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By J. H. Brophy, M. H. Kamdar, J. Wulff

A constitutional diagram for the Ta-W-Re alloy system is presented. Rhenium dissolves in the complete range of solid solutions between tungsten and tantalum up to 48 wt pct in tantalum 'to about 30 wt pct in tungsten. Intermediate x and u phases only are found. X-ray diffraction and fluorescence, metallography and melting-point measurements were employed. THE constitution diagram of ternary alloys of tungsten, tantalum, and rhenium for temperatures above 1000°C is reported in this paper. Alloys in this system rich in tantalum and tungsten are of interest for high-temperature applications, and those rich in rhenium for electronic applications. No ternary phase diagram appears to be available in the literature. The three-component binary diagrams have been previously established1-3 and the present ternary data are consistent with these. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES Commercially pure tantalum (99.7 pct), rhenium (99.99 pet), and tungsten (99.9 or 99.95 pct) powders were purchased from Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., Chase Brass and Copper Co., and Fansteel or Westinghouse Electric Corp., respectively. These powders were pressed without binder and arc-melted under helium. The preparatory and analytical techniques employed were identical to those used for the Ta-Re system investigation carried out in this laboratory.324 These included X-ray diffraction and metallographic phase identification, X-ray fluorescent and wet chemical analyses, solidus determinations and heat treatments in a resistance-heated tantalum-filament vacuum furnace. For microstructural examinations standard mechanical polishing techniques were used through diamond laps. Polished speciments of all compositions were etched by swabbing with 4 parts HI?, 4 parts HNO3, and 1 part H20. Since the microstruc-tures of alloys containing one or two phases closely resembled their counterparts in the respective binary systems, typical examples are omitted in this presentation. In all the alloys examined, it was possible to observe the number of phases present. Particularly when there were small amounts of one phase involved, it was possible to identify it only by a combined conclusion based on X-ray diffraction, position of an alloy in a composition series, and the phase rule. A total of 100 different alloy compositions was arc-melted and studied in the as-cast condition metallographically and by X-ray diffraction. Specimens of each of these compositions were heat-treated at 2680, 2530, and 2020°C for 1, 2, and 4 hr, respectively. Those which were treated at 2020 were given a preliminary homogenization treatment at 2500°C for 1 hr. Specimens of 25 alloys were heat-treated at 1200o C for 168 hr. Solidus temperature measurements were made by the detection of incipient melting in eighteen alloy compositions. The metallographic and X-ray diffraction results are summarized in Table I. Graphically, this information appears in the isothermal plots of Figs. 2 and 3. Within the accuracy of the experimental methods, two such plots are sufficient to locate these data, since the results for 1200°C were similar to 2020 and those at 2530 resembled 2680

Jan 1, 1962

By Horace Pops, L. L. Isaacs

SOLID-STATE transformations at low temperatures are frequently studied by optical metallography. Greninger and ooradian' and Hull and Gar-wood2 have examined the martensitic-type transformations in 0-phase Cu-Zn alloys during continuous cooling below room temperature. The lowest range of temperatures in the apparatus described by these investigators is limited to approximately 110°K. Present studies of reversible first-order phase transitions near liquid-helium temperatures have necessitated the design of a new cold-stage cryo-stat for optical metallography. The features of interest of this instrument are as follows: a) temperatures down to 4.Z°K are obtainable; b) the specimen is always under vacuum, thereby avoiding the condensation of moisture; c) specimens can be rapidly cooled or heated at varying rates, thus permitting studies of transformation hysteresis. Fig. 1 shows the details of the cryostat. All major parts are made of type 304 stainless steel. Both helium and nitrogen cans are Heliarc-welded to the helium filling tube, permitting the use of a common shielding can. Hence, the over-all weight and the area of the evacuated surface are mini- mized. The copper sample holder is screwed into the bottom of the helium can. To assure good thermal contact between the sample holder and the refrigerant, an indium ribbon is placed on the threads

