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By R. J. Schilthuis, T. V. Moore

In a previous paper,' the results of some experimental work on the measurement of slippage in the flow of oil and gas mixtures through vertical pipes were presented. The data obtained were correlated and equations were deduced from which the performance of the experimental gas-lift could be predicted with reasonable accuracy. However, attempts to apply the equations to the calculation of pressure drops in actual flowing wells yielded erroneous results. At the time the results of the experimental work were published, no satisfactory explanation could be offered for the failure of the empirical equations to express properly the performance of wells. However, recent work has led to the development of a new hypothesis which presupposes certain conditions affecting the flow of oil and gas in wells. When the proposed equations are corrected to allow for these conditions, an agreement between the observed and calculated performance of the actual wells is obtained which in most cases is quite satisfactory, although it is subject to certain limitations. In this paper, the method of calculating the pressure drop in actual wells is considered, and the application of the method to the design of tubing is discussed. (For nomenclature used in this discussion, see Table 1.) Factors Affecting Slippage and Efficiency At the outset, a few of the principle factors affecting slippage and efficiency in the gas-lift discussed in the previous paper will be reviewed. In the flow of the mixture of oil and gas in a vertical pipe, slippage is the phenomenon of gas moving upward with a. linear velocity greater than that of the oil. Under steady conditions, if given quantities of oil and gas enter the tubing per unit of time, the same quantities of oil and gas per unit time must, on the average, pass every section of the tubing; otherwise, there would be accumulation or depletion of the oil or gas at some sections, and the flow would be unsteady. Therefore, if the gas is to flow at a greater linear velocity than that of the liquid,

Jan 1, 1933

FOR four years your Committee has been engaged in the study of problems connected with the educational preparation of professional geophysicists. The present report represents the conclusions drawn from the investigations and deliberations undertaken since it was first organized. These studies have shown that the evolution of geophysics has proceeded along lines that differed from those marking the advance of classical geology. The latter science developed as a descriptive one, dealing with directly observable terrestrial phenomena, and the elementary, rational explanations that could be offered therefor. The fact that these phenomena were also chemical and physical in nature was seldom given more than passing acknowledgment. During the last half century, however, a new approach to problems of terrestrial phenomena has become of greater significance. This new attack has come through the sciences of physics and chemistry, as the people trained therein have investigated the facts of the earth as problems in their respective sciences. This development has been chiefly at the hands of European investigators, and European universities have long recognized it by establishing departments or institutions of geophysics. In the universities of North America, their arbitrary departmentalization into fields of physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, etc., has prevented the academic recognition of such domains of science as geophysics and geochemistry. In consequence, the development of these subjects in the United States has been largely at the hands of nonacademic institutions, while the universities themselves are evidently in a state of confusion as to how the subject should be handled. In some places an attempt to teach geophysics is made in the physics department, in others in the geology department, in some in the engineering school, and occasionally as a cooperative effort; a Department of Geophysics is seldom found in North America. In some instances, proper academic planning has been precluded by interdepartmental jealousies, or by lack of appreciation of the significance of the subject. For the background upon which these conclusions are based, the reader is referred to reports previously issued or sponsored by your Committee. These reports are available from Institute Headquarters. The "First Report of the A.I.M.E. Mineral Industry Education Division's Committee of Geophysics Education, 1939," summarizes the replies received to question-

