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By A. K. Knickerbocker

PRACTICALLY all underground work on the Minnesota iron ranges is done by miners working on a so-called contract wage system. This system, while it has certain advantages over the straight day's pay or company-account method of wage payment, has serious and vital defects. In view of the scarcity and demands of labor, it is important that employers of labor scrutinize their systems of wage payments carefully, not only to save losses and trouble, due to labor disturbances, but also to secure the greatest efficiency of their workmen and reduce their operating costs. It is admitted that an adequate, just, and equitable wage is the prime factor in bringing about these benefits. The wage of labor and its method of application and payment have been, and always will be, the main factors in the unrest and dissatisfaction of labor. Not only does labor want and need an adequate wage, assuming that work is adequately performed, but it wants and is entitled to a just and equitable wage. Labor must have respect for the fairness of the wage and for the fairness of the management in the application of the wage. It is conceded that the Minnesota iron miners are now, and have been, in the main paid adequately, but the inherent defects of the so-called contract system prevent any just or equitable application of this wage to the various units of the labor body. The defects of the contract system, with its obvious inequalities, favoritisms, and injustices, are cancers in the brain of labor. Every thinking miner realizes these defects and knows just what they are; the unthinking do not realize the details of the subject, but each month they are forcibly reminded of these defects through the pay envelope. As practiced on the iron ranges, however, the so-called." contract" system is not a contract and the name is a misnomer. No true contractual obligation exists.

Jan 2, 1920

BECAUSE you cannot always proceed by the ordinary pathway since you sometimes find yourself in a place where you cannot have all that you might need or wish, it often happens that it is necessary to know how to recognize and understand your materials well, in addition to having them well disposed, and to know how to use your, ingenuity in arranging a mould., Furthermore, things have a great diversity among themselves, and it is not possible to give a particular rule for all. But if you have a certain broad fundamental knowledge when you have need of many things, the ingenuity awakens and supplies its needs by imitation. Now, because I have thought that you had not hitherto had the slightest shadow of knowledge of what I have described in this treatise of mine, I have expanded and narrated things in greater detail than perhaps I might have done. For this reason I have also decided that I wish to tell you of several methods that can be used if you wish to mould, especially in making an intaglio* for a relief, t or in making another intaglio in bronze from either an intaglio or a relief. And I will tell how every relief reduces, itself from convex to concave and also how the relief is made from the intaglio. These works are first made of plaster or pastes or some other liquid thing that is soft when moulded and becomes hard either by drying out with heat or by shrinking with cold, such as tragacanth, plaster of Paris, sulphur, lead, wax, or similar things. And, in conclusion, we describe the method of making an intaglio from a solid. In making an intaglio you must first consider whether it is a large or small thing, figure or foliage, whether it is in demi- or bas-relief, and whether it is a thing that projects from the mould wholly or in part.

Jan 1, 1942

By Augustus Locke, Edward H. Perry

In the exploration of a copper deposit by drilling, obvious advantages are to be gained from a distinction between primary and secondary ore.' Perhaps the chief of these is the aid which such a distinction renders in determining where a given hole should stop. The copper assay, often a sufficient guide, cannot always be exclusively relied upon. Primary ores may extend downward indefinitely and may fluctuate in value independently of depth: if primary ores are consistently lean for a considerable vertical distance, there is little reason to expect that, still deeper, they will increase to the commercial grade; on the other hand, rich primary ores may persist uninterruptedly downward or may come in again below a lean interval. Secondary ores, however, have a comparatively limited vertical extent; in a large way enrichment decreases with depth and finally gives out. It follows then, that when a hole descends from profitable ore into ore of less than the commercial minimum, the practical significance of the situation depends upon whether this decrease results from a decrease in secondary enrichment or is a variation in primary content: if the copper of the ore passed through has been chiefly secondary, little is gained in the average case by extending the hole much below the point at which the commercial limit is reached; but, when copper is chiefly primary, due weight must be given to the possibility that, still deeper, the ore may again improve. The distinction between primary and secondary ore may of course be effected through an examination of the drillings. It has been found, however, to be facilitated by curves made by plotting assays against

