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By N. H. Murlenberg, T. M. Drown

It is often a tedious matter to get a solution of pig iron or steel, for the determination of phosphorus, which is absolutely free from silica. Where pig iron rich in silicon is dissolved in hydrochloric or nitric acid in the usual procedure, it is necessary, not only to evaporate the solution to complete dry ness, but to heat the dry residue for some beam in an air-bath to a temperature of about 120° C. The oxide of iron is thus rendered insoluble in nitric acid, and is only slowly dissolved by hydrochloric acid. In the method of determining silicon by nitric and sulphuric acid, described in the Transactions of the Institute, Vol. VII, page 346, arid Vol. VIII, page 508, we obtain in one or two hours a solution of the iron in the form of ferric sulphate entirely free from silica, and containing free sulphuric acid. It occurred to Us that this solution might be made available for the determination of the phosphorus by the molybdate method. The following experiments mere tried with unsatisfactory results. 1st. The iron was precipitated by ammonia, the precipitate filtered, washed, and dissolved in nitric acid. 2d. The iron was precipitated as basic acetate and dissolved in nitric acid. 3d. The solution was neutralized by ammonia, and nitric acid added in small excess. In all these cases the phosphorus obtained by precipitating by ammonium molybdate and magnesia-mixture was too low. The following method was then tried with success. The filtrate from the silica and graphite was evaporated to small bulk and heated in a porcelain dish on a sand-bath. until fumes of sulphuric acid ceased to escape. The dry residue was taken up with dilute nitric acid and the solution precipitated by ammonium molyldate. The phosphorus was weighed as magnesium pyrophosphate. The results were satisfactory. To save time, the original solution of the iron in nitric and sulphuric acids was evaporated to dryness and heated as before until

Jan 1, 1882

RECORDING that the latest annual meeting was the largest and most successful ever held has be-come almost a habit, but when, as this year, the registration on the first day exceeded any other first day by two hundred, the annual dinner attracted nearly 1200, as compared with 750 at the previous largest one, and the number of technical sessions was larger than ever before, there seems no escape from so regarding it. In spite of the third day being a legal holiday (Washington's Birthday) no slackening, in attendance and interest was noted, and throughout the four days the greatest problem was to find enough meeting rooms and chairs to provide for the sessions, of which as many as twelve were in progress at one time. Solution of the problem would not have been possible (since the Engi-neering Societies building, was designed to provide only three general meeting rooms) except that a part of the eighth floor happened to be temporarily vacant. As these extra rooms will not be available next year, it may become necessary to adopt measures to keep the annual meeting down to the limit of facilities for handling it. The meeting opened on Monday with simultaneous sessions on iron and steel, geophysical prospecting, mine ventilation, non-metallic minerals, and milling, methods. The first four, which were continued after the usual recess for lunch, are reported in more detail elsewhere.

Jan 3, 1928

By James P. Roe

Steel has occupied such a prominent position in most minds during the last thirty years, particularly since the introduction of the basic open-hearth process (by which the field from which the raw material could be obtained has been so widened), that little attention has been made to improvements in puddling iron. In fact, the general tendency seems to have been to accept the prediction that puddled iron is doomed. Events have in a measure justified such a forecast, due in large part to the introduction of mechanical appliances and operations with large units in the manufacture of steel, from which much lower costs have resulted. But this general tendency has met checks in certain directions. This is notably the case where the finished product is a welded one, or is subject to oxidation, to shock or to vibration; and, as far as the writer's observation goes, the bond (which is largely a mechanical one) is not as close and lasting between steel and tin or zinc as between iron and the same materials. The field still open for puddled iron is, therefore, a large one, provided the low costs of steel-manufacture can be approached. The process of puddling is one of the most interesting in the metallurgy of iron, as the reactions and the changes effected are apparent. The subject has had the strongest fascination to the writer from boyhood, and has led, not unnaturally, to a close study, which long ago resulted in the conviction that it could be successfully carried out with large units and by mechanical means. That others have also drawn these conclusions is shown by many undertakings, though there have been few such attempts during the last twenty-five or thirty years. Puddling cousists, essentially, in the removal of most of the carbon and silicon, and part of the phosphorus and sulphur

