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By J. A. Finch, S. T. Hall

An oxidative alkaline pressure leach is shown to increase the magnetic susceptibility of coal-pyrite particles. The leach was successfully exploited as a pretreatment in the magnetic desulfurization of an eastern Canadian coal. Greater than 50% total sulfur (65% pyritic sulfur) rejection at 85% clean coal yield was achieved using a high-gradient magnetic separator (HGMS) at 1.3 T and 53 mm/s (2 in. per sec) flow rate, after pretreatment at 0.5 mot NaOH, 85ºC (185ºF), 930 kPa (135 psi) air pressure, 15 minutes retention time, and 20% solids by weight (w/w). Without pretreatment, sulfur rejection at these HGMS settings was less than 5%.

Jan 1, 1985

By R. J. Weege, A. W. Schillinger

Conventional underground mapping methods and diamond drilling are being applied in a study to determine the nature of the copper ore occurrences near the footwall of the Osceola lava flow top, commonly referred to as the Osceola Amygdaloid. The work to date suggests that structures formed by relatively impermeable barriers, created by flowage and injection of still-molten lava from the interior of the flow into the solidified, brecciated crust, acted as the ore receptacles. Ascending hydrothermal fluids traveling near the footwall contact were trapped and confined in these barriers which retarded the direct upward movement of the ore fluids and caused deposition of copper. Oreshoots located near the footwall appear to have been formed spatially independently from the hanging-wall oreshoots by fluids traveling simultaneously, but along different channelways. The barrier concept, as advanced by earlier writers to explain the concentration of the ore-bearing fluids into broad shoots constituting entire ore bodies, is found to be equally as applicable for the localization of smaller oreshoots within the Osceola ore body. Recently, the Calumet Division of Calumet and Hecla, Inc. completed the unwatering of the old mine workings on the Osceola amygdaloid. Two shafts were subsequently reactivated and mining commenced on the Osceola lode after an idle period of over 20 years. Early in 1961, the Calumet and Hecla Geological Dept. was assigned the task of locating additional reserves. Accordingly, an intensive mapping and underground diamond drilling program was initiated. Except for a very few years following the first mining on the amygdaloid, the Osceola lode had never been a high grade producer. It was, therefore, recognized from the onset that a concentrated effort would have to be made by the mining, milling, and geological departments to insure success of the project. Company reports contained many references to ore that had been located near the footwall of the Osceola amygdaloid. Information concerning the grade of this ore was meager, but it was known that at least some was very rich. In contrast to ore that occurred near the hanging-wall, however, the footwall copper did not appear to have a systematic distribution and a large amount of poor rock had to be removed in developing this ore. This, of course, resulted in high development costs and discouraged any extensive mining of footwall ore. The possibility of more continuity than had previously been suspected was recognized by other workers, in particular Dr. T. M. Broderick, formerly Chief Geologist of Calumet and Hecla, who suggested attempts be made on a trial basis to follow the footwall contact with the main development drift. As most mining was done on the Osceola lode before a geological department had been established by the company, and almost all of these openings are now caved, very little information concerning the geology of footwall ore was available. It was, therefore, decided that the first step in the exploration program would be to become familiar with footwall ore occurrences by mapping the geology as the openings were driven. It was possible that a mapping program would reveal the features that controlled the localization of the ore. Furthermore, if it could be shown that footwall ore was more continuous, or if its distribution was more systematic than generally believed, it would be possible to produce a high grade ore that could be blended with the lower grade hanging-wall ore. In connection with the geological program, the Michigan College of Mining and Technology Geophysical Dept. under the direction of Professor Lloyal Bacon, is making a geophysical study of the problems of locating footwall ore by electrical methods. GENERAL GEOLOGY OF MICHIGAN NATIVE COPPER DEPOSITS The native copper deposits of Michigan are located in Keweenaw, Houghton, and Ontonagon Counties. The host rocks are Keweenawan in age and are comprised of interbedded sediments and lava flows which form a belt two to four miles wide and over one hundred miles long. These rocks form part of the south limb

