Search Documents

By R. W. Hunt

The old plan was to increase every part of a rail much in the same proportion. But each part should be in proportion to what it ha.; to do. The head should be deep in proportion to tile amount. of traffic and the lowness of the rate of interest on its cost. The body need only he strong enough to carry the head after it is well worn down, and that deperlds on the weight of the machinery, and in the case of steel has little to do with the volume of traffic, except SO far as that affects weight of machinery. Ad on most railroad systems, the same niacliinery is used on main lines with heavy traffic, and bra11ct:es with light, I suggested in 1874 that each systern adopt the same body of rail for both, and make the head deeper on the main lines, shallower on the branches. This plan was adopted on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Bandberg seems to recognize this in his patterns of 1878. E. W. HUNT, TRoy, N. Y.: Again Dr. Dudley preaents to our cousideration a series of most carefully conductetl experiments, and ~llile I fully appreciate the labor and thought this work has cost him, I must still hesitate to accept his deductiono. This paper dilliirs from the previous one in that it denls esclrieively with the wearing qualitiei. of steel rails. Dr. Dudley gives his reason for this change in the following statement: " With the improvement in maintenance of way which has characterized the Pennsylvania Railroad during the last five or six yearn, the remova1 of rails from the track from the first two of these causes (i. e., broken and crushel), has, if I am right, quite notably diminished. This certainly is true with regard to broken rails. And if, as time advances, the number of crushed rails shall diminish, both because of the continued improvement in maintenance of way before referred to, and because, owing to improved and better methods at the steel works, there are fewer crushed rails caused by physical defects in the steel, the question of the wearing capacity of steel rails obviously becomes the allimportant one." Certainly the condition of the roadhd has much to do with mils brealring, crushing, and wearing. If the Pennsylvania and other railroads have done and are doing their part, Dr. Dudley oourteously admits that the steel works have performed part of theirs. But as far as I am informed, the formulas which they have used have been and are still quite wide of the one he continues to recommend. The rails which are not breaking or crushing to so great an extent as formerly, contain higher percentages of both carbon and manganese.

Jan 1, 1881

Engineers who are in charge of industrial operations, and their number is legion, sense as much as anyone the present feeling of unrest in the' country and more than anyone else realize the present inefficiency of labor. Undoubtedly the two phenomena are closely correlated and no doubt are due to a multitude of causes which it will be impossible to enumerate. From my experience in mining I estimate that the present efficiency of labor is only about two-thirds of what it was under pre-war conditions. In the mining industry, at least, we have not a large surplus of men looking for work and usually under these conditions men are rather more independent and will not work as efficiently and faithfully as if they felt there were plenty of men ready to take their places. Wages in metal mining have advanced more than the increased cost of normal and sane living. The result is that the men often work fewer days in a month and do not seem to have very much interest in their work while actually engaged in it. Then again, they have been listening to the more or less vague propaganda of the I. W. W. and the radical wing of the socialists, who are harping on the fact that the distribution of newly created wealth is unfair and that the laborer really is not working for himself or his fellow laborers but is carrying on his exertions for the benefit of a small and lim-ited class of exploiters. A continued harping on this view is bound to influence the judgment of even a conservative workman who is not a student of economics and who hears little or nothing upon the other side. I am a great believer in the common sense of the American people and in the long run I do not think that they will be carried away by unsafe doctrines. The trouble with so many of these propagandists of industrial in-equality is that they do not differentiate between production and dis-tribution. Even if we admit that distribution is unfair, unless goods are produced there will be nothing to distribute. A great many unthinking people seem to feel that wages are paid out of a pot which is inexhaustible and do not realize that eventually what comes out of the pot can never exceed what is put into it. The workman is not paid in money but is paid in goods, money as we all know being used simply as a measure of value and a medium of exchange, and that all that can be used to pay the laborer is what he produces.

