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By Harold Vance

EMPLOYERS of engineers have not always been satisfied with the training that young graduates have received in the conventional four-year course. Specifically, employers of petroleum engineers for a number of years have believed that a four-year course does not allow sufficient time for the student to secure a fundamental engineering background plus the fundamentals of petroleum engineering. A group of California employers went so far as to set up a type of curriculum for a petroleum-engineering course, which was based on four years of undergraduate work and one year of graduate work, with most of the petroleum-engineering courses included in the graduate year.

Jan 1, 1944

By P. C. Keith

IT is difficult to talk about atomic energy and the engineer without repeating a number of phrases that have been worn smooth with use Mr John M. Hancock has spoken to you of the two-sidedness of atomic energy, one useful, and the other destructive. If a control plan of the type that he has outlined is adopted it will be perfectly possible to go ahead with the peacetime development of atomic energy Failing the adoption of such a plan, emphasis will of necessity be placed upon the perfection of atomic energy as a weapon of destruction I want to speak, however, in the hope that atomic energy will be developed for peace-time use, and speak about the role of the engineer Before I can do that I must, outline the framework within which the engineer must work, and then I would like to go back and tell of some of the things that he has done, in the hope that that may throw some light on what he may be expected to do in the future Last year the McMahon Committee the Senate Committee charged with drafting domestic atomic-energy legislation-held extensive hearings in an effort to strike a balance between the negative attitude of what to do about atomic energy and the positive attitude of what to do with it Out of these hearings grew the United States Atomic Energy Act, calling for a civilian commission to exercise control over all atomic-energy activities in this country As you

Jan 1, 1947

By Wayne A. McCurdy

Seldom in history has any industry undergone such radical and rapid change as that experienced by coal. Since 1947, when bituminous coal production reached an all-time high of 631 million tons, the industry has faced market problems not believed possible prior to the build-up of the great market demand occasioned by the wartime emergency and post-war recovery period. Subsequently, it suffered practically complete loss of the formerly huge railroad fuel market to dieselization; natural gas expansion ate into many markets; and oil took a heavy toll. Although anthracite, on the other hand, did not have a record year in 1947, it did attain a production figure of 57 million tons. Competitive forces since then have hit this fuel harder than bituminous coal. As we are aware, most prognosticators have pointed to a glowing long-range future for coal, with some forecasters estimating coal production by 1975 to be as high as 800 million tons. The largest increase in the use of coal in future years is expected to come from expansion of the industry's two largest growth markets-steel and the electric utilities. Optimists would have us believe that coal need merely bide its time to be carried to prosperity by the increased demands of these two basic customers. But the coal industry knows from bitter experience that even "assured" markets-as the railroads and domestic consumers once were-can be lost through lack of progress and lack of research. And coal's projected growth markets are not “assured.”

Jan 9, 1962

Noranda Mines, of Quebec, signed a contract for construction of a $20 million copper refinery at Gaspe, P.Q. The plant is expected to have a 65500-ton daily capacity for both concentrator and smelter. Extensive drilling. around Gaspe has revealed more than 65 million tons of 1 to 2 pct copper in several deposits. Cerro de Pasco Corp. has called a special stockholders meeting for August 19 to obtain permission to engage in the oil and natural. gas business, in addition to its present production of zinc, lead, copper, silver and other metals. St. Joseph Lead Co. recently entered the oil development field. The United States, Canada and Great Britain have agreed to establish a permanent organization to work on unification of engineering standards. General accord has been reached on drafting standards and practices, screw threads, fittings for gas cylinders, and fits and tolerances. Permanent committees will study these fields. Reconstruction Finance Corn approved the largest sum in its history. for a mining enterprise when it loaned $94 million to San Manuel Copper. Corp., of Pinal County, Ariz. The loan will be used to increase production of copper and molybdenum, in what was described as-the biggest copper deposits in the country. Three large gold mining concerns operating in the Philippines told the Philippine Wage Board that they would be forced to close if they had to boost miners' wages 500 to $2 per day. The companies are Mindanao Mother Lodes, Benguet Consolidated, and Balatoc Mining Co.