Jan 1, 1903

By Wolfgang Gartner

METALLURGISTS engaged in the pulling of single crystals of germanium and silicon, and their zone purification and zone levelling for transistor and diode production, have found that the lifetimes of minority carriers in low resistivity samples tend to be shorter than in high resistivity material, although equal care is taken in the crystal preparation. In other words, it is more difficult to obtain long lifetimes in single crystals of low resistivity semiconductors. It is the purpose of this note to point out that this phenomenon follows directly from the Hall1 and Shockley-Read' theories of lifetimes in semiconductors." In general, the recombination mechanism may be very complicated,' but experiments seem to indicate that the simple formula2 for the lifetime of excess carriers given by n0 + n3 Pn + P1 T = Tpo,------------------+ Tjpu ----------------------- [ 1 ] nu + pn na+ + Pa is a good representation of the situation prevailing in transistor grade semiconductors. In this formula, no and pa are the equilibrium densities of electrons 6+ - E./ET and holes, n1 = N,e is the number of electrons E1- E2/KT in the conduction band, and p1 - N,e is the number of holes in the valence band, both for the case in which the Fermi level falls at the trap level, E1. N,. is the effective density of states in the conduction band; E1, the recombination level; E1, the lower edge of the conduction band; k, Boltzmann's constant; T, absolute temperature; N,., effective density of states in the valence band; and E,., the upper edge of the valence band. t,.,, denotes the lifetime of holes injected into highly n-type material, and The indicates the lifetime of electrons injected into highly p-type material. Eq. 1 holds for nondegenerate semiconductors in which only one recombination level is active and the charge in the recombination centers is neglected. It is further assumed that the number of injected ex-

Jan 1, 1957

By Arthur Phillips

THE study of anisotropy in metals has been greatly stimulated in recent years by the rapid development of X-ray methods for determining the crystallographic relationships of wrought and annealed materials. Prior to this time the knowledge regarding the directional properties of commercial alloys consisted almost exclusively of observations of a practical nature made during the fabrication of metal objects, supplemented by a limited number of mechanical tests on specimens cut at various angles to the direction of working. Such observations clearly indicate that the common methods of cold-working metals cause both a crystallographic and a mechanical fibering varying in character and degree according to the nature and extent of the deforming process. Even after annealing, following certain not too well known combinations of reductions and anneals, a preferred orientation may exist, thereby constituting a residual fiber effect sufficiently pronounced to manifest directional properties. With the application of the X-ray the experimental horizon was extended chiefly because the study of anisotropic metals promised to offer direct and quantitative evidence regarding the involved mechanism of fragmentation and plastic flow. As a natural consequence the intensive studies in this direction have yielded a vast accumulation of data of ultimate potential value. Unfortunately, however, as is commonly the case in entering a virgin field of experimentation, many of the data cannot be molded into complete and coherent form because of the many unrelated conditions of the experimental projects. Again, the results of the study of single crystals have been rather naturally but at times indiscriminately applied to polycrystalline metals. Furthermore, sweeping statements have been made regarding the behavior during working and annealing of metals and alloys, entirely on the basis of similarity in lattice arrangement. There is abundant reason for believing that relatively small concentration variables, differences, in magnitude and distribution of applied stresses, and the character of associated annealing treatments may in some cases greatly influence the mechanics of flow and consequently largely determine the final structural characteristics of the metal.

Jan 1, 1932

By Henry E. Armitage

The object of this paper is to give a few useful hints on the concentration of low-grade ores. The machines that I shall speak of are, Cornish rolls, revolving screens, Hartz jigs, spitz-lutte, and the Linkenbach buddle (or Roberts's patent buddle, as it is called in Colorado). I think the reason why some of them have been discarded in favor of more recent inventions is that they have not been given a fair chance to do their work in a satisfactory manner. Cornish rolls are usually looked upon as a machine designed simply to crush the ore as a preliminary to sending it to the sizingscreens, beyond which they have nothing to do with dressing the ore. On the contrary, the rolls give the key-note to the whole process. It is well known that one class of rock will crush differently from another, and from the result obtained by passing the ore through the rolls the size of the first revolving screen and the surface required on the jig-screens must be determined. If it is found that the mineral crushes clear from the quartz, a large mesh can be used on the first sizing-screen, and the tailings will not require recrushing ; but if it is found that some of the tailings from the first jig are ragged (that is, are carrying off particles of mineral sticking on the quartz), it will be necessary to recrush them. Again, if a large percentage of the tailings carry off mineral, it will be more economical to commence with a finer mesh screen than to recrush the tailings. Having determined the best mesh to use on the first sizing-screen, the different sizes on the other screens can be determined from it. I have found for practical purposes that, commencing with a 6-mesh, the next should be 8, then 12, and finally 18. The holes in the jig-screens should be a trifle larger than in the revolving screens. For instance, if the revolving screen is made of No. 14 wire, the corresponding jig-screeus should be of No. 16 wire. The jig-screen surface required for each size made depends on the may