Jan 1, 1916

Gentlemen:-I herewith present a report on some of the more important activities of the Institute for the year 1921. The present incumbent took. over the active management of the Secretary's office on the first of July and his, work was facilitated, while becoming acquainted with the routine of the office, by the constant and., kindly assistance of the former, Secretary, Mr. Stoughton, during the following three months, and that no interruption occurred inn its regular and smooth operation is due to him and to the Assistant Secretary, who has always been ready to give the benefit of his experience and assistance. MINING AND METALLURGY Through the efforts of President Ludlow and the generous assistance of one of our members, coupled with the excellent work of Major Barbour, MINING AND METALLURGY has, during recent months, shown constant improvement, which could not have taken place, however, had it not been, for the support given by a number of our contributing members. We have every reason to feel encouraged with respect to the quality of the publication and its cost of production. For the year 1921, the net cost of MINING AND METALLURGY was about fifty cents per member, per annum. Occasional letters are received criticizing the Board for producing this publication, but they are more than offset by letters of approval. When the, full purpose of the publication is appreciated, criticism ceases. The elimination of MINING AND METALLURGY and reversion to free distribution of all papers to all members, whether desired or not, would mean such a heavy additional expense that the number of papers would have to be much curtailed. The generous cooperation of members in sending for only such papers as they particularly desired has saved, the Institute thousands of dollars. A plan is being worked out that will materially assist in securing a prompt distribution to members of all pamphlets dealing with subjects in which they are especially interested.

Jan 2, 1922

By Charles R. Simcoe

The stress-strain curves in the microyield region for various Fe-C solid solutions shown by Davies and Ku are typical examples of parabolic curves defined by the expression a = kEn 111 These data, when replotted on log-log coordinates, as shown in Fig. 9, exhibit three essentially parallel straight lines. It is apparent that carbon increases the flow stresses, but does not affect the exponent n. In other words, the only factor in Eq. [1] affected by in in carbon content is the constant k. As Eq. [1] is written k is the stress at a strain of 1.0. This is unsatisfactory for examining data in the microyield region. Therefore, the equation can be altered to the form: to permit the use of the authors' microyield stress at a strain of 10-6 as k. Extrapolating the curves in Fig. 9 to a strain of 10-6 gives stress values of 2000, 3200, and 5400 psi for 0.008, 0.014, and 0.02 pct C, respectively. These values do not agree exactly with the authors' measured values, but this will not affect the following discussion. The effect of carbon content on the slopes of the stress-strain curves shown in Fig. 2 of the paper by Davies and Ku can be analyzed by differentiating Eq. [2] with respect to strain. Thus: where n is always less than 1.0. Since n is essen- tially constant as a function of carbon content for the data under discussion, the slopes of the stress-strain curves depend only on k and E. If the slopes are examined at various selected Plastic strains. i.e., 10-6, 10-5, and so forth, it follows from Eq. [3] that the dif-ferent slopes for the different carbon contents depend only on the different values of ke=10-6. Thus, the larger ke=10-6, the steeper the linear stress-strain curve will rise with increasing plastic strain. This

Jan 1, 1969

JESSE L. JONES,* Pittsburgh, Pa. (written discussion?).-The most important criterion on which judgment of the quality of manganese bronze can be based is its freedom from lead. Not over 0.03 per cent. of lead should be present in a good grade of manganese bronze. While it is not questioned that manganese bronze with a high tensile strength and considerable ductility can be made .from materials that will give a lead content of possibly 2 to 3 per cent., there is no doubt that such material, while it may machine readily, will be found to withstand the impact test very poorly, and hence be unsuited for high-grade engineering work. When lead is present in considerable amounts, it forms in small pools in the alloy and the material has little strength at these points; in fact, such spots in the metal are equivalent to nicks in a test bar as far as their effect on tensile strength is concerned. A further objection to a high lead content is the ease with which it oxidizes and its consequent tendency to produce dross. A second characteristic of a high-grade manganese bronze is a low content of manganese. This should not exceed 0.05 per cent.; in fact, very many of the best grades of manganese bronze show, on analysis, only a trace of manganese or no manganese whatever. Manganese is a deoxidizer and its ready oxidation protects the other metals of the alloy; but if it is present in large amounts it will produce considerable manganese dioxide, which does not separate readily from the molten alloy and may produce black specks or drossy spots and render the obtaining of clean castings difficult. Aluminum should be present in a good grade of manganese bronze in only very small amounts. A content of 0.10 per cent. aluminum is ample. Larger amounts have a tendency to increase the shrinkage of the alloy, to give the ingots and castings a white, scruffy appearance, and to prevent the beautiful, golden, oxidization color characteristic of high-grade manganese bronze and a most excellent indication of quality. The work that the author of the paper has done is valuable from a con- servation standpoint, and it will supplement, in a marked degree, the advances that have been made by a number of manufacturers of manganese bronze in utilizing the turnings from this material. A number of firms have succeeded in making a very good grade of ingot metal from turnings and other light scrap, obtaining a tensile strength and elongation

