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By T. M. Dr. Drown

(Read at the Philadelphia Meeting, February, 1878.) ZINC is, as is well known, very brittle at a temperature of about 210° C. (410° F.), and may then be readily pulverized in a mortar. By sifting it may be obtained of uniform grain. I have been accustomed to prepare products passing through 40, 60, and 80-mesh sieves, and also by bolting through a fine handkerchief. The principal analytical uses to which I have hitherto applied this material are to the reduction of iron directly from the ore by heating it with the pulverized zinc, and the reduction of ferric to ferrous compounds in solution. In the first case the pulverized ore, 0.5 gram or less, is intimately mixed with about ten times its weight of the pulverized zinc (the finer the zinc the better), in a porcelain crucible, and this mixture is covered with about the same amount of zinc. The crucible is then heated at the top of the flame of a Bunsen burner, at a dull red heat, for about ten minutes. The crucible should not be covered. When cool, the crucible, with its contents, is placed in a flask treated with hot dilute sulphuric acid, and brought quickly to a boil. The zinc and reduced iron are dissolved in a few minutes and the flask is then tightly corked and allowed to cool. When cool, the iron is directly titrated by potassium permanganate.

Jan 1, 1878

In situ mining techniques have become prominent in recent years due to declining ore grades, rising costs, and increasing concern for miners' health and safety. Current practices depend heavily on the effective and uniform fragmentation of the ore zone of interest, which not only provides for proper media flow but also exposes additional surface areas to react with the processing system. Specifically, current applications have focused on blasting to a mined-out opening or, in the case of shallow de- posits, blasting to the surface void. In the former case, several obstacles are encountered, including proper initiation, uniform fragmentation, and a lack of swell space for the blast, which tend to produce less desirable results in the zone of' interest.

Jan 3, 1979

By Robert E. Wilson, J. K. Roberts

IN order to make clear the reasons for the basic importance of petroleum and natural gas in the world today, and the problems faced by our scientists and technologists in using efficiently these great natural resources and finding possible replacements for them, it will be necessary to present a brief discussion of hydrocarbon chemistry The most important use of petroleum products is as fuel, particularly for the various forms of the internal-combustion engine There are, of course, hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds that give off heat when they burn, that is, when they combine with the oxygen of the air If a capable chemist were assigned the problem of finding the ideal volatile liquid fuel for use in an engine, he would probably begin by referring to the tables that give the heats of combustion of the chemical elements Of all the ninety-odd elements, hydrogen shows up with by far the highest heat of combustion-about 52,000 British thermal units per pound Unfortunately, however, hydrogen is a very light gas, which can be liquefied only at very low temperatures To burn it as fuel in an automobile would require a balloon about as big as the car to hold the equivalent of a gallon of gasoline, or, the hydrogen could be compressed in heavy steel cylinders, but -this would require about 125 pounds of steel per pound of hydrogen. Obviously, then, hydrogen itself cannot be considered

Jan 1, 1947

By J. C. Crampton

Gradual shifts in the center of ore production have dictated three moves for the Pend Oreille Mines & Metals Co. plant. Capacity has grown from 300 tpd to the present 2400 tpd, and the gravity process used at the original Josephine mill has long since given way to improved flotation practice. The Josephine mill, operated in World War I and converted to flotation in 1927, treated 200,000 tons of ore rating as high as 16 pct Zn. By 1935 extra ore handling warranted construction of a new mill on a lower level, and capacity was raised from 300 to 800 tpd.

Sep 1, 1955

By Boris J. Kochanowsky

In a mobile crushing unit system trucks are replaced by a conveyor, which results in a continuous, almost fully automated operation with all its attendant advantages. Because of new designs for large mobile crushing units that have been placed on the market, the use of these plants has increased significantly during the last three years. Gains in productivity and reductions in costs are vital to every mine operator, and the shovel-crusher-conveyor system is a powerful tool with which to achieve this goal. New Designs Increase Throughput While Reducing Size The basic concept of the shovel-crusher-conveyor scheme of operations is simple and sound, with the result that domestic operators are showing a growing interest in its application. A number of operators have been using small mobile crushing plants for several years, but large operators, in spite of considerable interest, have not been able to use this system because no mobile crusher capable of crushing 1000-2000 tph of rock loaded by a large shovel (6-12 cu yd) has been available. A suitable crusher must accept rock of the size handled by these large shovels, be simple in design, easily maneuverable, remotely controllable, and have price and maintenance costs not much higher than those for stationary crusher installations.

