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By L. A. Cowan

IF the elements of personality be those characteristics in which humans differ, and if this definition be applied to the purchasing department for the Climax operations in Colorado, it must he concluded that this department has no distinguishing traits that would give it a departmental personality different from that possessed by the similar department of any progressive mining enterprise. Or, one may go further by stating that the rudimentary functions of any purchasing practice employed principally in the acquisition of maintenance, repair, and operating supplies are much alike, whether or not the industry involved be mining or milling. However, in the fact that the principal purchases of a mining company are materials for maintenance and repair and consumable operating supplies lies that essential characteristic which differentiates mining and milling purchasing functions from those of the manufacturer, the fabricator, or the ordinary processor.

Jan 1, 1946

By AIME AIME

LAST month we published (p. 440) the first half of the L discussion by O. E. Kiessling of the paper on copper by Mr. Vogelstein that appeared in the same-issue, but lack of space made it necessary to hold the remainder for this number. Mr. Kiessling now asks to have the last " sentence of the part already published revised to the form given in the first sentence which follows, and also asks that the two parts, though necessarily published separately, be read together, as a mistaken impression may be derived from the first Dart unless it is read in connection with the statement of the Bureau of Mines policy respecting secondary metals which is here published. .

Jan 1, 1931

By Walter W. Bradley

FOR a number of years up to the economic setback of the 1929-1931 period, the greatest proportional advances in the mineral industries in California were made among the substances in the nonmetallic groupings, particularly among the so-called industrial minerals and the salines. During the past year or two, although these have not regained the stride that marked their progress in the preceding decade, we can still record, -some new developments. California produces annually between 55 and' 60 different minerals on a commercial scale. Of these, some 40 to 45 comprise the "structural," "industrial," and "salines" materials as grouped in the reports of the State's Division of Mines. Barite-The barite deposits of California were described in Report

Jan 1, 1935

By E. A. Anderson

THIS seems to be the year for superlatives in A.I.M.E. meetings. The programs of the various Divisions and Institute committees offered an abundance of interesting and valuable information in the form of technical papers, symposia. and lectures to large and interested audiences. The Institute of Metals Division may hold up its head with pride for its own program. With six technical sessions, three full-day symposia, and the annual I.M.D. dinner, four meeting days were not enough and many simultaneous sessions were required. The quantity and quality of the paper were equaled by the numbers and interest of those attending.

Jan 1, 1944

By Louis Ware

BEFORE the war we often heard the term "Big Business." And there were complaints of the ills and abuses attributed to bigness in business. Although there were examples where the small businessmen spoke for their rights and sought protection from the bigger ones, it has only been in recent war years that a tendency has developed definitely to divide the business of our nation into the big and the small. In some cases, those with an eye to the political value of the vastly greater number of small businessmen of the country have fomented this division by hurrying to the protection of these more numerous voters, and intentionally or not have emphasized in their writings and verbal attacks any and all differences of these interests that could either be found or fabricated to, suit the occasion. It has become another example of breaking the people into classes and thus setting up the basis for the claims of one class against another, and the subsequent demand for legislation and Governmental aid. The terms "big" and "small" are purely relative. One businessman, employing a hundred men, told me recently he did not know which adjective would be more appropriately applied to his operation. He did not know whether he should join the small operators' group that had been organized, or should consider himself big. He said that his present plant seemed big to him when he looked back to its humble beginning many years ago with a couple of men in two rooms. Yet, when compared with many of his competitors who employ thousands, his was small. He did add, however, that he probably became big one day a few years ago when the union moved in and organized his employees.

Jan 1, 1945

By J. L. Perry

FOR many years, you and your fellow members of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers have devotedly and ably applied yourselves to the art of making iron and steel. having foremost in your minds the conservation of raw materials, suitable and efficient facilities, economical processes, and improved quality of product. For the past three strenuous years you have contributed wholeheartedly to meeting the problems of increased production. You have conducted scientific and technical investigations and research, recommended experiments. and gathered all the available and valuable information possible to gain the desired objectives. You have had many obstacles and difficulties to overcome. In the early days of your organization, there was some lack of co-operation from the industry itself-perhaps, for example, some failure to recognize the mutual advantages of free exchange of experiences and information. But regardless of any hindrances, you have made many and valuable contribution which have tended to make iron and steel manufacture leas of an art and more of a science.