Jan 1, 1964

By Carter S. Cole

Mr. Chairman, Fellow Members and Guests, our chairman this morning got over into the geneological field, so perhaps I may be pardoned if I revert to some of my ancestral training and give you a text. I always like to talk about some special little text that may illustrate what we want to say. So the text that I will take for this afternoon is a very simple one, "Win the War." That is the guide for all of our actions, or should be. We should question everything we do to see what it does to contribute to winning the war. If we fail to do that, nothing else is going to count. On the wall of the office of one of the branch chiefs in the Copper Division in Washington there is a little slogan which I think we should take very deeply to heart, "The difficult we do right away. The impossible takes a little longer." I think that is a very good guide for us to follow in the work that lies ahead of us in the metallurgical field and in the handling of these secondary metals and the things that result therefrom. My subject is "Conservation and Specifications." Some people would wonder just where that fits in, and how you might define "conservation." One very good definition would be "the utmost use of our resources." If you will pardon my going back to some of my earlier experience for a little simile, those of you who know me know that for ten years after the last war I was in the railroad business. If we are with the engineman in a cab, and we have a green signal ahead of us, that is a clear signal and tells us to proceed at full authorized speed. Now suppose we come to a yellow signal that is caution, slow down to one-half authorized speed and be prepared to stop. Now if you do slow down, the chances are that that obstruction that was ahead of you will move out of the road, and you may get another yellow or caution signal at the next block, and be able to keep going at a slow speed. As of the date of Pearl Harbor our tin supply took on a very yellow tinge, and it threw the caution sign right in our faces. If we had not heeded that sign, and cut down our consumption of tin, we would not have any today; but because we have done so we are in a much better position today than we were a year ago, that is comparing our visible supply with our present rate of consumption as contrasted with the visible supply a year ago and our then rate of consumption.

Jan 1, 1943

By M. H. Sommer

MANY attempts have been made to develop a relation between the tensile properties and the deep-stamping qualities of metals com-monly used in deep drawing. These operations are generally performed cold and the metal is always stressed beyond the elastic limit. However, the problem cannot be readily solved without a proper investigation of (1) the relation between actual stress and actual strain in the plastic range and (2) the stresses that are set up in the metal during the process of deep stamping. Much work has been done in recent years to add to our knowledge on plastic deformation of metals and the shortcomings of the ordinary tensile test, particularly in the plastic range, have been sufficiently recognized. It has been widely acknowledged that the local contraction, which appears in a tensile test after the maximum load is reached, is not a general characteristic of the material but is peculiar to this form of testing. The plastic deformation of materials is explained by the slip of their crystals along certain planes and this rearrangement should be similar whether observed in a tensile, compression or torsion test, and if the results of any of these forms of testing show deviations, it must be due to other influences, as for example the local contraction in a tensile test. For this reason the tensile-test curve as obtained from the measurements taken on a tensile-test machine or registered by an autographic device has been supplemented by the so-called "actual stress-strain curve," which is constructed from the observed tensile-test data by eliminating the effect of local contraction and is in complete alignment with the stress-strain values obtained in a compression or torsion test. The actual stress-strain curve shows the increase of actual unit stress in relation to unit elongation beyond the yield point and

Jan 1, 1934

By Louis G. Bailey

This paper .reviews some of the key developments which have been made in the synthesis of the III-V compound semiconductors and the associated progress in obtaining high-quality material for device development. The history of the investigation of the semi-conducting properties of these materials has indicated the need for synthesis techniques capable of producing rnaterial of high chemical purity and physical perfection. The progress in the area is described, and the present status of quality of several compounds is discussed. In addition, recent studies of localized epitaxial deposition of GaAs into semi-insulating GaAs substvates for the development of arrays of devices ave reviewed. In conclusion, some important areas for future research and developrnent are discussed. INTEREST in III-V compounds as semiconductors dates back to the period 1950 to 1952, when Goryunova, Ioffe, and, in particular, Welker determined that 111-V compounds were structural analogs of the group IV elements carbon, silicon, germanium, and tin and that they were also semiconductors.'-3 Since that time interest in the properties of these materials has ex- panded rapidly. During 1953 and 1954, the first reports of rectification, photoconductivity, and optical absorption in these materials came from several investigators. In 1955, recombination radiation from samples of GaAs, InP, and GaSb was reported by ~raunstein .' This radiation was produced by injected minority carriers from point and large-area contacts. From 1955 to 1960, efforts increased on preparing large, pure specimens of these materials for the study of basic physical phenomena and device exploration. By 1960, materials preparation and the understanding of the physics of some of the materials had advanced to where some very interesting and potentially useful phenomena came under study. The first observation of electric-field-induced changes in the optical absorption edge (Franz -Keldysh effect) of 111-V compounds was reported for GaAs by Moss in 1961.' In 1962 the study of recombination radiation advanced rapidly. Keyes and Quist6 and Pankove and Berkey-heiser7 reported high radiative efficientices obtained from recombination, and then the first injection electroluminescent lasers in GaAs were announced by Hall ef al.,' by Nathan et al.,O and by Quist ef al.,'O and in Ga(As, P) alloys by Holonyak and Bevacqua." Hil-sum has reviewed the early work leading to the first observations of laser action in GaAS." Recombination processes in GaAs, Gap, and the other 111-V com-

