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• The Venezuelan Trade Mission to the United States announced that Bethlehem Steel Corp. will begin exporting iron ore from its El Pao concession, south of the Orinoco River in Venezuela, in about three months. The ore will be transported by rail from the mines to barges on the Orinoco and transshipped to ore vessels at the coast for shipment to the Sparrows Point, Md., plant. The Latin American business men warned that projected increases in the United States tariff on petroleum imports from Venezuela would force that country into bilateral trade agreements with other countries and would mean drastic curtailment of Venezuelan imports from this country. •Bethlehem, South American Gold and Platinum Co., and U. S. Steel are investigating the possibilities of securing American foodstuff for their South American mining camp commissaries through the International Basic Economy Corp. IBEC buys in quantity to supply its subsidiary companies operating in Venezuela and Brazil. The mining companies will rid themselves of this burdensome task as well as realizing a saving from the bulk purchases of IBEC. •Oliver Iron Mining Co. has begun construction of a fine ore and taconite agglomeration plant at Virginia, Minn. It is expected to be ready in six months. The plant will be used to experiment with the making of clinker cakes and egg-sized lumps by sintering machines and nodulizing kilns respectively; about 1 million tons per year will be produced. • Roof pinning has been adopted at the iron mines of TCI, near Birmingham, to support overlying strata as mining progresses. Favorable results have been obtained in that dilution of the ore has been reduced by 50% which is attributable to this method of supporting the roof. •An American mining engineering team has gone to Turkey for a two-year assignment assisting Turkish government agencies in the $45 million ECA development, mechanization, and construction of cleaning plants for the Zonguldak coal field, 200 miles east of Istanbul on the Black Sea. The group consists of James Beeley, John E. Good, John S. Lambright, David Renshaw, and Charles R. Weir, all of the Paul Weir Co. •Arthur F. Taggart describes a new way of training engineers by emphasis on broad, basic engineering courses on page 460 of this issue. •Lawrence T. Tierney, chairman of the National Bituminous Coal Advisory Council, released a report stating that the increase in oil imports since the latter part of 194$ has caused significant damage to the U. S. fuel economy. It has reduced the strength of and employment opportunities in the coal, domestic petroleum, and transportation industries, as well as in related service and supplier fields. •Women, camels, and donkeys are the beasts of burden of the Sahara, according-to the UNESCO World Review. •Increased demand for magnesium sheet in airplane construction ana other phases of the national security program have led Alcoa to establish a sheet magnesium rolling division at its New Kensington, Pa., works which will begin operation shortly. Novel prospecting methods being used by the USGS in its search for uranium include: shock-mounted instruments in light trucks,. Geiger-counter probes lowered into augur holes, and experimental airborne prospecting.

Jan 4, 1950

By Alfred E. Hunt

By the death of Joseph Dame Weeks, past-President of this Institute, which occurred December 26, 1896, the world has lost an earnest and unwearied philanthropist; the Christian church, a zealous, active and consistent representative; the United States and the State of Penusylvania, a patriotic, pub-

Jan 1, 1898

By A. Lee Barrett

The Maintenance Committee of the Coal Division of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers is presenting as a part of this report the second of a series of maintenance cost comparisons. The committee's purpose is to assemble maintenance costs on all equipment connected with mechanical operations at the face of coal mining and to arrange these costs by districts so that comparisons can be made between districts and within districts. The committee, this year, sent 35 questionnaires to representative coal companies who either reported last year or had advised specifically of the inability to report to last year's questionnaire primarily because of limited time. The response to the questionnaire this year as not as good as last year, only 20 of the 35 selected companies returning a completed questionnaire. This year's data have been compiled and combined with last year's data to present a comparison of the 1945 and 1946 costs of loading machines, shortwall cutting machines, universal cutting machines, service locomotives, shuttle cars, and mine cars. The same tabulation by districts is used as was used for 1945. As was indicated by last year's report there is considerable variation in the in cost of mining machinery in the various coal mining districts and due to this high variability it was not felt practical to attempt to arrive at weighted averages. Consequently, all average figures used in this report are straight averages. An analysis was made of companies reporting both this year and last year in an attempt to determine the trend in maintenance costs for different classes of equipment. Ten representative companies are used in this computation. Table I shows the average cost for 1945 and 1946. It is felt that the negative trend in the maintenance cost of universal cutting machines probably represents the effect of the purchase of a relatively large number of new machines in 1946 with little maintenance cost appearing during the first Year of operation. The grand total figure indicates an upward trend amounting to plus 18.7 pet. However, this figure is viewed with some suspicion because of the effect of the universal cutters decreasing maintenance cost and it is concluded that direct application of percentage increase should be made to types of equipment. In Table 2 covering maintenance costs of various types of mining equipment for 1945 and 1946 the results obtained in Table I indicating trends were applied to those