Jan 4, 1919

By Carl Zapffe

In ten years the manganiferous iron ores of the Cuyuna District have become impor-tant in the iron industry. By Dec. 31, 1923, 4,735,806 tons had been produced. Dur-ing the war, the low-phosphorus black ores were in demand; now the high-phosphorus low,-silica brown ores are favored. It is estimated that the reserves of these ores are ample for some time. A RISE in less than ten years from obscurity into great prominence economically, tersely summarizes the history and status of the Cuyuna manganiferous iron ores. The Cuyuna district produces and ships mostly high-phosphorus iron ore, but the annual production of manganiferous iron ore is increasing rapidly and productions from individual mines are becoming more regular and more dependable as to grades and tonnages. This ore bids fair to become, shortly, the principal product of the district and is responsible for the present economic prominence of this district. The iron ores of the district have been described, by the author and others, in many publications and will not be discussed here. Lately the manganiferous iron ores have been given some attention, but the range and variations of chemical composition of the ores, the principal physical characteristics of the ores and their deposits, the relative importance of the different ores and their possibilities in future developments, and the life of the respective reserves have not been discussed. It is impossible to give all of this information with the positiveness necessary for it to constitute a reliable guide for investment or even for future mine development. Each property and each party presents a special case and deserves critical consideration. We are dealing with special ores and always with a set of new conditions. Sufficient information of a general nature can be given, however, to indicate the reason for and the trend of the presently augmented developments in the district.

Jan 12, 1924

By J. D. Hunt, D. T. J. Hurle

A uariety of eutectic structures are formed in faceted/nonfaceted eutectics. The various structures are explained in terms of the absence or presence of small facets in the liquid groove. Regular structures are produced when, for purely geometric reasons facels cannot form. The presence of a facet in the liquid groove leads to the formation of an irregular or a cell-like complex regular structure, due to the relative immobility of the groove. A classification of eutectics was proposed by Hunt and jackson, based on the presence or absence of facets on the primary phases (the absence of facets may be predicted from the dimensionless entropy of melting2). Eutectics were divided into three groups: 1) eutectics in which both phases grow in a nonfaceted manner; 2) eutectics in which one phase grows faceted, the other nonfaceted; 3) eutectics in which both phases grow faceted. It was suggested that regular1 rodlike or lamellar structures1 should be formed in the first group, that irregular or complex regular structures1 should be formed in the' second, and that irregular structures1 should be formed in the third. Recently it has been shown that the structural classification is incomplete. Regular rodlike structures (InSb-NiSb eutectic3), or broken lamellar structure (Bi-Zn eutectic, Fig. 8), are formed in alloys of the second group when the faceted phase has a large volume fraction. Hunt and jackson' argued that regular structures could form in faceted/nonfaceted systems, but that such structures would be unstable in the presence of microfacets on the lamella of the faceting phase, because the growth rate at a point on such a facet would depend on the kinetic undercooling at the point of nu-cleation on the facet, and not on the local kinetic undercooling. In these circumstances it would not be possible to consistently balance the compositional and kinetic undercooling over a lamellar structure and thus obtain a stable isothermal interface. In this paper we discuss in detail the origin of the various structures formed in faceted/nonfaceted systems, pointing out that the most important factor promoting the formation of a regular structure is the absence of a facet in the liquid groove. 1) FACET FORMATION IN SINGLE-PHASE MATERIALS Facets form when there is an energy barrier for the addition of a new solid layer on an existing solid. When a barrier is present,2 growth proceeds by the lateral movement of steps across a crystallographic plane. The rate-controlling stage of the process occurs when the step is first formed. Hulme and Mullin6 have shown that faceting in single-phase materials can only occur when both interface curvatures are convex with respect to the solid and when the surface is tangential to the facet plane. When even one of the curvatures is concave a facet does not form because new layers of solid from adjacent regions can always feed the facet plane, Fig. 1. Growth under these conditions is then as easy as elsewhere. Similar considerations will apply to eutectic growth; consequently the shape of the faceted phase is extremely important. 2) LAMELLAR SPACING CHANGES IN EUTECTICS Jackson and Hunt7 have shown that the interface undercooling AT of a growing lamellar interface (neglecting kinetic undercooling) is related to the lamellar spacing, A, and growth velocity, v, by an expression of the form: where m, Ql, and nL are constants of the system given in Ref. 7. Eq. [I] is plotted for fixed v in Fig. 2. Jackson and Hunt postulate that a regular eutectic grows near, but to the right of the minimum in the AT vs A curve. They argue that the spacing cannot be to the left of the minimum because the interface is then unstable to fluctuations in A. It cannot grow too far to the right, because when the spacing becomes too wide an isothermal interface can no longer be maintained over the large-volume-fraction phase.7 It is argued that during any change in growth rate the lamellar spacing remains in the permitted range by the movement of lamellar faults. When the spacing is too wide, the fault, shown in Fig. 3, moves to the left; when the spacing is too narrow it moves to the right. The faults, however, have to be formed. heir formation has been shown to occur when local regions deviate considerably from the spacing defined by the lamellar When the spacing is locally too narrow (it passes to the left of the minimum, Fig. 2), pinching off of the narrow phase occurs. When the spacing is locally too wide, the interface on the large volume-fraction phase can no longer be maintained as an iso-