Jan 1, 1962

By Karl J. Benecke

Though the first patent on a bucket wheel excavator (BWE) was granted in 1881 in the US, this technology was developed in Germany to the high standards of today. However, this development was only possible in parallel with development of shiftable belt conveyors and boom stackers. The combination of these three types of equipment in the open pits of the Federal Republic of Germany has made lignite the cheapest energy source for power generation, despite the low heating value of German lignite on the order of 8500 kJ/kg (3600 Btu/lb) only. Comparing the costs for fuels used in power generating on the basis of their heating value, the relation between lignite, high quality black coal, and imported crude oil is on the order of 1 to 1.5 to 2.5, hence highly in favour of lignite.

Jan 8, 1979

By Robert P. Uhley, LeRoy Scharon

TEST gravity surveys were made in the Washington County barite district of Missouri on property owned by the Baroid Sales Division of the National Lead Co. This property is located just northeast of Richwoods in the northeastern corner of Washington County, Fig. 1. The area to which the surveys were confined comprised approximately 5000 acres, of which some 525 acres were surveyed gravitationally. Gravity observations were made at 2600 points within the area, observations being confined to relatively clear and gently sloping ground. Part of the area was heavily wooded, and the terrain too rugged for either the occurrence of a commercial barite deposit or a feasible gravity survey. The relief along the central drainage, Ditch Creek, was about 140 ft, the maxi- mum difference in elevation being 400 ft in a distance of 3 ½ miles.

Jan 1, 1954

By Oliver B. Hopkins

Peruvian production for the year 1935 amounted to 17,064,879 bbl., a record amount for any year, bringing the cumulative production of the country up to 188 million barrels. The 1935 figure is an increase of 785,769 bbl. over the 1934 total. The property of the International Petroleum Co. contributed 636,812 bbl. of this increase, and the Lobitos property 158,625 barrels. Exploration work in the country was again active, with attention focused on three areas, the Huallaga River, Lake Titicaca and the Coastal Zone of the Province of Tumbes. It is reported that in the Huallaga River area the Selden Breck Construction Co. has completed geological and engineering studies on its Pachitea River concessions and has ordered a drilling rig. In the Lake Titicaca region further studies in the vicinity of Pusi were made by Government geologists. During the period from 1906 to 1915, the Pirin anticline in this area produced 285,936 bbl. of low-grade crude. The Government holds 120,000 hectares of reserved lands in this area. In the Coastal Zone of the Province of Tumbes explorations by the Government were continued on the National Reserve, and a test location has been selected in the Quebrada Zapotal about 10 miles from the Port of Zorritos. An order has been placed in the United States for drilling equipment. LaBrea-Parinas Estate.—Production on the LeBrea-Parinas Estate reached an all-time high in 1935 of 14,756,914 bbl., an increase of 636,812 bbl. over the 1934 record. The total production from 1890 to 1935 was 148,541,523 bbl. During 1935 a total of 63,021 ft. was drilled in new wells and 5449 ft. in deepening existing wells; 23 wells were deepened and 29 new wells were completed, of which 27 were producers and 2 were dry holes. At the end of the year 2873 wells had been drilled on the Estate, of which 1838 were still productive. The remaining 1035 wells represent abandoned producers or dry holes. Practically all the drilling on the property has been done with cable tools, but during 1934 three strings of rotary tools were introduced. Experience with these outfits has shown that rotary equipment can