Jan 1, 1949

By R. H. Johnson

All strata not yielding oil or gas in commereial quantities or a corresponding amount of water may be called dry in a wide sense. In petroleum geology, however, we may exclude all sands of too low or fine porosity to yield gaseous or fluid contents to the hole drilled in the sand before any original pressure that its contents may be under is disturbed. Most rocks are of this class and they are not reservoirs in our definition; their "dryness" is wholly a matter of course. What are the contents of the pores or what is the exact porosity of such rocks is of almost no concern to us, for economically they are "dry." What does interest us is the content of a rock having sufficient porosity and the pores of sufficient size to yield oil or gas in commercial quantities, if they were present under original pressure. Dryness of these reservoirs is a matter of supreme practical importance. Three views current as to such dryness seem, to me, to apply in a few cases only. It is the purpose of this paper to give reasons for this position and for believing that, in ordinary sedimentary rocks, there is only rarely a reservoir of competent porosity and undisturbed pressure that is dry in the sense of not yielding water, oil, or gas when first penetrated. 1. Gardnerl writes of some Kentucky sands, "There has never been present any salt water or other water in the sand." Absence of water cannot demonstrate this position. It is necessary to show that the rocks were not laid down in water, but in air, and that they became so enclosed, while still above the water-table of the ground water, that water has not been able to enter since. Most of these sands, and certainly the productive limestones, were deposited in water; and such sands as have been commercially productive show no reason for believing that the overlying shale or limestone was not laid down progressively from one direction and in water that would have flooded it. NO adequate explanation has been offered for this hypothesis, which is so inherently improbable. 2, Reeves2 urges that "sands originally water filled may have been drained of their water and not filled when later covered." It is difficult I James H. Gardner: Kentucky as an Oil State. Science, N. S. (1917) 46, 279-280. Reeves: Origin of the Natural Brines of Oil Fields. Johns Hopkins Univ. Circ., N. S. (1917) N. 3; Absence of Water in Certain Sandstones of the Appalachian Field. Econ. Geol. (1917) la, 354-378.

Jan 1, 1921

Discussion of the paper of L. O. HOWARD, presented at the Salt Lake meeting, August, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 91, July, 1914, pp. 1785 to 1790. E. P. MATHEWSON, Anaconda, Mont.-I would like to add a few words of praise on Mr. Howard's work at the Old Dominion. Mr. Howard has given this particular converter shell his personal attention, and the results are shown in the figures given. Similar converter shells, a little different in shape and of about the same size, have been tried in many plants throughout the United States. The results have been highly satisfactory, but there is no shell of the size of the one described by Mr. Howard that has given anything like the results that Mr. Howard's shell has given. I know of larger shells that have given very good service, and are still in operation, and require very little repair. The main thing about the whole process of using the basic lining in copper converting is to keep the temperature within reasonable bounds, particularly not to get the furnace too hot. If it is overheated a little bit, for say half an hour, an entire lining may be ruined. It is very easy to keep the temperature regulated 'if the mass is large. If you have a large mass in your converter you can easily prevent it from getting over-heated, and that is the big argument in favor of the extra large converters. Of course, there is a limit to what a plant can turn out in the way of matte. Very few plants can supply matte sufficient to keep a converter of 20 ft. in diameter in operation constantly, but the 20-ft. converter is very much superior to the 12-ft. converter in easy handling and absolute control of the temperature. I think Mr. Howard is to be congratulated on the excellent showing he has made.

Jan 12, 1914

ENGINEERS AVAILABLE (Under this heading will be published notes sent to the Secretary of the Institute of 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. Metallurgist, four 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. Member, American, aged 39, married, desires position as superintendent or mine superintendent. 14 years' experience in opencut and underground work. 12 years' Spanish, Portugese, Cuban and Mexican labor. Fluent Spanish. Good training in first aid and safety first. Specialty of high explosives and steam-shovel work. Good costs. Go anywhere, but tropics preferred. References. Interview, New York or Philadelphia, No. 318.

