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By C. E. Williams, G. H. Bruce

The trend toward deeper drilling, together with the attcndant increase in power requirements for circulation of the drilling fluid, has emphasized the need for a critical examination of the factors affecting the removal of bit cuttings from the hole by the drilling fluid. The ability of drilling fluids to lift cuttings is called their carrying capacity. A series of laboratory and field experiments has been conducted to determine the minimrim annular velocity necessary to remove cuttings, and to investigate the effects of properties of drilling fluids on their carrying capacities. Consideration of the results of these experiments led to the following conclusions: 1. Turbulent flow in the well annulus is most desirable from the standpoint of cutting removal. 2. Low viscosity and low gel are advantageous in removing cuttings. 3. Increase in mud weight is effective in increasing carrying capacity. 4. The carrying capacity is higher when the pipe is rotated than when it is not. 5. If turbulent flow can be maintained, an annular velocity slightly higher than the slip velocity of the largest cuttings to be transported should keep the bore hole clean. This implies velocities of 100 to 125 ft per minute rather than the presently used 175 to 225 ft per minute. INTRODUCTION Power Savings by Reduction of Annular Velocities A large portion of the power expended in drilling operations is consumed in circulating the drilling fluid. An important factor in establishing the rate of mud circulation is the minimum velocity in the annulus necessary to remove bit cuttings. Empirically, it has been found that average annular mud velocities of about 200 ft per minute will remove cuttings. It was not definitely known, however, whether annular velocities of about 200 ft per minute were just above the minimum necessary to remove cuttings, or whether such velocities could be materially reduced without sacrifice of the ability of the mud to remove cuttings. It is apparent that if annular velocities could be reduced without impairment of cutting removal, a considerable saving in power requirements would result. Need for Research on Carrying Capacity The ability of a drilling fluid to transport cuttings is called its carrying capacity. Although it has been recognized that the carrying capacity of a mud is affected by mud properties such as viscosity and density1,2,3,4 there have been various views in the industry as to the effects of these mud properties on carrying capacity. The economic importance of the problem of carrying capacity and the scarcity of information on the subject indicated that research on the problem was needed. THE FACTORS AFFECTING CARRYING CAPACITY Qualitative Determination of Factors The mechanism of cutting transport is closely related to that involved in the separation of material by settling processes. A considerable amount of research has been done on settling problems, and discussions of sedimentation theory can be found in standard texts.5,6 Consideration of the information available from these sources, together with consideration of the mechanism of cutting transport, leads to the conclusion that the factors affecting carrying capacity are the dimensions of the system, the physical properties of the cuttings. and the physical properties of the drilling fluid. system Dimensions and Their Effect The dimensions of the fluid circulating system of importance to carrying capacity are the bore hole size, drill pipe size, pump capacity, and pump speed. These dimensions determine the annular velocity of the drilling fluid. Physical Properties and Their Effects The physical properties involved in the interaction between mud and cuttings are the density and shape of the cuttings and the density, viscosity and gel strength of the drilling fluid. The effect of the density factor on carrying capacity is fairly obvious; high density difference between cuttings and fluid results in a low buoyant force and therefore decreases carrying capacity. The effect of cutting shape is less obvious. Although

Jan 1, 1951

ENGINEERS AVAILABLE (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute by members or other persons introduced by members.) Member, Cornell M. E., graduate, aged 31, married. Will soon complete 2 years' engagement in the Russian oil fields. Eight years' practical experience in drilling for and producing oil. Can speak Russian fluently and some French and German. Open for engagement. Interview after August 15, in the United States. No. 299. Member, graduate mining engineer. Married. Aged 38. For past 6 years, general superintendent of large silver mine in. Mexico. Desires connection with responsible mining company, preferably in the United States. Has had 15 years' experience in the United States and Mexico, including mine engineering, sampling, examinations,' milling and mine superintendence. No. 312. Metallurgist, 4 years' experience in electric furnace operation on steel, ferro-alloys and smelting of ores, both practical and research, desires position as metallurgist or superintendent. No. 314. Member, technical mining graduate. 5 years' experience in coal and metal mines and construction work. Married. Aged 27. Employed at present. Interview in Salt Lake City or Denver. No. 316.