Jan 1, 1936

By Oliver B. Hopkins

Peruvian production for the year 1935 amounted to 17,064,879 bbl., a record amount for any year, bringing the cumulative production of the country up to 188 million barrels. The 1935 figure is an increase of 785,769 bbl. over the 1934 total. The property of the International Petroleum Co. contributed 636,812 bbl. of this increase, and the Lobitos property 158,625 barrels. Exploration work in the country was again active, with attention focused on three areas, the Huallaga River, Lake Titicaca and the Coastal Zone of the Province of Tumbes. It is reported that in the Huallaga River area the Selden Breck Construction Co. has completed geological and engineering studies on its Pachitea River concessions and has ordered a drilling rig. In the Lake Titicaca region further studies in the vicinity of Pusi were made by Government geologists. During the period from 1906 to 1915, the Pirin anticline in this area produced 285,936 bbl. of low-grade crude. The Government holds 120,000 hectares of reserved lands in this area. In the Coastal Zone of the Province of Tumbes explorations by the Government were continued on the National Reserve, and a test location has been selected in the Quebrada Zapotal about 10 miles from the Port of Zorritos. An order has been placed in the United States for drilling equipment. LaBrea-Parinas Estate.—Production on the LeBrea-Parinas Estate reached an all-time high in 1935 of 14,756,914 bbl., an increase of 636,812 bbl. over the 1934 record. The total production from 1890 to 1935 was 148,541,523 bbl. During 1935 a total of 63,021 ft. was drilled in new wells and 5449 ft. in deepening existing wells; 23 wells were deepened and 29 new wells were completed, of which 27 were producers and 2 were dry holes. At the end of the year 2873 wells had been drilled on the Estate, of which 1838 were still productive. The remaining 1035 wells represent abandoned producers or dry holes. Practically all the drilling on the property has been done with cable tools, but during 1934 three strings of rotary tools were introduced. Experience with these outfits has shown that rotary equipment can

Jan 1, 1936

By Irwin Roman

PART I. INTRODUCTION THE literature of geophysics as applied to the discovery of mineral deposits has been very extensive during the past few years, but there seem to be few references to the use of the method of least squares for obtaining better interpretations of the observed data .2 There seems to be a general reluctance among geologists and. engineers to acquire the technique of least squares, in spite of the fact that a thorough knowledge of the theory is not necessary for the use of the method.

Jan 1, 1931

By S. F. Reiter, R. W. Guard, J. H. Keeler

DURING the last several years the authors have been conducting tests on a tensile machine that autographically records load-elongation data. In certain tests at elevated temperatures on face-centered cubic, hexagonal close-packed, and body-centered cubic materials (binary alloys of nickel, zirconium, and iron), the load-elongation curve as shown in Fig. 1 reaches a maximum load (Pmax,) at relatively small amounts of strain and a large amount of elongation occurs subsequently with a continuously decreasing load, until finally localized necking and fracture take place. This early maximum load behavior has been found without the accompanying evidence of localized necking as has been assumed by some, or of evidence of cracking as observed by others.' This behavior has also been observed by Nadai and Manjoinez whose results are in good agreement with ours. The prior strain, strain rate, test temperature, and crystal structure affect the observations. The influence of prior strain was observed in tests on unalloyed zirconium at 300°C in which specimens containing large amounts of prior strain (cold work) exhibited the type of curve shown in Fig. 1. No localized necking was observed after strain as much as that of point B. Annealed and recrystallized specimens of the same material showed a load-elongation curve with maximum load occurring after considerable strain hardening and at the beginning of localized necking. Interrupted tests (Fig. 2) show no loss in strength because of recovery or recrys-tallization during an interval at temperature without load. Recovery under stress such as found by Wood and Suiter3 in aluminum is now being investigated as one possible explanation. The strain rate is a contributing variable as shown in Fig. 3, a test on high purity nickel. Here the strain rate was decreased by a factor of ten during a test in which the maximum load was reached at a small strain. The slope of the true stress-true strain curve was positive with the more rapid strain rate and negative with the slower strain rate. In many binary ferrites an added effect of temperature has been observed. Fig. 4 shows the load-elongation plots for a binary ferritic alloy containing 2 pct Mo. The slope of the small portion of the stress-strain curve obtained at a strain rate of 0.01 mhr1 changes sign from negative to positive on going

Jan 1, 1955

CHEMICAL PRECIPITATION U.S. 4,067,789 - Removal of soluble manganous ions from a zinc sulfate solution formed by leaching roasted zinc sulfide ore with spent electrolyte. An excess of ammonium persulfate or like oxidant is added to the leach solution to convert manganese to insoluble, filterable gamma-manganese dioxide, and the precipitate separated from the solution by filtration. L. Harris and A. K. Hanson, Jr., assigned to Newmont Exploration Ltd. Jan. 10, 1978. 11 pp. (204-119). Filed: 5-3-76 (682.442). (Drawing on page 67.)

