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By Thomas M. Drown

In experimenting in connection with Mr. P. W. Shimer (now chemist of the Thomas Iron Company, Hokendauqua, Pa.) on methods for the determination of silicon in pig iron, in order to find one which should be accurate and yet give results in a few hours, I have adopted the following procedure, which, as far as my experience goes, leaves nothing to be desired. About one gram of pig iron or steel is treated in a platinum or porcelain dish with 25 cubic centimeters of nitric acid (sp. gr. 1, 2). When action has ceased, 25 to 30 cubic centimeters of dilute sulphuric acid (one of acid and three of water) are added, and heat applied until the nitric acid is nearly or quite driven off. The heat of a water-bath is sufficient, though the process may be hastened by heating higher on a sand-bath. Water is then cautiously added (as soon as the free sulphuric acid is sufficiently cool) and the contents of the dish heated until the crystals of ferric sulphate are completely dissolved. The solution is then filtered as hot as possible, the residue washed first with hot water, then with 25 to 30 cubic centimeters of hydrochloric acid (sp. gr. 1, 12), and finally with hot water. After drying and igniting, the silica will be found to be snow-white and granular. The following are some results obtained by this method compared

Jan 1, 1879

By W. S. Keyes

The State of Nevada, known par excellence as " the Silver State," occupies the major portion of the wide plateau, or so-called Great Basin, lying between the Sierra Nevada range on the west and the Wahsatch range of the Rocky Mountains on the east. It extends from the 114th degree to the 120th degree of longitude, west of Greenwich. It is limited, on the north, by the 42d degree of latitude, and on the extreme south by the 35th degree of latitude. Its general shape is that of an irregular parallelogram, from which the lower or southwestern portion has been cut off by a diagonal southeasterly line; the missing portion forms a part of the State of California on the west. The Great Basin is made up of a succession of low hills, or minor mountain ranges, running very nearly north and south, with long valleys between them. All of these mountains are more or less metalliferous. On the westcrn rim, marking the eastern flank or foothills of the Sierra, we find granites, porphyries, and propylites. Here we note the great Comstock lode, with its free-milling gold and silver ores, and still further south the once prominent and the now reviving gold and silver-bearing districts of Esmeralda County, Nevada, and of Morro County, California. Next, at some distance to the east, we find the mining districts at and near Unionville, in Humboldt County. Still further to the east we find the Battle Mountain copper-silver district, north from the railroad, and southerly therefrom the Austin or Reese Ever, Belmont, and other districts. Still further east and north of the railroad, we find the Tuscarora, a new district of very

Jan 1, 1879

By P. Barnes

The tabular statement accompanying this note shows the money cost in each of the three departments of manufacture, of 17 leading items, and also the proportion (expressed in a clecimal fraction) which each of these items bears to the total cost. The statement can hardly be taken for more than an average illustration of the clear showing of ratios and of results which may be made by such an arrangement, for not only will these items vary from month to month in any given works, but the methods themselves of manufacture differ widely in different works. It is obvious that such a statement, however useful it may be, must be submitted with but exceedingly little explanation or discussion, or with none at all, for the reason that to enter at any satisfac-

Jan 1, 1879

By P. Barnes

THE sums given in the accompanying table are those actually paid for material and labor up to about August, 1875; but, as some parts of the machinery were not wholly completed at the starting of the works in September, 1875, the statement cannot be taken as an absolutely correct note of the total cost. A complete description, with engravings of the building and machinery, was given in Engineering, April 26th, 1878, in a paper by Messrs. A. L. Holley and Lenox Smith, to which convenient reference may be made. A detailed list of the construction accounts has been given in a paper, by the present writer, in vol. vi, Transactions of the Institute. A summary is given in the table of the items in each class which enter into the total cost, and also a note of the proportion which each of these items forms of the whole. A concise view may thus be obtained of the facts embodied in the statement, as a whole, even though it cannot lay claim to completeness in showing the entire or final cost. An urgent suggestion has reached the writer from a distant country that such statements of cost to be really most serviceable should give the details in days of labor, in weight of iron, and in number of brick, and to this an assent is most cordially yielded. It is true, however, that the mere labor of copying and compiling these details to such a degree of minuteness, would be very great, and, in any event, the probable difference between the plans of an existing establishment and one projected, would be so wide as to render even so complete a statement of cost of little more real service than the approximate notes given herewith.

