Search Documents

By AIME AIME

THE portrait of Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, recently painted by Philip A. de Laszlo at the request of the four Founder engineering societies, was unveiled at a special meeting in the Engineering Societies Building on Feb. 15. The portrait was delivered by Gano Dunn, chairman of the Hoover Medal Board of Award, who said, in part:,

Jan 1, 1932

By Clyde E. Williams, JAMES L. GREGG

THIS review of the past year's progress in iron and steel metallurgy presents examples of only a few of the interesting or important accomplishments made in the United States. In the field of iron ore concentration increased attention was given to the study of the more difficultly separated wash ores and some progress was made in tabling. One difficulty with the table, in concentrating iron ore where the percentage of concentrate in the feed is large, has been the removal of fine silica from the thick layer .of concentrates in the cleaning zone. One company has -Made an important contribution toward the solution of this problem by an extension of the well-known plateau principle. By a special riffling of the plateau section of the table, the concentrates are crowded together. This action forces the fine silica to the top of the bed in the cleaning zone, whence the cross-flowing currents of water -can wash it into the middling product. Some work has been done on the application of froth flotation to the concentration of iron ores. Laboratory experiments were made at the Colorado School of Mines in which hematite was, successfully floated. Using oleic acid as a frothing and collecting agent and sodium carbonate as the conditioning agent, a high recovery of rich ,concentrate was obtained. A laboratory flotation unit is in use at Taconite, on the Mesabi range, and a commer-

Jan 1, 1932

By Louis V. Bender

THIS paper gives a short review of the installation for and the use of gas, as a. fuel, at the Anaconda Reduction Works of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. Before putting in gas tile fuels used were pulverized coal, lump coal, coke distillate and oil. These fuels are now almost entirely eliminated. For nearly fifty years bituminous coals from Wyoming and Montana fields had been used. These coals were of a good grade, analyzing 11,300 B.t.u. and having an ash content of 12 per cent. When hydro-electric power replaced steam-driven equipment, the coal requirements were reduced; and, on account of improvements in metallurgy and/ or in furnace design, the quantity was lessened. Later, oil and distillate were introduced and used in some of the operations. All of these things tended toward the lessening of the amount of coal used, and had it not been for the increase in the size of the plant, the tonnage used would have been small when the change was made to gas.

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

BY COMBINING the sessions on reduction and refining of copper, lead and zinc it was possible to devote an entire day to nonferrous metallurgy. Four interesting papers were presented at the morning session and four more in the afternoon. In the discussion of papers on copper, F. R. Pyne acted as chairman, with H. M. Shepard as vice-chairman, whereas for those on lead and zinc, F. F. Colcord acted as chairman, with C. R. Hayward as vice-chairman. The paper by P. D. I. Honeyman on the smelting of raw concentrates in the reverberatory furnace was presented by Mr. Pyne and discussed by Messrs. Mazany and Hayward. The interesting paper by E. S. Bardwell, com- paring the use of various fuels in copper-refining furnaces at Great Fails, Mont., was presented by Mr. Shepard and discussed by Messrs. Boggs, Gronningsater and Hayward. That by R. G. Knickerhocker, describing the stationary basic copper converter at Messina, Transvaal, was presented by Mr. Pyne, together with a written discussion by c. R. Kuzell, of the United Verde Copper co. It was an interesting illustration of how well-known processes may sometimes be modified to fit into unusual conditions.

Jan 1, 1932

By Ralph H. Sweetser

MUCH progress in -blast-furnace construction and in the manufacture of firebrick for furnace linings has been made since the publication of Bulletin 130 of the U. S. Bureau of Mines on "Blast-Furnace Breakouts, Explosions and Slips, and Methods of Prevention," by F. H. Willcox in 1917. At the time of publishing this report comparatively little information was available to blast-furnace men as to the fundamental facts relating to the character of blast-furnace refractories. Some of the accepted theories of only a few years ago have been completely reversed. The mortality of blast-furnace linings used to be so great that nearly every furnace plant had one or more complete linings in the brick shed ready for use in case of a lining suddenly "going out"; it was generally accepted that a furnace could not "keep her lines" more than two or three years at best, and often a hot spot in the shell would develop, or a breakout occur in the hearth or bosh within a year or two after blowing in on a new lining. In some respects these frequent relinings were not so detrimental as to he a complete loss because they afforded opportunities to take advantage of advances in blast-furnace practice. At present the cost of relining has greatly increased, but the life of a lining has also increased. Anything less than five years on a lining is now considered a short blast.