Jan 11, 1919

by their overdogmatic picture of geology and their resulting drastic oversimplification and idealization of geologic features. I am in hearty disagreement with the recommendation that geophysics should be done by cooperative work between a geologist and a geophysi-cist. That arrangement would be comparable to doing petrography by having a physicist at the microscope and a geologist sitting by his side. The interpretation of the geological significance of geophysical data can be done efficiently only by a physicist who has become also a good geologist or by a geologist who is also a good geophysicist. Less Well-trained Men The rank and file, composing perhaps two-thirds of the personnel of exploratory geophysics, is not, and should not be, composed of highly trained men. The routine, stereotyped character of the work and the impossibility of promotion of more than a few from these lower ranks even under the best circumstances justify companies in filling the bulk of these rank and file positions with men having only a bachelor's degree at the most. There can be a wide range of training for such positions, although certain lines of study are preferred for certain kinds of work, and different employers have different preferences. For work in gravitational and magnetic prospecting, first preference will be for men having geological training and second for men with civil engineering training. In seismic work, men with geological training are preferred by some employers for computers; physicists, electrical engineers and all whose technical education has covered radio circuits are preferred for the other technical positions. Collegiate training in geophysical prospecting brings no preference and by many employers is given a slightly inferior rating. One large company seldom hires men who have just graduated with a major in geophysical prospecting. This prejudice is based on the reasoning that much of what is learned in college is obsolete or obsolescent, that most of the techniques learned in college will have to be unlearned, because different from those used by the employing company, and that in the long run additional courses in basic physics, mathematics and geology are of more value to a man than the courses on geophysical prospecting. DISCUSSION [This discussion refers to the five papers beginning on page 23 and ending on page 74.1 L. W. Blau,* Houston, Texas.—I have had some rather sad experiences with forecasting. For example, I could not foresee 10 years ago my present occupation, and I do not profess to be able to look ahead 10 years and tell anyone what he will be doing then. Referring to the point raised in the discussion, I do not know, for example, what the price of oil will be 10 years from now. If an appreciable number of

Jan 1, 1940

By Rossiter W. Raymond

(Chattanooga Meeting, October, INS.) THE formal outline of Mr. Hague's life and work is embraced in the following statement, chiefly based upon data furnished by him, at my request, shortly before his death. At that time the probability that I would survive to record his death was apparently small; but I urged upon him the duty of providing, whether for me or for my successor as Secretary of the Institute, trustworthy material for the notice which somebody would some day have to write-and which might otherwise be incomplete or incorrect. Mr. Hague, with characteristic promptness and freedom from affectation, did what I asked of him; and I am therefore . able to present an authoritative sketch-concerning the details of which I shall add my own comments, and some particulars obtained from others of his personal friends. James Duncan Hague was born Feb..24, 1836, at Boston, Mass., where his father, Rev. William Hague, D.D., an eminent clergyman, then resided. After a preliminary, education in private. schools, be studied in 1854 at the, Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University; in 1855 and 1856 at the University of Göttingen, Hanover; and from 1856 to 1858 at the Royal Mining Academy of Freiberg, Saxony. In 1859-1861 he was attached as chemist to a South Sea exploring expedition, sent by W. H. Webb, of New York, to examine Jarvis, Baker, and other islands for phosphate-deposits. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he entered the U. S. Navy, serving for a year as Judge Advocate to the fleet stationed at Port Royal, S. C. In 1863 he became Superintendent of the Albany and Boston copper-mine, in the Lake Superior region, where he was also connected with the earliest development of the Calumet and Hecla property. In 1867 he became the First Assistant Geologist in Clarence King's famous Exploration of

Feb 1, 1909

By R. A. Haney, S. J. Gigliotti

Over the past ten years, analysis of the acceptability of face ventilation systems has been based on numerical criteria rather than solely a study of air flow and methane patterns in the face area. This type of analysis has become possible primarily because of the instrumentation and mathematical models developed by the Ventilation Division, Pittsburgh Health Technology Center, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). To properly use these mathematical models, large amounts of methane and airflow data must be collected in the face area during mining activities. To supplement underground testing of face ventilation systems, a full scale model of a face area was built. This model includes a full scale model continuous miner, a face ventilation system, a gas release system, and a remote methane detection system. The remote methane detection system consists of an array of twelve methane sensors located throughout the face area. Data from the sensors are transmitted to strip chart recorders. Methane, air quantity, and other data collected during a test are entered into a computer for analysis. This paper presents the data entry system, the models used for data analysis, the test results, and the application of these results to a face ventilation system.