Jan 1, 1979

By McDowell Graves, Joseph Jensen, W. D. Goold, M. L. Gwin

During the present year the Santa Fe Springs field has proved to be the most important oil field under development in the United States. Its production will exceed that of any other field. Without it, production within the United States would have been almost in even balance with consumption. The field has forced to the fore and compelled, more than any other single factor, serious consideration of the need of conserving the gas resources of the State of California. It has also contributed much to the development of new drilling equipment and important features in petroleum engineering, and has required the development of a new cement for use in deep wells because of high temperatures. It is the only oil field in the country where wells 8000 ft. deep have become so common that they are no longer given special attention. The field covers a little less than 1400 acres of land. In it 196 producing deep-zone wells have already been drilled since August, 1928, and 224 wells are still drilling. More wells may be drilled. This indicates that probably more than 450 wells will be drilled in the present campaign. In hardly a year's time it has caused the outlay of nearly $50,000,000 for drilling, and within the year 1929 it will have returned practically an equal amount of revenue. In contrast to conditions during 1923, when this field was once before an important and disturbing factor, the California oil industry has not been forced to refinance to meet the situation presented by such a large production of oil. There has been practically no unit selling and no stock selling, nor any unnecessary development far beyond the limits of the field. Production is now about 275,000 bbl. per day and gives every promisc of remaining at this figure or increasing to nearly 300,000 bbl. Six months from now the field should still be capable of producing more than 200,000 bbl. per day. Obviously, the need for conserving gas that would be blown to the air, incident to the production of so large a volume of oil, represents a problem in conservation deserving of the most serious attention of the oil industry and of the State of California.

Jan 1, 1930

By Claude H. P. Lupis, John F. Elliott

The classic Siez~erts' technique has been employed to determine the solubility of oxygen in liquid pure silver and the effect on the oxygen solubility of solute metal additions to liquid silver. The results indicate that oxygen deviates slightly from Sieverts' law in pure silver as = 3.9. Gold, platinum, md palladium decrease the solubility of oxygen in silver. First-order free energy, enthalpy, md entropy interaction coefficients are determined from the data. An important aspect in the establishment of the formalisms to be applied to represent the thermody-namic behavior of components of solutions is the accuracy of the experimentally determined thermody-namic properties. Wagner developed the first-order free energy interaction coefficient.' Recent papers2'3 extend the treatment formally to other thermodynamic properties and define the second- and higher-order interaction coefficients. A current communication4 considers in some depth the requirements and limitations imposed because of experimental error on the use of several formalisms now under active consideration in the field. This communication reports the results of an experimental study of the behavior of oxygen in liquid silver alloys that was carried out concurrently with the development of Refs. 2 and 3 with the hope of providing sufficiently precise information so that enthalpy and entropy interaction coefficients could be determined. THE EXPERIMENTS The Sieverts technique was employed using an improved design of the reaction bulb over that developed originally by Humbert5 and subsequently improved by pehlke6 and Weinstein.7 The Vycor reaction bulb as shown in Fig. 1 was air-cooled and contained a port for the thermocouple angling off to one side and a vertical port for connections to the gas supply and

Jan 1, 1969

By John D. Kalasky

Continuous mining has revolutionized the coal industry but intensified the problems of earlier mechanization. From the installation of the first miner, it was recognized that face ventilation would be one of these problems. To establish an efficient work cycle for the equipment being used, conventional mechanized mining provides four or more development faces. Continuous mining, relying on a single machine, requires only one face, although more than one can be driven alternately by the same machine. In gaseous areas mined by the older methods, the intermittent rate of exposure allows time for the face to bleed off or be cleared, and the width obtained with conventional units makes it possible to hang a brattice line almost to the face. Continuous mining increases the ventilation hazards; there is no margin of time, and very limited space.