Jan 1, 1944

By AIME AIME

BY the end of 1943, the United States will be able to produce aluminum at a rate of 1,150,000 tons a year. How much aluminum is 1,150,000 tons? It is sufficient to replace every railroad passenger car in this country three times a year. Or, it would put a thirty-piece aluminum cooking utensil set in every one of America's 34,000,000 homes with enough metal left over to make 5,000,000 miles of aluminum transmission cable, such as was used in the electrification of much of rural America. Expansion of aluminum production capacity for the war program has occurred in three steps: (1) expansion by private industry; (2) the letting of contracts by the Defense Plant Corp. for the construction of additional aluminum plants which may remain after the war to compete with existing facilities; and (3) the more recently announced D.P.C. program for the building of emergency plants to make aluminum, using stand-by power available in large metropolitan centers power of relatively higher cost, making it questionable whether such plants, now gravely needed, will be able to compete in a peacetime economy.

Jan 1, 1943

By Lyon F. Terry

IN contemplating the prospects of natural gas being transported from the fields where it is produced to such distant points as Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, and New England, let us review the advance that natural gas has made and the projects currently scheduled for construction. This may give us a perspective of the point in the long-range development of the natural gas business in which we now find ourselves, and some basis for judging the further expansion of the industry. Authentic statistics of the total marketed production of natural gas in the United States have been compiled by the Bureau of Mines since the year 1906. The growth of the business is indicated by the following data on marketed production for each ten-year interval since 1906:

Jan 1, 1947

By J. Burns Read, S. Tour

It is the purpose of this paper to summarize, as far as possible, the metallurgical information and experience gained by the Ordnancc Department, during the war, in the manufacture of artillery cartridge cases, to describe the tests to which artillery cartridge cases were put, and to summarize the knowledge and experience gained in this testing. The authors wish to acknowledge the aid given by manufacturers, army officers, and civilian employees of the Department in obtaining data. Artillery cartridge cases are cold drawn from circular disks punched from strips of rolled brass. The rnanufacture involves from 25 to 30 main operations, which are done almost entirely on a punch press. Descriptions of the operations have appeared in various periodical:: and, therefore, will not he given here. After each cupping, or drawing, operation, except the last, the cases are annealed at from 540" to 650" C. (1000" to 1200°F.), to remove all the hardening stresses set up in the metal and to allow complete recrystallization. After each annealing, the cases are pickled in niter cake or sulfuric-acid solution and then washed in water to remove all traces of acid. In some instances, the cases arc then immersed in a cyanide-salt solution, and afterwards rinsed in water, to remove the thin layer of copper that forms on the surface of the cases during the acid pickle. The last cold-drawing operation is followcd by the heading operation which, by flattening the head of the case on the outside, causes the metal to flow on the inside to approximately the proper finished dimensions. The mouth, or open end, is then annealed at 430" to 450" ('. 1800" to 900" F.) by immersion in a salt bath or by gas flames. After being washed, the eases are tapered, when they arc ready for machining, inspection, and testing. Cartridge-case Disks Good disks of proper composition and physical properties are essential to the production of good cartridge cases. The Ordnance Department

Jan 1, 1923

By J. Burns Read, S. Tour

It is the purpose of this paper to summarize, as far as possible, the metallurgical information and experience gained by the Ordnancc Department, during the war, in the manufacture of artillery cartridge cases, to describe the tests to which artillery cartridge cases were put, and to summarize the knowledge and experience gained in this testing. The authors wish to acknowledge the aid given by manufacturers, army officers, and civilian employees of the Department in obtaining data. Artillery cartridge cases are cold drawn from circular disks punched from strips of rolled brass. The rnanufacture involves from 25 to 30 main operations, which are done almost entirely on a punch press. Descriptions of the operations have appeared in various periodical:: and, therefore, will not he given here. After each cupping, or drawing, operation, except the last, the cases are annealed at from 540" to 650" C. (1000" to 1200°F.), to remove all the hardening stresses set up in the metal and to allow complete recrystallization. After each annealing, the cases are pickled in niter cake or sulfuric-acid solution and then washed in water to remove all traces of acid. In some instances, the cases arc then immersed in a cyanide-salt solution, and afterwards rinsed in water, to remove the thin layer of copper that forms on the surface of the cases during the acid pickle. The last cold-drawing operation is followcd by the heading operation which, by flattening the head of the case on the outside, causes the metal to flow on the inside to approximately the proper finished dimensions. The mouth, or open end, is then annealed at 430" to 450" ('. 1800" to 900" F.) by immersion in a salt bath or by gas flames. After being washed, the eases are tapered, when they arc ready for machining, inspection, and testing. Cartridge-case Disks Good disks of proper composition and physical properties are essential to the production of good cartridge cases. The Ordnance Department

Jan 1, 1923

By Felix Edgar Wormser

JUST as the ancients used the products of their crude mining endeavors to fashion tools with which to make digging easier, so today mining enterprises are dependent upon the very metals they mine for the efficient conduct of mining and metallurgical operations. In fact, the outlet afforded by the production of minerals in the United States is no mean market for the nonferrous metals. I believe that mine managers frequently lose sight of the opportunity they have to select from competitive products those which will help the market for their own metal output. For example, some years ago a large lead mine used storage-battery locomotives for its haulage, common practice, of course, throughout the United States. These particular locomotives, however, were powered not with the ordinary lead storage battery but by a competitive battery product made from an imported metal. After studying this situation, the manager saw how he could help himself by purchasing a product made from his own mineral output, and in his next order turned tip the use of the lead storage battery.