Jan 1, 1983

W. 0. HOTCHKISS,* Madison, Wis.-When we began to do geological field work in the Lake Superior region, we found a correlation in existence, and, as youngsters, accepted all that as settled. Both Mr. Allen and I, since that time, have seen a great many things that were not apparent nor visible to Van Hise, and those who worked with him; we realize now that the correlation was not final and that much remains to be determined concerning geology of the Lake Superior region. My attitude on this matter is that we should not publish an amended correlation as a final thing. We should avoid, in every way possible, foreclosing the minds of those who follow us in working in the geology of this region. As a matter of fact, no correlation can be final at present, because facts and data are accumulating so rapidly that every classification must be immediately modified to fit further observation. Consequently, my attitude in this matter would be, instead of saying that the iron formations of the Lake Superior region are all Middle Huronian, to say that there may be three Huronians-or four or five- we do not know. I believe it is better policy to hold to our present correlation. I do not believe there is any economic benefit to the mining man or the geologist working on problems relating to explorations for iron ore, that cannot be just as well solved by maintaining our present correlation, with a. wholesome idea of our lack of knowledge and the necessity for further detailed work. Then, if any new horizons are discovered in any particular range, the minds of the investigators will not be foreclosed because some one has said that all the iron formation is in the Middle so that there is no use looking elsewhere for it. There is use looking elsewhere, in many cases, as the ore deposits become exhausted.

Jan 1, 1920

By T. J. Woodside

A. E. LEE*—One question of the flue leading to the tube coolers. What gas velocity is maintained to prevent settling of the finely divided fume ? T. J. WOODSIDE (author's reply)— 30 fps. Of course some fume settles out, but is immediately carried away by the screw conveyors. H. R. BIANCO —How effective are the soot blowers ? Do you have to use any hand lancing? T. J. WOODSIDE Only one point, which is right at the top of the economizer and which the soot blowers do not reach, we occasionally hand lance. But everywhere else the soot blowers have been very effective and no hand lancing has been done. L. V. DAVIDSON*—Do you have considerable variation in the lead content of the fume collected if the lead is higher, and is there greater tendency for the fume to stick on the boiler tubes ? T. J. WOODSIDE—There is very little variation in the lead content. From 5 to 7 pct is the widest range variation we have had and we have noticed no difference in the behavior of the fume. C. R. KUZELL—Mr. Woodside has been quite generous with data pertaining to metal and fuel economics. I think he stated that the coal consumption of the furnace was 21/10 21/10 for a pound of zinc recovered. I take it that that is the gross coal input to the furnace. I wonder what the net fuel consumption in terms of coal might be after crediting the fuel equivalent of the waste heat steam recovered? T. J. WOODSIDE—The fuel value of the waste heat steam is approximately 42 pct of the heat input to the furnace. A very large part of the heat, of course, goes out in jacket water—44 pct. A. D. TERRELL*—I would like to know how much lead is in the deleaded material. T. J. WOODSIDE—It is a little less than 2 pct now.

Jan 1, 1950

Do not write until you have something to say. Think first; then write. In order to be understood, you must know what you wish to say. Clear writing is the consequence of clear thinking. Therefore consider your subject well before you begin to write; ruminate on it; marshal the salient facts in your mind; saturate yourself with the ideas you wish to express and with cognate ideas; then express yourself deliberately. If you are bubbling over with your subject the words will come, but you might as well expect to sail without a breeze as hope to give life to words without the living thought. Here I may advert to the fact that among the uneducated it is a common expectation to acquire the knack of writing without taking the trouble to study the art of literature. I overheard a woman in a suburban train remark to her neighbor: "I'd like to be able to write well without stopping to think about it". She was one of many that would like to do a thing well without the trouble of thinking; but it cannot be done in respect of anything to which thought is essential. The possession of a good voice does not justify a person in expecting to sing successfully to a large audience; before singing in public one has to master the technique of singing; one has to learn first how to breathe properly, how to enunciate, and many other things. The successful singer is an artist, not a megaphone. Most of us would regard a man or a woman without any training in the art of singing as a fool or an impostor if he or she were to give a public concert, yet we do not recognize the equal foolishness and imposture of persons that write books before they have studied the technique of writing. That is why so many books are unreadable, and why many books by clever men are difficult to read. They start to write books before

Jan 1, 1931

By A. J. Strane

PRACTICALLY all explosives may be classified as those that burn and those that detonate. Explosives of the first class include .black blasting and smokeless powder and are broadly known as low explosives, or propellants, because they merely burn and do that comparatively slowly. Their action is as if some power behind the projectile or other material were exerting a shoving or pushing action. The high, or detonating, explosives produce a smashing or shattering effect upon the material. In using military- explosives of the propellant class, the breach of the gun, or cannon, is proportioned to hold the pressure, so that the projectile will be blown out. Exactly the reverse is true in commercial work; then it is the "breach" or the hole that is to be broken. The projectile and the explosive are therefore chosen that will rupture the largest "breach" possible. With the high explosives, it is easy to break out the breach (that is why they are of no value as military propellants)" but with some of the low explosives it is necessary to plug up the muzzle very carefully before shooting. Doubtless the use of incendiary mixtures of oxidizing and combustible materials led, in the 13th century, to the perfection of the mixture which is practically the same as our commercial black blasting powder of today. About 600 years later, nitroglycerine was discovered, but for years its great potential energy could not be used because, in its liquid state, it could not be safely handled or transported. The accidental discovery that kieselguhr would absorb, and hold fairly well, three times its own weight of nitroglycerine, however, made it available. "Guhr dynamite," as the combination nitroglycerine and kieselguhr was termed, was soon displaced by dynamites having an active base, such as wood pulp and other carbonaceous combustible materials. These do all that kieselguhr will do and, in addition, increase the chemical reaction and add materially to the effectiveness of the blast.