Jan 10, 1916

IN THE early evening of October 15, 1954, a large specially designed truck, convoyed by a second smaller one, arrived at Silver Bell, Arizona, completing a ten-hour 110-mile journey from Phoenix. The big truck was driven through gaps left in a previously prepared concrete foundation, the load was jacked up, the large girders that constituted the bed of the truck were pulled away, and the load was then lowered into place on the foundation. A crew of two men, the two truck drivers, finished the job in a little more than an hour. When they were through, a complete and attractive three-bedroom house, prefabricated in Phoenix, was almost ready for occupancy. About all that remained to do was to connect the utilities-water, electricity, plumbing, and gas. The kitchen and bathroom equipment and appointments were superior in every respect, and there was a built-in car port for the automobile of the prospective residents. This family domicile was one of more than one hundred, each averaging about $8,000 in cost, that the American Smelting and Refining Company has provided for its employees engaged in mining and milling 7,500 tons per day of low-grade Porphyry copper ore. Aside from the fact that it is more economical-partly because of the variety of union craftsmen needed to build and equip a house-to do the work in a city 110 miles away, the significant point is the high quality of housing that is provided for what may be called in nostalgic vein the "mining camp" of 1955. Silver Bell is typical of all the Porphyries in this respect though the community is relatively small. At San Manuel

Jan 1, 1957

By W. A. Weimer

Australia, the land of the kangaroo, koala, and the platypus, is often referred to as "down under" by people of the Northern Hemisphere. It is a tropical land and has very little freezing and thawing; consequently the in-place rocks are near the surface, exposing some of the unaltered mineralization. This type of geology induces the prospector and miner to search for minerals which lie at his feet (or not far under them), and it is adapted to open cut surface mining. Some of the rules and regulations applicable to exploration and mining in Australia will be interesting and helpful towards understanding acquisitions and control of minerals. They are common and basic to the United Kingdom. Throughout Australia practically all minerals are the property of the Crown (government), and their exploration and exploitation are administered by the state Department of Mines. Surface owners, or land lessees, do not control the minerals. Their mining codes protect the prospector. If a prospector obtains a permit, "miner's right," it entitles him to search for minerals any place within the state, only holding him responsible for damages he may incur in his exploration. If he finds something of interest, he may then apply for an authority to prospect, which gives greater latitude and protection in his work to develop the find. However, he will be obligated to spend a minimum specified amount to exclusively hold an area. He will be required to furnish maps, analyses, and geological data to the Mines Department. Presuming that he has located something economically valuable for mining, he may then apply for a mining lease or be granted a franchise to produce a specific material. It will contain a quantity clause so that the area cannot be held indiscriminately without production of the mineral. The states have Bureaus of Mineral Resources, Geology, and Geophysics that keep constantly abreast of the search for minerals and often do much of the drilling and deep boring to promote geological study for the states.