Jan 1, 1879

By D. Torrey

CONSIDERING the two great interests of to-day, in iron upon the one hand and steel upon the other, and recognizing with measurable distinctness the peculiar fitness of each for special services to which they are applied, the proposition to unite the two metals in combination, to bring into simultaneous use the peculiar advantages which each offers, has great attractions. The limited success which has been attained by trying to bring about such combinations of the two metals through the use of fluxes in welding, has led to the general adoption of the opinion that an effective union of the two metals is impracticable, or to the view that if practicable it would have but limited commercial value. Such opinions are, I think, premature and erroneous, and having gained some knowledge of the character and value of the "Wheeler process" for welding iron and steel without the use of fluxes, I submit the following observations and opinions of the matter for your information, with the hope of eliciting such a discussion of the subject as it may require. The principle of the invention is to bring the two metals simultaneously to a welding heat in one pile, and then to manipulate it.

Jan 1, 1879

By Persifor Frazer

It has been the aim of the writer, by measuring his base line on the territory of theoretical chemistry, to attempt to fix by triangula tion certain points within the domain of mineralogy. As the barest first experiment in this direction, a few of the hydrated oxides of iron have been selected, their theoretical construe tion reduced to percentage of the constituents into which the ordinary analytical methods would resolve them, and the results compared with actual analyses compiled from the most reliable sources; the accidental errors being as much as possible eliminated. This method seems to be a simple one and one easily pursued, but, as will shortly appear, it is beset with grave difficulties, all of which the writer does not pretend to have satisfactorily surmounted. In the first place arises the important question, what are we to understand by the hydrated oxides of iron ? In all books of chemistry and lexicons of minerals, the proposition, long ago taught by the earlier chemists, that water might exist in two forms of combination, viz., as water of crystallization or as water of constitution, is tacitly assumed. There is nothing in the principles of the new chemistry which is opposed to this; for (to carry the mind's eye into the process of con struction of the least units into which a definite chemical compound is capable of being divided without losing its characteristic proper ties), however unlikely it may seem, it is, nevertheless, possible that a given molecule of iron may, under certain conditions of heat, pressure, etc., attract to itself as many molecules of the water in which it is natant as: from the relative size, shape, attractive force, etc. of either, it is capable of taking up, and this complex system of associated molecules might oscillate as a physical unit so long as the conditions on which its existence was dependent remained unchanged. Moreover, it is highly probable that the first effect upon such a mole cule produced by physical or chemical forces would be to separate it into two or more simple ones of different kinds, while a further ap plication of these forces might rend asunder the bonds of the simpler compounds themselves.

Jan 1, 1879

By John Birkinbine

THE favor with which the members of the Institute received Mr. Fernow's paper upon the use of charbon roux in the manufacture of iron has encouraged me to present this paper, in the hope of having the discussion upon the manufacture and use of the oldest and undoubtedly the best fuel for producing pig iron continued. Owing to the advances made in employing anthracite coal, bituminous coal, or coke, or mixtures of them, we are apt to forget how much of our present development is due to the pioneers in iron manufacture and the fuel which they employed in the production of pig iron. In Mr. Swank's last compilation of the iron and steel works of the United States, the furnace capacity of the country is given as 5,868,000 tons, of which 1,000,000 tons can be made in the 264 charcoal furnaces. In other words, over one-third of the furnaces now in existence use charcoal for fuel, and produce more than one-sixth of the iron made. If to this is added the 130,000 tons of blooms and billets turned out by the 122 forges and bloomaries, the importance of the charcoal industries will be appreciated.

Jan 1, 1879

By T. F. Witherbee

The subject of an article in the Engineering and Mining Journal for October 13th, 1877, namely, Blast Furnace Treatment of Silicious Iron Ores,, is of great interest to myself, and doubtless to many others who hare been troubled with a seemingly unaccountable percentage of silicon in their pig iron. It is to be regretted that the author of the article did not give us complete details of his charges, and thus prevent a possibly fatal error in the very beginning of the discussion of the points raised in his communication. As it now stands, I think we will have to fall back upon the statement that, " every conceivable mixture of fluxes and ores (A and B) has been used." Let us first, in order to simplify the calculations, do with she