Jan 1, 1952

By Lamar Weaver

THE introduction of the tungsten-carbide bit and the single-use bit to the mining industry has had far-reaching effects on the advancement of drilling techniques. Six years of testing these new bits has disclosed new factors not previously considered. The mining industry, which is ordinarily slow to change, has accepted the new methods of drilling as a possible relief for the reduced manpower available to the mines. In 1950 an extensive program of testing was begun at the Calloway mine of the Tennessee Copper Co. to gather data on rock-drill bits and drill steel: When these tests are concluded the information should be sufficient to establish a drilling program. The scope of this article is a progress repor the years 1950 and 1951. The deposits of the Ducktown, Tenn. mining district are massive sulphide replacement lenses in folded and metamorphosed Cambrian schists and graywackes. The primary ore consists of pyrrhotite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite with minor amounts of zinc blende, bornite, specularite, magnetite, quartz, chlorite, and iron-magnesium-lime silicates. The deposits are high-temperature hydrothermal replacements. The drilling conditions vary from a hard highly siliceous rock to the softer material of the ore body, thereby giving a range of hardnesses to be considered. Single-Use Bits Test work was done first on two single-use bits to determine life expectancy, costs, rate rate of penetration, gage wear, and ease of use. At the same time a test was conducted for comparison using the conventional detachable steel bits to obtain the same for

Jan 1, 1952

By S. J. Rothman, A. L. Harkness, L. T. Lloyd

Self-diffusion in Y uranium has been measured using U235 as the tracer isotope. The diffusion coefficient fits an Arrhenius-type equation D = 2.33 x 10 -3 exp (- 28,5000/RT) cm2/sec The values of Do and Q are unusually low and are not consistent with the values expected from theories based on a simple vacancy mechanism of diffusion. CYLINDRICAL samples, 1 cm in diam and 1/2 to 1 cm long, were prepared from high-purity uranium containing 0.0343 pct u235, Table I. The samples were water quenched from 690°C (the a-ß transformation is at 668°C) to remove preferred orientation, and annealed at 450 "C to minimize residual stresses. One end of each cylinder was polished on a 1-µ diamond lap and electropolished in a phosphoric acid solution. After a final cleaning by cathodic sputtering, a 1- to 3-µ thick layer of the tracer isotope, uranium containing 93 pct u235, was sputtered onto the sample.' To prevent contamination during the diffusion anneal, the diffusion couples were placed in a tantalum cup and covered with another piece of uranium, and the whole assembly was sealed off in an evacuated quartz tube. Annealing temperatures were constant within +2.0°C. The samples were heated and cooled slowly between room temperature and the ß-? transformation (774°C) in order to minimize distortion of the sample surface that might arise from aniso-tropic thermal expansion and density changes during phase transformations. After machining off 1/16 in. from the radius to

Jan 1, 1961

By W. W. Little

At the United Verde mine the 9-2D stope on the 4050 ft level is located within the north sulphide mass lying some 800 ft north of the main sulphide ore body. In 1948 it was estimated that this block contained 85,000 tons of ore at 4% copper and 9.2% zinc. The north ore body is a lenticular replacement deposit in the black schist, extending from about 100 ft above the 3750 level to a distance below the 4500 level yet to be determined. Although the mineralized zone approaches 1000 ft in length, only 300 ft is of economic importance. In width it varies from a maximum of 60 ft to about 3 ft at the north end, and is characterized by pinching and swelling in the ore zone. One of these larger swells is being mined as the 9-2D stope. Mining costs at greater depth, together with the expected grade of ore after dilution, necessitated a low cost mining method to permit profitable stoping operations. Based on the results obtained in a number of Canadian mines, it was decided to develop the ore body for stoping by the Aldermac or bench method of diamond drill blastholes; however, this plan was subsequently changed and the radial or ring method adopted. Such a method seemed to offer the advantage of large tonnages at low cost, and obviate the necessity of waste fill. This latter point was of particular importance, since the present waste system does not extend below the 3000 level.

Jan 4, 1950

By Frank Hall

THE needs of the World War showed the necessity of a metal stronger than cast iron which would supplement the supply of steel. So patriotic metallurgists were spurred to new efforts to improve the status of that half-breed of the metal world that had been, more or less erroneously, christened semisteel. As a result, it was developed that for certain purposes semisteel was superior to steel in the manufacture of shells. Steel, because of its greater strength and toughness, is able to carry a greater charge of explosive, weight for weight; consequently, a steel shell can be expected to cause greater destruction when used against fortifications or other inanimate objects, while semisteel, because of its comparative brittleness and its resulting greater fragmentation, is capable of inflicting more serious loss of life when used against opposing forces of men. Therefore, each has its proper place in the economy of war. For the present purpose, steel may be defined as a comparatively pure iron whose physical nature is modified by small amounts of carbon, silicon, sulfur, phosphorus, manganese, and possibly other rarer elements; while cast iron generally is limited to approximately 93 per cent. of iron, the remainder consisting of larger percentages of carbon, silicon, sulfur, phosphorus, and manganese. Semisteel may be defined as cast iron in which the carbon and silicon have been reduced to as low a point as is consistent with maintaining the nature of gray iron, and in which the remaining elements are manipulated so as to give the greatest strength.