Jan 9, 1959

By John A. Mathews

During the prosecution of the aircraft-production program in 1917 and 1918, the writer visited many plants engaged in the manufacture of motors, planes and parts, in carrying out his duties as chairman of the Committee on Aircraft-engine Forgings. On several occasions, when the question of expansion was discussed, it was noted that there was confusion in the use of the terms: the true coefficient of expansion, a physical constant, and distortion in hardening. One engineer, referring to a steel shown in the accompanying table, stated that he could not consider it for crankshafts because of its excessive coefficient of expansion, while another steel, also Iisted in the table, was said to be especially good because it had no coefficient of expansion, since it came out of the oil bath perfectly straight. Many years ago one of our employees designed a new oil furnace; when asked what became of the products of combustion, he replied: "There ain't any, we burn them all up." While the coefficient of expansion is not without its effect in volume changes in hardened steel, it is not a determining factor in the matter of distortion and going out of shape. Irregular heating, uneven furnace bottoms, and carelessness in withdrawing the part from the furnace, as well as the manner in which the part enters the quenching bath are of greater moment. Generally speaking, also, steels of relatively low hardening temperature will distort less than those requiring higher hardening heats. The coefficient of expansion must be considered in engineering design most frequently when different metals or alloys are used in the same construction. For example, the difference of expansion between a steel crankshaft and an aluminum crank case might be of real importance and a steel with no coefficient of expansion would be much less desirable than one with the normal coefficient. About 15 years ago, the writer made many determinations of the coefficient of expansion at low temperature ranges, usually between 20' and 100" C. Among the materials tested were: Pure forged electrolytic iron, 11.73 parts per million for l° C.; cast aluminum (99.93 per cent. AI.),

Jan 1, 1922

By John A. Mathews

During the prosecution of the aircraft-production program in 1917 and 1918, the writer visited many plants engaged in the manufacture of motors, planes and parts, in carrying out his duties as chairman of the Committee on Aircraft-engine Forgings. On several occasions, when the question of expansion was discussed, it was noted that there was confusion in the use of the terms: the true coefficient of expansion, a physical constant, and distortion in hardening. One engineer, referring to a steel shown in the accompanying table, stated that he could not consider it for crankshafts because of its excessive coefficient of expansion, while another steel, also Iisted in the table, was said to be especially good because it had no coefficient of expansion, since it came out of the oil bath perfectly straight. Many years ago one of our employees designed a new oil furnace; when asked what became of the products of combustion, he replied: "There ain't any, we burn them all up." While the coefficient of expansion is not without its effect in volume changes in hardened steel, it is not a determining factor in the matter of distortion and going out of shape. Irregular heating, uneven furnace bottoms, and carelessness in withdrawing the part from the furnace, as well as the manner in which the part enters the quenching bath are of greater moment. Generally speaking, also, steels of relatively low hardening temperature will distort less than those requiring higher hardening heats. The coefficient of expansion must be considered in engineering design most frequently when different metals or alloys are used in the same construction. For example, the difference of expansion between a steel crankshaft and an aluminum crank case might be of real importance and a steel with no coefficient of expansion would be much less desirable than one with the normal coefficient. About 15 years ago, the writer made many determinations of the coefficient of expansion at low temperature ranges, usually between 20' and 100" C. Among the materials tested were: Pure forged electrolytic iron, 11.73 parts per million for l° C.; cast aluminum (99.93 per cent. AI.),