Jan 1, 1942

By F. P. Peterson

The manufacture of gasoline by extraction or precipitation from the natural gases in which it is found, the present status of the industry, its past development and future extensions, offer a subject which is so broad that to handle it in its entirety would require a voluminous paper. The writer will, therefore, attempt to concentrate the essential matter of the subject for a general presentation, giving some of the most interesting details of the factors that are important to the industry. This industry has drawn liberally on the principles of physics and chemistry, and, to a large extent, has had to adapt such information as is most useful—not from data recorded with reference to petroleum, but from data recorded with reference to general treatment of other materials. Because of the complex character of the petroleum series of hydrocarbons and the fact that data, such as solubilities, 'vapor pressures, etc., . of the different petroleum compounds have not been determined, we are still working by rule of thumb in some essential phases of the industry. Furthermore, the difficulties of determining such data are almost insurmountable. We have not one, but two butanes to deal with—not one, but several, pentanes, hexanes, heptanes, and, as we ascend in the series the complexity and multiplication of isomers increases at such a rate as to make the task of isolating and studying their physical characteristics almost beyond the hope of possible attainment. The industry is the connecting link knitting the interests of oil producers and refiners into a much closer relationship than ever existed prior to its inception and development. The relation between the producer and the refiner of petroleum prior to 1910 was a rather antagonistic one in a commercial sense. It was to the interest of the producer of crude petroleum to sell it for a maximum consideration; the refiner's interest was to obtain the same product for a minimum consideration; therefore, each side of the business transaction retained within his own hands as far as possible the trade secrets of his business. Each side maintained an attitude of cold-blooded business sympathy only for the other. Cas-

Jan 1, 1918

By Charles H. Fulton

FOR some time it has been thought that there should be > closer relationship between the members' of the Institute engaged in education in the mining schools, the mining, metallurgical, ceramic, and geological departments of universities, and the members of the Institute actually engaged in the production of mineral products and the operation and direction of works. The American Society of Chemical Engineers and the American Ceramic Society have for some years past devoted especial attention to the educational matters of their respective fields. The Engineering Foundation, representing the great engineering societies of the country, is deeply interested in technical education and maintains a Committee on Educational Research.

Jan 1, 1932

By Charles H. Doolittle, Royal P. Jarvis

The following notes are contributed, not with the idea of offering a complete history of the development of this very important process as applied to the Leadville district, but with the hope that the practice, as it was carried out in the Bi-Metallic Smelter, may still be of interest to others. The Bi-Metallic Smelter, at Leadville, Colo., was the first to make a commercial success of the process described in the following pages, which consisted essentially of smelting raw silver- and copper-bearing sulphide ores in blast-furnaces to form a matte, which was generally re-smelted with siliceous ores for a second high-grade matte. Robert Sticht, in his excellent monograph on the subject,' has outlined briefly the plant belonging to this company. He says, in effect: The Boulder, Mont., enterprise set the example for others with whom the patentee (W. L. Austin) had been negotiating, and the old La Plata lead-smelter at Leadville, Colo., was fashioned into a crude, temporary experimental plant for the Bi-Metallic Company, and the feasibility of the process demonstrated by a trial run. Subsequently, the plant was considerably improved, and, being supplied with very favorable ores, continued to run without interruption from August, 1892, to June, 1893. In September, 1803, smelting was resumed in a completely remodeled establishment, some $200,000 having been expended upon the new work. Thus, aside from the Montana experiments, which, under the direction of W. L. Austin, began as early as 1885 at Toston, and continued with indifferent success for six or seven years, the Bi-Metallic plant at Leadville may be said to have

Jan 1, 1911

By John Birkinbine

An unusually large number of crystals of magnetite obtained in the exploitation of a deposit of magnetic iron-ore of remarkable purity, encouraged the preparation of this paper, and its presentation at this time, that the matter might go on record in the Transactions. To make this record more complete, a preliminary statement is offered concerning the district and locality in which the ore is found. To the northeastern portion of the State of New York the United States is indebted for a large percentage of the iron-ore which has assisted in developing the resources and industries of the nation. As early as 1804, iron-ore was mined between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack mountains, and this district has since been an important and continuous contributor to our iron-ore supply. The production of the Lake Champlain district for the last, eleven years is as follows: Years. Gross tons. 1879,...........420,341 1880,...........531,000 1881,...........637,000 1882,...........675,000 1883,...........500,000 1884,...........504,894 1885,...........379,077 1886,...........588,752 1887,...........768,852 1888,...........789,419 1889,...........750,230 Approximate total,.....6,644,565