Jan 8, 1920

By W. R. Ingalls

I WAS led some time ago to draft a statement of economic principles immediately affecting our national welfare from the standpoint of the engineer. It was the intention to offer this to the American Engineering Council as a resolution to be adopted, or a declaration to be made, of course after suitable con-sideration and debate. The presentation has not been . formally made, but I have been asked to let it be made to the mining engineers through the medium of MINING AND METALLURGY, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers being a constituent part of the Federated American Engineering Societies. I shall welcome any expressions of opinion that this statement may inspire. The statement follows: The engineers of, the United States, functioning through the American Engineering Council of the, Federated American Engineering Societies, feel it their duty to advise the American people respecting the present state of economic affairs in the nation, just as an individual engineer would his client. The people of the United States constitute a great corpora-tion, whose business affairs are analogous to those of a commercial company -multiplied many times. The engineers feel constrained to offer their opinion owing to the responsibility to do things which rests upon them. Confronted by the steady impoverishment of natural resources and the operation of the economic law of diminishing returns it devolves upon management, functioning through the engineering profession aided by scientists, to make such improvements leading to increased production and such elimination of wastes as to offset the increasing adversities of nature merely to hold our own; and to do more than offset them in order to improve the scale of living of the people. The engineers accept this responsibility, but in so doing they demand attention to their advice respecting fundamental economic matters, lest they be unduly hampered in the performance of the professional duties, which they acknowledge. The American Engineering Council therefore declares the following as the advice of engineers to the American people:

Jan 8, 1923

SIDNEY ROLLE, Chrome, N. J.-I should like to ask if Mr. Bach does not think it rather harmful to let the amen depend entirely on the company, whether it would not be a good plan to let the men aid a little in the support of these organizations? Also whether he has had any experience with utilizing the Y. M. C. A. in this connection. E. E. BACH, Ellsworth, Pa.-That question is always raised whenever there is discussion upon this subject. So far as we are concerned that would not help a bit; our people do not have that feeling, because .we have a company which these men recognize has a corps of very sympathetic officials in every way. I remember the assistant general manager lived out in one of these mining towns for a while. His difficulty was that every man, no matter what, who or where he was, if he had, or thought lie had, a, complaint, had the right of way to his office, and didn't have to stop at all. That is the spirit that predominates all through it. This is also the spirit of the mine foremen, two of whom were trained in our own night school, and it is the spirit of the fire boss and the general spirit of the people. They do not feel that we are trying to feed them with a spoon. As to the Y. M. C. A., we feel that it would be impracticable for us. R H. VAIL, New York, N. Y.-It would be very interesting if Mr. Bach would tell a little more about the control of the dispensing of intoxicants. There are many communities where the state intends to do that but does not succeed very well, and as Mr. Bach has spoken of the speakeasies on the environment of these towns, it would he well to know more about the problem of eliminating those.