Jan 1, 1968

By George F. Becker

A Nere record of Emmons's professional career would very inadequately represent the man. That he was eminent mc know, and our successors will realize in due time; but they must depend upon us for knowledge of a singularly ~vholesome, modest, unselfish personality, and of a character that did honor to a profession in which trustworthiness is indispensable. Those members of the Institute who met Emmons are his friends, and I never knew .one of these who was not the better for that friendship. Emmons was born in Boston, Mar. 29, 1841, the son of Xathaniel H. and Elizabeth (Wales) Emmons, and was named Samuel Frankliri after an ancestor who was of the sarne family as Benjamin Franklin. He took the degrcc of Bachelor of Arts at Harvard in 1861, and soon afterwards went abroad to complete his education. From 1862 to 1864 he attended the courses at the fieole Impkriale des Mines at Paris, Elie de Beaumont arid Daubrke being among his professors. The year 1864-1865 he spent at Freiberg under Cotta and other famous teachers; after which he spent another year in traveling through Europe. Like many other renowned geologists, he approached his ultimate profession from its economic side, and was thus from the first imbued with a sense of high responsibility in the promulgation of scientific opinions or conclusions. With hypotheses which were interesting merely because they were ingenious or even plausible, he would have nothing to do. In 1867 he joined the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel at its organization under Clarence King, serving at first as a volunteer, but soon receiving a regular appointment. This expedition was the first one of purely geological character sent out by the United States government. As Emmons has shown in his admirable presidential address on " The Geology of Government Explorations," its work was founded on a com-

Jan 1, 1912

By C. D. Hunter, I. B. Browning, Ralph Thomas

Production of oil in Kentucky during 1938 was 5,566,154 bbl., showing a substantial increase over that of the year 1937; while in the gas areas development was somewhat retarded although deliveries were similar to those of 1937. In eastern Kentucky there was an oil increase during 1938 of over 150,000 bbl. above that of 1937. No new pools were developed and the increase was almost entirely due to the installation and expansion of secondary recovery methods and to the further development of the Maxon and Big Lime, Mississippian pools in Floyd and Martin Counties. With this development eastern Kentucky reached a level near that of 12 years previous, when the development of several large producing areas had just been completed. In eastern Kentucky during 1938 not over 50 gas wells were completed. Although the pipe-line deliveries were approximately the same as during 1937, development was retarded because of an excess of gas already developed and the intensive development of the Oriskany fields in West Virginia. In western Kentucky, in the part of the Illinois Basin lying in the state and known in Kentucky as the Western Coal Basin, the increase was due to the discovery of a number of new pools, the largest and the one producing the biggest wells being known as the Birk City pool. In fact, the discovery of this pool with the McClosky "sand" (St. Genevieve limestone) as the producing formation was in a large measure responsible for the increased activity, which in turn brought the discovery of the other areas. The discovery well in this pool is the C. T. Blackwell, which came in flowing 1000 bbl. daily from the McClosky sand at a depth of 1870 ft., drilled in April 22, 1938. This discovery, coming at a time when the major companies and many others were conducting an intensive leasing campaign and making extensive subsurface and geophysical surveys in the deeper part of the basin, resulted in renewed activity over the entire area and brought much new drilling. It also brought to Kentucky for