Jan 1, 1890

By Ellsworth Daggett

THE ore smelted in the Winnamuck furnace during the year 1872 consisted, for the most part, of oxidized ores from the Winnamuck mine, only sixty tons of outside ore (from the Spanish mine) having been smelted. The latter, like the principal Winnamuck ore, was oxidized or so-called carbonate ore. There was mixed with these oxidized ores three hundred to four hundred tons, or 7 to 10 per cent. of galena, some of which was mined with the oxidized ore, while a part was mined separately from the lower portion of the mine, and afterwards mixed with the ore, with a view of preventing the formation of deposits of metallic iron in the furnaces. The average assay in silver of all the ore handled was 51.46 oz. per ton, most of it existing as chloride of silver. The lead contents were 34.98 per cent., all, or nearly all, in the form of carbonate of lead. The relative amount of silver is not at all constant, the best silver ore often being poorest in lead. The predominant gangue was silica, several determinations of which have been made on representative samples, yielding in three such samples 26, 38, and 58 per cent. silica, the latter test being ore containing but little lead. The average contents in silica are about 35 per cent., with 6 to 7 per cent. sesquioxide of iron, and small quantities of alumina and lime. Mechanically, the ore was very fine, and so thoroughly disintegrated that it presented few distin¬guishing characteristics, rendering sorting or separating of ore from waste difficult, and often impracticable. Experiments on a small scale have been tried, with a view to separate the silica by washing; but these were unsuccessful, as the finest slime, requiring a long time to settle in still water, contained a large amount of silver; and on a careful sizing and washing of the sands and coarser parts, the silver contents were found to be less dependent upon specific gravity

Jan 1, 1874

By Robert Uhley, Tsvi Meidav, L. Scharon

Before National Lead built an industrial plant on its Fredricktown property, some 100 miles south of St. Louis, a 750x500-ft area on the proposed site was investigated by electrical resistivity, seismic refraction, and churn drilling. Data were accumulated to prepare an isopach map of the overburden and to determine soundness of the dolomite bedrock and the depth to bedrock at fixed points. The site was on a gently sloping hillside. Elevations above sea level ranged from 760 ft in the northwest corner to 820 ft along the eastern edge, giving a total relief of 60 ft. There were no major drainage features, but in the northern part of the plant site there was an indicated depression area which later was interpreted as reflecting subsurface conditions in the bedrock. No rock was exposed in the entire plant site area; the surface was characterized by soil and overburden. GEOLOGY Prevailing geology in the area of investigation was relatively simple—Bonneterre dolomite overlain by residuum. The red overburden was that derived from the weathered Bonneterre. Some chert was present, interpreted in the general area as a weathering of both the Bonneterre dolomite and younger sedimentary rocks such as the Potosi dolomite. During the period of actual measurements the residuum varied from moist near surface on the western edge of the proposed site to dry near surface on the eastern edge, and for this reason overburden resistivities ranged from low on the west to high on the east. Seismic velocities were low, since the material was not well packed. The bedrock encountered was dolomite, specifically the Bonneterre of Upper Cambrian age which, according to McQueen,' consists of an upper dark gray member and a lower light gray member. These have been further divided into four zones, in ascending sequence a dark gray, sandy argillaceous dolomite; a dark brown or black, fine-grained dolomite: a light gray, finely crystalline, compact dolomite; and, at the top, a dark brown, finely crystalline, compact dolomite. In the area of investigation the upper two zones were encountered in the drilling tests as constituting the bedrock. The dolomite varies widely in porosity, which is low in the dense, fine-grained layers. In this area, therefore, both electrical resistivities and seismic velocities were high. Fracture zones in the Bonneterre are nearly Geology, and may extend to some depth, causing considerable deep weathering. It was realized that over deep fracturing the apparent resistivities