Jan 1, 1890

By Ernest Stütz

(New York Meeting, October, 1913.) THE problem of increasing blast-furnace efficiency through diminution of flue-dust production while operating with burdens consisting largely of fine ores has of recent years attracted the attention of metallurgists, whether directly or indirectly interested in the economies of iron smelting, and the various methods evolved from theory or practice have been. submitted to wide discussion. After the very thorough and, at that time, exhaustive view of the whole subject, which was afforded to the industry by the meeting of this Institute in February, 1912, the subject was again taken up at the meeting of the Verein deutscher Eisenhüttenleute at Düsseldorf in December, 1912. While American and German conditions are not entirely identical, it may be of interest to give here the words of the gentleman summing up the discussion at the Düsseldorf meeting : ?The chief advantage offered by the use of briquettes lies in the fact that disturbances in the furnace, caused mostly by the presence of fine ores in the burden, are avoided, and that blast pressure can be considerably reduced. The resulting economies cannot be overrated, as, with lower blast consumption per ton of product, the installation will be able to take care of increased production. In consequence of lower pressure and speed of blast, heat is more efficiently utilized,, flue gas temperature is lowered, and coke particles are less liable to be carried along with the flue dust, of which considerably less is produced. Finally, by increased regularity of operation and higher temperature in the lower parts of the furnace, the quality of the product is improved. The question of briquetting iron ores has grown to be one of the most important in the iron industry, and it is not any more a question of what is the cost 'of briquetting a ton of ore, but what, in. using ore briquettes, is the cost, of: production of a ton of iron."

Jan 7, 1913

All the TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS and CONTRIBUTIONS published in 1941 are available at Institute headquarters, unless otherwise noted They are also on file in many public, university and technical libraries and, when so indicated in the list, may be found in the TRANSACTIONS TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS in Classes A-Metal Mining, 13-Milling and Concentration, H-Industrial Minerals, and I-Mining Geology are distributed in MINING TECHNOLOGY, which is issued every other month Technical Publications in Classes C-Iron and Steel Division, D-Nonferrous Metallurgy and E-Institute of Metals Division are distributed in METALS TECHNOLOGY, which is issued twice quarterly TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS in Class G-Petroleum Division are distributed in PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY, which is issued every other month TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS in Classes F-Coal Division, J-Mineral Industry Education Division, K-Mining Administration, and L-Geophysics, are issued as separate pamphlets An Institute member is entitled to one copy of any printed TECHNICAL PUBLICATION or CONTRIBUTION Copies of TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS listed have been mailed to members of the Institute according to their registration by classes CONTRIBUTIONS and other TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS will be sent upon request A member may purchase an additional copy of a TECHNICAL PUBLICATION or a CONTRIBUTION at one cent a page, minimum charge, 25¢ Nonmembers may purchase any CONTRIBUTION or a TECHNICAL PUBLICATION of the F, J, K, or L classes at the same rate, but the nonmember price per copy for METALS TECHNOLOGY, MINING TECHNOLOGY or PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY is $1 25 domestic, $1 35 foreign countries. TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS (separate pamphlet form), $2 per annum domestic, $2 50 foreign. METALS TECHNOLOGY, $7 per annum domestic, $7 80 foreign (Iron and Steel Division and Institute of Metals Division ferrous and nonferrous papers) MINING TECHNOLOGY, $6 per annum domestic, $6 60 foreign (metal mining, milling and concentration, Industrial Minerals Division, and mining geology papers) PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY, $6 per annum domestic, $6 60 foreign Bound volumes have been mailed to members that have requested them, and MINING and METALLURGY Is mailed each month A member is entitled to one volume a year on his membership and he may purchase for $2 50 one copy of a volume not already received, additional copies of the same volume, $5 Nonmembers in the United States may purchase the volumes listed at $5 each, outside of the United States and its possessions, $5 6o Extra single copies of MINING AND METALLURGY, 25¢ current issue, back numbers 500 each to members, to nonmembers 50¢ current issue and $1 each, back issues Subscription price to nonmembers and to members for extra copies, $3 per annum domestic, $4 00 foreign.