Jan 10, 1916

By K. W. Smith, E. A. Thomas

Various grades of synthetic mullite have been developed in recent years to replace or supplement natural sources of mullite deriued from the mullite group of minerals consisting of sillimanite, kyanite, and andalusite. Raw materials and heat treating processes used in making synthetic mullite are described. Chemical and physical data are given for typical grades and crystalline structure is illustrated with micrographs. Use of synthetic mullite as a refractory material in the glass and metallurgical industries is discussed. Mullite (3A12O3.2siO2), the only stable compound formed in the alumina-silica system, is usually present to some degree in all aluminum silicate ceramic products. The formation of mullite is considered beneficial to give rigidity to the structure and is dependent upon the ratio of Al2O3 to SiO2 in the original composition, particle size, degree of mixing, firing temperature, cooling rate, and the presence of auxiliary glass-forming fluxes. Mullite may also be formed at the reaction interface of fire clay or alumina-type refractories in contact with glass or slag melts. The term synthetic mullite is commonly used today to identify a class of sintered and fused aggregates or grains in the alumina-silica system having a highly developed mullite structure but derived mainly from raw materials other than the sillimanite group of minerals. Within the past 15 years extensive research has been done to develop economical processes to form sintered synthetic mullite aggregate to replace calcined Indian kyanite in super-refractories. Severa1 brands of such mullite are now being produced in commerical quantity and finding extensive use in refractories. Based on the service results of such refractories in many applications throughout the metallurgical, ceramic, and glass industry these developments have been considered successful and suitable substitutes for Indian kyanite now appear assured. EARLY DEVELOPMENT The conversion of kyanite, sillimanite and anda-lusite minerals of the sillimanite group to mullite and their use in refractories and porcelain have been discussed quite extensively in the literature by peck,' Grieg,' Riddle and Foster,3 Bowen and Grieg,4 and others and will only be mentioned here for reference to compare properties with synthetic mullite. In 1928, curtis5 reported on the development of a high temperature gas-converter process for forming synthetic mullite. The raw materials were derived mainly from lumps of high alumina clay of the correct natural composition or blends of clays and alumina that was interground and briquetted to form a suitable charge to maintain a surface combustion firing within the converter. Curtis was, no doubt, the first to illustrate by micrographs in natural color the crystalline structure of mullite derived from kyanite and mullite derived by sintering clay and alumina mixtures at temperatures above cone 32 (3123°F) and by electric fusion. In 1937, sei16 was issued a patent covering the use of a mixture of alumina-silica minerals and alumina in the proportion to form a mullite-yielding material at temperatures in excess of 3100' F. During the period from 1930 to 1940, economic conditions were not favorable for the production of synthetic mullite mainly due to an adequate supply of good grades of Indian kyanite ore suitable for conversion to mullite. Uncertain conditions on availability of the Indian kyanite during the early stages of World War II fostered further study on the development of synthetic substitutes. In 1943, McVay and wilson7 reported on an extensive investigation of domestic substitute materials. Their work covered essentially the use of mixtures of electric furnace mullite, calcined topaz, and calcined domestic kyanite. Compositions were found that gave equivalent or better hot load strength than Indian kyanite in mullite-type brick compositions; however, the calcining of the topaz presented certain physical and chemical problems on the disposition of silicofluoride and hydrofluoric acid while the high cost of electric furnace mullite was a limiting factor. In this work it was pointed out that water-quenched fused mullite was found to be unstable on reheat and gave poor hot load strength due to excessive glass present whereas the slow cooled or annealed mullite contained large crystals of mullite and corundum with little glass and gave superior results.

Jan 1, 1961

By Robert Richards

Introduction. WALTER RENTON INGALLS recently gave a very interesting talk before the student mining society of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In it he showed the present status of mining as he sees it. In the talk he explained that, while discoveries of great mining districts are still possible, they are being made less and less often; that the great mining companies, although there are large numbers of mines offered for sale, are finding it less and less possible to find new mines that are up to the standard of richness that they wish for purchase. The natural conclusion is that better, cheaper, and more efficient methods of mining, concentrating, and smelting are needed if the lower-grade mines are to be worked at a profit. This is true also if the high-grade mines are to yield their greatest profit. This paper deals only with the concentrating or ore-dressing problem, and gives some thoughts which point towards greater profit. In a paper on The Development of Hindered-Settling Apparatus the writer showed that there were two main lines of work that would lead to greater saving, lower tailing assay, and, therefore, greater profit. The first is the recrushing of middling or tailing products for the saving of the contained values. This is well understood and largely carried out in existing mills. The second is the saving of fine free mineral at the first opportunity. This is a matter less well understood in the mills, and to dwell upon this the present paper is written.