Jan 1, 1939

By C. D. Hunter, I. B. Browning, Ralph Thomas

Production of oil in Kentucky during 1938 was 5,566,154 bbl., showing a substantial increase over that of the year 1937; while in the gas areas development was somewhat retarded although deliveries were similar to those of 1937. In eastern Kentucky there was an oil increase during 1938 of over 150,000 bbl. above that of 1937. No new pools were developed and the increase was almost entirely due to the installation and expansion of secondary recovery methods and to the further development of the Maxon and Big Lime, Mississippian pools in Floyd and Martin Counties. With this development eastern Kentucky reached a level near that of 12 years previous, when the development of several large producing areas had just been completed. In eastern Kentucky during 1938 not over 50 gas wells were completed. Although the pipe-line deliveries were approximately the same as during 1937, development was retarded because of an excess of gas already developed and the intensive development of the Oriskany fields in West Virginia. In western Kentucky, in the part of the Illinois Basin lying in the state and known in Kentucky as the Western Coal Basin, the increase was due to the discovery of a number of new pools, the largest and the one producing the biggest wells being known as the Birk City pool. In fact, the discovery of this pool with the McClosky "sand" (St. Genevieve limestone) as the producing formation was in a large measure responsible for the increased activity, which in turn brought the discovery of the other areas. The discovery well in this pool is the C. T. Blackwell, which came in flowing 1000 bbl. daily from the McClosky sand at a depth of 1870 ft., drilled in April 22, 1938. This discovery, coming at a time when the major companies and many others were conducting an intensive leasing campaign and making extensive subsurface and geophysical surveys in the deeper part of the basin, resulted in renewed activity over the entire area and brought much new drilling. It also brought to Kentucky for

Jan 1, 1939

By Z. Moser, W. Ptak

The experiments were carried out by the method of measuring the electromotive force of concentration cells having zinc as a reference electrode, the second electrode being the liquid alloy Zn-Sn-Cd-Pb. The electrolyte consisted of liquid chlorides and had zinc ions. The measurements were made for seventy -five alloys of different mole fractions within the temperature range of 714° to 877°K. The experimental results enabled the calculation of the activity of zinc in tested solutions. The activities of zinc were calculated by means of Krupkowski's formulas.3 In addition, the formulas for coefficients of activity of zinc, tin, cadmium. and lead as the function of composition and temperature were given. Activity of zinc was compared with the values obtained from experimental results, and good agreement has been observed. On this basis it can be stated that the theoretical formulas are suitable for determining the thermodynamic properties of liquid quaternary metal solutions. IN the metallurgical processes being carried out at present multicomponent liquid metal solutions take part. For the thermodynamic analysis of these processes it is necessary to know the thermodynamic properties of these solutions. Therefore, many experimental and theoretical papers deal with this problem. The theoretical papers are generally based on the assumption that the structure of liquid metals is similar to their structure in the solid state. In this manner the model of liquid solution, consequently described by means of statistical thermodynamics, has been accepted. This method is being lately developed, especially for solid solutions. Statistical thermodynamics was applied among others by Guggenheim 1 for describing the thermodynamic properties. Unfortunately, the formulas of statistical thermodynamics are often not suitable for the interpretation of experimental results. Attention should be drawn to the relations obtained by means of formulas of phenomenological thermodynamics which always have constants derived with the aid of experimental methods. In the case of the multi-component solutions which contain some additions of impurities besides the basic metal, wagner2 introduced interaction parameters. Equations for the relationship between the activity coefficients and composition were also given by Krupkowski." he application of these formulas requires a good knowledge of the thermodynamic properties of the corresponding binary systems. In these formulas, as in Wagner's, there appear constants which should be determined from ex- perimental data. Nowadays, different experimental methods are applied for evaluating the thermodynamic functions of solutions, for instance: vapor pressure measurements, calorimetric methods, and the measurements of electromotive force of concentration cells. In the present paper this last method for evaluating the thermodynamic properties of four-component systems, Zn-Sn-Cd-Pb, was applied. For instance in the case of Zn-Sn solutions Alabyshev and Landratov, 4 Fiorani and Valenti, 5 and ptak6 performed the investigations. The Zn-Pb system was worked out by Kleppa 7 and Cd-Pb and Cd-Sn by Elliot and chipman.' This method was also applied for determining the activity of zinc in ternary solutions. 1) EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The experimental arrangement with detailed description is given in Fig. 1. It consists of resistance furnaces, one serving for melting samples and the other containing the flat-bottomed, measuring quartz tube with the liquid electrolyte. Liquid metals and alloys are in glass supremax tubes, which have an opening in their lower part above the metal level. This opening allows the filling of the tubes by the electrolyte. In these tubes tungsten wires are placed which by means of suitable conductors are connected with a potentiometer. It is assumed that tungsten dissolves Fig. 1—Schematic diagram of the experimental arrangement for the investigation of the thermodynamic properties of liquid metal solutions: 1, resistance furnaces; 2, autotransfor-mers; 3, galvanometers; 4, regulator of temperature; 5, gas purifier with concentrated H2SOP; 6, U-tube with P2O5; 7, thermostats; 8, steel block for thermostating; 9, supremax tubes for alloys; 10, tungsten electrodes; 11, inlet and outlet of argon; 12, measuring quartz tube; 13, tube for melting samples; 14, tube for thermocouple; 15, cover of quartz tube; 16, rubber seal; 17, bottom cover; 18, outlet of electrodes to potentiometer; 19, outlet of thermocouples to potentiometer; 20, upper view of the quartz tube cover; 21, orifices for cover screws; 22, orifice for argon inlet; 23, orifice for thermocouple; 24, orifices for tubes containing liquid metals; 25, inlet for water-cooling system.