Jan 1, 1941

General Aurelio Blanquet,* the best known of living Mexican soldiers, formerly the trusted friend of Porfirio Diaz and organizer of the old Federal Guard of Mexico City, who as a sergeant commanded the squad that executed sentence on Emperor Maximilian, and. more recently was Minister of War in the Cabinet of Victoriano Huerta, landed in Mexico early in April and joined the forces of Felix Diaz. His landing in the state of Vera Cruz, it was stated, was for the definite purpose of aiding the movement now under way to overthrow Venustiano Carranza and to place in power a government that will be "pro-Ally" in its sympathies and will promulgate and enforce laws that will guarantee the rights of life and property in Mexico. The New York Tinges says of the revolution editorially: "Whatever may be the success of General Aurelio Blanquet's attempt to overthrow the Carranza Government in Mexico, admiration cannot be withheld from the General's publicity manager. No enterprise awning at the overthrow of a Government ever had more favorable and widespread advertising. Felix Diaz, whom Blanquet is going to reinforce, supersede, or overthrow, as the case may be-Mexican precedent in these matters offers opportunity for considerable speculation-has been conducting his revolution, at the old stand for some time, but without much success. But, says General Blanquet's representative, the landing of Blanquet will send a thrill to the heart of every true republican.' Meanwhile a biographical booklet is published, adorned with photo¬graphs illustrating the General's record, including such varied matters as the General in favor, receiving a decoration from Victoriano Huerta, and the General in exile, feeding the birds in Central Park."

Jan 5, 1919

By A. V. Deforest, C. W. Macgregor, A. R. Anderson

One of the important problems in the design of structures and machine parts subjected to rapidly applied loads is the determination of the strength and ductility of the material itself under such conditions. Realizing the need for such information, many investigations have been carried out in the past. Most of these experiments have been made using notched bars in bending either with the Charpy or Izod impact machine. While yielding valuable data on the effect of notches in the energy absorption of the material and on the condition of heat-treatment, this form of test does not lend itself readily to a determination of fundamental stress-strain relations. For this and other reasons, more attention has been paid recently to the tension impact test. An extensive literature already exists on the subject and only those investigations somewhat closely related to the present paper will be mentioned. For a more comprehensive list, the reader is referred to the Symposium on Impact Testing or the A.S.T.M., 1938. The work of Mann.' Clark and Dätwyler,2 Nádai and Manjoine,3 Winlock and Leiter,4 Deutler,5 and Brinkmann,6 however, deserves especial mention. In most of the previous investigations on the subject, when stress-strain relations were obtained under high rates of loading, it was the common procedure to determine stresses based on the original area and strains based on the original length. Stress-strain curves were then constructed by P ALo plotting So = 1/A0 as a function of eo = ALr,o where A0 and Lo refer to the original area and gauge length, respectively. At present there exists a paucity of true stress-strain data in the impact problem. The advantages of constructing so-called true stress-strain curves in order to reveal the fundamental physical properties of the material for the tension test were discussed recently by one of the authors.7'8 It was shown that the true physical behavior of the material in the tension test could best be represented P by plotting the average true stress, S = 2P as a function of 6 = q' = log —r = log ~9L where P, A, L, S, E, and q' refer to the load, the cross-sectioned area while the load P is applied, the actual gauge length, the average true stress, the true strain and true reduction in area, respectively. Besides giving a better physical representation, the method has certain additional advantages in that the stress-strain curve so plotted becomes a straight line from the maximin load point to fracture. The construction of such curves, however, while comparatively simple for the slow rates of loading customarily used in the tension test, presents certain dificulties for tensile impact in that both loads and diameters are required throughout the test. The continuous measurement of test-piece diameters to fracture under impact conditions offers considerable experimental difficulty. In order to make it feasible to