Jan 9, 1913

By F. Keller

ALUMINUM alloys containing magnesium and silicon are susceptible to strengthening and hardening by suitable heat-treatments, and they constitute a class of alloys of considerable commercial importance. Generally, they contain these two elements in the proportions required for the formation of the intermetallic compound Mg2Si, or an excess of silicon; no commercial wrought alloys are made with an appreciable excess of magnesium. The reason for not having excess magnesium is obvious from the results given in this paper, since it is shown that excess magnesium results in a proportional decrease in the solubility of Mg2Si. This is the eighteenth1 of a series of papers from the Aluminum Research Laboratories dealing with the equilibrium relations in aluminum-alloy systems; most of the previous publications concerned binary aluminum-alloy systems; this is the fourth of a group pertaining to ternary aluminum-alloy systems. The work on this system was com-pleted in 1930, but the results were not published because of the pressure of other work. Hanson and Gaylor2, in 1921, presented the results of an extensive investigation of the aluminum-magnesium-silicon system. Their results indicated that an excess of magnesium over the amount required to form the compound Mg2Si caused a noticeable decrease in the solid solubility of Mg2Si in aluminum. A more recent investigation3 in these laboratories showed that the solid solubility of Mg2Si in aluminum was 1.85 per cent at 595° C. and decreased to 0.30 per cent at 300° C. The results of the latter investigation were used as the basis for the present work.

Jan 1, 1936

By H. Beecher Charmbury

Water is a most remarkable substance. It is essential for life of all kinds. Not only can no one live without water, but man has always needed water for farming, raising animals, manufacturing, transportation, and recreation. When our country was young and inhabited by few people, the streams, rivers, and lakes were able to provide all the clean water needed by man and take away all the wastes created by man. However, with our growing population and our ever-increasing demand for goods and services, the public, industry, and government at all levels have become aware of the need to more efficiently manage the water resources of this nation. Coal has helped this nation to become the greatest industrial nation in the world. Coal has generated our electricity, run our railroads, and helped arm our nation during wartime. The result has been the highest standard of living in the world, a time of widespread prosperity, and a national defense potential that has delivered the hardware during four wars in this century. The use of water in coal mining is somewhat different than in most industries. With the exception of the small amount of water used in cleaning plants and for fire protection, most of the water encountered in coal mining operations is unwanted since it serves no useful purpose. In other words, it must be removed, otherwise it will interfere with mining operations by flooding. In the past, removing water from working areas of most mines was usually a fairly simple matter. Pumps with piping were installed at sumps or low spots in the mine and the water was pumped to the surface. Ditches were often used to drain the water by gravity to the outside or to main sumps for pump discharge. In either case, the water was allowed to flow into the nearest stream or river. The concept of "water is water" was generally accepted without too much concern over what

Jan 1, 1973

By EDBIUND U. NORTH

IN making a glass model of mine-workings, each mine will present some little individualities, to meet which will call for the exercise of special ingenuity. Having made several models, I offer the following details of the model of the Montana-Tonopah mine-workings, believing that with small changes for different conditions the method described can be successfully used in making a glass model of the workings of any mine. The model, Fig. 1, has the top, one end, and the front removed. The case is made of kiln-dried pine, painted with several coats of dead-white paint. It is made to take sheets of glass 24 by 42 in. in size, and is 18 in. high, the workings shown being on a scale of 1 in. = 40 ft., or 4800 : 1 scale. The base is made of four pieces of 2-in. material, well pinned and glued together. The back, of material 1 in. thick, is secured rigidly to the base by screws and countersinking. The four posts, 1.5 in. square, are so cut that. the front and two ends of the model fit in flush with the outside edges of the posts. The top rails, 1 in. square, are fastened rigidly to the front and back posts by means of small iron braces. The ends, front, and top of the case are of 0.5-in. material; the ends and front are held in place at the bottom by pegs fitting into the base ; at the top the ends are held by buttons and the front by cupboard-hooks on the inside. Hinged hasps on the cover, fitting over staples in the end-pieces, make it easy to lock the entire case. Before the back is fastened to the base, it is cut with horizontal and vertical grooves to receive the horizontal and vertical sheets of glass, shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 2. The horizontal grooves, spaced to scale, represent the vertical distances between the levels at the shaft. The vertical grooves are placed wherever cross-sections of the workings are desired.