Jan 1, 1879

By John C. F. Randolph

This establishment being now in full working order, it has seemed of considerable professional interest to collect together, in a concise form, the various points as to its plan, method of dressing, and equipment. The data contained in this paper have been largely drawn from the able paper of E. Kutscher, constrnoting engineer of the works, contained in the Zeitschrift fur Berg-HÜtten-und Salinenwesen im Preussischen Staate, 1873, supplemented by some personal memoranda made while the works were under construction and by memoranda on the works appearing in various German technical papers from their completion up to date. This is probably the largest dressing works in the world devoted to the beneficiation of argentiferous lead ores, and it is doubtful if any establishment for the concentration of mineral of any description can compare with it in size. As showing the final practice adopted in an old and very conservative mining region, in which the concentration of ores has been a matter of constant practice and experiment for a very long period, these works are of peculiar interest. The fact that the Clausthal ores strongly resemble a very large and abundant class of ores found in the United States has always attracted the attention of American mining engineers and mine owners to the methods employed in dressing and smelting them. The study of their methods of concentration of ores has, however, always been full of difficulty,

Jan 1, 1879

By A. L. Holley

The three principal mines from which the celebrated Salisbury iron ores are obtained are called respectively the "Old Hill," "Davis," and "Chatfield" ore beds, and are situated in the town of Salisbury, Litchfield County, Conn., on the eastern slope of the Tocconuc range of hills.* The Old Hill Ore Bed is a tract of land of 100 acres, originally granted by the General Court in October, 1731, to be laid out by Daniel Bissell of Windsor. It mas Boon after surveyed and located by Ezekiel Ashley and John Pell. The descendants of Ashley are still proprietors in the mine. The supply of ore has been very abundant, and for many years was easily obtained, but latterly the cost of raising has been greatly increased. Up to about 1840 the average yield was estimated to be about 4500 tons per annum. The production has gradually increased until the average yield at present is estimated at 15,000 tons annually. The largest production in any one ymr was about 20,000 tons. The proprietors of this mine were incorporated many years ago under the style of " The Salisbury Ore Bed Proprietors." The Davis Ore Bed, named after an early owner, was originally called Hendricks Ore Bed, and was owned before the organization of the town of Salisbury by Thomas Lamb, one of the first settlers

Jan 1, 1879

By P. Barnes

These furnaces are of the ordinary Siemens type, and present no special peculiarities of construction. The bed of each is 8 feet by 20 feet clear inside of the walls and ports. The producers are placed at a distance of about 200 feet from the furnaces, and the gas is collected in an iron tube and led across the yard overhead. It then drops underground into the gas flue, and is distributed to the furnaces. A considerable weight of floor-plates over the valve-pits is included in account 39, but none of the general stock of floor-plates for the mill were charged to the furnaces. In Table No. 1 is shown the money cost of the furnaces as distributed to the several accounts named. In Table 2 is shown the proportion of each account due to each of the several items or classes of expenditure named.. It is thus rendered possible, almost at a glance, to determine the money value in this particular case of each of the items named. The regular work of three of these furnaces in heating steel blooms for the months of January and February, 1877, was 77 rounds per week of 60 blooms each, or 4620 30-foot rails per week. Each furnace will heat 8 14-inch ingots, for three rails each, at one time.

Jan 1, 1879

By E. P. Jennings

The abundance and value of the tellurium minerals of Colorado is well known, but, as yet, few analyses have been made of them, and I offer these as a small contribution to the chemistry of these valuable ores. 1. Native Tellurium.—The specimens from which the analyses of this mineral were made are from the " John Jay" Mine, Boulder County, Colorado, where it occurs in quite large masses, though mixed with more or less silica and iron pyrites. It is usually a finegrained, tin-white mineral, but sometimes occurs in distorted, hexagonal prisms in cavities in the quartz. Before the blowpipe it gives the reactions for tellurium, sulphur and iron; by cupellation, it yields a small amount of gold. An analysis of a coarsely crystallized specilnen gave the following results : Specific gravity, 5.10.5. Tellurium,.........68.40 Gold, :.........1.36 Iron pyrites,........24 92 Ferric oxide,.....4.37 Silica and silicates,........11.54 Silver, lead, and mercury,... traces. 100.59 Deducting the pyrites, iron oxide and silica, we have for the con]position of the mineral: Tellurium,..........97.78 Gold,.......... 2.27 100.00 Or, considering the gold to be in combination with tellurium to form sylvanite, we have : Nativc tellurium,........96.50 Sylvanite (An, Te3,),........4.50 100.00