Jan 1, 1922

By Lawrence W. Teufel

An anelastic strain recovery technique is presented as a method of determining the directions and ratio of the maximum and minimum horizontal in-situ stresses from oriented cores from deep wells. Predictions of hydraulic fracture azimuth inferred from principal stress directions determined from both elastic and time-dependent (anelastic) strain relaxation measurements of volcanic tuff are consistent with the observed orientations of hydraulic fractures produced in simulation and mineback experiments, underground at the Nevada Test Site. In addition, anelastic strain recovery measurements on oriented cores of shale and sandstone from well depths of about 1680 meters show consistent relaxation directions of the principal horizontal strains and have enabled a prediction of the principal horizontal stress directions and hydraulic fracture azimuth.

Jan 1, 1982

By A. B. Kinzel

Since the exposition of the behavior of certain iron alloys by Sykesl involving the existence of an austenite loop and the discovery of such a loop in the chrome-iron system by Bain,2 there has been much conjecture both on his part and on the part of metallurgists in general as to the exact shape and location of this loop. In previous work commercial steel has been used and the microscope has been employed to locate the critical points so that the position of the loop has been quite approximate. Numerous attempts have been made to measure the critical points of the carbon-free alloys but all of these for one reason or another have failed. A satisfactory method for studying these phenomena is presented here. MateRial The first difficulty in this study was to obtain pure chromium-iron alloys. This has been overcome by melting in a vacuum electrolytic iron and chromium analyzing 99.84 Cr, Fe and C. A pure magnesite crucible was used and the melt allowed to solidify in the crucible. A typical analysis is chromium, 10.10 per cent., carbon, 0.006 per cent., silicon and manganese nil. To overcome the problem presented by segregation, ingots were made into wire 0.04 in. in diameter. This was accomplished by hand-forging the ingots into rods, using an oxyhydrogen flame for heating, in order to avoid carbon. Subsequently the rods were swaged to wire, the heating being carried out in hydrogen. Thus local segregation was eliminated although differences in analysis between portions 50 ft. apart were noted. An electric-resistance method was first tried to determine the critical points, but due to the physical defects in the wire this failed. Bain had previously shown the presence or absence of critical points in a qualitative way by observing the sag in a catenary. The author has devised the following method which gives an accurate determination of the critical points from expansion-temperature curves of suspended wire, a special telescopic dilatometer being used for the purpose.

A little more than a year and a half ago construction started on Canada's largest initial milling plant. Today the zinc concentrating plant 7 miles north of Barraute sits on ground that once was forest and clay flats. The plant is part of Barvue Mines Ltd. zinc-silver operation. Employees of the plant live in the model community of Barvue, built like the plant in record time. About 5000 tons of ore are handled by the plant daily, with an output of 200 tons of zinc concentrate. Management hopes to raise capacity of the $8 million plant to 6000 tons.

Jan 8, 1953

The first of a series of special war meetings of the New York Section of the American Institute of Mining Engineers held on the evening of July 20 at the Machinery Club, preceded by an informal dinner. The subject for discussion was the important general one of the manganese supplies of the steel industry of the United States. It had been intended to include chromium supplies but this matter was crowded out and left for a later meeting. The principal speaker of the evening was Donnel F. Hewett of the U. S. Geological Survey, who, as a result of his recent studies of the resources of the country, ably presented the question of the extent to which the United States can furnish manganese ore.