Jan 1, 1910

By James S. Browning

The Mineral Resources Institute and State Mine Experiment Station of the University of Alabama conducted Humphreys spiral tests on fine coal waste from nine preparation plants of Alabama strip mining operations to determine the feasibility of recovering low ash and sulfur fuel meeting steam coal specifications. The ash in the samples ranged from 9 - 5l%, and the total sulfur ranged from 0.4J- 2.39%. Continuous laboratory tests using a Humphreys spiral gave good recovery of the coal with excellent rejection of the ash and pyritic sulfur. Coal recoveries of 83.6 - 94.1% were achieved from the different samples. Ash content of the clean coal products fell within a range of 5 - 12.2%, with a total sulfur content of 0.62 and 1.10%. In quality, the products were comparable or superior to those now being shipped from the preparation plants.

Jan 1, 1980

By V. E. Elliott, C. L. Meyette

THE conditioning of semifinished steel products such as billets, blooms, and slabs to remove surface defects before further processing to finished products is a necessary accompaniment to steel mill rolling operations. A knowledge of the kinds of defects which occur and of the conditions in melting, teeming, and rolling that may lead to their occurrence is favorable to the production of quality products. Surface defects may be classed as either of mechanical origin such as those that occur in the heating and rolling operations and include breaks, tears, guide marks, mechanical laps and the like, or they may have been in the ingot before heating and rolling. Examples of the latter are ingot cracks, blow-holes, scabs, and inclusions which lead to the numerous known types of seams -and surface flaws. Most of the common types of surface defects and methods for their identification by visual examination or by the aid of macro-etch tests are well known. The conditions which caused their formation are also appreciably understood and this knowledge has been instrumental in the establishment of methods for metallurgical control. There are, however, defects of doubtful origin. In any endeavor to trace the causes for their occurrence, the question of first concern is: I. Whether they were formed in the rolling procedure. 2. Whether they existed in the ingot prior to rolling. In the case of semifinished products which are rerolled to finished products there is also the question of whether they were formed in the primary or in the secondary rolling. In metallurgical laboratories where numerous or routine examinations of the quality of rolled products are made over the course of time, there will doubtless be many puzzling cases of defect origin. Microscopic examination of the defects may, however, reveal a characterizing condition that can be used to classify them broadly with respect to their origin. Such a condition has been observed and, after detailed investigation, is described here with the thought that it may offer a useable and relatively simple solution to a bothersome problem. BASIS FOR CLASSIFYING In this discussion the term "mechanical type defects" will be used to designate those that have occurred as a result of the rolling operations such as in rolling from the ingot to billets, blooms, or slabs or in rerolling to finished products. The term "steel type defects" will he used to designate those that were present in the ingot prior to primary rolling or that were in the semifinished product prior to secondary rolling to finished product. The basis for distinguishing between the two types of defects lies in the relative degree of subscale formation surrounding them. Subscale is defined' as a zone of

Jan 1, 1948

Your esteemed favors transmitting my discharge as your representative on the War Minerals Committee have come duly to hand and the kind words of commendation contained are greatly appreciated. Like other war committees, The War Minerals Committee's business in Washington was to meet an emergency as best it could, and as soon as the emergency had passed pressure of personal responsibilities immediately scattered the individual members. A detailed report of the Committee's work is therefore impossible. But before the matter is closed I feel it incumbent on me to ask you to report to the Directors and the Council, and through them to the members of the Institute and of the Society, the inestimable value to our Committee of the unstinted support given by both your officers and members. The instant response to all requests for funds was of the greatest assistance in getting started with office force, stationery, etc., and led later to a regular organization in the Bureau of Mines, working under a special appropriation, which is still doing good work as the War Minerals Investigation under Dr. Spurr. The voluntary work of the special sulphur and manganese committees formed by the War Minerals Committee was of great value to the Government. Copies of private reports supplied were of much assistance. But the great service of engineers and geologists as a whole was rendered in connection with the passage of the War Minerals Bill by Congress. Though every assistance possible was rendered by the Bureau of Mines and the Geological Survey, by the close of 1917 our Committee had about reached the limit of its usefulness in the way of stimulating the various Government executive committees, bureaus and departments to a realization of the country's need of preparation for domestic production of "war minerals" and had found that special Congressional action was imperative if the war was to continue for anything like the time then generally feared. This was necessary not only 'to insure a. supply of war minerals but to make possible the appointment of some able mining administrator of large experience in the mineral industry who, with ample authority, could sit in the councils of the Government and see to it that the ever increasing autocratic powers the war was developing were used toward the mining industry so as to foster rather than crush the latter in its effort to produce sufficient raw material for war and essential civil requirements.

