustworthy in the presence of deformation bands. The conclusion is reached that many slip planes and slip directions must operate during each stage in the compression of a single crystal, and that theories failing to take account of this require revision. In conducting the experiments a method of compression has been used by which extreme reductions can easily be reached, even to the limit set by the metal's capacity to deform without fracture. The work is a portion of a research program on the plastic properties of iron and steel. It is being used as a foundation for studies of orientntions resulting from recrystallization and is being extended to other metals and other types of deformation. Previous Work The previous experiments are few and have given confusing results Onol compressed a polycrystalline alpha-iron specimen between two flan plates of a testing machine and found that severe deformation oriented the crystals into a duplex preferred orientation, one set of crystallites having a cube diagonal of the body-centered cubic lattice parallel to the compression axis, and another set having a cube axis parallel to the compression axis. We shall speak of this structure as a double fiber texture of the type [111] + [100]. Wever2 also made an X-ray determination of the texture

Jan 1, 1939

The notes from which this paper has been prepared were set down at the time of the author's departure from Australia in 1935. Mr. Frank Forman, Government Geologist of Western Australia, who has very kindly read the paper in manuscript, affirms that the views here set forth are now accepted by most geologists. Thus, Forman's recent presidential address before the Royal Society of Western Australia (1937) mentions sediments in the Kalgoorlie Series "including banded jaspers and jaspilites."While it may, therefore, be superfluous to belabour the question further at this time, Mr. Forman has encouraged the author to publish this paper as a summary or both past and present views.To those specially interested in the subject of the paper, a study of pertinent Plates attached to Western Australian Geological Survey Bulletin No. 71, 1917, is suggested.The type of rock which is variously called "jasper bar," jaspilite, or "ferruginous quartzite" is familiar to all mining men who have worked in the West Australian goldfields.In its typical form it is a "striped" rock consisting of alternate layers of white or pinkish silica with red to brown bands of iron-bearing silica.In the course of geological work in many parts of Western Australia I studied exposures of jasper bar and was repeatedly impressed with the similarity of much of the material to the sedimentary "banded iron formation" of Canada. It was, therefore, a surprise to learn that the jasper bars were not generally regarded in Australia as sedimentary horizons. It is true that Honman offered convincing evidence of the sedimentary origin of the jaspers...

Jan 1, 1939

By Walter A. English

CONTENTS PAGE Introduction. By WALTER A. ENGLISH 1 Theory of Seismic Reflection Prospecting. By WILLARD H. TRACY 2 Instruments for Reflection Seismograph Prospecting. By ARTHUR NOMANN 9 Seismograph Field Operations. By FRANK ITTNER 15 Determining Geologic Structure from Seismograph Records. By P. C. KELLY 22 INTRODUCTION BY WALTER A. ENGLISH,* MEMBER A.I.M.E. THE four papers making up this symposum have been prepared espe-cially for those who have no knowledge of seismograph prospecting. To many people mathematics is a formidable subject, and many are discouraged from studying seismograph prospecting under the mistaken assumption that the mathematical requirements are severe. In the papers presented here there is not a single mathematical equation. We believe that considerable competence in dealing with some of the most important problems of this work can be attained without any mathe-matical training whatever. At the present time, there is a real need for interpretation of results by persons thoroughly competent to bring geologic experience and imagination to bear on data that are subject to multiple interpretation from a strictly physical viewpoint. Likewise, those charged with the responsibility of planning seismo-graph exploration campaigns would do well to become familiar with as . much as possible of the technical aspects of the work. They would then be in better position to judge of its success in individual cases. It has often been said that the seismograph is a new structure-finding tool for the geologists to use. Using a tool and using its product are two different things. One does not use an automatic screw-threading machine when he buys a box of screws at the hardware store. Neither does the geologist