Jan 1, 1935

By Lysle E. Shaffer

INCREASING attention has been given in the last decade to the possibilities of mine leasing in the West. The practice as described in this article does not refer to the leasing of entire properties for corporate operation. It is intended to deal rather with the advantages and problems incident to leasing portions of properties to individuals who themselves, individually or in groups, do the actual mining and transportation of the ore. These individuals are sometimes called "leasers" and sometimes called "tributors." The contracts under which they work set up an independent relationship of lessor and leaser, between themselves and the mineowner or operator. This relationship has many advantages to both sides over those created by the ordinary relationship of employer and employe. From the standpoint of the owners there is no liability on independent contractors for industrial injuries, social security taxes, unemployment taxes, or the manifold restrictions of the Federal Labor Relations and Wage Hour Acts and similar state acts where they exist. As the leaser's income depends on the quantity and quality of ore produced, there is a distinct incentive for maximum production of a good grade of ore. This in turn promotes careful mining of the areas under lease. Ordinarily in mining, labor cost is a high percentage of the total cost of operation. Under a leasing system, even if the leasers be allowed to retain half of the gross values that they produce, and the owner or operator gets half, in the case of marginal ore bodies this is ordinarily more than the lessor would realize if the property were worked by day labor. In some instances mineral deposits under a leasing system may become ore, whereas under a day-labor system they would

Jan 1, 1948

By Stuart St. Clair

EARLY in 1936, when the American Petroleum Institute issued -J "American Petroleum Industry," which was a survey of the current position of the petroleum industry, and its future outlook, and the figures for petroleum requirements .for 1950 and 1960 were widely publicized by the several oil journals, the impression was given that the petroleum- industry must be nearing maturity and would by 1950 have passed the high' point of its obligations to business progress in the United States.`' Let -us look at the figures which might conduce, this thought. Referring to p. 32 of the report, the total indicated crude-oil requirements in 1940 are 1,099,000,000 bbl-; for 1950, the peak, 1,109,800,000 bbl.; for 1960 a decline to 1,071,020,000 bbl. This downward trend, then established, is probably expected to continue. And this in the face of a crude production in 1935 of 993,942,000 bbl., 38,858,000 bbl.

Jan 1, 1936

By Robert Linton

M ETHODS by which Americanization is developed among the foreign workers at the mines in the United States, with particular reference to mines of the Pennsylvania coal region, were discussed in a most constructive way at the Wilkes-Barre Meeting of the Institute. Arthur Notman, of the Phelps Dodge Corpn., as chairman, guided the discussion. Americanization was defined by E. E. Bach, !chairman of the Institute's Sub-committee on Americanization, who said: "Americanization applies either to the native-born or foreign-born and is that process of assimilation which guarantees the full functioning of American citizenship. Naturalization papers merely entitle one to the privileges of citizenship."

Jan 1, 1921

By GERALD H. HUTTON

SINCE the inception of dredge mining, the attention of engineers and operators has been directed primarily toward mechanical improvements and refinements calculated to, reduce operating costs and to increase recoveries. The result has been to develop an efficient excavating and value-saving machine, which, in some instances, has an actual capacity of 15,000 cu yd. per day. Steel hulls and superstructures minimize the risk of destruction by fire and lengthen the life of the plant. Dredges now restore, to some extent, agricultural possibilities to mined ground. Large buckets, with correspondingly heavy parts, are able to handle heavy wash and massive boulders. Mechanical weaknesses have been strengthened. The use of manganese steel in bucket lines and tumblers permits the application too the bank of a digging force that can be withstood only by solid material, such as rock, cement or frozen ground. Various alloys of steel have been applied to certain duties and experiments in their heat treatment are still progressing. Haulage by tractor or truck is in common use. Discarded and worn steel parts are repaired or rebuilt by the use of the oxy-acetylene flame and the arc-welding machine. Gold and platinum saving is more efficient, although still subject to improvement. Dredging for tin ore is in successful operation. Crews are now highly specialized and experience has developed improved methods of work; particularly in the manipulation of dredges to build levees of tailings and to leave open waterways where desired. To sum up by the distribution of overhead expense over several units, ground under favorable conditions can now be dredge-mined for 5)2 c. per cu: yd., in spite of the increase in cost of supplies, power, and labor during, the past few years. Improvements in prospecting methods, however, have not kept pace with mechanical developments. Standard practices of ; testing ground today produce only wide approximations of values; although they obtain information concerning the character of the deposit and bedrock. It is interesting to note that few important changes in the methods of ten years ago are .to be recorded; the latest comparisons between pros¬pecting results and mined recoveries-have been at such variance as to cause confusion to the operator, and, in a degree, the sacrifice of the confidence of the capitalist. On this account, and because the growing scarcity of dredging ground. demands closer calculations on the part of the engineer, this appeal for collaboration and