Jan 7, 1919

By R. W. Smith

It is well known that certain silicates such as the feldspars and beryl can be readily floated from quartz at a low pH value using a long chain cationic collector in the presence of a fluoride.1-3 However, the mechanism whereby the fluoride activates feldspars and beryl is not known. Indeed, only a few authors have even speculated about possible mechanisms.1,3,4 As a first approach to the problem, it is perhaps best to look closely at the interesting character of hydrofluoric acid and how it dissolves silica and silicic acid. Hydrofluoric acid, unlike hydrochloric acid, is a weak acid with a dissociation constant of about 3.53 x 10-4 at 25°C.5 The reason for the weak acidic character of HF lies in the very small size of the fluoride ion.6 The pKa value is 3.45 which means that at pH 3.45 half the HF is present in molecular form and half in ionic form. The anion present is probably HF2.-6 At pH values below the pKa value, molecular concentration increases rapidly at the expense of the HF2- anion. It is known that HF readily attacks glass, silicates, quartz and silicic acid. The equation usually cited pertaining to the first step in HF attack of silica is6-'

Jan 1, 1965

By A. S. Richardson

AIR conditioning, or air cooling, for the improvement of ventilation in the Butte mines has come into increasing use during the past 10 years. In part, the methods practiced have been described in previous publications of the Institute, but some improvements on earlier methods have been made and a number of new features have been developed. This paper is presented as a record of progress made, and for the sake of completeness describes all general features of the work. The need for air conditioning in the ventilation of mines in the district arises from the fact that the temperature of the ground and mine water has shown a very great increase with increase in mining depth, and has now reached a maximum of slightly over 130ºF. The most difficult part of the ventilation problem is the maintenance of temperature and humidity of a satisfactory standard in the working places, especially on the lower levels. Although ordinary ventilation is adequate to maintain good conditions in most of the working places it is subject to a number of limitations at great depth. Most important among these limitations is that with increase in depth the air becomes heated before it reaches the working places, both by compression from increase in atmospheric pressure and by heat transferred to it from rock at high temperature, so that its capacity for lowering temperatures is greatly reduced before it reaches the operating zone. Increasing depth of mining also increases the distance traveled by the air in its passage through the mine, and this causes a corresponding increase in resistance to air flow, so that there is greater difficulty in maintaining even the same volume in circulation. Thus, in the face of a demand that the ventilating system have a very much greater capacity to remove heat from the mine, the tendency is for that capacity to diminish. The only evident alternatives were (I) the opening of additional air shafts to increase the volume of air in circulation, (2) an extension of the existing system that would be subject to the same limitations, or (3) the adoption of an entirely different method such as air cooling. Fortunately for an economic solution of the problem, the mean annual temperature of the surface atmosphere at Butte is about 40°F., with very low relative humidity in summer, so that there is unlimited natural cooling power at a temperature range adaptable to air-conditioning methods. METHODS Two similar methods of air conditioning are used, as necessitated by service requirements and dependent upon the equipment available. In one, which is the more important and has the greater cooling capacity, water is circulated in a closed circuit, and, alternately, first absorbs heat from warm mine air and then dissipates it in the surface atmosphere by cooling at a cooling tower. The second