Jan 1, 1960

By B. P. Canning

In recent years much attention has been given to comminution theory and the design of crushing and grinding installations in large plants. The day of the small plant is not over, however, and we will attempt to analyze some cost aspects of conventional plant design, particular to their smallness. Small plants generally have the same design requirements as large plants, however, certain additional restraints are imposed which generally reduce efficiency and availability. The engineer must take particular note of these restraints in order to properly design crushing and grinding installations for these plants. Whatever equipment is selected for small plant crushing and grinding circuits, it is more costly on a per-ton capacity basis than for a large plant. Circuit Design Small crushing and grinding circuits of recent design usually are of one-line concept utilizing simplified flowsheets. This is the logical outcome of a cost evaluation excluding special considerations and is the basis of the circuit design discussion and cost evaluation which follows. Objections to the one-line concept have been voiced with arguments claiming little flexibility, low availability, higher disaster risk, etc., however, experience has proven these arguments not to be convincing. Equipment of sufficient capacity is available on the market for all normal applications up to the 4000 mtpd plant size here considered and the engineer has complete freedom of choice. Where separate treatment of ores is required, the single-line plant concept requires adequate ore storage be provided with facilities for clean-out between campaigns on one or the other ores. It is very difficult to justify parallel crushing and grinding sections for small plants as material handling is more difficult with small flows involved, and equipment costs become significantly higher. Cost Evaluation Criteria In order to evaluate the small plant comminution circuit on a cost-effectiveness basis, a test model is here established for a comparison basis. Although it is recognized that the parameters chosen will fit only certain metal mining applications, the cost trends should provide useful information for other applications. The test model used is a one-line comminution circuit which considers maximum space utilization in an all-enclosed plant. Plant feed is assumed to be 90 percent passing 12 in. with nominal maximum rock size

Jan 1, 1982

By Sixten Wollmar

A RESUME. of some important points regarding the life of drill steel, which have so far been learned from investigations carried out in the SKF Hofors' mines, Sweden, by L. Nordenfelt, is given below. By examining all fatigue breakages which occurred in the test it has bees conclusively proved that when a rock drill of the self-rotating type is used all break-ages of this kind start from the surface of the hole in the steel. It has further been proved that the rough hole surfaces (i.e., the marks left by the indentations of the sand core), are the starting points for the fatigue cracks and that the corrosive action of the water has .a very detrimental influence on the life of the steel. It is now a well known fact that this corrosive action concentrates at the bottom of the indentations left by the sand. The corrosive action of water has been well described by U. R. Evans in his paper, "Some Recent Work on the Corrosion of Metals," delivered on March 31, 1926, before the Liverpool Engineering Society, which is quoted in part below: "It is well known that, under ordinary conditions, most metals do not corrode in water unless dissolved oxygen is present. The strange feature of corrosion in submerged metals, however, is that the attack does not proceed mainly over those portions of the surface which could be reached readily by oxygen; deterioration takes place at certain points which are relatively, inaccessible to oxygen. When. a metal becomes pitted by corrosion, further attack usually deepens the pits, and in many cases it could be proved that there was no free oxygen at the bottom of the pits. None of the older theories of corrosion explain the fact that, although oxygen is necessary for rapid corrosion to take place, the attack actually occurs at the very points which could not be reached directly by oxygen.

Jan 6, 1928

By Edward N. Trump

Extensive beds of rock salt occur in New York, Michigan, Kansas, and Texas. Wells are drilled through the beds, cased, and equipped with a suspended center tube. By circulating water through such a well, the soluble saline is dissolved and a brine produced. Operation of a well results ordinarily in the formation of an inverted conical cavity in the saline, inasmuch as the dissolving action of the fresh water is more rapid at the top of the bed than at the bottom. Under continued operations, the side wall of the cavity becomes so flat that a blanket of mud is deposited thereon and if the bed is overlain with shale or a soft rock caving follows. Three methods of operating wells have been employed—the "Tully plan," "the Detroit plan," and "the Trump plan." Both the Tully plan and the Detroit plan involve the formation of the aforesaid conical cavity with constant caving of shale above and deposition of mud on the side wall; the Trump plan was developed to avoid both these circumstances and thus materially prolong the life of a well. Details of the three plans follow. The Tully Plan In the Tully plan, the water passes down the annular space between the casing and the center tube, the brine rising in the center tube (Figs. I and 2). An inverted conical cavity is formed, the side wall of which relatively soon becomes so flat that it is blanketed by mud and impurities from the rock salt; this blanket limits dissolving action to the perimeter of the base of the cone, situated at the top of the saline bed. Caving of the overlying strata follows, and the total production of brine from the well is comparatively small. The Detroit Plan In the Detroit plan, the water passes down the center tube, the brine rising in the annular space between the center tube and casing (Figs. I and 2). Initially, this flow forms a pear-shaped cavity in the bottom of the salt bed, but this cavity soon changes in shape to that of an inverted cone, as under the Tully plan, with the attendant disadvantages inherent in that plan. Application of the Detroit plan is limited to salt beds 300 ft. thick as a minimum. This depth of bed is necessary to prevent fresh water of lower specific gravity than the brine from rising in the