Jan 1, 1921

By R. E. HORE, J. B. Tyrrell

IN the vicinity of Kirkland Lake, northern Ontario, several gold mines are producing, and three are at present being operated very profitably. At these three mines and on the adjoining properties east and west of them there have been important developments during the past year, and additional equipment has been installed to permit a large increase in output. At the end of 1924 the total production amounted to $13,688,600. For the year 1926 the production is estimated at about $19,000,000, and during 1926 the output should be much greater than that of 1925. The mines which are being operated most profitably and are producing a large part of the ore now being milled are the Wright-Hargreaves, Lake Shore and Teck-Hughes. Others which have contributed smaller amounts are the Tough-Oakes-Burnside and the Kirk- land Lake Gold mines.

Jan 1, 1926

By Herbert Hoover

YOUR committee asks that I speak today on the relations of the engineering profession to public affairs. That takes in a lot of ground. This being a cheerful occasion, I will assume that I should exclude the engineer's function as a taxpayer. This being a nonpartisan occasion, I will assume that I should not refer to his voting emotions in 1940. Perhaps what was in the minds of your committee was the application of engineering thought to the confusions of the times. That is also a lot of ground. I fear, however, its boundaries disappear in mirages and rainbows on all sides. Now any entry of the engineer into public affairs involves his breaking into the fields of the sociologists, the economists, and the politicians. However I don't know why, seeing the difficulties these professions are having, they should not welcome a little help.

Jan 1, 1939

By AIME AIME

OVER-ALL operations of the oil industry, as measured by production of crude oil and consumption of products, are almost exactly of the same magnitude as a year ago. Does this mean that the great oil industry has been undisturbed by the war? Has this industry, so vital to the prosecution of the war and to the maintenance of our way of life, been unaffected in its operations? No indeed - changes within the industry are great. It has been called upon to revamp its trans¬portation methods so as to move about one fourth of the total amount of crude and refined products by railroad tank car instead of by ocean-going tankers. Its fundamental internal economy, based on maximum gasoline yield from a barrel of crude, has been relegated to memories of the past. Rationing of oil products, which has been forced upon us in face of an abundant supply, is not only disagreeable medicine but is in itself completely disruptive to the marketing end of the-business.-

Jan 1, 1942

By James K. Richardson

Today, the enigma of the "missing man" in the metal mining industry equals, and frequently surpasses in objective importance, the problems of ore development, drilling, sampling, pumping, milling techniques, geophysical prospecting, or any one of a hundred highly technical subjects. Unfortunately, as engineers, we have confined our attentions, in the main, to the scientific phases of mineral technology, relegating our man power problems to the background. But what good has all our scientific study and preparation been if we can't get the ore mined, milled, or smelted? What has happened to our labor supply? Where is the good old miner who could timber, drill a round, lay track, or do any job underground?

Jan 1, 1949

By John Hays Hammond

This is an era of " expansion; and, conformably with the change in commercial conditions, the function of the mining engineer, as well as that of his confreres in many other professions, has also expanded. From the position of an engineer, limited to the determination of technical questions, the engineer of to-day has come to assume an economic importance in those branches of industry dependent upon engineering skill for their development. He is indeed an engineer of limited usefulness who does not go further professionally than to submit a purely technical report on subjects presented for his consideration. While he has the same responsibility as formerly in the solution of the technical problems involved, he is further expected to supplement his report with advice on the financial and commercial aspects of these problems. For the great majority of problems presented to the engineer ultimately involve the determination of the pecuniary, relations of the propositions under consideration. The great corporation lawyer no longer earns his fee by merely submitting his opinion as to the legal issues involved in law-suits affecting the corporation; he now assumes charge of the entire legal work, including both the organization of the corporation and the maintenance of its legal status thereafter. In like manner, the engineer, whose report was, as I have said, formerly confined to the determination of the geological and other cognate features of a mining enterprise, is now expected, not. only to embody information on these subjects in his report, but also to give his opinion whether the property offered for sale in pursuance of such an enterprise is worth the price asked for it. Moreover, if he recommends the purchase of a property, he incurs a certain moral responsibility for its efficient manage-

Nov 1, 1908