Jan 1, 1941

By H. J. Beach

This paper describes the properties and uses of cementitious mixtures containing 10 to 20 per cent bentonite and 2 per cent or more sodium chloride. Salt additions improve bentonite cement by increasing early strength and stabilizing viscosity without changing thickening time. The volume yield of cement is increased 20 per cent or more without lowered early strength. The unique properties of salt in this type of system make savings of more than 10 per cent possible where light-weight, low-strength cementitious material is adequate to fill behind pipe. The density range of these mixtures is 12 to 13 1b/gal and the filtration rates are medium-low, aiding the placement of long columns in primary cementing. Where available, sea water is an ideal salt source in preparing these slurries. INTRODUCTION Accelerators increase the rate of cement hydration. In speeding reaction with water, they can affect cement performance by reducing thickening time and increasing early strength after set. Accelerators that cause both effects can be considered "total", and those which produce only one effect can be called "partial". Materials that act conversely to accelerators are retarders. and they also can be total or partial. Partial retarders. make high-temperature cementing possible by prolonging thickening time while impairing early strength only slightly. Most known accelerators are total. A useful partial accelerator would increase strength without altering thickening time. This report concerns material combinations in which a normally total accelerator exerts unique partial properties. Utilizing these limited effects improves bentonite cement. SEPARATE EFFECTS OF SODIUM CHLORIDE AND BENTONITE ON CEMENT Sodium chloride and calcium chloride are commonly used in cement, and at low concentrations their effects are similar. Ludwig1 studied sodium chloride in API Class A and Class E cements.' Figs. 1 and 2 sum- marize his data taken at 140°F on slurry pumpability and early strength. Normal water-to-cement ratios are 0.46 and 0.40, respectively, for Class A and Class E cements. At saturation the salt content is 12 to 14 per cent of the weight of cement solids. The illustrations, therefore, cover the range of salt solubility in the mixing water. The data show that sodium chloride is a total accelerator of the Class E cement studied over the range of solubility. It is total in Class A cement to 6 per cent. Above this concentration salt becomes a retarder— partial from 6 to 10 per cent and total above. These results are general for different brands of Class A cement, although the shift from acceleration to retardation may occur at different salt concentrations for different temperatures. The results are specific for the Class E brand studied. In discussing his data, the investigator emphasized that different Class E cements might respond erratically to salt, depending on the brand chosen. Morgan and Dumbauld3 escribe the properties of bentonite cement in a paper that is a standard reference in using these systems. Bentonite functions in cement as an enabling agent; each bentonite addition equal to 1 per cent of the weight of dry cement makes possible the further addition of 4.5 per cent water.' Thus, 10 per cent bentonite in Class A cement, normally slurried neat with 46 per cent water, enables the slurry to contain another 45 per cent before settling. Water is one of the lightest and cheapest cement extenders; it reduces density and cost. Bentonite cements produce uniform slurries having low susceptibility to solids separation. After set, they offer low resistance to perforation.

COLUMBIA SECTION Holds four sessions during year. Annual meeting in September or October. S. S. FOWLER, Chairman, J. C. HAAS, Vice-Chairman, LYNDON K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary-Treasurer, 720 Peyton Bldg., Spokane, Wash. W. H. LINNEY, J. F. MCCARTHY. A special meeting of the officers of the Columbia Section was held in Spokane, Wash., Jan. 10, 1918, for the purpose of organizing and nominating members to the principal committees of the Section. Present: J. C. Haas, Vice-chairman; W. H. Linney, Past Chairman; and L. K. Armstrong, Secretary. J. F. McCarthy, Wallace, Idaho, was appointed fifth member of the Executive Committee. The following were appointed to the Membership Committee: R. M. Betts; for Oregon; W. J. Hall, for Idaho; J. M. Porter, for Washington. A member for British Columbia will be appointed later. The following were appointed to the Committee on Papers: Prof. F. A. Thomson, Moscow, Idaho; Prof. L. 0. Howard, Pullman, Wash.; H. S. Lee, Rye Valley, Ore. A fourth member, representing British Columbia, is to be appointed later. The following members were appointed representatives on the Executive Committee of the Spokane Engineering and Technical Association: J. C. Haas, W. H. Linney, F. A. Ross, L. K. Armstrong. The Treasurer reported a deficit, resulting from the participation of the Section at the Northwest Mining Convention in 1916. It was recommended that the Institute be petitioned to make good this deficit, in addition to the usual annual allowance. The members of the committee who were present expressed their desire to be of greater service in the present war, and discussed at some length the possible means of carrying out their desires. It was later decided to reopen the subject at a subsequent meeting of the Section, or to present it to the Executive Committee of the Spokane Engineering and Technical Association for discussion and cooperative action. L. K. ARMSTRONG, Secretary.