Jan 1, 1969

By T. C. Atchison, W. I. Duvall, D. E. Fogelson

Dr. Clark has given an excellent resum6 of the recent theoretical re- search work that has been done on the generation and propagation of stress waves in various types of media.1 Unfortunately the dynamic properties of rock do not fit the assumed properties of the idealized media. As a result, none of the theoretical solutions for the generation of stress waves by applied pressures to interior boundaries of the spherical or cylindrical cavity appear to be completely satisfactory to explain experimental data. This fact does not mean that the theoretical work is in error. It simply means that the appropriate dynamic properties of rock have not been taken into account in the present theoretical derivations. Because of the difficulty of theoretically accounting for the crushing and cracking that takes place when explosives are detonated in spherical or cylindrical cavities, it seems advisable that future theoretical studies should attempt to separate the generation of stress waves from the propagation of stress waves. Perhaps if these two problems are separated, we may be able to solve one of them satisfactorily so that theory and experimental data agree. Dr. Clark's resumé of the research work on scaling and crater formation by point charges is aimed at obtaining a basic understanding of the physical theory of rock breakage, wave generation, and wave propagation. A cursory reading of Dr. Clark's paper shows that there is very little information summarized that can be used by the practicing engineer in the field of blasting. When problems become too difficult to solve theoretically it is always helpful to take the empirical approach and collect experi-

Jan 1, 1967

By M. L. Leonardi

THE Searles Lake orebody is located in the north- west corner of San Bernardlno County. It is a dry lake bed with an exposed salt surface covering an area of 12 square miles. Recoverable mineral values are contained in the mother liquor below the surface of the lake. Stratification in the lake bed has separated the brine into two bodies which dlffer in composition. Although liquor is processed from both bodies, this paper will discuss only the upper structure brine. Fig. 1 illustrates a typical cross-section of the two commercial orebodies. The orebody is composed of a porous salt deposit 70 to 90 ft deep. The upper structure is separated from the lower orebody by a 12 to 16-ft thick impervious mud seam, as shown in Fig. 1. These salt structures are composed of 55 pct solid-phase salts and 45 pct voids which are filled with the original mother liquor. The brine wells are drilled to the separating mud seam and cased to wlthin 10 ft of the bottom. This is done to draw the brine horizontally from the bottom of the structure. It is pumped with multistage centrifugal pumps Into the plant at the rate of 3 milllon gal per day. The first process that was successful was developed by Charles P. Grimwood for the recovery of potash. The first evaporator unit was built in 1916. In the early twenties, Dr. Morse worked out a process for the recovery of borax. This made the cycle more efficient, as the end liquor could be sent back to the evaporators rather than being sewered. In 1926 the American Potash & Chemical Corp. was formed as a new company, and the entire plant was remodeled. The plant at that time produced only potash, borax, and boric acid. Since then the American Potash & Chemical Corp. has added processes for the production of USP boric acid, refined potash, sulphate of potash, soda ash, salt cake, lithium concentrates, Pyrobor (Na2B4O7) bromine, phosphoric acid, and lithium carbonate. The main plant cycle may be depicted as a closed cycle, see Fig. 2. The raw material, brine, enters the cycle to be mixed with the end liquor, known as ML2, from the pentahydrate borax crystallizers. The mixture of these two forms evaporator feed. Evaporator feed is pumped to the evaporators where it is concentrated, with respect to potash and borax. In the same operation water vapor, sodium chloride, salt trap salt, and clarifier salt are removed from the cycle, see Fig. 3 for potash plant product. The evaporators produce a concentrated liquor which contains approximately 19.5 pct KCI. This liquor is diluted as it enters the potash plant to keep all salts, except potash (KCI, 97.0 pct) in solution. Here the moist potash leaves the cycle at 100°F. The end liquor, known as ML1, is pumped to the borax pentahydrate crystallizers, where crude borax pentahydrate is crystallized and removed as solid phase. The ML2 is sent back to pan feed to be reconcen-trated, see page 207. Note that the only water to leave the cycle is in the form of vapor and moisture in the solid phase products crystallized. Thus there is a constantly cycling volume of liquor to which brine is added. Since the volume of liquor cycled does not increase, the brine is, in effect, evaporated to dryness. This would be true if there were no liquor losses. But, as in all processes, there are always unavoidable and accidental losses which reduce the volume of cycling liquors. The losses must be made up with brine. The concentration process is the beginning and the end of the cycling liquors. In this process there are three evaporator units of the triple effect counter-current type, that is, there are three pans in each unit and the heat flows in one direction while the liquor flows the other way through the evaporator pans, see Fig. 4. During the evaporation process a great deal of sodium chloride, burkeite, some sodium carbonate monohydrate, and a little lithium-sodium phosphate are crystallized. The volume of these salts is so great that they must be removed as they are formed or the process would come to a standstill. Brine and recycled mother liquor No. 2 enter the third effect evaporator pan from the evaporator feed storage tanks, see Fig. 5. A steady flow of liquor is removed from the bottom of the No. 3 pan and is pumped through the No. 3 cone of the salt trap, a clear liquor being returned to the NO. 3 pan. A portion of this clear liquor is pumped to the second effect pan. This process is repeated in each pan. The liquor from the No. 2 pan is pumped through the No. 2 salt trap cone and returned to the No. 2 pan.