Jan 1, 1879

By Frederick Jr. Prime

THE first catalogue of Geological Reports of the United States was prepared by Prof. O. C. Marsh, and published in the American Journal of Science and Arts for 1867, vol. xliii, second series. Since then the list has more than doubled, and it was thought that the publication of a new catalogue, brought down to date, would be useful to many of the members of the Institute of Mining Engineers. The compiler will be most thankful to have any omissions or inaccuracies in the list sent to him, to be published as a supplement in the next volume of the Transactions. Especially to have the correct title, number of pages, plates, and maps of any volume on the list to which an * is prefixed, as he has been unable to personally consult such works. A preliminary list was issued last February, which has been almost doubled by the kindness of many friends. The writer desires more especially to express the obligations he is under to the following gentlemen The Chief of Engineers, U. S. A.; Principal Dawson, Mr. G. M. Dawson, Drs. B. J. Harrington and T. Sterry Hunt, of Montreal; Mr. H. Engelmann, of La Salle, Ill.; Dr. F. V. Hayden and Prof. J. W. Powell, U. S. Department of the Interior ; Prof. E. W. Hilgard, University of California; Prof. Henry Y. Hind, Windsor, N. S.; Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, of Dartmouth College; Mr. Henry A. Holmes, State Librarian, Albany; Maj. Jed. Hotchkiss, Staunton, Va. ; Prof. W. C. Kerr, Raleigh, N. C.; Dr. J. S. Newberry, of Columbia College ; Prof. W. H. Pettee, of the University of Michigan ; Dr. Samuel H. Scudder, Prof. N. S. Shaler, and Prof. J. D. Whitney, of Harvard College ; Mr. Sanderson Smith and Prof. J. J. Stevenson, of New York ; Mr. Addison Van Name, of Yale College, and Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, U. S. Engineers. PHILADELPHIA, 907 Walnut Street, October 1st, 1879.

Jan 1, 1879

By Robert H. Richards

During tile summer of 1870, I had an opportunity to visit the laboratory of the late David Forbes, Esq., in London, and was much interested in a labor-saving device which he had attached to his agate mortar. The mortar was placed in the centre of a small table, and about ten inches to the right of the mortar, a post, perhaps two

Jan 1, 1879

By Rossiter W. Raymond

BY the courtesy of Mr. Charles W. Jenks, of Boston, one of the owners of this interesting mine, I am enabled to lay before the Institute a suite of specimens, illustrating its peculiar formation and the paragenesis of mineral species which it presents; and a recent brief visit and rapid reconnoissance of the locality permit me to supplement this exhibition with a general description, based upon personal observation. The mine is situated upon the Culsagee Fork of the Tennessee River, in Macon County, North Carolina, a few miles from Franklin. The most practicable route by which it can at present be visited is by wagon (or preferably on horseback) from Seneca City, S. C., a station on the Charlotte and Atlanta Air Line Railroad. The itinerary is as follows: to Walhalla,* nine miles; Walhalla to Highlands, twenty-nine miles; Highlands to the Culsagee, fourteen miles. By passing the night at or near Highlands, the mine can be reached and examined and the return to Highlands made on the second day; and the round trip, if performed in the saddle, can be completed in three days from Seneca City. It is not easy, with due regard to steed and rider, to do it in less time. The rough and precipitous mountain roads do not permit rapid travel ; and the journey is at best a fatiguing one. But its slight hardships are overpaid by the stimulating effect of the climate and the great beauty of the scenery, both of which are destined to become more widely known than at present, to seekers for health and pleasure. Indeed the town of Highlands, already named, is almost entirely made up of northern immigrants, attracted by these advantages and by the inducement of cheap land for agriculture and stock-raising. The Culsagee or Sugartown fork of the Tennessee traverses the belt of ancient crystalline schists on the west flank of the Blue Ridge. This belt abounds in valuable minerals. Among those of the nonmetallic class may be mentioned graphite, soapstone, serpentine, ashes- * A branch or cross railroad is in operation as far as Walhalla ; but the single daily train runs at an hour not convenient for this expedition ; and Seneca City is probably the best starting-point. At all events, I obtained there an excellent mount for the trip.