Jan 1, 1939

By Orson Cutler Shepard

The term "electrocapillary amalgamation" is used in this paper to designate amalgamation processes that depend upon electrocapillary phenomenon; i.e., the action of an electric current upon the surface tension of mercury at the contact with aqueous solutions. Electro-capillary amalgamation is selected as a name for these processes because the electrocapillary phenomenon has been found to be the effective agent in the use of sodium amalgam, as well as in the various processes using an electric current from a source outside of the amalgam. Amalgamation processes that depend upon supplying an electric current to the amalgam from an outside source, such as batteries and generators, have previously been called electrical amalgamation processes. There has been a tremendous amount of experimental work done on amalgamation processes involving the use of an electric current, as shown by the large number of patents issued on these processes: the earliest in 1885 and the latest in 1934l. Regardless of all the experimental work, the fundamental principles causing the operation of electrocapillary amalgamation processes have not been described. The explanation usually given is that an electric current keeps the amalgam bright and clean. Patent No. 328532 states: It is well known that when amalgam plates are used for collecting gold and silver from their ores the surfaces of these plates are liable to become tarnished or sickened by certain substances contained in the ores or in the current of water which is employed to carry the ore over the plates, and that in this condition they are unfitted for amalgamating the particles of gold and silver. To prevent this and to keep the surfaces of the amalgamation plates always bright and in a better condition for catching and amalgamating the particles of gold and silver I employ electricity in the following manner: . . . A similar explanation is given 49 years later, in patent No. 1953364: The sodium (Na) ions lose their charge at the cathode becoming sodium atoms, which do not react with the electrolyte, but follow the grounded electrical current through the mercury body producing in their passage sodium amalgam and liberate themselves in the amalgamation compartment when brought in contact with the fed

Jan 1, 1939

By Welton Crook

UNLESS present in considerable proportion, metals of the precious-metal group-other than gold and silver-are not readily detected by the methods of fire assaying usually applied to ores and metallurgical products. Platinum, when present in small quantity, will ordinarily be reported as silver unless special methods of parting are used. Other elements occurring in the gold itself are all fluxed and slagged in the assay operation and if analyses are made on bullions the melting and slagging operations to which the bullion has been subjected may eliminate most of the associated elements. On the other hand, the analysis of precipi-tate from the cyanide treatment of gold ores may reveal the presence of many unexpected elements, such as tungsten and molybdenum. It is uncertain, however, whether many of the elements present in the pre-cipitate are derived from the ore gangue or from the gold itself. No very general survey of the distribution of metallic elements in gold seems to have been made. Rose and Newman,1 in connection with the composition of native gold, say in part as follows: Gold is occasionally found alloyed with copper and sometimes also with iron, bis-muth, lead, mercury, tin, antimony, palladium or rhodium. Rhodium gold from Mexico was found to be of the specific gravity 15.5 to 16.8 and contained 34 to 43 per cent of rhodium. The native alloy of palladium, gold, and silver from Porpez con-tains 85.98 per cent of gold, 9.85 per cent palladium and 4.17 per cent silver. Mal-donite, from Victoria, contains gold 64.5 per cent, bismuth 35.5 per cent (Louis). Dana' says that native gold is usually alloyed with silver in varying amounts, and that sometimes it also contains traces of copper and iron. Rare varieties contain palladium, rhodium and bismuth. Other authors, for instance Zeigler3 and Clark,4 give similar information. Most refer-ences on the subject agree that ordinary native golds contain, in common, the elements silver, copper and iron. After completion of the work of which this paper is a record, the conclusion is reached that all ordinary native gold probably does contain these elements and, although in certain cases other elements may be found to be present, that it is difficult to

Jan 1, 1939

By Alfred Boyles

The experiments described below are a continuation of work on the graphitization of cast iron conducted as part of the program of fundamental research at Battelle Memorial Institute. In previous work it was found that melting in hydrogen increased the amount of eutectic carbide appearing in certain alloys and in others produced marked changes in the size of the graphite flakes. These effects seemed to be closely related to the amount of sulphur and manganese present in the material studied. Iron-carbon-silicon alloys did not respond to hydrogen in the same manner as cast iron and there was no evidence to show that hydrogen was able to stabilize the carbide in such alloys unless additions of sulphur were made. The two alloys examined contained about 2 per cent of silicon. The present paper is concerned with alloys of lower silicon content and describes the structural changes produced by melting in various atmospheres at pressurcs ranging from a partial vacuum up to 300 lb. per sq. inch. Experimental Method The experimental technique was similar to that previously employed, so that direct comparison might be made with earlier work. Alloys were

Jan 1, 1939

DAVID THOMAS 1871 R. W. RAYMOND 1872-1874 A. L. HOLLEY 1875 ABRAM S. HEWITT 1876 T. STERRY HUNT 1877 ECKLEY B. COXE 1878-1879 WILLIAM P. SHINN 1880 WILLIAM METCALF 1881 RICHARD P. ROTHWELL 1852 ROBERT W. HUNT 1883 JAMES C. BAYLES 1884-1855 ROBERT H. RICHARDS 1886 THOMAS EGLESTON 1887 WILLIAM B. POTTER 1888 RICHARD PEARCE 1889 ABRAM S. HEWITT 1890 JOHN BIRKINBINE 1891-1892 H. D4. HOWE 1893 JOHN FRITZ 1894 J. D. WEEKS 1895 E. O. SPILSBURY 1896 THOMAS M. DROWN 1897 CHARLES KIRCHHOFF 189S