Jan 4, 1918

CONTENTS PAGE SOUTHWARD, GLENN B.-Coal Mining by the V System. Discussed by Glenn B. Southward, Howard N. Eavenson, Edward B. Raiguel, Thomas de Venny, J.. J. Rutledge, Graham Bright 1 ARMS, RAY W.-Dry Cleaning of Coal. Discussed by Ray W. Arms, S. A. Taylor, Howard N. Eavenson, W. R. Crane, F. F. Jorgenson, G. R. Delamater. 6 EAVENSON, HOWARD N.-Data About Labor Employed in Various Bituminous Coal Mines. Discussed by Howard N. Eavenson, George H. Ashley, E. A. Holbrook, S. A. Taylor, R. V. Norris 14 Coal Mining by the V System Discussion of the paper of GLENN B. SOUTHWARD presented at the New York Meeting, February, 1924, and issued as Paper No. 1300-C, with MINING AND METALLURGY, February, 1924. MEMBER.-How do you pay your men for loading? GLENN B. SOUTHWARD.-Everything is on time basis. MEMBER.-How many men do you have loading across one of the diagonal faces? GLENN B. SOUTHWARD.-From four to five, depending on the length of the face. Our loaders are so arranged that each will give about twenty-five tons per loader a day. MEMBER.-How much timber do you use? GLENN B. SOUTHWARD.-A little more than will be used in room-and-pillar work, but not a great deal more. We have not attempted to recover much of our timber. MEMBER.-IS the mine union or non-union? GLENN B. SOUTHWARD.-Non-union. HOWARD N. EAVENSON, Pittsburgh, Pa.-I went .through that mine some weeks ago, and think that the author has been very conservative in his statements about the amount of loadings, etc. EDWARD B. RAIGUEL, Huntington, W. Va. (written discussion).¬Page 7 shows 60 men employed in day and night shifts, inside the mine, producing 750 tons per day. Let us reduce these figures to a man-hour basis, for comparison with Mr. Eavenson's figures on West Virginia mines, as follows:

Jan 6, 1924

By John C. Branner

Shales rich in oil are found at several places along the coast of Brazil. The material has been prospected at several places, and samples have been examined and reported upon by competent authorities. So far as I am acquainted with them, these oil-bearing beds are of Tertiary age. A glimpse at the distribution and character of the Tertiary rocks of the region should give us some idea of the possible distribution of these oil-bearing shales. Tertiary rocks skirt the northeast coast of Brazil from the northern part of the State of Espirito Santo almost or quite to the Amazon valley. Here and there this narrow strip is cut in two by the encroachment of the sea, and the underlying gneisses, granites or other crystalline rocks are exposed upon the beach. In other places, the Tertiary belt widens out until it is 80 kilometers or more in width. Fig. 1 is a sketch-map of a part of the coast-area referred to. Along the coast from Prado, in the State of Bahia, northward to Natal, there is a line of bluffs from 15 to 90 meters high, interrupted here and there by stream-valleys. As seen from the sea, these bluffs are rather conspicuous and highly colored yellow, brown, red, white, black, and purple. These colors are often so mingled as to give the beds a mottled or parti-colored appearance. Fig. 2 shows a characteristic bit of the coast in the State of Parahyba do Norte. In some places, especially in the southern part of the State of Sergipe, and in the northern part of Rio Grande do Norte, the immediate coast is covered with sand-dunes. Here and there these sanddunes have been carried inland over the top of the Tertiary beds, and the subsequent encroachment of the sea has exposed the Tertiary rocks again, where they form the bases of the bluffs. This is well shown in Fig. 3, from a photograph taken at Bahia Formosa, on the coast of Rio Grande do Norte.

Jan 1, 1901

By Roy R. Weil, John A. Dziubek

This paper discusses the use of computer modeling, data manipulation, and mapping of three multi-seam coal properties in the Appalachian coal basin. Each case history represents a slightly different application of computer usage for estimation of reserves and planning surface mine sequencing. This practical use of computers demonstrates the suitability of data processing for normal evaluation of coal properties.

Jan 1, 1983

By William R. Barton

It is generally conceded as axiomatic that the aggregate producer and the average urban resident have mutually incompatible goals. The producer wants to be near his mass market and the average resident wants him as far away as possible. The traditional economic decision to mine local material to avoid transportation costs is increasingly challenged by zoning and planning bodies and by citizens' groups. This conflict generated much written and spoken word and offered opportunity for great flights of rhetoric. The pressure on the producer also has forced re¬appraisal of the need for the classic confrontation with indications that much of the conflict is more apparent than substantive. In New England several factors combine to increase complexity of the siting problem. It is a region of high land values and population density. Due to the proximity of metropolitan areas, even rural communities have experienced a prolif¬eration of environmental groups with concomitant enthusiastic regional planning and critical watch over land use. In New England where there is little public understanding of the necessity for, and the realities of, mineral production a sophisticated approach to aggregate production site location is required.

Jan 1, 1975

By A. B. Kinzel

IT has often been stated that the steel industry did no research or development work in the decades preceding 1920. If restricted to organized research on the quality and field of application of structural and engineering steels, this statement may be true. But the industry did conduct a vast amount of process research during this period, although some of the projects were not carried out as separate organized research programs. Securing a low cost of tonnage production was the sole problem receiving serious attention from the industry prior to 1920, and today this is still the major problem. Those in the industry deserve much commendation for the important increase in production capacity per dollar invested and for the markedly lowered cost of production. In recent years, a distinct change may be noted in the attitude of the steel industry toward research involving its product. With the advent of high-speed machinery both in the manufacturing and transportation industries, steel as a quality engineering material has come to the fore. In the past, high-quality carbon steels and alloy steels have been introduced over a period of years, largely at the insistence of the consumer and partly prompted by research carried out by those interested in the use of the alloys. The commercial introduction of these materials made slow progress.