Jan 1, 1969

By John C. Smock

The rich deposits of magnetic iron-ore in the Highlands of northern New Jersey attracted the attention of iron-workers at the time of the earliest settlements in that region. The outcrops of the oreshoots at the Dickerson mine, at Mount Hope, and at Hibernia, in Morris county, and at Ringwood, in Passaic count,y, which were doubtless such as would lead to discovery, location and development of nearly all the large iron-mines in that part of the State, appear to have had their beginnings where the ore cropped out on the surface or where it was scarcely concealed by a thin mantle of earth. In the early history of New Jersey iron-mining, the careful explorations and surveys made by the agents of the famous London Com-

Jan 1, 1892

By T. Reed Woodbridge

The object of this paper is to bring to notice a method in use at the Cedar Point laboratory of Witherbees, Sherman & Co., for determining the phosphorus in the ore mined at Mineville, N. Y. This ore is magnetite, with a gangue containing crystals of apatite. In 1886, Mr. H. F. Dawes, then head chemist at the works, suggested that as all the phosphorus seemed to be in the apatite, it could be obtained in solution by dilute nitric acid. After some experimenting the following method was adopted, and has proved invaluable for rapidity and ease; half a dozen determinations requiring very little more time or trouble than one. From + to 10 grammes of ore are weighed into a 150 c.c. beaker; 50 C.C. hot water and 10 c.c. strong nitric acid are added; the beaker is covered and the contents are boiled for 1/2 hour (10 minutes sometimes proves sufficient; but 4 hour is safer). The bumping which ensues if more than & gramme is used need cause no trouble. The hot solution is filtered into a 250 C.C. beaker. The filtration and washing (with hot water) proceed rapidly, as the magnetite itself is but slightly acted upon. After the addition of 15 C.C. ammonia and 15 c.c. nitric acid, the solution is cooled to 45' C., and from 15 to 40 C.C. of molybdic acid solution is added and stirred vigorously. In 5 minutes the precipitate will be down, and the determination can be finished by any good method. At Cedar Point the method more commonly used is weighing as yellow salt. Good washed filter-paper is used, No. 0 Swedish being preferred; and dozen 3 1/2-inch filters are numbered and dried and weighed at 110°C. These are always kept in stock. The yellow salt is filtered on one of these, washed with dilute nitric acid (2 per cent. by volume); dried for 1 hour at 110' C., and then weighed, 1.63 per cent. of weight being calculated as phosphorus. The filters vary in the two weighings from

Jan 1, 1889

By Thomas T., Read

IT is difficult to judge how much influence the success attained during its first year, 1864-65, by the School of Mines at Columbia had on developments in education for the mineral industry elsewhere in the immediately subsequent years. The facts are as follows: 1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology began giving instruction in February 1865, with a mining course included in its curriculum. 2. Early in 1865 the faculty of the Department of Science, Literature and the Arts of the University of Michigan requested permission from the Regents to establish "a course of study to be called the School of Mines . . . Also that the degree of Mining Engineering, be conferred on students who should complete the course of study prescribed in the same." A resolution authorizing this was adopted by the Regents on March 28, 1865. 3. Samuel Hooper endowed a Sturgis-Hooper professorship of geology at Harvard in 1865 with the intention of making it a nucleus of a new School of Practical Mining and Geology. 4. Yale appointed Alfred P. Rockwell professor of mining in 1865. 5. Lafayette College appointed Henry S. Osborn professor of mining and metallurgy in 1865. 6. Washington College (as Washington and Lee was then known), rising out of the ashes of Civil War destruction, made a fresh start in 1865, with Generalized as its president, and offered a mining course in the first catalogue thereafter published. 7. Lehigh University, founded in 1866, had a mining curriculum from its beginning. 8. Rensselaer Polytechnic began offering a curriculum in mining and metallurgical engineering in 1867. It would be natural to suppose that these events were a reaction, to the success of the school at Columbia, - and possibly they