Jan 1, 1939

By M. L. Fuller

During the last several years many papers have appeared dealing with the structure of highly polished metal surfaces. The awakening of interest in this subject is due to the applicability of the electron diffraction technique to the study of surfaces. The original theory of Beilbyl considered the surface of polished metals as of the nature of a supercooled liquid or a vitreous, amorphous solid. The electron diffraction effects from polished metals have been interpreted by rnany to be a direct experimental proof of the correctness of the Beilby theory. This interpretation has been strongly opposed by others, so that at the present time the subject is in an uncertain and controversial state. In the present paper new, and hitherto unpublished, electron diffraction effects from polished zinc are desrribed. These observations indicate that the polished surface of zinc is crystalline. Published Work Many papers2""10 have interpreted the electron diffraction evidence as proof of the Beilby amorphous theory. All investigators agree that highly polished metals give rise to two diffuse diffraction haloes, similar to those obtained by the diffraction of X-rays in liquids and vitreous solids. It is this similarity that leads to the amorphous-layer interpretation of polished metals. Strangely, the interatomic distances calculated from these haloes are very similar for the various metals investigated, in spite of a rather wide range of such distances in the crystalline and liquid states. The calculated atomic sizes are, furthermore, smaller than are experienced in the normal states of the metals. In spite of these anomalies, the amorphous-layer interpretation has been adhered to by many. One investigator, S. Dobinski," differs from the others in his experimental results. By polishing under benzene in order to avoid the possibility of oxidation, Dobinski obtains diffuse haloes of radii different from those previously obtained. He thus obtains a more rational quantitative correlation of the diffuse haloes with the amorphous-layer theory.

Jan 1, 1939

By George Rupp

THE Sunrise iron mine of The Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation is in Platte County, Wyoming, about 110 miles north of Cheyenne. It is served by the company-owned Colorado and Wyoming Railway, which connects with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and the Colorado and Southern railways at Guernsey, Wyoming, a distance of 6 miles from the mine. The original Sunrise claims were staked mainly by United States Army officers and soldiers stationed at old Fort Laramie, because of small showings of copper in the Carboniferous limestones that form a horizontal capping overlying the Huronian iron ore. A small copper smelter was operated for about three years at Fairbanks, now an aban-doned town on the North Platte River. As many of the copper shafts and test pits near the present Sunrise mine were deepened, they pene-trated the capping and encountered iron. ore or gray sericitic schist, and were abandoned. Evidence of an early interest in iron ore was found when the Chicago claim was stripped for mining. A narrow, winding crevice was dis-covered, which led downward 20 ft. through the capping to the underlying soft red hematite, in which a room 10 by 14 by 7 ft. had been excavated. Stone hammers and wedges and a few rusted pieces of iron were found on the floor, and the evidence is conclusive that the excavation was used up to rather recent times by Sioux Indian medicine men, to provide war paint.

Jan 1, 1939

By V. H. Wilhelm

In contrast with the previous year's activity, the California oil industry for 1938 showed a decrease in drilling, market demand, and discovery of new oil reserves, although there was an increase in oil production. Although additions to reserves from new fields and extensions were less than withdrawals during the year, reappraisals of discoveries in 1937 added to new discoreries during 1938 amounted to over 300,000,000 bbl. The following comparative statement shows the important changes in various phases of the industry: Throughout the year the storage situation became progressively more acute, owing principally to less Pacific foreign demand, and increased potential from drilling the newly discovered fields and pools (Fig. 1). California storage increased approximately 32,000,000 bbl. during 1938, most of which (approximately 18,000,000 bbl.) was heavy crude and residuum. The market demand for the year was around 600,000 bbl. per day. Because of the trend toward Diesel power for heavy transportation, the non-gasoline-bearing crudes arc fast becoming a drug on the market. New discoveries were instrumental in increasing the potential production of the state from 1,076,000 bbl. per day in January to an all-time high of 1,420,000 bbl. per day at the close of the year; although the indicated reserves of these new discoveries were not equal to the yearly withdrawal of 249,000,000 bbl. As of the end of 1938, the state was voluntarily curtailed about 58 per cent. As a result of prospecting during the year, six new fields were discovered, three fields were extended, and deeper zones were reached in five of the older fields.