Jan 1, 1955

By W. F. Wheeler

IN the study of the coals of Illinois now being carried on by the State Geological Survey, an attempt is being made to determine the most satisfactory basis of comparison between different coals. The following discussion is based upon work done for the survey in the laboratories of the State University and under the general direction of Prof. S. W. Parr. " Pure coal " has been defined by Mr. A. Bement1 as ash- and moisture-free coal, and the use of this " pure coal " as a basis for comparing different bituminous coals has lately been much discussed among engineers in the middle West. By some the B.t.u. of the pure coal is being used to check calorimetric results, and to calculate the calorific value of different coal-samples from the same seam, for which purposes it is necessary to assume-first, that the composition and calorific value of pure coal from different parts of the same coal-seam are uniform, and, second, that these values remain constant after the coal is mined, both of which assumptions there are reasons to believe are inconsistent with the facts. Certain variables are included in pure coal, as ordinarily defined, and disregard of them may lead to serious error. In any event, where delicate shades of difference are involved, no sure interpretation of results can be made, unless these variables be eliminated. As a basis of comparison between coals, ash- and moisture-free coal is much to be preferred to " dry coal," and still more is it to be preferred to " moist coal," as ordinarily reported in analyses. There are, however, two constituents other than ash and moisture which are similar in effect to them, and which

Jan 1, 1908

Prof. HEnRy Louis, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Eng. (communication to the Secretary*):—I welcome Mr. Hammond's paper as an attempt to give definiteness to the best modern professional practice. Such a codification of our professiollal ethics is urgently needed, seeing how widely the views of nlining engineers direr on some of the points raised; for example, I have no hesitation in performing a class of work, as to which Mr. Hammond seems to entertain some doubts, and, on the other hand, I strongly condemn a practice which he appears to recommend. I have not the least hesitation in making reports for vendors of mining-properties, and am constantly doing so; the best justification for this practice may be found in the fact that such reports have been repeatedly accepted by buyers as giving a correct representation of the facts of the case, which is all that should be demanded from any report. On the other hand, Mr. Hammond advocates that mining engineers should take payment for their reports in shares of a company to be floated upon the basis of such reports. I hold that this is ethically wrong, as even themost honest of men is liable to be unconsciously biased under these conditions. Indeed, I go much further, and maintain that a mining engineer who reports or advises upon mining-properties should never hold any mining-shares at all, or be himself interested in any mine, and this has been my consistent practice for many years. A man who hold shares in a mine, and is called upon to report upon a neighboring property or a similar mine, can never be wholly unbiased; and even if he could be, he would always lay himself open to the suspicion that he was giving a favorable report 80 as to enhance the value of the property in which he himself is interested, or an unfavorable report so as to stifle competition. It is quite as bad for the manager of a mine or the consulting manager to be interested, because he will have access

Jan 1, 1910

By Wilhelm in der Schmitten

A necessary condition for a uniaxial stress distribution in compression testing is that the specimen end surfaces make full contact with the apparatus compression plates. In addition all compression surfaces must be machined perpendicularly to the loading axis. In general this condition is not sufficiently fulfilled in a simple apparatus. Therefore on application of the load the compression plate may first touch the specimen at one point only. This may cause crumbling of the specimen if the material under investigation is brittle (e.g., ionic crystals). It also precludes a precise study of the beginning of deformation as the effective cross sectional area is unknown. In addition a complex stress state is set up which renders quantitative work impossible, e.g., on dislocation density and arrangement as a function of stress. To overcome these difficulties a "self-adjusting" upper compression plate is required. A simple and reliable method of achieving this is shown in Fig. 1: A steel hemisphere is placed on the specimen. As soon as the compression plate (which no longer needs precise machining) makes contact with this hemisphere the load is uniformly distributed over the whole specimen surface, and a homogeneous uniaxial state of stress results. An advantage of the method is that the loading is always central, even when the specimen surface is not parallel to the compression plate (Fig. 1, dashed line). Therefore to a first approximation a uniaxial state of stress is maintained if the misorientation of the specimen end surface is small. Two typical stress strain curves of identically prepared sodium chloride crystals are shown in Fig. 2; curve 1 was taken without and curve II with the hemisphere under otherwise identical conditions. The improvement in the accuracy of defining the beginning of elastic and plastic deformation is clearly indicated. The writer wishes to thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for financial support, and Professor P. Haasen for providing facilities for this work.