Jan 9, 1917

By Walter Knox, Charles H. Sawyer

All of the coals commonly used in domestic bituminous stokers form coke, and satisfactory operation depends upon the fact that the coke formed is so weakly bound together that it breaks readily in the normal operation of the stoker and automatically maintains a good fuel bed. Some coals, because of their tendency to form solid, blocky coke, are practically excluded from use in small domestic stokers as now built. Other coals, some among the best stoker coals available, can form this troublesome coke under certain conditions. Many contradictory methods have been offered as cures for coke formation. Generally the procedure has been to try various adjustments until a combination was found that seemed to give better results. Such random methods of treatment have not provided any reliable information as to causes. The present paper covers a comprehensive test program undertaken by the Koppers Company's Stoker Coal Research Laboratory at Kearny, N. J. The program had two main objectives; first, to discover what factors affected coke formation, and second; to define corrective steps that could be applied in stoker service work. Conclusions and Results i. The design of the stoker outweighs in importance all other factors capable of improving coke formation. 2. Insufficient air supply aggravates the formation of large blocky coke, although raising the air above 30 to 40 per cent excess (as determined during steady running) does not further improve the character of the coke formed and only reduces its accumulation at the expense of efficiency, increased fly ash, poorer clinker-ing, and other disadvantages. 3. Increasing the coal feed results in a somewhat more friable coke structure and is recommended for persistently troublesome jobs. 4. Increasing over-fire draft improves the character of the coke formed and reduces troublesome accumulations by accelerating off-period burning, although at some expense in efficiency and some increase in fly-ash accumulation. 5. Coke structure was not substantially improved by blocking some of 'the retort tuyeres, although the blocking of tuyeres at the feed-screw end of a rectangular retort did lead to somewhat improved performance, possibly because of considerably better distribution of coke in the fuel bed. 6. With the equipment tested no difference was shown between installation of the same stoker in a steam boiler and a warm-air furnace, or between a sand-filled and a ventilated type of hearth. 7. The following design features had no noticeable effect on coke formation: a. Presence or absence of coal-tube air as provided by many manufacturers to eliminate smoke-back. B. Presence or absence of a flap damper ill the air duct to minimize off-period burning. c. Continuous or intermittent (ratchet and pawl driven) movement of fuel feed screw.

Jan 1, 1944

By Charles H. Sawyer, Walter Knox

All of the coals commonly used in domestic bituminous stokers form coke, and satisfactory operation depends upon the fact that the coke formed is so weakly bound together that it breaks readily in the normal operation of the stoker and automatically maintains a good fuel bed. Some coals, because of their tendency to form solid, blocky coke, are practically excluded from use in small domestic stokers as now built. Other coals, some among the best stoker coals available, can form this troublesome coke under certain conditions. Many contradictory methods have been offered as cures for coke formation. Generally the procedure has been to try various adjustments until a combination was found that seemed to give better results. Such random methods of treatment have not provided any reliable information as to causes. The present paper covers a comprehensive test program undertaken by the Koppers Company's Stoker Coal Research Laboratory at Kearny, N. J. The program had two main objectives; first, to discover what factors affected coke formation, and second; to define corrective steps that could be applied in stoker service work. Conclusions and Results i. The design of the stoker outweighs in importance all other factors capable of improving coke formation. 2. Insufficient air supply aggravates the formation of large blocky coke, although raising the air above 30 to 40 per cent excess (as determined during steady running) does not further improve the character of the coke formed and only reduces its accumulation at the expense of efficiency, increased fly ash, poorer clinker-ing, and other disadvantages. 3. Increasing the coal feed results in a somewhat more friable coke structure and is recommended for persistently troublesome jobs. 4. Increasing over-fire draft improves the character of the coke formed and reduces troublesome accumulations by accelerating off-period burning, although at some expense in efficiency and some increase in fly-ash accumulation. 5. Coke structure was not substantially improved by blocking some of 'the retort tuyeres, although the blocking of tuyeres at the feed-screw end of a rectangular retort did lead to somewhat improved performance, possibly because of considerably better distribution of coke in the fuel bed. 6. With the equipment tested no difference was shown between installation of the same stoker in a steam boiler and a warm-air furnace, or between a sand-filled and a ventilated type of hearth. 7. The following design features had no noticeable effect on coke formation: a. Presence or absence of coal-tube air as provided by many manufacturers to eliminate smoke-back. B. Presence or absence of a flap damper ill the air duct to minimize off-period burning. c. Continuous or intermittent (ratchet and pawl driven) movement of fuel feed screw.

Jan 1, 1944