Jan 9, 1968

By H. V. Fairbanks

Efforts were made to determine the amount of increase in the drying rate which could be obtained through acoustic treatment of ultra fine coal under various conditions, and to test the feasibility of using a rotary kiln and multitiered vibrating screens as a means for continuous drying of coal fines. Introduction of acoustic energy during the rotary kiln experiments increased the drying rates from 10-40%, depending upon the experimental condition. The use of a drying assembly consisting of multitiered vibrating screens produced better results than the rotary kiln and has definite possibilities of providing an effective means of drying coal fines in relatively large quantities.

Jan 1, 1973

By G. C. Hewett

This portion of the State, being the northern half of its Pacific slope, is drained by four rivers, the Gunnison, Grand, White and Yampa or Bear, which, with the Green, flowing south from Wyoming, unite to form the Colorado. These streams, fed by the snows of the Rocky Mountains, fall from an altitude of 10,000 to 12,000 feet, at their sources, to 4000 feet, at the confluence of the Grand and Green in Utah, near the State line. This area, about 150 miles square, was the scene of great development in the periods subsequent to the Carboniferous; but earlier

Jan 1, 1889

Discussion of the paper of L. C. MORGANROTH, presented at the Pittsburgh meeting, October, 1914, and printed in Bulletin No. 93, September, 1914, pp. 2345 to 2352. D. T. DAY, Washington, D. C.-I would like to hear some further detail as to the California deposits. L. C. MORGANROTH, Pittsburgh, Pa.-We have examined the California deposits at various times; I have been over practically all of them myself. These deposits are all of the massive variety. While it is possible that it could be mined and used for metallurgical purposes, it is not feasible because it costs too much. At the present time magnesite which is mined in California is used in the making of plaster, or by the paper trade. Careful figures show that if the California magnesite could be delivered to Atlantic seaports in the crude state at not over $4 a gross ton, and assuming that it would give the same results as the Austro-Hungarian magnesite, it would be cheaper to use the latter. It is also more difficult to dead-burn the massive magnesite, for while it starts to give up its gas readily, the difficulty consists in driving off the last few per cent., and unless this is driven off the magnesite will absorb C02 from the air, so that in a few months it may have 10 or 12 per cent. DAVID T. DAY.-How is the Austro-Hungarian supply at the present time ?

Jan 4, 1915

Few people in the industry today are competent to comment on the O.G. system for vessel covers, but with papers as well prepared as Mr. Bradley's we will soon be well informed. I would like to direct these comments to Mr. Klaes of Ford Motor Company. Mr. Klaes' description of their steaming hood agrees with our experience at Weirton. We have been able to stay within design limits and, as a result, have had few problems with our auxiliary equipment. Our main problem, as with Ford, has been thinning of our vessel cover tubes. At Weirton, controlled circulation, high pressure boilers are in use as heat recovery units above the BOP vessels. The boilers are provided with "off cycle' oil firing equipment. A Venturi type wet gas scrubber follows the boiler to complete the vessel draft system.

Jan 1, 1972

By John A. Ames

AMERICAN pioneers first discovered "commercial" salt in western New York State. Geologists gave the classically correct name of Salina to the salt bearing strata of New York. Rock salt occurs in rocks of approximately the same age and stratigraphic position as New York's Salina "group", to the south and southwest, in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northwestern West Virginia. Sodium chloride and associated salts occur in brines throughout much of the same area as the rock salt. Brines also are found in areas well beyond the margins of that under which the rock salt lies, especially to the west in Ohio and to the south in West Virginia. The occurrence of the brines in the same area as the rock salt is almost always coincidental rather than indicative of a physical association.