Jan 1, 1932

By D. M. Metcalf

MOST PEOPLE think of peat as an inferior substitute for coal as a fuel, and will be surprised to learn that it is extensively mined in this country for use as fertilizer rather than as a fuel. Some years ago the Florida Humus Co. began producing it at Zellwood, Orange County, Fla., in a small way for local use. When, however, the company secured an Institute member, M. H. Cuise, to apply his wide experience in mining to the problems here it was found possible to decrease production costs 70 per cent and increase output tenfold. The obvious way in which to decrease costs was to replace shovel-and- horse methods with machinery, much of which, in order to keep down-invested capital, was improvised by remodeling second-hand equipment, changing the design where necessary to meet the special conditions involved.

Jan 1, 1932

By Sherwin F. Kelly, Bela Low

THE WORK OF THE DRILLER and of the oil geologist is seriously handicapped by the impossibility of actually seeing what is going on inside a borehole as it is being drilled. Visual information of the position and condition of the casing, and of the characters and attitudes of strata passed through would be of inestimable benefit. The best substitute for putting a periscope down a hole is the taking of photographs of its interior at points where information is desired. An apparatus for this purpose has been constructed by Dr. Thomas Reinhold, of Heemstede, Holland, and one instrument of his design has been put into practical use by the Geological Survey of The Netherlands in searching for water. To the best of our knowledge, this instrument has not been applied to oilfield problems, although the possibility has been mentioned in the one or two brief notices of the camera which have appeared in the literature.' The purpose of presenting this description of the instrument, with some examples of its work, is to suggest that it might be adapted to serve a variety of useful purposes in American oilfields, and with the hope that discussion will bring out any modifications necessary to make the apparatus more valuable to drillers and geologists.

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

FRIEND recently remarked that the career of Scott Turner is characterized by Work and Wild -A Ducks. To these might be added Accomplishment and Persistent Fishing. All of these elements are manifestations of his character. The diversions-hunting and fishing-are in the nature of the proverbial trolley conductor's holiday, for many of Turner's years have been spent in the outdoors, often in distant lands, as in Spitzbergen, where the ducks pictured below were bagged. The election of Scott Turner to the presidency of the Institute marks the culmination of a quarter century of membership, during the last two years of which he has been vice-president. He was born at Lansing, Mich., on July 31, 1880, and received his A.B. at the University of Michigan in 1902, with a B.S. and E.M. at the Michigan College of Mines in 1904. Since then he has been granted two honorary degrees, D.Sc. from the Colorado School of Mines, and D.Eng. from the University of Michigan, but he still prefers to be called "Scott" rather than "Doctor." Government service was not a new experience for Turner when he was appointed Director of the U. S. Bureau of Mines by Secretary Hoover in 1925, for his first employment after graduation was as Field Assistant in the U. S. Geological Survey in Oregon and Idaho. This was followed by work in Tombstone, Ariz.; then his first foreign engagement in 1905-6 as superintendent of the San Pablo Gold Mining Co. in Panama. Various field experiences followed, though there was an interlude in work of a kind that few mining engineers ever experience. This was in technical journalism, for in 1906 he was

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

THE joint symposium on gases in metals on Tuesday: Feb. 16, between the Iron and Steel and the Institute of Metals divisions opened the technical sessions for both of these bodies. After a few words of introduction by P. D. Merica, R. S. Dean presented a paper by V. H: Gottshalk and himself on the solubility of gases in metals.

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

NO MORE SUITABLE time and place than LOS Angeles on Thursday and Friday, July 28 and 29, could have been chosen for the Western Regional Meeting of the~1nstitutk. After attending two clays of technical sessions and enjoying the luncheons and dinners of the meeting, visitors, on the following days, could see the opening ceremonies and events of the Olympic Games, which started on July 30 and continued to Aug. 14. Such d spectacle can be seen only once in a generation in this country.