Jan 1, 1948

By Thomas Fraser, Alvaro Abreu

The work described in this paper was carried out under the sponsorship of the Foreign Economics Administration and in cooperation with the Departamento Nacional da Produggo Mineral, Rio de Janeiro. The project was undertaken to obtain complete data on the variations in washability of coal to be used for coke manufacture in the steel industry and to determine the economy of preliminary hand-sorting operations. The coal-producing industry of Brazil is in that pioneering stage in which operating practices and methods are just being developed. Increased wartime demand for fuel, coincident with a drastic curtailment of foreign supplies due to lack of shipping facilities, has put a tremendous pressure on the national industry to furnish more coal. Under this incentive, production facilities are being -expanded- and new methods of operation are being tested. Such changes are being developed both by improvement of existing methods that originated in the field and by adaptation and modification of methods introduced from the United States and Europe. These mining conditions and mining practices in Brazil are typical of what the American mining engineer will find in many instances when he goes pioneering into the developing coal fields of the Southern Hemisphere. The producing coal fields of Brazil are all in the southern states of that country. The coal measures are in a band roughly paralleling the coast and extending in a generally southwesterly direction from northern Sao Paulo through the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul to near the Uruguayan border in the vicinity of Bajé. The accompanying map1 (Fig. I) shows the general location of these fields and also the principal routes of movement of both national and imported coal in a late pre-war year (1940). Statistical data on production by states up to that year are given in Table I. Rio Grande do Sul is still the largest producer among the coal states; but wartime

Jan 1, 1947

By W. G. Pariseau, C. H. Schmuck, Fei Duan

The Homestake Mine is located in steeply dipping Precambrian metasediaents, an environment common to a number of world class ore bodies. Development of a pronounced plane of schistosity raises a question concerning the importance of anisotropy to the design of vertical crater retreat stopes. Little is known about the actual influence of elastic anisotropy in such -circumstances; even less is known about strength anisotropy. A cautious step- by-step approach was therefore taken towards a numerical assessment of the role of anisotropy in the analysis of stress and stability. The sequence of analyses begins with elementary test problems for computer program checks and proceeds to the analysis of a study stope area between the 6950 and 7100 Levels of the Homestake Mine. Anisotropy (orthotropy) is important at the Homestake Yine. No simple guidelines for evaluating in advance the need for plastic and strength anisotropy in design analysis appear to be forthcoming, ;o that some physical properties testing is necessary where the question is in doubt

Jan 1, 1984

By Robert Mehl

METALLURGISTS are properly interested in papers dealing with subjects ranging from the theories of the metallic state to very practical details on the use of metals. A review of theoretical metallurgy naturally excludes papers concerned with the usefulness of metals and limits itself to those concerned purely with the science of metals. Even in this more limited field the reviewer is confronted with thousands of papers dealing with facts and theories of metallic behavior, from which he can select only a few hundred. The selection is necessarily highly arbitrary. Certain classes of papers definitely fall within the scope of this review. Thus, papers on the deformation of metals, on the structure of alloys, on recrystallization, to select only a few, are fully represented. Other subjects, which verge on what is generally accepted as the science of metals, such as the magnetic properties of metals, the less familiar electrical properties and theories, adsorption of gases by metal surfaces, and the like, are treated scantily. Particular attention is given to reviews of subjects that fall with in the groups chosen; in a summary such as this, which is largely in the nature of a progress report, capably written reviews are of importance, particularly since the monograph and text book literature is so meager in this field.