Jan 1, 1969

By R. N. Hoffman

A new technique for determining capillary pressure curves has been developed and tested. The technique differs from previously reported centrifuge techniques in that the centrifuge is slowly accelerated from zero to the maximum desired speed rather than being held constant at particular, progressively higher speeds. An important advantage of this technique over other methods of determining capillary pressure curves is the short time required to obtain the desired amount of data over the chosen pressure range. For example, to obtain 30 data points between 1.2 and 104 psig with a 1.55-in. long, 3/4-in. diameter core using a brine-air system, 6.6 hours were required with this technique. An equally important development of this paper is an analytic method for the conversion of the data from the centrifuge experiment to capillary pressure curve data. Previously there has been only an approximate conversion available. Although the capillary pressure curves determined by this technique appear to be as accurate as those determined by other techniques, the accuracy could be improved if certain variables, not treated in this experiment, were investigated. Among these are the dynamic distortion of the centrifuge equipment and imperfect initial saturation of the cores. INTRODUCTION Pirson 1 defines capillary pressure in a porous medium as "the differential pressure that exists between two fluid phases at their interfaces when they are distributed under static equilibrium within a porous material". Capillary pressure in rocks is known to be a function of fluid saturation, among other things, and a capillary pressure curve is defined for the purposes of this paper as a plot of the capillary pressure-wetting phase saturation relationship for a particular rock sample. Several methods are used for determining capillary pressure curves for small rock cores. Prominent among these are the semi-permeable barrier, mercury injection, and, to a lesser extent, centrifuge methods. The semi-permeable barrier method is currently the most popular. It features simplicity in both execution and the mathematical conversion of the experimental data into a capillary pressure curve. The main disadvantages of the semi-permeable barrier method are the time required — as long as two months — to obtain several points for the curve, and a fairly low maximum pressure before breakthrough of the non-wetting phase into the barrier occurs, for example, about 32 psig for a brine-air system. It is for these reasons that other methods such as the centrifuge method have been introduced. High accelerations and the absence of a barrier result in quicker attainment of saturation equilibrium at a given pressure. However, the centrifuge method involves much more expensive equipment and more difficult procedures and calculations than does the barrier method. The purpose of this investigation has been to improve the equipment and procedures of the centrifuge method and to develop an analytic method for the conversion of the experimental data into a capillary pressure curve. Hassler and Brunner did the original work in the determination of capillary pressure using a centrifuge. In their work the centrifuge speed was increased in a step-wise manner, each speed being held constant until saturation equilibrium was reached in each core. Saturation equilibrium was indicated when the volume of liquid collected in the graduated pipette of the core holder remained constant. According to Hassler and Brunner, equilibrium was reached in "a few minutes to one-half hour or more". In the centrifuge method, as opposed to the barrier method, the fluid saturation of the core is not a constant throughout the length of the core, but varies with the radius of centrifugation. Also, the capillary pressure cannot be read directly but must be calculated from a knowledge of the centrifuge speed and other parameters. For these calculations, Hassler and Brunner derived the following equations:

0PINION was general that this year's meeting of the Institute of Metals Division was one of the best in its history. In addition to its full and exceptionally fine program of professional papers, there were several other features of general interest-an in-spiring annual lecture by Dr. Cecil H. Desch which appears in abstract elsewhere in this issue, Mr. Sing-master's talk on the zinc industry at the annual dinner, and the presentation of the James Douglas Medal to one of the members of the Division, Dr. Zay Jeffries. Four technical sessions of the Division were held, dealing respectively with zinc, copper, aluminum, and general metallography, and in addition there was a joint session with the Non-ferrous Metallurgical Committee of the Institute. All of the papers presented were at-tended with much interest and followed by considerable discussion. The papers on plastic deformation of zinc by Messrs. Mathewson and Phillips, Romig, and Hoyt were of particular interest and awakened an extended discus-sion. They well illustrated the progress which is being -made today in the understanding of the mechanism of flow of metals, and the ingenuity of the authors in their crystallographic method of attack of this difficult problem was quite generally admired. A very old subject was treated in a modern way by Messrs. Corson and Bain in two papers on the harden-ing of copper and copper alloys. There has always existed a myth that the ancient Egyptians were masters of an art not possessed by ourselves; viz., that of hard-ening copper. This myth must have been quite defi-nitely dispelled in the minds of all those who listened to this admirable paper. Mr. Corson has applied the modern art of precipitation hardening to this old prob-lem with substantial success, employing small amounts of chromium, nickel, silicon, and cobalt for this purpose. The commercial application of these very important .developments of Mr. Corson is being actively investi-gated at the present time.