Jan 1, 1941

The primary purpose of the Institute is to advance the technologic and engineering arts embraced by it through interchange of knowledge. This can best be clone by the presentation and discussion of technical papers by its members. Short practical papers are especially welcome. An author should always satisfy himself that his material is of a quality that will he a credit to him and to the Institute. The preparation of a good paper frequently leads to a reorientation of the author's thoughts, and publication contributes much to the professional standing of the author. Members are urged to submit papers presenting the results of their work. Attention to the following suggestions will greatly further the prompt and efficient handling of manuscripts. 1. SUBJECTS: The subject must be within the field of the Institute. Original work, the results of field, plant, laboratory or theoretical investigations, new views on old but important problems and occasionally reviews of timely and important subjects of wide interest to our members may constitute the basis of a paper. The mere fact that the work is original does not necessarily justify publication: it must be of a substantial nature, of value to a reasonable number of our members and worthy of permanent record. It is seldom desirable to subdivide the results of a single research for publication in a variety of journals. Previous publication is usually a bar to acceptance. If any part of your paper has been published elsewhere and you regard repetition as absolutely necessary please so state in your covering letter. 2. CONSTRUCTION: Papers should be clearly and concisely written in good English. Care in this regard ensures wider reading and the saving in space permits the Institute to publish more papers. It is the experience of the Papers and Publications Committee that most papers can he improved by condensation. "Readers" who are asked to recommend acceptance or nonacceptance put particular emphasis on the length of the paper and the elimination of unnecessary or any extraneous material. The terminology and units employed should be those current in the particular field. An examination of Institute publications will afford useful guidance in such matters. Webster's New International Dictionary, 1935 edition, is the Institute's authority for spelling and style. Various abbreviations are used habitually; for instance, lb., pound; bbl., barrel or barrels; ft., foot or feet; hr., hour or hours; in., inch or inches; Fig. 1 but Figs. 2 and 3.

Jan 1, 1946

Lieut. Louis J. Brunel, now in France, was commissioned on July 27, 1917, as Second Lieutenant in the Engineers Reserve Corps, assigned to the 7th U. S. Engineers, Dec. 10, 1917, and has been with the American E. F. since Mar. 26, 1918. He was assigned to the staff of the General commanding the 5th Field Artillery Brigade, as Engineer Officer, on Aug. 6, 1918. E. Ross Housholder writes that "the record for pontoon bridge building was broken Sept. 25, 1918, by Section A, Co. 4, 5th Engineer Officers' Training School, at Camp Humphreys, Va., of which I am a member. The time was 15 min. 11 3/5 seconds. We then proceeded to break the record for dismantling in 9 min. 57 1/5 seconds. The length of the bridge section was 200 ft. The post band was sent out to meet us, and we feel proud of this record. I have met quite a few A. I. M. E.

Jan 11, 1918

By AIME AIME

ARRANGEMENTS for the Annual Meeting of the Institute were well advanced at the end of December as the following program will show. Heretofore this has been printed separately, but its inclusion in the Annual Review issue of MINING AND METALLURGY will, it is hoped, make it more easily available for reference until the final program is issued, which will be distributed at the meeting. Added details will appear in the February issue. Last year's meeting drew a record crowd of over 2300 which should be exceeded this year. Early reservations at the headquarters hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria, or any other convenient hotel are desirable, as are prompt reservations for the Annual Dinner. No one need worry about too much speechmaking this year, for the honors will be awarded and accepted in a few words instead of a few paragraphs, in seconds rather than minutes.