Jan 1, 1939

By Allen D. Garrison

The chemistry of clays and shales has been assuming increasing importance in the petroleum industry, and two factors have greatly influenced this trend. The first has been the growing evidence that the marine shales are source beds, and that the petroleum compounds have migrated to the sand reservoirs overlying or underlying these shales: the second has been the demand for drilling fluids better adapted to penetrate these marine shales without difficulty and expense. Origin and General Composition of Clays and Shales Clays, shales and surface soils are all closely related materials. They are mixtures of finely divided compounds formed during the weathering of the solid crust of the earth. Their nature is essentially colloidal; that is, their behavior is determined by the state of division of the materials and the surface reactions of the smallest grains. Many of their chemical changes affect only the exposed areas and do not involve the interior of the grains of matter. The extent of these reactions is more nearly proportional to the area of the substances than to their mass, therefore it is possible for a small amount of a material in an extremely fine state of division to completely dominate the character of the mixture. More than 83 per cent of the crust of the earth is composed of three elements—oxygen, silicon and aluminum. Consequently, the corrosion products of the crust are predominantly aluminosilicates, or compounds of aluminum, silicon and oxygen. If we add the compounds of six elements—iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium and hydrogen—more than 98 per cent of the crust has been accounted for. These six elements, together with the first three, also appear in soils, clays and shales. But direct chemical analysis is of little value in describing the nature of such materials. Many chemical individuals may be present in variable amounts, and the extreme subdivision of any one of the individuals may contribute qualities that dominate the mixture.

Jan 1, 1939

By Henry Emmett Gross

Two types of decline curves are considered and their applications are discussed. The first is the well-known semilogarithmic decline curve having the rate of production plotted on the logarithmic scale and the time on the horizontal scale. The other curve is the percentage of oil in the fluid versus cumulative production, and it is plotted on Cartesian coordinate paper. These curves are illustrated by carefully and adequately labeled graphs. Where conditions permit application of both types of curves for rationally determining the reserves of a well, both should be applied and the most conservative reserve should be chosen. Formulas are given for determining the economic limits. For a semi-l~~arithmic~decline curve the formula is: A = B X C X D X E X F or B = A/C ? D X E X F A = total monthly operating cost (average of past year), B = economic limit in barrels of oil per day, C = days in an average month = 30.4, D = market price of crude per barrel, E = 1-royalty, F = 1-gross production tax, G = water production in barrels per day at the economic limit, H =per cent oil in fluid at economic limit. The economic limit for a per cent oil in the fluid curve is: H = B/B+G X 100 The semilogarithmic decline curve is treated first. Straight-line extrapolations on semilogarithmic paper follow the compound interest compound discount law, hence the ensuing formulas derived from this law may be used in computing reserves for such extrapolations: [1___1/(1+Y)]

Jan 1, 1939

This article attempts to outline essential features of the Mount Isa ore deposit, to reveal the agencies thought to be responsible for its localization, and to describe methods used for obtaining and applying geological data on a commercial basis. Structural features are emphasized because they have proved the most useful agencies to date in searching for ore. Vertical depth, horizontal width and stratigraphic thickness are used throughout the article, and quantities are quoted in long tons.THE DEPOSITA width of more than two miles of evenly bedded shale of the Mount Isa series (upper pre-Cambrian) lies sandwiched conformably between quartzites. The series strikes N.S. and dips approximately 60° W. Shale is unaltered...Important geological work has been carried out by the Queensland Geological Survey, chiefly by Mr. S. R. L. Shepherd, in co-operation with the Geological Department of Mount Isa Mines Limited. Selected references are The Queensland Government Mining Journal for December, 1931, January, 1932 (Rio Grande Lode); December, 19B2 (Black Rock Lode); October, 1933 (General structure); October, 1936 (Mount Isa Lode).

Jan 1, 1939

By Wilbert J. Huff

The organization of the Explosives Division has been outlined in two preceding publications., The activities of the various units for the fiscal year 1939 are described hereafter: I. INFLAMMABILITY OF GASES AND VAPORS DETERMINATION OF EXPLOSION HAZARDS OF COMBUSTIBLE GASES AND VAPORS IN MINES AND INDUSTRIES (a) Determination of Limits of Inflammability of Gases and Vapors The following hitherto unpublished limits of inflammability were determined during the past fiscal year.

Jan 1, 1939

The Mount Lyell Mining Field is Australia's chief productive source of copper. It is situated near Queenstown, on the western flanks of the West Coast Ranges, about 20 miles from the west coast of Tasmania (Fig. 1).The following observations on the mineral composition of the copper ores of the Mount Lyell Field are based on a...

Jan 1, 1939

Jan 1, 1939