Jan 3, 1927

By R. W. Cahn, C. D. Graham

The rate of growth of a single grain growing into a strained aluminum single crystal, measured by the conventional heat-cool-etch technique, is shown to decrease with time at temperature. The growth rate measured by means of X-rays, with the sample continuously at temperature, is found to be linear. Evidence is presented to show that the decreasing growth rate obtained by the conventional technique is due to abnormal recovery in the strained grain, and that the recovery in turn results from the heating and cooling cycles, rather than from the effects of etching. The experimental apparatus is described in an appendix. FREQUENTLY, the rate of grain boundary motion during recrystallization is determined by heating a sample to a known temperature for a given time, cooling to room temperature, and etching to reveal the boundary position. The cycle of operations is repeated as many times as necessary to establish the rate of boundary motion. Although this heat-cool-etch technique has been used by a number of workers over a period of many years,'-!' other investigators have encountered difficulty with the method."'. " They have attributed the erratic results to the effects of repeated heating and cooling, or of etching, or both, and have adopted an alternative experimental procedure in which a number of identical samples are employed, each sample being cooled and etched only once. This alternative method ove1.comes some difficulties, but introduces others. In particular, the incubation periods of the observed grains are unknown: any effect of crystal orientation on growth rate cannot be determined easily. A preferable method would be to measure the motion of a recrystallizing grain boundary with the sample at temperature without etching," but such measurements have in the past been restricted to nonmetals. This paper describes the construction and operation of a device, the goniometer furnace, with which the position of a moving grain boundary between a recrystallizing grain and the strained single crystal into which it grows can be measured by means of X-rays, with the sample maintained continuously at temperature. Goniometer Furnace The operating principle of the goniometer furnace is shown in Fig. 1. The sample, in the form of a bicrystal strip, is surrounded by a furnace, not shown in the sketch, and can be rotated about the two axes A and B which intersect at the point where the X-ray beam strikes the strip. The strip is oriented so that one of the two grains gives a strong Bragg reflection, which is detected by a suitably placed Geiger-Miiller counter coupled to a counting-rate meter When the strip is moved parallel to its own length in the furnace, arrow C, so that the X-ray beam strikes the second grain, there is in general no strong reflection. By noting the position of the strip at which the drop in Geiger counter reading occurs, it is possible to determine the position of the boundary. Measuring the change in boundary position with time at temperature gives the rate of growth of the recrystallizing grain. Details of the construction and operation of the goniometer furnace are given in the Appendix. Measurements showed that the temperature in the furnace was uniform within ±10°C over its working length of about 28 cm. The temperature at the measuring position, i.e., at the point where the X-ray beam struck the sample, was estimated to be constant within ±2oC. Using the goniometer furnace, the position of a stationary boundary could be measured with a reproducibility of ±0.3 mm. At elevated temperatures, 500" to 625"C, with the boundary in motion and the X-ray reflection less sharp, the estimated accuracy of each measured boundary position dropped to about ±1 mm. Experimental Results The test pieces were single crystals of 99.6 pet A1 —principal impurities 0.19 pet Fe and 0.12 pet Si— 1 mm by 1 cm in cross section and 6 to 10 cm in length, grown by the strain-anneal method. This relatively low purity material was used because of the difficulty encountered in producing strain-anneal single crystals of very high purity—99.996 pet—

Jan 1, 1957

By Chester W. Washburne

At present it is impossible to estimate closely the amount of oil obtainable from a given area of land. However, after the completion of a few properly distributed prospect wells, one can calculate the approximate yield of the sands penetrated, with a probable error of say 50 per cent. Even rough predictions of this kind are of value in large operations. Without wells upon it, one can never be absolutely certain that an area will produce any oil whatever, and one can only indulge in wild guesses of the probable productive area, before the geological structure has been carefully contoured and the top of the basal water plotted on a map. This requires wells. At times it is desirable to form an idea of the possible yield of oil in advance of drilling, as in cases where the price asked for undeveloped land seems too high, but where the probability of finding oil is furnished by neighboring development, supported by the geology. In such cases the most one can do is to make an estimate of possible maximum yield, which may of course far exceed results, and which is of use mainly in the prevention of excessive initial investment. The method is very significant in a general way, as in regions like the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, where the productive sands in the Cretaceous shale are so few and so thin and fine that they cannot develop very great production, although the high quality of the oil probably will counterbalance this defect sufficiently to give local profit in favorable areas. Reservoir Capacity of Sands.—The porosity of a stratum is the measure of its maximum reservoir capacity for liquids and gases. The porosity may be determined experimentally and must be used in connection with the total volume of the sand.