Jan 1, 1920

By David Cole

DAVID COLE, EL PASO, TEXAS (communication to the Secretary*).-I have read with great interest Dr. Gahl's painstaking paper giving us the details of development of flotation at Inspiration, and it seems to me that he has covered the ground so completely that there is little to discuss or criticize in connection with his subject. While it was in operation, the test mill in which the campaign was carried on was the Mecca of mill men and metallurgists. There was much to interest students of milling methods in addition to the flotation experiments, and readers of Dr. Gahl's paper will miss the information they hoped to get when the "pilot" mill results were. finally compiled, and I hope that the following remarks outlining from a distance some of the things that happened there will bring forth the rest of the story of the performances recorded in these important experiments. Prior to the use of flotation methods in concentration it had long been recognized that the "unavoidable" losses of sulphides were in the slime which is inevitably produced in the grinding operations required to free the minerals to be separated. Classifying the feed prior to its final stage of treatment had long been in style in milling. This assisted the sand-handling machines and resulted in lowering the tailings made by them, but at the expense of the slime-handling department; and while little was expected of the latter, the wisdom of complicating the process by hydraulic classification was being seriously questioned. Indeed, at the

Jan 10, 1916

By E. P. Bucklen, L. J. Prelaz, J. R. Lucas

Today, the future of the coal industry is extremely bright because coal can be produced at a cost which makes it competitive with other energy sources. However, the industry has been forewarned that further cost reductions must be made if it expects to remain a serious contender in the growing energy market. Surface as well as underground operations must be improved. The very same elements which affected production a few years ago still exist today and will continue to be present in the future. Improvements in production mining equipment, mining methods and auxiliary equipment have resulted in reduced costs over the past few years. Efforts must be continued toward further reducing costs in areas which have been previously improved and new areas should be investigated for possible improvements. Therefore, new techniques must be developed which will enable the industry to augment its current efforts in reducing the cost of mining. The logical place to begin evaluating the factors affecting production and cost is in the immediate face area where a substantial part of the total cost of mining is incurred. The coal industry stands to gain much through the development of new techniques for analyzing the numerous variables affecting production and by establishing methods for eliminating or minimizing the adverse effect of those variables which can be controlled. Intuition and trial-and-error methods have been the standard means used to resolve many of the factors which influence production. As a result, many elements are overlooked or ignored because their effects on production are not pronounced and cannot be readily resolved.

Jan 3, 1965

By L. C. Weiner

THIS study was undertaken to round out an investigation on the effects of solid environments on the brittle fracture of zinc single crystals.' In the previous work it was demonstrated that the presence of a surface film increased the cleavage strength of crystals whose basal planes were oriented almost parallel to the tensile axis by some 43 pct. This increase was observed to be independent of the type of surface-coating material, as well as of thickness of film above a certain small critical value (about 200 to 300A). These observations were described sat- isfactorily by a dislocation-pile-up-at-a-barrier model of brittle fracture2 in which twins modifying the dislocation path act as barriers, their increase in number and homogeneity of distribution brought about by the presence of the surface film. From previous work reported on the strength of ductile metal crystals as affected by gaseous and liquid environments,3 it may be concluded that the effects of these media are present only when the environment produces a surface film on the initially clean-surfaced crystal, or when it has a disintegrating effect on a previously existing surface layer. Similarly, it might be expected that an increase in cleavage strength of initially clean zinc crystals (xo = 3", A, - 28") will result only when the gas or liquid reacts with the crystal to produce a solid, adherent surface film. Clean-surfaced crystals,l 2 1/12 in. in length, were tested in tension at room temperature in an Instron