Jan 1, 1942

By A. V. Deforest, A. R. Anderson, C. W. MacGregor

One of the important problems in the design of structures and machine parts subjected to rapidly applied loads is the determination of the strength and ductility of the material itself under such conditions. Realizing the need for such information, many investigations have been carried out in the past. Most of these experiments have been made using notched bars in bending either with the Charpy or Izod impact machine. While yielding valuable data on the effect of notches in the energy absorption of the material and on the condition of heat-treatment, this form of test does not lend itself readily to a determination of fundamental stress-strain relations. For this and other reasons, more attention has been paid recently to the tension impact test. An extensive literature already exists on the subject and only those investigations somewhat closely related to the present paper will be mentioned. For a more comprehensive list, the reader is referred to the Symposium on Impact Testing or the A.S.T.M., 1938. The work of Mann.' Clark and Dätwyler,2 Nádai and Manjoine,3 Winlock and Leiter,4 Deutler,5 and Brinkmann,6 however, deserves especial mention. In most of the previous investigations on the subject, when stress-strain relations were obtained under high rates of loading, it was the common procedure to determine stresses based on the original area and strains based on the original length. Stress-strain curves were then constructed by P ALo plotting So = 1/A0 as a function of eo = ALr,o where A0 and Lo refer to the original area and gauge length, respectively. At present there exists a paucity of true stress-strain data in the impact problem. The advantages of constructing so-called true stress-strain curves in order to reveal the fundamental physical properties of the material for the tension test were discussed recently by one of the authors.7'8 It was shown that the true physical behavior of the material in the tension test could best be represented P by plotting the average true stress, S = 2P as a function of 6 = q' = log —r = log ~9L where P, A, L, S, E, and q' refer to the load, the cross-sectioned area while the load P is applied, the actual gauge length, the average true stress, the true strain and true reduction in area, respectively. Besides giving a better physical representation, the method has certain additional advantages in that the stress-strain curve so plotted becomes a straight line from the maximin load point to fracture. The construction of such curves, however, while comparatively simple for the slow rates of loading customarily used in the tension test, presents certain dificulties for tensile impact in that both loads and diameters are required throughout the test. The continuous measurement of test-piece diameters to fracture under impact conditions offers considerable experimental difficulty. In order to make it feasible to

Jan 1, 1942

By H. M. Howe

I WISH to present to you a few thoughts on some of the phenomena and laws of iron smelting. Owing to the great complexity of the subject, to the great variety of points to be taken into consideration, many of which are very poorly understood, and to the meagreness and even conflictoriness of our information with regard to some of the most important laws which govern the subject, the fruits of such thoughts as I venture to offer you must be received as speculations, not as facts. Nevertheless, in discussing old phenomena from new standpoints, thus furnishing a metallurgical parallax, if I may say so, these theoretical speculations may have their value in helping to a clearer comprehension of the phenomena and laws we now know, and in suggesting new lines of inquiry. While an increase of height in blast furnaces is not always followed by increase in their power of production, experience proves that it tends to increase it; for while we have many cases of short furnaces producing more iron than longer ones, yet enormous productions, such as those of the Lucy and Isabella furnaces of Pittsburgh, and of the furnaces of Esch sur l'Alzette, in Luxembourg, have never been reached in short furnaces. We may safely infer that height is an element essential to great production, though of course not the only essential element, and that, in the case of high furnaces which are not capable of great production, some other essential element is wanting. Moreover, experience teaches that within limits increase of height tends to increase the producing power in a still higher ratio. Thus, in the Esch furnace, which is 19.8 meters (65 feet) high, 393 tonnes (or 387 gross tons) of 312 per cent. Ore