Jan 1, 1915

By Charles L. Harness

MINERAL pigments give color, opacity, or body to paint, stucco, plaster, mortar, cement, linoleum, rubber, and similar materials. They must be finely divided, substantially insoluble, and generally inert for such uses. Inorganic pigments may be grouped somewhat arbitrarily as follows: A. Natural mineral pigments dug from the earth. 1. Those consisting mostly of iron oxides, such as hematite and Limonite. 2. Those containing large amounts of clay or noncoloring matter, such as ocher, sienna, umber, and colored shales. 3. Those whose color is not due to iron oxide, such as Vandyke brown (including sap brown, an alkali extract of Vandyke brown), graphite, and terre verte. B. Synthetic pigments. 1. Those containing iron oxide as the essential coloring matter, such as "pure" reds, yellows, and blacks, and Venetian reds. 2. Those not containing iron oxide, such as lithopone, zinc white, titanium white, ultramarine, Prussian blue, and the like. Only groups A and B-1 are discussed here. All the pigments in those two categories, except Vandyke brown, sap brown, and some of the carbonaceous slates, contain, as their essential color constituents, one or more compounds of iron; namely, an oxide-Limonite (2Fe203.H20 to Fe203.4H20), hematite (Fe203), or magnetite (Fe203.FeO). Man's first permanent coloring materials were earth pigments- the ochers, iron oxides, and various iron-stained clays. The caves occupied by prehistoric man and the arts of the ancient Chaldean, Egyptian, and Cretan civilizations bear mute witness to this and also testify to the beauty and permanence of earth colors. As the Roman era developed, earth pigments were pushed from their pre-eminent position by white lead and red lead and in the Middle Ages by zinc oxide. Today, of course, the number of acceptable pigments is very large and on a value basis the group of natural and synthetic earth pigments stands

Jan 1, 1949

By George Ross Green

[In discussion of the paper of Mr. J. C. Bayles, read at the New York meeting of September, 1890, Trans., xix., p. 18.1 It is often so difficult to locate the causes of failures of machinery and apparatus which can be examined and studied at leisure, that it is not surprising that the causes of explosions should escape detection. Usually the explosion is the first evidence that anything is amiss, and the time for observing the conditions is necessarily brief. An incident in a welding-works near Essen, Germany, might be cited as exemplifying what trifling causes may lead to disaster, and how difficult, under the most favorable conditions, it may be to discover them. A blowing-engine was arranged with two suction-pipes at each end of the blowing-cylinder—one leading to the air, and the other to the gas-holder. Each pipe was provided with a valve, and all were so adjusted that the cylinder drew in gas and air in the proportions found most advantageous. The gases from the cylinder were carried directly to the furnace through suitable pipes, and while the cylinder was provided with relief-valves, every effort was made to prevent explosions, principally by compressing the gases to a point where the rate of efflux of the mixture was greater than the velocity of combustion, if the expression is here allowable. It was found that the apparatus would work satisfactorily for some time, and then the relative proportions of the mixture would change, and an explosion might have been the result. Experiments consuming days were made to discover a method of averting this danger, but they were unsuccessful, until it was observed that the change in the composition of the mixture of gas and air took place when the gasometer began to rise or fall—the back-pressure due to friction when the holder was rising or its absence when falling being sufficient to change the conditions. As soon as this was discovered,

Jan 1, 1892

By William H. Kobbé

THE CHAIRMAN (M. L. REQUA, San Francisco, Cal.).-We have had in California a great deal of trouble from the breaking. off and collapsing of well casings from shifting sand, and it is quite true with us as indicated in the paper, that no casing has been found sufficiently strong to withstand that. I know of wells in which casing that has not been in the hole over 2 or 3 days has collapsed and when that casing has, been pulled out it has been just as flat as your hand. I am also familiar with swelling bed rock in the gold drift mining ground of California. It does swell and keeps on swelling and never seems to stop. Just as long as tunnels are kept open in that kind of material there has to be a gang going through the tunnel constantly cutting out and easing up. They have put in timbers 24 in. in diameter in an effort to hold that kind of ground and it has always filled. The only way to succeed is to keep a gang of men busy all the time cutting out and easing down as it squeezes in. C. NARAMORE, Washington, D. C.-My experience has been very similar to yours in, the same field in the matter of breaking off of casing. I had charge of one well, in which I put in reënforced casing, anchored it in place and got 1 day's production, 150 bbl., out of it. The following morning my lease foreman telephoned that it had broken off. I thought at that time we would have more evidence, so I drove out to the well without ordering a new shoe joint. It had been customary to merely start from town with a new shoe joint, pull the pipe, take off the crooked bottom joint, start the casing back and sometimes never touch any iron (lost casing)- when redrilling the well. Where the flattened joints went