Jan 5, 1950

By M. D. Cooper

UNDERGRADUATES in mining engineering may be prepared for work by giving them sound instruction in the courses generally considered essential to the profession. The industry is not deeply concerned about the details of those courses. The average man in the coal industry does not wish to insist upon a rigid program. Therefore, he differs little from those in the teaching profession who evidently are not unanimous in their opinions, or all college catalogs would be alike. For the good of the profession, it is just as well that there should be differences in regard to details. It appears that students graduating in mining engineering from the accredited institutions receive similar instruction.

Jan 6, 1950

By R. W. Raymond

In connection with the paper of Mr. Locke on Gilsonite or Uintahite (Trans., xvi., 162) read at the Salt Lake session of the Utah and Montana meeting, in July, 1887, the following data may be of interest and value. In December, 1887, I received from Mr. William Wagner, Seeretary of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway Co., a box of specimens of an asphaltic mineral from Utah. In the course of the correspondence which followed, I learned that the box had been forwarded by Mr. J. A. McMurtrie, of the firm of McMurtrie & Streeter, railroad contractors, Denver, Col. Mr. McMurtrie was, in 1883, chief engineer of the Denver $ Rio Grande Railway, and the mineral mas first brought to his attention in that year by Mr. Thomas H. Wigglesworth, who was then employed in making preliminary reconnaissances for wagon-roads to be used in constructing the Utah extension (now the Denver, Rio Grande $ Western) of the railway. Mr. Wigglesworth, I understand, was subsequently chief engineer of the Colorado & Utah Midland, and is now again employed by the Rio Grande. He writes substantially as follows concerning this mineral:

Jan 1, 1889

By B. F. Fackenthal

The earliest history shows that, in the reduction of iron-ores, natural draft was used to supply the blast, and that, when artificial blast was first used, it was supplied by leather bellows, usually made of skins, which were worked by the feet or hands, the blast entering the furnace through one tuyere or nozzle. The prehistoric bellows and its tuyere or nozzle are still in use in some form wherever iron is made. The original Durham furnace, built in 1727 at Durham, Pa., which was one of the earliest blast-furnaces in this country, was blown with a bellows, the power being supplied by a waterwheel. The old records show the purchase of leather at various times to repair the bellows, and mention the freezing of the water-wheel as one of the causes for going out of blast. In the early days of our iron manufacture but one tuyere was used; in fact, a cousiderable number of charcoal-furnaces continued to use but one tuyere down to recent years. I am

Jan 1, 1899

By P. Barnes

SEVERAL interesting and important considerations may be based upon an analysis of the cost of producing Bessemer rails, and the facts thus set forth may be much more clearly emphasized by reducing each item of cost to its own fractional proportion of the sum total in each branch of the manufacture. The estimate given below is not absolutely complete in minuteness of detail, but it may be fairly taken as a basis for the suggestions to be noted : Perhaps the most striking comments that can be made upon this statement are those arising from a consideration of some of the smaller items, and even the least of these quite loses its insignifi¬cance when its proportion of the whole is expressed in actual money, as for the work of a year, or even for a single day. Thus, if the item A 5 be considered, the importance can be clearly

Jan 1, 1877

By P. Barnes

Several interesting and important considerations may be based upon an analysis of the cost of producing Bessemer rails, and the facts thus set forth may be much more clearly emphasized by re ducing each item of cost to its own fractional proportion of the sum total in each branch of the manufacture. The estimate given below is not absolutely complete in minute ness of detail, but it may be fairly taken as a basis for the suggestions to be noted : Perhaps the most striking comments that can be made upon this statement are those arising from a consideration of some of the smaller items, and even the least of these quite loses its insignificance when its proportion of the whole is expressed in actual money, as for the work of a year, or even for a single day. Thus, if the item as be considered, the importance can be clearly

By E. H. Jr. Crabtree

THE productive area of asphalt-bearing sandstone in Missouri is near the Missouri-Kansas state line near Nevada, the county seat of Vernon County about 100 miles south of Kansas City. While produc-tion thus far has been confined to Vernon and Barton counties, there are known deposits in adjacent counties. The area is served by four rail-roads: the Missouri Pacific, the Kansas City Southern, the Missouri-Kansas & Texas, and the St. Louis & San Francisco. The plant of the Reliance Rock Asphalt Corporation is in Vernon County, about 5 miles west of Nevada, at Ellis, a flag station on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. A siding has been built to the plant so that the finished product can be loaded directly into railroad cars. The property consists of a lease of 240 acres in one block. All portions of the property not required for quarrying or processing the asphalt-bearing sandstone are used for farming by the fee owner. The entire tract is very flat so that there are no transportation difficulties from quarry to plant.