Jan 1, 1879

THE members arrived at Ticonderoga, N. Y., at noon, Tuesday, October 15th, and were received by Mr. Cyrus Butler, Chairman of the Local Committee of Arrangements. During the afternoon the works of the American Graphite Company and the Horicon Iron Company were visited under the guidance of Mr. Butler, President of both companies, and of Mr. William Hooper, Superintendent. An excursion was then made, in carriages, to old Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, after which the party were driven to the Rogers Rock Hotel, on Lake George. The first session of the Institute was held in the parlor of time hotel on Tuesday evening. Mr. Eckley B. Coxe, President of the Institute, opened the proceedings with the following address: I shall ask your attention, this evening, to a few reflections upon the subject of mining engineering as a profession in the United States, its past, its present, and its future, and its duties and oppor¬tunities with reference to the proper development of our great min¬eral resources. Thirty years ago, there were scarcely any mining engineers in this country, and but few in England, and there were no institutions where young men could be educated for the profession in the Eng¬lish language. France and Germany have been able for about a century to boast of mining schools of a high character, that number among their graduates such men as Humboldt, Weisbach, Rittinger, Combes, and Gruner. Of the few we then had worthy of the name of "mining engi¬neer," some had studied in the continental academies, and others were graduates in the school of practical experience, and had learned their profession in mines and smelting-works. Their work con¬sisted principally in making surveys and maps of mines and mining properties, geological reports, and analyses of ores ; but the mining engineer whom we often meet with now, who has studied chemistry, physics, mineralogy, geology, mechanics, and drawing; who is more or less familiar with machinery and its construction, and with the practical management of mines or smelting-works, and who is an expert in some one branch of his profession, would have been very difficult if not impossible to find in the United States. The induce¬ments held out to ambitious and talented young men to enter the

Jan 1, 1879

By Persifor Frazer

A classification of natural objects is usually based either upon some fundamental and permanent attribute of the thing itself (as in the case of scientific classifications), or it embraces one or more generalizations convenient for use in ordinary life. Thus, it suffices for the statistician to know that so many tons of fish are annually taken by our fishermen, and that they realize so many thousands of dollars, whereas to the student of natural history the anatomy, habits, and relationships of the animals are of chief interest, as settling their respective places in the scale of animate nature. Many different classifications of coals have been attempted, as one would naturally anticipate from the immense extent of the coal trade, and the different localities whence the supply was derived. The English divisions were prevalent up to the date of the publication of the last geological survey of the State, except so far as they were modified by local designations. Indeed, Rogers' classifications made very little alteration in the English nomenclature, as may be seen by comparing the tables given below. To commence with the different kinds mentioned in Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines of 1845 : " 1. Cubical Coal.—Black, shining, compact, moderately hard and easily frangible. Comes out in rectangular masses, of which the

Jan 1, 1879

By Rossiter W. Raymond

The term " pipe-vein " has recently been applied in this country to certain deposits of lead ore in magnesian limestone. The use of the term has been twofold. It has been revived as a term found in textbooks on mineral veins, with the implied or declared assertion that the ore-deposits thus named in this country are similar to those which have borne the title abroad. It has also been advanced as an appropriate name for a new class of deposits, even if such a class had not previously been recognized. In either case, the assumption is that pipe-veins form a group or class by themselves, and are not merely interior and subordinate features in larger deposits. The peculiar mining law of the United States, which regards " the vein," whatever that may be, as the basis of title, lends a special interest to these claims. But the object of this paper is rather to discuss the subject from the standpoint of geology and technical literature. I shall briefly answer two questions: (1) What are pipe-veins as described in technical literature? and (2) Is the name appropriate or necessary for a new class of deposits ? The term " pipe-ore," as applied, for instance, to irregular, cylin-

Jan 1, 1879

Jan 1, 1879

By Robert H. Richards

THE Institute of Mining Engineers has shown so much interest in the educational problem of profitably combining theory and practice, that it seems especially appropriate to lay before its members the methods and aims of the mining laboratory of which I have charge, and in which one form of combination of hand with head work is now being tried. If anything may be contributed toward the solution of this problem by the discussion which follows, my purpose mill be attained. Whether it was wise or not to establish a mining school so far from the principal mining centres, does not now enter into the question. Given, a mining school already begun, how shall it be made most efficient in developing engineers who are trained to think for themselves as well as versed in the works of others ? This is the question with which we have had to deal. In considering the bearing of this laboratory work upon the students' preparation, it will be convenient to take it up under five different heads: 1. The methods and aims of the laboratory. 2. The advantage to students of having a part, at least, of their practical work in the curriculum of their school. 3. The advantage to be derived by mine; and works. 4. Degree of accuracy which may be attained in working ores on a small scale. 5. Reslts of work in the laboratory. 1. The Methods and Aims of the Laboratory.—During the May meeting of 1873, held in Boston, I had the privilege of reading before you a paper stating the plan; and aims of this laboratory. Since that time me have been constantly following out those plans, and are more than ever convineed that me are working in the right direction. We do not feel that the time we have spent has been in any sense thrown away. Perhaps the aims of the laboratory can be most clearly shown by illustration. Many young engineers have school thinking that they know everything. They go to the works, and expect to teach the superintendent something and the men a good deal, regardless of the fact that it is this spirit that has prejudiced workmen against schoolmen. They are often more trouble than they

Jan 1, 1879