Jan 1, 1877

By Arthur F. Taggart, Nathaniel Arbiter

The fact that the floatability of minerals with fatty-acid collectors changes as the pH of a pulp varies was utilized in the early days of flotation, when sulphuric acid was used with oleic acid to float sphalerite and galena. from gangues which themselves float with fatty acids in alkaline pulps. Gaudin1 showed that this difference in floatability is a regular function of the extent of the change in pH. The present paper offers an explanation of the phenomenon, and on the basis thereof sets up recommendations for control of soap-flotation operations. Experimental Parallelism between floatability of a mineral in a given environment and its contact angle in that environment is so well established,2 and the contact angle is so readily and rapidly measurable, that contact angles have been used throughout the experimental work to indicate relative floatability. Experiments comprised contact-angle measurements on a number of representative minerals and metals, and a variety of subsidiary tests designed to check and to amplify the contact-angle indications. Contact-angle measurements were made by the method described in detail by del Giudice.3 Sequence of procedure for determination of the points of Fig. I was: I. Polish specimen. Most specimens yielded zero contact angle after polishing; a few showed a slight "cling." Cling is characteristic of specimens that pit on polishing; it is due to a residue of organic contamination, originally on the particle surface, which persists in the pits. The cling did not change total contact angle after conditioning, and is not, therefore, additive in the upper part of the curves of Fig. I. It may have broadened the bases of the curves for the affected minerals slightly. 2. The specimen was next conditioned in soap solution for 5 minutes. 3. The conditioned particle was transferred, under conditions that precluded surface drying, to an aqueous solution of the pH desired and contact angle determined. 4. The particle was thereupon transferred, again without surface drying, to water. The confirmatory tests will be described at the places pertinent in the argument. Discussion of Results Gaudin and Vincent4 have shown that contact angles with heptoic acid as a collector decrease for a given specimen when the concentration of collector present falls below a certain value. A similar reduction in angle occurs with collector-conditioned particles that are visibly slime-coated, and varies roughly with the extent of coating. Since in the last case the reduction in angle is certainly due to reduction in the proportion of total conditioned mineral surface presented to the bubble, the authors believe that the same condition prevails in the first case cited, and that similar reduction in angle and floatability will occur whenever starvation quantities of collector are present, whether by design or by reason of excessive consumption.

Jan 1, 1943

By Nathaniel Arbiter, Arthur F. Taggart

The fact that the floatability of minerals with fatty-acid collectors changes as the pH of a pulp varies was utilized in the early days of flotation, when sulphuric acid was used with oleic acid to float sphalerite and galena. from gangues which themselves float with fatty acids in alkaline pulps. Gaudin1 showed that this difference in floatability is a regular function of the extent of the change in pH. The present paper offers an explanation of the phenomenon, and on the basis thereof sets up recommendations for control of soap-flotation operations. Experimental Parallelism between floatability of a mineral in a given environment and its contact angle in that environment is so well established,2 and the contact angle is so readily and rapidly measurable, that contact angles have been used throughout the experimental work to indicate relative floatability. Experiments comprised contact-angle measurements on a number of representative minerals and metals, and a variety of subsidiary tests designed to check and to amplify the contact-angle indications. Contact-angle measurements were made by the method described in detail by del Giudice.3 Sequence of procedure for determination of the points of Fig. I was: I. Polish specimen. Most specimens yielded zero contact angle after polishing; a few showed a slight "cling." Cling is characteristic of specimens that pit on polishing; it is due to a residue of organic contamination, originally on the particle surface, which persists in the pits. The cling did not change total contact angle after conditioning, and is not, therefore, additive in the upper part of the curves of Fig. I. It may have broadened the bases of the curves for the affected minerals slightly. 2. The specimen was next conditioned in soap solution for 5 minutes. 3. The conditioned particle was transferred, under conditions that precluded surface drying, to an aqueous solution of the pH desired and contact angle determined. 4. The particle was thereupon transferred, again without surface drying, to water. The confirmatory tests will be described at the places pertinent in the argument. Discussion of Results Gaudin and Vincent4 have shown that contact angles with heptoic acid as a collector decrease for a given specimen when the concentration of collector present falls below a certain value. A similar reduction in angle occurs with collector-conditioned particles that are visibly slime-coated, and varies roughly with the extent of coating. Since in the last case the reduction in angle is certainly due to reduction in the proportion of total conditioned mineral surface presented to the bubble, the authors believe that the same condition prevails in the first case cited, and that similar reduction in angle and floatability will occur whenever starvation quantities of collector are present, whether by design or by reason of excessive consumption.