Jan 1, 1962

By George Smith

THE Secretary of the Interior in his recent report to the President has defined the new public-land policy, which is in fact "but a new application of an old policy." His words may be more acceptable on this subject of land classification than the repetition of phrases which have served some of us for several years. Secretary Lane says of the past: "Congress has always been most generous as to the disposition of the national lands. . . . There was land for all, and it was the government's glad function to distribute it and let those profit who could. . . . And this generous donor was not so petty as to discriminate between kinds of lands, the uses to which they could be put, or the purposes which those might have who got them. Land is land, save when it contains minerals; this was roughly the broad principle adopted. To classify was a task too difficult or not worth while. The lands would classify themselves when they arrived in individual ownership. And so the door was opened for monopoly and for fraud. Of the reaction and the evolution of a new policy, the Secretary continues: "A reaction was inevitable. If lands were to be withdrawn from public service, why might not the government do the withdrawing itself? The old philosophy that `land is land' was evidently unfitted to a country where land is sometimes timber and sometimes coal; indeed, where land may mean water-water for tens of thousands of needy neighboring acres. For the lands of the West differ as men do, in character and condition and degree of usefulness. We had not recognized this fact when we said `land is land.' Lands fitted for dry farming and lands that must forever lie unused without irrigation; lands that are worthless save for their timber; lands that are rich in grasses and lands that. are poor in grasses; lands underlain with the non-precious minerals essential to industry or agriculture; lands that are invaluable for reservoir or dam sites these varieties may be multiplied, and each new variety emphasizes the fact that each kind of land has its own future and affords its own opportunity for contributing to the nation's wealth.

Jan 6, 1914

By J. R. Cahoon, H. W. Paxton

The mechanical properties of unidirectionally solidified A1(rich)-Mg and A1(rich)-Cu castings containing up to 15 wt pct solute have been determined with re -spect to the volume fraction of interdendritic eutectic. Pioperties were determined in the directions pumllel and Perpendicular to that of solidification; the volume fraction of eutectic was varied between the "as-cast" and equilibrizcm amounts by approperiate heat treatment following solidification. The principles of fiber strengthened composites and dispersion strengthened materials are adapted to explain the mechanical properties of these castings. It is generally accepted that castings often have inferior mechanical properties when con~pared to wrought products. However, there is little quantitative data available concerning the factors which make apparently sound castings weak and/or brittle. The relative ease and inexpensiveness of the casting process have always been attractive and, therefore, an understanding of the factors which contribute to the mechanical properties of castings would seem desirable. Such an understanding may lead to an improvement in the mechanical properties to an extent where castings would become competitive in applications where presently only wrought products are considered to have the requisite properties. Such an understanding could also improve the reliability of present cast products. Much of the recent research on castings has centered about determining the extent of segregation in cast alloys. Macrosegregation, particularly inverse segregation, has been studied in some detail 1-8 and a considerable understanding of microsegregation has been obtained.9'10 The effect of solidification rate on dendrite spacing and on the amount of interdendritic eutectic in binary alloys has been established, particularly for Al(rich)-Cu alloys.""0 However, the extension of these ideas to relate the amount of interdendritic eutectic, concentration gradients, micro-segregation, dendrite spacings, and so forth, to the rnechanical properties has been limited. Dean and spear" have related the mechanical properties of an Al-Si-Mg alloy, A356-T62, to the dendrite spacing and have shown that the mechanical properties improve with decreasing dendrite spacing. Passmore et al.12 have shown that annealing at high temperature improves the mechanical properties of Al(rich)-Cu al- loys and Archer and Kempf 13 have shown that an Al-1 pct Mg-1.75 pct Si alloy behaves in a similar manner. Ahearn and Quigley 14 have shown that high temperature homogenization also enhances the mechanical properties of an SAE 4330 steel. However, in the above investigations, no underlying reasons were suggested for the improvement in mechanical properties. The purpose of the present investigation is to relate the mechanical properties of castings to some of the solichfication variables and to derive some equations by which calculations of the mechanical properties may be attempted. In particular, the effect of the amount of interdendritic eutectic and the effect of stress direction with respect to that of solidification on the mechanical properties will be considered. The Al(rich)-Mg and Al(rich)-Cu binary alloy systems were chosen for study. The A1-Mg system was chosen because its constitutional relationships are such that large volunles of eutectic (up to 24 vol pct) may be obtained in the as-cast condition and then be completely dissolved by subsequent heat treatment at about 440°C. This allows a comprehensive study relating the mechanical properties of castings to the amount of interdendritic eutectic. Also the Al(rich)-Mg eutectic is almost a single phase 15 which should make the experimental results more amenable to theoretical interpretation and calculation. The A1-Cu system was chosen for study because of the large amount of related information available concerning segregation, dendrite spacing, and so forth. Unidirectionally solidified castings were used throughout the investigation so that the effect of solidification direction with respect to the direction of applied stress could be determined. THEORETICAL It is well known that upon solidification of binary alloy castings, the nonequilibrium amount of eutectic which forms is given by 10 where fe o is the weight fraction of eutectic, Cs is the solid solubility of solute at the eutectic temperature, k is the equilibrium partition coefficient, and C, is the average composition of the alloy. In the development of Eq. [I], it is assumed that the effects of inverse segregation and diffusion in the solid are negligible, and that no porosity is present. If the casting is homogenized at a high temperature for a long period of time, some (or all) of the eutectic is dissolved and the amount of eutectic for this "equilibrium" condition may be calculated directly from the constitutional diagram. By appropriate intermediate annealing, the