Jan 1, 1939

By W. N. Poundstone

The mining and ventilating system used in development work in the Pittsburgh Seam in northern West Virginia is discussed. The seam conditions and the nature of the accompanying methane gas are described. The type of equipment and the mining cycle will be discussed, showing how they are well suited for very gaseous development work. Face ventilation in development work is possibly the fastest growing problem of the industry. The coal mines of the future will be faced with the prospect of mining from under increasing depths of cover. Consequently, larger and larger amounts of methane gas probably will be found. The Pittsburgh Seam, in northern West Virginia, is an example of an area already faced with this problem. At the present time, most of the development work being done in this seam lies beneath 500 to 1200 ft of cover. The Pittsburgh Seam in this area has always been very gassy—even near the outcrop—and the recent development work has been accompanied with extremely large volumes of gas. In many cases, a single development section has liberated in excess of 1,000,000 cfm in 24 hr. This problem of heavy gas liberation was the chief concern, several years ago, when continuous mining equipment was first considered at Christopher Coal Co. All of us were apprehensive about the liberation that would accompany rapid extraction in a single working place. However, the experience during the past few years has shown that this ability to mine only one place at a time, is actually the key to working this type of coal. With all of the mining or advancement concentrated in one place, the ventilation can also be concentrated. By this it is meant that continuous mining permits the active working place to be ventilated with a maximum amount of fresh air, taken directly from the intake source without first passing another working place. Continuous mining (and a good ventilating system) also permits a much greater concentration of attention or vigilance to the actual working place. There are two things that are very important to the mining of coal having high rates of liberation. First, adequate volumes of air are necessary. Second, and perhaps more important, a mining and ventilating system must be used that will provide an uninterrupted flow of air to every portion of the working section. Liberations of this magnitude take only a few seconds of interruption for a dangerous accumulation of gas to occur. With adequate volumes of air available, the ability to concentrate ventilation more than offsets the concentration of gas emission that is inherent with continuous mining. The mining system used with continuous mining equipment at Humphrey Mine is similar to the system used at many mines in the area for development work. This system is designed to favor ventilation, realizing that other efficiencies are meaningless if the equipment must stop because of ventilation difficulties. This plan is especially well suited to minimizing ventilation interruptions. Basically, the overall plan of mining is to develop headings into virgin coal and encircle or block out large areas. These blocks are generally at least 2000 ft sq. The purpose of this blocking out is to bleed gas from the area before pillaring. Experience has shown this method to be quite effective, even in the most gassy areas. The gas in this field seems to migrate or flow readily from the solid coal into the outside return headings of the development work. The numerous clay veins and slips that are found in the area are extremely good avenues for gas flow. A block of coal, surrounded with development headings, usually bleeds off readily; and since it is cut off from the virgin coal, it is not subject to gas migration, through the seam, from this source. However, the outside return of the encircling development work, adjacent to the virgin coal, may liberate gas for years. This liberation from the outside ribs in the virgin coal is the reason split ventilation is used in development work. If split ventilation were not used, there would, in many cases, be a serious build-up of gas in the intake before it could reach the working face. Fig. 1 shows a typical development section having seven headings. The two outside places on each side are returns, and the three center headings serve as intakes. This section is equipped with a ripper-type continuous mining machine. An off-track loading machine is used to load from a surge pile on the

Jan 1, 1961

By R. E. Salvoti

IN underground coal mining, the increasing trend towards mechanical methods is ever apparent. Figures for 1939 showed that 28 per cent of the total bituminous coal production was mined mechanically 1940 statistic will reveal an even higher figure. Factors causing this trend are varied, but the important are the following;

Jan 1, 1941

By Henry M. Howe

The striking features of American Bessemer practice aré its large output and its low initial silicon and initial temperature. These are interdependent. Large outputs implies short blows and short intervals between blows. Short blows imply low silicon and fast blowing. Low silicon implies short intervals and fast blowing. Our blows are short because we have little silicon to remove, and because we remove it fast by supplying blast rapidly. We get enough heat even with little silicon, because our blows and the intervals between them are so short that relatively little heat escapes from our vessels. Were we to lengthen our intervals, or to blow more slowly, we would have to meet the increased loss of heat from our vessels, either by using more silicon, or by melting hotter, i.e., by burning more coke, in the blast-furnace or in the cupola. Finally, our short intervals imply powerful machinery, efficient organization, and extreme specialization and subdivision of labor, which can be profitable only when the output is large. Let, us now take these points up in more detail, first glancing at some examples of our large outputs, given in Table I., and of the composition of our iron. Output.—On presenting such results to some foreign metallurgists, I have been told, " Oh yes, we quite understand that. You really turn out no more steel than we do. As a matter of personal pride, your manager gets up a tremendous spurt for a day, or even a week, crowds on men wastefully, rushes through great quantities of metal, and then for months afterwards has to recuperate. The machinery has been strained ; the owner's money has been wasted ; the men have been prostrated—all to gratify the manager's vanity. Your average output is no larger than ours." Personal pride has, doubtless, played its part; without it we would still be savages, or apes, or mollusks, if you prefer. These baser motives are the mudsills of progress, the soiled roots of that growth of which civilization is the flower. Great outputs were made