Jan 1, 1935

By Edward H. Robie

THOUGH the final figures are not available as this is written, it seems certain that the Institute accounts will show $7000 to $8000 surplus for the year 1951. This is the first time this has happened since 1941. No money had to be taken from any of the Funds to bring about this happy condition. Furthermore, the amounts allowed for depreciation, bad debts, and inventory adjustment were more liberal than in the past. Income increased some $29,000 over 1950. Dues received from old members increased moderately, but dues from new members dropped off $2000 and from initiation fees quite severely-from $17,000 to $11,000. The number of new members did not come up to expectations and a change in procedure caused a delay in getting some of them on the rolls. A large number of the new members paid an installment of $5 on their initiation instead of the full $20. Junior Members, of course, pay no initiation fee. Brightest spot in the income picture was the increase in advertising income-from $103,000 in 1950 to $143,000 in 1951. All three of the journals shared in this, Mining being up $18,000; Metals, $9000; and Petroleum $13,000. Nonmember sales of the journals dropped off slightly, and sales of Transactions volumes more so from $35,000 in 1950 to $27,000 in 1951, with a further drop of $5000 accounted for by a change in accounting procedure. On the other hand, sales of other publications increased by $10,000.

Jan 1, 1952

By N. H. Muhlenberg

IT is often a tedious matter to get a solution of pig iron or steel, for the determination of phosphorus, which is absolutely free from silica. Where pig iron rich in silicon is dissolved in hydrochloric or nitric acid in the usual procedure, it is necessary, not only to evaporate the solution to complete dryness, but to heat the dry residue for some hours in an air-bath to a temperature of about 120° C. The oxide of iron is thus rendered insoluble in nitric acid, and is only slowly dissolved by hydrochloric acid. In the method of determining silicon by nitric and sulphuric acid, described in the Transactions of the Institute, Vol. VII, page 346, and Vol. VIII, page 508, we obtain in one or two hours a solution of the iron in the form of ferric sulphate entirely free from silica, and containing free sulphuric acid. It occurred to us that this solution might be made available for the determination of the phosphorus by the molybdate method. The following experiments were tried with unsatisfactory results. 1st. The iron was precipitated by ammonia, the precipitate filtered, washed, and dissolved in nitric acid. 2d. The iron was precipitated as basic acetate and dissolved in nitric acid. 3d. The solution was neutralized by ammonia, and nitric acid added in small excess. In all these cases the phosphorus obtained by precipitating by ammonium molybdate and magnesia-mixture was too low. The following method was then tried with success. The filtrate from the silica and graphite was evaporated to small bulk and heated in a porcelain dish on a sand-bath, until fumes of sulphuric acid ceased to escape. The dry residue was taken up with dilute nitric acid and the solution precipitated by ammonium molyhdate. The phosphorus was weighed as magnesium pyrophosphate. The results were satisfactory. To save time, the original solution of the iron in nitric and sulphuric acids was evaporated to dryness and heated as before until

Jan 1, 1882

By Bailey Willis

IN 1882, Peckham put forward a provisional hypothesis to account .or the distillation of petroleum.1 He did not formally state the hypothesis, but in a discussion of facts drawn from many fields he made it clear that he regarded petroleum, and especially the petroleum of the Pennsylvania fields, as a "fractional distillate produced under high pressure and consequently at a comparatively high temperature.?2 He quotes James Hall on the geology of the Appalachians and says:3 It is not necessary here to discuss the nature or origin of metamorphic action. It is sufficient for our purpose to know that from the upper Silurian to the close of the Carboniferous periods the currents of the primeval ocean were transporting sediments, sorting them into gravel, sand, and clay, forming gravel bars and great sand beds beneath the riffles and clay banks in still water, burying vast accumulations of sea weeds and sea animals far beneath the surface. The alteration, due to the combined action of heat, steam, and pressure, of the formations of the Appalachian system from Point Gaspe in Canada to Lookout mountain in Tennessee, involving the Carboniferous and earlier strata, distorting and folding them, and converting the coal into anthracite and the clays into schists along their eastern border, could not have ceased to act westward along an arbitrary line, but must have gradually died out farther and farther from the surface (source?). The great beds of shale and limestone containing fucoids, animal remains, and even indigenous petroleum must have been invaded by this heat action to a greater or less degree, and that "chronic evaporation" of Prof. Lesley must have been the inevitable consequence. From an investigation of the relations between coal and petroleum, White has" more recently concluded as follows: (1) Petroleum is a product generated in the course of the geodynamic alteration of deposits of organic debris of certain types buried in the sedimentary strata. (2) The quantity and characters of the oils generated are determined by: (a) the composition of the organic deposit at the beginning of its dynamo-chemical alteration; (b) by the stage in the progress of the dynamo-chemical alteration of the organic substances; (c) by the elimination, under certain conditions, of the heavier and more' viscous hydrocarbons through filtration incident to migration.