Jan 1, 1959

By E. DeGolyer

PROSPECTING for new deposits is a part of the ordinary routine business of the petroleum industry to an extent that is not true for any other mineral industry. The health of the industry depends upon whether we are successful or unsuccessful. How many know what it costs to find oil today and what it has cost in the past? Very few, I will wager. The industry is not well informed upon this extremely important point. We cannot deal in averages for lack of information. Does it cost more or less than previously? Prospect wells are increasingly deeper and, since the introduction of the core drill, prospecting techniques have required increasingly expensive field oper-

Jan 1, 1939

By C. H. Mathewson

UNFORTUNATE evasions of metals specifications recently brought to public attention through news items and editorials have caused executives of at least two great corporations to set up defensive procedures and to re¬affirm the patriotic purpose and conscientious effort of their plants in this battle of production. Whatever the exact conditions affecting these cases, in which the public interest has been safe-guarded by vigorous action, my reaction to such offenses in general is a feeling that they arise from the pressure and limitations that afflict our overextended war effort and that inevitably there will be more of them, doubtless more and more expertly conceived and less and less subject to detection as simple faked, or substituted analyses or tests. To the ladies, who doubtless are already beginning to ac¬quire a sense of painful resignation to a dry technical talk, may I say that the cookbook is full of specifications which customarily are varied within rather wide limits but it is generally recognized that the proof of the pudding is in the eating without regard to its exact composition or some scientific evaluation of its texture.

Jan 1, 1943

By Philip E. LaMoreaux

Fluoride, generally less than 0.5 ppm, is present in ground water from rocks of Paleozoic age and older, in northern and eastern Alabama. Some of the water-bearing formations in the Coastal Plain area of the State yield water with as much as 6.8 ppm fluoride.

Jan 1, 1950

Although Australia is the world's second biggest producer of iron ore, the last few years have not been easy for companies in Western Australia's Pilbara region (see map) where more than 90% of the nation's iron ore is produced. For at least two years, the industry has been plagued by dwindling markets abroad, production-crippling strikes at home, skyrocketing costs (well above the official 13% annual inflation rate), an acute shortage of investment capital, increasingly ferocious competition from foreign iron ore producers-and, as if all this weren't enough, by an over-valued currency that has caused incalculable damage not only to iron ore producers but to the entire mining industry of Australia. (This last problem was mitigated less than two months ago, on November 28, 1976, when the Australian dollar was devalued by a whopping 17 1/2%.)

Jan 1, 1977

By Clyde E. Williams

IN planning a postwar program for manufactured products, it is essential that the bases for the plans be wisely chosen. First we must make certain assumptions as to the war's ending. Let us assume: (1) complete victory by the United Nations, (2) peace terms that will ensure the direction of the economy of all nations of the world toward peaceful pursuits, and (3) an early ending of the war, that is, before the nations of the world, excluding the enemy, are near the point of physical and spiritual exhaustion. Thus, our manufacturing plants and transportation facilities will still be in good shape. The plants and transportation facilities, as well as the cities of a large part of Europe, however, will be badly crippled. The rich mineral and other raw material resources of the world, little of which was under control. of the Axis powers before the war or will be after the war, will not be used up. Control of these raw materials, or at least an important part of them, will remain in the hands of the strong peaceful nations.

Jan 1, 1943

By Frances H. Clark

IN wartime, the fabrication and use of metals assumes increased importance, for a modern war of sizable proportions cannot be undertaken with- out a vast supply of this material. Light alloys of aluminum and magnesium, which were comparatively unknown in the last war, will play an important role in this one. Due to research on a vast scale in the interim of years, industry is today well equipped to fabricate metals on an enormous scale. Research for the past year has been most productive and a comprehensive survey in the space of this article would be impossible. It is hoped that the stressing of a few items here and there out of a great quantity of able work will indicate in a small way the advances made within recent times. Specific references to the literature will be omitted at the Editor's re- quest but some authors of papers that I have found of special interest are mentioned.

Jan 1, 1940

By Roy R. Weil, John A. Dziubek

This paper discusses the use of computer modeling, data manipulation, and mapping of three multi-seam coal properties in the Appalachian coal basin. Each case history represents a slightly different application of computer usage for estimation of reserves and planning surface mine sequencing. This practical use of computers demonstrates the suitability of data processing for normal evaluation of coal properties.