Jan 1, 1935

By E. F. Evoy

The uranium deposit of Gunnar Mines Ltd. is on south shore of Crackingstone Peninsula in the Beaverlodge area of northern Saskatchewan. The property spans St. Mary's Channel, a narrow waterway separating the mainland from a group of islands in Lake Athabasca. The mine property, consisting of 12 claims and 7 fractions, was staked in July 1952 by A. O. Zeemel and W. J. Blair. Diamond drilling commenced in the fall of that year and continued until the spring of 1954. In that interval, some 70,000 ft of drilling outlined an orebody plunging from the surface south-ward to a depth of 1000 ft below the shore of St. Mary's Channel. The last 9000 ft of drilling was through lake ice, and when this was interrupted by spring breakup, sufficient ore reserves had been established to warrant the present operation. Surface drilling was therefore terminated.

May 1, 1956

By C. N. Kravig

STANDARD raises at Homestake are 150 ft long. Raises of more than 150 ft, driven with the use of a cage and hoist, are considered long raises- some have been driven more than 900 ft. Long raises have eliminated the need for access drifts on each level when transfer and ventilation raises are driven. These timbered cage raises, 7x9 ft in cross section, include a rock compartment and a combination cage, pipe, and manway compartment. To prevent excessive weight on the timbers, 10x10-in. bearing beams are cemented into hitches cut in the rock at 150-ft intervals. The beams also hold back timber movement caused by daily drawing of rock through the rock compartment.

Jan 6, 1957

THE CHAIRMAN (J. W. MALCOLMSON, Kansas City, Mo.).-Gentlemen, Dr. P. J. O'Gara, Director of the Department of Agricultural and Smelter By-Products Investigations, of the American Smelting & Refining Co., Salt Lake City, Utah, is here; he has given attention to this very important problem and I will call on him for a few remarks. P. J. O'GARA, Salt Lake City, Utah.-I have had charge of the investigations of the smoke problem for the American Smelting and Refining Co. during the past four years. One of the worst burns we ever experienced occurred shortly after we began putting all our gases through the baghouse. This occurred in 1914 after the roaster gases had been put through the baghouse; previous to that time, the greater portion of the roaster gases was not put through the baghouse. Everyone knows why a hot-air balloon goes up. The hotter the air in the balloon, the higher it will go. In other words, hot gases will rise higher than cold gases. When gases are handled in any way that will tend to lower their temperatures, these gases are going to travel less high in the atmosphere and will therefore tend to reach the ground sooner than if they are turned out very hot. So far as injury to vegetable life is concerned, sulphur dioxide is the only element in smelter smoke that need be considered. The solution of the problem will be either to take out the excess of sulphur dioxide or to diffuse it high enough, up in the atmosphere so that the concentra-

Jan 1, 1918

INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING CONGRESS This Congress will be held under the auspices of five National Engineering Societies, of whi h the Institute is one. The sessions will be held in 11 sections and the proceedings will be published in 10 volumes of 500 pages each, of which Volume 8 will contain the papers and proceedings on Mining Engineering and Metallurgy. The membership fee of $5 will entitle the holder to the volume of General Proceedings and Index, and, in addition thereto, any other single volume chosen. Other volumes may be subscribed for according to a sliding scale depending upon the number of volumes taken. The Institute will have a meeting in San Francisco during 1915, and it is desirable for our members to join the International Engineering Congress at in early date in order that their support of the enterprise may be given in its early stages, when it is most needed.

Jan 2, 1914