Jan 1, 1943

By Lillian Erskine

WHILE brass and other copper alloys have long been listed as offering health hazards to their workers, it is questionable if the metals involved are alone responsible for the trades' records of morbidity. The entire science of foundry sanitation is the product of the past two decades; and the best standards now operative would have been regarded as little short of revolutionary prior to 1910. The special handicap to the conservation of the health of the brass founder's employees has been the fact that, unlike the iron founder, his business could be profitably carried on in almost any small and unsanitary quarters. As a result, writers on occupational disease have accepted brass chills or brass founders' ague as an inevitable feature of the trade; and respiratory disabilities, as well as phthisis and disturbances of the nervous system, are also included as prevalent among those employed. While there can be no question as to the basic accuracy of past investigations, there is every reason to doubt the necessity for an undue percentage of ill health among brass molders and casters who are safeguarded by scientific ventilating standards and by improving personal habits of sobriety. There is, however, need for a campaign of education as to the most approved practices and equipment whereby the employer may safeguard the health of his workers, and thereby reduce his labor turnover and increase his productive efficiency. Broadly speaking, copper, tin, and aluminum carry negligible health hazards. The toxic qualities of lead, however, are a menace; especially if scrap lead is recovered or bought for foundry processes. The rapid volatilization of zinc renders its fumes and flocculent condensation the chief problems in conserving the health of the brass worker. The frequent presence in the foundry air of traces of arsenic compounds, lead

Jan 2, 1919

By Harrison Souder

UNDER the stimulus of steadily in- creasing 'demands of the steel industry at home, and with the supply of available ores from abroad appreciably diminished owing to vigorous rearmament campaigns in Europe, production of Eastern magnetite ores reached an all- time peak in 1937. Although the figures given in the accompanying table are partly estimated (actual figures were available for eleven months only), it appears that 1937 production was nearly 47 per cent higher than that of 1936.

Jan 1, 1938

By Charles S. Barrett, Hermann F. Kaiser, Robert F. Mehl

THE copper-silver system presents several points of special interest in the study of segregate structures. The system is simple eutectic, with limited solid solutions terminal with the pure component metals. The extent of solid solubility decreases with decreasing temperature for both the copper-rich and the silver-rich alloys, thus offering a possibility for the formation of Widmanstätten figures and also a possibility for aging after quenching. In contrast to the structures studied previously the structures in this system are unique in their origin, for one terminal solid solution will precipitate the other, and vice versa. In most of the other systems for which crystallographic data on the precipitation (or transformation) process are available, either intermetallic compounds or intermediate phases partake in the decomposition process; the absence of such phases thus distinguishes this system. The lattice structures of the two solid solutions are identical in type, differing in lattice spacing by approximately 10 per cent; because of this it seems difficult if not impossible to predict on the basis of present theory either the outward form of the precipitate or the lattice orientation relationships between matrix and precipitate. The eutectic temperature in the copper-silver system1 is 779° C. At this temperature copper dissolves 4.3 atomic per cent (7.0 weight per

Jan 1, 1935

By Julian M. Avery

IN its dual role of pig-lion smelter and gas producer, the blast furnace is a remarkably satisfactory and efficient apparatus Many metallurgists and engineers have pointed out, however, that since the primary function of the blast furnace is to produce pig iron at the lowest possible cost, its function as a gas producer should be subordinated to this primary purpose During the past 10 years or more, improvements in blast-furnace technique and economy have, n fact, been directed primarily to increasing efficiency n the use of the reducing power of the gases produced by combustion of coke at the tuyeres, to reduce iron ore within the furnace The net over-all result is a decrease n the fuel value of the top gas per unit of volume, and per ton of pig iron, which is evidently amore than offset n value by the corollary saving in coke and the possibility of increased furnace capacity, for otherwise there would be no point in making such improvements The purpose of the present paper is to suggest that, while progress has been made n this direction, there is another approach to the problem of increasing the chemical and thermal efficiency of the blast furnace in its primary role as a pig-iron smelter, which appears to offer possibilities of improvement in over-all economy of a different order of magnitude than results thus far obtained by the use of other expedients The present argument is based in large part upon the hypothesis that the efficiency and economics of pig-iron smelting are seriously and adversely affected by the phenomenon known as "solution loss," and that the problem of solution loss can be successfully attacked by increasing the over-all pressure, i e , the "top pressure" under which the furnace is operated It is indicated that pressure operation may also be expected to result n concomitant benefits, which may be summed up as generally improved operating conditions, together with a substantial saving in fuel and/or a substantial increase in furnace capacity In a broad sense, the suggestion of pressure operation of the pig-iron blast furnace is not new, for operation under moderately increased over-all pressure was suggested as early as 1871, by no less an authority than