Jan 4, 1917

By Lawrence Addicks

AT the San Francisco meeting of the Institute last year, I presented, through the courtesy of Dr. James Douglas; some results of experiments on the roasting and leaching of concentrator tailings. After it became apparent that flotation rather than leaching was clearly the better method of handling the particular problem under consideration, before dismantling the experimental equipment, some data were secured on roasting and leaching the concentrate itself in competition with smelting. Some of the results obtained are given in the following paper and they a re of particular interest at this time in. view of the large quantities of flotation concentrates with their somewhat difficult smelting characteristics now being produced. A complete wet process? consists of roasting and leaching the calcines in dilute sulphuric acid produced from the roaster gases, roasting the residue with salt and leaching with dilute tower liquors (the well-known Longmaid-Henderson process) and recovering the copper, silver and gold by cementation or electrolysis or a combination of both. It is evident, however, that the residue from the first leaching, carrying about 20 per cent. of the copper and all of the silver and gold, can be smelted if preferable. In considering the application of the scheme to individual cases, it must be remembered that freight plays a. large part in any reduction process wherein smelting is not conducted at the, mouth of the mine, and that it is not practicable today to build small smelting plants for individual operations. The experiments may be grouped under four main heads: Roasting, leaching, chloridizing residue, and recovery of copper from solutions. The products of two concentrators were used: The Nacozari concentrates were the product of a large modern mill not using flotation, the copper mineral being largely chalcopyrite; and the Tyrone concentrates, the product of an experimental mill including flotation, the copper mineral being chiefly chalcocite. Typical analyses would be as follows:

Jan 9, 1916

By W. M. Weigel

THE rapid advance, during recent years, in the manufacture of articles that have been in common use for generations and the development of new materials entering into appliances and devices unheard of fifty years ago, have created a demand for some of the more common non-metallic minerals. To supply this demand there has quietly developed a branch of the mining industry of which little is known by most mining engineers the mineral-filler industry. In this paper, and generally in the trade, the term mineral filler is applied to a mineral used, in its natural state after mechanical preparation only (such as. grinding, milling and washing), without undergoing any chemical change and without exerting any chemical action on the substance with which it is incorporated. The consumption of mineral fillers is confined chiefly to large manufacturing centers in the eastern and northern states. Where available, materials originating near the place of consumption are used, as most fillers bring a comparatively low price and, frequently, the freight may equal the cost of the finished filler at the mine. The southern states have abundant deposits of non-metallic minerals suitable for fillers, which supply the manufacturing industries in adjacent states. Many of these deposits are equal to, or superior, in quality to those mined in the north, but they can not compete with them because of the freight rates. The mineral-filler industry has felt the present depression, but it has suffered less than most mining industries for as a rule the mills are simple, the overhead expenses are low, and the labor is entirely local and can revert to farm work when the plant closes down. Many other deposits in the southern district will undoubtedly be developed when business. revives and freight rates are adjusted.

Jan 2, 1922

By Ruder, W. E.

CONSIDERABLE interest has been shown lately in various types of furnaces for the production of high, temperatures, both for laboratory purposes and for small industrial uses. Dr. J. A. Harker1 described certain modifications of the Arsem graphite resistance helix for high-temperature work at the National Physical Laboratory. Dr. Northrup ,also has developed two interesting forms of high-temperature furnaces. In 1911, Messrs. Winne and Dantsizen2 described two forms, of resistance furnaces using ductile molybdenum or tungsten as resistors. Since the discovery, by this laboratory, of methods for producing these metals in ductile form, their use as resistance elements in the research laboratory of the General Electric Co. has grown to such an extent that they are now almost indispensable. These furnaces are used here for alloy research, annealing, heat-treating, and practically all f the thermal processes requiring temperatures above 900° C. Various types of furnaces have been developed to meet the general needs of laboratory work, and it is the purpose of this paper briefly to describe some of these furnaces. A tubular furnace wound with a metallic resistor is the simplest type to construct, and almost every laboratory has made such furnaces. The only essential difference between a furnace wound with platinum or base metal and one wound with tungsten or molybdenum is that the coils of the latter must be heated in a neutral or reducing atmosphere. It has long been our custom here to build our resistance furnaces with a metallic casing from which the tube could be easily removed for rewinding. The heat-insulating material-usually calcined magnesia, alumina, silica, or silex, depending upon the nature of the resistor-is used in powdered form so that it can he readily removed and replaced. In order to adapt this method to tungsten or molybdenum windings, it