Jan 1, 1983

Prof. H. O. Hofman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass. (communication to the Secretary): When Mr. Stetefeldt quotes me as saying that " silver-assays are uniformly made by scorification," he has evidently not understood that I was referring solely to the practice of silver-lead smelting-works. Everybody knows that silver-mills do not employ the scorification-assay for regular work ; and it is equally certain that in very few, if any, silver-lead smelting-works will the crucible-assay be found in use for determining silver. The second part of the quotation, "as it is adapted to all kinds of ores and gives excellent results unless organic matter is present," although, of course, also intended in a restricted sense, might very well be extended to a general one. Mr. Furman, in his Manual of Practical Assaying,* says, on page 123: "We believe that the Colorado practice is preferable, as most ores will yield higher silver-results by scorification." The fact that the scorification-assay is the accepted one in Colorado is strong presumptive evidence for its accuracy, as exactness would nowhere else be more jealously demanded. Mr. Stetefeldt cites Albert Arents- as a supporter of his preference for the crucible-assay, although I had already done so in favor of scorification. Looking up again the reference, I find that I was justified in quoting him, as, while Mr. Arents advocates the crucibleassay for low-grade gold ores, not on account of the greater accuracy of its results, but because it is quicker and less expensive, he condemns it§ for the assay of silver-ores, and prefers the scorifier for rich goldores, and for coppery ores, and in general for ores containing both silver and gold. As I, like Mr. Stetefeldt, have kept no detailed

Jan 1, 1895

By Harry L. Brown, Philip E. Armstrong

Young's modulus doto ore presented for W, Mo. Ta. V, Cr. Ni, Ti, and Zr as a function of temperature up to about 0.7 of the melting points. A plot of reduced temperature us reduced modulus produces a general correlation except for titanium and zirconium. Young's modudlus data for some representatiue commercial graphites are given up to 2400°C. All results were obtained from longitudinal resonance-frequency measzrrements of 4-in. long samples, corrected for simultaneously measured thermal expansion. Comparison of poly crystalline and single-crystal tungsten behavior indicates that all the observed modulus values are frequencv -dependent at the higher temperatures. STATIC measurements of elastic properties of materials at elevated temperatures are extremely difficult to make since the elastic behavior is obscured by relatively large first-stage creep effects. Dynamic methods which avoid this difficulty by utilizing the measurement of the resonance frequency of a simple vibrational mode have been described in the 1iterature.l-3 The authors have extended the operating temperature range of this type of measurement to above 2000°C and have described the equipment elsewhere.~ The Young's modulus data presented here were obtained with this equipment, using samples about 4 in. long and 1/4 in. diam, supported horizontally at the center and excited to the fundamental longitudinal resonance frequency. Young's modulus was calculated by the formula: E = 4f2f2p where E = Young's modulus, / = frequency, 1 = length, and p = density. Dilatometric data were obtained simultaneously by optical measurements of the change of length of the sample. For the metals tested, an attempt was made to obtain modulus values that would be representative of the pure, strain-free, randomly oriented material. All of the graphites studied exhibited a high degree of elastic anisotropy, while the method assumes an isotropic homogeneous material. However , when the values for Young's modulus obtained for AUC graphite were compared with those taken from static measurements at room temperature they were found to be only about 4 pet higher. This is excellent agreement considering the low precision of modulus calculations from stress-strain curves. The difficulty in using data of apparent Young's modulus for anisotropic materials arises when the attempt is made to use these data and shear-modulus data to obtain Poisson's ratio. The results are usually meaningless and sometimes absurd.' RESULTS Table I lists the sources, impurity content, thermal history, and dilatometric constants of the metal samples that were investigated. All the metal samples were tested under a vacuum of 1 to 5 x 10-5 Torr. Where our dilatometric data agreed with previously published data, the table lists the previous values and the literature reference. Where no reference is given, the constants were determined from our dilatometric data. Table II presents the modulus data in units of millions of psi as a function of temperature in degrees centigrade. The numbers were obtained from curves fitted to the experimental data. For some types of calculations, such as those attempting to correlate creep data, the slope of the modulus curve is of interest, and this information also is reported in Table 11. It is always tempting to try to fit physical-property data into some general pattern and then use this pattern to predict the behavior of other similar materials. The general pattern for an elastic modulus of a metal seems to be a linear deoro- with increasing temperature Over the range between 0.1 and 0.4 of the melting temperature, then a progressive1y decreasing value up to the melting point. Metals appear to retain finite moduli

Jan 1, 1964