Jan 1, 1932

By Wesley G. Josephson

THE MINING PROPERTY of the Argonaut Mining Co., Jackson, Calif., is one of the oldest on the Mother Lode. A vein outcropping on a hill in this section could not long elude the eye of the forty-niner, so it was first discovered in 1850. From that time until 1893 the Pioneer mine, as it was then called, limped along under various poorly equipped and financed operators who tried tapping it by trenching and tunneling. Then the Argonaut Mining Co. took over the property and sank the present 65° inclined shaft in the hanging wall of the vein. The mine workings have now reached the 6000-ft. level, which is 5283 ft. vertically below the surface, or just 3 ft. over a mile. The total production of the mine is uncertain, because of lack of early records, but from 1893 to 1932 it is known to have produced in excess of $17,000,000.

Jan 1, 1932

By Paul M. Tyler

OF THE 92 elements generally accepted by chemists as constituting the primary building blocks of matter, all but the very rarest have been investigated with a view to employing them in steel manufacture. The surprising thing is that so few have been found commercially acceptable. Despite the relatively small number of elements involved, the use of alloys in steel making is one of the most complicated and probably one of the least well understood of modern industrial enterprises. The action of individual elements in steel making has been described often and a profuse and somewhat acrimonious literature covers pretty much the whole field of ferroalloy ore supplies. In the middle ground between the miner and the -steel maker developments are less carefully watched by most observers and except for an occasional description of the technique of some conversion process or the tariff hearings in Congress, little is said about them. The present paper has been submitted in the hope that it will stimulate broader constructive economic thinking. It undertakes to describe in' relatively nontechnical terms this great and growing though highly complex industry and to study its relations to national progress.

Jan 1, 1932

By A. L. Engel

IN the treatment of complex ores by flotation, one of the most important steps is conditioning the feed. Conditioning primarily consists of the addition, in the grinding circuit, of an alkaline reagent, for example sodium carbonate, which neutralizes any acidity of ore and mill water, counteracts the effect of 'harmful soluble salts, disperses colloids, and provides the necessary alkalinity for the best metallurgical results. The several minerals of the ore should be put in such condition that they may be floated or rejected as desired, through the action of further reagents thereafter used.

Jan 1, 1932

By AIME AIME

THE American copper mining industry is threatened with disintegration and destruction. This threat is not one which may only materialize in the distant future. The destruction has already commenced. At present, many domestic mines have already closed down. .Others are operating on a greatly curtailed basis. Those operating are doing so only at tremendous loss-because the selling price of copper is below the cost of production and rapidly diminishing financial resources and credit clearly forecast the early suspension of operations in most of the industry. Unemployment in the mining districts is increasing by leaps and bounds. While this condition is due in some measure to the present unsatisfactory state of business in general, the copper industry, unlike other lines of business, sees no possibility of recovery without definite aid. The fundamental, underlying cause of present conditions in the American copper mining industry is the unprecedented rise in foreign production, and the basic change which has taken place in the world copper industry in the last three years. The American industry had begun to feel this change early in 1929 long before the general collapse of business in the fall of that year. While the distress in the industry is undoubtedly aggravated by the present economic depression, it nevertheless would have arrived and. have been present at this time, regardless of general business conditions.

Jan 1, 1932

By RUSSELL C. FLEMING

GILSONITE is a brilliant black, tarry-like bitumen, classed technically with glance pitch and graharnite as an asphaltite. As found it is brittle, breaking much like ice, and has a conchoidal fracture. Purest forms are used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, electrical irisulatiorl, and inks for rotogravure; molded articles such as switch handles, telephone mouthpieces, and but- tons are made from the intermediate grades, and the poorer grades are used for the saturation of felt. According to the U. S. Bureau of Mines figures, production grew from about 4000 tons mined in 1904 to 55,000 tons in 1929. This asphaltic substance is found only in the Uintah basin in northeastern Utah, in veins over a wide area. Veins in the vicinity of Fort nuchesne were first discovered about 18G2, on what was then the Uintah Indian reservation, and the vein matter was originally called Uintaite because of that fact, In the early days, S. H. Gilson. of Salt Lake City, was so persistent and zealous in his efforts to develop the deposits and find a market that the name gilsonite was given to the material. Later, the wider and more renowned wins near Wayson and Dragon, in extreme eastern Utah, became the main supply.