Jan 2, 1918

By R. Raring, W. J. Harris, J. A. Rinebolt

G. W. Geil (National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C.)—The authors state that the degree of accuracy realized in the experimental determination of a, is likely rather low. This inaccuracy is attributed to the difficulty in reading the load of the tension machine at the instant of fracture of the test bars. I believe there is another factor which may have added considerably to the inaccuracy in the determination of a,, namely, the determination of 8,. Fracture of a cylindrical tensile specimen of a ductile metal tested in tension at room temperature is generally initiated at the axis and rapidly propagates radially to the periphery of the necked section. During the propagation of the fracture, the metal at the rim of the minimum cross-section extends longitudinally and contracts radially. Thus values of 81, based on diameter measurements made after complete fracture of the specimens do not necessarily represent the strain at the initial fracture." Data obtained at the National Bureau of Standards with a 0.3 pct C steel in the condition as-quenched from 1575°F and tempered at 1000°F for 1 hr and tested in tension at room temperature indicated a considerable "rim effect" and as shown in Fig. 13, resulted in an apparent increase in Sf from 0.90 to 0.98. As the fracture strain of this steel is approximately equal to those of the steels reported by the authors, it seems probable that a similar "rim effect" may have added to the inaccuracies in the reported values of Si and accompanying values of El. R. Raring (authors' reply)—The authors are grateful to Mr. Geil for having called attention to a possible source of uncertainty in the determination of fracture stress, and they are in agreement with the principles upon which his discussion is based.

Jan 1, 1952

By Foster Bain

THOUGHTFUL people have raised questions as to how long nature's bank could continue to accept our drafts. These questions came to the fore so persistently, and there were so many evidences -such as the failure of natural gas in Indiana, the increasing scarcity of lumber in the Lake Superior region, the progressive sterility of Southern farm lands, the choking of the Sacramento River by tailing-point-ing to possible danger from overdraft or to misuse of resources and opportunity, that President Roosevelt called a conference which assembled at the White House on May 13, 1908, to consider these and related questions. This, the first great Conservation Congress, had a wide and beneficial influence on the thought of the world. It profoundly influenced the course of succeed-ing events and, while even yet there are sharp dis-agreements as, to the wisdom of much that has been done in the name of conservation, I believe that thoughtful men, and engineers especially, agree that the time had come when sharp attention was properly called to the waste that accompanied development of our resources. RESOURCES LARGE BUT NOT INEXHAUSTIBLE In 1908 there was a surprisingly large number of men, who should have known better, prepared to argue that our resources are "inexhaustible." No competent mining engineer, of course, believes that, as regards minerals at least. They may be, and, in most cases, fortunately are, large; as to many of them our knowledge is too general to permit measuring the reserves; but we know now, and I think the public appreciates, that there is a limit to our supply of gas, oil, coal, iron, and metals. Indeed, with the inten-sive study made necessary to meet the demands of the war, and the more careful accounting required by the newer systems of taxation, depletion has become a common word, and that mines are wasting assets has become a platitude.

Jan 8, 1922

By N. A. Gokcen, E. S. Tankins, G. R. Belton

Equilibrium in the reaction H2(g) + O[in liquid iron, cobalt, or nickel] = H2O(g) has been investigated over wide temperature and composition ranges. Oxygen has been found to obey Henry's Law in each of the three metals at 1550°C. The standard free-energy changes for the above reaction are given by: (1550° to 1700°C) ?Foco = -45,360(±290) + 16.16(±0.16)T (1490° to 1700°C) ?Fo Ni = -48,170(±220) + 16.12(±0.12)T (1465° to 1700°C) where the standard state for dissolved oxygen is the I wt pet solution. ThE thermodynamic behavior of dilute solutions of oxygen in molten iron has been the subject of many investigations over the last thirty years,'-'4 the majority of the investigators having utilized the reaction:

Jan 1, 1964

By William Bent

THE dynamometer herein described is a modification of the one invented by Mr. Samuel Batchelder, of Boston, nearly forty years ago, a description of which may be found in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1843, vol. xxxii, p. 277, and in the Scientific American of August 31st, 1878. The modification consists in providing a method of making an automatic record, and of indicating more minute variations of the power transmitted. The improved dynamometer was designed by the writer in 1877, and was built a few months since by the Class of 1879 of the Stevens Institute of Technology. The accompanying cut, taken from the Annual Announcement of the Stevens Institute, represents the dynamometer without the recording attachment. It consists, as shown, of two stout cast-iron frames, held together by bolts in bearings, in the top of which frames run two shafts, each carrying a pulley at its outer end and a bevel gear-wheel of 45° at its inner end. One of these shafts is the driving-shaft, connected by belt to the engine or other prime mover; the other is the driven shaft, connected by belt to the machine driven. The power is transmitted from one shaft to the other through two other bevel-wheels of 45° gearing with the first, the shaft common to them and on which they run freely being at right angles to the axis of the two shafts first mentioned, and carrying at one extremity a heavy pendulum. The bevel-wheels being connected, as shown, and the power being applied to the driving-wheel, the two intermediate wheels with their common shaft have a tendency to revolve around the driving-axis, which tendency is a measure of the force transmitted, and is resisted by the moment of the weight of the pendulum. In the Batchelder dynamometer the four bevel-wheels and their shafts are used, but

Jan 1, 1880

By Albert Burch

The theory of the present law with reference to lode locations contemplates the existence upon the surface of mineral-bearing veins which have clearly marked boundaries, and which can be so readily traced that a locator may immediately mark the boundaries of his 600 by 1,500 ft. claim in such a way that the vein will 'pass through both of its end-lines. It also supposes that, having discovered such a mineral-bearing vein, the locator will at once post a notice upon such discovery, mark the boundaries of his location in such a manner that they can be readily traced, and from that time forward have absolute title to the ground embraced within such boundaries, as against every person except the United States. For initiating title to placer ground, the law presupposes the discovery of a valuable mineral deposit; but not necessarily in place, as in the case of lode claims; and the location must be made to conform "as nearly as may be" to the legal subdivisions of the United States public land survey. When the placer law was extended to include the acquisition of title to oil lands, no exception was made as to the necessity for the discovery of valuable mineral in advance of location! Practice under the Present Law Nature did not make all veins clearly defined and readily traceable upon the surface; nor did she, in all cases, leave upon the surface which overlies important ore bodies such outcrops as would in them-selyes be considered valuable; and the citizen of the United States has in the past endeavored to steer his course between the mandates of the law and the limitations of nature. Until quite recently, it has been possible to obtain a patent for any-

Jan 1, 1915

By Stewart Coleman, Thomas W. Moore, H. D. Wilde

It is recognized that in the early days of the petroleum industry oil was produced with practically no scientific or fundamental knowledge of the laws and principles governing its extraction from the ground. Only a few, if any, of those exploiting the oil resources made any effort to collect accurate scientific information. There was little need for it, for as is frequently the case where the supply of a natural resource appears inexhaustible and is greater than the demand, large profits were possible from merely skimming the surface with little regard to the efficiency or thoroughness with which the oil was obtained. With this policy in force, great quantities of gas were wasted and when the reservoirs ceased producing by natural means they still contained a large fraetion of the oil originally in them. The present tendency in the industry is toward conserving existing oil reserves. In order that greater percentages of the oil present in the ground may be recovered, efforts are being made to improve production methods and to rework depleted fields. If the production methods are to be improved intelligently it is essential that the fundamental laws be known and understood, consequently large amounts of money and effort are being spent in gathering data that will serve to define and interpret these laws. A great deal of attention is being focussed on the study of the motion of oil through an oil-bearing sand, the forces that cause it to move and the factors that affect its motion. It is recognized that one of the important factors is pressure, but its quantitative effect is not known. In a given field the rate of production declines with time and so does the rock pressure. Furthermore, a comparison of different fields shows, as a

Jan 1, 1930