Jan 1, 1891

By Donald M. Liddell

From a commercial standpoint, the only beryllium mineral warranting attention is beryl, 3Be.Al2O3.6SiO2, which is of fairly widespread occurrence. The chief deposits are in Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada and Portugal. When pure this contains about 14 per cent of beryllium oxide. The mineral richest in beryllium is phenacite, (BeO)2SiO2, or beryllium orth-osilicate, which contains 45.55 per cent beryllium oxide when pure, and if anyone is ever fortunate enough to discover a large deposit of it, it will revolutionize beryllium metallurgy. Gadoljnite, zBe0.Fe0.2Yz0~.zSi0~, is also often referred to as a beryllium mineral, though the occurrences are comparatively scant and it is of more interest as a source of yttrium than it is of beryllium. There has been a good deal of talk recently regarding some occurrences of helvite in the United States. Helvite is a complex manganese-iron beryllium silicate and, apart from difficulties that would arise in its treatment because of its compo-sition, the beryllium content of the known deposits is not high. Early Metallurgy The elemcnt beryllium was first isolated by L. N. Vauquelin in 1797.~ He crushed and heated beryl, having the idea that this heating made it more readily amenable to attack by chemicals, and then mixed the mineral with three times its weight of caustic potash and fused the mixture. The melt after cooling was dissolved in hydrochloric acid: dehydrated, and again taken up with hydrochloric acid and filtered to separate the silica. The filtrate was treated with an excess of potassium carbonate and the precipitate after draining was leached with a solution of caustic potash, which dissolved the alumina. The undissolved material was, in Vauquelin's own words, "une terre nouvelle." He dissolved the precipitate with nitric acid and evaporated it to dryness, took up with hydrochloric acid and threw the iron out with potassium hydrosulphide, though he found that to make a complete separation of the iron involved a second treatment. The solution, after throwing out of the iron, had a pronounced sweet taste, and though Vauquelin always speaks of working on "terre du beril" he suggests that the new element should be known as "glucine" (glucinum) from the Greek word for sweet, because of this outstanding property. Vauquelin did considerable work on the comparison of aluminum and beryllium, working out a separation of most of the aluminum based on its precipitation as alum. His work is reviewed at some length, since ordinarily his procedure is incorrectly stated. It will also be recognized by those who have studied beryllium metallurgy that a good many technicians have followed his ideas since, including preheating the beryl before treatment. The fusion with

Jan 1, 1944

Prof. H. O. Hofman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. (communication to the Secretary): When Mr. Stetefeldt quotes me as saying that " silver-assays are uniformly made by scorification," he has evidently not understood that I was referring solely to the practice of silver-lead smelting-works. Everybody knows that silver-mills do not employ the scorification-assay for regular work ; and it is equally certain that in very few, if any, silver-lead smelting-works will the crucible-assay be found in use for determining silver. The second part of the quotation, "as it is adapted to all kinds of ores and gives excellent results unless organic matter is present," although, of course, also intended in a restricted sense, might very well be extended to a general one. Mr. Furman, in his Manual of Practical Assaying,* says, on page 123: "We believe that the Colorado practice is preferable, as most ores will yield higher silver-results by scorification." The fact that the scorification-assay is the accepted one in Colorado is strong presumptive evidence for its accuracy, as exactness would nowhere else be more jealously demanded. Mr. Stetefeldt cites Albert Arents- as a supporter of his preference for the crucible-assay, although I had already done so in favor of scorification. Looking up again the reference, I find that I was justified in quoting him, as, while Mr. Arents advocates the crucibleassay for low-grade gold ores, not on account of the greater accuracy of its results, but because it is quicker and less expensive, he condemns it§ for the assay of silver-ores, and prefers the scorifier for rich goldores, and for coppery ores, and in general for ores containing both silver and gold. As I, like Mr. Stetefeldt, have kept no detailed

Jan 1, 1895