Jan 1, 1935

By Jerry Tien

Mine regulators are normally used for proper air distribution in underground mines. They are deliberately introduced resistance in the regulated airway, and by altering sizes, they can distribute specific air quantities to regulated splits and free splits (4, 5). The enactment of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977, and the regulations adopted by the Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration (now called the Mining Safety and Health ministration) prompted greater discussions of optimal mine regulator locations because of the Act's stringent ventilation requirements (2, 3). For example, by requiring the separation of the air used in the belt haulage entries from the intake and return airways, the regulations required the creation of a third type of airway---the neutral airway, as opposed to the intake and return airways, adding to the complexity of a mine's ventilation network. It is the intent of this report to show that panel regulators should be located in intake airways at the neck of a panel for a blowing fan system and in return airways at the neck of a panel for an exhausting fan system in order to achieve optimal air control. A computer simulation model is used to determine optimal mine regulator location.

Jan 1, 1983

By WILLIAM SLOAN

B RITISH COLUMBIA in its mining activities is going ahead by leaps and bounds both in development and production. Mineral production for 1925 was $61,492,242 in value as compared to $48,704,- 604 in 1924, or an increase of about 26.2 per cent. This is a new record. It is the first time in the history of mining in British Columbia that we have gone over the fifty million mark. But we have got in the habit of making new records. The year 1924, with its mineral production of almost forty-nine million was a new record. And I am confident that when the mining history of 1926 is written it will be found that we have established yet another new record and that we can report another 25 per cent increase over 1925. What is the explanation? It is not only that the world is settling down, and settling up, after the war. It is not only that in the rebuilding, the refashioning in which all nations are busily engaged, the metals that come from our mines are needed. More than anything else, at least as far as we are concerned, it is because British Columbia has the resources and the fact that the province has been fortunate in recent years in finding men with the enterprise and the vision required to push ahead the labor of their development. From the ranks of our own people in Canada we have prospectors who have faith, energy and requisite knowledge. They are combing our hills season after season and they are of the type of manhood that does not know the meaning of the word quit. More and more these men are learning the importance of the guidance furnished by geological reports, and to an ever increasing extent such reports, thanks to the valuable work of the Canadian Geological Survey, covering areas little known to man, are made available to them-but it is recognized that in the opening up of our Province, containing within itself 372,000 square miles, it is essential that we should have the cooperation of our cousins on this side of the line as well as of our fellow citizens of the Dominion and of the Mother Country.

Jan 1, 1926

By AIME AIME

This volume, in the preparation of which all former annual or collective indexes have been not only compiled but revised, is published for the special benefit of all who do not possess complete sets of the Transactions. And it is published at this particular time, as part of a plan by which it is hoped that the Library of the Institute, which, through liberal donations, has become unexpectedly comprehensive and valuable, may be made useful throughout the world. Thus, any person possessing this Index can ascertain at once what has been published in the Transactions on a given question, and can learn, by writing to the Secretary, what is its nature, whether it is still to be had in pamphlet form, where it can be consulted in a public library, at what cost it can be copied by hand, etc., etc. In short, to those who own complete sets of the Transactions, this Index will be a great convenience; but to those who do not, it will be a professional necessity. The edition now in press is limited, and orders received will be supplied according to date.

Jul 1, 1907

By Charles B. Dudley

DEAR SIR: It is now nearly three years since my first report to you on the subject of steel rails was written. That report, as you will remember, dealt principally with the question of the relation between the chemical composition and physical properties of steel rails end their power to resist crushing and fracture in actual service. Other matters were referred to or touched upon in that report, but the main question was, Why do some rails crush or break in service while others do not? Yon will doubtless remember that the principal conclusion arrived at was, that the softer rails are less liable to Crush or break in service than the hard ones. Or, in other words, so far as conclusions could be drawn from the chemical analysis and physical test of 25 samples of steel rails which had actually been in service, these conclusions were that those rails which have the smaller amounts of carbon, phosphorus, silicon, and manganese are less liable to crush or break in service than those which have larger amounts of these elements. Or, again, looked at in the light

Jan 1, 1881