Jan 1, 1932

By H. Herbert Hughes

ECONOMISTS have predicted that the present business depression ultimately may pay big dividends to industry through the cumulative savings resulting from technical improvements and merchandising advances that might never have been developed under normal conditions. Waste prevention is a sound medicine for economic ills. In theory, this prescription may be applied not' only to raw materials, but also to labor, fuel, over- head, and other phases of production. Actually, how- ever, regardless of the efficiency of operating practices, waste is inevitable in the production of many commodities. The problem then becomes one of profitable utilization of waste rather than prevention.

Jan 1, 1932

By Edward H. Robie

HOW have recent events affected the general trend in world mineral production? What effect has the World War, with its resultant boom and depression, had on the long-term trend of output? Have all of the principal metals and fuels been similarly affected, or have some boomed or slumped much more than others? The trend of world production of coal, iron, the principal nonferrous metals, and petroleum is shown in the accompanying chart, covering the period from 1882 to 1931 inclusive-the last fifty years. The curves are plotted logarithmically to show the comparative trends. In the lower left-hand corner of the chart is a slope diagram to aid in visually evaluating. the average yearly rate of increase in production; from this one can easily see, for example, that the petroleum production curve indicates an average annual increase of around 8 per cent, and that up to the period of the World War the average annual increase in copper production was about 6 per cent.

Jan 1, 1932

By John A. THOMPSON, Pazcl D. Torrey, Frank Breayster

DISCOVERY of natural gas in the Dundee field of New York in February, 1930, and the subsequent discovery in Tioga in September of that year, focused the attention of the natural-gas industry on the enormous possibilities of production and distribution in - the most populous area of the United States-New York and New England. Prior to 1926 the natural-gas industry in New York State had settled into a definite and limited policy, with the distributing companies controlling the output from its discovery to the ultimate consumer. Production amounted to between G and 7 thousand mil- lion cubic feet a year, with another 10,000 million feet imported from Pennsylvania for distribution in New York State. This gas was primarily from the Medina sand stone in. the western part of the state.

Jan 1, 1932

By R. E. Phelan

WHILE 1931 was a most important year in the history of Canadian copper smelting and refining, nevertheless, due to the low price of copper and the in- ability of the International Nickel Co. to market its full capacity of nickel. the production of both copper and nickel was considerably less than the total installed capacity for the production of these metals. IIY the nor- mal course of events, 1931 should have seen a great increase in the production. of both copper and nickel in Canada, because the large extensions to both the copper smelting plants and the copper and nickel refinery capacity, which had largely been completed in the year 1930, should be showing their effect.

Jan 1, 1932

By C. R. Kuzell

GEOGRAPHICAILY the industry of reducing and refining of copper continued to migrate from the .United States during 1931. While this country is losing the predominant position of its copper industry, our engineers still enjoy their pre-eminent position as leaders in the design and operation of the new plants being brought into production in the four quarters of the globe. Progress in the art, as indicated by the construction of the recently completed works, has not been revolutionary. Standard methods have been followed, augmented by novel features in flow-sheets demanded by the results of progress in the art of ore-dressing, and by reason of problems incidental to the peculiarities of the new ores being treated. Design and construction progress has likewise been orderly and without radical departure from less recent practice; new features in primary and secondary equipment being logical developments to provide for special conditions to keep abreast of improve¬ments in accessory apparatus. The new plants are being rapidly brought in without hazardous novelties and for the purpose of yielding the principal ingredient, copper, in as large a volume as it will he possible to market; the old United States procedure. In the meantime the domestic plants are shut down or operating at a very low capacity, threatened with untimely demise unless the metallurgist can extract and develop other valuable products from the ores. International agreements .and tariff protection may be a temporary reviving stimulant, but for many mines the days of profit will be numbered unless the ores can be made to yield as values the ingredients now being discarded. Invisible progress in this direction has been made during the past year, and it is to he hoped that time will prove that the outstanding progress of 1931 was in the development of processes for the ultimate recovery of by-products from copper ores, perhaps even relegating the value of the copper yield to secondary importance.

Jan 1, 1932