Jan 1, 1920

By Allen J. Johnson

With a realization of the rapidly increasing importance of automatic stokers as a medium for domestic heating, the Anthracite Institute Laboratory has conducted extensive investigations, over a period of several years, to determine the various outstanding characteristics of stoker design and performance. The purpose of this paper is to summarize these findings as a guide to current practices. Stokees Investigated One or more models of the underfeed stokers listed below were included in the various phases of this investigation: Beckley Gilkoal Burnwell Iron Fireman Combustioneer Motor Stokor Electric Furnace Man Norristown Super-stoker Erie Heat Generator Whitney Fire Ball (Tests Incomplete.) Fuel Saver Principles of Construction.—The operating principle of the leading makes of underfeed stokers is similar (Fig. 1). A plunger1 or slowly revolving worm2, conveys the buckwheat or rice sizes of anthracite to the center of a specially constructed tuyere pot where air is admitted to the coal through suitable ports of varying design. As the fuel burns, it is slowly forced to the outside circumference of the tuyere by the pressure of the incoming coal; eventually the ash falls over the edge of the pot, either entirely by gravity or aided by mechanical sweepers. In at least one model, the entire firepot revolves. While various special details have been included in the design of a number of stokers, they do not affect the general principles as described above, and therefore have not been included in this discussion.

Jan 1, 1936

By V. H. Wilhelm

During the first half of the year 1935, the oil industry in California was on a fairly profitable basis, owing mainly to the operation of the Petroleum Marketing Agency. Coincident with the discontinuance of enforced curtailment, California production surged upward from an average of about 500,000 bbl. per day (over the first five-month period) to approximately 625,000 bbl. per day (over the last seven-month period). On Dec. 9 the state production had reached a peak of over 700,000 bbl., a figure that had not been approximated since the early days of voluntary curtailment (Fig. 1). A price cut was instituted during the last half of August, but had no deterring effect on operators that were determined to take advantage of the breakdown of curtailment and produce to capacity. New reserve figures, compiled from actual potentials, available after cessation of curtailment, revealed the startling fact that California reserves were rapidly declining. This situation, coupled with the desire among operators to obtain a more equitable price for their dwindling reserves, caused a restoration in November of a portion of the August price slash. A further rise in price was effected in early December, and crude quotations at the end of the year closely approximated those in effect during the first right months. At the close of the year, the industry felt confident that the production situation was under control. In all fields where competition is keen because of close spacing, production is gradually declining. In the Los Angeles Basin especially there is no likelihood of a large amount of overproduction, unless a new pool is discovered or deeper drilling reveals a prolific source of crude. As long as the fields that are operated by a few companies, such as Kettleman Hills, North Belridge, Ventura Avenue, West Coyote, Dominguez, and some others, can be controlled, it is believed that the overproduction problem in California will be solved.

Jan 1, 1936

By Lloyd Emory

THE region known as. Guyana or Guiana stretches along the north coast of South America from the mouth of the Orinoco River in Venezuela to the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil. Politically, it is divided into British, Dutch, and French Guiana, extend¬ ing into Venezuela on the north and into Brazil on the south. Because the area is within the sweep of the northeast trade winds and of approximately the same latitude, plant' and animal life are fairly uniform throughout. The geology is very similar as far as the northern coast is concerned. The drainage is taken care of by a number of large rivers that flow northward directly into the sea. The Courantyne River, which roughly divides the area into half, is the eastern boundary of British Guiana.1 The lower reaches of this river are also the center axis of an ancient bay that at one time indented the coast-line at this point. The old shore-line and, in fact, successive shore-lines can be traced from near the present coast-line in, the northwest district of British-Guiana, south-east and inland, crossing the Essequibo River near Dahli, the Demerara near Christianburg, the Berbice at the mouth of the Kuruduni River and the Courantyne at Vaka-Kuyaha Falls. The line then swings around to the northeast and again approaches the coast near St. Lau-rent in French Guiana. This article will be confined to British Guiana and largely to the valley of the Demerara River, but for geographic names .and topographic details it might, however, apply to Dutch Guiana as well. British Guiana, which comprises about 90,000 sq. mi. and is as large as England, Scotland, and Wales combined, may be divided into three belts, the alluvial belt or coastal plain, the foot-hill area (often spoken of as the sand clay belt), and the hinterland.

Jan 1, 1928