Jan 1, 1970

By C. T. Van Winkle

MINE fires are always dangerous and are frequently accompanied by loss of life during the period of confusion which is apt to follow their discovery. In metal mines, fires may result from the accidental ignition of some combustible material, or they may be of spontaneous origin resulting from the rapid decomposition of sulphide. They occur frequently enough to demonstrate the need of some special equipment and a general plan for controlling them, in addition to measures for their prevention. Nearly all the large copper mines have had fires, and the methods of fighting them have been well described in recent papers, notably-by C. L. Berrien,1 R.. E. Tally,2 and others in discussion. The Copper Queen mine has many shafts, which are connected by underground workings. The deeper parts are ventilated by fans, but in the shallower portions natural ventilation through numerous connecting raises or shafts is sufficient. There have been several fires in the past few years, of which all are extinguished but one, and that is under control. These notes cover particularly the preparations that are being made-to check a new fire, partially or temporarily, and to facilitate the escape of workmen in the interval before a definite plan of fighting it can be established. A fire may occur in a shaft or station, or in some working father away. In case of fire in an upcast shaft, the gas would escape to the surface and the immediate result would probably not be dangerous to workmen, as they could escape by other shafts. In a downcast shaft, however, the gas would be distributed very rapidly throughout a large portion of the mine, and men might easily be trapped and asphyxiated. A fire in mine workings, drift, raise, or stope, would be dangerous in a degree, but the draft there is likely to be less strong than in a shaft and probably a smaller area would be invaded by the fire gases.

Jan 1, 1918

By Charles Albert Ashburner

THE stratigraphical geology of the vicinity of Buffalo has always been of great interest on account of its bearing on the origin and history of the Niagara-river gorge, between the Falls and Lake Ontario. Recently, however, the character and thickness of the strata which underlie Buffalo have acquired more practical and economic importance on account of their relation to the possible occurrence of natural gas in commercial quantity near the Niagara river. In a paper presented at the Duluth meeting (l887), on " Petroleum and Natural Gas in New york State" (Trans., xvi., 906), I gave a brief description of the four wells which had been drilled by the Buffalo Cement Company between 1883 and that time. One of these wells is 1305 fret deep; and, at the time that my paper was finally revised for the Transactions (June, 1888), it was still an open question whether the drill in this well had reached the Niagara limestone, or had penetrated the Medina sandstones and shales, which latter are boldly exposed in a number of localities in the district, hut more particularly along the Niagara river in the vicinity of Lewiston and Qneenstown. The difficulty in this geological question at Buffalo has lain in the fact that no reliable determination could be made of the thickness of the strata included between the Corniferous limestone, immediately below which the drilling of the Buffalo gas-wells was commenced, and the Niagara limestone. On the other hand, the strata included between the latter limestone and the middle portion of the Medina sandstones and shales, have been minutely measured and studied in the Niagara gorge below the Falls by many American and European geologists. The first reliable section of these strata was constructed by Professor Eaton, and published in 1824 in his report on the Geological and Agricultural Survey of the District adjoining the Erie Canal. This section, extending from Lake Erie to Lewiston, is complete, with the exception that no thickness is given to the Salina or Onoudaga salt group,