Jan 3, 1918

By A. Phillips, D. H. Killpatrick, V. Kerlins

The tensile failure of two dispersion-strengthened Ni-20 Cr alloys was studied and compared to the fracture of a similar alloy with no dispersoid. The fracture characteristics were studied using electron fruc-tography and transmission electron microscopy. In all three cases, the mode of failure was found to be microvoid coalescence. The failure in the dispersion-strengthened alloys was found to have initiated at the particles. The size of the dimples in the fracto-graphs was found to be related to the spacing of the particles, but not to the total elongation before failure. The elongation before failure was found to be related only to the amount of dispersed phase. These results are compared to those predicted by a theoretical model of ductile failure. THE continually increasing strength requirements for creep-resistant materials capable of long life at service temperatures above 1600"F (875"C) have developed considerable interest in dispersion-strengthened nickel-base alloys. The high yield strength of these alloys results from the presence of a dispersion of fine particles of thoria which act to impede the normal motion of dislocations. Many theories have been presented to explain the role of the dispersion in the strengthening of these alloys. A good review of these theories is presented by Ansell.' The ultimate strength of such alloys is not only related to mechanisms raising the yield strength, but also to the amount of work-hardening which occurs. This work-hardening is determined by the work-hardening rate and the amount of plastic strain before failure. Since fracture limits the amount of plastic strain, a study was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the fracture mechanisms in these alloys. Electron fractography and transmission electron microscopy were used to study the fracture characteristics in two dispersion-strengthened alloys and one similar alloy containing no dispersoid. These results are related to the tensile properties of the dispersion-strengthened alloys at room temperature and at 2000°F (1095°C). The results are also related to a theory for ductile fracture. 1) PROCEDURE Standard tensile specimens were made from 0.020-in. (0.051-cm) sheets of three different Ni-Cr alloys. The alloys had nominal compositions of Ni-20Cr, Ni-20Cr-2Th0,, and Ni-2OCr-4Th0,. All alloys were supplied in an annealed condition. The specimens were fractured in tension at room temperature to determine the effect of the dispersed thoria on the fracture appearance. The tensile properties were determined from the average of a minimum of three ten- sile specimens for each condition tested. The fracture surface of all of the alloys was examined by electron microscopy using standard two-stage plastic-carbon replica techniques. Thin foils of the dispersion-strengthened alloys were used to investigate the size and spacings of the dispersion particles, and to investigate sections of the 2 pct thoria alloy taken from areas of the specimen adjacent to the fracture surface. The thin foils were mechanically ground to 0.010 in. (0.025 cm) and then chemically polished to approximately 0.001 in. (0.003 cm) in a solution of 29 g of ferric chloride and 10 ml hydrochloric acid in a liter of water. The polishing solution was maintained at 150"F (65°C) during the thinning operation. The final thinning of the foil was done electrolytically using a solution of 700 ml ethanol, 100 ml 2-butoxy eth-anol, 120 ml distilled water, and 78 ml perchloric acid (70 pct). The potential was maintained at 15 v and the bath temperature at -20°~ (-29°C) during the thinning operation. The final thickness of the foil was approximately l000A as determined from the width of twins boundaries observed in many of the foils. 2) RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The electron fractographs of the fracture surfaces of the alloys are shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The normal interpretation of this type of fractographz is that, as a result of the difference between elastic and plastic properties of the matrix and the particles or other inhomogeneities in the alloy, microvoids are formed

Jan 1, 1969

By AIME AIME

THE Industrial Conference appointed by President Wilson has presented the following tentative plan for preventing or retarding strikes and industrial conflicts by proposing new Federal machinery for the adjustment of differences between employers and employees. Theplan is signed by William B. Wilson, Secretary of the Department of Labor, 'as chairman of the conference; Herbert Hoover, former Federal Food Administrator, as vice-chairman; Martin H. Glynn; Thomas W. Gregory, former Attorney Gen¬eral; Richard Hooker; Stanley King; Samuel W. McCall former Governor of Massachusetts; Henry M. Robin¬son; Julius Rosenwald; Oscar S. Straus; Henry C. Stuart, former Governor of Virginia; F. W. Taussig; William O. Thompson; Henry J. Waters; George. W. Wickersham, former Attorney General; and Owen D. Young.

Jan 1, 1920