Jan 1, 1938

By M. E. Wadsworth, T. L. MacKay

Sintered UO, samples were leached in sulfuric acid solutions of various concentrations. A pressurized system was used so that it was possible to investigate the kinetics of the reaction to 270°C with oxygen overpressures as high as 900 psi. The rate was observed to be a function of the concentration of hydrogen ions and directly proportional to the partial pressure of oxygen. Evidences are presented which indicate that a UO2 surface site reacts with a molecule of water to form a hydroxyl complex which in turn can dissociate with the characteristics of a weak acid. A rate determining step has been proposed which involves the reaction between an oxygen molecule and the hydroxyl complex on the surface of UO,. ThE 2 principal methods for uranium dissolution are carbonate and acid leaching. The sulfuric acid leach is the more popular and is used for the treatment of the majority of the ores of Africa, Canada, and the United States. Low recoveries in basic leach circuits led investigators at the University of British columbia1 to study leaching of uranium ores in pressurized vessels. Early in the study of dissolution of uranium it was found that only uranium in the hexava-lent state could be leached in acid or basic circuits. Therefore, the use of oxygen over-pressure in an autoclave offered an interesting approach to solving the low recovery problems of carbonate leaching. UO, was used in this study because it could be obtained in high purity and also because it is representative of the most refractory of the primary uranium minerals. A pressurized system was used to provide a means whereby important temperature and pressure parameters could be varied for the evaluation of the kinetic processes. The mechanism for the dissolution of UO2 should be similar for any of the uraninite type minerals. At the present all of the kinetic studies that have been conducted have been in carbonate media. Peters and Halpern2 carried out a kinetic study of the leaching of pitchblende. Their specimens were pitchblende ores selected on the basis of high grade and homogeneity. Pearson and wadsworth3 conducted a kinetic study of the dissolution of UO2 in carbonate solutions with results very similar to those obtained by Peters and Halpern. EXPERIMENTAL The UO2 as received* was found by spectroscopic *Mallinckrodt reagent, supplied by the Atomic Energy Commission. analysis to have a purity of 99.94 pct 0.03. It was ground in a mechanical agate mortar and screened through a 400-mesh sieve. Thin flat disks of UO2 were prepared by pressing the sized powder in a specially constructed die at a total pressure of approximately 25 tons per sq in. The pressed disks were approximately 0.25 cm thick, 1.6 cm diam, and 3.5 g in weight. As pressed, the samples were approximately 65 pct of theoretical density. It was essential that a binder such as poly-vinyl alcohol be added before pressing to prevent formation of cracks when fired. It was found by trial and error that pressed disks sintered close to 1870°C in a hydrogen atmosphere, reach densities between 91 and 91.5 pct of the theoretical density. At this density the samples had no measurable porosity based upon a 2-hr emersion in boiling water. An X-ray examination of these sintered UO2 disks showed them to be identical with the original UO2 received. Reaction of UO2 with the alundum furnace core was prevented by placing molybdenum between the samples and the core according to the method of Corwin and Eyerly.4 Leaching studies were carried out in a specially designed autoclave, the details of which have been presented e1sewhere.6 The main features of the equipment as applied to a kinetic study are: 1) solution samples may be removed during the course of a single run; and 2) temperature and agitation are carefully controlled. Two-ml samples removed from the autoclave during the course of a run were analyzed for U3O8 content with a Beckman model DK-2 spectrophotometer by the method of

Jan 1, 1959

Considerable discussion took place at the June 18th Board of Directors Meeting concerning ways the Petroleum Branch office in Dallas could better serve its members and the essentially Petroleum Local Sections, namely the Delta, East Texas, Gulf Coast, Kansas, Mid-Continent, North Texas, Oklahoma City, Permian Basin, and Southwest Texas. The question of whether decentralization strengthens or weakens the Institute was debated, particularly as to what services could be advantageously decentralized and how both offices could keep informed on their mutual problems. Among other things, it was decided that an Auxiliary Admissions Committee could screen applications from Petroleum members before final action by the National Admissions Committee in New York. Finally it was voted, "That all administrative matters that can be properly delegated to a Branch organization may be so delegated". Final details were approved at the July 16th meeting of the Executive and Finance Committees.

Jan 1, 1952