Jan 1, 1889

By W. W. Odell

THE sulfur content of coal is perhaps more important in the manufacture of illuminating gas than in any other coal-using industry. Whether the gas is made by the distillation of coal in retorts or ovens or by steaming incandescent coal or coke in the water-gas process, a portion of the sulfur present in the fuel always passes into the crude gas. Practically all the sulfur that remains in the finished gas is transformed into sulfur dioxide (SO2) when the gas is burned. Sulfur dioxide is a pungent suffocating gas and, if present in the air in any perceptible amount, is deleterious to health and comfort and damaging to house furnishings. So universally is this recognized that laws regulating the amount of sulfur that may be permitted to remain in the gas are very generally in force. The capacity of a plant to purify gas frequently limits the selection of coal for gas making. This condition may arise from different causes. Some plants were originally designed to handle a certain grade of low-sulfur gas coal, and very little leeway was allowed for growth or for the use of inferior coals. Other plants, when built, had ample capacity to purify gas from relatively higher sulfur coals, but their output has grown so rapidly that their purifying capacity is now limited and only- the low-sulfur coals can be handled. There is a great quantity of coal in the United States that would satisfy the requirements of the gas manufacturer, were it not for the high sulfur content. The coals containing less than 1 per cent. sulfur are becoming scarcer year by year and, in time, the gas industry will probably be compelled to use coals that are now considered out of the question.

Jan 9, 1919

By R. E. Reed-Hill

A simple accurate graphical method for orienting fcc crystals using (111) slip traces on a single surface is described. Solutions placing the pole of the surface in a unit stereographic triangle are obtained using a Wulffnet, a (111) standard projection showing the four (111) planes, and a (111) standard projection ruled into unit stereogmphic triangles. The multiplicity of solutions is described in relation to this method. AN accurate, rapid single-surface technique for orienting fcc crystals, using (111) slip or twin traces, has been a matter of continuing interest, as evidenced by the periodic appearance of papers on this subject.'-4 This note presents a new method possessing some advantages over those previously reported. It is an analog to the technique for hcp metals5 where the solution is based upon a stereographic rotation of the specimen surface on a (0002) standard projection that contains the planes of the possible features that might account for the observed traces. In the hexagonal solution, the axis of rotation is the basal-plane trace in the surface. In the fcc case, the axis of rotation is one of the observed ( 111) slip or twin traces. It has been observed that the solution is greatly facilitated if the indicated movements of the (111) traces during the rotation of the surface are plotted directly on a paper copy of a Wulff net as shown schematically in Fig. 1. The trace selected to represent the axis of rotation is assumed to fall at the north-south poles of the Wulff net. The directions of the other traces are then plotted as points at the proper angles around one-half of the basic circle of the net. The loci of points corresponding to the movements of these traces (directions) during a 90-deg rotation of the surface, about the polar axis of the net, are then easily and accurately drawn by following the appropriate small circles on the Wulff net. The solutions to the problem are obtained with the aid of a (111) standard projection of the (111) planes, see Fig. 2. This is normally a Xerox copy of a carefully drawn master made on high-quality tracing paper. The (111) standard projection is superimposed over the Wulff net and rotated about its center until the points of intersection of the loci of surface traces, drawn on the Wulff net, and the great circles representing the (111) traces, all lie along a common meridian of the Wulff net as demonstrated in Fig. 3. This latter great circle represents a possible position of the surface. The pole of this plane is then plotted on the (111) standard projection. Its location in a unit stereographic triangle may be readily obtained by superimposing (over the standard projection) another tracing paper (111) standard projection subdivided into unit stereographic triangles. The result of this last operation is shown in Fig. 4. MULTIPLICITY OF THE SOLUTIONS The maximum possible number of (111) traces on a single grain surface is four. Any one may be selected as the axis about which the surface is rotated. Corresponding to each such choice are three possible surface-pole orientations, related to each other by a simple 120-deg rotation about the pole of the (111) basic circle. This is a direct result of the threefold symmetry of the (111) standard projection. Since each of the four rotations will normally give a different set of three-pole positions, there are, accordingly, twelve possible solutions. Each of these twelve solutions places the surface pole in the same relative position in a stereographic triangle so that all are crystallo-graphically equivalent. Accordingly, only a single solution is required to obtain a basic orientation of the crystal. It should be noted, however, that the orientations obtained by reflecting* any of these twelve orien- *The reflected orientations may be obtained by a 90-deg rotation of the opposite sense to that shown in Fig. 1. This rotation places the correspond-ing trace loci in the lower hemisphere of the Wulff net rather than in the upper hemisphere. tations through the surface are also possible orientations that could account for the surface traces. Thus, a given set of four traces always corresponds to a pair of basic orientations related by reflection through the specimen surface. This ambiguity can only be re-

Jan 1, 1967

By AIME AIME

MANY producers have held that the only workable quicksilver ore is easily recognized by its .cinnabar content. In most cases this is true. A noticeable exception is a. particular opalite deposit where part of the ore now being mined in considerable quantity shows only the yellow mineral, calomel, or its alteration products. This mineral, on exposure to the sunlight, quickly becomes coated with gray or black layers that may be removed by scraping to reveal the yellow mineral beneath. The blackening of this mercuric chloride on exposure to sunlight shows reaction to form metallic mercury, which is usually plainly present in this class of ore.

Jan 1, 1929